Monthly Archives: November 2023

Posted in Irish church history

St. Virgil, the Irish abbot and cosmologist in Germany – 27th November

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St. Fergal of Salzburg (his Latin name = “Virgilius”)

He was an eighth-century Irishman, an accomplished learner who rocked the boat, particularly with his contemporary, Saint Boniface. Both of these saints evangelised the Germanic people. St Fergal (or Virgil, or Feargal) moved from Ireland to France and then onto Bavaria in Germany. Fergal was abbot of Aghaboe, in Co. Laoise, Ireland. He was a descendant of Niall of the Nine Hostages. He had mastered mathematics to the point of being considered a Geometer.

“Peregrini pro Christo“

In 743 he sojourned the Continent and became a voluntary exile for love of Jesus. In France met Prince Pippin the Short. The prince took to the learned monk and kept him in his palace for two years. Virgil had companions; Dobda, an Irish Bishop, and Sidonius. In Bavaria, Virgil founded the monastery of Chiemsee at the invitation of Duke Odilo. Virgil (Fergal) became abbot of St. Peter’s at Salzburg.

The Sparring match with St. Boniface

St. Boniface had already organized the Bavarian Church. He had created four dioceses in Bavaria. A synod at Ratisbon in 740, made official such reform. Boniface was a perfectionist, and took no prisoners if the clergy were seen to be of disedification to the faithful. For example, one unlettered priest under Virgil’s care, (out of ignorance) baptised in a Latin formula mixing up the words, translated from ‘’in the name of the Father, and of the Son…’’, to ‘’in the name of the Fatherland, and of the daughter’’. In Latin, the error is not extremely obvious, but Boniface, was scrupulous, declared the baptism invalid, and sought a rebaptism. From this incident, a sparring match began between the two saints. For the Germans, there is no plan B… for the Irish, there no Big Deal!

Virgil was more down to earth and understanding of the human error. He saw that the unlearned priest pronounced the baptism formula in Latin incorrectly, but without bad intentions. Virgil then sought a verdict on the matter from the Pontiff, who ruled in Virgil’s favour. Pope Zachary saw that there was no intention to deform the formula, but was due to a human pronunciation error. The pope wrote to Boniface explaining his decision on I July, 746. No error nor heresy was behind the words pronounced but it being the result of difficulty of proper pronunciation. Boniface submitted, but a frothy relationship developed between him and Virgil. It’s all good, as iron sharpens iron.

When a Bishop of Salzburg in Bavaria died, Duke Odilo self appointed Virgil to succeed him without recourse to the pope, nor Boniface. Virgil deferred his episcopal consecration, and his friend Dobdagrec looked after the administration for the time being. Boniface however, contested Virgil’s position, but Virgil replied that he held it with the sanction of Pope Zachary. The pontiff denied doing this… It seems that Vigil was misled by Duke Odilo, into believing that the matter had been arranged with the Holy See.

Boniface lodged a complaint against Virgil in Rome because of his uncanonical position in Salzburg. He lodge another complaint as he felt Virgil was turning Duke Odilo against him. Boniface complained also that Virgil was a teacher of heresy in cosmology.

To understand the context, the earth, anciently believed to be a flat surface. but it was to become known as a globe. This was already known to the educated Greeks and Romans. In the eighth century many analphabetic people believed the earth was flat. Being a great scholar, Virgil, believe the earth to be a globe. In his lectures to the monks of St. Peter’s, in his conversations with his friends, he spoke of things that in no way be a matter of faith. But Virgil may have theorised on another separate human race, and this caused him problems. Pope Zachary wrote to Duke Odilo, requesting him to send Virgil to Rome to be examined. A war that broke out between the Franks and the Bavarians after the death of Duke Odilo in the summer of 748 and ended in the defeat of the latter. This probably made the holding of a synod impossible. At any event, Virgil’s subsequent career precludes the possibility of his having been deposed from his office or subjected to any ecclesiastical penalty.

