St Finnian of Clonard

Finnian is the outstanding Irish holy man of the generation after St Patrick, while plainly warning that the later lives are filled with anachronism and marvels. It keeps the firmer line: Finnian seems to have learned much from British monastic influences, perhaps connected with men such as Cadoc and Gildas, and then returned to Ireland to found churches and schools. Above all he established Clonard, where disciples gathered in such numbers around his teaching that later memory called him the teacher of the saints of Ireland.

Finnian is remembered less for miracle stories than for Scripture, discipline, study, and the formation of leaders. He died during the yellow plague, with tradition saying that he had offered himself for his people.