OMNIUM SANCTORUM HIBERNIAE

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  • Irish Saints' Names – December

     

    A selection of Irish saints’ names as suggestions for naming children, this time those whose feasts fall in the month of December. Plenty of good names here for consideration, including a female saint who has been rediscovered in our times – Saint Samthann of Clonbroney. The Clonard theologian, Aileran the Wise is also on the list as is a reputed sister of Saint Colum Cille at December 23.
     
    IRISH SAINTS’ NAMES.

    There
    are many who think that the Irish saints are only a few, and so their
    choice of names for their children is very small. Week by week, a list
    will be given. The name will be spelt as in Irish and the English
    equivalent will be given in brackets. The sex is marked m. for males,
    and f. for females. Only one name is given for each day, but more could
    be given. Year of death as below.

    DECEMBER.

    1. Nessan (Nessant), m.,  in Wexford, 7th century, also on March 17.
    2. Cummin (Cummian), m., Durrow, 662.
    3. Maccoige (Maccoige), m., Lismore.
    4. Suairleae (Suarla), m., 773.
    5. Senan (Senanus), m.
    6. Breaccan (Braccan or Berchan), m., Ardbraecan.
    7. Ollan (Ollan), m.
    8. Brennan (Brendan), m.
    9. Feidelm (Felima), f.
    10. Modimog (Dimog or Dermot), m., Clonkeen, Tipperary.
    11. Meltog (Eiltene), m., Kinsale.
    12. Finnan (Finnian), m., Clonard, 549, also on 23rd February.
    13. Colm (Colm or Columba), m., Terryglass, 552.
    14. Cormac (Cormac), bp.
    15. Mogain (Mogina or Mona), f., Clogher, 593.
    16. Mobeoc or Beanus (Mobheog), m., Lough Derg and Wexford.
    17. Crowmaol (Crunmael), m. Iona.
    18. Finnian (Frigidian), m., Lucca, Italy, also on 10th December.
    19. Samtann (Safana), f., Clonbrony, Granard, 735.
    20. Fraoc (Fraech), m., Mohill, 6th century.
    21. Flann (Flann), m.
    22. Eimin (Evin or Eimeen), m., Monasterevin
    23. Cuman (Cumania), sister of St. Colmcille.
    24. Cuan (Cuan), m., Timahoe, also on 1st January.
    25. Maolan (Mellan), m.
    26. Moliba (Moliba), m., Annahilt.
    27. Tiobrat (Tobrat), m., Moira.
    28. Muiredeac (Murray or Muiredach), m., Armagh, 1007.
    29. Aileran or Aireran (Aleran), m.,  Clonard, 665.
    30. Ailbe (Elvi), bp., Emly, also on 12th September.
    31. Lugna (Luna), m.


     Southern Cross, Friday 4 December 1914, page 15

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  • The Women Saints of Ireland: A Schoolgirl's View

    As November is the month to remember all the saints I cannot allow it to close without an acknowledgment of our Irish women saints. Below is a charming view of them as seen through the eyes of a 1920s Australian schoolgirl winner of an essay competition. The victorious Miss Ena Dalton provided short accounts of six of our best-known holy women – Saints Brigid, Ita, Attracta, Fanchea, Dympna and Lelia – and I note that her presentation of Saint Brigid is entirely a Christian one, without a single mention of a goddess. She concludes with a clarion call for “Irish and Australian maidens” to “revive the ancient glory” and carry the “faith and fame” of both countries to distant lands. I can think of no better illustration to accompany this essay than a post by another Irish woman blogger on the saints, Finola at Roaringwater Journal, whose Rejecting those Earthly Dignities: Irish Women Saints by Harry Clarke provides a visual feast. Read it here.

    PRIZE WINNER

    THE WOMEN SAINTS OF IRELAND

    By Ena Dalton, Baddaginnie.

    (Certified by F. Carroll, teacher.)

    As the people of Ireland are noted throughout the world for their great faith and piety, Ireland can boast of a great number of women saints. Among these the best known are St. Brigid, St. Ita, St. Attracta, St. Fanchea, St. Lelia, and St. Dympna.

    St. Brigid was born in Fochard, Ulster, about the year 453. She shares with St. Patrick the glory and sanctity of being first to form a community of nuns. Her success was miraculous, for many religious establishments were soon extended over the land.

    She received her religious veil very early in life from the hands of St. Mel, nephew and disciple of St. Patrick. She built herself a cell under a large oak, thence called Killdara. Being joined soon after by several pious young virgins, she was at once acknowledged as their mother and founder. Like St. Patrick, Brigid spent much of her time travelling through Ireland, converting and instructing the people.

