Saint Aengus
Encyclopedia
Óengus mac Óengobann, better known as Saint Óengus of Tallaght or Óengus the Culdee, was an Irish bishop, reformer and writer, who flourished in the first quarter of the 9th century and is held to be the author of the Félire Óengusso ("The Martyrology of Óengus") and possibly the Martyrology of Tallaght
.
Little of Óengus's life and career is reliably attested. The most important sources include internal evidence from the Félire, a later Middle Irish preface to that work, a biographic poem beginning Aíbind suide sund amne ("Delightful to sit here thus") and the entry for his feast-day inserted into the Martyrology of Tallaght.
, a ruling kindred in the north-east of Ireland. A late account prefaced to the Martyrology asserts that Óengus was born in Clúain Édnech or Eidnech (Clonenagh, Co. Laois), not far from the present town of Mountrath
, and brought up at the monastic school founded there by St Fintan, where also his body was buried. The claim may be spurious, since the Félire itself accords no such importance to the monastic foundation or its patron saint St Fintan.
founded by St. Máel Ruain at Tallaght
(now in South Dublin
), in the borderlands of Leinster
. Máel Ruain is described as his mentor (aite, also "fosterfather"). There are reasons for believing that Óengus was ordained to the office of bishop, a denomination which is first assigned to him in a list of saints inserted into the Martyrology of Tallaght
(see below). If so, his influence may well have extended to the reformed communities which were associated with Tallaght, many of which were founded in Óengus's lifetime. In fact, two such monasteries in Co. Limerick and Co. Laois, both of them known as Dísert Óengusa ("Óengus's Hermitage"), bear his memory in name.
— a register of saints and their feast days — to have been written in the vernacular. The work survives in at least ten manuscripts, the earliest being Leabhar Breac
of the early 15th century.
The martyrology proper consists of 365 quatrains for each day of the year and is framed between a lengthy prologue and epilogue. Later scribes added a prose preface, including material on Óengus, and accompanied the text with abundant glosses and scholia. Óengus's principal source was the Martyrology of Tallaght
, an abbreviated version in prose of the Martyrologium Hieronymianum
, but with a multitude of Irish saints added to their respective feastdays. Other sources are given in the epilogue as an "antigraph of Jerome
, the martyrology of Eusebius
" and "Ireland's host of books."
has been to argue from the careers of saints and kings referred to in the text, many of whom remain obscure. The terminus ante quem is a different game. In view of the selective nature of the Félire, arguments from silence have little to recommend it, at least in individual cases. What would have been instructive, the year of Óengus's death, is unknown, but his education by Máel Ruain (d. 792) must at least mean that he did not outlive the 9th century.
The one thing that is usually accepted is that it was written no earlier than 797, when one of the rulers described in the prologue as having deceased, Donnchad mac Domnaill, king of Tara, died. Rudolf Thurneysen postulated a date before 808 on grounds that the reference to the death of Bran Ardchenn mac Muiredaig
(d. probably 795), king of Leinster, should be attributed to political sympathies in the reign of his successor Fínsnechta mac Cellaig
(d. 808).
Ó Riain, however, has rejected the traditional date (797 x 808) in favour of a later range, between 828 and 833, while more recently, Dumville has cast doubt on Ó Riain's conclusions and dating methods. First, Ó Riain argues that such sympathies as Thurneysen refers to are pertinent only to the next kings in the royal line, Cellach mac Brain
(r. 829-834) and Conchobar mac Donnchada
(r. 819-833), sons of Bran and Donnchad respectively. Dumville objects that this political argument glosses over the probability that while Bran and Donnchad gave way to overlords from rival dynasties, they were nevertheless succeeded by members of their family in their own tuath
a or mórthuatha. The inclusion of these kings in the prologue therefore offers no good reason to move up the terminus ante quem. Second, Ó Riain sees reason to identify the saints Airerán (11 August), Modímóc (10 December) and Flann (14 January) with Airfhinnán (d. 803), abbot of Tallaght, Dímmán of Araid (d. 811) and Flann mac Fairchellaig (d. 825), abbot of Lismore. Dumville, however, points out a number of weaknesses and concludes with Stokes "that no saint or other person who certainly died in the ninth century is mentioned." Third, having identified a number of saints in the Martyrology of Tallaght, the primary model for the Félire, he proposes obits extending to that of St Teimnén or St Temnán of Linn Duachaill, who died in 828. In Dumville's view, the evidence is ambiguous, since the relationship of the extant copies of the Martyrology of Tallaght to the lost original which served as the source for the Félire is yet unclear.
