Colmán of Cloyne
Encyclopedia
Saint Colmán of Cloyne also Colmán mac Léníne, was a monk, founder and patron of Cluain Uama, now Cloyne
, Co. Cork, Ireland, and one of the earliest known Irish poets to write in the vernacular.
, genealogies and martyrologies. An early origin tale known as Conall Corc and the Corco Loígde, which survives only as part of the Irish genealogical tract in MS Laud 610, includes a few brief notes on the saint. This text was probably written at St Colmán's foundation of Cloyne and though it cannot be precisely dated, a rough approximate of c. 700 or earlier has been suggested.
of Munster. Irish genealogies, however, go some way to associating Colmán's lineage with the Éoganachta
, the leading ruling dynasty in Munster. One early item of genealogical information, which specifically identifies the Mac Léníni and Mac Duinich as sub-branches of the Rothrige (though it does not name Colmán), achieves this by making their eponymous progenitor Eochaid Rothán a son of the Éoganacht ancestor Mug Nuadat
. The saint's genealogies later come to trace Colmán's ancestry to Mug Nuadat through seven generations. This prominence accorded to the Éoganachta in the genealogies is to be seen in the light of Colmán's monastic career and the position of Cloyne after his death (see below).
The text Conall Corc and the Corco Loígde includes a brief triad in which Colmán is named as one of the three "ex-laymen" (athláich) of Ireland, along with Énna of Aran and Móchammac of Inis Celtra (though it also adds a fourth, Bishop Erc in Sláne of Mag Breg). The use of the word athláech here has been taken to suggest that Colmán became a cleric at a somewhat later age than was usual at the time. Later tradition claims that it was the Connacht saint Brendan of Clonfert who finally persuaded him to do so.
and the Uí Meic Caille, a sept of the former. The origin legend Conall Corc and the Corco Loígde claims that the land for the foundation was not given by the local king, but by Coirpre (Crom) mac Crimthainn
(d. c. 580), who was king of Munster from the Eóganacht Glendamnach
:
Aired Cechtraige has been identified as the later parish of Erry in the barony of Middlethird, and Cell Náile as that of Killenaule
, in the barony of Ardagh, both in the diocese of Cashel.
The same text alludes to Colmán's conflicts with other rulers. Colmán and his brothers are said at one time to have been expelled from Maethalach by Máel Umai, the son of Coirpre's brother Fiachna Onchind; for this reason, his descendants were forever excluded from royal rule. Earlier in the text, Colmán is also said to have uttered a curse (maledictio) which brought down the walls of the city of Ress or Ressad
. According to Paul MacCotter, Ress(ad) appears to be "an archaic name for Uí Chairpre or one of its divisions", the Uí Chairpre being a prominent sept of the Uí Fidgenti
in Co. Limerick.
Cloyne appears to have been his earliest settlement. The cathedral and round tower are situated on a limestone eminence in the midst of the valley, surrounded by rich meadows. In the rock is the cave extending in various branches underground to a great distance, from which the town derives its name. Here it is supposed Colman took up his abode as a place of security and the remains of his primitive oratory, known as Colman's Chapel were still to be seen in 1813.
Further details of his life are not documented in writing but the connection of many places in counties Cork
and Limerick
with his name to this day proves the reality of his labours. The tenth-century Triads describes Cloyne as an important law school.
by him.
It is unclear whether he was brought up as a Christian, but what is sure is that he was educated and became a bard
or file, which required a special education - (in order to reach the highest level of file 12 years of study were required.) As a member of the class of filí, he became attached to the court of Cashel where he remained until about the age of 48 years. In 570 he and Saint Brendan of Clonfert
were said to have settled a dispute between rivals to the throne of Cashel and Aodh Caomh was acknowledged as king - the first Christian king of Cashel. The King was installed by Saint Brendan. During the time of the coronation Colman and some others discovered the lost shrine of Ailbhe of Emly. Brendan said that it was not right that the hands which had held this sacred relic should be defiled henceforth, thus it was that the son of Leinin offered himself to God. Brendan blessed him and gave him the name Colmán, which is a diminutive of Colm. The Gaelic word colm corresponds to the Latin
columba (dove).
Colman then went to the school of Saint Iarlaithe of Tuam
and after his studies he is next mentioned as preaching to the heathen population in the east of County Cork. He is described as a 'religious and holy presbyter, who afterwards became a famous bishop". The Prince of Déise, in the present County of Waterford
, presented his child to Colman for baptism. Colman baptized him Declan and urged his parents to educate him well in his faith. This child became Saint Declan.
