1. How Did Orthodoxy Reach Ireland?
How did Orthodox Christianity come to this small
green island off the shores of the European
continent in the uttermost West? Unknown to many,
Christianity in Ireland does have an Apostolic
foundation, through the Apostles James and John,
although the Apostles themselves never actually
visited there.
Monastic centres
in Ireland
The Irish people were the westernmost extension of
the vast Celtic civilization—whose people called
themselves the Gauls—which stretched from southern
Russia through Europe and eventually into the
British Isles. (map below) The vastness of Celtic/Gallic
civilization is evident in the names used to
designate countries within its entire territory: the
land of Galatia in Asia Minor, Gaul (France),
Galicia (northwest Spain), and the land of
the Gaels (Ireland). The Celtic peoples (like
the Jews) kept in very close contact with their
kinfolk across the Eurasian continent.
Diachronic distribution of Celtic
peoples:
core Hallstatt territory, by the
sixth century BC maximal
Celtic expansion, by the third
century BC
Lusitanian
area of Iberia where Celtic presence is uncertain
the
"six
Celtic nations" which retained
significant numbers of
Celtic
speakers into the Early Modern period
areas
where Celtic languages remain widely
spoken today
When Christianity was
first being spread by the Apostles, those Celts who
heard their preaching and accepted it (seeing it as
the completion of the best parts of their ancient
traditions and beliefs) immediately told their
relatives, traveling by sea and land along routes
their ancestors had followed since before 1000 B.C.
The two Apostles whose teachings had the greatest
influence upon the Celtic peoples were the brothers
James and John, the sons of Zebedee. After Pentecost,
James first preached the Gospel to the dispersed
Israelites in Sardinia (an island in the
Mediterranean Sea off the east coast of Spain, which
was used as a penal colony). From there he went on
to the Spanish mainland and traveled throughout the
northern part of Spain along the river Ebro, where
his message was eagerly heard by the Celtic/Iberian
peoples, especially those in Galicia. This area
continued to be a portal to Ireland for many
centuries, especially for the transmission of the
Good News.
John preached throughout the whole territory of Asia
Minor (modern-day Turkey), and the many peoples
living there accepted Christianity, including the
Celtic peoples known as the Galatians (in Cappadocia).
These people also communicated with their relatives
throughout the Greco/Roman world of the time,
especially those in Gaul. By the middle of the 2nd
century the Celtic Christians in Gaul asked that a
bishop be sent to them, and the Church sent St.
Irenaeus (icon below), who settled at Lyons on the Rhone river.
Among the many works St. Irenaeus accomplished,
the most important were his mastery of the language
of the local Celtic people and his preaching to them
of the Christianity he had received from St.
Polycarp, the disciple of St. John the Theologian.
Saint Irenaeus
By
the 4th century Christianity had reached all the
Celtic peoples, and this "leaven" was preparing
people's hearts to receive the second burst of
Christian missionary outreach to the Celts, through
St. Hilary and St. Martin. (icons
below)
Saint Hilary
Saint Martin
The seeds that St. Irenaeus planted bore abundant
fruit in the person of St. Hilary of Poitiers, who,
having lived in Asia Minor, would be the link
between East and West, transmitting Orthodoxy in its
fullness to the Celtic peoples. He was not only a
great defender of the Faith, but also a great lover
of monasticism. This Orthodox Faith and love for
monasticism was poured into a fitting
vessel—Hilary's disciple, St. Martin of Tours, who
was to become the spiritual forefather of the Irish
people. What Saints Athanasius and Anthony the Great
were to Christianity in the East, Saints Hilary and
Martin were to the West.
By
the 4th century an ascetic/monastic revival was
occurring throughout Christendom, and in the West
this revival was being led by St. Martin. The
Monastery of Marmoutier which St. Martin founded
near Tours (on the Loire in western France) served
as the training ground for generations of monastic
aspirants drawn from the Romano-Celtic nobility. It
was also the spiritual school that bred the first
great missionaries to the British Isles. The way of
life led at Marmoutier harmonized perfectly with the
Celtic soul. Martin and his followers were
contemplatives, yet they alternated their times of
silence and prayer with periods of active labor out
of love for their neighbor.
