Wednesday 5 November 2014

Saint Colmán of Glenn Delmaicc, November 5


November 5 is the commemoration of another Irish Saint Colmán, this one associated with a parish now called Dysart, but originally known as Glen Delmaic, as the Martyrology of Oengus records:
A. Nonis Novembris.

do rath Dé ba forlán Colmán Glinne Delmaicc.

very full of God's grace was Colman of Glenn Delmaicc.

5. Colmán from Glenn Delmaic in Mag Raigni in Ossory

In his diocesan history of Ossory, Father William Carrigan locates our saint at the parish of Dysart:
The church of Dysart, otherwise Dysartbeg, is situated on the grassy, low, sharp angle formed by the River Nore where it washes the rocky base of the Dysart ridge of hills. The Irish word Diseart pronounced (Deesharth) signifies a secluded place; and the site of Dysart church, hemmed in on three sides between the hill and the river, and approached by a gradual slope on the remaining side, is preeminently such...
In Fitzrobert's charter it is called Dysartmocholmoc, i.e., "Diseart Mocholmog", the Dysart of St. Mo-Colm-óg or Colman. From this it is evident that St. Colman was the patron of the place. The saint is thus commemorated in the Feilire of Aengus, at Nov. 5th.:
"Colman glined delmaic ."

that is: Colman of Glenn Delmaic. The commentator on this passage in the Lebor Breac clearly identifies Glenn Delmaic with Dysart, of which we treat—the only "Disert in Mag Raigne "—thus : " Colman of Glenn Delmaic, i.e. in Disert in Mag Raigne in Ossory, i.e.," [here the commentator tries to explain' the meaning of Glenn Delmaic—] "a sucking pig was found there. Or deil mnice i.e. a two year old pig. Or forms of wild pigs arose before him, and in Cell Matia Doncrder in Mag Itha he is."
Rev. William Carrigan, The History and Antiquities of the Diocese of Ossory, Volume IV (Dublin, 1905), 276-277.

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