Image de saint
Colman de Kilmacduagh,
Kilmacduagh Cathedral, County Galway, Irlande
St
Colman Mac Duagh, évêque en Irlande († v. 632)
Martyrologe Romain : À Kilmacduagh en Irlande,
vers 632, saint Colman Mac Duagh, évêque. Moine ordonné
évêque malgré lui, il vécut avec un seul disciple de légumes et d’eau, puis
fonda un monastère à Killmacduagh, qui le vénère comme son premier évêque.
©Evangelizo.org
2001-2016
Colman of Kilmacduagh B (AC)
Born at Corker, Kiltartan, Galway, Ireland, c. 550; died 632; cultus approved
in 1903. Son of the Irish chieftain Duac, Colman was educated at Saint Enda's
monastery in Aran. Thereafter he was a recluse, living in prayer and prolonged
fastings, at Arranmore and then at Burren in County Clare. With King Guaire of
Connaught he founded the monastery of Kilmacduagh, i.e., the church of the son
of Duac, and governed it as abbot-bishop. The "leaning tower of
Kilmacduagh," 112 feet high, is almost twice as old as the famous town in
Pisa. The Irish round tower was restored in 1880.
There is a legend
that angels brought King Guaire to him by causing his festive Easter dinner to
disappear from his table. The king and his court followed the angels to the
place where Colman had kept the Lenten fast and now was without food. The path
of this legendary journey is called the "road of the dishes."
As with many relics,
Saint Colman's abbatial crozier has been used through the centuries for the
swearing of oaths. Although it was in the custodianship of the O'Heynes of
Kiltartan (descendants of King Guaire) and their relatives, the O'Shaughnessys,
it can now be seen in the National Museum in Dublin (Attwater, Benedictines,
Carty, D'Arcy, Farmer, MacLysaght, Montague, Stokes).
Other tales are
recounted about Saint Colman, who loved birds and animals. He had a pet rooster
who served as an alarm clock at a time before there were such modern
conveniences. The rooster would begin his song at the breaking of dawn and
continue until Colman would come out and speak to it. Colman would then call
the other monks to prayer by ringing the bells.
But the monks wanted
to pray the night hours, too, and couldn't count on the rooster to awaken them
at midnight and 3:00 a.m. So Colman made a pet out of a mouse that often kept
him company in the night by giving it crumbs to eat. Eventually the mouse was
tamed and Colman asked its help:
"So you are
awake all night, are you? It isn't your time for sleep, is it? My friend, the
cock, gives me great help, waking me every morning. Couldn't you do the same
for me at night, while the cock is asleep? If you do not find me stirring at
the usual time, couldn't you call me? Will you do that?"
It was a long time
before Colman tested the understanding of the mouse. After a long day of
preaching and travelling on foot, Colman slept very soundly. When he did not
awake at the usual hour in the middle of the night for Lauds, the mouse
pattered over to the bed, climbed on the pillow, and rubbed his tiny head against
Colman's ear. Not enough to awaken the exhausted monk. So the mouse tried
again, but Colman shook him off impatiently. Making one last effort, the mouse
nibbled on the saint's ear and Colman immediately arose--laughing. The mouse,
looking very serious and important, just sat there on the pillow staring at the
monk, while Colman continued to laugh in disbelief that the mouse had indeed
understood its job.
When he regained his
composure, Colman praised the clever mouse for his faithfulness and fed him
extra treats. Then entered God's presence in prayer. Thereafter, Colman always
waited for the mouse to rub his ear before arising, whether he was awake or
not. The mouse never failed in his mission.
The monk had another
strange pet: a fly. Each day Colman would spend some time reading a large,
awkward parchment manuscript prayer book. Each day the fly would perch on the
margin of the sheet. Eventually Colman began to talk to the fly, thanked him
for his company, and asked for his help:
"Do you think
you could do something useful for me? You see yourself that everyone who lives
in the monastery is useful. Well, if I am called away, as I often am, while I
am reading, don't you go too; stay here on the spot I mark with my finger, so
that I'll know exactly where to start when I come back. Do you see what I
mean?"
