OMNIUM SANCTORUM HIBERNIAE

ALL THE SAINTS OF IRELAND

  • Saint Fionnchan of Druim-Eanaigh, May 17

    The Irish calendars record the commemoration of a saintly Bishop Fionnchan on May 17. Canon O’Hanlon gives the following account of him in his Lives of The Irish Saints, Volume 5:

    ST. FIONNCHAN, BISHOP OF DRUIM-EANAIGH AND OF DRUIM-FESS.
    [SIXTH CENTURY.]

    Little more is known regarding this holy Prelate, than his having flourished at an early date, in the Irish Church. We find, both in the Franciscan and in the published Martyrology of Tallagh, Finnchan of Droma Enaigh. He is commemorated, by Marianus O’Gorman, and he is said to have flourished in the sixth century, having been a synchronus with St. Colman Elo, who was himself contemporaneous with the great St. Columkille. Under the head of Druim Eanuigh, Duald Mac Firbis enters Fionnchan. Bishop, at May the 17th. Again, do we find the same writer calling his place Druim Fes, or Fesi. This form of an Irish local name has not been identified, no more than the former etymon. The Bollandists place Findchanus. Bishop of Druim-Enaich, at the 17th of May; but, they are at a loss to find any particulars regarding him, and deserving of insertion. This day, likewise, the Martyrology of Donegal records the name of Fionnchan, Bishop, of Druim-eanaigh, and of Druim-fess, as having been venerated.

     

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  • Saint Brendan of Clonfert, May 16

     

     

    First Day Cover Faroe Islands, 1984

    May 16 is the commemoration of one of the most famous of the Irish saints, Brendan of Clonfert. Saint Brendan, known as ‘the Navigator’ because of his travels at sea, was well-known throughout medieval Europe due to the translation of the account of his voyage into a number of languages. In his summary of the career of the sailor saint for the Dictionary of National Biography, Irish Anglican writer, the Reverend Thomas Olden, described the Navigatio as ‘the most popular legend of the Middle Ages.’ Writing in 1886, Olden refers to the unpublished Irish Life of the saint preserved in the Book of Lismore, but just four years later Whitley Stokes published the text and its translation. That volume can be read online at the Internet Archive. Fourteen years before either of these, however, the Irish Ecclesiastical Record published an extensive account of Saint Brendan in a four-part series. Before we move to Olden’s shorter piece, let’s begin with a summary of the evidence for the feast of Saint 
Brendan on the Irish calendars taken from another nineteenth century clerical scholar, the then Bishop of Ossory, the future Cardinal Patrick Francis Moran:

    The name of St Brendan occurs in all our ancient martyrologies; and his feast is invariably marked on the16th of May. Thus, St Aengus in the Felire on that day : —”The summons of Brendan of Cluain Into the victorious eternal Kingdom” and the gloss adds: — “ie., the calling of Brendan of Clonfert to the Kingdom of God.”

    The Martyrology of Tallaght has, on the same day: —” Brendini Cluana Ferta.” Marianus O’Gorman devotes one line to his memory: — ” Brendan, without a particle of pride.” The Martyrology of Donegal has a long notice of our Saint on the 16th of May, and styles him “Abbot of Cluainferta-Brenainn.” The Martyrology of Christ Church published by Dr. Todd, has also “Sanctus Brendanus, Abbas et Confessor.”

    Selbhach, in his ”Metrical List of the Saints of Inisfail” thus commemorates SS. Brendan and Mochuda:

    “Brendan, son of fair Findlug,
    And Mochuda, son of Findall,
    A holy pair with penitential countenances,
    Of the race of Ciar, son of Fergus.”

    The very ancient Catalogue of Saints “who were similar in their manner of life” preserved in the Book of Leinster, unites together “St. Thomas the Apostle, and St Brendan of Clonfert.” St. Cuimin of Connor, also, in his poem on the characteristic virtues of the Saints of Ireland, devotes a strophe to our Saint: —

    ”Brendan loved perpetual mortification, 
According to his synod and his flock.; 
Seven years he spent on the great whale’s back; 
It was a distressing mode of mortification.”

