OMNIUM SANCTORUM HIBERNIAE

Tag: Saints of Sligo

  • Saint Enna of Emlaghfad, September 18

    September 18 is the commemoration of Saint Enna (Endeus, Enda), abbot of the monastery of Emlaghfad, County Sligo. In the Life of Saint Colum Cille by the 16th-century Donegal chieftain Manus O’Donell, it was said that this monastery was a Columban foundation. Bishop William Reeves, in the introduction to his translation of the Life of Columba by Adamnan, records the following note of the locality:

    22. EMLAGHFAD. Imleach fada, “the long marsh.” Here, according to O’ Donnell, St. Columba founded a church on the west side of a hill called Tulach-segra [now Tully in Toomour] in the district of Corann, appointing Enna, son of Nuadhan, its first minister. It is now a parish church in the diocese of Achonry, and county of Sligo.

    Canon O’Hanlon in his account below of Saint Enna notes that his predecessor, Father John Lanigan, who was writing in the 1820s, believed that our saint was the same individual as Enda, son of Nuadan, who was listed as belonging to the second order of Irish saints. The translator of the Martyrology of Gorman, Whitley Stokes, accepted this identification in his listing of the three orders of saints as commemorated in O’Gorman’s calendar. I have previously posted Stokes’ list here. One thing that surprises me, in view of the claimed link between Saint Enna’s monastery and Saint Colum Cille, is that Saint Enna does not appear on the Martyrology of Donegal for this day. The 12th-century Martyrology of Marianus O’Gorman appears to be the only calendar which records his feast.

     

    ST. ENDEUS, ABBOT OF EMLAGHFAD, COUNTY OF SLIGO.

    [SIXTH CENTURY.]

    FRUITS, which show the brightest colouring on the rind, are not always the most ripe and wholesome. They have attractions only for the incautious and unwise. Yet those, who have attained a bad eminence are very often honoured on earth, when God’s holiest ones are almost unknown or neglected. Our chief purpose in this collection is to rescue from almost utter oblivion memorials that can still be found regarding those who have rendered good service to Religion in the glorious past ages.

    St. Endeus or Enna was probably born about the middle of the sixth century, being son to Nuadan. We have few notices left regarding him. However, as Dr. Lanigan remarks, nothing occurs to prevent us from supposing him to have been that Endeus alluded to, in the Second Class of Irish Saints. He is thought to have been a disciple of St. Columkille, the great Apostle of Caledonia. St Columba founded a monastery at a place called Imleachfoda. Over this, he placed St. Enna, as its first minister. The former residence of Endeus is now called Emlaghfad, in Sligo County. This ancient town lies six miles south of Sligo, and one from Ballymote. It is now a parish church, in the diocese of Achonry; and Prince O’Donnell, the Biographer of St. Columkille, tells us, that the subject of his Memoir erected a Church there, on the west side of a hill, called Tulach-sugra. At present it is known as Tully, in Toomour, within the barony of Corann.

    The year of St. Endeus’ or Enna’s death is unknown. The festival of this saint has been referred to the 18th of September, by Marianus O’Gorman. This was probably the Natalis, or day of his death. However, we do not find his festival in the Martyrologies of Tallagh or of Donegal at that date.

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  • Saint Attracta of Killaraght, August 11

     

     

     

     

     

     

    The August 9 feast of Saint Nathy, patron of the diocese of Achonry, is quickly followed by that of the diocesan patroness, Saint Attracta, commemorated on August 11. There are many legends associated with Saint Attracta, whose Life contains a number of elements common to saints’ vitae. For example, she manifests a commitment to the monastic life early on and goes against her father’s wishes for her to marry. Attracta, however, is received as a nun by Saint Patrick himself, and her veiling is accompanied by a miracle, one of several recorded concerning the two saints. Indeed, the distinctive Celtic cross was said to have been granted to Saint Attracta in one of these miracles. Some calendars assign a feast of Saint Attracta to the 9th of February, but her main feast has always been celebrated on August 11. The following account of her life has been distilled from Canon O’Hanlon’s Lives of the Irish Saints, Volume 8:

     

    Saint Attracta, Virgin and Patroness of Killaraught, County of Sligo

    [Fifth or Sixth Century]

    St. Attracta is said to have been the daughter of Talan, and to have had a brother called St. Coeman. These belonged to the race of Irius, and derive their origin from the Province of Ulster. However, other statements are found to differ from the foregoing account of her family and race. We know not whether her parents were Pagans or Christians; for, it is stated, that when St. Patrick preached in the wooded region about Moylurg, about A.D. 450, St. Attracta had led a very pious and austere life, at home.

