OMNIUM SANCTORUM HIBERNIAE

ALL THE SAINTS OF IRELAND

  • Saint Mosiloc of Cloonatten, July 13

    At July 13, Canon O’Hanlon has a notice for a County Wexford saint whose name appears on all of the calendars, but of whose life we otherwise have very few details. In the account below of Saint Mosiloc, I have transferred some of the original footnotes citing the calendar entries plus remarks by the Irish Ordnance Survey scholars, John O’Donovan and W. M. Hennessy, on the locality associated with the saint, into the text. There is a website dealing with the study of Wexford placenames here. Finally, please note that the Martyrology of Aengus records the saint at the 13th of July and not June as printed on page 224 of Volume 7 of The Lives of the Irish Saints:

    St. Mosiloc or Mothiolog, of Cloonatten, Parish of Kilmichael Oge, County of Wexford.

    The name of this holy man, as Siloc, is entered in the “Feilire” of St. Aengus, at the 13th of June. There he receives a high encomium. In the “Leabhar Breac” copy we have the following stanza, translated into English by Whitley Stokes, LL.D. :—

    “Sweet the name with splendour
    of Evangelus the sainted,
    with my Siloc of the kings,
    he went into the noble realm of peace.”

    In a commentary added, he is styled and identified as “my Siloc, i.e., of Cell Mo-siloc in Ui-Degad, in Ui-Cennseliag.” Hence, it should seem, that Siloc was simply his name, and it is entered Silog in the Calendar of Cashel. Veneration was given to Mosiloc Cluana Daethcain, at the 13th of July, as appears in the Martyrology of Tallagh. In Rev. Dr. Kelly’s edition of the Martyrology of Tallagh, this place is identified with Clonkeen, Queen’s County. His name and place are elsewhere differently entered. At this same date, we find in the Martyrology of Donegal, Mothiolog, of Cill Mothiolog, in Ui-Ceinnsealaigh, or Mothiolog, of Cluain Aithghin. This place is Cloonatten, in the parish of Kilmichael Oge, in the barony of Gorey, and county of Wexford. A note by O’Donovan says, “Mothiolog now corrupted to Kilmichaelog,” I find another note appended by William M. Hennessy to this ancient denomination, “Kilmokiloge or Kilmichaeloge, near Gorey, County Waterford,”(? Wexford). There is a curious old church in that locality. In the Kalendar of Drummond the feast of this saint is inserted, at the present date. Thus: “13 iii. Idus. In Hibernia Sancti Confessoris Mosiloc.”—Bishop Forbes’ “Kalendars of Scottish Saints”, p. 18. There is an entry of Mosilocus, at the 13th of July, in the work of the Bollandists. Father O’Sheerin supplied them with the notice inserted.

    Content Copyright © Omnium Sanctorum Hiberniae 2012-2015. All rights reserved.

  • Saint Nazair of Liethmore, July 12

    July 12 is the commemoration of a Saint Nazair of Liethmore. Although Canon O’Hanlon makes no mention of it, I find the name of this saint a rather curious one for an Irishman, but he is recorded in virtually all of the surviving calendars:

    St. Nazarus, Nazair, or Nasan, Bishop of Liethmore, County of Tipperary.

