Tigernach

ON ST. TIGERNACH, ABBOT IN IRELAND,

IN THE YEAR 810.

Tigernach, abbot in Ireland (S.)

C. D. S.

[1] Of the cult of St. Tigernach, In the martyrology of Marianus Gorman there is announced on the 4th day of November Tigernach mind, that is, Tigernach the crown, and by a second hand there has been added [of] Doire-Melle Brussels MS. 5100–4, p. 119.. Thence the martyrology of Donegal on the same day: Tigernach of Doire-Melle, whose mother was called Mella, who was also the mother of Cainnech the presbyter. No other martyrologies mention Tigernach.

[2] his parents, From the martyrology of Donegal we know not only St. Tigernach's mother, but from the same and from the martyrology of Marianus also his father. For he is named in the memorial of St. Cainnech the presbyter, his brother, marked on the 31st day of January, where he is said to have been the son of Uchill or Ua Chil. Finally, both which monastery he himself ruled (for the monastery of Doire-Melle, as we shall say shortly, he built for his mother) and in what year he died, are indicated by the Annals of the Four Masters under the year 805 (or more correctly 810, as the more recent editor of these Annals, John O'Donovan, points out), where these words are read: Caithnias … and Tigernach, by whom the monastery of Doire-Melle was built, abbot of Cill-Achaidh, … died Ed. O'Donovan, vol. I, p. 414..

[3] his history, Scarcely anything besides is taught us by the brief legend of St. Mella which John Colgan edited Acta Sanctorum Hiberniae, p. 796 (31 March)., conceived in these words: There flourished in the northern borders of Connacht, about the middle of the eighth century, a woman truly blessed, with twin children reckoned among the saints and with a life afterwards most holily ordered. Bereaved of her husband, she imitated the pious example and virtues of her sons, of whom one was named Cannech, the other Tigernach, and was eager to consecrate the rest of her life to Christ, having taken the habit of a nun. Her son St. Tigernach, moreover, the monastery

built on the shore of the lake commonly called Loch-Melge, in the borders of lower Breifne and in the diocese of Kilmore: which, when built, he left to his mother to rule, and he himself moved to another * monastery called Kill-Acaidh: in which, having discharged the office of abbot, he departed this life in the year of salvation 805, on the 4th day of November, on which his heavenly birthday is also celebrated. His mother Mella, for her part, exercised the office of abbess for many years in that monastery built by her son; which accordingly began to be called from her name Doire-Melle, that is, the Oak-grove or Oak-wood of Blessed Mella.

[4] monastery. The places Doire-Melle and Cill-Achaidh, indicated in the documents cited, are no longer known by these names; and indeed where the latter was situated is unknown [Cf. O'Donovan, Ann. Quatt. Mag., p. 415, note h; O'Hanlon, Lives of the Irish saints, vol. III, p. 1030.]. The monastery of Doire-Melle, however, they say was built in the village which is today called Rossinver, in the barony of Rossclogher, county Leitrim [O'Donovan, ibid., note g; Lewis, Topographical Dictionary of Ireland, vol. II, p. 537.].

* thus.