OMNIUM SANCTORUM HIBERNIAE

Tag: Litanies

  • From the Litany of Confession: Waging War on Our Sins

     

    Continuing the extracts from the Irish ‘Litany of Confession’, attributed in some manuscripts to Saint Ciaran, though most likely composed after the time of Clonmacnoise’s founder. Yesterday we saw how the effects of our sins on us were described, today the Litany beseeches God to take action against them:

    Propter nomen tuum Domine, propiciaberis peccato meo.
    Many and vast are my sins in their mass, through my heart and round about it like a net or breast-plate;
    O King, they cannot be numbered;
    Despoil me of them, O God;
    Break, smite and war against them;
    Ravage, bend and wither them; 
    Take away, repel, destroy them;
    Arise, scatter, defeat them; 
    See, repress, waste them;
    Destroy, summon, starve them;
    Prostrate, burn, mangle them;
    Kill, slay and ruin them;
    Torture, divide and purify them;
    Tear, expel and raze them;
    Remove, scatter and cleave them;
    Subdue, exhaust and lay them low.
    Heavy then and bitter is
    The subdual and the piercing;
    The bond and the fetter;
     The confusion and the maddening;
    The disturbance and the raging;
    which the multitude of my sins brings upon me.

    Daphne D.C. Pochin Mould, The Celtic Saints: Our Heritage (Dublin, 1956) 116-117.

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  • From the Litany of Confession: the Effects of Our Sins

    In 1925 the Oxford scholar and Anglican cleric, Rev. Charles Plummer (1851–1927), editor and translator of the 1910 two-volume Vitae Sanctorum Hiberniae, added to his work on Irish medieval manuscripts by publishing a volume on Irish Litanies.  He assembled a selection of thirteen litanies in all, taken from a variety of manuscript sources including some of those used by Friar Michael O’Clery (1590-1643), preserved in the Royal Library at Brussels. Plummer called the first Litany in his collection The Litany of Confession, noting that O’Clery’s manuscript called it ‘De Confesione Sancte Ciarane (sic)’ to which the Donegal hagiologist added ‘I do not know to which of the Ciarans it is to be attributed…unless it be to Ciaran of Cluain (Clonmacnois)’. Plummer himself commented ‘It is little likely that the Litany can be as old as the time of this Ciaran (ob. 549), but the connection with Clonmacnois should be noted. I have found no other indication of authorship.’ In the extract from the Litany below, Daphne Pochin-Mould felt that ‘in striking terms [it] details the effects of sins upon the penitent’:

    “Come to help me, for the multitude of my inveterate sins have made dense my too guilty heart; 
    They have bent me, perverted me, have blinded me, have twisted and withered me;
    They have clung to me, have pained me, have moved me, have filled me;
    They have humbled me, exhausted me, they have subdued me, possessed me, cast me down;
    They have befooled me, drowned me, deceived me and troubled me;
    They have torn me and chased me;
    They have bound me, have ravaged me, have crucified me, rebuked me, sold me, searched me, mocked me;
    They have maddened me, bewitched me, betrayed me, delayed me, killed me.
    Forgive.”

     Daphne Pochin-Mould, The Celtic Saints: Our Heritage (Dublin, 1956), 116.

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  • A Litany of Irish Family Patrons

     

     
    Following yesterday’s posting on the Litany of the Patron Saints of Irish Dioceses,  below is the second short litany of Irish saints, this time in their capacity as patrons of Irish families. One thing worth noting is that the families are not all of native Gaelic origin, as Norman ‘Old English’ surnames are equally well-represented. It is interesting too to see the decidedly non-Irish Saint Nicholas at the end of the list, but he has his place in the Official Litany of Irish Saints as a patron of Galway. I have no other information about this litany of family patrons, its author or its accuracy but it’s an enjoyable read on this the eve of the Feast of All the Saints of Ireland:
     
    Litany of Irish Saints.
     
    The
    following interesting document, translated from the Gaelic, was among
    the papers of a cultured Irish lady who died recently in New York: —
    Many of the old clans, patriarchal races, and ancient Catholic families
    of Ireland have cherished a traditional devotion to certain
    local saints who have been regarded from time immemorial as their
    patrons, and to encourage this devout observance the following ‘Litany
    of the Patron Saints of the Dioceses of Ireland’ was compiled and
    approved by the ecclesiastical authorities. Subjoined is a list of
    some of the Irish families, who thus are clients of the saints invoked in this litany. There are many other Irish families, clans, towns,
    and localities who invoke the patronage of other illustrious local
    saints, whose names do not occur in this litany of Diocesan saints, to
    which the following list is confined: 
     
    St. Malachi is patron saint of
    the O’Dohertys, O’Reillys, O’Neills, Mc Canns, Nugents, O’ Ferralls, Maguires, and Mc Kennas. 
     
    St. Laurence of the O’Tooles and Purcells. 
     
     St.
    Kevin of the Kilbrides, O’Byrnes, Murrays.
     
    St. Albert of the Cullens,
    Ryans, and Bennetts.
     
     St. Jarlath of the
    Moores and Killeens.
     
    St. Kieran of the O’Connors, Grehans, and
    Brownes. 
     
    St. Columbkille of the O’Donnells and O’Loughlins. 
     
    St. Conlath
    of the Mullens and Duffeys. 
     
    St. Macartan of the O’Flynns, Macartans,
    O’Donnellys, Smiths, and Mc Guinnesses. 
     
    St. Kyrans of the O’Brennans,
    Fitzpatricks, O’Donohoes, and Mahers. 
     
    St. Aiden of the O’Kinselas
    and O’Farralls.
     
    St. Ailbe of the Cullens and Nolans. 
     
    St. Fachanan of
    the Fitzgeralds, Mc Namaras, O’Briens, Mc Mahons, Blennerhassets, Ennisses and O’Shaughnessys.
     
    St. Finbar of the Mc Carthys and Barrys. 
     
    St. Otteran of the Barrons, Wyses, and Walshes.
     
    St. Ascium of the Frenches, Kelleys, and Dysarts.
     
    St. Nicholas of the Blakes and
    Burkes.

     Catholic Press (Sydney, NSW : 1895 – 1942), Saturday 26 May 1900, page 5

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