Episcopy

At Salzburg, Virgil received episcopal consecration on 15 June, 767. He ruled his diocese with wisdom and energy. He began the erection of a cathedral church, completed in 774 and dedicated to St. Rupert, the Apostle of Bavaria, Virgil took an active part in the ecclesiastical life of Bavaria. In 774 he was present at a synod at Dingolfing in Bavaria. The acts of the synod show how zealously the bishops insisted on strict observance of Sunday, on discipline in the monasteries, for example. It was at this synod, that the bishops and abbots of Bavaria formed a confraternity, of prayer.

Apostle of the Slavs

Virgil turned his attention to the pagan nations settled on the borders of his territory.  These people were the Slavs, and with difficulty, Virgil with help from his missionaries won them over to Christianity.

Virgil’s book of life.

Virgil gave up his speculations in cosmography. Instead, he took a lively interest in the preservation of the historical traditions of the Bavarian Church. He gathered the materials for a life of St. Rupert, patron of the diocese of Salzburg. Another important historical document is the Salzburg Liber Vitae (Book of Life). This work began after the death of Virgil, and It contains the names of all persons, clerical and lay, living and dead, who were in spiritual communion with the monks of St. Peter’s monastery in Salzburg.

Among the thousand names entered on the lists are those of all the Abbots of Iona (Hy) from 597, the year of the death of St. Columkille, to 767. Among the living potentates we find the name of the Pictish King Cinadhon.

On 5 April, 1167, the Cathedral of St. Rupert in Salzburg was destroyed by fire. In 1181 some restoration workmen, discovered Virgil’s tomb with an image of the saint bearing the inscription:

‘’Virgilius templum construxit scemate pulchro’’.

He was canonized by Gregory IX in 1233. His feast is celebrated on the 27th of November.

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St. Colman the Munster bard turned priest and Saint – 25th November

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Saint Colman was originally called Mac Lenine, and was to become the founder of a monastery and he is patron of the See of Cloyne. According to the Book of Leinster, Mac Lenine was a descendant of Mogh Nuadha, King of Munster. Colman was born around the early 500’s A.D.

Mac Lenine, was brought up as a heathen, adopted the profession of bard. He became attached to the court of the King of Cashel, in Tipperary. Mac Lenine was employed as a bard with duties as a historian as well as a poet. His job was to record the deeds of the king, good and bad, to register the genealogies and privileges of noble families, together with the bounds and limits of their lands and territories. Mac Lenine was engaged in these activities for about the forty-eighth year of his life.

In 570 A.D. a royal dispute for the throne of Cashel took place between Aodh-dubh and Aodh-caomh.  Saint Brendan of Clonfert and Mac Lenine intervened. A compromise was reached in which Aodh-caomh was acknowledged as king of Cashel and the first Christian king of that kingdom. As it happened around the same timeframe, a stolen relics of Saint Ailbe (live rock) of Emly of great value, was discovered by Mac Lenine, and at the behest of St. Brendan, he became a Christian and took the name of Colman of whom later became the saint and patron of the diocese of Cloyne.

Colman was granted land from the king and with this, he became first Abbot of a newly established monastery at Cloyne in 560 A.D. Colman laboured for more than forty years on his extensive monastic estate. This monastery was later to become the seat of the diocese of Cloyne after the synods of Rath Breasail and the synod of Kells. St Colman was a friend of St Finbarr. From the time of Colman and Finnbarr, Cloyne was a great centre of ecclesiastical power. Today the old cathedral is now Church of Ireland, and is in need of repair. The current seat of the Catholic diocese is now based in Cobh, near Cork city.

St. Brendan says that this Colman, son of Lenin, was distinguished amongst the saints by his life and learning. St. Colman was endowed with extraordinary poetic skill, being dubbed by his contemporaries as the “Royal Bard of Munster”. Several of his Irish poems are still extant, notably a metrical panegyric on St. Brendan. A historian type figure, Colgan, attributes to Colman a metrical life of St. Senan.

