Saint Muiredach of Killala, August 12

 

August 12 is the feast of Saint Muiredach (Muireadhach, Muredach) of Killala. Genealogical sources describe him as son of Eachaidh of the Cenél Lóegaire of Meath, a great-grandson of Lóegaire, King of Tara, after whom the tribal grouping was named. Despite his standing as diocesan patron of Killala, the Connacht diocese which takes in parts of the modern counties Mayo and Sligo, surprisingly little information has survived on Killala's founder. The ninth-century Tripartite Life depicts Saint Patrick as having founded Cell Alaid (Killala) where he left 'a high-ranking person of his household, that is Bishop Muiredach' in charge. However, the seventh-century Collectanea of Tírechán, presents another church, 'the Great Church by the Wood of Foclut' as the area's chief foundation. The saint of this Great Church (Domnach Mór), Mucnoe, seems to have been eclipsed by Muiredach to the point where his name is not found on the calendars of the saints. Yet for all that Saint Muiredach remains an elusive figure. Along with two female Mayo saints, Deirbhile and Géidh, he is said to have been among those who met with Saint Colum Cille at  the Synod of Ballysadare in County Sligo in 575. This, plus the fact that his famous royal ancestor Lóegaire was also supposed to be alive during the Patrician mission, suggests that Muiredach was a sixth century saint, who could not have been placed in charge of Killala by Saint Patrick as the Tripartite Life claims. The only other tradition connected with Saint Muiredach is that he gave his name to the island of Inishmurray (Inis Muireadheach) off the Sligo coast and may perhaps have been a hermit there. It is worth noting, however, that despite lending his name to the island, it was a Saint Molaisse who was the focus of devotion. Even more interestingly, Saint Muiredach shares his August 12 feast day with Saint Molaisse of Inishmurray, something I will need to research further. In his account of the saint below, Canon O'Hanlon lets us see that that earlier writers were aware of both the chronological contradictions and the general paucity of sources for the life of Saint Muiredach:

ARTICLE I.—ST. MUREDACH, FIRST BISHOP AND PATRON OF KILLALA DIOCESE. 

[PROBABLY IN THE SIXTH CENTURY.]

CHAPTER I.
INTRODUCTION—PERIOD OF ST. MUREDACH—HIS FAMILY AND DESCENT—HIS RECORDED PRESENCE AT EASDARA OR BALLYSODARE—HE BLESSES THE PORT OF KILLALA.

WHEN giving an account of our great Apostle’s progress through the province of Connaught, the author of St. Patrick’s Tripartite Life tells us, that on coming to a pleasant spot, where the River Muadius, or Moy empties into the ocean, the saint built a noble church, called Kill-Aladh, now Killala. It stood on the south bank of the Moy River. Over this church, he placed one of his disciples, named Muredach, as its first bishop. As he had been consecrated by St. Patrick, according to the account, this present holy man should have flourished during the fifth century. However, such statement has been contradicted. In a few meagre notices respecting our saint, by the Rev. Alban Butler, he follows what Harris had already written. 

 In his journey towards Connaught, about A.D. 434, St. Patrick is thought to have continued there for the ensuing seven years, namely to A.D. 441. Therefore, it is supposed, the erection of Killala church may safely be referred to some one of those intermediate years. It has been advanced, that St. Muredach, the first bishop of Killala, had not been born at such an early period, and that he did not flourish until the sixth century. Moreover, his recorded pedigree refutes the supposition of his having been contemporaneous with St. Patrick. The generally accurate historian, Rev. Dr. Lanigan, states it to be an error, that St. Muredach’s appointment over the See of Killala should be ascribed to the earlier time. He was rather contemporaneous with St. Columkille, who flourished during the sixth century. The holy Muredach is stated to have been son of Eochaid, son to Alild, son of Guaire, son to Lugid, son of Laoighaire, son to Niall of the Nine Hostages, &c., according to the Sanctilogium Genealogicum, which thus weaves his pedigree. Wherefore, in tracing his descent from Leogaire, King of Ireland, Muredach appears the sixth in generation. Such a place in order may well synchronize with the middle and close of the sixth century. 

