OMNIUM SANCTORUM HIBERNIAE

ALL THE SAINTS OF IRELAND

  • The Testament of Saint Arbogast

    July 21 is the feast of Saint Arbogast, an Irish saint who laboured in Strassburg. Below is a poem in his honour composed by the Irish born poet, Thomas D’Arcy McGee (1825-1868). It deals with the final testament of Saint Arbogast, as he lay on his deathbed:

    THE TESTAMENT OF ST. ARBOGAST.

    St. Arbogast, the bishop, lay

    On his bed of death in Strasburg Palace,
    And, just at the dawn of his dying day,
    Into his own hands took the chalice;
    And, praying devoutly, he received
    The blessed Host, and thus address’d
    His chapter who around him grieved.
    And sobbing, heard his last request.

    Quoth he; — “The sinful man you see
    Was born beyond the western sea.
    In Ireland, whence, ordain’d, he came,
    In Alsace, to preach in Jesus’ name.
    There, in my cell in Hagueneau,
    Many unto the One I drew;
    There fared King Dagobert one day,
    With all his forestrie array,
    Chasing out wolves and beasts unclean,
    As I did errors from God’s domain;
    The king approached our cell, and he
    Esteem’d our assiduity:
    And, when the bless’d St. Amand died.
    He called us to his seat and sighed.
    And charged us watch and ward to keep
    In Strasburg o’er our Master’s sheep.

    “Mitre of gold we never sought
    Cope of silver to us was nought —
    Jewel’d crook and painted book
    We disregarded, but, perforce, took.
    Ah! oft in Strasburg’s cathedral
    We sighed for one rude cell so small,
    And often from the bishop’s throne
    To the forest’s depths we would have flown.
    But that one duty to Him who made us
    His shepherd in this see, forbade us.

    “And now “— St. Arbogast spoke slow
    But words were firm, tho’ voice was low —
    “God doth require His servant hence.
    And our hope is His omnipotence.
    But bury me not, dear brethren, with
    The pomp of torches or music, sith
    Such idle and unholy slate
    Should ne’er on a Christian bishop wait; –
    Leave cope of silver and painted book
    Mitre of gold and jewel’d crook
    Apart in the vestry’s darkest nook;
    But in Mount Michael bury me.
    Beneath the felon’s penal tree –
    So Christ our Lord lay at Calvary.
    This do, as ye my blessing prize.
    And God keep you pure and wise! ”
    These were the words, they were the last,
    Of the blessed Bishop Arbogast.

    THOMAS D’ARCY MC GEE.

    Daniel Connolly. Ed., The Household Library of Ireland’s Poets, with Full and Choice Selections from the Irish-American Poets (New York, 1887), 703.

  • Saint Gobbán Beg, July 16

    There are a number of saints called Gobbán to be found on the Irish calendars. Occasionally their names are accompanied by a patronymic or an epithet. There is, for example a Gobán Corr ‘the stooped’ and a Gobán Fionn ‘the fair’. The name is also found in a feminine form, as in Saint Gobnait of Ballyvourney. It ultimately derives from gobha ‘smith’ and thus gives rise to that doyen of   legendary craftsmen the Gobán Saor. Today we have one of these saints commemorated on the Irish calendars, Gobbán Beg. The Irish word beag means small or little so Canon O’Hanlon speculates that he must have been a holy man small of stature:

    St. Gobban, Beg.

    At this date—xvii. of the August Kalends—the Irish Kalendars introduce a Feast for a St. Gobban, surnamed “the small.” The simple record, Gobban, occurs in the Martyrology of Tallagh, at the 16th of July. In the Martyrology of Donegal, at the same date, the name is written Gobban, Beg. We may presume, he had been so denominated from his small stature ; for the word beg signifies “little.” In the Irish Calendar, among the Ordnance Survey muniments, he is set down at the xvii. of the August Kalends—July 16th—under a similar appellation. 

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

  • The Feast of the Dispersion of the Apostles, July 15

    On July 15 Canon O’Hanlon notes the recording, in the Martyrology of Aengus, of The Feast of the Dispersion of the Apostles. This feast marks the dispersal of the Holy Apostles to their various missionary destinations, but in some of the copies of Saint Aengus’s calendar a list of not only the biblical Twelve Apostles is appended, but also a list of the ‘Twelve Apostles of Ireland‘. This was a name given to a group of early saints, presented as students of Saint Finnian of Clonard, who themselves dispersed to various parts of Ireland to evangelise this country. Some of them are also credited with founding missions outside of Ireland. In the account below I have transferred the actual quotations from the Martyrology out of the footnotes and into the main body of Canon O’Hanlon’s text. I have also added some notes on the identities of the Irish Twelve:

    Festival of the Twelve Apostles.

    In the ancient Irish Church, on the 15th day of July, was celebrated the Festival of the Twelve Apostles, as we read in the “Feilire” of St. Aengus. In the “Leabhar Breac” copy is the following Irish rann, translated into English, by Whitley Stokes, LL.D.

    “The twelve Apostles who excel every number,
    before a countless host
    Jesus distributed them among Adam’s seed.”—

    There is an Irish stanza annexed, in which those Twelve Apostles are severally named. Thus translated into English :—

    “Simon, Matthaeus and Matthew,
    Bartholomew, Thomas, Thaddaeus,
    Peter, Andrew, Philip, Paul,
    John and the two Jameses.

    and succeeding it, there is another, enumerating the Twelve Apostles of Ireland. This is headed “XII. Apostoli Hiberniae,” and then follow these lines, thus translated into English:

    “The Twelve Apostles of Ireland :—
    “Two Finnens, two chaste Colombs,
    Ciaran, Caindech, fair Comgall,
    Two Brenainns, Ruadan with splendour,
    Nindid, Mobii, son of Natfraech.”

    This ancient Festival, styled the Separation of the Apostles of Christ for their Missions in various parts of the old world, has been often alluded to by the early Greek and Latin Fathers. The Bollandists, who place it at the 15th of July, have a learned disquisition on its origin and history, to which the reader is referred.

    _______________________________________________________________________________

    Notes on the Twelve Apostles of Ireland:

    Two Finnens – the two great Saint Finnians – Finnian of Clonard, ‘tutor of the saints of Ireland’ and Finnian of Moville.

    Two Chaste Colombs – Saint Columba of Iona and Saint Columba of Terryglass.

    Ciaran – Some lists include two Ciarans, both Saint Ciaran the Elder (of Saighir) and Ciaran the Younger (of Clonmacnoise).

    Caindech – Saint Canice or Kenneth of Kilkenny.

    Fair Comgall – Saint Comgall of Bangor.

    Two Brenainns – Saints Brendan the Elder (of Birr) and Brendan the Younger (the Navigator) of Clonfert.

    Ruadan with splendour – Saint Ruadhan of Lorrha.

    Nindid – Saint Ninnidh of Inismacsaint.

    Mobii – Saint Mobhí of Glasnevin.

    Son of Natfraech – Molaise of Devenish.

    Finally, it may be noted that the list of the Twelve Apostles of Ireland is preserved in various manuscripts which do not always tally. Some of the saints, not present on this list, can include Saints Senan and Sinell.