    … The Sees of Ardfert and Clonfert honour St Brendan as their patron. Innumerable places in various parts of Ireland bear his name, and several churches are dedicated to God under his invocation. In Scotland, as we leam from the Martyrology of Aberdeen (see Kalendars of Scottish Saints by Dr. Forbes, 1872, page 286), St Brendan ruled as patron “the royal island of Bute” (regalem insulam de Buta): indeed, as Fordun informs us, it was from a cell erected by St Brendan, which, in the old Gaelic, was called Bothe, that the whole island of Bute derived its name (nostro idiomate BOTHE. —Fordun, lib. i., cap. 29). Eassie in Forfarshire, is also dedicated to St Brendan; and many churches in Mull, St Kilda, and other parts of Scotland, still preserve his name.

    Right Rev. P.F. Moran, ed., Acta Sancti Brendani (Dublin, 1872), vi-viii.

    BRENDAN or BRENAINN, SAINT (484-577), of Clonfert, was born in 484, at Littus li, or Stagnum li, now Tralee, co. Kerry. He is termed son of Finnloga, to distinguish him from his contemporary, St. Brendan of Birr [q. v.], and Mocu Alta, from his great-grandfather, Alta, who was of the race of Ciar, descendant of Rudraighe, from whom were the Ciarraighe, who have given their name to Kerry. His parents, though free and well born, were in a relation of dependence, and under the rule of their relative, Bishop Erc. Some have thought this was the well-known bishop of Slane, Co. Meath; but there were many of the name, and he seems to have been rather the head of a local monastery, and permanently resident in Kerry. Here Brendan was born, and when a year old was taken by Erc and placed in charge of St. Ita of Cluain Credhail, in the south-west of the county of Limerick. Remaining five years with her, he returned to Erc to begin his studies, and in course of time, when he had ‘read through the canon of the Old and New Testaments,’ he wished also to study the rules of the saints of Ireland. Having obtained Erc’s permission to go to St. Jarlath of Tuam for the purpose, with the injunction to return to him for holy orders, he first paid a visit to St. Ita, ‘his nurse.’ She approved of his design, but cautioned him ‘not to study with women or virgins, for fear of scandal’ and he then pursued his journey, and arrived in due time at Tuam. On the completion of his studies there he returned to Bishop Erc, and was ordained by him, but never proceeded beyond the order of presbyter, such being the usage of the second order of Irish saints to which he belonged.

    It seems to have been at this period that the desire took possession of him to go forth on the expedition which formed the basis of the ‘Navigation of St. Brendan’ the most popular legend in the Middle Ages. Some difficulty has always been felt with regard to the date usually assigned to it, as he must have been then sixty years of age, and it is not easy to reconcile it with the other facts of his life (LANIGAN); but this difficulty seems to arise from the belief that there was but one voyage, as stated in the versions current abroad. The unpublished Irish life, in the ‘Book of Lismore’ (A.D. 1400), removes much of the difficulty by describing two voyages, one early in life and the other later on. It states that at his ordination the words of Scripture (St. Luke xviii. 29, 30) produced a profound impression on him, and he resolved to forsake his country and inheritance, beseeching his Heavenly Father to grant him ‘the mysterious land far from human ken.’ In his sleep an angel appeared to him, and said, ‘Rise, Brendan, and God will grant you the land you seek.’ Rejoiced at the message he rises, and goes forth ‘alone on the mountain in the night, and beholds the vast and dim ocean stretching away on all sides from him’ (such is exactly the view from Brandon Hill), and far in the distance he seems to behold ‘the fair and excellent land, with angels hovering over it.’ After another vision, and the promise of the angel’s presence with him, he goes forth on his navigation, but, after seven years’ wandering without success, is advised to return to his country, where many were waiting for him, and there was work for him to do. That Brendan may have undertaken some such expedition, and visited some of the western and northern islands, is quite possible; for it is certain that Irish hermits found their way to the Hebrides, the Shetland and Faroe Islands, and even to Iceland (DICUIL).

    Somewhere about this time may be placed his visit to Brittany, which is not noticed in the Irish life. He is said to have gone thither between 620 and 530. After a considerable stay he returned home. But the desire to reach the undiscovered land was not extinct, and now it revived with new vigour, and once more, after consulting Bishop Erc, he went to St. Ita and asked her ‘what he should do about his voyage.”My dear son’ she replied, ‘ why did you go on your [former] expedition without consulting me? That land you are seeking from God you shall not find in those perishable leaky boats of hides; but, however, build a ship of wood, and you shall find “the far land.’” The vessel of the first voyage is described in the ‘Navigation ‘ as covered with hides (SCHRODER). He then proceeded to Connaught, and built ‘a large wonderful ship’ and engaging artificers and smiths, and putting on board many kinds of herbs and seeds, the party, sixty in all, embarked on their voyage, and, after many adventures, reached ‘that paradise amid the waves of the sea.’

