ON SS. MEDRANUS AND ODRANUS, BROTHERS, CONFESSORS
AT LETHREC IN IRELAND.
From the Acts of St. Kieran.
Sixth Century.
CommentaryMedranus, at Lethrec in Ireland (S.)
Ordranus, his brother, confessor, at Lethrec in Ireland (S.)
J. B. S.
These two holy full brothers, whom you will seek in vain in all the Irish Calendars, both printed and manuscript, the Universal Martyrology of Castellanus suggested, reporting on this day only St. Medranus, as brother of the other, Colgan assigns different days, but here they are joined, whom the author transferred to the second of October, no doubt from the various annotations of Colgan, which do not always cohere sufficiently. This St. Medranus, a monk of Saighir, in the fifth appendix to the Acts of St. Patrick page 268, column 2 at the end, he says is venerated on the sixth of June, but in our Notes to the Acts of St. Kieran on the fifth of March page 399 letter i, Castellanus found the same Colgan cited, as one who, in chapter 3 of the appendix to the Acts of St. Senan on the eighth of March, noted the Saint's feast on the sixth or seventh of July; and for that cause he placed him on this day. That various Medrani are venerated by the Irish Papebroch observed in the cited annotation, where meanwhile the aforesaid Calendars name not even one. Several Odrani likewise, or Odhrani, Henschenius found on the nineteenth of February, treating of the Martyr of that name, the charioteer of St. Patrick, who is everywhere marked by the Calendars on the twenty-seventh of October, so that you find nothing certain enough concerning the fixed festivities of the Irish Saints. Since therefore the surviving deeds of both brothers are contained in the single number 25 of the said Acts of St. Kieran, and cannot easily be divided, I do not see it necessary to repeat them afterward on the second of October, and so I here describe what is known of each brother.
[2] Two brothers in the flesh from the land of Muskerry Tire because the things which regard them are connected. wished to be pilgrims in another province, that is, in the region of the Connachta near Tulach-ruaidh. They were then named Medranus and Odhranus: but their village was called Lettir. And when they had come to Saighir, namely to St. Kieran, Medranus wished to remain there: to whom his brother Odhranus said: Thou didst not promise me this, brother. And he said to St. Kieran: Do not, Father, keep my brother here. St. Kieran answered him: May Almighty God judge between you, whether he ought to remain here, or to go with thee. Let him hold now in judgment a lamp in his hand, and if it be kindled by the breath of his mouth, he ought to remain here; but if not, let him go with thee. And he straightway kindled the lamp with his breath, and remained there with St. Kieran up to his death, in great sanctity. And St. Kieran said to the blessed Odhranus: Hear me, brother Odhran, I tell thee in truth, though thou shouldst go round the four quarters of the world, yet in thy village of Lettir thou shalt die: therefore return, and remain there, because from thy name that village shall be named forever. So now it has been done. For St. Odhranus, according to the word of St. Kieran, returning to the aforesaid place, there built a famous monastery. And he himself was a man of great virtue and sanctity, and after many miracles, which are read of him in his life, being Abbot of that place, happily passed to the kingdom of heaven, and, as was foretold, that place is called by his name Lettir Odhrain. Whether this name today and the cult of the Saint himself persevere, I have not ascertained.