OMNIUM SANCTORUM HIBERNIAE

Category: Saints of Derry

  • Saint Columb Crag of Enagh, September 22

     

    September 22 is the feast of a northern saint, Columb Crag of Enagh, near Derry. The Martyrology of Donegal on this date simply records ‘COLUM, Priest, of Enach’ while the Martyrology of Gorman describes him as ‘Colomb, vehement, delightful (?)’. It is only in Adamnán’s Life of Saint Columba, that we get a further glimpse into the character of Columb Crag. There he is depicted as a wise spiritual father who counsels Saint Fintan Munnu. Apart from this episode, nothing else seems to be known of Saint Columb. We will start with the account from O’Hanlon’s Lives of the Irish Saints and conclude with the text from the Life of Saint Columba:

     

    ST. COLUM, OR COLOMB CRAG, PRIEST AT ENACH

    THE present servant of God seems to have been born early in the sixth century. Already has allusion been made to him in the Life of St. Columkille. The parentage of this St. Columb — surnamed Crag—is unknown ; but by Colgan he has been considered identical with a very wise and venerable man, who was the friend of St. Fintan Munnu, in the younger years of the latter, and probably also a spiritual director. However this may be, when Fintan Munnu desired to take a voyage from Derry to Iona, in order to visit St. Columba, he sought the advice of Columb Crag, who then resided at Eanach, and northwards from Derry. By our saint, Fintan was confirmed in that purpose, in the earlier part of June, A.D. 597.

    Soon arrived monks from Derry, who brought news to Eanach from Iona, that the great archimandrite was dead. All who heard this shed tears in abundance. Nevertheless, when informed, that Columbkille had appointed St. Baithan as his successor, Columb Crag asked Fintan what he then desired to do. The latter replied, that he should still persist in his purpose of going to Iona to place himself under the rule of that pious and wise man Baithen as his Abbot.

    The Church of Columb Crag was at Enach, in the northern part of Ireland, at this time, when he was regarded as a venerable old man. As to whether he had been a superior of monks we have no record left. About two miles to the north-east of Derry, this church of Enagh— between the two small Loughs of Eastern and Western Enagh —was situated in the present townland of Templetown… At present, there are no ruins or any traditions about St. Columb Crag, at Templetown. There are few townland denominations more numerous in Ireland than those known as Anna, or Annagh—the modern equivalent for Enach. The compounds of this form are still more numerous. It therefore would not be easy of accomplishment to identify this exact locality, but that Colgan gives us a further clue, by calling the present Saint Columba Cragius, superior of Enagh, or the church of Cluainenaich, near Derry, in Ulster. For this statement, too, he cites the authority of Adamnán. St. Columb Crag survived St. Columbkille, but whether or not he lived into the seventh century is unknown.

    In the Martyrology of Marianus O’Gorman, at the 22nd of September, there is a festival for Colomb, vehement, delightful (?) as the Calendarist pleases to style him; while the scholion observes he was a priest from Enach. According to the Martyrology of Donegal, Colum, Priest of Enach, was venerated at the 22nd of September. In the year 1197, this church of Cluain-i Eanach was plundered by Rostel Pyton, a partisan of John De Courcy and the English of Ulidia, during a predatory excursion.

     

    From Adomnán’s Life of Saint Columba

    [I 2] Of the Abbot St. Fintan mac Tulcháin.

    St. Fintan, by God’s help, kept himself chaste in body and soul from boyhood and devoted himself to the pursuit of godly wisdom, and in due course he came to enjoy renown among all the churches of Ireland. But while he was a young man he had in his heart this wish, to leave Ireland behind him and to join St.Columba in his life of pilgrimage. On fire with this desire, he approached a wise and venerable priest, a man of his own people and a personal friend, called Columb Crag, and asked his advice. Having told him what was in his mind, he got this answer:

    ‘Your desire, I think, is devout and inspired by God. Who can stop you or say you should not sail away to St Columba?’