So, as with the
mouse, it was a long time before Colman put the understanding of the fly to the
test. He probably provided the insect with treats as he did the mouse--perhaps
a single drop of honey or crumb of cake. One day Colman was called to attend a
visitor. He pointed the spot on the manuscript where he had stopped and asked
the fly to stay there until he returned. The fly did as the saint requested,
obediently remaining still for over an hour. Colman was delighted. Thereafter,
he often gave the faithful fly a little task that it was proud to do for him.
The other monks thought it was such a marvel that they wrote it done in the
monastery records, which is how we know about it.
But a fly's life is
short. At the end of summer, Colman's little friend was dead. While still
mourning the death of the fly, the mouse died, too, as did the rooster.
Colman's heart was so heavy at the loss of his last pet that he wrote to his
friend Saint Columba. Columba responded:
"You were too
rich when you had them. That is why you are sad now. Trouble like that only
comes where there are riches. Be rich no more." Colman then realized that
one can be rich without any money (Curtayne).
SOURCE : http://www.saintpatrickdc.org/ss/1029.shtml
SOURCE : http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/04114b.htm
Saint Colman of
Kilmacduagh
Cathédrale de Kilmacduagh, avec la tour ronde en arrière-plan
St. Colman
Bishop and patron of Kilmacduagh, born at Kiltartan c. 560; died 29 October, 632. He
lived for many years as a hermit in Arranmore, where he built two churches,
both forming the present group of ruins at Kilmurvy. Thence he sought greater
seclusion in the woods of Burren, in 592, and at length, in 610, founded a monastery, which became the centre of the tribal Diocese of
Aidhne, practically coextensive with the present See of Kilmacduagh. Although the "Martyrology of Donegal"
assigns his feast to 2 February, yet the weight of evidence and the
tradition of the diocese point to 29 October, on which day his festival
has been kept from time immemorial, and which was fixed by a rescript of Pope Benedict XIV, in 1747, as a major double.
Sources
Martyrology of Donegal, ed. TODD AND REEVES (Dublin, 1864); Customs of Hy-Fiachrach, ed.
O'DONOVAN; LANIGAN, Ecclesiastical History of Ireland (Dublin, 1829);
II; COLGAN, Acta Sanct. Hib. (Louvain, 1645); PETRIE, Round Towers
(Dublin, 1845); FAHEY, Hist. and Ant. of Kilmacduagh (1893).
Grattan-Flood, William. "St. Colman." The Catholic
Encyclopedia. Vol. 4. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1908. 29 Oct. 2015
<http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/04114b.htm>.
Transcription. This article was transcribed for New Advent by Douglas J. Potter. Dedicated to the Immaculate Heart of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
Transcription. This article was transcribed for New Advent by Douglas J. Potter. Dedicated to the Immaculate Heart of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
Ecclesiastical approbation. Nihil
Obstat. Remy Lafort, Censor. Imprimatur. +John M. Farley, Archbishop of New York.
Saint Colman of
Kilmacduagh
28 October 2009,
8:36 pm
- 29 October
- 2 February on some rolls
Profile
Son of a chieftain
named Duagh. Hermit in Arranmore where he built two churches. His reputation for
holiness attracted too much attention, so he retreated to the woods of Burren
in 592 to live in isolation. In 610,
on land donated by King Guaire of Connacht, he founded a monastery
which became the center of the diocese
of Kilmacduagh. He reluctantly served as the house’s first abbot,
the diocese‘s
first bishop.
Born
- 29 October 632 of natural causes
- 1903 by Pope Leo XIII (cultus confirmed)
- Kilmacduagh, Ireland, diocese
of
SOURCE : http://catholicsaints.info/tag/canonized-in-1903/
Saint Colman of Kilmacduagh in
Ireland, Wonder Worker
Commemorated:
October 29/November 11
St. Colman (c.
550 or c. 560-632), a great ascetic and one of the most interesting Irish
saints of his age, has been venerated and loved by pious Irishmen for more than
1300 years, especially in Counties Galway and Clare (the provinces of Connacht
and Munster) on the west coast of present-day Northern Ireland. It is a relief
that interest in this wonderworker on the part of modern researchers has now
grown.
