OMNIUM SANCTORUM HIBERNIAE

Tag: Irish Saints

  • Saint Enna of Clonfert, February 26

    Saint Enna, a possible companion of Saint Brendan the Navigator and his successor at Clonfert is commemorated on February 26 on the Irish calendars. There is some discrepancy, however, between the Irish Annals recording the death of this saint at 1st March and his feast being celebrated on the 26th February according to the calendars. Canon O’Hanlon explains:

    Various denominational forms have been applied to this saint, and it has been conjectured, that he was originally called Ena, Enna, or Ennius. Thence it was probably resolved into Mo-Ena, Mo-Enna, or Mo-Ennius. He has also been called Moenus and Mainus. Among the old Irish oe and ai had a like sound, and Mo is merely a prefix, which indicates some special affection. This saint is also called Moinne, Moune, Muinni, or Moen. He is said to have been a Briton, who accompanied St. Brendan of Clonfert, on his return to Ireland, after that celebrated seven years navigation of the ocean, during which he visited the great Western Island, or Continent, and after he had lived some time in Armoric Britain. In the Island of Inis-mac-Hy Chuinn, both master and disciple are said to have dwelt. Whether or not, Moena had been elevated to the episcopal dignity, before leaving the country of his birth, may be questioned ; but, when seventy-seven years old, St. Brendan is said to have founded Clonfert. St. Moen lived with him, and during his sojourn there, a certain youth, who had come with his parents, died. Three days after this occurrence, and when the body was quite rigid, St. Brendan said to Bishop Moena, “Place my staff on the body of the dead brother.” Obeying this command, the youth came to life, and thus miraculously preserved, that brother, confirmed in the faith, was sent home to his native country in Britain. Colgan makes St. Brendan the founder and first Bishop of Clonfert, about the year 553, and he says, that St. ‘Brendan abdicated, having placed St. Moena in his room’. Other writers make St. Moena the first bishop, over this see. A great pestilence, called in the Irish language, Samthrusc, Samthrose, or Sawthrusc, prevailed, in the year 551 or 553, according to various Irish Annals, and it is generally resolved into a Lepra or Leprosy. It might have been that disease, which carried off the youth already mentioned.

    It is very probable, that our St. Enna or Moen was Bishop of Clonfert. Yet, a difficulty occurs, from his festival having been marked, not at the 1st of March, but at the 26th of February. In the “Annals of the Four Masters,” in the third year of Aedh, Monarch of Ireland, we find the death of St. Maeineann, Bishop of Cluain-fearta-Breanainn, recorded at A.D. 570, and it is said to have occurred, on the 1st of March. We find, in the Ulster Annals, under A.D. 571, the death of the first bishop of Clonfert thus remarked, ‘ Moena, Bishop Clonfert-Brenain, went to rest.” St. Brendan, it is stated, was then alive,and this agrees with most of our Annalistic accounts. The Annals of Tighernach state, at A.D. 572, that Maenu, Bishop of Cluanfert Brendan rested. The day of Moena’s death is placed, on the 1st of March. Under the form of Monan, Bishop Forbes assigns him a festival, at the latter date, or at the 26th of February; while, at the same time, a doubt of his identity is properly expressed. In the Martyrology of Tallagh, we find St. Moenna venerated, on the 26th of February. A Manuscript Antiphonarium, classed B. i, 4., belonging to Trinity College, Dublin, at this day, Kal. iiii. Martii, notes him as a Bishop and Confessor, in the Calendar, with an Office of Nine Lessons. In the Martyrology of Donegal, Maonna occurs, at the same date. In that Calendar, prefixed to the Martyrology of Christ Church, Dublin, this holy man is commemorated as a bishop. His feast was celebrated with an Office, consisting of Nine Lessons, as we are there likewise informed.

    Attempts have been made, to shew that the cultus of this saint had extended to different parts of Ireland. A St. Moenna is venerated in Jesu-Mond, diocese of Ossory, on the 26th of February. This concurrence would seem to make the present saint its patron.

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

  • Saint Cuimine the Fair, February 24

    24. F. SEXTO KAL. MARTII. 24.

    CUIMMEIN FlONN, son of Ernan, son of Fiachna, abbot of Ia-Choluim Chille. He was of the race of Conall Gulban, son of Niall, AD. 668. [He wrote the Life of Colum Cille in 134 chapters, which begins, ‘Vens abbas et plurimorum pater caenobiorum.’]

    Saint Cuimine (Cummein Fionn, Cumineus Albus, Comine, Cumaine, Cummine, Cumine, Cummein) thus had a family connection to Saint Columcille and was nephew to Segenius, or Seghine, the fifth abbot of Hy, or Iona. Canon O’Hanlon informs us that:

    On the death of the Abbot, St. Suibhne, A.D. 657, St. Cuimine Ailbhe immediately succeeded him. The present saint visited Ireland, in the year 661, according to the Annalist Tighernach. The holy subject of this memoir was a man of great erudition, it is observed, and he adorned either Scotia with his gifts.

    St. Cumine Ailbe departed this life, as is generally thought, on the 24th of February. The Annals of Clonmacnoise, it has been stated, place his death at the year 605, but 665 must have been intended, as the true entry. The Ulster Annals and those of the Four Masters, assign it to A.D. 668. According to the Annals of Tighernach, it happened A.D. 669. All the Irish Calendars, quoted by Colgan, agree in marking the 24th of February as the day of his death. The entry, ‘Cuimin find mac Fiachna mic Feradaigh, Abb. Iae’, is found in the Martyrology of Tallagh, at the same date. In the Martyrologies of St. Oengus, of Marianus O’Gorman, of Charles Maguire, and of Donegal, is recorded, on this day, the festival of Cuimmein Fionn, son of Ernan, son to Fiachna, Abbot of Ia Choluim Chille. Besides these notices, at the vii. of the March Kalends, which is the 24th of February, the Kalendar of Drummond states, that the Abbot Cummain, in Ireland, went to Christ. In Scotland this holy abbot was highly venerated. Thus, in the Dunkeld Litany, he is invoked as Cumminach.

    Note: I have posted a translation of the Life of Saint Colum Cille by Saint Cuimine in two parts here and here.

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

  • Saint Cruimther Connrach, February 23

    The Irish calendars at February 23 have a number of saints listed about whom little else is known. One of these is a Saint Cruimther Connrach (Conry or Conrius). His name is listed on both the Martyrology of Tallagh and the Martyrology of Donegal where a later commentator has added in Arda to his name. This would place him in the Ards area of County Down. Canon O’Hanlon in his account of this holy man in Volume II of his Lives of the Irish Saints, records the conclusions of the seventeenth-century hagiologist, Father John Colgan:

    Colgan identifies this saint as a nephew of the great Saint Columcille whose third sister, Sinecha, was mother to Saint Cruimther Connrach. Indeed, she was mother to a number of holy men, one of her sons, Aidan, was a monk, another was Cucuimne, Abbot of Iona, while the other was our saint, Conrius Mocukein. Colgan believed that Saint Cruimther/Conrius was also a disciple of his famous uncle at the Columban monastery of Durrow.

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