Enda of Aran

Saint Enda of Aran (Éanna, Éinne or Endeus, died c. 530) is an Irish saint in the Roman Catholic Church. His feast day is March 21.

Overview

According to the Martyrdom of Oengus, Enda was a warrior, and the King of Oriel. He visited his sister, Saint Fanchea, an abbess, who tried to persuade him to lay down his arms. He agreed if she would give him a young girl in the convent for a wife. The girl she promised turned out to have just died, and Enda only saw his fiancée as a corpse. Greatly affected by this, he went to study for the priesthood.

He returned to Ireland, and built churches at Drogheda. He was given land in the Aran Islands by his brother-in-law, the King of Cashel. There he founded one of the first monasteries in Ireland, the monastery of Killeaney on Aran Mor, as well as several other across the island, and has since been known as the father of Irish monasticism, along with Finnian of Clonard. The division of Aran Mor in two parts, one half assigned to the monastery of Killeany, the western half, to such of his disciples as chose "to erect permanent religious houses on the island."^[1]

Patrick Pearse named his school for young boys St. Enda's School in honour of the saint in 1908. Ballyboden has a Gaelic Athletic Association club named after him, Ballyboden St. Enda's.

Early life and conversion

Enda was an Irish prince, son of Conall Derg of Oriel (Ergall) in Ulster. Legend has it that the soldier Enda was converted by his sister, Saint Fanchea, later abbess of Killeaney. He renounced his dreams of conquest and decided to marry one of the girls in his sister's convent. When his fiancé died suddenly, he surrendered his throne and a life of worldly glory to mourn his loss. Such was his pain that he began to lose any interest in life. It is said that on the day that he would leave this mortal plane due to the grief of loss, a strange man came to him in a vision and told him of an isle where he would find peace, Innish. He made a pilgrimage to Rome and was ordained there. These stories told of the early life of Saint Enda and his sister are unhistorical, but the rest is not. More authentic vitae survive at Tighlaghearny at Inishmore, where he was buried.

Monastery in Aran Islands

It is said that Enda learned the principles of monastic life at Rosnat in Britain, which was probably Saint David's foundation in Pembrokeshire or Saint Ninian's in Galloway. Returning to Ireland, Enda built churches at Drogheda, and a monastery in the Boyne valley. It is uncertain how much of Enda's rule was an adaptation of that of Rosnat.

Thereafter (about 484) he begged his brother-in-law, the King Oengus of Munster, to let him go to the wild and barren isle of Innish in Galway Bay. Oengus wanted to give him a fertile plot in the Golden Vale, but Innish suited Enda's ideal for religious life. On Innish he established the monastery of Enda, which is regarded as the first Irish monastery in the strict sense. There they lived a hard life of manual labor, prayer, fasting, and study of the Scriptures. It is said that no fire was ever allowed to warm the cold stone cells even if "cold could be felt by those hearts so glowing with love of God."

Enda divided the island into 8 parts, in each of which he built a "place of refuge", and under his rule the abbey of St. Enda became a burning light of sanctity for centuries in Western Europe. Cattle, goats, and horses now huddle and shiver in the storm under many of the ruins of old walls where once men lived and prayed. Most survive as coastal ruined towers. These structures were the chosen home of a group of poor and devoted men under Saint Enda. He taught them to love the hard rock, the dripping cave, and the barren earth swept by the western gales. They were "men of the caves", and "also men of the Cross", who, remembering that their Lord was born in a manger and had nowhere to lay His head, followed the same hard way.

Today, the primary industry on Aran lies in tourism. Mini-buses and horse-drawn carriages carry curious western Europeans to religious sites and scenic vistas. Traditional music may be heard in the pubs alongside rock and jazz. Contrary to popular belief, there are no sheep on Inis Mor. Although there are some older skilled hand-knitters, the majority of Aran sweaters are made of imported wool and produced elsewhere. Although many fish are caught in local waters, they may not be sold on the island, rather are taken to the fish market in Rosaveal. There is also no bakery or butcher shop on the island, and the many cattle are shipped to the mainland to be sold as meat, while the goats are employed in keeping the grass short. Although several restaurants take advantage of the constant influx of tourists, food shopping on the island is limited to one small SPAR.

Influence on early Gaelic Church

Their coming produced excitement, and the Galway fishermen were kept busy rowing their small boats filled with curious sightseers across the intervening sea, for the fame of Enda was spreading far and wide. Enda's disciples were a noble band. There was Saint Ciaran of Clonmacnoise, who came there first as a youth to grind corn, and would have remained there for life but for Enda's insistence that his true work lay elsewhere, reluctant though he was to part with him. When he departed, the monks of Enda lined the shore as he knelt for the last time to receive Enda's blessing, and watched with wistful eyes the boat that bore him from them. In his going, they declared, their island had lost its flower and strength.

Another was Saint Finnian, who left St Enda and founded the monastery of Moville (where Saint Columba spent part of his youth) and who afterwards became bishop of Lucca in Tuscany, Italy. Among them also was Saint Brendan the Voyager, Saint Columba of Iona, Jarlath of Tuam, and Carthach the Elder. These and many others formed a great and valiant company who first learned in St Enda the many ways of God, and who from that rocky sanctuary carried the light of the Gospel into a pagan world.

Saint Brendan's stone

When Saint Brendan returned from his travels far to the West he thanked God at the Abbey and laid down the only gift he bought back from his travels, a stone with an eye carved on one end and a rune on the other. It was given him by a dwarf far to the West. This stone floats if placed on water and the gem points to the Last Isle of the West. The rune is a variant of the Norse Reith rune which resembles the letter r. This is called the “Styrimathr” (STEE-ri-mah-thur) meaning in Norse “the Captain of the Seas path”. It is carried in a small silk purse by the Abbot of the Abbey of St. Enda.

Enda's own words

The very wildness of Innish made it richer and dearer to those who lived there. They loved that island which "as a necklace of pearls, God has set upon the bosom of the sea," and all the more because they had been the scene of heathen worship. There will be left only three islands altogether, when Innish is sent from mortal planes. They carry lovely Irish names: Inishmore, Inishmaan, and Inisheer.

On the largest will stand Saint Enda's well and altar, and the round tower of the church where the bell was sounded which gave the signal that Saint Enda had taken his place at the altar. At the tolling of the bell the service of the Mass began in all the churches of the island.

"O, Innish," cried Columba in ecstasy, "the Rome of the pilgrims!" He never forgot his spiritual home which lay in the western sun and her pure earth sanctified by so many memories. Indeed, he said, so bright was her glory that the angels of God came down to worship in the churches of Innish on the day it disappeared.

See also

• Brendan
• Conainne

References

1. ^ Catholic Encyclopedia

Preceded by New creation

Abbot of Aran c.484? - c.540

Succeeded by Gaimdibhla

External links

• Catholic Encyclopedia 1908: "The Monastic School of Aran"
• Rev. Clifford Stevens, The One Year Book of Saints "St. Enda"

Persondata
Name	Aran, Enda Of
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth
Place of birth
Date of death
Place of death