OMNIUM SANCTORUM HIBERNIAE

ALL THE SAINTS OF IRELAND

  • Saint Bronagh of Kilbroney, April 2

     

    On April 2 we commemorate a County Down holy woman, Saint Bronagh of Kilbroney, who despite having no surviving written Life or other mention in the historical record, retains the devotion of the Irish people to this day. Her home territory is situated in a beautiful valley near the village of Rostrevor, and the local Catholic parish church preserves a bell associated with the saint, even though it was made some centuries later. This bell was hidden at some point, possibly to preserve it from destruction during the iconoclasm associated with the Protestant reformation, and was rediscovered during the nineteenth century. Canon O’Hanlon does not seem to be aware of the recovery of the bell in his account of the saint, taken from Volume IV of his Lives of the Irish Saints, but does mention another relic, the saint’s bachall, or staff:

    ST. BRONACH, VIRGIN, PATRONESS OF KILBRONY PARISH, COUNTY OF DOWN.

    Time was when the holy virgin, St. Bronach, gave a bright example of faith, and of devotion to her sacred calling, among those majestic mountains of Mourne, that rise within the modem parish of Kilbrony. Her period, however, does not seem to be known. She is called the Virgin of Glen-Seichis, which was an ancient name for the modern parish of Kilbrony, in the county of Down, also bearing the names of Glentegys, Clonfeys, Clonseys, and Kyllbronca, in ancient documents. This parish bears the name of Killowen, in addition to its many other denominations, from a district so called, which lies in its southern part. It is called, likewise, the church of Nister. This parish was merely a mensal one, belonging to the Bishop of Dromore, while we find that the Mc Keon family—and perhaps other families—styled themselves “servants of St. Bronach.” This church was called by the present name of Kilbrony, from Bronach, its patron saint, whose festival is placed by the O’Clerys, at the 2nd of April. In their Calendar, we find: “Bronach a virgin of Glionn-Seichis.”Of this parish, likewise, St. Bronach is the special patroness. She is called, also, Bromana, and her festival belongs to this day. The old church of this parish is situated, about half-a-mile north-east of that beautiful village, known as Rosstrevor, in the county of Down. This church is now a venerable ruin, and in the adjoining chapel-yard an ancient stone cross may be seen. The Kilbrony mensal consisted of certain lands, tithes and dues, which were appendant upon an office, known as that of St. Bromana’s baculus, in the church of St. Bromana, according to old documents. We find the place styled a Rectory and a Vicarage. The custody of a certain relic, said to have been possessed by our saint, and attended with some privileges, had been formerly assigned by the bishop of this diocese to a clerical keeper. In the church of Kilbrony, appears to have been preserved the baculus or crozier of St. Bronach; and, the guardianship of this relic was entrusted to an ecclesiastic, who farmed certain lands, tithes and dues, belonging to the bishop’s mensal in this parish. In a Taxation of all the Benifices in Dromore diocese, which took place in A.D. 1546, the Vicar of Killbronagh, now Kilbrony, was assessed at two marks. In the Martyrology of Tallagh, the patron’s name occurs, at the 2nd of April, as Bronach, Virgin. The Martyrology of Donegal this day registers, Bronach, Virgin, of Cill Sechis, as having a festival. The Rev. Alban Butler has a record of this holy woman, at the 2nd of April, and she is noticed, moreover, in the Circle of the Seasons. Likewise, that Calendar, compiled by the Rev. William Reeves, giving her name, festival and locality, may be mentioned, in this connexion.