He is spoken of as being one of those persons, assembled at Easdara or Ballysodare, in Sligo County, for the purpose of paying respect to the Apostle of the Picts. This was on the occasion of St. Columba being at that place, soon after the dissolution of a celebrated assembly held at Drumceat. Already, an account of the synod convened at Easdara has been given, in connexion with the Acts of St. Farannan; and among the notables named, as assisting thereat, is Muredach of Killala, in Tyr-Amhalgaidh. Therefore it would seem, that towards the close of St. Columba’s life, our saint had been bishop there, and that he had the honour and pleasure of greeting the great Apostle of Caledonia. However, we have no reliable account, regarding the exact period of St. Muredach’s promotion, nor is there any statement to fix those years, during which he ruled over the See of Killala. Nevertheless, we read in the Life of St. Corbmac, that St. Patrick, St. Brigid, St. Columkille, St. Cannech, and St. Muredach, bishop, had blessed the port of Killala. It does not seem probable, that Muredach should have been placed so low down in the list of these names, had he been contemporaneous with St. Patrick. 

CHAPTER II. 

SITUATION OF KILLALA—THE NATALIS AND COMMEMORATIONS OF ST. MUREDACH— THE PERIOD OF HIS DEATH UNRECORDED—BRIEF HISTORIC NOTES REGARDING THE SEE OF KILLALA—CONCLUSION. 

THE town of Killala is situated on the River Muad or Moy, in Mayo County, and it lies very near to the Atlantic Ocean. Our ancient annalists sometimes called the prelates over this See the Bishops of Tirawley. They were likewise called Bishops of O’Fiacra-mui, or Hy-Fiachrach, on the River Moy, from a territory distinguished by that name. This is said to have extended along the river in question. This territory was distinct from another, in the province of Connaught, and southwards in the County of Galway. The latter was known as O'Fiacra-Aidne.

As the Natalis of a saint is understood to coincide with the day of his death, the 12th of August apparently commemorates the anniversary of St. Muredach’s demise, as of his festival; but, we cannot find any date or year to determine the period for his existence. St. Muredach’s Natalis was celebrated in Killala Church and See, on the 12th of August, according to the Tallaght Martyrology. At this date, according to Marianus O’Gorman, the feast of St. Muredach is celebrated in the diocese and church of Killala. The continuator of Aengus also notes his festival at this day. In the Irish Calendar belonging to the Irish Ordnance Survey, on the day before the August Ides—12th of the month—there is a festival to honour Muireadhach, Bishop of Cille Haladh.

After the rule of St. Muredach over the See of Killala, the names of only two or three bishops can be found, as his. successors, before the Anglo- Norman Invasion of Ireland. After that period, we find the church of Killala —or as it is usually written Cill-Alaidh—had its special canon-choristers and herenachs. The “Annals of Loch Cé" contain entries of their deaths. The engraved arms of this See—prefixed to the account of its bishops in Harris’ Ware—are: bearing sapphire, a crozier in pale, topaz, suppressed in the fess point by a Bible expanded, and with clasps proper.  In Killala diocese, this saint’s memory is recorded and honoured with the celebration of a First- Class festival and an octave. An indulgence commences also on the day already named, and it continues during that octave.