Some of the monks who were formed in St. Martin's
"school" brought this pattern back to their Celtic
homelands in Britain, Scotland and Wales. Such
missionaries included Publicius, a son of the Roman
emperor Maximus who was converted by St. Martin, and
who went on to found the Llanbeblig Monastery in
Wales—among the first of over 500 Welsh monasteries.
Another famous disciple of St. Martin was
St. Ninian,
who traveled to Gaul to receive monastic training at
St. Martin's feet, and then returned to Scotland,
where he established Candida Casa at Whithorn, with
its church dedicated to St. Martin. The waterways
between Ireland and Britain had been continually
traversed by Celtic merchants, travelers, raiders
and slave-traders for many centuries past, so the
Irish immediately heard the Good News brought to
Wales and Scotland by these disciples of Ninian.
About the same time that the missionaries were
traveling to and from Candida Casa amidst all this
maritime activity, a young man named
Patrick was captured by an Irish raiding party
that sacked the far northwestern coasts of Britain,
and he was carried back to Ireland to be sold as a
slave. While suffering in exile in conditions of
slavery for years, this deacon's son awoke to the
Christian faith he had been reared in. His zeal was
so strong that, after God granted him freedom in a
miraculous way, his heart was fired with a deep love
for the people he had lived among, and he yearned to
bring them to the light of the Gospel Truth. After
spending some time in the land of Gaul in the
Monastery of Lerins, St. Patrick (451), was
consecrated to the episcopacy. He returned to
Ireland and preached with great fervor throughout
the land, converting many local chieftains and
forming many monastic communities, especially
convents.
It
was during the time immediately following St.
Patrick's death, in the latter part of the
5th
century, that God's Providence brought all the
separate streams of Christianity in Ireland into one
mighty rushing river.
While St. Patrick's disciples continued his work of
preaching and founding monastic communities—it was
his disciple, St. Mael of Ardagh (481), for example,
who tonsured the great
St. Brigid of Kildare (523)—several other saints
who were St. Patrick's younger contemporaries began
to labor in the vineyard of Christ. These included
Saints Declan of Ardmore (5th c.), Ailbhe of Emly
(527), and
Kieran of Saighir (5th c.).
Saint Declan Saint Kieran
Saint Brigid
Saint Ailbhe
Then came young Enda from the far western islands of
Aran (off the west coast of Ireland). He studied
with St. Ninian at Whithorn, and thus received the
flame of St. Martin's spiritual lineage with its
ascetical training and mystical aspirations. Having
been fully formed in the Faith, St. Enda (530)
returned to the Aran Islands, where he founded a
monastery in the ancient tradition. It was on the
Aran Islands that the traditional founder of the
Irish monastic movement, St. Finian, drank deep of
the monastic tradition established by St. Martin.
Before Finian's death in a.d. 548, he founded the
monastery of Clonard and was the instructor of a
whole generation of monks who became great founders
of monasteries throughout Ireland, and great
missionaries as well. The most famous of his
disciples were named the "Twelve Apostles of
Ireland," and included Saints
Brendan the Navigator, Brendan of Birr,
Columba of Iona, Columba of Terryglass, Comgall
of Bangor, Finian of Moville, Mobhi of Glasnevin,
Molaise of Devenish, Ninnidh of Inismacsaint,
Sinnell of Cleenish, Ruadhan of Lorrha, and the
great monastic father
Kieran of Clonmacnois. By the middle of the 6th
century these men and their disciples had founded
hundreds of monasteries throughout the land and had
converted all the Irish. And that was only the
beginning...
Saint Brendan
Saints Comgall - Gall - Columbanus
Saint Columba
2. Why was Christianity Received so Quickly in
Ireland?