, Crúachan
(also Crúachu) and Emain Machae are interpreted as the former sites of fortresses in which powerful rulers resided before the coming of Christianity. These pagan seats of power are contrasted with the great ecclesiastical centres of Ireland which were flourishing in Óengus' own time, such as Armagh
and Clonmacnoise
. According to the historian T.M. Charles-Edwards, Óengus was responding to the military domination of overlords of his day, commenting that worldly glory is transient, while spiritual power is enduring. To similar effect, Óengus also holds up the example of Máel Ruain, who continues to offer support and comfort after his death, against that of the contemporary warrior-kings Donnchadh and Bran Ardchenn, whose strong exercise of power meant no such thing after theirs.
. This was a work of Northumbrian provenance, probably from Lindisfarne
, which first passed through Iona
and Bangor
, where Irish scribes began to make some additions. The manuscript (now lost) finally arrived in Tallaght, where it received the majority of its Irish additions. It was written by someone of Óengus's learning and literary skill at Tallaght and there are strong indications that this was Óengus himself: first of all, the sources named by Óengus in the epilogue to the Félire (see above) would make more sense if these were the materials used for the Martyrology of Tallaght; second, a number of saints whom the same epilogue claims to have included are found in the Martyrology of Tallaght, but not in the actual Félire.
, he lived for a time at Disert-beagh, where, on the banks of the Nore, he is said to have communed with the angel
s. From his love of prayer
and solitude he was named the "Culdee
"; in other words, the Ceile Dé, or "Servant of God." Not satisfied with his hermitage, which was only a mile from Clonenagh, and, therefore, liable to be disturbed by students or wayfarers, Óengus removed to a more solitary abode eight miles distant. This sequestered place, two miles southeast of the present town of Maryborough, was called after him "the Desert of Óengus", or "Dysert-Enos". Here he erected a little oratory on a gentle eminence among the Dysert Hills, now represented by a ruined
and deserted Protestant church.
His earliest biographer (9th century) relates the wonderful austerities practiced by St. Óengus in his "desert", and though he sought to be far from the haunts of men, his fame attracted a stream of visitors. The result was that the good saint abandoned his oratory at Dysert-Enos, and, after some wanderings, came to the monastery of Tallaght, near Dublin, then governed by St. Maelruain. He entered as a lay brother
, concealing his identity, but St. Maelruain soon discovered him and collaborated with him on the Martyrology of Tallaght.
Attribution
Martyrology of Tallaght
The Martyrology of Tallaght, which is closely related to the Félire Oengusso or Martyrology of Óengus the Culdee, is an eighth- or ninth-century martyrology, a list of saints and their feast days assembled by Máel Ruain and/or Óengus the Culdee at Tallaght Monastery, near Dublin...
.
Little of Óengus's life and career is reliably attested. The most important sources include internal evidence from the Félire, a later Middle Irish preface to that work, a biographic poem beginning Aíbind suide sund amne ("Delightful to sit here thus") and the entry for his feast-day inserted into the Martyrology of Tallaght.
Background
He was known as a son of Óengoba and grandson of Oíblén, who is mentioned in a later genealogy as belonging to the Dál nAraidiDál nAraidi
Dál nAraidi was a kingdom of the Cruthin in the north-east of Ireland in the first millennium. The lands of the Dál nAraidi appear to correspond with the Robogdii of Ptolemy's Geographia, a region shared with Dál Riata...
