ON SAINT SENANUS,
CONFESSOR IN ENGLAND.
7TH CENTURY.
HISTORICAL COMMENTARY.
Senanus, Confessor, in England (St.)
We have treated of Saint Senanus of Iniscathy, Bishop and Abbot in Ireland, in volume 1 of March on the 8th of that month. Albert le Grand, in his work on the Armorican saints, This is distinct from Saint Senanus Bishop of Iniscathy, makes him the same as him who is venerated on March 6 in the parish of Plou-sane in the diocese of Léon in Armorican Brittany: which we said in the commentary on that day is not sufficiently proved; and we judged, by a better founded conjecture, that the veneration of Saint Senanus, of whom we here treat, perhaps the same as the one venerated in Armorica on March 6: passed from the Britons of Wales to the Armorican Britons, for the two venerate almost the same Saints in common. Moreover, we have found up to now no mention made of this Senanus in our ancient Martyrologies, not even on this April 29 day: only in the English Martyrology of both editions and in Ferrarius' Catalogue he is found inscribed with a brief eulogy, as having died in the year 660. The older edition of the year 1608 thus has it: mention in the English Martyrologies, "In North Wales, the commemoration of Saint Senanus Confessor; who, deriving his origin from the ancient and noble blood of the Britons, scorning the vanities of the world, led a solitary and harsh life in the northern region of Wales and the territory of the father of Saint Winefride. Whom also Saint Winefride herself was wont frequently to visit, and finally after her death lay buried for many years beside his body." The author of the same Martyrology, Wilson, notes that the Acts of Saint Winefride mention this Saint, as also the Lessons concerning the same Saint in the Sarum Breviary. But the copy printed in the year 1499 offers no mention at all. But in the Life of Saint Winefride, which Rupert, Abbot of Shrewsbury, wrote about the year 1140, the following is read concerning him: and in the Life of Saint Winefride written about the year 1140, "After all things were completed which pertained to the funeral or the burial, in the place which she Saint Winefride herself had requested, with the greatest lamentation and groaning of all, the body was committed to the earth. In the same cemetery many men of great merits also rest. But the most holy Confessors Chebius and Senanus are reported to be of more excellent and greater fame, of whom the former was buried at the head of her tomb, but the other rests in the same line in which she lies. Who indeed are remembered among the natives to have been men of great virtues, and to have come to the same place on account of the number of Saints who, as they had heard, had gathered there for an example of life and for the combat of the present life. [in which he is said to have been famous for his churches, veneration, and miracles,] There still exist in the same province some Basilicas in their memory, in which how great were their merits before the Lord is clearly manifested to mortals by frequent miracles." So it reads there. In the Life of the same Saint Winefride, which Capgrave and Surius published, this is read: "And she was buried beside Saints Chebeus and Senanus." Alford in the Annals of England says that after his death he was venerated by the Dumnonii or Cornishmen, town named after him in Cornwall. among whom he asserts there is a town and port named after Saint Senanus, commonly called Senan. More of this Saint it will be possible to say in the Life of Saint Winefride, if anything further about his age and deeds is found beyond what has already been said: meanwhile, following Alford's judgment, we assign him to the 7th century.