OMNIUM SANCTORUM HIBERNIAE

Tag: Female Saints

  • The Daughter of Mionghar, June 25

    The name of one of the many obscure Irish female saints is found on the earliest of the surviving Irish calendars at June 25. This holy lady is even more enigmatic than most, given that we do not have her Christian name, only that of her father. Canon O’Hanlon can only bring us a couple of lines:

    The Daughter of Mionghar.

    In the Martyrology of Tallagh, we find the entry, Ingena Ninguir, at this date. The daughter of Mionghar was venerated at the 25th of June, as we find recorded, in the Martyrology of Donegal.

     

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  • Saint Faelan and the Daughters of Moinan, June 23

    Canon O’Hanlon has an interesting notice of a Saint Faelan and the Daughters of Moinan at June 23. They are mentioned together in the Martyrology of Tallaght, yet mention of the holy ladies disappears from the later calendars. Nothing much seems to be known of any of the parties, although reference is made to a Saint Brigid, daughter of Monan in the Martyrology of Oengus and in Keating’s History of Ireland, published in the seventeenth century:

    St. Foelaine, or Faelan, and the Daughters of Moinan.

    Such is an entry found in the Martyrology of Tallagh, at the 23rd of June. Nothing more is known, regarding this St. Foelaine and Moinan’s daughters. There is a St. Brigid, said to have been daughter to Monan or Moenan, according to Aengus the Culdee, and Dr. Jeoffry Keating. Whether she was one of the daughters to the Moinan here mentioned must be altogether conjectural and uncertain. In the latest of our great Calendars—that compiled by the O’Clerys—we have no entry regarding these religious ladies, who are noted on the 23rd of June. But, at this same date, in the Martyrologies of Marianus O’Gorman, and of Donegal, merely the name Faelan or Foilan occurs.

     

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  • Saint Cumman Beg of Cill Cuimne, June 14

    We can add another name to the list of obscure Irish holy women at June 14, Cumman Beg of Cill Cuimne. She is yet another saint for whom the only record we have is the listing of her name on the Irish calendars. As is so often the case, it is difficult to be definitive about the exact locality in which she flourished, as Canon O’Hanlon explains:

    St. Cuman Becc, or Cumman Beg, Virgin, of Cill Cuimne.

    The name of Cuman Becc of Tamnaigh, is entered in the Martyrology of Tallagh, as having been venerated, at the 14th of June. There was an old church, now uprooted at Kilcumney, in the deanery of Mullingar, and county of Westmeath. The Rev. Dr. Kelly appears to identify the place of this virgin with Rathdowney, a village and parish in the southern part of the Queen’s County. It signifies, as the denomination now stands,”the fort of the church ;” but, the correct name should be Rathdowney, representing the Irish Rath-tamh-naigh, “the fort of the green field.” This is said to have been the old pagan name. There was a Tamhnach-an-reata, now Tawny, in the parish of Derryvullan, in the barony of Tirkennedy, and county of Fermanagh. There is also a Tawny or Taney, a parish in the county of Dublin. In the Martyrology of Donegal, this saint is recorded, at the same date, as Cumman Beg, Virgin, of Cill Cuimne, at Tamhnach.Content Copyright © Omnium Sanctorum Hiberniae 2012-2015. All rights reserved.