OMNIUM SANCTORUM HIBERNIAE

Category: Saints of Down

  • Saint Ros of Downpatrick, April 7

    On April 7 we commemorate Saint Ros of Downpatrick. This holy man is linked by kinship in the hagiographical sources to the chieftain Dichu, who gifts a barn to Saint Patrick and becomes one of his first converts. Later hagiologists, however, attempted to identify Ros of Downpatrick with a Saint Ruisen of Inis-Picht, modern Spike Island, County Cork whose feast on this date is first noted in the Martyrology of Tallaght. Canon O’Hanlon himself remarks on the  confusion in his account below:

    St. Ruisen, of Inis-Picht.

    We have an entry of the name, Ruissen, Innse Pich, in the Martyrology of Tallagh, at the 7th of April. The name of this place has been assigned to Muscraige, a territory in Munster and, again, it has been placed, by Colgan, among the Islands of the Picts. However, the denomination is at present supposed to be obsolete. This saint was the same, we are told, as Ross, or Rus, son of Trichem, son of Fica, son of Iomchadh, who belonged to the race of Fiatach Fionn, king of Erinn. If so, he was brother to Dichuo, or Dichu, who was the first to embrace the faith, in the northern parts of Ireland. The story of his life is to be met with, in various Acts of St. Patrick, among whose disciples he is classed. He lived, at a place, called Derluss, a town in the southern part of Ulster; and, afterwards, it was known as Inreathan. It is now called Bright, and there, he seems to have resided. For further particulars related concerning him, the, reader is referred to the Life of St. Patrick,  already written. Rus, or Ros, is said to have been of Dundaleithglass, the old name for Downpatrick, which was the ancient seat of the Ulidian Kings, and where they lived in the strong fort, known as Rath-Keltair, quite near the cathedral. A doubt seems to be implied, as to whether the feast of St. Rus, or Ross, belongs to April 7th, or to April 9th; but, the latter figure seems to have been a misprint, for the 29th. The Bollandists ‘ commemorate Russonus de Insula Pich, on the 7th of April. There seems to me, however, that some confusion, in the attempt to identify St. Ruisen, of Inse Pict, or Inis-Puinc, with St. Ross of Downpatrick, must exist. An ancient Sanctilogy represents this latter person, as having been a brother to Dichu, one of St. Patrick’s first converts in Ulidia ; and, therefore, not only must the church of Downpatrick have been erected, at a very early date, but we ought even regard this Rus or Ross as presiding over it, some time in the fifth century. Although the father’s name and the place seem different, yet St. Ruisen of Inis Pict may probably be identified with a Russ, or Russen, son to Rodan, Abbot of Innisfreil. A conjecture has been offered, likewise, that this saint was identical with the Ruissin, son to Lappain, mentioned in the Life of St. Molagga. He died, it is said, A.D. 658, the comorban to St. Barr of Cork. And, we are told, moreover, that Marianus O’Gorman, as also the commentator on Aengus, say, this saint’s Natalis was celebrated, on the 7th of April. Again, we have  an account of St Russeus, or Russenus, the son of Rodan, who was one of St. Columba’s   companions, when his first missionary expedition to Britain was undertaken, and whose festival has been assigned to the 27th of December, by some Scottish writers ; but, Colgan thinks, it ought rather be referred to the 7th of April,  as noted in the Martyrologies of Tallagh, of Donegal, of Marianus O’Gorman and of Maguire. He flourished, A.D. 563, but the date for his death is uncertain. The Martyrology of Donegal, this day records a festival, in honour of Ruisen, of Inis-Picht.

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  • Saint Fergus of Downpatrick, March 30

    On March 30 we commemorate a bishop of Downpatrick, Saint Fergus. In his account of the saint below Canon O’Hanlon refers to the work of the scholarly hagiologists of earlier centuries and their inability to resolve all of the difficulties concerning our saint’s place in the episcopal succession of Downpatrick, but his feast is attested by both the Irish calendars and the annals:

    St. Fergus or Fergussius, Bishop of Downpatrick.
    [Sixth Century]

    The brief notices, contained in Colgan’s work, are all we can find, referring to Fergus, or Fergussius. This saint appears to have been a distinguished person. Fergusius was son to Aengus, and he descended from Coelbadh, King of Ireland, who died, in the year 357. Aengus was the son of Chrimthann, son to Eochod, son of Colla, son to Coalbad, son of Crunn Badhrai. Our saint was born, probably in the early part of the sixth century. He built a church, or cell, at a place, called Killmbian. This name, which might be Anglicised Kilbean or Kilmean, is thought now to be obsolete. Without authority, Colgan states, that a monastery was at this place, the situation of which was unknown although Archdall places it in the county of Down. However, it is natural enough to suppose, that Killmbian was in that part of the country. Here, too, Harris conceives, that he presided, as an Abbot. Although distinguished Irish writers have believed the identification of his place to be unknown; yet, still it is asserted, that the cemetery of Cill-bian is still known as Killybann, in the townland of Barnamaghery, parish of Kilmore, barony of Upper Castlereagh, and not far from Crossgar. From the church of Killmbian, Fergus was called to preside over the church of Downpatrick. It is called, likewise, Dromlethglas, for which several old writers have Dun-da-leith-glas. Sir James Ware commences his list of the Downpatrick bishops, with St. Cailan. From having been Abbot of Nendrura, Cailan was made Bishop over the church of Down, about the close of the sixth century. For this statement, he refers to Acts of St. Cailan, cited by Usher. It is thought, that St. Fergussius must have been first bishop of Downpatrick, by a learned Irish Church historian, [the Anglican Bishop William Reeves] who supposes, there are no sufficient proofs to show that Cailan, or Coelan, was his predecessor, as some writers maintain. But, according to Mr. John W. Hanna, those who maintain such an opinion have overlooked the true conclusion to be derived from the dates, which show, that whereas Mochoe, Abbot of Nendrum, died 496, it was quite consistent, that another Coelan should be elevated to Down, in 499. Besides, Ussher, who possessed his ” Life and Acts,” could not have been deceived.

