On July 16 the Irish calendars record the name of an otherwise obscure saint, Gobban. This is an ancient Irish name derived from the word for a smith and is shared by a number of saints as well as by the legendary character, the Gobán Saor. Our saint is described as 'Gobban Beg', the latter word being an anglicisation of beag, 'small or little', but this is of no help in discovering when and where he flourished. Canon O'Hanlon can bring only the details from the calendars:
St. Gobban, Beg.
St. Gobban, Beg.
At this date—xvii. of the August Kalends—the Irish Kalendars introduce a Feast for a St. Gobban, surnamed "the small." The simple record, Gobban, occurs in the Martyrology of Tallagh, at the 16th of July. In the Martyrology of Donegal, at the same date, the name is written Gobban, Beg. We may presume, he had been so denominated from his small stature; for the word beg signifies "little." In the Irish Calendar, among the Ordnance Survey muniments, he is set down at the xvii. of the August Kalends—July 16th—under a similar appellation.