OMNIUM SANCTORUM HIBERNIAE

Tag: Saints of Laois

  • The Monastic Teaching of Saint Molua

    Canon O’Hanlon’s account of Saint Molua (Lugid) in his Lives of the Irish Saints paints a picture of the type of teaching the saint imparted to those pursuing the monastic life under his care. He was credited with having written an austere monastic rule, but the text does not seem to have survived. In the first incident, Saint Molua deals with a novice lay brother who hasn’t quite grasped the idea of living in community:

    ‘A great number of monks flocked to Clonfert Molua, and placed themselves under the rule of its holy abbot, who received them most affectionately. Indeed, it was his habitual practice, to deal leniently with all his subjects; so that only by mild persuasions, and without asperity of speech or manner, did he seek their spiritual correction or improvement. An anecdote is related, whereby we may understand, he had an indirect and a pleasantly quiet way for administering reproof. A laic, who was probably with him as a novice, seems to have been so eccentric, that he did not wish any other person to live in the house with him. One day, while he was alone, Lugid paid him a visit, and found that he was sitting before the fire warming himself. Then said the laic to him: “Sit down and warm your feet.” Lugid replied: ” You give me good advice,” and he sat down. However, the man went out, and on returning, he found Lugid walking about the fireplace and turning around, so as to obstruct the heat from reaching the owner. Then said the laic to him : “Why are you thus acting, or why do you walk before the fire?” Then Lugid replied in a vein of satiric humour : “I do so turn myself, that I may receive the whole benefit of the blaze, and that it alone may warm every part of my body.” The reproof was felt, and then that man consented to have another share his place of dwelling.’

    In the second incident, Saint Molua offers some thoughts on the subject of confession:

    ‘Having approached a spot called Tuaim Domnaich, near which a cross was erected, a certain monk accompanying him felt great contrition, because he had not confessed the sins, committed on that day, to his director. He asked the permission of our saint, that he might be able to repair such a fault. “But, is it so great a sin,” said he, “to avoid confession in this life? or is it not quite sufficient, to ask pardon of God for our sins? ” Molua said: ” If a man do not confess his sins, he cannot obtain pardon, unless the omnipotent God in his mercy shall grant it to the penitent, after inflicting a great punishment of penance on him here, and after a public accusation by the Devil, on the day of future judgment. For, as the pavement of a house is daily covered by the roof, so must the soul be covered by daily confession.” The monk, hearing this from his abbot, promised to confess his venial faults, which he afterwards did with great exactness, while the saint and his brethren were greatly rejoiced, because this monk abandoned his former presumption’.

    And in the third story, he teaches a former bard the value of humility, obedience, and perseverance:

    ‘A bard named Conan had joined his religious community, but he was not used to manual labour. One day, Lugid said to him : “Let us go together, and do a little work.” Taking with them two reaping-hooks, and going into a wood, they found there a great quantity of thistles. Then said Lugid: ” Come, and let us cut down this brake of thistles together.” Conan answered, “I alone can cut them off”; when Lugid pressing a fork against one of the thistles, the bard soon struck it down. Then the abbot told him to cease work for that day, much to the surprise of Conan, and both returned to the monastery. Going again the next day, they cut down only two thistles; on the third day, they cut down three; and on each succeeding day, they cut down one more in addition. It was probably to give a practical lesson in persevering industry to his monk, that the abbot so willed. In due course, a great clearance was effected, and afterwards the open was characterized as the Road of Conan. ‘

    Towards the end of his account of Saint Molua’s life, O’Hanlon gives a most beautiful description of the saint’s final testament to his monastic family:

    ‘Finding the day of his departure about to approach, our saint called his monks together, and in giving many other precepts for their guidance, he said to them: “Beloved brethren, till the land and labour well, that you may have a sufficiency for food, for drink, and for clothing; for where a competence shall be found among God’s servants, there must be stability; where stability is found, there shall be religion, and the end of true religion is life everlasting. My dearly beloved children, let constancy be found among you, and proper silence; take care of the pilgrims; and on account of prayer, love to labour with your own hands. Receive strangers always for Christ’s sake; spend the morning in prayer; read afterwards, and then toil until evening; while finding time also for God’s work, and for other necessities.” Thus he exhorted his religious, according to the spirit of his Rule, and with the tenderness of a father, bestowing his last best gifts on his beloved children.’

