OMNIUM SANCTORUM HIBERNIAE

ALL THE SAINTS OF IRELAND

  • Saint Feber of Boho, November 6

    November 6 is the Feast of All the Saints of Ireland but is also the day on which we commemorate a little-known female saint of County Fermanagh, Saint Feber (Feadhbhair, Feadhbar, Fedbair, Febor, Faber) of Boho. Since we have only four surviving written Lives of Irish women saints, stories of Saint Feber have mostly survived in popular tradition preserved in the place where she once flourished. Her name is recorded though in Irish genealogical sources and also on the calendars of the saints. The Martyrology of Gorman records the name ‘Fedbair’ at November 6 with an accompanying scholiast note describing her as ‘a virgin from Botha Eich Raichnig’. The Martyrology of Donegal replicates this with its entry for ‘Fedbair, Virgin of Botha-eich Uaichnich, in Tir-Rátha’. Pádraig Ó Riain in his Dictionary of Irish Saints tells us that the genealogies describe Feber as a daughter of Dallbhrónach, mother of a number of saints. Her family tree also makes Saint Feber an aunt to Saint Brigid of Kildare. and Ó Riain notes that Feber was ‘said to have been subject to Brighid at her church in the townland of Toneel, parish of Boho, which she shared with her sister Sanct Bhróg.’ However, it is to popular tradition that we must turn for further details of the establishment of a church by Saint Feber. Here we find some classic hagiographical tropes: the assistance of a wild animal and the righteous anger of the saint leading to the cursing of a river and its subsequent flowing against the hill.

    In a letter dated November 6, 1834, John O’Donovan of the Ordnance Survey wrote:

    The village of Monea is called in Irish Muine Fhiadh, i.e. Hill of the Deer. The name is accounted for by a story similar to those told to account for the names of old churches in Derry. The virgin St. Feber first attempted to build her church at Kildrum at the place where the holy well now called Tobar Feber is to be seen, but what had been built in the course of the day was destroyed in the night by some invisible being. At last a deer, blessed beast, was pleased to point out a site where Feber might erect her church without interruption. He carried Feber’s books on his horns to Monea, and there the holy virgin finished the erection of her church without annoyance. But when the deer was crossing the Sillees River (Abhainn na Sailíse) he slipped on its slippery banks and the books fell off his horns and it was sometime before he could fix them on again. This was effected by the genius or sheaver (shaver) who presided over the Sillees, who did all in his power to prevent the establishment of the Christian Religion in that neighbourhood. As soon as Feber had understood that the demon of the river thus annoyed the good beast, she was filled with holy indignation -she became much wroth – and with (in?) sanctified fury and heavenly anger, she cursed the River, praying that the Silleece might be cursed with sterility of fish and fertility in the destruction of human life, and that it might run against the hill. 

    Rev. M. O’Flanagan, Letters Containing Information Relative to the Antiquities of the County of Fermanagh: Collected During the Progress of the Ordnance Survey in 1834-5 (1928), 54-5.

    A more recent commentator suggests that O’Donovan’s version of the Saint Feber, the stag and the river story was not the only one. Henry Glassie points out:

    In O’Donovan’s telling, Saint Febor’s opponent was supernatural, more often her opponent is human – a local chief – but her three curses end most tellings.

    He then goes on to give us the version from the autobiography of William K. Parke, a native of Derrygonnelly, County Fermanagh. Derrygonnelly is a town on the Sillees River, whose flowing against the hill Parke explains by telling the story of 

    “a lady saint known as Saint Faber”, who roamed the area with her pet deer, “endeavouring to convert the locals to Christianity”.  Her main objective was the local chief, O’Phelan, who “wanted nothing to do with this new fangled religion”. He ordered his servants to release the dogs on her. She fled, attempted to leap the Sillees, failed, her holy books were destroyed, and she cursed the river. The curses were that the river was to be dangerous for bathers, bad for fishing and to flow for ever against the hill.

    Glassie also cited another version of the tale from the same author. The quote above was taken from Parke’s 1988 autobiography Fermanagh Childhood , but in Glimpses of Old Derrygonnelly, published a decade earlier, Parke quoted from an old article from the local newspaper, The Impartial Reporter: 

    “St Faber fleeing from her enemies raised her staff cursing the water to be turned back so that she could save her deer carrying the Holy Books. The river ran on as far as Lisgoole Abbey where the monks met it and turned it into Lough Erne”.

    Henry Glassie, The Stars of Ballymenone, new edition, (Indiana University Press, 2016), footnote, p.483.

