OMNIUM SANCTORUM HIBERNIAE

Tag: Irish Saints

  • Saint Sillan, March 28

    On March 28 the earliest of the Irish calendars, The Martyrology of Tallaght, records the name of a Saint Sillan but without any further information. There are a number of Irish saints who bear this name, including an abbot of Bangor whose feast is commemorated exactly a month earlier on February 28.  Canon O’Hanlon can only note the barest details of March’s saint:

    St. Sillan.
    The simple entry, Sillan, is found in the Martyrology of Tallagh, at this date. It is also an entry, in the Bollandists’ work, and, on the same authority.

    However, on the previous day, March 27, the Martyrology of Tallaght has the entry Adventus Reliquiarum Sellani to commemorate the translation of Saint Sillan’s relics. Is this a reference to the same person? The Martyrology of Donegal on March 27 makes no reference to relics but does note the name of Sillan on this day. Below are Canon O’Hanlon’s entries for March 27, in which he mentions that the 17th-century hagiologist, Father John Colgan, had given the name of a monk called Sillan who features in the hagiography of Saint Berach to the Bollandists. I have therefore appended the episode from the Life of Saint Berach in which this monk features.

    St. Siollan.

    A saint, bearing the name, Siollán, is mentioned, in the Martyrology of Donegal, on this day, as having veneration paid to him. The Bollandists’ have a passing notice, at this date, with an indefinite allusion to a St. Sillan, mentioned in the Acts of St. Berach, as furnished by Colgan.

    Arrival of St. Sellan’s Relics.

    We find mentioned, in the Martyrology of Tallagh, at this date, March 27th, Adventus Reliquiarum Sellani, or the Arrival of St. Sellan’s Relics. Who this holy man was, we cannot ascertain; nor can we find, with what place he had been connected; nor is it permitted us to state, the occasion, the locality, or the year, referring to this translation of his relics. It is probable, however, the present festival is not different, from that commemorated in the Martyrology of Donegal, at this day, where the simple name, Siollan, is recorded. This appears to have been the opinion of the Bollandists, likewise, when alluding to the notices, contained in our Irish Calendars, at the present date.

    From the Life of Saint Berach

    xxix. (85) On one occasion when Berach was in Cluain Coirpthe, he sent a monk on an errand to Rathonn, Sillen by name. Nine robbers fell in with him, who had come from the East of Tethba to ravage in Connaught, and they killed the monk, and went between his head and his body. This was revealed to Berach, and he proceeded quickly to seek them, and found them (standing) over the corpse. When the robbers saw Berach, they resolved forthwith to kill him, and seized their spears with that intent. Their hands stuck to their spears, and their spears stuck to the rock near them, and the marks of their butt-ends will remain on it till doom. (86) They did penance, and said to Berach: ‘Do not deprive us of heaven, and we will do all thy will, O Clerk,’ Berach then spared them, and said to them: ‘Fit the head to the trunk’; and they did so, And Berach took a rush from a rushy pool on the bank hard by, and made a prayer over it, and fitted it round the throat of the corpse, and he arose forthwith; and hence (these rushes) are (called) ‘Berach’s rushes’ till doom, And Berach left great grace upon them, and (as a doom) to the robbers that their seed should never exceed nine, and that there should always be a servitor of them in Cluain Coirpthe, and that as long as there should be one, there should only be one man of them in succession to another. And this is what is still fulfilled, and will be fulfilled till doom. And a servitor went with Berach, and thus they parted.

    ‘Life of Berach’ in C. Plummer ed.and trans. Bethada Naem nErenn – Lives of Irish Saints, Vol II, (Oxford 1922), 41.


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  • Saint Mochta of Inis-Mochta, March 26

    March 26 is the feast day of a 9th/10th-century County Meath saint, Mochta of Inis-Mochta. Canon O’Hanlon starts off by telling us that he is not to be confused with Saint Mochta of Louth, an earlier and much better-known figure whose feast is celebrated on August 19. I have followed up on one of O’Hanlon’s references, to the work of diocesan historian Dean Anthony Cogan, who reproduced the references to Inis-Mochta from the Irish Annals. These give the impression that the island monastery must have been a foundation of some substance as both Viking and native invaders found it worth attacking. There is a particularly vivid description at the year 939 of the Vikings coming across the frozen lake to plunder the monastery on the ice. Our saint’s death was noted some seventeen years earlier, but ‘the miracles of God and the patron saint’ are credited with preserving the island from being destroyed by fire in the year 1138. I will begin with the account of Saint Mochta by Canon O’Hanlon, taken from Volume III of his Lives of the Irish Saints and then proceed to the notes by Dean Cogan:

    St. Mochta, of Inis Mochta, now Inishmouthy, or Inishmot, County of Meath. [Ninth and Tenth Centuries]