    The fame of her miracles, her virtues. and her piety soon spread over the land, and many voung girls, inspired with similar religious zeal, hastened to join her in her great mission. Thus, there sprang up numerous religions communities, which were primitive in their manner of living, as also in the severity of their rules and discipline. Their time was spent in prayer, acts of charity, and acts of mortification.

    Innumerable traditions of St. Brigid’s charity and generosity have been handed down to us. The holy attainment she sought on earth was to do the will of God. His grace was her staff through life. All her labours and her sacrifices were rewarded, as the love of her Saviour alone filled her heart. She died in 525, after a very holy life. St. Brigid had the privilege of outward resemblance to Our Blessed Lady, and her great purity merits for her the title of “The Mary of Erin.”

    St. Ita, called the Brigid of Munster, is the Patroness of Limerick, where her memory is fondly cherished to this day. Immense crowds of people still assemble on her feast day at  Kileedy, where the ruins of her ancient church are still to be seen.

    Ita was a direct descendant of Con of the Hundred Battles. She was born in A.D. 480 in County Waterford. The name conferred on her at baptism was Deirdre, or Dorothea; but owing to her longing desire for the gift of Divine love, she came to be called Ita, which signifies thirst, or longing. Even in her infancy, many miracles attested her sanctity. Once, we are told, the room in which she slept was filled with a flood of supernatural radiance. For some time after this the child’s features were lighted up by a marked angelic beauty.

    When Ita founded her convent at Hy-Connail, she was soon joined by many holy maidens eager to imitate her. Her whole life presents an example of affection and charity, which, we may say, are the most beautiful traits of our Irish saints. She died on the 15th January, A.D. 569, and was laid to rest within the little church of the monastery which she had chosen as her earthly habitation.

    St Fanchea was the sister of St. Enda, and the daughter of Conall of Orriell. She lived about the fifth or sixth century, and was the abbess of her monastery. Being warmly attached to her brother, Fanchea had him to visit her constantly. Once, it is related, when Enda passed her convent with his clansmen she refused to see him till he assured her that he would never shed the blood of any man. Finally, she was the means of converting him, and he then entered religion.

    When once he was visiting Fanchea’s convent, he saw a beautiful young lady, who was under his sister’s care. He immediately wished to marry her. Fanchea spoke to the young girl, and advised her to enter religion, and take a heavenly path in life. This she did, and this was the first step to Enda’s conversion.

     St. Attracta, whose feast is on the 11th of August, was one of the numerous band of holy virgins who consecrated their lives to God while St. Patrick still lived. She devoted her time to the poor and the infirm. Even during her life, she worked many wonders. Among others, by her prayers she freed Connaught, her native province, from a wild beast, which was the terror of the inhabitants. Once, as the monster was rushing towards the sanctuary. Attracta went on her knees, prayed earnestly to God, and the wild beast was suddenly struck dead,

    St. Dympna—The virgin, Dympna, born in Ireland of royal heathen parents, grew “as a rose amongst thorns.” Despising the allurements of a pagan court, she secretly received baptism, and devoted herself to Christ.

    Fleeing from a wicked man, who desired to be her lover, Dympna, in company with the blessed Gerebernus and others, took ship to Antwerp. From there they proceeded to Ghela, where, establishing a home, she gave herself up to Divine contemplation, and lived an angelic life.

    After three months, the King, her father, followed her, and, after giving orders for the execution of Gerebernus. himself beheaded Dympna.

    St. Lelia, so well known in the Diocese of Limerick, her native place, was a young virgin, whose feast is celebrated in her native county on the 12th of August.

    Echoes of the lives of the women saints of Ireland still resound, not only through Ireland, but in our own Australia. Bride and Brigid, Ita, Fanchea, Lelia and Dympna are favourite names in many Catholic families. Colleges and schools are dedicated to St. Brigid and St. Ita, for these virgin saints excelled in learning as well as in sanctity. May Irish and Australian maidens revive the ancient glory, and carry the faith and fame of Erin and Australia to distant lands!

    PRIZE-WINNER. (1923, April 12). Advocate (Melbourne, Vic. : 1868 – 1954), p. 37. Retrieved April 25, 2020, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article171248198

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  • An Irish School

     

    According to the Martyrology of Gorman, November 13 is one of the days on which the memory of Colman i Maigh Éo is commemorated, his main feast falling on August 8. Saint Colman is also known as Colman of Lindisfarne and Colman of Inisboffin for he was the leader of those Irish-trained northern English saints who, finding themselves unable to accept the settling of the Paschal Dating Controversy in favour of the Roman date, relocated to the west coast of Ireland. This episode fitted very well with the nineteenth-century view of the ‘Celtic church’ as being intrinsically anti-Roman, but is read in a different context by modern scholars. In the report from an 1888 Australian newspaper below, the Archbishop of
    Melbourne takes the opportunity to bring Saint Colman’s foundation of ‘Mayo of the Saxons’ to the attention of his
    Irish diaspora audience. I was interested to see how the contemporary efforts of religious orders to provide education for the masses are linked to this ancient monastic heritage in the final paragraph. One small point: it is claimed that Mayo translates as ‘plain of the oaks’ but this should read plain of the yews.

