OMNIUM SANCTORUM HIBERNIAE

Tag: Saints of Down

Saint Tiú of Rubha, June 24

Canon O’Hanlon begins his accounts of the saints for June 24 with the following notice of what he believed to be an obscure County Down holy woman:

ST. THIU, PATRON OF RUBHA, DIOCESE OF DOWN.

THE festival of St. Thiu or Tiu, of Rubha, is celebrated, on the 24th of June, according to the Martyrology of Donegal. This female saint’s name does not appear in the earliest Irish Calendars; so, it is probable, she flourished after the eighth century. She belonged, it is said, to the posterity of Eochaidh, son to Muiredh, who descended from the race of Heremon. We are informed, likewise, that Rubha was the name of this holy woman’s place, and that in Ard Uladh it was situated. Some doubt existed, regarding the modern denomination of Rubha. A learned writer inclines to the opinion, that it is identical with the townland of Echlinville, in Ballyhalbert parish, otherwise St. Andrews, barony of Upper Ards, and called at present Row or Grange-Row, but formerly Rowbane or Rheubane. The adjoining townland is still called Rowreagh. In the year 1306, we find a chapel, named Grangia, on the townland of Gransha, parish of Inishargy, and barony of Upper Ards, in the county of Down. The townland of Gransha, at the south end of Inishargy parish, is bounded southwardly by the River Blackstaffe, which was formerly regarded as a line of demarcation, between the Great and Little Ards. About a mile eastward of this townland, the other chapel, called Row or Grange Row, stood. This seems to have been the place, anciently called Ruba, and Anglicized Rue or Rubha. Before the middle of the last century, the name of Rheubane was changed by James Echlin, Esq., who had a seat here, to Echlin-ville, which was called after himself as being the proprietor. The old chapel formerly stood at the entrance to Echlinville demesne; but, a single trace of its ruins cannot be seen at present. In the O’Clerys Calendar, Rubha is located, also, in the Ards of Ulster.

The entry in the Martyrology of Donegal, referenced by Canon O’Hanlon above also presents Tiu as a female saint:

Tiu, of Rubha, i.e., Rubha is the name of the place, and in Ard- Uladh it is situated. She is of the posterity of Eochaidh, son of Muiredh, who is of the race of Heremon.

Bishop William Reeves mentions this calendar entry and includes Saint Thiu of Rubha in his own calendar of the saints appended to the 1847 Ecclesiastical Antiquities of Down, Connor and Dromore, but does not mention the saint’s gender.

In the 2011 A Dictionary of Irish Saints, however, Professor Pádraig Ó Riain does not address the issue of the saint’s gender but says that Tiú is a son of Fionán, attached by the genealogists to a branch of the Ulaidh of east Ulster and that ‘his’ feast was June 24. So, there would appear to be a question around whether Saint Tiú is actually a male saint. There are cases where even much more well-known saints, Dabheog of Lough Derg and the great Saint Maol Ruain of Tallaght, to name two who come to mind, were described as females to researchers in the nineteenth century.

Note: This post, first published in 2014 was revised in 2022.

Content Copyright © Omnium Sanctorum Hiberniae 2012-2015. All rights reserved.

June 24, 2014
The Legend of Saint Mochaoi of Oendruim

The Legend of Saint Mochaoi of Oendruim

by Seamus O Cuisin

ST MOCHAOI was born about 420 A.D.; founded the abbey of Oendruim (pronounced Endrim; i.e.,”the single ridge”), on the beautiful island bearing that name, about 450; and died in the year 496 or 497. For several centuries the abbey, in which education and monasticism were combined, occupied a prominent position, and from it emanated a number of subsequent founders of similar institutions. Between 974 and 1178 history is silent in regard to it; but it is certain that, from its position on Loch Cuan (Strangford), which was infested by Danish marauders, it came in for a large share of their devastating attentions. From its affiliation, in 1178, with an English religious establishment, it seems to have fallen into a condition of decay; and in 1450 it is simply noted as a parish church in the charge of the Bishop of Down.

