Fachnan used to pray daily on the side of a hill, half-a-mile
eastward
from Ross.
O'Hanlon - Lives of the Irish Saints - v8
Lucan.
—We find the simple record, Lucan, in the
of 1 at this date. more seems to be known Martyrology Donegal, Nothing
regarding him.
Article VIII. —Feast of St. Hippolitus and of his Companions, Martyrs, at Rome. In the Irish Church, at the 13th of August, the festival of St. Hippolitus, with that of his companions, in number nineteen, and of either sex, was observed. They suffered under the Emperor Decius,
3 See "Acta Sanctorum Hibernix," viii. Martii. Vita S. Senani, cap. xliii, and n. 31,
Article vii. — ' Edited by Drs. Todd
and Reeves, pp. 218, 219.
a A note, Dr. Todd, at the denomina- by
tion Lucan: "After this word the second
hand adds momAO'ooj;. Mar. , /Eh. , M. Tarn. ExS. ALnact Marl , 'mo rVUet>05
pp. 533, 536. — Article v.
'
See "Calendar of
Irish
Saints," p. xxxii.
3 Thus: bpigiCAe Ct. T)iAnlu»n\.
3 Edited by Rev. Drs. Todd and Reeves, miomi SAOitieal,' avnog pop a foil,
pp. 218, 219.
* "Ut constat ex Vita S. Columbee de
S. — 612. Brigidae, cap. i. , p.
(' Momaedog chief of the Gael,' this is his
Tirdaglas, caput 26. "—Colgan's "Trias Thaumaturga," Appendix Quarta ad Acta
festival), ct est alius a sequcnte 15, etiam a Fcrnensi 31 Jan. , meaning that the Momae- dog (' my little Aedh') is different from the Aedhmentionedonthe
Article vi.
and Reeves, pp. 218, 219.
of Ferns,
15th by Moedhog
' Edited Drs. Todd and from Aedh or
Jan. 31. "
ofthismonth,
August 14. ] LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. 191
at Rome. 1 For a full account of these soldiers of Christ, who vanquished in B2
their blood, the reader is referred to the Bollandists, who record their Acts, at this date, as given in Ado's Martyrology, and by Petrus Calus or Calotius,3 of the Order of Preachers. A previous commentary, in Four Sections and of Forty-five paragraphs, serves to elucidate their history.
jfourtttntb Bap ot aujpraik
ARTICLE I. — ST. FACHTNA, OR FACHTNAN, FIRST BISHOP AND PATRON OF THE DIOCESE OF ROSS.
[SIXTH CENTURY. ']
CHAPTER I.
INTRODUCTION—RACE AND ORIGIN OF ST. FACHTNAN—HIS EARLY YEARS UNNOTICED— HE FOUNDS A MONASTERY AT ROSS AND A CELEBRATED SCHOOL—FIRST BISHOP OF ROSS—LEGENDS REGARDING HIM—RESTORATION OF HIS SIGHT.
is greatly to be regretted, that so many of our Irish Saints, whose names ITand festivals have come down to our times and with a veneration growing as ages advance, should yet remain devoid of any distinctive record, to give details regarding their personal traits of character and of their life- labours. The more have we to lament these losses to our ecclesiastical history, when such holy persons are venerated, not alone in parishes and particular localities, but when they are reverently commemorated as Patrons of our Dioceses. Yet, in the latter case, as in the present instance, only a few indirect allusions in the Lives of other saints give any clue to the period and incidents, which serve as the sole memorials for a few brief and unsatis-
factory conjectural observations.
About the beginning of the sixth century, St. Fachtna or Fachtnan must
x
saints, who were his contemporaries, have been preserved, and that those narratives refer to him, in a casual manner, to note his age and place of residence. Still in obscurity are the incidents of St. Fachtnan's early youth and education, and even of his ordination as a Priest, as also of the opening events of his career when a missionary. Although it has been stated, that our saint had been educated by St. Barr* or Finnbar,s who established a school at Loch-Eirce f yet, the latter is thought to have lived after his time. ? Some of our ancient Calendars state, that Fachtna Mongach was Abbot of Dair Inis Maolanfaidh, in the country of the Decies, in Munster, and that he was iden-
Articleviii. —x Seethe"Feilire"ofSt.
"
-rEngus, in
Academy," Irish Manuscript Series, vol i. , part i. On the Calendar of Oengus. By
Whitley Stokes, L. L. D. , pp. cxxiii. , cxxxi.
3 See "Acta tomus Sanctorum," iii. ,
Augusti xiii. De Sanctis Martyribus Ro- manis Hippolyto, Concordia, ac xix. aliis, pp. 4 to 15.
have been born what concerns his ; but,
2 and native has not place
parentage
transpired. 3 It is something, however, to avail of, that the Acts of other
3 He
flourished,
about the end of the
was surnamed Mongach,
or as authors hairy,
Transactions of the Royal Irish
—Chapter
I.
*
By
Dr.
thirteenth Article
century.
— Meredith Hanmerhe is "also called Faughua
and Faughuanus. See "Chronicle of Ire-
land," pp. 118, 119.
2 IntheBookof heis Lecain, however,
said to have belonged to the sept of
Lugad.
3 According to some accounts, Fachnan
i.