Colman was given churches in Erry and Killenaule (4 and 10 miles from Cashel respectively) by Coirpre Cromm mac Crimthainn
, King of Munster (Cashel), as well as lands in Cloyne, Co. Cork. It may well be that the lands in Cloyne (Cluain Uama, the lawn of the cave), were conquered lands and to prevent the possibility of reconquest were given to the church. The Cloyne estate was large and contained some of the best land in the area.
After the king's death (c. 580) Colman somehow became involved in factional strife between Coirpre's descendants in which some of them persecuted him while others, the ancestors of the later dominant line, protected him.
(d. 604), king of the UÍ Néill. The latter poem has not survived complete.
and of its cathedral
in Cóbh.
A different Saint Colman is also venerated on the same day, as recorded by Saint Aengus
in his "Felire": - Mac Lenine the most excellent With Colman of Duth-chuilleann. Saint Colman lived in a time for which we have very little written history. The received picture of Colman Mac Leinin comes to us from nineteenth and twentieth century Hagiographies.
Cloyne
Cloyne is a small town to the south-east of the town of Midleton in eastern County Cork, Province of Munster, Ireland. It is also a see city of the Anglican Diocese of Cork, Cloyne and Ross, while also giving its name to a Roman Catholic diocese...
, Co. Cork, Ireland, and one of the earliest known Irish poets to write in the vernacular.
Sources
No hagiographical Life is known to have been written for Colmán, but various aspects of his life are presented in different types of sources, such as Irish annalsIrish annals
A number of Irish annals were compiled up to and shortly after the end of Gaelic Ireland in the 17th century.Annals were originally a means by which monks determined the yearly chronology of feast days...
, genealogies and martyrologies. An early origin tale known as Conall Corc and the Corco Loígde, which survives only as part of the Irish genealogical tract in MS Laud 610, includes a few brief notes on the saint. This text was probably written at St Colmán's foundation of Cloyne and though it cannot be precisely dated, a rough approximate of c. 700 or earlier has been suggested.
Background
Irish genealogies generally agree that Colmán had a father called Lénín. Through his father, Colmán appears to have been descended from the Rothrige, an obscure people who are known elsewhere as a subject people of the DéisiDéisi
The Déisi were a class of peoples in ancient and medieval Ireland. The term is Old Irish, and derives from the word déis, meaning "vassal" or "subject"; in its original sense, it designated groups who were vassals or rent-payers to a landowner. Later, it became a proper name for certain septs and...
of Munster. Irish genealogies, however, go some way to associating Colmán's lineage with the Éoganachta
Eóganachta
The Eóganachta or Eoghanachta were an Irish dynasty centred around Cashel which dominated southern Ireland from the 6/7th to the 10th centuries, and following that, in a restricted form, the Kingdom of Desmond, and its offshoot Carbery, well into the 16th century...
, the leading ruling dynasty in Munster. One early item of genealogical information, which specifically identifies the Mac Léníni and Mac Duinich as sub-branches of the Rothrige (though it does not name Colmán), achieves this by making their eponymous progenitor Eochaid Rothán a son of the Éoganacht ancestor Mug Nuadat
Mug Nuadat
In Irish mythological history Mug Nuadat was a legendary, supposed King of Munster in the 2nd century AD. He was, according to later medieval tradition, a rival of the High King, Conn of the Hundred Battles and for a time after the year 123 was the de facto ruler of the southern half of Ireland...
. The saint's genealogies later come to trace Colmán's ancestry to Mug Nuadat through seven generations. This prominence accorded to the Éoganachta in the genealogies is to be seen in the light of Colmán's monastic career and the position of Cloyne after his death (see below).
The text Conall Corc and the Corco Loígde includes a brief triad in which Colmán is named as one of the three "ex-laymen" (athláich) of Ireland, along with Énna of Aran and Móchammac of Inis Celtra (though it also adds a fourth, Bishop Erc in Sláne of Mag Breg). The use of the word athláech here has been taken to suggest that Colmán became a cleric at a somewhat later age than was usual at the time. Later tradition claims that it was the Connacht saint Brendan of Clonfert who finally persuaded him to do so.
Cloyne
Colmán is remembered as the founder of the monastery at Cluain Uama, now Cloyne (Co. Cork, Ireland), in Munster, which lay in the kingdom of the Uí LiatháinUí Liatháin
The Uí Liatháin were an early kingdom of Munster in southern Ireland. They belonged the same kindred as the Uí Fidgenti, and the two are considered together in the earliest sources, for example The Expulsion of the Déisi...
and the Uí Meic Caille, a sept of the former. The origin legend Conall Corc and the Corco Loígde claims that the land for the foundation was not given by the local king, but by Coirpre (Crom) mac Crimthainn
Coirpre Cromm mac Crimthainn
Coirpre Cromm mac Crimthainn was a King of Munster from the Eóganacht Glendamnach sept of the ruling Eoganachta dynasty. This branch was centered at Glanworth, County Cork. He was the son of Crimthann Srem mac Echado ....