We conclude now as we think of the many people in Ireland today who like Mac Lenine, are well educated, but may lack knowledge of the one true God. We therefore ask Saint Colman to intercede for these poor souls to come to know and revere Jesus as their personal saviour and King. We ask Our lady to direct our steps in finding the lost sheep for the glory of God and the salvation of souls.

We remember St. Colman of Cloyne on the 25th November

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St. Columban, the Irish Saint who saved Europe – 23rd November

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The holy Abbot Columban, was a widely known Irish monk in mainland Europe in the early Middle Ages. He is Europe’s missionary Saint, with experience in France, Switzerland and Italy. He coined the phrase ”totius Europae” with relation to Europe’s Christian identity. This phrase he penned in one of his epistles to Pope Gregory the Great around 600 A.D.

Columban was born in 543 A.D, and was home schooled in the liberal arts. He later went to boarding school under the stewardship of Abbot Sinell in Cleenish which is in the old Tyrkennedy country in present day Fermanagh in Ireland’s mid Ulster. Under the abbot, Columban studied scripture, before going on to enter into the monastic life in Bangor under abbot Comgall. Bangor was an ecclesial centre in the north of Ireland, and was known for prayer, study and an ascetic life. It was at Bangor, where Columban was ordained a priest. He would later bring christianity back to mainland Europe, at a time when the Roman empire had collapsed. This was a difficult and dark time in Europe, with pagan worship on the rise.

Columban was to become a missionary while on ”Peregrinatio Pro Christo”. Around the year 590 A.D, he left Bangor with twelve companions, and set out for the Breton coast of France. The Breton coast is present day Brittany or ”Bretagne” where St. Patrick would have grown up. “Bretagne” was the land that was historically known as British Armorica. Patrick was Roman British… but in the present day, Britany is a reclaimed French province. The Roman empire in Patrick’s days still held sway in Western Europe, when he was born in 386 A.D. Now however in 590 A.D. the King of the Franks of Austrasia granted to Columban and the monks some uncultivated land at the old Roman fortress of Annegray which now lay in ruins. Within a few months the monks managed to cultivate the land, and convert the ruins into a hermitage. From Annegray their re-evangelization of Europe began to take root. Living in great austerity, they managed to build up the monastery, attracting pilgrims and those looking to do penitence. They cultivated the land and they cultivated the souls of those seeking spiritual nourishment. They built another monastery nearby at Luxeuil. It became an Irish cultural monastic centre. They also build a monastery at Fontaine.

After about twenty years at Luxeuil, Columban wrote his Columban monastic rule: ”Regula Monachorum”. In another writing called ”De poenitentiarum misura taxanda”, Columban introduced Confession and private penance to France and beyond. This involved a type of tariffed penance, whereby there was a proportion of penance according to the gravity of the sin. Columban practice the Celtic Easter practice in France which became disputed at the Synod at Chalon-sur-Saône in 603. Columban played it down at the Synod, seeking to address more serious ecclesial matters. Columban had already requested support of his practice of the Celtic Easter observation, in his epistles to Pope Gregory the Great.

It was when Columban reprimanded King Theodoric of France for adultery, that he found himself and his monks exiled from France in 610. They were put on a ship destined to cross the English Channel, but the winds kept pushing their ship to the French coast. So the ship sailed up the coast and entered the Rhine river. Columban and his companions ended up near Zurich in Switzerland for quite a number of years. It was at Bregenze where St. Gall and St. Columban parted company after many years on mission together, evangelizing the Alemanni, near Lake Constance. St. Gall was Columban’s right hand man, but preferred to stay in Switzerland instead of continuing on the ”Peregrinatio pro Christo” to Italy.

Having arrived in Italy, Columban and his companions met with a warm welcome at the Lombard Royal Court despite the considerable difficulties in Italy. The Arian heresy was prevalent, and northern Italy was in schism with Rome. At around 613 A.D. the King of the Lombards granted a plot of land in Bobbio, in the Trebbia Valley to Columban, who founded a new monastery and a reputable cultural centre. Here Columban lived out the remainder of his days.

