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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