Liturgical Calendar - StCronansCluster

3rd: St Munchin (Mainchin) is the patron saint of the Diocese of Limerick.  His traditional birthplace is Dal Cais, where a parish and old graveyard Cell Mainchin (Kilmanaheen) existed.  In the seventh century he was granted Inis Sibtonn (Ibton) in the tidal waters of Limerick, in the region of which he founded a church and had a thriving religious community.

5th: (Dublin): St Charles of St Andrew. John Andrew Houben was born in Holland in 1821.  He took vows as a Passionist in 1846 and came to Mount Argus in 1857.  It was there he spent most of his priestly life.  His ministry in the  confessional was renowned and the poor of Dublin found in him a strong support.

He died on 5th January 1893.  St Charles was canonised on 3rd June 2007.

15th: St Ita was born in Co. Waterford of noble and Christian parents.  Early on she set her mind on serving Christ in religious life.  She founded a monastery in Killeedy, Co. Limerick, which attracted a great variety of young people.  She was given the title 'foster-mother of the saints of Ireland'.  She died in 570.

16th: St Fursa was born in Ireland and became one of the great monastic missionaries abroad.  He went first with his brothers Foillan and Ultan to live the monastic life in East Anglia.  But as great numbers continued to visit him there he left Foillan as abbot and sought refuge in France around 644.  A patron gave him a hermitage at Lagny on the Marne.  He died about 650 at Mézerolles and was buried in Péronne, which became a great centre of devotion to him.

30th: St Aidan or Maedoc (Mogue) was born around 550, probably in Co Cavan. Aidan studied under David in Wales, and on his return he founded a monastery at Ferns.  He became bishop there and was renowned for his generosity and kindness. He died in 626 and his Lives testify to his popularity both in Cavan and in Ferns.

30th (Dublin, Meath): Blessed Margaret Ball was imprisoned for teaching Catholicism, harbouring priests and having Mass celebrated in her home.  The harsh conditions of Dublin Castle wore down this old lady of gentle birth, and she died there in 1584.  Blessed Francis Taylor was born in Swords, Co. Dublin, and was elected Mayor of Dublin in 1595.  For his Catholic faith he was put in prison for seven years and died of the hardships suffered there on 30th January 1621 at the age of seventy.

1st: St Brigid is renowned for her hospitality, almsgiving and care of the sick.  She was born c. 454.  When she was young her father wished to make a very suitable marriage for her but she insisted in consecrating her virginity to God.  She received the veil and spiritual formation probably from St Mel and stayed for a period under his direction in Ardagh.  Others followed her example and this led her to found a double monastery in Kildare with the assistance of Bishop Conleth.  She died in 524 and her cult is widespread not only throughout Ireland but in several European lands.  The St Brigid's Cross, in legend used by Brigid to explain the Christian faith, remains a popular sign of God's protection.

7th: St Mel died in 488.  He is said to have been a Briton who came to Ireland with Patrick, with whom he worked until he was ordained in Ardagh.  He is one of the earliest Irish saints and gave the religious veil to Brigid.

11th: St Gobnait is one of the best loved saints in west Cork but only traditions concerning her life survive.  The main part of her life was spent in Ballyvourney, Co Cork where there has always been a deep devotion to her, and which is a place of pilgrimage on this day and on Pentecost. Her gifts of caring for and curing the sick have been a significant part of her cult through the centuries. Happily her memorial coincides with the World Day for the Sick.

17th: St Fintan was born in Leinster.  He received his religious formation in Terryglass, Co. Tipperary, under the abbot Colum, and was deeply influenced by his penitential practices and the severity of the Rule.  Fintan made his own foundation in Clonenagh, Co Laois.  He died in 603.

1st: St David is the patron saint of Wales, where he was an abbot and bishop in the sixth century.  Several Irish saints were his pupils and he influenced monastic development in Ireland. He died around 601.

5th: St Kieran. Kieran of Saigir was born in Cape Clear, Co. Cork.  He is numbered among the pre-Patrician saints of Ireland.  He went to the continent, where he was baptised and later ordained priest and bishop.  He returned to his father's territory, Ossory, where he lived as a hermit.  Disciples soon joined him and Saigir became a well-known monastery.

