OMNIUM SANCTORUM HIBERNIAE

Tag: Martyrdom

  • St. Indreachtach O'Finachtain, March 12

    On March 12 Canon O’Hanlon brings the details of a ninth-century abbot of Iona who may also have been a martyr. The final reference to William of Malmesbury would seem to make our saint the same Saint Indreachtach commemorated on February 5:

    St. Indreachtach or Innrechtach O’Finachtain, Abbot of Iona, Scotland, and Martyr.

    [Ninth Century.]

    We learn, from the Annals of Innisfallen, that the surname of this holy man was Ua Finachta or Ua Finachtain. Idreachtach O’Finachtain is called Coarb of Columbkille, and from this it has been inferred, he was abbot over Londonderry Monastery, in the olden time. However, this title he obtained, because he was the twenty-first Abbot of Hy, and he held office A.D. 849, in which year he went to Ireland, with St. Columba’s relics. As the date of his predecessor’s death is not recorded, although we know, that Diarmait, the twentieth abbot, visited Ireland, on a similar errand; it cannot be known, when St. Innrechtach began his rule, over the Iona monks. He was regarded as an eminent sage. On the 12th of March, A.D. 852, he suffered martyrdom, among the Saxons, according to the Annals of the Four Masters. He was on his way to Rome. According to the Annals of Ulster, the date for his departure to Christ is A.D. 853, while the Rev. Dr. Reeves places it, at A.D. 854. A legend, by William of Malmesbury, misdates his martyrdom, by one hundred and sixty-five years, and places it near Glastonbury.

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  • A Prayer to Saint Odhran

    February 19 is the commemoration of Saint Odhran, whom tradition remembers as Saint Patrick’s charioteer and as a martyr who sacrificed his life for his master. Below is a prayer to Saint Odhran, taken from the 1941 edition of the Catholic prayerbook, Saint Anthony’s Treasury. The prayer to Saint Odhran sounds like a product of the 19th-century nationalist revival, there is a strong emphasis on the land of Ireland but combined with an appreciation of the saint’s heroism and a desire that his ‘noble sacrifice’ should not be forgotten:

    Prayer to St. Odran

    (St. Patrick’s Charioteer)

    (Who gave his own life to save that of his master)

    Blessed Saint Odran, faithful and loyal to God and man! you whose name is almost forgotten by those who owe you an everlasting debt of gratitude, accept our poor thanksgiving, offered in the name of all Ireland, for your noble sacrifice of your life to save that of Ireland’s Apostle. You had toiled in his service long and devotedly; you had learned what priceless service he could render to God and the Irish land and, when the moment came when he or you should die, by pagan hands, quickly and resolutely you laid down your life, that your master might live and labour for the Divine Master of all.

    By your crown of martyrdom so gloriously won, by your centuries of endless peace and joy, we beseech you to look down on the toiling sons of Ireland and on those who try to guide them to their eternal rest. Look down on us all, O blessed Saint! for the love of him whose heart burned with love for Ireland, and pray that the blessing of the Triune God – Father, Son and Holy Ghost – may descend on us and remain with us for ever. Amen.

    St. Anthony’s Treasury – A Manual of Devotions (Anthonian Press, Dublin, 12th edition, 1941), 285-286.

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  • Saints Hewald the Dark and Hewald the Fair, October 3

    October 3 is the commemoration of two of the Saxon saints who came to study in Ireland, the brothers Hewald, one of dark colouring and the other of fair. They joined in the great missionary endeavour to convert their continental kinsmen and met a martyr’s death. The summary of their lives below, taken from Father Richard Stanton’s Menology of England and Wales, ends with the translation of the relics of the Saints Hewald to Cologne, alas I seem to remember reading somewhere that their shrine disappeared in 1945:

    THE THIRD DAY.
    At Cologne and elsewhere, the commemoration of the two Brothers HEWALD, Martyrs and Priests, who died at the hands of the pagans, to whom they came to preach the Gospel of Christ.

    These two brothers were priests and Englishmen by birth, though they had lived long in Ireland as voluntary exiles, in order to their spiritual profit. They were known as the Black and White Hewald, from the difference in their hair, but no other names are given to them. They were both distinguished for their piety, but the elder is said to have been more learned in the Sacred Writings. These holy priests were attracted by the example of St. Willibrord and his companions, and, urged by a like zeal for souls, set off to preach the Gospel to the Old Saxons on the Continent. They took up their station at some place in Westphalia, and were kindly received in the house of a farmer, and immediately sent a message to ask for an audience of the lord of the district. While they were expecting an answer, they were constant in their prayers and psalmody, and daily offered the Holy Sacrifice on the portable altar, which they had brought with them. This led the inhabitants of the place to suspect that they had come to teach a new religion, and, fearing lest they should be favourably received by their ruler, they at once fell upon them and put them to death. The White Hewald was killed with the blow of a sword, but the other brother was reserved for many torments. The bodies of the Martyrs were then thrown into the Rhine. The murderers soon paid the penalty of their misdeed, as their lord was greatly displeased with their barbarous act, and ordered them all to be put to death.

    Miraculous events showed how precious was the death of the two brothers in the sight of God. One of them appeared in a vision to an English monk of the name of Tilman, settled in the neighbouring country, and told him to seek their bodies where a light from heaven should point out the spot. This he accordingly did, and buried the sacred remains with great reverence. Shortly afterwards the great Pepin ordered them to be translated to the city of Cologne, when they were placed in the Church of St. Cuniberht.

    R. Stanton, A Menology of England and Wales (London, 1892), 473-4.

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