Celtic and Old English Saints 12 September =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= * St. Ailbhe of Emly * St. Eanswythe of Folkestone =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
St. Ailbhe, Bishop of Emly (Albeus, Elvis, Ailbe) ----------------------------------------------------------------- 5th or 6th century (died 526-540?). Although many are under the mistaken belief that Saint Patrick was the first to bring Christianity to Ireland, Saint Ailbhe was converted by British missionaries. Some traditions say that he was baptized by a priest while a boy in northern Ireland; another that he was baptized and raised in a British settlement in Ireland. In either case, he had travelled to Rome before Patrick's arrival-- and some say that he was consecrated bishop there. Upon his return to Ireland, he became the disciple of Patrick and, according to some, was consecrated the first archbishop of Munster by him. Ailbhe fixed his see at Emly (Imlech, County Tipperary, though the cathedral is now at Cashel), which is officially listed by the Vatican as being founded in the 4th century, making it the oldest continuous see in Ireland. He was known as a powerful preacher and a model of sanctity, who won many souls to the faith. Although he lived in the world in order to care for the souls of his flock, he was careful for his own soul, too. He made frequent retreats and engaged in habitual recollection. Saint Ailbhe especially loved to pray in front of the sea. King Aengus of Munster gave him Aran Island (Co. Galway) on which he founded a great monastery and established Saint Enda as abbot. He also drew up a still extant rule for the community. When in his old age he wanted to resign and retire to the solitude of Thule (Shetland? Iceland? Greenland?) to prepare for death, the king stationed guards at the ports to prevent his flight. Thus, Saint Ailbhe died in the midst of his episcopal labours and is deemed the principal patron of Munster. There are many accounts of Saint Ailbhe: that he baptized Saint David of Wales; that an angel showed him the "place of his resurrection"--Emly; that he was in constant dialogue with the angels. Even his name points to a legend: Ailbhe, said to mean "living rock" in Gaelic, was a foundling left under a rock and suckled by a she-wolf, and thus named by his adoptive family. The story continues that later, while he was hunting with some companions, an aged female wolf ran to him for protection (Benedictines, Delaney, Encyclopaedia, Farmer, Husenbeth, Montague). Another life: < http://www.alvyray.com/Ailbhe/AilbheSaint.htm > St Ailbhe comes from an uncertain and controversial period of Irish history. There is evidence that he is one of the first Christian missionaries in Ireland - before St Patrick! - but then the Patrician history contradicts this - perhaps with a political agenda? Who knows. Anyway, he is acknowledged to be the patron saint of the current Archdiocese of Cashel and Emly located in south central Ireland comprising parts of Counties Tipperary and Limerick. He is probably the founder of the first, ancient cathedral at Emly. A typical "history" of him can be found on the Cashel and Emly Archdiocese website, < http://ireland.iol.ie/~pjackson/acesaint.htm > which tells us that Ailbhe was able to save the wolf (see name list item above) when she was to be killed and that the wolf thereafter ate from his table. Learned information appears in a translation of the Life of St Declan of Ardmore < http://www.ccel.org/d/declan/life/declan.html > which clearly states that Ailbhe and Ciaran (both now Saints) preceded Patrick in the Irish mission, that the Life of St Patrick affirms this, that St Patrick came to Ireland only slightly after Ailbhe and Ciaran as a superior to them in the Catholic hierarchy. Unfortunately, the Life of St Declan contains obvious contradictions, so these facts are controversial. The Life of St Declan, by the way, appears to establish Declan as another of the pre-Patrician Irish Christian missionaries. Other candidates for membership in this elite corps are Ibar, Brigit, Senan, "perhaps Mac [son of] Cairthinn" (see Life of St Senan < http://www.solaw.com/jg4/senan/ > ). Another example of the confusion rampant here is evidenced by the Celtic baby name list item above which claims St Ailbhe lived in the 6th century. This is consistent with the