Tag Archives: Celtic Observance

Posted in Irish church history

St. Laserian, The pyre of the Leighlin diocese (Kildare and Carlow) April 18th

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St. Laserian was said to have been of noble birth. St. Laserian was the son of Cairel de Blitha, a ”Ulidian” noble celt, and Gemma, daughter of a Scottish king. He was born around the year 566. He is commonly known as Molaise. The names Laisren or Molaise are to be found in ancient manuscripts and occur for instance in The Book of Leinster and in The Calendar of Oengus. The name Laisren comes from the Gaelic name for flame, usually “lasair”. The ”Molaise” form of the name derives from placing the personal Gaelic pronoun “Mo” ahead of the name Laisren and thus meaning “My Light” the light being from a pyre (flame).

Laserian was sent to Scotland to get his education from monks, beginning from a young age. He was educated by a monk called Munus. On his return home, he refused his right to the kingship of his clan, preferring a life of solitude as a hermit. He lived his youthful life as a hermit in the cell of a cave on Holy Island off the coast of the Isle of Arran in the west of Scotland. This island became known as Molaise’s island. He worked many miracles there; enabling water to flow when it was needed for milling for example. At a later stage in his life he restored a beheaded boy back to life. After his time in soliitude, he set out for Rome, where he studied for fourteen years and was ordained a priest by Gregory the Great. Reverend Laserian then journeyed back to Ireland to preach the faith.

As a priest he established a monastic community at Old Leighlin in present day Carlow in the late sixth century. His choice of location was said to have been inspired by Divine Guidance. He went first to Lorum Hill, south east of Muinebheag, in Carlow. From here he was directed by an angel to go to where he would see the sun first shining and set up his religious foundation there. The place thus chosen was Old Leighlin Hill.

Now Laserian crossed the River Barrow and came to Old Leighlin. But a holy abbot named Gobanus and his followers were already settled there. Gobanus and his community moved on and allowed Rev. Laserian to establish his monastery at Old Leighlin. The monastic community grew, and the establishment became famous, containing as many as 1500 monks.

St. Laserian was a very faithful priest and took the leading part in settling the Irish Easter calender controversy. In the Synod of Magh-lene he successfully defended the Roman Easter calendar computation, and was sent by the council as delegate to Rome. There, in 633, he was consecrated first Bishop of Leighlin by Honorius I. On his return from the eternal city, bishop Laserian pleaded the cause of the Roman Easter calendar so powerfully at another synod in Leighlin that the controversy was practically ended for the greater part of the country. Of course the Celtic Easter calendar would rear it’s head again over the following centuries. But St. Laserian was among the first pioneers to change this and bring the Roman Easter Calendar into regular usage in Ireland.

The original wooden church dedicated to the bishop of Leighlin was plundered several times both by the Danes and by the native Gaels. In later times, a cathedral stood in its place, but in the reign of Henry VIII it was seized by the Reformers, was made a Protestant church, and has continued as such ever since.

The Catholic Church in Ireland celebrates St. Laserian on the 18th April

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Posted in Irish church history

Fursey, the Irish Saint who conquered East Anglia for Christ while pouring many blessings on France – 16th January

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Fursey was of noble Irish birth, born around 575. He embraced religious life at the monastery of St. Meldan on the island of Inchquinn on the Lough Corrib, Co. Galway in the West of Ireland. Fursey was an avid learner of spiritual writings and the practice of virtue from his youth.

Bede recounts in his Ecclesiastical History of the English nation, that St. Fursey went to East Anglia in 633 on a mission with at least four pilgrim companions, two brothers St Foillan and St Ultan, as well as two other priests. King Sigbert II of East Anglian, received these pilgrims very well and gave them a tract of land for a monastery at Burgh Castle (Cnobbersburg), near present day Yarmouth. The King had many years earlier found himself exiled into Gaul, in France by his step father King Redwald. This was providential, as in Gaul, Sigbert became a Christian under the guidance of St. Columbanus and his monks who where on their peregrinus pro Christo. Sigbert returned to East Anglia in 631 and ascended the throne a new man. Now Fursey and company founded and stayed at their newly founded monastery in East Anglia, for around twelve years. They followed the Celtic liturgical tradition, which was an unusual occurrence in England.