    The story of the ‘Navigation’ had ‘taken root in France as early as the eleventh century, was popular in Spain and Holland, and at least known in Italy, and was the favourite reading, not only of monks, but of the widest circle of readers’ (SCHRODER); but it had been altered from its original form, the two voyages compressed into one, and the adventures of other Irish voyagers worked into it. The legend in this form is traced by Schroder to the Lower Rhine; but he is unable to conjecture why it was connected with Brendan’s name. It was, however, only one of a class of Irish tales, known as ‘Imramas,’ or expeditions, of which several are still extant; and the popularity of this particular legend abroad may be accounted for by the fact that when it was taken to the continent in the general exodus of Irish clergy in the ninth and following centuries, owing to the Danish invasions, the monks of Brendan’s order in one of the numerous Irish foundations on the Rhine thought fit to exalt their patron by dressing up the legend in a manner suited to the popular taste.

    Some of the adventures have been supposed to be derived from the ‘Arabian Nights’; ‘but there is reason to think that the converse is more likely (WRIGHT). There is proof of the intercourse of Irish monks with the East in the ninth century (DICUIL); and some of the stories, as that of the great fish, called in the ‘Navigation’ Iasconiua (Ir. iasc, a fish), which Sinbad took for an island, are essentially of northern origin.

    It seems to have been after his return from this voyage that he founded, in 553 (A. F. M.) the monastery of Cluain Fearta, ‘the lawn of the grave’. now Clonfert, in the barony and county of Longford, which afterwards  became a bishop’s see.

    He subsequently visited St. Columba at Hy, in company with two other saints. This must have been after 563, when he was in his seventy-ninth, year. On this occasion he may have founded the two churches in Scotland of which he was patron (REEVES).

    The last time we hear of him is at the inauguration of Aedh Caemh, the first Christian king of Cashel, in 570, when he took the place of the official bard, MacLenini, who was a heathen. On this occasion Brendan was the means of the bard’s conversion, when he gave him the name of Colman. He is since known as St. Colman of Cloyne. Brendan died in 577, in the ninety-fourth year of his age. His day in the calendar is 16 May.

    [Bollandists’ Acta Sanctorum, Maii, tom, iii, Antverpiae, 1680; Colgan’s Egressio Familise Brendani, i. 72; Wright’s Early English Ballads (Percy Society), vol. xiv., 1844; Schroder’s Sanct Brandan, Erlangen, 1871; Reeves’s Adamnan’s Life of Columba, 1857, pp. 55, 220, 223;  Lanigan’s Eccl. Hist. ii. 22, &c. ; Dicuil, De Mensura Orbis, Paris, 1814; O’Curry’s MS. Materials of Irish History, p. 288, Dublin, 1861; Beatha Breanainn, MS., in the Book of Lismore, Royal Irish Academy, Dublin; the Book of Munster, MS. 23, E 26, in Royal Irish Academy.]

    T. 0.

    Sir Leslie Stephen, ed., Dictionary of National Biography, Volume VI (London and New York, 1886), 259-261.

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  • Saint Dympna of Gheel, May 15

    May 15 is the feast of the virgin and martyr Dympna, traditionally held to be the daughter of an Irish pagan ruler, who was forced to flee to Belgium to escape her incestuous father. There she was martyred, along with her holy confessor, the priest Gerebern. Although this saint is missing from the earliest Irish calendars and her various Vitae date to the later medieval period, her cult remains very much alive in her reputed homeland. The picture on the left shows a popular holy card widely available in Ireland, which depicts Dympna as a beautiful maiden whose Irish credentials are established by the use of the shamrock and of her green dress. Like Saint Brigid, the cult of Saint Dympna has spread worldwide and she is invoked as a patroness of those suffering from mental illness. Canon O’Hanlon has a lengthy and enthusiastic account of this virgin martyr’s life in Volume 5 of his Lives of the Irish Saints from which the following has been condensed:

    ST. DYMPNA, VIRGIN AND MARTYR, AND PATRONESS
     OF GHEEL, BELGIUM.

