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…...
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)
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…...
Cormac
Cormac (fl. 6th cent.) of the Uí Liatháin was a pilgrim monk mentioned several times by Adomnán (qv) in his ‘Vita Columbae’. He appears in the genealogies as ‘priest’, son of Dímma, grandson of Commán, and belonging to the tribe of…...
Cormac
Cormac (d. 497), bishop and first abbot of Armagh. His genealogy gives his father's name as Colmán and describes him as bishop of Áth Truim in Brega (Co. Meath). He does not figure in Patrician hagiography, but in the annals and in the Martyrology of…...
Crónán
Crónán (fl. 7th cent.) of Roscrea, saint in the Irish tradition, is frequently confused with Crónán son of Sinell (d. 665). Very little is known of this seventh-century saint, the recensions of whose Latin Life are of the eleventh or twelfth century. For what they are…...
Cú-Chuimne
Cú-Chuimne (d. 747), monk and scholar of Iona, was (according to a note in Paris, Bibl. Nat., MS lat. 12021) joint compiler with Ruben of Dairinis, a monastery on the Blackwater river, of the Irish collection of canons known as ‘Collectio canonum Hibernensis’. The genealogies…...
Cumianus
Cumianus (d. c.735×744) of Bobbio, Irish pilgrim bishop, is known from copies of an inscription on the richly carved cover-slab of a now dismembered sarcophagus, which began: ‘Hic sacra beati membra Cumiani solvuntur’ (here are laid the holy remains of blessed Cumianus). It…...
Cumméne (Cummíne, Cummian) Find
Cumméne (Cummíne, Cummian) Find (‘the white’) (d. 669), sometimes misleadingly given as Cumméne Ailbe (from Latin gen. albi), was 7th abbot of Iona (657–69) and successor to Suibne (qv) of the moccu Urthri. His genealogy places…...
Cummian (Cummíne, Cumméne) Foto
Cummian (Cummíne, Cumméne) Foto (‘the long’) (d. 661/2) of Clonfert, was designated comarba Brénaind, coarb or successor of Brendan (qv) of Clonfert (Cluain Ferta Brénainn in some sources), Co. Galway. The genealogies give his…...
Dagán
Dagán (d. 641), founder and first abbot of Inber Doíle (Ennereilly, Co. Wicklow) and a saint in the Irish tradition, was a member of the familia of Glendalough. According to the genealogies his father was Colmad, whose ancestry is traced to the Leinster dynasty of Dál…...
Daig
Daig (d. 587), son of Cairell, founder and first bishop of Inis Caín and a saint in the Irish tradition, is traced by the genealogists to the Uí Néill dynasty of Cenél nÉogain. His father is named as Cairell son of Laisre Lond, a descendant of …...
Dallán Forgaill
Dallán Forgaill (fl. c.600), poet, church founder, and saint in the Irish tradition, is placed by the genealogists among the Uí Macc Uais. The indications are that he belonged to a subject population – perhaps the Cathraige or Mascraige. His original name is given as…...
Damnait (Dympna)
Damnait (Dympna) (6th cent.), foundress of Tech Damnatan at Sliab Betha and a saint in the Irish tradition, is associated with the minor lineage of Uí Laga, located among the Conaille, on the border of Co. Louth and Co. Monaghan. It is unclear whether she should be identified…...
Darbiled (Derbiled, Dervilla)
Darbiled (Derbiled, Dervilla) (fl. 575–600), anchoress and foundress of Inis Cethig on the Erris peninsula in Co. Mayo, and a saint in the Irish tradition, was – according to the metrical version of the genealogies of the saints – linked to the Connacht dynasty of Uí…...