Tag Archives: Irish Synods

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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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St. Kelly of Armagh, ‘’Naomh Ceallach’’, (St Celsus): the wrestling administrator – 1st April

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Kelly was born in 1080. His name in Irish is Ceallach Mac Aedha. He was heir, to a lay administration, known as ‘’coarb’’ of St. Patrick. This role was the family heirloom of Clann Sínaigh, who took control of the administration of the abbacy of Armagh, to keep the monastic settlement from the foreign Viking hands. This was after the historic period of great instability in the Gaelic kingdom. In that epoch, there were seismic ethnic incursions in Ireland, that we find narrated in the ‘’Book of Invasions’’. This book encapsulates a difficult situation for the Gaels, wrought by the Vikings, who as the book recounts, arrived in Ireland ‘’wave after wave after wave’’. The Norse Vikings took hold of Dublin and Waterford, and later the Danes arrived and despoiled the established Catholic sees in Ireland. The nation’s formerly established diocese became depleted of bishops and priests.

The Clann Sínaigh had took control of the Abbey of Armagh for security, and did financially well from this arrangement. Then in 1091, Kelly became the family lay administrator of Armagh. But he took the unusual step to priestly ordination and chose the celibate life, with a view to reigning in the reform, introduced by Pope Gregory VIII across Europe. To explain; lay administrative control of abbeys were a feature in Europe, after the fall of the roman empire. But Pope Gregory VII (1073-85) wished to replace the lay administration with the administrative role of a diocesan bishop.

Around that same era, in England, strong Norman archbishops like Lanfranc and St Anselm were appointed to the see of Canterbury. They had support from the growing Norse community in Dublin and Waterford. Anselm consecrated Samuel Ó h-Ainglí as bishop for Dublin and consecrated Malchus as the first bishop of Waterford.

After Pope Gregory, a momentum built up in Ireland regarding reform. The 1st Synod of Cashel (1101) was presided over by King Muircheartach Ó Briain in Ireland at the request of Lanfranc and Anselm. The reform momentum was led by bishop of Meath, Maol Muire Ó Dunáin, who was appointed papal legate to Ireland by Pope Paschal II (1099-1117). This 1st synod of Cashel enacted decrees against lay investiture, and against the idea of a lay administrator.

Then in 1106 bishop Maol Muire Ó Dunáin ordained Kelly as a bishop. He was present at the Synod of Rathbreasail in 1111, which also promoted the reforms of synod of Cashel on a nationwide level. The momentum was gaining ground. Cashel and Armagh were to be the two recognised archdioceses in Ireland pending approval from Rome. The synod of Rathbreasail begin the re-establishment of the diocese structure in Ireland.

All of this momentum was the backdrop in whom Kelly found himself as administrating bishop of Armagh, and set him on a collision course of family rivalry upon the now defunct hereditary practices. Kelly had also to simultaneously wrestle the diocese of Dublin from the Norse influence, and their loyalty to Canterbury. It was around this time, that bishop Kelly appointed a young monk named Malachy, ‘’Maolmhaodhóg Ua Morgair’’ to act as his vicar in Armagh. When bishop Kelly returned to Armagh in 1122, he felt that Malachy would make a suitable bishop. Malachy was sent to Lismore, an influential monastic centre with Benedictine influences from England and the continent.

In a shrewd move, bishop Kelly later appointed Malachy as successor to Armagh. In this way, the hereditary succession of the coarbs of Armagh from his Clan was broken, with a successor outside the family hegemony. In 1129 Kelly died at Ardpatrick and was buried in Lismore. Malachy was left with the difficulties of wrestling control as bishop from Kelly’s next of kin, Muircheartach. He only took control of Armagh after Muircheartach’s died in 1134, thanks to the support from Cinél Eoghain. This support secured the see of Armagh, from the next of kin, Niall of the Clann Sínaigh, the would-be successor to Muircheartach. With the see of Armagh now assured, Bishop Malachy appointed as his own successor, Gilla Mac Líag, abbot of Derry. And the rest is history…

St. Kelly of Armagh is celebrated on the 1st of April in the church calendar.

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Posted in Irish church history

The Early Irish Church foundations

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St. Patrick received his mandate from the Pope Celestine to evangelise Ireland. But after St. Patrick died, the ecclesial set up in Ireland took a more monastic direction, as the diocesan model established by Patrick faded into the background. There was rapid growth of monastic centres that became beacons of light for the Irish faithful. The consecrated bishops played only a subsidiary role to the more powerful abbots at the major monastic centres around the country. The diocesan system was slow to be re-established, particularly as Ireland was never conquered by the Roman empire, which suited the diocesan format being based somewhat on the roman rule template.