    That very hour it happened that two of St Columba’s monks arrived, who, when asked about their journey, replied:

    ‘We rowed across from Britain not long ago, and today have come from Derry’.

    ‘And is your holy father Columba in good health?’ asked Columb Crag.

    ‘Truly’ they said, with tears and great sorrow, ‘our patron is in the best of health since only a few days ago he departed to Christ’.

    Hearing this, Fintan and Columb and everyone present looked down at the ground and wept bitterly. In a little while, Fintan continued, asking:

    ‘Whom has he left to succeed him?’

    ‘Baithéne’, they said, his disciple’.

    And all cried out, ‘It is meet and right’.

    Columb said to Fintan:

    ‘What will you do now, Fintan?’

    ‘If the Lord will permit me’, he answered, ‘I shall sail away to Baithéne, who is a holy and wise man. If he will receive me, he shall be my abbot’.

    Then he kissed Columb and took his leave, preparing to sail without delay to Iona.

    Richard Sharpe ed. and trans., The Life of Saint Columba, (Penguin Books, 1991), 212-213.

     

    Content Copyright © Omnium Sanctorum Hiberniae 2012-2015. All rights reserved.

  • Saint Trea of Ardtrea, August 3

    August 3 is the feast of a female saint, Trea, who has given her name to the district of Ardtrea in County Derry. She is one of those named as having received the veil from the hands of Saint Patrick himself, and in her case, the veil was delivered by an angel. Most of the accounts of Saint Trea which circulate online describe her as an anchoress or recluse, Canon O’Hanlon, however, speculates that she was most likely the head of a religious community. He also mentions that she had a second feast day on July 8:

    ST. TREA, VIRGIN, OF ARDTREA, COUNTY OF LONDONDERRY [FIFTH CENTURY.]

    This pious maiden flourished after the time, when St. Patrick commenced his great mission in the north of Ireland. We have seen already, that a St. Trega or Trea, Virgin, was venerated at Ardtrea, on a different day from the present. A question may arise, as to whether there had been a double festival instituted to honour the same saint. However, on the 8th of July, there is record of a feast for St. Trega, virgin and patroness of Ardtrea Parish, near Lough Neagh. We find, however, that St. Trea inghen Chairthind, or “the daughter of Carthenn,” is recorded in the published Martyrology of Tallagh, at the 3rd of August without stating the locality to which she belonged.

    When blessed Patrick had entered the northern parts of the Ulster province, he met with opposition from a dynast in the region of Hy Tuirtre. He had journeyed by Fersait Tuama, until he rested at a very beautiful locality called Finnabhuir. The place formerly called Fersait Tuama, is now known as Toome, near where the River Bann escapes from Lough Neagh and enters Lough Beg, at the division line between the present Counties of Londonderry and of Antrim. The beautiful district alluded to as Finnabhuir had the wide-spreading Lough Neagh on the east and Slieve Gullin a high ridge of mountain, on the west side. It so happened, that two brothers, one named Carthenn the Elder or “major,” and the other known as Carthenn, the younger or “minor,” had lived in this district. The former a wicked man and addicted to the errors of Paganism had banished his younger brother from that place, in which he exercised complete control. From this district he wished, likewise, that St. Patrick should be ejected. The holy man, like the Apostles, when persecuted in one city left for another, and shaking the dust from of his feet against the tyrannical dynast, predicted that he should fall from power, and serve, with his posterity, under the future rule of the younger Carthenn. He, on the contrary, was virtuous, kindly, and disposed to receive the doctrine of Christ, so that St. Patrick baptized himself, his wife and family. After this time, Carthenn’s wife, Mugania, appears to have given birth to a daughter, destined to a life of grace from St. Patrick’s prophecy regarding her. She was named Trea or Treha at the baptismal font; but, it is not stated, that she had been baptized by St. Patrick.

