St.
Benin's Church, Kilbennan, County Galway, Ireland. Detail of the stained glass
window of St. Benen (also named Benin or Benignus).
Saint Bénen
Archevêque d'Armagh en
Irlande (+ v. 474)
ou Bénigne, archevêque d'Armagh en Irlande.
Fils d'un chef irlandais converti par saint Patrick,
il fut son compagnon inséparable durant ses travaux apostoliques. Il
convertit les irlandais dans les comtés de Clare, du Kerry et du Connaught et
fut supérieur de l'abbaye de Drumlease qui avait été fondée par saint
Patrick auquel il succéda après sa mort.
Kilbennan Monastery (also called Kilbenan or Kilbannon). was founded by St. Benen (also called Benignus, Beannan, or Mionnan), a disciple of St. Patrick. (See A. Gwynn and R. N. Hadcock, Medieval Religious Houses Ireland, p. 388.). East side of Kilbennan Church and the round tower.
Kilbennan
Monastery (also called Kilbenan or Kilbannon). North-east
view of Kilbennan Church and round tower.
Kilbennan Monastery (also called Kilbenan or Kilbannon) Kilbennan Round tower and church as seen from the road, looking north-west.
Also
known as
Benignus of Ireland
Benen of….
27 June (translation
of relics)
8
November (Martyrology of Donegal)
Profile
Son of the Irish chieftain
Sesenen in County Meath. Baptized by
and a disciple of Saint Patrick,
accompanying him in
his travels and missions.
Noted choral singer and
arranger for liturgical music,
he was called Patrick’s psalm-singer. Evangelized the
provinces of Clare, Kerry, and Connaught. Abbot of
Drumlease for twenty years. Assisted in compiling the Senchus Mor,
the Irish Code of Laws. Present at the synod which recognized the See of
the Apostle Peter (Rome, Italy)
as the final court of appeal in difficult cases. Succeeded Saint Patrick as bishop of Ireland.
467 of
natural causes
Additional
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of Saints, by the Monks of
Ramsgate
Catholic
Encyclopedia, by W H Grattan Flood
Lives
of the Saints, by Father Alban
Butler
Saints
of the Day, by Katherine Rabenstein
The
Saints of Erin, by J P O’Callaghan
books
Our Sunday Visitor’s Encyclopedia of Saints
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MLA
Citation
“Saint Benignus of
Armagh“. CatholicSaints.Info. 9 November 2022. Web. 18 March 2023.
<https://catholicsaints.info/saint-benignus-of-armagh/>
SOURCE : https://catholicsaints.info/saint-benignus-of-armagh/
Benen of Ireland B (AC)
(also known as Benignus)
Died c. 468. Son of the
Meath chieftain Sechnan (Sessenen or Sesgne), Benen grew up in the district
around Duleek. He and his family were converted in his childhood and baptized
by Saint Patrick. The story is told that Benen worshipped Patrick as a hero. He
had heard the tale of the great saint's chariot driver laying down his life to
save Patrick. He was in awe, but too young to do much. So when after baptizing
Benen, Patrick fell into an exhausted sleep in a quiet corner of the family's
garden, he wondered what he could do to honor the saint. He noticed the dust of
the road on Patrick's clothes was attracting insects, so he scattered some
strongly scented flowers over the sleeping man. When the boy was chastised for
doing this, Patrick responded: "Don't send him away. He's a good boy. It
may be that he will yet do wonderful things for the Church."
At that moment Benen
became the apostle's disciple and companion. We are told that when the apostle
wanted to continue his journey, Benen rolled himself into a ball in Patrick's
chariot, clung to the saint's feet, and begged to accompany him to Tara.
Patrick agreed to take the youngster with him, although everyone else thought
he was too immature. Patrick assured them that Benen would be fine-- and he
was. He never returned home.
And so, as Benen matured,
he became Patrick's confidant, 'Psalmsinger,' and right-hand man. He sang for
every Mass said by Patrick, thereby learning how to teach and preach the faith.
Eventually Benen was ordained priest, and in time succeeded Patrick as
archbishop of Ireland. Benen is known for his gentleness, charm, and beautiful
singing voice.