8th: St Senan was born near Kilrush, Co. Clare.  His family were prosperous farmers.  His vocation seems to have resulted from an experience of danger from the sea.  His early studies were mainly made at the monastery of Kilnamanagh.  His principal monastic foundation was on Scattery Island, near Kilrush in the Shannon Estuary.  He was anam chara to Ciaran of Clonmacnois and Brendan, and died in 544.

11th: St Aengus (Oengus) was a monk in Clonenagh, Co. Laois, who came to the monastery at Tallaght at the end of the eighth century during the abbacy of Maelruain to spend a period under his direction.  He was renowned for his devotion to both foreign and native saints and composed two martyrologies.  He returned to Clonenagh, where he became abbot and bishop. He died around 824.

17th: St Patrick was born very probably in the early years of the fifth century in the Roman colony of Britain.  He was taken captive at the age of sixteen and brought to Ireland where he was sold as a slave.  He tended herds on Slemish Mountain for six years.  His captivity had a very positive effect on his spiritual life. He prayed many times each day, his faith growing stronger and his love and reverence for God increasing.  He escaped back home at the age of twenty-two.  It was obvious to him that God was calling him to return to convert the Irish.  The voice of the Irish was calling him to come and walk among them once more.  He studied probably in France, returned to Ireland as a bishop c. 457—61, or as early as 432 according to another tradition.  His mission was not immediately greatly successful but eventually he would make a tremendous number of converts.  Two writings survive: the Letter to Coroticus, a protest to the soldiers of a British prince who had killed some converts and sold others as slaves, and his Confession written near the end of his life, showing him as one living by the faith he preached and allowing Christ to direct his whole life.  He died in 491, though again other dates have been suggested, 480 or as early as 461.

21st: St Enda is considered to be one of the three great late vocations (athlaech) of Ireland.  His sister, Faenche, a nun, set his thoughts on a religious vocation.  He made a small foundation in Cell Aine, Co. Louth, and, after studies in Scotland under Ninian, made several foundations in the Boyne valley.  On Faenche's urging he went to Aran.  He died probably in 520 and is considered as one of the early models of ascetic monasticism in Ireland.

24th: St Macartan belongs to a very early generation of saints in Ireland and is recognised as the first Bishop of Clogher.  He is known as Patrick's 'Strong Man’ for his dedication and faithfulness.

1st: St Ceallach (Celsus) was born in 1080.  He became Abbot of Armagh in 1105 and was ordained priest.  He was influenced by the reform then in progress in Munster.  He presided at the Synod of Rathbreasail in 1111.  In 1129, on a visitation of Munster, he died and is buried in Lismore in accordance with his own request.

18th: St Laserian (Molaise) worked in both Ireland and Scotland in the seventh century and later entered the monastery at Leighlin, where he became abbot.  His monastery thrived and gave its name to the diocese established in 1110.  He adapted Church discipline in accordance with the practices of Rome and introduced the Roman method of dating the celebration of Easter.  Laserian died in 639.

27th: St Asicus was St Patrick's expert craftsman in metal work and accompanied him on his journeys.  He was left in charge of the church in Elphin which Patrick is said to have founded

4th: St Conleth is believed to have come from the Wicklow area.  While living as a hermit he was persuaded by Brigid to act as priest for her community in Kildare.  He was venerated as a great saint and Cogitosus, in his Life of Brigid calls him bishop and abbot of the monks of Kildare.  He was buried beside Brigid in the great church there.

5th: Blessed Edmund Rice (1762—1844) came from Callan, Co. Kilkenny.  After his young wife's early death, he sold his possessions and dedicated his life to the education of the poor.  To advance the work, he gathered other likeminded men who took religious vows together to work for the Catholic education of boys.  He is a model of patient and cheerful acceptance of the sufferings God sends, a true lay apostle and a deeply committed religious.

10th: St Comgall was born around 516 in Co. Antrim.  His father was a soldier and wished his son to follow in his steps, but Comgall wished to become a soldier of Christ.  He studied under Finnian at Moville and deepened his life of prayer to counteract his temptations to boredom and homesickness.  He was persuaded to become a priest and then established a monastery at Bangor around 555—8 which attracted people like Columbanus.  He also founded a monastery at Tiree in Scotland.  He died after a long illness at Pentecost 602 or 605.

