OMNIUM SANCTORUM HIBERNIAE

ALL THE SAINTS OF IRELAND

  • Saint Caencomhrac of Inchenagh, July 23

     

    23 July is the feastday of a 10th-century holy man who, like many other of the saints, struggled to reconcile the demands of ecclesiastical office with the desire to pursue an eremitical life. Canon O’Hanlon tells us what is known of Saint Caencomhrac:

    ST. CAIN COMRAC OR CAENCOMHRAC, BISHOP AND ABBOT OF LOUTH, AND SOLITARY ON INIS ENDAIMIH, NOW INCHENAGH OR INISHENAGH, LOUGH REE.

    The Martyrology of Tallagh, registers a festival in honour of Cain Comrac, Innsi Oendaimh, at the 23rd of July. Whether, as written, there be a composite meaning attaching to the present proper name, or whether it be a simple denomination, we cannot determine. He was born, most probably, in the beginning of the ninth century. This holy man, however, belonged to the Muinter Degha race, according to the O’Clerys. However, in the Annals of the Four Masters, we are informed, that this same Caenchomrac was Bishop and Abbot of Lughmhadh— now Louth—the tutor of Aenegan, son to Eigeartach, and also of Dunadhach, son of Eigeartach, from whom are descended the Ui-Cuinn na mBocht. This account seems to agree with that in the Annals of Ulster and in the Chronicum Scotorum. We may therefore doubt, if Caencomhrac had been bishop, at Cluain-mic-Nois, in the first instance, as we are informed. At what time such an event took place does not appear from any entry in our Irish Annals, so that we are inclined to believe the O’Clerys have been mistaken in their statement. As we are informed by them, Caencomhrac left Cluain, in consequence of the veneration in which he was held there; for, the neighbouring inhabitants reverenced him as a prophet. Then, he went to seek solitude on an Island, at the head of Loch Ribh. This Island of Inse Oendaimh is now known as Inchenagh, or Inishenagh. It is near Lanesborough, in the parish of Rathcline, and in the county of Longford…

    The present holy man departed this life, on the 23rd day of July, A.D. 898, according to the “Annals of the Four Masters; in the year 902, according to those of Ulster; and at A.D. 903, according to the “Chronicum Scotorum.” The Martyrology of Donegal, at this same day, records Caencomhrac, Bishop, of Inis Endaimh, in Loch Ribh. Under the head of Inis-Eundaimh, Duald Mac Firbis enters, likewise, Caoncomrac, bishop, at July 23rd. The foregoing are the few particulars that can be recorded, in reference to the position and career of this holy bishop and solitary.

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  • Saint Mobiu of Inis-Cooscry, July 22

     

     

     

    A northern abbot, Mobiu of Inis-Cooscry, is commemorated on 22 July. Canon O’Hanlon has an account of the abbot and of the locality in which he flourished, right in the heart of Saint Patrick country in County Down. He begins with some reflections on the use of personal pronouns in relation to the names of the saints and ends by lamenting the state of the historic ruins of Irish monasteries:

    ST BITEUS OR MOBIU, CALLED ALSO DOBI, OR DAVID, ABBOT OF INIS-COOSCRY, COUNTY OF DOWN.

    THE original name of the present holy man was apparently Biu; for, we have to admit, that the adjunct of affection mo was but a colloquial addition. Formerly, in Ireland, it was not, and even yet it is not, always customary to use the title of “saint.” With a simple reverence, the people called the holy men and women among them merely by their names, often affectionately prefixing Mo, “my,” or Do, “thy.” Thus, we have in general use the phrase “Patrick’s Day,” or “Stephen’s Green,” applied as the usual forms in reference to times and places. In the early period, the Irish did not call their children by a saint’s name, without prefixing Gilla, “servant,” as Gilpatrick, Gilbride, &c. These observations prepare us for a better understanding of changes occurring, also, in the personal etymons, applied to holy persons in our Calendars. In the published Martyrology of Tallagh, we meet at the xi. of the Kalends of August, or at the 22nd of July, this entry, “Dobi Innse Cumscraidh.” It would seem, that our saint had been known under different names, as we find him variously designated, by our ancient and modern writers, Mo-biu, Do-biu, Dabius, David, Movean, and Bite, or Bitheus. He is called St. Movean or Dabius, of Ireland, in some of the Scottish Calendars. Thus, in Bishop Forbes’ “Kalendars of Scottish Saints,” some notices of this holy Abbot are to be found.

     
    According to Colgan, St. Dabius was born of a mother who had been childless, until St. Mochua, then at Bangor, had prayed for her, as mentioned in his Life. The Sanctilogy of the Irish Saints states his father to have been Comgell, son of Erc, son to Arad, son of Columb, son to Cunneth, son of Buan, from whom the Dal-Buan family sprang, and this was a celebrated tribe in Ultonia, although now extinct or unknown. If the genealogical line be complete in the foregoing pedigree, it would be possible to form an approximate calculation of that period at which he flourished. In the Irish Calendar, he is said to have borne the name of Bitheus, also and to have been Abbot of Inse Cumsgraidhe. Sometimes the place is called Inis Cooscry; and this name it obtained, probably from some former owner, named Cosgraidh. It is now known simply as Inch, a parish in Lower Lecale barony, and county of Down.
     
    The first church here is said to have stood near Erynach; but, we know not by whom it had been erected. This was situated in the barony of Lecale, about one mile and a-half south from Downpatrick. It it is said, that Magnell Makenlese, King of Ulster, had founded an Abbey here, and we are told,that a St. Evodius had been its first Abbot. On the day of his decease, Evodius prophesied, that his own Abbey should be destroyed in after times, but that an Abbey should be built in the Island, now known as Iniscooscry or Inch. Therefore, he gave directions that his corpse should be interred in it.
     