192 LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. [August 14.
8
and, if such were the case, it seems most likely that the period of his abbacy at Molana preceded that of his episcopacy. However, this identity does not seem to be very certain ;
while much confusion has prevailed regarding the accounts transmitted to us
by previous writers.
That Saint Fachnan of Ross was a bishop depends on good authority j
but, when or where he was consecrated does not appear. Many of our writers on the Acts of the Saints do not even mention him, and notices are even omitted by the Bollandists. An opinion has been very generally enter- tained, that he became Abbot of Dairinis Moelanfaidh, now Molana, a small island in the River Blackwater, and within the present County of Waterford. 9 This statement, likewise, has been drawn from the ancient Calendar of Cashel, which seems to contain a local tradition. The question, however, is open to further investigation.
Treating about the Bishops of Ross,10 we are told, by Sir James Ware,11 thatSt. Fachnanflourishedinthebeginningofthesixthcentury. Theplace is also known as Rosscarbery, from the former district in which it was situated ; and even still it gives name to the Barony of East Carbery, where we find
tical with Fachtnan, Bishop of Ros-alethir ;
it placed, in the County of Cork.
The usual signification of Ross is
sense " a but it wood,"
12 the
of East
in the barony of Ibane and Barryroe, ? in the West Riding of the County of
Cork. When Ross obtained episcopal rank, St. Fachtnan is supposed to have been consecrated as first bishop of that See. 18 From a period very
u a
promontory,"
or "
in a
some accident of
peninsula ;" significations. By
secondary custom,
as we are twochiefmeaningsarenowrestrictedinpointoflocality; for,inthesouthern half of Ireland ros is generally understood in the sense of " wood ;" in the north such application is lost, and it means only "a peninsula. "^ However, as Ross stands on a rocky eminence, and as wooded banks flank the long and narrow bay which lies near it, the name is at present appropriate under either application. The situation of the town on the sea and its environs is very beau- tiful ; but that inlet, which bears the name of Roscarbery harbour, is both narrow and shallow in that part which approaches the town. 14 We are told, moreover, that this ancient foundation was near the Vergivium sea. 1 * The
also has other
told,
parish
of Ross is
situated, partly
in the 1
barony
Carbery,
16 and
partly
explain it, while others think his appellative
p. 140.
,0 to Walter Harris: "Ross According
a verdant ; as some — signifieth plain or, say,
a place where Heath or Broom grows," &c.
Harris' Ware, vol. i. , "Bishops of Ross,"
p. 583.
" At cap. xxix.
" In Dr. Patrick W. Joyce's "Origin and History of Irish Names of Places," part iv. , chap, iii. , p. 429.
"3 Yet in three examples quoted, Ross has
should be written Mac
Mongach,
or son
See Rev. Dr. Mongach. Lanigan's
of "Eccle-
siastical History of Ireland," vol. ii. , chap. xii. , sect, iv. , p. 193.
4 He is styled incorrectly St. Finlass of Cork, in a brief notice of saints, in Rev. S. Baring-Gould's work, " Lives of the Saints,"
vol. viii. , August 14, p. 140.
5 His Life is set down, at the 25th of Sep-
tember, in the Ninth Volume of this work, Art. i.
"
6
According to an ancient Life of this saint,
a peninsula," in the Ibid.
in
quoted Colgan's
nke," Martii xxvi.
"Acta Sanctorum Hiber- De S. Garvano Abbate,
p. 750-
7 See Rev. Dr. Lanigan's
"
Ecclesiastical History of Ireland," vol. ii. , chap, xii. ,
,6
This portion of it contains 12,403a.
sect, iv. , p. 193, and n. 44, p. 195.
8 This is expressly stated in the Calendar
of Cashel.
9 See Rev. S. Baring- Gould's " Lives
or. I9p.
f This portion of it contains only
947a. or. 35p.
,8 See Archdeacon Cotton's " Fasti Eccle-
of the Saints," vol. viii. , August 14, six Hibernicse," vol. i. , p. 348.
the signification —of
South of Ireland.
'* See " Gazetteer of Ire- Parliamentary
land," vol. iii. , p. 157.
IS See Sir James Ware's " De Hibernia et
Antiquitatibus ejus," cap. xxvi. , p. 200.
August 14. ] LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. 193
remote, it was the head of an episcopal district, as it is at present. It has been advanced, as Highly probable, that the See of Ross had existence before 569 or 570, because the death of St. Ita,'9 Patroness of Killeedy parish, has been generally assigned to that period, and she is stated to have lived con- temporaneously with the present saint. That ancient city formerly possessed acelebratedmonastery,andaflourishingacademy. St. Fachnanisthought to have founded that about the middle of the sixth 20 and
monastery, century,
no doubt, a school was then deemed to be a necessary adjunct to that
21 which Fachannan established at was Ross,
institute. The
considered one of the most celebrated, as it was one of the best frequented, in Ireland. 23 We are told, that St. Brendan,23 Bishop of Kerry, acquired a
A tradition prevailed among the peasantry, during the last century, that St.