 

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Saint Bláán of Bute, August 10

August 10 is the feast of Saint Bláán of Bute, also known as Blane of Dunblane. The earliest written record of this saint is found in our own early ninth-century Martyrology of Oengus, where on August 10 he is recorded as “fair Blane of Kingarth”. In the late twelfth-century Martyrology of Gorman he is hailed as Bláán buadach Bretan - victorious Bláán of the Britons. Modern scholars wonder when and why the cultus of Saint Blane moved from Kingarth to Dunblane and why Kingarth's church leaders stopped being described as bishops and were instead designated as abbots. Unfortunately, there are few surviving historical sources to answer these and other questions and the hagiographical record is also sparse. The seventeenth-century hagiologist Father John Colgan had access to a Life of the saint written a century earlier at Dunblane but this has now been lost, and Colgan's summary of it in the Acta Sanctorum is all that remains. The only surviving account of the saint's Life is to be found in the Lessons for the Feast of Saint Blane in the Aberdeen Breviary, one of the few saints to have a complete office preserved within it. There he is portrayed as a member of a noble Irish family who, after seven years of study with Saints Comgall and Cainnech, ends up in Bute where his mother's brother Saint Cattán completes Blane's monastic education. After his ordination, first to the priesthood and then to the episcopate, Bláán makes a pilgrimage to Rome where he undertakes further study and with the Pope's blessing sets out for home once again. Returning via the north of England he restores the dead son of a local petty-king to life and the grateful father grants the saint some lands in his territory. The Annals do not record a date of death for Saint Bláán and since all the surviving sources regarding him were written centuries later, it is difficult to establish a reliable chronology for the saint's life and career. Modern scholarly consensus seems to be that he is a sixth-century saint, a view shared by Canon O'Hanlon in his account of Saint Blane in Volume VIII of his Lives of the Irish Saints: 

ARTICLE I.-ST. BLANE, OR BLAAN, BISHOP OF CEANN-GARADH, NOW KINGARTH, IN BUTE, SCOTLAND.

[SUPPOSED TO HAVE LIVED IN THE SIXTH CENTURY.]

CHAPTER I.

INTRODUCTION- SOURCES FOR BIOGRAPHY-THE PARENTAGE AND BIRTH OF BLAAN HIS EARLY EDUCATION—HIS CONNECTION WITH THE ISLAND OF BUTE- FOUNDATION OF DUNBLAINE.

FROM the accounts which have come down to our time, Blan, or Blaan, was illustrious among the Scottish saints. As we have already stated, while some of the Scottish Calendarists-notably Camerarius and Dempster have placed his festival at the 19th of July, most authorities assign the 10th day of August as that for his principal feast. As in so many other cases, we have greatly to regret, that various contradictory and fabulous accounts have been transmitted to us, regarding this holy bishop, and which contribute so much to obscure his personal history.

From the Aberdeen Breviary, the Acts of this saint are chiefly drawn. The life of St. Blane was written by G. Newton, Archdeacon of Dunblaine, in 1505. Some accounts of him may be found, in the works of Thomas Dempster, of John Leland, and of Bishop Tanner. Some particulars regarding him are to be found, likewise, in the Bollandists. These remarks are contained in eleven paragraphs. Interesting notices of St. Blane are given by Bishop Forbes, in les Petits Bollandistes, and in the "Dictionary of Christian Biography." He is noticed, also, in the Works of Bishop Challoner, of Rev. Alban Butler, and of Rev. S. Baring-Gould.

While some writers place the time of St. Blane so early as the fifth, it is more generally thought, that he lived in the sixth century. However, his period of life has given rise to great differences of opinion. That he lived earlier than the beginning of the ninth century is certain, since we find him commemorated in the "Felire" of St. Aengus, on this day. His mother was Ercha, or Erca, of Irish birth; but, her name is written Ertha, in the Breviary of Aberdeen. She was a sister of St. Catan, and thus he was allied to a distinguished Irish family. Far different is the account of Dempster, who calls her Bertha. King Aidan, the son of Gauran, is stated to have been his father or grandfather, and he died in A.D. 604. Wherefore, our saint was probably born at the end of the sixth or beginning of the seventh century. St. Blaan is said to have been uncle to St. Laserian, Bishop and Patron of Leighlin.

