Following on the heels of Saint Cronan of Clondalkin, whose feast we celebrated yesterday, we commemorate another Saint Cronan on August 7, this one a seventh-century abbot associated with the County Down monastery of Moville. Whilst once again we do not have many details about our saint as an individual, it is thought that he was one of those mentioned in an exchange of letters between Irish clerics and the Pope during the Paschal dating controversy of the seventh century. Before moving to Canon O’Hanlon’s account, we can start with a few details from one of his contemporaries, Father James O’Laverty, who writes on the monastery of Moville in the second volume of his diocesan history of Down and Connor:

The ruins of the Abbey Church of Moville stand about a mile to the N.E. of Newtownards. It was founded about the year 540 by St. Finnian, or, as he is sometimes called, Findbarr (Whitehead), from the whiteness of his hair…Moville, under Finnian, became one of the greatest schools in Ireland… The Church of Moville was ruled until about the middle of the eighth century by successors of St, Finnian, in whom were united the dignities of bishop and abbot; but after the year 731 Moville is noticed in the Annals only as governed by abbots. The Four Masters record:

A.D. 659. “St. Cronan of Moville died on the 7th day of the month of August.” This is the “Cromanus Presbyter,” whose name appears in the letter written from Rome about the year 640 to the Irish clergy.

Rev. J. O’Laverty, An Historical Account of the Diocese of Down and Connor, Vol. II (Dublin, 1880), 10-27.

And Canon O’Hanlon in his account of Saint Cronan from Volume VIII of his Lives of the Irish Saints writes:

ST CRONAN, OF MOVILLE, COUNTY OF DOWN.

[SEVENTH CENTURY]

ACCORDING to the Martyrologies of Tallagh and of Donegal, veneration was given, at the 7th day of August, to Cronan, of Magh-bile. This is said to have been the “Cromanus presbyter,” whose name appears in the superscription of that letter written from Rome, A.D. 640. Further particulars relating to this Epistle have been already recorded, in the Life of Diman or Dima Dubh, Bishop of Connor. The holy man Cronan, of Maghbile, died in the year 647, according to the Annals of Clonmacnoise; but, in A.D. 649, according to those of Ulster, and of the Four Masters.

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At July 27 we have the feast of another Irish abbot, this time from the northern monastery of Moville, County Down. Saint Beoghain, however, is yet another of the Irish saints about whom not much is known, as Canon O’Hanlon explains:

 

A monastery had been founded at Magh-bile, about 540 by St. Finian, denominated Fionn, or Findbarr, meaning “white head,” a most celebrated Irish ecclesiastic, who was a preceptor of St. Columba. About the year 540, or as Sir James Ware states about A.D. 550, he is supposed to have founded a monastery at this place. It is situated in the county of Down. The Irish denomination Magh Bile is rendered by the “field of the aged tree.” Close to the spot are some venerable yew trees of large size, which possibly may be the descendants of that “aged tree,” from which the place derived its name. It was formerly the seat of a bishopric, being a place of great importance, and frequently it is referred to in the early annals of Ireland. A succession of holy bishops was there during the sixth and seventh centuries; but, from the year 731, Moville is noticed only as having been governed by Abbots. The present saint is classsed among the latter, in one of our earliest Calendars. We read in the Martyrology of Tallaght that Beogan Ab. Maighi Bile had a festival at this date. We are not able to find any record of the period at which he flourished…. It is noticed, in the Martyrology of Donegal, that Beoghain, Abbot of Magh-bile, or Moville, had veneration given him, at the present date. In that Calendar, compiled by the Rev. Dr. Reeves, he is noticed simply as St. Beoghan, of Magh Bile, but without the distinction of Abbot.

 

A northern abbot, Mobiu of Inis-Cooscry, is commemorated on 22 July. Canon O’Hanlon has an account of the abbot and of the locality in which he flourished, right in the heart of Saint Patrick country in County Down. He begins with some reflections on the use of personal pronouns in relation to the names of the saints and ends by lamenting the state of the historic ruins of Irish monasteries:

ST BITEUS OR MOBIU, CALLED ALSO DOBI, OR DAVID, ABBOT OF INIS-COOSCRY, COUNTY OF DOWN.