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

  • Saint Aedhan Laech of Cill-Aedhain, April 1

    A northern saint starts off the month of April, Aedhan Laech. Although we have few details of his life, Canon O’Hanlon believes that scholar John O’Donovan, who published a translation of the Annals of the Four Masters, was correct to identify the place where Saint Aedhan flourished with Tamlacht, County Down and with a site which bears his name, Cill-Aedhain, literally ‘Aidan’s Church’. The Annals record a raid on this site in the 12th century. Even more interesting is the epithet which accompanies Saint Aedhan’s name laech, a Gaelicization of the Latin laicus, a layman. A footnote to Canon O’Hanlon’s text says that O’Reilly’s Irish Dictionary translates this word as a ‘soldier’ or ‘layman’. I will have to search my notebooks to look further into the context for this title as I know that I have somewhere noted the various classes of people associated with monasteries. We do not know when this saint flourished, but his commemoration is recorded in the earliest of the Martyrologies, that of Tallaght, written in the late 8th/early 9th century:
    St. Aedhan Laech, of Cill-Aedhain, probably in The County of Down.
    A saint is, in the highest sense, a true benefactor to the cause of humanity, although we may little discover about the particulars of his life. At this date, the Bollandists have “Aidanus Laech” entered, in their great work. In the Martyrology of Tallagh, we have inserted, at the 1st of April,’ Aidan laech, i.e. Tamlachtain Bairci.’ It is supposed, that this place was within the county of Down, if—as seems not unlikely—the present saint was connected with Cill-Aedhain, plundered A.D. 1149. The existing name and situation of Cill Aedhain do not appear to have been identified, until the late Dr. O’Donovan offered that solution, but the denomination is rendered Aedhan’s Cell. The wording of this saint’s festival, in the Tallagh Martyrology, seems to imply, that he was a “soldier,” or “layman,” in Tamlaght Boirche. If such be the case, his locality must be sought, among the mountains of Moume, in or near the parishes of Kilkeel, barony of Moume, or of Kilbrony, barony of Upper Iveagh, and county of Down. Perhaps, it might be identical with Killowen, in Kilbrony parish. In the townland of Lisnacree, at the south-west edge of the parish of Kilkeel, is the graveyard of Tamlacht chapel. On this day, we find Aedhan, of Cill Aedhan, in Ulster, registered in the Martyrology of Donegal, as having been venerated.
    Content Copyright © Omnium Sanctorum Hiberniae 2012-2015. All rights reserved.

  • Saint Mella of Doire-Melle, March 31

     

    We close the month of March with the commemoration of Saint Mella, an abbess who embraced the religious life in later years, having borne two sons who themselves were saints. Canon O’Hanlon provides the details:

    ST. MELLA, ABBESS OF DOIRE-MELLE, COUNTY OF LEITRIM.

    [EIGHTH CENTURY]
    Some account of this holy woman is given by Colgan and by the Bollandists. St. Mella flourished, about the middle of the eighth century, in the northern parts of the Connaught province. This, has been inferred, from the circumstance of her son St. Tighernach’s death, having been recorded, at A.D. 805. The devout matron, by God’s holy decree, was the happy mother of two sons, whose names are found on record, in the pages of our Irish Martyrologies. These are named respectively, St. Cannech, a Priest, and St. Tigernach, an Abbot. Having been deprived of her husband, by death, she afterwards formed the resolution of embracing a religious life. St. Tigernach erected a religious house, near Lough Melve, —now known as Lough Melvin,—in the county of Leitrim, and within the diocese of Killmore. He left this establishment, in favour of his mother; and, he then retired to another monastery, named Kill-Acaidh, or “the church of the field,” the situation of which is unknown. St. Mella presided over a community of holy women, at the former place which, from her, took the name of Doire-Melle, which signifies, the “oak grove of Mella.” We are told, it had been situated in Rossinver parish, county of Leitrim, although the name is not known, at present. It is said, she ruled over her nunnery for many years; but, little more has transpired respecting her. She is supposed to have died, before the year 787, as her name occurs, in the Martyrology of Tallagh. In it we find inserted, Mella, at the 9th, and Doire Mella, added, at the 31st of March, to the same etymon. In the Martyrologies of Marianus O’Gorman, and of Cathald Maguire, there is a Mella, belonging to the church of Cluainai, set-down, for the 19th of March. But, she may have been a distinct person. The Martyrology of Donegal gives her this title of Doire Mella, on the 31st of January, when alluding to her son Cainneach; but, at the present day, it has no record of her feast. By her influence and authority, St. Mella awakened in the souls of her religious, as of her own two sons, the love and fear of God. This she effected, likewise, in the spirit of gentleness, forbearance, and true charity.

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