Irish Saints
During the Dark Ages, Ireland was known as the Land of Saints & Scholars, a place of burgeoning culture and Christianity. Here is a selection of Ireland's famous saints who helped spread light during dark times. We begin with the solemnity of ALL SAINTS DAY as a reminder of our all call to become saints and our belief in the communion of saints.
ALL SAINTS DAY - Solemnity November 1 All Saints Day celebrates all people who already see the face of God in heaven, whether or not the Church has canonised them. The Church celebrates his feast to remind us of all those ordinary men and women who, overcoming weakness and temptation and allowing the Holy Spirit to work in their lives, now share in the glory of Christ forever. These citizens of heaven are teachers of the Christian life, guiding us on the path to holiness. Celebrating the day before All Souls Day, this Solemnity encourages us to rejoice in the work of the Holy Spirit throughout history. Champions of love, the saints enjoy the eternal happiness of God. The celebration of this feast has ancient roots.
As Catholic Christians, we ask the intercession of all saints and imitate their lives and virtues so that we might one day contemplate the face of God with them. (Wisdom 3:1).
St Patrick - Feast Day 17th March
Ireland's most prominent patron saint, St. Patrick, is as much an integral figure in Irish culture as he is in the country's Christianity.
Brought as a slave to Ireland from Wales in the 5th century, St Patrick went on to convert the pagans of Ireland to Christianity. There are a great many legends surrounding St Patrick, from great battles of miracles and magic against druid priests on the Hill of Tara, sprouting shamrocks to explain the holy trinity, and of course banishing all the snakes from Ireland.
St Patrick established his first cathedral at Armagh and ever since Armagh has been the Ecclesiastic capital of Ireland and to this day is the principle seat of both the Catholic and Protestant Archbishops of Ireland.
St Patrick is buried in Downpatrick, close to the site of his very first church at Saul and is buried alongside Ireland's other patron saints, Brigid and Columba in accordance with an ancient legend, that the three saints would be laid to rest together.
Learn more by watching: Stories of St. Patrick for Children
Saint Brendan - Feast Day 16th May
St Brendan the Navigator was born in County Kerry and according to legend sailed to the Americas sometime in the 5th Century.
One of Ireland's early saints, St Brendan was born near Tralee in County Kerry, and was ordained by St Erc around 512. St Brendan established monastic settlements at the foot of Mount Brandon on the Dingle peninsula and in later years established his great monastery at Clonfert County Galway, where he is interred.
Amazing stories surround St Brendan most famously of his legendary voyage across the Atlantic in a leather coracle, along with 14 other monks in search of the Garden of Eden. It is believed by many that St Brendan's voyage brought him to North America, a belief supported by theories that Christopher Columbus relied on the legends of St Brendan for his voyage and even visited, Brendan's monastery at Clonfert before heading across the Atlantic. Brendan's voyage was repeated in the 1970s by explorer Tom Severin, whose coracle boat is exhibited at Craggaunowen Castle in Galway.
Brendan also visited Wales, England and Scotland and the cream liqueur, made in Northern Ireland from local whiskey and cream; Saint Brendan's, is named after him.
Saint Brigid - Feast Day 1st February
One of Ireland's Patron Saints, Saint Brigid was daughter of a pagan King of Leinster and a Christian Pictish slave who had been baptized by St. Patrick.
According to legend, Saint Brigid prayed that her beauty be taken so that she could not marry and she became a nun. Renowned for her generosity and care for the poor, Saint Brigid famously converted a dying man by making up a cross with rushes she found on the ground to bless him with, something children in Ireland learn to make in school.
Saint Brigid established the Convent of Cill-Dara in County Kildare around 470 and founded a school of art here, which went on to produce the famous illuminated manuscript; the Book of Kildare.
Saint Brigid is interred in Downpatrick along with St Patrick and St Columcille, Ireland's other patron saints.
Information on St Brigid of Kildare
St Columba/Columcille - Feast Day 9th June
Saint Columba was born in County Donegal in the 5th Century and was descended from great Irish nobility, tracing his ancestry to Niall of the Nine Hostages, the legendary Irish High King.
From his Irish name Columcille is known as Dove of the Church and the saint established his first church in Derry in the 6th Century. While he was a monk, St Columba, the patron saint of bookbinders, wrote an illustrative book of psalms while at the monastery of St Finnian. Both men then fell out over who owned the copy, the writer or the publisher, resulting in the Battle of Cul Dremhe in 561. The battle was a massacre on both sides and the stalemate was concluded in favour of the publisher by the then High King, who declared to each calf its cow, effectively established the first copyright law.
In remorse St Columba vowed never to return to his native soil and set for Scotland, to convert the Pictish pagans as penance for those who died in the battle. St Columba travelled the land before establishing his abbey on the isle of Iona of the coast of Scotland. During his travels of the Highlands, it is said St Columba encountered the Loch Ness Monster, healing a local chieftain who had been attacked by Nessy and banishing the beast to the Loch.
St Columba is buried along with Ireland's other pre-eminent saints; St Patrick and St Brigid.
St Kevin - Feast Day 3rd June
Saint Kevin was a hermit and a miracle worker, he was responsible for the monastery of Glendalough, Co. Wicklow and according to legend lived to the age of 120!
It is believed that Saint Kevin was descended from a royal line of the Leinster Kings and from the age of 7 was educated by St Petroc of Cornwall. He studied for the priesthood at 12 and after he was ordained lived as a hermit in a cave at Glendalough, a picturesque valley deep in the Wicklow Mountains.
Ironically for a hermit, St Kevin established quite a following and by the 9th Century Glendalough became one of the country's most important monasteries and one of Ireland's chief pilgrimages and today is a popular attraction for those touring the Wicklow Mountains.
