OMNIUM SANCTORUM HIBERNIAE

Tag: Saints of Leitrim

  • Saint Sistan of Lough Melge, July 17

    The memory of a saint associated with Lough Melvin and described as a priest is preserved in the Irish calendars on July 17. This is really the only detail we have and Canon O’Hanlon thus starts off his account of Saint Sistan or Siostan of Lough Melvin with some romantic musings on how the very soil of Ireland has been hallowed by the remains of its long-forgotten holy men:

    St. Sistan or Siostan, Priest, of Loch Melge, now Lough Melvin, Counties, of Fermanagh and Leitrim.

    The merits of several holy servants have ascended like incense before the throne of God, and have secured his rewards. However, hardly can the patient pilgrim even alight on the sod, where their bodies rest. Yet, their undiscovered remains have sanctified that earth, with which they have long since mingled. Record or vestige of many holy persons that once existed in our Island can hardly be found ; still a magical spell, like an indescribable charm, hallows the surrounding lovely scenes, blessed with their presence during life. In the Martyrology of Tallagh, at the 17th day of July, is the following entry: Sistan sac. for Loch Melge. From the contraction sac. meaning sogarth we may probably conclude that he had been a priest. The Lough Melge, now Lough Melvin, with which he was connected, is a beautiful sheet of water, bordering on the counties of Fermanagh and Leitrim ; but, it lies chiefly within the bounds of the latter county. From the shores of Lough Melvin, its former holy inhabitants have departed long ago from the scenes of this life. Their souls have been received into a brighter and happier world. The Martyrology of Donegal records a festival in honour of Siostan, Priest, of Loch Melghe, at the 17th of July. In a table appended to this record, this saint’s name is Latinized Xistus.
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  • Saint Fraech of Cluain Collaing, December 20

    December 20 is the feast of Saint Fraech (Froech, Froegius, Fraegius), known as Cruimhther or Presbyter Fraech of Cluain Collaing, now Cloone, County Leitrim. The entry in the Martyrology of Donegal records:

    20. D. TERTIO DECIMO KAL. JANUARII. 20.
    CRUIMHTHER FRAECH, of Cluain Collaing, in Muintir Eoluis. He was of the race of Conmac, son of Fergus, son of Ross, son of Rudhraighe.
    The Martyrology of Gorman notes:

    Presbyter Fraech the facile [easy], a constant champion.

    Saint Fraech was obviously the founder of a monastery in this locality and although no Life of Cruimhther Fraech survives, he features in the various Lives of Saint Berach of Kilbarry, whose feast is commemorated on February 15. Charles Plummer’s translation of one of these Lives of Saint Berach gives us the basic details:

    16) Now St. Berach was born in the house of his mother’s brother, Fraech the Presbyter, son of Carthach, in Gort na Luachra (the Close of the Rushes), near Cluain Conmaicne. And in that place there is (now) a mother-church and a cross, and the stone on which St. Berach was born. And Presbyter Fraech subsequently offered this estate to Berach. Presbyter Fraech too it was who baptized St, Berach, and fostered him till he was old enough to study.

    Canon O’Hanlon in his Lives of the Irish Saints expands upon the connection between Saint Fraech and his nephew in his account of Saint Berach on February 15 (Volume II, pp. 536-537):
    According to the Irish Life of our saint, his father’s name was Nemnald… Fionmaith, sister to Cruimhther Fraech, of Cluain Conmaicne, in Muinter-Eolais, was his mother…
    Their holy relative, named Froegius, or Froech, lived in a certain district, and there he occupied a cell. After reciting matins and lauds, he went out, about the middle of the night, and looking in the direction of Connaught, he beheld a globular and bright luminous halo surrounding the house of Nemnald, and of his wife, Fionmaith. Wondering what such a spectacle portended, Froech said to one of his disciples, “Go to the house of my brother-in-law, Nemnald, and inform me, if my sister hath given birth to a boy: if so, bring him to me.” Obeying this order, the messenger at once set out for the house, where, on his arrival, he found a very beautiful infant with Fionmaith. Having learned from the messenger those instructions, given by Froech, the child was accordingly sent to him. When the latter saw how highly gifted, by nature, his infant nephew was, he directed that baptism should be administered, in the church, so that the neophyte should be washed with the water of regeneration, and that thus he might be presented to Christ.
    The first name given to the child was Fintan, until he had been brought to the font, by his uncle, St. Froech who baptized him. The parents had been required to know, what name ought to be imposed on their child, when they replied, it must be Berach. This being agreed to, Froech said afterwards, “Rightly has this name been given to him, for he shall be a saint, and his place shall be in Heaven.” We are furnished with an interpretation, for the name of Berach; namely, that it has the signification of one, who takes a direct and an exact aim, at an object, or as reaching one, so to speak, with the point of a sword… When baptized, the mother naturally desired her infant to be sent home; yet, Froech said to her, “Know you, my dear sister, that no further care of this boy shall belong to you, for with me shall he remain, since God, who created him, is able to cause his growth, without being suckled by a mother.” To this strange request Fionmaith assented, and in a truly miraculous manner, Froech became a foster-father to the child. The latter grew up by degrees, and the Almighty seemed to supply every want, incident to his condition. By Froech, also, was Berach taught the rudiments of learning, when a mere infant. As the child grew up, he evinced the most affectionate regard towards his uncle. His piety and his love for learning were very admirable, so that his time was wholly engaged with prayer and study. His intellectual and pious disposition, even at this early age, boded his future eminence and great sanctity. He laboured to imitate his holy relative, and in the course of time, no other child of earth seemed to equal him, in the practise of good works.

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  • Saint Sechnasach of Ceann-locha, July 30

    At July 30 Canon O’Hanlon has a number of short entries for saints about whom not much is known, beginning with an abbot of Ceann-locha:

    ST. SECHNASACH, ABBOT OF CEANN-LOCHA, OR KINLOUGH.

    THIS saint belonged to the race of Laeghaire, son of Niall, according to the O’Clerys. According to Colgan, he was a priest at Durrow, in the King’s County. We have already seen a place of this name, connected with a St. Siadhal Ua Commain, [feastday 8 March] conjectured to have been probably identical with Kinlough, at the north-western extremity of Lough Melvin, in the barony of Rosclogher, and County of Leitrim. Dr. O’Donovan states, there are several such denominations in Ireland. This day, the Martyrology of Donegal mentions, that a festival was celebrated in honour of St. Sechnasach, Abbot of Ceann-locha.

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