Fachnan used to pray daily on the side of a hill, half-a-mile eastward from Ross. One day, he left an office-book there, and the night following, it happened to be very rainy. Nevertheless, the book was not wet, for to preserveit,asthelegendstates,theangelsbuiltasmallchapeloverit, said to have been only twelve feet long and eight broad. About the close of the seventeenth or beginning of the eighteenth century, a sick person vowed to
religious
college,
ofliberalsciencesinthis
to such a statement, it should follow, that the school of St. Fachtnan must have been in operation early in the sixth century, since St. Brendan is generally thought to have been born towards the close of the fifth century, and to have died soon after the year 570, at an advanced age.
knowledge
academy.
build a church should he recover. He was thus fortunate, and to fulfil his 2
vow, that oratory of St. Fachnan was repaired. 5
That our saint had presided over a school at this place before the birth
of St. Mochoemoc,26 whose name is Latinized Pulcherius, is stated, in the
Actsofthelatterholyman. Eventhen,thereputationofitspresidenthad
extended far and wide over Ireland, for learning and sanctity. We are told,
in . the Life of St. Mochoemoc, that St. Fachnanus was a wise and an upright
man, who lived in a monastery, which he had founded, and at the place called
2
Ross alithre. ? It was situated near the sea, in the southern part of Ireland.
By some mischance, he was deprived of the use of sight, and he prayed, that
the Almighty would be pleased to restore him, by indicating the means
necessary to be adopted. An angel was sent from heaven to direct him in
this 28 After the left him, St. Fachannan did not know a extremity. angel
certain Beoanus,20 an artisan, to whose wife he had been directed, nor did he
'9 Her Life is given at the 15th of January, in the First Volume of this work, Art. i.
30 A mistake has been committed by Charles Smith, who states, that St. Fachnan founded here an Abbey for Regular Canons, the ruins of which remained in his time. See " Ancient and Present State of the
24 See Dr. Meredith Hanmer's " Chroni-
cle of Ireland," p. 119.
2S See Charles Smith's "Ancient and Pre-
sent State of the County and City of Cork," vol. i. , book ii. , chap, iv. , pp. 259, 260.
and chap. iv. , p. 260".
Acta Sanctorum Hiber- nise," Martii xiii. Vita S. Mochoemoci,
County
City
ii. ,
21
By Dr. Meredith Hanmer, it is called
of Cork," vol. i. , book
27 " See Colgan's
from an old author "magnum studium scho-
larium," which he tra—nslates into English
" a great Vniversitie. " " Chronicle of Ire-
" See Sir James Ware's " De Hibernia
et Antiquitatibus ejus," cap. xv. , p. 67.
*3 The Acts of St. Brendan are given in the Fifth Volume of this work, at the 16th
of May, Art. i.
Vol. VIII. —No. 4.
tern oculorum inveniie tuorum, nisi oculos et faciem tuam laueris lacte vberum vxoris Beoani artificis, quae etiam nunquam pepe- lit ; —
vtero conceptual. " Ibid. , p. 589.
2* No further account of him seems to be
extant.
3° See her Acts, in the First Volume of
n
land," p. 118.
2<5
See his Acts in the Third Volume of
2* Ifwearetoattach credit any
this work, at the 13th of March, Art i.
cap. iv. , pp. 589, 590.
2i The Angel said : "Non poteris sanita-
sed dono Dei modo sanctum habet in
i 94 LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. [August 14.
even learn in what part of Ireland this artist lived. Ignorant of such parti- culars, Fachannan took a resolution of visiting St. Ita,3° who was endowed
with the spirit of prophecy, that she might enlighten him on the subject. After a journey of five days, he came to Corco-baiscind. 31 Here some of his
disciples heard certain persons, within a mill, calling Beoanus, the artisan, by name. On enquiring if Beoanus, the artisan, and his place of residence could be found, one of those men present, directed their attention to a woman, thengoingtowardsatown. TheysaidshewaswifetoBeoanus,theartist. Then, one of St. Fachannan's disciples followed her, and courteously requested her to stop for a while, until their venerable superior should come to salute her. Immediately she stood, and declared it would afford her the greatest possible happiness, to receive that salute from God's holy servant. When St. Fachannan came up, and asked if she was wife to Beoanus, the artificer ; that previously unknown woman gently and modestly replied in the affirmative. The legend states, that when Fachannan had followed the angel's
directions, his sight was miraculously restored. On beholding objects around him, the saint gave thanks to God, and he blessed the woman Nessa, as like- wisethechildtheninherwomb. Withtheblessingofthiswomanandof
St. Ita, as we are told, St. Fachannan and his disciples returned to their 2
monastery rejoicing. 3
CHAPTER II.
fERIOD OP ST. FACHTNA LIVING AT ROSS—HIS DEATH—FESTIVAL—COMMEMORATIONS— SUCCESSORS IN THE SEE OF ROSS—RELIGIOUS FOUNDATIONS THERE—CONCLUSION.
An is 1 that our saint established himself at 2 before the opinion held, Ross,
year 570 ;3 although some modern writers conjecture his monastery had not beenfoundedthere,untilmanyyearssubsequenttothatperiod/ Itseems rather strange, Sir James Ware should in one place remark,' that Fachnan
6
although, in another work of the same writer,? he is said to have flourished,
8
in the beginning of that same century. It has been stated, likewise, that
St. Fachnan flourished in 590. 9 It is probable, indeed, that he was still alive inthatyear; buthehadlivedlongbeforeit.
founded the monastery of Ross, about the end of the sixth century ;
this work, at the 15th of January, Art. i.
