OMNIUM SANCTORUM HIBERNIAE

Category: Saints of Donegal

  • Saint Bairrfhionn of Druim-Cuilinn, May 21

    May 21 is the commemoration of Saint Bairrfhionn, a saint linked in popular tradition to two of the most famous of the Irish saints, Colum Cille and Brendan. For this saint Bairrfhionn is said to have preceded Saint Brendan as a voyager, and to have provided the inspiration for the Navigator of Clonfert. This link obviously touched a chord with Canon O’Hanlon, from whose account in Volume V of his Lives of the Irish Saints the following has been distilled:

    ST. BAIRRFHIONN, PATRON OF DRUIM-CUILINN, OR DRUIM-CULLEN, KING’S COUNTY, AND OF CILL-BAIRRFHINN, NOW KILBARRON, COUNTY OF DONEGAL. [SIXTH CENTURY.]

    There was a celebrated saint of the sixth century, called Barrindeus, who has a place among the saints of the second rank, in that Catalogue, published by Ussher. Probably he was no other, than Barrfind of Druimm Cuilinn, mentioned in the Metrical Calendar of St. Oengus, at the 21st of May, thus translated into English by Dr. Whitley Stokes:-

    ”Timothy a marvellous martyr:
    a great company of divine wheat :
    zealous Colman a leper:
    Barrfind of Druimm Cuilinn”.

    That he was born, somewhat early in the sixth century, seems to be the natural inference drawn, from the pedigree ascribed to him. It is thought, he was identical with a holy man, also called Barind, or Barindan, and Barrfionn, who lived in another part of Ireland. At this date, likewise, the name Barrfinn Droma Cula appears, in the Martyrology of Tallagh. The Bollandists enter in like fashion the feast of Barrinus or Barrindus of Druim-chulin, at the 21st of May. If correct, in his identification with the Barinthus, mentioned in the Acts of Brendan the Navigator, and if a relation to the latter, his name is found, in all the old Lives of that celebrated saint, and he is also known as Barint and Beryne. From the recorded particulars of his pedigree, as furnished by Marianus O’Gorman and Cathald Maguire, we may safely infer, that he was born in the north of Ireland. This holy man is said to have descended from the race of Conall Gulban, son to Niall. His father was Muredoc, son of Eochod. This latter was son to Conall Gulban. Another statement has it, that his father was Muiredacli, son of Fiacha, son to Niall of the Nine Hostages. Didhuat, daughter of Meachar, was his mother. Thus, he was a near relation of the great Columkille, according to the pedigree made out for our saint; although it appears to be difficult to establish the exact degree of consanguinity, owing to the discrepancies of genealogy found in various conflicting accounts. It is said, that St. Bairrfhion was a disciple to the illustrious founder of Iona. If so, this must have been before the latter left Ireland, to settle in Scotland. Bairrfhionn, or Barrind, is said to have flourished, about A.D. 590 ; and, it is probable enough, that he lived at a much earlier period—especially, if he was a contemporary with and related to St. Brendan the Navigator. This is the expressed opinion of Colgan: however, there may be a misconception, regarding the individuality of the St. Barinthus—supposed to be of Kerry—with the holy man here mentioned. The name of our present St. Barind or Barrfionn has been connected with an undoubtedly ancient place, called Druim Cuillin.. St. Columkille founded a church, at this place, in the sixth century. Now, it is mentioned, in Prince O’Donnell’s Life of St. Columba, that Barrind was the companion of his journeyings and of his labours. It is probable, St. Columb placed St. Bairrfhionn in charge of this missionary centre, if reliance be had upon statements, regarding his station and rank; although he is not now traditionally remembered, in Druim-Cuilinn. Its topographical meaning is the Ridge or Long Hill of the Holly, It is now known as Drum-Cullin, situated in the south of Eglish, or Fircall Barony, in the King’s County. The old church in ruins is still to be seen there; and, it stands on the ancient boundary, between Meath and Munster. .. Here, St. Bairrfionn was Abbot of Druim-cuillin, in the territory of Fearceall, upon the confines of Leinster and Munster.. Even yet, as it appears, the memory of St. Barrfionn has been intertwined with local topography; for, near Drumcullen, there is an eminence called Knockbarron—in Irish Cnoc-Barrind—and it may be Anglicized, ” the hill of Barrind.” He must have been a person of great importance in his day, thus to have left his name behind in that place, after a lapse of thirteen centuries; and, as we shall see, at a spot far away from the religious house here, his fame is still preserved, in the name of an ancient church and of a parish, much nearer to his native soil.

