OMNIUM SANCTORUM HIBERNIAE

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  • Saint Dunchadh Ua Brain of Clonmacnoise, January 19

    January 19 is an alternative feast day for Saint Dunchadh Ua Braoin, a tenth-century Abbot of Clonmacnoise, whose death whilst on pilgrimage in Armagh was recorded in the Irish Annals. The date of his repose and thus of his feast day is given as January 19 in Pádraig Ó Riain’s 2011 Dictionary of Irish Saints, but Canon O’Hanlon is convinced that the date should be January 16:

    Reputed Festival of St. Duncadh Ua Brain, Abbot of Clonmacnoise, Anchorite, and Pilgrim. 

    [Tenth Century]  
    It is more than probable, at the 16th day of this month, the Natalis of this holy man was observed.  But in a table, post-fixed to the Martyrology of Donegal, as published by Drs. Todd and Reeves, a commentator on the original MS. has inserted within brackets, and in its proper alphabetical place, the following entry, thus rendered into English: [” Duncadh Ua Brain died 19th Jan., 970; according to the Hagiogenesis he was of the race of Maine, son of Niall of the Nine Hostages.”] We may therefore take it for granted, this holy anchorite was venerated as a saint by all who knew him.

    Note: Canon O’Hanlon’s much fuller account of the saint from January 16 can be read here.

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  • Saint Coppa, January 18

    A female saint with possible Patrician associations is commemorated on January 18. Canon O’Hanlon records the speculation of the seventeenth-century hagiologist, Friar John Colgan, that Saint Coppa may have been associated with the church of Elphin and was one of those whom he listed as having received the veil from Saint Patrick:

    St. Coppa or Cobba, Virgin, Daughter of Baedan.

    [Possibly in the Fifth Century.] 

    The silence of history has obscured many a career, which if better known must command the respect of the good. A festival in honour of Cobba, daughter to Baetan, is recorded in the Martyrology of Tallagh, at the 18th of January. Nor do we find further notices of her in the later calendars. Coppa, virgin, and a daughter of Baedan, is entered in the Martyrology of Donegal, on this day of the month. In the acts of St. Patrick, it is said he left a Cipia, the mother of Bishop Bite, at the church of Elphin. Colgan seems to doubt whether this holy woman—whom he classed among those veiled by St. Patrick—was not identical with the present St. Coppa or Cobba.

    Content Copyright © Omnium Sanctorum Hiberniae 2012-2016. All rights reserved.

  • Saint Mica, January 17

    We have the name of another of our obscure Irish female saints recorded on the calendars at January 17. The name and feast day of Saint Mica are the only details known, as Canon O’Hanlon explains:

    St. Mica or Micca, Virgin. 

    Added in a more recent hand, and traced in Roman characters, on the authority of the Martyrology and on that of Marianus O’Gorman, we find the name of a St. Mica or Micca, virgin, set down in the Martyrology of Donegal, on this day. A nearly similar entry occurs in the published Martyrology of Tallagh, at the 17th of January, as also in the unpublished one. More we cannot find regarding this holy virgin.

    Content Copyright © Omnium Sanctorum Hiberniae 2012-2016. All rights reserved.