Fintan
Irish saint of Leinster
Feast: 17 February (not on the universal Roman calendar; kept in the Roman Martyrology or local calendars)
Who they were
Fintan of Clonenagh was a Leinster saint, born about 524, who studied under St. Columba of Terryglass. In 550 he settled in the solitude of the Slieve Bloom Mountains, where disciples gathered round his oratory; he wrote a rule for them, and his austerity and miracles recalled the time of the apostles. St. Comgall of Bangor was among his pupils.
At seventy he named Fintan Maeldubh to succeed him as abbot of Clonenagh. The Irish annalists compared him to St. Benedict and called him the Father of the Irish Monks. He died on 17 February, probably in 594.
The miracles
There was never a formal cause: he has been honoured as a saint since before the Church's formal processes began.
Why that counted as sanctity
The abbot of Clonenagh, called the Father of the Irish Monks.
Connected on this site
- Comgall Saint Pupil
- Catholic Encyclopedia (1913), via New Advent - Sts. Fintan
- Roman Martyrology, 17 February (Italian Bishops' Conference, Santo del giorno)
- Wikidata Q3072671 — dates, feast day and identifiers (CC0)
- English Wikipedia — Fintan of Clonenagh (CC BY-SA)
Checked against the sources listed on 22 September 2026. Corrections welcome.