12 October sees the feastday of another one of the Twelve Apostles of Ireland, Saint Mobhi of Glasnevin, famed as the founder of a monastic school and as a teacher of some famous saints, among them Saints Colum Cille and Saint Cannice, whose feast falls the day before that of his former master. Saint Mobhi is famous also for having the rather curious adjective ‘clarinech’ appended to his name, this is usually translated as ‘flat-faced’. The earliest Irish calendar, the Martyrology of Oengus, attempted to explain why. The entry for today reads:

12. Declare Fiacc and Fiachra, at the same time —
great is that treasure!
my Bi, strong that triumph!
that fair flatfaced one.

The notes for this entry read:

Mobi, i.e. of Glasnevin on the brink of the river Liffey on the north side. Mobi son of Beoan, of Corco tri of the Luigni of Connaught. Uaine, Findbarr’s daughter, was his mother. In Cell maic Taidg was he conceived and brought forth, and of a dead woman he was begotten.

Table-faced was he, for the earth pressed him down, so that he was one flat board. Mobi the Table-faced of Glasnevin in (the country occupied by) the Danes. Berchan was Mobi’s name. Beoaith son of Senach was his father’s name, and Huanir the Fair, daughter of Finnbarr, his mother’s name. Mobi etc.

The later Martyrology of Marianus O’Gorman records the saint as ‘Clarenech (‘table-face’), from Glasnevin in Fingal on the river Liffey’s brink, on the north side, and Berchan was another name of his.’

The 17th-century Martyrology of Donegal refers to Saint Mobhi’s famous Glasnevin foundation and to some of its notable students:

MOBHI CLAIRENECH, [Abbot], of Glas Naoidhen in Fine-Gall, on the brink of the river Life, on the north side; and Bearchan was another name for him. The year of the Lord when he resigned his spirit was 544. He was of the race of Eochaidh Finn Fuathairt, of whom Brighit is descended; and Uanfinn, daughter of Finnbarr, was his mother. The Life of Colum Cille, chap. 35, states that Colum Cille went to Glas Naoidhen, where Mobhi Clairenech was with two score and ten persons at his school ; and among them were Cainneach, Ciaran of Cluain, and Comgall; and after the dispersion of the school, Mobhi requested of Colum Cille not to accept of any land till he should give him leave. The same life states, chap. 39, that when Colum Cille was at Doire, where the king of Erin, Aedh, son of Ainmire, was, Aedh offered that town to Colum Cille, and that Colum refused to accept of the town because he had not the permission of Mobhi, and that on his coming forth from the town, two of Mobhi’s people met him, bringing the girdle of Mobhi with them to him, after Mobhi’s own death, together with his permission to him to accept of land. When Colum received the girdle he said: “Good was the man who had this girdle,” said he, “for it was never opened for gluttony, nor closed on falsehood.” On which occasion he composed the quatrain:

“Mobhi’s girdle, [Mobhi’s girdle],
Nibhdar sibhne im lo,
It was not opened for satiety,
It was not closed on a lie.”

In his classic work on the monastic schools of Ireland, Archbishop John Healy recounts the time spent by Saint Columba at Glasnevin:

It was the custom in those days for the students to visit the various saints of Erin, who were celebrated for holiness and learning; and so we find that Columba, when he had finished his studies under Finnian of Clonard, directed his steps to the school of another great master of the spiritual life, St. Mobhi Clarainech of Glasnevin.

The students’ cells at Glasnevin were situated on one side of the River Tolka, and Mobhi’s church was on the other, at or near the spot where the Protestant church now stands. The light-footed youngsters of those days, however, found no difficulty in crossing the rapid and shallow stream at ordinary times. But when the river was swollen with heavy rains, it was no easy task to breast the flood; yet such was Columba’s zeal in the service of God that on one such occasion, to his master’s admiration and surprise, he crossed the angry torrent, that he might be present as usual at the exercises in the church. “May God be praised,” said Columba, when he had crossed safely over, “and deliver us from these perils in future.” It is said that his prayer was heard ; and that all the cells, with their occupants, were suddenly transferred to the other side of the stream, and remained there ever after.

Columba had for companions at Glasnevin St. Cannech, St. Ciaran, and St. Comgall—and during their entire lives a tender and ardent friendship united these holy men together. A pestilence which broke out in A.D. 544, and of which St. Ciaran appears to have died, scattered the holy disciples of St. Mobhi’s School; so Columba resolved to return home to his native territory.

