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Saul Monastery is a former Christian monastery located in
According to tradition, the monastery was founded by Saint Patrick shortly after his arrival in AD 432; he landed via the nearby River Slaney and was granted a
One wall of the Augustinian abbey remains, and a stone monastic cell (also called the "mortuary house") in the old graveyard. There is also a cross slab in the graveyard. Other gravestones have been moved to the Down County Museum.
The present
County Down
County Down () is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland, one of the nine counties of Ulster and one of the traditional thirty-two counties of Ireland. It covers an area of and has a population of 531,665. It borders County Antrim to th ...
, Northern Ireland. It is traditionally associated with the 5th-century Saint Patrick, who is said to have founded it shortly after arriving in Ireland, and having died there at the end of his missionary work.
Location
Saul Monastery is located 2.7 km (1.5 mile) northeast ofDownpatrick
Downpatrick () is a town in County Down, Northern Ireland. It is on the Lecale peninsula, about south of Belfast. In the Middle Ages, it was the capital of the Dál Fiatach, the main ruling dynasty of Ulaid. Its cathedral is said to be th ...
; the River Quoile
The Quoile (; ) is a river in County Down, Northern Ireland.
Course
The river begins its life as the Ballynahinch River which flows from west of the town of Ballynahinch to Annacloy where it is known as the Annacloy River. This then becomes ...
is 1.5 km (1 mile) to the northwest.
History
According to tradition, the monastery was founded by Saint Patrick shortly after his arrival in AD 432; he landed via the nearby River Slaney and was granted a barn
A barn is an agricultural building usually on farms and used for various purposes. In North America, a barn refers to structures that house livestock, including cattle and horses, as well as equipment and fodder, and often grain.Allen ...
(Old Irish
Old Irish, also called Old Gaelic ( sga, Goídelc, Ogham script: ᚌᚑᚔᚇᚓᚂᚉ; ga, Sean-Ghaeilge; gd, Seann-Ghàidhlig; gv, Shenn Yernish or ), is the oldest form of the Goidelic/Gaelic language for which there are extensive writte ...
''saball'') by the local chieftain Dichu. He then placed it under the protection of Dunnius (Mo Duin).
It is the traditional site of death of Saint Patrick, who died at Saul on 17 March 465.
Saul Monastery survived for over three centuries before being destroyed by Viking
Vikings ; non, víkingr is the modern name given to seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway and Sweden),
who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded and s ...
raids.
The Annals of the Four Masters
The ''Annals of the Kingdom of Ireland'' ( ga, Annála Ríoghachta Éireann) or the ''Annals of the Four Masters'' (''Annála na gCeithre Máistrí'') are chronicles of medieval
In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or mediev ...
mention a "Ceannfaeladh of Sabhall, bishop, anchorite, and pilgrim" in 1011. A stone church was burned at Saul in 1020.
Some time after 1130 Saul was refounded as an Augustinian priory of Canons Regular
Canons regular are priests who live in community under a rule ( and canon in greek) and are generally organised into religious orders, differing from both secular canons and other forms of religious life, such as clerics regular, designated by ...
by Saint Malachy
Malachy (}; Modern ga, Maelmhaedhoc Ó Morgair; ) ( 1094 – 2 November 1148) is an Irish saint who was Archbishop of Armagh, to whom were attributed several miracles and an alleged vision of 112 popes later attributed to the apocryphal ...
; legend claims that he had a vision of the monastery before he constructed it. In 1164 Saul was plundered by Muirchertach Mac Lochlainn
Muircheartach Mac Lochlainn (old spelling: Muirchertach mac Lochlainn, IPA: �mˠɪɾʲəçəɾˠt̪ˠəxmˠəkˈlɔxlən̪ʲ was king of Tír Eoghain, and High King of Ireland from around 1156 until his death in 1166. He succeeded Toirdhea ...
with the men of Fearnmhagh, the Cenél Conaill
Cenél is a surname. Notable people with the surname include:
*Cenél Conaill, the name of the "kindred" or descendants of Conall Gulban, son of Niall Noígiallach defined by oral and recorded history
*Cenél nEógain (in English, Cenel Eogan) is ...
, and the Cenél nEógain
Cenél is a surname. Notable people with the surname include:
*Cenél Conaill, the name of the "kindred" or descendants of Conall Gulban, son of Niall Noígiallach defined by oral and recorded history
* Cenél nEógain (in English, Cenel Eogan) is ...
. In 1170 a lengthy description of the expulsion of monks from Saul is given:
In 1289 or 1293, Nicholas Mac Mail-Issu discovered the remains of Saints Patrick, Colum Cille and Brigid of Kildare
Saint Brigid of Kildare or Brigid of Ireland ( ga, Naomh Bríd; la, Brigida; 525) 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 hagiogr ...
at Saul; he placed them in a shrine. By 1296 Saul is described as greatly impoverished.
It was destroyed by Edward Bruce
Edward Bruce, Earl of Carrick (Norman French: ; mga, Edubard a Briuis; Modern Scottish Gaelic: gd, Eideard or ; – 14 October 1318), was a younger brother of Robert the Bruce, King of Scots. He supported his brother in the 1306–1314 str ...
's armies during the Bruce invasion of Ireland
The Bruce campaign was a three-year military campaign in Ireland by Edward Bruce, brother of the Scottish king Robert the Bruce. It lasted from his landing at Larne in 1315 to his defeat and death in 1318 at the Battle of Faughart in County Lou ...
in 1318. In 1380 a statute forbade any Gaelic Irish
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 ...
from becoming religious at Saul; only British settlers could. The seal of the Abbot of Saul was on a petition to King Henry IV c. 1410. At the dissolution of the monasteries, the abbey, with two castles, a garden and land were granted to Gerald FitzGerald, 11th Earl of Kildare
Gerald is a male Germanic given name meaning "rule of the spear" from the prefix ''ger-'' ("spear") and suffix ''-wald'' ("rule"). Variants include the English given name Jerrold, the feminine nickname Jeri and the Welsh language Gerallt and Ir ...
in 1542.
A pattern
A pattern is a regularity in the world, in human-made design, or in abstract ideas. As such, the elements of a pattern repeat in a predictable manner. A geometric pattern is a kind of pattern formed of geometric shapes and typically repeated li ...
took place at Saul on the second Sunday of June, "Saul Sunday."
Buildings
One wall of the Augustinian abbey remains, and a stone monastic cell (also called the "mortuary house") in the old graveyard. There is also a cross slab in the graveyard. Other gravestones have been moved to the Down County Museum.
The present Church of Ireland
The Church of Ireland ( ga, Eaglais na hÉireann, ; sco, label=Ulster-Scots, Kirk o Airlann, ) is a Christian church in Ireland and an autonomous province of the Anglican Communion. It is organised on an all-Ireland basis and is the second l ...
building was opened on All Saint's Day 1933; it replaced a simple 1788 structure.
References
External links
*{{YouTube, EcVt7STCGVg, Video tour of the site Christian monasteries established in the 5th century Augustinian monasteries in Northern Ireland Religious buildings and structures in County Down Archaeological sites in County Down Saint Patrick