OMNIUM SANCTORUM HIBERNIAE

Tag: Saints of Down

  • Saint Siollan of Moville, October 21

    In the calendar appended to his Ecclesiastical Antiquities of Down, Connor and Dromore, Bishop William Reeves notes on October 21:

    ‘ S. SIOLLAN, abbot of Magh Bile’.

    The Martyrology of Gorman commemorates him as:

    ‘Sillán, a prince who was not evil and cruel’

    and the notes add:

    ‘Sillán the Master, i.e. great-grandson of Garb, abbot of Mag bile.’

    This latter information is also found in the entry for October 21 in the Martyrology of Donegal which records:

    ‘ SIOLLAN, the Master, Mac Ua Gairbh, abbot of Magh-bile.’

    Saint Siollan is the second saint of the monastery of Moville to be commemorated this month, as another of its abbots, Sinell, has his feastday on October 1. Here’s a reminder of the history of this foundation from Archbishop Healy:

    Moville, or Movilla, is at present the name of a townland less than a mile to the north-east of Newrtownards, at the head of Strangford Lough, in the county Down. This district was in ancient times famous for its great religious establishments. Bangor, to which we shall refer presently, is not quite five miles due north of Moville…Further south, but on the western shore of the same Lough, anciently called Lough Cuan, were the Abbey of Inch, the famous Church of Saul, in which St. Patrick died, and the Church of Downpatrick, in which he was buried with SS. Brigid and Columcille. And in one of the islands in the same Strangford Lough, now called Island Mahee, quite close to the western shore, was that ancient monastery and school of Noendrum, of which we have already spoken. Religious men from the beginning loved to build their houses and churches in view of this beautiful sheet of water, with its myriad islands and fertile shores, bounded in the distance by swelling uplands, that lend a charming variety to this rich and populous and highly cultivated county.

    …Finnian is said to have returned to Ireland and founded his school at Moville about the year A. D. 540, that is some twenty years after his namesake of Clonard had opened his own great school on the banks of the Boyne. The name Maghbile means the plain of the old tree, probably referring to some venerable oak reverenced by the Druids before the advent of St. Patrick. At present there is nothing of the ancient abbey-school except a few venerable yews to mark the city of the dead, and an old ruined church on the line of the high road from Newtownards to Donaghadee. This old church, which was one hundred and seven feet in length, in all probability did not date back to the original foundation of the place, although it undoubtedly stands on the site of St. Finnian’s original church. The spot was aptly chosen, sheltered by an amphitheatre of hills from the winds of the north and east, and commanding far away to the south a noble prospect of Lough Cuan’s verdant islets and glancing waters.

    St. Finnian died in A.D. 589, according to the Annals of Ulster, at a very great age.

    Insula Sanctorum et Doctorum or Ireland’s Ancient Schools and Scholars by the Most Rev. John Healy (6th edition, Dublin, 1912), 245 , 249, 254.

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  • Saint Iomchaidh of Kill Drochoid, September 25

    On September 25 we commemorate a northern saint of the Ards peninsula, Iomchaidh of Kill Drochoid. His name appears on the earliest of the Irish calendars, the Martyrology of Tallaght, at this date and the 12th-century Martyrology of Gorman adds ‘of Cell droichit in Ard Ulad’. The Anglican scholar bishop, William Reeves, notes the feast of Saint Iomchaidh on the calendar of saints he appended to his work on the Ecclesiastical Antiquities of Down, Connor and Dromore, and comments:

    Kill Droichid, – ‘Church of the Bridge’. Now unknown. There is no river in the Ards deserving a bridge except the Blackstaff which divided the Great and Little Ards. Near this was the chapel of Gransha. (note d, p.380).

    The Catholic diocesan historian, Father James O’Laverty, made another suggestion in Volume 1 of his Historical Account of the Diocese of Down and Connor:

    In the townland of Lisban there are the remains of an extensive early Christian cemetery; its site is now in part occupied by the house and farmyard of Mr. Patrick M’Grath, into the wall of whose stable is built a stone, on which is inscribed a cross. The graves in that cemetery were lined and covered with flag-stones, and in many of them were found remains of the ferns, on which were cushioned the heads of the dead. This was probably the site of “the chapel of Moyndele,” which, with the church of Ardkeen, was valued in the Taxation of Pope Nicholas at ten marks.

