OMNIUM SANCTORUM HIBERNIAE

Tag: Saints of Antrim

  • Saint Cathur, or Cathub, Bishop of Achadhcinn, April 6

    At April 6 the Irish calendars commemorate an obscure early saint, Cathur or Cathub. Canon O’Hanlon is unable to bring many details but discounts the possibility raised by the seventeenth-century hagiologist, Father John Colgan, that he was associated with the mission of Saint Patrick:

    St. Cathur, or Cathub, Bishop of Achadhcinn, Probably Aughnakeely, County of Antrim

    Sacred biography should be a record of useful individual traits of character, and of social facts, on which religious philosophy, as a science, might be based. But, we have, very frequently, in the case of Ireland’s saints, materials too scanty for information, and instruction, in most of our hagiographical essays. The Bollandists have a mere notice to this holy man, but his name is incorrectly given. St.  Cathub was born, in the early part of the fifth century, and in the year 404. He was son of Fergus. The present holy man has been classed, but incorrectly, among the disciples of St. Patrick. He is said to have been bishop of Achadh-cinn, or Achid-cinn. Some authorities only style him Abbot. His place is supposed to have been identical with the present Aughnakeely,  one of the four townlands of Craigs, barony of Kilconway, and county of Antrim. In Colgan’s time, it was called Achadh na Cille, and it lay within the boundaries of Dalriadia. At this spot, there was an ancient burial ground, although its name is not marked on the Ordnance Survey Maps. A very capable investigator has remarked, that Dalriada, or the Route, ends at the southern boundary of Kilconway, which is but a short distance from this place, It has been conjectured, that Loch Cathbadh, Latinized, Lacus Cathbadii, adjoining Dalaradia, may have taken its denomination, from the present holy man. He flourished before and after the commencement of the sixth century, and he died, on the 6th of April, A.D. 554.  It is said,  that he lived, for one hundred and fifty years. This account also agrees with a statement in the  Chronicon Scotorum; but, the year of his death was 555, according to the latter authority. It must be observed, that Rev. Dr. Lanigan doubts the attainment of his extraordinary term of life, and accounts for the story of that great age, on a conjecture of his own. Colgan suspected, that the priest, named Fothrath  or Cathbad, who was placed over a church at Fothrat, might have been the same as St. Cathub, who was revered at Achadcinn, or Achadnacill. Yet, this latter place is not named in the Tripartite, nor in any of St. Patrick’s various Acts. The Martyrology of Tallagh registers the name merely, as Cathub, Bishop, at the 6th of April. On this day was venerated, according to the Martyrology of Donegal, Cathur, son of Fergus, Bishop, over Achadh-cinn.

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  • Saint Conall of Clonallan, April 2

    April 2 is the feast day of a sixth-century County Down bishop, Conall of Clonallan. Not a great deal is known of him, but he was said to have succeeded the founder bishop of Coleraine around the year 570. Adamnan’s Life of Saint Columba in Chapter 50 of the first book records a Bishop Conall of Coleraine having prepared a welcome for Saint Columba on one of his Irish visits, but it is not known if this was our saint. Canon O’Hanlon has this short account of Saint Conall:

    St. Conall, Bishop of Clonallan, County or Down.
    [Sixth Century.]

    In the Martyrology of Tallagh, the name of Conall, son of Aedha, is found, entered at the 2nd of April. The Bollandists’, while deferring an opinion on the subject, until the Acts of the Irish Saints should receive further illustration, remark, that the saint, venerated on this day at Cluain-dallain, is thought, by Colgan, to have been Connall, Abbot of Killchonail, in the territory, known as Maine, or Hy-Maine. The O’Clerys state, that the saint, venerated on the 2nd of April, belonged to the race of Irial, son to Conall Cearnach. At first, St Conall was president over Clonallan church, county of Down, at an early period. He afterwards succeeded St. Carbreus, as Bishop of Coleraine, about the year 570. His parish was evidently near Carlingford Lough, which becomes contracted at Caol, “narrow,” in the same sense, as that used by the Scotch, in the word Kyles, now the Narrow Water. The name of this church is said, however, to have been derived from St Dalian, who flourished in the sixth century. The O’Clerys’ Calendar states, that his place was near Snamh Each, i.e. the harbour near unto the Cael, in Ui Eathach, of Uladh. We read, in the Martyrology of Donegal, that veneration was paid, on this day, to Conall, son of Aedh, of Cluain, i.e. of Cluain Dallain, now Clonallan parish.

