Forgotten Saints

The Feast of the All the Saints of Ireland is celebrated on 6th November. Very many of the Saints of Ireland are still remembered by the people today but very many more are forgotten. This may be for two reasons, first, because of their multitude in number, since the celebration of the feast of each Saint of Ireland would surely deprive us of the opportunity to celebrate so many Saints on the Universal Calendar of the Church, and, secondly, because the brilliance of many outshines the luminous sanctity of so many more.

“Archbishop Usher, on the authority of some very old and authentic manuscript, which throws much light on our ancient ecclesiastical history, divides the saints who flourished in Ireland during the fifth, sixth, and seventh centuries into three classes.

Dr. Lanigan is of opinion that this catalogue was written before the year 715, the period at which the disputes about the tonsure and the Paschal cycle had concluded.

The first class consisted of one hundred and fifty bishops, who were all founders of churches and eminent for sanctity. Those bishops were Romans, Britons, Franks, and Scots (Irish)… This class was called most holy.

The second class commenced from the year 542, the latter end of the reign of Tuathal, and continued to AD 598 or 599. This class consisted of three hundred saints, few of whom were bishops, the greater part having been priests… This order was called very holy.

The third order of saints consisted or holy priests and a few bishops, in all one hundred in number, who dwelt in deserts, and lived on herbs, water, and alms… The first order (or class) most holy; the second very holy; the third holy. The first burns brightly like the sun, the second like the moon, and the third like the stars.”

From: The Diocese of Meath, Ancient and Modern, by Rev. A. Cogan, C.C., Published in Dublin, 1862.

However, these holy men and women should not be forgotten.

“…we are greatly helped not only by theological investigation but also by that great heritage which is the “lived theology” of the saints. The saints offer us precious insights which enable us to understand more easily the intuition of faith, thanks to the special enlightenment which some of them have received from the Holy Spirit…” John Paul II, Novo Millennio Ineunte, 27

“The saints are like beacons; they show men and women the possibilities open to human beings. They are therefore also culturally interesting, independently of the cultural, religious or investigatory approach to them.” Cardinal José Saraiva Martins, C.M.F., Prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints

We hope to restore to memory some of the Saints associated with the Diocese of Meath.

Kilbeggan Abbey

From Thomas Walsh's History of the Irish Hierarchy:

19th Cent. Convent, Kilbeggan

Killbeggan in the barony of Moycashell on the river Brosna. The abbey was subsequently called de flumine Dei by allusion probably to that river. The ancient establishment of Killbeggan is attributed to St. Becan, brother of St. Cormac, of the royal blood of Munster, and of St. Evin of Ross, in the county of Wexford. In the life of St. Cormac mention is made of Becan Sanctus Becanus in Mumonia remanens monasterium de Killbeacain alias Cluan ard Mobecoc crexit et sanc tissime rexit. The highest encomiums are paid to his extraordinary sanctity the austerity of his life and the miracles which he wrought. We are told that he used to sing the whole Psalter every day whether dry or wet, cold or warm, by the side of a stone cross in the open air outside the monastery. St. Becan lived in the sixth century. His memory was revered on the 26th of May.

A.D. 1200 the family of Dalton founded a Cistercian abbey here under the invocation of the Virgin Mary and probably on the site of the ancient edifice. It was supplied with brethren from the abbey of Mellifont.
A.D. 1213 Melaghlin Mac Coughlan, prince of Delvin, died here in pilgrimage.
A.D. 1218 his sons died here.
A.D. 1236 Hugh O'Malone, bishop of Clonmacnois, died here.
A.D. 1298 the abbot William O'Finan was made bishop of Clonmacnois. Maurice Ó Shangane was the last abbot. In the thirty first of Henry VIII an inquisition was held and its property confiscated. Its possessions consisted of one thousand and twenty acres of wood arable and pasture, three water mills, nineteen messuages, eleven cottages and twenty six rectories. In the eleventh of Elizabeth eight carucates of this land were granted to Robert Dillon at the annual rent of £6 15s. The remainder had been parcelled out in 1618 by James I to different favorites to be held of the king as of the castle of Dublin in free and common soccage.