    In the ancient Life of this Saint, we are informed, that during her tender years, she was most fervent in prayer, that she bestowed frequent alms, and macerated her body by continual fasting. When this holy virgin arrived at the age of puberty, her father was desirous to engage her in the state of marriage. This did not accord, however, with her own desire. Being very beautiful, and sought in marriage by several suitors, she felt a Divine inspiration to embrace a religious life. Those writers who hold, that she belonged to the Ulster province, state her coming thence to Connaught to fulfil that object. St. Patrick—then engaged on his western Irish mission—was preaching in that part of the country. To avoid her parent’s importunities, and taking with her a maid, called Mitain, and a servant-man called Mochain, she left her paternal home, and directed her course towards Gregraighe, in the territory of Lugnia, or Leney. When St. Attracta arrived in St. Patrick’s presence, the pure virgin signified her intention to consecrate herself entirely to Almighty God. Her companion seems to have been from that part of the country, likewise, and both were united in desire and act. Our great Apostle accordingly prepared to receive their religious profession. The author of St. Patrick’s Tripartite Life expressly names St. Attracta, in the account of this miraculous reception. She and her companion, accordingly, and at the hands of the great Irish Apostle, were professed, and in the following manner. Whilst in the act of consecrating those virgins, a veil fell from Heaven on St. Patrick’s breast. He received it with great devotion, and presented it to the virgin, he had last consecrated. This was St. Attracta, according to some accounts. But, as we are told, the spouse of Christ, with unfeigned humility, said to the saint: “Since this good and perfect gift has descended from the Father of Light, I do not consider it intended for me, a sinner yet, in my opinion, you who have received should retain it, or present this veil to my companion, who is more holy than I am.” Pleased with our saint’s humility, the Apostle then placed the veil upon her head, and, he told her, she should wear it, until introduced to the bridal chamber of her heavenly spouse. The virgin at length yielded to his request, and wore that veil, until the day of her death.

    Beside Lough Techet, now Lough Gara, St. Patrick established a convent, and at a place, which from our saint was afterwards known as the church of St. Attracta. Having founded a nunnery there, St. Patrick appointed St. Attracta to rule over it as Abbess, some other pious women becoming inmates of her house at the same time. He is said, likewise, to have left a teisc and a chalice with Attracta. Hence, in due course of time this locality took the designation of Kill Athracta, or Killaraght, on account of the establishment and name of its holy Abbess.

    We learn little more regarding her, except from those acephalous Acts, furnished by Colgan. It must be our endeavour to extract from these, some few subsequent particulars, which are of much interest, could we only have a certainty they had been derived from authentic sources. After relating the flight of this Virgin from her friends, and her arrival in the province of Connaght; we are told, that Attracta not only vowed perpetual chastity, but resolved, moreover, on cultivating the virtue of hospitality, to a very great extent. For this purpose, she designed taking up her residence at a place, where seven roads should appear within view, or meet, that thus it might be likely, numbers of persons should pass the spot. Towards all of those wayfarers, she intended to minister the necessaries of life, by establishing there a common hospice or house of reception for strangers. The Acts of our saint state, that she designed establishing a “commune synochen,” at this place. By this term, we are to understand, that it was to be a xenodochium, or a hospital, for poor travellers or strangers.

    Her servant, named Mochain, who had accompanied Attracta from her own part of the country, and who already had been made aware of her intention, went out one day, at an early hour of the morning. When the sun had risen, Mochain betook himself to the deep recesses of an adjoining wood. There he discovered the meeting of seven roads, which appeared to have been formed, by frequent journeys made through that part of the country. Immediately he thought, that there God must have designed to satisfy the wishes of his mistress, and that He had designated such place as the site for her future habitation.

