Celtic and Old English Saints          8 May

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* St. Gibrian of Ireland
* St. Catald of Taranto
* St. Odrian of Waterford
* St. Wiro and St. Otger
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St.Gibrian, Hermit in Ireland
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Died c. 515. The Irish hermit Saint Gibrian was the eldest of
nine (or eight) siblings, all of whom migrated to Brittany where they
became saints. They include his brothers Tressan (Trasain, a priest),
Helan(us) (priest), Germanus, Abran (seems to be Gibrian himself),
Petran, and sisters Franca, Promptia, Possenna. Gibrian laboured near
Rheims and was buried at a place now called after him Saint Gibrian. His
cultus spread because of the many miracles reported at his tomb,
especially the healing of blindness. His relics were translated to the
basilica of Saint Remigius in Rheims (Benedictines, Montague).


St. Catald of Taranto (Tarentum), Bishop
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(also known as Cataldus, Cathaluds, Cattaldo, Cathal)

Born in Munster, Ireland, 7th century. Saint Cataldus was a pupil, then
the headmaster of the monastic school of Lismore in Waterford after the
death of its founder, Saint Carthage. Upon his return from a pilgrimage
to the Holy Land, he was shipwrecked at Taranto in southern Italy and
chosen by the people as their bishop. He is the titular of Taranto's
cathedral and the principal patron of the diocese. This epitaph is given
under an image of Saint Catald in Rome:

Me tulit Hiberne, Solyme traxere,
Tarentum Nunc tenet: huic ritus,
dogmata, jura dedi.

This has been loosely translated as:
Hibernia gave me birth: thence wafted over, I sought the sacred Solymean
shore. To thee Tarentum, holy rites I gave, Precepts divine; and thou to
me a grave.

It is odd that an Irishman, should be so honoured throughout Italy,
Malta, and France, but have almost no recognition in his homeland. His
Irish origins were discovered only two or three centuries after his
death, when his relics were recovered during the renovation of the
cathedral of Taranto. A small golden cross, of 7th- or 8th- century
Irish workmanship, was with the relics. Further investigations
identified him with Cathal, the teacher of Lismore.

Veneration to Catald spread, especially in southern Italy, after the May
10, 1017, translation of his relics when the cathedral was being rebuilt
following its destruction at the hands of Saracens in 927. Four
remarkable cures occurred as the relics were moved to the new cathedral.
When his coffin was open at that time, a pastoral staff of Irish
workmanship was found with the inscription Cathaldus Rachau. There is a
town of San Cataldo in Sicily and another on the southeast coast of
Italy (Benedictines, D'Arcy, Farmer, Husenbeth, Kenney, Montague,
Neeson, Tommasini).

Saint Catald is depicted in art as an early Christian bishop with a
mitre and pallium in a 12th century mosaic at Palermo (Roeder). He is
the subject of a painting on the 8th pillar of the nave on the left in
the Basilica of the Nativity in Bethlehem (D'Arcy, Montague). There are
also 12th-century mosaics in Palermo and Monreale depicting the saint
(Farmer). Catald is invoked against plagues, drought, and storms
(Farmer).


St. Odrian, Bishop of Waterford
-------------------------------------------
Date unknown. Odrian is one of the early bishops of Waterford, Ireland
(Benedictines, Husenbeth).


Ss. Wiro and Otger, Martyrs
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(also known as Plechelm or Pleghelm and Odger or Oteger)
Born in Northumbria; died c. 739 or 753 (the later date seems more
probable). While Wiro is believed to have been a native of Northumbria,
he might possibly be from Ireland or Scotland--the record is not clear.
(The Roman Martyrology styles him Wiro, bishop of Scotiae.) His
biographer tells us that he was ordained a priest and with Plechelm (a
fellow Northumbrian and priest) and Otger (a deacon) went to Rome, where
Wiro and Plechelm were consecrated regionary bishops. Others say that
Wiro was consecrated bishop of Utrecht by Saint Boniface. He joined with
Boniface in his letter of correction to King Ethelbald of Mercia in 746.
After doing missionary work in Northumbria, they went to Friesland in
the Netherlands where they evangelized the inhabitants of the lower
Meuse Valley under the direction of either Saint Swithbert or Saint
Willibrord. They built a small church and monastery at Peterkloster
(later Odilienberg) on land granted them by Pepin of Herstal. Later they
were martyred by the Frieslanders while preaching the Gospel. The relics
of Wiro and Plechelm were translated to the church they built at
Roermond, but Otger's remained at their original burial place at
Odilienberg (Benedictines, Delaney, Farmer).

Saint Wiro is portrayed as hearing the confession of the king. He is
venerated in Peterkloster (Odilienberg) (Roeder).


Sources:
========

Benedictine Monks of St. Augustine Abbey, Ramsgate.
(1947). The Book of Saints. NY: Macmillan.

Benedictine Monks of St. Augustine Abbey, Ramsgate.
(1966). The Book of Saints. NY: Thomas Y. Crowell.

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.]

Delaney, J. J. (1983). Pocket Dictionary of Saints, NY:
Doubleday Image.

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.

Roeder, H. (1956). Saints and Their Attributes, Chicago: Henry
Regnery

Tommasini, A. (1937). Irish Saints in Italy. London:
Sands and Company.

For All the Saints:
http://www.saintpatrickdc.org/ss/ss-index.htm

An Alphabetical Index of the Saints of the West
http://www.orthodoxengland.btinternet.co.uk/saintsa.htm

These Lives are archived at:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/celt-saints
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