The story is told that
once on an Easter Sunday when Saint Patrick, his eight companions, and the boy
Benignus were going from Slane to Tara to confront the high king, Laoghaire,
they were miraculously turned into deer and so avoided the attempts of the
king's guards to intercept them en route. The fawn in the rear, according to
the legend, was Benignus. The Tripartite Life tells it this way:
"Patrick went with
eight young clerics and Benen as a gillie with them, and Patrick gave them his
blessing before they set out. A cloak of darkness went over them so that not a
man of them appeared. Howbeit, the enemy who were waiting to ambush them, saw
eight deer going past them, and behind them a fawn with a bundle on its back.
That was Patrick with his eight, and Benen behind them with his tablets on his
back."
He is credited with
evangelizing Clare, Kerry, and Connaught, and reportedly headed a monastery at
Drumlease in Kilmore, built by Patrick, for some 20 years.
Benen's connection with
Glastonbury has no historical basis; however, William of Malmesbury relates
that Benen resigned his see in 460, and went to Glastonbury, to seek out his
old master. Patrick is said to have sent him out to live as a hermit at the
first place where his staff should burst into leaf and bud. It is related that
this happened in the swampy environs of Feringmere, which is where Benen died
and was buried. In 1091, someone's relics were translated from that site to
Glastonbury Abbey, but they were not Benen's because there is no truth in the
association of Saint Patrick and Saint Benen with Glastonbury (Benedictines,
Bieler, Concannon, D'Arcy, Delaney, Curtayne, Healy, Montague, Ryan).
SOURCE : http://www.saintpatrickdc.org/ss/1109.shtml
November 9
St. Benignus, or Binen,
Bishop
HE was a disciple of St.
Patrick, by whom he was appointed to the see of Armagh, after that apostle had
resigned it. He was eminent for piety and virtue, and for the gentleness of his
disposition; and resigned his see three years before his death, which happened
in 468. See Colgan and Ware.
Rev. Alban
Butler (1711–73). Volume XI: November. The Lives of the
Saints. 1866.
SOURCE : http://www.bartleby.com/210/11/095.html
Book of Saints
– Benignus – 9 November
Article
BENIGNUS (BENEN) (Saint)
Bishop (November 9) (5th century) A favourite disciple of Saint Patrick, and
his siiccessor in the See of Armagh. He is sometimes styled “Benen, son of
Sessenen, Saint Patrick’s Psalmsinger.” The Martyrology of Donegal gives an account
of his virtues, dwelling particularly on his piety and gentleness. Many too
were the miracles by which Almighty God bore witness to his sanctity. He
appears to have resigned his pastoral charge some time before his holy death,
which took place about A.D. 469. His reputed sojourn at Glastonbury is probably
fictitious.
MLA
Citation
Monks of Ramsgate.
“Benignus”. Book of Saints, 1921. CatholicSaints.Info. 27
August 2012.
Web. 18 March 2023. <http://catholicsaints.info/book-of-saints-benignus-9-november/>
SOURCE : https://catholicsaints.info/book-of-saints-benignus-9-november/
St. Benignus
Date of birth unknown; d. 467, son of Sesenen,
an Irish chieftain in that part of Ireland which is now County Meath. He
was baptized by St. Patrick, and became
his favorite disciple and his coadjutor in the See of Armagh (450). His gentle
and lovable disposition suggested the name Benen, which has been Latinized as
Benignus. He followed his master in all his travels, and assisted him in his
missionary labors, giving most valuable assistance in the formation of choral
services. From his musical acquirements he was known as "Patrick's
psalm-singer", and he drew thousands of souls to Christ by
his sweet voice. St. Benignus is said not only to have assisted in compiling
the great Irish code
of Laws, or Senchus Mor, but also to have contributed materials for
the "Psalter of Cashel",
and the "Book of Rights". He was present at the famous synod which
passed the canon recognizing "the See of the Apostle
Peter" as the final court of appeal in difficult cases, which
canon is to be found in the Book of Armagh. St. Benignus resigned his
coadjutorship in 467 and died at the close of the same year. His feast is celebrated
on the 9th of November. Most authorities have identified St. Patrick's psalm-singer
with the St. Benignus who founded Kilbannon, near Tuam, but it is certain, from Tirechán's
collections in the Book of Armagh, that St. Benignus of Armagh and St. Benignus
of Kilbannon were two distinct persons. The former is
described as son of Sesenen of County Meath, whilst the latter was son of Lugni
of Connaught, yet both were contemporaries. St. Benignus of Kilbannon had a
famous monastery,
where St. Jarlath was educated, and he also
presided over Drumlease. His sister, Mathona, was Abbess of Tawney,
in Tirerrill.