THE original name of the present holy man was apparently Biu; for, we have to admit, that the adjunct of affection mo was but a colloquial addition. Formerly, in Ireland, it was not, and even yet it is not, always customary to use the title of “saint.” With a simple reverence, the people called the holy men and women among them merely by their names, often affectionately prefixing Mo, “my,” or Do, “thy.” Thus, we have in general use the phrase “Patrick’s Day,” or “Stephen’s Green,” applied as the usual forms in reference to times and places. In the early period, the Irish did not call their children by a saint’s name, without prefixing Gilla, “servant,” as Gilpatrick, Gilbride, &c. These observations prepare us for a better understanding of changes occurring, also, in the personal etymons, applied to holy persons in our Calendars. In the published Martyrology of Tallagh, we meet at the xi. of the Kalends of August, or at the 22nd of July, this entry, “Dobi Innse Cumscraidh.” It would seem, that our saint had been known under different names, as we find him variously designated, by our ancient and modern writers, Mo-biu, Do-biu, Dabius, David, Movean, and Bite, or Bitheus. He is called St. Movean or Dabius, of Ireland, in some of the Scottish Calendars. Thus, in Bishop Forbes’ “Kalendars of Scottish Saints,” some notices of this holy Abbot are to be found.

 

According to Colgan, St. Dabius was born of a mother who had been childless, until St. Mochua, then at Bangor, had prayed for her, as mentioned in his Life. The Sanctilogy of the Irish Saints states his father to have been Comgell, son of Erc, son to Arad, son of Columb, son to Cunneth, son of Buan, from whom the Dal-Buan family sprang, and this was a celebrated tribe in Ultonia, although now extinct or unknown. If the genealogical line be complete in the foregoing pedigree, it would be possible to form an approximate calculation of that period at which he flourished. In the Irish Calendar, he is said to have borne the name of Bitheus, also and to have been Abbot of Inse Cumsgraidhe. Sometimes the place is called Inis Cooscry; and this name it obtained, probably from some former owner, named Cosgraidh. It is now known simply as Inch, a parish in Lower Lecale barony, and county of Down.

 

The first church here is said to have stood near Erynach; but, we know not by whom it had been erected. This was situated in the barony of Lecale, about one mile and a-half south from Downpatrick. It it is said, that Magnell Makenlese, King of Ulster, had founded an Abbey here, and we are told,that a St. Evodius had been its first Abbot. On the day of his decease, Evodius prophesied, that his own Abbey should be destroyed in after times, but that an Abbey should be built in the Island, now known as Iniscooscry or Inch. Therefore, he gave directions that his corpse should be interred in it.

 

A monastery appears to have been erected on this peninsula—which exhibits at present some picturesque ruins—long before the arrival of the English in Ireland. As had been justly thought by some writers, Iniscooscry was not called after John de Courcey; for, its ancient name was Inniscumhscraigh, pronounced Iniscooscry. Tigernach, Abbot of Clonmacnoise, who died in 1088, records, that in the year 1002, Sitric, King of the Danes, arrived with a fleet in Uladh and at Kilclief and Iniscooscry; while the Annals of the Four Masters, and Keating, at the reign of Brian Boru, concur in recording the same occurrence, and in almost the same words that Tigernach uses. Under the year 1061, is recorded the death of Hogan O’Cormacan, Abbot of Inniscumscraigh, and Hugh Maglanha, Abbot of Iniscumscray, was a subscribing witness to the charter of Newry.

 

To what exact period we should refer the abbatial functions of St. Mobhius, we have no means of ascertaining. He must have flourished before the ninth century, when he had a connexion with this place, as we learn from the “Feilire” of St. Oengus. …

 

St. Mobiu is commemorated at the 22nd of July, by St. Oengus the Culdee, in the “Feilire.” A comment on this notice remarks in Irish, that Thy-Biu, son of Comgall, was in Ferann Duin, equivalent to the district of Down. A St. Mobhius, son to Comgell, is venerated at the 22nd of July, according to Marianus O’Gorman and others. In Scotland, this holy man was venerated, as we learn from the Kalendar of Drummond, at the 22nd of July. Again, in the “Circle of the Seasons,” we find entered at the 22nd of July, St. Dabius of Ireland.It is melancholy to reflect, as one discovers frequently in travelling through Ireland, that so many temples and monasteries of her ancient Church are now crumbling into ruin. Here, in the times of primitive faith, the good religious tended the lamp of the sanctuary, and while engaged in praise and prayer themselves, their example and instructions were not lost even upon world- lings. These were exhorted to consecrate the beginning and end of the day, and not to allow their worldly concerns to interfere with or to prevent such holy occupations. Those who could not attend the public assemblies of the faithful were always careful to pray at home, at certain appointed times. So was perpetual adoration preserved, while blessings in return flowed on themselves and on their families.Content Copyright © Omnium Sanctorum Hiberniae 2012-2015. All rights reserved.