Brigit (Brighid, Bríd, Bride, Bridget)
Brigit (Brighid, Bríd, Bride, Bridget) (possibly c.450–524), reputed foundress and first abbess of Cell Dara (Kildare), is the female patron saint of Ireland, but it is uncertain whether she existed as a person. Most scholars regard her as a ghost personality generated in the…...
Briúinsech Cael (Briuineach)
Briúinsech Cael (Briuineach) (6th cent.?), church foundress and saint in the Irish tradition; her father is named as Crimthann, but her lineage is unrecorded. She is said to have had two sisters, Luchad and Tudella. Briúinsech apparently became a member of the community of…...
Broccán (Brogan) Clóen
Broccán (Brogan) Clóen (‘squint[-eyed]’) (d. 650), abbot of Ros Tuirc in Ossory, was credited with the poem, ‘Ní car Brigit búadach bíth’, on the miracles of St Brigit (qv). According to its preface, Broccán's…...
Buite
Buite (d. 521) was the founder of the monastery of Mainistir Buite (Monasterboice, Co. Louth), and is a saint in the Irish tradition. The only biographical source is a late and imperfect Latin Life, according to which he was a a son of Brónach, a member of the Cianachta Breg of…...
Bulkeley, Sir Richard
Bulkeley, Sir Richard (1660–1710), politician and eccentric philanthropist, was born 17 August 1660 in Dublin. His great-grandfather was Archbishop Lancelot Bulkeley (qv), while his father, Richard Bulkeley (1634–85), MP for…...
Cadoc
Cadoc (fl. c.497–570) of Llancarfan, one of the best known of the early Welsh saints and monastic founders, had many close links with Ireland. The sources for his life are late but contain some material of historical value. The earliest Lives are by Lifris, abbot of…...
Cadróe
Cadróe (d. 974 × 978), abbot, was born of noble family into an Irish community in Scotland, probably in the west or north-west. He received his first education from a teacher named Beanus or Béoán, and was subsequently educated at Armagh. He set out from Scotland on a pilgrimage…...
Caillín
Caillín (fl. late 6th/early 7th cent.), patron saint of Fenagh (Fidnacha Maige Réin), Co. Leitrim, has no published Life and the extant accounts of him, all late, are almost entirely imaginary. Yet the archaeological evidence for his foundation at Fenagh and his…...
Caimín
Caimín (d. 654), founder of the monastery of Inis Celtra on the island of Lough Derg, near Scariff, Co. Clare, is said to have been a half-brother to Guaire Aidni (qv) (d. 663), king of Connacht. Although his pedigree, which makes him…...
Caínchomrac
Cainnech
Cainnech (d. 600/03), son of Luigthech, founder and first abbot of Achad Bó in Osraige (Aghaboe, Co. Laois) and saint in the Irish tradition, probably belonged to the lineage of Corco Dalláin. There are marked difficulties, however, in relation to his ancestry, his early…...
Cainner (Cannera)
Cainner (Cannera) (6th cent.?), foundress of Cluain Cláraid and saint in the Irish tradition, belonged to the old north Munster population group of Corcu Óchae. Despite a degree of genealogical confusion, it seems reasonable to identify her with Cainner daughter of Fintan. According…...
Caintigern (Kentigerna)
Caintigern (Kentigerna) (d. 734), anchoress of Loch Lomond and saint in the Irish tradition, was daughter of Cellach Cualann (qv), Uí Máil overking of Leinster, but it is not clear which of his successive wives was her mother. She…...
Cairnech
Cairnech (fl. 5th/6th cent.), a saint reputedly of Welsh or Cornish origin and known outside Ireland as Carannog, was probably born in the region of Cardigan (Dyfed) in south-west Wales, but his travels brought him into contact with places in Ireland, Cornwall, and…...
Camelacus (Cáemlach?, Camulacus)
Camelacus (Cáemlach?, Camulacus) ( fl. 5th cent.), an almost unknown saint in the Irish tradition, is mentioned in the late seventh-century ‘Collectanea’ of Tírechán (qv) in the Book of Armagh (f. 11r a): ‘And crossing the River…...
Carden, John Rutter
Carden, John Rutter (1811–66), landlord, was born 5 February 1811, eldest among six sons and a daughter of John Carden (1772–1822) of Barnane, near Templemore, Co. Tipperary, landowner, DL, and high sheriff (1796) of the county, and Ann Carden…...
Carthach (Mochuta)
Carthach (Mochuta) (d. 637), monastic founder, was a son of Fínall and member of the Ciarraige Luachra group (Co. Kerry). He became abbot of the monastery of Rahan in Uí Néill territory (Co. Offaly), whence he was expelled in 636 (AU; Ann. Inisf. 638) and went south to Déisi…...
Cathaldus
Cathaldus (7th cent.), bishop of Taranto, was originally perhaps from Lismore (Co. Waterford). According to one late tradition, he was born in Ireland in the seventh century and educated in the monastery of Lismore. Later he became a bishop and ministered in Munster for some years…...
Cellach
Cellach (d. mid 6th cent.), monastic founder and supposed bishop of Killala (Cell Alaid), appears among the saints of the Uí Fhiachrach of Connacht in ‘Genealogiae Regum et Sanctorum Hiberniae’, where Walsh suggests that this may be ‘Cellán Ua Fiachrach’, who appears in…...
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…...
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…...