Saint Who?
Saints Who Were Poets
Saint Manchán of Lemanaghan
Religious († c. 664)Feast: January 20
Manchán lived in Ireland during the 7th century. Possibly of royal descent, he was a learned and kindly monk in the monastery of Clonmacnoise in County Offaly. A chieftain gave the monks more land. It is said he attributed his victory in battle to the monks’ intercession. His gift came with the condition that some monks settle there.
Manchán was chosen to found the new monastery. He wrote a poem, “Manchán’s Wish,” describing his ideal of monastic life. “I wish, O Son of the living God, O ancient, eternal King/ For a hidden little hut in the wilderness that it may be my dwelling.” The location of the monastery may have been less than ideal, surrounded by treacherous bogs. It came to be known as Lemanaghan (from Liath Mancháin, Manchán’s gray lands).
Regardless, Manchán made a success of the place. His mother, Saint Mella, joined him, living as an anchoress nearby. According to tradition, he also had a cow that gave an unlimited supply of milk, facilitating his enormous generosity to the poor. After Manchán died around the year 664, his monastery became a popular pilgrimage site. And as recently as the 1990s, the farmers of the Lemanaghan region would give away their excess milk in honor of Manchán.
Compassionate Father, through the intercession
of Saint Manchán, may monastic communities
thrive in simplicity and generosity.
