‘I beseech a wonderful king': The Hymn of Saint Sanctán

 

 

Below is a hymn attributed to Saint Sanctán (Santán), who, although he is described in the Martyrology of Oengus on his May 9 feast day as 'famous Bishop Sanctán', remains intriguingly obscure. Canon O'Hanlon's account of the saint, which can be read at the blog here records the traditions concerning his British origins and those of his brother Saint Matoc (Madog). The Preface to the hymn, preserved in the early eleventh-century Irish Liber Hymnorum, says that it was composed as Saint Sanctán was on a visit to his brother at the island which bore his name, Inis Matoc. The island's location has never been identified, although Canon O'Hanlon notes that an island in the lake of Templeport, County Leitrim had been suggested. He also notes that as the the Preface makes clear, up until the visit which inspired the hymn Saint Sanctán was 'completely ignorant of the Scottish language; but, that he miraculously obtained the gift of Irish metrical composition'. A most timely and useful miracle indeed! Below is the text of Saint Sanctán's hymn, with a tribute to the author appended, taken from the 1898 translation of The Irish Liber hymnorum by Bernard and Atkinson:

PREFACE TO ST. SANCTAN’S HYMN.

‘I beseech a wonderful king” Bishop Sanctan composed this hymn, and it was on his going to Clonard westward to Inis Matoc that he composed it; he was brother to Matoc, both of them being of British race, but Matoc came into Ireland earlier quam Bishop Sanctan. Causa autem haec est, to free it ab hostibus, and that his brother should be allowed (to come) to him in insulam; Scoticam uero linguam usque ad horam hanc non habuit sed deus ei tam cito eam donauit. Tempus autem dubitatur.

St. Sanctan’s Hymn.

I beseech a wonderful King of angels, 

for it is a name that is mightiest; 

to me (be) God for my rear, God on my left, 

God for my van, God on my right! 

 

 God for my help,—holy call— 

against each danger, Him I invoke!  

a bridge of life let there be below me, 

benediction of God the Father above me! 

 

Let the lofty Trinity arouse us, 

 (each one) to whom a good death (?) is not (yet) certain! 

Holy Spirit noble, strength of heaven, 

God the Father, Mary’s mighty Son! 

 

A great King who knows our offences 

Lord over earth, without sin,— 

to my soul for every black-sin 

let never demons’ godlessness (?) visit me ! 

 

God with me, may He take away each toil! 

may Christ draw up my pleadings, 

may apostles come all around me, 

may the Trinity of witness come to me! 

 

May mercy come to me (on) earth, 

from Christ let not (my) songs be hidden! 

let not death in its death-wail reach me, 

nor sudden death in disease befal me! 

 

May no malignant thrust that stupefies and perplexes 

reach me without permission of the Son of God! 

May Christ save us from every bloody death, 

from fire, from raging sea ! 

 

From every death-drink, that is unsafe 

for my body, with many terrors! 

may the Lord each hour come to me 

against wind, against swift waters! 

 

I shall utter the praises of Mary’s Son 

who fights for good deeds, 

(and) God of the elements will reply, 

(for) my tongue (is) a lorica for battle. 

 

In beseeching God from the heavens 

may my body be incessantly laborious; 

that I may not come to horrible hell 

I beseech the King whom I have besought. I beseech a wonderful King. 

 

 Bishop Sanctan ... a sage 

soldier, angel famous pure-white, 

may he make free my body on earth, 

may he make holy my soul towards heaven ! 

 

May there be a prayer with thee for me, O Mary! 

May heaven's King be merciful to us 

against wound, danger and peril! 

O Christ, on Thy protection (rest) we ! 

 

I beseech the King free, everlasting 

Only Son of God, to watch over us; 

may He protect me against sharp dangers, 

He, the Child that was born in Bethlehem.

J.H. Bernard and R. Atkinson (eds. and trans.), The Irish Liber hymnorum, Vol. II (Henry Bradshaw Society, London, 1898), 47-48.

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An Irish Poem on the Day of Judgement

I have been re-reading Donald Meek's excellent The Quest for Celtic Christianity, a review of which can be found on the blog here. He points out that modern 'Celtic Christians', in their desire to recast the early medieval Irish (and Scottish and Welsh) church in their own image, leads some of its exponents to:

...make light of, or completely avoid, those aspects of early medieval Catholic doctrine and practice which are characteristic of real Celtic Christianity. Protestant writers who wish to claim 'Celtic Christianity' as their model make little or no mention of the mass, the practice of penance or the widespread belief in the efficacy of relics.

