OMNIUM SANCTORUM HIBERNIAE

Tag: Irish Saints

  • Saint Craobhnad, July 17

    I have withdrawn the former post for Saint Craebhnat (Craobhnad) of Clenor at this date as I realized I had been misled by a nineteenth-century writer into misidentifying this holy woman with the County Cork Saint Cránaid, subject of a very brief late ‘Life’ detailing the lengths to which she went to discourage a potential suitor. As we can see from Canon O’Hanlon’s account below, he shared this opinion, but modern scholar Pádraig Ó Riain in his 2011 Dictionary of Irish Saints suggests that the Saint Craobhnad commemorated on July 17 is more likely to be Craobhnad of Kilcreevanty, County Galway. He tells us that there is nothing recorded of the saint, although her church is mentioned in the Annals. She is thus distinct from the Saint Cránaid associated with Clenor, who is the actual subject of the Life. Before moving to Canon O’Hanlon’s account, we can turn to the Irish calendars which are the only source for Saint Craobhnad. On July 17 The Martyrology of Gorman records the name ‘Craebnat’, with a note adding ‘virgin’, whilst the Martyrology of Donegal records ‘Craebhnat, Virgin’ . Her name is not found on the earlier Martyrology of Oengus and the Martyrology of Tallaght records a Saint Corpnata on this day, whom Canon O’Hanlon suggests might be our elusive Saint Craebhnat (Craobhnad):

    St. Craebhnat, Virgin

    The name, Corpnata, occurs in the Martyrology of Tallagh, at the 17th of July. It seems very possible, that an Irish Life of St. Creunata, transcribed by Brother Michael O’Cleary, had reference to this holy woman, and it yet exists in the Burgundian Library at Bruxelles. Some notices—most probably regarding this saint—or it may have been a Life, seem to have been prepared by Colgan for publication, at the 17th of July, as on the posthumous list of his Manuscripts we find a St. Cranata, Virgin, entered. It is likely, this was another form of St.Craebhnat’s or Corpnata’s name. In the Martyrology of Donegal, Craebhnat, Virgin, is recorded at this same date.

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  • Saint Mochiarog of Doire Echdroma, May 7

    On May 7 we find two saints associated with the place Doire Echdroma, one Saint Berchan, the other Saint Mochiarog. This place may be in County Antrim  and Berchan, the son of Saran mentioned in the Tripartite Life of Saint Patrick. It’s all rather confusing, but Pádraig Ó Riain suggests that with their shared feast date and location Berchan and Mochiarog may be doubles of each other. Canon O’Hanlon does his best below to make sense of it all but without much success:

    St. Mochiarog, or Mochuarog, of Doire Echdroma.

