OMNIUM SANCTORUM HIBERNIAE

Category: Saints of Mayo

  • Saint Airmedach of Cong, June 8

    June 8 is the commemoration of a saint of the west of Ireland, Airmedach of Cong. Cong Abbey is today associated with the twelfth-century processional cross pictured left. As our saint is featured in the late eighth/early ninth-century Martyrology of Tallaght, however, he obviously predates these later medieval glories. Canon O’Hanlon brings us the details and gives us a brief guide to the area:

    St. Airmedach, or Ermedhach, Abbot of Cong, County of Mayo.

    On the 8th of June, in the Martyrology of Tallagh, appears the name Airmedach a Cunga. This place is now known as Cong, delightfully situated at the head of Lough Corrib, and in the county of Mayo. About its early ecclesiastical history, little appears to be known ; but, it is probable, a bishop had been here, from an early period. The founder seems to have been a St. Molocus, or as otherwise called St. Loichen, whose name is found to be connected with the place. But his period does not appear to have been discovered. In 1114, Cunga was destroyed by fire; and, as Gilla-Keerin O’Roda and O’Draeda, two of its Erenachs or Conventual superiors, are stated to have died, A.D. 1127-28, it is not improbable, that some time within these dates, a fine abbey was founded, which belonged to Canons Regular of the Order of St. Augustine.

    The ruins at Cong are yet seen, in a good state of preservation; and, they are a truly picturesque group, in a district celebrated for the loveliness of its natural features. They have undergone restoration, at the instance and expense of the lately deceased public-spirited proprietor, Sir Benjamin Lee Guinness. Though not exactly an island, Cong is surrounded by water; while the town or rather village is situated upon an isthmus, by which Loughs Corrib and Mask are divided. The old name Cunga, in Irish, means “a neck,” so that the site is very appropriately described, as indeed, many of the Celtic denominations preserved in Ireland are indicative of the local peculiarities connected with them. The delightfully situated village of Cong is remarkably rich in scenery, natural wonders, and antiquities. Here, there is a curious cave , called “the Pigeon Hole,” to which a flight of stone steps descends, from the upper surface of the ground outside ; while, at the bottom, runs a subterraneous river, that petrifies into transparent blocks. We find, set down in the Martyrology of Donegal, that a festival in honour of Ermedhach, Abbot of Conga, was celebrated on this day.

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  • Saint Broccan of Maighin, August 25

    August 25 is the feast of a saint Brocccan, commemorated in the earliest calendar, The Martyrology of Tallaght. He is one of the many saints of whom no other details can be found, although Canon O’Hanlon attempts to locate the placename associated with his calendar entry, which appears with two variants in different manuscripts of the Martyrology, with north County Mayo:

    St. Broccan of Maighin, or Brogan of Iomdan.

    St. Brocan of Maighin occurs in the published Martyrology of Tallagh, as having a festival on this day. Somewhat divergent is the entry of his festival, on the viii. of the September Kalends, in that copy contained in the Book of Leinster. The form of name Maighin or Moyne is very common in Irish topographical designations; and it is often compounded with other terms. The present Maighin is probably identical with Moyne, near the mouth of the River Moy, and in the northern part of Mayo County. The name Brogan of Iomdan is set down in the Martyrology of Donegal as having been venerated at the 25th of August.

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  • Saint Deirbhile of Erris, August 3

    August 3 brings the commemoration of some interesting early Irish female saints. Last year I looked at the northern Saint Trea of Ardtrea and this year we can journey to the western county of Mayo for the commemoration of Saint Deirbhile (Derbile, Dairbhile, Derbilia, Derbhiledh). I was pleased to see that there are a number of online local history sites which illustrate a continuing interest in popular devotion to this holy woman. You can see a stained-glass window depicting the story of Saint Deirbhile at the Heritage Centre which bears her name here and a photograph of the ruins of the pre-Norman church here. There are also a couple of videos on youtube showing both the church ruins and Saint Deirbhile’s Well. I noted that like Saint Brigid, Deirbhile too received the attentions of an unwanted suitor and plucked out her eyes to discourage him. The water from her holy well is thus particularly associated with the healing of the eyes. Unlike Saint Brigid, Deirbhile has not left a written Vita, but like Saint Bronagh of Kilbroney her memory is still very much alive in the locality where she once flourished. In his account, however, Canon O’Hanlon does not allude to the popular traditions surrounding our saint but concentrates on her genealogy and the possibility that she was present at the Synod of Easdara convened by Saint Columba in the year 585:

    St. Dairbhile or Derbhiledh, descendant of Eochaidh Muighmedhoin. [Sixth Century.]