(d. c. 580), who was king of Munster from the Eóganacht Glendamnach
Eóganacht Glendamnach
Eóganacht Glendamnach were a branch of the Eóganachta, the ruling dynasty of Munster during the 5th-10th centuries. They took their name from Glendamnach . They were descended from Óengus mac Nad Froích , the first Christian King of Munster through his son Eochaid mac Óengusa and grandson...
:
- Coirpre mac Crimthainn it was who gave Cloyne to God and to Colman mac Colcon who is also called Mac Lénéne and Aired Cechtraige and Cell Náile. Because of this they [the Eoganacht Glendamnach] are entitled to secular rule.
Aired Cechtraige has been identified as the later parish of Erry in the barony of Middlethird, and Cell Náile as that of Killenaule
Killenaule
Killenaule is a town and a civil parish in the barony of Slievardagh, South Tipperary in Ireland. It is also one half of the ecclesiastical parish of Killenaule and Moyglass in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Cashel and Emly. It is located east of Cashel on the R689 and R691 regional roads...
, in the barony of Ardagh, both in the diocese of Cashel.
The same text alludes to Colmán's conflicts with other rulers. Colmán and his brothers are said at one time to have been expelled from Maethalach by Máel Umai, the son of Coirpre's brother Fiachna Onchind; for this reason, his descendants were forever excluded from royal rule. Earlier in the text, Colmán is also said to have uttered a curse (maledictio) which brought down the walls of the city of Ress or Ressad
Ressad
Ressad or Ress refers to a now lost city and possibly also to a territory that is still unidentified but believed by scholars to have been somewhere within the borders of modern County Limerick in western Ireland, in what was once the territory of the kingdom of the Uí Fidgenti.The name occurs in...
. According to Paul MacCotter, Ress(ad) appears to be "an archaic name for Uí Chairpre or one of its divisions", the Uí Chairpre being a prominent sept of the Uí Fidgenti
Uí Fidgenti
The Uí Fidgenti or Wood-Sprung People were an early kingdom of northern Munster, situated mostly in modern County Limerick, but extending into County Clare and County Tipperary, and possibly even County Kerry and County Cork, at maximum extents, which varied over time...
in Co. Limerick.
Cloyne appears to have been his earliest settlement. The cathedral and round tower are situated on a limestone eminence in the midst of the valley, surrounded by rich meadows. In the rock is the cave extending in various branches underground to a great distance, from which the town derives its name. Here it is supposed Colman took up his abode as a place of security and the remains of his primitive oratory, known as Colman's Chapel were still to be seen in 1813.
Further details of his life are not documented in writing but the connection of many places in counties Cork
County Cork
County Cork is a county in Ireland. It is located in the South-West Region and is also part of the province of Munster. It is named after the city of Cork . Cork County Council is the local authority for the county...
and Limerick
Limerick
Limerick is the third largest city in the Republic of Ireland, and the principal city of County Limerick and Ireland's Mid-West Region. It is the fifth most populous city in all of Ireland. When taking the extra-municipal suburbs into account, Limerick is the third largest conurbation in the...
with his name to this day proves the reality of his labours. The tenth-century Triads describes Cloyne as an important law school.
Poet
He was credited with extraordinary poetic powers, being styled by his contemporaries 'royal poet of Munster'. Several of his Irish poems are still extant, notably a metrical panegyric on Saint Brendan. Colgan mentions a metrical life of Saint SenanSaint Senan
Senán mac Geircinn is a prominent Munster saint in Irish tradition, founder of Inis Cathaig and patron of the Corco Baiscinn and the Uí Fhidgeinte....
by him.