The future saint
was born in Ireland into the family of a chief named Duagh (hence the full name
of the saint—Colman Mac Duagh, that is, “Colman, son of Duagh”) and his wife
Rhinagh. His birthplace may have been Corker in Galway, which is a pilgrimage
site to this day. When he was still in his mother’s womb, she heard a prophecy
that her son would become a great man who would surpass in his glory all men in
his lineage. According to tradition, the jealous father understood these words
not in the spiritual, but in the secular sense and bore malice to the still
unborn child. The pregnant mother, fearing for her baby’s safety, fled from
their home. However, Duagh’s servants soon found her, tied a heavy stone around
her neck and threw her into the river Kiltartin. But by the grace of God
Rhinagh was cast ashore, survived and gave birth. The very stone to which she
was tied, with marks of the rope, has survived and is kept inside a church in
Corker.
When it was time to
baptize the newly-born Colman, the priest who came to Rhinagh found that there
was no water to perform the baptism. The mother, fearing to go back home, took
shelter under an ash-tree. She prayed hard and suddenly a holy spring gushed
forth from under the ground near the tree and the baby was baptized in it. Many
healings and other miracles occurred from the pure water of this spring, which
still exists in Corker near the river and attracts many pilgrims (there are
many modern reports of healing from it). Rhinagh entrusted her boy to the care
of pious monks.
Already a young
man, Colman arrived on the Aran Islands in Donegal where he remained for some
years under the great Irish Abbot St. Enda of Inishmore.1 Colman became a monk there and was later ordained priest. According to
tradition, St. Colman spent several years as a hermit on Aranmore Island where
he also built two churches—the ruins of both of them can still be seen.
Aranmore was always known as an island with extremely harsh conditions for
life; in spite of this, a multitude of ascetics lived and prayed there for many
years throughout “the age of saints” in Ireland.
St. Colman’s zeal
and thirst for spiritual perfection were so strong that with time he resolved
to leave the island monastery and to retreat to a remote and quiet place to
pray more deeply. Thus, according to tradition, from 592 the holy man lived for
seven years alone in solitude in the dense Burren forests of County Clare, and
obtained the gift of unceasing prayer; he prayed and kept vigil day and night,
ate only herbs, drank water and wore a deerskin. In his ascetic practices St.
Colman imitated the Egyptian hermits, headed by St. Anthony; many other Celtic
saints lived in the same spirit in those centuries. Colman’s hermitage was
situated in a perfect setting surrounded by wild forest and the beautiful
Burren mountains.
St. Colman made
himself a tiny dwelling in a very small cave on a steep slope where he spent
most of his time praying. This cave, known as St. Colman’s cave, has been
well-preserved to this day. The saint also built a little chapel at the foot of
the cliff where he celebrated the services alone. This St. Colman’s Chapel
existed for many centuries after him but was severely damaged by puritan
iconoclasts in the seventeenth century. However, its ruins survive and still
preserve a particular spirit of holiness, which is evidenced by pilgrims who
visit this place to this day. The saint drank water from the natural holy well
located near the chapel. By the grace of God this holy well survives in good
condition, and numerous miracles still occur through its water today.
Like many Irish
saints, St. Colman lived in harmony with wild nature. Various versions of his
life relate the same and truly striking story (though with different minor
details) about the communication of the holy man with animals. This story says
that a cock, a mouse, and a fly were Colman’s closest friends in Burren. All of
them served their holy master as they could. The cock crowed at a certain time
every night, reminding the saint of the time for prayer; the mouse gently
touched his face, thus waking him up and ensuring that he slept only five hours
per day; the fly carefully crept over the lines of the sacred books that he
read, and when his eyes got tired or when the saint had to move away for a
while, the fly crawled onto the first letter of the following sentence so that
he could never lose his place.