Donald Meek, The Quest for Celtic Christianity, (Edinburgh, 2000), p.95.

I had this in mind while reading the poem below on the Day of Judgement, which the editor thought may date to the tenth century. The impossibly upbeat modern "Celtic church" has little time for sin, judgement and hell, yet here we have a Middle Irish reflection on these very themes. I am sure that modern 'Celtic Christians' would applaud the notion that the poor and humble will be exalted whilst arrogant clerics and other authority figures get their comeuppance. Sadly, our ancestors were not on message about gender equality, for 'lewd unwomanly women' face the wrath of heaven's King too. Yet for all that this poem presents the realities of medieval notions of hell - complete with black demons, fire and suffering - it is balanced by a litany of petitions for deliverance. The final stanza is particularly comforting, expressing the hope that we may be wheat in the divine granary and triumph 'in the rout of Doom':

A Poem on the Day of Judgement

1. Doom! Not slight will be its uproar when the world will burn; it were meet, O Christ with grades [of angels], that Adam’s seed should dread it.
2. Obdurate is the human race, harder than stones are their hearts when they heed not the many vast pains.
3. When the earth will vomit forth the hosts of Adam’s vast seed, when one blaze will fill both heaven and earth.
4. When the host of hell, the tribes of earth, the multitude of saints, the nine grades of angels will meet in one gathering when each question will be solved.
5. When the Judge will pronounce righteous true judgements, awarding heaven to the chosen, increase of punishment to the evil folk.
6. The humble, lowly, devout folk with purity of heart, the despised wretches will be in the ranks of heaven’s King.
7. The red-mouthed brehons, the lewd, the sinful, the satirists, the contentious, arrogant clerics will find neither honour nor welcome.
8. The envious, the parricides, the wicked impious chiefs, the lewd unwomanly women will find death and extinction.
9. Bitter and harsh will be their repentance, they will shed tears over cheeks, the lying, the impious, the folk of every enduring sin.
10. It will be a shame, it will be a reproach to the host of the wicked, as you shall see, when all will behold the sin of each one of them.
11. After being for a long space of time in the scorching fire of Doom, they will be cast by the King of the Sun into a place of torture at last.
12. Sorry will be the outcry they will make, dreadful will be their wailings, as they part from holy angels, as they go with black demons.
13. Woe to the soul which heeds not the din of the mighty Day of Doom; worse seventy-seven times to dwell in hard avenging hell.
14. Its bitter cold, its great burning, its hunger, its dreadful thirst, its crushing, its heavy revenge, its horror, its stifling smoke, its slaying.
15. Its many fearful monsters, its groaning, its wild woeful lament, its fiery rotten sea, its vile devilish faces.
16. Woe to him who hath come into this world, woe to our body, woe to our souls to each one who is destined to dwell for ever in ruthless hell.
17. Of Thy fondness, O fond Father, of Thy gentleness, O King of Heaven, cast me not into the bitter prison in which there are many groans.
18. For the sake of each noble intercession in heaven and on earth, when Thou wilt . . . with me, deal gently with my soul!
19. For the sake of Thy cross, of Thy passion, of Thy Kingship, O Prince, come valiantly to my aid in all the sufferings of my soul.
20. For the sake of each noble intercession in heaven and on earth, I pray Thee, O Christ of my heart, that the Kingdom of Heaven may be for my soul.
21. For the sake of Thy cross, of Thy passion, protect me against all iniquity, lest, O Heavenly King, the temptations of demons or men destroy me.
22. For the sake of Thy cross, of Thy passion, come forthwith to my aid; before I go from the yellow world take from me every unrighteousness.
23. Of Thy vast mercy protect me at all times, put into my soul Thy great love, that it may be overflowing with love for Thee.
24. That I may be wheat in Thy granary on the day when the chaff is burned, that I may carry off victory and triumph yonder in the rout of Doom. 

J.G. O'Keefe, 'A Poem on the Day of Judgement', Ériu Vol 3 (1907), 29-33.

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Irish Saints in the War Poetry of Katharine Tynan

 

Links between Ireland and Belgium were forged during the great missionary endeavours of the early medieval Irish church when Irish saints such as Saint Foillan, Ultan and Fursey made their mark. Later the scholars in exile in the Irish College at Louvain recovered and preserved the Lives of those Irish saints who had laboured in Europe and in many cases reintroduced them to their countrymen. These links were recalled during the First World War when a particular appeal was made to Ireland to come to the aid of 'gallant little Belgium' and fight for the rights of small nations. The Irish also made a contribution to the poetry associated with the Great War, and in the two poems below Katharine Tynan (1861-1931) invokes the saints of Ireland for aid and protection. In the first poem, she contrasts a peaceful idyllic scene in Ireland, where people sleep soundly under the watchful presence of the Irish saints, with the scene of devastation in war-ravaged Belgium, where the saints seem to be silent. In the second poem a mother commends her 'little son' (probably a big strapping lad!) to the protection of the Irish saints and the heavenly hosts. I would like to dedicate this post to my own great-uncle James, who died aged 19 in 1915 and is one of many who has no known grave, but is remembered only as a name on the Menin Gate Memorial.