    There was in the Ards a church called Kil-droichid (the Church of the Bridge), in which the festival of St. Iomchaidh was celebrated on the 25th of September —”Iomchaidh of Cill-droichit in Ard Uladh.” There is no river in the Ards which in ancient times would have been spanned by a bridge except, perhaps the Blackstaff, but it is probable that a bridge may have been built over an inlet of Lough Strangford, immediately below the site of this ancient church, in the townland of Lisban, which therefore may, with probability, lay claim to be the Kill-droichid of St. Iomchaidh.

    In the townland of Gransha (Grainseach—a grange) was an ancient church, which, as it stood not far from the Blackstaff River, may have been the Kill droichid already referred to… (p.424-425).

    In his account in Volume 9 of the Lives of the Irish Saints, Canon O’Hanlon can do no more then reprise this information:

    St. Iomchaidh, of Kill Drochoid, County or Down.

    In the published Martyrology of Tallagh, as also in the Book of Leinster copy, we find the simple entry, Imchad, at the 25th of September. In the Feilire of Marianus O’Gorman, his name, place and feast are entered at the 25th of September. From the name of this Saint’s locality, it must be Anglicised, “Church of the Bridge.” Doubt exists as to the exact place where this Saint had been venerated, within that peninsula called the Ards of Ulster. There is no river in the Ards, deserving a bridge, except the Blackstaff, which divides the Great and Little Ards. The chapel of Grangia or Gransha, a townland at the south end of Inishargy parish, was situated near the Blackstaff river. The name of Iomchaidh is also entered in the Martyrology of Donegal, at this same date, as being of Cilldroichit, in Ard Uladh.

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  • Saint Criotán of Bangor, September 16

    Among the saints commemorated on the Irish calendars on September 16 is Saint Criotán of the County Down monastery of Bangor. The Martyrology of Gorman describes this seventh-century monastic as Criotán Certronnach Celloir Comhgaill Bennchair, which the editor, Whitley Stokes, translated as ‘Critán, the Justly-Dividing, Comgall of Benchor’s cellarer’.  The Martyrology of Donegal’s entry expands on this to include something of the saint’s genealogy:

    CRIOTAN CERTRONNACH, Cellarer of Comhgall, of Bennchor.

    Eithne, daughter of Saran son of Colgan, and sister of Ronan, was the mother of Criotan Certronnach; who was so called because he used to divide fairly.

    The editor’s note explains that certronnach, ‘divide fairly’ derives from the Irish cert, ‘right’, ‘just’ and roinn or rann, ‘a division’.

    Saint Comgall is the founder of Bangor and thus Saint Criotán is a member of the monastic household, holding a specific office within it. Father John Ryan, in his classic study of Irish monasticism, discusses the office of cellarer, whose responsibilities are perhaps rather more important than one might think:

    The cellarer (ceallóir or coic) had under his charge not only the kitchen, but the supplies upon which the kitchen depended. He had, therefore, to be a man in whom the fullest reliance could be placed. Over-generosity on his part might lead to unbecoming ease and laxity, whilst an all too rigorous regime might lead to murmuring, discouragement and discontent. Even Caesarius of Arles proved a failure when appointed to fill this office at Lérins, and had to be superseded by another. Hence much might be said in justification of a statement made in one of the later rules that the discipline of the community depends on the cellarer. [This statement is from the Rule of Ailbe, 32: ‘as the food is, so will the order be’.]

    John Ryan S.J., Irish Monasticism – Origins and Early Development, (2nd. edition, Dublin, 1972), 274 .

    It would seem therefore that our saint made a success of his office and was awarded the epithet of ‘the justly-dividing’ in recognition. We can conclude with Canon O’Hanlon’s account from Volume IX of his Lives of the Irish Saints:

    St. Criotan, or Critan Certronnach of Bangor, County of Down.

    [Seventh Century.]

    An entry of Critain is found in the Book of Leinster copy of the Martyrology of Tallagh for the 16th day of September; but, it is omitted from the published edition of Rev. Dr. Kelly. However, the festival of Critan is found in the Martyrology of Marianus O’Gorman, at this date. Veneration was given, at the 16th of September, as we find set down in the Martyrology of Donegal, to Criotan Certronnach, Cellarer of Comhgall, of Bennchor. Eithne, daughter to Saran, son of Colgan, and sister to Ronan, was the mother of this Criotan Certronnach, who was so called because he used to divide fairly. The present Saint is entered in our Calendars without such a distinction; and, therefore, we may doubt, if he filled any higher office than that of Cellarer in the Monastery. The Annals of Ulster and of the Four Masters placed his death under the year 668. The Annals of Clonmacnoise enter his decease previously to this date, and on the same year, A.D. 665, with Mochua, or Mochuo, son of Ust, who is also called Abbot of Bangor.

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