OMNIUM SANCTORUM HIBERNIAE

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  • ‘Benedict, a strong pillar’


    Although there are a number of Irish saints commemorated on July 11, I found myself interested in the noting on some of our native calendars of the feast of the Translation of the Relics of Saint Benedict. Although the major feast of the father of western monasticism fell on the day of his natalis, March 21, at which date it was recorded in the Martyrology of Aengus, the Martyrology also commemorated the second feastday of Saint Benedict, that of the translation of his relics, on July 11. I was struck by how Saint Aengus the Martyrologist brings together the saints of the East, the West and of Ireland on this day, for the entry sandwiches ‘Benedict, a strong pillar’ between the names of the Great Martyr Euphemia and a local saint, Failbe, from Dísert maic Con-lócha in County Westmeath:

    C. v. idus Iulii.
    La martrai na rígnae
    Eufemiae slógdae,
    Benedicht, bale áge,
    macc craíbdech Con-lógae.

    11. With the martyrdom of the queen,
    Euphemia the hostful,
    Benedict, a strong pillar,
    Cu-lógae’s devout son.

    The scholiast comment is simply this: Benedict, i.e. caput monachorum etc.

    The later Martyrology of Marianus O’Gorman, written in the 12th century, spells out the title of the feastday:

    11. C.
    Translait cuirp in clerigh
    Benedict as mbage.

    11. C.
    The translation of the body of the cleric
    Benedict whom thou proclaims.

    Canon O’Hanlon has a short paragraph in Volume 7 of The Lives of the Irish Saints too:

    Translation of St. Benedict’s Relics.

    In the “Leabhar Breac” copy of the “Feilire,” by St. Aengus, there is a record of St. Benedict’s festival, at the 11th of July. Furthermore, a scholion informs us, that he was Benedict, the Father of Monks. Usuard and other ancient Martyrologists have it as the festival for a Translation of his relics, as the Bollandists note at this day. They refer, however, to his chief feast, at the 21st of March for an exhaustive illustration of his Acts. Also, in Usuard is to be found, at this same date, a Translation of the relics of his sister Scholastica, whose chief festival and Acts are noticed, on the 10th of February.

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  • Vespers Antiphons from the Office of Saint Killian

    Some selections from an Office of Saint Killian have been recorded by the medieval music ensemble Altramar. The trail of the Irish perigrini forms the theme of their collection Celtic Wanderers: The Pilgrim’s Road. They have recorded selections from liturgical offices for Irish saints from a 12th-century Hiberno-Latin manuscript found at Vienna’s Schottensift or ‘Monastery of the Scots’. Below are the notes and texts from the booklet which accompanies the recording, you can find details of all the tracks plus hear samples of the music here.

    I Vespers: Antiphons from the Office of St Killian

    Text and music: Vienna, Schottenstift, Kilian Fragment (12C)

    St Kilian (who became bishop of Würzburg) and his companions Colman and Totnan were Irish peregrini who traveled and proselytized in the areas of Franconia and East Thuringia, where they were martyred sometime around the year 689. The Vespers antiphons heard here are from an office for St Kilian found in one of the fragmentary manuscripts in the archive of the Schottensift in Vienna. These unusual and beautiful melodies did not survive intact: there are missing notes here and there, which required some educated guesswork and creative reconstruction. We chose to present some of these Vespers antiphons and the following Matins antiphons with voice and instrument, as medieval texts and illustrations indicate that stringed instruments may have been used to accompany Celtic liturgical music.

    O Christi martir 

    O Christi martir Sancte Kiliane, qui pro dei nomine
    certando coronam aeterni decoris meruisti
    omnes tua celebrantes sollempnnia tuo interventu gaudium
    in celo exultent se habere perpetuum.

    O martyr of Christ, saint Kilian, who by contending
    for the name of God earned a crown of eternal honour,
    may all who celebrate your rites rejoice
    that by your intervention they have joy in heaven forever.

    Chorus resonet

    Chorus resonet iubilantium regi martyrum
    qui beato Kyliano cum suis sociis
    victoriam contulit passionis.

    Let the chorus resound of those shouting for joy to the invincible king of martyrs,
    the king who conferred on blessed Kilian along with his companions
    the victory of martyrdom.

