- Finnian of Moville
St Finnian or St. Uinniau of
Moville (495 - 589), was aChristian missionary who became a legendary figure in medievalIreland . He should not to be confused with his namesakeFinnian of Clonard . Traditional scholarship has it that he was a descendant ofFiatach the Fair and born inUlster , however this has been questioned lately by the American CelticistThomas Owen Clancy . He apparently studied underColman of Dromore andMochae of Noendrum , and subsequently atCandida Casa (Whithorn ), whence he proceeded toRome , returning to Ireland in 540 with an integral copy ofSt. Jerome 'sVulgate . He was the founder of a famous school ofDruim Fionn at about this time. Legend has it that he tried to convertTuan mac Cairill , a mythical figure who was the last survivor of thePartholonian race, and that while doing so had the famous "Scéal Tuáin maic Cairell" recounted to him. This is a text about takings of Ireland, a source for the famous "Lebor Gabála Érenn ".Finnian's most distinguished pupil at Moville was
Columba . Tradition has it that Columba's surreptitious copying of apsalter led eventually to his exile onIona . What remains of the copy, together with the casket that contains it, is now in theNational Museum of Ireland . 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 byCathbar O'Donnell in 1084, but the outer is fourteenth century work.Finnian wrote a rule for his monks, also a penitential code, the canons of which were published by Wasserschleben in 1851.
References
* (1) In 2001
Thomas Owen Clancy , aCelticist at theUniversity of Glasgow , argued that St Finnian andSt Ninian were one and the same person, and that the confusion is due no less than to an 8th-century scribal spelling error. There is no consensus yet on this topic.*Saint Finnian of Moville's feast-day as it stands is the 10th of September.
External links
* [http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/06077a.htm Catholic Enclyclopedia] - St. Finnian of Moville
References
* Clancy, T. O. "The real St Ninian," in "Innes Review", 52 (2001), pp. 1-28
* MacKillop, James, "A Dictionary of Celtic Mythology", (Oxford, 1998)
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