OMNIUM SANCTORUM HIBERNIAE

Tag: Irish Saints

  • The Death of Saint Ciarán of Clonmacnoise

    XLIX. THE DEATH OF CIARAN

    35. Our most holy patron Kiaranus lived but for one year in his settlement of Cluain. When he knew that the day of his death was approaching, he prophesied, deploring the subsequent evils that would come to pass in his place after him; and he said that their life would be short. Then the brethren said unto him, “What then shall we do in the time of those evils? Shall we abide here beside thy relics, or shall we go to other places?” To them Saint Kiaranus said, “Haste ye to other quiet places, and leave my relics here like the dry bones of a stag on a mountain. For it is better for you to be with my spirit in heaven than beside my bones on earth, and stumbling withal.”

    Saint Kiaranus used greatly to crucify his body, and we write here an example of this. He ever had a stone pillow beneath his head, which till to-day remains in the monastery of Saint Kiaranus, and is reverenced by every one. Moreover, when he was growing weak, he would not have the stone removed from him, but commanded it to be placed to his shoulders, that he should have affliction even to the end, for the sake of an everlasting reward in heaven.

    Now when the hour of his departure was approaching, he commanded that he should be carried outside, out of the house; and looking up into heaven, he said, “Hard is that way, and this needs must be.” To him the brethren said, “We know that nothing is difficult for thee, father; but we unhappy ones must greatly fear this hour.”

    And being carried back into the house, he raised his hand and blessed his people and clerks; and having received the Lord’s Sacrifice, on the fifth of the ides of September he gave up the ghost, in the thirty-third year of his age. And lo, angels filled the way between heaven and earth, rejoicing to meet Saint Kiaranus.

    R.A.Stewart-MacAllister, ed. and trans., The Latin and Irish Lives of Ciaran, (London, SPCK, 1921).

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  • Saint Sarbile of Faughart, September 4

    September 4 sees the commemoration of Saint Sarbile from the Faughart district of County Louth, which some hagiographical traditions claim to be the birthplace of Saint Brigid of Kildare. The Faughart area is also hailed as the birthplace of Saint Monnina of Killeavy. The Irish sources agree that Monnina was not the original name of this holy woman and most record that she was originally called Dareca. This comment on the Leabhar Breac copy of the Feilire of Oengus, however also notes “Moninne of Slieve Gullion, and Sarbile was her name previously. Or Darerca was her name at first…” So it seems there may be some confusion here. In Volume IX of his Lives of the Irish Saints Canon O’Hanlon provides the few details on the life of Saint Sarbile:

    St. Sarbile, Virgin of Fochart, County of Louth.

    As Mary, mentioned in the Gospel, loved to sit at the feet of Jesus, so do holy virgins desire that calm and rest, in which His voice is best heard speaking to their hearts. We find set down in the Martyrology of Tallagh, at the 4th of September, that veneration was given to Sarbile, Virgin of Fochairde, or Fochart, in the old district of Murtheimhne. This is now a level country in the present County of Louth. It extends from the River Boyne to the Mountains of Cuilgne, or Carlingford. The Martyrology of Donegal simply records the name Sarbile, of Fochard, at the same date. This may have been the St. Orbilia, Virgin, whose Acts Colgan had intended to produce at the present day, as we have gathered from the list of his unpublished manuscripts.

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  • Saint Colman of Kilclonfert, September 3

    September 3 is the commemoration of a Saint Colman and a degree of confusion seems to have arisen over the name of his locality, with some sources calling it Druim ferta and others Cluain ferta. The translator of the later Martyrology of Donegal notes that at Druim ‘The word Droma is written as a gloss over Cluain, meaning that we should read Drumfert, not Clonfert, here.’ Canon O’Hanlon suggests that the place is now the parish of Kilclonfert, County Offaly, which was known as King’s County prior to Irish independence. I note that the local Catholic parish church at Kilclonfert is dedicated to Saint Colman, and that there appears to have been a revival of interest in the maintenance of the holy well dedicated to the saint. There is a two-part video online showing the annual clean-up of the well by a local family who reckon this is their hereditary right, the soundtrack wasn’t to my taste but at the end of the second part the people seem to fall quiet as they pray softly and then add some blessed water to the newly-cleaned well, which looks splendid after all their work. Below are the details from the calendars for the feast of Saint Colman, which seem to be the only information Canon O’Hanlon is able to bring:

    St. Colman, of Cluain or Druim Ferta Mughaine, now Kilclonfert, King’s County.

    In the Feilire of St. Aengus, at the 3rd day of September, we have an entry for the feast of Colman of Druim Ferta. A commentator, on that copy contained in the Leabhar Breac, states, that the place is to be identified with Cluain Ferta Mugaine in Offaly. It is at present known as Kilclonfert, a parish in the Barony of Lower Philipstown, and King’s County. Some ruins of the old Church are still visible. Near them may be found the well of St. Colman, but corruptly called St. Cloman’s well…According to the Martyrology of Donegal, veneration was given at the 3rd of September to Colman, of Cluain-Ferta or Druim-Ferta. This place is also called Mughaine, in Ui Failghe, or Offaly, a district in Leinster.

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