OMNIUM SANCTORUM HIBERNIAE

ALL THE SAINTS OF IRELAND

  • Saint Dichu of Saul, April 29

    On April 29 we commemorate the memory of Saint Patrick’s first convert in the Lecale district of County Down, Dichu of Saul. Hagiography records that Dichu was a pagan chieftain who was initially committed to seeing off the threat posed by the new religion and its apostle. Following his conversion, however, he presented Saint Patrick with a barn to use as a church. The memory of this gift lives on in the placename Saul, anglicized from the Irish sabhall. I have some photographs of Saul and other Patrician sites of County Down at my other blog here. Canon O’Hanlon has this account of Saint Dichu in Volume IV of his Lives of the Irish Saints:

    ST. DIOCHU, OR DICHUS, OF SABHAIL, OR SAUL, COUNTY OF DOWN. 
    [FIFTH CENTURY.]

    IT has been very generally supposed, that the first convert made by the illustrious Apostle of Ireland, after his mission had opened in Ulidia, was Dichu, or Dichus, or Dichuo, sometimes written Diochu, and Dichon, who lived in that district, comprising the present Barony of Lecale, in the county of Down. The particulars of his conversion have been already alluded to, in the Life of St. Patrick. His early neophyte, having once embraced the faith, afterwards led a most exemplary life. In the published Martyrology of Tallagh, however, there is no notice of this pious convert, at the 29th of April; although the Bollandists refer to that calendar, and at that same date, for the entry Dichus de Sabhall. In Irish ecclesiastical history, he has attained much celebrity, and his story has often been related. He descended from a distinguished family, who belonged to the northern part of Ireland; and there he appears to have been born, perhaps, about the close of the fourth, or the beginning of the fifth, century. His father is said to have had a very numerous family of sons, whose names have been placed on record. Thus, we are informed, that Trichem, a chief of Uladh, had seven sons, viz., Dichu of Sabhall, or Saul, Laeghaire of Dun, Ailill of Magh-bile, or Moville, Duirthecht of Aendruim, or Mahee Island, Eoghan of Cillcleithi, or Kilclief, Ros of Dundalethglas, or Downpatrick, and Niall of Cillcleithi, or Kilclief. These were of the race of Fiatach Finn, the ancestor of the Dal Fiatach, a strictly Ultonian tribe. The patrimony of Dichuo seems to have been near the southern shore of Lough Cuan, now Lough Strangford, and where a small river, formerly called the Slaney, enters into the sea. There, he had a swineherd employed, who, on the arrival of St. Patrick and of his companions, gave the alarm to his master. He thought these strangers were to be regarded as thieves or pirates. Jocelyn relates, that when St. Patrick first opened his Irish mission in the north, which is generally thought to have been A. D. 432, a certain man named Dichu, who was powerful of strength, gigantic of stature, and savage of mind, occupied the district in that quarter where the Irish Apostle landed in Ulidia. Dichuo brought dogs to attack the voyagers, but he was unable to succeed in his purpose. As when the prophet sent from Juda to Bethal was opposed by the king sacrificing to idols, and when Jereboam stretched forth his hand against the man of God, the king’s hand withered, so that he was not able to again withdraw it, until the prophet interposed in his behalf; so, it would seem, such a miracle took place, in the case of Dichuo. St. Patrick and his companions are said, by Probus, to have landed, at an island, called Milchon; but, this seems to be a mistake for Mag-Inis, a low-lying island in the district known as Leth-Cathuil, or Lecale. This chieftain brandished his sword intending to destroy the saint. But, the Lord interposed his protecting arm, all Dichu’s strength withered, and he entirely stiffened, so that he could move, neither his foot to go forwards, nor his hands to strike. Experiencing such a miracle, suddenly Dichuo changed into another man; and from being proud becoming humble, his fierceness was changed into mildness, from an infidel, he became a believer, with all his household, at the preaching of St. Patrick, and he was baptized in the Christian faith. As his soul was then loosed from the chains of sin, so were his limbs loosed from their heaviness, and all their strength was restored unto them. Thus, he who had been the first and principal opposer of the Faith in Ireland, became its first professor, and even to his latest age, he continued its most devoted follower.

