ON ST. MURUS OR MURANUS, ABBOT OF FATHAN IN IRELAND.
CIRCA YEAR 650
CommentaryMurus, or Muranus, Abbot of Fathan in Ireland (Saint)
[1] In the northern borders of Ulster, says John Colgan on this day, in the isthmus or peninsula commonly called Inis-Eoguin, after the beginning of the seventh century there flourished a holy man, In Inis-Eoguin in Ulster named Murus or Muranus, sprung from a most noble lineage, who far surpassed the splendor of his birth by the brilliance of his virtues. And although this holy man is held among the foremost Saints of his Province, so that his cult flourishes there in living observance even to our own days, and his feast is celebrated; yet because the Acts of his life, which certainly existed in former times, we have not yet seen, we have decided to set forth in the following points the few things that occur to be noted about him.
[2] Born of the most illustrious O'Neill lineage, he was the son of Feradach, son of Ronan: born of distinguished parents, Ronan's father was Eugene — not the first Eugene, the founder of this famous family, but his grandson through Muredach, who was called by the surname Merchrom for the sake of distinction. Although the scarcity of ancient records and the injury of time have deprived us of knowledge both of his teachers and his disciples and other deeds of St. Muranus, it is certain nonetheless that he was an Abbot and governed a community of monks in the monastery of Fathan in the Diocese of Derry, which was five miles to the west of the See and city of Derry itself. That monastery, endowed with many fields and estates, He was Abbot of Fathan, was held in great veneration for many centuries, both out of reverence for the most holy Muranus, to whom, as Patron of the place, the basilica was dedicated, and on account of the outstanding monuments of antiquity which were preserved there until the fury of heretics who execrated, demolished, and plundered all sacred things. But by the injury of time and the negligence of its administrators, that noble monastery, long since devastated and demolished, finally became a parish church.
[3] Among other monuments that were preserved in that monastery was a small book which St. Muranus had composed in the meter of the native language concerning the Acts of St. Columba of Iona, fragments of which still exist today, frequently cited in other Acts of the same Saint; and another great and very ancient codex of chronicles, he was distinguished by his writings and other histories of the whole country, always held in great esteem by students of antiquarian matters and often praised. There also survived in the same place up to modern times various relics of St. Muranus and of other Saints who dwelt in that place; but from what source they may still be preserved, having been rescued from the fury of heretics, I, now living far away, namely in Belgium, though once quite familiar with that place, do not know. There exists today and is preserved as a most precious treasure this holy Bishop's staff or pastoral crook (which is commonly called Bachull-Mura, that is, the staff of Muranus), covered and adorned with a gilded casing set with gems; and miracles: through which very many miracles are performed, and by which, as an avenger of falsehood and a certain indicator of truth, whenever they wish to remove all doubt from their assertion or to conclude some dispute by the sacrament of an oath, the pious people and nobles, especially those descended from the O'Neill family, have been accustomed to swear. There also existed before these troubled times a proper Office concerning this Saint: Cultivated with a proper Office. a fragment of which we once saw, in which many of his signs and virtues were contained. But because neither this itself is now at hand, nor other monuments from which we might be able to gather his miracles or deeds, let it suffice to note that St. Muranus is the common patron Saint of the O'Neill family from which he drew his origin, and that in the church of Fathan in the region of Inis-Eoguin his feast, as Patron of the place, his era, is celebrated on this day, March 12.
[4] So says Colgan, who refers the era of St. Muranus to the beginning and perhaps the middle of the seventh century: partly because he wrote the Life of St. Columba, who was taken to heaven at the end of the sixth century, partly because in genealogical order he is five degrees distant from Prince Eugene, son of Niall, brother of King Leogar, who died according to the Four Masters in 465 — for thus a typographical error by Colgan must be corrected, where 515 is read by a most manifest mistake, since it is established that King Leogar succeeded his deceased father in the year 428. The mother of Muranus, says the same Colgan, was called Derinilla, renowned for her lineage of the highest nobility, and brothers but more renowned for the happy and blessed fecundity of her own womb: for this fortunate matron bore six children, all dedicated to the service of God, all honored with the veneration and cult of the blessed by posterity, although not all born of the same marriage bed. He then enumerates them from St. Aengus with these words: Derinilla, surnamed Chicheach, was the mother of the Saints Domangartus son of Eochodius, and Aillenus, and Aidan, and Muranus of Fathan, and Machumna of Druimbo, and Cillenus of Achadhcail in the region of Leith-cathuil on the bank of the estuary of Duindroma. Then he explains the maternal surname as taken from four breasts, as if thereby the children of four marriages were indicated; while to us it seems that such a name's explanation can be sufficiently found even among the children of only two marriages. But either all these sons are wrongly attributed to one mother, or the genealogies of the Irish are false, Is St. Domangartus among these? which establish that Feradach, Derinilla's husband, should be removed by four degrees from Eugene, brother of Leogar, and thus was born around the middle of the sixth century; or, what is most probable of all, Domangartus son of Eochodius is either not a brother of St. Muranus at all, or is different from the one whom we commemorate on March 24, born in the time of the preaching Patrick from Eochadius, King of Ulidia. Meanwhile Aillenus, the second of the brothers, is said by Colgan to have his feast on July 24; the celebration of the others is uncertain among the many synonymous names. The Martyrology of Tallaght does not mention St. Muranus, unless perhaps under the name Mochua, otherwise unknown. But Marianus Gorman, Abbot of Louth, does mention him on this day, Name inscribed in the calendars. with the added surname "of Faithen-mura," by which it is indicated that the cult of this Saint was so celebrated in that church that from him it obtained its appellation among posterity.