Foillan
dentists , surgeons, and children's nurses. |
---|
Saint Foillan (Faélán, Faolán, Foélán, French: Feuillen) is an Irish saint of the seventh century.
Family
Foillan was the brother of Saints Ultan and Fursey. He is described as the 'uterine brother' of Fursa, meaning that they had the same mother but not the same father.[1] Certain Latin Lives of Foillan therefore incorporate the Fursa ancestry into Foillan's origins: his mother is stated to have been Gelges, the Christian daughter of 'Aed Finn' (possibly meaning Áed mac Echach), King of Connacht.[2] Fursey's father is stated to be Fintan son of Finlog (though whether of Momonia or of Mag Murthemni, the Bollandist editor finds the sources not in agreement).
Mission to East Anglia
Foillan, probably in company with Ultan, went with his brother Fursa when the latter retired to a lonely island, escaping from the multitudes who gathered around him, some of whom harboured ill-feeling towards him. From there, around 633, Fursa went through
Abbot of Cnobheresburg
Seized again with the desire for solitude, about 643 Fursa left the monastery of Cnobheresburg in the care of Foillan, while he (Fursa) went off to find his brother Ultan, who had previously gone to live in the East Anglian wilderness as a hermit: Fursa and Ultan lived together for a year in austerity and prayer.[5] At the end of the year Fursa, seeing that East Anglia and the monastery were threatened by hostile invasions, decided to take his leave of East Anglia, and went into Gaul leaving Foillan now fully in charge of the monastery.
The Catholic Encyclopedia states that Fursa made a return visit to the brethren in East Anglia c. 650. This is derived from the Virtutes Fursei,[6] which states that Fursa decided that he would return to visit his brothers, and set out to do so, but then adds that he died on the journey at his estate at Macerias (Mézerolles in Ponthieu), so in fact did not reach them. Neither the early Transitus Fursei nor Bede have the story.
Around 651 there was (as Fursa had foreseen) a disastrous assault on East Anglia by
At Péronne and Nivelles
He and his companions were well received at Péronne by
Foillan seems to have been a bishop.[9] He was therefore of great assistance in the organisation of worship, and the holy books and relics which he brought were great treasures for St. Itta and St. Gertrude. As the monastery of Nivelles was under Irish discipline, the companions of Foillan were well received and lived side by side with the holy women, occupying themselves with the details of worship under the general direction of the abbess.[10]
Foundation of Fosses, and martyrdom
Through the liberality of Itta, Foillan was enabled to build a monastery at
Veneration
Foillan was one of the numerous Irish missionaries who, in the course of the seventh century, evangelised in Neustria, bringing thither the liturgy and sacred vessels, founding prosperous monasteries, and sharing considerably in the propagation of the faith in these countries. Owing to the friendship which united him with Erchinoald, Mayor of the Palace (who, however, expelled him from Lagny), and with the members of Pepin's family, Foillan played a significant part in Frankish ecclesiastical history, as shown by his share in the direction of Nivelles and by the foundation of the monastery of Fosses-la-Ville.
It is not surprising, therefore, that he should be honoured and venerated both at Nivelles and Fosses-la-Ville and to find at
There are several Latin Lives of Foillan of varying authority, reproduced by the Society of
Musician
According to Gratten Flood, "About the year 653, St. Gertrude, of Brabant, (daughter of Pepin, Mayor of the Palace), abbess of Nivelle, in Brabant, sent for St. Foillan and St. Ultan, brothers of our celebrated St. Fursey (Patron of Perrone), to teach
Notes
- ^ Bruno Krusch (Ed.), 'Additamentum Niuialense de Fuilano', Monumenta Germaniae Historica, SRM IV, (Hannover 1902), p. 449-451.
- ^ Société des Bollandistes, Acta Sanctorum, October XIII, (1883), Section 'De Patria et Genere S. Foillani, pp. 375–376.
- ^ Bruno Krusch (Ed.), 'Vita Sancti Fursei', Monumenta Germaniae Historica, SRM IV, (Hannover 1902), p. 434-440 (visions omitted). cf. Oliver Rackham, Transitus Sancti Fursei (Fursey Pilgrims, Norwich 2007) contains the full text including visions.
- ^ B. Colgrave and R. A. B. Mynors (Eds), Bede's Ecclesiastical History of the English People, 269–277 (HE III.19) and see note 2 p.268.
- ^ Transitus Sancti Fursei: Bede, HE III.18
- ^ Bruno Krusch (Ed.), 'Virtutes Sancti Fursei', Monumenta Germaniae Historica, SRM IV, (Hannover 1902), p. 440-449, at p. 445 (Chapter 14): cf. Rackham (Ed.), 2007, 64.
- ^ The story of Anna's exile, and of Foillan's escape from East Anglia and his coming to Nivelles is told in the Nivelles Additamentum (Krusch, Ed. 1902).
- ^ Source: Nivelles Additamentum.
- ^ Stephen, Leslie. "Foillan", Dictionary of National Biography, Vol. XIX, Smith, Elder & Co., London, 1889
- ^ Van der Essen, Léon. "St. Foillan." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 6. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1909. 23 Jan. 2013
- ^ The information in this paragraph is mostly repeated by the Catholic Encyclopedia from the Nivelles Additamentum.
- ^ Société des Bollandistes, Acta Sanctorum, October Vol XIII, p. 370 ff.
- ^ Bollandists, Acta Sanctorum, October Vol XIII, pp 395–408.
- ^ See p. 924, in 'Ex Miraculis S. Foillani Auct Hillino Cantore Fossensi', Ed. O. Holder-Egger, in G. H. Pertz (Ed.), Monumenta Germaniae Historica Vol. XV part II (Supplementa tomorum I-XII, Pt 2), Vitae Aliaeque Historiae Minores, pp. 924–928.