    To atone for his former obstinacy, Dichu presented a place, called Sabhal, now Saul, where St. Patrick might erect a church. To this proposal, the great Irish Apostle most willingly assented. Dichu requested it might be erected in a direction, lying north and south. On account of some peculiarity in its position, or use, the name Sabhall, which means “a barn,” was probably applied to the original church. This church of Saul was the first founded, by St. Patrick; its ground was the first consecrated and offered in Ulster, for a religious purpose; while its donor Dichu was the first convert known, in that part of Ireland. The year 432 is said to have been that for its first ecclesiastical appropriation; and, it was probably erected, under the personal supervision of St. Patrick and by his band of missionaries. After the foundation of this first Irish church, St. Patrick went northwards, to visit his former master Milcho, or Miliuc; but, he failed in effecting a conversion, and afterwards, he came back to the house of Dichu, in the plain of Inish. In that beautiful country around, St. Patrick wrought many miracles, and preached the Gospel, while he received many professions of the true Faith from the inhabitants. The monarch of Ireland, King Leoghaire, detained two of Dichuo’s sons as hostages at that time, and he decreed, that they should be put to death, because their father had given sanctuary and protection to St. Patrick. However, owing to the holy prayers of the Irish Apostle, both of those young nobles obtained their freedom. We have no further account of Dichuo, in the various Lives of St. Patrick; but, it is reasonable to conjecture, that the local dynast passed his days at or near Saul, where it seems probable he died and was buried. In process of time, St. Patrick built there a suitable monastery, to which he introduced monks, who had passed their novititate under him. For their use, not long afterwards, and through his prayers, St. Patrick produced a fountain out of the earth. Over that monastery of Saul did he appoint his disciple, St. Dunnius, to be Abbot. When the holy Apostle had returned from his mission—most probably in the south of Ireland—he dwelt with Dunnius not a few days.

    The feast of St. Patrick’s disciple Dichuo has been assigned, to the 29th of April, by Father John Colgan. At this date, also, he had intended to dilate on Dichuo’s Acts. St. Dicha is set down in Henry Fitzsimon’s List of Irish Saints, but the date for his festival is not recorded. On the 29th day of April was venerated, Diochu, of Sabhall, as we read in the Martyrology of Donegal. It is likely, says the calendarist, that this is the Dichu, son of Trichem, descended from the race of Fiatach Finn, monarch of Erin; and that it was he, who gave Sabhell, to Patrick ; and that it was on him Patrick bestowed the famous blessing, by which he promised Dichu the kingdom of heaven. In the quatrain, which may be found in the Life of Patrick, and as translated into English, it is written: –

    “The blessing of God on Dichu,
    Who gave me the Sabhall;
    He shall be thereafter
    Heavenly, splendid, most famous” &c.

    As if doubting his own identification, the author then adds: there is a Modichu, we are told, descended from the race of Brian, son of Eochaidh Muighmhedhoin. It may be, that he is identical with this Dichu, as some, say the O’Clerys, understand. This latter opinion, however, seems inadmissible, for that Modichu was brother to St. Bairre, of Cork, and son of Aimergen, who was ninth in descent from Brian, son of Eochaidh Muighmedhain, and who was the founder of a distinguished Connacian family. On the other hand, it may be questionable, if Dichuo has been ranked among the saints of our earliest calendars; although, his conversion and subsequent life, according to nearly all the ancient Lives of St. Patrick, give him a claim on our consideration, as a special benefactor of Christianity in our Island, and as the the true and loyal friend of her great Apostle.

     

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  • Saint Luchtighern of Ennistymon, April 28

     