    [SIXTH OR SEVENTH CENTURY.]

    The existing Acts of St. Dympna, virgin and martyr, are meagre and unsatisfactory, in reference to many particulars. The life of this glorious saint was written by one Peter, a Canon Regular of St. Autbert’s church, in the city of Cambray. The author informs us, in a short preface, prefixed to his narrative of her Acts, and those miracles, wrought through the intercession of our noble virgin and martyr, that he wrote this account in obedience to a request preferred by a pious layman of Gheel, and also urged by the exemplary bishop of Cambray, who is named Guido. This biographer of our saint appears to have availed himself of an earlier Life, written in the common idiom, and which Peter afterwards rendered into the Latin language. According to the Bollandist editor, the ” Legenda S. Dympnae, Virginis et Martyris,” had been printed about two hundred years before he wrote, or towards the close of the fifteenth century, and another edition of that legend appeared in the year 1496. Various hagiographers published compendious Acts of St. Dympna, which appear to have been compiled from a more considerable amount of matter, extant in Manuscripts. But, the Bollandists resolved on the publication of a more complete life, having procured materials for their task, by acquiring a MS. Bearing on this subject, and which belonged to the church of Gheel. The two first chapters of this Life, already in their possession, had been obtained from a MS. of Red Cross Monastery, in the forest of Soigny, near Brussels. Another abridged life of St. Dympna, taken from MSS. belonging to the church of St. Saviour, in the city of Utrecht, Holland, enabled the Bollandist editor of our saint’s Acts to publish those interesting memorials of her virtues and glorious martyrdom, in that great encyclopaedia of hagiological biography — the “Acta Sanctorum.”
    This holy virgin, a most stainless vessel of election, is said to have been daughter to one of those petty kings, who ruled in Ireland, and that he was also an idolater. The wife of this prince was descended from a noble family and her husband became devotedly attached to his companion. It had been remarked by all, that the young and graceful Dympna bore a striking resemblance to her mother.
    At a very early age, St, Dympna was left without the protecting care of a mother, and she is said to have been placed under the tutelage of certain Christian women, who were her nurses and guardians. After being prepared in a proper manner for the reception of the Sacrament of Baptism, it was conferred on the noble maiden, by an old and a venerable priest, named Gerebern. After a lapse of some time, the king resolved on alleviating his sorrows by sending messengers to find some noble lady, exactly resembling his deceased wife. Many countries were visited, but in vain; so on entering their sovereign’s court, they remarked, how exceedingly like her mother Dympna appeared. Nor could her father, they declared, more perfectly revive the recollection of his past happiness and affection, than by persuading his charming daughter, to give her consent to nuptials, such as they suggested. Dympna declared her loathing and horror of this base and abominable proposition. She had long felt a growing inclination, as her years progressed, to consecrate her virginity to God. He told Dympna she must yield to his wishes, whether he succeeded in obtaining her consent, or forced her to compliance. She asked her father for a respite of forty days, to consider his proposals. At this time, the old and venerable priest, Gerebern, lived in Ireland. He advised St. Dympna, to fly from her native country to a more distant one and, as danger was now imminent, he urged her to make no delay. The small band of exiles was composed of St. Dympna, her venerable companion Gerebern, her father’s court jester, and his wife. At length, after a generally favourable passage, they arrived on a coast, near the present city of Antwerp. Through one community or another, they arrived with little delay at a village, which was named Ghele, by the old inhabitants of that place. They at length found an oratory, dedicated to St. Martin [of Tours]and they retired to the desert there.
    While the wicked king allowed all the worst forms of detestable passion to take possession of his heart, word was brought him, that his child had escaped from her father’s house, and that she was already beyond the reach of his power. The news of her flight soon spread through the court. Orders were at once issued to his messengers, that they must return with an account, as to whether she might be found living or dead. But, the king himself felt a desire, to participate personally in that search; word was brought that those messengers despatched in quest of his daughter had returned and it was rumoured amongst his household that their young mistress had been discovered. Little time elapsed until the wicked king reached the dwelling of his virtuous daughter. All the beauty and grace of her deceased mother seemed to reappear in the child’s face and figure, and to return with renewed force to the king’s imagination, when he ventured to address his daughter:
