Saint Féchín or Féichín (died 665), also known as Mo-Ecca, was a 7th-century Irish saint, chiefly remembered as the founder of the
monastery at Fore (''Fobar''),
County Westmeath
County Westmeath (; or simply ) is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster and is part of the Eastern and Midland Region. It formed part of the historic Kingdom of ...
.
Sources for his life and legend include Irish annals, martyrologies, genealogies and
hagiographical works. Of the two surviving medieval ''Lives'', one was written in Latin, the other in
Irish. The Latin ''Life'' was written ''c''. 1400 by Augustine mac Graidín, who belonged to the Saints' Island on the southeastern shore of Lough Ree, south of the present-day village of Newtowncashel. By the time of his death he had attracted 300 monks to his community at Fore.
His main source appears to have been a ''Life'' originating in Féchín's monastery on
Omey Island
Omey Island () is a tidal island situated near Claddaghduff on the western edge of Connemara in County Galway, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. From the mainland the island is almost hidden. It is possible to drive or walk across a large sandy str ...
.
The Irish ''Life'' (''Betha Féchín Fabair'' "The Life of St Féchín of Fore") was written down by Nicol Óg, son of the
abbot of Cong, in 1328 and it seems that parts of it go back to even earlier (Latin) sources.
The text may be seen as a combination of two texts. The first part is primarily concerned with the saint's position as a mediator and negotiator between the
Luigne (or Luigni) of Connacht, of which he was supposedly a member, and the more powerful Luigne of Meath, on whose territory Fore Abbey was founded.
[Stalmans and Charles-Edwards,]
Meath, saints of (act. ''c''.400–''c''.900)
"
The second part focuses more attention on Leinster and the payment of tribute.
The Latin and Irish ''Lives'' both agree that
Ailerán of Clonard, a contemporary of St Féchín, had composed an account of the saint's good works.
In the 17th century,
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 ...
produced another Latin ''Life'' (the ''Vita seu supplementum''), for which he drew on three Irish ''Lives''.
Background
Féchín is said to have been born in Bile, probably Billa in what is now the parish of Ballisodare (Kilvarnet), (
County Sligo
County Sligo ( , ) is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is in the Northern and Western Region and is part of the Provinces of Ireland, province of Connacht. Sligo is the administrative capital and largest town in ...
).
[Breen, "Féchín (Mo-Ecca)"] The medieval ''Lives'' call his mother Lassair, identified in the Irish text (first part) as a member of a royal Munster line.
The late Irish ''Life'' asserts that the saint's foundation at Fore (County Westmeath) in
Mide
Meath ( ; ; ) was a kingdom in Ireland from the 1st to the 12th century AD. Its name means "middle," denoting its location in the middle of the island.
At its greatest extent, it included all of County Meath (which takes its name from the k ...
was connected to the Luigne and that Féchín himself belonged to the Luigne of Connacht.
[Charles-Edwards, ''Early Christian Ireland'', p. 467 n. 82.]
In the annal for 814, however, the ''
Chronicon Scotorum
''Chronicon Scotorum'', also known as ''Chronicum Scotorum'', is a medieval Irish chronicle.
Overview
According to Nollaig Ó Muraíle, it is "a collection of annals belonging to the ' Clonmacnoise group', covering the period from prehistoric ...
'' appears to suggest that the saint's church was connected to both the
Gailenga
Gailenga was the name of two related peoples and kingdoms found in medieval Ireland in Brega and Connacht.
Origins
Along with the Luighne, Delbhna, Saitne and Ciannachta, the Gailenga claimed descent from Tadc mac Cein mac Ailill Aulom. Fr ...
and the Luigne.
On the other hand, ''Lifes claim is corroborated by an entry in the ''Annals of Ulster'' (sub anno 993) which styles Máel Finnia, bishop of Fore, bishop of the peoples (''túatha'') of the Luigne.
The ''Lives'' tell us that Féchín received his monastic training from St
Nath Í of Achonry
Nath Í, or Crumnathy, (''fl''. 6th century) was an early Irish saint who is remembered as the founder of Achonry.
He is said to have been born in the barony of Leyney, in present-day County Sligo. In the 17th century, John Colgan compiled a ...
and later moved on to
Clonmacnoise
Clonmacnoise or Clonmacnois (Irish language, Irish: ''Cluain Mhic Nóis'') is a ruined monastery in County Offaly in Republic of Ireland, Ireland on the River Shannon south of Athlone, founded in 544 by Saint Ciarán of Clonmacnoise, Ciarán, ...
.
It has been suggested that his name translates as "little raven", consisting of the Old Irish noun ''fiach'' "raven" and a diminutive suffix. His name is explained in this manner in a note added to the ''
Félire Óengusso'', which says that he received this name when his mother saw him gnawing on a bone and exclaimed "my little raven!" (''mo fiachan''). The same note also names him Moéca, which is explained as meaning "backslider": when Féchín felt aggrieved over the reward he received for herding the oxen of
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 ...
