The Celtic Relations of Saint Oswald of Northumbria
August 5 is the feastday of Saint Oswald of Northumbria, a protege of Saint Aidan of Lindisfarne, and below is a 1909 paper on the Irish influences in the life of this royal martyr:CELTIC RELATIONS OF...
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The Monastic School of Ross
Below is a paper on the Monastic School of Ross by Archbishop John Healy (1841-1918), in which he examines the history of Saint Fachtna's foundation. Saint Fachtna is commemorated on August 14 and a...
View ArticleThe Life, Miracles and Relics of Saint Andrew of Fiesole
August 22 is the feast of Saint Andrew of Fiesole. I have already published an account of the saint from the work of Margaret Stokes, now we can revisit this wonderful saint through the pages of Canon...
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How to Honour a Saint - a Medieval Hagiographer's View
Recently, I came across a rather interesting description by a medieval hagiographer of the various ways in which a saint may be honoured:The author of a vita of St. Nicholas, composed sometime in the...
View ArticleSaint Fiacre of Meaux, August 30
August 30 is the feast day of an Irish saint whose life was mostly spent outside this country - Fiacre of Meaux. I have previously posted a twentieth-century account of the saint here but below is a...
View ArticleSaint Aedh, the Martyr, August 31
There is a rather intriguing entry in the Martyrology of Tallaght at August 31 for a Saint Aedh, described as a Martyr. This is interesting, first because an Irish martyr, at least on home soil, is a...
View ArticleThe Sons of Caiman, September 1
On September 1 we find the commemoration of another of the collective groups of saints who crop up frequently on the Irish calendars. As is so often the case, all we have is their patronymic, but no...
View ArticleThe Care of Books in Early Irish Monasteries
September 3 is the feast of the bookish Saint Lon-garadh. Below is a 1909 paper from the journal, Library, on the traditions associated with Irish saints and books. It is an interesting read and...
View ArticleSaint Balin of Tech-Saxon, September 3
September 3 is the feast of an English saint who came to Ireland with Saint Colman of Lindisfarne following the decision of the Synod of Whitby to adopt the Roman dating of Pascha. Saint Balin or...
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The Left Hand of Ultan
The Scholiasts' notes to the Martyrology of Oengus record some interesting traditions about Saint Ultan, a holy man with a reputation for being particularly kind to children, whose feast is...
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'Greetings, kind cross..the medicine of our wounds'
September 14 is the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, and to mark the feast below is a short quotation from a disciple of Saint Columbanus, Saint Attala of Bobbio. Attala was not himself an...
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'Archangel of the Archangels'
Now the reason why the Archangel Michael is called the Chief is the following: When God made the world he appointed a determinate chief to all creatures separately; viz., Lucifer for the demons; the...
View ArticleThe Monastery and Library of Saint Gall
October 16 is the feast of Saint Gall, a contemporary of Saint Columbanus, whose journey led him to part company with his master and to go on to labour in Switzerland, where the canton of Saint-Gallen...
View ArticleSaint Fintan Munna of Taghmon, October 21
October 21 is the feast of Saint Fintan better known as Saint Munna. Munna is an important figure who features in a number of well-known episodes from the lives of the Irish saints. He also played a...
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Saint Colman's Ducks
St. Colman's Ducks.The old church of Templeshanbo in Wexford, from which the surrounding parish has its name, lies about three miles from the eastern base of Mount Leinster. It was anciently called...
View ArticleThe Martyr of Roeux
October 31 is the feast of Saint Foillan, one of a trio of saintly brothers who went as missionaries to seventh-century Gaul. It was in his new territory that Foillan met a martyr's death, a story...
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All the Saints of Ireland - A Prayer
November 6 is the Feast of All the Saints of Ireland, this blog's patronal feast. To mark the occasion below is a prayer taken from a post first made on my former blog in 2009. May I thank everyone who...
View ArticleA Middle-Irish Homily on Saint Martin of Tours
Below is a translation of the text of a medieval homily for the feast of Saint Martin of Tours. The original translator, Whitley Stokes, dated it to the 13th century but in a more recent examination...
View ArticleSaint Machar, November 12
November 12 is the feast of one of the many Irish saints for whom a Scottish career is also claimed -Saint Machar. Below is an account of him from the work of Dom Michael Barrett:NOVEMBER 12 St. Machar...
View Article'Lasair, woman-saint beloved'
November 13 is the feast of Saint Lasair, an obscure female saint, despite the fact that she is one of a literal handful of Irish holy women to have a written Life still extant. Lasair's Life,...
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