    “O my dearly beloved daughter, Dympna, my delight, my passion, and my desire, what wish or necessity forced you to despise the honours attending on your noble station, or to prefer, as a mendicant, unknown and foreign lands, to the country of your nativity ? What wise or foolish persuasion seduced you to forget filial duty and a royal parent, and to adopt as your father this old and decrepid priest, whose behests you obey in all matters ? Had you remained with me, you should have dwelt in a royal court, and enjoyed a kingdom after my death, instead of a miserable hut, buried in the midst of a thicket and presenting every external appearance of neglect and poverty. Wherefore, prepare to obey my orders immediately, and wisely seek that country, which you so foolishly abandoned. If you willingly assent to your father’s wishes, you shall hold a first rank in his estimation, above all the noble matrons and maidens of his kingdom. Crowned with a royal diadem, I shall direct a fine temple to be constructed of marble, where you shall be venerated as a goddess, and I shall order a superb statue representing you to be erected therein, which will be ornamented with gold and precious stones. If a free person or slave of any sex or condition neglect to worship you, or offer the homage of due veneration, as my decree shall prescribe and direct, just punishment shall inevitably await such a dereliction of duty.”
    While the holy virgin was preparing to reply, the blessed servant of God, Gerebern, anticipated her wishes, with the spirit and virtue of another Elias:
    “O most wicked king, .. I rest satisfied and convinced, that your daughter Dympna’s pure and faithful mind has already despised whatever evil pleasures or promises the world might offer, through her love for God ; nor will she be terrified by threats, nor allured by blandishments or seduction. And, probably, you would be restrained from this base passion, had you dreaded the sword of Phinees, who, led by a zeal for justice, punished wicked sinners against the Divine law, who were both run through with the sword.”
    Those words of sage counsel had hardly been spoken, when the tyrant king gave orders to his willing adherents, that they should behead the venerable Gerebern…They rushed upon the holy and innocent priest, and laying violent hands on him, the head fell from his shoulders with a stroke of the sword. Like John the Baptist, the just man of God was now beheaded. Notwithstanding that cruel death, inflicted on the good priest, Gerebern, such cruelty did not appease the passion of Dympna’s father. He then ordered the holy virgin, to be brought into his presence. Then, kindling into anger, he said : ” Perverse daughter, do not wrong my patience, I beseech you, grant instantly what I demand, or you shall feel the weight of a father’s indignation…” But, the holy virgin fearlessly replied : ” O detestable tyrant, why have you dared to butcher the ordained priest of God, in whom no fault could be found?…exercise whatever tyranny you design against me; for the Lord’s sake, I am prepared to bear with a contented mind whatever punishment you wish to inflict”. Drawing a skein from his side, he furiously struck off the head of this noble daughter, while she continued imploring the divine mercy, on behalf of her immortal soul. It is generally supposed, that St. Dympna received the crown of martyrdom, in the fifteenth year of her age.
    Her feast is celebrated with an Ecclesiastical Office, in the ancient Breviary of the churches of Gheel, and of Antwerp; and, to it is appended her invocation. In the Legend of St. Dympna, already mentioned, the same prayer is found, with another to St. Gerebern. From the foregoing and other sources. Bishop De Burgo compiled an office of Three Nocturns and Nine Lessons for this holy Virgin and Martyr, at the 15th of May. The Legend and Office of St. Dympna are preserved among the Manuscripts of Trinity College, Dublin. There are proper Lessons for the Office of St. Dympna, in that collection of Irish Saints’ Offices, printed at Paris, in 1769. In the supplement to the Mechlin and Irish editions of the Roman Missal is found a Collect, at the 15th of May, in honour of this holy Virgin and Martyr. It can be thus rendered into English, for the Mass of her festival : “O God, the lover of purity, grant to us, entreating Thee, that as we celebrate the festival of blessed Dympna, Thy virgin and martyr, we may obtain Thy assistance, through her merits and prayers.” The Roman Martyrology honours St. Dympna, on the 15th of May, by the notice of her principal feast. At the 15th of May, her feast is entered by the O’Clerys, in the Martyrology of Donegal. There is no notice of St. Dympna in the Martyrologies of Tamlacht, or Marianus Gorman, at the 15th of May.

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