THE WATCHERS

THE cottages all lie asleep;
The sheep and lambs are folded in
Winged sentinels the vale will keep
Until the hours of life begin.

The children with their prayers all said
Sleep until cockcrow shall awake
The gardens in their gold and red
And robins in the bush and brake.

The fields of harvest golden-white,
The fields of pasture rich and green,
Sleep on nor fear the kindly night,
The watching mountains set between.

The river sings its sleepy song,
Nought stirs the wakeful owl beside:
Our peace is builded sure and strong
No evil beast can creep inside.

St Patrick and St Brigid hold
The vale its little houses all,
While men-at-arms in white and gold
Glide swiftly by the outer wall.

St Brendan and St Kevin pluck
The robes of God that He may hear--
And Colum: "Keep the Irish flock
So that no shame or sin come near."

What news of Belgian folk to-day?
How fare the village and the town?
O Belgium's all on fire they say,
And all her towers are toppling down.

What are her angels doing then,
And are the Belgian saints asleep,
That in this night of dule and pain
The Belgians mourn, the Belgians weep?

Katharine Tynan, Flower of Youth:Poems in War Time, (London, 1917), 18-19.

In the second poem, A Woman Commends Her Little Son, an Irish mother calls on a host of heavenly protectors to look out for her boy:


A WOMAN COMMENDS HER LITTLE SON

To the aid of my little son
I call all the magnalities --
Archangel, Dominion,
Powers and Principalities.

Mary without a stain,
Joseph that was her spouse,
All God's women and men,
Out of His glorious House.

The Twelve Apostles by him:
Matthew and Mark and John,
Luke, the Evangelists nigh him,
So he fight not alone.

Patrick, Columcille, Bride --
The Saints of the Irish nation;
Keiran, Kevin beside,
In the death and the desolation.

Listen, ye soldier saints,
Sebastian, Ignatius, Joan,
Be by his side; if he faints,
Strengthen my little son.

In the Side of Christ I lay him,
In the Wound that the spear made;
In the pierced Hands I stay him,
So I am not afraid.

On the knees of the Blessed Mary
And in the fold of her arm,
Refuge and sanctuary
Where he shall take no harm.

To the Wound in the Heart of Christ,
To the Trinity Three in One,
To the Blood spilled out, unpriced,
For love of my little son.

Katharine Tynan, Herb o' Grace: Poems in War-Time. (London, 1918), 49-50.

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Saint Camelacus of Rahan, November 3

November 3 is the feast day of Saint Camelacus (Camulacus, Caomhlach, Cáemlach) of Rahan, County Offaly. He appears to have been the original founder of the church at Rahan, but was later overshadowed by Saint Mochuda (Mochutu) or Carthage, the saint more readily associated with the monastery at this site. An original founder saint being eclipsed subsequently by another isn't unknown. Speaking of the seventh century, Richard Sharpe, the translator of The Life of Saint Columba for the Penguin Classics series, makes this point:

They were years that witnessed immense changes in Irish society and in the Irish church. In particular, some early saints disappear from view as their churches were eclipsed by those of other saints. For example, a letter written in the 630s to Ségéne, fifth abbot of Iona, mentions a group of leading church founders; the list includes St Nessan, who fades from view before anything was recorded of him. Rahan, Co.Offaly, was regarded as the church of St Camelacus in the early seventh century, but a hundred years later his place had been reassigned to St Mochutu.

Richard Sharpe, ed. and trans. Adomnán of Iona, Life of St Columba (Penguin Books, 1995), p.4

But fortunately, unlike Saint Nessan, Saint Camelacus did not vanish completely for he is recorded in a number of early medieval sources. One of Saint Patrick's earliest hagiographers, Tirechán, writing in the closing decade of the seventh century, recorded the names of bishops appointed to establish churches by the Irish patron. He tells us:

He sent Camelacus of the Comienses to Mag Cumi and with his finger pointed out to him the place from the hill of Granard, that is the church of Raithen.

