Saint Flannan of Cill-Ard, March 14

March 14 is the commemoration of Saint Flannan of Cill-Ard. As Canon O'Hanlon explains below, identifying both the holy man and his locality is difficult, as all we have to rely on is the recording of both in the Irish calendars, beginning with the earliest, the Martyrology of Tallaght:

St. Flannan of Cill-Ard.

On the 14th of March, in the Martyrology of Tallagh, we find the name of Flanan, Cille aird. Many places, called Killard, are known, in different parts of Ireland. The Bollandists, who barely notice St. Flannanus, at this date, also assert, that, probably, his Kill-aird—formerly called Druimard—was at Hy-Garchon, in Lagenia. For this statement, however, they quote Colgan's authority, in his Acts of St. Aidus. Under either name, it is not to be found on the Ordnance Survey Maps for the county of Wicklow; although, it was called Killaird there, in the time of Colgan. There was a Cill-airidh—said to be known at present as Killerry, in the barony of Tirerrill, county of Sligo—where there appears to have been an ecclesiastical establishment, in the middle of the fourteenth century. The ancient name for Kilworth, in the county of Cork, is said to have been Cill Uird. Marianus O'Gorman and Cathal Maguire have notices of this saint, in their respective Martyrologies. Flannan, of Cill Ard, is mentioned in the Martyrology of Donegal, on this day. The time when he flourished does not appear to have been ascertained.

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