, a ruling kindred in the north-east of Ireland. A late account prefaced to the Martyrology asserts that Óengus was born in Clúain Édnech or Eidnech (Clonenagh, Co. Laois), not far from the present town of Mountrath
Mountrath
Mountrath is a small town in County Laois, Ireland. Bypassed by the M7 motorway in 2010, the town lies on the R445 midway between Dublin and Limerick, exactly 96.5 km from both cities.In 2006 it had a population of 1,435...
, and brought up at the monastic school founded there by St Fintan, where also his body was buried. The claim may be spurious, since the Félire itself accords no such importance to the monastic foundation or its patron saint St Fintan.
Tallaght
It is sufficiently clear that Óengus became a cleric, since he describes himself as such in the Félire using the more humble appellation of "pauper" (pauperán and deidblén in Old Irish). He was an important member of the communityTallaght Monastery
Tallaght Monastery was founded in the eighth century by Máel Ruain, at a site in Tallaght, a few miles south west of present-day Dublin, Ireland. It operated until the Protestant Reformation.-History:...
founded by St. Máel Ruain at Tallaght
Tallaght
Tallaght is the largest town, and county town, of South Dublin County, Ireland. The village area, dating from at least the 17th century, held one of the earliest settlements known in the southern part of the island, and one of medieval Ireland's more important monastic centres.Up to the 1960s...
(now in South Dublin
South Dublin
South Dublin is a county in Ireland. It is one of three smaller counties into which County Dublin was divided in 1994. The county seat is Tallaght, the largest suburb of Dublin and the biggest urban centre in the county. Other important centres of population are Lucan and Clondalkin...
), in the borderlands of Leinster
Leinster
Leinster is one of the Provinces of Ireland situated in the east of Ireland. It comprises the ancient Kingdoms of Mide, Osraige and Leinster. Following the Norman invasion of Ireland, the historic fifths of Leinster and Mide gradually merged, mainly due to the impact of the Pale, which straddled...
. Máel Ruain is described as his mentor (aite, also "fosterfather"). There are reasons for believing that Óengus was ordained to the office of bishop, a denomination which is first assigned to him in a list of saints inserted into the Martyrology of Tallaght
Martyrology of Tallaght
The Martyrology of Tallaght, which is closely related to the Félire Oengusso or Martyrology of Óengus the Culdee, is an eighth- or ninth-century martyrology, a list of saints and their feast days assembled by Máel Ruain and/or Óengus the Culdee at Tallaght Monastery, near Dublin...
(see below). If so, his influence may well have extended to the reformed communities which were associated with Tallaght, many of which were founded in Óengus's lifetime. In fact, two such monasteries in Co. Limerick and Co. Laois, both of them known as Dísert Óengusa ("Óengus's Hermitage"), bear his memory in name.
Writings
Félire Óengusso
The literary effort most commonly attributed to Óengus is the Old Irish work known as Félire Óengusso ("Martyrology of Óengus"), which is the earliest metrical martyrologyMartyrology
A martyrology is a catalogue or list of martyrs , arranged in the calendar order of their anniversaries or feasts. Local martyrologies record exclusively the custom of a particular Church. Local lists were enriched by names borrowed from neighbouring churches...
— a register of saints and their feast days — to have been written in the vernacular. The work survives in at least ten manuscripts, the earliest being Leabhar Breac
Leabhar Breac
Leabhar Breac is an Irish language publisher based in Indreabhán in the County Galway Gaeltacht of Cois Fharraige.Specialising in fiction, and named after the 15th century manuscript Leabhar Breac, the publishing house was founded in 1995 by Darach Ó Scolaí and Caomhán Ó Scolaí...
of the early 15th century.
The martyrology proper consists of 365 quatrains for each day of the year and is framed between a lengthy prologue and epilogue. Later scribes added a prose preface, including material on Óengus, and accompanied the text with abundant glosses and scholia. Óengus's principal source was the Martyrology of Tallaght
Martyrology of Tallaght
The Martyrology of Tallaght, which is closely related to the Félire Oengusso or Martyrology of Óengus the Culdee, is an eighth- or ninth-century martyrology, a list of saints and their feast days assembled by Máel Ruain and/or Óengus the Culdee at Tallaght Monastery, near Dublin...
