Tuesday 4 June 2013

Saint Ernin of Cluain, June 4


On June 4 we commemorate the memory of Saint Ernan of Cluain, who, as one of 25 saints of this name identified by Canon O'Hanlon, is difficult to identity specifically in the absence of further information. The task is not made any easier by the fact that the placename Cluain could also be any one of hundreds throughout Ireland. O'Hanlon suggests that today's Saint Ernin could be the one mentioned as the 'son of Craskin' in Adamnán's Life of Saint Columba. The Martyrology of Tallaght, however, records the feast of Ernéne mac Craséni at August 18, at which time we can have a look at the Columban link.

St. Ernin, or Ernineus, of Cluain.

It is set down in the Martyrology of Donegal, that Ernin, of Cluain, had a festival, on this day. The simple denomination of his place—applied in composition to so many Irish localities —renders it difficult to identify this saint. However, he is called the son of Craskin, in Adamnan's Life of St. Columba; and, in the Annals of Roscrea, these state, that he departed this life, A.D. 634. Father John Colgan and the Bollandists refer his festival, to this 4th day of June.

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