Celtic and Old English Saints 23 May =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= * St. Goban of Old-Leighlin =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
St. Goban Gobhnena, Abbot of Old Leighlin Monastery at Tascaffin in County Limerick, Ireland --------------------------------------------------------- Also 6 December. 6th or 7th century. This saint is the Goban mentioned in the life of Saint Laserian as governing the monastery of Old-Leighlin. He migrated from there to Tascaffin, County Limerick (Benedictines). Troparion of St Goban Gobhna tone 7 As once thou didst labour in thy monastery at Tascaffin/ and dost now rejoice in heavenly glory:/ we beseech thee to entreat Christ our God/ for the people of Ireland/ and that He may have mercy on us all. The Annals of Clonenagh: A.D. 639. St. Gobban, who founded the monastery of Old Leighlin, and afterwards resigned it to St. Laserian, retiring in 632 to Killamery in Ossory, died this year and was interred at Clonenagh. His feast was observed on the 6th of December. "Gobban's feast, a shout of thousands, with a train of great martyrdom, angelic wall, abbot of virginity, lucid descendant of Lane." (Feil. Aeng.) The Gloss in Leabar Breach and entry in Mart. Donegal state that "in Clonenagh are Gobban's relics." Source: Rev M Comerford" Collections relating to the Dioceses of Kildare and Leighlin" Vol. 3 (1886) http://www.irishmidlandsancestry.com/content/laois/community/parishhistories/mountrath_parish.htm -oOo- St. Gobban was the founder of the monastery of Leighlin. There are several saints of that name in the Irish Calendars, but Colgan judged that most probably our saint was the " St. Gobban of Kill-Lamraidhe, in the west of Ossory," who is honoured on the 6th of December: " Hunc Gobanum existimo fuisse ilium celebrem mille monachorum patrem qui postea Ecclesian de Kill-Lamhraighe rexit" (Acta SS. p. 750,). The "Martyrology of Donegal" styles him: " Gobban Fionne, of Kill-Lamhraidhe, in Ui-Cathrenn, in the west of Ossory. . . A thousand monks was the number of his convent, and it is at Clonenagh his relics are preserved. He was of the race of Eoghan Mor, son of Oilioll Olum" (p. 327). St. Laserian having visited the monastery about the year 600, St. Gobban, struck with his many virtues, placed it entirely under his charge, and went himself to found another religious house at Kill-Lamhraige, in a western district of Ossory. Source: Monasticon Hibernicum or A Short Account of the Ancient Monasteries of Ireland. Irish Ecclesiastical Record, Vol 6 (1869), 198-99 http://www.archive.org/details/irishecclesiasti06dubluoft -oOo- The Life of St Laisren (Laserian, Molaise, f.d. April 18) , from the Salamanca MS, describes how St Laisren discovered the monastery at Leighlin and assumed its leadership: (S.8 continued.) The holy abbot Goban and his followers served God there. When he heard of the arrival of the man of God [Laisren] he went to meet him and after greeting him led him reverently to the monastery. As they came to the door of the monastery, a certain woman then carrying the body of her son who had been beheaded by robbers, earnestly begged St Lasrianus in the name of God that he might restore her son to life. His feelings of pity were stirred by the lamentations of the mother and he turned to his usual help of prayer, and having placed the head beside its body he restored the dead man to life and gave him back to his mother. Then blessed Goban made a treaty of spiritual brotherhood with him, giving him the place and everything in it and setting up a monastery for himself in another place. Source: Colum Kenny, Molaise - Abbot of Leighlin and Hermit of Holy Island, (Morrigan Press, 1998), 47-48. -oOo- Here is O'Hanlon's entry for St Gobban: AT the 23rd of May, the Martyrology of Tallaght registers the name Goban Mairgi, of Tigh Scuithin. This place by some has been supposed to be identical with Killeshin, in the barony of Slievemarigue, Queen's County ; but, this opinion is now clearly proved to have been a great mistake, although its real situation is not very far distant. The Bollandists follow this authority, likewise, in entering Gobanus Mairgensis, of Tegh-Scuithin, or of " the House of Scuthinus;" and, they remark, that among the disciples of St. Fursey was a Gobhan, whom Colgan would not specify, among the seven different persons bearing this name, in the Irish Calendars. His family pedigree seems to be unrecorded, or at least it is not known to exist. By most writers, Tigh Scuithin, his place, was thought to have been situated, within the present barony of Sliavemarigue, in the Queen's County. An ingenious local topographer proves, however, that the former name is now resolved into Tascoffin, a parish in the barony of Gowran, in the county of Kilkenny. The Johnswell Mountains, in the neighbourhood, are simply a continuation of the Slievemarigue range ; and, it seems probable, they were formerly regarded, as forming a portion of the district, in which the latter was situated. This saint has been thought, most probably, to be identical with the Gobban, who governed the church of Old Leighlin, about the year 625, when St. Laserian returned from Rome. Entertaining a very high estimate of St. Laserian's merits, that Gobban resigned to him the monastery of Old Leighlin ; and, through love of greater retirement, possibly he moved southwards over the mountain, until availing himself of the undisturbed seclusion of Tigh Suithin, or Tascoffin, he there remained, and spent the rest of his days. If this conjecture be correct, he must have flourished in the sixth and seventh centuries. A festival, in honour of this Gobban, or Goibhnenn, of Tigh Scuithin, is recorded, likewise, in the Martyrology of Donegal, at the present date. 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