| Finbarr or Finnbarr | |
|---|---|
| Bishop and Abbot | |
| Born | 550 Templemartin, north of Bandon, Ireland |
| Died | 620 Cellnaclona (Cloyne) in Ballineadig, County Cork, Ireland |
| Honored in | Roman Catholic Church |
| Major shrine | Gougane Barra, Saint Fin Barre's Cathedral (Anglican cathedral, Cork) |
| Feast | 25 September |
| Patronage | Cork, Diocese of Cork |
Saint Finbarr or Finnbarr, in Irish Fionnbarra, very often abbreviated to Barra, (c. 550–25 September 623) was Bishop of Cork and abbot of a monastery in what is now the city of Cork, Ireland. He is patron saint of that city and of the Diocese of Cork.[1]
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Born in Templemartin, near Bandon, and originally named Lóchán (modern form, Loan), he was the son of Amergin of Maigh Seóla. He studied in Ossory, corresponding approximately to the present County Kilkenny. He was renamed "Fionnbarra" (Fairhead in Irish), reportedly when, on being tonsured, the presiding cleric remarked: "Is fionn barr (find barr, in the Irish of the time) Lócháin", meaning, "Fair is the crest of Loan"), and he then became known as "Findbarr" ("Fionnbarra" in modern Irish).[2]
On completion of his education he returned home and lived for some time on an island in the small lake then called Loch Irce.[3] The island is now called Gougane Barra (the little rock-fissure of Finnbarr). He is reputed to have built small churches in various other places, including one in in Ballineadig, County Cork, called Cell na Cluaine, anglicized as Cellnaclona and sometimes referred to as Cloyne, causing it to be confused with Cloyne (Cluain Uamha) in east Cork. It was in Cell na Cluaine that, years later, he happened to die.[2]
He settled for about the last seventeen years of his life in the area then known as "an Corcach Mór" (Great Marsh), now the city of Cork, where he gathered around him monks and students. This became an important centre of learning, giving rise to the phrase "Ionad Bairre Sgoil na Mumhan"[4] ("Where Finbarr taught let Munster learn"), chosen for motto by today's University College Cork.
His church and monastery were on a limestone cliff above the River Lee, an area now known as Gill Abbey, after a 12th-century Bishop of Cork, Giolla Aedha Ó Muidhin.[2] It continued to be the site of the cathedral of his diocese. The present building on the site, owned by the Church of Ireland, is called Saint Fin Barre's Cathedral. The people of Cork often refer to it as the South Cathedral, distinguishing it from the North Cathedral, the Catholic Cathedral of Saint Mary and Saint Anne.[5]
Finnbarr died at Cell na Cluaine, while returning from a visit to Gougane Barra. He was buried in the cemetery attached to his church in Cork.[2]
There are five Irish saints named Finnbarr.[1] One scholar has theorized that the Cork saint is identical with Finnian of Moville, a teacher of Colm Cille.[3]
Scotland has place names that refer to Saint Finnbarr, perhaps due to devotion to him having been carried there by disciples.[3] One such place is the Gaelic-speaking island of Barra, where there is a ruined church called Cille Bharra (Church of Finnbarr).[6][7] Tradition identifies that Finnbarr with the Cork saint, but it has been argued that he was Scottish.[8]