OMNIUM SANCTORUM HIBERNIAE

Tag: Irish Saints

  • Saint Coppa, January 18

    A female saint with possible Patrician associations is commemorated on January 18. Canon O’Hanlon records the speculation of the seventeenth-century hagiologist, Friar John Colgan, that Saint Coppa may have been associated with the church of Elphin and was one of those whom he listed as having received the veil from Saint Patrick:

    St. Coppa or Cobba, Virgin, Daughter of Baedan.

    [Possibly in the Fifth Century.] 

    The silence of history has obscured many a career, which if better known must command the respect of the good. A festival in honour of Cobba, daughter to Baetan, is recorded in the Martyrology of Tallagh, at the 18th of January. Nor do we find further notices of her in the later calendars. Coppa, virgin, and a daughter of Baedan, is entered in the Martyrology of Donegal, on this day of the month. In the acts of St. Patrick, it is said he left a Cipia, the mother of Bishop Bite, at the church of Elphin. Colgan seems to doubt whether this holy woman—whom he classed among those veiled by St. Patrick—was not identical with the present St. Coppa or Cobba.

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  • Saint Mica, January 17

    We have the name of another of our obscure Irish female saints recorded on the calendars at January 17. The name and feast day of Saint Mica are the only details known, as Canon O’Hanlon explains:

    St. Mica or Micca, Virgin. 

    Added in a more recent hand, and traced in Roman characters, on the authority of the Martyrology and on that of Marianus O’Gorman, we find the name of a St. Mica or Micca, virgin, set down in the Martyrology of Donegal, on this day. A nearly similar entry occurs in the published Martyrology of Tallagh, at the 17th of January, as also in the unpublished one. More we cannot find regarding this holy virgin.

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  • Saint Breacc Fele of Bealach-fele, January 15

    It is perhaps appropriate that the holy man we commemorate today is related to the people of Saint Ite of Killeedy, as January 15 is her feast day. Saint Breacc Fele, who also seems to have been known by the name ‘Mobrioccu’ (Mobrigue), was also of the Déise of Munster, as Canon O’Hanlon explains:

    St. Breacc Fele, of Bealach-Fele.

    [Probably in the Seventh Century]  
    On the 15th of January, the Martyrology of Tallagh enters the name of Brice fheli, of Bealach fheli. He is somewhat differently alluded to elsewhere; for we have a clue to his family given in a later calendar. We find recorded, in the Martyrology of Donegal, on this day, Breacc Fele, of Bealach Fele. He is here said to be of the family of Fiacha Suidhe, son to Feidhlimidh Reachtimhar. This holy man, Brecus, as the name is Latinized, was the son of Silaus, son to Dubtach, son of Fergna, son to Muredach, son of Sinell, son to Brecan, son of Aengus Lethain, son to Eugenius Breac, son of Artchorb, son of Fiach. Thus he had a common ancestor with St. Ita, and he belonged to the Desii race, in the south of Ireland. He lived three generations later than St. Ita. The place where he was venerated has eluded our search, if it be not Ballyfoile, the Anglicized form of the Irish word Bealeach Foele, i.e., “the pass or road of Foele.” It is now the name of a townland, in the parish of Kilmadum, and county of Kilkenny, according to some writer in the local newspapers His further remarks, probably somewhat erroneous, may serve to establish an identity between St. Mobrigue and the present St. Breacc Fele. His death is thus recorded in the Annals of the Four Masters at A.D. 730:—”St. Mobrigue, of Bealach-Fele, died.” The name of this saint is said to form part of the name for the next parish, i.e., Kill-ma-de-mogue. This probably means the Church of my Mogue or Mobrigue, adds the writer, but we believe incorrectly. The site of the original church of this saint, he continues, which is also most probably the place of his burial, is well known by the denomination of Kill-Mogue, on Mr. Comerford’s land, only a few fields from the old castle of Ballyfoile. It is shown by the same name on the Ordnance Townland Survey, where it is marked, “a burial place for children.” In the neighbourhood, this ancient cemetery is said to be used only for unbaptized children and strangers. We do not think it probable, as the writer avers, that Mobrigue—while it may possibly be contracted into Breacc—can at all be softened down to Mogue. He regards St. Mobrigue as the patron of Ballyfoile.

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