Why were the Celtic peoples able to receive
Christianity so readily and so eagerly? The Church
Fathers state that God prepared all peoples before
the Incarnation of Christ to receive the fullness of
Truth, Christianity. To the Jews He gave the
Israelite revelation. Among the pagans, faint foreshadowings of the coming revelation were present
in some of their beliefs and best qualities. The
Celtic peoples were no different—in some ways they
were better off than most pagans.
On
a natural level, the Celtic peoples had a great love
of beauty which found overflowing expression as the
Christian Faith, arts and culture developed in
Ireland. Their extreme and fiery nature, which had
previously been expressed through war and bloodshed,
now manifested itself in great ascetic labors and
missionary zeal undertaken for love of God and
neighbor.
Their great reverence for knowledge, especially
manifested in lore, ancient history and law, made it
easy for them to have great respect for the ancient
forms and theology of the Church, which were based
in ancient Israelite tradition. They had a great
love for, and almost religious belief in, the power
of the spoken word—especially in "prophetic
utterances" delivered by their Druid poets and
seers.
These perceived manifestations of "the wisdom of the
Other World" were held in great respect and awe by
the Irish, as transmissions of the will of the gods,
which could only be resisted at great peril. When
many of their Druid teachers wholeheartedly accepted
Christianity, and as Christians spoke the revealed
word of God from the Scriptures or from the Holy
Spirit's direct revelation, the people listened and
obeyed. The Irish possessed an intricate and
detailed religious belief system that was primarily
centered in a worship of the sun, and a tri-theistic
numerology—often manifesting itself in venerating
gods in threes, collecting sayings in threes
(triads), etc.—which led to the easy acceptance of
the true fulfillment of this intuition in the
worship of the Holy Trinity. They also treasured a
very strong belief in the afterlife, conceived as a paradisal heavenworld in the "West" to which the
souls of the dead passed to a life of immortal
youth, beauty and joy.
Even the societal structure of the Celts in Ireland
prepared its peoples for Christianity. In contrast
to the urban-centered and highly organized mindset
which prevailed in the lands under Roman rule,
Ireland (which was never conquered) preserved the
ancient family- and communal-based patterns of rural
societies. They did not build cities or towns, but
settled in small villages or individual family farm
holdings. The only recognized "unit" was the tribe
and its various family clans, centered around their
king's royal hill fort. The economy remained wholly
pastoral, in no way resembling the Roman urban and
civil systems. There were no city centers. The
original apostolic family-based model of an ascetic
community, and its later monastery-based form,
manifested themselves in Ireland as a natural
completion of what was already present. Finally, the
leadership and teaching roles previously held by the
Druids, poets, lawyers and their schools were
naturally assumed by the monks and bishops of the
Church and their monasteries.
Ruins
of Clonmacnoise Monastery (Country
Offaly)
(Image © Research
Machines plc)
Ruins of
Glendalough (County Wicklow)
3. How Christianity Manifested Itself in Ireland
It
was precisely because the monastic communities were
like loving families that they had such a
long-lasting and complete influence on the Irish
people as a whole. These schools were the seedbeds
of saints and scholars: literally thousands of young
men and women received their formation in these
communities. Some of them would stay and enter fully
into monastic life, while others would return to
their homes, marry, and raise their children in
accordance with the profound Christian way of life
that they had assimilated in the monastery. Some of
the monks, either inspired by a desire for greater
solitude, or by zeal to give what they had received
to others, would leave the shores of their beloved
homeland and set out "on pilgrimage for Christ" to
other countries. Once again they would travel along
paths previously trodden by their ancestors—both the
pagans of long ago, and Christian pilgrims of more
recent times.
Because these monastic communities were centers of
spiritual transformation and intense ascetic
practice, they generated a dynamic environment which
catalyzed the intellectual and artistic gifts of the
Irish people, and laid them before the feet of
Christ. In these monasteries, learning as well as
sanctity was encouraged.
