by OSV News
(OSV News) — On St. Patrick’s Day, everyone is Irish — or so it’s been said. However, the hagiographers among us know the “Apostle of Ireland” was born in Roman Britain and first stepped foot in Ireland as a kidnapped teenage slave. He escaped and returned to Britain, but his desire to convert the Irish pagans compelled him to study for the priesthood. Ultimately, he was ordained a bishop and returned to Ireland, where he succeeded in spreading Christianity. He is believed to have died March 17, 461.
While that great evangelizer of Ireland gets a great deal of attention, here are 11 Irish-born saints who continued St. Patrick’s efforts to spread the Gospel, and who also deserve a pint raised in their name. Sláinte!
1. St. Benen (5th century)
Legends suggest this son of an Irish chieftain in Meath may have attended St. Patrick’s first Easter Mass in Ireland about 433. There are several stories about his first meeting with Patrick: In one, he was so taken with Patrick’s words that he scattered flowers over the future saint while he slept; in others, he asked to travel with Patrick, and it was Patrick who chose the baptismal name Benen, from the Latin “benignus,” meaning kind. Benen became a close disciple of Patrick, and as one of his successors, was the first to evangelize Clare and Kerry in the west of Ireland. His feast day is Nov. 9.
2. St. Brigid of Kildare (c. 451–c. 525)
Many folk legends and even association with a pre-Christian goddess of the druids are attached to this Irish abbess. However, one fact from her earliest biography in the seventh century remains unchallenged: She was superior of a double monastery — for nuns and monks — at Kildare in the years after St. Patrick’s death. With Patrick and Columba, this “Mary of the Gael” is a patron of Ireland. Her feast day is Feb. 1 and a public holiday in Ireland.
3. St. Finnian of Clonard (c. 470–549)
This Irish abbot, known as “the master” and “teacher of saints” in the period following St. Patrick, was reported to be from Leinster, where he began establishing monasteries. He traveled to Wales and studied its traditional monasticism, which stressed the superiority of monastic over secular life and the importance of learning. After returning to Ireland, he founded many churches and monasteries, including his great monastery at Clonard on the Boyne, which drew 3,000 disciples, including St. Ciaran of Clonmacnois, St. Columba of Iona and St. Brendan the Voyager. It is uncertain whether he was also a bishop. He died of the plague, probably contracted while he was nursing other victims. His feast day is Dec. 12.
4. St. Ita of Killeedy (c. 475–570)
Originally named Dierdre, she earned the name Ita, which means “thirst for holiness.” Her story has much in common with that of St. Brigid. For many years Ita headed a community of dedicated women at Killeedy in County Limerick. She ran a school for small boys who were taught “faith in God with purity of heart; simplicity of life with religion; generosity with love.” St. Brendan the Voyager reportedly was her student. St. Ita’s legend stresses physical austerity and includes some rather fantastic miracles. Her feast day is Jan. 15.
5. St. Kevin of Glendalough (c. 498–618)
Oral tradition preserved and embellished the story of this founder of one of Ireland’s main pilgrimage sites. Born in Leinster and baptized by St. Cronan, Kevin was educated in a monastery near Dublin. After ordination, he lived alone in a cave for seven years, compromising his health and using a Bronze-Age stone tomb as his church. After recovering, he gathered some disciples and founded the abbey of Glendalough in Wicklow. According to legend, he made a pilgrimage to Rome, visited St. Kieran at Clonmacnoise and lived to the age of 120. His feast day is June 3.
6. St. Samthann of Clombroney (6th century)
An Irish abbess known for her wisdom, Samthann is thought to have become a nun in Donegal, after a nobleman to whom she was betrothed acceded to her wish to marry only God. She founded Clonbroney Abbey in Longford, where she chose to live a simple life. She would not accept large estates for the abbey, and its herd was limited to six cows. According to a biography, she advised a monk who inquired about the appropriate attitude for prayer that one could pray in every position: sitting, standing, kneeling or laying. Her name was included in the litany and canon of the Stowe Missal, and a number of miracles were attributed to her intercession. Her feast is Dec. 18.
7. St. Kieran of Clonmacnoise (c. 516–c. 549)
From his birthplace in Connaught, Ireland, Kieran traveled at age 15 to study under St. Finnian at Clonard. According to legend, he took along a cow for milk. He became the most learned monk there, then spent seven years with St. Enda in the Aran Islands, where he was ordained. He moved on to Isel, but soon left because other monks complained of his generosity to the poor. About 545, with eight companions, he founded the monastery at Clonmacnoise, on the River Shannon, which became a famous religious center for its manuscripts and metal liturgical objects. His feast day is Sept. 9.
8. St. Columba of Iona (521–597)
This abbot, one of Scotland’s patron saints, was born in Ireland. Also educated and ordained in Ireland, he spent 15 years preaching and founding monasteries, including Derry, Durrow and Kells. But his clashes with King Diarmaid over a psalter copy and the rights of sanctuary resulted in a clan feud and battle in which 3,000 men died. Choosing exile as his penance, Columba left for Scotland with 12 kinsmen about 561 to found the island monastery of Iona. He evangelized the Picts and converted their king. Iona monks went on mission all over Europe and its monastic rule was the standard until the Rule of St. Benedict. Columba, also called Colmcille (for Columba and cell), had enormous influence over Western monasticism. His feast day is June 9.
9. St. Columban (543-615)
This greatness of the Irish missionary monks entered a monastery at Bangor, where he taught for 30 years. In about 590 he and 12 companions were sent as missionaries to Gaul (France), where Columban set up three monasteries in Burgundy and became abbot at Luxeuil. He preached against lax clergy and immorality at court, introducing strict Celtic penance. After expulsion from Burgundy, Columban preached in Switzerland, and when driven from there founded a monastery at Bobbio, Italy, that became a center of learning. His feast is Nov. 23.
10. St. Colman of Lindisfarne (c. 605–676)
An Irishman, Colman was a monk at Iona before being elected third bishop of Lindisfarne, England, in 661. He championed Irish monastic customs and Celtic rites in his three years there. In 664 he attended the Synod of Whitby, which decided the dating of Easter, style of tonsure, role of local bishops, and relationship between English churches and Rome. Colman defended the Irish way, but lost to St. Wilfrid, bishop of York, who preferred Roman rites. Colman resigned his see and returned to Ireland, where he founded monasteries in Galway and Mayo, serving as abbot of both until his death. Venerable Bede’s history is the primary source for his life. His feast day is Feb. 18.
11. St. Donatus of Fiesole (c. 829–876)
According to tradition, this bishop was one of many Irishmen who criss-crossed Europe in the early Middle Ages. He arrived in Fiesole, Italy, from Rome just as the see became vacant and was tapped to become bishop. Supposedly he was a teacher in service to the Frankish kings; there is a record, from 850, of his giving a church and hospice, St. Brigid’s at Piacenza, to the abbey founded by St. Columban at Bobbio. Reportedly St. Andrew of Fiesole was his Irish traveling companion, but there is no real evidence for Andrew’s existence. St. Donatus’ feast day is Oct. 22.