    From Drumcullen St. Barrfionn emigrated, most probably, towards the north of Ireland; and, there he is said to have fixed the site for a religious establishment, of some sort, and in a very retired situation. That place is now known as Kilbarron, “the church of St. Barrind,” scarcely three miles distant from Ballyshannon. The greater part of this town is included, within the present parish, which extends along the River Erne, from the vicinity of Belleek to Donegal Bay.

    Here, St. Barfhionn, Barrindeus, or Barrinthus, is said to have founded a monastery, during the sixth century. Beside the river called Fuinnseanach, and near the sea, St. Barind dwelt, at a time when St. Columba returned from Seangleann. There, both holy men had a conference. There, too, was miraculously sent from Seangleann the staff of St. Columba. As St. Barind had inspiredly declared it left in that place, and as it fell near them, a fountain of water gushed out at the spot; and afterwards, it was called Bachall Barrinn, Latinized Baculum Barrindi, owing to the miracle which had occurred, as preserved in the local tradition. Kill-Barrind old church is still to be seen, within a parish, now known as Killbarron, in the barony of Tirhugh, and county of Donegal.

    Belonging to an early period, and to the second class of Irish Saints, as by many has been thought; St. Barrind is also said to have been the first European discoverer of the American Continent, for, as related in the Acts of St. Brendan, there was a Father Barrindan, who had informed that celebrated navigator, about his own wonderful adventures, while away from Ireland on the great ocean. It is supposed, too, that from Kilbarron, in conjunction with his disciple, Mernoc, St. Barrind sailed off in search of a great western island. This he is supposed to have found, when he landed on the shores of the American Continent. They travelled for fifteen days, before reaching the end of it. Moreover, it is said, that he returned to Ireland, when the glowing descriptions he gave of that distant region induced St. Brendan the Navigator to adventure in the same direction. That western country, in which St. Barrind travelled, is called “a Land of Promise of the Saints,” and that which the Lord would grant to successive races ” in the latter times”. Modern commentators have just reason for referring this prophetic passage to the extraordinary emigration of Irish people and missionaries to America, during the present century.

    St. Barrind died, on the 21st of May, and some time, it is thought, before the close of the sixth age. Most probably, his first removal from Drumcullen to Killbarrind may suggest the idea, that he was buried in the latter place, with which his memory appears to have been most associated. Marianus O’Gorman and Cathal Maguire, referring St. Barrindus to both places, has his feast, at the 21st of May. The Martyrology of Donegal mentions, that veneration was given on this day to Bairrfhionn, Bishop of Druim-Cuiliun, and of Cill-Bairrfhinn, to the north of Eas-Ruaidh—now the well-known waterfall designated Assaroe, and a chief feature of interest to all northern tourists… At this date, also, St. Barinnus was venerated in Scotland, together with St. Colman, both Irish saints. An Irish Calendar commemorates Barrfionn Bishop from Druim-Chuilinn, and from Kilbarfinn, near Easruadh to the north. Under the head of Druim Cuilinn, and at the 21st of May, Duald Mac Firbis enters, Bairrfionn bishop. It seems probable, therefore, that this primitive saint exercised the episcopal as well as the abbatial functions, in the ministry in the early Irish Church.

     

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

  • Saint Conall of Iniscaoil, May 20

     

    May 20 was established by the great 17th-century hagiologist, Father John Colgan, as the feastday of a saintly abbot from County Donegal, Conall of Iniscaoil. As Canon O’Hanlon, however, explains below, some confusion entered in due to the fact that there is also a festival recorded on May 22. What particularly interested me, however, was his noting of the continuation of the native ascetic tradition, as the local people fasted on the eve of their saint’s feast in Colgan’s day:

    St. Conall, Abbot of Iniscaoil, County of Donegal.

    The present holy Abbot seems to have had a double festival, within this month. The Bollandists notice Conallus of Iniscail, at this day, for which they quote Colgan, who incorrectly places his feast at the 12th of May —possibly a typographical error for the 22nd. This St. Conall was son to Mann Coelius, son of Caither, son to Ennius, surnamed Bagan, the son of Conall Gubhan, according to the ” Sanctilogium Genealogicum.” He was reverenced in the church of Iniscaoil, in the county of Tyrconnell, on the 20th of May. At present, the fertile Island there gives name to the large parish of lnishkeel, in the baronies of Banagh and Boylagh, and county of Donegal. It contains about eighty green acres and, its old church was built on a rocky ledge, not far from the mainland. A beautiful velvety soft strand stretches from it, towards the shore; and, from this latter, at low tides, the Island can be reached on foot. It is a lonely and an uninhabited spot. It may be doubted, if the present saint were identical with St. Conald Coel, Abbot on the same Island, and whose festival, with some biographical notices, has been set down, for the 22nd of this month. If so, however, additional particulars regarding him will be found, at that date. On the vigil of their patron’s festival, the people of Iniscoel neighbourhood were accustomed to observe a rigid fast, even to the time of Colgan. This writer tells us, that St. Conall was Abbot of Inis-caoil. Father John Colgan intended, also, to have given the acts of this saint, at the 20th of May.

