Ten Other Major Irish Saints

Ireland, which was once known as the land of saints and scholars, has bred numerous saints, many of whom left their native country to Christianize the rest of Europe in the same fashion as St. Patrick.

Here are but a few:

  1. St. Aidan
    Feast day: Aug. 31
    The founder of a great center of Celtic Christianity.
  2. St. Brendan
    Feast day: May 16
    Patron of boatmen, sailors, travelers, and whales.
  3. St. Brigid
    Feast day: Feb. 1
    Patron of babies, blacksmiths, cows and dairy workers, Ireland, midwives, poets, sailors, scholars, and travelers.
  4. St. Columba
    Feast day: June 9
    Patron of bookbinders, Ireland, poets, and Scotland
  5. St. Columban
    Feast day: Nov. 23
    It is no wonder that this saint’s emblem is the bear, as he seems to have had a knack for causing trouble.
  6. St. Ita
    Feast day: Jan. 15
    The revered teacher of St. Brendan.
  7. St. Kevin
    Feast day: June 3
    Patron of blackbirds, the archdiocese of Dublin, Ireland, and Glendalough, Ireland.
  8. St. Kieran
    Feast day: Sept. 9
    A visionary who founded a great Irish monastery.
  9. St. Malachy
    Feast day: Nov. 3
    The first Irish saint to be canonized by a pope, in 1199.
  10. St. Oliver Plunket
    Feast day: July 11
    The last Catholic martyr to die at Tyburn, he was canonized by Pope Paul VI in 1975.