, an abbreviated version in prose of the Martyrologium Hieronymianum
Martyrologium Hieronymianum
The Martyrologium Hieronymianum was a medieval list of martyrs, one of the most used and influential of the Middle Ages...
, but with a multitude of Irish saints added to their respective feastdays. Other sources are given in the epilogue as an "antigraph of Jerome
Jerome
Saint Jerome was a Roman Christian priest, confessor, theologian and historian, and who became a Doctor of the Church. He was the son of Eusebius, of the city of Stridon, which was on the border of Dalmatia and Pannonia...
, the martyrology of Eusebius
Eusebius of Caesarea
Eusebius of Caesarea also called Eusebius Pamphili, was a Roman historian, exegete and Christian polemicist. He became the Bishop of Caesarea in Palestine about the year 314. Together with Pamphilus, he was a scholar of the Biblical canon...
" and "Ireland's host of books."
Dating the calendar
The precise date of the original composition has proved difficult to ascertain. The usual method of determining a terminus post quemTerminus post quem
Terminus post quem and terminus ante quem specify approximate dates for events...
has been to argue from the careers of saints and kings referred to in the text, many of whom remain obscure. The terminus ante quem is a different game. In view of the selective nature of the Félire, arguments from silence have little to recommend it, at least in individual cases. What would have been instructive, the year of Óengus's death, is unknown, but his education by Máel Ruain (d. 792) must at least mean that he did not outlive the 9th century.
The one thing that is usually accepted is that it was written no earlier than 797, when one of the rulers described in the prologue as having deceased, Donnchad mac Domnaill, king of Tara, died. Rudolf Thurneysen postulated a date before 808 on grounds that the reference to the death of Bran Ardchenn mac Muiredaig
Bran Ardchenn
Bran Ardchenn mac Muiredaig was a King of Leinster of the Uí Muiredaig sept of the Uí Dúnlainge branch of the Laigin. He was the son of Muiredach mac Murchado , a previous king. This sept had their royal seat at Maistiu in South Kildare. He ruled from 785-795.Bran was a rival of Ruaidrí mac...
(d. probably 795), king of Leinster, should be attributed to political sympathies in the reign of his successor Fínsnechta mac Cellaig
Fínsnechta Cethardec
Finsnechta Cethardec mac Cellaig was a King of Leinster of the Uí Dúnchada sept of the Uí Dúnlainge branch of the Laigin. He was the son of Cellach mac Dúnchada , a previous king. He ruled from 795 to 808...
(d. 808).
Ó Riain, however, has rejected the traditional date (797 x 808) in favour of a later range, between 828 and 833, while more recently, Dumville has cast doubt on Ó Riain's conclusions and dating methods. First, Ó Riain argues that such sympathies as Thurneysen refers to are pertinent only to the next kings in the royal line, Cellach mac Brain
Cellach mac Brain
Cellach mac Brain was a King of Leinster of the Uí Muiredaig sept of the Uí Dúnlainge branch of the Laigin. This sept had their royal seat at Maistiu in South Kildare. He was the son of Bran Ardchenn mac Muiredaig , a previous king and brother of Muiredach mac Brain...
(r. 829-834) and Conchobar mac Donnchada
Conchobar mac Donnchada
Conchobar mac Donnchada was High-King of Ireland with opposition between 819 and 833. Conchobar was the son of Donnchad Midi, high-king of Ireland ; his mother was Fuirseach, a noblewoman of the Dál nAraidi. Conchobar married Land, daughter of the former High-King Áed Oirdnide...