3 To this year, the death of St. Ita has
3 ' A commensurate territory,
Baronies of
and Ibrickan, in the south-west of the present County of Clare. The district was so named from Cairbre Baschaoin, brother of Cairbre Muse, and he was the progenitor of the Corca-Baiscinn race. See " The Topogra- phical Poems of John O'Dubhagain and Giolla na Naomh O'Huidhrin," edited by Dr. John O'Donovan, p. lxxi. , n. 616.
been
present
32 See
Antiquities
Article 1.
—Chapter
Colgan's
Index
9 The Rev. Dr. Lanigan remarks: "From
Clonderalaw, Moyarta,
4 In Harris' vol. Ware,
"
" Acta Sanctorum Iliber-
By Colgan, in his Trias Thaumaturga,"
nise," xiii. Martii. Vita S. Mochoemoci,
Chronologicus.
these few words of Colgan, Archdall (at
cap. iv. , pp. 589, 590. 1
with
the
assigned,
—
Dr. Lanigan. See " Ecclesiastical History that Fachnan founded the abbey of Ross,
•
of Ireland," vol. ii. , chap, xii. , sect, iv. , n.
43> P- 194-
2
Called by old writers Ross-alithre.
ii.
By
Rev.
a sort of Molana)deduced,by strange
logic,
ii. ,
of Ireland," chap, xxxviii. , p. 266.
5 When treating about religious founda- tions, in the County of Cork.
6 See " De Hibernia et Antiquitatibus
ejus," cap. xxvi. , p. 200.
7 When giving the account of the Bishops
of Ross, at cap. xxix. 8"
about 590. "—
Ireland," vol. ii. , chap, xii. , sect, iv. , n, 44, p. 195.
"Ecclesiastical of History
August 14. ] LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. 195
We cannot find any account of his decease in our Irish Annals. We are
told by Sir James Ware. 10 that he flourished in 599, but this is probably only
a conjecture. It is even doubtful if he were living, at this latter date. How-
ever, the 14th of August was the day for the festival of St. Fachtnan, Bishop
of Ross, as entered in our ancient Cale—ndars. Thus—especially if we assume
thathewasFachtnaMacMongaich hewascommemoratedintheFeilire
11 12
of St. ^Engus, in the Martyrology of Tallaght, in the Calendar of Cashel,
in the Martyrologies of Marianus O'Gorman, andofCathal Maguire. ^ In the
1
Calendar of Drummond, at this date, * the Festival of St. Fachtne, Confessor
—without further designation—is commemorated.
In
the Feast of St. Fachnan—or as Latinized—Fachananus, as Bishop and
Confessor, is kept on the 14th of August; it being a Double of the First Class, with an Octave. The Lessons of his Office are taken from the Common 3 yet, De Burgo has no notice whatever of St. Fachananus, nor of his office. 15
After the death of St. Fachannan, his school at Ross maintained a high
7
'
-06.
»4 Thus at xix. Kal.
hus :
"
16 and numbers of students were accustomed to resort thither, great
celebrity,
in order to be qualified for the public functions of life. It is stated, that
1
Finchad, ? one of St. Barr's disciples, succeeded St. Fachtnan in the See of
Ross. Afterwards, there appears to have been no further record of its Bishops to the time of one Dongal Mac-Folact, said to have been the twenty-
l8
seventh Bishop of the See from the Patron Saint ;
while all of those
ances.
to the same or 1 ? we are informed, that in the family sept. Again,
belonged
twelfth century, one Benedict was Bishop over this See in n72, and that he
sat for eighteen years afterwards, while Maurice, who succeeded, died in
2°
1 196. Afterwards, a record of the Bishops of Ross has been well preserved ; and we learn, that after the Anglo-Norman Invasion, the Bishop there had a demesne, which was exempt in the Charter of King John, in which he con- firmed to Adam Roch the cantred of 21 with all its
appurten- Ross is considered to have been one of the principal Irish schools, by Sir
James Ware 22 and, because it was an ancient seat of
; learning,
it held an
10 See "De
lib. i. , cap. xiiii. , p. 96.
Irish distich from the Book of which he thus translates into Latin
"Dongalus a Fachtna, ter nonusEpisco- Pus> extat
Lugadia de gente, dedit cui Rossia mitram. "
Scriptoribus Hiberniae,"
See "Transactions of the Royal Irish
Lecain,
Academy," Irish Manuscript Series, vol. i. , parti. On the Calendar of Oengus, p. cxxxi. 12 Edited by Rev. Dr. Kelly, p. xxxii.
13 See Colgan's "Acta Sanctorum Hiber-
J« „n
itin English
niae'," Martii xiii.
Vita S. Mochoemoci, d,
i_ lL
,
paraphrased
Hi- berniam Sancti Confessoris Fachtne. "—See
"
Saints," KalendariumDrummondiense, p. 21.
"Hail,happyRoss! whocouldproduce thrice nine,
All mitred sages of Line, Lugadia's
From Fachnan, crowned with ever-
lasting praise,
Down to the date of Dongal's pious
Bishop Forbes'
Kalendars of Scottish
's In " Officia
Propria
Sanctorum
Hiber-
nUE 1s0' o
See Ussher s
P- 907.
