Saint Ailbe (ˈalʲvʲə; also spelled Ailbhe, Elfeis, Ailfyw, Ailvyw, Elveis, Latinized as Albeus, sometimes anglicized as Elvis) was a sixth-century Irish bishop.

He is sometimes claimed as one of the pre-Patrician

Saint Patrick

Saint Patrick was a Romano-Briton and Christian missionary, who is the most generally recognized patron saint of Ireland or the Apostle of Ireland, although Brigid of Kildare and Colmcille are also formally patron saints....

 Saint

Saint

A saint is a holy person. In various religions, saints are people who are believed to have exceptional holiness.In Christian usage, "saint" refers to any believer who is "in Christ", and in whom Christ dwells, whether in heaven or in earth...

s, with Ciaran

Ciarán

Ciarán , Ciaran in Scottish Gaelic, Ceiran, Kieran, Keeran, Kyran, Kiaran, Keiran, Kieren, Kieron, Keiron or Kiernan , is a personal name meaning "small dark one". Ciarán comes from the Irish word "Ciar" which means black or dark. Ciar can be linked back to Ciar, son of Fergus, King of Ulster...

, Declan, and Ibar

Ibar

-Places:* Ibar , in Montenegro and Serbia* Ibar Reserve in Rila, Bulgaria* Ibar Rocks, a rock formation in Antarctica* Ibar highway, in Serbia-People:* Ibar of Beggerin , Irish saint* Íbar of Killibar Beg, Irish saint...

, but the annals note his death in 528 (i.e. after the death of Saint Patrick in 460). A tradition held that he went to Rome and was ordained bishop

Bishop

A bishop is an ordained or consecrated member of the Christian clergy who is generally entrusted with a position of authority and oversight. Within the Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox Churches, in the Assyrian Church of the East, in the Independent Catholic Churches, and in the...

 by the Pope

Pope

The Pope is the Bishop of Rome, a position that makes him the leader of the worldwide Catholic Church . In the Catholic Church, the Pope is regarded as the successor of Saint Peter, the Apostle...

. He founded the monastery

Monastery

Monastery denotes the building, or complex of buildings, that houses a room reserved for prayer as well as the domestic quarters and workplace of monastics, whether monks or nuns, and whether living in community or alone .Monasteries may vary greatly in size – a small dwelling accommodating only...

 and Diocese of Emly

Emly

Emly or Emlybeg is a village in South Tipperary, Ireland. It is a civil parish in the historical barony of Clanwilliam. It is also an Ecclesiastical parish in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Cashel and Emly....

 (in Irish: Imlech), which became very important in Munster

Munster

Munster is one of the Provinces of Ireland situated in the south of Ireland. In Ancient Ireland, it was one of the fifths ruled by a "king of over-kings" . Following the Norman invasion of Ireland, the ancient kingdoms were shired into a number of counties for administrative and judicial purposes...

. A ninth-century Rule bears his name.

Ailbe baptised St David

Saint David

Saint David was a Welsh Bishop during the 6th century; he was later regarded as a saint and as the patron saint of Wales. David was a native of Wales, and a relatively large amount of information is known about his life. However, his birth date is still uncertain, as suggestions range from 462 to...

, patron saint of Wales. There was a church dedicated to Saint Ailbe in the hamlet of Saint Elvis

St Elvis, Pembrokeshire

St. Elvis is a small parish in Pembrokeshire, Wales, about east of St David's; named after St. Ailbe. GENUKI notes church and chapel records dating from the 19th century, with two farms.There is still a St Elvis farm....

 near Solva

Solva

Solva is a village and community in Pembrokeshire, Wales, UK.-Location:Solva lies on the north side of St Bride's Bay, in North Pembrokeshire in the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park and on the Pembrokeshire Coast Path. It lies on a deep ravine at the mouth of the River Solva. In the ravine is...

, Pembroke

Pembroke, Pembrokeshire

Pembroke is an historic settlement and former county town of Pembrokeshire in west Wales. The town and the county derive their name from that of the cantref of Penfro: Pen = "head" or "end", and bro = "region", "country", "land", and so it means essentially "Land's End".-History:The main point of...

, Wales, UK, near St David's

St David's

St Davids , is a city and community in Pembrokeshire, Wales. Lying on the River Alun on St David's Peninsula, it is Britain's smallest city in terms of both size and population, the final resting place of Saint David, the country's patron saint, and the de facto ecclesiastical capital of...

; it is long in ruins. There is still a shrine to St. Elvis which bears an inscription making the connection between the two variants of the name, and confirming that St. Elvis baptised St. David.

Legend

Ailbe was born to the king of Munster and a slave-woman. The king refused to acknowledge him and ordered him killed, but the man who was supposed to murder him instead gave him to a she-wolf to be raised. Not long after, Britons living in Ireland fostered him. When they wished to return to Britain, they refused to let Ailbe come with them. However, they were unable to make the crossing without him and he sailed with them the next day. He then crossed to Gaul, with difficulty, because he wished to go to Rome. He was educated and ordained in Rome by a Saint Hilary [male], then sent to the pope to be made a bishop. The hagiographer claims that he fed the populace of Rome for three days after his consecration and then went home to Ireland. There he became involved with local royal politics and founded the See of Emly. At the end of his life, a supernatural ship came and he boarded to learn the secret of his death. After returning from the other world, he went back to Emly (Imlech) to die and be buried.

Manuscripts and dating

The vita, or "life," of Ailbe is included in the Vitae Sanctorum Hiberniae (VSH), a collection of medieval Irish saints’ lives in Latin compiled in the fourteenth century. There are three major manuscript versions of the Vitae Sanctorum Hiberniae (VSH): Dublin, Oxford, and Salamanca (Codex Salmanticensis

Codex Salmanticensis

The Codex Salmanticensis is a medieval Irish manuscript containing an extensive collection of Irish saints' Lives, now in the Royal Library of Belgium in Brussels...

), all compiled in the 14th century. Charles Plummer compiled an edition of the VSH based on the two surviving Dublin manuscripts in 1910. William Heist compiled an edition of the single Salamanca manuscript (Codex Salamanticensis) in 1965. Oxford professor Richard Sharpe suggests that the Salamanca manuscript is the closest to the original text from which all three versions derive. Sharpe analyzes the Irish-name forms in the Codex Salamanticensis and, based on the similarities between it and the Life of Saint Brigid (a verifiably seventh-century text), posits that nine, possibly ten, of the lives in the Salamanca Codex were written much earlier, circa 750 - 850.