Ailerán, also known as Ailerán sapiens (Ailerán the Wise) was an Irish

scholar A scholar is a person who pursues academic and intellectual activities, particularly academics who apply their intellectualism into expertise in an area of study. A scholar can also be an academic, who works as a professor, teacher, or research ...

and saint who died on 29 December 664 or 665. His feast day 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 Saint Finnian of Clonard, Finnián and his disciples. He became

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 french: lecteur, en, lector, pl, lektor and russian: лектор. It has various specialized uses. ...

of the school in 650. He died of the

Yellow Plague Yellow fever is a viral disease of typically short duration. In most cases, symptoms include fever, chills, loss of appetite, nausea, muscle pains – particularly in the back – and headaches. Symptoms typically improve within five days. In ...

, and his death is recorded in the

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 ...

. Because of his knowledge of the works of

Origen Origen of Alexandria, ''Ōrigénēs''; Origen's Greek name ''Ōrigénēs'' () probably means "child of Horus" (from , "Horus", and , "born"). ( 185 – 253), also known as Origen Adamantius, was an early Christian scholar, ascetic, and the ...

Philo Philo of Alexandria (; grc, Φίλων, Phílōn; he, יְדִידְיָה, Yəḏīḏyāh (Jedediah); ), also called Philo Judaeus, was a Hellenistic Jewish philosopher who lived in Alexandria, in the Roman province of Egypt. Philo's dep ...

, St. Jerome,

St. Augustine Augustine of Hippo ( , ; la, Aurelius Augustinus Hipponensis; 13 November 354 – 28 August 430), also known as Saint Augustine, was a theologian and philosopher of Berber origin and the bishop of Hippo Regius in Numidia, Roman North Afri ...

, 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. He joined the Franciscan Order an ...

, numerous works can be ascribed to Ailerán, including the ''Fourth Life of Saint Patrick'', a Latin litany, and the ''Lives'' of

Saint Brigid 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 hagiograp ...

and Saint Féichín 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, while Luke begins with Adam. The lists are identical between Abraham and David, but ...

in Saint Matthew's Gospel. This was published in 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 ...

edition of the Fathers, 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.

Notes

References

* ''Ailerani Interpretatio Mystica Progenitorum Domini Iesu Christi'' - Aidan Breen, ed., Four Courts Press, 1995. * ''Scribe as artist, not monk: the canon tables of Ailerán ‘the Wise’ and the Book of Kells'' - Douglas Mac Lean, ''Peritia'' 17 (2003), pp. 433–468.

External links

* * * * http://brigid-undertheoak.blogspot.com/2009/12/scholars-of-clonard-poem-of-sedulius.html * http://www.ucc.ie/peritia/abstract10.html * {{DEFAULTSORT:Aileran 664 deaths 7th-century Christian monks 7th-century Christian saints 7th-century Irish writers 7th-century Latin writers 7th-century scholars 7th-century deaths from plague (disease) Medieval Irish saints Irish Christian monks People from County Meath Year of birth unknown Irish Latinists Colombanian saints