OMNIUM SANCTORUM HIBERNIAE

Category: Saints of Laois

  • Saint Faolan of Strathearn, June 20

    June 20 is the commemoration of a Saint Faolan, whose name is also rendered in the nineteenth-century sources as Fillan, Faelan, Foilan and Felan. This saint is linked to both Ireland and Scotland, but is accepted as a distinct individual from the more famous Saint Fillan, son of Saint Kentigerna, who is commemorated on January 9, two days after the feastday of his mother. The Faolan of June 20 is also described in the Martyrology of Tallaght as Faelan amlabair, Faolan, the mute. The gloss on the Martyrology of Oengus describes him as:

    20. Faelán, i.e. of Ráith Érenn in Scotland, near Glenn drochta in the west it is. Faelán the Dumb, from Srath Érenn in Scotland.

    As the saint is also associated with a church site named after him, Cill Fhaelain, anglicized as Kilwhelan, this provides Canon O’Hanlon with an opportunity to write about a place he knows well, his native county of Laois, called Queen’s County prior to Irish independence:

    St. Faolan, of Rath Erann, in Scotland, and of Cill Fhaelain, in Leix, Queen’s County.

    At the 9th day of January, we have already treated about a distinguished St. Foilan, Felan, or Fillan, who was an Abbot in Scotland, and a native of Ireland. He is said to have been baptized,by a holy Bishop named Ibar. Now, such a bishop seems to have lived in Leix, at an early period. It is related of that St. Foilan, how it was prophesied, he should be born with a stone in his mouth. Moreover, he was a leper. Wherefore, a suspicion has been suggested rather than approved, that such concurring circumstances might possibly identify him with the St. Faolan of Rath-Erran, in Alba, and of Cill-Fhaelan, in Leix. The latter holy man was venerated on this day. A festival is set down, at the 20th of June, in the Martyrology of Tallagh, and in honour of Faelan amlabair, in StraithEret, in Albain. From a very early period, in the Irish Church, the feast ofthis latter holy man had been kept, as we find it set down in the “Feilire” of St. Aengus, who mentions him with eulogy, as being a “splendid mute.” The commentator adds, that he was the son of Oengus, son of Natfraech. He is commemorated, also, by Marianus O’Gorman and by Charles Maguire, at this date. He is designated, moreover, as “Leprosus”—meaning that he was a leper—and it is stated, that he belonged to Laigisia—Leix—a region in Ireland, and that he was of Rath-Eerionn, in Albania. The Bollandists have a notice of this saint, at the present day.

    In the old Life of St. Attracta, there is a legend related, about how she saved the people of Lugna from the wrath and violence of the King of Connaught, his chiefs, and people, by opening a passage for them through Lough Techet. Only one holy man named Foelan, the servant of a harper, was drowned; and owing to the entreaties of his master, St. Attracta prayed for his release from death. An Angel directed her, to go to the place where he lay; and, obeying this order, she found the body as if laid out in sleep. On touching him, Faelan arose as if from an ecstasy. It seems to be inferred, that this present saint was thus restored to life, after he had been drowned. He must have flourished at a very early period, if the identity be established; but, there seems to be no bond of historic connexion to trace it, either as to time or place, while the whole statement is of an extravagant and legendary character. We are further informed, that Faolan was descended from the race of Aenghus, son to Nadfraech, who is supposed to have been the celebrated King of Munster, bearing that name. If this be so, Faolan most likely was a native of that province, and his birth should be referred to the fifth century. However, there are no safegrounds on which to establish a correct conclusion. It is probable, when he resolved on a place for religious seclusion, a vast wood and a wilderness surrounded that elevated spot he selected for a habitation. There, he probably built a cell, and lived in it for some time. His name, moreover, was ever afterwards associated with the locality, and the spot where his church stood was frequented by devout worshippers, so late as the reign of Queen Elizabeth.

     

    Although Archdall asserts, that the place was unknown, such is not the case; for, Kilwhelan was situated on one of the western slopes of the Cullinagh Mountains, in the Queen’s County. The name is still locally preserved. It lay also within the ancient territory of Leix. It is remarkable, that an old disused burial-ground may yet be seen in this townland; while tradition avers, that an old church formerly marked the site, with even greater prominence. The writer has often visited this spot, in early youth, and long before he had acquired a knowledge of its having had a former historic celebrity. At that time, the mound of human remains was a much more prominent object over the surface of an open field, than it now is; cattle have since trampled it down, in its exposed and neglected situation. However, at no time within the present century has there been even a head-stone to mark the site of a grave; but, the peasantry relate, that when the adjoining earth had been turned—even with the plough—human remains, and also pieces of coffins, have been unearthed, which prove, that formerly it was much used as a place for interment.
    We find the present saint recorded, in the Martyrology of Donegal, at the same date, as Faolan, the Stammerer, of Rath Eronn, in Albain, and of Cill Fhaolain, in Laoighis, of Leinster.

