OMNIUM SANCTORUM HIBERNIAE

Tag: Feast of All the Saints of Ireland

  • "Ireland, though fruitful in soil, is much more celebrated for saints"

    November 6 is the Feast of All the Saints of Ireland and below is a reflection from Father William P. Treacy (1850–1906) on the legacy of those Irish saints who carried the Gospel outside these shores. Father Treacy was a native of Tipperary who was ordained at Louvain and subsequently ministered in the United States, a background which perhaps explains his affinity for those Irishmen who studied and laboured abroad. In the excerpt below from his 1889 work Irish Scholars of the Penal Days, he reflects the mainstream Victorian romantic approach to the early medieval Irish church and its saints, as he recalls a lost Golden Age when the Faith was pure and laments those ‘mists and clouds’ which prevent this ‘angelic vision of Ireland’s beauty’ from being appreciated properly today. This blog will, le cuidiú Dé, continue to honour the saints of Ireland and I wish everyone the blessings of their feast!

    …Our noble hagiologists watched with streaming eyes the holy missionaries
    marching out from Ireland in glorious succession to bring light, and
    peace, and joy, and life to the peoples who sat in the darkness of error
    and in the shadow of death. They saw St Arden preaching to the
    Northumbrians in England; they saw St Colman among the Northern Saxons;
    they beheld St. Arbogart seated and ruling in the Episcopal Chair of
    Strasbourg. Sts. Maildulphus, Cuthbert, Killian, Virgilius, Finden and
    Columba rose up before their entranced vision, and they blessed and
    glorified the land that bore such flowers. They deeply felt the truth of
    the words of St Adelnus to Elfride, “that Ireland is no less stored
    with learned men than are the heavens with glittering stars.” With
    Egiwold, they agreed “that Ireland, though fruitful in soil, is much
    more celebrated for saints.” With Henry of Huntingdon they knew “that
    the Almighty enriched Ireland with several blessings, and appointed a
    multitude of saints for its defence.” They delighted in old, holy
    Ireland. Ireland of the Cell, and the Church, and the Monastery, and the
    Convent, and the Well, and the Celtic Cross, claimed the deep devotion
    of their hearts. No wonder that the names of our hagiologists are loved
    and cherished by every true child of Ireland. Would that we could
    inherit some of their love for our forefathers in the Faith! I can think
    of few blessings greater than the grace of devotion to the dear
    servants of God. To love the saints who prayed, and watched, and fasted,
    and bled, and died to transmit the Faith pure and bright to us ought to
    be our great aim. Sons of Ireland, do you always remember that the
    chief and lasting glory of your country is Christian? Do you always
    remember that the brightest halos that shine upon your country are those
    that surround the heads of your saints? Alas! I fear not. To many the
    angelic vision of Ireland’s beauty during the days when St Columb
    preached in Scotland; when Columban taught in France; when St Clement
    spoke in Germany; when St Buan bore the light into Iceland; when St
    Killian prayed in Franconia, and St Buiwan in the Orcades, when St
    Gallus stood amid the snows of Switzerland, and St Brendan shone upon
    the Fortunate Isles, is covered with mists and clouds…..

    Rev. William P. Treacy, Irish Scholars of
    the Penal Days: Glimpses of their Labours on the Continent of Europe (New
    York, 1889), 67-68.

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  • 'Lives of Heroic Sanctity' – Feast of All the Saints of Ireland, November 6

     

     

     …..What could not be destroyed was the memory of the past; above all, the memory of those Irish men and women, whose lives of heroic sanctity won for them a place in the Martyrologies, in the Félire of Oengus, the Félire of Tallaght, the Félire of Gorman. Their number is about seventeen hundred, a goodly company, whose virtues Catholic Ireland of the centuries since has sought but rarely to emulate and has never been able to surpass.

    John Ryan, S.J. Irish Monasticism – Origins and Early Development (2nd edition, 1972, reprinted Irish Academic Press, 1986), viii.

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  • A Litany of Irish Family Patrons

     

     
    Following yesterday’s posting on the Litany of the Patron Saints of Irish Dioceses,  below is the second short litany of Irish saints, this time in their capacity as patrons of Irish families. One thing worth noting is that the families are not all of native Gaelic origin, as Norman ‘Old English’ surnames are equally well-represented. It is interesting too to see the decidedly non-Irish Saint Nicholas at the end of the list, but he has his place in the Official Litany of Irish Saints as a patron of Galway. I have no other information about this litany of family patrons, its author or its accuracy but it’s an enjoyable read on this the eve of the Feast of All the Saints of Ireland:
     
    Litany of Irish Saints.
     
    The
    following interesting document, translated from the Gaelic, was among
    the papers of a cultured Irish lady who died recently in New York: —
    Many of the old clans, patriarchal races, and ancient Catholic families
    of Ireland have cherished a traditional devotion to certain
    local saints who have been regarded from time immemorial as their
    patrons, and to encourage this devout observance the following ‘Litany
    of the Patron Saints of the Dioceses of Ireland’ was compiled and
    approved by the ecclesiastical authorities. Subjoined is a list of
    some of the Irish families, who thus are clients of the saints invoked in this litany. There are many other Irish families, clans, towns,
    and localities who invoke the patronage of other illustrious local
    saints, whose names do not occur in this litany of Diocesan saints, to
    which the following list is confined: 
     
    St. Malachi is patron saint of
    the O’Dohertys, O’Reillys, O’Neills, Mc Canns, Nugents, O’ Ferralls, Maguires, and Mc Kennas. 
     
    St. Laurence of the O’Tooles and Purcells. 
     
     St.
    Kevin of the Kilbrides, O’Byrnes, Murrays.
     
    St. Albert of the Cullens,
    Ryans, and Bennetts.
     
     St. Jarlath of the
    Moores and Killeens.
     
    St. Kieran of the O’Connors, Grehans, and
    Brownes. 
     
    St. Columbkille of the O’Donnells and O’Loughlins. 
     
    St. Conlath
    of the Mullens and Duffeys. 
     
    St. Macartan of the O’Flynns, Macartans,
    O’Donnellys, Smiths, and Mc Guinnesses. 
     
    St. Kyrans of the O’Brennans,
    Fitzpatricks, O’Donohoes, and Mahers. 
     
    St. Aiden of the O’Kinselas
    and O’Farralls.
     
    St. Ailbe of the Cullens and Nolans. 
     
    St. Fachanan of
    the Fitzgeralds, Mc Namaras, O’Briens, Mc Mahons, Blennerhassets, Ennisses and O’Shaughnessys.
     
    St. Finbar of the Mc Carthys and Barrys. 
     
    St. Otteran of the Barrons, Wyses, and Walshes.
     
    St. Ascium of the Frenches, Kelleys, and Dysarts.
     
    St. Nicholas of the Blakes and
    Burkes.

     Catholic Press (Sydney, NSW : 1895 – 1942), Saturday 26 May 1900, page 5

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