OMNIUM SANCTORUM HIBERNIAE

Tag: Groups of saints

  • Saints Báithéne, Ségéne & Crónán, The Three Clarenigh, January 29

    I have always been intrigued by the adjective clárainech appended to the names of some of our Irish saints, most famously perhaps to Saint Mobhi of Glasnevin. The usual translation given is ‘flat-faced’ or ‘table faced’ and in the case of Saint Mobhi this is described as a result of his rather traumatic birth. He is not the only saint described in this way, however, and at January 29 we have no less than three clarinechs commemorated collectively, Saints Báithéne, Ségéne & Crónán. As Canon O’Hanlon observes ‘why these three saints are venerated on the same day is a problem of difficult solution’. Yes, indeed. Below are his entries for all three from Volume I of his Lives of the Irish Saints, where he suggests that our three saints may have been brothers in the flesh as well as in Christ, and thus there might have been a genetic explanation for their unusual appearance:

     Article  VI. — St.  Baeithin.  

    After  the  introduction  of  seven  foreign saints  at  this  day,  in  the  Franciscan  copy  of  the  Martyrology  of  Tallagh,  the Irish  saints  first  noticed  are  the  three  Clarenigh,’  i.e.,  Baithen,  Segin,  and Cronan. Baeithin,  is  separately  registered  in  the  Martyrology  of  Donegal, on  this  day.  He  is  also  entered  in  the  published  Martyrology  of  Tallagh, but  united  with  two  other saints.  Why  these  three  saints  are  venerated  on the  same  day  is  a  problem  of  difficult  solution.

    Article  VII. — St.  Cronan.  

    We  find  a  St.  Cronan  separately  recorded in  the  Martyrology  of  Donegal,  as  having  a  festival  at  this  date.  He  is  also entered,  but  not  separately,  in  the  Martyrology  of  Tallagh.  Towards  the close  of  life  he  might  repeat,  as  St.  Paul  did  to  the  Ephesians, “I  have fought  a  good  fight;  I  have  finished  my  course;  I  have  kept  the  faith.” Therefore  was  he  a  ready  sacrifice  when  the  time  of  dissolution  was  at  hand.

    Article  VIII. — St.  Seighin  or  Segin.  

    The  Martyrology  of  Tallagh mentions  that  on  the  29th  of  January  a  festival  was  held  in  honour  of  St.Segin.   He  is  united  with  the  two  former  saints. “Na  tri  Clarenigh.  i  Baethini  ocus  Segini  ocus  Cronani,”  is  the  entry  found  in  this  record.  In  the Martyrology  of  Donegal  we  find  entered  on  this  day,  Seighin.  Immediately afterwards  follows  this  notice: — “The  three  Clairenechs  [flat-faced],  were Cronan,  Baeithin,  and  Seighin.”  Perhaps  from  the  physical  peculiarity  attributed to  these  saints,  and  their  feasts  occurring  the  same  day,  we  may suppose  them  to  have  been brothers,  or  perhaps  to  have  been  descended from  some  common  progenitor.

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  • The Three Daughters of Ailill, August 9

    The Martyrology of Tallaght, one of the earliest of the Irish calendars, lists at August 9 the feast of Tri ingena Ailella – the three daughters of Ailill. Such groupings of saintly siblings are a feature of the Irish calendars, indeed these holy ladies share their day with Cethri meic Ercain – the four sons of Ercan and Ceithre meic Dimmain – the four sons of Dioman. We are unable to learn any more about the identities of the individuals who comprise the group of Ailill’s daughters, nor when or where they flourished. In Volume VIII of his Lives of the Irish Saints Canon O’Hanlon gives this brief account, noting that the Tallaght calendar is the sole source for the feast of Ailell’s daughters as they are not listed on the Martyrology of Donegal, compiled by Michael O’Clery and his associates in the seventeenth century: 

    Article III. Tri h. Inghena Ailalla. 

    Written in this manner, we have a festival entered in the Martyrology of Tallagh, as edited by the Rev. Dr. Kelly; although we find no corresponding entry, at this day, in the Martyrology of Donegal, edited by Drs. Todd and Reeves.

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  • The Seven Bishops of Cluain Caa, October 3

    On October 3 we find another of the groups of saints who are a feature of the Irish calendars – The Seven Bishops of Cluain Caa. The Martyrology of Donegal records:

    THE SEVEN BISHOPS, of Cluain Cua. We find seven bishops, the children of one father, of the race of Fiacha Suighdhe, son of Feidhlimidh Reachtmhar, son of Tuathal Teachtmhar, as we have said at the 21st of July.

    A Footnote from the editor adds:

    Cluain Cua. The more recent hand adds, Cluana Cáa rectius, more correctly, of  Cluain-caa. This is the reading in the Mart. Taml., and Marian.

    The entry for July 21 reproduces the genealogical details ascribed above to the bishops commemorated on October 3:

    THE SEVEN BISHOPS, of Tamhnach Buadha, [Bishop Tedda, of Tamhnach,] and we find seven bishops, the sons of one father, and their names and history among the race of Fiacha Suighdhe, son of Feidhlimidh Reachtmhar, son of Tuathal Teachtmhar.

    I turned next to the twelfth-century Martyrology of Marianus O’Gorman to see if he could shed any further light on these bishops or the locality of Cluain Caa. They form the last verse of his entry for the day:

    The bishops of Cluain Caa,
    their day I will mention.

    with a footnote reading ‘seven bishops of Cluain Caa’.

    In consulting the index of places attached to the calendar I found that, according to the nineteenth-century scholar and translator W.M. Hennessy, Cluain Caa was located in Queen’s County, i.e. County Laois:

    Cluain Caa, Oct. 3, wrongly spelt Cluain cua, Progs. R.I.A. Irish MS. series i. 100, 101, where Hennessy locates it in Queen’s co.

    I also confirmed the entry in the earlier Martyrology of Tallaght:

    Secht n-epscoip Clúana Caa.

    So it would seem that the calendars concur in having a feast of seven bishops from Cluain Caa celebrated on October 3.  Only the Martyrology of Donegal supplies the genealogical detail and suggests that they are siblings. It is also only this calendar which seeks to link them to the group of bishops commemorated at Tamnach Buada on July 21. The Martyrology of Gorman notes only ‘austere bishops from Tamnach’ at this date and does not cross-reference this episcopal grouping with that commemorated on October 3.

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