Fintan of Clonenagh

Not to be confused with Saint Fintán of Taghmon

Saint Fintan was born in Leinster about 524.

Life

The monastery at Clonenagh was founded in the 6th century by Columba of Terryglass who entrusted it to his disciple Fintan when Colum moved on to Terryglass. Fintan received his religious formation under the Abbot Colum, and was deeply influenced by his penitential practices and the severity of his Rule. Under his direction Clonenagh developed a reputation for austerity.[1]

The community did not have even one cow and so they had neither milk nor butter. The monks complained they couldn’t do hard work on so meagre a diet. A deputation of local clergy headed by Canice of Aghaboe came to urge him to improve it. He agreed for his monks, but he elected to keep to the strict diet himself.[1]

His disciples included St Colmán of Oughaval, and St. Comgall of Bangor. He has been compared by the Irish annalists to St. Benedict, and is styled "Father of the Irish Monks".[2]

Though he is sometimes confused with Saint Fintán or Munnu, abbot of Taghmon, they are distinct. He died in 603. His feast day is on February 17.

St. Fintan's Tree, Clonenagh

St. Fintan's Tree, Clonenagh

This tree, an acer pseudoplatanus, was planted in the late 18th or early 19th century at the site of the Early Christian monastic site of Clonenagh. The tree is dedicated to St. Fintan and it became custom to insert coins into the tree from which the tree suffered and was believed to be dead until the tree started to recover with some new shoots.[3]

References

Further reading

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Tuesday, December 29, 2015. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.