Breen, Aidan

Palmarius (Palmer), Thomas (c.1350–c.1415), Anglo-Irish Dominican friar, was born probably in Palmerstown, Co. Kildare. Nothing seems to be known of his background or early years. His first appearance in historical documentation is as a friar of Winchester convent…

Paparo, Iohannes (d. 1154/6), a member of the Papareschi, an aristocratic ecclesiastical Roman family, was a cardinal and papal legate. He is listed as a sub-deacon in a papal document dated 22 April 1138; raised to the diaconate by Pope Celestine II in about December 1143, he was…

Patrick (Gilla-Pátraic) (d. 1084), second bishop of Dublin, was the author of five poems and a tract, ‘Liber de tribus habitaculis animae’, which was distributed throughout Europe in the middle ages. He was a Benedictine monk, presumably born in Ireland and trained at the school of…

Pelagius (p. 350–p. 418), theologian and heresiarch, was born sometime after the middle of the fourth century, probably in south-western Britain. The description of his contemporary Jerome (Comm. in Hieremiam, III, Praef.) suggests that he was of the Irish…

Petrus de Hibernia (Peter of Ireland) (fl. c.1200–p.1260), philosopher and teacher at Naples, probably of Anglo-Irish descent, was known as gemma magistrorum, the ‘gem of teachers’. He received his education probably at Oxford and Paris and may also have…

Philip of Slane (d. 1326), Dominican friar, author, and later bishop of Cork, was born probably in Slane, Co. Meath, of Anglo-Norman descent. He took part in the trial of the Knights Templars in Ireland (1310), and apparently quickly established himself as a person of some…

Pokorny, Julius (1887–1970), Indo-European philologist and Celtic scholar, was born 12 June 1887 in Prague, Bohemia, but was brought up in Austria. He attended Vienna University to study jurisprudence and comparative philology under Much, Kretschmer, and Meyer-Lübke. He graduated with…

Probus (fl. mid 10th cent.), hagiographer of St Patrick (qv) and possibly a monk of Glastonbury, names himself as ‘humble Probus’ in the epilogue to his Life of Patrick which he wrote at the request of his…

Ruadán (d. 584), abbot of Lorrha and saint in the Irish tradition, was son of Fergus Bern, son of Dera Dub of the Uí Duach in Osraige, and a descendant of the kings of Munster. Many aspects of the traditions relating to him are quite unhistorical. His Latin and Irish Lives make him…

Rumold (Rombaud) (d. 775?), saint and missionary, was (according to tradition) born in Ireland, son of a king of Leinster called David. His mother's name is given as Caecilia, daughter of the king of Sicily. Having spent some years under the tutelage of one Gualafer, archbishop of…

Secundinus (Sechnall) (d. c.447), missionary bishop in Ireland, was sent, according to some annalistic sources (AI; AU), with Auxilius (qv) and Iserninus (qv), in…

Sedulius Scottus (‘the Irishman’) (fl. mid 9th cent.), Irish scholar and poet at the court of Charles the Bald, is a key figure in the later Carolingian renaissance, and an invaluable witness to the learning of the Irish peregrini. Nothing is known of his…

Ségéne (fl. 623–52), 5th abbot of Iona, was son of Fiachna and nephew of Laisrén, 3rd abbot, and successor in the abbacy to Fergno Brit (qv). He was a kinsman of Colum…

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…

Sléibíne (d. 767), 15th abbot of Iona after Colum Cille (qv), was son of Congal, a descendant of Loarn, and therefore a member of the Cenél Loairn of Dal Riata. His predecessor Cilléne Droichtech (d. 752) was also a son of Congal,…

Strachan, John (1862–1907), philologist and celticist, was born 31 January 1862 in Keith, Banffshire, Scotland, son of James Strachan, owner of Brae farm, and Ann Strachan (née Kerr). He was educated at Keith grammar school and entered King's College, Aberdeen, in 1877 at the age of…

Suibne (d. 657) of the moccu Urthri was 6th abbot of Iona in succession to Ségéne (qv). Although his tribal affiliation is indicated by his family name, nothing is otherwise known of his genealogy, and he was apparently the first abbot of Iona…

Symon Semeonis (Simon Fitzsimons) (fl. 1323), Franciscan friar and author of the first detailed account of a pilgrimage from Ireland to Jerusalem, set out on 16 March 1322 from Clonmel, Co. Tipperary, after the holding of the provincial chapter, with his confrère and…

Thomas of Ireland (Thomas Hibernicus) (c.1275–p.1329), cleric at the university of the Sorbonne, and author of an important text-book for preachers, the ‘Manipulus florum’, was born in Ireland but seems to have spent most of his life in France, from where our…

Thomas of Ireland (Thomas Hibernigena) (d. c.1270), Irish Franciscan in the monastery of Aquila, Abruzzi, Italy. Almost nothing is known of him apart from his conjectured authorship of a moral concordance to the Bible grouped by feasts, called by Wadding (who first…

Thurneysen, Rudolf (1857–1940), Celticist, was born on 14 March 1857 in Basel, Switzerland, son of Eduard Thurneysen, silk manufacturer, and Eliza, daughter of Peter Merian, sometimes rector and professor of the natural sciences at the university of Basel. Among his teachers at the…

Tigernach (d. c.549), abbot and bishop of Cluain Auiss (Clones, Co. Monaghan), was (according to an imperfect copy of his Life in the ‘Codex Salmanticensis’) son of Cairbre, a Leinsterman, and Darfraích, daughter of Eochaid, king of Airgialla, with whom he was reared. It…

Tírechán (fl. late 7th cent.), bishop of the church of Ardbraccan (Co. Meath), was descended from Conall, son of Énnae and grandson of Amolngid, and was therefore a native of Tír Amalgado (Tirawley, Co. Mayo). He was the author of a collection of materials on St…

Ua Brolcháin, Flaithbertach (d. 1175), abbot of Derry and comarba (coarb or successor) of Colum Cille, 1150–75, and noted church reformer, was apparently the son of Máel-Coluim Ua Brolcháin (d. 1122), bishop of Ardstraw in Cenél nÉogain. We first hear of him as the …

Ua Brolcháin, Máel-Ísu (d. 1086), author and ecclesiastic, was a member of the Uí Brolcháin, which produced a number of important Armagh churchmen in the eleventh and twelfth centuries. According to John Colgan (qv), he was educated at…