15th: St Carthage (Mochuta) hailed from a rich family in Kerry.  As he loved the chanting of the psalms, the local king arranged for him to become a priest.  Having spent a year possibly at Bangor he founded his own monastery at Rahan in 595.  It grew rapidly.  However, opposition made him move southwards around 637.  Along with hundreds of monks and their patients from the leper colony, he finally arrived at Lismore, where he made a foundation. He died in 638.

16th: St Brendan was a Kerryman who was born in 486.  He studied at Clonard under Finnian.  His name is connected with many places in Kerry such as Ardfert and Mount Brandon.  He visited Scotland and reached the Hebrides and possibly areas beyond.  He founded a monastery in Clonfert in 568 and died there 578.

3rd: St Kevin was a native of Leinster and grew up in Kilnamanagh, where he received his early religious formation.  Wishing to be a hermit, he crossed the mountains to Glendalough and settled in Disert Caoimhghin at the foot of the upper lake.  But disciples began to gather round him.  Gradually the great monastic settlement grew and spread through the glen after his death in 618.

6th: St Jarlath is said to have been a disciple of St Enda, and was also taught by St Benignus.  He became abbot bishop of the monastery he founded at Tuam in the sixth century.

7th: St Colman (Mocholmoc) of Dromore, Co. Down, spent most of his life in that area. Possibly he studied under Caetan of Nendrom, Co. Down, and was persuaded by St Mac Nissi to settle at Dromore c. 514.

9th: St Columba also known as Colum Cille, was born in Gartan, Co Donegal, in 521 and was of royal lineage.  He studied under St Finnian of Moville and St Finnian of Clonard.  He founded monasteries in Derry, Durrow, Iona and possibly Kells.  He left Ireland, either for penance or to be a pilgrim for Christ, but Iona became his principal foundation.  From it, missionaries undertook the conversion of Northumbria.  Columba is noted for his great love for people and for all living creatures. He died 9th June 597.

14th: St Davnet lived and died at Tydavnet at Sliabh Beagh, Co. Monaghan.  Tradition speaks of St Davnet as a virgin and founder of a church or monastery.  A bachall (staff) said to have been hers has been preserved and in the past it was used as a test of truth.

20th: The Irish Martyrs. Seventeen Irish martyrs, men and women, cleric and lay, put to death for the Catholic faith between 1579 and 1654 were beatified by Pope John Paul II in 1992:  Dermot Hurley, Archbishop of Cashel, hanged 20 June 1584 at Hoggen Green.  Conor O'Devany, Bishop of Down and Connor, hanged, drawn and quartered.  Patrick O'Loughran, chaplain to the O'Neill family and Maurice McKenraghty, chaplain to the Earl of Desmond, both hanged.  Also hanged were Dominicans Terence O'Brien and Peter Higgins, Franciscans John Kearney, Patrick O'Healy and Conrad O'Rourke, Augustinian William Tirry and a Jesuit lay brother, Dominic Collins. Lay people Francis Taylor, Mayor of Dublin, and Margaret Bermingham died of ill treatment: the Wexford martyrs a baker Matthew Lambert and a group of sailors, Robert Meyler (Tyler), Edward Cheevers and Patrick Cavanagh were hanged, drawn and quartered on 5th July 1581.  Six Catholics of Irish birth or connection executed for the faith in England had already been beatified in 1929 and 1987: John Roche (alias Neale), John (Terence) Carey, Patrick Salmon, John Cornelius (alias John Conor O'Mahoney), Charles Meehan, Ralph Corby (Corbington).

1st: St Oliver Plunkett from Irish nobility whose family supported King Charles l.  Ordained in Rome in 1654 he became a Professor of Theology from 1654 through 1669.  He was appointed Archbishop of Armagh in 1669.  He was forced to conduct a covert ministry during the suppression of priests.  He was arrested and tried at Dundalk in 1679 for conspiring against the state.  It was seen that Oliver would never be convicted in Ireland, and he was moved to Newgate prison, London.  St Oliver Plunkett was found guilty of high treason 'for promoting the Catholic faith', and was condemned to a gruesome death.  He was martyred 1st July 1681 at Tyburn, by hanging, disembowelling, quartering and beheading.  He was the last Catholic to die for his faith at Tyburn, and the first of the Irish martyrs to be beatified.  His body was initially buried in two tin boxes next to five Jesuits who had died before; his head is in St Peter's Church at Drogheda, Ireland, most of his body is at Downside Abbey, England; and some relics are in Ireland.