    On April 28 we commemorate a number of interesting Irish saints including one from County Clare- Luchtighern, an early abbot of Ennistymon. Canon O’Hanlon brings us the details from the sources, in this case we do not have a surviving Vita of the saint himself, but find him featured in the hagiography of other saints, including that of Saint Ita:
    St. Luchtighern, Abbot of Ennistymon, or Inistymon, County of Clare. [Sixth Century]
    Little is known regarding this holy man, except what we learn of him incidentally, in the lives of other Irish saints. In the Martyrology of Tallagh, at the 28th of April, he is called the son of Cutrita. However, he is called St. Luchtigernus filius Huatriti, by the Bollandists, at this same date; while they add, he is similarly named by St. Aengus, and by Marianus O’Gorman. Brigh, daughter of Forannan, son to Conall, son to Tochtar, son to Amhalgaidh, sister of Maelaithghin, was his mother, according to the O’Clerys. There was a Saint Luctigern who was the disciple of St. Ruadhan of Lothra, and this most probably was the person. Under him, St. Luchtigern progressed in studies, and in those virtues requisite for his promotion to the ecclesiastical state. Colgan alludes to him, as being mentioned in the Acts of St. Maccrecius. In the western part of Clare County, and rising near Lake Diilogh, there is a stream, which forms a boundary between the baronies of Ibrickane and Islands, for about two miles; then it runs across the barony of Inchiquin, and afterwards, in a north-westwardly course, it forms a boundary between the latter barony and Corcomroe. It has several tributary streams, and on its northern bank is seated the present town of Ennistymon, or Innistymon, over a singularly romantic reach of the river so called, where ledges of rocks obstruct the course, and over a succession of these, the waterfalls career through a valley, unrivalled for picturesque and scenic beauty. Here the present holy man chose a place for religious retirement and contemplation
    St. Luchtigherna is the reputed founder of Inistymon Abbey, in the parish of Kilmanaheen, barony of Corcomroe, and county of Clare. It is Latinized, Inistyniensis, or Inistomensis, and it is almost due-east of the signal tower, rising over the sea-shore, at Lahinch, on Liscannor Bay. Over this house, he exercised the duties of Abbot; and, he was held in the highest repute, owing to his great sanctity. He once made a visit to St. Ita, and to her establishment, at Hy-Conaill Gaura, in the county of Limerick; and, we are told, that on this occasion, he was accompanied thither by St. Lasrean, Abbot of Druimliag. Not knowing this latter person, the nuns suffered him to pass through their gate, without any marked token of respect. For such omission, they were mildly reproved by their holy Abbess, who told them his name, and the great reputation he bore for sanctity. Those Abbots were accompanied by a young man, who had previously advised them not to visit the old woman—meaning Ita. When the visitors approached St. Ita, to receive her blessing, having a miraculous knowledge of what had occurred, she said to the young man, “Why have you come to the old woman, since you have told those holy Abbots, it would profit them little to visit me ?” The young man felt deep regret, on account of his thoughtless expression; and, the visitors, having remained for three days with St. Ita, returned to their respective places of residence, having previously received her blessing. As St. Luchtigern was contemporaneous with St. Ita, who died A.D. 570, we might perhaps assume, that he departed before the close of the sixth century. The 28th of April is the festival day of St. Luchtigherna, and probably that of his death. It is entered, in the Martyrology of Donegal, that veneration was given, on this day, to Luightighern mac Ua Trato. It is he that dwelt at Tuaim-fionn-lociia, in Tratraighe, according to the O’Clerys. This ancient place is now known as Tomfinloe, or Tomfinlough, a parish in the barony of Upper Bunratty, and county of Clare. The denomination Tuaim Finlocha, signifies “the mound or tumulus of the bright lake.” Besides this lake are seen the ruins of an old church. Previous to the middle of the tenth century, the death of a Scannlan, Abbot of Tuaim-Finlocha, is recorded. Among the various readings to the Feilire of St. Aengus, in the “Leabhar Breac ” copy, at this date, we find the name of Lugtigern introduced, as already noticed. In the Martyrology of Tallagh, the name is merely recorded, at the 28th of April, as Lucthigern mac Cutrita. A Life of Maccreiche states, that it was there—at Tuaim-fionn-locha Luightigern was either buried or venerated.

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  • Saint Assicus of Elphin, April 27

     

    On April 27 we commemorate the diocesan patron of Elphin, Saint Assicus. He features in the hagiography of Saint Patrick, where he is described as a skilled metal worker who made various items for the use of the newly-established churches. The relationship of Saint Assicus to Tassach of Raholp, (feast day April 14) the County Down saint who ministered to Saint Patrick on his deathbed,  is not altogether clear. The author of the paper below, published in two parts in the Irish Ecclesaistical Record of 1902, believes we are dealing with two distinct individuals and lays out the evidence from the sources. However, Pádraig Ó Riain, in his authoritative reference guide A Dictionary of Irish Saints (2011) argues that Tassach and Assicus are the same person and that the Elphin commemoration is based on confusion with an otherwise unknown Usandus/Assanus found on the continental Hieronymian martyrology at April 27 who developed an Irish identity in our later native calendars:
    ST. ASSICUS
     