    The three curses of Saint Feber are part of a tradition of saintly malediction found in medieval hagiography in general, but a feature of the Lives of Irish saints in particular. I spoke about the context in which our saints utter curses on Episode 30 of the radio programme All the Saints of Ireland, which you can find at the podcast library of Radio Maria Ireland here. As I explained, cursing usually arises as a response to the dignity of the saint being disrespected. That is clearly the case here, where the chieftain aggressively attempts to thwart the saint’s missionary work and she invokes the judgement of God, not against the man, but against the river which endangered her animal companion and the holy books he carried. As I remarked on the radio broadcast, the cursing of things, food-producing sources such as rivers or trees, may owe something to the cursing of the fig tree by Christ on his way to Jerusalem. There is thus nothing unusual in this episode of Saint Feber and the Sillees, we see instances in other saints Lives of the cursing of rivers so that fish will not be caught.  It’s also true that unusual natural features in the environment are often attributed to the actions of saints, in this case the flowing of the Sillees against the hill. It is worth noting, however, that cursing is predominantly a male preserve in the Lives of the Irish saints but Saint Feber seems every bit as capable as any male saint. In the newspaper account the raising of her staff, the symbol of her authority, to pronounce the curse is also in keeping and reflects the ritualistic aspect of uttering maledictions. 

    A final observation is that the saint’s memory continues to be reflected in the landscape around Boho, In addition to the Tobar Feber there is a bullaun associated with the saint preserved at Killydrum townland. She is the patron of the Sacred Heart Church at Boho, one of the very few historic church sites still in Catholic hands. The parish website here adds some other details to Saint Feber’s story, claiming that she was the daughter of a local druid who was converted to Christianity by Saint Molaise of Devenish. It says too that the holy well of Saint Feber has a particular reputation for curing warts. There is a second well at Monea and Saint Feber is also the patron of the Catholic parish church there.

    So, although not much historical information has survived about this female saint of Fermanagh, her memory is still very much alive in the place where she once flourished.

    Content Copyright © Omnium Sanctorum Hiberniae 2012-2024. All rights reserved.

  • 'That Large Army, Known and Unknown': The Feast of All the Saints of Ireland

    November 6 is the Feast of All the Saints of Ireland and, since it is the date on which I started Omnium Sanctorum Hiberniae in 2012, is also this blog’s patronal feast. To mark the occasion this year I reprint a sermon delivered by an Australian Dominican, Father R. J. Roche, on November 6 in 1931. This was ten years after the feast was instituted, along with an authorized Litany of the Irish Saints, the text of which you can read at the blog here. In his sermon Father Roche presents the realities of the Irish saints, yes, we have many whose names are known throughout the world but we have many more who are now obscure. It has always been part of my work to try and recover the names and memories of these lesser-known saints, all those who found a place on our historic calendars and were regarded as saints by popular acclamation. Wishing everyone the blessings of the Feast and thank you to all who support my work here at Omnium Sanctorum Hiberniae and on All the Saints of Ireland on Radio Maria. Beannachtaí na Féile oraibh go Léir! Orate pro nobis omnes Sancti Hiberniae!

    SAINTS OF IRELAND.

    Father R. J. Roche’s Sermon on Feast Day.

    Commemoration of all the saints of Ireland — of that large army, known and unknown, of the spiritual sons of St. Patrick, who have attained eternal glory after lives of virtue and zeal for the spread of the Gospel! Such a comprehensive remembrance has been established by the Church’s institution of the feast of All the Saints of Ireland, to be observed in certain centres of the world on November 6. Preaching at the Dominican Convent, West Maitland, on the day of the feast, Rev. Father R. J. Roche, O.P., recalled many of the prominent names of Erin’s saints, and made a strong plea for an intensification of the spirit which kept Ireland true to the faith through the ages of oppression.

    Taking as his text, ‘For we are children of saints’ (Tobias), Father Roche said:

    To-day we keep the feast of all the saints of Ireland. It is a feast recently established for Ireland, and by privilege extended to some Australian dioceses, including that of Maitland. Of many of the Irish saints the names are familiar: Columbkille, Dove of the churches and contemplative of Iona: his namesake almost, Columbanus, who found rest in the spiritual fastness of Italy; Kilian, the martyr; Brendan, the mariner; Virgil, Colman, Fiacre, Declan, Lawrence O’Toole, Oliver Plunket, and others whose stories are interwoven with history. Some lived and died in their own land, some became exiles for Christ. Up the Rhine or down the Danube, by the banks of the Seine and the Loire, their names are preserved in the cities they founded, and their memory is enshrined in the hearts of the people to whom they brought the Cross. Amongst those we commemorate are many women saints: the most renowned of them is Brigid, the Mary of the Gael. Beneath an oak tree at Kildare her cell was built, and around her gathered the most illustrious of her countrywomen. She is the mother of all the holy nuns who have come out of Ireland, no matter in what country they lived or to what Order they belonged.

