These four brothers are said to have been the sons of Darerca, the saintly sister of S. Patrick, and his coadjutors in his apostolic labours in Ireland. [21] S. Mael, or Mel, who w
Read the essentials →These four brothers are said to have been the sons of Darerca, the saintly sister of S. Patrick, and his coadjutors in his apostolic labours in Ireland. [21] S. Mael, or Mel, who w
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These four brothers are said to have been sons of Darerca, sister of St. Patrick, and his helpers in Ireland. Mael (Mel) was bishop of Ardagh in Longford, where he and his aged aunt Lupita kept watch in prayer through the night in turns; he died about 488.
Melchu worked beside him and was made a bishop by Patrick. Mun founded the church of Forgney in Longford. Rioch retired to a monastery he founded on Inisbofinde in Lough Ree.
Thin entry · the 1897 book gives only 197 words. We have not filled the gap with invented detail.
These four brothers are said to have been the sons of Darerca, the saintly sister of S. Patrick, and his coadjutors in his apostolic labours in Ireland. [21] S. Mael, or Mel, who was ordained Bishop of Ardagh, in Longford, lived there in a poor cell with his mother's aged sister, Lupita.
Share your faith, in words and by example. Preaching and conversion are central here.
Pray a little every day. Prayer runs all through this account.
Make time for silence. Solitude and withdrawal to pray shape this life.
These four brothers are said to have been the sons of Darerca, the saintly sister of S. Patrick [apostle of Ireland (5th century)], and his coadjutors in his apostolic labours in Ireland. [21] S. Mael, or Mel, who was ordained Bishop of Ardagh, in Longford, lived there in a poor cell with his mother's aged sister, Lupita. She watched and prayed till midnight, and then woke her nephew, who continued the watch and prayer till day broke, and she retired to bed. S. Mel died about the year 488, and was buried at Ardagh. S. Melchu was the companion of his brother Mael, in his missionary labours and preaching, and lived with him in the monastery founded by Mael at Ardagh, and was ordained Bishop by his uncle Patrick. S. Mun, or Munis, after having for a long time accompanied S. Patrick, was raised to the episcopate, and founded the Church of Forgney in Longford, in the year 486. S. Rioch, after many labours in the Gospel, with the leave of S. Patrick, retired to the island of Inisbofinde in Lough-ree; and thus devoted the remainder of his days to a contemplative life, in a monastery, which he founded in the island.
Feast: February 6
One short email a day for nine days. The day's prayer, a line from Sts. Mael's story, and a nudge to keep going.
From Sabine Baring-Gould, The Lives of the Saints, new edition in 16 vols. (London: John C. Nimmo, 1897), digitized text from Project Gutenberg. Public domain.
From Sabine Baring-Gould, The Lives of the Saints, new edition in 16 vols. (London: John C. Nimmo, 1897), digitized text from Project Gutenberg. 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.