    Near Downpatrick are the celebrated Struell Wells, which seem to have been resorted to by pilgrims, from times very remote, and where numberless miraculous cures have been effected…It is supposed, that St. Patrick often resorted to Struell, for penitential purposes, and to sing Psalms while in retirement at Downpatrick, from which it is only a mile or two distant. That see St. Fergus governed, with great prudence and sanctity, until the day of his death, which took place on the 30th of March, A.D. 583, in the sixteenth year of the reign of Aidus, King of Ireland, according to the Annals of the Four Masters, and, likewise, to those of Ulster. The latter have it noted again, under A.D. 589. The Annals of Tighernach have his decease recorded, under A.D. 584. The Annals of Boyle place his death, so early as a.d. 557. The Martyrologies of Tallagh, of Marianus O’Gorman, and of Maguire, have the festival of this saint, at the 30th of March. But, although they call him Bishop, they do not name that see, over which he presided. In like manner, Ferghus, Bishop of Druim-Lethglaisi, is recorded, in the Martyrology of Donegal, as having a festival at this date. Again, under the head of Druim Lethglaisi, Duald Mac Firbis enters, Fergus, bishop, quievit 583, at March 30th. At this day, likewise, the Bollandists have a brief notice of Fergus, although doubting if a cultus were due to him.

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  • Saint Siollan of Moville, October 21

    In the calendar appended to his Ecclesiastical Antiquities of Down, Connor and Dromore, Bishop William Reeves notes on October 21:

    ‘ S. SIOLLAN, abbot of Magh Bile’.

    The Martyrology of Gorman commemorates him as:

    ‘Sillán, a prince who was not evil and cruel’

    and the notes add:

    ‘Sillán the Master, i.e. great-grandson of Garb, abbot of Mag bile.’

    This latter information is also found in the entry for October 21 in the Martyrology of Donegal which records:

    ‘ SIOLLAN, the Master, Mac Ua Gairbh, abbot of Magh-bile.’

    Saint Siollan is the second saint of the monastery of Moville to be commemorated this month, as another of its abbots, Sinell, has his feastday on October 1. Here’s a reminder of the history of this foundation from Archbishop Healy:

    Moville, or Movilla, is at present the name of a townland less than a mile to the north-east of Newrtownards, at the head of Strangford Lough, in the county Down. This district was in ancient times famous for its great religious establishments. Bangor, to which we shall refer presently, is not quite five miles due north of Moville…Further south, but on the western shore of the same Lough, anciently called Lough Cuan, were the Abbey of Inch, the famous Church of Saul, in which St. Patrick died, and the Church of Downpatrick, in which he was buried with SS. Brigid and Columcille. And in one of the islands in the same Strangford Lough, now called Island Mahee, quite close to the western shore, was that ancient monastery and school of Noendrum, of which we have already spoken. Religious men from the beginning loved to build their houses and churches in view of this beautiful sheet of water, with its myriad islands and fertile shores, bounded in the distance by swelling uplands, that lend a charming variety to this rich and populous and highly cultivated county.

    …Finnian is said to have returned to Ireland and founded his school at Moville about the year A. D. 540, that is some twenty years after his namesake of Clonard had opened his own great school on the banks of the Boyne. The name Maghbile means the plain of the old tree, probably referring to some venerable oak reverenced by the Druids before the advent of St. Patrick. At present there is nothing of the ancient abbey-school except a few venerable yews to mark the city of the dead, and an old ruined church on the line of the high road from Newtownards to Donaghadee. This old church, which was one hundred and seven feet in length, in all probability did not date back to the original foundation of the place, although it undoubtedly stands on the site of St. Finnian’s original church. The spot was aptly chosen, sheltered by an amphitheatre of hills from the winds of the north and east, and commanding far away to the south a noble prospect of Lough Cuan’s verdant islets and glancing waters.

    St. Finnian died in A.D. 589, according to the Annals of Ulster, at a very great age.

    Insula Sanctorum et Doctorum or Ireland’s Ancient Schools and Scholars by the Most Rev. John Healy (6th edition, Dublin, 1912), 245 , 249, 254.

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