What 'of the Comienses' means has never been determined. Some scholars feel that the saint's own name raises questions too. Aidan Breen writes in the online Dictionary of Irish Biography:

The name Came(u)lacus is unusual. It could be Gaulish, and the epithet ‘of the Comienses’ might therefore refer to some Gaulish tribal group. If that is the case, Camelacus would have been one of the Gaulish bishops who assisted Patrick, along with Auxilius, Iserninus and Secundinus. 

Aidan Breen,  'Camelacus (Cáemlach?, Camulacus)'  https://doi.org/10.3318/dib.001404.v1

 However, he goes on to acknowledge that the name Camelacus could be a Latinization of the Irish Cáemlach and Commienses of a tribal grouping in Offaly.

The Martyrology of Gorman records the saint under the name 'Caemlach' on November 3 with a scholiast note adding 'from Rathen'. The Martyrology of Donegal records 'CAEMHLACH, of Raithin' at the same date.

But it is as the Latin Camelacus that one of the most intriguing sources testifies to our saint. For a Hymnus Sancti Camelaci is among the twelve hymns found in the late seventh-century Antiphonary of Bangor. The hymn, Audite bonum exemplum (Hear the good example), bears a number of similarities to the better-known and much longer Audite omnes amantes (Listen, all who love God) in honour of Saint Patrick, traditionally ascribed to the authorship of Saint Secundinus, which the Antiphonary also preserves. Father Michael Curran MSC, in his 1984 study The Antiphonary of Bangor and the Early Irish Monastic Liturgy, pointed out some similarities between the two hymns. Both are alphabetical hymns, both begin with Audite and both contain some other textual similarities. Furthermore:

Audite bonum also speaks of Camelacus, who was a fifth-century contemporary of Patrick, as if he were still alive, except in the final two stanzas where he is spoken of as being in his eternal home.

All of these similarities may indicate either that Audite bonus is an imitation of Audite omnes or that both were written by the same author. The shorter hymn draws a warm and attractive picture of Camelacus, who is characterized above all by humility, gentleness and joyful fidelity in the service of God. Mention is made more than once of his poverty. 

 Michael Curran MSC, The Antiphonary of Bangor and the Early Irish Monastic Liturgy (Dublin, 1984), 46-47.

One of the most interesting references in the Hymn to Saint Camelacus is found in the final stanza which says that Christ will place our saint in the company of the patriarch Abraham and he will reign in paradise with the holy Lazarus. This is clearly a reference to the parable of Dives and Lazarus found in the sixteenth chapter of the Gospel of Saint Luke. In his 1887 collection The Tripartite Life of Patrick with Other Documents relating to that Saint, Whitley Stokes included the curious Tale of Patrick and his Leper, where the leper is named Comlach. Father Curran suggests that the association of Saint Camelacus with Lazarus in the hymn anticipates this later tradition. The link with lepers is further strengthened by the founding of a leper colony at Rahan by Saint Carthage, directed there, according to hagiography, by Saint Colmán of Lann Elo. A growing number of modern scholars believe that Colmán of Lann Elo is the true author of the hymn of Secundinus in honour of Saint Patrick, Audite omnes amantes and thus Father Curran wonders if Saint Colmán had a personal devotion to Saint Camelacus and might also be the author of the hymn in his honour.  He speculates that: 

It is possible that the new monastery and its leper-colony was a memorial and tribute to Camelacus, the first bishop of Raithin, who was remembered for his evangelical poverty and possibly for his care for lepers, if not already regarded as a leper himself.(p.47)

Yet it remains equally possible that the Audite bonum exemplum, the Hymn to Camelacus, is a shorter and less sophisticated composition written in the style of the Audite omnes amantes.  Whatever the truth, it is fascinating to see Camelacus, this otherwise obscure holy man, being one of only three saints, along with our national apostle and Saint Comgall, Bangor's founder, to merit a hymn in his honour in The Bangor Antiphonary: 

 [15.] Hymnus Sancti Camelaci.

i. Audite bonum exemplum
Benedicti pauperis
Camelaci Cumiensis
Dei justi famuli.

ii. Exemplum praebet in toto
Fidelis in opere,
Gratias Deo agens,
Hilaris in omnibus,

iii. Jejunus et mansuetus
Kastus hic servit Deo,
Laetatur in paupertate,
Mitis est in omnibus,

iv. Noctibus atque diebus
Orat Dominum suum ;
Prudens, justus, ac fideiis,
Quem cognati diligunt.

v. Regem Dominum aspexit
Salvatoremque suum :
Tribuit huic aeternam
Vitam cum fidelibus.

vi. Xps [i.e. Christus] illum insinuavit
Patriarchae Abrahae,
Yn Paradiso regnavit
Cum sancto Lazaro.

