OMNIUM SANCTORUM HIBERNIAE

Category: Saints of Dublin

  • Saint Aodhán of Clontarf, August 3

     

    On August 3 the Irish calendars record the name of Saint Aodhán of Clontarf. Although there are no other details of the saint as an individual, the location associated with him remains rather more problematic. For most people the name Clontarf will automatically suggest Cluain Tarbh, the County Dublin location of Brian Boru’s famous battle in the year 1014. Clearly this is the case for Canon O’Hanlon, whose entry below is illustrated by a picture of the Dublin suburb which he identifies as the place associated with our saint.  He admits, however, that a degree of confusion has been introduced by the fact that some of the later Irish calendars have associated Saint Aodhán with a locality called Cluain Cairbre (Carberry): 

    Article VIII. — St. Aodhan, of Cluain Tarbh, or Clontarf. 

    In the published Martyrology of Tallagh, this saint is called Aedhan Cluana Tarbh. This latter place is the celebrated village of Clontarf, lying on the north shore, at the entrance to the River Liffey, and near the City of Dublin. To this historic place— on the ancient plain called Magh n-Elta — allusion has been already made, in the Life of the Blessed Bryan Boroimha, King of Munster, Monarch of Ireland, and Martyr. It should now be a matter of great difficulty to decide, where exactly the former church of Clontarf had been located. The houses in that village range in a low situation along the coast, but they have a picturesque appearance from the Bay of Dublin, especially as woods recede in the background. According to the Martyrology of the O’Clerys of Donegal, a festival was celebrated at the 3rd of August, to honour St. Aodhan, of Cluain Cairpre. On what authority this denomination has been substituted for Cluain Tarbh, we cannot discover. There are various districts in Ireland called Carberry, and a still greater number of places known as Cluain or Cloon, either simply or in composition. But among over nine hundred places, so designated on the Ordnance Survey Maps of Ireland, we can find none corresponding with Cluain Cairpre which seems to indicate, that the O’Clerys have set it down through a mistake.

     Finally, Pádraig Ó Riain in his Dictionary of Irish Saints suggests another possibility, one of the two County Mayo townlands called Cloontarriff which is also an anglicization of Cluain Tarbh.

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  • Saint Papán of Santry, July 31

     

    July 31 is the feast of a County Dublin saint, Papán of Santry. As Canon O’Hanlon’s entry for this saint in Volume VII of his Lives of the Irish Saints explains, a seventeenth-century hagiologist, Meredith Hanmer, whilst he  preserved the memory of the saint’s annual patron at Santry, confused  him with a Belgian  saint, Poppon of Stavelot. Actual details of our Irish saint’s life are hard to come by but his memory lives on in Saint Pappin’s holy well and also in the name of the townland of Poppintree or Pappan’s tree. His name also occurs in connection with the feast of the Sons of Nadfraech, although it is not certain that he is one of this group. Canon O’Hanlon contents himself by giving us an historical sketch of the later medieval foundation which stood at Santry and ends by citing the evidence for the saint’s feast day from the Irish calendars:

    Article IV. — St. Papan, of Santry, County of Dublin. 

    [Supposed to be of the Fifth and Sixth Centuries.] 