     

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

  • Saint Mura of Fahan, March 12

     
     
    Bell of Saint Mura

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

    March 12 is the feastday of a County Donegal saint, Mura of Fahan. Below is a paper on the saint’s life by the scholarly Anglican Bishop, William Reeves, taken from the first volume of the Ulster Journal of Archaeology.

    SAINT MURA.

    By Rev. Wm. REEVES, D.D.

    There are several saints who flourished in the seventh century, and acquired great celebrity as the founders of churches or the patrons of tribes, and yet of whose age and history we have no exact account. St. Mura is one of these; and nearly all the little that is known of him is collected by Colgan, at his festival, the 12th of March, under the title ” De Muro sive Murano.” He was the son of Feradhach, and sixth in descent from Eoghan son of Niall of the Nine Hostages, the ancestor of the Kinel-Owen. His mother was Derinilla, surnamed Cethair-chicheach, that is,’ Of the four paps,’ as we learn from Aengus’ tract on the Mothers of the Saints of Ireland …[Book of Lecan] “Derrinilla of the four paps, mother of Donard son of Aughy, and of Allen, and of Aedan, and of Mura of Fahan, and of Mocuma of Drumbo, and of Killen of Aghakeel in Lecale, on the border of the strand of Dundrum.” The curious epithet applied to Derinilla, Colgan interprets, not as a monstrosity, but as a figurative expression to denote that she was four times married. And this opinion is strengthened by the circumstance that St. Donard’s father was Aughy, whereas Feradhach was St. Mura’s.

    None of the Irish Annals record the name of this Saint, and it is only by his pedigree that we are enabled to approximate to his date. Colgan calculates from the fact that he wrote an account of St. Columba who died in 597, and that he was in the fifth generation from Eugenius who died in 565, (recte, 465,) and accordingly fixes his date after the beginning, or possibly the middle, of the seventh century. We can calculate even more closely than this, by taking the names of his kinsmen, who are equidistant from a common ancestor, and making an average for his age. The genealogical lists, coupled with the Annals, give the following as his co-ordinates: Maelcobha, King, died in 615; his brother Domhnall in 642. Segene, fifth abbot of Hy, died in 652. These were of the race of Conall Gulban. Maolfitrigh, son of Aodh Uairiodhnach, died in 631; he was of the race of Eoghan, and more immediately allied to our Saint. The average of these allows 635 for St. Mura’s obit, to which we may safely add ten as he was an ecclesiastic, and set down 645 as an approximation to the date of his death. A successor, probably his immediate one, died in 657.

    He founded the abbey of Fathain, on the west side of Innishowen, which retained its monastic character for many centuries, until, at last, under the name of Fahan Mura, it sank into the condition of of a parish church.

    St. Mura was the patron saint of all the O’Neills, and being sixth in descent from Eoghan, their founder, whose patrimony Innishowen was, and from whom it derived its name of Innis-Eoghain, it is probable he had ancestral claims on the lonely spot which was chosen for his retirement.

    Colgan states that among other monuments which were preserved in his monastery, was a metrical account of the Acts of St. Columba, of which fragments were extant at his day, and of which we still have some remains embodied in the original Irish life of St. Columba by O’Donnellus, deposited in the Bodleian Library at Oxford. Also a large and very ancient volume of Chronicles, and other records of the country, held in great value, and often cited by those engaged in the study of antiquities. He states that there were also extant, until modern times, numerous reliques of St. Mura, and other saints who presided over this church; but that how far rescued from the fury of heretics, and still preserved, was unknown to him, living, as he then was, far away in Belgium, though in early years well acquainted with the place. He adds that there was extant in his day, and preserved as a most sacred treasure, the staff, or pastoral wand, commonly called Bachull-Mura, i.e., ‘Baculus Murani,’ enclosed in a gilded case and adorned with gems, by which many miracles were wrought, and through which, as the avenger of falsehood, and the unerring evidence of right, in cases where persons wished to remove all doubts from their declarations, or to terminate a controversy by the solemnity of an oath, the pious people, and chiefs, and especially the members of the O’Neill family, were wont to swear.