Sources
CAPGRAVE, Nova
Legenda Angliæ (1516), fol. 36, for the oldest lives of the
saint; see also HARDY, Descriptive Catalogue, etc., 1, 89; WARE-HARRIS, Antiquities
of Ireland. 1, 34. II 6: O'HANLON, Lives of Irish Saints (9 November),
XI; WHITLEY STOKES (ed.), Tripartite Life of St. Patrick, Rolls Series
(London, 1887), in index s.v. BENÉN, BENIGNUS; Bibl. Hagiogr.
Lat. (1898), 172, 1324; FORBES in Dict. of Christ. Biog., 1, 312. The
very ancient Leabhar-na-gceart or Book of Rights, said to
have been compiled by BENIGNUS was edited by O'DONOVAN for the Celtic Society
(Dublin. 1847). BENIGNUS is also said to have been the original
compiler of the Psalter of Cashel (see CASHEL).
Grattan-Flood,
William. "St. Benignus." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol.
2. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1907. 18 Mar.
2023 <http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/02479b.htm>.
Transcription. This
article was transcribed for New Advent by Bob Mathewson.
Ecclesiastical
approbation. Nihil Obstat. 1907. Remy Lafort, S.T.D., Censor. Imprimatur. +John
M. Farley, Archbishop of New York.
Copyright © 2021 by Kevin Knight. Dedicated to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
SOURCE : https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/02479b.htm
New Catholic
Dictionary – Saint Benignus
Article
(Latin: kind) Confessor, died c.467 Archbishop of Armagh.
The son of Seseilen, an Irish chieftain, he was converted and baptized by
Saint Patrick, to whom he later served as coadjutor in the See of Armagh,
being known as Saint Patrick’s favorite disciple and right-hand man. He was
renowned for his musical talent; and assisted in compiling the “Senchus Mor,”
or old Irish code of law. He resigned his see some time before his death.
Another Irish saint named Benignus was superior of the monasteries of
Kilbannon and Drumlease. Feast, 9
November.
MLA
Citation
“Saint Benignus”. New Catholic Dictionary. CatholicSaints.Info. 17
August 2012.
Web. 18 March 2023.
<http://catholicsaints.info/new-catholic-dictionary-saint-benignus/>
SOURCE : https://catholicsaints.info/new-catholic-dictionary-saint-benignus/
Saint Benen
(or Benignus)
Bishop and Confessor
(† 467)
Saint Patrick may not
have been Irish, but Benen, his closest disciple and future successor,
certainly was. He might, in fact, be described as an Irish tenor, for he was a
singing saint. Saint Patrick had met him in County Meath, where he had stayed
at the home of Benen’s father, Sesenen, an Irish chieftain. Patrick converted
the entire family, and the young boy took leave of his family and went off with
the apostle of Ireland.
He traveled with Saint
Patrick as his dearest disciple and, in 455, became his coadjutor in the see of
Armagh. He was the first to evangelize Clare and Kerry, and it is said that for
twenty years he had charge of a church in Drumlease.
He was given the name
Benen (or Benignus, meaning friendly, in the Latin form) because of his mild,
cheerful disposition, and he was famous for his sweet voice. It was God’s gift,
and he used it for God’s cause, attracting thousands to an interest in
Christianity by his singing. He is called "Patrick’s psalm-singer.”
He is said to have
assisted in compiling the great Irish code of laws, or Senchus Mor, and he
contributed material for the Psalter of Cashel and the Book of Rights. He
was also associated with Patrick and his companions in decrees concerning the
government of the Church in Ireland, and upon Saint Patrick’s death succeeded
him as bishop of Armagh. He worked unceasingly until about the last year of his
life. Some say he then resigned his office and retired from the world to live
as a hermit until his death in 467.
The
Lives of the Saints for every day of the year, Vol. III, (The
Catholic Press: Chicago, Illinois, 1965).