    Its Comprehensiveness. 

    I said that the names of many of them are familiar to us. It is also true that of many more the names have not been preserved. As the Church instituted a general feast of All Saints to commemorate the unknown saints of all the world, so does to-day’s feast include all the obscure heroes and heroines of holiness whose spiritual father is St. Patrick. The unknown saints of Ireland! Perhaps not all of them are completely unknown. There are saints in every generation. We surely may treasure the memory of a saintly parent or grandparent who, we have every reason to believe, is now with God; those dead of ours whose memories should be deathless. They lived simple, self-denying lives: their companions were hardships, duty, family affection and love of God. Not for them the modern softness and the evasion of all restraint. Their homes were modelled on that of Nazareth; their highest law was the acceptance of the Divine Will. When sorrow and loneliness, desolation and spoliation came into their lives, their lips offered a sincere welcome to the Will of God. They went their simple way unto the end, they left a fragrance upon earth, and we may well believe that in death they found the Rest Eternal promised to those who bear the yoke of Christ. And their feast day is to-day — the feast of All the Saints of Ireland. Some of those whose memory we are keeping may have been born in this sunny land, or they may have come hither in Australia’s morning, come with their stout hearts to make a new nation, and with their strong faith to plant the Cross as a symbol of that nation’s ultimate allegiance and sublimest hope.

    We are the spiritual children of the saints. They give us hope, they give us admonition. Behind us is more than a thousand years of tradition, tradition of the faith of our fathers! In mental vision we see the beautiful, unique picture of unbroken fidelity, generation after generation steadfast in the faith in spite of dungeon, fire and sword. A kingdom has been overthrown, a nation oppressed, but the Cross remains. Urban VIII. wrote to the Irish people: ‘Be mindful of your past: in your nation there have been many masters of virtue and athletes of the faith.’ As we praise their memory, we seek to emulate their virtues: their humility, their patience, their outstanding constancy. We ask that God may give us the grace to be faithful to our traditions, and to pass on undimmed the lamp of faith. It is true that the glories of ancient Erin are no more, and that the lamp of Kildare was put out by the spoiler; but the spiritual children of the Irish saints have still their place in the plans of God. May that place be always in the vanguard of those who seek to establish the Kingdom of God. We beg all the saints of Ireland, our own dear saintly dead, where’er they lie, we beg the martyrs of the penal days, we beg the sainted sons of Angus and the daughters of Brigid to be with us that we fail not in the conflict.

    “SAINTS OF IRELAND.” The Catholic Press (Sydney, NSW : 1895 – 1942) 3 December 1931: 37. Web. 6 Nov 2024 .

    Content Copyright © Omnium Sanctorum Hiberniae 2012-2024. All rights reserved.

  • The "Island of Saints and Scholars" and the Universal Calendar of the Church

    November is the month which opens with the feast of All Saints but which also includes the feast of All the Saints of Ireland on the sixth. In the article below, published in Australia in 1950, the anonymous author poses a very good question – why is Ireland, the ‘island of saints and scholars’, so poorly represented in the universal calendar of the Church? Modern scholars reckon that we have roughly two thousand Irish saints from the early medieval period, i.e. from the fifth to the twelfth centuries. At this time sainthood was very much a local affair, with local bishops acclaiming as saints those holy men and women whose sanctity had been acknowledged by their contemporaries. It was only in the twelfth century that the practice of declaring saints became the prerogative of the Pope alone. The official process of canonisation has developed over the centuries since, although we had a distinct reminder of former times in the shouts of Santo subito during the funeral of Pope St John Paul II. But the fact remains that we have only four officially-canonized saints from this island of saints and scholars. At the time this piece was written there were two saints – Malachy and Laurence and two beati – Oliver Plunkett and  Thaddeus MacCarthy. The cause of Blessed Oliver Plunkett was resumed in 1951, something I have written about here, but it was not until 1975 that he was finally canonized. In 2007 he was joined by Dutch-born Saint Charles of Mount Argus, who came to Ireland in 1857 and ministered as a member of the Passionist community in Dublin until his death in 1893. According to the biography of the new saint at the Vatican website here, his religious superior wrote that “The people have already declared him a saint.”
    Certainly his cause proceeded at a pace not seen since the days of Saint Malachy:

    The cause of his Beatification and Canonization was introduced on 13 November 1935, and on 16 October 1988, His Holiness John Paul II proceeded with the beatification of the one whom everyone called the saint of Mount Argus.

