SAINT FEAST DAY 11 MARCH: ST AENGUS, HERMIT

 

ALL SAINTS CELEBRATED IN MARCH

Saints celebrated on the 11th of March

WELCOME!

Prayer to the Angels and the Saints

Heavenly Father, in praising Your Angels and Saints we praise Your glory, for by honouring them we honour You, their Creator. Their splendour shows us Your greatness, which infinitely surpasses that of all creation.

In Your loving providence, You saw fit to send Your Angels to watch over us. Grant that we may always be under their protection and one day enjoy their company in heaven.

Heavenly Father, You are glorified in Your Saints, for their glory is the crowning of Your gifts. You provide an example for us by their lives on earth, You give us their friendship by our communion with them, You grant us strength and protection through their prayer for the Church, and You spur us on to victory over evil and the prize of eternal glory by this great company of witnesses.

Grant that we who aspire to take part in their joy may be filled with the Spirit that blessed their lives, so that, after sharing their faith on earth, we may also experience their peace in heaven. Amen.

ST AENGUS, HERMIT

Saint Aengus (The Culdee) (also known as St Oengus) is an Irish saint who flourished in the last quarter of the eighth century, and is the author of the Felire, or Festology of the Saints. Born near Clonengh, Ireland, Aengus was educated at the monastic school, founded there by St Fintan, not far from the present town of Mountrath. Becoming a hermit, he lived for a time at Disert-beagh, where, on the banks of the Nore, he is said to have communed with the angels. From his love of prayer and solitude he was named the "Culdee", or "Servant of God." 

HE CONCEALED HIS IDENTITY

Not satisfied with his hermitage, which was only a mile from Clonenagh, and, therefore, liable to be disturbed by students or wayfarers, Aengus removed to a more solitary abode eight miles distant. This sequestered place, two miles southeast of the present town of Maryborough, was called after him "the Desert of Aengus", or "Dysert-Enos". Here he erected a little oratory on a gentle eminence. Eventually he came to the monastery of Tallaght, near Dublin, then governed by St Maelruain. He entered as a lay-brother, concealing his identity, but St Maelruain soon discovered him, and collaborated with him on the work known as the "Martyrology of Tallaght", about the year 790. This is a prose catalogue of Irish saints, and is the oldest of the Irish martyrologies. 

A HOLY DEATH

About the year 805 St Aengus finished his famous Felire, a poetical work on the saints of Ireland. He passed away on Friday, March 11, 824. He was buried in Clonenagh. 

(Excerpts from Catholic Encyclopedia, 1913)

⬅️ Litany of the Irish Saints