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  • Saint Mac Nissi of Clonmacnoise, June 13

     

    June 13 is the commemoration of Saint Mac Nissi, a sixth-century abbot of Clonmacnoise.  He shares his name with the episcopal patron of the northern diocese of Connor whose feast is celebrated on September 3. Today’s saint is noted in the Martyrology of Oengus in the following quatrain, translated by Whitley Stokes:
    With Bartholomew the active
    thou art weak if thou hear not
    from us to the Kings (of heaven)
    went Mac Nissi the chaste of Cluain.
    Canon O’Hanlon brings this account of the saintly abbot of Clonmacnoise in volume VI of his Lives of the Irish Saints:
     
    St. Mac Nissi, Abbot of Clonmacnoise, King’s County [Sixth Century.]
    This holy man is mentioned, by St. Aengus the Culdee, as deserving of religious veneration from an early date. Among the Burgundian Library Manuscripts, at Bruxelles, there is a Latin Life of Moenissus. Whether he was the present saint, or the Mac Nissi, Bishop of Connor, venerated at the 3rd of September, the short account given by Mr. S. Bindon does not enable us to determine. In the Feilire of Aengus, Mac Nissi the chaste of Cluain is commemorated, on the 13th of June. We also find the name of Mac Nesi, Abbot of Cluana mic nois, occurring in the Martyrology of Tallagh, and in that of Marianus O’Gorman, as having had a festival, at the 13th of June. Nearly contemporaneously with the death of St. Ita, of Killeedy, the predecessor of Mac Nissi, and who is called the abbot Aeneas, departed this life. St. Macnessius immediately succeeded him, in the government of Clonmacnoise, at a time when this sanctuary of holiness; on the banks of the Shannon, was in the zenith of its splendour, as a house and home of retreat. He ruled from about A.D. 574, for a period of sixteen years, according to a gloss on Marianus O’Gorman. The account of his being abbot, during the lifetime of Eneas, must be taken to signify, either that he was elected at this abbot’s express wish, when on his death-bed, according to a custom of the time; or that the term abbot, said to have been applied to him by St. Ita, was rather an expression used by the author of her Life, and referable to Macnessius, at a future period. The O’Clerys place this saint’s death, at A.D. 590. The Martyrology of Donegal records him as Mac Nessi, Abbot of Cluain-mic-nois.
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  • Saint Comgan of Gleann Ussen, February 27

    On February 27 we commemorate an Abbot of Gleann Ussen, modern Killeshin, County Laois. There is some confusion around the identity and period in which Saint Comhghán (Comgan, Comhdan) flourished. Some of this has arisen due to conflicting accounts about his pedigree in the Irish genealogies, but also because of the attachment of the suffix ‘cend-inis’ to his name in some of the calendars. This is found in the entry in the Martyrology of Oengus for 27 February:

    With the suffering of Abundus,
    Great his gifts of poems ;
    The feast of Comgan, Cend Inis,
    The finding of the head of
    John [the Baptist].

    In the nineteenth century Margaret Stokes translated this epithet as meaning ‘without reproach’, but some of the earlier hagiographers appear to have believed that Cend Inis (Ceann Innis or Kean-Indse) was a place in Munster associated with the saint and assigned him to the period of the seventh century. Canon O’Hanlon, however, believes that he actually belongs to the ninth century and is more firmly associated with Gleann Ussen. As he explains:

    That St. Comgan was connected with Gleann-Ussen appears, from the authority of the Menelogium Genealogicum, the Martyrologies of Tallagh, of Cashel and of Marianus O’Gorman. This was the name of a remarkable glen, situated in the territory of Hi-Bairche, about two Irish miles to the west of Carlow. There exists a considerable portion of the ruins of an ancient church, called Cill Ussin, anglice Killeshin.

    At Killeshin, St. Diarmaid or Diermit is said to have built or presided over a church or monastery; and, this must have been as late as the ninth century, if we are to identify him with that Diarmaid, Abbot of Gleann-Uissean, whose death is recorded at A.D. 874. Now, Comgan is generally allowed to have succeeded him ; but, at what particular date is not clearly ascertainable, for we cannot find any well-known allusion to him in our Annals.

    We find him placed after St. Diarmaid, in the government of Killeshin Monastery, and he cannot have enjoyed this position, before the close of the ninth century. Probably this was about the time, when our St. Comgan was abbot over that establishment.

    At this day, he is commemorated in our Irish Calendars. We find the simple entry, Comgan, of Gliuni Usin, inserted in the Martyrology of Tallagh, at the 27th of February. St. Oengus the Culdee, likewise, has placed his festival in the Feilire. The Martyrology of Donegal reads:

    27. B. TERTIO KAL. MARTII. 27.
    COMMAN, Mac Ua Theimhne.

    COMDHAN, [i.e., Diarmaid,] of Glenn-Uissen, son of Diarmaid, son of Deghadh, of the race of Cormac Cas, son of Oilill Oluim ; and Ethne, daughter of Feidhlimidh, son of Tighernach, was his mother.

    The Kalendar of Cashel, the Martyrology of Marianus O’Gorman, and the Martyrology of Cathal Maguire, have entered his festival, at the 27th of February. This holy man appears to have been greatly venerated, in Ireland, where his Office, containing nine Lessons, was formerly recited.

    At the iii. of the March Kalends, or at the 27th of February, we learn from the Kalendar of Drummond, that in the Island of Hibernia, the Natalis of the holy Confessor Comgan, who went to Christ, was celebrated. No further biographical statements, in reference to him, have been preserved.

    In his authoritative 2011 Dictionary of Irish Saints, Pádraig Ó Riain upholds Saint Comhghán’s identification with Killeshin and that cen dinnis means without  reproach. He has been confused with another saint Diarmuid of Gleann Uisean, but they are two distinct individuals. Ó Riain suggests that the importance of Gleann Uisean is reflected in its early twelfth-century ‘chief teacher’ Duibhlitir Ua hUathghaile who wrote a version in Irish of the Sex Aetates Mundi, the Six Ages of the World. Saint Comhghán himself appears in a list of saints whose aid is sought for the men of Leinster in a poem attributed to Saint Moling. Saint Comhghán thus seems to be a good example of a saint who was once  ranked as an important saint of Leinster with a notable monastic foundation, but who is now shrouded in obscurity.

    Note: This post was first published in 2012 and revised in 2024.

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