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Revision as of 12:08, 6 April 2006 by Gardar Rurak (talk | contribs) (Disambig link)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)St Finnian or St. Uinniau' of Moville (495 - 589), was a christian missionary who became a legendary figure in medieval Ireland, though not to be confused with his namesake St. Finnian of Clonard. He is often assumed to be Irish, but in fact he was almost certainly a Brython.
He apparently studied under St. Colman of Dromore and St Mochae of Noendrum, and subsequently at Candida Casa (= Whithorn, in modern Scotland), whence he proceeded to Rome, returning to Ireland in 540 with an integral copy of St. Jerome's Vulgate. He was the founder of a famous school of Druim Fionn about the year 540. Irish legend has it that he tried to convert Tuan mac Cairill, a mythical figure who was the last survivor of the Partholonian race, and that while doing so had the famous Lebor Gabála Érenn recounted to him.
St. Finnian's most distinguished pupil at Moville was St. Columba, whose surreptitious copying of the Psalter led to a very remarkable sequel. What remains of the copy, together with the casket that contains it, is now in the National Museum of Ireland, Dublin. It is known as the Cathach or Battler, and was wont to be carried by the O'Donnells in battle. The inner case was made by Cathbar O'Donnell in 1084, but the outer is fourteenth century work. So prized was it that family of MacGroarty were hereditary custodians of this Cathach, and it finally passed, in 1802, to Sir Neal O'Donnell, County Mayo. St. Finnian of Moville wrote a rule for his monks, also a penitential code, the canons of which were published by Wasserschleben in 1851.
In 2001 a University of Glasgow Celticist argued that St Finnian and St. Ninian were one and the same person, and that the confusion is due to an 8th century scribal spelling error. Scholars seem to be accepting that this was the indeed the case.
St. Finnian of Moville's feast-day as it stands is the 10th of September.
External links
- Catholic Encyclopedia - St. Finnian of Moville
See also
- Clancy, T. O. "The real St Ninian," in Innes Review, 52 (2001), pp. 1-28
- MacKillop, James, A Dictionary of Celtic Mythology, (Oxford, 1998)