Later King Anna, succeeded King Sigbert II, and St. Fursey was afforded further support, in evangelising East Anglia. He established double communities for monks and nuns, which was particularly customary in southern and western Ireland. St. Fursey adorned his monastery with a precious bell, and bestowed another bell with monks at the monastery of Lismore in Ireland’s co. Waterford.

The two other pilgrim priest that travelled with Fursey to England are Dicul and Maeldubh. Now Dicul evangelised the South Saxons. He founded a monastery at Bosham, near Chichester, with a small group of monks. This band of brothers held onto to their Celtic liturgical traditions deep in the  Romanized territory. Maeldubh founded a monastery at Malmsbury in Wessex.

Bede says of Fursey:

‘’There came out of Ireland a holy man called Fursa (Fursey), renowned both for his words and actions, and remarkable for his singular virtues, being desirous to live like a stranger for our Lord, wherever an opportunity should offer… he saw the angels chanting in heaven, and a vision of hell in which he saw four fires – the fire of falsehood, the fire of covetousness, the fire of discord and the fire of iniquity.’’

Sigbert was killed as an oblation to the Lord, in a battle against Penda of Mercia, in which King Anna succeeded him. After about 12 years in East Anglia, Fursey and some monks departed to the Frankish kingdom of Neustria. St. Foillan was left in charge of the Norfolk monastery, while St. Ultan travelled with St. Fursey to Gaul. They met a French king, Clovis II ( 636-657) and he authorised Fursey to establish a monastery near Paris at Lagny-sur-Marne in the region of Neustria (648). Fursey was given protection by Echinoald, Mayor of the palace of Clovis II.

St. Fursey was on another pilgrimage, this time to Rome, and stopped at the church of Mont-des-Cygnes in Mezerolles, dedicated to the apostles Peter & Paul. In this church Fursey deposited the sacred relics of St. Patrick as well as St. Meldan. After his trip to Rome, he stayed awhile at Pérrone. He then wanted to go to East Anglia. On his way there, he stopped again at Mezerolles, staying a short time there, feeling ill, he soon died. His body reposed for a time in that same church of Mont-des-Cygnes. His body was later translated to Péronne, where we get the name Perrona Scottorum (Péronne of the Irish). For this was the place offered to him by King Clovis through his mayor, Echinoald. Fursey’s tomb at Perrona Scottorum became an important pilgrim shrine and the monastery became a centre for the Irish. Ultan the brother of Fursey became the first abbot of this centre. St. Fursey’s body was interred two times to be placed in a tomb more fitting to his legacy, and his body was found to be incorrupt.

St. Fursey died around 650 A.D. and is remembered on the 16th January

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Posted in Irish church history

Saint Finnian of Clonard, the maestro of Irish disciples and the ascetic father – 12th December

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St. Finnian (‘Fionáin’ in Irish), was an early monastic saint. He lived from about 470 to 549.

St. Finnian of Clonard is considered the maestro of the Irish saints; notable students include Colmcille of Iona, Ciarán of Clonmacnois and St, Canice (Kenneth). His monastic foundation at Clonard (Cluain Eraird in Irish) was very influential as a centre of theological learning, before the invasion of the Vikings and before the synods of Cashel, Rathbreasail and Kells, that changed the monastery centre into a diocese.

Finnian was born at Myshal in Carlow, at the foot of Mount Leinster. His father, called Rudraigh, was a noble  Ulsterman. His Leinster mother was called Telach. While she was pregnant, she had a vivid dream of a bright flying flame that drew very near to her, entering one moment in her mouth, before flying away gloriously, to all the corners of Ireland Ireland, attracting a huge flock of birds that followed. Telach told Rudraigh of the vivid dream, and he predicted that Finnian would become an influential professor and mentor. Finnian later became one of the greatest fathers of the Irish monasticism.

The boy was educated first by Bishop Fortchernn of Trim, a disciple of St. Patrick. Finnian proceeded to Wales to grow in virtue and study spirituality under the great saints of Wales; his teachers included great fathers such as St. David, St. Gildas the Wise, and, especially, St. Cadoc. Finnian spent thirty years in Wales according to the Salamanca MS. He also studied for awhile in the French monastic centre of St. Martin in Tours in Gaul. Here Finnian learned the life of ascetic austerity for spiritual gain.