    FIRST BISHOP AND PATRON OF THE DIOCESE OF ELPHIN
    IT is the peculiar good fortune of Elphin, not alone that the see was founded by the National Apostle, but that, except the feast day, all the known facts respecting the first bishop have been recorded in the two most authentic memorials of native hagiography, — the Tripartite Life and the Patrician Documents in the Book of Armagh. St. Assicus was one of St. Patrick’s earliest and most remarkable disciples in Ireland and the first bishop of the very ancient see of Elphin. St. Patrick in his missionary tour through Connaught, which he entered by crossing the Shannon at Drumboilan, near Battle-bridge, in the parish of Ardcarne, according to Usher in 434, according to Lanigan in 435, came to the territory of Corcoghlan, in which was situated the place now called Elphin.The prince or chief of that territory, a noble druid named Ona, or Ono, or Hono, of the royal Connacian race to Hy-Briuin, gave land and afterwards his castle or fort to St. Patrick to found a church and monastery. The place, which had hitherto been called, from its owner’s name. Emlagh-Ona, received the designation of Elphin, which signifies the Rock of the Clear [Spring], from a large stone raised by the saint from the well miraculously opened by him in this land, and placed by him on its margin; and from the copious stream of crystal water which flowed from it and still flows through the street of Elphin. There St. Patrick built a church called through centuries Tempull Phadruig, Patrick’s Church, which he made an episcopal see, placing over it St. Assicus as bishop; and with him he left Bitheus, son of the brother of Assicus, and Cipia, mother of bishop Bitheus. St. Patrick also founded at Elphin an episcopal monastery or college, which is justly considered one of the first monasteries founded by him, and placed over it the holy bishop Assicus.

    …Like so many of the towns of Ireland, the episcopal city of Elphin had its origin in the church and monastery which St. Patrick founded there, and over which he placed St. Assicus in the fifth century. The name of Emlagh-Ona is still preserved in the townland of Emlagh, which adjoins the town of Elphin. Emlagh-Ona was obviously so-called to distinguish it from this other Emlagh, coterminous with it and still retaining the name.

    The first bishop of Elphin was a worker in metal. He is described in the Book of Armagh as a cerd, i.e, a wright, the faber aereus Patricii, and he made altars, chalices, and patens, and metal book-covers, for the newly founded churches. Following the example of their master, the successors and spiritual children of St. Assicus founded a school of art and produced most beautiful objects of Celtic workmanship in the diocese of Elphin. Of these, some remain to the present day, objects of admiration to all who see them. The famous Cross of Cong, undoubtedly one of the finest specimens of its age in the western world, was, as an inscription on it testifies, the work of Maelisa Mac Egan, comarb of St. Finian of Clooncraff, near Elphin, Co. Roscommon, under the superintendence of Domhnall, son of Flanagan O’Duffy, at Roscommon, who was successor of Coman and Eiaran, abbots of Roscommon and Clonmacnoise, and bishop of Elphin. It is held that the exquisite Ardagh Chalice, which was given to Clonmacnoise by Torlogh O’Conor, and was stolen thence, was made, if not by the same artist, in the same school at Roscommon. The Four Masters record A.D. 1166: The shrine of Manchan of Maothail (Mohill) was covered by Rory O’Conor, and an embroidering of gold was carried over it by him, in as good style as relic was ever covered in Ireland. It is, therefore, fair to conclude that this beautiful work was also executed in the school of art founded by St. Assicus in the diocese of Elphin….

    …About seven years before his death, St. Assicus, grieved because some of the inhabitants of Magh-Ai, or Machaire-Connaught, the plain in which Elphin lies, had falsely given out that a lie had been told by him, seeking solitude, desiring to be alone with God, secretly fled from Elphin northward to Slieve League, a precipitous mountain in Donegal. He spent seven years in seclusion on the island of Rathlin, adjacent to Glencolumbkille. His monks sought him, and at last, after great labour, found him in the mountain glens. They sought to persuade him to return with them to Elphin; but he refused on account of the falsehood which had been spoken of him there. The king of the territory gave to him and to his monks after his death the pasture of one hundred cows with their calves, and of twenty oxen, as a perpetual offering. There the holy bishop died, and they buried him in the desert, far from Elphin, in Rathcunga, in Seirthe. Rathcunga is now locally called Racoon. It is a conical hill, the apex of which is entrenched like a rath, and contains an ancient cemetery, now disused, in the parish of Drumhome, county Donegal. In this sacred and celebrated place, St. Patrick had built a church and monastery, where had dwelt seven bishops: and in the same place, St. Bitheus, bishop, the nephew of St: Assicus, is buried. Their relics were held in the highest honour, and for many ages were religiously guarded by the monks and venerated by the people.