    The writer of this 1950 article makes some interesting observations but ultimately does not offer any explanation for the paradoxical situation that he identified – the conspicuous absence of the Irish on the Universal Calendar of the Church. The writer ends by celebrating Saint Columbanus who was also making headlines in 1950 thanks to the French Foreign Minister, Robert Schuman, one of the founding fathers of the European Union:

     The “island of saints and scholars” was in a curious position

    In the Universal Calendar of the Church one great Catholic race is conspicuous by its absence — the Irish. The Calendar knows no nationality or colour barriers. Greeks, Jews, Italians and Spaniards abound thereon; the English sit down with the Egyptians, the French file in with the Germans and there is a place for St. Rose of Lima, who was a Peruvian.

    The ‘island of saints and scholars,’ however, is in a paradoxical situation.

    Despite 1500 years of remarkably virile Christianity, for 200 of which Ireland was the centre of monastic and missionary activity within the Church, no saint of Irish origin has received international recognition.

    Researchers are more or less agreed that St. Patrick was a Welshman of Roman stock, and, at best, Irish by adoption.

    But there are indications that this strange situation will be remedied.

    There are some who hope that the remedy will come soon; perhaps before the end of the Holy Year the name of the first native Irish saint may be inscribed in the Church calendar.

    Inclusion in the Universal Calendar of the Church means that the saint’s feast is inserted into both the missal and the breviary, and is celebrated on a fixed date throughout the world.

    Though Ireland has what must be the longest litany of uncanonised saints of any country, only four Irishmen have been formally elevated to the altar by the Holy See.

    These are St. Malachy, Bishop of Down and Connor, who died A.D. 1148, and was canonised before the close of the century; St. Lawrence OToole, Archbishop of Dublin at the time of the Norman invasion of Ireland; Blessed Thaddeus MacCarthy, Bishop of Cork, who died on pilgrimage to Rome in 1492; and Blessed Oliver Plunket, Archbishop of Armagh, who was hanged and quartered, at Tyburn in the time of Charles II.

    Because of his famous prophecies regarding the Popes, St. Malachy is the most famous of the four.

    While in Rome, he is said to have received a strange vision of the future, wherein was unfolded before him the long list of Pontiffs who are to rule the Church to the end of time. The signs he has given to indicate individual Popes have been remarkably verified, especially in recent times.

    St. Malachy  also foretold Ireland’s subjection ‘for a week of centuries’ to England, her final success in attaining freedom, and that Ireland would be instrumental in winning back her former enemy to the Faith. All four were Bishops, and all died outside of Ireland. St. Lawrence was canonised at the request of the Bishops of France. Blessed Thaddeus was beatified at the request of the Bishops of Northern Italy, and blessed Oliver was beatified at the request of the Irish Bishops less than a generation ago. The list ends abruptly here.

    In a recent address at an international celebration in honour of St. Columban, held in Luxeuil, France, under the patronage of the French President, Foreign Minister Schuman described the saint as ‘the greatest European of his generation.’ The congress was attended by Church and State dignitaries from six European countries and the United States.

    Because of his mighty part in the curbing and leading the barbaric invaders of the Roman Empire to the Christian fold, St. Columban has been ‘God’s Fighting Irishman.’ He clashed with kings and princes in his many fights for the poor and defenceless.

    Driven from France after many fruitful years of mission work, he continued to establish monasteries in Germany, Switzerland and North Italy, where he died after the Faith had been planted among the Lombards and the heresy of Arianism had been overthrown.

    The revival of all Christian knowledge and culture in many parts of France, Germany and Italy is due to the labours and zeal of St. Columban is the verdict given by Pope Plus XI on the work of this Irish saint.

    To the French, he is one of the great realities of French history, ranking with St. Louis, St. Joan of Arc and St. Vincent de Paul.

    To the Irish, he is the model missionary. For western Europeans, he is becoming the patron of international co-operation and resistance to the forces of Red barbarism.

    In China, Japan, Korea, Burma and the Philippines, where missionary priests and Sisters of the Society of St. Columban are labouring, he is the object of popular personal devotion.

    An Irish missionary Bishop in China looks on him as the patron of hopeless cases, and has his prayers answered in near miraculous ways.

    Four seminaries In the United States, six religious houses and an unknown number of churches are named in his honour.

    Catholics everywhere, who received the Sacrament of Penance, owe a debt to St. Columban for popularising the practice of private Confession. Before his time, public confession of sin was the general custom.

    The “island of saints and scholars” was in a curious position (1950, October 5). Catholic Weekly (Sydney, NSW : 1942 – 1954), p. 1 (Magazine Section). Retrieved January 26, 2024, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article146735321

    Content Copyright © Omnium Sanctorum Hiberniae 2012-2024. All rights reserved.