Senán

Senán (fl. 6th/7th cent.), abbot of Inis Cathaig (Scattery Island, near Kilrush, Co. Clare), and saint in the Irish tradition, was (according to the genealogies) son of Gerrcenn, son of Dubthach of the Corco Baiscinn, who inhabited an area north of the Shannon estuary. His mother's name is given as Coimgell, daughter of Ernach of the Alltraige. While there is a considerable corpus of hagiographical literature relating to Senán, all the sources date from some centuries after his period; they are chronologically confused to the point of absurdity and provide little historical information concerning him. A metrical Latin Life of Senán omits all proper names of persons and places and is consequently of little historical value. The earliest text of his Irish Life, ‘Betha Shenáin’, is preserved in the Book of Lismore and in a number of other manuscripts. A Latin prose version of this Life also exists in a number of manuscripts. An obscure Old Irish poem, the ‘Amra Senáin’, has been edited from two manuscripts; there is also a Middle Irish tract on Senán's miracles. It is related in the Tripartite Life that St Patrick (qv) foresaw Senán's coming and his greatness, ‘six score years’ before his birth.

Senán is said to have begun his religious training under one Cassidan of the Ciarraige Cuirche, with whom ‘he read his psalms and learned ecclesiastical discipline’. He then went to Notan at Cell Manach Droichit in Osraige (Kilnamanagh, Co. Kilkenny), where he completed his monastic training. According to his Irish Life, he next travelled to Inis Coirthe (probably Enniscorthy, Co. Wexford), where he made a pact with St Máedóc (qv) (d. 625/6), whom, it is said, he later succeeded as abbot of Ferns. He is supposed to have travelled to Rome, and to have met St Martin of Tours (d. 397) on his return journey. Returning home through England and Wales, he spent some time at the monastery of Mynyw (Menevia) with St David (c.520–89/601), who gave him his pastoral staff as a token of friendship.

Back in Ireland, Senan is said to have established a number of monastic settlements in the present counties Cork and Limerick. The first was on the island of Aird Nemid ‘in the district of Uí Liatháin’, probably a site on Great Island, Co. Cork. From that base he established other foundations, including Inis Cara (Inishcarra, Co. Cork), Inis Mór (probably Canon Island in the estuary of the Fergus, Co. Clare), and – following a message from the archangel Raphael – Inis Cathaig. Hagiographical tradition relates that he expelled a monster from the island; it has been plausibly suggested that this story is based on a tradition of a pagan sanctuary on the island which Senán converted to Christianity. Inis Cathaig remained an important ecclesiastical foundation throughout the middle ages; the obits of many of its abbots, coarbs, and scribes are recorded in the annals from the eighth century onwards.

Senán's obit, however, is not recorded in the annals. His floruit is usually given as the mid sixth century, but some consider Iris Cathaig to be a seventh-century foundation. The Irish martyrologies are equally confused: the Martyrology of Tallaght and the Martyrology of Óengus (qv) (fl. c.830) both give his feast-day twice, on 1 and 8 March. This could possibly be due to confusing him with another saint of the same name, but it is more likely that the feast and the octave were confused.