Fergno (Fergna, Virgno) Brit
Fergno (Fergna, Virgno) Brit (‘the Briton’) (d. 623), 4th abbot of Iona and the first to be described as a bishop in the later martyrologies, was (according to Colgan's (qv) Latin Life) son of Fáilbe, a descendant of…...
Fergus
Fergus (fl. early 8th cent.), an Irish missionary bishop to Pictland (and indeed to large parts of northern Scotland), is known in the ‘Breviary of Aberdeen’ as Fergus, but in other Scottish calendars corruptly as Terguse or Tergusius. Although he is apparently unknown…...
Fergus, John
Fergus, John (c.1700–1761), doctor of medicine and collector of books and manuscripts, was born in Co. Mayo, where a branch of the Ó Fearghusa family was to be found. His father's name was Mac Raith, and hence Dr Fergus was sometimes referred to in Irish as Seán mac Mac Raíth Ó…...
Ferguson, Sir Samuel
Ferguson, Sir Samuel (1810–86), poet and archivist, was born 10 March 1810 in Belfast, youngest of six children of John Ferguson, landowner, and his wife Agnes, daughter of John Knox, clockmaker. Ferguson attended the Belfast Academical Institution, and went on to be a student at…...
Fiacc
Fiacc (d. late 5th cent.), bishop of Sléibte (Sletty, Co. Carlow), was a younger contemporary of St Patrick (qv). The only sources for the life of this obscure bishop are the materials on the life of Patrick, the…...
Fiacre (Fiachra)
Fiacre (Fiachra) (d. c.670) was anchorite bishop of Brie in the district of Meaux in northern France. Biographical information is very sparse; the chief source, the ‘Vita Faronis’ (the Life of Bishop Faro (d. 672) of Meaux), states that Fiacre went to France as a man of…...
Fínán
Fínán (d. 661), monk of Iona and bishop of Lindisfarne, was Irish-born, apparently the son of one Rímid, and was probably of Ulster origin, although his genealogy is not preserved. A priest of the Columban community, he travelled to Northumbria in 652 to take up episcopal office as…...
Fínán Camm
Fínán Camm (6th–7th cent.), founder and first abbot of Cenn Éitig, and saint in the Irish tradition, is traced by the genealogists to the Munster population group of Corco Duibne. His parents are named as Móenach son of Arddae, of the Corco Duibne, and Becnat daughter of Cian of…...
Findbarr (Finbarr)
Findbarr (Finbarr) of Cork. There is scarcely a saint to rival Finbarr of Cork for the number of manuscript copies made of his Life, some thirty in total, not counting twenty-one copies of the same manuscript version made in the 1890s by Patrick Stanton of Cork. Ever since the…...
Findchú
Findchú (6th cent.), founder and first abbot of Brí Gobann and a saint in the Irish tradition, is traced – according to the strongest genealogical tradition – to Clann Branáin of Uí Briúin Bréifne. His father is named as Sétna son of Abra, while a later tradition gives his…...
Finnian (Vinnianus, Findbarr)
Finnian (Vinnianus, Findbarr) , abbot, bishop, reputed founder of the monastery of Cluain Iraird (Clonard, near Kinnegad, Co. Westmeath), and saint in the Irish tradition, was most likely a localisation of the Ulster saint, …...
Finnian (Vinnianus, Findbarr)
Finnian (Vinnianus, Findbarr) (d. 579), abbot and bishop of the monastery of Mag Bile (Movilla, near Newtownards, Co. Down) was a saint in the Irish tradition who seems to have later acquired a number of separate identities, his most notable localisations being as…...
Fintan
Fintan (d. 878), Irish peregrinus and hermit in Rheinau, was (according to his Life) born as a ciues provintiae Laginensis (a freeman of the province of Leinster) and was the son of a soldier in the army of a Leinster king. He was captured and enslaved by the…...
Fintan
Fintan (d. 603) of the moccu Echach, one of the founders of Irish monasticism and abbot-founder of the monastery of Clonenagh (near Mountrath, Co. Laois), is said to have belonged to the Fothairt of Leinster, a branch of the Laigin. Some sources name his father and his mother…...
Fintan
Fintan (d. late 5th cent.), founder and patron of the church of Druim Ing (Dromin, Ardee, Co. Louth), was (according to the later medieval genealogies) son of Éogan son of Cathán of the Cianachta Breg; his mother was Ném of the Luigni. Despite the occurrence of his name in many…...
Fintan (Munnu)
Fintan (Munnu) of the moccu Moíe (d. 637), abbot of Tech Munnu (Taghmon, Co. Wexford) and defender of the Celtic Easter, was son of Tailchán or Tulchán, a member of the Cenél Conaill branch of the Northern Uí Néill. His father was a descendant of Fiachra Róede, whose descendants the…...
FitzGerald, Desmond
FitzGerald, Desmond (1911–87), architect, was born 5 November 1911 at Saint-Jean-du-Doigt (Finisterre) in Brittany, France, eldest of four sons of Desmond FitzGerald (qv), writer and future minister for external affairs in…...
FitzGerald, Desmond John Villiers
FitzGerald, Desmond John Villiers (1937–2011), Knight of Glin , scholar, conservationist, and fine arts dealer and collector, was born 13 July 1937 in Cambridge Square, London, the only son and youngest of three children of Desmond Wyndham Otho FitzGerald, Knight of Glin, of Glin Castle…...
Fitzsimons, Jack
Fitzsimons, Jack (1930–2014), architect, writer and politician, was born on 26 April 1930 in the county home at Trim, Co. Meath, one of a family of six of John (Jack) Fitzsimons, a farm labourer, and Annie Fitzsimons (née Monaghan), a former domestic servant, living at Kilbeg,…...
Flannán
Flannán (8th cent.), anchorite, founder of Killaloe, and saint in the Irish tradition, is traced to the north Munster dynasty of Dál Cais. His father, Tairdelbach son of Caidléne, himself accorded a reputation for sanctity, was an early ruler of In Déis Becc (in south-east Limerick…...
Foillan (Fáelán)
Foillan (Fáelán) (d. 655), Irish missionary and martyr associated with East Anglia and Fosses (southern Belgium), was a brother of Fursa (qv) (d. 649/50) and Ultan (Ir. Ultán). The earliest sources indicate that his Irish name was…...
Fowke, Francis
Fowke, Francis (1823–65), captain in the Royal Engineers, architect, and engineer, was born 7 July 1823 at Ballysillan, Belfast, Co. Antrim, elder of two sons of John Fowke (1794–1851), lieutenant of the 68th Regiment of Foot, and his first wife, Jane (née Ferguson; d. 1828). He was…...
Fraser (Frazer), John
Fraser (Frazer), John (1803/4–1852), poet and cabinet-maker, was born in Birr, King's Co. (Offaly), into a presbyterian family, originally bearing the name de Jean (possibly of huguenot extraction). There are conflicting accounts of his date of birth. It is asserted in one…...
Fredianus
Fredianus (d. c.588) of Lucca, Irish peregrinus and bishop, was (according to some sources) son of a king of the Ulaid – though it has been suggested that he may have been a local Tuscan saint whose cult was adopted by later Irish pilgrims to Italy. The tradition…...
Fuller, James Franklin
Fuller, James Franklin (1835–1924), architect, novelist, and antiquary, was born at Nedanone, near Derryquin, Co. Kerry, the only son among three children of Thomas Harnett Fuller (d. 1886), landowner, and his wife Frances Diana (d. 1872), daughter of Francis Bland,…...