    Soon the servant returned to his mistress, and, falling before her on his knees, he related what he had seen. Then, accompanying him to the spot, Attracta gave thanks to God, with outstretched hands, believing her desires were about to be accomplished, as to the choice of a location for her intended establishment. She is said to have bestowed a tract of land upon her servant, at that place; recommending the practice of the virtue of hospitality to him and to his successors, that thus they might obtain favours from God, on the great accounting day. She asked leave from the inhabitants of that district, to erect a habitation there, and this permission they eagerly accorded. The saint was much beloved and respected by the natives of that country. They admired her great virtue and prudence ; they consulted her upon all their important undertakings ; and they held her in as much esteem, as if she had been born there, and had constantly resided among them. Moreover, they erected a church in that place, which was dedicated in her name, as also in honour of the Most Holy Trinity, and of the Blessed Virgin…

    This holy virgin was called to the joys of Heaven, after the performance of numerous miracles and the exercise of many virtues. We are ignorant regarding the year or even the day of St. Attracta’s death, although few Irish saints have left after them such vivid traditions and so many lasting memorials. To this very day, her life and miracles form much of the folk-lore among the people of Coolavin. According to most probable accounts, she flourished in the fifth century, and about the year 470. In the foreign calendars, her name is written Tarachta or Tarahata. No saint so named is mentioned in any Irish document, and hence Colgan justly inferred, that she was no other than St. Athracta. One of the virgins veiled by St. Patrick at Cregi was St. Attracta, who is thus noted, but without her feast being assigned, in Father Henry Fitzsimon’s “List of Irish Saints.” Her name is written Etrachta, Virgo, in the published Martyrology of Tallaght, as also in that copy of it found in the Book of Leinster. The Martyrologies of Tallagh, of Marianus O’Gorman, of Maguire and of Donegal record her festival at the 11th of August. She is mentioned, in the Martyrology of Donegal, at this same date, as Athracht, Virgin, daughter of Tighernach, of Cill Saile, in Crich Conaill. She was venerated after her death, as patroness of the church of Kill-Athracta or Killaraght, and, in the townland so named, the modern church is built on the site of an old church, none of which now remains, but burials are still continued in the church-yard. In the same townland was the well of St. Athracta, at which the people of that neighbourhood were accustomed to perform stations, on the 11th of August, which seems to have been traditionally and locally regarded as the holy virgin’s chief festival. It was situated on the south side of Killaraght townland, on the road from Boyle to Frenchpark, and very near the boundary between Killaraght and Kilnamansentagh parishes. The place of this holy virgin retained the name Kill Athracta, in Colgan’s day, and it was situated in Achonry Diocese.

    On this day, the feast of St. Attracta is celebrated as a Double of the Minor Rite, in the Diocese of Achonry, by permission of his late Holiness Pius IX., granted on the 28th of July, 1864, at the request of the former Bishop of the diocese then living. She is the special patroness of Killaraght parish, in the County of Sligo; and, it was then agreed, that when a church should have been erected to her honour, in that town, on regular application to the Holy See, her festival might be raised to the dignity of a greater Rite. An Office of Nine Lessons, with the Second Nocturn Proper, and a Mass, taken from the Common of Virgins, with a proper Prayer, were then allowed for the Diocese of Achonry. As a Double Festival, this commemoration of St. Attracta has been extended, on this day, the 11th of August, to the whole Church of Ireland. We learn, from the continuator of Usuard, who places her festival at this date, that St. Arata, virgin and nun, was invoked for the liberation of captives, and for the staying from men of pestilence. The cross of St. Athracta had long been preserved in her place, and the O’Mochains or Moghans were the hereditary keepers of that relic. But, it is not known to be in existence, at the present time.

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  • Saint Nathy of Achonry, August 9

     

    Below is a 19th-century account of the life of Saint Nathy, a patron of the Diocese of Achonry, whose feast day is commemorated on August 9:

    Though Nathy has always enjoyed as high a reputation for sanctity as any saint of the Irish church, there is little known of his life, and hardly anything of his earlier years. Irish hagiologists, when the name occurs, speak of our saint in terms of the greatest respect, as most holy (sanctissimus) as of exquisite sanctity, (sanctimonice spectatissimce) as of consummate perfection, but still none of them gives a formal account of his life, or even mentions incidentally such facts as would throw much light on his career.

