Celtic and Old English Saints 13 March =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= * St. Gerald of Mayo * St. Kevoca * St. Mochoemoc of Leamokevoge =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
St. Gerald of Mayo, Abbot -------------------------------------------------------- Born in Northumbria, England; died in Galway, Ireland, 732. Saint Gerald became a monk at Lindisfarne and probably followed Saint Colman to Innisbofin Island, Galway, Ireland, when the Celtic liturgical practices were displaced in Northumbria. He became a monk, then abbot, of the abbey known as Mayo of the Saxons, which Colman founded for the English following a quarrel between the English and Irish monks. The abbey flourished and was so well known for the erudition of its monks that Blessed Alcuin (f.d. May 19) corresponded with its abbot and monks. He lived to a great age and may have witnessed the introduction of Roman observances into his abbey. Gerald is sometimes said to have been consecrated bishop, but this is uncertain. He is believed to have founded the abbeys of Elytheria, or Tempul-Gerald in Connaught, as well as Teaghna-Saxon, and a convent that he put under the care of his sister Segretia. He was buried at Mayo, where a church dedicated to God under his patronage remains to this day (Attwater, Benedictines, Delaney, Encyclopedia, Farmer, Husenbeth). St. Kevoca (Kennotha, Quivoca) ------------------------------------------------------ 7th century. Hermitess and virgin. Saint Kevoca is the titular patron of a church at Kyle, Scotland (Benedictines). St. Mochoemoc of Leamokevoge, Abbot (Kennoch, Mo-Chaomhog, Mochaemhog, Pulcherius, Vulcanius) -------------------------------------------------------- Born in Munster, Ireland; died c. 656. Mochoemoc was raised by his aunt, Saint Ita (f.d. January 15), and educated by Saint Comgall (f.d. May 11) in the Bangor Abbey, County Down, where he also entered religious life. Comgall sent him to establish a house at Arderin. Later Mochoemoc founded and became abbot of the great monastery of Liath-Mochoemoc (Liath-mor, now Leamokevoge), in County Tipperary, around which a large town was raised, which still bears that name (Benedictines, Farmer, Husenbeth). 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. Delaney, J. J. (1983). Pocket Dictionary of Saints, NY: Doubleday Image. Encyclopedia of Catholic Saints, July. (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. 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 ¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