Saint Bathan

Saint Baithéne
Born	536 Ireland
Died	c. 600 Ireland
Venerated in	Roman Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox Church
Feast	October 6

Baithéne mac Brénaind (or Saint Baithen) was an Irish monk, specially selected by Saint Columba as one of the band of missionaries who set sail for what is now Scotland in 563.

Born in 536, the son of Brenan, he was an ardent disciple of Columba, and was appointed Abbot of Tiree, a monastery founded by Saint Comgall of Bangor. Saint Adomnán, in recording the death of ₥Columba, tells us that the dying words of the Apostle of Iona, as he was transcribing Psalm 53, were: "I must stop here, let Baithéne write what follows". Baithéne had been looked on as the most likely successor of Columba, and so it happened that on the death of that great apostle, in 596, the monks unanimously confirmed the choice of their founder. Baithéne was in high esteem as a wise counsellor, and his advice was sought by many Irish saints, including Saint Fintán of Taghmon.

Abbey St Bathans in Berwickshire (south east Scotland) may be named after him.

Most of what is known about him comes from Adomnán of Iona who wrote a biography of Iona's founder, St Columba, in which he included many stories about Baithéne. There is also a medieval text called the 'Life of St Baithene', which is very brief and appears to be based on Adomnan's writing; the oldest known text of this work also is not older than the 13th century.

His feast is celebrated on October 6. Originally the community at Iona celebrated Baithene and Columba together on the same feast day, which was on June 9.

Baithéne was the son of Brénainn mac Ferguso, who was the brother of the father of St Columba , making Baithéne a first cousin of Columba. Both he and Columba were great-grandchildren of Niall of the nine hostages, and were born into the family of Cenél Conaill branch of the Northern Uí Néill. They were thus both part of one of the ruling families of Ulster.

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Wikipedia