OMNIUM SANCTORUM HIBERNIAE

Tag: Groups of saints

  • The Sons of Terchur, April 13

    On April 13 the earliest of the Irish calendars, the Martyrology of Tallaght, commemorates a group of saints associated with the lakeland area of County Fermanagh, the Sons of Terchur. There are quite a few saints grouped under their patronymic to be found in the Irish calendars. In some cases we have names preserved for the individuals but in many others they are simply known collectively. The memory of the sons of Terchur is carried forward into the 17th-century Martyrology of Donegal, but without any further detail. Canon O’Hanlon fills up some of the space in his article by a romantic description of the scenery of the saints’ locality, accompanied by an engraving, and by way of contrast to their holy way of life selects a later medieval episode from the Irish Annals:

    The Sons of Terchur, of Loch-mac-Nein.

    On the 13th of April, we find entered, in the Martyrology of Tallagh Mac Tarchair, Locha mic Nina. This place was identical with Lough-Mac-Nen, now Lough Macnean, situated between the counties of Fermanagh, Cavan and Leitrim. The very romantic scenery, about the margin of Lough Mac Nean, is enhanced greatly by that beautiful sheet of water, extending between the counties of Fermanagh and of Leitrim, while several islands seem to float over its surface. On one of these, called Innisshee, there is a crannog, and it lies to the left of the Hanging Rock, a magnificent cliff over the Lake, and which is shown in the engraving. The Island itself is in the centre of the Lough, and the view as presented in our illustration is that appearing from Belcoo. A bridge at this village carries the road across to the northern extremity, which is situated in the county of Cavan.

    The sons of Terchur, are mentioned, in the Martyrology of Donegal, as having had veneration paid to them, on this day. They are also said to have been of Loch-mac-Nein; but, whether their place of retirement was on an Island, situated in the lake itself, or whether it was to be found on the shores which border it, we have now apparently no clue left us, which could serve to discover that particular site.

    In the year 1499, the Annals of the Four Masters’ state, that Con Carragh and John O’Roorke took Melaghlin Mac Rannall, a prisoner, and they conveyed him to Inis-Ochta, an Island on Lough Mac Nen. But Rory Maguire rescued the prisoner, and slew these two sons of O’Roorke. It seems hurtful to generous and refined feeling, that deeds of violence should be associated with so charming a locality; and, even more so, when it is known, that holy men had once sanctified those places which are historic, by their living presence, although we can only learn of them and their associations with the scene, through the patronymic above recorded.

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  • The Holy Daughters of Leinin, March 6

    There are a number of interesting saints commemorated on March 6, but I have chosen to look at a group of holy women whose name lives on in the placename of Killiney, County Dublin. Canon O’Hanlon brings us the details, first of one group of five sisters and then of another sister called Brighit.

    THE HOLY DAUGHTERS OF LEININ, SAINTS DRUGENIA, LUIGENIA, LUICELLA, MACHA AND RIOMTHACH, AT THE CHURCH OF KlLL-NA-NINGEAN, NOW SUPPOSED TO BE KILLININY, COUNTY OF DUBLIN. [Sixth or Seventh Century.]

    In the last chapter of the “Sanctilogium Genealogicum,” these sisters are said to have been the daughters of Leninus, son to Garrchon, son to Donacius, the son of Conamalius, son to Colgan, son to Cronmael, son to Altius, son to Aengus, the son of Nuadatus, &c. In the Martyrology of Tallagh, these sisters are not named, at the 6th of March; but, there they are called, Ingena Lenini, or the “daughters of Leninus.” Marianus O’Gorman, Charles Maguire and the Martyrology of Donegal place the festival of these holy ladies, at the 6th of March. The site for their church is determined, by Dr. O’Donovan, to have been comprised, within the greater part of the barony of Rathdown, in the present county of Dublin, or in some northern part of Wicklow County. There the sept of Ui-Briuin-Cualann was located. According to William M. Hennessy, the place where these pious ladies lived was in the southern part of the county of Killiney Church, County of Dublin. It is now said to be known as Killininy, or Kilnanaughnin, near Fir House Convent, Bohernabreena. There is an old ruined church at Killiney, on the sea-shore of Dublin County, and near the beautiful bay, to which the church gives name…. Whether it was at Killininy, or at Killiney, the pious daughters of Lenin lived, seems an uncertain matter ; but, it is probable enough, that while their sister Brighit remained at the latter place, the following five occupied the former as a residence. Thus, the Martyrology of Donegal enters the daughters of Leinin, as Druigen, Luigen, Luicell, Macha and Riomhtach. These are said to be sisters of Brighit, daughter of Leinin. Their place is called Cill-inghen-Leinin, in Ui-Briuin Cualann, in Leinster. All of those pious ladies, here venerated, were sisters to St. Colman the Bishop and Patron of Cloyne Diocese and, accordingly, they seem to have lived, towards the close of the sixth or the beginning of the seventh century.