    AN IRISH SCHOOL.
    (Melbourne Advocate, June 30.)
     

    The Hibernian Hall was well filled on Saturday night when a concert was given in aid of the building fund of St. Joseph’s Hall and School, Port Melbourne, which is under the charge of the Carmellite Fathers. The Archbishop of Melbourne, the Very Rev. Prior Butler and the Rev. Father Shaffrey were present. During the interval the Archbishop delivered the following address : — 

    His Grace said that as he was set down in the programme to deliver an address, and not allowed, as he desired, to remain a silent listener to the beautiful vocal and instrumental music, and to the admirable recitation, which filled the first part of the programme, he thought it would not be inappropriate— as this concert was given in aid of a Catholic school under the care of the Carmellite Fathers— to give a short chapter of history connected with a famous school, the very name and existence of which seemed to be unknown to general readers. He referred to the school of “Mayo of the Saxons.” The history of this school carries us back over twelve centuries. The scenes are laid in far famed Iona, in Northumbria, in the lone island of Innisboffin, but, above all, in “Mayo of the Saxons,” where this school flourished from the latter part of the seventh to the close of the sixteenth century, when its light was finally put out in the bitter strife which accompanied the attempted introduction of the Reformation into Ireland. Ethelfrid, grandson of Eda, who may be said to be the founder of the Anglo-Saxon race, being defeated in battle and slain, his sons, Oswald and Oswy, fled to the court of the King of Dalradia. By him they were sent for instruction to Iona, where during seventeen years they were taught by St. Columba’a monks secular science in addition to Christian virtue. After this long exile Oswald, having recovered the throne of his fathers, determined to rule over a Christian people. When he looked around for an apostle he naturally turned his eyes to Iona where he himself had received the faith from Irish monks. Sts. Aidan, Finan, and Coleman became in succession Bishops of Lindisfarne and succeeded in winning Northumbria permanently to the true Faith. The rule of St. Coleman was embittered by the disputes which arose between his Celtic and Saxon subjects regarding the proper time for celebrating the Easter festival. When the King sided with his Saxon subjects, St. Coleman, rather than abandon the traditions of the Irish Church, resigned his See, and taking with him the remains of his two immediate predecessors, all the Irish monks, and thirty of the Saxon monks, who had made their religious profession at Lindisfarne, sailed back to Iona. To provide a new home for his Irish and Saxon monks was his next effort. Sailing again from Iona he landed on the island of Innisboffin, off the western coast of Ireland. As the new monastery and the chapel and schools sprang up, the saint, no doubt, flattered himself that here would he end his days, and in death lie by the side of his two saintly predecessors in the See of Lindisfarne. But Saxon and Celt even then found it difficult to agree. So taking with him the Saxon monks, St. Coleman once more set sail and landed on the coast of Mayo. Here, in a large plain, covered with great oaks from which the place derived its name — Mayo means the plain of the oaks — he selected the site of the future monastery and school, which thus gets its name of “Mayo of the Saxons.” That the school soon attained a European reputation we know from authentic history. We may not believe that Alfred the Great ever visited Mayo, or that he sent his son to be educated by Irish monks, or that Alfred’s son, who is said to have died during his scholastic course, lies side, by side with the two sons of a French king beneath a mound which is still pointed out to the inquiring traveller. But the tradition of itself is a strong testimony to the fame which the school long enjoyed. We know enough from Venerable Bede, and from Adamnan, to convince us that few of the great Irish schools attained greater renown or success. Twice it was plundered, and twice burned down, but each time a new monastery and school arose from the ashes of the old. It was only in the reign of Elizabeth that it fell to rise no more. The moral which the Archbishop derived from the chapter of school history was that when an Irish monk or an Irish friar undertakes to build a school he receives great encouragement from the memory of the success of the great Irish schools of old, end when he makes on appeal for this purpose he has strong claims, not only on Irishmen, but also on the descendants of all those who in Irish schools, like that of “Mayo of the Saxons,” received hospitality, gratuitous education, and the highest culture then attainable. 

    AN IRISH SCHOOL.,New Zealand Tablet, Volume XVI, Issue 13, 20 July 1888

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