St. Blaan was born in the Island of Bute, which lies off the south-western shore of Scotland. In his youth, Blaan was instructed by his uncle, the Blessed Cathan, who lived there, and who is thought to have built the original church of Kingarth, the parish of which seems to have originally included the whole of that Island. The ruins of its ancient church are still to be seen, near the centre of the parish, about two miles north from the head of Kilchatan Bay. The highest elevation in that parish is known as Suidhe Chatain, or St. Chathan's seat, about 520 feet above the sea level.

Afterwards, St. Blane went over to Ireland, for his education in piety and learning. From the Acts of St. Catan, or Caddan, we learn some particulars regarding St. Blaan. He is said to have been a disciple to St. Congall, the celebrated Abbot of Bangor, and also to St. Kenneth -otherwise Cainnech during the seven years he lived in Ireland. From his connexion with these holy men, St. Blane could hardly have been born before the middle of the sixth century. Some notices, concerning the present holy man, may be found in the Life of St. Laserian, at the 18th of April.

Having remained in Ireland for seven years, under the discipline of most holy masters, St. Blane returned with his mother in a boat without oars to the island of his nativity. On reaching Bute, they were joyfully received by St. Cathan. Under his direction, St. Blann began to cultivate those pious dispositions, which directed his aspirations towards the ecclesiastical state. His master, too, had a Divine inspiration, that he was destined to become a great man in the service of the Church, and this he also predicted. Accordingly, Blaan was promoted to sacred orders, and he was raised to the rank of priesthood. His virtues were so recognised, that certain bishops insisted he should be consecrated like themselves. Although unwilling to assume such an office, yet he was obliged to comply with their wishes. Having been engaged one night to tend the lamps, while the choir had been singing psalms, suddenly the lights went out. He had recourse to prayer for a time. Then, he is said to have struck fire from the ends of his fingers, as when flint is struck with steel. This miracle was wrought on his behalf, so that the brethren could not impute such accident to his idleness or negligence. After his return into Scotland, he entered among the Scottish Religious, called Culdees, or worshippers of God. These were famous in his day for their sanctity. With them, he behaved in so holy a manner, as to be chosen their Abbot or Superior. Like his uncle, St. Cathan, he appears to have been connected with the Island of Bute, and there St. Blane is reputed to have formerly enclosed land, extending from sea to sea, by certain and apparent boundaries. Near the centre of the southern peninsula, the ruins of St. Blane's church are pointed out on an artificial mound, the level top of which is enclosed by a wall, composed of large stones rudely piled together, and 500 feet in circumference. The whole of this space, which was used as a cemetery, is arched with masonry about two feet beneath the surface.

A rude built passage, which seems to have been underground, runs from it to a smaller and lower enclosure of 124 feet in circumference, and locally known as the Nunnery. This was used, apparently, as a burial ground for females. On the north, the Church is approached by a flight of steps leading from a neighbouring wood, in which there is a circular building. This stands at the base of a rocky ridge, about 50 feet high.

Afterwards, St. Blane was judged worthy of being promoted to the episcopal dignity. Being consecrated a bishop, he remitted nothing of his former habits; but, still he continued to live in the midst of his Religious, as one of themselves, practising all the exercises of regular discipline. He is thought to have selected a site for a monastery, on the banks of the River Allan, and nearly equidistant from the German and Atlantic Oceans. It was sheltered on most sides by the Grampian and Ochils hills. The River flows beautifully clear, through a rocky channel, in a rapid and turbulent stream.His convent was afterwards erected into a Bishop's See; but, when this occurred has not been ascertained. From him, that place was called Dunblane, or, as sometimes written, Dumblaine. Its Cathedral was dedicated to God in his name; and, he was honoured of old, as a patron of that whole diocese. The See comprehended portions of Perthshire and Sterlingshire. The medieval cathedral is said to have been founded by a great benefactor of the Church, David I., King of Scotland, in 1142, and the same monarch is supposed to have nominated its first bishop. It was restored, however, or rather rebuilt, by Clemens, Bishop of Dunblane, about the year 1240.

