OMNIUM SANCTORUM HIBERNIAE

Tag: Irish Saints

  • Saint Conall of Iniscaoil, May 20

     

    May 20 was established by the great 17th-century hagiologist, Father John Colgan, as the feastday of a saintly abbot from County Donegal, Conall of Iniscaoil. As Canon O’Hanlon, however, explains below, some confusion entered in due to the fact that there is also a festival recorded on May 22. What particularly interested me, however, was his noting of the continuation of the native ascetic tradition, as the local people fasted on the eve of their saint’s feast in Colgan’s day:

    St. Conall, Abbot of Iniscaoil, County of Donegal.

    The present holy Abbot seems to have had a double festival, within this month. The Bollandists notice Conallus of Iniscail, at this day, for which they quote Colgan, who incorrectly places his feast at the 12th of May —possibly a typographical error for the 22nd. This St. Conall was son to Mann Coelius, son of Caither, son to Ennius, surnamed Bagan, the son of Conall Gubhan, according to the ” Sanctilogium Genealogicum.” He was reverenced in the church of Iniscaoil, in the county of Tyrconnell, on the 20th of May. At present, the fertile Island there gives name to the large parish of lnishkeel, in the baronies of Banagh and Boylagh, and county of Donegal. It contains about eighty green acres and, its old church was built on a rocky ledge, not far from the mainland. A beautiful velvety soft strand stretches from it, towards the shore; and, from this latter, at low tides, the Island can be reached on foot. It is a lonely and an uninhabited spot. It may be doubted, if the present saint were identical with St. Conald Coel, Abbot on the same Island, and whose festival, with some biographical notices, has been set down, for the 22nd of this month. If so, however, additional particulars regarding him will be found, at that date. On the vigil of their patron’s festival, the people of Iniscoel neighbourhood were accustomed to observe a rigid fast, even to the time of Colgan. This writer tells us, that St. Conall was Abbot of Inis-caoil. Father John Colgan intended, also, to have given the acts of this saint, at the 20th of May.

     

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  • Saint Ciarán, Son of Colga, May 19

    May 19 sees the commemoration on the Irish calendars of a saint Ciarán, about whom no other details seem to have survived. Canon O’Hanlon is unable to definitively locate him in either time or place, but among the possibilities seems most keen on the Saint Ciarán associated with the church at Layd (Laide), in County Antrim:

    At the present date, we find an entry of this saint, in the published Martyrology of Tallagh, as also in the Franciscan copy. However, we can find little to record concerning him. The Bollandists have Kieranus, son of Colgan, at the 19th of May. This day, the Martyrology of Donegal records the veneration of Ciarán, son to Colga. A certain Kieran, son of Tulchan, mentioned in the Life of St. Fintan, Abbot of Clonenagh, was erroneously supposed to be identical with the present saint. The name of his father, however, makes a difference of personality. There is a St. Kieran, assigned as patron of the old ruined church of Layd, in the parish so called, in Antrim County, according to a popular tradition. It stands in the parish churchyard. The length of the church was 61 feet, while the breadth was 24. Attached to this ruin, and at the west end, there is a square building, about 24 and a half feet long, and 24 in breadth. Its under story is arched above, and it has been converted into a burial vault. The chamber over this is of the same dimensions, and it seems to have been formerly a dormitory. The church and cemetery are beautifully situated on a slope, which overhangs the sea, and about one mile northeast from the village of Cushendall, also called Bunandhalla, and near Cushendun Bay. But, we may not state, whether that old church of the St. Kieran of tradition can be identified with the present holy man.

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  • Saint Fionnchan of Druim-Eanaigh, May 17

    The Irish calendars record the commemoration of a saintly Bishop Fionnchan on May 17. Canon O’Hanlon gives the following account of him in his Lives of The Irish Saints, Volume 5:

    ST. FIONNCHAN, BISHOP OF DRUIM-EANAIGH AND OF DRUIM-FESS.
    [SIXTH CENTURY.]

    Little more is known regarding this holy Prelate, than his having flourished at an early date, in the Irish Church. We find, both in the Franciscan and in the published Martyrology of Tallagh, Finnchan of Droma Enaigh. He is commemorated, by Marianus O’Gorman, and he is said to have flourished in the sixth century, having been a synchronus with St. Colman Elo, who was himself contemporaneous with the great St. Columkille. Under the head of Druim Eanuigh, Duald Mac Firbis enters Fionnchan. Bishop, at May the 17th. Again, do we find the same writer calling his place Druim Fes, or Fesi. This form of an Irish local name has not been identified, no more than the former etymon. The Bollandists place Findchanus. Bishop of Druim-Enaich, at the 17th of May; but, they are at a loss to find any particulars regarding him, and deserving of insertion. This day, likewise, the Martyrology of Donegal records the name of Fionnchan, Bishop, of Druim-eanaigh, and of Druim-fess, as having been venerated.

     

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