Early Irish Saints’ Cults and their Constituencies

Abstract

This article explores the differences between early Irish saints' cults, concentrating mainly but not exclusively on those associated with the Fothairt. It begins with a simple and local cult, that of Damnat of Tedavnet, and a complex and widespread cult, that of Brigit. It is argued that Brigit's cult had at least four constituencies: the Fothairt, Kildare, Leinster, and the weak throughout Ireland and even in Britain. Brigit's cult among the Fothairt is then contrasted with that of another Fothairt saint, Fintan of Clonenagh; and Fintan's cult, in turn, is contrasted with that of Rignach. The Uf Ercdiin, a branch of the Fothairt, illustrate how the political status of a cult's constituency may determine its character. Finally, the shift from an alliance between cults to competition is studied in the example of Cainnech and Columba. This paper arises from one fundamental idea, that there were major differences not just between one saint's cult and another in pre-Viking Ireland but also within the cult of a single saint. Approximately, the idea is that the major cults had more than one constituency, and that, because they had more than one constituency, they were themselves complex. Moreover, the balance between one constituency and another was likely to change over time. An implication of this idea is that the entire dossier of a saint may not always be best understood as advancing the interests of the leading church of that saint. This mode of interpretation has had notable successes, but it also has its limitations, since the community of the leading church of a saint was only one constituency of the cult.2 My starting-point needs to be distinguished from the allied notion that a particular piece of hagiographical writing was directed at more than one readership:3 that is a point about a text, whereas my concern is with the cult and with texts only as evidence for the cult. To illustrate the possibilities, I shall begin with two cults of female saints, one local, that of Damnat of Tedavnet in Co. Monaghan, the other ' This paper originated as a lecture given under the auspices of the Michael O'Clery Institute in UCD. I am very grateful to Dr John McCafferty for inviting me to give the lecture and for his hospitality, to those present for their contributions to discussion, and to Fiona Edmonds for making the maps. 2 For a survey of Irish hagiography see Maiire Herbert, 'The Latin and vernacular hagiography of Ireland from the origins to the sixteenth century', in Guy Philippart (ed.), Hagiographie: histoire internationale de la litt&rature hagiographique latine et vernaculaire en occident des origines ai 1550 (3 vols, Thrnhout 2001), vol. 3, 327-60. 3 So, for example, J.-M. Picard,'The purpose of Adomnin's Vita Columbae', Peritia 1 (1982), 160-77, argues that the Life of St Columba was directed at three readerships: the familia of the saint, Northumbrian churchmen and continental churchmen. triu LIV (2004) 79-102 © Royal Irish Academy This content downloaded from 157.55.39.175 on Mon, 23 Jan 2017 18:43:51 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms 80 T.M. ('HARLES-EDWARDS widespread, the cult ofI Brigit. The latter will lead to a general theme, the different and complex relationships of the Fothairt to their saints. THiE CULT :OF DAMNAT Damnat is dcscribd in the Martyrology of Tallaght as Damnat of Sliab Betha, the mountain on which the counties of Monaghan, Fermanagh and Tyrone meet (see Map 1).1 Her church, Tedavnet, Tech nDamnata, lies east-south-east of Sliah Betha, but a well at Caldavnet is in the lower foothills, and it remains to this day an active centre of her cult. She was later identiied with St Dympna of Gheel in the Netherlands. patroness of the insane,' the signpost to the well directs one not to St Damnat's Well, in spite of the name Caldavnet, but to St Dympna's. There is no Life, but the genealogies of the saints connect her, through her mother, with several