    Through her father, she descended from the race of Colla Uais, monarch of Erinn. From what has been already stated, it should seem, that she was born about the middle of the fifth century. That she grew up in grace and in the practice of all virtues, is generally conceded. She is classed, among the many holy virgins St. Patrick veiled, during the progress of his great missionary career. In accordance with his prediction, when St. Trea began to grow up into girlhood, she felt a strong desire to chose the Son of God for her future spouse. The Apostle had already declared, that she should be a woman of great innocence of life, and that her vesture and dowry should come to her with the veil received at his hands. Therefore, when she sought the illustrious saint for this purpose, and stood before him, an angel was seen descending from Heaven, and placing a veil on her head. It completely covered her eyes. St. Patrick then attempted to lift it, so that she might the better see, but the holy virgin exclaimed, “O pious father, why cannot the veil remain as it has been placed, in its right position?” Wherefore, the holy man replied, “It can very properly thus remain, and its mode of being worn shall be pleasing to your spouse.” As if the cenobite’s veil were glued to the noble lady’s face, the writer of the Tripartite Life and Jocelyn remark most poetically and approvingly, that it covered her dovelike eyes and her soft cheeks, through the whole remaining term of her life. Thus were her eyes and ears remarkably guarded, lest, through such entrances, any dangerous occasion of sin might bring death to her immortal soul.

    We have no further account of the place where she dwelt in the religious state; but, it is most likely within her ancestral territory, and on the height, which now takes its name from her. This Ardtrea was situated near Lough Neagh and Lough Beg. …In what particular condition St. Trea lived here has not been specified ; but, it is probable enough, she was head of a religious community. Nor does the date of her departure from life appear in our annals. In the Martyrology of Donegal, at this same day, we find her name entered as Trea, Virgin, daughter to Cairthenn, of Ard Trea. Whether the 3rd of August, or the 8th of July, be the commemoration for her death, has not been recorded.

    Content Copyright © Omnium Sanctorum Hiberniae 2012-2015. All rights reserved.

  • Saint Neachtain of Dungiven, January 8

    On January 8 the Irish Martyrologies commemorate a seventh-century Scottish saint associated with the monastery at Dungiven, County Derry. North-west Ulster has always had strong links with Scotland and Saint Neachtain appears to have been born in Scotland but to have founded a monastery in the territory of a tribe called the Cianachta. They occupied the lands of the Roe Valley, but their chief royal site was at Dungiven. One scholar has suggested that they were mercenary vassals of the Uí Neill, rewarded with lands for their services ‘much as the gallowglass clans from Scotland and the Isles were rewarded with irish lands by the Gaelic lords of the later middle ages’ (F.J.Byrne, Irish kings and high-kings (London, 1973), 68.) The Irish annals name two saints associated with the Cianachta – a convert of Saint Patrick’s called Ciannan, founder of Duleek in County Meath, whose death is recorded in 489, and Nechtan Ner of Dungiven, whose death is ascribed to 679. Canon O’Hanlon will guide us through the story of Saint Neachtain as found in Volume I of his Lives of the Irish Saints:

    St. Neachtain or Nechtanan, of Dungiven, County Derry.

    The present holy man was probably the first founder of a church here, and he seems to have been taken as the local patron. The Martyrology of Donegal enters the festival of St. Nechtain of Dun Geimhim, in Cianachta Glinne Geimhin, at this date. He is commemorated in the Martyrology of Tallagh, on the 8th of January. Most likely he was born about the beginning of the seventh century.

    It seems to be doubtful, whether the present holy man had been born in Ireland or in Scotland. In a gloss to the Feilire of St. Oengus, we read, “anair de Albain,” i.e., “from the east, from Alba,” applied to the name of Nechtan. It may be probable, he was born in the latter country, or at least that he came over from it into Ireland. He has been identified with the great saint of Deeside, called Nathalan, in the Breviary of Aberdeen. This holy man is called Nachlan or Naughlan, by the common people. According to the Aberdeen Breviary, he is thought to have been born in the northern parts of the Scoti, in ancient times, and at Tullicht, within the diocese of Aberdeen.

