Finnian of Movilla

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
For the other Irish saint of the same name, see Finnian of Clonard.

Finnian of Movilla
Roman Catholic Church
Church of Ireland
Anglican Communion
Major shrineMovilla Abbey
Feast10 September
PatronageUlster[1]

Finnian[a] of Movilla (c. 495–589) was an Irish Christian missionary. His feast day is 10 September.

Origins and life

Finnian (sometimes called Finbarr "the white head", a reference to his fair hair),[3] was a Christian missionary in medieval Ireland. He should not be confused with his namesake Finnian of Clonard, nor should Movilla (Maigh Bhile) in County Down be mistaken for Moville in County Donegal.

Traditional scholarship has it that he was a descendant of Fiatach the Fair and born in

St. Jerome's Vulgate.[5] He returned to found a monastery of his own and, at a time when books were rare, this text brought honour and prestige to the establishment.[3]

Movilla Abbey

Finnian founded his new monastery (

Partholonian race, and that while doing so had the famous Scéal Tuáin maic Cairell recounted to him. This is a text about takings of Ireland, a source for the famous Lebor Gabála Érenn
.

Finnian was sponsored in building and maintaining his monastery by the king of the

Dissolution of the Monasteries
in 1542.

Teacher of Columba

Finnian's most distinguished pupil at Movilla was

Cathbar O'Donnell in 1084, but the outer is fourteenth century work.[5]

Adomnán of Iona claimed that Columba served as a deacon under Finnian, whom Adomnán claimed to be a bishop. Adomnán, in his biography of Columba, recorded a story that claimed Columba performed the miracle of turning water into wine. Finnian was performing mass on one occasion, but they had run out of wine. Columba then proceeded to a well and drew water. He called on Christ's name and blessed the water he drew from the well, whereupon the water transformed into wine and he brought the wine to the mass. This was the first miracle that Columba did in his life, according to Adomnán.[8]

Rule and code

Finnian wrote a rule for his monks, also a penitential code.[5]

Notes

  • (1) In 2001
    St Ninian
    were one and the same person, and that the confusion is due no less than to an 8th-century scribal spelling error.
  1. ^ Sometimes given as Uinniau in older sources. The hagiographer Alban Butler calls him "Saint Finian, or Winin".[2]

References

  1. ^ Challoner, Richard. A Memorial of Ancient British Piety: or, a British Martyrology, p. 128. W. Needham, 1761. Retrieved 14 March 2013.
  2. ^ Alban Butler (1799), The Lives of the Primitive Fathers, Martyrs, and Other Principal Saints... by the Rev. Alban Butler..., J. Moir, p. 114
  3. ^ a b c Hammond, David. "St. Finnian's Cregagh"
  4. ^ Newtown: A History of Newtownards by Trevor McCavery, p21, White Row Publications 2013
  5. ^ a b c Grattan-Flood, William. "St. Finnian of Moville." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 6. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1909. 19 Jul. 2013
  6. ^ Newtown: A History of Newtownards by Trevor McCavery, pp27-28, White Row Publications 2013
  7. ^ "Royal Irish Academy | Library | Special Collections | Cathach". Archived from the original on 30 April 2015. Retrieved 21 May 2015.
  8. ^ Adomnan of Iona, Life of St Columba. Penguin books, 1995

Sources

  • Clancy, T. O. "The real St Ninian", in Innes Review, 52 (2001), pp. 1–28
  • MacKillop, James. A Dictionary of Celtic Mythology. Oxford, 1998.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Finnian_of_Movilla&oldid=1217200170"