website entry above for the Cashel and Emly Archdiocese which lists 528 as his death year. The website points out that this contradicts the claim that he preceded Patrick who was in Ireland in the 5th century. But the Life of St Declan goes on and on about just how and when Ailbhe, Declan, Ibar, and Patrick met and interacted, both in Ireland and in Rome before that. The best information I have found comes from The Flowering of Ireland: Saints, Scholars & Kings by Katharine Scherman, Little Brown & Co, 1981 (reissued 1999 for St Patrick's Day). Excerpts: p 83: "But he [Patrick] had predecessors. Through the nimbus of myth that surrounds early Irish church history there emerge four holy figures who were there when Patrick came. ... Not much remains to us but the names - St Ciaran of Saighir and Ossory, St Ailbe of Emly, St Ibar of Beg Erin and St Declan of Ardmore - and some lively legends of their miraculous activities." pp 84-85: "The figure of St Ailbe is almost as nebulous as that of St Ciaran. His life is said to have spanned 167 years, from 360 to 527. He is probably a composite: the saints of early years, the recording of whose deeds was dependent on the spoken word of recent converts steeped in the magic and mysticism of their pre-Christian youth, tended to blend together. Their deeds, later recorded in writing by monks themselves enveloped in the climate of unquestioning faith, took on a cloudy aura, and several saints merged into a single hyperbolic monument to saintliness. "Ailbe was born to a maidservant in the house of Cronan, lord of Eliach in County Tipperary. Cronan, for reasons unrevealed, disapproved of his birth and directed that he be exposed to 'dogs and wild beasts, that he might be devoured'[1] The baby was found by a wolf, who tended him until an unidentified passerby, possibly a Christian from Britain, noticed his beauty and his potential Christian grace, and took him away to be reared in the faith. After study and consecration in Rome, Ailbe was directed by the pope, along with 'fifty holy men from Ireland,' presumably recently converted followers, to proselytize the heathens in an unrecorded corner of Europe. Then, like 'a sagacious bee loaded with honey,' he embarked for Ireland with his companions in an unseaworthy boat. By blessing the sea, he brought them all serenely to port in northern Ireland, where he converted the king, Fintan, and brought back to life Fintan's three sons, slain in battle. Note [1]: "Quotations concerning the life of St Ailbe throughout this chapter are from Rev John O'Hanlon, Lives of the Irish Saints" [which I have not been able to find: 10 volumes, Dublin: J. Duffy & Sons, 1875]. "St Ailbe traversed Ireland, as did St Patrick after him, converting as he went, and at last settled in Emly, County Tipperary, near the place of his birth. There he founded a church and a school, and promulgated the 'Law of Ailbe,' supposedly the first codification of ecclesiastical rule in Ireland. In the huge span of his life he was friend to many holy men, including, of course, St Patrick, who reputedly named him archbishop of Munster. When he was very old he wished to retire to Tyle (Thule), the island that is now Iceland, to flee worldly honours and to meditate among the holy hermits already established on that bleak shore. But King Aengus of Munster (converted by St Patrick) refused permission and placed guards at the seaports so he could not escape his responsibilities to the multitudes of his adoring followers. Ailbe is called 'the second St Patrick,' and he may be one of those whose deeds and persons fuse into the great shadowy form of Ireland's patron saint." p 86: "In Rome he [St Declan] had met Ailbe, already prominent, and they had formed a deep friendship that was to last their lives." p 94: "Apocryphal as are most of the stories around the hazy figure of Ireland's patron, it is historical fact that the framework of a Christian organisation modelled loosely on that of Rome began to take shape under the aegis of a single or composite strong, vibrant personality. It started, probably, when Patrick went to challenge the heathen stronghold of Cashel. (This was the seat of King Aengus, the over-king of Munster, which was one of Ireland's five provinces and at that time, with Tara, the most powerful.) Cashel was the traditional rival of Tara ... and Patrick knew that the conversion