OMNIUM SANCTORUM HIBERNIAE

Tag: Saints of Laois

  • A Legend of Saint Molua

     

    August 4 is the feast of Saint Molua, an entry on whose life can be found here. Below, is a charming vignette from the Irish Celtic Revival scholar, Maud Joynt (1868-1940), which records the grief of a little bird at the saint’s passing:

    LEGEND OF SAINT MOLUA

    ONCE there lived in Ireland a saint called Molua son of Ocha, who loved
    all living creatures and was of all living creatures beloved. On the day
    of his death it chanced that a certain holy man, Maelanfair son
    of Anfadach, was walking in the woods and he saw a little bird perched
    on a bough and making great lamentation.

    “Oh, my God,” said he, “what can have happened? I will not taste food till it be revealed to me!”

     Then an angel appeared to him and said: “Be no longer troubled, O
    cleric. Molua the son of Ocha is dead and all living creatures bewail
    him; for he loved everything that lives and breathes, and throughout his
    life he never killed any creature, great or small; wherefore men mourn
    not more for him than do the beasts and the little bird thou seest
    yonder.”

    Maud Joynt, The Golden Legends of the Gael, (Dublin, n.d.), Part II, 81.

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  • The Seven Bishops of Cluain Caa, October 3

    On October 3 we find another of the groups of saints who are a feature of the Irish calendars – The Seven Bishops of Cluain Caa. The Martyrology of Donegal records:

    THE SEVEN BISHOPS, of Cluain Cua. We find seven bishops, the children of one father, of the race of Fiacha Suighdhe, son of Feidhlimidh Reachtmhar, son of Tuathal Teachtmhar, as we have said at the 21st of July.

    A Footnote from the editor adds:

    Cluain Cua. The more recent hand adds, Cluana Cáa rectius, more correctly, of  Cluain-caa. This is the reading in the Mart. Taml., and Marian.

    The entry for July 21 reproduces the genealogical details ascribed above to the bishops commemorated on October 3:

    THE SEVEN BISHOPS, of Tamhnach Buadha, [Bishop Tedda, of Tamhnach,] and we find seven bishops, the sons of one father, and their names and history among the race of Fiacha Suighdhe, son of Feidhlimidh Reachtmhar, son of Tuathal Teachtmhar.

    I turned next to the twelfth-century Martyrology of Marianus O’Gorman to see if he could shed any further light on these bishops or the locality of Cluain Caa. They form the last verse of his entry for the day:

    The bishops of Cluain Caa,
    their day I will mention.

    with a footnote reading ‘seven bishops of Cluain Caa’.

    In consulting the index of places attached to the calendar I found that, according to the nineteenth-century scholar and translator W.M. Hennessy, Cluain Caa was located in Queen’s County, i.e. County Laois:

    Cluain Caa, Oct. 3, wrongly spelt Cluain cua, Progs. R.I.A. Irish MS. series i. 100, 101, where Hennessy locates it in Queen’s co.

    I also confirmed the entry in the earlier Martyrology of Tallaght:

    Secht n-epscoip Clúana Caa.

    So it would seem that the calendars concur in having a feast of seven bishops from Cluain Caa celebrated on October 3.  Only the Martyrology of Donegal supplies the genealogical detail and suggests that they are siblings. It is also only this calendar which seeks to link them to the group of bishops commemorated at Tamnach Buada on July 21. The Martyrology of Gorman notes only ‘austere bishops from Tamnach’ at this date and does not cross-reference this episcopal grouping with that commemorated on October 3.

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  • Saint Molua and Saint Munna's Angelic Visitor

    August 4 is the feast of the great Irish monastic founder, Saint Molua. Canon O’Hanlon has included in his account of the saint the story of a miracle at the time of Saint Molua’s death involving another Irish saint, Munna of Taghmon:

    The Angel of God was accustomed to make two visits each week—namely, on each Sunday and Thursday—to the holy abbot Munnu, of Taghmoon, in Hy Kinsellagh; but, he came not on the week when our saint died. Munnu had a revelation, that there was great rejoicing in Heaven, on account of our saint’s accession to the angelic choirs. After the interval of a week, that angel again appeared. Then Munnu said, “Wherefore, servant of God, have you not come to me as usual, during the last few days ?” The angel answered: “Because on those days the venerable servant of God, Molua, son to Coche, went to Heaven. Therefore, the angels did not visit the saints of Ireland, as usual; for, they rejoiced together, on the arrival of Molua among them.” Then, St. Munnu said :” Now doth it appear, he accomplished the will of God, in a manner superior to us all. But, go thou to the Lord, and learn for me, on what account the Almighty was more pleased with Molua’s approach, that he should in consequence neglect to visit me.” The angel obeyed. Within a short time he returned, saying: ” This is the reply to thy question. The face of no man was ever suffused with blushes through Molua, for he was mild to all, and governed his monks with great piety and gentleness. With moderation, he drew them to the right path. However, rejoice, also; for you shall find a similar honour in Heaven, since you must endure suffering in this life, and to the hour of your death.” On the following Thursday, Munnu was struck with a leprosy, which covered all parts of his body, and thus was he afflicted, for the remaining twenty years of his life.

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