    The present holy person must have flourished, at an early phase of Irish Church affairs, since we find the insertion of Mo-Cuaroc in the Felire of St. Aengus, composed towards the beginning of the ninth century. In the Franciscan copy of the Tallagh Martyrology, after the entry of the previous saint’s feast, as already set forth, we find it united with that of Mochuaroc. However,  in the published Martyrology of Tallagh, at the 7th of May, we find recorded Ciaran, who was identical with Mociarocc. With an evident misunderstanding of this entry, the Bollandists quote from the  Martyrology of Tallagh, at the 7th of May, and with a remark, that among many similar homonymous saints in the Irish Calendars, they feel unable to identify those given, at this date. This saint—who appears to have been a woman—must have flourished, at rather an early date. Ciarog, as we are told, by the O’Clerys, belonged to the race of Fergus, son to Ros, of the race of Ir, son of Milidh, i.e. of the race of Ciar, son to Fergus, son of Ros, son of Rudhraighe. There was a St. Dachiarog, of Errigal Keeroge, near Ballygawly, in the county of Tyrone. Tradition states, that a former church was built here by a St. Kieran nor is it fairly to be inferred, that a record misunderstood is preferable to a specious tradition. This saint is thought to have been identical with the present Mochiarog—Moch and Dach being commutative forms, attaching to Ciarog, or Ciar. By some, this latter is thought to have been a name only applying to a female saint; the postfix, og, or oig, meaning “virgin.” Now, the derivation of Errigal appears to be from the Irish word ‘Aireagal ‘—pronounced arrigle—which means primarily “a habitation,” but in a secondary sense, it was often applied to an oratory, to a habitation, or to a church. Thus, the Church of Aireagal Dachiarog —now Errigal Keeroge —was once a very important establishment, and it is often mentioned in our Annals. It gave name to the parish. Raths and forts are numerous there while, on an eminence, in the townland so named, are the ruins of the former parochial church of Errigall-Keeroge. The walls are now in a very decayed state, nor do they seem to have been originally good or well built. The remains of an ancient stone cross were near, and also, a well, which the Catholics considered holy.  The modern Protestant churchyard, and that of the old church, are the only burying places in the parish. In the beginning of this century, the foundations of a round tower were to be seen, near Ballinasaggard or Priestown, where a convent of Franciscans of the Third Order formerly stood. This parish is in the diocese of Armagh, and in the Union of Clogher. Some curious local legends are connected with the old church, and its supposed patron St. Kieran. The surface of this parish—containing some fine scenery—is uneven and tumulated. Near this place, likewise, Errigal-Truogh is a parish, partly within the barony of Clogher, county of Tyrone; and, it is, in still greater part, within the barony of Truogh, and county of Monaghan. Errigal-Keeroge and Errigal Truogh comprise the nucleus of what was once an extensive principality, known as Oirghealla and, of this kingdom, it is said, Rathmore, near Clogher, was the royal residence. Errigal Truogh is in the diocese of Clogher. The Blackwater River divides both parishes. According to some accounts, Errigal Trough is called in Irish Aireagal-Triucha, interpreted  to be ‘the church of (the barony of) Trough.’ The old mail-coach road from Dublin to Londonderry  traverses the interior of this parish. Within it are also the ruins of an ancient church. We might ask, if it be possible to derive this latter denomination from such an original, as Aireagal-Trea—the latter  portion of the compound being the name of a holy virgin, who is venerated in our calendars, but her name is not found associated with any particular known locality. The Martyrology of Marianus O’Gorman, and the Martyrology of Donegal register, on this day, Berchan and Mochiarog, or Mochuarog, of Echdruim-Brecain, on the confines of Dal Araidhe and Dal Riada, or as the O’Clerys state, in Magh Mucraimhe, in the west of Connacht. They were venerated, at Doire Echdroma, according to the same authorities. In the Martyrology of Christ’s Church, Dublin, at the Nones of May—corresponding with the 9th of this month—we have Ciaroc’s festival set down. The festival of a St. Kiaran, at the 7th of May, is noticed, also, by Father John Colgan. No further accounts of this saint are we able to discover.

  • Saint Bríg of Annaghdown: Ireland’s Saint Scholastica


    February 10 is the feast of Saint Scholastica, twin sister of Saint Benedict, the father of western monasticism.  The pair enjoyed what modern scholar Jane Tibbetts Schulenburg has described as ‘perhaps one of the most famous examples of affection and love within the saintly sibling relationship’. I have always enjoyed how the Irish priest, Father Jerome Fahy, in an article on the Diocese of Annaghdown which you can read at the blog here, likened their relationship to that of the Irish saints Brendan and Bríg, describing them as ‘the Benedict and Scholastica of Ireland’. Unfortunately, whilst Saint Scholastica has her own day defined on the calendars of the saints, her Irish counterpart does not. There are over a dozen Irish female saints who share the name Bríg (Briga, Brígh), most of whom are untraceable. Canon O’Hanlon suggested in his entry for Saint Bríg of Coirpre on January 7 that she may be Brendan’s sister, but provided no supporting evidence. The place name Coirpre (Cairbre, modern Carbury) occurs in a number of different localities in Ireland. However, the Life of Saint Brendan clearly associates his sister with the County Galway monastery of Annaghdown, yet no feast for Bríg of Annaghdown is to be found on the calendars. Like other Irish female saints who have no written Life of their own, what we know of Bríg is drawn from the Life of her famous brother, just as our knowledge of Scholastica is founded on the Dialogues of Pope Saint Gregory the Great, who dedicated Book II of his four-volume collection on the lives and miracles of Italian saints to Saint Benedict. The Lives tell us that Saint Scholastica was the abbess of Plumbariola, just a few miles away from her brother’s foundation at Monte Cassino, whilst Bríga was at the convent of Annaghdown, County Galway, where the local church to this day remains dedicated to Saint Brendan. Scholastica seems to have visited her saintly sibling on an annual basis, the leadership of a monastic familia taking precedence over biological family ties for those dedicated to the religious life. As Jane Tibbetts Schulenburg points out:

    It was only with the realization of impending death that some of these male siblings finally felt free to see their sisters and express the affection which they had withheld for ascetic purposes during their lifetime. A primary focus of many of the vitae is on the saint’s final hours and deathbed scene: this was an especially important moment to be shared with one’s closest relatives and friends. Therefore, sisters and brothers often assumed a crucial role in the events surrounding the death of their saintly siblings: they were designated to carry out special instructions for burial; they remembered each other in prayers…; they frequently expressed a final wish that they be buried together, and promised each other that they would meet again in the celestial realm.

    Jane Tibbetts Schulenburg, Forgetful of Their Sex: Female Sanctity and Society, ca. 500–1100 (University of Chicago Press, 1998), 297.

    The author also points out a further trope found in a number of the vitae – the foreknowledge of a sibling’s death or a description of their arrival in heaven. This is the case with Saint Benedict and his sister, described below by Pope Saint Gregory the Great who first establishes the background to the death of Saint Scholastica. I noted here that it is the woman, Scholastica, who seems to meet with the writer’s approval rather than the  subject of the Life, Saint Benedict, much as another Irish woman saint, Cannera of Bantry, does in her encounter with Saint Senan of Scattery Island:

    CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE: Of a Miracle Wrought by his Sister, Scholastica.

    ….I must tell you how there was one thing which the venerable father Benedict would have liked to do, but he could not.

    His sister, named Scholastica, was dedicated from her infancy to our Lord. Once a year she came to visit her brother. The man of God went to her not far from the gate of his monastery, at a place that belonged to the Abbey. It was there he would entertain her. Once upon a time she came to visit according to her custom, and her venerable brother with his monks went there to meet her.

    They spent the whole day in the praises of God and spiritual talk, and when it was almost night, they dined together. As they were yet sitting at the table, talking of devout matters, it began to get dark. The holy Nun, his sister, entreated him to stay there all night that they might spend it in discoursing of the joys of heaven. By no persuasion, however, would he agree to that, saying that he might not by any means stay all night outside of his Abbey.

    At that time, the sky was so clear that no cloud was to be seen. The Nun, hearing this denial of her brother, joined her hands together, laid them on the table, bowed her head on her hands, and prayed to almighty God.

    Lifting her head from the table, there fell suddenly such a tempest of lightning and thundering, and such abundance of rain, that neither venerable Benedict, nor his monks that were with him, could put their heads out of doors. The holy Nun, having rested her head on her hands, poured forth such a flood of tears on the table, that she transformed the clear air to a watery sky.

    After the end of her devotions, that storm of rain followed; her prayer and the rain so met together, that as she lifted up her head from the table, the thunder began.  So it was that in one and the very same instant that she lifted up her head, she brought down the rain.

    The man of God, seeing that he could not, in the midst of such thunder and lightning and great abundance of rain return to his Abbey, began to be heavy and to complain to his sister, saying: “God forgive you, what have you done?” She answered him, “I desired you to stay, and you would not hear me; I have desired it of our good Lord, and he has granted my petition. Therefore if you can now depart, in God’s name return to your monastery, and leave me here alone.”

    But the good father, not being able to leave, tarried there against his will where before he would not have stayed willingly. By that means, they watched all night and with spiritual and heavenly talk mutually comforted one another.

    Therefore, by this we see, as I said before, that he would have had one thing, but he could not effect it.  For if we know the venerable man’s mind, there is no question but that he would have had the same fair weather to have continued as it was when he left his monastery.  He found, however, that a miracle prevented his desire. A miracle that, by the power of almighty God, a woman’s prayers had wrought.

