Subj : December 18th - St. Flannan of Killaloe, Bishop To : All From : rich Date : Thu Dec 17 2020 09:13:16 From: rich December 18th - St. Flannan of Killaloe, Bishop 7th century. Legend says that Prince Flannan of Thomond was the disciple and successor to Saint Molua (f.d. August 4), founder of Killaloe monastery. He had been born in the fortress castle on Craig Liath near Killaloe. His father, King Turlough, sent him to the monks of Saint Lua for his education for the Church. Eventually, he became its abbot. His late "vita" relates that Flannan made a pilgrimage to Rome against the advice of his friends and family. According to Irish hagiographical fashion, he is said to have been carried on a floating stone to Italy, where he was consecrated as the first bishop of Killaloe by Pope John IV. Like so many Irish monks before him, Flannan was a missionary who roved the countryside preaching the Good News. He founded churches at Lough Corrib and at Inishbofin, and spent time on the Isle of Man. Flannan laboured in the Hebrides and gave his name to the Flannan Isles (the Seven Hunters), west of Lewis and Harris in Scotland, where the ruins of Flannan's chapel may be found today. In spite of all his toil, he managed to recite the entire Psalter daily--often while immersed in icy water. Several great miracles are attributed to Saint Flannan. Although one source says that, inspired by his son, King Turlough became a Christian late in life, he is believed to have started the custom among Irish princes of retiring to a monastery near life's end to do penance. He was a monk under the austere rule of Saint Colman at Lismore. Three of his sons having been killed, Turlough asked Colman for a special blessing on his family. At his death Flannan buried him in the church at Killaloe, which became the principal church of Brian Boru's kingdom. Flannan was afraid that the chieftainship would fall to him (although Colman had predicted that 7 kings would spring from Turlough's loins--all named Brian). Saint Flannan thereupon decided to pray for a deformity that would make him ineligible for the role, according to Irish law. His biographer relates that immediately "scars and rashes and boils began to appear on his face so that it became most dreadful and repulsive." About 1180, King Brian Boru's descendant, Donal O'Brien, built a new cathedral dedicated to Saint Flannan. The church was incorporated into a new one in the 13th century, restored in 1887, and is now a Protestant church. "Luxuriant with ivy, Gothic in style, with a massive bell tower rising from the centre of the building, its elaborate, richly carved Romanesque doorway, dated about 1180, is one of the masterpieces of pre-Norman Irish architecture. Built into the stone wall surrounding the cathedral grounds is another antiquity, a fragment of a bilingual stone cross inscribed with runes and oghams* from about the year 1000" [D'Arcy, pp. 61-62]. Saint Flannan is the patron of Killaloe diocese where his relics formerly rested in the cathedral next to his stone oratory. His feast is kept throughout Ireland, and he also has a cultus in Scotland on the same day (Attwater 2, Benedictines, Coulson, D'Arcy, Farmer, Kenney, Leask, Montague, Moran, Walsh). =C2 *The Ogham script recorded the earliest Old Irish texts from between the 3rd and the 6th century. Ogham inscriptions are found exclusively in Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. Mostly they are genealogical inscriptions in the form of "X son of Y" on corners of large stone slabs. After the 6th century, Old Irish was written with the Roman alphabet, and Ogham disappeared from general but the knowledge must have been preserved in some form because our knowledge of Ogham comes from the chapter Auraicept na n-=C3=89ces in the 15th-century work =E2=80= =9CThe Book of Ballymote=E2=80=9D (Leabhar Bhaile an Mh=C3=B3ta), which also conta= ins geneologies, mythologies, and histories of Ireland. =C2 Various opinions exist on the exact origin of Ogham. Some claim that it stemmed from a cryptic way of writing runes, some say that it was inspired from the Roman alphabet, and yet others hold that it was independently invented. Saint Quote: When shall it be that we shall taste the sweetness of the Divine Will in all that happens to us, considering in everything only His good pleasure, by whom it is certain that adversity is sent with as much love as prosperity, and as much for our good? When shall we cast ourselves undeservedly into the arms of our most loving Father in Heaven, leaving to Him the care of ourselves and of our affairs, and reserving only the desire of pleasing Him, and of serving Him well in all that we can? --Saint Jeanne de Chantal Bible Quote: Favour is deceitful, and beauty is vain: the woman that feareth the Lord, =C2 she shall be praised. [Proverbs 31:30] DRB <><><><> Advent Prayer ' God of Hope God of hope, who brought love into this world, be the love that dwells between us. God of hope, who brought peace into this world, be the peace that dwells between us. God of hope, who brought joy into this world, be the joy that dwells between us. God of hope, the rock we stand upon, be the centre, the focus of our lives always and particularly this Advent time. Through Him, who is our hope, our joy, our love, our peace, in union with the Holy Spirit, one God forever, amen. --- NewsGate v1.0 gamma 2 * Origin: News Gate @ Net396 -Huntsville, AL - USA (1:396/4) .