Wednesday, 2 August 2023

Saint Cobrán of Cluain Cúallachta


Completing a quartet of obscure Irish saints who share August 2 as a feast day with Cobrán of Cluain Cúallachta. In his entry for the saint in Volume VIII of his Lives of the Irish Saints,  Canon O'Hanlon has to admit defeat in identifying the place name associated with the saint. All he can record is the fact that the name of Cobrán of Cluain Cúallachta is found on the Irish calendars on August 2 and the speculations of the 17th c. hagiologist, Father John Colgan, who sought to link him to the bloodline of Saint Colum Cille:


Article III. St. Cobhran or Cobran, of Cluana Cuanlach, or of Cluain-Cuallachta. 
 
St. Cobran, of Cluana Cuanlach, is venerated on this day,  as stated in the Martyrology of Tallagh.  If we adopted the first reading so far as the name of his place is concerned, perhaps Cuanlach might be resolved into Loch Cuan, the ancient name for Strangford Lough; yet, it seems correctly to have been Cluain Cuallacta, and we know of no place in Ireland, with which it can be identified. A saint of this name is found, and whose pedigree is given by Colgan, who thinks he may be identical with the present holy man. He was known as Cobhran, the son of Enan,and the nephew of St. Columba, through Minchotha, who was sister to the latter, and the mother of Cobhran. A festival in honour of Cobhran, of Cluain Cuallachta, was celebrated at the 2nd of August, according to the Martyrology of the O'Clerys.

 

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