    Of the church and monastery of Racoon, hallowed by the relics of the holy bishop and anchorite Assicus, and the holy bishop, Bitheus, and by the presence of St. Patrick and seven bishops, even the ruins have perished. But the children of St. Assicus, the first bishop and patron of Elphin, still, even to our age, have piously preserved his memory, and hold before their eyes his example of the union of labour and contemplation. St. Assicus probably died before the close of the fifth century. His feast is observed on the 27th of April, on which day he is honoured as patron of the diocese of Elphin, where his festival is celebrated as a double of the first class with an octave. It is a major double for the rest of Ireland.

    Hennessy identifies Bite with St. Beoaedh, bishop of Ardcarne, in the county of Roscommon. ‘He was,’  he says, ‘nephew of St. Assicus, bishop of Elphin, who was also buried in Rathcunga. St. Beoaedh died on the 8th of March, 624, on which day he was venerated. The Chronicon Scotorum has his death at 518. But Beoaedh (Vividus Hugo) of Ardcarne — Beoaedus de Ardcharna in Connacia, qui erat episcopus, obiit 523 : Mart Dungall, Mart, of Tallaght, pp. xvii., 3 — does not appear to have been identical with Bite, nephew of St. Assicus. Bite was a bishop and is often mentioned in the Tripartite and Book of Armagh with Essu and Tassach (Assic), as one of Patrick’s cerds. He was left at Elphin with Cipia his mother, and, there can be little doubt, succeeded the founder, St. Assicus. There is a St. Biteus, abbot of Inis-cumhscraidhe, now Inishcoursy, co. Down, at the 29th of July. St. Biteus of Elphin is given in the list of St. Patrick’s disciples furnished by Tirechan, Asacus (recte Assicus), Bitheus, Falertus (Felartus). But the equation of Bite and Beo-Aed calls for no refutation. The latter died, according to the rectified chronology of the Annals of Ulster, in 524. He was seventh in descent from Lugaid Mac Con, king of Ireland, slain A.D. 207. Amongst the saints of Lugaid’s sept mentioned in the versified Genealogies of Saints, Bite is not included, — an omission which effectively disposes of the allegation that he was nephew of Beo-Aed.

    Assertions have been made regarding St. Assicus which are not borne out by the ancient authorities, and serious mistakes have been committed by various writers in treating of him. It has been said that Elphin derives its name from a white rock or stone: that Assicus was a druid: that he was the husband of Cipia and father of bishop Bitheus: that he retired from Elphin through shame because he had told a lie there. There seems to be no warrant for these statements in the reliable sources of our knowledge respecting St. Assicus… St. Assicus fled from Elphin, not because he had told a lie there, but (which is quite another thing) because a lie had been told there of him.

    The author of the Life of St. Patrick in the Book of Armagh says: The holy bishop Assicus was the goldsmith of Patrick, and he made altars, and quadrangular book-cases. Our saint also made patens in honour of Patrick the bishop ; and of them I have seen three quadrangular patens, that is, the paten in the church of Patrick in Armagh, and another in the church of Elphin, and the third in the great church of Saetli, on the altar of Felart, the holy bishop. The altar of Felart, on which was this beautiful paten of St. Assicus, was in the church founded by St. Patrick on Lough Sealga, called Domnagh-Mor of Magh Sealga, in the townland of Carns, near Tulsk and Rathcroghan, the royal residence of Connaught.

    Ware says : —

    Elphin, or as others write it Elfin, is situated on a rising ground in a pleasant and fertile soil. St. Patrick built the Cathedral Church there about the middle of the fifth century, near a little river flowing from two fountains, and set Asic, a monk, over it, who was a great admirer of penance and austerity ; and by him consecrated bishop, who afterwards filled it with monks. He died in Rathcung in Tirconnell, where he was also buried. Some say that this Assic (the correct form) was a most excellent goldsmith, and by his art beautified the Cathedral with six pieces of very curious workmanship.