of its king was just as important for his mission as the convincing of king Laoghaire at Tara. The eloquent young man succeeded where his elders, Ireland's first four holy men, had failed. Aengus became one of his strongest supporters, and Cashel was the site of Ireland's first meeting of ecclesiastics, as Patrick summoned to him Declan, Ibor, Ailbe and Ciaran for the disposition of local ecclesiastical affairs." Troparion of St Ailbe tone 4 When Ireland's Enlightener returned to his native land he found thee, O holy Ailbe, preaching the Faith at Emly,/ where at the bidding of an Angel thou hadst built a church./ O wise shepherd of souls and glorious ascetic,/ O friend of animals, and fellow missionary with the illustrious Patrick, pray to Christ our God that we might also become bastions of Orthodoxy/ and a shining example to our fellow countrymen, drawing them away from ignorance and error/ and into the true Faith that all our souls may be saved. The Rule of Saint Ailbe can be found in "The Celtic Monk: Rules & Writings of Early Irish Monks" Uinseann O'Maidin OCR, pub. Cistercian Studies Series Number 162, 1996. ISBN: 0879076623 (pb) and 0879075627 (hb). The church at Emly http://membres.lycos.fr/stjeantheo/amdg5/emly070805a.jpg Graveyard at Emly http://membres.lycos.fr/stjeantheo/amdg5/emly070805e.jpg Saint Ailbhe's Well http://membres.lycos.fr/stjeantheo/amdg5/emly070805g.jpg Statue of Saint Ailbhe on facade of church http://membres.lycos.fr/stjeantheo/amdg5/emly070805b.jpg St. Eanswythe of Folkestone, Abbess (also known as Eanswida, Eanswith(a), Eanswide, Eanswyth) --------------------------------------------------------------------- Died August 31, c. 640; this is probably a memorial of the translation of her relics; feast day at Saint Augustine, Canterbury, and Durham is celebrated on August 31. >From her infancy Saint Eanswythe, the daughter of King Eadbald of Kent and granddaughter of King Saint Ethelbert, found delight in prayer. Rejecting the world and its foolish vanities, she refused all offers of marriage, which she felt would interrupt her devotions and contemplation. King Eadbald finally consented to allowing her to found a monastery on the coast near Folkestone, Kent, where she served as its abbess and died at an early age. It seems likely that she was trained in France and that hers was the first convent in England. The monastery was destroyed by the Danes, but restored by King Athelstan, then refounded in 1095 for the Black Benedictines. Part of it was swallowed up by the sea, and so the community was moved to Folkestone. Her relics were translated to the church built by Eadbald in honour of Saint Peter, but later known as Saints Mary and Eanswythe. In 1885, a Saxon coffer was found in the north wall containing the bones of a young woman, which were assumed to be those of Saint Eanswythe (Benedictines, Farmer, Husenbeth). In art, Saint Eanswythe is portrayed as a crowned abbess with a book and two fish. She is venerated at Folkestone (Roeder), where her image is incorporated on the town's seals (Farmer). Icon of our holy Mother St. Eanswitha, Royal Abbess of Folkestone http://www.allmercifulsavior.com/icons/Icons-Eanswitha.htm##1 Larger size http://saints.oca.org/IconDirectory/LG/august/0803eanswuthe.jpg Service for our Holy Mother Eanswythe, Abbess of Folkestone http://www.orthodoxengland.org.uk/serveans.htm Sources: ======== Benedictine Monks of St. Augustine Abbey, Ramsgate. (1947). The Book of Saints. NY: Macmillan. Delaney, J. J. (1983). Pocket Dictionary of Saints, NY: Doubleday Image. Encyclopaedia of Catholic Saints, August. (1966). Philadelphia: Chilton Books. Farmer, D. H. (1997). The Oxford Dictionary of Saints. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Husenbeth, Rev. F. C., DD, VG (ed.). (1928). Butler's Lives of the Fathers, Martyrs, and Other Principal Saints. London: Virtue & Co. Montague, H. P. (1981). The Saints and Martyrs of Ireland. Guildford: Billing & Sons. Scherman, Katharine (1981, and reissued 1999 for St Patrick's Day) The Flowering of Ireland: Saints, Scholars & Kings. Little Brown & Co. Roeder, H. (1956). Saints and Their Attributes, Chicago: Henry Regnery. For All the Saints: http://www.saintpatrickdc.org/ss/ss-index.htm These Lives are archived at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/celt-saints *****************************************