    Is it not a thing to be marveled at, that a woman, who for a long time had not seen her brother, might do more in that instance than he could? She realized, according to the saying of St. John, “God is charity” [1 John 4:8]. Therefore, as is right, she who loved more, did more.

    This proves to be the last encounter between the siblings as the next chapter describes Saint Benedict’s vision of his sister’s death and his determination that they would remain united:

    CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR: How Benedict Saw the Soul of his Sister Ascend into Heavenly Glory.

    GREGORY: The next day the venerable woman returned to her nunnery, and the man of God to his abbey. Three days later, standing in his cell, and lifting up his eyes to heaven, he beheld the soul of his sister (which was departed from her body) ascend into heaven in the likeness of a dove.

    Rejoicing much to see her great glory, with hymns and praise he gave thanks to almighty God, and imparted the news of her death to his monks.  He sent them presently to bring her corpse to his Abbey, to have it buried in that grave which he had provided for himself. By this means it fell out that, as their souls were always one in God while they lived, so their bodies continued together after their death.

    Gregory the Great (c. 540-604), Dialogues, Book II (Life and Miracles of St. Benedict).

    Sadly, the accounts of the Irish Benedict and Scholastica are not quite so detailed. In the Betha Brendain, the Irish Life of Saint Brendan, we first meet Saint Bríg when the young Brendan is studying with his foster father Bishop Erc and the hagiographer leaves us in no doubt about the strong bond of love between the siblings:

    (12) Brig, daughter of Findlug, his sister, was with him there, and great was his love for her, for he saw the attendance of angels above her.

    Having established this affectionate relationship between the siblings in childhood, it is at the end of his life that we encounter Saint Bríg once again:

    (206) Brendan after this went to visit his sister Brig at the fort of Aed son of Eochaid, which is now called Enach Duin. So then, after traversing sea and land, after raising dead men, healing lepers, blind, deaf, lame, and all kinds of sick folk, after founding many cells, and monasteries, and holy churches, after appointing abbots and masters, after blessing cataracts and estuaries, after consecrating districts and tribes, after putting down crimes and sins, after great perils by sea and land, after expelling demons and vices, after pre-eminence in pilgrimage and (ascetic) devotion, after performance of mighty works and miracles too numerous to mention, St. Brendan drew near to the day of his death.

    (207) Then said Brendan to the brethren after Mass on the Sunday, and after receiving the body of Christ and His blood: ‘God,’ said he, is calling me to the eternal kingdom; and my body must be taken to Clonfert, for there will be attendance of angels there, and there will be my resurrection…..

    (208) When he had finished saying all this, he blessed the brethren and his sister Brig, and when he reached the threshold of the church, he said: ‘In manus tuas, Domine,’ etc, Then he sent forth his spirit….

    C. Plummer, ed. and trans., Bethada Náem nÉrenn – Lives of Irish Saints, Vol. II (Oxford, 1922), 46; 91.

    It is at Annaghdown then, his beloved sister present among the monastic brethren, that Saint Brendan’s earthly life ends. I noted too how the hagiographer specifically named Saint Bríg as a recipient of her brother’s final blessing, thus putting her, along with Saint Scholastica, into the category of Sorores Sanctae identified by Tibbetts Schulenburg.

    Deus, qui beátae Vírginis tuæ Scholásticæ ánimam ad ostendéndam [innocéntiæ viam in colúmbæ spécie cælum penetráre fecísti: da nobis eius méritis et précibus ita innocénter vivere; ut ad ætérna mereámur gáudia perveníre. Per Dóminum.]

    Let us pray: O God, Who, to show the innocence of her life, didst cause the soul of Thy blessed Virgin Scholastica to ascend to Heaven in the form of a dove: grant, we beseech Thee, by her merits and prayers, that we may live so innocently, as to deserve to arrive at eternal joys. Through Jesus Christ, Thine only-begotten Son, Our Lord, Who with Thee and the Holy Ghost liveth and reigneth, God, for ever and ever.

    R. Amen.

    Collect for the Feast of Saint Scholastica, February 10.

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