»He " is styled,
18 See Roderick O'Flaherty's "
Ad Ann. Edw. I.
of 1 at this date. more seems to be known Martyrology Donegal, Nothing
regarding him.
Article VIII. —Feast of St. Hippolitus and of his Companions, Martyrs, at Rome. In the Irish Church, at the 13th of August, the festival of St. Hippolitus, with that of his companions, in number nineteen, and of either sex, was observed. They suffered under the Emperor Decius,
3 See "Acta Sanctorum Hibernix," viii. Martii. Vita S. Senani, cap. xliii, and n. 31,
Article vii. — ' Edited by Drs. Todd
and Reeves, pp. 218, 219.
a A note, Dr. Todd, at the denomina- by
tion Lucan: "After this word the second
hand adds momAO'ooj;. Mar. , /Eh. , M. Tarn. ExS. ALnact Marl , 'mo rVUet>05
pp. 533, 536. — Article v.
'
See "Calendar of
Irish
Saints," p. xxxii.
3 Thus: bpigiCAe Ct. T)iAnlu»n\.
3 Edited by Rev. Drs. Todd and Reeves, miomi SAOitieal,' avnog pop a foil,
pp. 218, 219.
* "Ut constat ex Vita S. Columbee de
S. — 612. Brigidae, cap. i. , p.
(' Momaedog chief of the Gael,' this is his
Tirdaglas, caput 26. "—Colgan's "Trias Thaumaturga," Appendix Quarta ad Acta
festival), ct est alius a sequcnte 15, etiam a Fcrnensi 31 Jan. , meaning that the Momae- dog (' my little Aedh') is different from the Aedhmentionedonthe
Article vi.
and Reeves, pp. 218, 219.
of Ferns,
15th by Moedhog
' Edited Drs. Todd and from Aedh or
Jan. 31. "
ofthismonth,
August 14. ] LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. 191
at Rome. 1 For a full account of these soldiers of Christ, who vanquished in B2
their blood, the reader is referred to the Bollandists, who record their Acts, at this date, as given in Ado's Martyrology, and by Petrus Calus or Calotius,3 of the Order of Preachers. A previous commentary, in Four Sections and of Forty-five paragraphs, serves to elucidate their history.
jfourtttntb Bap ot aujpraik
ARTICLE I. — ST. FACHTNA, OR FACHTNAN, FIRST BISHOP AND PATRON OF THE DIOCESE OF ROSS.
[SIXTH CENTURY. ']
CHAPTER I.
INTRODUCTION—RACE AND ORIGIN OF ST. FACHTNAN—HIS EARLY YEARS UNNOTICED— HE FOUNDS A MONASTERY AT ROSS AND A CELEBRATED SCHOOL—FIRST BISHOP OF ROSS—LEGENDS REGARDING HIM—RESTORATION OF HIS SIGHT.
is greatly to be regretted, that so many of our Irish Saints, whose names ITand festivals have come down to our times and with a veneration growing as ages advance, should yet remain devoid of any distinctive record, to give details regarding their personal traits of character and of their life- labours. The more have we to lament these losses to our ecclesiastical history, when such holy persons are venerated, not alone in parishes and particular localities, but when they are reverently commemorated as Patrons of our Dioceses. Yet, in the latter case, as in the present instance, only a few indirect allusions in the Lives of other saints give any clue to the period and incidents, which serve as the sole memorials for a few brief and unsatis-
factory conjectural observations.
About the beginning of the sixth century, St. Fachtna or Fachtnan must
x
saints, who were his contemporaries, have been preserved, and that those narratives refer to him, in a casual manner, to note his age and place of residence. Still in obscurity are the incidents of St. Fachtnan's early youth and education, and even of his ordination as a Priest, as also of the opening events of his career when a missionary. Although it has been stated, that our saint had been educated by St. Barr* or Finnbar,s who established a school at Loch-Eirce f yet, the latter is thought to have lived after his time. ? Some of our ancient Calendars state, that Fachtna Mongach was Abbot of Dair Inis Maolanfaidh, in the country of the Decies, in Munster, and that he was iden-
Articleviii. —x Seethe"Feilire"ofSt.
"
-rEngus, in
Academy," Irish Manuscript Series, vol i. , part i. On the Calendar of Oengus. By
Whitley Stokes, L. L. D. , pp. cxxiii. , cxxxi.
3 See "Acta tomus Sanctorum," iii. ,
Augusti xiii. De Sanctis Martyribus Ro- manis Hippolyto, Concordia, ac xix. aliis, pp. 4 to 15.
have been born what concerns his ; but,
2 and native has not place
parentage
transpired. 3 It is something, however, to avail of, that the Acts of other
3 He
flourished,
about the end of the
was surnamed Mongach,
or as authors hairy,
Transactions of the Royal Irish
—Chapter
I.
*
By
Dr.
thirteenth Article
century.
— Meredith Hanmerhe is "also called Faughua
and Faughuanus. See "Chronicle of Ire-
land," pp. 118, 119.
2 IntheBookof heis Lecain, however,
said to have belonged to the sept of
Lugad.
3 According to some accounts, Fachnan
i.
192 LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. [August 14.
8
and, if such were the case, it seems most likely that the period of his abbacy at Molana preceded that of his episcopacy. However, this identity does not seem to be very certain ;
while much confusion has prevailed regarding the accounts transmitted to us
by previous writers.