The seeds of reformation

There was a big change in the middle ages. For example, the King of Munster and Leinster, Muirchertach Mor O’Briain was present at the Synod of Rath Breasail in 1111 which formally re-inaugurated the diocese system into Ireland, as the church finally moved away from a monastic hierarchy. With King Muirchertach’s presence, the diocese of Killaloe within his territory got an advantageous representation. Then King Muirchertach died in 1119 and the O’Brien dynasty declined. With the synod of Kells in 1152, the size of the diocese of Killaloe was much reduced – Taken from Clare Library.

Nb*: These Synods both laid the foundations and largely formalised the current diocesan model present in Ireland today.

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St. Flannan the baker saint and patron of Killaloe – 18th December

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St Flannan is patron of Killaloe (Cill Dalua) diocese which extends between areas of Co. Clare and Co.  Tipperary, as well as areas of Co. Offaly, Co. Laois, and Co. Limerick. The name Flannan is a diminutive of flann which means ruddy.

The Killaloe monastic connection

St Lua (554-609) is considered the founding abbot of the Killaloe monastic centre. He was from Ardagh, in Limerick. Lua (Lughaidh) was to studied in Clonard and later in Bangor for the religious life and was ordained a priest. This came about after an encounter of St. Comgall. His name became more familiarly known under the affectionate name of Molua. He later returned home and he was to found a few monasteries, as well as at Killaloe, at Friars’ Island near Ardnacrusha. Killaloe means the church of Lua.

St Flannan succeeds St Molua at Killaloe monastery

St Flannan was the son of Turlough, King of Thomond, and also Molua’s nephew. In his younger days Flannan studied under St. Blathmet who was well versed in Sacred Scripture.

Interestingly, in Ireland’s royal history, kings and queens would keep a biographer and an account of family and political life. There is an account given that Flannan studied to “till, sow, harvest, grind, winnow, and bake for the monks.” Tradition will add to this, that one day, while baking continuously for long and extended hours, his left hand became transfigured. There was enough light to enable him to continue baking right through the night. Molua, learnt of this incident, and felt it was opportune for him to consider retiring with the view that Flannan could be the new abbot.

Travels to Rome
Flannan was a hospitable man and his people in Thomond were in accord that he should be consecrated. On a trip to Rome, he received consecration from Pope John IV (640-2).

How Killaloe became a significant diocese from its monastic beginnings

Killaloe owes its existence as a diocese thanks to the vision of Brian Ború high King of Ireland. Brian wished to have a church independent of Norman influence. Between 1002 and 1014, the Irish High King had a palace in Killaloe on the grounds of the present-day Catholic church. On the other hand, Lanfranc, the Archbishop of Canterbury, desired to extend Norman influence over Irish ecclesiastical affairs. But when Lanfranc died in 1089, Canterbury’s foothold on Irish ecclesial affairs waned, particularly on the diocese of Killaloe which enjoyed the patronage of the Dalcassian Kings. Muirchertach Mor O’Briain was by now King of the Dal gCais.

After the Synod of Rathbreasail in 1111 in which king Muirchertach was present, Killaloe became formally recognised as a major diocese. At the synod of Kells in 1152, Killaloe as a diocese shrunk, as Roscrea monastery founded by St. Crónán, as well Scattery island monastic centre founded by St. Senan became small diocese. Today the Killaloe diocese has absorbed them both.

We celebrate the noble St. Flannan on the 18th December

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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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St. Eunan (Adomnán) an Abbot for Synods and change – Memory to St. Eunan – 23rd September

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Family origins

Born at Drumhome near Ballintra in south-west Donegal into the Uí Chonaill family around 624. Eunan’s Uí Néill lineage aligns with Loingsech, king of Tara. Eunan was educated by Columban Monks. He later joined the Iona community as a a novice at Iona in 650. He was become the ninth abbot of Iona in 679. He was also president-general of all the Columban houses in Ireland. During his rule he paid three lengthy visits to Ireland.

Notable writings of St. Eunan.

He wrote “Vita Columbae” on life of Columba. Eunan highlight the St. Columba’s virtues. It is full of memorable details of monks and lay people who came into contact with St. Columba. “Vita Columbae” is considered a most complete biography in all of Europe from early Christianity through to the late Middle Ages.

He also wrote a book “De Locis Sanctis” (on the holy places) – Jerusalem, Damascus, Constantinople and Alexandria based on descriptions received by a French bishop Arculfus, who had been shipwrecked in western Britain and took refuge in Iona.

