OMNIUM SANCTORUM HIBERNIAE

Tag: Irish Saints

  • Saint Colman, October 24

    I have often alluded on this blog to the problem of trying to disentangle Ireland’s homonymous saints.  I must admit that my heart sinks when I see the name Colman in particular on the calendars. I therefore had to give a wry smile when reading the entry for this day in the Martyrology of Donegal:

    24. C. NONO KAL. NOVEMBRIS. 24.

    COLMAN.

    Another COLMAN.

    Yes, indeed, another Colman, I’m afraid I can tell you nothing more about either. The Martyrology of Tallaght records a Colmani meic Fuidicain at this date so it looks as if one of this pair had a patronymic attached to his name. Let’s leave the last word to the Martyrology of Gorman:
    24. C

    two Colmans reckon ye with them, the gentle ones, I will praise them.

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  • Saint Dalbach of Cúil Collainge, October 23

    October 23 is the feastday of a County Cork saint associated with the asceticism of the Céile-Dé movement, Dalbach of Cúil Collainge. This saint features in a poem, the Oentú Maelruain, listing the particular disciples of the Céile-Dé leader Maelruain of Tallaght. The locality, Cúil Collainge, is identified by Father Peter O’Dwyer in his commentary on the poem as being close to Castlelyons, County Cork. Father O’Dwyer also estimates that Saint Dalbach would have reposed around the year 800. Below is the entry for the saint’s feast from The Martyrology of Donegal plus the notes which state that Cúil Collainge was founded by Saint Abban:

    23. B. DECIMO KAL. NOVEMBRIS. 23.

    DALBHACH, of Cuil Collainge. He was of the race of Oilioll Flannbeg, son of Fiacha Muilleathan, son of Eoghan Mór, son of Oilioll Olum. Cuimin, of Coindeire, states, in the poem which begins, “Patrick of the fort of Macha loves,” that this saint was a great performer of penance, and that he never touched his hand to his side as long as he lived. Thus he says :

    “The fair Dalbhach, of Cúil, loves
    To practise intense penance;
    He never touched his hand to his side
    As long as he retained his soul.”

    Abán was he who blessed at Cúil Collainge first. Life of Abán, chap. 11.

    Who blessed. That is, who in founding a church gave his blessing to the place. The Life of S. Abban, as published by Colgan, says, at chap. 20, “Deinde sanctus Dei venit ad terram Huath Liathain, et ibi cellam, quae dicitur Ceallcruimthir, prope civitatem Culcollingi, vel Cillculen, aedificavit : et alios ex discipulis suis ibi dimisit.” Actt. SS. p. 615 b.

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  • Saint Siollan of Moville, October 21

    In the calendar appended to his Ecclesiastical Antiquities of Down, Connor and Dromore, Bishop William Reeves notes on October 21:

    ‘ S. SIOLLAN, abbot of Magh Bile’.

    The Martyrology of Gorman commemorates him as:

    ‘Sillán, a prince who was not evil and cruel’

    and the notes add:

    ‘Sillán the Master, i.e. great-grandson of Garb, abbot of Mag bile.’

    This latter information is also found in the entry for October 21 in the Martyrology of Donegal which records:

    ‘ SIOLLAN, the Master, Mac Ua Gairbh, abbot of Magh-bile.’

    Saint Siollan is the second saint of the monastery of Moville to be commemorated this month, as another of its abbots, Sinell, has his feastday on October 1. Here’s a reminder of the history of this foundation from Archbishop Healy:

    Moville, or Movilla, is at present the name of a townland less than a mile to the north-east of Newrtownards, at the head of Strangford Lough, in the county Down. This district was in ancient times famous for its great religious establishments. Bangor, to which we shall refer presently, is not quite five miles due north of Moville…Further south, but on the western shore of the same Lough, anciently called Lough Cuan, were the Abbey of Inch, the famous Church of Saul, in which St. Patrick died, and the Church of Downpatrick, in which he was buried with SS. Brigid and Columcille. And in one of the islands in the same Strangford Lough, now called Island Mahee, quite close to the western shore, was that ancient monastery and school of Noendrum, of which we have already spoken. Religious men from the beginning loved to build their houses and churches in view of this beautiful sheet of water, with its myriad islands and fertile shores, bounded in the distance by swelling uplands, that lend a charming variety to this rich and populous and highly cultivated county.

    …Finnian is said to have returned to Ireland and founded his school at Moville about the year A. D. 540, that is some twenty years after his namesake of Clonard had opened his own great school on the banks of the Boyne. The name Maghbile means the plain of the old tree, probably referring to some venerable oak reverenced by the Druids before the advent of St. Patrick. At present there is nothing of the ancient abbey-school except a few venerable yews to mark the city of the dead, and an old ruined church on the line of the high road from Newtownards to Donaghadee. This old church, which was one hundred and seven feet in length, in all probability did not date back to the original foundation of the place, although it undoubtedly stands on the site of St. Finnian’s original church. The spot was aptly chosen, sheltered by an amphitheatre of hills from the winds of the north and east, and commanding far away to the south a noble prospect of Lough Cuan’s verdant islets and glancing waters.

    St. Finnian died in A.D. 589, according to the Annals of Ulster, at a very great age.

    Insula Sanctorum et Doctorum or Ireland’s Ancient Schools and Scholars by the Most Rev. John Healy (6th edition, Dublin, 1912), 245 , 249, 254.

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