Saint Aireid of Ardrinnigh, August 26

August 26 is the commemoration of a Saint Aireid of Ardrinnigh, and Canon O'Hanlon summarizes what little is known of him:

ST. AIREID, OR EREAD, OF ARDRINNIGH. [POSSIBLY IN THE SIXTH OR SEVENTH CENTURY.]

As in so many other cases, much uncertainty prevails, in the effort to discover particulars relating to the present saint. The name of Aread or Eread, a Priest, occurs, as Colgan tells us, in the Martyrologies of Tallagh, and of Marianus O'Gorman, at the 26th of August. However, it must be observed, that in Dr. Kelly's edition of the Tallagh Martyrology, no mention of St. Aireid or Eread is found at this day. Nor is there such an entry, in that copy contained in the Book of Leinster. In a Life of St. Maidoc, Bishop of Ferns, contained in the collection of British Saints by John Capgrave and John of Tinmouth, allusion is made to a St. Aired. He is said to have lived at a place called Ardrinnigh, some distance from the mountain Beatha or Betha, on the confines of Cavan and Monaghan counties. Nevertheless, in the Life of St. Maidoc, published by Colgan, although that place is named, there is no mention made of Aired, in connection with it. He is thought to have been miraculously visited there by St. Maidoc, Bishop of Ferns, with whom he is presumed to have lived contemporaneously. Still, this is by no means certain, from any evidence we have been able to procure... The feast of Aireid, Priest, is met with in the Donegal Martyrology, but, further light is wanting to establish his period and even identity.

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