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Saint Ultán of Cúl Corra, January 17
January 17 is the feast of Saint Ultán of Cúl Corra, one of the many Irish saints about whom not much information has survived. There are at least half a dozen saints of this name found on the...
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Pilgrimages in Donegal
Pilgrimages to a variety of ancient ecclesiastical sites in Ireland are commonplace today, but below is an article from 1877 when things were rather different. It is a report in the Australian press...
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"Saint Patrick Arriving on Runway Five"
The Catholic News Agency recently reported that the tradition of blessing the fleet of Irish national air carrier, Aer Lingus, is alive and well thanks to the appointment of a new airport chaplain....
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Saint Silvester: The Patron Saint of Malahide?
Among the names of the native saints commemorated on the Martyrology of Oengus on December 31 we find the Latin name Silvester (Sylvester). The Martyrology of Oengus first commemorates saints Lochán...
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Saint Lughna, the Deacon, December 31
Among the saints commemorated on December 31 is Lughna, described on the calendars as a deacon. The Martyrology of Tallaght lists the last day of December as the feast of 'Lugnei Diaconi', The...
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Saints, Solitaries and Some Hallowed Islands
On a recent broadcast of All the Saints of Ireland I was speaking about Saint Colum of Terryglass in County Tipperary and noted that although this is the site of his main church, his Life makes much...
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‘I beseech a wonderful king': The Hymn of Saint Sanctán
Below is a hymn attributed to Saint Sanctán (Santán), who, although he is described in the Martyrology of Oengus on his May 9 feast day as 'famous Bishop Sanctán', remains intriguingly obscure. Canon...
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An Irish Poem on the Day of Judgement
I have been re-reading Donald Meek's excellent The Quest for Celtic Christianity, a review of which can be found on the blog here. He points out that modern 'Celtic Christians', in their desire to...
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Irish Saints in the War Poetry of Katharine Tynan
Links between Ireland and Belgium were forged during the great missionary endeavours of the early medieval Irish church when Irish saints such as Saint Foillan, Ultan and Fursey made their mark. Later...
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Saint Camelacus of Rahan, November 3
November 3 is the feast day of Saint Camelacus (Camulacus, Caomhlach, Cáemlach) of Rahan, County Offaly. He appears to have been the original founder of the church at Rahan, but was later overshadowed...
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Saint Feber of Boho, November 6
November 6 is the Feast of All the Saints of Ireland but is also the day on which we commemorate a little-known female saint of County Fermanagh, Saint Feber (Feadhbhair, Feadhbar, Fedbair, Febor,...
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'That Large Army, Known and Unknown': The Feast of All the Saints of Ireland
November 6 is the Feast of All the Saints of Ireland and, since it is the date on which I started Omnium Sanctorum Hiberniae in 2012, is also this blog's patronal feast. To mark the occasion this year...
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The "Island of Saints and Scholars" and the Universal Calendar of the Church
November is the month which opens with the feast of All Saints but which also includes the feast of All the Saints of Ireland on the sixth. In the article below, published in Australia in 1950, the...
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The Rosary of Ireland
I have come across many items in the Victorian religious press written on the theme of Ireland and the Rosary, but the piece below, published in Australia's Catholic Freeman's Journal, struck me as...
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Ivrea and 'A Bishop of McCarthy's Royal Name'
To mark the feast day of Blessed Thaddeus McCarthy, below is an 1897 article on Ivrea, the Italian town whose people took this fifteenth-century Irish bishop to their hearts and reintroduced him to his...
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Saint Maol Eóin, October 20
A blog reader asked me recently about a saint Maol Eóin (Maeleoin, Mael Eoin) with a feast day on October 20. The martyrologies are the only source of information I could find about him and they...
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An Old Irish Prayer
When I saw a 1912 article entitled 'An Old Irish prayer' in the The Sacred Heart Review I was expecting to find an early medieval text, but instead found the familiar bedtime prayer, 'Now I lay me...
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Saint Lapán of Little Island
My research into the Irish saints for this blog normally involves referencing the historic Irish martyrologies which record their feast days. Yet I am becoming increasingly aware of those saints whose...
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The Blessed Mughron O'Morgair, October 5
October 5 is the commemoration of a man dubbed The Blessed Mughron O'Morgair (Mugh Róin, Mungron) by Canon O'Hanlon in the incomplete Volume X of his Lives of the Irish Saints. O'Morgair is a name I...
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Saint Mirren of Paisley, September 15
September 15 is the commemoration of Saint Mirren (Mirin, Mirinus, Meadhran), to whom Paisley Abbey in Scotland is dedicated. I have previously posted the account from Bishop Alexander Forbes's 1872...
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