    A monastery appears to have been erected on this peninsula—which exhibits at present some picturesque ruins—long before the arrival of the English in Ireland. As had been justly thought by some writers, Iniscooscry was not called after John de Courcey; for, its ancient name was Inniscumhscraigh, pronounced Iniscooscry. Tigernach, Abbot of Clonmacnoise, who died in 1088, records, that in the year 1002, Sitric, King of the Danes, arrived with a fleet in Uladh and at Kilclief and Iniscooscry; while the Annals of the Four Masters, and Keating, at the reign of Brian Boru, concur in recording the same occurrence, and in almost the same words that Tigernach uses. Under the year 1061, is recorded the death of Hogan O’Cormacan, Abbot of Inniscumscraigh, and Hugh Maglanha, Abbot of Iniscumscray, was a subscribing witness to the charter of Newry.
     
    To what exact period we should refer the abbatial functions of St. Mobhius, we have no means of ascertaining. He must have flourished before the ninth century, when he had a connexion with this place, as we learn from the “Feilire” of St. Oengus. …
     
    St. Mobiu is commemorated at the 22nd of July, by St. Oengus the Culdee, in the “Feilire.” A comment on this notice remarks in Irish, that Thy-Biu, son of Comgall, was in Ferann Duin, equivalent to the district of Down. A St. Mobhius, son to Comgell, is venerated at the 22nd of July, according to Marianus O’Gorman and others. In Scotland, this holy man was venerated, as we learn from the Kalendar of Drummond, at the 22nd of July. Again, in the “Circle of the Seasons,” we find entered at the 22nd of July, St. Dabius of Ireland.It is melancholy to reflect, as one discovers frequently in travelling through Ireland, that so many temples and monasteries of her ancient Church are now crumbling into ruin. Here, in the times of primitive faith, the good religious tended the lamp of the sanctuary, and while engaged in praise and prayer themselves, their example and instructions were not lost even upon world- lings. These were exhorted to consecrate the beginning and end of the day, and not to allow their worldly concerns to interfere with or to prevent such holy occupations. Those who could not attend the public assemblies of the faithful were always careful to pray at home, at certain appointed times. So was perpetual adoration preserved, while blessings in return flowed on themselves and on their families.Content Copyright © Omnium Sanctorum Hiberniae 2012-2015. All rights reserved.

  • Saint Arbogast of Strasbourg, July 21

    21 July is the feastday of yet another Irish missionary in Europe, Saint Arbogast, whose name is forever linked with that of his successor and fellow countryman Florentius; both are attractive and interesting figures.  I was struck by the echoes of Saint Brigid in Arbogast’s oak tree and was not surprised to see that the church associated with these two saints also has an altar dedicated to Ireland’s patroness. The few details below on Saint Arbogast have been taken from Roísín Ní Mheara’s guide to Irish saints in Europe:
    Arbogast and Florentius
    Strassburg, not seated directly on the Rhine, used the waterways of the Ill for river barges trading with the city. Here, outside the walls, near the Ill landing place stood the monastic school of St Thomas, another early Christian foundation with strong Irish connections. Two Irish bishops of sixth century Strassburg, associated probably with Trier, have left their mark here on the present day Protestant church of St Thomas. With an attached institute of learning, including a seminary of theology, it pays tribute to a spiritual heritage when St Thomas was called the ‘cradle of Alsatian Christianity’. Bishop Florentius, claimed to be of Irish birth and nobility by his biographers, founded the monastery, choosing the peripheral site with intent. The conversion of country folk being his main concern, he encouraged pilgrimages to the grave of his predecessor and countryman Arbogast, entombed in St Thomas. This place, associated in tradition with early Christian baptisms, had also an altar dedicated to St Brigid.

    Who are Arbogast and Florentius? The scarcity of sixth century documentation clouds the path of pioneer days when these missionaries entered Alsace, starting, we are told, with hermitages, to be consequently called to the see of Strassburg by Merovingian kings. The impression received points to the category of learned Irishmen who were drawn, first to the cultural centres of southern Gaul, becoming then infused into Trier for reformatory and apostolic reasons.

    Arbogast and Florentius are treated with awe in the tenth century life of St. Dicuil, a chronicle from the Columbanian abbey of Lure in Burgundy. They are presented as shining examples, religious leaders, ‘of all Strasburg’s holy patrons the holiest’…

    The accepted date for Arbogast’s arrival in Alsace is 550. His bishopric was preceded by a sojourn in the forest of Hagenau. This dense oakland, the haunt of anchorites, was called the Sacred Grove of Northern Alsace. Within it Arbogast had his cell. An oak tree of huge dimensions marks the spot. Indicative are the hamlets Saint-Arbogast and Chene (=oaktree) on the road from Strassburg to Weissenburg/Wissembourg.

    On the northern fringe of the forest Surburg, Arbogast’s first monastery was founded. It was destroyed in the Thirty Years War. The abbey church has since been restored to house the founder’s tomb. His effigy is also in an old Gothic sanctuary in the centre of Surburg village. The cult of Arbogast was widely spread throughout Alsace, but his ministry was concentrated in the North and there are further indications that he travelled to these parts from Trier.

    Roísín Ní Mheara, Early Irish Saints in Europe – Their Sites and their Stories (Seanchas Ard Mhacha, 2001),113-115.
    Content Copyright © Omnium Sanctorum Hiberniae 2012-2015. All rights reserved.