Colmán Elo (555 – 26 September 611) was born in Glenelly, Ireland in what is now County Tyrone. He is famed in Irish

hagiography A hagiography (; ) is a biography of a saint or an ecclesiastical leader, as well as, by extension, an adulatory and idealized biography of a founder, saint, monk, nun or icon in any of the world's religions. Early Christian hagiographies migh ...

Life

Colmán was founder and first Abbot of Muckamore, and from the fact of being titled as the successor (''coarb'') of Mac Nisse, is regarded as Bishop of Connor. Colmán studied under his maternal uncle, St.

Columba Columba or Colmcille; gd, Calum Cille; gv, Colum Keeilley; non, Kolban or at least partly reinterpreted as (7 December 521 – 9 June 597 AD) was an Irish abbot and missionary evangelist credited with spreading Christianity in what is toda ...

, who procured for him the site of a monastery now known as Lynally (Lann Elo). Hence his designation of Colmán Elo or in Latinised form, Colmanellus. Subsequently, he founded the Abbey of Muckamore, and was appointed Bishop of Connor. He is also known as St. Colmán Macusailni. Adomnan of Iona in his book 'The Life of St Columba' wrote this about him:

Of the peril of the holy bishop Cólman moccu Sailni in the sea near Rathlin island: Likewise, another day, while St Columba was in his mother church, he suddenly smiled and called out: "Cólman mac Beognai has set sail to come here, and is now in great danger in the surging tides of the whirlpool of Corryvreckan. Sitting in the prow, he lifts up his hands to heaven and blesses the turbulent, terrible seas. Yet the Lord terrifies him in this way, not so that the ship in which he sits should be overwhelmed and wrecked by the waves, but rather to rouse him to pray more fervently that he may sail through the peril and reach us here"

He was the author of ''Airgitir Crábaid'', the earliest surviving example of Old Irish prose Colmán is believed to be the real author of a work ascribed to Secundinus, ''The Hymn of St. Secundinus'' in praise of

Saint Patrick Saint Patrick ( la, Patricius; ga, Pádraig ; cy, Padrig) was a fifth-century Romano-British Christian missionary and bishop in Ireland. Known as the "Apostle of Ireland", he is the primary patron saint of Ireland, the other patron saints be ...

.Carney, ''The Problem of St. Patrick'', pp. 40–46. He died at Lynally on 26 September 611, the day his feast is celebrated.

Notes

References

* James Carney, ''The Problem of St. Patrick''. Dublin, 1961.

External links

* https://web.archive.org/web/20170228000230/https://www.offalyhistory.com/reading-resources/archaeology/st-colman-and-the-early-medieval-monastery-of-lynally-c-600-1100
Butler, Alban. ''The Lives of the Saints'', Volume IX, 1866
{{DEFAULTSORT:Colman Elo Medieval Irish poets Medieval Irish saints 6th-century Irish abbots 7th-century Irish abbots 7th-century Christian saints 555 births 611 deaths People from County Antrim People from County Offaly Medieval saints of Ulster Medieval saints of Meath People from County Tyrone Irish male poets