We have over 40 posts about Irish Saints (despite being very unsaintly ourselves). That’s because Irish saints are so much part of the Irish culture. Two of our national holidays are for Irish saints (Patrick on March 17 and Brigid on Feb 1 or closest Monday), many of our place names come from Saints (anything starting in Kill or Cill, for example), and many of us are named for Irish saints (you know who you are). Above is a window labelled the Vision of St Ita, and our header image is Dympna.
So I have put together a new Page. Our Pages (find them by clicking on the little three-bar icon in the header) act as sub-menus so that you can more easily navigate content, since we have almost 1200 posts.
Take a look at the new page, and while you’re at it, have a browse. You might want to read, if you haven’t already, my two favourites: The Patron Saint of Atheists? and St Brandanus: A 14th-Century Graphic Novel (it’s a three-parter). Or perhaps you share a name with one of our saints and want to see what they’ve been up to.
The Irish saints we write about (except for one) predate the Vatican’s formal canonisation process — they became saints by local acclamation and long tradition rather than papal decree. Of the four Irish saints officially canonised by Rome – Malachy, Lawrence O’Toole, Oliver Plunkett (above), and Charles of Mount Argus (no, I had never heard of him either) – only Oliver Plunkett features among our posts. The 19th-century revival of interest in early Irish texts brought many of these saints back into wider knowledge. See The White Hound of Brigown (that’s him below) for example, for the wonderful translations and language of Whitley Stokes, one of the great scholars of early Irish literature.
Finally, if you have a more than passing interest in Irish saints I highly recommend the blog Omnium Sanctorum Hiberniae AKA All the Saints of Ireland, or its sister site https://triasthaumaturga.blogspot.com/ AKA The Three Wonderworking Patrons of Ireland. They are both by my friend Marcella. What she doesn’t know about Irish saints isn’t worth knowing.
Kudos to anyone who can name the two saints in the image above and tell us what the younger one is holding.
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St Patrick and St Benignus of Armagh of who is holding Patrick’s relics in the golden vessel
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You’ve got St Patrick all right, Alan, but not the other one. So close!
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Fascinating stuff, I love our indigenous saints. St Ciarán’s Well is in Kilcar, Donegal and on my bucket list! Could one of the mystery saints by Colmcille, I note a dove? And is that a finger? In a reliquary?
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You’re hot about the reliquary but not about the Saint(s)!
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Interesting post. Thanks. Who created that interesting image of St Kieran and where it it?
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It’s in Donegal and I remember it was by the side of the road, but I can’t remember where exactly. Perhaps one of our readers will know.
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