SOURCE : https://sanctoral.com/en/saints/saint_benen.html
The Saints of Erin – Saint Benignus,
by J P O’Callaghan, B.A.
Article
The story of Saint Patrick’s first meeting with Saint
Benignus is a very beautiful one, and is charmingly told in Dr. Healy’s book,
“The Island of Saints and Scholars.”
When the great apostle
first came to preach the Gospel in Ireland he coasted northward, seeking a
suitable spot to land, and, amongst other places, put in for a little while at
the stream now called the Nanny Water, a little south of Drogheda. He there
visited the house of a certain man of noble birth named Sescnen whom after due
instruction he baptised, together with his wife and family. “Amongst the
children there was one, a fair and gentle boy, to whom the saint, on account of
the sweetness and meekness of his disposition, gave in baptism the appropriate
name of Benignus. Shortly after the baptism, Patrick, wearied out with his
labors by sea and land, fell asleep where he sat, as it would seem on the green
sward before the house of Sescnen. Then the loving child, robed in his baptismal
whiteness, gathered together bunches of fragrant flowers and sweet-smelling
herbs and strewed them gently over the head and face of the weary saint; the
child then sat at his feet and pressed Patrick’s tired limbs close to his own
pure heart and kissed them tenderly. The saint’s companions were in the act of
chiding the boy lest he might disturb Patrick, who thereupon awaking and
perceiving what took place thanked the tender-hearted child for his kindness,
and said to those standing by: ‘Leave him so, he shall be the heir of my
kingdom,’ by which he meant, says the author of the ‘Tripartite Life,’ to
signify that God had destined Benignus to succeed Patrick in the primatial
chair as ruler of the Irish Church.”
After this the child and
the saint were inseparable. In all his wanderings he was accompanied by the
youth, whom he himself took care to instruct in all divine and human knowledge
to fit him for his great destiny.
Saint Benignus, or Benen,
had a very pleasing voice and possessed an extensive acquaintance with the
chants of the Church, hence he was called Saint Patrick’s “Psalmist.” He was,
according to the “Tripartite Life,” “adolescens facie decorus, vultu modestus
moribus integer, nomine uti et in re, Benignus.” Hence it came about that
Ercuat, the beautiful daughter of King Daire, fell deeply in love with him.
Though as yet unbaptised she was, it seems, chiefly attracted by his sweet
voice chanting in the choir. The incident and its result is thus related by
Aubrey de Vere in his beautiful “Legends of Saint Patrick:”
This daughter of King
Daire was one of the very first of our Irish maidens who received the veil from
the hands of the great apostle. She spent the remainder of her holy life, along
with several companions, making vestments for the priests, and altar-cloths for
the use of the cathedral.
When Saint Patrick
founded the churches and schools of Armagh (which he did about 450 A. D.) he
chose as his coadjutor Benignus, his young and faithful disciple. Dr. Healy
says it is generally stated that the latter died on the 9th of November, 468.
“A short time before his death he is said to have resigned his primatial
coadjutorship, for Saint Patrick was still alive, at least according to the
much more general and more probable opinion which places his death in 492, at
the great age of one hundred and twenty years.”
That celebrated Irish
work called “Leabhar na g Ceart,” or “Book of Rights,” has been generally
attributed to Saint Benen, or Benignus, though Dr. Healy is of opinion that
there seems to be good reason for doubting if he was really its author, at
least in its present form. O’Curry in his “Lectures on the Manners and Customs
of the Ancient Irish,” says it contains a great portion of the law which in
ancient Erin settled the relations between the several classes of society, and
especially the relations between the local authorities and the central and
provincial kings. “It gives,” says the Introduction to the edition published by
the Celtic Society, Dublin, 1847 (quoted by O’Curry), “an account of the rights
of the monarchs of all Ireland and the revenues payable to them by the
principal kings of the several provinces, and of the stipends paid by the
monarchs to the inferior kings for their services. It also treats of the rights
of each of the provincial kings, and the revenue payable to them from the
inferior kings of the districts or tribes subsidiary to them, and of the
stipends paid by the superior to the provincial kings for their services.”
Professor O’Curry adds
that this book was also called the “Law of Benen,” and the inscription on the
book itself certainly attributes its authorship to the same learned and holy
man – “The beginning of the ‘Book of Rights.’ which relates to the revenues and
subsidies of Ireland, as ordered by Benen, son of Sescnen, Psalmist of Patrick,
as is related in the ‘Book of Glendaloch.'”
