Maolán was an early
Christian
A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...
bishop in
Connacht
Connacht or Connaught ( ; or ), is the smallest of the four provinces of Ireland, situated in the west of Ireland. Until the ninth century it consisted of several independent major Gaelic kingdoms (Uí Fiachrach, Uí Briúin, Uí Maine, C ...
, whose
feast day
The calendar of saints is the traditional Christian method of organizing a liturgical year by associating each day with one or more saints and referring to the day as the feast day or feast of said saint. The word "feast" in this context does n ...
is given as 25 December. He is the reputed founder of a church at Tullaghmelan in County Tipperary.
His name is listed in the Martyrology of O'Gorman under 25 December and he is described as 'Great Maelan, void of weakness.' An ancient stone carving of a bishop's head at Tullaghmelan is believed to be St. Maolan.
He is commemorated in the placnames ''Cill Easpaig Mhaoláin'' (the church of Bishop Maolán) or Killaspugmoylan, parish of Kilconickny,
Loughrea
Loughrea ( ; ), is a town in County Galway, Ireland. It lies to the north of a range of wooded hills, the Slieve Aughty Mountains and Lough Rea, the lake from which it takes its name. The town's cathedral, St Brendan's, dominates the urban sk ...
) and ''Cill Mhaoláin'' (the church of Maolán) or Kilmoylan, a parish four miles south of
Tuam
Tuam (; , meaning 'mound' or 'burial-place') is a town in Ireland and the second-largest settlement in County Galway. It is west of the midland Region, Ireland, midlands of Ireland, about north of Galway city. The town is in a civil parishe ...
. It is likely that one or more saints with this name have become conflated as there were at least 6 saints commemorated in medieval Ireland named Maolan/Maelan.
See also
*
Conainne
Conainne, also known as Dachonna, ( ) was an Irish missionary and saint. The Irish terms of endearment, ''mo'' and ''do'', were regularly added to the names of Irish saints and secular people, hence the origin of her diminutive pseudonym, Dach ...
*
Ciarán of Clonmacnoise
Saint Ciarán of Clonmacnoise (c. 516 – c. 549), supposedly born Ciarán mac an tSaeir ("son of the carpenter"), was one of the Twelve Apostles of Ireland and the first abbot of Clonmacnoise. He is sometimes called Ciarán the Youn ...
*
Brendan
*
Kerrill
*
Soghain
The Soghain were a people of ancient Ireland. The 17th-century scholar Dubhaltach Mac Fhirbhisigh identified them as part of a larger group called the Cruithin. Mac Fhirbhisigh stated that the Cruithin included "the Dál Araidhi ál nAraidi ...
References
* ''Early Ecclesiastical Settlement Names of County Galway'',
Dónall Mac Giolla Easpaig
Dónall Mac Giolla Easpaig, M.A., is the former Chief Placenames Officer in the Placenames Branch in the Department of Community, Equality and Gaeltacht Affairs (''An Roinn Gnóthaí Pobail, Comhionannais agus Gaeltachta'') in Ireland. He is a l ...
, in ''Galway:History and Society'', 1996, pp. 802–03.
Christian clergy from County Galway
5th-century Irish bishops
Medieval saints of Connacht
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