    It is mentioned in the Martyrology of Marianus O’Gorman, as likewise by the Commentator on Aengus, that the feast of a St. Derbile occurs on the 3rd of August. According to the Genealogies of the Irish Saints, Derbhilia was the daughter of Cormac, son to Breech, son of Eochad, son to David, son of Fiach, ancestor of the Hua Fiachrach. St. Derbilia seems to have flourished in the sixth century, and she lived a religious life, in Erris, a remote part of the County of Mayo. She was contemporaneous with the great St. Columkille; for, by allowing the usual number of thirty years to a generation, and taking her as the fourth in descent from King Dathi, she must have flourished about that period. She belonged, also, to the Second Class of Irish Saints. She appears to have sought out one of the most remote parts of Ireland for the site of her retreat; while she is supposed to have erected an oratory, within that double peninsula off the extreme north-west coast of the County of Mayo, and where connected by an isthmus with the mainland the town of Belmullet stands. This peninsula, known as the Mullet, extends from Erris Head on the north, to the entrance of Blacksod Bay on the south; it being washed on the west and north by the Atlantic Ocean, on the east by Broad Haven and Blacksod Bay, and on the south by the entrance to Blacksod Bay and the Sound of Achill. It is a region rarely visited by the tourist or general traveller. There, it is supposed St. Dairbhile established herself, about the middle of the sixth century; and, tradition has it, that she founded there a religious institution. Her antique church is yet to be seen within the Mullet, a district little explored, and in the extensive barony of Erris. It is remarkable for the Cyclopean character of its masonry; and it is of an oblong shape, about forty feet in length, by sixteen in breadth. It is lighted on the east end by a small, unadorned, and semicircular-headed window, splaying considerably on the inside. The walls are constructed wholly of gneiss or stratified granite, while they are two feet and seven inches in thickness. A doorway in the western wall measures about four feet ten inches in height; while it is only two feet in width, at the spring of the arch, and two feet four inches at the base. The lintel or arch-stone, now greatly time-worn, has a rude architrave in low relief, on either face. A very beautiful illustration of the circular-headed doorway of this church may be seen, in the celebrated work of Dr. Petrie. Interlaced tracery is to be found on one of the stones, within the doorway, but at present it is greatly worn.

    [Illustration from George Petrie, The Ecclesiastical Architecture of Ireland, anterior to the Anglo-Norman Invasion, (2nd edn, Dublin 1845), 321.]

    After the famous convention at Drumceat had been over, St. Columba travelled southwards, and at Easdara, now Ballysadare, he convened a synod, in 585, to which many of the Irish saints were drawn, as well from a sense of religious obligation, as to pay their respects to the great Apostle of the Picts and Scots. To this we have already alluded, in the notices given of St. Farannan; and, it seems to have been an event of great historic and ecclesiastical importance, at that time, when it had been convened. Ballysadare, or the Town of the Waterfall of the Oak, takes its name from the waterfall, or rather the series of waterfalls, over which the River Uncion discharges its waters into the sea, southwards from the town of Sligo. Before the rise of Ballysadare, the spot on which it stood was called simply Easdara, or the Cataract of the Oak, without the prefix Bal, meaning a town. There, a great number of bishops, abbots, priests and religious assembled, together with a vast concourse of lay persons. The names of many distinguished visitors have been recorded. Colgan seems to identify this saint with the Derbilia of Irras, who assisted at that great synod held at Easdra, towards the close of the sixth century. When she departed this life has not been ascertained, but it was probably towards the close of the sixth or the beginning of the seventh century. She seems to have died in the house of her foundation, and within the Mullet. In the cemetery attached to it, she was interred. We read in the Martyrology of Donegal that veneration was given at the 3rd of August to Derbhiledh, who sprung from the race of Fiachra, son of Eochaidh Muighmedhoin. According.to some, the present saint is not different from a St. Darbile, who is venerated on the 26th of October, and if such be the case, she had a double festival.

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