    Different from another celebrated saint of this name, and connected with Louth, is the present holy man. The Bollandists have a notice of him. We find, on this day recorded, in the Martyrology of Donegal, the name Mochta of Inis-Mochta. This locality has been identified with Inishmouthy, county of Meath, by William M. Hennessy. It is also called Inishmot, now a parish, in the barony of Lower Slane. The ruins of Inis-Mochta church are still to be seen, on a romantic spot of ground, containing about two acres. A solitary wall only remains, at the present time; and, latterly, the graveyard has been neglected for interments. This locality was formerly an island. At present, the site is surrounded by low, marshy ground, which is frequently covered with water, during the winter season. The name of this place maybe rendered, in English, “the Island of Mochta.” His festival was celebrated here, on the 26th of March. This saint appears to have flourished, in the early part of the tenth century. The death of Mochta of the Island, son to Cearnachan, priest of Armagh, is recorded at A.D. 922. There can hardly be a doubt, but that he is identical with the present saint.
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    Inishmot, or Inis-Mochta, i.e., the Island of St. Mochta. A religious house stood here, dedicated to St. Mochta, whose festival was celebrated on the 26th of March. The Four Masters have the following notices of this place:

    “922. Mochta of the Island, son of Cearnachan, Priest of Armagh, died.

    “939. Unusual frost, so that the rivers and lakes were passible; and the foreigners (Danes) plundered Inis-Mochta on the ice.

    “1025. An army was led by Flavertach O’Neill, and Maelseachlainn, into Meath, and they obtained hostages, and entered Inis-Mochta upon the ice, and plundered the island, then in the possession of the foreigners (Danes).

    “1138. Under this year the Four Masters describe a war between the O’Conors of Connaught, the O’Ruarks of Breffny, and the O’Carrols of Orgial, on the one side, and the Leinstermen, the Meathmen, and the Danes, on the other. After reporting some military evolutions the annalists proceed:

    “After this the Meathmen, Leinstermen, and the foreigners, proceeded to Inis-Mochta to plunder it, and a countless number of them went on rafts, and by swimming, on the lake, to reach the island; and a party of them did reach the island. The people of the island afterwards came to them in vessels, and numbers of them (the aggressors) were drowned and slain by them; and the party who were on the island fled from thence, not having been able to burn the island, through the miracles of God and the patron saint.”

    “1150. A royal journey by Murtogh O’Loghlan, with the chieftans of the North of Ireland, to Inis-Mochta, to meet O’Carroll and O’Ruark. The hostages of Connaught were brought him to that place without a hosting, through the blessing of Patrick, the successor of Patrick, and his clergy. He divided Meath on this occasion into three parts, between O’Connor, O’Ruark, and O’Carroll; and they banished Murrogh O’Melaghlann from Meath, through the curse of the successor of Patrick and his clergy.”

    Dr. O’Donovan justly remarks: “The ruins of the church of Inis-Mochta are still to be seen on a spot of ground containing about two acres, which was formerly an island, and is now surrounded by low, marshy ground, which is always flooded in winter.”

    Rev. A. Cogan, The Diocese of Meath: ancient and modern, Volume III (Dublin, 1870), 549-550.

       

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  • Saint Lughaidh of Clonleigh, March 24

    March 24 is the commemoration of a County Donegal saint, Lughaidh of Clonleigh. The calendars also record his patronymic and the locality associated with him. Canon O’Hanlon, in his account below, also notes that Saint Lughaidh may also have been related to Saint Colum Cille:

    St. Lughaidh, son of Eochaidh, of Cluain-laogh, now Clonleigh, County of Donegal.

    [Sixth Century.]

    A holy man is recorded, in the Martyrology of Tallagh, at the 24th of March, as Lughaidh, mac Eachach. He is classed, among the disciples of St. Columkille.  The Bollandists pass him over, with a few brief remarks. We are told, that Lugaid Mocu-Theimne, or “the son of Teimne,” was the son of Eochaid, son of Ulan, son to Eogan, son to Niall of the Nine Hostages, as his paternal pedigree has been traced, in the Genealogies of the Irish Saints. He was a relation of St. Columba, and his companion, when the latter first set out on his voyage to the shores of Britain. As we are informed, by the Martyrology of Tallagh, this saint belonged to Cluain Laigh. This place is at present called Clonleigh, meaning the “pasturage,”  “lawn,” or “insulated meadow of the calves.” This parish is situated, on the western bank of the River Foyle, about two miles northward from Lifford, in the barony of Raphoe, and in the county of Donegal, formerly Tyrconnell. There was a monastery of considerable importance, in this place. Marianus O’Gorman and Cathal Maguire have this holy man, in their respective Calendars. On this day is entered, likewise, in the Martyrology of Donegal, Lughaidh, son to Eochaidh, of Cluain-laogh.
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