    It is certain, however, that Nathy lived in the sixth century, being a contemporary of Saint Finian of Clonard, who died in 552, or thereabouts. “His master,” says Colgan, “was St. Finian of Clonard.” (Vita S. Fechini). The chief event in the life of Nathy, [was] the foundation of the church and monastery of Achonry, which was the joint work of him and Saint Finian, and which was accomplished in this wise. Finian, near the close of life, paid a visit to Connaught, for the purpose of diffusing religion among the inhabitants of that province ; and when he reached Leyney, falling in with Nathy, a priest of great perfection, and admirably qualified by learning, prudence, and sanctity, to rule an ecclesiastical community, Finian resolved to utilize those talents and virtues. With this object the holy man went in search of a suitable site for a religious house, desiring above all things, in conformity with the marked taste of all the religious founders of the period, that the place should be pleasantly and picturesquely situated. Such a spot was found in Achonry, a stretch of fertile land, lying tranquilly at the foot of Mucklety, not far from the beautiful lake of Templehouse, on a plain of immense extent, bounded and sheltered by the curved and stately mountains of Leitrim, The Ox range, Keash, and the Curlews.

    But it was one thing to desire, and another to obtain, this charming spot, this locus amonus, as it is called in the life of Saint Finian. The dynast of the district, who was called Caenfahola, that is, Caput lupi, or Wolfhead, probably from his brutal manners and disposition, hearing that the holy men were on the land, hastened in a rage to them, loaded them with abuse, and ordered them away. Caring little about themselves, the saints bore patiently the treatment they received, but urged, all the more, the application for the site, and urged it so wonderfully and so effectually, that Wolfhead became a new man and granted what .they sought. The following is the account of the transaction, which we find in the old life of Finian ; and whatever some may think of the alleged miracle, the narrative proves at least, that the saints had great difficulty in succeeding in their object:

    “After this Finian proceeded to a place where a holy priest named Nathy lived, and here an angel appeared to him and said : ‘ You shall found a church on whatever spot the man of God shall select as a convenient and pleasant site. And when they had reached the chosen spot, the prince of the territory, that is, of Leyney, whose name was Caenfahola, Caput lupi, approached them in a rage, for the purpose of driving them from the place ; but the man of God, seeking to convert this hardened sinner to the faith by a striking miracle, made the sign of the cross on a great rock that lay hard by, and broke it into three parts. This spectacle astonished and softened the savage prince ; and being now changed from a wolf into a lamb, he humbly made over to Finian the scene of the miracle, which is called in the Irish language, Achadchonaire, and in which the man of God established the aforesaid priest of the name of Nathy.”

    The tradition of this miracle is still vivid in and around Achonry, and the part that Saint Finian had in the transaction is commemorated in the name of a well, Tubber-Finneen, which lies within a few feet of the ruins of the old cathedral, and which has on its edge a great pile of stones, deposited one after another by the crowds of devotees that used to frequent the place to invoke the intercession of that saint.

    The monastery thus established became a school of piety and learning for the surrounding neighbourhood ; and, considering the passion that then existed throughout Ireland for science and sanctity, it must soon have been crowded with scholars. We are told that Nathy taught several eminent persons in this establishment. A Saint Kenan is said to have received his moral and literary education from the “most religious Nathan ” or Nathy.

    But the disciple that conferred most honour on the school of Achonry was Saint Fechin, who followed his master and relative, Nathy, into the monastery, as soon as it was opened. The most tender friendship always existed between the two saints. Even after Fechin left Achonry, Nathy’s thoughts were often occupied with his young friend ; and we are informed, that on one occasion the saint suspended suddenly the business of the monastery to announce to its inmates the glad tidings, learned miraculously, that his beloved disciple was just at that moment founding the great monastery of Fore.

    Though Nathy is commonly supposed to have been bishop, it is doubtful whether the holy man ever passed the grade of priest. There is no express statement in all antiquity of his having been a bishop. Nor is the evidence of the past on the subject merely negative, for, as far as it goes, it points to his being only a priest. Crumther Nathy, or Presbyter Nathy, that is, Priest Nathy; for Crumther signifies exclusively, priest, is the appellation our saint invariably receives whenever the name is mentioned in the annals of the early church ; and one cannot understand how such an epithet could have been applied as a kind of surname without great impropriety, had he ever been consecrated bishop. And the opinion, that Nathy never received episcopal orders, is greatly strengthened by the fact that no bishop is mentioned as his successor in the annals of the country. Melruan O’Ruadhan, who died, according to the Four Masters, in 1170, is the first bishop of Achonry, or Leyney-Connaught, of whom we read ; and if Nathy was bishop of the diocese in the sixth century, it is incredible that we should hear of no successor of his before the twelfth.!

