Saint Sillan (or Sillian) ( la, Selanus; ga, Síoláin) (died 608 or 610) was early Irish saint and

abbot Abbot is an ecclesiastical title given to the male head of a monastery in various Western religious traditions, including Christianity. The office may also be given as an honorary title to a clergyman who is not the head of a monastery. Th ...

Bangor Abbey Bangor Abbey was established by Saint Comgall in 558 in Bangor, County Down, Northern Ireland and was famous for its learning and austere rule. It is not to be confused with the slightly older abbey in Wales on the site of Bangor Cathedral. His ...

Bangor, County Down Bangor ( ; ) is a city and seaside resort in County Down, Northern Ireland, on the southern side of Belfast Lough. It is within the Belfast metropolitan area and is 13 miles (22 km) east of Belfast city centre, to which it is lin ...

. He was recorded as being a disciple and second or third successor of

Saint 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 Com ...

, who was the founder and first abbot of the

Benedictine , image = Medalla San Benito.PNG , caption = Design on the obverse side of the Saint Benedict Medal , abbreviation = OSB , formation = , motto = (English: 'Pray and Work') , found ...

monastery at Bangor. The village of Kilsheelan,

County Tipperary County Tipperary ( ga, Contae Thiobraid Árann) is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster and the Southern Region, Ireland, Southern Region. The county is named afte ...

is named after him. His Irish name is ''Sioláin'' which can translate to either "seed-basket" or "cullender/sieve". He is recorded in both the

Annals of Tigernach The ''Annals of Tigernach'' (abbr. AT, ga, Annála Tiarnaigh) are chronicles probably originating in Clonmacnoise, Ireland. The language is a mixture of Latin and Old and Middle Irish. Many of the pre-historic entries come from the 12th-cen ...

and

Annals of Ulster The ''Annals of Ulster'' ( ga, Annála Uladh) are annals of 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 Ruaidhrí Ó Luinín ...

as abbot Bennchor (Bangor), in the former as Sillán moccu Cumaine, dying in 608 and the latter as Sillán moccu Minn, dying in 610. Moccu being the equivalent of the Latin

gens In ancient Rome, a gens ( or , ; plural: ''gentes'' ) was a family consisting of individuals who shared the same nomen and who claimed descent from a common ancestor. A branch of a gens was called a ''stirps'' (plural: ''stirpes''). The ''gen ...

, indicating an uncertain ancestry. Variations of his name include Siollan, Silvan, Sylvan, Sillian and Sillán, amongst others.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sillan 610 deaths Medieval Irish saints 6th-century Irish abbots 7th-century Irish abbots Christian clergy from County Down Year of birth unknown Year of birth uncertain