OMNIUM SANCTORUM HIBERNIAE

Category: Saints of Tipperary

  • Saint Colman Steallan of Terryglass, May 26

    May 26 is the commemoration of Saint Colman Steallan, a saint of the monastery of Terryglass, County Tipperary. This foundation produced a number of notable holy men including Saint Colum, one of the ‘12 Apostles of Ireland‘ and Maeldithruib the anchorite. The manner in which the name of today’s saint has been recorded in the calendars has given rise to some confusion, not helped by the fact that Colman, Colum, Columb, Colm, Columba are all different ways of transliterating the same name. In the case of today’s saint, some of the later calendars talk of the feast of Steallan, as if we are dealing with two separate people. The latest authoritative guide to the saints of Ireland, Pádraig Ó Riain’s  A Dictionary of Irish Saints (2011), accepts Colmán Stiallán as a single individual and suggests that the epithet Stiallán attached to the name of this particular Colman may perhaps be translated as ‘the little strip’. Canon O’Hanlon records this of the little strip of
    Terryglass, in Volume V of his Lives of the Irish Saints:

    St. Colman Steallan, of Terryglass, County of Tipperary [Sixth and Seventh Centuries.]

    At the 26th of May, we find inserted, in the Martyrology of Tallagh, the name of Colman Stellain, Tirdoghlass, now Terryglass, as having been venerated. The Bollandists also follow this statement, and have some references to Colgan’s work, where allusions are made to our saint. The present holy man is placed in order of succession, after the Abbot Natchoemius or Mochoeminus—said to have been brother to St. Coemgenus, and who died, A.D. 584. The festival in honour of Steallan—as simply entered—of Tir-dá-glas, was celebrated on this day, as we read in the Martyrology of Donegal. In the table, postfixed to this work, we find his name Latinized Stellanus. It would seem, that this record, as published, distinguishes a St. Colman from the present St. Stellan, for there appears a separate entry of both these names. Marianus O’Gorman follows the Martyrology of Tallagh, in uniting both names, apparently for one person, who was venerated on this day, at Terryglass, on the eastern border of Lough Dearg. Other writers—such as Archbishop Ussher and our annalists—call him by the name of Colmanus Stellanus. However, there can hardly be any doubt, that this latter must be the proper entry, for in the “Annals of the Four Masters,” we read, that St. Colman Stellan of Tir-da-ghlas, died on the 26th of May, A.D. 624. With this agrees, likewise, the entry of his departure, in the “Chronicum Scotorum.” Other accounts place his death at 625; while Archbishop Ussher has it so late as 634. The festival of Stellan was observed on the 25th of May, as we find it in the “Feilire” of St. Aengus; and, appended to this notice is an Irish comment, in that copy, contained in the “Leabhar Breac,” which is followed by a Latin one, giving the series of Abbots, for Tir-da-glas and Cluain eidnech. It seems doubtful, notwithstanding, whether Colman should be separated from Stellan; but, many writers regard them as one and the same person.

    Content Copyright © Omnium Sanctorum Hiberniae 2012-2021. All rights reserved.

  • Saint Gaibhrein, June 24

    Canon O’Hanlon, in Volume VI of his Lives of the Irish Saints, has an entry at June 24 for a Saint Gaibhrein. The seventeenth-century Donegal hagiologist, Friar Michael O’Clery, identified him with a  fellow-student of Saint Mochua of Balla, interestingly this Gabhrin was described as a ‘Bishop of the Britons’. Whatever the accuracy of this identification Saint Gabrin’s feast day was recorded on the Irish calendars at June 24. In his account below Canon O’Hanlon also speculates on a County Tipperary location for the city of ‘Gael’ mentioned as the site of Gabhrin’s church in the Life of Saint Mochua:

    St. Gabrin, or Gaibhrein.