, he left in anger, going eastwards. When he was called back, he refused to return with his face before him and so walked backwards instead, hence the name.
In Jewish and Old Testament eschatology, a ‘back-slider’ is a polytheist.
Foundations
The first monastic houses said to have been founded by Féchín are those on the islands of
Omey Omey may refer to the following: France
* Omey (commune), a commune in north-eastern France.
Ireland
*Omey (civil parish), a civil parish in County Galway.
*Omey Island, an island in County Galway
Surname
* Tom Omey, retired Belgian athlete
{ ...
and
Ardoilén, both off the coast of Galway, which fell under the protection of the king of Connacht,
Guaire Aidne mac Colmáin.
His principal foundation was Fobur, now Fore, County Westmeath. Between 771 and 1169, Fore was burned at least twelve times.
Legend
The Monk
Gerald of Wales
Gerald of Wales (; ; ; ) was a Cambro-Norman priest and historian. As a royal clerk to the king and two archbishops, he travelled widely and wrote extensively. He studied and taught in France and visited Rome several times, meeting the Pope. He ...
related the following legend of Féchín:
''" Chapter LII (Of the mill which no women enter)
*''"There is a mill at Foure, in
Meath
County Meath ( ; or simply , ) is a Counties of Ireland, county in the Eastern and Midland Region of Republic of Ireland, Ireland, within the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster. It is bordered by County Dublin to the southeast, County ...
, which St. Fechin made most miraculously with his own hands, in the side of a certain rock. No women are allowed to enter either this mill or the church of the saint; and the mill is held in as much reverence by the natives as any of the churches dedicated to the saint. It happened that when
Hugh de Lacy was leading his troops through this place, an archer dragged a girl into the mill and there violated her. Sudden punishment overtook him; for being struck with infernal fire in the offending parts, it spread throughout his whole body, and he died the same night"''.
Death
According to the ''
Annals of the Four Masters
The ''Annals of the Kingdom of Ireland'' () or the ''Annals of the Four Masters'' () are chronicles of Middle Ages, medieval Irish history. The entries span from the Genesis flood narrative, Deluge, dated as 2,242 Anno Mundi, years after crea ...
'', Féchín died on 14 February in the year 664
65 during the plague which struck the island at the time. His
feast-day is celebrated in Ireland on the 20th of January.
A story about Féchín and the plague is found both in the Latin ''Life'' of Saint
Gerald of Mayo and in the notes to the hymn ''Sén Dé'' (by Colmán of the moccu Clúasaig) in the ''
Liber Hymnorum
The term "Celtic Rite" is applied to the various liturgical rites used in Celtic Christianity in Britain, Ireland and Brittany and the monasteries founded by St. Columbanus and Saint Catald in France, Germany, Switzerland, and Italy during the ...
''. It relates that the joint high-kings
Diarmait mac Áedo Sláine
Diarmait (died 665) was a son of Áed Sláine. According to the Irish annals, he was High King of Ireland.
Sons of Áed Sláine
Diarmait's father Áed Sláine was a son of Diarmait mac Cerbaill, the apical ancestor of the southern branches of ...
and
Blathmac mac Áedo Sláine
Blathmac (died 665) was a son of Áed Sláine. According to the Irish annals, he was High King of Ireland.
Sons of Áed Sláine
Blathmac's father Áed Sláine was a son of Diarmait mac Cerbaill, the apical ancestor of the southern branches of t ...
appealed to Féchín and other churchmen, asking them to inflict a terrible plague on the lower classes of society and so decrease their number. Féchín was one of the churchmen to answer their request and to perish in the event, whereas Gerald kept aloof and survived.
One of Féchín's fellow victims in the plague of 665 is said to have been St Rónán mac Beraig (son of Berach), founder of
Dromiskin Monastery: ''Druim Inesclainn'', whose relics were enshrined in 801.
[Ó Corráin, "Ireland ''c''. 800", p. 588.]
The Uí Chrítáin, a clerical dynasty who claimed collateral descent from
Lóegaire, ruled his house between the mid-9th century and 978, and asserted that their eponymous ancestor Crítán was Rónán's grandfather.
[Ó Corráin refers here to the genealogies in the ]Book of Ballymote
The ''Book of Ballymote'' (, RIA MS 23 P 12, 275 foll.), was written in 1390 or 1391 in or near the town of Ballymote, now in County Sligo, but then in the tuath of Corann.
According to David Sellar who was the Lord Lyon King of Arms in ...
and the clerical obits for this dynasty in the Irish annals (Annals of Ulster and Annals of the Four Masters). The Uí Chrítáin also claimed another five saints as descendants of their line, notably St
Columba
Columba () or Colmcille (7 December 521 – 9 June 597 AD) was an Irish abbot and missionary evangelist credited with spreading Christianity in what is today Scotland at the start of the Hiberno-Scottish mission. He founded the important abbey ...
