A

Abban was the son of Cormac, king of Leinster, and of Mella, a sister of St. Ibar.

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October 27 · Abbot

St. Abban of Kill-Abban

St. Abban of Kill-Abban

Abban was the son of Cormac, king of Leinster, and of Mella, a sister of St. Ibar.

Traditional feast

October 27
1914 / pre-1969 calendar, per Baring-Gould (1897)

Current feast

Not verified yet

Represents

Abbot

Their story

Adapted in modern English from Alban Butler's Lives of the Saints · Baring-Gould original below · little is known

Abban was the son of Cormac, king of Leinster, and of Mella, a sister of St. Ibar. He founded the abbeys of Kilabbain and Magharnoidhe. Butler gives that he died toward the end of the sixth century; Baring-Gould, the text on this page, gives the 5th century. The sources differ.

Early life

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

Thin entry · the 1897 book gives only 32 words. We have not filled the gap with invented detail.

It is impossible to unravel the web of fable which passes as his Life, and to say what part of it belongs to which of the two saints of the same name.

What they represent

How they teach us to live

Drawn from themes in the original account

Keep their day. Remember them on October 27 with a short prayer, and ask for their help.

Read more

The full original · 32 words

Read Baring-Gould’s full account

Baring-Gould’s sources: Irish Martyrologies. That of Tamlach, the Felire of -®ngus, the Cashel Kalendar, and the Martyrologies of Marianos Gorman and of Donegal Some Kalendars on March 16, others on Oct 27. No doubt one Abban was on the first day, the second on the latter; but which saint was commemorated on which day cannot now be decided.] There exists a Life of S. Abban, but it is full of chronological confusion, and spreads the events of his life over at least two centuries, so that it is probable that there were two Abbans abbots, one of Kill-Abban, the other of Old Ross and Maghamoidhe in Wexford. The first Abban is said to have been son of Lagnon, of the house of Dal Cormac in Leinster, and of Caoinech Abbadh, sister of S. Ibar, in which case he must have been bom about 430; according to other accounts his mother was Mella, sister of S. Coemgen, which would make his date 520, but the Abban of Magharof Abra and Azba, but they lived in the 5th century, and the Senkessar makes him bishop in the reign of El-Ezguagua, in the and century. S, Abban, noidhe, and not the Abban of Kill-Abban, was probably the son of Mella.

It is impossible to unravel the web of fable which passes as his Life, and to say what part of it belongs to which of the two saints of the same name.

Feast days

Feast: October 27

Nine days · Free

Pray the novena
with us.

One short email a day for nine days. The day's prayer, a line from St. Abban of Kill-Abban's story, and a nudge to keep going.

Also on October 27
A

St. Abban of Magharnoidhe

October 27 · Abbot
E

St. Elesbaan

October 27 · King
← 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.