Celtic and Old English Saints 13 October =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= * St. Comgan of Lochalsh * St. Colman of Melk * St. Fyncana and St. Fyndoca of Scotland * St. Edward the Confessor =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
St. Comgan (Cowan), of Scotland, Abbot of Lochalsh, Brother of Saint Kentigerna, Hermitess of Loch Lomond ---------------------------------------------------------------- 8th century. Saint Comgan, son of King Ceallach (Kelly) of Leinster, was the brother of Saint Kentigern (f.d. January 7) and uncle to Saint Fillan (f.d. January 19). Farmer reports that he succeeded his father as chief. After a defeat in battle, Comgan, Kentigerna, her three sons, and seven others were exiled by a coalition of neighbouring tribes. They settled in western Ross, where Comgan founded a monastery at Lochalsh, opposite Skye. He embraced the monastic life in Scotland, where his feast is kept in the diocese of Aberdeen. Comgan's relics were buried by Fillan at Iona and a church built over them. Many churches in the area mark their movements: Kilchoan and Kilcongen (Church of Comgan), Killelan (Church of Fillan), and others at Islay (Loch Melfort), Ardnamurchan, Knoydart, Sye, North Uist, Kiltearn, and Turriff (Attwater2, Benedictines, Coulson, D'Arcy, Farmer, Simpson, Skene). St. Coloman (Colman, Koloman) of Stockerau (of Melk) Martyr ---------------------------------------------------------------- Died in Stockerau, Austria, on October 18, 1012. Saint Coloman, an Irish or Scottish monk of royal lineage who began a penitential pilgrimage to Jerusalem and was stopped at Stockerau, about six miles from Vienna. (Montague says that there is no evidence that Colomon was a missionary or a priest, but simply a pilgrim.) At that time there were continual squirmishes between Austria, Moravia, and Bohemia. So the stranger, who spoke no German, was accused of being a spy and, after various tortures, hanged to death between two thieves. For 18 months Coloman's body remained on the gibbet, uncorrupted and unmolested by the birds and beasts--a miracle. The scaffolding itself was said to have taken root and sent forth green branches. Because of the many miracles that were wrought by his incorrupt body, a popular veneration arose. Marquis Henry of Austria (later Emperor Henry), intrigued by the devotion to Coloman, ordered an investigation into the history of the cultus. Three years after Coloman's death, the investigation led Henry to ask Bishop Megingard to translate Coloman's relics to the tomb he had built for them in the imposing Abbey of Melk (then called Mark, the capital of the ancient Marcomans near Moravia) on the Danube River in western Austria. In art, Saint Colman is a pilgrim monk with a rope in his hand. At times he may be shown (1) hanged on a gibbet; (2) with tongs and rod; and (3) as a priest with a book and maniple. He is venerated in Melk and Ireland. Colman is the patron of hanged men [sic!] horses, and Austria (Coulson, D'Arcy). He is invoked against plague (Roeder) and for husbands by marriageable girls (D'Arcy). St. Fyncana and St. Fyndoca of Scotland, Virgin Martyrs ---------------------------------------------------------------- Date unknown. These virgin martyrs are included in the Aberdeen breviary, but nothing is known of them (Benedictines). Sources: ======== Attwater, D. (1983). The Penguin Dictionary of Saints, NY: Penguin Books. Benedictine Monks of St. Augustine Abbey, Ramsgate. (1947). The Book of Saints. NY: Macmillan. Coulson, J. (ed.). (1960). The Saints: A Concise Biographical Dictionary. New York: Hawthorn Books. D'Arcy, M. R. (1974). The Saints of Ireland. Saint Paul, Minnesota: Irish American Cultural Institute. [This is probably the most useful book to choose to own on the Irish saints. The author provides a great deal of historical context in which to place the lives of the saints.] Farmer, D. H. (1997). The Oxford Dictionary of Saints. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Simpson, W. G. (1934). Celtic Church in Scotland. Aberdeen University Studies. Skene, W. F. (1875-80). Celtic Scotland, 3 vols. Edinburgh. For All the Saints: http://www.saintpatrickdc.org/ss/ss-index.htm These Lives are archived at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/celt-saints ¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤
