GLOUTHANE is a union embracing the ancient parishes of Caherlag, Little Island* Ballydeloher, Killaspugmullane and Kilquane…..
*Little Island, so called in contradistinction to the Great Island or the Cobh of Cork. Names by which Little Island has appeared in the various records are: Cellescop Lappan (from Saint Lappan whose feast occurs on 26 March); De Insula; Ecclesia Sancta Lappani de Insula Parva; Ecclesia Sancta Lappani de Inysmemele; Sancta Lappani de insula parve als inish vic Neyl. Mac Neill was a chieftain of the Uí Tassaigh who inhabited this district.
E. Bolster, A History of the Diocese of Cork: From the Earliest Times to the Reformation (Irish University Press, 1972), p.282.
I only wish the author had given the grounds on which this identification was made, as the martyrologies do not make reference to the location or to any other identifiers of the saint commemorated on this day. The Martyrology of Tallaght simply lists the name of Lapán on March 26, whilst his name is not found among the entries for the day in the Martyrology of Oengus. Turning to the later calendars of the saints, the twelfth-century Martyrology of Gorman records ‘very holy Loppán’ and the seventeenth-century Martyrology of Donegal notes Lappan as the final name in the list of saints commemorated, again without reference to a place or other information which may have helped us to identify this saint with the bishop of Little Island.
Earlier diocesan historian, Canon Patrick Power, writing on the parish of Little Island in a 1921 paper noted:
Three Lappans are enumerated in the Irish Martyrologies, but which, if any, of these is our Lappan of the Island we have nothing to indicate.Rev. P. Power, Place-Names and Antiquities of S.E. County Cork. Barony of Barrymore. Part III. Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy. Section C: Archaeology, Celtic Studies, History, Linguistics, Literature, 36, (1921) 164–205 at p. 184.
Canon O'Hanlon, in Volume III of his Lives of the Irish Saints also did not make a link between the Saint Lapán of March 26 and the Cork Bishop of Little Island:
ARTICLE V.—St. LAPPAN, OR LAPPANUS.
A record is found, in the Martyrology of Tallagh, at the 26th of March, regarding a St. Lappan. The Bollandists notice him, at the same date, as Lappanus. Again, Lappan is set down, in the Martyrology of Donegal, as having a festival, at this date, but without any relation to a locality.
It seems, therefore, that Saint Lapán is one of many Irish saints whose
memory lives on in the place name of his church, but
about whom no historical information has survived. There seems to be nothing in the calendar entries to confirm Bolster's contention that the saint commemorated on March 26 is Lapán of Little Island and her footnote is the only source I have been able to find for this claim. If anyone knows of any further sources I would be most interested to hear of them.
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