6th: St Moninne of Killeavy was one of Ireland's early women saints.  After instruction on the religious life, she founded a community which initially consisted of eight virgins and a widow with a baby at Sliabh Gullion, Co. Armagh.  They lived an eremitical (secluded) life, based on that of Elijah and St John the Baptist.  Moninne died in 517 or 518.

7th: St Maelruain (Maolruain), bishop and abbot, founded the monastery of Tallaght, Co, Dublin, in 774 which introduced a reform.  Important liturgical and spiritual writings emerged from this movement known as the Céli Dé reform.  He died in 792.

8th: St Kilian was born in the parish of Mullagh in the Diocese of Kilmore.  With eleven companions he left Ireland and became known as the apostle of Thuringia and eastern Franconia.  With Kolonat and Totnan he was put to death in 659.  There is a very strong devotion to him in Würzburg, where his remains lie, and also throughout the Bavarian countryside.

24th: St Declan is considered to be one of the pre-Patrician saints.  He was of noble blood.  Colman, a local priest, baptised him.  Later he went to Europe to continue his studies where he was ordained priest and possibly bishop.  He settled in Ardmore and evangelised the Decies country.

9th: St Nathy is said to have been born in the barony of Leyny, Co. Sligo.  He made a foundation in Achonry, where many students gathered to learn from him.  He is buried in Achadh Cain.

9th: St Felim was born in the sixth century in Breifne.  He was a hermit near Kilmore, Co. Cavan, where he later founded a monastery.  He is patron of Kilmore diocese.

12th: St Muredach is regarded as the founder of the church at Killala.  He may also be the founder and patron of the monastery of Inishmurray off the Sligo coast.  

12th: St Attracta lived in the sixth or seventh century.  Local tradition remembers her great healing powers.  Her convents were famous for hospitality and charity to the poor.

12th: St Lelia (Liadain) had a church at Kileely, near Thomond Bridge.  She is said to have been baptised by St Patrick.

13th: St Fachtna (Fachanan) founder of the monastery of Ross Carbery (Ross Ailithir).  He died around 600.  His monastery became the principal monastery of west Cork and later had a famous Scripture school.

17th: Our Lady of Knock. The story of Knock began on the 21st August 1879 when Our Lady, St Joseph and St John the Evangelist appeared at the south gable of Knock Parish Church.  This miraculous apparition was witnessed by fifteen people, young and old.  Knock is an internationally recognised Marian Shrine and was visited by St John Paul II, as part of his 1979 papal pilgrimage to Ireland.  The date of the memorial is within the annual novena conducted at the Shrine.

23rd: St Eugene (Eoghan) lived in the sixth century and was said to have been taken by pirates to Britain.  On obtaining his freedom he went to study at Candida Casa.  Returning to Ireland he made a foundation at Kilnamanagh in the Wicklow hills, but his principal foundation was at Ardstraw (Ard Sratha), Co. Tyrone.

30th: St Fiacre was an Irishman who went abroad to seek a hermitage.  He passed through Normandy and eventually met Faro, who was a great patron of Irish pilgrims at Meaux.  Fiachre was given a hermitage near Breuil and there he stayed until his death around 670.

31st: St Aidan of Lindisfarne was of Irish descent and was a monk of Iona.  When Oswald, the exiled King of Northumbria who had fled for refuge to Iona, returned to his throne in 634, he invited Aidan to come to reconvert his people. Aidan made his headquarters at Lindisfarne.  With the aid of the king as interpreter he was very successful in his mission.  He died in 651.

4th: St Mac Nissi.  Oengus Mac Nissi took his name from his mother Cnes or Ness. It is claimed that Patrick baptised him and taught him the psalms.  He chose the district of Connor for his hermitage, but later became bishop of his clan.  He died early in the sixth century.

9th: St Ciaran was born in Roscommon around 512.  He came to Clonmacnois in January 545 where he founded a monastery which was to become one of the most renowned in Europe.  He died at the age of thirty-three while the monastery was still being built.

