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Lismore Abbey is a former monastery in Lismore, County Waterford, Ireland, reportedly in its day the most celebrated in the South of Ireland.[ citation needed ] Its site is now occupied by Lismore Castle.
Lismore Abbey was founded around 632 by Mochuda, in a picturesque site, steeply rising from the southern bank of the River Blackwater. Its founder had spent nearly forty years of his monastic life in the monastery of Rahan on the southern borders of ancient Meath. In 631 Prince Blathmac, son of Aedh Slaine, of the southern Hy Mall, evicted him, and he moved to Lismore, on the edge of what was then called Avonmore, "the great river", a site granted to St. Carthage by the prince of the Desii of Waterford. Lismore was founded around 632 ; Mochuda died few years later.
Lismore produced another saint and scholar, Cataldus of Taranto. His Irish name was Cathal, and it appears he was born at a place called Rathan, not far from Lismore. Irish annals tell us nothing of Cathaldus, because he went abroad early in life, but the brothers Morini of his adopted home provide some information. They tell us he was a native of Hibernia - born at Rathan in Momonia - that he studied at Lismore, and became bishop of his native territory of Rathan, but that afterwards, he made his way to Jerusalem, and on his return was, with his companions, wrecked at Taranto in Italy. He is said to have converted many of the inhabitants to Christianity, and became the city's patron saint.
Another scholar of Lismore was Cuanna, most likely the half-brother and successor of the founder. He was born at Kilcoona, or Killcooney, a parish near Headford in Galway which takes its name from him. No doubt he went to Lismore on account of his close connexion with Cataldus, and for the same reason was chosen to succeed him in the school of Lismore. One historian[ who? ] thought that the ancient but now lost "Book of Cuanach", cited in the Annals of Ulster , but not later than A.D. 628, was the work of this Cuanna of Kilcooney and Lismore. It is also said that Aldfrith, King of Northumbria, spent some time at the school of Lismore, for he visited most of the famous schools of Ireland towards the close of the seventh century, and at that time Lismore was one of the most celebrated. It was also a place of pilgrimage, and many Irish princes gave up the sceptre and returned to Lismore to end their lives in prayer and penance. There, too, by his own desire, was interred Celsus of Armagh, who died in Ardpatrick, but directed that he should be buried in Lismore (though no trace of his monument has been found).
Two interesting memorials of Lismore are still preserved. The first is the Lismore Crozier, found accidentally in Lismore Castle in 1814, and now in the National Museum of Ireland. [1] The inscription tells us that it was made for Niall Mac Mic Aeducan, Bishop of Lismore, 1090–1113, by Neclan the artist. This refers to the making of the case or shrine, which enclosed an old oak stick, the original crozier of the founder. Most of the ornaments are richly gilt, interspersed with others of silver and niello, and bosses of coloured enamels. [1]
The second is the Book of Lismore found in the castle at the same time with the crosier, enclosed in a wooden box in a built-up doorway. The castle was built as long ago as 1185 by Prince John. The book contains a series of the lives of Irish saints, written in medieval Irish. [2]
Afterward the bishops of Lismore came to live at the castle, both the crosier and book belonged were hidden for security. They were rediscovered during renovations in 1814. [2]
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain : Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "School of Lismore". Catholic Encyclopedia . New York: Robert Appleton Company.
Lismore Castle is a castle located in the town of Lismore, County Waterford in the Republic of Ireland. It belonged to the Earls of Desmond, and subsequently to the Cavendish family from 1753. It is currently the Irish home of the Duke of Devonshire. It was largely re-built in the Gothic style during the mid-nineteenth century for The 6th Duke of Devonshire.
A crosier or crozier is a stylized staff that is a symbol of the governing office of a bishop or abbot and is carried by high-ranking prelates of Roman Catholic, Eastern Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox,Malankara Mar Thoma Syrian Church,and some Anglican, Lutheran, United Methodist and Pentecostal churches.
Dungarvan is a coastal town and harbour in County Waterford, on the south-east coast of Ireland. Prior to the merger of Waterford County Council with Waterford City Council in 2014, Dungarvan was the county town and administrative centre of County Waterford. Waterford City and County Council retains administrative offices in the town. The town's Irish name means "Garbhann's fort", referring to Saint Garbhann who founded a church there in the seventh century.
Lismore is a historic town in County Waterford, in the province of Munster, Ireland. Originally associated with Saint Mochuda of Lismore, who founded Lismore Abbey in the 7th century, the town developed around the medieval Lismore Castle. As of the 21st century, Lismore supports a rural catchment area, and was designated as a "district service centre" in Waterford County Council's 2011–2017 development plan. As of 2022, the town had a population of 1,347 people.
Catald of Taranto was an Irish monk.
The Book of Lismore, also known as the Book of Mac Carthaigh Riabhach, is a late fifteenth-century Gaelic manuscript that was created at Kilbrittain in County Cork, Ireland, for Fínghean Mac Carthaigh, Lord of Carbery (1478–1505). Defective at beginning and end, 198 leaves survive today, containing a miscellany of religious and secular texts written entirely in Irish.