    Colgan adds that there was also in existence, previously to these troubled times, a Proper Office for this saint, a fragment of which he once saw, and in which were recited some of his signs and miracles. [Acta Sanctorum Hiberniae, xii Martii, p. 587.]

    The following notices of St. Mura’s monastery in the Annals of the Four Masters, are evidence of the early importance of the place :

    A-D. 657, “Ceallach, son of Saran, abbot of Othainmor, died.” We calculated 645 as the year of St. Mura’s death, which allows 12 years for his successor.
    A.D. 720.” Cillene Ua Colla, abbot of Athain, died.” His festival is set down in the Calendar, at the 3rd of January.
    A.D. 757. “Rovartach, son of Cuana, abbot of Athain-Mor, died.”
    A.D. 769.” Ultan hUa Berodherg, abbot of Othain-mor, died.”
    A.D. 788. (recte 793.)” Aurthaile, abbot of Othain, died.”
    A.D. 818. “Fothiidh, of Fothain, died.” This is supposed by O’Conor, and with reason, to have been the celebrated Fothadh na Canoine, or ‘ the Canonist,’ of whom mention is made in the Four Masters at 799, and Annals of Ulster at 803.
    A.D. 850.” Lerghal, abbot of Othain, died.”
    A.D. 1070.” Fearghal Ua Laidhgnen, abbot of Othain, died.”
    A.D. 1074 “Cucairrge Ua Ceallaich, successor of Mura, died.”
    A.D. 1098. “Maolmartin Ua Ceallaich, successor of Mura of Othain, died.”
    A.D. 1119. “Ruaidhri, erenach of Othain-Mor, died.” The Annals of Ulster supply his family name of Ua Domain.
    A.D. 1136. ” Robhartach Ua Ceallaich, erenach of Fathain-mor, died, after a good penance.”

    It will be seen from the above, that the office of ‘ herenach’ in this church became hereditary, after the middle of the eleventh century, in the family of Ua Ceallaich, or O’Kelly. In the early part of the seventeenth century the family of Donnell MacNeale O’Donnell were returned as the ancient herenaghs of Letir, in this parish; the Mounter-Heiles, as the herenaghs of Sleane and Millquarter ; and the sept of Murtagh O’Donnell in the quarter of Lisbanagh. [Inq. Ulst.]

    The place is twice mentioned in the Annals, without reference to its superiors.

    A.D. 716. ” Three wonderful showers fell this year ; a shower of silver in Othain-mor ; a shower of honey in Othain-beg ; and a shower of blood in Leinster.” This is recorded in Tighemach, at 718. The Annals of Ulster omit the shower of silver.

    Othain-beg was probably in the neighbourhood. That it was in the barony, we learn from the Calendar of the O’Clery’s, where, at the 8th of July, is commemorated, ” Colman Iomramha, of Fathain-beg, in Inis-Eoghain.” There is a place called Templemoyle in the townland Luddan, in Lower Fahan, (Ord. Sur. s. 296,) which may be the ancient Othain-beg, and thus cause this parish, which in point of income is inferior to the other portion, practically to be the Little Fahan.

    A.D. 1429. “Rory O’Dogherty died, at Fathan-Mura-Othna.” This last entry affords an instance of a reduplication of a new upon an old form. Mura Othna means Mura of Othain, but the annalists forgetting this, write, ‘ Fahan of Mura, of Fahan.’ Thus in the Annals we meet the name in a variety of forms: Athain, Othain, Faihain Fothain, Othain-mor, Faihain-mor, Fathain-mura and Fathain-Mura-Othna. Athonmura is the equivalent in Pope Nicholas’ Taxation; Fathunmurra, in a Patent Roll of 1310; Faynwor in Colton’s Visitation, 1397. It is now written Fahan, and pronounced Fawan.

    In modern times the parish has been divided into Upper and Lower Fahan, the latter having the town of Buncrana, the former the ancient site. The road from Buncrana to Derry passes close to the gate of the old church-yard. Within it are some remains, principally the east wall and window, of a middle-age church. Beside them stands a very ancient table cross, carved with the Irish pattern, and similar to, but finer than, those of Donagh and Cloncha. Outside the gate, at the left, is built into the wall a curious cut-stone with a bore through it, and on the right a stone having on it a very chaste Greek cross ; both evidently from the church-yard. The church-yard being shaded with trees and the grass long, summer is a bad time to examine the ground ; but the inquirer might find a good deal, between inspection and report, to repay him for a visit, in early spring, to this lovely as well as interesting spot.

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