OMNIUM SANCTORUM HIBERNIAE

Tag: Irish Saints

  • Saint Laisren of Mundrehid, September 16

     

    On September 16, the Irish calendars commemorate Saint Laisren of Mundrehid, County Laois. Father William Carrigan included the following account of this holy abbot in his diocesan history of Ossory:

    The townland of Mundrehid lies in the Barony of Upperwoods and civil parish of Offerlane. Being situated on the north bank of the river Nore, it originally belonged to the territory of Leix, and was not annexed to Ossory till about the 10th century. There was a monastery here in early times. The Four Masters record the obits of two of its Abbots, thus:

    “A.D. 600. Died St. Laisren, abbot of Menadroichit.” (S. Laisren, i. ab Menadroichit, decc.).

    “A.D. 648. Died Maincheni, abbot of Meanadrochit.” (Maineheni, abb. Meanadroichit, do ecc.).

    The latter abbot was probably identical with St. Mainchen, surnamed the Wise, of the Church of Disert Gallen, parish of Ballinakill, whose feast day is the 2nd of January.

    St. Laisren (pronounced Leshareen), also called Laisre, Molaisre, Molaisse and Laserian, the founder of Mundrehid monastery, and, later on, the patron of Mundrehid church, was son of Lughdech, son of Nathi, a descendant, in the sixth degree, of Cathaoir Mor, Ard-Righ of Erin. He must not be confounded with his namesake, the patron of Leighlin Diocese, who was son of Cairrill, a prince of Uladh, and whose festival occurs on the 18th April. The acts of the life of St. Laisren of Mundrehid are not recorded. His feast day is Sept. 16th, on which the Martyrology of Donegal commemorates him, thus:

    “Laisren of Mena: i.e. Mena is the name of a river which is in Laighis; or it is from a bridge (droichid) which is on that river the place was named, i.e. Mena. He was of the race of Cathaoir Mor, Monarch of Erin”

    The text of the Feilire of Aengus on the same day has:

    “The day of Laisren the great of Men.”

    On this passage the scholiast of Aengus comments thus:

    “That is Men the name of a river which flows between Dalaradia and Kinel-Owen as they say. and Molaise dwells on its bank. Or, Molaise of Mena-Droichit, i,e. Men the name of a river which is in Laighis. Or, Mena-droichit, i.e. it is a smooth bridge (is min droichet), to wit, a certain congregation of many saints were once at that town for some cause, and a certain robber, one of the inhabitants said, ‘smoothly (min) have all those come (doroichet) to us; and one of the visitors said, ‘ this shall be the name of the place, Smoothbridge (Mindroichet).”

    From these extracts it is plain that Mundrehid, or Mena-droichid, signifies the bridge over the river Mén (pronounced Mayne), now the “Thoorthawn river,” which, rising in the Slieve Bloom, and flowing between the townlands of Ballyduff and Thoorthawn, crosses the public road at Mundrehid, under a modern bridge or droichid, and soon empties itself into the Nore. It may be well to note that Mén is the nominative case; Meana (pronounced Mayna) is the genitive form.

    “The History and Antiquities of the Diocese of Ossory” Vol. 2 (1905)

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  • Saint Celedabhaill of Bangor, September 14

    On September 14 we remember an abbot of the northern monastery of Bangor, County Down. Canon O’Hanlon gives us the details of the life of Saint Celedabhaill, who was born in the ninth century and died in the second decade of the tenth:

    St. Celedabhaill, Abbot of Bangor, County of Down. 

    This holy man was the son of Scannall. He was born about 868, and he is distinguished as a Scribe, a preacher, a learned doctor, and a bishop. He was likewise the successor of St. Comhgall of Beannchair, now Bangor, in the County of Down. He died on the 14th of September, while on his pilgrimage at Rome, in the fifty-ninth year of his age [1], and in the year 927. [2]

    Footnotes:

    [1] See Dr O’Donovan’s “Annals of the Four Masters, Vol. ii, p. 620, 621.

    [2] According to the following verse, thus translated from the Irish:

    Three times nine, nine hundred years,
    Are reckoned by plain rules
    From the birth of Christ, deed of purity,
    To the holy death of Cele the Cleric.

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  • Saint Neman Mac Ua Duibh, September 13

    September 13 is the feast of Saint Neman or Naemhan distinguished in the Irish calendars by the patronymic Mac Ua Duibh. This may serve to differentiate him from Saint Neman of Cill Bia whose feast is commemorated on September 1. The 17th-century hagiologist, Father John Colgan, believed today’s saint Neman to be the same individual as one mentioned in the Life of Saint Fechin of Fore. Canon O’Hanlon, however, is able only to bring us details of the feast of Saint Neman from the various Irish calendars:

    St. Neman or Naemhan Mac Ua Duibh.

    [Probably in the Seventh Century]

    We find entered in the Martyrology of Tallagh, the feast of Neman Mac h. Duibh, at the 13th of September. Marianus O’Gorman has a commemoration of this holy servant of God, at this same date, with the designation of his being prudent, while a commentator calls Noeman the great-grandson of Dub. According to Colgan, this holy man accompanied St. Fechin, Abbot of Fore, when the latter went to obtain the liberation of one Aid or Aedus from Blaithmaic and Diermit II., joint Sovereigns of Ireland. Hence his period must be assigned probably to the Seventh Century. We have recorded in the Martyrology of Donegal, the name Naemhan Mac Ua Duibh, as having a festival, at the 13th of September. In the Table appended to this latter record, we meet the Latin word sanctanus introduced, after the entry of his name.

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