That Saint Fachnan of Ross was a bishop depends on good authority j
but, when or where he was consecrated does not appear. Many of our writers on the Acts of the Saints do not even mention him, and notices are even omitted by the Bollandists. An opinion has been very generally enter- tained, that he became Abbot of Dairinis Moelanfaidh, now Molana, a small island in the River Blackwater, and within the present County of Waterford. 9 This statement, likewise, has been drawn from the ancient Calendar of Cashel, which seems to contain a local tradition. The question, however, is open to further investigation.
Treating about the Bishops of Ross,10 we are told, by Sir James Ware,11 thatSt. Fachnanflourishedinthebeginningofthesixthcentury. Theplace is also known as Rosscarbery, from the former district in which it was situated ; and even still it gives name to the Barony of East Carbery, where we find
tical with Fachtnan, Bishop of Ros-alethir ;
it placed, in the County of Cork.
The usual signification of Ross is
sense " a but it wood,"
12 the
of East
in the barony of Ibane and Barryroe, ? in the West Riding of the County of
Cork. When Ross obtained episcopal rank, St. Fachtnan is supposed to have been consecrated as first bishop of that See. 18 From a period very
u a
promontory,"
or "
in a
some accident of
peninsula ;" significations. By
secondary custom,
as we are twochiefmeaningsarenowrestrictedinpointoflocality; for,inthesouthern half of Ireland ros is generally understood in the sense of " wood ;" in the north such application is lost, and it means only "a peninsula. "^ However, as Ross stands on a rocky eminence, and as wooded banks flank the long and narrow bay which lies near it, the name is at present appropriate under either application. The situation of the town on the sea and its environs is very beau- tiful ; but that inlet, which bears the name of Roscarbery harbour, is both narrow and shallow in that part which approaches the town. 14 We are told, moreover, that this ancient foundation was near the Vergivium sea. 1 * The
also has other
told,
parish
of Ross is
situated, partly
in the 1
barony
Carbery,
16 and
partly
explain it, while others think his appellative
p. 140.
,0 to Walter Harris: "Ross According
a verdant ; as some — signifieth plain or, say,
a place where Heath or Broom grows," &c.
Harris' Ware, vol. i. , "Bishops of Ross,"
p. 583.
" At cap. xxix.
" In Dr. Patrick W. Joyce's "Origin and History of Irish Names of Places," part iv. , chap, iii. , p. 429.
"3 Yet in three examples quoted, Ross has
should be written Mac
Mongach,
or son
See Rev. Dr. Mongach. Lanigan's
of "Eccle-
siastical History of Ireland," vol. ii. , chap. xii. , sect, iv. , p. 193.
4 He is styled incorrectly St. Finlass of Cork, in a brief notice of saints, in Rev. S. Baring-Gould's work, " Lives of the Saints,"
vol. viii. , August 14, p. 140.
5 His Life is set down, at the 25th of Sep-
tember, in the Ninth Volume of this work, Art. i.
"
6
According to an ancient Life of this saint,
a peninsula," in the Ibid.
in
quoted Colgan's
nke," Martii xxvi.
"Acta Sanctorum Hiber- De S. Garvano Abbate,
p. 750-
7 See Rev. Dr. Lanigan's
"
Ecclesiastical History of Ireland," vol. ii. , chap, xii. ,
,6
This portion of it contains 12,403a.
sect, iv. , p. 193, and n. 44, p. 195.
8 This is expressly stated in the Calendar
of Cashel.
9 See Rev. S. Baring- Gould's " Lives
or. I9p.
f This portion of it contains only
947a. or. 35p.
,8 See Archdeacon Cotton's " Fasti Eccle-
of the Saints," vol. viii. , August 14, six Hibernicse," vol. i. , p. 348.
the signification —of
South of Ireland.
'* See " Gazetteer of Ire- Parliamentary
land," vol. iii. , p. 157.
IS See Sir James Ware's " De Hibernia et
Antiquitatibus ejus," cap. xxvi. , p. 200.
August 14. ] LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. 193
remote, it was the head of an episcopal district, as it is at present. It has been advanced, as Highly probable, that the See of Ross had existence before 569 or 570, because the death of St. Ita,'9 Patroness of Killeedy parish, has been generally assigned to that period, and she is stated to have lived con- temporaneously with the present saint. That ancient city formerly possessed acelebratedmonastery,andaflourishingacademy. St. Fachnanisthought to have founded that about the middle of the sixth 20 and
monastery, century,
no doubt, a school was then deemed to be a necessary adjunct to that
21 which Fachannan established at was Ross,
institute. The
considered one of the most celebrated, as it was one of the best frequented, in Ireland. 23 We are told, that St. Brendan,23 Bishop of Kerry, acquired a
A tradition prevailed among the peasantry, during the last century, that St.
