OMNIUM SANCTORUM HIBERNIAE

Category: Saints of Meath

  • Saint Forannan of Clonard, February 12

    February 12 sees the feast of an eighth-century abbot at the monastery of Clonard, County Meath – Saint Forannan. O’Hanlon has a brief entry on what is known of him:

    St. Forannan, Abbot of Clonard, County of Meath.

    [Eighth Century.]

    We read on this day, in the Martyrology of Donegal, that Forannan, Abbot of Cluain Eraird, was venerated. He is said, also, to have been Abbot of Kildare, and to have died, on the 12th of February, A.D. 740, according to the Annals of the Four Masters,- or according to those of Ulster, A.D. 744.

    In his diocesan history of Meath, Anglican rector John Healy recorded something of the context for the lives of the successors to Saint Finian:

    The establishment at Clonard continued to exist down to the time of the Anglo-Norman invasion. It produced a long succession of men who were eminent in their day, but whose names now sound unfamiliar — such is the evanescent character of all human greatness. The annalists for the most part record for us simply their parentage and their decease. Sometimes, however, they give us small details that make us wish that they had not been so concise in all their statements, but had given us some particulars of the lives of these remarkable men . Thus they tell us of Bishop Tola, who was “a worthy soldier of Christ,” and of Faelgus, who was “a wise man of Clonard.” They tell of Suairleach, “bishop, anchorite, and abbot of Clonard, doctor in divinity and in spiritual wisdom, in piety and good deeds, so that his name spread over all Ireland: “and yet again of Ruman the amiable, a bishop who was ” a shrine of wisdom, illustrious, acute, a man of virgin purity,” and ” loved by the hosts of the assembled people.” Then we have Colman, the “wise doctor,” and Maelmochta, ” the head of the piety and wisdom of Ireland ; “Tuathal, the bishop, who “died after a good life,” and Oengus, lord of Laeghaire, who, after a life of turmoil, retired to spend at Clonard his declining days, but was followed thither by his foes, and slain by the lord of Delvin. Such entries suggest many thoughts, but it is left to the imagination to fill in the picture. They tell, however, that the place was the abode of learning and piety, where good and learned men served their generation by the will of God.

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  • Saint Celba of Kilbeg, August 21

    Last year on August 21 we looked at the commemoration of Saint Senach, a bishop associated with the famous monastery of Clonard in County Meath. We are staying in the royal county to look at another saint also commemorated today on the Irish calendars, Celba or Caelbadh. Canon O’Hanlon summarizes the little that is known of him:

    St. Celba, or Caelbadh, of Cill-Caelbadh, probably Kilbeg or Kilmainhambeg, County of Meath.

    The published Martyrology of Tallagh, registers Celba, at the 21st of August. In that copy, contained in the Book of Leinster, this name is united with that of another saint, at the present date. From the following account of his locality, lying on the north side of Ceananus, now Kells, in the County of Meath, it may be possible to identify his church. The Martyrology of Donegal mentions Caelbadh, of Cill Caelbaidh, on the north side of Ceananus, as having been venerated, at this same date. Kilbeg or Kilmainham-beg,a parish in the barony of Lower Kells, and in the County of Meath, seems to be the most probable identification for the site of this saint’s former church. It appears also to have given name to that place.

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  • Saint Ernin of Inis-Caoin, July 13

    July 13 is the commemoration of Saint Ernin of Inis-Caoin and the name of both the man and his locality are shared in common with a number of others. Canon O’Hanlon reckons the place in this case is to be found in counties Meath and Cavan. In the Lives of the Irish Saints he lists twenty-five saints with the name Ernin, most of whom, like today’s saint, are obscure figures. There is evidence though that at one time this saint was remembered in his locality by a pattern at a holy well dedicated to him:

    St. Ernin, or Arney, of Inis-caoin, now Inniskeen, Counties of Meath and Cavan.

    At the 13th of July, veneration was given to Ernin, of Inis-caoin, as appears in the Martyrology of Donegal. There are three distinct Inis-caoins, viz. : first, Inishkeen, on Lough Erne; secondly, another on Lough Melvin— both of these are in the county of Fermanagh—and thirdly, Inis-caoin-Deagha, or Iniskeen, in the county of Louth. But, the Enniskeen, or Eniskeen, with which the present saint appears to have been connected, was a parish located, partly in the baronies of Lower Kells and Lower Slane, in the county of Meath, but chiefly in the barony of Clonkee, in the county of Cavan. This old church of Eniskeen has been torn down and uprooted, save and except old crosses and numerous tombs, which serve to mark the resting-places of the faithful. No traces remain at present illustrative of the ancient worship. Here, the festival of St. Arney had been celebrated each 13th day of July. A holy well, dedicated to this saint, springs from the soil, and convenient to the burying-ground. It is now dried up, but stations used to be performed there, on the feast-day. It was called Toberarney. In the days of persecution, the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass had to be celebrated on a large block of stone, outside the graveyard of Eniskeen. Anciently, this seems to have been the pedestal of a stone cross or a sanctuary terminus. Various other curious antique objects are in this parish. There is a notice of this saint’s festival, on the 13th of July, as furnished by Father O’Sheerin to the Bollandists.
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