(r. 819-833), sons of Bran and Donnchad respectively. Dumville objects that this political argument glosses over the probability that while Bran and Donnchad gave way to overlords from rival dynasties, they were nevertheless succeeded by members of their family in their own tuath
Tuath
Túath is an Old Irish word, often translated as "people" or "nation". It is cognate with the Welsh and Breton tud , and with the Germanic þeudō ....
a or mórthuatha. The inclusion of these kings in the prologue therefore offers no good reason to move up the terminus ante quem. Second, Ó Riain sees reason to identify the saints Airerán (11 August), Modímóc (10 December) and Flann (14 January) with Airfhinnán (d. 803), abbot of Tallaght, Dímmán of Araid (d. 811) and Flann mac Fairchellaig (d. 825), abbot of Lismore. Dumville, however, points out a number of weaknesses and concludes with Stokes "that no saint or other person who certainly died in the ninth century is mentioned." Third, having identified a number of saints in the Martyrology of Tallaght, the primary model for the Félire, he proposes obits extending to that of St Teimnén or St Temnán of Linn Duachaill, who died in 828. In Dumville's view, the evidence is ambiguous, since the relationship of the extant copies of the Martyrology of Tallaght to the lost original which served as the source for the Félire is yet unclear.
Centres of worldly and spiritual power
Something of Óengus' view on secular politics appears to come through in his prologue to the Félire. In a number of stanzas, the deserted sites of TaraHill of Tara
The Hill of Tara , located near the River Boyne, is an archaeological complex that runs between Navan and Dunshaughlin in County Meath, Leinster, Ireland...
, Crúachan
Cruachan
Cruachan may refer to:*Cruachan, Ireland, the ancient capital of the kingdom of Connacht in Ireland*Cruachan , an Irish Celtic metal band*Ben Cruachan, a Scottish mountain...
(also Crúachu) and Emain Machae are interpreted as the former sites of fortresses in which powerful rulers resided before the coming of Christianity. These pagan seats of power are contrasted with the great ecclesiastical centres of Ireland which were flourishing in Óengus' own time, such as Armagh
Armagh
Armagh is a large settlement in Northern Ireland, and the county town of County Armagh. It is a site of historical importance for both Celtic paganism and Christianity and is the seat, for both the Roman Catholic Church and the Church of Ireland, of the Archbishop of Armagh...
and Clonmacnoise
Clonmacnoise
The monastery of Clonmacnoise is situated in County Offaly, Ireland on the River Shannon south of Athlone....
. According to the historian T.M. Charles-Edwards, Óengus was responding to the military domination of overlords of his day, commenting that worldly glory is transient, while spiritual power is enduring. To similar effect, Óengus also holds up the example of Máel Ruain, who continues to offer support and comfort after his death, against that of the contemporary warrior-kings Donnchadh and Bran Ardchenn, whose strong exercise of power meant no such thing after theirs.
Martyrology of Tallaght
It has been suggested that Óengus was actively involved in the compilation if not the composition of the augmented Martyrology of TallaghtMartyrology of Tallaght
The Martyrology of Tallaght, which is closely related to the Félire Oengusso or Martyrology of Óengus the Culdee, is an eighth- or ninth-century martyrology, a list of saints and their feast days assembled by Máel Ruain and/or Óengus the Culdee at Tallaght Monastery, near Dublin...
. This was a work of Northumbrian provenance, probably from Lindisfarne
Lindisfarne
Lindisfarne is a tidal island off the north-east coast of England. It is also known as Holy Island and constitutes a civil parish in Northumberland...
, which first passed through Iona
Iona
Iona is a small island in the Inner Hebrides off the western coast of Scotland. It was a centre of Irish monasticism for four centuries and is today renowned for its tranquility and natural beauty. It is a popular tourist destination and a place for retreats...
and Bangor
Bangor, County Down
Bangor is a large town in County Down, Northern Ireland. It is a seaside resort on the southern side of Belfast Lough and within the Belfast Metropolitan Area. Bangor Marina is one of the largest in Ireland, and holds Blue Flag status...
, where Irish scribes began to make some additions. The manuscript (now lost) finally arrived in Tallaght, where it received the majority of its Irish additions. It was written by someone of Óengus's learning and literary skill at Tallaght and there are strong indications that this was Óengus himself: first of all, the sources named by Óengus in the epilogue to the Félire (see above) would make more sense if these were the materials used for the Martyrology of Tallaght; second, a number of saints whom the same epilogue claims to have included are found in the Martyrology of Tallaght, but not in the actual Félire.