Whoever wrote the book –
and it is at least probable that Saint Benen furnished the first rough draft,
though it was no doubt revised and extended subsequently – it is by all
antiquarians acknowledged to be an exceedingly valuable authority on the entire
internal organization of Ireland in these remote times.
But though there is some
doubt as to Saint Benignus being the author of “Leabhar na g Ceart,” there is
none at all as to his share in composing the “Senchus Mor,” that vast work
which a competent authority has declared to be “the greatest monument in
existence of the learning and civilization of the ancient Gaedhlic race in
Erin.”
As is well known to all
students of Irish history, one of Saint Patrick’s great est undertakings was
the purification from paganism and the amending and extension of the great body
of laws known as the “Brehon Code.” His labors in this respect claim special
attention, for the Brehon Code prevailed in the greater part of Ireland down to
the year A. D. 1600, and even still its influence is felt in the feelings and
habits of the people. To carry out this stupendous task the national apostle
appointed a commission of nine, consisting of three kings, three bishops and
three men of science, or, as O’Curry calls them, “lay philosophers.” The three
kings were Laeghaire, the Ard-Ri, or High King, Core, king of Munster and
Daire, king of Ulster. The latter is supposed to have granted Armagh to Saint
Patrick as a site for his church and schools. His daughter, as already
mentioned, fell in love with Saint Benignus, but being cured of her earthly
affection was received into the Church and took the veil from the hands of
Saint Patrick.
The three holy bishops
were Saint Patrick himself, Saint Benignus, or Benen, and Saint Cairnech, and
the three men of science, “lay philosophers” or “antiquaries,” as the Four
Masters style them, were “Dubhthach Mac Uahugair, Chief Poet and Brehon of
Erin, Rossa, a doctor of the Berla Feini, or legal dialect, which was very
abstruse, and Fergus, a poet who represented the most learned and influential
class in the country.” The first meeting was in A. D. 438, and Dr. Healy says
that “Benignus, being young and carefully trained by Saint Patrick, and also
learned in the Irish tongue, in all probability acted as secretary to the
Commission, and drafted with his own hands the laws that were sanctioned by the
Seniors.”
The learned Bishop of
Clonfert speaks with great authority on these matters, for he was one of the
Commission appointed by the government for the publication of the Brehon laws.
He, therefore, had peculiar sources of information, and being an eminent
antiquarian and competent Irish scholar, he was able to make good use of his
opportunities. In his great book, the “Island of Saints and Scholars,” he has
given a most interesting account of the labors of the conference.
He begins by explaining
that the Brehon Code, which Saint Patrick found in existence here when he came
to our shores, owed its existence mainly to three sources: First, to decisions
of the ancient judges given in accordance with the principles of natural
justice, and handed down by tradition; secondly, to the enactments of the
Triennial Parliaments, known as the great Feis of Tara; and thirdly, to the
customary laws which grew up in the course of ages and regulated the social relations
of the people. “This great code naturally contained many provisions that
regulated the druidical rights, privileges, and worship, all of which had to be
expunged. The Irish, too, were a passionate and war-like race who rarely
forgave injuries or insults until they were atoned for according to the strict
law of retaliation, which was by no means in accordance with the mild and
forgiving spirit of the Gospel. In so far as the Brehon Code was founded on
this principle it was necessary for Saint Patrick to abolish or amend its
provisions. Moreover, the new Church claimed its own rights and privileges, for
which it was important to secure formal legal sanction and to have embodied in
the great Code of the Nation. This was of itself a difficult and important
task.”
The “Senchus Mor” itself
explains what led to the revision of the Brehon Code, and the explanation is
very interesting. As is well known, the only life that was lost for the faith
during Saint Patrick’s mission in Ireland was that of his charioteer, Odhran.
He was killed by a miscreant who wanted to take the life of the saint and who
mistook the servant for the master.
It was the duty of the
chief Brehon Dubhthach (Subicic), who was one of the first to accept Patrick’s
teaching at Tara, to pronounce judgment on the criminal. The occasion was, it
is said, made use of by Saint Patrick and Dubhthach (or Duffy, as the name has
been Anglicised) to convene an assembly of the men of Erin at Tara. Here the
Chief Brehon explained all that Patrick had done since his arrival in Ireland,
and how he had overcome Laeghaire and the Druids by his miracles and preaching.
