OMNIUM SANCTORUM HIBERNIAE

Category: Saints of Meath

  • Saint Mac Laithbhe of Donoughmore, May 20

    May 20 sees the commemoration of yet another obscure Irish saint whose only memorial is the recording of his feast day on the Irish calendars. In the case of Saint Mac Laithbhe ‘son of Laithbe’ even the recording of an associated locality is of no help as ‘Donoughmore’ is too generic a place name in Ireland to assist in identifying him, as Canon O’Hanlon explains:

    St. Mac Laithbhe, of Donoughmore.

    At the 20th of May, we find a record of this saint, in the published Martyrology of Tallagh, as Mac Laithbhe Domnaighmoir. This latter word was the name of a place. Many localities, called Donoughmore, are known in various parts of our Island; so that it is difficult to discover that one, with which he had been connected. Marluithaes de Momech-mou is noted by the Bollandists, at the 20th of May, and for this feast, the Tallagh Martyrology is quoted;  but, we suspect, the reference has been taken incorrectly from that source. The Martyrology of Donegal,  on this day, registers Mac Laithbhe, of Domhnach-mor. as having been venerated.

    However, on May 27 we find the feast of Saint Eithearn of Donaghmore. He is associated with Domhnach-mór-mic-Laithbhe ‘the great church of the son of Laithbe’ near Slane, County Meath. It has been established that churches which include the word Domhnach (Lord), in their names are among the earliest in Ireland and are linked to the mission of Saint Patrick. It seems that Eithearn is the son of Laithbe described in the church’s title.  Slane is, of course, a locality with well-established Patrician credentials.  Pádraig Ó Riain, in his 2011 Dictionary of Irish Saints, suggests that as May 27 falls within the octave of the May 20 feast of Saint Mac Laithbe, that both days thus probably commemorate the same man, Eithearn, son of Laithbe. 

    Note: This post, first published in 2014, has been revised in 2022.

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  • Saint Maelochtraigh, April 20

    Among the saints commemorated at April 20 Saint Maelochtraigh, apparently the only saint of this name to be recorded in the Irish calendars. It is a name though that he shares with an eighth-century County Meath abbot whose repose is recorded in the Irish Annals at the year 737, as Canon O’Hanlon explains:

    St. Moelochtraigh, or Maelochtraigh.

    Like their Divine Master, the truly great among his followers labour with indefatigable zeal and love, to mitigate the afflictions of the poor, the broken-hearted and the erring. The name of this servant of Christ appears, in the Martyrology of Tallagh, at the 20th of April, as Moelochtraigh. This, too, is the only saint of the name, to be found in our Calendars. It is difficult to identify him. We find, a Maelochtraigh, Abbot of Cill-Foibrigh, who died A.D. 737. But, it is not certain, if he be identical with this saint. His place has been set down as Kilbrew, a townland and parish in the barony of Ratoath, in thecounty of Meath. Here, there was an ancient monastery. The old church of Kilbrew has been uprooted, and a Protestant edifice has been built on its site. The parish is dedicated, as we are told, to St. Brigid. This day was set apart for the veneration of Maelochtraigh, according to the Martyrology of Donegal.

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  • Saint Mochta of Inis-Mochta, March 26

    March 26 is the feast day of a 9th/10th-century County Meath saint, Mochta of Inis-Mochta. Canon O’Hanlon starts off by telling us that he is not to be confused with Saint Mochta of Louth, an earlier and much better-known figure whose feast is celebrated on August 19. I have followed up on one of O’Hanlon’s references, to the work of diocesan historian Dean Anthony Cogan, who reproduced the references to Inis-Mochta from the Irish Annals. These give the impression that the island monastery must have been a foundation of some substance as both Viking and native invaders found it worth attacking. There is a particularly vivid description at the year 939 of the Vikings coming across the frozen lake to plunder the monastery on the ice. Our saint’s death was noted some seventeen years earlier, but ‘the miracles of God and the patron saint’ are credited with preserving the island from being destroyed by fire in the year 1138. I will begin with the account of Saint Mochta by Canon O’Hanlon, taken from Volume III of his Lives of the Irish Saints and then proceed to the notes by Dean Cogan:

    St. Mochta, of Inis Mochta, now Inishmouthy, or Inishmot, County of Meath. [Ninth and Tenth Centuries]

    Different from another celebrated saint of this name, and connected with Louth, is the present holy man. The Bollandists have a notice of him. We find, on this day recorded, in the Martyrology of Donegal, the name Mochta of Inis-Mochta. This locality has been identified with Inishmouthy, county of Meath, by William M. Hennessy. It is also called Inishmot, now a parish, in the barony of Lower Slane. The ruins of Inis-Mochta church are still to be seen, on a romantic spot of ground, containing about two acres. A solitary wall only remains, at the present time; and, latterly, the graveyard has been neglected for interments. This locality was formerly an island. At present, the site is surrounded by low, marshy ground, which is frequently covered with water, during the winter season. The name of this place maybe rendered, in English, “the Island of Mochta.” His festival was celebrated here, on the 26th of March. This saint appears to have flourished, in the early part of the tenth century. The death of Mochta of the Island, son to Cearnachan, priest of Armagh, is recorded at A.D. 922. There can hardly be a doubt, but that he is identical with the present saint.
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    Inishmot, or Inis-Mochta, i.e., the Island of St. Mochta. A religious house stood here, dedicated to St. Mochta, whose festival was celebrated on the 26th of March. The Four Masters have the following notices of this place:

    “922. Mochta of the Island, son of Cearnachan, Priest of Armagh, died.

    “939. Unusual frost, so that the rivers and lakes were passible; and the foreigners (Danes) plundered Inis-Mochta on the ice.

    “1025. An army was led by Flavertach O’Neill, and Maelseachlainn, into Meath, and they obtained hostages, and entered Inis-Mochta upon the ice, and plundered the island, then in the possession of the foreigners (Danes).

    “1138. Under this year the Four Masters describe a war between the O’Conors of Connaught, the O’Ruarks of Breffny, and the O’Carrols of Orgial, on the one side, and the Leinstermen, the Meathmen, and the Danes, on the other. After reporting some military evolutions the annalists proceed:

    “After this the Meathmen, Leinstermen, and the foreigners, proceeded to Inis-Mochta to plunder it, and a countless number of them went on rafts, and by swimming, on the lake, to reach the island; and a party of them did reach the island. The people of the island afterwards came to them in vessels, and numbers of them (the aggressors) were drowned and slain by them; and the party who were on the island fled from thence, not having been able to burn the island, through the miracles of God and the patron saint.”

    “1150. A royal journey by Murtogh O’Loghlan, with the chieftans of the North of Ireland, to Inis-Mochta, to meet O’Carroll and O’Ruark. The hostages of Connaught were brought him to that place without a hosting, through the blessing of Patrick, the successor of Patrick, and his clergy. He divided Meath on this occasion into three parts, between O’Connor, O’Ruark, and O’Carroll; and they banished Murrogh O’Melaghlann from Meath, through the curse of the successor of Patrick and his clergy.”

    Dr. O’Donovan justly remarks: “The ruins of the church of Inis-Mochta are still to be seen on a spot of ground containing about two acres, which was formerly an island, and is now surrounded by low, marshy ground, which is always flooded in winter.”

    Rev. A. Cogan, The Diocese of Meath: ancient and modern, Volume III (Dublin, 1870), 549-550.

       

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