(text from F.E.Warren and W. Griggs, The Antiphonary of Bangor: an early Irish manuscript in the Ambrosian Library at Milan 2 vols, (London 1893–1895).

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Saint Feber of Boho, November 6

November 6 is the Feast of All the Saints of Ireland but is also the day on which we commemorate a little-known female saint of County Fermanagh, Saint Feber (Feadhbhair, Feadhbar, Fedbair, Febor, Faber) of Boho. Since we have only four surviving written Lives of Irish women saints, stories of Saint Feber have mostly survived in popular tradition preserved in the place where she once flourished. Her name is recorded though in Irish genealogical sources and also on the calendars of the saints. The Martyrology of Gorman records the name 'Fedbair' at November 6 with an accompanying scholiast note describing her as 'a virgin from Botha Eich Raichnig'. The Martyrology of Donegal replicates this with its entry for 'Fedbair, Virgin of Botha-eich Uaichnich, in Tir-Rátha'. Pádraig Ó Riain in his Dictionary of Irish Saints tells us that the genealogies describe Feber as a daughter of Dallbhrónach, mother of a number of saints. Her family tree also makes Saint Feber an aunt to Saint Brigid of Kildare. and Ó Riain notes that Feber was 'said to have been subject to Brighid at her church in the townland of Toneel, parish of Boho, which she shared with her sister Sanct Bhróg.' However, it is to popular tradition that we must turn for further details of the establishment of a church by Saint Feber. Here we find some classic hagiographical tropes: the assistance of a wild animal and the righteous anger of the saint leading to the cursing of a river and its subsequent flowing against the hill.

In a letter dated November 6, 1834, John O'Donovan of the Ordnance Survey wrote:

The village of Monea is called in Irish Muine Fhiadh, i.e. Hill of the Deer. The name is accounted for by a story similar to those told to account for the names of old churches in Derry. The virgin St. Feber first attempted to build her church at Kildrum at the place where the holy well now called Tobar Feber is to be seen, but what had been built in the course of the day was destroyed in the night by some invisible being. At last a deer, blessed beast, was pleased to point out a site where Feber might erect her church without interruption. He carried Feber's books on his horns to Monea, and there the holy virgin finished the erection of her church without annoyance. But when the deer was crossing the Sillees River (Abhainn na Sailíse) he slipped on its slippery banks and the books fell off his horns and it was sometime before he could fix them on again. This was effected by the genius or sheaver (shaver) who presided over the Sillees, who did all in his power to prevent the establishment of the Christian Religion in that neighbourhood. As soon as Feber had understood that the demon of the river thus annoyed the good beast, she was filled with holy indignation -she became much wroth - and with (in?) sanctified fury and heavenly anger, she cursed the River, praying that the Silleece might be cursed with sterility of fish and fertility in the destruction of human life, and that it might run against the hill. 

Rev. M. O'Flanagan, Letters Containing Information Relative to the Antiquities of the County of Fermanagh: Collected During the Progress of the Ordnance Survey in 1834-5 (1928), 54-5.

A more recent commentator suggests that O'Donovan's version of the Saint Feber, the stag and the river story was not the only one. Henry Glassie points out:

In O'Donovan's telling, Saint Febor's opponent was supernatural, more often her opponent is human - a local chief - but her three curses end most tellings.

He then goes on to give us the version from the autobiography of William K. Parke, a native of Derrygonnelly, County Fermanagh. Derrygonnelly is a town on the Sillees River, whose flowing against the hill Parke explains by telling the story of 

"a lady saint known as Saint Faber", who roamed the area with her pet deer, "endeavouring to convert the locals to Christianity".  Her main objective was the local chief, O'Phelan, who "wanted nothing to do with this new fangled religion". He ordered his servants to release the dogs on her. She fled, attempted to leap the Sillees, failed, her holy books were destroyed, and she cursed the river. The curses were that the river was to be dangerous for bathers, bad for fishing and to flow for ever against the hill.

Glassie also cited another version of the tale from the same author. The quote above was taken from Parke's 1988 autobiography Fermanagh Childhood , but in Glimpses of Old Derrygonnelly, published a decade earlier, Parke quoted from an old article from the local newspaper, The Impartial Reporter: 

"St Faber fleeing from her enemies raised her staff cursing the water to be turned back so that she could save her deer carrying the Holy Books. The river ran on as far as Lisgoole Abbey where the monks met it and turned it into Lough Erne".

Henry Glassie, The Stars of Ballymenone, new edition, (Indiana University Press, 2016), footnote, p.483.

