OMNIUM SANCTORUM HIBERNIAE

ALL THE SAINTS OF IRELAND

  • Saint Sinach of Inis Clothrainn, April 20

    On April 20 we commemorate Saint Sinach, a 7th/8th century abbot of Iniscloghran, the island monastery on Lough Ree founded by Saint Diarmaid.  Canon O’Hanlon has few details of Saint Sinach’s career to bring us, but records the various sources where the details of his commemoration and the date of his death are to be found:

    ST. SINAG, OR SINACH, OF INISCLOGHRAN, ON LOUGH REE, COUNTY OF LONGFORD.

    [SEVENTH AND EIGHTH CENTURIES.]

    THE entry of this saint’s name, without any further distinction, occurs, in the Tallaght Martyrology, at the xii. of the May Kalends, or at the 20th of April. The Bollandists have not a notice of his name, at this day. On the River Shannon’s noble Lough Ree, so beautifully diversified with islands, there is one of singular picturesqueness, formerly Latinized Inisense, or Insulense, and by the Irish called Inis Chlothrinn, said to have derived its name from Clorina, who was sister to Maeve, or Mab, Queen of Connaught… Here, in the sixth century, St. Diarmaid, or Diermit, chose his place of retreat, and he established a monastic institute, where several religious men placed themselves under his direction….If we are to credit Archdall, St. Sinach was an Abbot there; and, this account seems probable, as he has had annalistic commemoration. Of this saint, we know but little. His death, which took place, on the 20th day of April, A.D. 719, is recorded [in the Annals of the Four Masters]. This entry is not to be found, however, in the Annals of Ulster. In the Irish Calendar, now preserved in the Royal Irish Academy, his festival is recorded [as Sionach Innis Clothrann Anno. Dom. 719].

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  • Saint Killian, Confessor, April 19

     

    Remains of Round Tower at Maghera

    April 19 is the commemoration of a Saint Killian, whom Canon O’Hanlon seeks to place in the area of Maghera, County Down. The saint’s name and feastday are recorded in various sources, but there is perhaps no definitive evidence offered to clinch the theory that he is to be identified with a Saint Cillen of Rathscillen, brother to Donard the Hermit. The ‘very competent archaeologist and ecclesiologist’ to whom O’Hanlon refers in his account below is Father James O’Laverty, author of a five-volume diocesan history of Down and Connor, a work available through the Internet Archive. St Cillen and his locality are discussed by Father O’Laverty in Volume 1, beginning at page 51.

    ST. KILLIAN, CONFESSOR.

    WE are told, by Colgan, that the festival of a St. Killian, confessor, was kept on this day. We have no further account, regarding him, than this simple record, in our earliest authorities. His name, without further distinctive particulars, occurs, in the Tallagh Martyrology, and in that of Marianus O’Gorman, as the Bollandists notice, when recording Killenus, in their great work, at the 19th of April. There was a Cillen, the son of his mother Derinilla, who had children by four different husbands. He is said to have belonged to Achadhcail, in the territory of Lecale, at the bank of Dundrum estuary. A very competent archaeologist and ecclesiologist seems to identify his place with Rathscillan, near Maghera, County Down. He tells us, that Rathscillan signifies “the Rath of Cillan,” and that St. Donard had a brother, named Cillen, whose church was somewhere in the neighbourhood.

    Among the possessions of the See of Down, at the end of the twelfth century, and recited in a patent roll, belonging to the Tower of London, are Rathmurval, along with Rathsillan. The former was the old name for Maghera. There is a difficulty, however, in identifying Rathscillan, as there is no place in that neighbourhood, now known by the name. Yet, as is evident, by the grouping of names, Rathsillan must have been near Maghera. In a field, at Wateresk, are the remains of an ancient cemetery, which once was enclosed in a rath. This site exactly corresponds with that of the church of St. Cillen, as described by St. Aengus the Culdee. It was in the territory of Lecale, and it lay close to the estuary of Dundrum. It must have been in early times, like Maghera, a scene for the piety and labours of some eminent ecclesiastic. On this day, Cillen is mentioned in the Martyrology of Donegal, as having been venerated. The name of St. Killein occurs, also, in thee Martyrology, now preserved in the Royal Irish Academy; but, it does not seem possible, to recognise his place or period.

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  • Saint Lassair of Donaghmoyne, April 18

     

    April 18 is the feast day of one of the many Irish female saints about whom we know little, Lassair of Donaghmoyne. In his Lives of the Irish Saints, Canon O’Hanlon recorded 14 female saints with the name of Lassar, most of whom, like the daughter of Eoghan commemorated today, remain shadowy figures. I did notice, however, that our holy woman is commemorated on the same day as the much more famous male saint Laserian/Molaise of Leighlin and checked Professor Ó Riain’s new Dictionary of Irish Saints for a second opinion. Sure enough he confirms that ‘both saints are likely to have originally represented the same cult’. He also quotes a note appended to the Martyrology of Donegal which effectively overturns Canon O’Hanlon’s identification of the holy woman’s church with that of Moyne in County Mayo. For the note records that the church of Donaghmoyne had two patrons, Ciar and Lasair, and Ó Riain argues that the church was actually
situated in the barony of Farney, County Monaghan. It is particularly interesting to note that just as our obscure female Lassair shares her commemoration with the famous male Laserian, her co-patroness Ciar may also be
commemorated on September 9, the feast of Saint Ciarán of Clonmacnoise. Below is Canon O’Hanlon’s brief account of Saint Lassair:

    St. Lassar, Virgin, daughter of Eoghan, of Maigin, possibly Moyne, in the County of Mayo

    This holy female appears, in the Martyrology of Tallagh, at the 18th of April, as Lasar, daughter of Eccain of Maighin. From the same authority, the Bollandists enter Lassara filia Egani de Maigin. This locality, perhaps, was identical with the present Moyne, in the barony of Tirawley, and county of Mayo. A conventual establishment for religious women may have existed there, previous to the foundation of a Franciscan Monastery, early in the fifteenth century….The Martyrology of Donegal, registers the name of Lassar, virgin, and daughter to Eoghan, of Maighin, as having veneration paid her, at this date.

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