Irish Saints

Lent started, oh gosh, three weeks ago now, at the tail-end of our time in Prague. Time sure does fly!

In Catholicism, Lent is a 40-day season of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving, beginning on Ash Wednesday (Feb. 22, this year) and ending at sundown on Holy Thursday (Apr. 6, this year). It is a preparatory season as we anticipate the resurrection of Christ at Easter.

For many, the season is marked by an obligated period of abstinence – no meat on Fridays and often giving up a second indulgence, like chocolate or coffee. This sacrifice is intended to reorient our minds and spirits toward Christ, making us more aware of the ways in which he calls us to live the Gospel.

While in Dublin, we visited Glendalough, where St Kevin lived.
The article I’ve written about this experience and St. Kevin can be found here.

Instead of, or in addition to, giving something up, we may also do something “extra.” This extra thing should work in the same way as the sacrifice. For some, it could be attending daily Mass, praying the Stations of the Cross once a week, or volunteering at a local soup kitchen.

This year, I’ve elected to do something extra, and it’s something a bit out of my comfort zone: I’m diving into the lives of the saints.

Since we began our digital nomad journey in Ireland in June, I’ve been keeping a list of local and national saints that I haven’t really heard of or know very little about. So, this has been my Lenten promise: to learn about one new saint a day.

And because I don’t write for “nothing,” all that I learn will make its way to the blog – a “miniseries,” if you will. So, here’s Episode 1: Saints in Ireland.

In this post:

St. Comgall

Feast day: May 10

Comgall was born in the 6th century near Magheramorne in Co. Antrim. After serving as a soldier, he studied at Glasnevin and was ordained a priest by Bishop Lugidius. He lived for a while on an island on Lough Erne; he later founded a monastery at Bangor, Co. Down.

Life at his monastery was severe. Food was scant, and his 4,000 monks often ate herbs, bread, and water. Only one meal was allowed each day – dinner. Confession was held in public before the community, and severe acts of penance were assigned.

Molua of Kyle

Feast day: August 4

Molua was a 6th-century Irish priest. He was trained at the monastery in Bangor, Co. Down, and often visited a cell inhabited by other priests to learn from them. After he was ordained, Molua founded his first church in Co. Monaghan. He also founded churches at Killaloe and Cluain Fearta (Kyle).

His original name was Lughaidh (pronounced Lua). The churches that he built quickly became popular, and people began to refer to him as Mo (my) Lua – Molua. Like many Irish saints, he was known for his hospitality; entertaining others meant entertaining Christ. Legend also says Molua cured his father of a cancerous foot and cured the ulcer of a man who cared for his father’s cattle.

Photo: Church of St. Molua

Flannan of Killaloe

Feast day: December 18
Patron of: Killaloe & Co. Clare

Flannan lived in the 7th century and was the son of Turlough who was the King of Thomond. As a child, Flannan was taught by St. Blathmet before entering Molua’s monastery at Killaloe. After Flannan had been baking for a continuous 36 hours, a light shone through the fingers of his left hand, and he was able to complete his task. When Molua learned this, he retired as Abbot and appointed Flannan in his place.

He was later appointed bishop, and when he returned from Rome, he soon earned a great reputation for his preaching. At his death, he gathered people to his bedside and told them of the importance of observing human justice and encouraged peace to be spread among the provinces.

Conaíre of Ríneanna

Feast day: January 28
Patron of: sailors & fishermen

Conaíre was a 6th-century anchorite, living in solitude. Near the end of her life, she had a vision of all the monasteries in Ireland, and extending upwards from each was a pillar of fire. The pillar from Senán’s monastery at Inis Cathaig (Scattery), at the mouth of the Shannon River, was the highest, and, therefore, the holiest, so she set off in this direction.

She walked from Bantry Bay to Co. Clare, but when she arrived, the monks refused to allow her into the monastery since she was a woman. She argued that since Christ died for men and women equally, women should also be allowed to stay at the monastery. Senán continued to deny her. Conaíre refused to leave and died on the shore of Scattery Island.

Senán of Scattery

Feast day: March 8

Senán was born in 488 in Co. Clare. His mother went into labor while walking through the woods; she grasped a tree branch for support, and it blossomed, foretelling the virtues of her son. As a child, Senán practiced self-denial, and he promised his life to God after a path opened to him through the estuary where he was diving the cattle at high tide.

After becoming a monk and then a priest, he founded a church near Enniscorthy in 510. He was well-read and well-traveled, visiting England, France, and Rome. After returning to Ireland, he studied at Glendalough and then founded a monastery on Scattery, where he died in 544.

Odhrán of Latteragh

Feast day: October 27
Patron of: Waterford, Ireland

Odhrán, also known as Oran of Iona, lived for 40 years in Latteragh, Co. Tipperary, and built a church there in the early 6th century. It is said he was one of 12 who accompanied St. Columba to the Scottish island Iona, where he died and was buried (however, this could also be another Odhrán 🤷‍♀️).

Legend says that Odhrán consented to be buried alive under a chapel that Columba was building on Iona. Columba had heard a voice telling him that the walls of the chapel would not stand until a living man was buried beneath the foundations. And since the builders found the previous day’s work undone each morning, Odhrán volunteered to be buried so the chapel could be finished.

St. Columba

Feast day: June 9
Patron of: Ireland & Derry, Ireland

St. Columba (also called Colmcille) was a 6th-century Irish abbot and missionary evangelist. He’s credited with spreading Christianity to Scotland.