  • Saint Mochua of Timahoe, December 24

    The Irish Calendars commemorate Saint Mochua of Timahoe on the eve of Christmas, although for some reason the Bollandists commemorated him on January 1. Below is a brief account of his life which quotes the Irish Martyrologies:

    TIMAHOE
    This place, which was originally styled Teach Mochua, derives its name from St. Mochua, who founded a monastery here in the seventh century.

    St. Mochua was venerated on the 24th of December, at which date the Martyrology of Donegal has the entry: “Mochua, son of Lonan, of Tigh Mochua in Laoghis, in Leinster. He was of the race of Eochaidh Finn-fuathairt, from whom Brighit is (descended). Fineacht, daughter of Loichin, son of Dioma Chiret, of Cill Chonaigh, was his mother.”

    The Feilire of Aengus thus refers to him:- ” 24 Dec. A waiting on Lucianus with my-Cua, a fair couple. Lonan’s son chances (to come) to us on the night before Christmas.” To which the gloss in the Leabhar Breac, adds:- ” ‘My-Cua,’ i. Mo-chua, son of Lonan, of Tech-Mochua in Leix of Leinster, and of Daire Mis (?) in Sliab Fuait; i.e. of Teach Mochua in Leix, i.e. Mochua, son of Lonan, son of Senach, son of Aengus, son of Lugna, son of Breg-dolb, son of Art-Chorb, son of Tiacha, i.e. son of Feidlimid Rechtmar.”

    This saint died – according to the Chronicon, Scottorum – in 654, “A.D. Mochua, son of Lonan, quevit,” but in 657, according to the Four Masters.

    Rev M Comerford” Collections relating to the Dioceses of Kildare and Leighlin” Vol. 3 (1886)

    There was also a northern link to Saint Mochua and the Armagh diocesan website has this account of the holy well dedicated to the saint:

    St Mochua’s Well, Derrynoose, Co Armagh

    St Mochua’s real name was Cronan Mac Lonain. His father was Lonan and his mother Fineachta, daughter of Loichin. He was born in 567. His pedigree can be traced to Eactach Finn Fuaith Airt. He was of Connacht origin, belonging to the tribe of Lugne, in Co. Sligo. In early life he was a soldier and perhaps a pagan. He gave up his military career to become a Christian cleric at the age of about 30. He established a monastery in Co. Laois where he spent another 30 years. When about 60 years old and wishing for great seclusion he set out for the north. He landed in the land of the Airgialla and finally settled in Derrynoose in Co. Armagh. There he built a church and spent the remainder of his life, dying aged 90 on Christmas Eve, 657. A Holy Well is located close by the ruins of that Church and has been associated with the Saint through the centuries to the present day.

    St Mochua’s well is located on the Fergot Road about half a mile south of Derrynoose Church. Today it is frequently visited by those with devotion to St Mochua, to bathe in the waters in hope of a cure. St Mochua is said to be powerful in the cure of eye complaints. Pilgrims arrive on three successive evenings after sunset, bathe in the waters and make devotion to the Saint. It is customary to leave some article at the well, generally the piece of cloth used in bathing.

    Tradition or folklore tell us that the well was formerly on the opposite or south side of the road to where it is currently located but that some “malefactors” filled it with filth, whereupon it burst out on the opposite side of the road. It is also said that there is no spring in the well but that it has never been known to go dry even in periods of prolonged drought as in the drought of 1976.

    (Abstracted from the Souvenir Brochure of the Official Opening of Páirc Naoimh Mochua, Derrynoose, 10 July, 1983.)

