OMNIUM SANCTORUM HIBERNIAE

Tag: Saints of Longford

  • 'Pure was her heart amid the wicked': In Praise of Saint Samthann

    December 19 is the feast of Saint Samthann of Clonbroney, County Longford. She is one of only a handful of women saints to have left a written Life and I have posted some selections from the Life of Saint Samthann here. Although the Life is the most important source of information regarding this saint it is not the only one. She features in a number of other sources including the poem below, attributed to an eighth-century high king, Aodh Allán, son of Fearghal. In it the poet pays tribute to Saint Samthann’s reputation for asceticism and her courage in the struggles of the monastic life:

    “734: Fifth year of Aed Allan.

    Saint Samtain, virgin, of Cluain Bronaig (Longford), died on December 19. It was of her that Aed Allan gave this testimony:

    “Samtain for enlightening various sinners,
    A servant who observed stern chastity,
    In the wide plain of fertile Meath
    Great suffering did Samtain endure;

    She undertook a thing not easy,
    Fasting for the kingdom above.
    She lived on scanty food;
    Hard were her girdles;

    She struggled in venomous conflicts;
    Pure was her heart amid the wicked.
    To the bosom of the Lord, with a pure death,
    Samtain passed from her trials.”

    Charles Johnston, Ireland, Historic and Picturesque, (Philadelphia, 1901), 226.
     

     

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  • Saint Earnán of Cloonrallagh, August 5

    On August 5/6  the Irish calendars record the feast of Saint Earnán (Eirne, Eirnín) of Cloonrallagh. He is yet another of those Irish saints whose names are preserved along with the date of their feast days, but about whom no other details survive. The name Earnán is shared by a number of Irish saints which does not make the task of identifying the specific individual commemorated today any easier. Canon O’Hanlon in Volume VIII of his Lives of the Irish Saints seeks to associate him with Saint Colum Cille and the Columban family of County Meath:

    Article IV. — St. Erne, or Ernin, of Cluana Railgech or Cluain railgheach, probably in the County of Meath.

    The Martyrology of Tallagh registers Erne, of Cluana Railgech, at the 6th of August. This place bore also the denomination of Druim Relgrach, and it was situated in the territory of ancient Meath. Marianus O’Gorman furnishes an authority for this statement. This saint assisted at the great synod of Dromceat, held A.D. 580. By one writer we are informed, that St. Ernin was Abbot of Cluain Reilgeach or Druim Reilgeach, in the time of St. Columb, and that he was honoured there on the 5th day of August. This writer, treating of the religious establishments in Westmeath, yet places Cluain Reilgeach or Druim Reilgeach, in Kianechta, a territory of ancient Meath; but, he adds, that the place was probably in Meath, although now unknown. A certain Cruimther Collait is mentioned as having been from Druim Roilgech, as being one of the learned in Erinn, and as being a writer, among others, of St. Patrick’s miracles.  The Rev. Dr. Lanigan also alludes to the same Collatus, a priest of Druim-relgeach in Meath; but, no more particular identification of the place is given by him. This monastery, as we are told, was situated in ancient Meath. Probably it was in the neighbourhood of Duleek. Such is the identification of Rev. Anthony Cogan, diocesan ecclesiastical historian. The present saint is commemorated by Cathal Maguire and by Marianus O’Gorman. We find it recorded, likewise, in the Martyrology of Donegal, at the 5th of August, that veneration was given to Ernin of Cluain Railgheach.

    Pádraig Ó Riain’s 2011 Dictionary of Irish Saints mentions the genealogical sources linking him to Fearghas Caochán, brother of Niall of the Nine Hostages, whose descendants are linked to the church of Kilskeer, near Kells. He also suggests Cloonrallagh may be in County Longford or in County Westmeath.

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  • Saint Medhbh of Ardachadh, November 22

    November 22 is the feast of Saint Caecilia, the martyr now regarded as the patroness of music and honoured throughout the universal Church. Indeed the Martyrology of Oengus devotes its entire entry for the day to her with this lyrical tribute, as translated by Whitley Stokes:

    22. After suffering in martyrdom, O Mary! a shining light, Caecilia beautiful, radiant, ran to the angelic Prince.

    But other Irish calendars record the feast of a native holy woman at this date, Medhbh (Medb, Maeve) of Ardachadh. The late twelfth-century Martyrology of Gorman notes:

    Medb of Ard-achad

    whilst at November 22 the early seventeenth-century Martyrology of Donegal  lists:

    Medhbh of Ardachadh

    Stokes identifies the locality Ard-achad, ‘high field’ with Ardagh, County Longford. Much has been recorded of the patron of the Diocese, Saint Mel (feast day February 6), but alas, nothing more is recorded of Saint Medhbh. The most famous bearer of this ancient Irish name is the legendary queen of Connacht, but sadly the saint is one of many Irish holy women who remain shrouded in obscurity.

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