Fachnan used to pray daily on the side of a hill, half-a-mile eastward from Ross. One day, he left an office-book there, and the night following, it happened to be very rainy. Nevertheless, the book was not wet, for to preserveit,asthelegendstates,theangelsbuiltasmallchapeloverit, said to have been only twelve feet long and eight broad. About the close of the seventeenth or beginning of the eighteenth century, a sick person vowed to
religious
college,
ofliberalsciencesinthis
to such a statement, it should follow, that the school of St. Fachtnan must have been in operation early in the sixth century, since St. Brendan is generally thought to have been born towards the close of the fifth century, and to have died soon after the year 570, at an advanced age.
knowledge
academy.
build a church should he recover. He was thus fortunate, and to fulfil his 2
vow, that oratory of St. Fachnan was repaired. 5
That our saint had presided over a school at this place before the birth
of St. Mochoemoc,26 whose name is Latinized Pulcherius, is stated, in the
Actsofthelatterholyman. Eventhen,thereputationofitspresidenthad
extended far and wide over Ireland, for learning and sanctity. We are told,
in . the Life of St. Mochoemoc, that St. Fachnanus was a wise and an upright
man, who lived in a monastery, which he had founded, and at the place called
2
Ross alithre. ? It was situated near the sea, in the southern part of Ireland.
By some mischance, he was deprived of the use of sight, and he prayed, that
the Almighty would be pleased to restore him, by indicating the means
necessary to be adopted. An angel was sent from heaven to direct him in
this 28 After the left him, St. Fachannan did not know a extremity. angel
certain Beoanus,20 an artisan, to whose wife he had been directed, nor did he
'9 Her Life is given at the 15th of January, in the First Volume of this work, Art. i.
30 A mistake has been committed by Charles Smith, who states, that St. Fachnan founded here an Abbey for Regular Canons, the ruins of which remained in his time. See " Ancient and Present State of the
24 See Dr. Meredith Hanmer's " Chroni-
cle of Ireland," p. 119.
2S See Charles Smith's "Ancient and Pre-
sent State of the County and City of Cork," vol. i. , book ii. , chap, iv. , pp. 259, 260.
and chap. iv. , p. 260".
Acta Sanctorum Hiber- nise," Martii xiii. Vita S. Mochoemoci,
County
City
ii. ,
21
By Dr. Meredith Hanmer, it is called
of Cork," vol. i. , book
27 " See Colgan's
from an old author "magnum studium scho-
larium," which he tra—nslates into English
" a great Vniversitie. " " Chronicle of Ire-
" See Sir James Ware's " De Hibernia
et Antiquitatibus ejus," cap. xv. , p. 67.
*3 The Acts of St. Brendan are given in the Fifth Volume of this work, at the 16th
of May, Art. i.
Vol. VIII. —No. 4.
tern oculorum inveniie tuorum, nisi oculos et faciem tuam laueris lacte vberum vxoris Beoani artificis, quae etiam nunquam pepe- lit ; —
vtero conceptual. " Ibid. , p. 589.
2* No further account of him seems to be
extant.
3° See her Acts, in the First Volume of
n
land," p. 118.
2<5
See his Acts in the Third Volume of
2* Ifwearetoattach credit any
this work, at the 13th of March, Art i.
cap. iv. , pp. 589, 590.
2i The Angel said : "Non poteris sanita-
sed dono Dei modo sanctum habet in
i 94 LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. [August 14.
even learn in what part of Ireland this artist lived. Ignorant of such parti- culars, Fachannan took a resolution of visiting St. Ita,3° who was endowed
with the spirit of prophecy, that she might enlighten him on the subject. After a journey of five days, he came to Corco-baiscind. 31 Here some of his
disciples heard certain persons, within a mill, calling Beoanus, the artisan, by name. On enquiring if Beoanus, the artisan, and his place of residence could be found, one of those men present, directed their attention to a woman, thengoingtowardsatown. TheysaidshewaswifetoBeoanus,theartist. Then, one of St. Fachannan's disciples followed her, and courteously requested her to stop for a while, until their venerable superior should come to salute her. Immediately she stood, and declared it would afford her the greatest possible happiness, to receive that salute from God's holy servant. When St. Fachannan came up, and asked if she was wife to Beoanus, the artificer ; that previously unknown woman gently and modestly replied in the affirmative. The legend states, that when Fachannan had followed the angel's
directions, his sight was miraculously restored. On beholding objects around him, the saint gave thanks to God, and he blessed the woman Nessa, as like- wisethechildtheninherwomb. Withtheblessingofthiswomanandof
St. Ita, as we are told, St. Fachannan and his disciples returned to their 2
monastery rejoicing. 3
CHAPTER II.
fERIOD OP ST. FACHTNA LIVING AT ROSS—HIS DEATH—FESTIVAL—COMMEMORATIONS— SUCCESSORS IN THE SEE OF ROSS—RELIGIOUS FOUNDATIONS THERE—CONCLUSION.
An is 1 that our saint established himself at 2 before the opinion held, Ross,
year 570 ;3 although some modern writers conjecture his monastery had not beenfoundedthere,untilmanyyearssubsequenttothatperiod/ Itseems rather strange, Sir James Ware should in one place remark,' that Fachnan
6
although, in another work of the same writer,? he is said to have flourished,
8
in the beginning of that same century. It has been stated, likewise, that
St. Fachnan flourished in 590. 9 It is probable, indeed, that he was still alive inthatyear; buthehadlivedlongbeforeit.
founded the monastery of Ross, about the end of the sixth century ;
this work, at the 15th of January, Art. i.
