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…...
Conláed (Conleth)
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…...
Darerca (Mo-Ninne)
Darerca (Mo-Ninne) (d. 519?), foundress of Killevy, Co. Armagh, and saint in the Irish tradition, was, according to the medieval genealogies, daughter of Mochtae son of Lilach. Her genealogy is therefore traced to a discard segment of the Dál nAraide dynasty of east Ulster. Her…...
Darlugdach (Der Lugdach)
Darlugdach (Der Lugdach) (6th cent.?), abbess of Kildare, was a saint in the Irish tradition. Her genealogy is not preserved, but she may well be identical with Darlugdach of Lemdruim (Lorum, Co. Carlow) mentioned in the Book of Leinster tract on Irish saints and places. In that…...
Declan (Déclán)
Declan (Déclán) (fl. 5th/early 6th cent.) of Ardmore, saint in the Irish tradition, bishop and patron of the Déisi of East Munster. The martyrologies and genealogies give inconsistent information about him, but according to tradition he was born in Drumroe, near Cappoquin…...
Deicolus
Deicolus (d. 625), saint in the Irish tradition, may have been a brother of St Gallus (qv), and is said to have accompanied Columbanus (qv) to Luxeuil. The main source of…...
Diarmait
Diarmait (d. 825), grandson of Áed Rón, was founder and first abbot of Dísert Diarmata, a prominent member of the Céli Dé church reform movement, and a saint in the Irish tradition. His father, Fergal, was a relatively undistinguished member of the east Ulster Dál Fiatach…...
Diarmait
Diarmait (late 6th cent.), founder and first abbot of Inis Clothrann (Inchcleraun on Lough Ree, Co. Longford), and saint in the Irish tradition, was – according to the medieval pedigree assigned to him – son of Lugna son of Lugaid, who was attached to the Connacht dynasty of Uí…...
Diuma (Dímma)
Diuma (Dímma) (d. 658), missionary-bishop called the ‘apostle of Mercia’, was sent with three others by Fínán (qv), abbot and bishop of Lindisfarne, to evangelise Mercia after the baptism of King Peada, son of Penda, c.652. His…...
Donatus
Donatus (d. 876), Irish scholar and ecclesiastic born at the end of the eighth century, was elected bishop of Fiesole, near Florence, in 829. The tenth/ eleventh-century ‘Vita sancti Donati episcopi’ has little biographical detail, and almost nothing is known of Donatus's Irish…...
Donnán
Donnán (d. 615) of Eigg, missionary and martyr in Scotland, was born (according to tradition) in north-eastern Ireland; he trained under Finnian (qv) of Movilla, and came as a missionary to Scotland sometime before 590. He…...
Dúnchad
Dúnchad (d. 717), 11th abbot of Iona, was of royal descent, being a direct descendant of some of the Uí Néill high-kings – grandson of Maél Cobo (d. 615) and grandnephew of Domnall (qv) (d. 642). Under his rule (from c.707) Iona, and…...
Ecgberht
Ecgberht (c.638–729), an Englishman of noble birth, moved to Ireland, ‘either for the sake of religious studies or to live a more contemplative life’, according to Bede. His departure for Ireland can be assigned to the period when Bishops…...