The saint loved and
fed these faithful friends. Once Colman got so tired that he fell into a very
deep sleep and the mouse could not awaken him as usual. Then it began
scratching his ear so hard that Colman awoke immediately: he praised the animal
and gave it more food from that time on. One day the saint was away for more
than an hour, conversing with a guest. On his return he noticed that the fly
was sitting without movement on the very word in his prayer-book where he had
stopped before leaving. The saint praised the fly for its zeal and began giving
it more breadcrumbs with drops of honey as a treat. But by the end of summer
all of them died on the same day: the fly was the first and the mouse and cock
died after it from grief. In his sorrow St. Colman wrote a letter to his
friend, St. Columba of Iona, telling him this story. And St. Columba sent a
letter in reply: “When you had these friends, brother, you were rich. That is
why you are in sorrow now. Such sorrows come due to riches. So try not to have riches
any more.” And Colman realized that one can be rich even without money.
In the seventh year
of Colman’s solitude it came to pass that after spending Lent in fasting and
prayer, St. Colman had nothing to eat on the day of Holy Easter. At the same
time the pious and generous King Guaire of Connacht (possibly the saint’s
cousin) was about to celebrate Easter with his retinue, sitting at table with
sumptuous dishes. Suddenly the king exclaimed: “May all of our dinner by Divine
providence go to some worthy servant of God! And we will do without such a
luxury today.” And at once invisible angels carried all the dishes from the
royal table to St. Colman’s cave. The king ordered his men to find out: Who is
this holy man to whom angels brought food? And soon the hermit Colman was
found. The king marveled at his ascetic life, promised to give him land to
found a monastery, and assigned sufficient means to maintain it.
Thus St. Colman
left his hermitage and began to serve people. Soon his glory as a wonderworker spread
all over the region. Many people came to Colman and obtained healing and
consolation. Once the saint’s belt fell on the ground not far from his former
hermitage and it was a sign that he was to build a monastery on that spot. The
monastery was called Kilmacduagh (“church of the son of Duagh”) and Colman
became its first abbot. (His belt was later kept as a relic and many were
healed by it). Much against his will, St. Colman was also probably ordained
bishop of the region with its center in Kilmacduagh and founded the first
cathedral there. Colman, being a bishop and abbot at the same time, labored
with all his zeal as a true good pastor, caring for all the monasteries and
convents in his diocese and kindling the hearts of his flock with fervent love
for Christ our Saviour. But life “in the world” (in comparison with his former
seclusion), the fame and praise from people were a burden to him, and with all
his heart he desired to return to his beloved way of life one day. And after
many years of service to people, the saint resigned his episcopacy seven years
before his death. The saint settled in the Oughtmama valley in the Burren area
where he reposed on October 29, 632, at a very advanced age.
St. Colman was
venerated as a saint immediately after his death and became the patron-saint of
Kilmacduagh. In addition to his main relics, the episcopal vestments and the
personal staff of St. Colman were kept as precious relics for many centuries,
and the staff is still preserved at the National Museum in Dublin—it was used
for the taking of oaths in the late medieval period. According to legend, the
saint predicted that no man or animal would ever be killed by lightning in the
diocese of Kilmacduagh and it is said that this is true to this day.
In medieval times,
Kilmacduagh Monastery gained great popularity and excelled in preserving
ascetic traditions. This religious site was so important that from the twelfth
century on a permanent diocese existed here. Unfortunately, Vikings made raids
on the monastery, and it was eventually plundered in the twelfth century. In
the thirteenth century an Augustinian Abbey appeared on the site. This
monastery was dissolved at the Reformation.
Today Kilmacduagh
is a small village in the south of County Galway near the town of Gort. It
continues to be a holy site and a destination for pilgrimages. Many ancient
picturesque ruins survive, including ruins of the cathedral, monastery churches
(St. Mary’s, St. John the Baptist’s and others) and monastic buildings (the
abbots’ house). One of its gems is an ancient Irish round tower—the highest
surviving such tower in the country (112 feet).
Saint Colman of
Kilmacduagh, pray to God for us!
11 / 11 / 2014
1 The greatest monastery of St. Enda
was situated on Inishmore in Galway; however, for some time he lived on the
Aran Islands, including on Aranmore.
Voir aussi : http://www.stcolman.com/life_monastery.html