    The little river of Ware and the spring of the Tripartite and O’Flaherty, are the present stream from St. Patrick’s Well; and the two fountains were no more than two fissures in the Ail out of which two tiny streams flowed separately for a short distance, when they united. This is the case to the present time. The water flowing from the spot where the Ail stood is conveyed in two covered drains as far as the water-shed. The original fissures in the rock did not contain much water at any time ; and, as described by a nonogenarian who had drawn water from it, the ail was a large rock considerably raised over the surface of the surrounding earth, and in its centre or between its shafts, were the fissures or crannies from which sprang the clear water that produced the rivulet. This celebrated rock, which, together with the crystal stream that flowed from it, has given a name to the most ancient diocese of Connaught, was shattered to pieces by the application of blasting powder, by Rev. William Smith, Protestant Vicar-General of Elphin, between the years 1820 and 1830. Owing to this vandalism, there is now no trace of the Ail-finn or Rock of the Clear Spring. It is a mistake to say that, when it was broken, the Ail stood several perches from the present St. Patrick’s Well at Elphin. It stood close beside the well. I have seen the roots or the part of the rock beneath the surface of the earth which had been dug to erect a new fountain over the well. I have also seen portion of a stone crucifix, dug up at the same time, which once had stood over the Holy Well of St. Patrick and St. Assicos (and had doubtless been also shattered by the men of England), now in possession of the Very Rev. Canon Mannion, parish priest of Elphin. O’Flaherty, in his Ogygia, says that a person predicted the falling of this stone on a certain day, and that it fell on that day [Wednesday], 9th of October, 1675. But there were two remarkable stones in Elphin, one over St. Patrick’s Well, and the other in the middle of the town. Near Elphin is the townland of Lahausk, i.e, Leacht h As[i]c; flag-stone of Assic. The tradition is that the place was so called, because St. Assicus, in the course of his missionary labours, broke his leg on a flag there.

    It remains to deal with the attempt to identify Assicos or Assic with Tassach, who administered the viaticum to St. Patrick. The accessible authorities for Tassach are:

    (1.) Irish Hymn of Fiac on St. Patrick : —

    Tassach remained with him (Patrick),
    When he gave Communion to him :
    He said that soon Patrick would go (die), —
    The word of Tassach was not false.

    Tassach is glossed : ‘namely, wright of Patrick . . . Raholp, by Downpatrick, to the east, is his church.’

    (2.) The Calendar of Aengus : —

    April the 14th:

    The royal -bishop Tassach
    Gave, when he came [to visit the dying Saint],
    The body of Christ, the King truly strong.
    With [i .e. in] Communion to Patrick.

    The fourth line of the quatrain is glossed — i.e., it is the body of Christ that was Communion for him. The gloss adds : — Tassach is venerated in Baholp in Lecale, in Ulster ; i.e., Wright and bishop of Patrick was Tassach, and this is the feast of his death.

    (3.) The imperfect Martyrology of Tallaght, a copy of the short recension of the so-called Hieronyman Martyrology with native saints added to each day (Book of Leinster, page 358 fg.), XVIII. Kal. Mai.; the first Irish name is Sancti Tassagi.

    (4.) The List of Irish saints who were bishops, in the Book Leinster, page 365 : Nomina episcoporum Hibernensium incipiunt: the sixth name is Tassach.

    (5.) The Drummond Kalendar : XVIII. Kal. Mai : Apud Hiberniam, Sanctus Episcopus et Confessor Tassach hoc die ad Christum migravit.

    Two instances remain, in which the patron of Raholp is confounded with the first bishop of Elphin, — the glosses already given on the hymn of Fiac and on the Calendar of Aengus. The first is of the eleventh century; the second, of the fifteenth. In the present case, they are accordingly devoid of importance.

    Colgan observed that the Natalis of Assicus, under that name, cannot be found in the Irish martyrologies, although the name is thus written in the Acts of St. Patrick; and, to account for this omission, supposed that he was identical with Assanus, whose feast occurs on the 27th of April, according to the Martyrology of Donegal. Yet, in the Martyrology of Tallaght, which he had under his hand, it is the second name given under April the 26th, disguised as Isaac which Dr. Matthew Kelly, of Maynooth (clarum et venerabile nomen), all but succeeded in rightly amending. His reading is ‘Assach’; the true lection is As[s]ic. The transposition of the vowels (c/. Falertus for Felartus), and the error of a day may be attributed to the fact that the compiler belonged to southeast Leinster. As to the omission from the (metrical) Calendar of Aengus (end of eighth, and beginning of ninth, century), the only other ancient martyrology which Colgan possessed, suffice it to say that the bard preferred to commemorate foreign saints. For instance, at April 26th, the Tallaght Martyrology has six Irish names; the Calendar selects the first saint of the day, the martyr Grillus. At April 27th, the former gives four natives; the latter, the first foreign name, Alexander, abbot of Rome.

    The investigation of the most reliable authorities regarding St. Assicus, first bishop and patron of Elphin, affords fresh proof that the closer the study of our ancient and authentic documents, the more evident becomes the truth of the popular traditions respecting the lives of our native saints.

    J. J. Kelly.

    Note: The introduction to this post was updated in 2022.
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