Insula Sanctorum et Doctorum or Ireland’s Ancient Schools and Scholars by the Most Rev. John Healy (6th edition, Dublin, 1912),296-297.

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September 27 is the commemoration of one of the many Irish saints who bear the name of Fintan (Fionntain). In his account of the saint below, Canon O’Hanlon makes the case for Saint Fintan of Howth and engages in an illustrated discourse on the remaining ruins at this County Dublin site, only to finish up by saying that he doesn’t have any evidence that this is the Saint Fintan commemorated today! I find this a charming, if occasionally irritating, feature of Canon O’Hanlon’s work and even if we cannot conclude that the Fintan named on the Irish calendars at September 27 is Saint Fintan of Howth, I welcome the opportunity to learn of him.

St. Fionntain, or Fintan.

Nothing particular appears to be known regarding this St. Fionntain, whose name occurs, in the Irish Calendars at this date. The entry of Fintan’s feast at the present day is noticed, in a line of Marianus O’Gorman’s Irish metrical Festilogy. [It is translated as follows by Dr. Whitley Stokes:” Fintan himself against plunderings.”] Among the many holy men having the same name, and without any other designation, it seems difficult to know when and where he lived. On the peninsula of Howth, in the vicinity of Dublin, and at a considerable elevation on the Hill, may be seen the small church or oratory of a St. Fintan. It is supposed to have been formed out of the “survivals” of at least two churches—it may be of more—one of which was of much greater dimensions than the present church, and the other was about the same size as the structure now extant. The present “St. Fintan’s” appears to stand partly on the site of that early oratory. An examination of the foundations shows, that they are laid at two levels. Evidence for such conclusions are seemingly afforded, by the peculiar stone dressings of the apertures, such as found in the door, small windows, and interior recesses. There is a gable over the western door, now covered with ivy, but having an ope for a bell in its upper part; while between it and the door-way, there is a recessed circular window. The whole of the interior had been plastered with mortar, and the exterior was dashed; but, both the mortar and the dashing have fallen off, leaving only an indication that the walls had been thus treated. At the western end are traces showing, that the ends of beams resting on the side walls supported a loft, while light was afforded only from the circular window already mentioned.

A short distance from the church is the holy well of St. Fintan, but any tradition of the day when pilgrims resorted to it has not been preserved in the locality to give a possible clue, which might serve for the patron’s identification. An ancient cemetery surrounds the oratory, and there are still to be seen several tombs and graves. The scenery around St. Fintan’s Oratory has been described and admirably versified in a local legend, which introduces Aideen as the heroine, and records her rest under a remarkable Cromlech, in the adjoining beautiful demesne of Lord Howth. From the simple entry of his name, at this date, we do not feel warranted in connecting the present Fintan with this locality; neither is it established, on any fair grounds, that any other so called had been venerated at Howth. We find Fionntain merely set down in the Martyrology of Donegal, at the 27th of September, and the same notice is in the Irish Calendar, belonging to the Ordnance Survey Records.

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We open the month of August with the commemoration of Saint Nathi of Cuil Saccaile. As we will see in Canon O’Hanlon’s account from Volume 8 of his Lives of the Irish Saints, it was suggested that this saint’s locality was to be found in County Down, even though other evidence pointed to a Leinster origin for the saint. The Anglican writer, Bishop William Reeves, whilst he included the saint in his work on the Ulster dioceses of Down, Connor and Dromore, was unable to identify the place of Cuil Saccaile. Professor Pádraig Ó Riain, however, in his recent authoritative Dictionary of the Irish Saints identifies this place with Taney (Teach Nathí), formerly Sacoyle, County Dublin. He further suggests that our saint could be identical with Saint Nathi of Achonry whose feast is celebrated on August 9 and that he may also be the same Bishop Nathí who was said to have conferred religious orders on the monastics of Saint Brigid of Kildare. Thus although I have reproduced Canon O’Hanlon’s  account of Saint Nathi below (including his identification of Cuil Saccaile with County Down), I think this is a case where modern scholarship has been able to offer a fresh perspective:

St. Nathi, of Cuil Saccaile, in Dalaradia, County of Down.