Saint Féchín of Fore | |
|---|---|
| Irish saint, monastic founder | |
 Saint Féchín by Harry Clarke | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | |
| Died | 665 |
| Parents | Lassair (mother) |
| Sainthood | |
| Feast day | 20 January |
| Venerated in | Orthodox Church,Catholicism Anglicanism[citation needed] |
| Patronage | Fore Abbey,Cong Abbey,Omey Island,Ardoilén, |
SaintFéchín orFéichín (died 665), also known asMo-Ecca, was a 7th-century Irish saint, chiefly remembered as the founder of themonastery at Fore (Fobar),County Westmeath.
Sources for his life and legend include Irish annals, martyrologies, genealogies andhagiographical works. Of the two surviving medievalLives, one was written in Latin, the other inIrish. The LatinLife was writtenc. 1400 by Augustine mac Graidín, who belonged to the Saints' Island on the southeastern shore of Lough Ree, south of the present-day village of Newtowncashel.[1] By the time of his death he had attracted 300 monks to his community at Fore.[2]
His main source appears to have been aLife originating in Féchín's monastery onOmey Island.[3] The IrishLife (Betha Féchín Fabair "The Life of St Féchín of Fore") was written down by Nicol Óg, son of theabbot of Cong, in 1328 and it seems that parts of it go back to even earlier (Latin) sources.[3]
The text may be seen as a combination of two texts. The first part is primarily concerned with the saint's position as a mediator and negotiator between theLuigne (or Luigni) of Connacht, of which he was supposedly a member, and the more powerful Luigne of Meath, on whose territory Fore Abbey was founded.[4]
The second part focuses more attention on Leinster and the payment of tribute.[4] The Latin and IrishLives both agree thatAilerán of Clonard, a contemporary of St Féchín, had composed an account of the saint's good works.[3] In the 17th century,John Colgan produced another LatinLife (theVita seu supplementum), for which he drew on three IrishLives.[3][5]
Féchín is said to have been born in Bile, probably Billa in what is now the parish of Ballisodare (Kilvarnet), (County Sligo).[3] The medievalLives call his mother Lassair, identified in the Irish text (first part) as a member of a royal Munster line.[4] The late IrishLife asserts that the saint's foundation at Fore (County Westmeath) inMide was connected to the Luigne and that Féchín himself belonged to the Luigne of Connacht.[6]
In the annal for 814, however, theChronicon Scotorum appears to suggest that the saint's church was connected to both theGailenga and the Luigne.[6] On the other hand,Life's claim is corroborated by an entry in theAnnals of Ulster (sub anno 993) which styles Máel Finnia, bishop of Fore, bishop of the peoples (túatha) of the Luigne.[6]
TheLives tell us that Féchín received his monastic training from StNath Í of Achonry and later moved on toClonmacnoise.[3]
It has been suggested that his name translates as "little raven", consisting of the Old Irish nounfiach "raven" and a diminutive suffix. His name is explained in this manner in a note added to theFélire Óengusso, which says that he received this name when his mother saw him gnawing on a bone and exclaimed "my little raven!" (mo fiachan). The same note also names him Moéca, which is explained as meaning "backslider": when Féchín felt aggrieved over the reward he received for herding the oxen ofCiarán of Clonmacnoise, he left in anger, going eastwards. When he was called back, he refused to return with his face before him and so walked backwards instead, hence the name.[7]In Jewish and Old Testament eschatology, a ‘back-slider’ is a polytheist.
The first monastic houses said to have been founded by Féchín are those on the islands ofOmey andArdoilén, both off the coast of Galway, which fell under the protection of the king of Connacht,Guaire Aidne mac Colmáin.[3]
His principal foundation was Fobur, now Fore, County Westmeath. Between 771 and 1169, Fore was burned at least twelve times.
The MonkGerald of Wales related the following legend of Féchín:
"Chapter LII (Of the mill which no women enter)"
According to theAnnals of the Four Masters, Féchín died on 14 February in the year 664 [665], during the plague which struck the island at the time.[8] Hisfeast-day is celebrated in Ireland on the 20th of January.[3]
A story about Féchín and the plague is found both in the LatinLife of SaintGerald of Mayo and in the notes to the hymnSén Dé (by Colmán of the moccu Clúasaig) in theLiber Hymnorum. It relates that the joint high-kingsDiarmait mac Áedo Sláine andBlathmac mac Áedo Sláine appealed to Féchín and other churchmen, asking them to inflict a terrible plague on the lower classes of society and so decrease their number. Féchín was one of the churchmen to answer their request and to perish in the event, whereas Gerald kept aloof and survived.[3]
One of Féchín's fellow victims in the plague of 665 is said to have been St Rónán mac Beraig (son of Berach), founder ofDromiskin Monastery:Druim Inesclainn, whose relics were enshrined in 801.[9]
The Uí Chrítáin, a clerical dynasty who claimed collateral descent fromLóegaire, ruled his house between the mid-9th century and 978, and asserted that their eponymous ancestor Crítán was Rónán's grandfather.[9][10] The Uí Chrítáin also claimed another five saints as descendants of their line, notably StColumba.[9]
Places connected with Féchín's cult include:Fore Abbey (County Westmeath),Cong Abbey (County Mayo),Omey Island (County Galway),Ardoilén/High Island (County Galway),Inishmaan (County Galway),Claddaghduff (County Galway),Cleggan (County Galway) andTermonfeckin (County Louth). Around 1200 the Norman landlords known as theDe Lacys built a Benedictine Priory dedicated to St Féchín and St Taurin. Also, at Ballysadare, (County Sligo), above the west bank of the river, exist the ruins of St. Fechin's Church, and in the Catholic Church in nearby Colooney is a stained glass portrait of the saint. Local legend has him as a brother of St.Adomnán of Skreen and Iona, where Adomnán was the successor and first biographer of St.Colm Cille.Gilla an Choimded Ó Duillénnáin was acoarb orerenagh of Saint Feichin.
InScotland Féchín is venerated in the Latinised formVigeanus. The village ofSt Vigeans, nearArbroath inAngus, has a major collection of early medieval sculpture surviving from a monastery dedicated to the saint, perhaps founded in unrecorded circumstances among thePicts in the 8th century.
Other places possibly connected with Féchín in Scotland areEcclefechan in Dumfriesshire andTorphichen in West Lothian.Lesmahagow was also originally dedicated to the saint (under the hypocoristic or devotional form of his name, Mo-Ecu).
Supernatural powers and healing abilities were attributed to Féchín, withholy wells being dedicated to him throughout Ireland, with a concentration of sites in the west. A holy well stands among the remains of his monastic community on Omey Island and is a pilgrimage site for those seeking a physical cure for all manner of ailments.
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