Kilbrittain or Killbrittain is the name of a village, townland and parish in County Cork, Ireland. The village is about 8 kilometres (5 mi) south of Bandon, and near Courtmacsherry and Timoleague. The coastal route around the edge of the parish is the R600 road. The village itself is around 3 kilometres (1.9 mi) inland from the coast.
Mount Melleray Abbey is a Trappist monastery in Ireland, founded in 1833. It is situated on the slopes of the Knockmealdown Mountains, near Cappoquin, Diocese of Waterford.
Canon Patrick Power, was a noted historian of the Catholic Church in Ireland. He was born on 8 March 1862, in Callaghane, Co. Waterford and educated at the Catholic University School and St. John's College, Waterford.
The MacCarthy Reagh dynasty are a branch of the MacCarthy dynasty, Kings of Desmond, deriving from the Eóganacht Chaisil sept.
The National Museum of Ireland – Archaeology is a branch of the National Museum of Ireland located on Kildare Street in Dublin, Ireland, that specialises in Irish and other antiquities dating from the Stone Age to the Late Middle Ages.
Declán of Ardmore, also called Déclán, was an early Irish saint of the Déisi Muman, who was remembered for having converted the Déisi in the late 5th century and for having founded the monastery of Ardmore in what is now County Waterford. The principal source for his life and cult is a Latin Life of the 12th century. Like Ailbe of Emly, Ciarán of Saigir and Abbán of Moyarney, Declán is presented as a Munster saint who preceded Saint Patrick in bringing Christianity to Ireland. He was regarded as a patron saint of the Déisi of East Munster.
Mo Chutu mac Fínaill, also known as Mochuda, Carthach or Carthach the Younger, was abbot of Rahan, County Offaly, and subsequently, founder and first abbot of Lismore, County Waterford. The saint's Life has come down in several Irish and Latin recensions, which appear to derive from a Latin original written in the 11th or 12th century.
The Abbot of Lismore was the head of Lismore Abbey, which is in modern-day County Waterford, Ireland.
Saint Fiachna was an early Irish monk who was venerated as a saint. His feast day is 29 April.
An Insular crozier is a type of processional bishop's staff (crozier) produced in Ireland and Scotland between 800 and 1200. Such items can be distinguished from mainland European types by their curved and open crooks, and drop. By the end of the 12th century, production of Irish croziers had largely ended, but examples continued to be reworked and added to throughout the Romanesque and Gothic periods. Although many of the croziers are associated with 5th- and 6th-century saints, the objects were not made until long after the saints had died. A majority originate from around the 9th century, and were often used as embellishment between the 11th and 13th centuries.
The Clonmacnoise Crozier is a late-11th-century Insular crozier that would have been used as a ceremonial staff for bishops and mitred abbots. Its origins and medieval provenance are unknown. It was likely discovered in the late 18th or early 19th century in the monastery of Clonmacnoise in County Offaly, Ireland. The crozier has two main parts: a long shaft and a curved crook. Its style reflects elements of Viking art, especially the snake-like animals in figure-of-eight patterns running on the sides of the body of the crook, and the ribbon of dog-like animals in openwork that form the crest at its top. Apart from a shortening to the staff length and the loss of some inserted gems, it is largely intact and is one of the best-preserved surviving pieces of Insular metalwork.
Griffin Murray is an Irish archaeologist and art historian specialising in medieval Ireland and Insular art–especially metalwork–in the period between 400–1550 AD. His interests include identifying and contextualizing the social role of medieval craftsmen, Viking art and the relations between insular and Scandinavian craftsmen, and he is a leading expert on both house-shaped shrines and insular croziers.
The Lismore Crozier is an Irish Insular-type crozier dated to between 1100 and 1113 AD. It consists of a wooden tubular staff lined with copper-alloy plates; embellished with silver, gold, niello and glass; and capped by a crook with a decorative openwork crest. The inscriptions on the upper knope record that it was built by "Nechtain the craftsman" and commissioned by Niall mac Meic Aeducain, bishop of Lismore. This makes it the only extant insular crozier to be inscribed, and the only one whose date of origin can be closely approximated. It was rediscovered in 1814, along with the 15th-century Book of Lismore, in a walled-up doorway in Lismore Castle, County Waterford, where it was probably hidden in the late Middle Ages during a period of either religious persecution or raids.
The River Laune Crozier is a late 11th-century Insular crozier, now at the Archaeology branch of the National Museum of Ireland. The object would have been commissioned as a staff of office for a senior clergyman, most likely a bishop. It consists of a wooden core decorated with fitted bronze and silver metal plates. Although the metalwork is somewhat corroded in parts, it is fully intact and considered one of the finest surviving Irish examples, alongside those found at Clonmacnoise and Lismore.