The island of Oendruim or, as it is now called, Mahee, from Inis Mochaoi, in memory of its patron saint and founder is situated most picturesquely on Strangford Lough, about seven miles from Comber, and is approachable on foot or car by a fine modern causeway, which crosses an intervening island. On the shore end of the island may be seen many remains of the stone buildings which superseded the original wooden structures in the history of this venerable, romantic, but popularly-neglected shrine. These remains include the stump of a round tower; traces of extensive foundations, once partially laid bare by the late Bishop Reeves, and now almost entirely hidden from sight again; the site of the harbour, where anchored “ships” from Britain; evidences of a God’s-acre, hallowed by long time and association ; and a fairly complete castle of a later period. The circuit of the island can be made on foot leisurely in a couple of hours, and the walk affords a view of the extensive waters of the once Dane-infested lough, the distant hoary walls of Greyabbey, the haunts of Saint Patrick, the scene of the death of Ollamh Fodhla, and the daring and unscrupulous deeds of De Courcy, and many other places of interest.

Baile Draigin (Ballydrain) about half-way between Comber and Mahee Island is so called from baile, a place, and Draigin, a blackthorn tree; and the reader will observe the connection between this place and the story. No trace of a church, however, has yet been discovered at Ballydrain.

Rudraide (pronounced Rury) is the modern Dundrum Bay.

The idea contained in the following verses has been variously rendered by several eminent authors. The incident in which it is here embodied may, however, be fairly claimed as the oldest version the original in fact.

Quoth good Saint Mochaoi of Oendruim:

“I will build for Christ my master

Here a church, and here defend Him

And His cause from all disaster.”

Seven score youths cut beam and wattle;

Seven score hands unseared in battle

Their unstinted aid did lend him,

Fast and ever faster.

But though arm, and voice loud-ringing,

To a test of toil defied him,

Right and left the wattles flinging,

Not a tongue could dare deride him;

For, before them all, he stood

Finished, waiting. Not a rood

From the spot a bird was singing

In a thorn beside him.

Sang no bird in ancient story

Half so sweet or loud a strain:

Seaward to the loch of Rudraide,

Landward then, and back again

Swelled the song, and trilled and trembled

O’er the toiling youths assembled,

Rang around ‘mid summer glory

There at Baile-draigin.

Far more beautiful the bird was

Than the bright-plumed bird of bliss,

And the Abbot’s feeling stirred was

To its deepest depths, I wis ;

‘Til, as from the fiery splendour

Moses saw, in accents tender

Spake the bird, and lo! the word was:

“Goodly work is this.”

“True,” quoth Saint Mochaoi of Oendruim,

” ‘Tis required by Christ my master

Here to build, and here defend Him

And His cause from all disaster :

But my blood mounts high with weening

Of this gracious word the meaning.”

Nearer then the bird did tend him,

Fast and ever faster.

“I shall answer. I descended

From mine angel soul’s compeers,

From my home serene and splendid

To this haunt of toil and tears;

Came to cheer thee with a note

From an angel’s silvern throat.”

Then he sang three songs: each, ended,

Made a hundred years.

There, through days that dawned and darkened,

With his wattles by his side,

Stood the island Saint, and hearkened

To that silvery-flowing tide ;

Stood entranced, and ever wonder’d

‘Til had circled thrice a hundred

Years, o’er fields life-lade or stark, and

Cuan’s waters wide.

Then, when came the final number,

Ceased the angel-bird its strain,

And, unheld by ills that cumber

Mortals, sought the heavenly plain.

Then the Saint, in mute amaze,

Round him turned an anxious gaze,

And from that far land of slumber

Came to earth again.

There his load, ‘mid weed and flower,

Lay beside him all unbroken,

‘Til, with thrice augmented power,

From his holy dream awoken,

Up he bore it to his shoulder,

Broad, and not a hand’s-breadth older.

Scarce, thought he, had passed an hour

Since the bird had spoken.

Toward his island church he bore it.

Lo! an oratory gleaming,

And ” To Saint Mochaoi “writ o’er it.

“Now,” quoth he, “in truth I’m dreaming.

Say, good monk, at whose consistory

Shall I solve this mighty mystery,

And to form of fact restore it

From this shadowy seeming?”

So he spake to one who faced him

With a look of mild surprise,

One who swiftly brought and placed him

‘Neath the Abbot’s searching eyes.

Leave him there. Not mine to rhyme of

Deeds that filled the later time of

Him who, fain though years would waste him,

Ages not nor dies.

Ends the wondrous old-time story

Of the bird’s long, lethal strain,

Sung through summers hot and hoary,

Winters white on mount and main ;

And the monks, to mark the mission

Of the bird so says tradition

Built a church to God’s great glory

There at Baile-draigin.

Ulster Journal of Archaeology, Vol 10 (1904), 100-103.

Content Copyright © Omnium Sanctorum Hiberniae 2012-2015. All rights reserved.

