Tuesday 2 July 2013

Saint Ternoc of Cluain-Mór, July 2

At July 2, the Irish calendars record the memory of a saint Ternoc, but, as Canon O'Hanlon explains, it is difficult to identify this holy man or his locality with any certainty:

ST. TERNOG, OR TERNOC, OF CLUAIN-MOR.

ONLY a supposition can be raised, that the present holy man lived in the early period of the Irish Church. In the Martyrology of Tallagh, we find a festival entered, at the 2nd of July, in honour of Ternoc, of Cluanamoir. In the Martyrology of Marianus O'Gorman, at the 2nd of July, this saint is eulogized, as being innocent and virgin-like. Whether this was the St. Mernocus, or Ternocus, who is mentioned, as having lived a solitary life in that delightful Island, near the Mountain of Stone, and who flourished before that time when St. Brendan the Navigator sailed on his adventurous voyage beyond the Atlantic, cannot well be determined. We have seen already, that St. Columkille s had a disciple named Ternoc, who interrogated him regarding futurity; yet, we should be far from intimating, that he was identical with the present saint. The St. Ternog under consideration appears to have been venerated at a place, called Cluain-mor; but, where it was situated, we are not informed. It must be observed, that Mr. John M'Call places it, in the county of Carlow; and, if such be the case, it seems most likely, that the present holy man was that Abbot or Bishop of Ferns, mentioned in the note of Colgan to St. Brigid's Acts, and who died A.D. 662. The name, however, is there printed Tuenocus, or Tuenoc, yet elsewhere Ternoc. There is a parish of Clonmore, in the county of Wexford, and in connexion with it, we find allusion made to the present St. Temoc, whose feast has been set down, by Colgan, in one instance at the 2nd of June, and in another place, at the 2nd of July —which latter is the correct date. Nevertheless, we are not to assume, that the present Cluain-mor is to be confounded with Cluain-mor-Moedhoc, which was in the county of Carlow. However, of the many Clonmores in Ireland, we cannot know with certainty to which of these the present holy man belonged. The Martyrology of Donegal, at the 2nd of July, enters a feast for Ternóg, of Cluain-mór. In the Manuscript Calendar of Professor Eugene O' Curry, the feast of St. Ternog is entered, at the 2nd of July. At the present date, citing the authority of Sirinus, the Bollandists have a misprinted entry of Fernacus de Cluain-mor; but, they desire to have clearer evidences regarding him.

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