S

Foillan was a brother of St. Fursey and St. Ultan.

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October 30 · Feast

S Foillan

S Foillan, B.M

Foillan was a brother of St. Fursey and St. Ultan.

Traditional feast

October 30
1914 / pre-1969 calendar, per Baring-Gould (1897)

Current feast

Not verified yet

Represents

Feast

Their story

Adapted in modern English from Alban Butler's Lives of the Saints · little is known

Foillan was a brother of St. Fursey and St. Ultan. He was abbot of Knobersburg in the kingdom of the East Angles and later came to Nivelle under St. Gertrude.

On 31 October he was murdered in the forest of Sonec, and his relics were taken to Fosse. Butler and Baring-Gould agree on 655.

Early life

The book says little or nothing about early life. This is how the account begins.

Thin entry · the 1897 book gives only 0 words. We have not filled the gap with invented detail.

What they represent

How they teach us to live

Drawn from themes in the original account

Keep their day. Remember them on October 30 with a short prayer, and ask for their help.

Read more

The full original · 0 words

Read Baring-Gould’s full account

Baring-Gould’s sources: Roman, Belgian, Gallican, and Benedictine Martyrologies. Author rity: — The Life of S. Fursey by an early anonymous writer. There is a Life of S. Foillan by Philip Harveng, d. 1180, but it is too late to be of any use.] S. Foillan and S. Ultan were the brothers of the more famous S. Fursey, the sons of Fintan, son of Finnloga, prince of South Munster. Their mother was Gelges, daughter of ^Edhfinn, prince of Hy-Briun in Connaught The brothers accompanied Fursey to England, and were honourably received by Sigebert, king of the East Saxons, who gave them Burghcastle in Suffolk, where they might erect a monastery. After a while S. Fursey, wishing to lead a more retired life, gave up the care of the monastery to his brother Foillan and two priests, Gobban and Dichull. S. Fursey died on January 16, a.d. 650; and not long after his death S. Foillan went to Brabant with his brother Ultan, having been invited, together with other Irishmen, to setde there, by S. Gertrude, abbess of Nivelles. Aided by the munificence of S. Gertrude, they erected a monastery for the accommodation of Irish immigrants at Fosses, not far distant from Nivelles. Ultan remained there in charge of the establishment, but Foillan stayed at Nivelles to superintend the spiritual and temporal affairs of the nunnery. Some time after, Foillan being on his way to Fosses to see his brother, was met in the forest of Soignies by robbers, who plundered and murdered him and his three disciples who accompanied him. This took place on the 30th October. As the bodies had been thrown into a thick part of the forest, they were not discovered till the 16th of January, on which day the Invention of S. Foillan is commemorated. His remains were buried at Fosses. He is called a bishop, and it is probable that he was really one, but not that he was consecrated, as some have asserted, by Martin I. at Rome.

Feast days

Feast: October 30

Nine days · Free

Pray the novena
with us.

One short email a day for nine days. The day's prayer, a line from S Foillan's story, and a nudge to keep going.

Also on October 30
E

St. Elfleda

October 30 · Virgin, Abbess
S

St. Serapion of Antioch

October 30 · Bishop
T

St. Theonestus

October 30 · Bishop, Martyr
← All 1726 saints in the library
Sources & notes

Feast-day sources

Story sources

Sources

Credits

From Sabine Baring-Gould, The Lives of the Saints, new edition in 16 vols. (London: John C. Nimmo, 1897–98); text from the Internet Archive scan (OCR, lightly cleaned; errors possible). Public domain.

From Sabine Baring-Gould, The Lives of the Saints, new edition in 16 vols. (London: John C. Nimmo, 1897–98); text from the Internet Archive scan (OCR, lightly cleaned; errors possible). Public domain in the United States. Reproduced unedited, except for short bracketed notes in grey that we added to explain names and terms (“S.” is the old abbreviation for Saint). Some history and judgments reflect 19th-century scholarship.