Finnian returned to Ireland, first to Aghowle near Shillelagh in County Wicklow, where King Oengus of Leinster gave him a site to build a church. He traversed Ireland, preaching, teaching, and founding churches, as far south as Skellig Michael islands, eight miles off the coast of Co. Kerry. He went north eastwards to Dunmanogue on the river Barrow, in Co. Kildare. He stopped by the town of Kildare, visiting at St Brigid’s monastery. St. Finnian was esteemed by St. Brigid, who gifted him with a gold ring on his departure.

By the year 520 Finnian arrived at Clonard, (Erard’s Meadow in English). He was led to this place by an angel. Clonard, which is situated on the River Boyne in present day Co. Meath. It was between the former royal province of Meath and the province of Leinster. Here Finnian received a large tract of land and built monastic site, entering into a life devoted to study, mortification, and prayer. He had a big following of monks. They include the “twelve apostles of Ireland”,

Finnian had a strong theological reputation and the Clonard monastery became a centre of Biblical studies, becoming the largest and the most important in Ireland. He became the first abbot and organized life according to the Welsh monastic model. This form of monasticism was based on the traditions of the holy fathers of the East. This may explain somewhat how the Celtic liturgical observance came to Ireland. St. Patrick having permission from the Pope to evangelise Ireland, brought with him the roman rite, and later through the influence of St. Finnian, the Celtic observance may have come the norm.

”The Penitential” compiled by St. Finnian, roots out sin and bad habits while cultivating virtue. Under the influence of Welsh saints and, originally, St. John Cassian in France, Finnian compiled the first known Irish Penitentiary, which later influenced St. Columbanus in his written works. St. Finnian himself slept on the bare earthen floor in his cell without anything for a pillow, to prop his head. One of his disciples recounts that the venerable abbot became emaciated from a prolonged and extreme ascetic life. So much so, his ribs could easily be seen protruding the lining of his tunic.

The site of the former monastic centre of St. Finnian is located in the grounds of the Church of Ireland at Clonard. St. Finnian is said to have died in the great plague of 549-550. He is celebrated on 12th December in the Catholic liturgy.

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Posted in Irish church history

The synod of Rath Breasail and the formation of the various Irish diocese.

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Ireland was always outside the Roman Empire, due to a successful strategy, whereby the Gaelic kings would take hostage, of sons and daughters of nobility, of an invading menace. “Niall and the Nine Hostages” gives an insight into this tried and tested method of national defence. St. Patrick and his two sisters where taken hostage by King Niall for example. As a result of being outside of the Roman empire, Ireland did not develop the European model of the Catholic ecclesiastical diocese. Instead we had a monastic model which lasted until the time of the Synod of Rath Breasail of 1111. We even had a Celtic observance that began to decline in favour of the Roman observance after the Synod of Whitby in 664 called by the King of Oswiu in Northumbria. The change from the Celtic observance to the Roman observance came slowly as result of the persuasive efforts of St. Eunan.

The year 1631 saw the completion of Fr. Geoffrey Keating’s series of moral reflections on death and the conduct of human life, Trí bior-ghaoithe an bháis, and his treatise on the Mass, Eochair-sgiath an Aifrinn. A man called John MacErlean draws attention to the inclusion of significant early ecclesiastical records which would otherwise have been lost. Keating’s history is the only source for the Synod of Rath Breasail at the beginning of the twelfth century when Ireland was first divided into its modern dioceses format we have today.

The Synod of Rath Breasail established diocese under the seat of the bigger and more notable monasteries existing in Ireland at the time. The lesser monasteries became subsumed by the more important monastic centres within the confines of the newly established diocesan lines. For example we had the Lismore monastery which was an important centre of learning for the Gaels. The lesser known monasteries became more like parochial centres. Shortly after the death of diocesan promoter St. Malachy, the Synod of Kells followed in 1152 to iron out anomalies still extant, and the four archdiocese in Ireland came into effect. The Waterford diocese was a small diocese of mainly Danish folk and some members of the Déise folk. Lismore and Waterford were then separate diocese as the peoples where still so culturally diverse. It was only much later did the two diocese amalgamate, and Lismore being the bigger diocese was given the lead name of the Lismore and Waterford diocese. After the reformation period the names were switched to the Waterford and Lismore diocese, which still stand today.

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