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  • Saint Coemhan of Anatrim, November 3

    November 3 is the day on which the Irish calendars commemorate Saint Coemhan, who is associated with a monastic foundation at Anatrim, County Laois. Father Edward Carrigan describes the circumstances in which Saint Coemhan came to succeed as abbot of the monastery and of its subsequent history:

    St. Mochaemhog (Latine, Pulcherius), abbot and patron of Leamakevoge, now Leigh, in the parish of Two Mile-Borris, Co. Tipperary, laid the first foundations of a religious establishment at Anatrim, during the second half of the 6th century. We read in his Life:

    “St. Pulcherius, with his monks, came to a place by name Enachtruim, which is in the Slieve Bloom, in the territory of the Leixians, and began to build a church there. But a certain wordly-given man came to him saying: ‘Do not labour here in vain, because this place will not be yours.’ St. Pulcherius answered him saying: ‘Now I will remain here till some one taking hold of my hand shall seize me and expel me by force.’ Then the other took hold of the holy man’s hand with the intention of forcing him away. As he did so, St. Pulcherius said to him: ‘By what name are you called, O man?” He answered: ‘My name is Bronach‘ (which, in Latin. is equivalent to tristis). The holy man replied: ‘You have an appropriate name, for you shall be sad here and hereafter. Now you and your generation, by the will of God, will be expelled hence by the chief of this district, but I shall be in this place until a man of God, by name Coemhan, will come to me; to him I will leave this place, he shall be surnamed from it, and here shall be his resurrection.’ The man hearing this prophecy, and conscious of his guiltiness towards his chief, withdrew in anger, and without contrition for the insult he had offered [the saint], and forthwith everything fell out with him as the holy man had predicted. And when St. Coemhan came thither to St. Pulcherius, the latter left the place to him, and he remained here in great sanctity till his death: but St. Pulcherius proceeded to the district of Munster.”
    AA. SS. Hib. p. 586, March 13.

    St. Coemhan or “Kavan,” to whom Anatrim was thus committed, was probably a native of the County Wicklow, and was certainly a member of what may, with reason, be called a family of Saints. He was brother or step-brother of (1) the great St. Caoimhghin or Kevin of Glendalough, who died in 618, aged, it is said, 120 years; (2) St. Nathchoemhi or Mo-Chuemhin, Abbot of Terryglass, in Lower Ormond; (3) St. Coemola or Melda, mother of St. Abban the younger, which latter was born about 520; and of (4) St. Coeltighearna, mother of (a) St. Dagan of Ennereilly, Co. Wicklow; (b) St. Molibba, Abbot and Bishop of Glendalough; (c) St. Menocus or Enanus of Glenealy, Co. Wicklow, and (d) St. Mobhai. In early life, St. Coemhan, with his brother, St. Nathchoemhi, and St. Fintan of Clonenagh, received his religious training in St. Columba’s Monastery of Terryglass. The date of his death must be somewhere about the year 600. The Martyrology of Donegal thus commemorates him on his feast day, Nov 3rd:

    “Caemhan of Eanach-truim, in Laoighis, in the west of Leinster. He was of the race of Labhraidh Lorc, monarch of Erin, and brother of Caoimhghin of Gleann-da-locha.

    The Calendar of Aengus, on the same day, has:
    “The day of Coemhan of Eanach.”

    On which passage the scholiast of Aengus comments

    “That is, Coemhan of Eanach truim in Laighis in Leinster, the brother of Coemgin of Glendalough Coemlog was their father’s name and Coemgel their mother’s, and Natcaim of Tir-da-glass [was] their brother as is aforesaid.”

    The annals of Anatrim monastery, from the time of St. Coemhan, are a perfect blank. The monks probably held on here till the 12th century, when they either became extinct or were set aside, and their chapel was handed over to the secular clergy.

    Rev. E. Carrigan, “The History and Antiquities of the Diocese of Ossory” Vol. 2 (1905).

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