The three curses of Saint Feber are part of a tradition of saintly malediction found in medieval hagiography in general, but a feature of the Lives of Irish saints in particular. I spoke about the context in which our saints utter curses on Episode 30 of the radio programme All the Saints of Ireland, which you can find at the podcast library of Radio Maria Ireland here. As I explained, cursing usually arises as a response to the dignity of the saint being disrespected. That is clearly the case here, where the chieftain aggressively attempts to thwart the saint's missionary work and she invokes the judgement of God, not against the man, but against the river which endangered her animal companion and the holy books he carried. As I remarked on the radio broadcast, the cursing of things, food-producing sources such as rivers or trees, may owe something to the cursing of the fig tree by Christ on his way to Jerusalem. There is thus nothing unusual in this episode of Saint Feber and the Sillees, we see instances in other saints Lives of the cursing of rivers so that fish will not be caught.  It's also true that unusual natural features in the environment are often attributed to the actions of saints, in this case the flowing of the Sillees against the hill. It is worth noting, however, that cursing is predominantly a male preserve in the Lives of the Irish saints but Saint Feber seems every bit as capable as any male saint. In the newspaper account the raising of her staff, the symbol of her authority, to pronounce the curse is also in keeping and reflects the ritualistic aspect of uttering maledictions. 

A final observation is that the saint's memory continues to be reflected in the landscape around Boho, In addition to the Tobar Feber there is a bullaun associated with the saint preserved at Killydrum townland. She is the patron of the Sacred Heart Church at Boho, one of the very few historic church sites still in Catholic hands. The parish website here adds some other details to Saint Feber's story, claiming that she was the daughter of a local druid who was converted to Christianity by Saint Molaise of Devenish. It says too that the holy well of Saint Feber has a particular reputation for curing warts. There is a second well at Monea and Saint Feber is also the patron of the Catholic parish church there.

So, although not much historical information has survived about this female saint of Fermanagh, her memory is still very much alive in the place where she once flourished.

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'That Large Army, Known and Unknown': The Feast of All the Saints of Ireland

November 6 is the Feast of All the Saints of Ireland and, since it is the date on which I started Omnium Sanctorum Hiberniae in 2012, is also this blog's patronal feast. To mark the occasion this year I reprint a sermon delivered by an Australian Dominican, Father R.J.Roche on November 6 in 1931. This was ten years after the feast was instituted, along with an authorized Litany of the Irish Saints, the text of which you can read at the blog here. In his sermon Father Roche presents the realities of the Irish saints, yes, we have many whose names are known throughout the world but we have many more who are now obscure. It has always been part of my work to try and recover the names and memories of these lesser-known saints, all those who found a place on our historic calendars and were regarded as saints by popular acclamation. Wishing everyone the blessings of the Feast and thank you to all who support my work here at Omnium Sanctorum Hiberniae and on All the Saints of Ireland on Radio Maria. Beannachtaí na Féile oraibh go Léir! Orate pro nobis omnes Sancti Hiberniae!

SAINTS OF IRELAND.

Father R. J. Roche's Sermon on Feast Day.

Commemoration of all the saints of Ireland — of that large army, known and unknown, of the spiritual sons of St. Patrick, who have attained eternal glory after lives of virtue and zeal for the spread of the Gospel! Such a comprehensive remembrance has been established by the Church's institution of the feast of All the Saints of Ireland, to be observed in certain centres of the world on November 6. Preaching at the Dominican Convent, West Maitland, on the day of the feast, Rev. Father R. J. Roche, O.P., recalled many of the prominent names of Erin's saints, and made a strong plea for an intensification of the spirit which kept Ireland true to the faith through the ages of oppression. 

Taking as his text, 'For we are children of saints' (Tobias), Father Roche said:

 To-day we keep the feast of all the saints of Ireland. It is a feast recently established for Ireland, and by privilege extended to some Australian dioceses, including that of Maitland. Of many of the Irish saints the names are familiar: Columbkille, Dove of the churches and contemplative of Iona: his namesake almost, Columbanus, who found rest in the spiritual fastness of Italy; Kilian, the martyr; Brendan, tho mariner; Virgil, Colman, Fiacre, Declan, Lawrence O'Toole, Oliver Plunket, and others whose stories are interwoven with history. Some lived and died in their own land, some became exiles for Christ. Up the Rhine or down the Danube, by the banks of the Seine and the, Loire, their names are preserved in the cities they founded, and their memory is enshrined in the hearts of the people to whom they brought the Cross. Amongst those we commemorate are many women saints: the most renowned of them is Brigid, the Mary of the Gael. Beneath an oak tree at Kildare her cell was built, and around her gathered the most illustrious of her countrywomen. She is the mother of all the holy nuns who have come out of Ireland, no matter in what country they lived or to what Order they belonged. 