Death
According to the Martyrology of Tallaght, Óengus's feast-day, and hence the date of his death, is 11 March. The poem beginning Aíbind suide sund amne claims that he died on a Friday in Dísert Bethech ("The Birchen Hermitage"). Together, these have produced a range of possible dates such as 819, 824 and 830, but pending the dates of the martyrologies, no conclusive answer can be offered. His metrical Life tells that he was buried in his birth-place Clonenagh.Reputation
Becoming a hermitHermit
A hermit is a person who lives, to some degree, in seclusion from society.In Christianity, the term was originally applied to a Christian who lives the eremitic life out of a religious conviction, namely the Desert Theology of the Old Testament .In the...
, he lived for a time at Disert-beagh, where, on the banks of the Nore, he is said to have communed with the angel
Angel
Angels are mythical beings often depicted as messengers of God in the Hebrew and Christian Bibles along with the Quran. The English word angel is derived from the Greek ἄγγελος, a translation of in the Hebrew Bible ; a similar term, ملائكة , is used in the Qur'an...
s. From his love of prayer
Prayer
Prayer is a form of religious practice that seeks to activate a volitional rapport to a deity through deliberate practice. Prayer may be either individual or communal and take place in public or in private. It may involve the use of words or song. When language is used, prayer may take the form of...
and solitude he was named the "Culdee
Culdee
Céli Dé or Culdees were originally members of ascetic Christian monastic and eremitical communities of Ireland, Scotland and England in the Middle Ages. The term is used of St. John the Apostle, of a missioner from abroad recorded in the Annals of the Four Masters at the year 806, and of Óengus...
"; in other words, the Ceile Dé, or "Servant of God." Not satisfied with his hermitage, which was only a mile from Clonenagh, and, therefore, liable to be disturbed by students or wayfarers, Óengus removed to a more solitary abode eight miles distant. This sequestered place, two miles southeast of the present town of Maryborough, was called after him "the Desert of Óengus", or "Dysert-Enos". Here he erected a little oratory on a gentle eminence among the Dysert Hills, now represented by a ruined
Ruins
Ruins are the remains of human-made architecture: structures that were once complete, as time went by, have fallen into a state of partial or complete disrepair, due to lack of maintenance or deliberate acts of destruction...
and deserted Protestant church.
His earliest biographer (9th century) relates the wonderful austerities practiced by St. Óengus in his "desert", and though he sought to be far from the haunts of men, his fame attracted a stream of visitors. The result was that the good saint abandoned his oratory at Dysert-Enos, and, after some wanderings, came to the monastery of Tallaght, near Dublin, then governed by St. Maelruain. He entered as a lay brother
Lay brother
In the most common usage, lay brothers are those members of Catholic religious orders, particularly of monastic orders, occupied primarily with manual labour and with the secular affairs of a monastery or friary, in contrast to the choir monks of the same monastery who are devoted mainly to the...
, concealing his identity, but St. Maelruain soon discovered him and collaborated with him on the Martyrology of Tallaght.
Primary sources
Stokes' edition includes the late prefaces in the:- Martyrology of TallaghtMartyrology of TallaghtThe Martyrology of Tallaght, which is closely related to the Félire Oengusso or Martyrology of Óengus the Culdee, is an eighth- or ninth-century martyrology, a list of saints and their feast days assembled by Máel Ruain and/or Óengus the Culdee at Tallaght Monastery, near Dublin...
, ed. Richard Irvine Best and Hugh Jackson Lawlor, The Martyrology of Tallaght. From the Book of Leinster and MS. 5100–4 in the Royal Library. Brussels, 1931. - Aíbind suide sund amne ("Delightful to sit here thus"), biographic poem by another Óengus, preserved in Leabhar BreacLeabhar BreacLeabhar Breac is an Irish language publisher based in Indreabhán in the County Galway Gaeltacht of Cois Fharraige.Specialising in fiction, and named after the 15th century manuscript Leabhar Breac, the publishing house was founded in 1995 by Darach Ó Scolaí and Caomhán Ó Scolaí...
p. 106b (following the Félire Óengusso). Both James Carney and David Dumville (Éigse 33) have made clear the need for a new critical edition.- ed.