June 23, 2014
Saint Colman Finn of Killclief, June 2

I begin this post on Saint Colman Finn of Kilclief with a caveat – June 2 is not listed as his feast day in the historic Irish calendars. The only basis for the commemoration of this saint on this day is the calendar of saints compiled by the scholarly Anglican Bishop, William Reeves, appended to his 1847 work, Ecclesiastical Antiquities of Down, Connor and Dromore. Unfortunately the author does not give any details of either the saint or his reasons for attributing June 2 as his feast day. The Catholic diocesan historian, Father James O’Laverty, dealt with Kilclief in Volume 1 of his four-volume history, An Historical Account of the Diocese of Down and Connor, Ancient and Modern, but makes no mention of this particular saint. Kilclief, however, has left traces of its earlier ecclesiastical associations in the sources, which are summarised here. Today this locality is best-known for the ruined medieval tower-house, Kilclief Castle, which Canon O’Hanlon used to illustrate his account below. Finally, although we clearly cannot be definitive about this saint or his commemoration on this day, it is perhaps worth saying that modern scholarship inclines to the view that at least some of the myriad of Irish saints called Colman represented on our calendars may well represent local commemorations of the greatest Colman of them all: Saint Colum Cille (Columba), whose own feast will be celebrated exactly a week from today:

Reputed Festival of St. Colman Finn, of Kilclief Parish, Barony of Lecale, County of Down.

According to tradition Kilclief, a parish in the baronies of Upper and Lower Lecale, on the east border of Ulster, boasts of an early ecclesiastical origin. The church here is said to have been founded by St. Patrick while Eugenius and Niellus are held to have been its first ministers and his own disciples. The village, where it was built, stands on the sea-shore; while the surface lies, along the west side of the entrance s or lower part of Lough Strangford channel, and almost everywhere this parish consists of good arable land. North-west of the Protestant church here, and which now occupies the original site, there is a townland at present denominated the Glebe, but consisting of three distinct old denominations, viz.: Drumroe, Carriff, and Carrowvannish. Originally, it is probable, Kilclief had been a small parish, consisting only of 1,484 acres; although presenting on the Ordnance Survey Maps five detached portions, which, perhaps, were formerly chapelries, added to augment its income. A Hospital for Lepers had been founded here under the patronage of St. Peter. When allusion is made to this place, it is called Cill-cleithe, or Cill-cliath, in our Annals. The word signifies “church of the hurdles,” probably in reference to its original construction. We find, however, that a daimliag, or stone church, had been here, in or before the tenth century, when it was burned. There, the parish church was dedicated to a St. Coelan, or Kelan. He was probably either Caylan, the founder of Neddrum, or Cillin of Achadh-chail. The original name Caolan admits of these varieties. He was probably son to Derinila, surnamed Cethuir-chich-each, of the Four Provinces, mentioned by St. Aengus the Culdee. In 1034 Cillchiath was annexed to the See lands of Down and, about the year 1178, John De Courcy confirmed the possession of Kilcleth to the bishop. About the year 1183, Bishop Malachi granted the church of Killecleth to the Abbey of St. Patrick. Near the site of the former church rises the old castle of Kilclief, in which the bishops of Down, at one time, resided. It seems to be a building of the fourteenth century, and it is still in good preservation, being well roofed. The castle and lands of Kilclief were an ancient See House and Manor, belonging to the Bishops of Down. In the middle of the last century, the castle was still entire, and covered with thatch. There was a chamber, in this castle, called the Hawk’s Chamber and possibly, it may have been so designated, from the figure of a fowl, resembling a hawk, which was carved on a stone chimney-piece, in a room on the second floor, and on which was cut, also, in bas-relief, a Cross Patee. The first floor is vaulted. It has two front wings, in one of which there was a stair-case, and in the other a stack of closets. Among the many holy men, bearing the name of Colman, and mentioned in our Calendars, the writer can only discover the name of Colman Fionn, venerated at the 4th of April or perhaps, Colman Ban, at the 19th of October. We find a Colman Finn, an anchorite, whose death is set down, at A.D. 771; yet, we are not informed, if a date or a place has been assigned to him, or a rank among the Irish Saints. The writer is unable to find, on what authority, the Rev. William Reeves connects, at this day, the church and saint heading the present article; but, these are included, in our collection, resting on his authority.

Content Copyright © Omnium Sanctorum Hiberniae 2012-2015. All rights reserved.

June 2, 2014