The Irish avidly learned to write in Latin script,
memorized long portions of the Scriptures
(especially the Psalms), and even developed a
written form for their exceedingly ancient oral
traditions. When the Germanic peoples invaded the
Continent (A.D. 400-550), the Gallic and Spanish
scholars fled to Ireland with their books and
traditions of the Greco-Roman Classical Age. In
Ireland these books were zealously absorbed,
treasured and passed on for centuries to come. Many
Irish monks dedicated their whole lives to copying
the Scriptures—the Old and New Testaments, as well
as related writings—and often illuminated the
manuscript pages with an intricate and beautiful art
that is one of the wonders of the world.
4. The Significance of the Orthodox Church in
Ireland for Today
Much has been written about Ireland's wandering
missionary scholars (see Thomas Cahill's bestselling
book, How the Irish Saved Civilization).
The vibrant, community-centered way of life and the
deep, broad, ascetic-based scholarship of the Irish
monks revitalized the faith of Western European
peoples, who were both devastated by wave after wave
of barbarian invasions and threatened by
Arianism.
More than this, the Irish monks evangelized both the
pagan conquerors and those Northern and Eastern
European lands where the Gospel had never taken
root.
For Orthodox Christians, however, there are further
lessons to be gained from the examples of the Irish
saints. These saints were formed in a monastic
Christian culture almost solely based on the "one
thing needful" and the otherworldly essence of
Christian life. They represented Christ's Empire,
and no other. They were Christ's warriors, motivated
solely by love of God and neighbor, acting in
accordance with a clear and firmly envisioned set of
values and the goal of Heaven. Such selfless
embodiments of Christian virtues are all the more
important to us today, who live in an age
characterized by the absence of such qualities. The
unwavering dedication of the Irish monks drew the
Holy Spirit to them. And when He came, He not only
deepened and established their already-present
resolution, but also filled them with the energy and
grace to carry it out. This is what is needed and
yearned for today.
The task of the Orthodox Christian convert in the
West today is to bridge the gap between our time and
the neglected and forgotten saints of Western
Europe, who were our spiritual forebears. As St.
Arsenios said: "Britain will
only become Orthodox when she once again begins to
venerate her saints."
In this task we are very
fortunate to have had a living example of one who
did this: St. John Maximovitch. During his years as
a hierarch he was appointed to many different lands,
including France and Holland. One of the first
things he set out to do upon reaching a new country
was
to tirelessly seek out, venerate and promote the
Orthodox saints of that land, that he might
enter into spiritual relationship with those who did
the work before him, and enlist their help in his
attempts to continue their task. He considered the
glorification and promotion of local Orthodox saints
as one of the most important works that a hierarch
could do for his flock.
We
too must actively labor to venerate our ancestral
saints, and must enter into spiritual relationship
with them as St. John did. While we should not
merely "appreciate" their lives and their example as
an intellectual or aesthetic exercise, neither
should we selectively reinterpret their examples and
way of life in the light of modern fashions and
"spiritualities." We should, through our efforts,
strive to bring these saints into as clear a focus
as possible before our mind's eye, reminding
ourselves of the fact that they are alive and are
our friends and spiritual mentors. The saints are,
according to St. Justin Popovich of Serbia (1979),
the continuation of the life of Christ on earth, as
He comes and dwells within the "lively stones" (cf.
I Peter 2:5) that constitute His Body, the Church
(cf. Eph. 1:22-23). Therefore, honor given to the
saints is honor given to Christ; and it is by giving
honor to Christ that we prepare ourselves to receive
the Holy Spirit.
May the saints of Ireland come close to us and bring
us to the Heavenly Kingdom together with them. Amen.
◊◊◊◊◊◊◊◊◊◊◊◊◊◊◊
Short Lives of
Irish Saints Found in the 2003 St. Herman Calendar
ST. KIERAN OF CLONMACNOIS
September 9 (545)
The great St. Columba of Iona (June 9, 597)
described St. Kieran as a lamp, blazing with the
light of knowledge, whose monastery brought wisdom
to all the churches of Ireland. This earthly angel
and otherworldly man was born in 512, the son of a
carpenter who built war chariots. He was spiritually
raised by St. Finian in Clonard (December 12, 549)
and was counted among his "twelve apostles to
Ireland." After spending some time in Clonard, the
childlike, pure, innocent, humble and loving Kieran
set off to dwell in the wilderness with his God.
