Saint Blathmac of Iona
As Ireland was too far to be effected by the persecutions of Roman emperors in the early centuries and was also to far to be effected by the later Islamic invasions, combined with the fact that the conversion from paganism within Ireland was rapid and peaceful, there are not very many Irish saints who were martyrs. Saint Blathmac is an exception to this as he was bravely martyred in a Viking raid.
There had been multiple Viking raids on Iona in the early 9th century causing many of the monks, including the abbot, to move to Kells in Ireland. Saint Blathmac had been an abbot of a different monastery on Ireland but moved to Iona. He was the acting abbot in the abscence of the abbot who was residing in Kells for safety. Anticipating another Viking attack, Saint Blathmac had the relics of Saint Columba of Iona moved to a hidden location.
Just after finishing the Liturgy on the island, the Vikings did attack. They demanded that Saint Blathmac reveal the location of the relics. He boldly refused them and was martyred. Miracles were reported at the site of Saint Blathmac’s grave.
An interesting fact is that the most complete account of the above was written only shortly after the events by Walafrid Strabo, a German monk. He was the abbot of Reichenau Island which is in southern Germany and has many written works to his name on theology, lives of saints and poetry. A common misconception is that Iona, or even worse Ireland in general, was remote, inaccessible, and cut-off from the larger Christian world on the continent of Europe. Although there are many more examples to disprove this idea, the fact that a poetic account of Saint Blathmac’s martyrdom was written by Walafrid Strabo would be one such piece of evidence.
Saint Samthann
Saint Samthann was a woman betrothed on orders of the king to a particular nobleman against her wishes. However on the night before the wedding, the fiancé was awoken by a vision of a supernatural light. Following it to see where it was landing, he arrived to see Saint Samthann’s face lit up by the light. Recognising that she had a great sanctity, the nobleman and king accepted her rejection of the marriage and allowed her to take vows as a nun as she desired. She grew in the spiritual life until she eventually became the Abbess of Clonbroney.
As abbess, she set an excellent standard for her nuns in regards to asceticism and voluntary poverty. She was blessed with miracles and Clonbroney would continue to be an important monastery for a long time to come.
Saint Máel Ruain and Óengus of Tallaght
Most of the great Irish monasteries were founded in the 6th century. The next generations of saints often were trained at sites such as Clonard, Clonmacnoise, Iona, etc. However, there was one more great monastic foundation that would be established later than the rest. That was Tallaght, founded in the 8th century by Saint Máel Ruain.
The etymology of Tallaght refers to a gravesite for victims of plague. Tallaght is referred to in the Lebor Gabála Érenn as the burial site of the Partholonians, a people group, who were wiped out by a plague in Ireland’s ancient history. This is a topic that should be of great interest to those interested in an Orthodox Christian perspective of the history of Ireland because texts such as the Lebor Gabála Érenn were written and passed down by the Church and are a part of its tradition.
Less is known about Saint Máel Ruain himself than the monastery and its successes. Regularly referred to resources for anyone studying the Irish saints are the Martyrology of Tallaght and the Martyrology of Óengus, both produced from the monastery of Tallaght. It is also from Tallaght, while Saint Máel Ruain was abbot, that a monastic movement known as the Céilí Dé, anglicised as the Culdees, began. This is a large topic that has a range of interpretations in academic literature. Orthodox Christian appraisals of the Céilí Dé are hopefully on the near horizon!
The other great saint of Tallaght was Saint Óengus. He had been a hermit in a hermitage that he founded called the Dísert Óengusa but his piety and asceticism eventually attracted many visitors. Saint Óengus wished for more solitude and obscurity and for this reason left and joined Tallaght as a lay brother, disguising his significant reputation and experience in monasticism. Saint Máel Ruain eventually discovered his true identity. As implied by the name, the Martyrology of Óengus was written by him.
Saint Virgil of Salzburg
From a noble family and raised in the monastic life, Saint Virgil had a bright future. He eventually became the abbot of Aghaboe, one of the great Irish monasteries, founded by Saint Cainnech of Aghaboe in the 6th century. It was here that Saint Virgil gained his reputation as an expert in geometry and was known as Virgil the Geometer.
His life took an unusual turn when he decided to make a pilgrimage to Rome. However, on his way he decided to settle in France, receiving the patronage of Pippin the Younger who would later become the King of the Franks. Saint Virgil acted as his advisor. After some years, he was invited by Duke Odilo, a Duke of Bavaria, to come to his area (south Germany and north Austria today).
Saint Boniface was an Anglo-Saxon missionary in the same general area. Saint Virgil and Saint Boniface, despite the similarities of being from abroad and engaged in spreading Christianity in Central Europe, clashed on several occassions. The first incident involved a priest who used slightly incorrect wording during a baptism. Saint Boniface concluded that the baptism was invalid and would have to be done again with the correct wording whereas Saint Virgil concluded that despite the incorrect wording the baptism was still ultimately valid and would not have to be repeated. Saint Boniface appealed to the Pope of the time who was Pope Zachary but Pope Zachary decided in favour of Saint Virgil. The next incident was a claim by Saint Boniface that Saint Virgil was teaching a doctrine that man did not descend from Adam. Although the text by Saint Virgil is not extant, it is obvious that he did not write something like that explicitly but rather the accusation was that it was implied. Again this was brought up to Pope Zachary and again he decided in favour of Saint Virgil. It is likely that the exact teaching of Saint Virgil was related to geometry as he was an early exponent of the idea that the earth was a sphere. That being the case, there would be undiscovered continents and races of men (which would later be proven to be the case when Europeans discovered the Americas). Saint Boniface probably concluded that this implied that these other races were not descendents of Adam but Saint Virgil would have argued that this was not a necessary implication.
Saint Virgil was eventually made Bishop of Salzburg. Salzburg is still the name today of a city in Austria. The Salzburg Cathedral was first built on its current site by Saint Virgil. As Bishop of Salzburg, he became known as the Apostle of Carinthia because he headed the successful mission to convert the Alpine Slavs to Christianity. He also sent missions as far as Hungary.
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