Ailerán, also known as Ailerán Sapiens (Ailerán the Wise) was an
Irish scholar
A scholar is a person who is a researcher or has expertise in an academic discipline. A scholar can also be an academic, who works as a professor, teacher, or researcher at a university. An academic usually holds an advanced degree or a termina ...
and
saint
In Christianity, Christian belief, a saint is a person who is recognized as having an exceptional degree of sanctification in Christianity, holiness, imitation of God, likeness, or closeness to God in Christianity, God. However, the use of the ...
who died on 29 December 664 or 665. His
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 29 December.
Biography
Ailerán was one of the most distinguished scholars at the School of
Clonard in the 7th century.
[Grattan-Flood, William. "St. Aileran." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 1. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1907. 20 Sept. 201]
/ref> His early life is not recorded, but he was attracted to Clonard by the fame of St. Finnian of Clonard, Finnián and his various disciples. He became a lector
Lector is Latin for one who reads, whether aloud or not. In modern languages it takes various forms, as either a development or a loan, such as , , and . It has various specialized uses.
Academic
The title ''lector'' may be applied to lecturers ...
of the school in 650. He died of the Yellow Plague, and his death is recorded in the Annals of Ulster
The ''Annals of Ulster'' () are annals of History of Ireland, medieval Ireland. The entries span the years from 431 AD to 1540 AD. The entries up to 1489 AD were compiled in the late 15th century by the scribe Ruaidhrà Ó Luinà ...
. Because of his knowledge of the works of Origen
Origen of Alexandria (), also known as Origen Adamantius, was an Early Christianity, early Christian scholar, Asceticism#Christianity, ascetic, and Christian theology, theologian who was born and spent the first half of his career in Early cent ...
, Philo
Philo of Alexandria (; ; ; ), also called , was a Hellenistic Jewish philosopher who lived in Alexandria, in the Roman province of Egypt.
The only event in Philo's life that can be decisively dated is his representation of the Alexandrian J ...
, St. Jerome
Jerome (; ; ; – 30 September 420), also known as Jerome of Stridon, was an early Christian priest, confessor, theologian, translator, and historian; he is commonly known as Saint Jerome.
He is best known for his translation of the Bible ...
, St. Augustine
Augustine of Hippo ( , ; ; 13 November 354 – 28 August 430) was a theologian and philosopher of Berber origin and the bishop of Hippo Regius in Numidia, Roman North Africa. His writings deeply influenced the development of Western philosop ...
, and others, he was well versed in patristic literature.
Works
According to John Colgan
John Colgan, OFM ( Irish ''Seán Mac Colgan''; c. 1592 – 15 January 1658), was an Irish Franciscan friar noted as a hagiographer and historian.
Life
Colgan was born c. 1592 at Priestown near Carndonagh, a member of the Mac Colgan sept of ...
, numerous works can be ascribed to Ailerán, including the ''Fourth Life of Saint Patrick
Saint Patrick (; or ; ) was a fifth-century Romano-British culture, Romano-British Christian missionary and Archbishop of Armagh, bishop in Gaelic Ireland, Ireland. Known as the "Apostle of Ireland", he is the primary patron saint of Irelan ...
'', a Latin litany, and the ''Lives'' of Saint Brigid
Saint Brigid of Kildare or Saint Brigid of Ireland (; Classical Irish: ''Brighid''; ; ) is the patroness saint (or 'mother saint') of Ireland, and one of its three national saints along with Patrick and Columba. According to medieval Irish ...
and Saint FéichÃn of Fore. Ailerán's best known work is his ''Mystical Interpretation of the Ancestry of Our Lord Jesus Christ'', according to the genealogy of Jesus
The New Testament provides two accounts of the genealogy of Jesus, one in the Gospel of Matthew and another in the Gospel of Luke. Matthew starts with Abraham and works forwards, while Luke works back in time from Jesus to Adam. The lists of na ...
in Saint Matthew's Gospel
The Gospel of Matthew is the first book of the New Testament of the Bible and one of the three synoptic Gospels. It tells the story of who the author believes is Israel's messiah (Christ), Jesus, his resurrection, and his mission to the wor ...
.[ This was published in the ]Benedictine
The Benedictines, officially the Order of Saint Benedict (, abbreviated as O.S.B. or OSB), are a mainly contemplative monastic order of the Catholic Church for men and for women who follow the Rule of Saint Benedict. Initiated in 529, th ...
edition of the Fathers
A father is the male parent of a child. Besides the paternal bonds of a father to his children, the father may have a parental, legal, and social relationship with the child that carries with it certain rights and obligations. A biological fathe ...
, and the editors said that they published it although Aileran was not a Benedictine, because he " unfoulded the meaning of the Sacred Scripture with so much learning and ingenuity that every student of the Sacred Volume and especially preachers of the Divine Word will regard the publication as most acceptable." Another work of his is titled ''A Short Moral Explanation of the Sacred Names'', which could be a fragment of a larger work.
References
* Breen, Aidan. (1995) ''Ailerani Interpretatio Mystica Progenitorum Domini Iesu Christi'', Four Courts Press
Notes
External links
Catholic Encyclopedia- St. Aileran
Oxford Dictionary- St. Aileran
Medieval Scotland- St. Aileran
Scribe as artist, not monk: the canon tables of Ailerán 'the Wise' and the Book of Kells
* http://www.ucc.ie/peritia/abstract10.html
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664 deaths
7th-century Christian monks
7th-century Christian saints
7th-century Irish writers
7th-century writers in Latin
7th-century scholars
7th-century deaths from plague (disease)
Medieval Irish saints
Irish Christian monks
People from County Meath
Year of birth unknown
Irish writers in Latin
Colombanian saints