From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   September 9th - St. Ciaran of Clonmacnoise   
   (also known as Kieran, Kyran, Ceran, Queran)   
      
   Born in Connacht, Ireland, c. 516; died at Clonmacnoise, c. 556. Saint   
   Ciaran is one of the 12 Apostles of Ireland. Born into a Meath family of   
   pre-Celtic descent, Saint Ciaran was the son of the carpenter Beoit. As a   
   boy he left home with a dun cow for company in order to be trained for the   
   monastic life in Saint Finnian's monastery at Clonard. At Clonard he taught   
   the daughter of the king of Cuala because he was considered the most learned   
   monk in the abbey.   
      
   About 534, he migrated to Inishmore in the Aran Islands, where he spent   
   seven years learning from Saint Enda and was ordained priest. He left after   
   having a vision that Enda interpreted for him. Ciaran travelled slowly   
   eastward, first Scattery Island where he learned from Saint Senan, then to   
   Isel in the center of Ireland. He was forced to leave here because of his   
   excessive charity and moved on to Inis Aingin (Hare Island).   
      
   He left there with eight companions and eventually settled at Clonmacnoise   
   on the Shannon River south of Athlone in the West Meath, where he built   
   Clonmacnoise monastery. He gave his monks an extremely austere rule, known   
   as the Law of Kieran. The saint is said to have lived only seven months   
   after founding the great school of Clonmacnoise, dying at the age of 34.   
   Clonmacnoise may have been one of the most famous in Ireland, attracting   
   students from throughout the country. The monastery survived many invasions   
   and raids until 1552, and there are still many notable ruins remaining from   
   its early days. Although Ciaran's shrine was plundered several times during   
   the medieval period, the Clonmacnoise crozier remains in the National Museum   
   in Dublin.   
      
   The following stories derive from the "Vitae Sanctorum Hiberniae" as   
   translated by Plummer, which includes the moving account of his death:   
      
   The abbot Ciaran "was like a burning lamp, of charity so rare that not only   
   did the fervor and devotion of his pitiful heart go out to the relieving of   
   the hunger of men, but he showed himself tireless in caring for the dumb   
   beasts in their necessity. . . ."   
      
   Ciaran left Saint Senan to live for a time with his brethren Luchen, abbot,   
   and Odran, prior, at Isel Monastery, where he was appointed almoner. One day   
   "Ciaran was reading out of doors in the graveyard in the sun, when he   
   suddenly spied some weary travellers going into the guest house; and   
   hurriedly getting up, he forgot his book, and it lay open out of doors until   
   the morrow.   
      
      
   "Meantime, as he busied himself settling his guests in their quarters and   
   bathing their feet and eagerly tending them, the night fell. In that same   
   night there fell great rains; but by God's will the open book was found dry   
   and sound; not a drop of rain had fallen upon it, and all the ground round   
   about it was damp. For which Saint Ciaran and his brethren gave Christ   
   praise. . . .   
   "One day, when Saint Ciaran was working in the field, there came to him a   
   poor man asking for alms. At that very hour a chariot with two horses had   
   been brought in offering to Saint Ciaran by a certain lord, the son of   
   Crimthann, King of Connaught; and these horses and chariot gave Ciaran to   
   this poor man.   
      
   "Now Saint Ciaran's brothers could not endure the vastness of his charity,   
   for every day he divided their substance among the poor, and so they said to   
   him, 'Brother, depart from us; for we cannot live in the same place with   
   thee and feed and keep our brethren for God, because of thy unbounded   
   lavishness.' To whom Saint Ciaran made reply: 'If I had remained in this   
   place, it would not have been Isel (that is, the low-lying): not low but   
   high, but great and honorable.'   
      
   "And with that Saint Ciaran blessed his brothers, and taking his wallet with   
   his books on his shoulder, he set out from thence. And when he had gone a   
   little way from the place, there met him on the path a stag, awaiting him in   
   all gentleness; and Saint Ciaran set his wallet on his back, and wherever   
   the stag went, the blessed Ciaran followed him. And the stag came to Lough   
   Ree, which is in the east of Connaught, and stood over against Hare Island,   
   which is in the lake.   
      
   "Then Saint Ciaran knew that God had called him to that island; and blessing   
   the stag, he sent him away, and went to that island and dwelt there. And the   
   fame of his holiness spread abroad, and from far and near good men came   
   together to him, and Saint Ciaran made them his monks. . . .   
      
   "And one day as they rowed across, Saint Ciaran's gospel which a brother was   
   holding carelessly fell into the lake, and for a great while it lay under   
   the waters and was not found. But one summer day the cows came into the   
   lake, to cool themselves in the water from the great heat of the sun; and   
   when they were coming out from it, the leather wallet in which the Gospel   
   had been put had caught about the foot of one of the cows, and so the cow   
   dragged the wallet with her back to dry land; and inside the sodden leather   
   the book of the Gospel was found, clean and dry and shining white, with no   
   trace of damp, as if it had been hidden in a library. For which Saint Ciaran   
   rejoiced, and his brethren with him. . . .   
      
   "And after these things came a man of Munster . . . Donnan by name, to   
   Saint, Ciaran dwelling on Hare Island. And to him one day Saint Ciaran said,   
   'What seek you, my father, in these parts?' And Saint Donnan replied,   
   'Master, I seek a place to abide in, where I may serve Christ in exile.'   
      
   "Then said Saint Ciaran, 'Abide, father, in this place; for I shall go to   
   some other; I know that this is not the place of my resurrection.' Then   
   Saint Ciaran gave Hare Island with his household goods to Saint Donnan, and   
   came to a place called Ard Mantain on the River Shannon; but he would not   
   dwell in that place, and said, 'I will not to dwell in this place, for here   
   there will be a great plenty of the things of this world, and worldly   
   delight; and heard would it be for the souls of my disciples to go to   
   heaven, if I should live here, for the place belongs to the men of this   
   world.'   
      
   "And thereafter Saint Ciaran left that place and came to the place which was   
   called of old Ard Tiprat, but is now called Clonmacnoise. And coming to the   
   place he said: 'Here shall I dwell; for many souls shall go forth from this   
   place to the Kingdom of God; and in this place shall my resurrection be.' So   
   there the blessed Ciaran lived with his disciples, and began to found a   
   great monastery there; and many found all sides came to him, and his parish   
   spread about him far; and the name of Saint Ciaran was famous throughout all   
   Ireland. And a famous and holy city rose in that place to the honor of Saint   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
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