    On the other hand there are weighty means for thinking that the man of God did receive episcopal ordination. The cultus of confessor-pontiff, with which the church honours Nathy, supplies in itself a strong presumption in favour of this opinion. Whether this cultus was paid from time immemorial, or is of more recent origin, in either case those who originated it had better means of knowing the facts of the saint’s life than we have at present, as they lived so much nearer to his time. Indeed the office of confessor-pontiff could hardly have been assigned to our saint at all if there did not exist, in the past, stronger proofs of his having been bishop than have come down to us. Furthermore, considering the great number of bishops that crowded the early Irish church, and that the office was sometimes conferred in consideration of the great sanctity or learning of individuals, as a kind of personal distinction without any view to diocesan jurisdiction, leaving the new bishop to the discharge of his old duties as abbot, hermit, or head of school, it was only natural that the exalted character of Nathy, and the great school over which he presided, should bring the saint the distinction of the episcopal dignity. And the new office need have caused little alteration in his ordinary avocations. The bishop would rule the monastic establishment and lecture its pupils as before, merely conferring orders, in addition, when required, and consecrating such churches as might be erected in the territory of the clan. Nathy’s jurisdiction was not diocesan, properly so called, the territory not having been ecclesiastically constituted into a diocese at the time ; but as the saint resided and officiated in the district, which those, who subsequently became the territorial bishops of Achonry, governed, they took him for their patron, though they would not call themselves his successors, as he was never ordinary of their diocese. And for a similar reason they selected his monastery as the site of their cathedral. In some such way as this the apparently conflicting opinions regarding our saint may be reconciled.

    The designation of Crumther, which is the strongest objection to his having been bishop, is not conclusive against the opinion ; for it is easy to understand how people of the neighbourhood, who had known Nathy, and spoken of him as Crumther Nathy before he entered the monastery, while he lived among them, should continue to talk of our saint in the same style even after the holy man had received the higher order, of which perhaps they understood or heard little. Children would take up the epithet from their parents, and in this way the phrase would get stereotyped and pass on to after ages.

    It is agreed that Nathy lived to a very advanced age. He must have been about thirty years old in 552, the supposed year of Saint Finian of Clonard’s death, for the holy man was a priest for some time, previous to that event ; while, on the other hand, he was still alive when Saint Fechin founded the abbey of Fore, which could hardly be earlier than the second decade of the seventh century, seeing that that saint died only in 665, of the Yellow Plague. Nathy, then, was about ninety years when he passed to the reward of the just. He was buried within the precincts of the monastery, and over his remains, after some time, was raised the cathedral of Achonry, which was dedicated to the saint, and called, after him, the Church of Crumther Nathy, contracted sometimes into Crum-Nathy.

    The foregoing is all that has come down to us with regard to the man of God. Even this meagre account had to be gleaned from various quarters from general Irish history, from local tradition, and from the published lives of Saint Finian, Saint Fechin, Saint Attracta, and Saint Cormac, no formal life of Saint Nathy, as has been stated already, having ever been written, or, if written, having reached our time. Almost all the particulars of his long life are lost. The countless good works that the holy man performed during his hundred years for the glory of God, for the sanctification of his own soul, and for the evangelization of Leyney-Connaught have followed him, and form now his crown, but are known only in heaven. The impression, however, which these works produced on the minds of contemporaries has been handed down from generation to generation, in the tribute which the successive writers that mention the name of Nathy never fail to pay to his extraordinary sanctity. Other Irish saints are noted for characteristic virtues: Columbkille, for love of churches; Finian of Clonard, for zeal in teaching; Brendan, for pious voyages; Columbanus and others, for missionary enterprise; but the patron of Achonry shines chiefly by pre-eminent personal sanctity. It is a great distinction; and when we call to mind that holiness is the divine attribute which forms the chief theme of praise in heaven, (Apocalypse, chap. 4, verse 8. ) we cannot fail to feel the greatest reverence for a saint whose virtue reminds one of the most admirable and adorable of all God’s perfections.

    Remember the passion of Antonius,
    Of Firmus of brave family;
    In Achadh Cain was buried
    Nathi the devout priest.

     Metrical Calendar of Oengus Ceile De.

     Terence O’ Rorke, History, antiquities, and present state of the parishes of Ballysadare and Kilvarnet, in the county of Sligo (Dublin, 1878), 411-24.

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