OMNIUM SANCTORUM HIBERNIAE

Tag: Orders of the Saints

  • The Three Orders of the Saints in the Martyrology of Gorman

    In his introduction to the 12th-century Irish calendar, the Martyrology of Gorman, editor and translator, Whitley Stokes, provided a helpful listing of the Irish saints who appear in the text, laid out according to the three orders of the saints:

    The Irish saints before A.D. 666, the year of the great mortality, are divided by an author who wrote not later than A.D. 750, into three orders. The first was composed of S. Patrick and 350 other bishops, who had the same mass, Easter and tonsure. They were also ministered to by subintroductae, or, as the Irish called them, siair, ‘quia supra petram Christum fundati, ventum tentationis non timebant.’ This order included Britons, Franks, Scots (i.e. Irish) and ‘Romans,’ i.e., subjects of the Roman empire. It lasted till A.D. 543, or according to the Four Masters, 538. The second order appears to have been founded by the British Church after a more or less complete apostacy of the Irish. It was composed of few bishops and many presbyters, in number 300. They received a mass (liturgy?) from SS. David, Gildas, and Cadoc, but dissented in this respect (diversas missas celebrabant), and had different ‘rules’ or monastic regulations. They shunned the consortia and services of women, and excluded them from their monasteries. This order lasted till 599 or thereabouts. The third order was only a hundred in number, mostly presbyters. They were hermits, living on herbs and water, and despised private property (propria contemnebant). They had different rules, masses, tonsures and Easters. The last eight of them were swept away by the Yellow Plague in the year 666.
    Of the saints celebrated by Gorman, the following (arranged alphabetically) belong to the first of these orders :

    Ailbe, Sep. 12; two Ailills, Jan. 13, July 1; Auxilius or Usaille, Feb. 7; Benen, Nov. 9; Beo-aed, Mar. 8; Bron, June 8; Buite mac Bronaig, Dec. 7; two Cairnechs, March 28, May 16; Cianan, Nov. 24; Conlaed, May 3; Cormac, Feb, 17; Enda of Aran, March 21; Erc, Nov. 2; Fortchern, Oct. 11; Iarlaithe of Armagh, Feb. 11; Ibar, Ap. 23; Laeban, June 1; Lomman of Ath Truim, Oct. 11; Mac caille, Ap. 25; Mac cairthinn, March 24; Mel, Feb. 6; Mocta, March 24, Aug. 19; Sechnall, Nov. 27; Sen-Phatric, Aug. 24 ; Tassach, Ap. 14.

    The following belong to the second order :

    Aed mac Bricc, May 4; one of the Barrfinds ; Becc mac De, Oct. 12 ; mo Bi clarenech (Berchan), Oct. 12; Boethin, June 9; Brenainn of Birr, Nov. 29; Brenainn of Clonfert, May 16; Cainnech, Oct. 11; Cairlan, March 24; Cathub, Ap. 6 ; Ciaran mac in tsair, Sep. 9; Coeman, June 12; Coemgin, June 3; Colman mac Lenin, Nov. 24; Colum cille, June 29; Colum mac Cremthainn, Dec. 13; Comgall, May 10; one of the Commans, May 10; Conandil, March 1; Cormac hua Liathain, June 21; Daig, son of Cairell, Aug. 18; Enda, son of Nuadan, Sep. 18; Fergus, March 30; Findian of Clonard, Dec. 12; Findian of Mag bile, Feb. 11 and Sep. 10; Fintan of Dun Blesci, Jan. 3; Finntan of Clonenagh, Feb. 17; mo Laisse (Lasrian) of Daminis, Sep. 12; Lasren of Mena-drochet, Sep. 16; Mac-nise, June 13; mo Lua of Clonfert, Aug. 4; mo Luoc, June 25; Moenenn, March 1; Natchoime, May 1; Nessan, July 24; Ninnid Laebderc, Jan. 16; Odran, Oct. 26; Senach, Aug. 21; Ruadan, Ap. 15; Sinchell the Elder, March 26; Sinell of Cloen-inis, Nov. 12; Tigernach, Ap. 4.

