Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Cellach
CELLACH, Bishop and Saint (6th century), of Killala in the county of Mayo, was the eldest son of Eogan Bél, fourth christian king of Connaught. His story, told at considerable length in the ‘Lebar Brecc,’ is interwoven with the political circumstances of Connaught. Eogan reigned over the territory of northern Hy Fiachrach, which comprised the modern baronies of Carra, Erris, and Tirawley in the county of Mayo, and Tireragh in the county of Sligo. There was also a small territory called Hy Fiachrach Aidhne, in the south of the county of Galway, over which Guaire, who was descended from the same ancestor, then reigned. The tribes of the northern and southern Hy Neill had made a descent on the territory of northern Hy Fiachrach, and collected an immense spoil. Eogan attacked and defeated them in the battle of Sligo, but was mortally wounded. In view of his death a question arose as to the succession. He had two sons: Cellach, then a clerical student at Clonmacnois, and Muredach, who was only a boy. Consulted by his followers, he advised them to send to Clonmacnois and request St. Ciaran to allow Cellach to leave the monastery and accept the kingdom. St. Ciaran gave them a peremptory refusal. They then communicated with Cellach himself. Overcome by their entreaties he left next morning without seeing or taking leave of St. Ciaran. Incensed at this breach of discipline the saint cursed him and foretold he should die a violent death, adding, ‘I leave to my Lord every one who abandons his reading,’ i.e. his clerical studies. Cellach's position and the saint's authority over him here implied may perhaps be explained by a singular law which prevailed in Ireland. In the ancient compilation known as the ‘Senchus Mor,’ among the rights of the church as against the people, besides tithes and first-fruits, were ‘firstlings,’ which are explained to mean not only animals, but ‘every first birth of every human couple, and every male child which opens the womb of his mother being a lawful spouse.’ Cellach having thus become king of Hy Fiachrach soon wearied of his new dignity, and could not banish from his memory the curse of St. Ciaran. His followers advised him to return to Clonmacnois. He did so with fear and trembling, and engaging the chiefs of the congregation to intercede for him he went with them into the presence of St. Ciaran. The saint granted his request for mercy, but told him he was powerless to recall the curse. After taking precautions for the safety of his young brother, Cellach gave himself up to study, and the fame of his piety spread through Ireland. Subsequently he received priest's orders, and in due time the clergy of his own territory chose him as their bishop. He was then consecrated, and Cell Alaidh (Killala) appointed to him for his bishop's chair.
Guaire, the king of lower Hy Fiachrach, hoped to succeed to the northern territory also, for which there was at this time no heir of suitable age. One day when Cellach was making an episcopal circuit or visitation with a party of his clergy on horseback, he encountered Guaire with his followers on his way to the palace of Durlus, situated ‘on the smooth moorland of the river Moy,’ between Doonfeeny and Ardnarea. It was represented to the king that the bishop had passed him in a hostile manner. He sent after him, requesting him to return. It was just noon on Saturday, and Cellach replied it was now vesper time, and he could not violate the Lord's day, which in Irish usage began on Saturday evening (Reeves). This reply being maliciously reported to the king, he sent a fierce message, ordering him to ‘leave his land at once or he would burn the church in which he was and all his people with it.’ Cellach, however, did not move until Monday, when he hastened to the neighbourhood of Lough Con; thence he went next day to a lake called Claenloch, in which he found an unoccupied island named Oilen Etgair, where he determined to take up his abode as a hermit. He directed his clergy to return to their respective churches, retaining as companions only four students, who were his cousins and foster brothers. Here he received frequent visits from his youthful brother, whom he was training for the throne. This being reported to Guaire, a plot was laid to murder Cellach. He was to be invited to a great feast and poisoned. He declined the invitation, but, as previously arranged, his followers were then asked, entertained in royal fashion at Durlus, and plied with drink. His murder was then proposed to them, and the immense bribe was offered to them of all Tirawley, the flesc lamha, or patrimonial inheritance of Cellach. They undertook to commit the crime. Returning to the island they found him with his psalter before him saying his psalms. Wounding him, they dragged him to the boat, and taking him to the mainland carried him into the recesses of the forest somewhere between Lough Con and Loch Cuillen. Here he entreated that his life might be spared till the morning. To this they reluctantly assented, imprisoning him in a hollow oak tree with a narrow door. In the morning, dragging him from his prison, they killed him with clubs, and leaving his body unburied hastened away to claim their reward. The place was afterwards known as Ard-na-fenneadha, ‘the height of the mangling’ [of his body]. His brother carried the mangled body successively to the churches of Turloch and Liscallain, but in both it was refused burial; at length, however, they reached Escrecha, where it was interred with due honours. Muredach, obliged to flee the country, after some years returned to Tirawley, and obtaining admission in disguise to the residence of the four murderers, arrested them when intoxicated, carried them in chains to a place near Durlus, where he executed the four, cutting off their limbs while they were living. Considerable chronological difficulties present themselves when this narrative is closely examined. For instance, Guaire, according to the ‘Four Masters,’ lived to A.D. 662, or, more correctly, 667. On the other hand, the latest date assigned to Eogan Bél's death is 547, when Cellach began his short reign. Guaire was then old enough to be king, and if the dates are correct must have lived at least 115 years longer. However this may be explained, the facts on which the narrative is based appear to be authentic, and to this the local names bear witness. Ard-na-riagh, ‘the hill of the executions,’ has given its name to the village of Ardnarea. And the cromlech of Ard-na-maol, ‘the hill of the Maols,’ erected to commemorate their execution, is still to be seen on the west side of the Moy, opposite Ardnarea. It is the only cromlech in Ireland historically identified. The chant of Muredach on the discovery of his brother's body and the death-song of Cellach are full of pathos. St. Cellach's day is 1 May. In the ‘Martyrology of Tamlacht’ he appears as St. Cellan.
[Lebar Brecc (pp. 272 b–277 a); Bollandist Acta SS. 1 May, p. 104; O'Donovan's Genealogies, Tribes, and Customs of Hy Fiachrach; the Senchus Mor (Rolls ed.), iii. lvii; Annals of Four Masters; Reeves's Adamnan, p. 346.]