Erc of Slane | |
---|---|
Died | 513 [1] |
Venerated in | Roman Catholic Church [2] Eastern Orthodox Church [3] |
Feast | Ireland: 2 November; Cornwall: 31 October; Orthodox Church Calendar: 2 November |
Erc mac Dega (Latin : Ercus; Cornish : Erth), also known (incorrectly) as Herygh, was an Irish saint. He was active in Cornwall. Tradition ascribes the foundation of the original monastery on the Hill of Slane to him.
Erc, son of Dago, is believed to have been a pagan druid and the only member of King Laoghaire's retinue to pay homage to Saint Patrick during the latter's confrontation with the druids at the Hill of Slane [4] in 433. Dubhthach maccu Lugar was also a druid who paid tribute to St. Patrick and converted. Erc mac Dega was converted to Christianity by St. Patrick and appointed the first Bishop of Slane. St. Erc's foundation at Slane stayed active for at least six hundred years. [5]
Erc may have arrived in Kerry soon after the mission of St. Benignus, who was sent by St. Patrick to preach to the tribes of West Munster in 450. Benignus's visit was comparatively short since he was called away to North Clare and Connaught. St. Patrick sent Erc to complete the conversion of Kerry. Erc had spiritual charge over Kerry and a wide range of southwest Limerick (in the heart of which lay the convent of Ita at Killeedy). [2]
Before Saint Patrick died in 461, he sent Bishop Erc south to Munster.
Around the year 484, Brigit of Kildare was his travelling companion to his native province. [6]
Erc was the friend and tutor of St. Brendan the Navigator, the patron of Kerry. Erc is said to have trained the young Brendan at his church in Ardfert in 512. Erc established the school at Slane where King Dagobert II is said to have received his early education. [7]
In the nineteenth century, historian Dean Cogan (a native of Slane) called Erc a man of great sanctity and usefulness. St. Patrick is reputed to have said: "Bishop Erc – Everything he judged was just; Everyone that passes a just judgement – Shall receive the blessing of Bishop Erc". [7]
In the 16th century, the hilltop monastery became a Franciscan friary supported by the Flemings. [8] In the grounds of Slane Castle are the ruins of St. Erc's Hermitage. This consists of a late fifteenth or early sixteenth century chapel and an earlier dwelling. [9] The 12th century martyrology of Gorman called him: "Erc of Slane, bishop of Lilcach and from Ferta Fer Feic beside Sid Truim from the West" (Ferta Fear Fiac means "the Graves of the Men of Fiac"). [8]
The Cornish Saint Erc is generally believed to be the same man. He was the brother of Saints Uny and Ia. He crossed from Ireland to Cornwall, where a church and the village of St Erth were dedicated to him. His feast in Cornwall is held on 31 October and his feast in Ireland is held on 2 November.
Little is recorded of him apart from what William of Worcester wrote in 1478: "Saint Herygh, the brother of Saint Uny, a bishop, lies in a certain church situated under the cross of the church of Saint Paul in London; his day is kept on the vigil of All Saints, that is, the last day of October ... Saint Hya ... the sister of Saint Herygh ..." (quoted in Doble, G. H. (1960)). The statement about St. Paul's may be due to a mistaken identification with St Erconwald.
A chapel of St Ercus was built at Trevessa in the parish of St Erth in 1403. [10]
Erc finally returned to Slane and lived out the rest of his life in prayer and solitude at a quiet hermitage beside the Boyne. [11] Erc died on 2 November 514, at age 93.
Saint Piran or Pyran, died c. 480, was a 5th-century Cornish abbot and saint, of Irish origin. He is the patron saint of tin-miners, and is also generally regarded as the patron saint of Cornwall, although Saint Michael and Saint Petroc also have some claim to this title.
Slane is a village in County Meath, in Ireland. The village stands on a steep hillside on the left bank of the River Boyne at the intersection of the N2 and the N51. As of the 2016 census, Slane's population was 1,369. The village and surrounding area contains many historic sites dating back over 5,000 years. The village centre, as it is laid-out today, dates mainly from the 18th century.
