OMNIUM SANCTORUM HIBERNIAE

Tag: Feasts

  • Michael – 'one who is like unto God'

    In this extract from a homily for the feast of Saint Michael preserved in the Leabhar Breac, the writer lays out the nine Orders and Grades among the angels and the ways in which they aid mankind. It ends with a summary of the ways in which the great Archangel is ‘like unto God’. Irish devotion to Saint Michael reflected an awareness of his role as the ‘weigher of souls’ after death, a motif which finds expression on Irish high crosses, as well as his role as the champion in the battle against the Antichrist, which was mentioned in the eighth-century poetry of Blathmac, as well as in the Martyrology of Onegus:

    “At the fight against the multitudinous Dragon
    of our Michael stout, victorious,
    the soldier whitesided, hostful,
    will slay Wrathful Antichrist.”

    The Leabhar Breac, the ‘Speckled Book’ dates to the 15th-century but contains a collection of materials, some of which are much earlier in date. When this particular homily dates from I don’t know, but certainly Irish devotion to Saint Michael and his place in the Irish Antichrist tradition can be established at least as far back as the eighth-century. The anonymous homilist writes:

    Now, there are nine Orders and nine Grades among the angels of Heaven, as the Scripture enumerates. Seraphim are the first grade, i. e., ‘burning,’ because they burn with the love of the Lord for ever without intermission in the presence of God. Cherubim are the second grade, the translation of this name being ‘multitude of knowledge and wisdom’ ; for it is they who drink most abundantly of the well of the knowledge of the deity. Throni, meaning the ‘seats ‘ and thrones of the King, are the third grade ; for it is from them that the Lord delivers his righteous judgments on every man in the world. The fourth grade are Dominationes, the powers and ‘lordships’ holding sway over mankind, and because they rule and govern the five following grades. Principatus are the fifth grade ; ‘princedoms’ presiding over actions, for they are the high princes of the noble spirits that are placed in charge of the divine services over their subjects. Potestates, ‘powers,’ are the sixth grade, from their authority over mankind. It is this Order that keep down the attacks and inflictions and pestilences of the wicked spirits, the devils, so as not to allow them to assault or vent their rage on men as they desire. Virtutes are the seventh grade, the spirits by whom are effected ‘ miracles ‘ and wonders among the saints and righteous. Archangeli are the eighth grade, i.e., ‘chief messengers,’ for it is they who announce the mighty wonders and the excellent tidings to mankind. Angeli are the ninth grade, i.e., ‘declarers,’ because they declare the will of God and every just cause to the seed of Adam according to the commandment of the Lord.

    This noble assembly of the angelic host do not stand in need of proper names ; for even the names we have given them are derived from the services in which they are engaged towards mankind. Thus the name Gabriel means the ‘might of God,’ on account of the great force and influence on the world of the thing he foretold, viz., the conception and birth of Christ. Raphael is explained ‘medicine of God’; it was he who went to Tobit for the assistance and healing he brought to Tobit’s eye. Michael, whose festival and memory are observed in the Church of God on the anniversary of this day, denotes ‘one who is like God’; and this name is not without special validity and reference to him; for Michael is like unto God in many ways. To him were shown the five victories: 1, his being a mighty champion in casting down the haughty demons by the word of the Lord, and in hurling them with his arrow into hell from the upper realms; 2, it is he who fights with the devil for the soul of every believing person when it issues from his body; 3, it is he who will give decision in the presence of God on behalf of the holy and righteous in the day of doom; 4, he will fight against Antichrist on Mount Sion in the end of the world, and will gain the victory and triumph over him; and 5, after this victory he will rule for ever with the saints without end or limit in the heavenly kingdom.

    ‘XVI. On the Archangel Michael’ , The Passions and the Homilies from Leabhar Breac – Text, Translation and Glossary by Robert Atkinson (Dublin, 1887), 452-453.

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  • The Arrival of Saint Maelruain with the Relics of the Saints at Tallaght, August 10

    Canon O’Hanlon has a notice of a wonderful feast of the translation of the relics of the saints by Saint Maelruain of Tallaght at August 10:

    The Arrival of St. Maolruain, with the Relics of Virgins and of other Saints, at Tallagh, County of Dublin.

    In the Martyrology of Tallagh, we find a festival for this day, as characterized at the head of this paragraph. We learn from the Life of St. Aengus, the Culdee, that he often travelled about, engaged on inquiries, which enabled him to illustrate the Saint-History of Ireland. Doubtless, he failed not to collect some relics of those holy persons, whenever he travelled abroad; and, it is likely, that his distinguished superior and local contemporary, St. Maelruan, who had kindred tastes, made special journeys for similar purposes. One of these returns must have been solemnly commemorated at Tallagh, in the eighth century, and before the death of St. Maelruan, on the 7th July, 792. That commemoration was probably continued annually, on this day, and at that particular place, in recognition of those treasures deposited by the holy founder in the house of his religious community.

