Auxilius of Ireland

Infobox Saint
name= Saint Iserninus
birth_date=
death_date= ~459
feast_day= ("see below")
venerated_in= Roman Catholic Church


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death_place= Ireland
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Saint Auxilius, or "Usaille" [Sabine Baring-Gould, "The Lives of the Saints" (J. Hodges, 1898), 275.] , (d. ca. 459) was an early Christian missionary of Ireland who is associated with Saint Patrick, Saint Seachnaill (Secundinus), and Saint Iserninus in establishing Christianity in the south of that island. [Thomas McNeill, Helena Margaret Gamer, "Medieval Handbooks of Penance" (Columbia University Press, 1990), 76n.]

He may have been ordained a deacon at Auxerre with Patrick and Iserninus. [Thomas McNeill, Helena Margaret Gamer, "Medieval Handbooks of Penance" (Columbia University Press, 1990), 76n.] Sabine Baring-Gould believes that Iserninus and Auxilius were Celts. “They would not have been of much use to [Patrick] had they not been fluent speakers of the Celtic language, and we may assume that they were Celts, either from Armorica, Cornwall, or Wales.” [Sabine Baring-Gould, "The Lives of the Saints" (J. Hodges, 1898), 275.]

He is called a brother of Seachnaill. [ [http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/13671b.htm CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: St. Sechnall (Secundinus) ] ] According to the "Catholic Encyclopedia", Seachnaill was the son of Restitutus, a Lombard, and Liamain, sister of St. Patrick. He was one of nine brothers, eight of whom became bishops in Ireland. His early life and training are obscure, but he appears to have studied in Gaul, and to have accompanied St. Patrick to Ireland in 432.

The first documentary evidence that exists is an entry in the "Irish Annals" recording the arrival of St. Sechnall and his brother St. Auxilius "to help St. Patrick". [ [http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/13671b.htm CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: St. Sechnall (Secundinus) ] ]

He is called the founder of the church at Killashee.

Auxilius died around 459 but his date of death is also given as 454 or 455. [Sabine Baring-Gould, "The Lives of the Saints" (J. Hodges, 1898), 275.]

Veneration

His feast day varies in old martyrologies. In the Martyrology of Gorman, his feast day is February 7. [Sabine Baring-Gould, "The Lives of the Saints" (J. Hodges, 1898), 275.] In the Book of Obits, of Christ Church, his feast day is October 19, but other martyrologies give the feast day of April 16 or September 16. In the martyrology of Tallaght it is March 19 but in the Annals of the Four Masters, the text gives August 27 as the day of Auxilius’ death. [Sabine Baring-Gould, "The Lives of the Saints" (J. Hodges, 1898), 275.]

References