OMNIUM SANCTORUM HIBERNIAE

Category: Saints of Down

  • Saint Colman Finn of Killclief, June 2

    I begin this post on Saint Colman Finn of Kilclief with a caveat – June 2 is not listed as his feast day in the historic Irish calendars. The only basis for the commemoration of this saint on this day is the calendar of saints compiled by the scholarly Anglican Bishop, William Reeves, appended to his 1847 work, Ecclesiastical Antiquities of Down, Connor and Dromore. Unfortunately the author does not give any details of either the saint or his reasons for attributing June 2 as his feast day. The Catholic diocesan historian, Father James O’Laverty, dealt with Kilclief in Volume 1 of his four-volume  history, An Historical Account of the Diocese of Down and Connor, Ancient and Modern, but makes no mention of this particular saint. Kilclief, however, has left traces of its earlier ecclesiastical associations in the sources, which are summarised here. Today this locality is best-known for the ruined medieval tower-house, Kilclief Castle, which Canon O’Hanlon used to illustrate his account below. Finally, although we clearly cannot be definitive about this saint or his commemoration on this day, it is perhaps worth saying that modern scholarship inclines to the view that at least some of the myriad of Irish saints called Colman represented on our calendars may well represent local commemorations of the greatest Colman of them all: Saint Colum Cille (Columba), whose own feast will be celebrated exactly a week from today:

    Reputed Festival of St. Colman Finn, of Kilclief Parish, Barony of Lecale, County of Down.

    According to tradition Kilclief, a parish in the baronies of Upper and Lower Lecale, on the east border of Ulster, boasts of an early ecclesiastical origin. The church here is said to have been founded by St. Patrick while Eugenius and Niellus are held to have been its first ministers and his own disciples. The village, where it was built, stands on the sea-shore; while the surface lies, along the west side of the entrance s or lower part of Lough Strangford channel, and almost everywhere this parish consists of good arable land. North-west of the Protestant church here, and which now occupies the original site, there is a townland at present denominated the Glebe,  but consisting of three distinct old denominations, viz.: Drumroe, Carriff, and Carrowvannish.  Originally, it is probable, Kilclief had been a small parish, consisting only of 1,484 acres; although presenting on the Ordnance Survey Maps five detached portions, which, perhaps, were formerly chapelries, added to augment its income. A Hospital for Lepers had been founded here under the patronage of St. Peter. When allusion is made to this place, it is called Cill-cleithe, or Cill-cliath, in our Annals. The word signifies “church of the hurdles,” probably in reference to its original construction. We find, however, that a daimliag, or stone church, had been here, in or before the tenth century, when it was burned. There, the parish church was dedicated to a St. Coelan, or Kelan. He was probably either Caylan, the founder of Neddrum, or Cillin of Achadh-chail. The original name Caolan admits of these varieties. He was probably son to Derinila, surnamed Cethuir-chich-each, of the Four Provinces, mentioned by St. Aengus the Culdee. In 1034 Cillchiath was annexed to the See lands of Down and, about the year 1178, John De Courcy confirmed the possession of Kilcleth to the bishop. About the year 1183, Bishop Malachi granted the church of Killecleth to the Abbey of St. Patrick. Near the site of the former church rises the old castle of Kilclief, in which the bishops of Down, at one time, resided. It seems to be a building of the fourteenth century, and it is still in good preservation, being well roofed. The castle and lands of Kilclief were an ancient See House and Manor, belonging to the Bishops of Down. In the middle of the last century, the castle was still entire, and covered with thatch. There was a chamber, in this castle, called the Hawk’s Chamber and possibly, it may have been so designated, from the figure of a fowl, resembling a hawk, which was carved on a stone chimney-piece, in a room on the second floor, and on which was cut, also, in bas-relief, a Cross Patee.  The first floor is vaulted. It has two front wings, in one of which there was a stair-case, and in the other a stack of closets. Among the many holy men, bearing the name of Colman, and mentioned in our Calendars, the writer can only discover the name of Colman Fionn, venerated at the 4th of April or perhaps, Colman Ban, at the 19th of October.  We find a Colman Finn, an anchorite, whose death is set down, at A.D. 771; yet, we are not informed, if a date or a place has been assigned to him, or a rank among the Irish Saints. The writer is unable to find, on what authority, the Rev. William Reeves connects, at this day, the church and saint heading the present article; but, these are included, in our collection, resting on his authority.

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  • Saint Cummain of Dal Buinne, May 29

    May 29 is the feast of a female saint Commain, daughter of Aillen, who seems to have flourished in the County Down parish of Ballyphilip, as Canon O’Hanlon explains:

    St. Commain, Virgin, of Dal-Buinne, and of Derry, Parish of Ballyphillip, County of Down.