12th: St Ailbe is sometimes claimed as one of the pre-Patrician saints, but the annals note his death in 528.  A tradition held that he went to Rome and was ordained bishop by the pope.  He founded the monastery of Emly which became very important in Munster.  A ninth-century Rule bears his name.

23rd: St Eunan (Adomnán) was born in Donegal around 624 and died in 704.  He became a monk in Iona and was chosen abbot there in 679.  One of his writings is the Life of Colum Cille.

25th: St Finbarr came to Loch Irce (Gougane Barra) and lived there as a hermit.  When disciples gathered round him he moved to Cork at the mouth of the Lee where he founded a monastery which became a famous centre of learning.

9th: Blessed John Henry Newman was beatified by Pope Benedict XVI at Cofton Park, Birmingham, on 19 September 2010.  The memorial of the new Blessed is 9 October, the anniversary of his reception into the Catholic Church on 9 October 1845.  The Church in Ireland is deeply aware of Blessed John Henry's gentle scholarship, deep human wisdom and profound love for the Lord.  It also recalls his connections with Ireland.  Though his project on the establishment of the Catholic University of Ireland was not a great success, his reflection on education was written in part when he lived in Dublin and has remained a vital contribution to an understanding of Christian education.  Invited to Ireland in 1850, he became Rector of the Catholic University of Ireland in 1854 until his resignation in 1858.

11th: St Canice was born in Co. Derry around 527 and died in 603.  Though his people were poor he studied at Clonard under Finnian and at Glasnevin under Mobhi.  A deep friendship developed between himself and Columba with whom he worked for a time in Scotland, where he set up a number of churches.  In Ireland his principal foundation was in Aghaboe in Ossory, but this was replaced centuries later by his church in Kilkenny.

11th: St John XXIII. Angelo Roncalli was elected Pope on 28 October 1958 taking the name John XXIII.  He was born in 1881 in Sotto il Monte, a village in the Diocese of Bergamo, in the north of Italy and was ordained a priest of that diocese in 1904.  After serving in the diocese, teaching in the seminary and working as a military chaplain in World War l, he was called to Rome in 1921, ordained bishop in 1925, becoming apostolic delegate in Bulgaria and later in Turkey and Greece, and nuncio in Paris in 1944.  In 1953 he became Cardinal Patriarch of Venice until his election as pope.  He endeared himself as 'Good Pope John' to people in Rome and around the world.  Within months he called the Second Vatican Council, which began on 11th October 1952, the date of his memorial in the Calendar.  He died 3rd June 1963.  Remembered as a prayerful, humble and wise pastor, he was beatified in 2000 and canonised on 27 April 2014.

16th: St Gall was a monk of Bangor and set out with Columbanus for the continent.  When Columbanus was exiled from France, Gall accompanied him to Bregenz on Lake Constance.  When Columbanus crossed into Italy, Gall remained in Switzerland.  He lived in a hermitage, which later became the monastery of St Gallen. He died around 630.

22nd: St John Paul II. Karol Wojtyla, taking the name John Paul II, was pope from 1978 until his death on 2nd April 2005.  Born in Wadowice, Poland, in 1920 he studied at the seminary in Krakow, was ordained priest in 1946, then studied in Rome.  After parish work and university chaplaincy he again undertook further studies in philosophy and theology.  He was ordained Auxiliary Bishop of Krakow in 1958, in 1964 archbishop, and in 1967 he was created a cardinal.  He took part in the Second Vatican Council, making a significant contribution to the drafting of the Constitution on the Church in the Modern World.  As Bishop of Rome he visited almost all of the Roman parishes and made apostolic journeys to one hundred and four countries, including Ireland, from 29th September to 2nd October 1979.  John Paul II was beatified in 2011 and canonised on 27th April 2013, Divine Mercy Sunday.  His memorial is observed on the anniversary of the inauguration of his ministry as Universal Pastor of the Church on 22nd October 1978.

25th (Cloyne, Cork and Ross): Blessed Thaddeus MacCarthy was born in 1455.  His appointment as Bishop of Ross was opposed and Innocent VIII then appointed him Bishop of Cork and Cloyne.  He set out as a humble pilgrim to Rome where he was confirmed as Bishop of Cork and Cloyne.  On his return journey in 1492 he died at Ivrea in Italy.

