OMNIUM SANCTORUM HIBERNIAE

Category: Saints of Offaly

  • Saint Ailitir of Mucinis, May 12

    On May 12 we remember a 6th-century saint associated with the site of Lough Derg, not the pilgrimage site in County Donegal whose ‘Saint Patrick’s Purgatory’ achieved such fame in later medieval Europe, but with Lough Derg on the Shannon. The saint himself bears the name of ‘Pilgrim’ and may also have been associated with another monastic site on the Shannon, the famous monastery of Clonmacnoise, as Canon O’Hanlon explains:

    AILITIR, OR ELITIR, OF MUIC-INIS, LOUGH DERG, AND OF CLONMACNOISE, KING’S COUNTY.

    [SIXTH CENTURY.]

    The Festival of Ailithir, with a eulogy, is entered, at the 12th of May, in the Feilire of St. Aengus. His name is elsewhere found Latinized as Alitherius, seu Peregrinus de Mucinis. Yet, we cannot be assured, that this was his proper name. However from the sequel, it seems likely, that he has been identified with a holy man so named, and belonging to one of the Muskerrys, in the south of Ireland. An entry, Ailitir Muccinsi, is found in the published Martyrology of Tallagh, and in the Franciscan copy, at the 12th of May. The Martyrology of Marianus O’Gorman notes, at this date, likewise, Elithir of Muicinis, on Loch Deirg (Derc), now Lough Derg, in the Shannon. It would seem, that both here, and at Clonmacnoise, his memory was held in veneration. The word, Ailitir, or Elithir, signifies “a pilgrim;” and, hence, it may not necessarily be a proper name. At the year 595, however, the Annals of the Four Masters state, that Ailithir, Abbot of Cluain-mic-nois, died. He was the fourth Abbot, having succeeded Mac Nissi, who departed this life, on June the 12th, A.D. 585. The Ailithir, there mentioned, has been identified with the present saint. The Annals of Ulster record his death, at A.D. 598; while, those of Tighernach and the “Chronicum Scotorum” place it, at A.D. 599. The latter authority states, that his family was of the Muscraidhe. This day, the Martyrology of Donegal records a veneration paid to Elitir, of Muic-inis, in Loch Derg-derc. Under that name, it is difficult to find it there, as it does not appear, on the Irish Ordnance Survey Maps.

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  • Saint Baitan, Abbot of Clonmacnoise, March 1

     

    On March 1 the Irish calendars commemorate Saint Baitan, a seventh-century abbot of the monastery of Clonmacnoise. The entry in the Martyrology of Donegal reads

    1. D. KALENDIS MARTII. 1.

    BAOTAN, Mac Ua Corbmaic, abbot of Cluain-mic-Nois, A.D. 663.

    Saint Baitan (Boetan, Baotan, Buadan, Boedan, Baithan, Da-Buadoc) succeeded Aedlugh, whose death is recorded in the Annals at 26th of February, 651, as abbot of Clonmacnoise. Here is how one nineteenth-century writer described him:

    BAEDAN MAC UA CORMAIC,

    whose tribe was of the illustrious Conmaicne Mara family, succeeded in the Abbacy. Ware, Lanigan, and Lynch, in his MSS. history, style this holy man Baitan O’Cormac, ” first a Monk, then Abbot, and lastly Bishop of Clonmacnoise; a man of much piety and learning.” He is named in our Martyrologies, on the 1st of March; but there, as well as in our ancient Annals, receives only the title of Abbot. This is a strong confirmatory proof of the assertion with which we set out, namely, that Abbot and Bishop may here be taken as synonymous. This holy Bishop’s obit, is put down by some as having taken place in 663, and by others, in 660. About that year the plague, called Buidhe Connaill, began to rage in Ireland, and of it some of the most remarkable men of that time in Ireland died.

    Rev John Monahan, Records Relating to the Dioceses of Ardagh and Clonmacnoise (Dublin, 1886), 82.

    Canon O’Hanlon summarizes the evidence for Saint Baitan’s feast on the calendars:

    Baitan, Bishop of Cluan, is mentioned in the Martyrology of Tallagh, as having a festival on the 1st of March, which it appears was the date for his death. Marianus O’Gorman, and his Scholiast, as also Maguire, concur in their statements. We read, in the Martyrology of Donegal, that Baotan, Mac Ua Corbmaic, Abbot of Cluain-mic-Nois, was venerated on this day. The year 660 is assigned for the death of this holy abbot, by the Chronicon Scotorum, and by the Annals of Clonmacnoise; but, A.D. 663, according to the Annals of Ulster, and of the Four Masters.

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  • Saint Colga the Wise, February 20

     

    The Irish calendars commemorate an eighth-century scholar saint, Colga the Wise, (Colgu, Coelchu) lector of Clonmacnoise, on February 20. The Martyrology of Tallagh has the simple entry ‘Colgu Mac h. Dunechda’ at February 20th, as does the Martyrology of Gorman. The Martyrology of Donegal, however, has a fuller entry, which tells of one of the stories associated with Saint Colga – his miraculous meeting with Saint Paul the Apostle:
    20. B. DECIMO KAL. MARTII. 20.
     
    COLGA, Mac Ua Duinechda, i.e. Lector of Cluan-mac-nois. It was he that composed the kind of prayer, called the Scuab Chrabhaidh (Broom of Devotion). It was to him Paul the Apostle came to converse with him, and to help him on his road, and he took his satchel of books at Moin-tire-an-air, and it was he that pleaded for him to the school of Cluain-mac-Nois, and the prologue or preface which is before that prayer states that this Colga was a saint, was a priest, and was a scribe of the saints of Erin, etc. And there is a Saint Colga, with his pedigree, among the race of Dathi, son of Fiachra, son of Eochaidh. Muidhmhedhoin, and he may perhaps be this Colga.
    In his book on the monastic schools, Archbishop John Healy expands on the story of Saint Paul, which was recorded by the 17th-century hagiologist Father John Colgan. It seems that the great apostle intervened in a theological dispute between the scholars of Clonmacnoise, represented by our saint, and some other monastic school:
    One day returning from his class hall with his leathern book-satchel on his shoulder, he sat down to rest at the place called Mointireanir. As he sat a stranger came up and began to converse in the kindest and most affable way with the professor, and even ventured to give him counsel and instruction. Nay, more, he took up the book-satchel, and carried it on his own shoulders, letting the tired master walk on by his side. The kind stranger turned out to be the Apostle Paul himself. On another occasion when public disputation was being held at the college, it seems certain scholars were objecting vigorously to Colgu’s views, when St. Paul once more appeared as a learned stranger, and was invited to take part in the discussion.
     
    The unknown scholar accepted the invitation, and reasoned so convincingly that in a very short time he clearly showed to the satisfaction of all present that Colgu’s view of the question at issue was the correct one.
    There are a couple of writings which still survive which are linked to Saint Colga. The first is the prayer, mentioned in the Martyrology of Donegal entry above, called the Scuab Chrabhaidh (Broom or Besom of Devotion). The second is a letter written by Saint Alcuin of York from the court of Charlemagne to ‘Colcus, a lector in Scotia’. The seventeenth century hagiologist, Father John Colgan believed that Saint Colga of Clonamacnoise was Alcuin’s correspondent.
    The 20th of February is established on the calendars as the feast of Saint Colga and the annals variously give his death as occuring in the year AD 789, 791, or 794.
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