Carbis Bay is a seaside resort and village in Cornwall, England. It lies 1 mile (1.6 km) southeast of St Ives, on the western coast of St Ives Bay, on the Atlantic coast. The South West Coast Path passes above the beach.
Saint Petroc or Petrock was a British prince and Christian saint.
St Erth is a civil parish and village in Cornwall, England.
Slane Castle is located in the village of Slane, within the Boyne Valley of County Meath, Ireland. The castle has been the family seat of the Conyngham family since it was built in the late 18th century, on land first purchased in 1703 by Brig.-Gen. Henry Conyngham.
Senán mac Geircinn is a prominent Munster saint in Irish tradition, founder of Inis Cathaig and patron of the Corco Baiscinn and the Uí Fhidgeinte. He is listed among the Twelve Apostles of Ireland.
Saint Gwinear was a Celtic martyr, one of only two early Cornish saints whose biographies survived the Reformation. The Life of Gwinear was written in the early 14th century by a priest named Anselm, and has sometimes been printed among Saint Anselm's works. His feast day is March 23.
Saint Benignus of Armagh was the son of Sesenen, an Irish chieftain in the part of Ireland that is now called as County Meath. He was baptised into the Christian faith by St. Patrick, and became his favourite disciple and his coadjutor in the Diocese of Armagh around AD 450. His gentle disposition suggested the name Benen, which was Latinised as Benignus.
Wendron is a village and civil parish in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom, 3 miles (5 km) to the north of Helston. The parish population at the 2011 census was 2,743. The electoral ward of Wendron had a 2011 population of 4,936.
Ciarán of Saigir, also known as Ciarán mac Luaigne or Saint Kieran, was one of the Twelve Apostles of Ireland and is considered the first saint to have been born in Ireland, although the legend that he preceded Saint Patrick is questionable. Ciarán was bishop of Saighir (Seir-Kieran) and remains the patron saint of its successor, the diocese of Ossory.
Saint Ia of Cornwall was an evangelist and martyr of the 5th or 6th centuries in Cornwall. She is said to have been an Irish princess, the sister of Erc of Slane and a student of Saint Baricus.
Melor was a 10th-century Breton saint who, in England, was venerated in Cornwall and at Amesbury Abbey, Wiltshire, which claimed some of his relics.
Christianity in Cornwall began in the 4th or 5th century AD when Western Christianity was introduced as in the rest of Roman Britain. Over time it became the official religion, superseding previous Celtic and Roman practices. Early Christianity in Cornwall was spread largely by the saints, including Saint Piran, the patron of the county. Cornwall, like other parts of Britain, is sometimes associated with the distinct collection of practices known as Celtic Christianity but was always in communion with the wider Catholic Church. The Cornish saints are commemorated in legends, churches and placenames.
Saint Maudez is a Breton saint who lived in the 5th or 6th century. He is also known as Maudé, Maudet, Maodez or Modez (Breton), Maudetus (Latin), Mandé (French) and Mawes. In the Breton calendar his feast is 18 November.
Tetha, also known as Teath, Tecla, and by a variety of other names, was a 5th-century virgin and saint in Wales and Cornwall. She is associated with the parish church of St Teath in Cornwall. Baring-Gould gives her feast day as 27 October, but this has been called a mistaken conflation with Saint Ia. In 1878, it was held on the movable feast of Whit Tuesday. Other sources place it on 1 May, 6 September, and (mistakenly) 15 January. It is no longer observed by either the Anglican or Catholic church in Wales.
Saint Euny or Uny is the patron saint of the churches of Lelant and Redruth in west Cornwall, England, UK.
St Erth’s Church, St Erth is a Grade I listed parish church in the Church of England Diocese of Truro in St Erth, Cornwall, England, UK.
Mybbard and Mancus were two Cornish saints of the 6th century.