He was born in Co. Donegal, and when he had received a basic education, reentered the monastic school of Movilla at Newtownards. As a deacon, he transferred to Clonard Abbey on the River Boyne in Co. Meath. Here was ordained a priest and then traveled Ireland, founding new churches.

After a dispute with Finnian of Moville over a psalter Columba had copied and intended to keep, a battle arose because it was the icing on the cake for a political conflict between clans. Columba was blamed for the deaths that resulted, and he was threatened with excommunication, but Brendan of Bírr spoke on his behalf. Feeling guilty for what happened, Columba set sail for Scotland and founded a monastery on Iona.

Tola of Dysart

Feast day: March 30
Patron of: toothaches

Tola lived for many years as a hermit at Dysart Tola. Around 700, he founded a monastery in Co. Clare, between the River Fergus and the Burren. He sent missionaries to Europe and expanded scholarly studies in Ireland. Later, he served as the bishop of Clonard in Co. Meath until he died in the 730s.

Photo: Cross of St. Tola

Brendan of Bírr

Feast day: November 29

Brendan, like many of the others, was a 6th-century saint who was a monk and later an abbot. Brendan studied at Conard Abbey with Columba. In about 540, he founded the monastery at Bírr and became its abbot.

He was known for his generous hospitality, sanctity, and spirituality. He was an intuitive judge of character, as evidenced by his defense of St. Columba.

Íte of Killeedy

Feast day: January 15
Patron of: the Diocese of Limerick, Killeedy, pregnancy, & eye illnesses

Íte was born in 480 in Co. Waterford. She is said to have embodied the six virtues of Irish womanhood: wisdom, purity, beauty, musicality, gentle speech, and needlework. She also rejected a prestigious marriage in order to be a nun.

At age 16, she moved to Killeedy in Co. Limerick, where she founded a small community of nuns and lived for the rest of her life. When Íte decided to settle in Killeedy, a chieftain offered her a land grant to support the convent, but she would only accept four acres, which she cultivated with her community.

She dedicated herself to prayer, fasting, and simplicity (hmm…sounds like Lenten ideas). She was also said to have a gift with spiritual discernment (I interviewed a priest on this topic, which can be found here) and guiding people in holiness.

St. Áed MacBricc

Feast day: November 10
Patron of: headaches

A 6th-century Irish bishop, Áed’s home parish was at Rahugh in Co. Westmeath. When Áed’s brothers refused to grant him a share of their father’s land, he carried off a girl that belonged to them. He had hoped to use her to force an exchange; however, he met Bishop Illann (who’s also a saint, surprise!), who convinced him to let both the land and the girl go.

Stories of Áed’s life mark him as having a special concern for the well-being of nuns, and he often visited their convents. At one point, he deduced that the young unmarried girl serving him was pregnant. When she had confessed her sins and finished her penance, he blessed her womb, and the baby disappeared, saving her from shame.

Photo: Slieve League in Donegal, where Áed is said to have been a hermit

St. Oliver Plunkett

Feast day: July 1
Patron of: peace & reconciliation in Ireland

Oliver was born in 1625 in Loughcrew, Co. Meath. He aspired to be a priest and set out for Rome in 1647. He was admitted to the Irish College in Rome and was ordained a priest in 1654 and remained in Rome to act as a representative for the Irish Bishops.

However, Cromwell had laid waste to Catholicism in Ireland, banned the public practice of the faith, and executed the clergy, leaving Oliver exiled from his home. In 1669, he was appointed Archbishop of Armagh, Ireland’s primatial see. Oliver finally returned to Ireland in 1670.

In Ireland, he opened a successful Jesuit school and is said to have confirmed 48,000 Catholics in four years. He was largely left alone until the mid-1670s when Catholic intolerance once again grew. Oliver was executed (hanged, drawn, and quartered) in England on July 1, 1681, for treason and promoting the Catholic faith.

Oliver was canonized in 1975 by JP2, making him the first new Irish saint in almost 700 years.

St. Assicus

Feast day: April 27
Patron of: Elphin, Ireland

Assicus was a skilled metal worker in brass and copper. He was converted to Christianity by St. Patrick and is believed to have been Patrick’s ironworker, making chalices, patens, and metal book covers for the churches founded by the saint. In Elphin, Patrick built a church and established an episcopal monastery, one of the first he founded. Assicus was appointed as abbot-bishop.

The Irish saints are quite a bunch, aren’t they!? Most of Ireland’s saints lived during the 4th-10th centuries (but it seems mostly the 6th 😅), which was the high point of Celtic Christianity – hence the Emerald Isle is the “land of saints and scholars.”

Many of these saints’ stories are steeped in myth, legend, and romantic idealism, but reading about them has reminded me why I love Irish culture so much. Like these saints, the Irish are hospitable, always ready to welcome a virtual stranger into their home (thanks, Jean ❤️); steadfast, holding true to their beliefs, values, and sense of self; and attached to the land – it matters a great deal where someone comes from, where they went, and for whom they’re named.

inhabitiveness (n): love of home and country; attachment to the place in which one has lived

So, though the lives of these saints may be somewhat outdated, they reveal a lot about what it means to be a good Christian: care for God, care for others, and care for the land.

This Lent (and beyond), may I learn to have the heart of an Irish saint.

*I do not claim rights to any of these photos (except for the photo of Glendalough).