OMNIUM SANCTORUM HIBERNIAE

Category: Saints of Westmeath

  • Saint Scoth of Cluain Mór Moescna, July 16

    On July 16 the Irish calendars record the name of a holy woman, Scoth, and associate her with a place called Cluain-mór-Moescna. Canon O’Hanlon suggests that this could be the modern Clonmaskill, County Westmeath and raises the possibility that our saint might be the nun of this name mentioned as a relative of Saint Senan of Scattery Island, whose hagiography records that he visited her religious house near Mullingar:

    St. Scoth, Virgin, of Cluain-mor-Moescna, probably Clonmaskill, County of Westmeath. 

    In the Martyrology of Tallagh, at the 16th of July, appears the name Scoth, Cluana moescna. This appears to be identical with Clonmaskill, in the barony of Fertullagh, county of Westmeath . Or it may be Clonmaskill in the parish of Castletowndelvin, and barony of Delvin, in the same county. At an early period after the Anglo-Norman Invasion, Hugh de Lacy built here a castle for his brother-in-law, Sir Gilbert de Nugent, who resided in it for a time, while its ruins now occupy the sides of a quadrangular fort, having had a round tower at each corner. This was anciently the seat of the Barons of Delvin. There is a St. Scota, referred to in the Life of St. Senan, Abbot of Iniscattery. She is called the daughter of Cobhtach, and she is also regarded as his paternal aunt. Her festival is supposed to have fallen on this day. If the identification be correct, she must have been born about or after the middle of the fifth century. Towards the close of his life, St. Senan wished to visit her cell. This must have happened, it seems probable, after the middle of the sixth century. The nunnery of this St. Scoth, or Scota, seems to have been not far from the monastery, which was in the district, known as Irros, in the county of Clare. For an account of the present St. Scota, we are referred by Colgan, to the Martyrologies of Tallagh, of Marianus and of Aengus, at the 18th—probably a mistake for the 16th—of July. Her religious house was situated a few miles northwards from Mullingar. This monastery is supposed to have perished during the Danish wars. The name of this holy woman is entered in the Martyrology of Donegal, at this same date, as Scoth, Virgin, of Cluain Mór Moescna.

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  • Saint Failbhe of Disert Mic-Conlocha, July 11

    July 11 sees the commemoration of a County Westmeath saint, Failbhe, son of Culocha in the Irish calendars. Details of his genealogy have been recorded and Canon O’Hanlon notes a particularly charming description of the saint as ‘a burning and shining light’ in his account below:

    St. Falbi, or Failbhe, Son of Culocha, of Disert Mic-Conlocha, in Cuircne, County of Westmeath.

    In the Feilire of St. Aengus, at the 11th of July, there is an entry of Conlug’s pious son. In a comment annexed, we are informed, that he was of Disert Meic Conlocha, in the west of Meath, and that Failbe was his name. His father was named Conlug—according to other accounts—Culocha. We find entered in the Martyrology of Tallagh at the 11th of July, Mac Conlocae, Falbi being his name, in Disiurt mic-Conlocha, in Curchib. The Bollandists have on this day the brief notices furnished by O’Sheerin, and representing him as a burning and a shining light. The Calendar of Cashel as also the Martyrologies of Marianus O’Gorman and of Cathal Maguire commemorate him. Euten, daughter of Moche, son to Bairrinn, sister of Muiccin, of Maighin, was his mother. The territory of Cuircne or Machaire Cuircne was commensurate with the barony of Kilkenny West, in the county of Westmeath. This district of Cuircne embraced also that portion of Forgney parish, lying south of River Inny, in the barony of Abbeyshruel, and county of Longford. The place of this saint is now probably that called Dysart, a parish partly in the barony of Rathconrath, and partly in that of Moycashel and Magheradernan. There are some remains of an old church and a cemetery lying within it. It is remarked, that in the Menologium Scoticum of Dempster, he has a Failbeus at the 25th of January, at the 3rd of June, and at the 6th of October. The Martyrology of Donegal records the present saint, as Failbhe, son of Culocha, of Disert Mic Conlocha, in Cuircne, in Westmeath.

     

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  • Saint Bigsech of Kilbixy, June 28

     

    June 28 is the commemoration of a female saint, Bigsech, who has left her memory in the placename of Kilbixy, County Westmeath, and in the dedication of a holy well. Canon O’Hanlon draws on the work of Irish Ordnance Survey pioneer, John O’Donovan, and of Meath diocesan historian, Dean Anthony Cogan, in his account below. I note that the leper house at this locality, discussed by Father Cogan on page 578 of volume 3 of his The Diocese of Meath: Ancient and Modern, available online here, was dedicated to Saint Brigid. This 2010 newspaper report on the plans to restore the site of Saint Bigsech’s church describes our saint as a ‘handmaiden of Saint Brigid’:
    St. Bigesg, Bicsecha, or Bigsech, Virgin, of Kilbixy, County of Westmeath.
    The simple entry, Bigsech, Virgin, appears in the Martyrology of Tallagh, at the 28th of June. This holy woman is called the daughter of Bressal, and she was a saint of the Hy-Fiachra family. She descended from the race of Fiachra, son to Eochaidh Muighmheadhoin. The place—apparently called after this holy virgin—is written Cill Bigsighe, i.e., “the church of St. Bigseach,” and it has been Anglicized into Kilbixy, now a parish, in the barony of Moygoish, in the county of Westmeath. This appears to have become an English town of considerable importance, as Sir Henry Piers, who wrote in 1682, relates. Even then it had decayed. Dr. O’Donovan visited this place in 1837, but he found only a few traces of the ancient town. These consisted of—First, the Leper house, a mere ruin; secondly, the site of the castle, but there were no remains whatever of its walls; thirdly, a moat, which had been surrounded by a circular fosse; and fourthly, the site for a gallows. There was a holy well, near the church, then bearing the name of Tobar Bighsighe, i.e., “the well of St. Bigseach.” This saint appears to have had another festival, at the 4th of October. The Rev. Mr. Cogan visited this place on the 4th of August, 1863. Then he found one of the old fonts, belonging to a former church, and stuck in the wall of a donkey-stable, at one of the private entrances to the churchyard. He gives an interesting account of this ancient place. At the same date, the name of this saint occurs in the Martyrology of Donegal, with the designation of Bigsech, Virgin, of Cill-Bigsighe, in Meath.
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