It is unclear whether he was brought up as a Christian, but what is sure is that he was educated and became a bard
Bard
In medieval Gaelic and British culture a bard was a professional poet, employed by a patron, such as a monarch or nobleman, to commemorate the patron's ancestors and to praise the patron's own activities.Originally a specific class of poet, contrasting with another class known as fili in Ireland...
or file, which required a special education - (in order to reach the highest level of file 12 years of study were required.) As a member of the class of filí, he became attached to the court of Cashel where he remained until about the age of 48 years. In 570 he and Saint Brendan of Clonfert
Clonfert
Clonfert is a small village in east County Galway, Ireland. It is half way between Ballinasloe and Portumna.Clonfert Cathedral is situated in the village, which is the see of the Diocese of Clonfert.-See also:* List of towns and villages in Ireland...
were said to have settled a dispute between rivals to the throne of Cashel and Aodh Caomh was acknowledged as king - the first Christian king of Cashel. The King was installed by Saint Brendan. During the time of the coronation Colman and some others discovered the lost shrine of Ailbhe of Emly. Brendan said that it was not right that the hands which had held this sacred relic should be defiled henceforth, thus it was that the son of Leinin offered himself to God. Brendan blessed him and gave him the name Colmán, which is a diminutive of Colm. The Gaelic word colm corresponds to the Latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
columba (dove).
Colman then went to the school of Saint Iarlaithe of Tuam
Tuam
Tuam is a town in County Galway, Ireland. The name is pronounced choo-um . It is situated west of the midlands of Ireland, and north of Galway city.-History:...
and after his studies he is next mentioned as preaching to the heathen population in the east of County Cork. He is described as a 'religious and holy presbyter, who afterwards became a famous bishop". The Prince of Déise, in the present County of Waterford
Waterford
Waterford is a city in the South-East Region of Ireland. It is the oldest city in the country and fifth largest by population. Waterford City Council is the local government authority for the city and its immediate hinterland...
, presented his child to Colman for baptism. Colman baptized him Declan and urged his parents to educate him well in his faith. This child became Saint Declan.
Colman was given churches in Erry and Killenaule (4 and 10 miles from Cashel respectively) by Coirpre Cromm mac Crimthainn
Coirpre Cromm mac Crimthainn
Coirpre Cromm mac Crimthainn was a King of Munster from the Eóganacht Glendamnach sept of the ruling Eoganachta dynasty. This branch was centered at Glanworth, County Cork. He was the son of Crimthann Srem mac Echado ....
, King of Munster (Cashel), as well as lands in Cloyne, Co. Cork. It may well be that the lands in Cloyne (Cluain Uama, the lawn of the cave), were conquered lands and to prevent the possibility of reconquest were given to the church. The Cloyne estate was large and contained some of the best land in the area.
After the king's death (c. 580) Colman somehow became involved in factional strife between Coirpre's descendants in which some of them persecuted him while others, the ancestors of the later dominant line, protected him.
Extant verse
His surviving verses date from the period 565 and 604, and are among the earliest examples of Irish writing in the Latin alphabet. He is commonly thought to have composed Luin oc laib, a poem in praise of Domnall mac Muirchertaig (d. 566?), king of Tara, and another poem on the death of Áed SláineÁed Sláine
Áed mac Diarmato , called Áed Sláine , was the son of Diarmait mac Cerbaill. Legendary stories exist of Áed's birth. Saint Columba is said to have prophesied his death...
(d. 604), king of the UÍ Néill. The latter poem has not survived complete.
Veneration
He died on 24 November (his subsequent feastday), circa 600, and his probable place of burial is Cloyne, where he may have left a school of poetry in existence. The calendars are unanimous in dating his death on 24 November, now his feast day. Patron Saint of the Diocese of CloyneDiocese of Cloyne
Diocese of Cloyne may refer to:* Roman Catholic Diocese of Cloyne* Diocese of Cork, Cloyne and Ross...
and of its cathedral
Cobh Cathedral
St. Colman’s Cathedral is a Roman Catholic Cathedral located in Cobh, Ireland. It is the cathedral church of the Diocese of Cloyne.-Schedule of Mass and other services:MassWeekdays: 8am & 10amSaturday: 6pmSunday: 8am, 10am, 12noon & 7pm...
in Cóbh.
A different Saint Colman is also venerated on the same day, as recorded by Saint Aengus
Saint Aengus
Óengus mac Óengobann, better known as Saint Óengus of Tallaght or Óengus the Culdee, was an Irish bishop, reformer and writer, who flourished in the first quarter of the 9th century and is held to be the author of the Félire Óengusso and possibly the Martyrology of Tallaght.Little of Óengus's life...
in his "Felire": - Mac Lenine the most excellent With Colman of Duth-chuilleann. Saint Colman lived in a time for which we have very little written history. The received picture of Colman Mac Leinin comes to us from nineteenth and twentieth century Hagiographies.
Secondary sources
- Johnston, Elva. "Munster, saints of (act. c.450–c.700)." Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford University Press, Sept 2004, online edition May 2008. Accessed: 14 Dec 2008.
Primary sources
- Conall Corc and the Corcu Loígde (Laud genealogies), ed. ; tr.