Erc of Slane

Erc of Slane
Died	514
Feast	Ireland: 2 November; Cornwall: 31 October; Orthodox Church Calendar: 2 November

Erc mac Dega (Latin: Ercus; Cornish: Erth), also known incorrectly as Herygh, was an Irish saint who was active in Cornwall. Tradition ascribes the foundation of the original monastery on the Hill of Slane to him.

Erc, son of Dago, is believed to have been a pagan druid who was the only member of King Laoghaire's retinue to pay homage to Saint Patrick during the latter's confrontation with the druids on the Hill of Slane in 433. Dubhthach maccu Lugar also a druid who paid tribute to Patrick and converted. Erc mac Dega was converted to Christianity by Patrick and appointed the first Bishop of Slane. St. Erc’s foundation in Slane had an honourable history for at least six hundred years.

He may have arrived in Kerry soon after the mission of St. Benignus, who was sent by St. Patrick to preach to the tribes of West Munster in 450. This visit of St. Benignus was comparatively short, for he was called away to North Clare and Connaught, where his apostolic labours may have been more urgently needed. To complete the conversion of Kerry, St. Patrick sent Bishop Erc, who had spiritual charge not only of Kerry, but also of a wide range of south-west Limerick, in the heart of which lay the convent of Ita at Killeedy, over which he seems to have had jurisdiction.

Before Saint Patrick died in 461, he sent Bishop Erc southwards to Munster.

Around the year 484, Brigit of Kildare was his travelling companion to his native province.

He was the special friend and tutor of St. Brendan the Navigator, the patron of Kerry. Erc is said to have trained the young Brendan at his church in Ardfert in 512. Erc is also responsible for establishing the famous school at Slane, where King Dagobert II is said to had received his early education.

Dean Cogan, a native of Slane, in the nineteenth century called Erc a man of great sanctity and usefulness. Patrick is reputed to have said, "Bishop Erc – Everything he judged was just; Everyone that passes a just judgement – Shall receive the blessing of Bishop Erc".

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