OMNIUM SANCTORUM HIBERNIAE

ALL THE SAINTS OF IRELAND

  • The Nativity of Saint Colmán Elo, October 3

    On October 3, some of the Irish calendars record the feast of the nativity of Saint Colmán Elo. The marking of the birth of this saint as a separate feast is perhaps a reflection of his importance as a scholar and monastic founder. He lived c.560–611 and the most important work ascribed to his authorship is the ascetical poem the Apgitir chrábaid (the alphabet of piety). Some modern scholars have also suggested that Saint Colmán may have been the author of the hymn in praise of Saint Patrick, traditionally attributed to Secundinus (Sechnall). I have written about this hymn, Audite omnes amantes, and reproduced a translation of it at my blog dedicated to the three patrons here. Interestingly, genealogical sources record that Colmán Elo of the moccu Béognae was a relative of Saint Colum Cille of Iona, who also has the feast of his nativity listed on the calendars at December 7. Indeed, Saint Colmán features in the Life of Columba by Adamnan and left Iona after the death of its founder in 597 to establish his own monastery at Lann Elo, modern Lynally, County Offaly. The primary feast of Saint Colmán Elo is on September 26 and a post on his life can be read at the blog here. 

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  • Saint Erc, the Bishop, October 2

    On October 2 the Irish calendars list a Saint Erc but without any further details as to when or where he flourished. His name is absent from the Martyrology of Oengus but the Martyrology of Tallaght records Herci episcopi at this date. The later twelfth-century Martyrology of Gorman records his name as does the seventeenth-century Martyrology of Donegal. There are a number of Irish saints named Erc (Earc, Erk, Ercus, Herc), the most well-known of whom is Saint Erc of Slane, an important figure in the hagiography of Saint Patrick. Another is Saint Erc of Alltraighe, who features in the hagiography of Saint Brendan of Clonfert and then there is the Erc recorded in the Life of Saint Seanán as one of three bishops left behind by Seanán on Scattery Island. In addition to these saints known from hagiogaphical sources, there is also Saint Erc of Donaghmore in County Kildare whose feast also falls in the month of October, on the 27th. Pádraig Ó Riain in his Dictionary of Irish Saints suggests that since the Donaghmore saint’s feast day is within the octave of the feast of the famous Erc of Slane on November 2, they may well be the same person. Is it significant too that Erc of Slane’s feast falls exactly one month to the day after that recorded for Erc the Bishop?  Dean Anthony Cogan on page 61 of the first volume of his diocesan history of Meath noted that 

    Colgan says that, in the old calendars, Ercus is treated of on 2nd of October and 2nd of November.

    Saint Erc, therefore, provides a very good illustration of the complexities involved in trying to disentangle the feast days and individual careers of Irish saints who share the same name!
     

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  • Translation of the Relics of Saint Virgilius, September 26

    As there are not many commemorations of Irish saints found on the calendars at September 26, Canon O’Hanlon is forced to look further afield to fill up the September volume of his Lives of the Irish Saints. He notes that various continental sources record the Translation of the Relics of Saint Virgilius of Saltzburg at this date. Beneath this Latin name is Fearghal, an eighth-century Irishman, who embodies the missionary and scholarly ideals of Ireland in the Golden Age of the Saints. A contemporary of the English Saint Boniface, with whom he clashed, Saint Virgil established a reputation as a leading European scholar before his death in 784. His feast day, as Canon O’Hanlon notes below, is on November 27 and a paper on the life and work of this great Irish saint in Europe can be read at the blog here. Below is the account of today’s feast from Canon O’Hanlon’s Lives of the Irish Saints, I regret that he does not bring more actual detail of the circumstances of the translation of the saint’s relics:

    Article IX. Translation of the Relics of St.Virgilius, Bishop of Saltzburg. 

    By Canisius and Ferrarius, the commemoration of a Translation of the Relics of St. Virgilius, Bishop of Saltzburg, in Bavaria, takes place on this day. His Acts are more properly deferred to the 27th of November, the date for his principal festival. The Bollandists notice the Translation of his Relics, at the 26th of September.

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