After three years, when more and more disciples
began to come to him, he finally established a
monastery in obedience to a divine decree shortly
before he reposed. He was taken by his Lord to dwell
with Him eternally at the age of 33. "Having lived a
short time, he fulfilled a long time, for his soul
pleased the Lord" (Wisdom 4:13).
ST. KENNETH OF KILKENNY
October 11 (600)
St. Kenneth was the son of a scholar-poet from
Ulster. By race he was an Irish Pict and spoke the
Pictish language. He was a disciple of the great
monastic Saints Finian of Clonard (December 12,
549), Comgall of Bangor (May 11, 603), Kieran of
Clonmacnois (September 9, 545) and Mobhi of
Glasnevin (October 12, 544). After the death of St.
Mobhi he took counsel from St. Finian. As a result
(says the Martyrology of Oengus),
St. Kenneth sailed off to Scotland. There he lived
for a while on the isle of Texa, according to The
Life of St. Columba by St. Adamnan of Iona
(September 23, 704). While there he often visited
his old friend St. Columba (who had lived with him
in Glasnevin before departing for Iona) and helped
him in his missionary labors to the Picts. Later, he
traveled back to Ireland, where he founded the
Monasteries of Aghaboe and Kilkenny before his death
in the year 600.
ST. FINIAN OF CLONARD
December 12 (549)
St. Finian, known as the "Tutor of the Saints of
Ireland," stands with St. Enda of Aran at the head
of the patriarchs of Irish monasticism. He showed
great zeal and piety for God from his youth. He had
already founded three churches before he set off for
Wales to study at the feet of St. Cadoc at
Llancarfan (September 25, 577). In Llancarfan he
became close friends with St. Gildas (January 29,
ca. 570), another of St. Cadoc's disciples. Upon his
return to Ireland, he founded the great Monastery of
Clonard during the very same year the great St. Enda
(March 21, 530 ) reposed in Aran. A multitude of
illustrious and holy men studied under St. Finian,
including the famous "Twelve Apostles of Ireland."
St. Finian founded many other monasteries during his
lifetime, including the famous island monastery of
Skellig Michael off the southwest coast of Ireland.
ST. ITA OF KILEEDY
January 15 (570)
The gentle and motherly St. Ita was descended from
the high kings of Tara. From her youth she loved God
ardently and shone with the radiance of a soul that
loves virtue. Because of her purity of heart she was
able to hear the voice of God and communicate it to
others. Despite her father's opposition she embraced
the monastic life in her youth. In obedience to the
revelation of an angel she went to the people of Ui
Conaill in the southwestern part of Ireland. While
there, the foundation of a convent was laid. It soon
grew into a monastic school for the education of
boys, quickly becoming known for its high level of
learning and moral purity. The most famous of her
many students was St. Brendan of Clonfert (May 16,
577). She went to the other world in great holiness
to dwell forever with the risen Lord in the year
570.
ST. BRIGID OF KILDARE
February 1 (523)
The well-known founder and abbess of the Monastery
of Kildare has been revered and loved throughout
Europe for almost fifteen hundred years. While she
was still a young woman, her unbounded compassion
for the poor, the sick and the suffering grew to
such proportions as to shelter all of Ireland. St.
Brigid's tonsure at the hands of St. Mael of Ardagh
(February 6, 488) inaugurated the beginning of
women's coenobitic monasticism in Ireland. St.
Brigid soon expanded it by founding many other
convents throughout Ireland. The gifts of the Holy
Spirit shine brightly upon all through her—both men
and beasts—to this day. After receiving Holy
Communion at Kildare from St. Ninnidh of
Inismacsaint (January 18, 6th c.) she gave her soul
into the hands of her Lord in 523.
ST. GOBNAIT OF BALLYVOURNEY
February 11 (7th c.)