Columban and his monks cultivated the land wherever they went and from there they cultivated the souls of those seeking spiritual nourishment. Thus Columban and his companions saved Europe. He died on 23rd November 615 and he is remembered by the church on this day.

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St. Machar, an Irish monk in Aberdeen – 13th November

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Saint Machar died in 600 AD. (C.E. – Christian Era). He was the son of Fiachna, an Ulster Prince. Machar was baptised by St Colman of Kilmacduagh, and was then given the baptism name of Mochumma, a name which has a sense of endearment about it.

St. Machar is said to have cured seven lepers and to have turned a fierce wild boar into stone. Columba determined that Mochumma should be sent away to do mission in eastern Scotland among  the Picts. The ‘’Seanchaí’’, pronounced Shankey, (Ancient Celtic folklore-tellers) relate that St Columba gave Mochumma instructions to search for a place where a river formed the shape of a “crosier” and establish himself there. The site of the present St. Machar’s Cathedral, in Aberdeen, is an uncanny fit to Colum Cille’s instructions. St. Ternan (a disciple of St. Ninian) had already established Christianity in this area in the fifth century, and the further missionary efforts of St. Machar in Aberdeenshire cemented Christianity successfully. St. Machar being Irish, would have founded a monastery, according to the Celtic traditions, and was the abbot, with equal prestige and authority to a bishop. This monastic site would later become the Cathedral site of St. Machar.

Let us fast forwarding into medieval and then also relatively recent history… Shortly after Scotland’s war of independence, the construction and progress of the Cathedral was continued under among others Bishop Alexander Kinnimund (1355-80) and Bishop William Elphinstone (1431-1514). In his lifetime the cathedral was enlarged. The nave and towers on the west, now form the modern church. To the east of the nave, there was a crossing which had one large central tower. There was also a choir to its east and transepts pointing north and south. In 1520 a ceiling of panelled oak bearing 48 heraldic shields was commissioned by Bishop Gavin Dunbar (1518-1532).

Sadly, with the advent of more recent history, General Monck led Cromwell’s troops into Aberdeen in 1654. Looking for material for his fort he removed the stones from the now empty and destroyed bishop’s palace to the east, and from the disused choir space… Enough said!

St. Machar is celebrated in the Scottish liturgical calendar on the 13th November

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An English Saint who brought Irish dancing to the Netherlands??? – 7th November

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St Willibrord (AD 658-739) was bishop, missionary and is patron of the Benelux countries. Willibrord, from Northumbria in present day UK, was trained and ordained a priest abroad in Ireland. In Ireland he made many Irish contacts for future missions on mainland Europe. Willibrord was one of the first missionaries to the Benelux countries, (the Netherlands and Luxemburg to be more precise).

Willibrord was an anglo saxon, from Yorkshire and recieved his Catholic education after being weened from his Mother. St Wilfrid at Ripon was his teacher and guide. Wilfrid, was a leading light at the Synod of Whitby, A.D. 664, promoting the roman rite over the Celtic traditions, and over the Celtic Easter. Willibrord was professed at fifteen and in 678 he was sent to Rath Melsigi in Ireland for further studies and formation. Rath Melsigi was an important monastic settlement in Ireland for the Anglo-Saxons. After twelve years in Ireland, Willibrord was ordained priest in 690, and he then immediately returned to England.

Missionary priest

After some time, Willibrord set out for Iona in Scotland, to promote the use of the roman rite among the people of what was then the Dal Riada kingdom. From there, with a band of monks they all went to Frisia which is in present day Netherlands. In Frisia they were well received by Pepin of Herstal, duke and prince of the Franks.

Mission mandate of Pope Sergius I

Before he began his mission in Frisia, Willibrord went to Rome to obtain approval from Pope Sergius I, for his mission and to take with him some relics for the future new churches to be. Willibrord’s mission was a success and in 695, with Pepin’s recommendation, he was consecrated in Rome as the archbishop of the Frisians.

