OMNIUM SANCTORUM HIBERNIAE

ALL THE SAINTS OF IRELAND

  • The Death of Saint Killian and his Companions

    DEATH OF ST KILIAN AND HIS COMPANIONS.

    St. Kilian, accompanied by two companions, went from Ireland to the vicinity of Wurzburg to preach the Gospel. The fame of his deeds reached the ears of Duke Gosbert. The latter had Kilian summoned to his court, listened to him with attention, immediately renounced his idolatry, and with several of his courtiers received holy baptism. But St. Kilian’s joy over his success was marred by the knowledge that Gosbert had married Gailana, the wife of his living brother. Gosbert promised the saint to dismiss his wife, and then proceeded on a campaign. Gailana, however, heard of what was in contemplation. She wickedly took the terrible resolve to have the holy bishop and his companions murdered. She gave for this purpose a large sum of money to two of her servants. These forced their way at early morning into the sleeping-chambers of the castle, and drawing their swords, slew the bishop and those who accompanied him.

    Short Instructive Sketches from the Lives of the Saints for the use of Parochial and Sunday Schools, Academies &etc. (New York, 1888), 68-69.

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  • A New Hiberno-Latin Hymn on Saint Martin of Tours

    Professor Michael Lapidge has published the text of a hymn to Saint Martin, which although it has been preserved in a collection of materials called the pseudo-Bede Collectaneum published in Basle in 1543, is felt by Lapidge to be of Irish provenance. The prayer to Saint Martin is one of a group of six which have identifiable links with early insular prayerbooks, but scholars have long felt that many of the prayers in Anglo-Saxon prayerbooks derive from Irish sources. Lapidge argues that this prayer to St Martin has obviously originated outside France since it calls for protection against shipwreck for visiting pilgrims and, since early medieval England does not have a literary tradition of veneration of Saint Martin, Ireland is the most likely point of origin. The author goes on to argue for a seventh-century date, based on linguistic analysis and comparisons with other Irish hymns of that period. Lapidge’s paper gives only the Latin text, but below is a translation by David Howlett, with some accompanying notes.

    Deus Domine Meus ‘A New Hiberno-Latin Hymn on Saint Martin’

    1. God, my Lord, I am the one responsible for Your death: be patient now with me, who are strong and powerful.

    2. I adjure the true God, always one and triune, that I may have power now to go to Saint Martin.

    3. I ask now the King of Kings, Who is divine light, that I may be able now, just to visit Saint Martin.

    4. Christ, God of gods, Whose majesty is wondrous, make me to lament, healed, before Saint Martin.

    5. Direct the way clearly, O Nazarene Jesu, so that I may be able excellently to bewail sins there.

    6. For me an aid through shipwreck will be the support of Christ’s soldier Martin.

    7. I wish to visit you; make me come to you, who are of such great virtue, O my Saint Martin.

    8. O my Saint Martin, intercede now, I beg, for me, grieving ill, burdened by the disgrace of sins.

    9. O my Saint Martin, for me now intercede, lest the wisps of flame of perennial punishment touch me.

    10. O my Saint Martin, beloved of the throng of the heavens, lest I be a sharer of punishment help me.

    11. O my Saint Martin, help me that I may enjoy at the end the perennial bread of life.

    12. Glory to You, Father, Who are Brother and Mother.

    Notes

    The first 5 stanzas are addressed to God. The central sixth stanza describes the aid of Saint Martin against shipwreck on the journey from the poet’s home, presumably in Ireland, and the shrine of Saint Martin, presumably at Tours. The last 5 stanzas are addressed to Saint Martin. The doxology is addressed to God. The most appropriate occasions for recitation of this hymn might be the two principal feasts of Saint Martin, 4 July and 11 November.

    David Howlett, The Celtic Latin Tradition of Biblical Style, (Dublin, 1995), 183-186.

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  • The Children of Senchán, June 23

    I have always been interested in the collective commemorations of groups of saints found in the Irish calendars. There are two such groups remembered at June 23, the Daughters of Moinan, a post on whom can be read here, and The Children of Senchán. Often these groups incorporate the sacred number seven and today’s actually comprises fourteen individuals.  I wish it were possible to find out more about them and of their Scottish connection. Canon O’Hanlon brings only the the barest details:

    Article III.—The Children of Senchan.
    In the Martyrology of Donegal, a festival intended to honour the children of Senchan is set down, at the 23rd of June. Among the saints of Scotland, we find enumerated the fourteen sons of Senchan or Clann Senchan, for this same date.

    Article IV.—The Children of Senan.
    We read in the Martyrology of Donegal,  that the children of Senan were venerated, at the 23rd of June. We think, however, that this is only another form for a previous entry.

    The same double entry for ‘Senchán’s children and Senán’s’ is found in the Martyrology of Gorman, but their names are not found at all in the earlier martyrologies of Oengus and Tallaght.

    The Calendars edited by the Scottish Bishop Alexander Forbes also list Senchán’s clan:

    SENCHANIUS, the Fourteen Sons of June 23.—These are probably the Clann Senchain who are commemorated in the Mart. Donegal at 23d June. A curious ” Description of the Island of Sanda,” by Father Edmund MacCana, makes mention of the sepulchre of the fourteen sons of Senchanius in that island. It is printed with observations by Dr. Reeves in the Proc. Roy. Irish Acad., vol. viii. p. 132.

    Father McCana was an Irish Franciscan who visited the island of Sanda, which lies a few miles off the Mull of Kintyre, in the early seventeenth century.  The text published by Bishop William Reeves is written in Latin and includes these details of the twice seven sons of Senchán:

    Corpora bis septem, tota veneranda per orbem, 

    Senchanii natum Sanda beata tenet.
     Doctorum divumque parens, Hibernia quondam . 
    Quos genuit sanctos, Scotia terra tegit …..
    The paper is available through the Internet Archive here. If your Latin is as rusty as mine you may find it more useful to consult the reprint in the appendix to a 2010 paper on the island, as it includes a translation, here:
    ‘Fourteen bodies, throughout the world revered,
    Of Senchanius born blessed Sanda holds.
    Ireland, the mother of divine teachers, once
    Begat the saints whom Scotland’s soil covers….
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