3 To this year, the death of St. Ita has
3 ' A commensurate territory,
Baronies of
and Ibrickan, in the south-west of the present County of Clare. The district was so named from Cairbre Baschaoin, brother of Cairbre Muse, and he was the progenitor of the Corca-Baiscinn race. See " The Topogra- phical Poems of John O'Dubhagain and Giolla na Naomh O'Huidhrin," edited by Dr. John O'Donovan, p. lxxi. , n. 616.
been
present
32 See
Antiquities
Article 1.
—Chapter
Colgan's
Index
9 The Rev. Dr. Lanigan remarks: "From
Clonderalaw, Moyarta,
4 In Harris' vol. Ware,
"
" Acta Sanctorum Iliber-
By Colgan, in his Trias Thaumaturga,"
nise," xiii. Martii. Vita S. Mochoemoci,
Chronologicus.
these few words of Colgan, Archdall (at
cap. iv. , pp. 589, 590. 1
with
the
assigned,
—
Dr. Lanigan. See " Ecclesiastical History that Fachnan founded the abbey of Ross,
•
of Ireland," vol. ii. , chap, xii. , sect, iv. , n.
43> P- 194-
2
Called by old writers Ross-alithre.
ii.
By
Rev.
a sort of Molana)deduced,by strange
logic,
ii. ,
of Ireland," chap, xxxviii. , p. 266.
5 When treating about religious founda- tions, in the County of Cork.
6 See " De Hibernia et Antiquitatibus
ejus," cap. xxvi. , p. 200.
7 When giving the account of the Bishops
of Ross, at cap. xxix. 8"
about 590. "—
Ireland," vol. ii. , chap, xii. , sect, iv. , n, 44, p. 195.
"Ecclesiastical of History
August 14. ] LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. 195
We cannot find any account of his decease in our Irish Annals. We are
told by Sir James Ware. 10 that he flourished in 599, but this is probably only
a conjecture. It is even doubtful if he were living, at this latter date. How-
ever, the 14th of August was the day for the festival of St. Fachtnan, Bishop
of Ross, as entered in our ancient Cale—ndars. Thus—especially if we assume
thathewasFachtnaMacMongaich hewascommemoratedintheFeilire
11 12
of St. ^Engus, in the Martyrology of Tallaght, in the Calendar of Cashel,
in the Martyrologies of Marianus O'Gorman, andofCathal Maguire. ^ In the
1
Calendar of Drummond, at this date, * the Festival of St. Fachtne, Confessor
—without further designation—is commemorated.
In
the Feast of St. Fachnan—or as Latinized—Fachananus, as Bishop and
Confessor, is kept on the 14th of August; it being a Double of the First Class, with an Octave. The Lessons of his Office are taken from the Common 3 yet, De Burgo has no notice whatever of St. Fachananus, nor of his office. 15
After the death of St. Fachannan, his school at Ross maintained a high
7
'
-06.
»4 Thus at xix. Kal.
hus :
"
16 and numbers of students were accustomed to resort thither, great
celebrity,
in order to be qualified for the public functions of life. It is stated, that
1
Finchad, ? one of St. Barr's disciples, succeeded St. Fachtnan in the See of
Ross. Afterwards, there appears to have been no further record of its Bishops to the time of one Dongal Mac-Folact, said to have been the twenty-
l8
seventh Bishop of the See from the Patron Saint ;
while all of those
ances.
to the same or 1 ? we are informed, that in the family sept. Again,
belonged
twelfth century, one Benedict was Bishop over this See in n72, and that he
sat for eighteen years afterwards, while Maurice, who succeeded, died in
2°
1 196. Afterwards, a record of the Bishops of Ross has been well preserved ; and we learn, that after the Anglo-Norman Invasion, the Bishop there had a demesne, which was exempt in the Charter of King John, in which he con- firmed to Adam Roch the cantred of 21 with all its
appurten- Ross is considered to have been one of the principal Irish schools, by Sir
James Ware 22 and, because it was an ancient seat of
; learning,
it held an
10 See "De
lib. i. , cap. xiiii. , p. 96.
Irish distich from the Book of which he thus translates into Latin
"Dongalus a Fachtna, ter nonusEpisco- Pus> extat
Lugadia de gente, dedit cui Rossia mitram. "
Scriptoribus Hiberniae,"
See "Transactions of the Royal Irish
Lecain,
Academy," Irish Manuscript Series, vol. i. , parti. On the Calendar of Oengus, p. cxxxi. 12 Edited by Rev. Dr. Kelly, p. xxxii.
13 See Colgan's "Acta Sanctorum Hiber-
J« „n
itin English
niae'," Martii xiii.
Vita S. Mochoemoci, d,
i_ lL
,
paraphrased
Hi- berniam Sancti Confessoris Fachtne. "—See
"
Saints," KalendariumDrummondiense, p. 21.
"Hail,happyRoss! whocouldproduce thrice nine,
All mitred sages of Line, Lugadia's
From Fachnan, crowned with ever-
lasting praise,
Down to the date of Dongal's pious
Bishop Forbes'
Kalendars of Scottish
's In " Officia
Propria
Sanctorum
Hiber-
nUE 1s0' o
See Ussher s
P- 907.
»He " is styled,
18 See Roderick O'Flaherty's "
Ad Ann. Edw. I.