    He was a man of great sanctity and devotion. Though educated as the member of a noble family, when he learned that turning the soil approached nearest to the occupation which favoured holy meditation, he abandoned all other pursuits to cultivate fields. Thus he wished the body to be industriously occupied, so that he might never allow his mind to be overborne in a struggle with dangerous temptations. While he thus waged warfare against the devil and a perishing world, a terrible famine broke out among his neighbours, relations, and friends. Most of the people were nearly lost, owing to hunger and want of food. But the singularly disinterested Nathalan, moved by the highest spirit of charity, distributed all his grain and stores, in the name of Christ, to the poor. At the spring time, no seed was left him, even to sow his lands; yet, God wrought a miracle, which produced an abundant harvest. When this time came, however, and when a great multitude of both sexes had been collected to gather in the crop, a tremendous tempest of rain and a whirlwind prevented the husbandmen and women from pursuing their labours. For a moment losing patience, and being excited to anger, along with other reapers, the saint murmured a little against God. The tempest soon ceased. But, on second thought, Nathalan, feeling he had offended the Divine Majesty, was induced to bind himself by vow to continue a rigid course of penance. This ended, it is stated, and in a miraculous way, after he had visited the thresholds of the Blessed Apostles Peter and Paul, in the city of Rome. There, too, he sought the monuments of the saints, so thickly placed on every side. Hearing a report of his extraordinary miracles and sanctity, the Supreme Pontiff summoned him into his presence. Notwithstanding the saint’s reluctance, he was persuaded, at length, to assume the episcopal dignity. If we are to place implicit faith in these accounts, probably either before his going to Rome or after he had left it, the saint visited Ireland, and then he must have founded Dungiven, or at least he spent some time there. But, it must be allowed, we feel at a loss to determine the period.

    In the practice of Divine contemplation, having rendered himself very acceptable to all at Rome, by permission of the Sovereign Pontiff, as we are informed, Nathalan got permission for returning to that part of Scotia, whence he sprung. In extreme old age, he visited his natal soil. He then built the churches of Tullicht, Bothelim, and Colle, at his own expense. He also dedicated them to the Almighty, and long afterwards they existed in those provinces, as monuments of his zeal.

    The death of St. Nechtain occurred A.D. 677, according to the Annals of the Four Masters, but we find the rest of Neachtain Neir recorded A.D. 678, in the Annals of Ulster. We meet no less than four different saints of this name recorded in our calendars – One at 22nd of April—erroneously assigned by Colgan’s printer to the 11th;— another at the 2nd of May—St. Patrick’s disciple;— St. Neachtain, a virgin, at the 22nd of November, besides the present saint.

    It would seem that this holy man died in Britain, on the 8th of January, after the performance of many wonderful miracles. He is said to have been buried with great reverence at Tullicht. St. Nachlan is patron of Tullicht. There in after time he often afforded health to the sick, who came to seek it piously and devoutly. At Tullicht a cross of very early type, incised on a rude granite slab, once lay in the parish church. It now forms the top lintel to one of the doors of the old kirk there. He is also the patron of Balthelney, or rather Bothelney, now Meldrum. Owing to the fervour of his prayers, Nathelan is said to have averted a raging pestilence from this place. Long after this tradition, and when the saint’s name was even forgotten, the parishioners kept the 8th of January as a feast, on which they did no work. At the old kirk here, about three miles from the town of Old Meldrum, is Naughlan’s Well. At Collie or Cowle, his name is rhymed among the fishermen:

    ” Atween the kirk and kirk ford,
    There lies St. Nauchlan’s hoard.

    and in the parish of Kildalton, in Islay, we find Kilnaughtan.

    Content Copyright © Omnium Sanctorum Hiberniae 2012-2015. All rights reserved.