A new monastic centre at Echternach

In 701 Willibrord established a new missionary monastery at Echternach in Luxemburg. He did this with the help of some monks from Ireland. This centre became an important library and scriptorium in the Frankish empire. Duke Pepin died in 714, to be succeeded by a pagan Frisian prince Radbod, who drove Willibrord out of Frisia for a time, until Radbod died in 719.

Method in his missionary madness

Willibrord’s missionary methods worked like this… In Denmark he bought thirty slave-boys to bring up as Christians. In Heligoland he discarded a pagan custom, of drawing water with the strictest silence, for Willibrord baptised three persons at the well, in full voice.

The Saint’s influence after his death

Willibrord died in his early eighties at his monastery at Echternach. He became venerated as a saint and pilgrims came to his grave. An annual dancing procession takes place in Echternach on Whit Tuesday to honour St. Willibrord. Professor Dáibhí Ó Cróinín, of the NUIG university in Galway in the west of Ireland, believes there is a connection through Willibrord, between Irish and Echternach manuscripts and also a connection between the dancing procession in Ethernach and an influence of Irish dancing.

The church universal celebrates St. Willibrord on the 7th of November

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All Ireland Feast Day Champions: An Eclectic team of Irish Saints – 6th November

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The Feast of All Irish Saints was instituted in 1921, by Pope Benedict XV. It was a huge privilege already to have twenty five new Irish saints recognised by Rome in 1902, albeit via an informal procedure. Therefore, the oft misplaced idea, that Ireland has saints only by hearsay tradition does not really hold. We shall explain, while first listing off our canonized saints…

Examples formally canonised Irish Saints are

  1. Saint Malachy
  2. Saint Lawrence O’Toole
  3. Saint Oliver Plunkett
  4. Saint Charles of Mount Argus

An Irish monk, Fergal, also known as St. Virgil of Salzburg, is an 8th-century missionary scholar who was also formally canonized in 1233 by Pope Gregory IX. Formally canonised saints are when there is a solemn public affair in publicising the recognition of someone as a saint. Now Pope St. John Paul Magno canonised many saints in this way, after a careful and rigorous process of authenticity and verification.

Examples of informally canonised Irish Saints via the process of what is called Cultus Confirmation:

1) Assicus from Elphin
2) Carthach the Elder from Lismore
3) Colman from Cloyne
4) Colman from Dromore
5) Colman from Kilmacduagh
6) Conleth from Kildare
7) Déclán from Ardmore
8) Aidan from Ferns
9) Éogan from Ardstraw
10) Fachanan from Kilfenora
11) Felim from Kilmore
12) Finbarr from Cork
13) Flannán mac Toirrdelbaig from Killaloe
14) Jarlath from Tuam
15) Ciarán from Clonmacnois
16) Laserian from Leighlin
17) Mac Nisse from Connor
18) Macartan from Clogher
19) Muiredach from Killala
20) Nathy from Achonry
21) Oran from Iona
22) Kevin from Glendalough
23) Comgall from Bangor
24) Finnian from Clonard
25) Albert from Cashel (8th cent.)

All twenty five saints were recognised in 19 June 1902 by the universal church. They are our all Ireland champion saints.

Cultus confirmation is also called equipollent (equivalent) canonization, which consists in decreeing an Office and Mass by the pope in honour of the saint, (Benedict XIV, l, c., xliii, no 14). The Congregation for the Causes of Saints (CCS), instituted in 1969, has the competence to consider such an honour. Ordinarily someone whose cultus has been confirmed is considered “Blessed”. In some cases, the decree grants the title as “Saint”.

