Cianán
Cianán (d. 489) of Damliac (Duleek, Co. Meath) was one of the bishops who succeeded St Patrick (qv). The saint's genealogies give his descent through Sétnae, son of Tadc, son of Cian, son of…...
Ciar
Ciar (d. 681), foundress and first abbess of Cell Chéire, and saint in the Irish tradition, was closely associated with north Munster, especially the territories of Múscraige Tíre (on the shores of Lough Derg) and Arada Tíre (barony of Owney and Arra, Co. Tipperary). Ciar's father…...
Ciarán
Ciarán of Clonmacnoise (c.512–545) was the founder of the greatest monastic establishment of early Christian Ireland after Armagh. The Latin and Irish Lives of Ciarán have been taken to derive from a ninth-century recension kept at Clonmacnoise, their historical value…...
Ciarán
Ciarán of Saigir (5th cent.) was a monastic founder who became patron saint of the diocese of Ossory. According to the various recensions of his Life, he was born on Clear Island off the south-west coast of Cork, a member of the Osraige on the side of his father Lugna, and of the…...
Clancy, Basil
Clancy, Basil (1907–96), publisher, magazine editor, and journalist, was born Anthony Sebastian Clancy in Coalisland, Co. Tyrone, on 7 July 1907, the seventh of the twelve children of Patrick J. Clancy, JP (d. 1947), linen merchant and…...
Code, Henry Brereton
Code, Henry Brereton (c.1770–1838), journalist, dramatist, and government agent (whose real name appears to have been Cody), was educated in a seminary. He began his career as a retailer of hose at Skinner Row, Dublin (1793). After the failure of this business and other…...
Cóelfhind (mod. Ir. Caelainn, Caoilinn)
Cóelfhind (mod. Ir. Caelainn, Caoilinn) (6th cent.), foundress of Termonmore and saint in the Irish tradition, was (according to the genealogies) daughter of Cóel son of Finchad of the Ciarraige Aí of Connacht, and Medb daughter of Garbán, who belonged to the Uí Saithgil line of…...
Cóemgen (Kevin)
Cóemgen (Kevin) (d. 618/22), founder and first abbot of Glendalough, Co. Wicklow, and saint in the Irish tradition, is linked genealogically with the proto-historic Laigin dynasty of Dál Messin Corb. Although there is nothing inherently improbable about this link (the tradition that…...
Coffey, Brian
Coffey, Brian (1905–95), poet, academic, teacher, and publisher, was born 8 June 1905 at Glenageary, Co. Dublin, son of Denis J. Coffey (qv), president of UCD, and Maude Coffey (née Quin…...
Cogitosus
Cogitosus (fl. c.650), grandson of Aéd, was author of a Latin Life of St Brigit (qv) of Kildare written not much later than 650, possibly the earliest extant specimen of Irish hagiography. In the epilogue…...
Colgu
Colgu (d. 796) grandson of Duinechaid, lector of Clonmacnoise and, according to some sources, author of a devotional litany known as ‘Scuap Chrábaid’, may be the same Colcu with whom the English scholar Alcuin corresponded concerning the victories of Charlemagne, addressing him as…...
Collier, Peter Fenelon
Collier, Peter Fenelon (1849–1909), publisher and newspaper proprietor, was born 12 December 1849 in Myshall, Co. Carlow, son of Robert C. Collier and Catherine Collier (née Fenelon). After an education in local schools he emigrated to America at 17 and entered St Mary's seminary…...
Colmán
Colmán (d. 604?) son of Léiníne, saint and poet, is patron of the church of Cloyne, east Co. Cork, which first attained more than local importance at the synod of Kells–Mellifont (1152), when it became the seat of a bishopric. Prior to this it is scarcely noticed in the annals,…...
Colmán
Colmán (d. 654) of the moccu Thellduib, bishop and abbot of Clonard and saint in the Irish tradition, belonged (as his kin-group designation indicates) to the minor dynasty of Uí Lóscáin of Leinster. He would therefore have been a member of the lineage attributed to St…...
Colmán
Colmán Elo
Colmán Elo (c.560–611) of the moccu Béognae was monastic founder of the church of Lann Elo (Lynally, near Durrow, Co. Offaly), whence he derives his epithet, which has caused some confusion in bringing about the creation of a separate Colmán Elo (or Ela). Some sources…...
Colmán (Mo-Cholm-Óc)
Colmán (Mo-Cholm-Óc) (fl. 6th cent.), bishop and patron of Dromore diocese, was born into the Dál nAraide (in modern Co. Antrim), according to one of his Latin Lives. He is named in the genealogies of the saints as ‘Mocholmóc m. Conrathain m. Corcrain’. The sources…...
Coloman (Colmán)
Coloman (Colmán) (d. 1012), an Irish pilgrim to the Holy Land, was mistaken for a spy because of his strange appearance, and was taken captive, tortured, and hanged at Stockerau, near Vienna, Austria, on 16 July 1012. Later tradition has it that he was the son of…...
Columbanus (Colmán, Columba)
Columbanus (Colmán, Columba) (c.540–615), missionary, is mainly associated with his monastic foundations at Luxeuil and Bobbio. Originally named Colmán, he was generally known to his contemporaries by the Latinised forms Columbanus or Columba. He has sometimes…...
Conefrey, Peter
Conefrey, Peter (1880–1939), catholic priest and social critic, was born 9 June 1880 in Mohill, Co. Leitrim, son of James Conefrey, publican, and his wife Mary McGivney. There were many priests on both sides of the family. His uncle, Fr Thomas Conefrey, parish priest of Drumlish,…...
Conláed (Conleth)
Conway, Arthur William
Conway, Arthur William (1875–1950), academic and president of UCD, was born 2 October 1875 in Main St., Wexford town, the only son of Myles and Teresa Conway (née Harris). He had one sister. His father died, aged 34, when Arthur was only two, and his mother married again, to a…...
Coogan, Edward (Eamonn, ‘Ned’)
Coogan, Edward (Eamonn, ‘Ned’) (1896–1948), deputy Garda commissioner, barrister, and politician, was born 30 November 1896 in Castlecomer, Co. Kilkenny, the only son of Timothy Coogan, shopkeeper of Castlecomer, and Bridget Coogan (née Joyce). Educated at Castlecomer national…...
Cooke, Adolphus
Cooke, Adolphus (1792–1876), eccentric, was born in Cookesborough near Mullingar, Co. Westmeath, illegitimate son of Robert Cooke, landowner, and an unnamed servant. Adolphus's mother was sent away, and he was raised by a nurse, Mary Kelly, in a two-room thatched cottage, forbidden…...
Cook, Robert
Cook, Robert (1646?–c.1726), eccentric, was the son of Robert Cook of Cappoquin, Co. Waterford. During the reign of James II (qv) he fled to England and lived at Ipswich. In its act of attainder the 1689 Jacobite parliament…...