Saturday 30 August 2014

Saint Cronan of Cluain-an-dobhair, August 30


On August 30 the earliest of the surviving Irish calendars, the Martyrology of Tallaght, commemorates a County Offaly saint, Cronan of Cluain-an-dobhair. No other details of the saint or the locality where he flourished seem to have survived. Canon O'Hanlon, following the authority of the Ordnance Survey scholar John O'Donovan, believes that he should be located in County Offaly, or King's County as it was known before Irish independence:

St. Cronan of Cluain-an-dobhair, King's County.

It is recorded in the published Martyrology of Tallagh, that at the 30th of August, veneration was given to Cronan, of Cluain-an-dobhair, or as it is written, Cluana andobhair. In that copy contained in the Book of Leinster, the entry is nearly similar. Cluain-an-dobhair, or Cluain-in-dibhair, is situated somewhere in the present King's County, says that eminent Irish topographer, Dr. John O'Donovan; but, it has not yet been identified. It may be, that the topographical designation has now become obsolete; or, if not, it should probably be sought for in the neighbourhood of Birr. The festival of this saint is entered, likewise, in the Martyrology of Donegal, as that of Cronan, Cluana an dobair. His humble grave bears no monument, but he requires no memorials beyond those which exist in survival lessons he taught to bring many others to be wise unto salvation.

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