The rules instituted by Pope Benedict XIV, on the conditions for an equipollent canonization:
1) Existence of an ancient cultus of the person: namely evidence of an immemorial public veneration (cultus ab immemorabili tempore) of the person at least one hundred years before the publication of the decree.
2) Reliable and constant attestation to the virtues or martyrdom of the person by credible historians.
3) Uninterrupted fame of the person as a miracle worker: the claimed saint maintains a reputation for performing miracles that have continued without exception of the centuries.
These criteria ensure only claimed saints of authentic merit veneration and canonisation.

Finally there are those who are saints of the ”pre-congregation canonization” type; being proclaimed a saint by popular devotion and recognised as such by a local bishop. St. Mel of Ardagh is an example of this category.

So there you have it, we have many recognised saints. What a great privilege it is to be part of the land of saints and scholars. We celebrate all Irish Saints day on the 6th November.

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St. Malachy, a priest, prophet and reformer of the Irish ecclesial church – 3rd November

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St. Malachy was of noble birth whose family surname was Ua Morgair. He was born in Armagh in 1094. His Irish baptism name was Máel-M’áedóc. His father, Mugrón, was ard-fher légind (chief lector or chief scholar) of Armagh. His family was of an ecclesiastical line of Cenél Conaill, a dynasty of Uí Néill.

He received his formation from Ímar Ua hÁedacáin, a reform-minded monk who would became abbot of the church of SS Peter and Paul at Armagh. Malachy was ordained deacon by Ímar c.1118, soon after the reform synod of Rath Breasail in 1111. He was ordained a priest by the comarba Pátraic (Successor of St. Patrick), by Cellach (Celsus) in 1119. Cellach was son of Áed, a strong advocate for reform. Malachy advanced his studies in sacred liturgy and theology, at the large diocese of Lismore, a predominantly Gaelic diocese, and a pro-reform foundation. He studied for two years under St. Malchus. There, Malachy also came into contact with Máel-Ísu Ua hAinmire, bishop of the small diocese of Waterford, which was a predominantly viking diocese. Máel-Ísu Ua hAimnire was a strong advocate of reform in the Irish church. Máel-Ísu was a Benedictine monk who had studied at Winchester and was well informed on Roman canonical and liturgical practice. Malachy became the Abbot of Bangor, in 1123.

St. Malachy became Archbishop of Armagh, in 1132. But he was unable to take possession of his see for two years. During three years in possession at Armagh, St. Malachy restored church discipline promoted the Roman Liturgy adopted, in favour of the Celtic traditions. Malachy re-established Christian morals, to the point that he felt able to resign in 1138, with the view to return to the diocese of Connor.

He travelled to Rome in 1139 via Great Britain, and France, visiting St. Bernard at Clairvaux. He sought from Pope Innocent, palliums for the Sees of Armagh and Cashel. He did not succeed in this request but Malachy became the legate for Ireland. His role was to oversee church reform. On his return trip, at Clairvaux he was given five monks for the Mellifount abbey to be (1142). During this period Malachy travelled across Ireland in the role of papal legate, promoting church reform and establishing of Augustinian chapters at some of the Irish cathedrals.

Malachy convened in 1148 a synod at Inis Pátraic in Dublin. There a decision was made in principle to seek four pallia – for Armagh, Cashel, Dublin, and Tuam. Malachy undertook a journey to meet Pope Eugenius in France. But he fell ill in Clairvaux dying in the care of St. Bernard, on 2 November. His quest for pallia and the diocesan organisation he had promoted was later realised at the synod of Kells–Mellifont in 1152.

Finally, Malachy has some prophetic gifts… For example he prophesied that Ireland would suffer at the hands of England, oppression, persecution, and calamities, for seven centuries; notwithstanding this Ireland would preserve her faithfulness to the Catholic church amidst the trials. After this prolonged oppressive period, Ireland would be delivered from the foreigners, who would find themselves subject to chastisements. Catholic Ireland would greatly help bring back England to the Catholic Faith which Protestants endeavoured eliminate.

Malachy was formally canonized by Pope Clement (III), on 6 July, 1199. His feast is celebrated on 3 November.

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