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'Mary the Virgin: your own holy mother': Devotion to Our Lady in the Early...
Our Lady of Dunsford, Co. DownAs May is the month traditionally dedicated to Our Lady, I have been enjoying some of the early Irish sources which pay tribute to her. It is worth reflecting on the fact...
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All the Saints of Ireland on Radio Maria, May 12
I will be taking part in another All the Saints of Ireland programme on Radio Maria Ireland at 7pm on Friday, May 12. Saints featured will include Saint Cathaldus of Taranto, Saint Brendan of Clonfert,...
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All the Saints of Ireland on Radio Maria, May 19
Friday, May 19 at 7pm is the second of the two All the Saints of Ireland programmes on Radio Maria Ireland for this month. Saints featured will include Saint Mumbolus, Saint Dymphna and Saint Carthage...
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Domhnach na Cincíse: An Spiorad Naomh umainn
To mark the feast of Pentecost below is a short poem, an Invocation of the Holy Spirit, by Maol Íosa Ó Brolcháin, a scholar saint of Donegal, who died in 1086 and whose feast day is commemorated on...
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All the Saints of Ireland on Radio Maria, June 9
I am delighted that the first of the All the Saints of Ireland programmes for the month of June will be on air tomorrow night, Friday June 9, the feast day of Saint Colum Cille (Columba). I will be...
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A Eucharistic hymn of fine theological and devotional quality': Sancti Venite
The seventh-century Antiphonary of Bangor with its collection of Latin texts is one of the greatest surviving treasures of early medieval Irish Christianity. The twelve hymns preserved within include...
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All the Saints of Ireland on Radio Maria, July 14
The first of two All the Saints of Ireland programmes for the month of July is scheduled for Friday, July 14 at 7pm on Radio Maria Ireland. Saints featured will include Saint Moninne of Killeavy,...
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Homonymous Saints of Ireland
One of the problems that adds an extra challenge to the study of the early Irish saints is the fact that so many of them share the same name. In the list below, attributed to the seventeenth-century...
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Saint Cobrán of Cluain Cúallachta
Completing a quartet of obscure Irish saints who share August 2 as a feast day with Cobrán of Cluain Cúallachta. In his entry for the saint in Volume VIII of his Lives of the Irish Saints, Canon...
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All the Saints of Ireland on Radio Maria, August 11
The first of two programmes for the month of August in the series All the Saints of Ireland at 7 pm tonight, Friday, August 11 on Radio Maria Ireland will feature Saint Attracta, whose feast day this...
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All the Saints of Ireland on Radio Maria, August 18
In the second of our two programmes for the month of August in the series All the Saints of Ireland on Radio Maria at 7 pm on Friday, August 18 I will be looking at some of the saints whose feasts fall...
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Ancient Irish Scholars: Dicuil the Geographer
Early medieval Ireland was not only the insula sanctorum, the island of saints but, as the title of Archbishop John Healy's 1890 work Insula Sanctorum et Doctorum suggests, also an island of scholars....
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Irish Teachers in the Carolingian Revival of Learning, Part I
Following on from Archbishop John Healy's article on the Irish scholar Dicuil the Geographer, below is the first part of a paper by the Most Reverend William Turner (1871-1936) on 'Irish Teachers in...
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Irish Teachers in the Carolingian Revival of Learning Part II
In the concluding part to his 1907 paper on 'Irish Teachers in the Carolingian Revival of Letters', Bishop William Turner brings together a further selection of interesting Irish scholars active in...
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The Night when the Book-Satchels Fell: Death of Saint Lon-garadh
Book of Armagh Satchel. Source: TCDSeptember 3 is the feast of Saint Lon-garadh, a saint with a reputation as one of the chief scholars of Ireland. I have previously posted a full account of this saint...
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'Great Holy Mary's Nativity': September 8
The birthday of the Blessed Virgin Mary is commemorated on September 8 and is a feast found on our earliest Irish calendars. The Martyrology of Oengus records: 8. Thou shalt commemorate Mary: thou art...
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'Cherish in your Memories': All the Saints of Ireland, November 6
November 6 is the Feast of All the Saints of Ireland, a feast established just over a century ago. It is also the day on which I launched Omnium Sanctorum Hiberniae just over a decade ago to try and...
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Saint Laurence O'Toole's Devotion to the Mother of God
Our Lady of Dunsford, Co. DownNovember 14 is the feast of Saint Laurence O'Toole a post on whose life can be found here. Below is a tribute to Saint Laurence's devotion to the Mother of God as recorded...
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Saint Columbanus
In 1923 the 1300th anniversary of Saint Columbanus was celebrated at Bobbio and below is a report from The New Zealand Tablet describing the festivities. In addition to capturing something of the pride...
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All the Saints of Ireland on Radio Maria, December 15
The first of December's two All the Saints of Ireland programmes will be broadcast on Friday, December 15 at 7pm on Radio Maria Ireland. I will be looking at the Irish dimension to some of the saints...
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