- ed. and tr. Stokes, The Martyrology of Oengus the Culdee. xxiv-vi.
- Translation of four stanzas in Selections from ancient Irish poetry, ed. Kuno Meyer. Dublin, 1911. p. 86.
- Poem in the Book of LeinsterBook of LeinsterThe Book of Leinster , is a medieval Irish manuscript compiled ca. 1160 and now kept in Trinity College, Dublin, under the shelfmark MS H 2.18...
(12th century), p. 354, which lists 24 saints buried at Clonenagh, ed. Pádraig Ó Riain, Corpus genealogiarum sanctorum Hiberniae. Dublin, 1988. 92-3. - Kenney, James F. Sources for the Early History of Ireland. Vol 1 (Ecclesiastical). p. 471 no. 263. Columbia NY, 1929 (reprinted and with a new preface and foreword: Dublin, 1993).
Secondary sources
- Carney, James. "Language and Literature to 1169." In A New History of Ireland. Prehistoric and early Ireland, ed. Dáibhí Ó Cróinín. Oxford, 2005. 451-510.
- Charles-Edwards, T.M. Early Christian Ireland. Cambridge, 2000.
- Dumville, David N. "Félire Óengusso. Problems of dating a monument of Old Irish." ÉigseÉigseÉigse: A Journal of Irish Studies is an academic journal devoted to the study of the Irish language and literature. It started life in 1923 as part of an initiative by the Senate of the National University of Ireland to use the Adam Boyd Simpson Fund for the publication of an Irish studies journal...
33 (2002): 19-34. - Ó Riain, Pádraig. "Óengus of Tallaght (fl. c.830)." Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford University Press, 2004. Accessed 27 Jan 2009.
- Ó Riain, Pádraig. "The Tallaght martyrologies redated." Cambridge Medieval Celtic Studies 20 (1990): 21–38.
- Thurneysen, Rudolf. "Die Abfassung des Félire von Oengus." ZCP 6 (1908): 6-8.
Further reading
- Colgan, John. Acta Sanctorum HiberniaeActa Sanctorum HiberniaeActa Sanctorum Hiberniae is the abbreviated title of a celebrated work on the Irish saints by the Franciscan, John Colgan . The full title runs as follows: Acta Sanctorum veteris et majoris Scotiae, seu Hiberniae, Sanctorum Insulae, partim ex variis per Europam MSS. codd...
. Leuven, 1645. 579-83. - Hennig, John. "The Félire Oengusso and the Martyrologium Wandalberti." Medieval Studies 17 (1955): 227-33.
- Hennig, John. "The notes on non-Irish saints in the manuscripts of Félire Óengusso." Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy C 75 (1975): 119-59.
- Hennig, John. "Studies in the Latin texts of the Martyrology of Tallaght, of Félire Oengusso and of Félire húi Gormain." Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy C 69 (July 1970): 45-112.
- Ó Riain, Pádraig. Feastdays of the Saints: A History of Irish Martyrologies. Subsidia Hagiographica 86. Brussels: Société des Bollandistes, 2006.
- Ó Riain, Pádraig. "The martyrology of Óengus: the transmission of the text." Studia HibernicaStudia HibernicaStudia Hibernica is an annual academic journal for Irish studies, focusing on the wide spectrum of Irish language, literature, history, archaeology and folklore...
31 (2000–2001): 221-42. - Ó Riain, Pádraig. Anglo-Saxon Ireland: the evidence of the martyrology of Tallaght. H.M. Chadwick Memorial Lecture. Cambridge, 1993.
- Schneiders, Marc. "'Pagan past and Christian present' in Félire óengusso." In Cultural identity and cultural integration: Ireland and Europe in the early Middle Ages, ed. Doris R. Edel. Blackrock (Co Dublin): Four Courts, 1995. 157-69.
Attribution