    The Martyrology of Tallagh  mentions, that veneration was given, at the 31st of July, to Papan, of Sentribh, now Santry, near the Irish metropolis. Here was one of the ancient sanctuaries of Ireland, with an old church or a monastery, long since gone, yet tradition preserves the memorial of this saint. Already, at the 25th of January, we have alluded to a St. Poppo, Pappan, or Poppon, supposed to have been Abbot of Stabuletum, who had a festival at that date; but, it is probable, the present St. Papan, of Santry, was a distinct person. Much obscurity, however, surrounds his history. According to what we find recorded, the father of this saint must have been Nathfriach— or more correctly Aengus. From this parentage, it must be inferred, that Papan was born in the fifth, and he probably lived on to the sixth, century. If we are to believe Dr. Meredith Hanmer, he was a native of Santry. In the townland of Poppintree, or Papan’s Tree, so late as the beginning of the present century, the Patron of St. Papan, used to be held annually, on the 31st day of July. It may be supposed, that the former parish church of this pretty village stands on the site of the present Protestant church, which is surrounded by an ancient burying-ground. Whether, at this spot, an older ecclesiastical structure, than that erected in the latter part of the twelfth century, existed, we have now no means left for ascertaining; but, it seems very probable, since in the year 827, we find recorded in our ancient annals the death of Cormac, son of Muirgheas, Abbot of Seantrabh, interpreted Santry. After the Anglo Norman Invasion, however, King Henry II. of England, in granting the kingdom of Meath to Hugh De Lacy, included this neighbourhood within that charter. The latter feudal lord regranted the manors of Skryne and Santry to Adam de Feipo or Phepoe. Afterwards, this proprietor erected a church, consisting of a chancel and nave, separated or connected by a choir-arch. This he conveyed by deed to the Cistercian Abbey of St. Mary, in Dublin. It seems to us, that the Anglo-Norman Baron intended to dedicate the church of his foundation to St. Poppo or Poppon, Abbot of Stavelot, in the Low Countries, rather than to the more ancient Irish Saint bearing a nearly similar name. Wherefore, it is very probable, that both have been confounded in local popular tradition. In the family of De Feipo or Phepoe the manor of Santry continued until about 1375, when Johanna, daughter and heiress to Francis de Feipo or Phepoe, married Thomas Mareward, who was afterwards created Baron of Skryne. The village here seems to have grown up about the church, and it is mentioned in a Chancery Roll, which is dated 1379. In the year 1435, it is recorded as belonging to the Phepoe family; the manor at that time extending over the lands of Ballymun, Shillok, Little Ballycurry, Ballystrawan, &c. In many documents of the period, it gives its own name to the surrounding barony. In 1539, on the 28th of October, William Landey, the last Abbot of St. Mary’s, Dublin, surrendered to King Henry VIII. all the estates of his Abbey, including those belonging to this parish, at that time when the dissolution of religious establishments took place. Then, the rectory, with a manse and a glebe, was of the annual value of £14 12s.; and in the sixteenth century, the manor of Santry passed from the Marewards, who had previously acquired the fee, to William Nugent, eighth Baron of Delvin, who had married Janet, the daughter and heiress of Walter Mareward, Baron of Serine. Afterwards, it was transmitted to the family of the Barrys, and later still to that of the Domviles. In 1609, the church of Santry was rebuilt, and it became the burial place for the latter  families; while, in 1615, we learn, that the church was in good repair, but that the chancel was ruined. The present edifice was erected in 1709, on the ruins of the former one. At this same date, July 31st, the Martyrology of Donegal, has the simple entry, Papan. Marianus O’Gorman and the Martyrology of Tamlacht appear to be cited for confirmation of this insertion.

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  • The Death of Saint Laurence O'Toole

     

    “…Having embarked from England, St Laurence landed on the coast of Normandy, at a creek which at the present time derives its name “St. Laurent’ from him. Shortly afterwards he was seized with the illness which proved fatal to him; and as he found himself unable to proceed on his journey, his progress was arrested at an elevated spot in the neighbourhood of the abbey of Eu. Seeing the towers of this abbey arise in the distance, he made inquiry from some shepherds on the road-side, to what religious order the community belonged. He was told that the abbey was occupied by monks regular, of the order of St. Victor. “Here then”, said the archbishop, “shall my labours terminate”. He approached the abbey gate, and knocked for admission. He was joyfully embraced on entering by the Abbot Osbert, and by his community. But, feeble as was the health of the good archbishop, he must needs repair immediately to the church, where he offered his thanksgivings to God, for having favoured him with a safe voyage, and for having preserved him from the dangers of the sea.

    He began to sink into such a state of exhaustion, that in a short time he was confined to bed, and became unable to rise from it, through excessive weakness. Yet, even in this state, he was not unmindful of the duties he owed his country. At his request, a venerable and prudent man named David, the tutor of his royal companion, was despatched to Henry, charged with the recommendations of the dying archbishop, and as the bearer of an earnest suit in behalf of the Irish subjects of the king. The latter, touched with commiseration on learning the condition of the patriotic prelate, or convinced of the justice of his demand, sent the messenger back, after four days’ delay, with cheering assurances, to soothe the last hours of the dying saint. When his sorrowing attendants discovered the hopelessness of his recovery, they deemed it expedient to remind him of the necessity of making a testamentary disposal of his effects. “God knows”, he replied, “out of all my revenues, I have not a single coin to bequeath”. With sentiments of extraordinary fervour, he prepared for the reception of the holy Eucharist and extreme unction. He frequently cried out in the words of the Psalmist: “have mercy on me, O my God, have mercy on me, since my soul hath trusted in thee”, so long as he felt able to articulate. Shortly before his death his attendants heard him exclaim, in the Irish language: “Ah! foolish and insensible people, what now shall become of you? Who will relieve your miseries? Who will heal you?” Probably at the moment, his thoughts reverted to the paupers his charity had supported during his life-time, and especially during the three years of famine, when, according to his biographer, he gave alms to 500 people each day, besides furnishing clothes, provisions, and necessaries to 300 others, in various parts of his diocese, and being at the expense of maintaining and protecting 200 children, who were left at his door by their destitute parents.

    St. Laurence O’Toole ended his mortal captivity on the 14th day of November, 1180. His biographer tells us that he died on the feria sexta , or Friday, at the close of the midnight hour…..

    Rev. John O’Hanlon, The Life of St. Laurence O’Toole, (Dublin, 1877) , 93-97.

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