    The festival of Nazarius is found in the “Feilire” of St. Aengus, at the 12th of July: “Unto the angels departed Nazarius the story of every synod”. A commentary on it states, likewise, that he was bishop of Liath in Eblind, or bishop of Liath Mór Mochoemoic. In the published edition of the Martyrology, we find this entry: “Nazair o Liath,” occurring at the iv. of the Ides, or 12th of July. The editor of this Martyrology has also correctly identified Leith-mór with Leamakevoge, near Thurles, county of Tipperary. Both names are also referable to the Liath mentioned in the Martyrology of Tallagh. Besides, Marianus O’Gorman has also given us the name of this saint, called also Nasan, with an eulogy, at this same date. According to the Martyrologies of Cashel and of Maguire, the Natal day of St. Nazarus, Bishop, was celebrated at Liethmore, on the 12th of July. There appears to have been a diversity of opinion, on the part of most Irish writers, regarding the exact location of Leithmore. By some writers, it has been placed exactly four miles distant from the monastery of Bishop Colman at Doire mor; and both of those places are thought to have been in the present King’s County. Colgan placed Liathmor in the vicinity of Kinnetty, the very ancient Life of Pulcherius stating, that it was only four miles distant from St. Colman’s church of Doire-mor, thought to have been identical with Kilcolman, near Birr, and which, it is curious to observe, lies exactly four miles north-east from that place called Leagh on the engraved Map of the Down Survey. However, in the Life of St. Mochcemhog or Mochcemoc, also called St. Pulcherius, it is said, St. Colman’s monastery of Doire mor was situated on the confines of Munster and of Leinster, but within the boundary of the former province, and in the territory of Ely. This was supposed to have been Ely O’Carroll; but, there was a southern Ely, lying near Thurles, and while this was within Munster, it was also on the borders of ancient Leinster. However, the precise locality of Liathmore is now found to be identical with the townknd of Leigh, within the parish of Two Mile Borris, situated south-east in Elyogarty barony, and in the county of Tipperary. The ancient name is said to have been Buirgheis Leith, and it was denominated, Borris Leigh, from the celebrated old church of Liath

    Mochoemog, situated in that parish. It is probable, we must place the present holy man subsequent to the time of St. Mochoemhog or Mochcemoc, who was first Abbot and founder of Liath-more. In the Martyrology of Donegal, at the 12th of July, is entered the feast of St. Nazair, Bishop of Liathmor, in Ebhlinn. The Bollandists, who derived their information from Father O’Sheerin, also record Nazarius de Lieth, at this date.

     

    Content Copyright © Omnium Sanctorum Hiberniae 2012-2015. All rights reserved.

  • Saint Failbhe of Disert Mic-Conlocha, July 11

    July 11 sees the commemoration of a County Westmeath saint, Failbhe, son of Culocha in the Irish calendars. Details of his genealogy have been recorded and Canon O’Hanlon notes a particularly charming description of the saint as ‘a burning and shining light’ in his account below:

    St. Falbi, or Failbhe, Son of Culocha, of Disert Mic-Conlocha, in Cuircne, County of Westmeath.

    In the Feilire of St. Aengus, at the 11th of July, there is an entry of Conlug’s pious son. In a comment annexed, we are informed, that he was of Disert Meic Conlocha, in the west of Meath, and that Failbe was his name. His father was named Conlug—according to other accounts—Culocha. We find entered in the Martyrology of Tallagh at the 11th of July, Mac Conlocae, Falbi being his name, in Disiurt mic-Conlocha, in Curchib. The Bollandists have on this day the brief notices furnished by O’Sheerin, and representing him as a burning and a shining light. The Calendar of Cashel as also the Martyrologies of Marianus O’Gorman and of Cathal Maguire commemorate him. Euten, daughter of Moche, son to Bairrinn, sister of Muiccin, of Maighin, was his mother. The territory of Cuircne or Machaire Cuircne was commensurate with the barony of Kilkenny West, in the county of Westmeath. This district of Cuircne embraced also that portion of Forgney parish, lying south of River Inny, in the barony of Abbeyshruel, and county of Longford. The place of this saint is now probably that called Dysart, a parish partly in the barony of Rathconrath, and partly in that of Moycashel and Magheradernan. There are some remains of an old church and a cemetery lying within it. It is remarked, that in the Menologium Scoticum of Dempster, he has a Failbeus at the 25th of January, at the 3rd of June, and at the 6th of October. The Martyrology of Donegal records the present saint, as Failbhe, son of Culocha, of Disert Mic Conlocha, in Cuircne, in Westmeath.

     

    Content Copyright © Omnium Sanctorum Hiberniae 2012-2015. All rights reserved.