Iserninus

Infobox Saint
name= Saint Iserninus
birth_date=
death_date= ~456
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venerated_in= Roman Catholic Church


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death_place= Aghade, Ireland
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Saint Iserninus (or "Isernius") (ca. 456 AD) was an early Christian missionary of Ireland who is associated with Saint Patrick and Saint Auxilius in establishing Christianity in the south of that island. [Thomas McNeill, Helena Margaret Gamer, "Medieval Handbooks of Penance" (Columbia University Press, 1990), 76n.]

Saint Iserninus is thought to have been a Briton or Irishman, and is associated with the lands of the Uí Cheinnselaig in Leinster. Sabine Baring-Gould believes that Iserninus and Auxilius were Celts. “They would not have been of much use to [Patrick] had they not been fluent speakers of the Celtic language, and we may assume that they were Celts, either from Armorica, Cornwall, or Wales.” [Sabine Baring-Gould, "The Lives of the Saints" (J. Hodges, 1898), 275.]

He was originally named "Fith", and he may have been ordained a deacon at Auxerre with Patrick and Auxilius. [Thomas McNeill, Helena Margaret Gamer, "Medieval Handbooks of Penance" (Columbia University Press, 1990), 76n.]

Iserninus is referred to as a bishop in the "Annals of Ulster", and he is recorded as having begun his mission in 439 AD. [Thomas McNeill, Helena Margaret Gamer, "Medieval Handbooks of Penance" (Columbia University Press, 1990), 76n.]

A tradition at Aghade, County Carlow, holds that Iserninus founded a church there and was later buried there. [ [http://www.ballonvillage.com/Aghade%20church.htm Aghade church ] ] Iserninus is also called the founder of the church at Kilcullen.

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