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

  • Oentú Maelruain – The Unity of Maelruain

    July 7 is the feast of of Saint Maelruain, and there is a list of his particular disciples preserved in a poem known as the Oentú Maelruain (The Unity of Maelruain) in the Book of Leinster:

    “Maelruain, Maeltuile, glorious in deed,
    Maelanfiad of Dairinis,
    The three Flands, Maeldithrub zealous,
    Dimman, Dalbach, Feidlimid.

    Diarmuid, Eochaid, sublime the tale,
    And Oengus Ua Oibleim,
    The folk of that unity all
    (Are) round Maelruain, round Maeltuile.”

    Father Peter O’Dwyer, who has made a particular study of the Céile-Dé as a reform movement, says that ‘an Oentú or union was a close relationship between communities or particular persons’. There are 12 names on the list, in addition to Maelruain’s own, and Father O’Dwyer suggests that this is based on the ‘grouping of Christ and the 12 apostles.’ He goes on to try and put a little meat on the bones of these characters:

    ‘Maeltuile is the second name on the list. The fact that the latter has a dísert situated in County Westmeath is significant. Kenney rightly points out that both dísert and anchorite are part of this reform.

    Maelanfaidh, Abbot of Darinis, lived more than a century before Maelruain and is included probably because the latter had special reverence for him.

    Flann mac Fairchellaig (+825), Abbot of Lismore, Emly and Cork, is contemporaneous with the reform movement.

    Flann mac Duibthuinne is most likely the Flann mac Duibhchonna who appears in the Tallght documents and, in common with his namesake, hails from Daire na bhFlann which probably owes its change of name to them.

    The next Flannan may be from Cill Áird, County Clare (+778). Or he may be a Flann connected with Daire na bhFlann if we follow the second version of the Oentú in the Book of Leinster.

    We know a good deal about the next member, Maeldíthruib, since he lived in the Tallaght Community for a period under the direction of the master and later returned to Terryglass. He was a young, enthusiastic and eager questioner who had great respect for his ‘hero’. He wished to have access to all the sacred writings which had come to Ireland, to serve in the most perfect community. These wishes are a good summary of the central idea of the movement. He died, anchorite and suí (wise man) of Terryglass in 840.

    Dimman was an anchorite in Ara (Limerick/Tipperary) who died in 811 (Annals of Ulster, 810).

    Dalbach, who died c.800, belonged to Cúl Collainge, near Castlelyons, County Cork.

    The next member of the ‘unity’ is a rather strange character, Feidlimid mac Crimthann, born in 770, who became King of Cashel in 820. His marauding exploits, which include the burning of monasteries, set him apart from the other members and made him a rather unlikely model, though Professor F.J.Byrne classes him as ‘a powerful champion of the Céile-Dé’.

    Diarmait, the founder of Dísert Diarmata (Castledermot, County Kildare) in 812, was probably very deeply motivated by the reform. The monastic school, with its scriptural crosses, and the possibility that he was the scribe of the Milan glosses, suggest that it was an important centre of scriptural studies and Christian art.

    The last name in the ‘unity’ is Oengus, a very gifted man. A considerable number of his writings still survive. It is quite probable that he received his early training in Cluain Eidnech in County Laois. He came to Tallaght to benefit from Maelruain’s direction. He had a dísert near the river Nore in County Kilkenny. The story [in the Martyrology of Oengus) tells us that on his way to Tallaght he stopped at Cúl Beannchair, County Laois, where he got the idea of writing a martyrology. Having arrived at Tallaght, he concealed his identity and was given heavy work in the kiln. Finding one of Maelruain’s pupils who could not not learn his lesson, he helped the boy to such an extent that Maelruain found out who he was and chided him for concealing himself. Oengus had great respect for the master as we see in his writings. Some time later he returned to Cluain Eidnech where he died on March 11, possibly 830.

    These names point to a Munster origin. With the advent of Maelruain the reform found a firm base in Tallaght and influenced Finglas. He attracted disciples from other parts of Tipperary, Laois, Cork and Westmeath and it spread to Kildare, Clonmacnoise, Iona and Loch Cré, near Roscrea. Louth and Clonfert are also quoted in the documents. The culdees found their longest duration in Clonmacnoise, Terryglass and Armagh.

    Peter O’Dwyer, Towards a History of Irish Spirituality (Columba, Dublin, 1995), 45-6.

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