    This would have been a purely local commemoration specific to this County Dublin monastery, and scholar Westley Follett suggests that it may in fact commemorate the anniversary of its founding:

    According to the Annals of the Four Masters Tallaght was founded in 774. The Martyrology of Tallaght appears to commemorate the occasion on 10 August with the notice ‘Mael Ruain came to Tallaght with his relics of the saints, martyrs and virgins’. [1]

    This feast thus gives us a glimpse into the development of the cult of the saints in eighth-century Ireland as well as the part played by this particular monastery. Tallaght is perhaps most famously associated with the Céile-Dé movement, but also left a lasting hagiological legacy. For this monastery was associated with the production of the earliest surviving Irish calendars of the saints, The Martyrology of Tallaght and the Martyrology of Aengus. The former is essentially a copy of the Hieronymian Martyrology which reached Ireland in the eighth century (possibly via Iona) to which the commemorations of native Irish saints was added. Follett comments:

    It should not be overlooked that non-Irish saints were venerated at Tallaght. The Martyrology of Tallaght (edd. Best and Lawlor, 62) commemorates August 10 with the comment, ‘Mael Ruain cum suis reliquiis sanctorum martirum et uirginum ad Tamlachtain uenit’. Given the paucity of native martyrs in Ireland, we may presume these were the relics of non-Irish martyrs. [2]

    Various sources connected to the monastery of Tallaght give a further glimpse of devotion to the saints. The Preface to the Martyrology of Aengus, which scholars seem to agree used The Martyrology of Tallaght as a source and was written within a generation of the time of Maelruain, records a particular devotion to Saint Michael the Archangel on the part of Maelruain and claims that relics of the archangel were kept at Tallaght:

    Now it is that Maelruain who decided that he would not take land in Tamlachtu until Michael (the Archangel), with whom he had a friendship, should take it; and because of that agreement there are in Tamlachtu relics consecrated to Michael. [3]

    Follett also quotes two further Tallaght documents which show how devotion to the saints was practiced as part of the monastic day. The first is from The Teaching of Maelruain:

    It was their practice that one man should read aloud the Gospel and the Rules and miracles of the saints while their brethern were at their rations or eating their supper, so that their attention should not be occupied with their dinner. [4]

    and is confirmed in The Rule of the Céile-Dé:

    It is the practice of the Céile-Dé that while they are at dinner one of them reads aloud the Gospel and the Rule and the miracles of the saints, to the end that their minds may be set on God, not on the meal. [5]

    Finally, there is a post in the archive on an even earlier Irish saint with an interest in collecting the relics of Ireland’s holy men and women, Saint Onchu of Clonmore. The scholiast notes on his feast day record the story of his over-enthusiasm when he insisted on collecting a finger from the still-living Saint Maedoc! As a result, Maedoc prophesied that the relic collector and his collection would never leave Clonmore. And thus the Connaght man Onchu, likened in the list of parallel saints to Saint Ambrose, came to be buried at the County Carlow monastery of Saint Maedoc.

    References

    [1] Céli Dé in Ireland: monastic writing and identity in the early Middle Ages (Boydell, 2006), 173.

    [2] Ibid, 210, footnote 246.

    [3] W. Stokes, ed. and trans., The Martyrology of Oengus the Culdee (London, 1905), 12-13.

    [4] Follett, op.cit., 180.

    [5] Ibid.

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

  • ‘Benedict, a strong pillar’


    Although there are a number of Irish saints commemorated on July 11, I found myself interested in the noting on some of our native calendars of the feast of the Translation of the Relics of Saint Benedict. Although the major feast of the father of western monasticism fell on the day of his natalis, March 21, at which date it was recorded in the Martyrology of Aengus, the Martyrology also commemorated the second feastday of Saint Benedict, that of the translation of his relics, on July 11. I was struck by how Saint Aengus the Martyrologist brings together the saints of the East, the West and of Ireland on this day, for the entry sandwiches ‘Benedict, a strong pillar’ between the names of the Great Martyr Euphemia and a local saint, Failbe, from Dísert maic Con-lócha in County Westmeath:

    C. v. idus Iulii.
    La martrai na rígnae
    Eufemiae slógdae,
    Benedicht, bale áge,
    macc craíbdech Con-lógae.

    11. With the martyrdom of the queen,
    Euphemia the hostful,
    Benedict, a strong pillar,
    Cu-lógae’s devout son.

    The scholiast comment is simply this: Benedict, i.e. caput monachorum etc.

    The later Martyrology of Marianus O’Gorman, written in the 12th century, spells out the title of the feastday:

    11. C.
    Translait cuirp in clerigh
    Benedict as mbage.

    11. C.
    The translation of the body of the cleric
    Benedict whom thou proclaims.

    Canon O’Hanlon has a short paragraph in Volume 7 of The Lives of the Irish Saints too:

    Translation of St. Benedict’s Relics.

    In the “Leabhar Breac” copy of the “Feilire,” by St. Aengus, there is a record of St. Benedict’s festival, at the 11th of July. Furthermore, a scholion informs us, that he was Benedict, the Father of Monks. Usuard and other ancient Martyrologists have it as the festival for a Translation of his relics, as the Bollandists note at this day. They refer, however, to his chief feast, at the 21st of March for an exhaustive illustration of his Acts. Also, in Usuard is to be found, at this same date, a Translation of the relics of his sister Scholastica, whose chief festival and Acts are noticed, on the 10th of February.

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