OMNIUM SANCTORUM HIBERNIAE

Category: Saints of Dublin

  • The Holy Daughters of Leinin, March 6

    There are a number of interesting saints commemorated on March 6, but I have chosen to look at a group of holy women whose name lives on in the placename of Killiney, County Dublin. Canon O’Hanlon brings us the details, first of one group of five sisters and then of another sister called Brighit.

    THE HOLY DAUGHTERS OF LEININ, SAINTS DRUGENIA, LUIGENIA, LUICELLA, MACHA AND RIOMTHACH, AT THE CHURCH OF KlLL-NA-NINGEAN, NOW SUPPOSED TO BE KILLININY, COUNTY OF DUBLIN. [Sixth or Seventh Century.]

    In the last chapter of the “Sanctilogium Genealogicum,” these sisters are said to have been the daughters of Leninus, son to Garrchon, son to Donacius, the son of Conamalius, son to Colgan, son to Cronmael, son to Altius, son to Aengus, the son of Nuadatus, &c. In the Martyrology of Tallagh, these sisters are not named, at the 6th of March; but, there they are called, Ingena Lenini, or the “daughters of Leninus.” Marianus O’Gorman, Charles Maguire and the Martyrology of Donegal place the festival of these holy ladies, at the 6th of March. The site for their church is determined, by Dr. O’Donovan, to have been comprised, within the greater part of the barony of Rathdown, in the present county of Dublin, or in some northern part of Wicklow County. There the sept of Ui-Briuin-Cualann was located. According to William M. Hennessy, the place where these pious ladies lived was in the southern part of the county of Killiney Church, County of Dublin. It is now said to be known as Killininy, or Kilnanaughnin, near Fir House Convent, Bohernabreena. There is an old ruined church at Killiney, on the sea-shore of Dublin County, and near the beautiful bay, to which the church gives name…. Whether it was at Killininy, or at Killiney, the pious daughters of Lenin lived, seems an uncertain matter ; but, it is probable enough, that while their sister Brighit remained at the latter place, the following five occupied the former as a residence. Thus, the Martyrology of Donegal enters the daughters of Leinin, as Druigen, Luigen, Luicell, Macha and Riomhtach. These are said to be sisters of Brighit, daughter of Leinin. Their place is called Cill-inghen-Leinin, in Ui-Briuin Cualann, in Leinster. All of those pious ladies, here venerated, were sisters to St. Colman the Bishop and Patron of Cloyne Diocese and, accordingly, they seem to have lived, towards the close of the sixth or the beginning of the seventh century.

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  • Saint Mo-sacra, Abbot of Saggard, March 3

     

    The Irish calendars at March 3 commemorate Saint Sacer or Mo-sacra, abbot of Saggard, County Dublin. The Martyrology of Donegal records:

    3. F. QUINTO NONAS MARTII. 3.

    MOHSACCRA, Abbot, of Cluain-eidhneach in Laoighis, and of Tigh Sacra, in the vicinity of Tamlacht, and of Fionn-mhagh in Fotharta.

    O’Hanlon records what is known of him:

    This saint, variously named Sacer, Mo-Sacer, Mo-Sacra, Mothacra and Moacra, has his Acts given by Colgan, and more briefly still by the Bollandists. He was the son of Senan, son to Luachan, son of Roer, son to Loga Lethanglais, son of Conall Anglonn, son to Eochad, son of Fieg, son to Factna, son of Senchad, son to Olild, son of Maelcroc, son to Roderic, King of Ireland. He appears to have been called Sacer, from a Latin word, which expresses holiness of life, by which he had been distinguished; and, to this cognomen, the endearing term, Mo, was prefixed. However, Sacer not being a name in use amongst the ancient Irish, we must suppose it, as only secondary to a previous and more national one. This holy abbot appears to have flourished, before or about the middle of the seventh century, if we are to rely upon accounts, furnished by our Martyrologists, regarding his genealogy.

    He erected a monastery, afterwards called after him, Tegh-Sacra, or “the house of Sacer” and, over this foundation, he presided as abbot. The place is now known as Saggard, a small village, and the head of a parish, seven Irish miles S.W. from the Castle of Dublin. The site of Saggard’s ancient monastery and chapel is said to have been on a rise of the Dublin mountains, about one mile beyond the modern village. Saggard, at first bore the name of Tassagard. It is related, that Mo-Sacra also governed, for some time, Finn-magh monastery, at Fotharta, within the province of Leinster.

    [A parish at Tomhaggard, County Wexford, believes that its locality can be identified with Finn-magh:

    As is the case with many parishes and townlands, we find the name of Tomhaggard, as it is known to day, rendered in several forms in ancient charters and deeds. The earliest name of the place was probably “Fion-magh”, which name is mentioned in one or two old documents.

    The parish, however, derives its present title from Saint Mosacer, who succeeded St. Abban as Abbot of Camross and who, incidentally, was also patron of Saggart in Co. Dublin. Tomhaggard stems from the old spelling of ‘Tomhager’ which, in its uncorrupted form, meant “Tomb of St. Mosacer”. There is no extant tradition relating to the exact position of the burial-place of this saint in Tomhaggard. St. Mosacer died in 650 and the local patron day was on March 3rd.]

    Mo-Sacra assisted at a synod held, in the reign of Comgall, King of Ireland, about the year 695, and under the presidency of Flann, Archbishop of Armagh. At this council over forty bishops and abbots were present. Colgan had a copy of the Acts of that synod. Our saint is thought, also, to have been abbot, at Clonenagh ; but, it is more than probable, a Mosacra who had been abbot lived there, at a later period. He appears to have been confounded with our saint, in the Calendar of Cashel, which states, that Mo sacra lived, in the time of Neill Glandubh, King of Ireland. Mo-Sacra of Saggard must have died, however, during or before the reign of that monarch’s great-grandfather; since, he is mentioned, in the Festilogy of St. Oengus, which was written, after the year 792, or during Aedh Oirdnidhe’s reign. The festival of our saint was kept, on the 3rd of March, as appears from the Feilire of St. Oengus. His name is entered, at the same date, in the Martyrology of Tallagh, as Moshacra mac Senain of Tigh Thacra. The Calendars of Cashel, of Marianus O’Gorman and of Maguire have their relative notices regarding him. In the Martyrology of Donegal is set down on this day, Mohsaccra, Abbot, of Cluain-eidhneach or Clonenagh, in Laoighis, or Leix, and of Tigh-Sacra, or Saggart, in the vicinity of Tamhlacht, and of Fionn-mhagh in Fotharta. The Kalendar of Drummond, at the 3rd of March, notices the Natalis of Mo-Sacro and of Cele.
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  • Saint Beccan the Blind, February 26

    We commemorate Saint Beccan on February 26, to whose name the epithet of ‘the blind’ is attached in the seventeenth-century Martyrology of Donegal. His name, however, was preserved in the earliest  of the Irish calendars along with a place name which Canon O’Hanlon argues was in County Dublin:

    St. Beccan, or Becanus, The Blind, Probably of Kinsealy, County of Dublin.

    This holy man flourished, probably at an early period, for he is registered, in the Martyrology of Tallagh, at the 26th of February, simply as Beccan, Chind-sali. In the Martyrology of Marianus O’Gorman, at this day, there is an entry, Becanus Kinsalie. It is probable, his place was near the village of Kinsaly, some three miles from Howth, in the present county of Dublin. This saint appears, from the epithet applied to him, to have laboured under the loss of sight. Becan, the Blind, of Ceannsaile, had a festival, celebrated on this day, as we read in the Martyrology of Donegal.

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