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The Holy Wells of Ireland
Sunday, June 18 has been declared 'National Holy Wells Day'. I had the chance to visit a holy well in County Down yesterday and now mark this day with an 1884 paper by Father John Healy, later to...
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Some Saints of County Clare
I was recently reading a paper by the one-time president of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland, T.J. Westropp (1860-1922). His subject was the Churches of County Clare and it includes a useful...
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Saint Gaibhrein, June 24
Canon O'Hanlon, in Volume VI of his Lives of the Irish Saints, has an entry at June 24 for a Saint Gaibhrein. The seventeenth-century Donegal hagiologist, Friar Michael O'Clery, identified him with a...
View ArticleSaint Ailell, Son of Seigen, June 25
On June 25 the Irish calendars record the feast of Saint Ailell, accompanied by the patronymic 'son of Seigen'. As Canon O'Hanlon explains below, however, it is not easy to definitively distinguish...
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Blessed Malchus of Mellifont, June 28
At June 28 Canon O'Hanlon has a brief notice marking the feast of a monk from the Cistercian foundation at Mellifont, County Louth. Mellifont Abbey was founded in 1142, the first Cistercian monastery...
View ArticleSaint Maeldoid, June 29
Canon O'Hanlon brings details of an obscure holy man, Maeldoid, Son of Derbhdara at June 29:St. Maeldoid, Son of Derbhdara.We find entered in the Martyrology of Tallagh, that veneration was given at...
View ArticleSaint Caelán Dahoc, June 30
We close the month of June with a notice of Saint Caelán Dahoc, whose memorial is to be found on the Irish calendars across the centuries, as Canon O'Hanlon explains:St. Coelan Dahoc, or Caolan.In the...
View ArticleSaint Lughaidh, Son of Lughaidh, July 1
On July 1 the calendars record the name of Lughaidh, son of Lughaidh. He is one of a number of Irish saints to bear this ancient name and trying to figure out the relationships between them is not an...
View ArticleSaint Mael-Muire Ua Gormáin (Marianus O'Gorman), July 3
July 3 is the commemoration of a twelfth-century Augustinian abbot of the monastery of Cnoc na n-Apostol (Hill of the Apostles) in County Louth. Although this is the first post I have made in honour of...
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The Pre-Patrician Saints of Munster
Tomorrow, July 24, is the feast of Saint Declan of Ardmore. He features, along with three other holy men, as one of a quartet of so-called 'pre-Patrician saints', said to have introduced Christianity...
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Saint Declan as a Pre-Patrician Saint
Yesterday I posted on a modern scholar's analysis of the tradition that Saint Declan of Ardmore, whose feast we celebrate today, was one of four 'pre-Patrician saints', credited with the introduction...
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Saint Christopher in Irish Art
July 25 is the feast of Saint Christopher and below is a 1910 paper by the Belfast antiquarian, F. J. Bigger, in which he examines a later medieval carving of the saint from Jerpoint Abbey, County...
View ArticleThe Daughter(s) of Fachtna, of Ernaidhe
At August 3 we find the names of several female saints commemorated on the Irish calendars, including Saints Trea and Deirbhile. We can add another name to the list, an unnamed 'Daughter of Fachtna',...
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Saint Molua and Saint Munna's Angelic Visitor
August 4 is the feast of the great Irish monastic founder, Saint Molua. Canon O'Hanlon has included in his account of the saint the story of a miracle at the time of Saint Molua's death involving...
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Saint Oswald of Northumbria, August 5
August 5 is the feast of the seventh-century Saint Oswald of Northumbria. Although not an Irish saint, King Oswald was the royal protégé of the Iona-trained Saint Aidan and was himself the recipient of...
View ArticleSt. Lughaidh, of Cluain Fobhair, August 6
August 6 is the feast of an Irish saint with an ancient name - Lughaidh. He is associated with a locality called Cluain Fobhair. Despite the fact that he appears on the earliest calendars and that the...
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'The Clouds are Her Chariot' - The Feast of the Assumption, August 15
August 15 is the Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary and below are a couple of brief quotations relating to the feast connected with the monastery of Bobbio. Bobbio was, of course,...
View ArticleSaints Marinus and Anianus, August 16
At August 16 in Volume 8 of his Lives of the Irish Saints, Canon O'Hanlon mentions that the seventeenth-century hagiologist, Father John Colgan, had intended to publish an account of a saintly duo,...
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Saint Eóin of Saint John's, August 17
Today is the feast of a County Down saint whose church site I have visited a number of times, most recently in June whilst on a day tour of ecclesiastical sites with the Down County Museum. It is a...
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Saint Rónán, August 18
August 18 is the feast of Saint Rónán, a name borne by a number of Irish holy men, most of whom are obscure. Pádraig Ó Riain's Dictionary of Irish Saints records that the name is derived from rón, a...
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