medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture

In a message dated 08/03/2005 03:04:18 GMT Standard Time,  
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> Senan (d. 560)  Senan was born in  Munster (Ireland) and became a monk
> after a time as a warrior.   Legend tells that S. went to Rome and met
> St. David in Wales on the way  back.  He then built several churches
> and monasteries in Ireland  before settling down as a hermit on
> Scattery Island.

This is my first posting to this group, of whose learning I am in great  awe. 
 I am not quite ready to ask about my particular interests, but in the  
meantime I would like to mention that at the end of the lane where I live is the  
church of St Sennen, the first and last church in England, so called because it 
 is the closest to Land's End.  My special interest is in Selevan (patron  
saint and founder of St Levan Church, also nearby), so I am relying on another  
account of St Sennen here.  It is at _http://west-penwith.org.uk/sennen1.htm_ 
(http://west-penwith.org.uk/sennen1.htm) .   It is not clear to me why this 
saint is commemorated at Land's End.  Other  local churches (St Levan, St Ives, 
St Just, St Berriana, etc) are named for  people with a known and real 
connexion.
 
<<OF this saint but little is known. There is a short account of him  in 
Alban Butler’s ‘Lives,’ and in Colgan’s ‘Acta Sanctorum.’ In the life of St.  
Kieran we come across him for a moment. That saint, having given his upper  
garment (his cuculla) to a beggar, is met by Sennen while wearing only his  
pallium (or under garment), and gravely rebuked: ‘Fie on a priest who walks  about 
in one garment only, without his hood!’ They were evidently particular in  
those days as to the garments worn; and perhaps it was as well, for in many  
instances the cowl did ‘make the monk,’ and was the only ‘religious’ thing about 
 him. He is supposed to be the same person as St. Senan of Iniscathy, an 
Irish  abbot of the sixth century, but the identity is by no means certain. The 
Irish  St. Senan was a native of County Clare, and the child of noble parents — 
in  fact, his father was, like most Irishmen, of royal blood. The Irish  
martyrologies further tell us that his parents were Christians, but what little  we 
know of them hardly confirms the statement.
 
His parents were ‘moving house,’ when Senan, instead of lending a hand,  
knelt down to prayer, on which his ‘Christian’ mother poured cold water and  
strong language on him, but without effecting her object. As, however, Senan  
resumed his prayer the domestic utensils of the establishment were by some  
unseen agency removed from the old abode to the new. Shortly after he was  
compelled by the Prince of Corco-baskin to join a marauding expedition, but  managed 
to avoid taking any part in the evil that was wrought. His party was  defeated 
and he was allowed to go whither he would. He then studied under the  abbot Ca
ssidan, and, having received the monastic habit, entered the monastery  of St. 
Naal, where he spent some years. He is reported to have been a proficient  in 
piety and learning; but the only acts of his life in the monastery that have  
come down to us cannot be regarded as strict proof of these attainments. On 
one  occasion he (by a miracle) prevented the calves which he was tending from 
having  their natural nourishment, for fear the brethren would not have milk 
enough; and  on another, when observed by a monk while using the fingers of his 
left hand as  candles whereby to read at night,1 he was so annoyed that he 
said: ‘For prying a  stork shall peck out your eye,’ which a stork accordingly 
did, and, at the  command of St. Naal (whose views of piety were apparently of 
a higher standard),  St. Senan had to replace the eye and cure the wound, 
which, being a saint, he of  course at once did without difficulty. We cannot 
follow him through all the  actions of his life — his dispute with Lugadh, Prince 
of Inis-carra; his  erection of a church on Inis-luinge, in the Shannon; his 
voyage thence to  Inis-mor, and his compulsory visit to Inis-tuaiscert, 
whither he was driven by  adverse winds, and where (regarding the winds as 
expressive of the will of God)  he erected a church. Arrived at Inis-mor (Inchmoor, at 
the junction of the  Fergus with the Shannon), he founded the monastery over 
which he for some time  successfully presided. For some reason, however, he 
left here and, in spite of  the opposition of the prince, founded another 
monastery on the island of  Inis-cathaig. To this island came the holy St. Kannera, a 
nun of Bantry, who, in  spite of Senan’s rule that no woman should set foot 
upon the island, was  resolved to receive from his hands the Viaticum, and to 
lay her bones on the  forbidden soil. Probably if no such rule had been made 
St. Kannera would have  been quite content to be buried at home. St. Senan, 
however, met her boat and  stopped her on the shore, quaintly asking: ‘What have 
monks in common with  women?’ The lady closed the discussion by saying: ‘I 
will die before I go back,’  and promptly did so, and was buried where she fell.
 
When St. Senan himself died his obsequies were celebrated in a manner that  
showed him to have been held in great veneration. It is a pity these  
martyrologies are filled with so much trash, for probably, did we know the truth  about 
St. Senan, we should find him to have been a very ordinary and respectable  
man, with a desire to lead a true and pious life of usefulness, and perhaps  
without any pretence at being a miracle-monger. Some of the martyrologies  
contain a tale of St. Senan even more foolish than those already given; they  state 
that as the corpse was being carried to the grave it sat up and directed  
that his anniversary should be held on March 8 instead of on the 1st. He gave no  
reasons, but his directions have been respected, and his anniversary is on 
March  8, while the feast day of the parish is on June 30.
 
1 We are not clear as to what is intended in this legend, which is common  to 
several other Irish and Scottish saints, notably Saints Columba and  
Kentigern.>>

Susan Hoyle
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