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  • The Daughters of Comgall, January 22

     

    The earliest Irish calendars – the Martyrology of Oengus and the Martyrology of Tallagh- both make reference to a feast on January 22 of the daughters of Comgall – Lassir, Columba and Bogha – and associate them with the church of Glenavy in County Antrim. The origin of this northern church is mentioned in the Tripartite Life of Saint Patrick, where it was first known as Lettir-phadraic but later as Lann Abhaigh. Canon O’Hanlon brings together the evidence from the sources for us before concluding with a triumphal flourish:

    The Daughters of Comgall, Colma, Bogha, and Lassara, of Glenavy, County of Antrim.

    The Martyrology of Tallagh mentions a festival on the 22nd of January in honour of Comghaill’s daughters, Lassir, Columba, and Bogha. Some confusion in rendering their names appears to have crept into our calendars. According to the Martyrology of Donegal, on this day was venerated Colma, also called Columba, Bogha, and Laisri, three sisters. These virgins belonged to the sept, and were daughters of Comhgall, son to Fianglach. They were buried and venerated at Leitir Dal-Araidhe; they were disciples—or, according to another version, foster-children—to Comhgall of Beannchair, or Bangor. According to the poem beginning “The Hagiology of the Saints of Inis-Fail,” they are of the Dal m Buain, the race of Eochaidh, son of Muireadh. The place called Lettir in Dalaradia was anciently known as Lettir-Phadruig, after the Irish Apostle St. Patrick, who there first built a church. From the disciple, called Abhac, placed over it, Lann-Abhaich, Lan-avy, and finally Glen-avy, were titles given to this spot. It is a parochial church in the diocese of Connor, and in the ancient territory of Delmunia. It is said, that the present church does not occupy the original site; but that old Glenavy churchyard lay at some distance, in an angle formed by the Glenavy and Pigeonstown roads. Yet this account seems inconsistent with an existing tradition. Glenavy parish is situated within the barony of Upper Massereene, and in the county of Antrim. At a place called Camus Comhgaill, those holy women are also said to have been venerated. This, by others, is also thought to be the spot where their bodies had been interred. The holy virgins’ names are included in the calendar compiled by the Rev. William Reeves. They are likewise entered in the Kalendar of Drummond; but, apparently in a most incorrect manner, at the xi. of the February kalends, which corresponds with this date. Thus in early ages, and in the same family, we find many saints, while from the fifth to the eighth century Ireland appeared to realize the glorious vision of a church which St. John had in Patmos.

    O’Hanlon also contacted the then parish priest of Glenavy who in a letter dated 2nd May, 1873, furninshed some further local detail which appears in a footnote:

    There is no vestige of the old church of Glenavy. A tradition exists, that the Protestant church is on the site of the old one. It is divided by a river from what is supposed to be the old cemetery, where, according to Reeves, were buried the three sisters. These are said to be the sisters of St. Comgall, abbot and founder of Bangor. He came from Maheramorne, near Lame. Perhaps there was a religious house in Glenavy, to which the three sisters retired. There is no ruin whatever on the spot.

    Reeves is Bishop William Reeves, an Anglican scholar who produced a most useful volume on the ecclesiastical history of the northern dioceses. He too quotes from the sources beginning with the Martyrology of Oengus on January 22:

    ” Exitus filiarum Comgalli”.
    “i.e. at Lettir in Dalaradia they are[buried], and from Dalaradia they are [sprung]”.

    Their names are given in the Calendar of the Clerys at the same day:

    “Colman, Bogha, et Lassera, three sisters, and three virgins, and they were foster children to Comghall of Bangor, and they are [interred] at Lettir in Dalaradia; or [according to others] it is at Camus Comghaill they are [resting]”.

    Their descent also is given by Colgan : 

    “SS. Boga, Colma sive Columba, et Lassara virgines, tres filiae Comgelli filii Fingalacii filii Demaui filii Nuathalii filii Mutalani filii Cantalani filii Fiengalacii filii Niedi filii Buani a quo Dal-Buain, Coluntur in Ecclesia Litterensi in Dalriedia [recte Dalaradia] 22 Januarii”.—(Act. SS., p. 471.)

    Rev. W. Reeves, Ecclesiastical Antiquities of Down, Connor and Dromore (Dublin, 1847), 237.

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