    In the “Felire” of St. Aengus, at the 29th of May, a festival is entered for Cummain, who is characterized as “the pure and good.” In the “Leabhar Breac” copy, the following stanza appears, with its translation, by Dr Whitley Stokes:

    —” May Pollio’s great host convey us to the star-heaven,
    with Cummain the pure and good,
    daughter of lovable Aillen.”—

    From the way, in which this holy virgin’s name has been noticed in a stanza of that metrical Calendar, we infer, she was a daughter of Aillen, or Allen. In the Martyrology of Tallagh, at this date, the entry is, Cumne, Virgin, i. Ingen Alleain, in Aird Ulladh. The Bollandists notice her, at the 29th of May, as Cumania, filia Alleani in Ardvladh, while quoting the same authority. She descended from the race of Fiatach Finn —head of the Dal-Fiatach and monarch of Erin—in this wise. Her father Aillen was son of Baedan, son to Echaid, son of Brian, son to Enna, son of Cathbu, son of Echaid Gunnat, son of Fiacc of Dal Fiatach. In another place, she seems to have been connected with a church, in the territory of Dal-m-Buinne—in Latin Dalmunia—but the exact site is now unknown. To it, allusion appears to be made, in the “Felire” of Aengus, at the 29th of May. An alternative conjecture of a commentator seems to be, that a Cill Ingen Aillen, in Idrone territory, county of Carlow, may have been her place. The church of Cumain, as we are told, lay in the Ards of Ulster. Her place has been identified with Derry, “an oak wood,” and a townland in the parish of Ballyphillip, County of Down. The surface of that parish forms a chief part of what is called Little Ardes, and it lies between the neck or sound of Lough Strangford and the Irish Sea…Here, the virgin’s feast was formerly kept, as a gloss on the Martyrology of Aengus states…Also, on this day, veneration was given, as we read in the Martyrology of Donegal, to Commain, Virgin, of Daire-inghen-Allen, in Uladh.

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  • Saint Maclaisre of Bangor, May 16

    A couple of days ago we looked at an obscure female saint, Lassar, who shares her feast day with the well-known Saint Carthage of Lismore. Today we meet the same name in another form in the person of a seventh-century abbot of Bangor, who shares his May 16th commemoration with the famous Saint Brendan the Navigator. Our abbot’s name, Mac Laisre, describes him as the son of Lasre and Canon O’Hanlon assembles the evidence from the calendars and annals for his feast day below. One source he doesn’t mention though is the poem preserved in the Bangor Antiphonary on ‘The Commemoration of our Abbots’. The poem, consisting of eight strophes of eight lines each, lists the abbots beginning with the founder Saint Comgall, whose feast is also celebrated in the month of May,  describing how Christ has endowed them with heavenly virtues. It begins:

    Sancta sanctorum opera
    Patrum, fratres, fortissima,
    Benchorensi in optimo
    Fundatorum aeclesia,
    Abbatum eminentia,
    Numerum, tempra, nomina,
    Sine fine fulgentia,
    Audite, magna mereta ;
    Quos convocavit Dominus
    Caelorum regni sedibus. 

    The holy, valiant deeds
    Of sacred Fathers,
    Based on the matchless
    Church of Benchor;
    The noble deeds of abbots
    Their number, times, and names,
    Of never-ending lustre.
    Hear, brothers; great their deserts,
    Whom the Lord hath gathered
    To the mansions of his heavenly kingdom.

    Of our saint it says:

    Inlustravit Maclaisreum,
    Kapud abbatum omnium 

    He rendered Maclaisre illustrious,
    The chief of all abbots;

    [Text and Translation from Rev William Reeves, ‘The Antiphonary of Bangor,’ in Ulster Journal of Archaeology, Vol.1 (1853), 168-179.]

    This suggests that although he may today be an obscure figure, he retained a prominent reputation within his own community. Canon O’Hanlon writes:
    St. Maclaisre, Abbot of Bangor, County of Down.

    The Martyrology of Tallagh  records this saint, at the 16th of May, as Mac Lasre, Abbot of Bangor. At the same date, the Bollandists  enter Maclasrius, Abbas Benchorensis, in Ultonia. Allusion is made to him, by Father John Colgan,  as having died, during the reigns of Conall and Kellach, joint sovereigns over Ireland. The “Chronicum Scotorum ” places the death of Mac Laisre, Abbot of Bennchair, at A.D. 644, the year when it is stated Bede was born. On this day, Mac Laisre departed to a brighter and a better world, in the year 645, according to the Annals of Ulster, and of the Four Masters. The Martyrology of Donegal  registers on this day, as having veneration paid him, Maclaisre, Abbot of Bennchor.
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