.
Veneration
Places connected with Féchín's cult include:
Fore Abbey
Fore Abbey () is the ruins of a Benedictine and Early Gaelic 7th century Abbey with associated Mill, Anchorite's Cell, Holy Wells and a structure associated with St. Féichín,
all situated to the north of Lough Lene in County Westmeath, adja ...
(County Westmeath),
Cong Abbey (County Mayo),
Omey Island
Omey Island () is a tidal island situated near Claddaghduff on the western edge of Connemara in County Galway, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. From the mainland the island is almost hidden. It is possible to drive or walk across a large sandy str ...
(County Galway),
Ardoilén/High Island (County Galway),
Inishmaan
Inishmaan ( ; , the official name, formerly spelled , meaning "middle island") is the middle of the three main Aran Islands in Galway Bay, off the west coast of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is part of County Galway in the province of Conn ...
(County Galway),
Claddaghduff (County Galway),
Cleggan (County Galway) and
Termonfeckin
Termonfeckin or Termonfechin () is a small village and townland in County Louth, Ireland. It is within a civil parish of the same name, and is north-east of Drogheda. The population of the village almost quadrupled in the period between the 199 ...
(County Louth). Around 1200 the Norman landlords known as the
De Lacys built a Benedictine Priory dedicated to St Féchín and St Taurin. Also, at Ballysadare, (County Sligo), above the west bank of the river, exist the ruins of St. Fechin's Church, and in the Catholic Church in nearby Colooney is a stained glass portrait of the saint. Local legend has him as a brother of St.
Adomnán
Adomnán or Adamnán of Iona (; , ''Adomnanus''; 624 – 704), also known as Eunan ( ; from ), was an abbot of Iona Abbey ( 679–704), hagiographer, statesman, canon jurist, and Christian saint, saint. He was the author of the ''Life ...
of Skreen and Iona, where Adomnán was the successor and first biographer of St.
Colm Cille
Columba () or Colmcille (7 December 521 – 9 June 597 AD) was an Irish abbot and missionary evangelist credited with spreading Christianity in what is today Scotland at the start of the Hiberno-Scottish mission. He founded the important abbey ...
.
Gilla an Choimded Ó Duillénnáin was a
coarb
A coarb, from the Old Irish ''comarbae'' (Modern Irish: , ), meaning "heir" or "successor", was a distinctive office of the medieval Celtic Church among the Gaels of Ireland and Scotland. In this period coarb appears interchangeable with " erenac ...
or
erenagh
The medieval Irish office of erenagh (Old Irish: ''airchinnech'', Modern Irish: ''airchinneach'', Latin: '' princeps'') was responsible for receiving parish revenue from tithes and rents, building and maintaining church property and overseeing t ...
of Saint Feichin.
In
Scotland
Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...
Féchín is venerated in the Latinised form ''Vigeanus''. The village of
St Vigeans
St Vigeans is a small village and parish in Angus, Scotland, immediately to the north of Arbroath. Originally rural, it is now more or less a suburb of the town of Arbroath.
History
St Vigeans is derived from ''Vigeanus'', a Latinised form of ...
, near
Arbroath
Arbroath () or Aberbrothock ( ) is a former royal burgh and the largest town in the Subdivisions of Scotland, council area of Angus, Scotland, Angus, Scotland, with a population of 23,902. It lies on the North Sea coast, some east-northeast of ...
in
Angus
Angus may refer to:
*Angus, Scotland, a council area of Scotland, and formerly a province, sheriffdom, county and district of Scotland
* Angus, Canada, a community in Essa, Ontario
Animals
* Angus cattle, various breeds of beef cattle
Media
* ...
, has a major collection of early medieval sculpture surviving from a monastery dedicated to the saint, perhaps founded in unrecorded circumstances among the
Picts
The Picts were a group of peoples in what is now Scotland north of the Firth of Forth, in the Scotland in the early Middle Ages, Early Middle Ages. Where they lived and details of their culture can be gleaned from early medieval texts and Pic ...
in the 8th century.
Other places possibly connected with Féchín in Scotland are
Ecclefechan
Ecclefechan (Scottish Gaelic: ''Eaglais Fheichein'') is a village located in Dumfries and Galloway in the south of Scotland.
The village is famous for being the birthplace of Thomas Carlyle.
Ecclefechan lies in the valley of the Mein Water, a ...
in Dumfriesshire and
Torphichen
Torphichen ( ) is a historic small village located north of Bathgate in West Lothian, Scotland. The village is approximately west of Edinburgh, south-east of Falkirk and south-west of Linlithgow. The village had a population of 570 in the ( 2 ...
in West Lothian.
