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Saint Ciarán of Clonmacnoise (c. 516 – c. 549), supposedly born Ciarán mac an tSaeir ("son of the carpenter"), was one of the Twelve Apostles of Ireland and the first abbot of Clonmacnoise. He is sometimes called Ciarán the Younger to distinguish him from the 5th-century Saint Ciarán the Elder who was bishop of Osraige .
Saint Ciaran of Clonmacnoise (born c. 516, Ire.—died c. 549, Clonmacnoise, Ire.; feast day September 9) was an abbot who was one of the most illustrious founders of monasticism in Ireland. With Saints Columba and Brendan, Ciaran was educated by Abbot St. Finnian at the celebrated Monastery of Clonard.
- The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
Clonmacnoise Monastic Site. St Ciarán founded his monastery on the banks of the River Shannon in the 6 th Century. The monastery flourished and became a great seat of learning, a University of its time with students from all over Europe.
Ciarán of Clonmacnoise (c.512–545) was the founder of the greatest monastic establishment of early Christian Ireland after Armagh. The Latin and Irish Lives of Ciarán have been taken to derive from a ninth-century recension kept at Clonmacnoise, their historical value for the life of a sixth-century figure being therefore suspect.
St. Ciaran (Kieran) of Clonmacnoise is known as “Ciaran the Younger”. He was born in about 512 (about 516 is also found) to the family of an itinerant carpenter and chariot-maker in the western Irish province (and former kingdom) of Connacht on the site of the present-day county of Roscommon.
Summary: St Ciarán of Clonmacnoise’s life, supposedly born Ciarán mac an tSaeir, was one of the Twelve Apostles of Ireland and the first abbot of Clonmacnoise. He is sometimes called Ciarán the Younger to distinguish him from the 5th-century Saint Ciarán the Elder who was bishop of Osraig.
Clonmacnoise, on the east bank of the river Shannon, where the ancient chariot-road through the centre of Ireland crossed the river, was an outstanding centre of prayer and study and monastic life.
