March 21 St. Enda of Arran and St. Fanchea of Rossory

These two are brother and sister Irish royalty in 500s. St. Facnchea was called early to religious life. She founded a convent in Rossery and was the first abbess. She was a bit if a big sister, knowing what was best for her little brother.

An Irish prince, St. Edna was the son of King Conall Derg of Ergall Ulster. Brother-in-law to King Oengus of Munster, Ireland. He trained as a soldier as a young man and took over the throne upon his father’s death, but gave up his dreams of conquest to marry and settle in as the next king. Big sister Franchea set him up with a beautiful young virgin, but she died after the pledge had been made but before St. Enda could lay eyes on her. Upon arriving at her deathbed, St. Fanchea  conducted her brother to her bedside. Uncovering the departed maiden’s features, Fanchea exclaimed, “Look now upon the face of her whom thou hast desired.” Enda, struck with horror, cried out, “It is at present sadly pale and ghastly.” “And so shall your features hereafter be,” replied the dead virgin. Then Fanchea spoke to him regarding the pains of Hell, and dwelt also on the joys of Heaven, until the young man burst into tears. The trauma and of the lecture by his older sister besides the talking corpse threw St. Edna into a period of despair.  His dear sister, not so gently, suggested maybe becoming a priest would cure him of his dark emotions. She sent him to her choice of seminaries – Rosnat Monastery in Britain. It is said that on the day that he would leave, a strange man came to him in a vision and told him of an isle where he would find peace, Innish. He made a pilgrimage to Rome and was finally ordained there. On a visit to see her baby brother in Britain, St. Fanchea decided it was time for St. Edna to move yet again. Big Sis advised that as God had gifted him with talents, he ought to exercise these among the people of his native land, and thus enhance doubly their value. St. Edna was a dutiful little brother (very hard to find amongst Irish families) and did as his sister wished.
Returning to Ireland, Enda built churches at Drogheda, and a monastery in the Boyne valley. Thereafter (about 484) he begged his brother-in-law, the King Oengus of Munster, to let him go to the wild and barren isle of Innish in Galway Bay. Oengus wanted to give him a fertile plot in the Golden Vale, but Innish suited Enda’s ideal for religious life. It was in the Aran Islands that St. Edna’s legacy came into being. St. Fanchea had recently died, so he was free to set up the monastery however he wanted.  Enda divided the island of Innish into 8 parts, in each of which he built a “place of refuge”, and under his rule the abbey of St. Enda became a burning light of sanctity for centuries in Western Europe.  These structures were the chosen home of a group of poor and devoted men under Saint Enda. He taught them to love the hard rock, the dripping cave, and the barren earth swept by the western gales. They were “men of the caves”, and “also men of the Cross”.

Some of the people who spent time in prayer living on Innish included Saint Ciaran of Clonmacnoise, who came there first as a youth to grind corn, and would have remained there for life but for Enda’s insistence that his true work lay elsewhere, reluctant though he was to part with him; Saint Finnian, who left St Enda and founded the monastery of Moville (where Saint Columba spent part of his youth) and who afterwards became bishop of Lucca in Tuscany, Italy; Among them also was Saint Brendan the Voyager, Saint Columba of Iona, Jarlathof Tuam, and Carthach the Elder. These and many others formed a great and valiant company who spent time in the beehives and caves establish by St. Edna.

When Saint Brendan returned from his travels far to the West, his first stop was Innish.  He presented the only gift he bought back from his travels, a stone with an eye carved on one end and a rune on the other. Legend has it was given him by a dwarf far to the West. This stone floats if placed on water and the gem points to the Last Isle of the West. The rune is a variant of the Norse Reith rune which resembles the letter r. This is called the “Styrimathr” (STEE-ri-mah-thur) meaning in Norse “the Captain of the Seas path”. It has been continuously carried from then until today,  in a small silk purse by the Abbot of the Abbey of St. Enda.

The two siblings, so connected in life, both died on March 21, though in different years.

Sie Note #1: For those familiar with Irish history, Padraig Pearse named his National School after St. Edna. (Scoil Éanna in Gaelic)

Side Note #2: For those interested in modern hermits and monk on Innishmore today, it is worth reading the web page of Dara Mollow.