Intervention between Celtic and Roman observance in the Irish Church

St. Eunan made a number of visits to Northumbria. On his first was in 686, he became aware of unresolved conflicts after the Synod of Whitby (664) between Celtic observances and the Roman observances. Celtic monasteries had a different method for calculating the date of Easter for example. Also a Celtic abbot enjoyed administrative superiority to a bishop. In visiting the monasteries of Wearmouth and Jarrow, St. Eunan had lenghty discourses with the Abbot Ceolfrith of Wearmouth. Eunan understood that the Celtic observance was was similar to St John which was the custom in the Eastern Church. St. Eunan felt it would be better for the universality of the Church for the Celtic monastries to make use of the Roman observance. For eighteen years St. Eunan made it his business to convince Ionian monks as well as and the Irish Columban monasteries to switch to the roman observance.

The law of innocents – a type of old Irish ‘Geneva Convention’

On his third visit to Ireland (697) he assisted at the Synod of Birr. There he convinced the participants that, women, children and clerics should be exempt from war and not be taken prisoners or slaughtered. This came to be known as The Law of the Innocents or Adomnan’s law (Cain Adomhnáin). It’s genesis traces back to a request made by Eunan’s mother Rónnat.

St Eunan died at the Abbey in Iona in 704. He is the Patron of Raphoe Diocese. He is celebrated on the 23rd of September.

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Elvis is a Saint? Memory to St. Elvis – 12th September

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Well the name Elvis is an anglicised version of the name Irish name Ailbe, which was then name given to an Irish Saint who is the patron saint of the diocese of Cashel and Emily. Saint Ailbe heralds from Munster and is the patron of wolves.

St. Ailbe was Abbot and preacher and became a disciple of St. Patrick, according to St. Patrick’s biographer, Tirechan. Ailbe is called Albeus in Latin. The name Ailbe is derived from the Irish words Ail (rock) and beo (alive).

What is known about Ailbe is that he was a missionary in Ireland under King Aengus. He was also the first Abbot of Emily in Munster, Ireland. He is the patron saint of wolves, because in his infancy he was left in the forest to be devoured by the wolves, Ailbe was born to a maidservant in the house of Cronan, Lord of Eliach, in County Tipperary. Cronan, disapproved of Ailbe birth and directed that the new born be exposed to ‘dogs and wild beasts, that he might be devoured’. But, instead, the baby was found hidden under a rock (Ail) and alive (beo), by a she-wolf who reared him among her own cubs. Ailbe would later repay the kindness toward the end of his life when a she-wolf chased by hunters took refuge with him. He ordered that the animal should not be harmed, and gave the wolf and her cubs food in his hall.

Ailbe was noted for his charity and kindness, as well as his eloquent sermons. He is considered the St. Patrick of Munster. “The Acts of St. Ailbe” represent Ailbe as preaching in Ireland before St. Patrick. This is very plausible, as even St. Declan did the same before he met his old friend Patrick in Cashel to settle an important governing ecclesial matter. Declan already knew Patrick from their time in Rome. Ailbe is frequently named as leader among the four “Palladian disciples” all of whom ministered in the south of Ireland before the arrival of St. Patrick. Palladius was the first missionary to Ireland. His four disciples are Ailbe of Emly, Ibar of Begerin, Declan of Ardmore and Ciaran of Saighir. “The Life of Declan” says that himself and Ailbe were great friends, and they both went to Rome for priestly formation. Declan is one of the Déise people, who herald from Wales. Ailbe was also in Wales, where he baptised St. David, patron of Wales.

Ailbe’s tomb, was discovered in Cashel in 580 when St Brendan of Birr came on a visit to inaugurate the new king. The saint’s death is recorded for the year 528 in the Irish annals.

Repose of Ailbe of Imlech Ibuir – The Annals of Ulster 528

St. Ailbe’s monastery known as Imleach Iubhair ‘the lakeside at a yew tree’ went on to become one of the most important ecclesiastical sites in Munster and in later centuries Emly became a Diocesan centre, after the synods of Rath Breasail and the Synod of Kells. The ecclesiastical site was located at the modern Catholic church and graveyard. St Ailbe’s holy well can be found in the north-eastern corner of the graveyard. In 1898 the well supplied the surrounding village. Local memory and historical sources say that in the past the pilgrimage rituals were focused on the holy well and an early medieval cross, known as St Ailbe’s Cross. The cross is located a short distance from the well. The cross was also said to cure back pain. When a person has a pain in his back he would get it cured by putting his back against the stone while praying to St Ailbe.

So there you have it, Elvis is a saint, I bet you did not know that… Are you all shook up?

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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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