St. Foillan
| Saint Foillan | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Born | Ireland |
| Died | seventh century Sonian Forest, Belgium |
| Venerated in | Roman Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox Church |
| Feast | 31 October (Diocese of Namur); 5 November (Dioceses of Mechlin and Tournai) |
| Attributes | =Represented with a crown at his feet to show that he despised the honours of the world |
| Patronage | Fosses; truss-makers, dentists, surgeons, and children's nurses. |
Saint Foillan (Faélán, Faolán, Foélán, French: Feuillien) is an Irish saint of the seventh century.
Foillan was the brother of Saints Ultan and Fursa. He is described as the 'uterine brother' of Fursa, meaning that they had the same mother but not the same father. Certain Latin Lives of Foillan therefore incorporate the Fursa ancestry into Foillan's origins: his mother is stated to have been Gelges, the Christian daughter of 'Aed Finn' (possibly meaning Áed mac Echach), King of Connacht. Fursey's father is stated to be Fintan son of Finlog (though whether of Momonia or of Mag Murthemni, the Bollandist editor finds the sources not in agreement).
Foillan, probably in company with Ultan, went with his brother Fursa when the latter retired to a lonely island, escaping from the multitudes who gathered around him, some of whom harboured ill-feeling towards him. From there, around 633, Fursa went through British territory to the Kingdom of East Anglia with a group of followers including Foillan and Ultan and priests named Gobán and Dicuill. There they were received kindly by King Sigeberht of East Anglia, who gave Fursa the site of a Roman shore-fort at a place called Cnobheresburg, to build a monastery. The monastery was built at the site usually identified as Burgh Castle or Gariannonum (formerly in Suffolk, now Norfolk), and it flourished between c. 634 and c. 650. The earliest source for Fursa and Foillan in East Anglia is the Vita Sancti Fursei: this was the primary source quoted by the Venerable Bede in his Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis Anglorum of 731.
Seized again with the desire for solitude, about 643 Fursa left the monastery of Cnobheresburg in the care of Foillan, while he (Fursa) went off to find his brother Ultan, who had previously gone to live in the East Anglian wilderness as a hermit: Fursa and Ultan lived together for a year in austerity and prayer. At the end of the year Fursa, seeing that East Anglia and the monastery were threatened by hostile invasions, decided to take his leave of East Anglia, and went into Gaul leaving Foillan now fully in charge of the monastery.
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