The future abbess and founder of the Ballyvourney
Convent was born in the 6th century in the southern
lands of Ireland. To escape a feud within their
family, her household fled west to the Aran Islands
and dwelt there for some time. It is possible that
her family accepted Christianity while living in the
islands. Gobnait began to zealously manifest her
faith through her deeds, founding a church on the
Inisheer Island. When she returned east with her
family, she encountered St. Abban of Kilabban (March
16, 650), who became her spiritual mentor. Her
family, greatly moved by their daughter's faith,
gave her the land on which she and St. Abban founded
the Monastery of Ballyvourney. In Ballyvourney her
sanctity quickly revealed itself, especially through
the abundant healings God worked through her
prayers. Even the many bees that she kept paid her
obedience, driving off brigands and other unwelcome
visitors.
ST. OENGUS THE CULDEE
March 11 (824)
While still a youth St. Oengus entered the Monastery
of Cluain-Edneach, which was renowned for its strict
ascetic life and was directed by St. Malathgeny
(October 21, 767). He had an especially great love
for the Lives of the Saints. After his ordination to
the priesthood, he withdrew to a life of solitude.
For his holy way of life many called him the "Cile
D" (Culdee) or "the friend of God." After many
people disturbed his solitude, he slipped away
secretly and entered the Monastery of Tallaght,
which was then directed by St. Maelruin (July 7,
792). He entered the monastery as a lay worker,
laboring at the most menial tasks for seven years
until God revealed his identity to St. Maelruin.
There he mortified his flesh with such ascetic feats
as standing in icy water. St. Oengus wrote the
Martyrology of Tallaght with St. Maelruin. After
Maelruin's death in 792, St. Oengus returned to
Cluain-Edneach and wrote many more works in praise
of the saints, including his well-known Martyrology
and the Book of Litanies. He reposed in 824 and
became the first hagiographer of Ireland.
ST. PATRICK OF IRELAND
March 17 (451)
The most famous of all the saints of the Emerald
Isle is undoubtedly her illustrious patron St.
Patrick. Reared in Britain and the son of a deacon,
St. Patrick was captured and enslaved by Irish
raiders while still a youth. Thus, he was carried
off to the land he would later enlighten with the
Gospel: Ireland. During his captivity, the faith of
his youth was aroused in him, and shortly thereafter
he miraculously escaped his servitude. Some years
later, he received a divine call to bring his
new-found faith back to the Irish. For this task, he
prepared as best he could in Gaul, learning from St.
Germanus of Auxerre (July 31, 448) and the fathers
of the Monastery of Lerins. While in Ireland he
ceaselessly traveled and preached the Christian
Faith to his beloved Irish people for almost twenty
years until his blessed repose in 451.
ST. ENDA OF ARAN
March 21 (530)
St. Enda is described as the "patriarch of Irish
monasticism." After many years living as a
warrior-king of Conall Derg in Oriel, St. Enda
embraced the monastic life. His interest in
monasticism originally grew as a result of the death
of a young prospective bride staying in the
community of his elder sister, St. Fanchea (January
1, ca. 520). St. Fanchea suggested that he enter the
Whithorn Monastery in southwestern Scotland. After
some years in Whithorn he returned to Ireland and
settled on the fallow, lonely Aran Islands off her
western shores. During the forty years of his severe
ascetic life there, he fathered many spiritual
disciples—including Sts. Jarlath of Cluain Fois
(June 6, 560) and Finian of Clonard (December 12,
545)—and laid the foundation for monasticism in
Ireland. St Enda reposed in the year 530 in his
beloved hermitage on Aran.
ST. DYMPHNA, WONDER-WORKER AND MARTYR OF GHEEL
May 15 ( early 7th c.)
St. Dymphna was the daughter of a pagan king and a
Christian mother in Ireland. When her mother died,
her father desired to take his own daughter to wife.
Dymphna fled with her mother's instructor, the
priest Gerberen, to the continent. Her father
followed and eventually found them. When Dymphna
refused to submit to his unholy desire, he had them
both beheaded at Gheel in what is today Belgium.
Throughout the centuries she has shown special care
and concern from the other world for those suffering
from mental illnesses and is greatly venerated
throughout Europe and America.
