Aengus the Culdee
| Óengus of Tallaght | |
|---|---|
| Born | unknown Clonenagh, Ireland |
| Died | possibly 11 March 824 |
| Venerated in | Roman Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox Church |
| Feast | 11 March |
Óengus mac Óengobann, better known as Saint Óengus of Tallaght or Óengus the Culdee, was an Irish bishop, reformer and writer, who flourished in the first quarter of the 9th century and is held to be the author of the Félire Óengusso ("Martyrology of Óengus") and possibly the Martyrology of Tallaght.
Little of Óengus's life and career is reliably attested. The most important sources include internal evidence from the Félire, a later Middle Irish preface to that work, a biographic poem beginning Aíbind suide sund amne ("Delightful to sit here thus") and the entry for his feast-day inserted into the Martyrology of Tallaght.
He was known as a son of Óengoba and grandson of Oíblén, who is mentioned in a later genealogy as belonging to the Dál nAraidi, a ruling kindred in the north-east of Ireland. A late account prefaced to the Martyrology asserts that Óengus was born in Clúain Édnech or Eidnech (Clonenagh, Co. Laois), not far from the present town of Mountrath, and brought up at the monastic school founded there by St Fintan, where also his body was buried. The claim may be spurious, since the Félire itself accords no such importance to the monastic foundation or its patron saint St Fintan.
It is sufficiently clear that Óengus became a cleric, since he describes himself as such in the Félire using the more humble appellation of "pauper" (pauperán and deidblén in Old Irish). He was an important member of the community founded by St. Máel Ruain at Tallaght (now in South Dublin), in the borderlands of Leinster. Máel Ruain is described as his mentor (aite, also "fosterfather"). There are reasons for believing that Óengus was ordained to the office of bishop, a denomination which is first assigned to him in a list of saints inserted into the Martyrology of Tallaght (see below). If so, his influence may well have extended to the reformed communities which were associated with Tallaght, many of which were founded in Óengus's lifetime. In fact, two such monasteries in Co. Limerick and Co. Laois, both of them known as Dísert Óengusa ("Óengus's Hermitage"), bear his memory in name.
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