    We find the name, Gabrin, set down in the Martyrology of Tallagh, at the 24th of June. According to the O’Clerys, the Life of Mochua of Balla states, that when Mochua left Bennchar, he proceeded to Gael, i.e., a city, which is in Fir Rois. A Bishop of the Britons was there named Gabhrin, and it is said, that he offered the church to Mochua, for they had been fellow-students together. The Calendarist O’Clery thinks this is the same Gaibhren, as that one to whom allusion has thus been made. Under the head of Gael, Duald Mac Firbis enters, Gaibhrinn, bishop, at June 24th. Where his See was situated, however, has not been discovered, nor when he flourished. There is a Geal or Gaile, a parish in the barony of Middlethird, and county of Tipperary. It lies south of Holycross, and east of the River Suir. Here are some ruins of an ancient church. A sketch of it is preserved among the drawings to illustrate County of Tipperary Records, for the Irish Ordnance Survey. The ruined church is surrounded by a cemetery. The west gable was surmounted with a belfry, while some of the walls and windows are still tolerably preserved; however, the east gable, down to the height of the side walls, was destroyed, in 1840. The church was 50 feet in length, by 10 feet, 10 inches, in breadth; the walls were over 3 feet in thickness, and about 13 feet in height. The doorway was on the south wall, about 13 feet, 10 inches, from the west gable; it was destroyed at top, on the inside, so that the original height is not now known; but, its width was 4 feet, 1 inch, and on the outside it had a semi- circular top, measuring 6 feet, 9 inches in height, and 3 feet, 6 inches, in width. This was finished off with chiselled limestone. The west gable contained a small window, which was quadrangular, on the inside, and round-headed, on the outside. There was a second doorway in the north wall, opposite that in the south wall. The parish of Geal was a rectory, and part of the benefice of Holy Cross, in the diocese of Cashel. According to John O’Donovan, the meaning of its denomination is not certain. In the Martyrology of Donegal, at the 24th of June, this saint is described, under the name of Gaibhrein.
    Content Copyright © Omnium Sanctorum Hiberniae 2012-2017. All rights reserved.

  • The Daughters of Cainnech, September 24

    When I first saw the notice for The Daughters of Cainnech in the list of contents of saints commemorated on September 24 in Volume 9 of the Lives of the Irish Saints, I assumed that Canon O’Hanlon would be unable to bring us any details apart from the notices from the calendars. In this case, however, a County Waterford priest had written to the author with details of the lineage and locality of these holy women, whom he linked to Saint Declan. Cainnech’s daughters are only one of a number of similar filial groupings recorded on the Irish calendars, the most famous of which is probably the Daughters of Leinin, whose name lives on in the County Dublin placename now Anglicized as Killiney. In some of these cases, like Leinin’s daughters or the Daughters of Comgall who are commemorated on January 22, tradition records the names of the individuals who make up the group. That doesn’t seem to be the case here, but the locality where the daughters of Cainnech flourished is firmly identified with Molough, near Clonmel, County Tipperary. In the 14th century the Butler family founded a nunnery dedicated to Saint Brigid of Kildare on the site, and I have reproduced the details and sketch of the ruins.

    The Daughters of Cainnech, or Maghlocha, County of Tipperary. [Sixth Century.]

    According to the manuscript and published Martyrology of Tallagh, the Daughters of Cainnech had veneration paid them, at the 24th of September. The Martyrology of Marianus O’Gorman commemorates the festival of Cainnech’s chaste daughters, at this same day. The glossographer adds, that they belonged to Maigh Locha. Their parentage and locality have been fully identified. These holy women were the children of a chieftain who lived in the time of St. Declan, patron of Ardmore, and whose castle had been saved from fire by the latter. Their place was formerly called Magh Locha, now Molough, near the great bend of the River Suir, and not many miles from Clonmel, in the County of Tipperary. There they seem to have lived in religious retirement, most probably some time in the sixth century. Of their lives, however, we find no record.

    Long after that time, their place is said to have been the site for a nunnery, dedicated to St. Brigid, in the former diocese of Lismore. It is mentioned by Archdall, as being in the County of Tipperary; but, he is wrong in placing it near Carrick-on-Suir. The ruins of the old nunnery of Moylough are situated on level ground, about one furlong north of the River Suir. In the year 1840, two parts of this building remained, viz., a chapel and a lateral house; but, from the fragments of walls about them, it appeared to have been a habitation of considerable extent. The church or chapel remaining was then in a tolerable state of preservation, extending from east to west, and measuring in length on the inside 60 feet, in breadth it was 27 feet, 6 inches. Two windows were in the east gable, constructed of chiselled and brownish sand-stone. There were three windows on the southwall, but these were much disfigured and built up with rough masonry. The door-way was on the south wall, and at a distance of fourteen feet from the west gable; it was constructed of chiselled and ornamental lime-stone on the outside, and of chiselled sand-stone on the inside. The west gable had been surmounted by a belfry, having two semi-circular arches, constructed of brownish and chiselled sand-stone. The lateral house extended to the northwest of the chapel, and touching it at the north-west corner. It was fifty-five feet in length on the outside, and twenty-seven in breadth. Its walls were three feet six inches in thickness, and about fourteen feet in height.

    In the Martyrology of Donegal, their festival is also inserted, at the 24th of September.

    Content Copyright © Omnium Sanctorum Hiberniae 2012-2015. All rights reserved.