St Oliver Plunkett - Feast Day 1st July
More a political than a spiritual figure, Oliver Plunkett became a saint due to his martyrdom at the hands of the English during the 17th Century.
Born of Irish nobility in County Meath, Oliver Plunkett was educated in Rome where he stayed during the many years of persecution for Catholics in Ireland under the Penal Laws. In 1669 he was appointed Archbishop of Armagh, Primate of all Ireland and returned to his native soil. Plunkett established a Jesuit School in Drogheda and set about reorganising the Catholic Church, however following fresh persecution, and an accusation of treason, Plunkett went into hiding.
In 1679, Oliver Plunkett was arrested on false charges of treason, he was transferred to London for trail and when the first trail was deemed a farce, he was retried, found guilty and sentenced to be hung drawn and quartered.
Oliver Plunkett was the last Catholic to die for his faith in England, he was beatified in 1920, the first of the Irish martyrs to be beatified and later canonised in 1975, the first new Irish saint for almost 700 years. In many of Ireland's cities you'll find streets named after Oliver Plunkett.
St. Aidan of Lindesfarne– Feast Day 31 August
In the seventh century, Saint Aidan was the Bishop of Lindisfarne, an island in the North Sea, where he converted the Celts living in England’s far north. Little is known of Saint Aidan’s early life, save that he was an Irishman, possibly born in Connacht, and that he was a monk at the monastery on the island of Iona in Scotland.
Saint Aidan lived in a time of conflict in the British Isles. There was conflict between Christianity and the pagan religions of the Anglo-Saxons and also conflict between the Christianity of the Celts and that of the Romans.
In 633, King Oswald of Northumbria determined to bring Christianity to the pagans of his kingdom. From his fortress of Bamburgh, he sent messages to Iona asking for missionary monks to come and minister to his people.
Aidan arrived in Northumbria around AD 635 accompanied by 12 other monks and was established as Bishop of the area. King Oswald gave him the island of Lindisfarne, (now known as the Holy Island) for his Bishopric. It was eminently suitable for him since the island was cut off from the mainland except, twice a day during the periods of low tide, when a land bridge was uncovered. It provided both solitude and a base for missionary work. Here St. Aidan established an Irish-type monastery of wooden buildings…a small church, small, circular dwelling huts, perhaps one larger building for communal purposes and workshops as needed. There the monks spent time in prayer and studious preparation before venturing out into the community to spread the gospel.
Aidan lived a frugal life, and encouraged the laity to fast and study the scriptures. He himself fasted on Wednesdays and Fridays, and seldom ate at the royal table. St. Aidan tirelessly engaged in preaching and pastoral work. He traveled mainly by foot and visited all he came across. As St. Bede tells us; "Whether rich or poor, if unbelievers, to embrace the mystery of the faith, or, if already Christians, he would strengthen them in the faith and stir them up, by words and actions, to alms and good works. He was accustomed not only to teach the people committed to his charge in church, but also feeling for the weakness of a new-born faith, to wander round the provinces, to go into the houses of the faithful, and to sow the seeds of God's Word in their hearts, according to the capacity of each."
When a feast was set before him he would give the food away to the hungry. The presents he received were given to the poor or used to buy the freedom of slaves, some of whom entered the priesthood. During Lent Aidan would retire to the small island of Farne for prayer and penance.
Aidan had to ensure that his efforts did not die with himself and his Ionian monks. St. Aidan realized from the first the value of education and established a school in order to train the next generation of Christian leaders for Northumbria. He began with twelve boys, who learned the practical work of being monks, priests and missionaries by observing and working with the older monks. The monastery he founded grew and helped found other monasteries throughout the area. It also became a center of learning and a storehouse of scholarly knowledge.
Aidan and King Oswald worked hand in hand, especially at first, since St. Aidan and his monks could not speak the language of the people. King Oswald translated for them until they became proficient in English.
In 642 AD, the King Oswald was killed in battle against the pagan King Penda. King Oswin was appointed as Oswald's successor. He also supported Aidan's apostolate.
Aidan preached widely throughout Northumbria, traveling on foot, so that he could readily talk to everyone he met. King Oswin presented St. Aidan with a fine horse and trappings so the Bishop would no longer have to walk every where. No sooner had St. Aidan left the King’s palace when he came across a poor man asking for alms. The bishop gave the man his new horse and continued on his way.
It wasn’t long after this incident in 651 when King Oswin was murdered in Gilling, by his cousin. Eleven days afterward, St. Aidan also died after serving 16 years in his episcopate. He had become ill and a tent was constructed for him by the wall of a church. He drew his last breath while leaning against one of the buttresses on the outside of the church. This beam survived unscathed through two subsequent burnings of the church and at the church’s third rebuilding, the beam was brought inside the church and many reported miracles of healing by touching it.
What St. Aidan had achieved may not have been clear to him at death but subsequent history showed the strong foundations and lasting success of his mission. The missionaries trained in his school went out and worked for the conversion of much of Anglo-Saxon England. Saint Aidan of Lindisfarne is credited with restoring Christianity to Northumbria
The Catholic Church in Ireland & the Saints
The Catholic Church in Ireland is organised into four ecclesiastical provinces: Tuam, Dublin, Cashel, and Armagh, which are led by four archbishops.
There are 26 dioceses in Ireland, each led by a bishop; Only two dioceses are entirely contained within Northern Ireland: Down and Connor and the Diocese of Dromore. Three dioceses and the Archdiocese of Armagh straddle the border.
Each Catholic Diocese in Ireland has its own patron saint. Watch as we gradually post the stories of these saints.