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  • The Daughters of Comgall, January 22

     

    The earliest Irish calendars – the Martyrology of Oengus and the Martyrology of Tallagh- both make reference to a feast on January 22 of the daughters of Comgall – Lassir, Columba and Bogha – and associate them with the church of Glenavy in County Antrim. The origin of this northern church is mentioned in the Tripartite Life of Saint Patrick, where it was first known as Lettir-phadraic but later as Lann Abhaigh. Canon O’Hanlon brings together the evidence from the sources for us before concluding with a triumphal flourish:

    The Daughters of Comgall, Colma, Bogha, and Lassara, of Glenavy, County of Antrim.

    The Martyrology of Tallagh mentions a festival on the 22nd of January in honour of Comghaill’s daughters, Lassir, Columba, and Bogha. Some confusion in rendering their names appears to have crept into our calendars. According to the Martyrology of Donegal, on this day was venerated Colma, also called Columba, Bogha, and Laisri, three sisters. These virgins belonged to the sept, and were daughters of Comhgall, son to Fianglach. They were buried and venerated at Leitir Dal-Araidhe; they were disciples—or, according to another version, foster-children—to Comhgall of Beannchair, or Bangor. According to the poem beginning “The Hagiology of the Saints of Inis-Fail,” they are of the Dal m Buain, the race of Eochaidh, son of Muireadh. The place called Lettir in Dalaradia was anciently known as Lettir-Phadruig, after the Irish Apostle St. Patrick, who there first built a church. From the disciple, called Abhac, placed over it, Lann-Abhaich, Lan-avy, and finally Glen-avy, were titles given to this spot. It is a parochial church in the diocese of Connor, and in the ancient territory of Delmunia. It is said, that the present church does not occupy the original site; but that old Glenavy churchyard lay at some distance, in an angle formed by the Glenavy and Pigeonstown roads. Yet this account seems inconsistent with an existing tradition. Glenavy parish is situated within the barony of Upper Massereene, and in the county of Antrim. At a place called Camus Comhgaill, those holy women are also said to have been venerated. This, by others, is also thought to be the spot where their bodies had been interred. The holy virgins’ names are included in the calendar compiled by the Rev. William Reeves. They are likewise entered in the Kalendar of Drummond; but, apparently in a most incorrect manner, at the xi. of the February kalends, which corresponds with this date. Thus in early ages, and in the same family, we find many saints, while from the fifth to the eighth century Ireland appeared to realize the glorious vision of a church which St. John had in Patmos.

    O’Hanlon also contacted the then parish priest of Glenavy who in a letter dated 2nd May, 1873, furninshed some further local detail which appears in a footnote:

    There is no vestige of the old church of Glenavy. A tradition exists, that the Protestant church is on the site of the old one. It is divided by a river from what is supposed to be the old cemetery, where, according to Reeves, were buried the three sisters. These are said to be the sisters of St. Comgall, abbot and founder of Bangor. He came from Maheramorne, near Lame. Perhaps there was a religious house in Glenavy, to which the three sisters retired. There is no ruin whatever on the spot.

    Reeves is Bishop William Reeves, an Anglican scholar who produced a most useful volume on the ecclesiastical history of the northern dioceses. He too quotes from the sources beginning with the Martyrology of Oengus on January 22:

    ” Exitus filiarum Comgalli”.
    “i.e. at Lettir in Dalaradia they are[buried], and from Dalaradia they are [sprung]”.

    Their names are given in the Calendar of the Clerys at the same day:

    “Colman, Bogha, et Lassera, three sisters, and three virgins, and they were foster children to Comghall of Bangor, and they are [interred] at Lettir in Dalaradia; or [according to others] it is at Camus Comghaill they are [resting]”.

    Their descent also is given by Colgan : 

    “SS. Boga, Colma sive Columba, et Lassara virgines, tres filiae Comgelli filii Fingalacii filii Demaui filii Nuathalii filii Mutalani filii Cantalani filii Fiengalacii filii Niedi filii Buani a quo Dal-Buain, Coluntur in Ecclesia Litterensi in Dalriedia [recte Dalaradia] 22 Januarii”.—(Act. SS., p. 471.)

    Rev. W. Reeves, Ecclesiastical Antiquities of Down, Connor and Dromore (Dublin, 1847), 237.

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