Its Comprehensiveness. 

I said that the names of many of them are familiar to us. It is also true that of many more the names have not been preserved. As the Church instituted a general feast of All Saints to commemorate the unknown saints of all the world, so does to-day's feast include all the obscure heroes and heroines of holiness whose spiritual father is St. Patrick. The unknown saints of Ireland! Perhaps not all of them are completely unknown. There are saints in every generation. We surely may treasure the memory of a saintly parent or grandparent who, we have every reason to believe, is now with God; those dead of ours whose memories should be deathless. They lived simple, self-denying lives: their companions were hardships, duty, family affection and love of God. Not for them the modern softness and the evasion of all restraint. Their homes were modelled on that of Nazareth; their highest law was the acceptance of the Divine Will. When sorrow and loneliness, desolation and spoliation came into their lives, their lips offered a sincere welcome to the Will of God. They went their simple way unto the end, they left a fragrance upon earth, and we may well believe that in death they found the Rest Eternal promised to those who bear the yoke of Christ. And their feast day is to-day — the feast of All the Saints of Ireland. Some of those whose memory we are keeping may have been born in this sunny land, or they may have come hither in Australia's morning, come with their stout hearts to make a new nation, and with their strong faith to plant the Cross as a symbol of that nation's ultimate allegiance and sublimest hope.

We are the spiritual children of the saints. They give us hope, they give us admonition. Behind us is more than a thousand years of tradition, tradition of the faith of our fathers! In mental vision we see the beautiful, unique picture of unbroken fidelity, generation after generation steadfast in the faith in spite of dungeon, fire and sword. A kingdom has been overthrown, a nation oppressed, but the Cross remains. Urban VIII. wrote to the Irish people: 'Be mindful of your past: in your nation there have been many masters of virtue and athletes of the faith.' As we praise their memory, we seek to emulate their virtues: their humility, their patience, their outstanding constancy. We ask that God may give us the grace to be faithful to our traditions, and to pass on undimmed the lamp of faith. It is true that the glories of ancient Erin are no more, and that the lamp of Kildare was put out by the spoiler; but the spiritual children of the Irish saints have still their place in the plans of God. May that place be always in the vanguard of those who seek to establish the Kingdom of God. We beg all the saints of Ireland, our own dear saintly dead, where'er they lie, we beg the martyrs of the penal days, we beg the sainted sons of Angus and the daughters of Brigid to be with us that we fail not in the conflict.

"SAINTS OF IRELAND." The Catholic Press (Sydney, NSW : 1895 - 1942) 3 December 1931: 37. Web. 6 Nov 2024 <http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article106389342>. 

 

 

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The "Island of Saints and Scholars" and the Universal Calendar of the Church

November is the month which opens with the feast of All Saints but which also includes the feast of All the Saints of Ireland on the sixth. In the article below, published in Australia in 1950, the anonymous author poses a very good question - why is Ireland, the 'island of saints and scholars', so poorly represented in the universal calendar of the Church? Modern scholars reckon that we have roughly two thousand Irish saints from the early medieval period, i.e. from the fifth to the twelfth centuries. At this time sainthood was very much a local affair, with local bishops acclaiming as saints those holy men and women whose sanctity had been acknowledged by their contemporaries. It was only in the twelfth century that the practice of declaring saints became the prerogative of the Pope alone. The official process of canonisation has developed over the centuries since, although we had a distinct reminder of former times in the shouts of Santo subito during the funeral of Pope St John Paul II. But the fact remains that we have only four officially-canonized saints from this island of saints and scholars. At the time this piece was written there were two saints - Malachy and Laurence and two beati - Oliver Plunkett and  Thaddeus MacCarthy. The cause of Blessed Oliver Plunkett was resumed in 1951, something I have written about here, but it was not until 1975 that he was finally canonized. In 2007 he was joined by Dutch-born Saint Charles of Mount Argus, who came to Ireland in 1857 and ministered as a member of the Passionist community in Dublin until his death in 1893. According to the biography of the new saint at the Vatican website here, his religious superior wrote that "The people have already declared him a saint." Certainly his cause proceeded at a pace not seen since the days of Saint Malachy:

The cause of his Beatification and Canonization was introduced on 13 November 1935, and on 16 October 1988, His Holiness John Paul II proceeded with the beatification of the one whom everyone called the saint of Mount Argus.