    To the third order belong : Aedlug, Feb. 26, Aileran, Dec. 29, Beogna, Aug. 2, Berach, Ap. 21, Boethin, June 9, Coeman Brecc, Sep. 14, Coemgen, June 3, mo Choemoc, Mar. 13, Colman mac Duach, Feb. 3, Colman maccu Telduib, Feb. 8, Colman Ela, Sep. 26, Colman Stellain, May 26, Columbanus, Nov. 21, Critan, May 17, Cronan, Nov. 11, Cronan Becc, Jan. 7, Cronan of Mag bile, Aug. 7, mo Chua of Tech mo Chua, Dec. 24, mo Chua of Balla, Mar. 30, Cuanna, Feb. 4, mo Chutu, May 14, Cummine, bishop of Noendruim, July 1, Cummine fota, Nov. 12, Dagan, Sep. 13, Daniel, Feb. 18, Dimma Dub, Jan. 6, Domongin, Ap. 29, Eochaid, Ap. 17, Fechin, Feb. 14, Finan, Jan. 8, Finntain (or Munnu), Oct. 21, Gobban, March 17, Lachtain, March 19, Laidgenn, Jan. 12, Lassren (mo Laisse), Ap. 18, mo Liba, Jan. 8, Liber, March 8, Lomman of Loch Uair, Feb. 7, Maedoc of Ferns, Jan. 31, Mac Lasre, abbot of Bennchor, May 16, Mac Lasre, abbot of Armagh, Sep. 12, mo Lua, Aug. 4, Manchan, Jan. 24, Muirgen, Jan. 27, Nem maccu Birn, June 14, Ossein, May 1, Ronan, Nov. 18, Saran, Jan. 20, Segin, Sep. 10, Senach Garb, Sept. 10, Sillan, abbot of Bennchor, Feb. 28, Sillan, bishop of Daminis, May 17, Sillan of Mag bile, Aug. 25, Srafan, May 23, Suibne, Jan, 11, Tommein, Jan. 10, and Ultan, Sep. 4.



    Whitley Stokes, ed. and trans. The Martyrology of Gorman (London, 1895), xlvii-xlviii.

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  • The Catalogue of the Saints of Ireland

    The ‘Catalogue of the Saints of Ireland’ is a curious document dating from the 8th or the 9th century. It organizes our early native saints into three distinct ‘orders’ and describes the characteristics of each. The translation of the text below is by Liam de Paor:

    The First Order

    The first order of saints was in the time of Patrick. They were all bishops, eminent and holy and filled with the Holy Spirit, numbering three hundred and fifty. They were founders of churches, who worshipped one head, Christ, followed one leader, Patrick, had one tonsure and one liturgy of the Mass, and celebrated one Easter (that is, after the spring equinox). What was excluded from the communion of one church, all excluded. They did not reject the the government and the company of women because, since their foundation was the rock, Christ, they did not fear the wind of temptation. This order of saints lasted through four reigns: that is, from the time of Loeguire son of Niall, who reigned thirty-seven years, and Ailill surnamed Molt, who reigned thirty years, and Lugaid, who reigned seven years. And this order of saints lasted until the end of the time of Tuathal Maelgarb. They all continued to be holy bishops, and for the greater part they were of Frankish and Roman and British and Irish origin.

    In a footnote, De Paor also gives some of the dates from the Irish annals for the deaths of the kings mentioned:

    Loeguire son of Niall: 461; Ailill Molt: 482; Lugaid: 507; Tuathal Maelgarb: 544.

    The Second Order

    The second order of saints was as follows. In this second order there were in fact few bishops but many priests, to the number of three hundred. They worshipped one God as their head. They had diverse liturgies and diverse rules of life, but they celebrated one Easter (that is on the fourteenth of the moon), and they practised one tonsure, from ear to ear. They shunned the company and the services of women and excluded them from their monasteries. This order lasted as far as four reigns, that is, from the end of the reign of Tuathal Maelgarb through the thirty years in which Diarmait son of Cerbel reigned, through the time of the two descendants of Muiredach, who reigned for seven years, and through the time of Aed son of Ainmere, who reigned thirty years. These accepted their ritual of the Mass from holy men of Britain: St David and St Gildas and St Doc. And their names are: Finnian, Enda, Colman, Comgal, Aed, Ciaran, Columba, Brendan, Brichin, Cainnech, Coemgen, Laisren, Lugid, Barra, and many others who were of the second rank of saints.
    The Third Order
    The third order of saints was as follows. They were holy priests, few of them bishops, to the number of one hundred, and they settled in uninhabited places. They lived on herbs and water and on the alms of the faithful; they despised all earthly goods and they utterly avoided every murmur and distraction. They had diverse rules and liturgies, and even differences in the tonsure: some shaved the top of the head; others wore their hair long. And they varied in their celebration of Easter, some calculating from the fourteenth of the moon, others from the thirteenth. This order lasted through four reigns: through the time of Aed Allan, who reigned just three years; through the time of Domnall, who reigned thirty years; through the time of the sons of Mael Cobo; and through the time of Aed Slaine. And this order endured until the time of the famous great plague. Their names are as follows: Bishop Petran; Bishop Ultan; Bishop Colman; Bishop Aedan; Bishop Lomman; Bishop Senach. These were all bishops, and there are many more. These indeed are the priests: the priest Fechin, Airendan; Faelan; Cummine; Colman; Ernan; Cronan – and many more priests. 
    The Hierarchy of the Orders
    Note that the first order was the holiest, the second holier than the third, the third holy. The first blazed like the sun in the heat of love; the second shone with a paler light like the moon; the third glowed like gold. The blessed Patrick, taught by his heavenly inspiration, discerned those three orders when – in his prophetic vision – he saw the whole of Ireland filled with flames of fire; then afterwards, the mountains as if they were burning, then lighted lamps in the valleys. This is taken from the old Life of Patrick.

    Saint Patrick’s World – The Christian Culture of Ireland’s Apostolic Age. Translations and Commentaries by Liam de Paor (Dublin, Four Courts Press, 1993), 225-6.

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