27th: St Otteran, a descendant of Conall Gulban, is usually identified with Odhran who preceded Columba in Iona.  His death is recorded in 548 and his grave was greatly revered in Iona.  He was chosen by the Vikings as patron of the city of Waterford in 1096 and later patron of the diocese.

29th: St Colman hailed from Kilmacduagh, Co. Galway, in the seventh century. After studying in Aran, where he founded two churches on Inis Mór, he returned to to make a foundation at Kilmacduagh.

31st (Cloyne): Blessed Dominic Collins was born around 1566 in the city of Youghal, Co. Cork.  In 1598, after a military career, he entered the Society of Jesus as a Brother.  He returned to Ireland in 1601, but on 17th June 1602 he was captured by the English who tried in vain to make him abjure his faith.  Condemned to death, he was hanged in his native city on 31st October 1602.

3rd: St Malachy was born near Armagh in 1094.  He became Vicar of Ceallach, the reforming Bishop of Armagh, and he continued this work of reform as Bishop of Connor and, later, Bishop of Armagh.  Earlier he had restored the monastery of Bangor and in 1142 founded the monastery of Mellifont, the first Cistercian house in Ireland.  He had visited St Bernard at Clairvaux on a journey to and from Rome in 1139.  He also introduced the Canons Regular into Ireland.  Returning to Ireland from a visit to Rome in 1148 he revisited Clairvaux, where he caught fever and died in the arms of Bernard and is buried in the abbey church.

6th: All the Saints of Ireland. 'In the communion of saints, many and varied spiritualities have been developed throughout the history of the Churches…The different schools of Christian spirituality share in the living tradition of prayer and are essential guides for the faithful.  In their rich diversity they are refractions of the one pure light of the Holy Spirit.' (CCC, 2684)

7th: St Willibrord was born in Northumbria in 658.  He entered the Benedictine order and was sent to study.  After ordination he was sent with eleven companions to evangelise Frisia.  He established a mission at Utrecht and in 695 was ordained Archbishop of Utrecht by Pope Sergius I.  He founded a monastery at Echternach in Luxembourg in 700, where he died in 739.

14th: St Laurence O'Toole was born in Castledermot, Co. Kildare, in 1123.  He studied at Glendalough, becoming a monk there and later its abbot in 1148.  In 1162 he was chosen as the first native Archbishop of Dublin.  He followed the reforming methods of Ceallach and Malachy, introducing the Canons Regular to minister in the Cathedral, upholding the rights of the Church, caring for the people.  He attended the Third Lateran Council in 1179 and, returning as Papal Legate, he held synods to extend reform.  He worked for peace and reconciliation and died on a mission of mediation with King Henry II and the Irish rulers at EU in Normandy in 1180.

23rd: St Columban (Columbanus) was born around 543.  He became a monk of Bangor and later principal teacher there.  In 591, desiring to 'go on pilgrimage for Christ', he set out with twelve companions and came to Burgundy.  He established monasteries at Annegray, Luxeuil and Fontaine according to the severe Irish rule.  Later he founded Bregenz in Austria and his greatest foundation at Bobbio, near Genoa, where he died in 615.  He is remembered as one of the greatest of the Irish missionary monks.

25th: St Colman was born around 530, probably in west Cork.  A bard by profession, he is reputed to have been influenced by St Brendan to become a priest.  His apostolate was to east Cork and his main foundation was at Cloyne.

27th: St Fergal (Virgil) lived first in France and then in Bavaria, where he founded the monastery of Chiemsee.  He was appointed Bishop of Salzburg around 754 and died in 784, leaving a reputation for learning and holiness.

12th: St Finnian studied in Idrone (Co. Carlow) and later in Wales.  On his return he settled in Clonard, Co. Meath, around 520, where he established a famous school.  His pupils, among whom were Canice, Colum Cille and Brendan, were the initiators of the great monastic expansion in Ireland.  He died in 549 and is remembered as the tutor of the saints of Ireland.

18th: St Flannan lived in the seventh century and was the son of a king of Thomond.  He entered Molua's monastery at Killaloe and became abbot there.  He is remembered as a great preacher.

20th: St Fachanan. Although little is known with certainty about Fachanan, a strong tradition from early times links him with Kilfenora and records that he founded a church or monastery there in the sixth century.  He is venerated as the patron of the Diocese of Kilfenora, now part of Galway.