Óengus

Óengus (fl. c.830) of Tallaght, son of Óengoba, but more commonly known as grandson of Oíblén, was attached to the Dál nAraide of north Co. Down and south Co. Antrim (CGSH §118). A late, perhaps twefth-century, poem states that he was both reared and buried at Cluain Eidnech (Clonenagh, in the barony of Maryborough West, Co. Laois) (Mart. Oeng., p. xxiv). It is clear from Óengus's martyrology that he was a cleric – he describes himself as both pauperán (mendicant) and deidblén de thuaith Íssu (one of God's poor; ibid., 282). He belonged to the community of St Máel-ruain (qv) at Tallaght, which may explain the, possibly bogus, title of céile Dé (Culdee), commonly assigned to him since the seventeenth century. The office more properly Óengus's, according to the Martyrology of Tallaght, was that of bishop, which means that he would have had primary responsibility for the liturgy at Tallaght. Many of the reformed churches associated with Tallaght were new foundations, and Óengus seems to have been directly involved in at least two, both of which are named Dísert Óengusa (Óengus's hermitage), after him – one in Co. Limerick, the other in Co. Laois.

Óengus's martyrology (or féilire), which survives in some ten manuscripts, was previously thought to have been composed between 797 and 808, but, with the Martyrology of Tallaght, it has recently been redated to between 828 and 833. Containing 365 quatrains in strict metre preceded by a prologue of 340 lines and followed by an epilogue of 566 lines, Óengus's work is the earliest extant vernacular metrical martyrology. A prose preface and commentary were added c.1170–1174. Since he is likely to have also been the author of the Martyrology of Tallaght, Óengus has the distinction of standing at the very beginning of the extant Irish martyrological tradition. His feast-day falls on 11 March.