January 20th - St. Fechin of Fobhar (Fore), Abbot (Vigean, Virgin)
Born at Bile Fechin (Connaught), Ireland; died c. 665. Fechin, the
abbot-founder
of several Irish monasteries, was trained by Saint Nathy (f.d. August 9)
at
Achonry, County Sligo. After a life of sanctity, he died during the great
pestilence which came upon Britain and Ireland in the year after the
Council
at
Whitby and felled four Irish kings and nearly two-thirds of the populace.
Fechin's name is particularly connected with that of Fobhar (Fore or
Foure)
in
Westmeath, which was his first monastic foundation, and an im****tant one
for
its
manuscripts. Fechin was the son of Coelcharna, descendant of Eochad Fionn,
brother to the famous king Conn of the Hundred Battles, and his mother
Lassair
was of the royal blood of Munster. When fit to be sent to school he was
placed
under St Nathy of Achonry.
Having finished his studies he was ordained priest, and retired to a
solitary
place at Fore in Westmeath, there to live as a hermit. But he was followed
by
many disciples, and Fore became a monastery. Here he eventually governed
over
300 monks. He is said to have pitied the monks engaged in grinding their
corn in
querns, he therefore brought water from a marsh to the monastery, by
cutting
a
tunnel through the rock, and then established a water mill. Of this
Giraldus
Cambrensis relates the following :-
"There is a mill at Foure, which St Fechin made most miraculously with his
own
hands, in the side of a certain rock. No women are allowed to enter either
this
mill or the church of the Saint; and the mill is held in as much reverence
by
the people as any of the churches dedicated to him."
His influence was very great with the kings and princes of his age. The
Saint
finding a poor leper, full of sores one day, took him to the Queen, and
bade
her
minister to him as to Christ. She bravely overcame her repugnance, and
tended
him with gentle care. of three hundred monks. He also established a
religious
house in the island of Immagh, near the coast of Galway. The inhabitants
were
then pagans, but Fechin and his monks converted them.
The monastery dedicated to the Virgin Mary which he founded in Cong is
renowned
because of the Cross of Cong, one of the great treasures of Ireland, which
had
been hidden in an old oaken chest in the village, and now resides in the
National Museum in Dublin. Both the church and monastery at Cong were
rebuilt in
1120 for the Augustinians by Turlough O'Connor, who gave them the
bejewelled
processional cross he had made to enshrine a particle of the True Cross.
Cong
Abbey also served as the refuge for the last high king of Ireland,
Roderick
O'Connor. The monastery was suppressed by King Henry VIII.
St. Fechin's other foundations include those at Ballysadare (his
birthplace?),Imaid Island, Omey and Ard Oilean, from which came the oldest
manuscript about his life. All of these are now in ruins. His memory,
however,
is also perpetuated at Ecclefechan and Saint Vigean's (the name under
which
he
is invoked in the Dunkeld Litany), near Arbroath in Scotland, where a fair
was
held on his feast day. (Attwater2, Benedictines, Coulson, D'Arcy, Farmer,
Husenbeth, Kenney, Montague, Moran, Muirhead, Neeson, Stokes).
Troparion of St Fechin tone 3
Thy God-pleasing life, O Father Fechin,
/ is an inspiration in our spiritual struggles.
As thou didst guide souls to Christ in the abbey of Fore,
/ cease not to intercede for all who call upon thy name
,/ that our souls may be saved.
Cong, its history and geography:
http://www.galway.net/galwayguide/history/wrwilde/chapt6.html
Saint Quote:
"Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do? Here is the true token of a soul
absolutely
perfect: when one has succeeded in leaving behind his own will to such a
degree
as no longer to seek, to aim, or to desire to do what he would will, but
only
what God wills.
-St. Bernard
Bible Quote
But if I tarry long, that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave
thyself
in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and
ground of the truth. (1 Tim 3:15)
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These were the first words of the Apostle St. Paul as he recognized the
Lord:
"Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do?" And they were uttered by him with so
much
sincerity of affection, and with such submission of will, that from that
day
forward he had no other desire and no other aim than to fulfill the Divine
Will
in all and through all. Nor in all the adversities, labors, sufferings,
and
torments which he encountered was there ever a thing sufficient to
diminish,
or
even in the least to shake, his constancy and fidelity.
St. Jane Frances de Chantal had so great a desire to know and follow
the
Divine Will that on merely hearing those words, "Divine Will" she felt all
on
fire, as if a torch had been applied to her heart, and she remained in a
kind of
torture until she knew how she was to understand them.
The venerable Mother Seraphina di Dio testifies of herself that the
Lord
showed her plainly, by an interior illumination, how good a thing it is to
live
without any will of one's own and to commit one's self entirely to His
holy
will. "I remained:" she says, "fully persuaded that on account of His
greatness
and perfection it was the most suitable thing for all His creatures to
have
no
other will than that of their most loving God; and that when one has
reached
this point, he belongs wholly to God and enjoys Paradise upon earth."
(Taken from the book "A Year with the Saints". January - Perfection)
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Reflection and Prayer from the Imitation of Christ
Obedience
We must not be satisfied with exteriorly submitting to obedience and in
things
that are easy, but we must obey with our whole heart, and in things the
most
difficult. For the greater the difficulty, the greater also is the merit
of
obedience. Can we refuse to submit to man for God's sake, when God, for
love
of
us, submits to man, even to His very executioners?
Jesus Christ was willingly obedient during His whole life, and even
unto
the
death of the Cross; and am I unwilling to spend my life in the exercise of
obedience, and to make it my cross and my merit? Independence belongs to
God,
who has made man dependent upon others, that his subordination may be to
him
the
means of his sanctification. I will therefore form myself upon the model
of
my
submissive, dependent, and obedient Saviour, and dispose of nothing in
myself,
not even of my own will.
Prayer: O my Saviour, Who, in obedience to Thy Father, wast conceived in
the
womb of Mary, Who didst go down to Nazareth, and wast subject to Thy
parents
for
thirty years, Who wouldst be born and live, and die in obedience, induce
us
to
follow Thine example, to obey Thee in all things in the persons of our
superiors, who hold Thy place in our regard. Grant that, doing willingly
what is
ordained us, and endeavoring to believe it best, we may spend our whole
lives in
continual obedience, and thus secure for ourselves Thy grace in time, and
Thy
glory for all eternity. Amen.
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