OMNIUM SANCTORUM HIBERNIAE

Tag: Irish Saints

  • Saint Colman Lucell of Clonkeen, October 6

    On October 6 we commemorate one of the many Irish saints with the name of Colman who appears to have been an abbot at one of the many Irish places with the name of Clúain. This particular saint also seems to have been known as Lucell. The earliest of the calendars, the Martyrology of Tallaght, simply records the name of Colman. The Martyrology of Oengus leads with a notice of Abb Clúana in Lucell, ‘Lucell the abbot of Clúain’, and the scholiast notes record:

    6. Lucell abbot of Clúain, i.e. abbot of Clonmacnois, i.e. a successor of Ciaran of Cluain, and he is at Ross Fothairbe on the shore of Lough Mask in the west of Connaught.

    The commentator on the 12th-century Martyrology of Gorman’s entry for Lucell subach sluagach, ‘happy, hostful Lucell’, however, identifies him with Colman: .i. Colmán ab Clúana Cáoin., ‘i.e. Colman abbot of Clúain Cáin’.

    The 17th-century Martyrology of Donegal reprises all of this information, identifying Colman, as Abbot of Clúain Cáin, describing him also as Lucell and allowing the possibility that he may have been at Clonmacnoise: ‘COLMAN, Abbot of Cluain-caoin, i.e., Luicheall; or he was of Cluain-mic-Nois’.

    There are a number of places in Ireland where the placename of Clúain Cáin, anglicized as Clonkeen, is found. One is not far from the monastery of Clonenagh, founded by Saint Fintan. A diocesan historian of Kildare and Leighlin writes of this place:

    CLONKEEN

    This name, which is derived, according to Colgan, from Cluain-Caein, i.e. secessus amaenus sive delectabilis, “the beautiful lawn or meadow,”-is the title of an ancient parochial district, the church of which still exists in ruins. It is of apparently great antiquity, and is divided into two portions that would represent nave and chancel, except that there is a solid wall separating them apparently as old as the rest of the buildings and only pierced by a window high up. Dimensions: nave 45 feet by 22 feet; chancel (if it may be called so), 25 feet by 18 feet. Colgan speaks of St. Fintan having been born in Clonkeen of Leix; if so, then this place may lay claim to the honour of having given birth to one of our greatest Irish Saints.

    The following particulars are given by Archdall in Monast. Hib, in reference to Cluainchaoin (Clonkeen).
    Cluainchaoin was an ancient monastery, not far from Clonenagh.
    The following Saints are recorded as Bishops here:

    St. Fintan, a holy Anchorite, who died A.D. 860. (In the Martyrology of Donegall at 7th Feb., “Fiontain, Priest, of Cluain-Caoin,” is calendared.)

    The Feilure of Aengus, at 6th Oct., mentions “The. Lucell, Abbot of Cluain;” to which the Gloss in Leabhar Brac adds:

    “Lucell, the bright one (here used) for his name – Or Cluain Luicell, i.e. Cluain Cain, i.e. Abbot of Cluain-Luicell, i.e. Colman, son of Cull, &c” This entry refers perhaps to this place…

    Rev M Comerford “Collections relating to the Dioceses of Kildare and Leighlin” Vol. 3 (1886)

    Given however, that there are other potential candidates for ‘Clonkeen’ including the monastery of Clonkeen near Ardee in County Louth, which is known from Patrician hagiography, it doesn’t seem absolutely certain that this was the monastery of our saint. I will leave the last word to Canon O’Hanlon, this time wearing his county historian’s hat. In a footnote to a discussion of Clonkeen in Volume 1 of his History of the Queen’s County, he remarks: ‘In the similar names of Irish Saints and their places, many inaccuracies of identification occur.’

    Yes, indeed, and never more so it seems than when dealing with any saint called Colman…

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  • Saint Baethallach of Ath-Truim, October 5

    October 5 is the commemoration of an eighth-century County Meath bishop, Baethallach (Baithalach, Baitellach) of Ath-Truim. The name Baethellaig is found on the Martyrology of Tallaght, but the Martyrology of Oengus devotes its entire entry to a female saint whose feast also occurs today, Sínech of Crohane. The 12th-century Martyrology of Gorman in its verse mentions ‘Baithalach to whom I pray’. The 17th-century Martyrology of Donegal, however, has a much fuller entry and places Baethallach at Ath-Truim, modern Trim:

    5. E. TERTIO NONAS OCTOBRIS. 5.

    BAETHALLACH, brother of Corbmac, bishop of Ath-Truim, and successor of Patrick. Fuinnecht, daughter of Maelfithrigh, son of Dioma, son of Colman, was his mother; and he and Baeghlach, the pilgrim, are of the race of Colla Uais, monarch of Erin.

    The foundation of Trim is ascribed to Saint Patrick in the Irish annals, with this entry in the Annals of the Four Masters at the year 432: “Ath-Truim was founded by Patrick, it having been granted by Fedhlim, son of Laoghaire, son of Niall, to God and to him, Loman and Fortchern”. Loman and Fortchern are perhaps the most famous of the saints associated with Trim, but there is also a record of an eighth-century bishop called Cormac, who came from a family which contributed a great deal to the Irish church, as Father John Lanigan explains:

    To A.D. 742 is assigned the death of St. Cormac bishop of Trim. He is said to have been of the royal house of the Nialls; and his name appears in various calendars at the 17th of February as the anniversary of his death. Three brothers of his are spoken of; Rumond, a very wise man and deeply skilled in history and antiquities, who died in 743; Baitellach, abbot of Trim, whose death is marked at A.D. 752; and Ossan a priest, the year of whose death is not known.

    Rev. John Lanigan, An Ecclesiastical History of Ireland, Volume III, 2nd edn., Dublin, 1829, 176-177.

    Thus if the Martyrology of Donegal is correct in identifying our saint of October 5 with the Abbot Baitellach of Trim it would allow us to place him in the eighth-century as a member of an aristocratic ecclesiastical family, who contributed to the service of the Irish church in this historic locality.

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  • Saint Fidarle of Rahan, October 1

    October 1 is the feastday of Saint Fidarle (Fidairle, Fiodhairle, Fidharleus), an eighth-century abbot of the County Offaly monastery of Rahan. Rahan is the modern spelling of this placename, past variants include Rathen and Raithin. The Irish Raithean translates as ‘a ferny place’ and the locality was also known in the Irish Annals as Raithin Uí Suanaigh meaning ‘the Ferny Land of the O’Swanys’. The O’Swany family were the hereditary successors to St Carthage at the monastery of Rahan from the eighth century onwards. Our saint is a member of this family as the Martyrology of Tallaght, the earliest surviving Irish calendar, makes clear in its recording of his name at this day:

    Fidairle húa Suanaig ‘descendant of Súanach.’

    The later Martyrology of Marianus O’Gorman notes not only his family but also that of his monastery:

    Fidarle descendant of Suanach, (and) abbot of Rathen.

    The 17th-century Martyrology of Donegal adds the recording of the date of Saint Fidarle’s repose in the Annals of Ulster:

    1. A. KALENDIS OCTOBRIS. 1.

    FIODHAIRLE, Ua Suanaigh, Abbot of Raithin. The age of Christ when he went to heaven was 762.

    Although no further information on Saint Fidarle as an individual seems to have survived, if you are interested in learning more about the monastery he once governed there is a comprehensive report by the Heritage Service of Offaly County Council available online here. It is richly illustrated with maps, drawings and photographs of the site and brings together the major historical sources in its appendices.

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