OMNIUM SANCTORUM HIBERNIAE

Category: Saints of Louth

  • Saint Mainchein of Louth, December 2

    December 2 is the feast of a County Louth saint described in the Martyrology of Donegal as:

    2. G. QUARTO NONAS DECEMBRIS. 2.

    MAINCHEIN, i.e., Mochta’s cook.

    This would seem to associate him with the early Patrician saint Mochta of Louth and his monastery. Mochta, like Saint Patrick, was a Briton by birth and in the list of the ‘Household of Saint Patrick’ preserved in the Tripartite Life  he is listed as ‘his priest’.

    Saint Mainchein is not the only saintly cook mentioned in the Irish calendars, last year I posted on another saint with a December feastday, Temnióc of Clonfert, cook to Molua and of course we have the more famous Saint Blath, cook to Saint Brigid of Kildare.

    As I am currently rereading Father John Ryan’s classic account of Irish monasticism, I noted his observation that the Latin term ‘cellarius’ – cellarer is used to translate the Irish ceallóir or coic, and it is this latter term which the Martyrology of Donegal uses to describe Saint Mainchen. Father Ryan describes the functions of this monastic office, which carries rather weightier responsibilities than the term ‘cook’ might suggest:

    The cellarer (ceallóir or coic) had under his charge not only the kitchen, but the supplies upon which the kitchen depended. He had, therefore, to be a man in whom the fullest reliance could be placed. Over-generosity on his part might lead to unbecoming ease and laxity, whilst an all too rigorous regime might lead to murmuring, discouragement and discontent. Even Caesarius of Arles proved a failure when appointed to fill this office at Lérins, and had to be superseded by another. Hence much might be said in justification of a statement made in one of the later rules that the discipline of the community depends on the cellarer. [This statement is from the Rule of Ailbe, 32: ‘as the food is, so will the order be’.]

    John Ryan S.J., Irish Monasticism – Origins and Early Development, (2nd. edition, Dublin, 1972), 274 .

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  • Saint Sarbile of Faughart, September 4

    September 4 sees the commemoration of Saint Sarbile from the Faughart district of County Louth, which some hagiographical traditions claim to be the birthplace of Saint Brigid of Kildare. The Faughart area is also hailed as the birthplace of Saint Monnina of Killeavy. The Irish sources agree that Monnina was not the original name of this holy woman and most record that she was originally called Dareca. This comment on the Leabhar Breac copy of the Feilire of Oengus, however also notes “Moninne of Slieve Gullion, and Sarbile was her name previously. Or Darerca was her name at first…” So it seems there may be some confusion here. In Volume IX of his Lives of the Irish Saints Canon O’Hanlon provides the few details on the life of Saint Sarbile:

    St. Sarbile, Virgin of Fochart, County of Louth.

    As Mary, mentioned in the Gospel, loved to sit at the feet of Jesus, so do holy virgins desire that calm and rest, in which His voice is best heard speaking to their hearts. We find set down in the Martyrology of Tallagh, at the 4th of September, that veneration was given to Sarbile, Virgin of Fochairde, or Fochart, in the old district of Murtheimhne. This is now a level country in the present County of Louth. It extends from the River Boyne to the Mountains of Cuilgne, or Carlingford. The Martyrology of Donegal simply records the name Sarbile, of Fochard, at the same date. This may have been the St. Orbilia, Virgin, whose Acts Colgan had intended to produce at the present day, as we have gathered from the list of his unpublished manuscripts.

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  • Saint Molocca of Tullyallen, August 7

    Among the saints commemorated on the Irish calendars at August 7 is one whom Canon O’Hanlon feels is associated with a locality in County Louth. All he can tell us of Saint Molocca is the recording of his name at this date:

    St. Molocca or Molacca, of Tulach-h-Olainn, or Tullyallen, County of Louth.

    The name Molocca or Molacca, of Tulach-h-Olainn, is set down in the Martyrologies of Tallagh, and of Donegal, at this date. In the former of these Calendars, his place is less correctly spelled Thilaigh olaind. The place is now Tullyallen, in the County of Louth .

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