Mo Chua or Crónán mac Bécáin, also called Claunus, Cuan, Mochua, Moncan and Moncain (died 30 March 637) was a legendary Irish saint who founded the monastery in Balla.

Life

Mo Chua was the youngest of the three sons of Becan (supposedly descended from

Lugaid mac Con Lugaid Mac Con, often known simply as Mac Con, was, according to medieval Irish legend and historical tradition, a High King of Ireland. He belonged to the Corcu Loígde, and thus to the Dáirine. His father was Macnia mac Lugdach, and his mothe ...

) and Cumne (daughter of Conamail of the

Dál mBuinne Dál mBuinne, alias Dál mBuain, meaning the "portion of Buinne", was a medieval Irish Cruthin Túath, petty-kingdom that was part of Dál nAraidi of Magh Line in the over-kingdom of Ulaid. Their eponymous ancestor was Buinn, son of the legendary U ...

). His hair fell out in patches, and he worked as a shepherd.

Comgall Saint Comgall (c. 510–520 – 597/602), an early Irish saint, was the founder and abbot of the great Irish monastery at Bangor in Ireland. MacCaffrey,James (1908). " St. Comgall". In ''Catholic Encyclopedia''. 4. New York: Robert Appleton Co ...

of Bangor happening to visit Becan's house, and finding Mo Chua neglected by the family, took him with him to Bangor to educate him.Grattan-Flood, William. "Cronan." The Catholic Encyclopedia
Vol. 4. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1908. 29 July 2019 BallaRoundTower

Later, Mo Chua founded Feara-rois monastery in

Monaghan Monaghan ( ; ) is the county town of County Monaghan, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It also provides the name of its Civil parishes in Ireland, civil parish and Monaghan (barony), barony. The population of the town as of the 2016 census was 7 ...

, before traveling in 616, at the age of thirty-five, to

Connaught Connacht ( ; ga, Connachta or ), is one of the provinces of Ireland, in the west of Ireland. Until the ninth century it consisted of several independent major Gaelic kingdoms (Uí Fiachrach, Uí Briúin, Uí Maine, Conmhaícne, and Delbh ...

, where he lived as a hermit in a stone cell. Eochaidh Minnech, a chieftain of the Clan Fiachra, found him there, and gave him the land to found a monastery, calling him 'Mochua of the narrow prison.' The ruins of the Balla monastery, and the later

Balla Round Tower Balla Round Tower is an Irish round tower and National Monument located in County Mayo, Ireland. Location Balla Round Tower is located in central Balla, west of the Main Street (part of the N60) on the site of the modern graveyard. History ...

, still remain on the location. Different accounts claimed that Mo Chua lived at Balla for either twenty-one or thirty-one years, before dying on 30 March 637. The

Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

therefore celebrates his feast day on 30 March, although the

Acta Sanctorum ''Acta Sanctorum'' (''Acts of the Saints'') is an encyclopedic text in 68 folio volumes of documents examining the lives of Christian saints, in essence a critical hagiography, which is organised according to each saint's feast day. The project w ...

erroneously lists it as 1 January.

Legend

A number of miracles and heroic acts are attributed to Mo Chua, who is in large part a legendary figure. According to one story, a woman came to Mo Chua during his education in Bangor, intending to ask him to pray for her to have children. When she found him absorbed in prayer and weeping, she caught his tears in her hand, drank them, and obtained her desire. In another story, Mo Chua was guided by a miraculous moving fountain from Bangor to Ross Darbrech, passing on the way through

Gael The Gaels ( ; ga, Na Gaeil ; gd, Na Gàidheil ; gv, Ny Gaeil ) are an ethnolinguistic group native to Ireland, Scotland and the Isle of Man in the British Isles. They are associated with the Gaelic languages: a branch of the Celtic languag ...

, Fore, Tech Telle,

Hy Many Hy is a dialect of the Lisp programming language designed to interact with Python by translating s-expressions into Python's abstract syntax tree (AST). Hy was introduced at Python Conference (PyCon) 2013 by Paul Tagliamonte. Lisp allows operat ...

, Lough Cime, and Ros Dairbhreach, where it stopped and was at once surrounded by a wall of massive stones, forming the

. Room, Adrian.''A Dictionary of Irish Place Names'', Appletree Press, 1988 p. 19 Mo Chua supposedly once encountered two mighty women named Bee and Lithben, who transported passengers over a dangerous creek in a basket, and converted and baptized both them and their fathers. Other legendary exploits of Mo Chua include piercing a mountain to bring water from

Lough Leane Lough Leane (; ) is the largest of the three lakes of Killarney, in County Kerry. The River Laune flows from the lake into the Dingle Bay to the northwest. Etymology and history The lake's name means "lake of learning" probably in reference to ...

to a mill in Fore, transferring the yellow color of the Yellow Plague to his

crozier A crosier or crozier (also known as a paterissa, pastoral staff, or bishop's staff) is a stylized staff that is a symbol of the governing office of a bishop or abbot and is carried by high-ranking prelates of Roman Catholic, Eastern Catholi ...

(winning him the title of Bachall Buidhe, 'Yellow Crozier'), defeating a monster in Lough Cime, and shaking his crozier to create a bridge over

Lough Conn Lough Conn () is a lake in County Mayo, Ireland. With an area of about , it is Ireland's seventh largest lake. With its immediate neighbour to the south, Lough Cullin, it is connected to the Atlantic Ocean by the River Moy. Lough Conn is noted ...

connecting Inishlee Island to the mainland.

References

;Attribution * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Mo Chua 637 deaths 6th-century Christian saints 6th-century Irish priests Medieval Irish saints Medieval saints of Connacht Medieval saints of Leinster Medieval saints of Meath Christian clergy from County Down Christian clergy from County Mayo Year of birth unknown