ST FINNIAN OF MOVILLE - 10 SEPTEMBER

 

ALL SAINTS CELEBRATED IN SEPTEMBER

Saints celebrated on the 10th of September

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 FINNIAN OF MOVILLE 

Saint Finnian of Moville was born about 495; he died 589. Though not so celebrated as his namesake of Clonard, he was the founder of a famous school about the year 540. 

HE WAS FOUNDER OF A FAMOUS SCHOOL

He studied under St Colman of Dromore and St Mochae of Noendrum (Mahee Island). He travelled to Rome, returning to Ireland in 540 with an integral copy of St Jerome’s Vulgate. 

THE PSALTERY

St Finnian’s most distinguished pupil at Moville (County Down) was St Columba, whose surreptitious copying of the Psaltery led to a very remarkable sequel. What remains of the copy, together with the casket that contains it, is now in the National Museum, Dublin. 

The inner case was made by Cathbar O’Donnell in 1084, but the outer is fourteenth-century work. So prized was it that family of MacGroarty were hereditary custodians of this Cathach, and it finally passed, in 1802, to Sir Neal O’Donnell, County Mayo. 

HE WROTE A RULE FOR HIS MONKS

St Finnian of Moville wrote a rule for his monks, also a penitential code, the canons of which were published in 1851. His festival is observed on 10 September 10.

(From Catholic Encyclopedia, 1913)