Saint Ciaran (Kieran), who has been described as a lamp
shining with the light of knowledge, was born in 512 and raised in
Connacht, Ireland. His father was a builder of chariots. He was one of
eight children, at least two of whom also embraced the religious life.
Saint
Ciaran had a special affinity for animals, and even had a fox for a
pet. The future saint left home as a boy, driving a cow before him to
pay for his keep. He went to study with Saint Finnian of Clonard
(December 12), and became one of the “twelve apostles to Ireland.” Some
of the others were Saint Columba of Iona (June 9), Ninnidh (Nennius) of
Lough Erne (January 16), and Saint Brendan the Voyager (May 16).
There
is a story that one day the students were studying the Gospel of Saint
Matthew when Saint Ninnidh came into class without a book. He asked
Ciaran to lend him his, which he did. So when Finnian tested the class,
Ciaran knew only the first half of the Gospel. The other students
laughed and called him “Ciaran half-Matthew.” Saint Finnian silenced
them and said, “Not Ciaran half-Matthew, but Ciaran half-Ireland, for he
will have half the country and the rest of us will have the other
half.”
After spending some time in Clonard, Ciaran visited other
monasteries, including that of Saint Enda (March 21) on Aran, where he
was ordained to the holy priesthood. He left there because of a vision
which Saint Enda interpreted for him. Then he went to Scattery Island to
study under Saint Senan (March 8). Later, he went to visit his brothers
Luachaill and Odhran, who had a foundation at a place called Isel.
Ciaran’s charity was so great that his brothers asked him to leave. They
said, “Brother, leave us for we cannot live in the same place with you
and feed and keep our brethren for God, because of your unbounded
lavishness.”
Saint Ciaran left them and set off with his books in
a bag. On the way he met a stag and placed the bag on its back. He
followed the animal until he came to Lough Ree opposite Hare Island,
where he founded a monastery. Leaving his brother Donnan (January 7) as
abbot, he went to dwell in the wilderness.
With nine other
companions, Saint Ciaran founded another monastery at Clonmacnoise on
the banks of the River Shannon. Within seven months, he became ill and
asked to be taken outside and laid on the ground. He looked up at the
heavens and said something about the way being steep and difficult. He
departed to the Lord at the age of thirty-three.
Clonmacnoise was a
thousand years old when it was suppressed by Henry VIII. The monastery
was destroyed by Reformation armies in 1552, but the ruins are still
very impressive. There is a cathedral, seven other churches, three high
crosses, and two stumps of round towers. Fifty kings are said to be
buried here with the abbots and monks of the monastery.
Saint Ciaran’s crozier survives to the present day.
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