Saint Mac Nisse [1] (died 514) was an early Irish saint known as the founder and first bishop-abbot of Connor (Irish: Condere , in what is now Co. Antrim).
Hagiographers say he was son of Fáebrach, son of Erc, who probably belonged to the Dál Fiatach. [2] His mother was Ness.
His story as known is largely legendary [3] He was baptized by Saint Patrick who taught him the psalms. [4] He then took the additional name of Óengus. Mac Nisse was fostered with Patrick's disciple Olcán, Bishop of Armoy. The Tripartite Life of St. Patrick says that as the political support of Dal Riata gained in Scotland, but waned in Ireland, the lands attached to Armoy were seized and regranted to Mac Nisse and Senán "of Inis Cathaig" (probably for Senán of Láthrach Briúin). [5]
Oengus Mac Nisse is thought to have been a hermit near Kells earlier in his life. [6]
There were three Irish abbeys/monasteries by this name.
Dál Riata or Dál Riada was a Gaelic kingdom that encompassed the western seaboard of Scotland and north-eastern Ireland, on each side of the North Channel. At its height in the 6th and 7th centuries, it covered what is now Argyll in Scotland and part of County Antrim in Northern Ireland. After a period of expansion, Dál Riata eventually became associated with the Gaelic Kingdom of Alba.
The Culdees were members of ascetic Christian monastic and eremitical communities of Ireland, Scotland, Wales and England in the Middle Ages. Appearing first in Ireland and then in Scotland, subsequently attached to cathedral or collegiate churches; they lived in monastic fashion though not taking monastic vows.
Naiton son of Der-Ilei, also called Naiton son of Dargart, was king of the Picts between 706–724 and between 728–729. He succeeded his brother Bridei in 706. He is associated with significant religious reforms in Pictland. He abdicated in 724 in favour of his nephew and became a monk. In 728 and 729 he fought in a four-sided war for the Pictish throne.
Finnian of Clonard – also Finian, Fionán or Fionnán in Irish; or Finianus and Finanus in its Latinised form (470–549) – was one of the early Irish monastic saints, who founded Clonard Abbey in modern-day County Meath. The Twelve Apostles of Ireland studied under him. Finnian of Clonard is considered one of the fathers of Irish monasticism.
Senán mac Geircinn was an Irish Christian minister. He was a resident of Munster and is important in Irish tradition, as founder of Inis Cathaigh and patron of the Corco Baiscinn and the Uí Fhidgeinte. He is listed among the Twelve Apostles of Ireland.
Iarlaithe mac Loga, also known as Jarlath, was an Irish priest and scholar from Connacht, remembered as the founder of the monastic School of Tuam and of the Archdiocese of Tuam, of which he is the patron saint. No medieval biography of Jarlath is extant, but sources for his life and cult include genealogies, martyrologies, the Irish Lives of St Brendan of Clonfert, and a biography compiled by John Colgan in the 17th century.
The Diocese of Down and Connor, is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Catholic Church in Northern Ireland. It is one of eight suffragan dioceses in the ecclesiastical province of the metropolitan Archdiocese of Armagh. Bishop Alan McGuckian is Bishop.
Dál nAraidi or Dál Araide, sometimes latinised as Dalaradia or anglicised as Dalaray, was a Cruthin kingdom, or possibly a confederation of Cruthin tribes, in north-eastern Ireland during the Middle Ages. It was part of the over-kingdom of Ulaid, and its kings often contended with the Dál Fiatach for the over-kingship of the province. At its greatest extent, the borders of Dál nAraidi roughly matched those of County Antrim, and they seemed to occupy the same area as the earlier Robogdii of Ptolemy's Geography, a region shared with Dál Riata. Their capital was Ráth Mór outside Antrim, and their eponymous ancestor is claimed as being Fiachu Araide.
Armoy is a village and civil parish in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. It is 5.5 miles (9 km) southwest of Ballycastle and 8 miles (13 km) northeast of Ballymoney. According to an estimate in 2013 by the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency it had a population of 1,122.
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.
Olcán is the name of an early Irish saint of the Dál Riata, disciple of St Patrick, founder and bishop of the monastery in Armoy in northeast County Antrim, Northern Ireland.
Secundinus, or Sechnall as he was known in Irish, was founder and patron saint of Domhnach Sechnaill, County Meath, who went down in medieval tradition as a disciple of St Patrick and one of the first bishops of Armagh. Historians have suggested, however, that the connection with St Patrick was a later tradition invented by Armagh historians in favour of their patron saint and that Secundinus is more likely to have been a separate missionary, possibly a companion of Palladius.
The Cenél nÓengusa were a kin group who ruled the island of Islay, and perhaps nearby Colonsay, off the western coast of Scotland in the early Middle Ages.
Colman mac Cathbaid is a sixth-century Irish saint who was an abbot and bishop of Kilroot, a minor see which was afterwards incorporated in the Diocese of Connor. He may have given his name to Kilmackevat.
Events from the 5th century in Ireland.
Conainne, also known as Dachonna, was an Irish missionary and saint. The Irish terms of endearment, mo and do, were regularly added to the names of Irish saints and secular people, hence the origin of her diminutive pseudonym, Dachonna.
Abbán of Corbmaic, also Eibbán or Moabba, was a saint and abbot. He is associated, first and foremost, with the Mag Arnaide. His order was, however, also connected to other churches elsewhere in Ireland, notably that of his alleged sister Gobnait.
Dubthach maccu Lugair, is a legendary Irish poet and lawyer who supposedly lived at the time of St Patrick's mission in Ireland and in the reign of Lóegaire mac Néill, high-king of Ireland, to which Dubthach served as Chief Poet and Brehon. In contrast to the king and his druids, he is said to have readily accepted the new religion. This event has played a major part in Hiberno-Latin and Irish sources as representing the integration of native Irish learning with the Christian faith.
Saint Daig was an Irish Christian bishop and confessor of Inis-Caoin-Deagha, who lived towards the end of the 6th century. His name in Gaelic means "A great flame" and he was probably named after his mother Deighe.
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Connor was a Catholic diocese in Ireland which started as a territorial abbey circa 500, became a proper residential bishopric in 1111 and was merged into the Roman Catholic Diocese of Down in 1439.