 The writer of this 1950 article makes some interesting observations but ultimately does not offer any explanation for the paradoxical situation that he identified - the conspicuous absence of the Irish on the Universal Calendar of the Church. The writer ends by celebrating Saint Columbanus who was also making headlines in 1950 thanks to the French Foreign Minister, Robert Schuman, one of the founding fathers of the European Union:

 The “island of saints and scholars” was in a curious position

In the Universal Calendar of the Church one great Catholic race is conspicuous by its absence — the Irish. The Calendar knows no nationality or colour barriers. Greeks, Jews, Italians and Spaniards abound thereon; the English sit down with the Egyptians, the French file in with the Germans and there is a place for St. Rose of Lima, who was a Peruvian.

 The 'island of saints and scholars,' however, is in a paradoxical situation.

Despite 1500 years of remarkably virile Christianity, for 200 of which Ireland was the centre of monastic and missionary activity within the Church, no saint of Irish origin has received international recognition.

Researchers are more or less agreed that St. Patrick was a Welshman of Roman stock, and, at best, Irish by adoption.

But there are indications that this strange situation will be remedied.

There are some who hope that the remedy will come soon; perhaps before the end of the Holy Year the name of the first native Irish saint may be inscribed in the Church calendar.

Inclusion in the Universal Calendar of the Church means that the saint's feast is inserted into both the missal and the breviary, and is celebrated on a fixed date throughout the world.

Though Ireland has what must be the longest litany of uncanonised saints of any country, only four Irishmen have been formally elevated to the altar by the Holy See.

These are St. Malachy, Bishop of Down and Connor, who died A.D. 1148, and was canonised before the close of the century; St. Lawrence OToole, Archbishop of Dublin at the time of the Norman invasion of Ireland; Blessed Thaddeus MacCarthy, Bishop of Cork, who died on pilgrimage to Rome in 1492; and Blessed Oliver Plunket, Archbishop of Armagh, who was hanged and quartered, at Tyburn in the time of Charles II.

Because of his famous prophecies regarding the Popes, St. Malachy is the most famous of the four. 

While in Rome, he is said to have received a strange vision of the future, wherein was unfolded before him the long list of Pontiffs who are to rule the Church to the end of time. The signs he has given to indicate individual Popes have been remarkably verified, especially in recent times.

St. Malachy  also foretold Ireland's subjection 'for a week of centuries' to England, her final success in attaining freedom, and that Ireland would be instrumental in winning back her former enemy to the Faith. All four were Bishops, and all died outside of Ireland. St. Lawrence was canonised at the request of the Bishops of France. Blessed Thaddeus was beatified at the request of the Bishops of Northern Italy, and blessed Oliver was beatified at the request of the Irish Bishops less than a generation ago. The list ends abruptly here.

In a recent address at an international celebration in honour of St. Columban, held in Luxeuil, France, under the patronage of the French President, Foreign Minister Schuman described the saint as 'the greatest European of his generation.' The congress was attended by Church and State dignitaries from six European countries and the United States.

Because of his mighty part in the curbing and leading the barbaric invaders of the Roman Empire to the Christian fold, St. Columban has been 'God's Fighting Irishman.' He clashed with kings and princes in his many fights for the poor and defenceless.

Driven from France after many fruitful years of mission work, he continued to establish monasteries in Germany, Switzerland and North Italy, where he died after the Faith had been planted among the Lombards and the heresy of Arianism had been overthrown.

The revival of all Christian knowledge and culture in many parts of France, Germany and Italy is due to the labours and zeal of St. Columban is the verdict given by Pope Plus XI on the work of this Irish saint.

To the French, he is one of the great realities of French history, ranking with St. Louis, St. Joan of Arc and St. Vincent de Paul.

To the Irish, he is the model missionary. For western Europeans, he is becoming the patron of international co-operation and resistance to the forces of Red barbarism.

In China, Japan, Korea, Burma and the Philippines, where missionary priests and Sisters of the Society of St. Columban are labouring, he is the object of popular personal devotion.

An Irish missionary Bishop in China looks on him as the patron of hopeless cases, and has his prayers answered in near miraculous ways.

Four seminaries In the United States, six religious houses and an unknown number of churches are named in his honour.

Catholics everywhere, who received the Sacrament of Penance, owe a debt to St. Columban for popularising the practice of private Confession. Before his time, public confession of sin was the general custom.

The "island of saints and scholars" was in a curious position (1950, October 5). Catholic Weekly (Sydney, NSW : 1942 - 1954), p. 1 (Magazine Section). Retrieved January 26, 2024, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article146735321 

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