OMNIUM SANCTORUM HIBERNIAE

Tag: Irish Saints

  • Saint Aedhan of Lismore, July 19

    On July 19 the Irish calendars record the commemoration of Saint Aedhan,  an abbot of Lismore, County Waterford. We will start with a summary of the history of this famous foundation by a diocesan historian:

    The church and monastery of Lismore, which grew to be one of the renowned centres of ancient Irish learning and piety, owed its foundation to St. Mochuda of the 7th century. Mochuda, otherwise Carthage, was a native of Kerry, and he had been abbot of Rahan in Offaly. It is probable that there had been a Christian church at Lismore previous to the time of Mochuda, for in the Saint’s Life there is an implied reference to such a foundation. Be this as it may, Mochuda, driven out of Rahan, with his muintir, or religious household, migrated southward, and, having crossed the Blackwater at Affane, established himself at Lismore in 630. In deference to Mochuda’s place of birth the saint’s successor in Lismore was, for centuries, a Kerryman. Lismore grew in time to be a great religious city, and a school of sacred sciences, to which pilgrims from all over Ireland and scholars from beyond the seas resorted. The rulers of the great establishment were all, or most of them, bishops, though they are more generally styled abbots by the Annalists. Among the number are several who are listed as Saints by the Irish Martyrologies, scil:

    Aedhan, abbot of Lismore .. . … July 19.

    Rev. Patrick Power, Waterford & Lismore – A Compendious History of the United Dioceses (Cork, 1937), 5-6.

    Canon O’Hanlon’s account of Saint Aedhan in Volume VII of his Lives of the Irish Saints, brings in a few other sources:

    St. Aedhan, Abbot of Lismore, County of Waterford.

    The name of St. Aedhan, Abbot of Lismoir, appears in the Martyrology of Tallagh, at the 19th of July. In the list of Aids or Aedhans given by Colgan, the present holy Abbot is included. In the Irish Calendar, compiled for use of the Irish Ordnance Survey, at xiv. of the August Kalends, there is an entry of this holy man, who is not designated, however, as Abbot. His name also occurs in the Martyrology of Donegal, at this date, as Aedhan of Lis-mor.

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  • Saint Sistan of Lough Melge, July 17

    The memory of a saint associated with Lough Melvin and described as a priest is preserved in the Irish calendars on July 17. This is really the only detail we have and Canon O’Hanlon thus starts off his account of Saint Sistan or Siostan of Lough Melvin with some romantic musings on how the very soil of Ireland has been hallowed by the remains of its long-forgotten holy men:

    St. Sistan or Siostan, Priest, of Loch Melge, now Lough Melvin, Counties, of Fermanagh and Leitrim.

    The merits of several holy servants have ascended like incense before the throne of God, and have secured his rewards. However, hardly can the patient pilgrim even alight on the sod, where their bodies rest. Yet, their undiscovered remains have sanctified that earth, with which they have long since mingled. Record or vestige of many holy persons that once existed in our Island can hardly be found ; still a magical spell, like an indescribable charm, hallows the surrounding lovely scenes, blessed with their presence during life. In the Martyrology of Tallagh, at the 17th day of July, is the following entry: Sistan sac. for Loch Melge. From the contraction sac. meaning sogarth we may probably conclude that he had been a priest. The Lough Melge, now Lough Melvin, with which he was connected, is a beautiful sheet of water, bordering on the counties of Fermanagh and Leitrim ; but, it lies chiefly within the bounds of the latter county. From the shores of Lough Melvin, its former holy inhabitants have departed long ago from the scenes of this life. Their souls have been received into a brighter and happier world. The Martyrology of Donegal records a festival in honour of Siostan, Priest, of Loch Melghe, at the 17th of July. In a table appended to this record, this saint’s name is Latinized Xistus.
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  • Saint Torbach Mac Gorman of Armagh, July 16

     

    Canon O’Hanlon brings us details of an eighth/ninth-century Archbishop of Armagh, Torbach Mac Gorman, at July 16:

    St. Torptha, or Torbach Mac Gorman, Archbishop of Armagh.

    [Eighth and Ninth Centuries.]

    At the 16th of July, the Martyrologies of Tallagh, and of Donegal, register simply the name, Torptha. He was identical with a celebrated Archbishop of Armagh, whose father’s name was Gorman. He descended from the Kinel-Torbaich, i.e., the Hy Kellaich of the Bregian district, in the east of Meath. He was an admirable lector and abbot of Ard-Macha. He only sat for one year, after having been elevated to the primatial dignity. He is known as Torbach Mac Gorman. He departed this life, on the 16th of July, A.D. 807, or recte 812.

     

    Content Copyright © Omnium Sanctorum Hiberniae 2012-2015. All rights reserved.