The greater part of the cathedral has been unroofed, and it is otherwise in a ruinous state. However, the chancel is tolerably preserved, and it is still used as a parish church. The eastern window and a few of the entrances have been partially renewed. 

Some of the choristers' seats, with those of the bishop and dean, are yet to be seen. These are of oak and quaintly carved. In the nave, most of the prebendal stalls are entire; the entrance and the fine western window have suffered little injury. The roof has fallen in, however, and the building is otherwise much decayed.


CHAPTER II.

THE MISSIONARY CAREER OF ST BLANE -HIS MIRACLES -HIS DEATH- FESTIVALS AND COMMEMORATIONS- CONCLUSION.

THE Church of St. Blaan in Cenngaradh is described in that commentary, attached to the Leabhar Breac copy of the Feilire Aengus, at the 10th of August, as being in Gallgaedelaib, or Galloway, in Alba or Scotland; while Dumblane is there stated to have been his chief city. It has been stated, that St. Blaan laboured among the Picts in Scotland. Having been raised to the episcopal dignity, he undertook a pilgrimage to Rome, to obtain a greater knowledge of Christian discipline, and an accumulation of spiritual graces. When he had been thus instructed and exercised, receiving the Pontifical blessing, he returned homewards, taking his way through England. On this journey, he did not use horses, but he travelled on foot. During his progress, he is said to have entered a city in the northern part of Anglia, where men and women were lamenting the death of a certain ruler's son. Moved to compassion, St. Blaan offered up prayers, and the youth was miraculously restored to life. For this miraculous benefit, he received the lordships of Appleby, Troclyngham, Congere, and Malemath, in England. These manors remained the property of the See of Dunblane, to the fourteenth century.

At length, St. Blaan most holily and most happily ended his days among the Scots. Some writers assert, that he died during the time of King Kenneth III., in the tenth century. Other accounts, however, place him at a much earlier period. Thus, it has been stated, that St. Blann died A.D. 446. This, however, is far antecedent to his time.

His name and festival are entered in most of the Scottish kalendars at this day, viz. : in the Kalendarium Drummondiense, in the Martyrology of Aberdeen, in Adam King's Kalendar, in the Menologium Scoticum of Thomas Dempster, as also in the Scottish Entries in the Calendar of David Camerarius. The Martyrology of Tallaght registers, at the 10th of August, Blaan, Bishop of Cinngaradh, in Gallghaedelaibh Udnochtan. This latter word is evidently a misplaced addition to the original text. In the anonymous Calendar of Irish Saints, as published by O'Sullivan Beare, the name of Blanius occurs, at the 10th of August. On the authority of Floratius, a Blavius, Bishop -identical with the present saint- is given at this same day. His name is entered in the Martyrology of Donegal, at this date, as Blaan, Bishop, of Ceann-garadh. It is added, likewise, in Gall Ghavidhelu, Dubblann was his chief city. In the Table postfixed to this Martyrology, it is observed, that no notice had been taken of him in the Roman Martyrology. Under the head of Cind-Garad, Duald MacFirbis records Blaan, Bishop, from Cinn Garad in Gall Gaeidhela, Dunblane, its chief city. He is named Blaan, and called the virtuous of Britain, at August 10th.

Several churches were dedicated to St. Blane, in Bute and Argyleshire. One of these was known as Kilblane, a parish in the diocese of Argyle, and Deanery of Kintyre. The bell of St. Blane-a small hand-bell-is still preserved at Dunblane. It is marked H. + B. It was customary to ring it formerly, at the head of all funeral processions in the parish. This holy bishop lived to perform works, which gave edification to those subjects placed under his rule, while he laboured to render himself deserving of the responsibilities unwillingly assumed as superior.

To his flock, he broke the bread of life, and preached the words of wisdom, so that when called from earth his virtues were eternally rewarded in the companionship of God's faithful servants.


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