Ciarán of Clonmacnoise

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Saint Ciarán of Clonmacnoise was an early Irish bishop. He is sometimes called Ciarán the Younger to distinguish him from Saint Ciarán Saighir.

Born in 516 in Connacht, County Roscommon, Ciarán was the son of a chariotmaker. He was a student of Finian's at Clonard and in time became a teacher, himself. He also studied under Saint Enda of Aran, who advised him to build a church and monastery in the middle of Ireland and in 545 he founded the Monastery of Clonmacnoise; he died about one year later of the yellow plague in his early thirties. His feast day is September 9.

Ciarán of Clonmacnoise was the tutor of Saint Carthage the Elder and legend has it that it was his cow which supplied the parchment for the Leobr na h'Uidre, Book of the Dun Cow, one of the oldest and most important Irish literary collections, compiled by a Clonmacnoise scribe in 1106.

The name Ciarán is arguably the same as Piran and, since Ciarán of Clonmacnoise's father is said to have been Cornish, it is possible that he should be identified with Saint Piran, the patron saint of Cornwall.