“Then,” continues the
volume, “all the men of Erin bowed down in obedience to the will of God- and
Saint Patrick. It was then that all the professors of the sciences in Erin were
assembled and each of them exhibited his art before Patrick in the presence of
every chief in Erin. It was then, too, that Dubhthach was ordered to exhibit
the judgments and all the poetry of Erin and every law which prevailed among
the men of Erin through the law of nature and the law of the seers and in the
judgment of the island of Erin and in the poets.”
According to O’Donovan,
Saint Benen was also the original author of the famous chronicle called the
“Psalter of Caskel.” This great work is generally ascribed to Cormac Mac
Cullenan, who lived more than three hundred years later. It is ascribed, on the
other hand, by Connell Macgeoghan, the translator of the “Annals of
Clonmaenoise,” to no less a person than Brian Boroimhe (or Born). O’Donovan
reconciles these conflicting statements by saying that Benignus probably began
the work, that Cormac Mac Cullenan revised and enlarged it and made it
applicable to his own times, and that Brian Boroimhe subsequently “re-edited”
it in like manner.
Dr. Healy adopts this
view, and gives a very interesting account of how the book came at first to be
written. It seems that Saint Benignus was of Munster origin, though born in
Meath. Saint Patrick, knowing his worth, sent him to preach especially in those
districts which he was himself unable to visit. Hence Benignus, we are told,
went through Kerry and Corcomroe in his missionary labors; but particularly
devoted himself to southwestern Connaught, and built his chief church at
Kilbannoa, near Tuam. He also specially built that province, the natives of
which still affectionately revere the memory of the gentle saint with the sweet
voice and winning, gracious ways.
“Now when the Munstermen
heard of the preference and the blessings which Benignus gave to Galway, they
were jealous and complained that he slighted his own kindred. So to please them
Benignus went down to Caiseal (Cashel) and remained there from Shrovetide to
Easter, composing in his own sweet numbers a learned book which would immortalize
the province of his kinsmen and be useful, moreover, both to her princes and to
her people.”
Such was Saint Benignus,
Primate of Armagh, whose feast day is given as November 8th in the “Martyrology
of Donegal.” The subsequent history of Armagh does not concern us here. Suffice
it to say that the heirs of Saint Patrick and Saint Benignus were worthy of
their glorious predecessors. The school was long one of the most celebrated in
the world. Hither flocked crowds of students from all parts of Europe, and so
many came from the land of the Saxons that a certain section of the town was
entirely set aside for their residence and designated by a name that we would
now translate “the English quarter.” Here they were received with true Irish
hospitality, obtaining, according to the testimony,of one of their own
contemporary writers – Venerable Bede – support, education, and books, free.
Here, too, was
transcribed the “Book of Armagh,” that splendid volume whose beautiful
penmanship and illuminations have excited the wonder and delight of all who
have beheld it. It was copied in A. D. 807 from a still older work, and
contains besides the oldest and most authentic “Life of Saint Patrick and his
Confessions,” a complete copy of the New Testament and the life of Saint Martin
of Tours. Though written throughout in Irish, many of the Gospel headings are
in Greek characters, says Dr. Healy, and the last entry of all is a colophon of
four Latin lines, but written in Greek characters, showing that even at this
early date a knowledge of Greek was general in the Irish schools.
This latter fact and the
learned labors of Saint Benignus himself are some of the things we ought to
remember when we hear, as we often do nowadays, people who claim to be educated
repeating the old shibboleth that not only is there no literature worth
mentioning in the Irish language, but that the ancient Irish were a semi-savage
race whose whole energies were given up to petty tribal wars and dissensions,
and who were altogether devoid of culture.
MLA
Citation
The
Rosary Magazine, March 1905. CatholicSaints.Info.
15 April 2018. Web. 18 March 2023. <https://catholicsaints.info/the-saints-of-erin-saint-benignus-by-j-p-ocallaghan-b-a/>
SOURCE : https://catholicsaints.info/the-saints-of-erin-saint-benignus-by-j-p-ocallaghan-b-a/
