OMNIUM SANCTORUM HIBERNIAE

Tag: Saints of Meath

  • Saint Baethallach of Ath-Truim, October 5

    October 5 is the commemoration of an eighth-century County Meath bishop, Baethallach (Baithalach, Baitellach) of Ath-Truim. The name Baethellaig is found on the Martyrology of Tallaght, but the Martyrology of Oengus devotes its entire entry to a female saint whose feast also occurs today, Sínech of Crohane. The 12th-century Martyrology of Gorman in its verse mentions ‘Baithalach to whom I pray’. The 17th-century Martyrology of Donegal, however, has a much fuller entry and places Baethallach at Ath-Truim, modern Trim:

    5. E. TERTIO NONAS OCTOBRIS. 5.

    BAETHALLACH, brother of Corbmac, bishop of Ath-Truim, and successor of Patrick. Fuinnecht, daughter of Maelfithrigh, son of Dioma, son of Colman, was his mother; and he and Baeghlach, the pilgrim, are of the race of Colla Uais, monarch of Erin.

    The foundation of Trim is ascribed to Saint Patrick in the Irish annals, with this entry in the Annals of the Four Masters at the year 432: “Ath-Truim was founded by Patrick, it having been granted by Fedhlim, son of Laoghaire, son of Niall, to God and to him, Loman and Fortchern”. Loman and Fortchern are perhaps the most famous of the saints associated with Trim, but there is also a record of an eighth-century bishop called Cormac, who came from a family which contributed a great deal to the Irish church, as Father John Lanigan explains:

    To A.D. 742 is assigned the death of St. Cormac bishop of Trim. He is said to have been of the royal house of the Nialls; and his name appears in various calendars at the 17th of February as the anniversary of his death. Three brothers of his are spoken of; Rumond, a very wise man and deeply skilled in history and antiquities, who died in 743; Baitellach, abbot of Trim, whose death is marked at A.D. 752; and Ossan a priest, the year of whose death is not known.

    Rev. John Lanigan, An Ecclesiastical History of Ireland, Volume III, 2nd edn., Dublin, 1829, 176-177.

    Thus if the Martyrology of Donegal is correct in identifying our saint of October 5 with the Abbot Baitellach of Trim it would allow us to place him in the eighth-century as a member of an aristocratic ecclesiastical family, who contributed to the service of the Irish church in this historic locality.

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  • Saint Celba of Kilbeg, August 21

    Last year on August 21 we looked at the commemoration of Saint Senach, a bishop associated with the famous monastery of Clonard in County Meath. We are staying in the royal county to look at another saint also commemorated today on the Irish calendars, Celba or Caelbadh. Canon O’Hanlon summarizes the little that is known of him:

    St. Celba, or Caelbadh, of Cill-Caelbadh, probably Kilbeg or Kilmainhambeg, County of Meath.

    The published Martyrology of Tallagh, registers Celba, at the 21st of August. In that copy, contained in the Book of Leinster, this name is united with that of another saint, at the present date. From the following account of his locality, lying on the north side of Ceananus, now Kells, in the County of Meath, it may be possible to identify his church. The Martyrology of Donegal mentions Caelbadh, of Cill Caelbaidh, on the north side of Ceananus, as having been venerated, at this same date. Kilbeg or Kilmainham-beg,a parish in the barony of Lower Kells, and in the County of Meath, seems to be the most probable identification for the site of this saint’s former church. It appears also to have given name to that place.

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  • Saint Ernin of Inis-Caoin, July 13

    July 13 is the commemoration of Saint Ernin of Inis-Caoin and the name of both the man and his locality are shared in common with a number of others. Canon O’Hanlon reckons the place in this case is to be found in counties Meath and Cavan. In the Lives of the Irish Saints he lists twenty-five saints with the name Ernin, most of whom, like today’s saint, are obscure figures. There is evidence though that at one time this saint was remembered in his locality by a pattern at a holy well dedicated to him:

    St. Ernin, or Arney, of Inis-caoin, now Inniskeen, Counties of Meath and Cavan.

    At the 13th of July, veneration was given to Ernin, of Inis-caoin, as appears in the Martyrology of Donegal. There are three distinct Inis-caoins, viz. : first, Inishkeen, on Lough Erne; secondly, another on Lough Melvin— both of these are in the county of Fermanagh—and thirdly, Inis-caoin-Deagha, or Iniskeen, in the county of Louth. But, the Enniskeen, or Eniskeen, with which the present saint appears to have been connected, was a parish located, partly in the baronies of Lower Kells and Lower Slane, in the county of Meath, but chiefly in the barony of Clonkee, in the county of Cavan. This old church of Eniskeen has been torn down and uprooted, save and except old crosses and numerous tombs, which serve to mark the resting-places of the faithful. No traces remain at present illustrative of the ancient worship. Here, the festival of St. Arney had been celebrated each 13th day of July. A holy well, dedicated to this saint, springs from the soil, and convenient to the burying-ground. It is now dried up, but stations used to be performed there, on the feast-day. It was called Toberarney. In the days of persecution, the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass had to be celebrated on a large block of stone, outside the graveyard of Eniskeen. Anciently, this seems to have been the pedestal of a stone cross or a sanctuary terminus. Various other curious antique objects are in this parish. There is a notice of this saint’s festival, on the 13th of July, as furnished by Father O’Sheerin to the Bollandists.
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