ST. KEVIN OF GLENDALOUGH
June 3 (618)
The path of St. Kevin's early life was well laid.
When St. Kevin was between the ages of seven and
twelve, he was tutored by the desert-loving St.
Petroc of Cornwall (June 4, 594), who was then
studying in Ireland. After St. Petroc left for
Wales, the twelve-year-old St. Kevin entered the
Monastery of Kilnamanagh. There his humility and the
holiness of his life amazed all. After his
ordination to the priesthood he followed his tutor's
desert-loving example and set out to establish his
own hermitage. He settled in an ancient pagan
cave-tomb on a crag above the upper lake of
Glendalough. For many years he lived in this
beautiful desert wilderness like another St. John
the Baptist. All the animals behaved toward him as
with Adam before the Fall. Disciples soon gathered
around him and St. Kevin was constrained to become
the founder and Abbot of the famous Glendalough
Monastery. He died at the great old age of 120 in
618 and went to his Lord.
ST. COLUMBA OF IONA
June 9 (597)
St. Columba (or Columcille) is one of the greatest
of all the saints of Ireland. Born into an
exceedingly prominent noble family, the Ui-Niall
clan, he forsook his wealth and all earthly
privileges and laid his ample natural gifts at the
feet of the Lord, becoming a monk at a young age. He
studied under some of the holiest men of his day,
including Saints Finian of Clonard (December 12,
549) and Mobhi of Glasnevin (October 12, 545). After
St. Mobhi's death, St.Columba went on to found the
monasteries of Derry and Durrow. He traveled as a
missionary throughout his beloved Ireland for almost
20 years. In 565 he settled on the island of Iona,
off the west coast of Scotland, where he remained
for 32 years and brought about the conversion of
many. He reposed on Iona in great holiness on June
9, 597.
ST. COWEY OF PORTAFERRY, ABBOT OF MOVILLE
November __ (8th c.)
St.
Cowey is a little-known monastic saint who lived
near the tip of the Ards Peninsula in the late 7th
and early 8th centuries. For many years he labored
there as a hermit, sending up his prayers to God
during his long nightly vigils in the depths of the
forest. Three holy wells are still to be found where
he labored, as well as an ancient church built
amidst them, which looks eastward over the Irish Sea.
Beside the church, an ancient cemetery completes the
view that greets the pilgrim's eye. St. Cowey's
holiness attracted many to his quiet, little
hermitage. Tradition holds that he was made abbot of
the great Moville Monastery further north on the
peninsula in 731, possibly shortly before he reposed
around the middle of the 8th century. His memory has
been kept and treasured by the local inhabitants of
the nearby town of Portaferry for over twelve
hundred years.
ST. SUIBHNE OF DAL-ARAIDHE
(
late 7th century)
Both the early Church of Syria and the early Church
of Ireland were famous for their extraordinary
ascetics—men and women who were so affected by the
touch of Divinity that they fled from all that might
interfere with their struggle, even renouncing their
reason. Syria gave the Church the stylites, and also
the "grazers": severe ascetics who lived almost like
animals, having no dwellings and eating whatever
vegetation grew in their vicinity. The Irish
manifested a similar form of sanctity in the geilt,
who were a cross between fools-for-Christ and the
Syrian grazers. The most famous of all the geilt was
St. Suibhne of Dal-Araidhe, formerly a violent Irish
chieftain whose murdeous ways brought the curse of
God upon him. In his profound repentance, he took
upon himself the extreme ascetic way of life of the
geilt, living in the open-air wilderness. Before St.
Suibhne died he gave a life confession to his
spiritual father, St. Moling (722). St. Moling
preserved this account in the form of a long poem.
This poem has come down to us today, having been
only slightly altered over the years (in very
obvious places). It is not only very beautiful
poetry but also a spiritually instructive
autobiographical document. The Saint foresaw that
since he had previously lived by the sword, he would
die by violent means. He was murdered at the end of
the 7th century in St. Moling's monastery and buried
nearby.