Lesmahagow
Lesmahagow ( ; or ''Lesmahagae'', ) is a small town in the historic county of Lanarkshire on the edge of moorland, near Lanark in the central belt of Scotland. Lesmahagow was also a civil parish. It lies west of the M74 motorway, M74, and sout ...
was also originally dedicated to the saint (under the hypocoristic or devotional form of his name, Mo-Ecu).
Supernatural powers and healing abilities were attributed to Féchín, with
holy well
A holy well or sacred spring is a well, Spring (hydrosphere), spring or small pool of water revered either in a Christianity, Christian or Paganism, pagan context, sometimes both. The water of holy wells is often thought to have healing qualitie ...
s being dedicated to him throughout Ireland, with a concentration of sites in the west. A holy well stands among the remains of his monastic community on Omey Island and is a pilgrimage site for those seeking a physical cure for all manner of ailments.
Notes
Sources
Primary sources
*
*
Annals of the Four Masters
The ''Annals of the Kingdom of Ireland'' () or the ''Annals of the Four Masters'' () are chronicles of Middle Ages, medieval Irish history. The entries span from the Genesis flood narrative, Deluge, dated as 2,242 Anno Mundi, years after crea ...
, ed. and tr. John O'Donovan, ''Annála Ríoghachta Éireann''. 7 vols. Royal Irish Academy. Dublin, 1848–51.
*Hagiography:
**Augustine mac Graidin (of the All Saints' Island monastery in Lough Ree), Latin ''Life'' of St Féchín, ed. John Colgan, ''
Acta Sanctorum Hiberniae
''Acta Sanctorum Hiberniae'' is the abbreviated title of a celebrated work on the Irish saints by the Franciscan, John Colgan (Leuven, 1645).
Aided by Hugh Ward, Stephen White, Míchél Ó Cléirigh, and Henry Fitzsimon, White, Fitzsimon, an ...
''. Leuven, 1645.
**John Colgan, ''Latin'' Life of St Féchín, ed. John Colgan, ''
Acta Sanctorum Hiberniae
''Acta Sanctorum Hiberniae'' is the abbreviated title of a celebrated work on the Irish saints by the Franciscan, John Colgan (Leuven, 1645).
Aided by Hugh Ward, Stephen White, Míchél Ó Cléirigh, and Henry Fitzsimon, White, Fitzsimon, an ...
''. Leuven, 1645. 130–33 (Latin ''Life'') and 133–9 (Latin supplement based on three Irish ''Lives'').
**Nicol Óg, ''Betha Féchín Fabair'' "The Life of Féchín of Fore" (written in 1329), preserved in MS G5 (
NLI, Dublin), ed. and tr. Whitley Stokes, "Life of St. Féchín of Fore." ''
Revue Celtique
A revue is a type of multi-act popular theatrical entertainment that combines music, dance, and sketches. The revue has its roots in 19th century popular entertainment and melodrama but grew into a substantial cultural presence of its own during ...
'' 12 (1891): 318–53
Edition available from CELT On the manuscript, see th
National Library of Ireland
*
Gilla Cóemáin (ascribed author), "Attá sund forba fessa" in the
Book of Leinster
The Book of Leinster ( , LL) is a medieval Irish manuscript compiled and now kept in Trinity College Dublin. It was formerly known as the ''Lebor na Nuachongbála'' ("Book of Nuachongbáil"), a monastic site known today as Oughaval.
In 2023 ...
*
Giraldus Cambrensis
Gerald of Wales (; ; ; ) was a Cambro-Norman priest and historian. As a royal clerk to the king and two archbishops, he travelled widely and wrote extensively. He studied and taught in France and visited Rome several times, meeting the Pope. He ...
, ''Topography of Ireland'', Book 2, ch. 52.
*Ó Riain, P. ''Corpus Genealogiarum Sanctorum Hiberniae''. Dublin, 1985 . §§ 315, 421.
Secondary sources
*
*Charles-Edwards, T.M. ''Early Christian Ireland''. Cambridge, 2000.
*
*Stalmans, Nathalie and T.M. Charles-Edwards,
Meath, saints of (act. ''c''.400–''c''.900)" ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography''. Oxford University Press, Sept 2004; online edition, May 2007. Accessed: 14 Dec 2008.
*Stokes, G.T. "St. Fechin of Fore and his monastery." ''
Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland'' 22 (1892) (series 5, vol. 2): 1–12. Journal volume available fro
Internet Archive
Further reading
*Hanlon, ''Lives of the Irish saints''. Vol. 1. p. 356–82.
External links
''The New York Times''.
''Megalithic Ireland''.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Feichin of Fore
7th-century Christian saints
7th-century Irish abbots
Christian clergy from County Westmeath
Christian clergy from County Sligo
Christian clergy from County Galway
Medieval saints of Meath
Medieval saints of Connacht