St Conleth (450-519) first bishop of Kildare
Metal-worker and hermit at Old Connell, Newbridge
We do not know where Conleth was born or who his parents were, but we do know from Cogitosus's Life of Brigid
(c. 650) that he was a skilled metal-worker in gold and silver who
lived as a hermit at Old Connell on the Liffey near Newbridge.
He had
the reputation of being a very holy man with the gift of prophecy. He is
also said to have been the sculptor of the crozier of St Finbar of
Termonbarry, Co Roscommon.
First bishop of Kildare 490
The
tradition is that Brigid invited him not only to make sacred vessels
for her foundation but also to be pastor of the people nearby.
Cogitosus
says that they governed the church at Kildare "by means of a mutually
happy alliance".
And so Conleth is regarded as the first bishop of
Kildare appointed 490.
A model of governance?
Indeed,
speaking to the Synod of Bishops in Rome in October 1987, Cardinal
Tomás Ó Fiaich, then archbishop of Armagh, drew attention to this
alternative form of governance in the Church where Brigid (the woman)
took the initiative and held the primacy while Conleth (the man) took a
more secondary, executive and liturgical role.
Pilgrimage to Rome?
After
about twenty years as bishop, Conleth set out on a pilgrimage to Rome.
Because he was now an old man Saint Brigid feared for him going on this
journey.
Somewhere on the journey in Ireland Conleth was attacked and
killed by wolves which at that time lived in the woods and mountains of
Leinster.
A gloss in an Irish martyrology saying he was devoured by
wolves on his journey to Rome undertaken against the wishes of Brigid
may be an attempt to explain his name, i.e. coin 'wolves' and leth 'half'.
Death
Saint
Conleth died on the 3rd May 519 AD.
The tradition in Kildare holds that
he was buried on the left side of the altar in the Church of Ireland
cathedral in Kildare town and Saint Brigid on the right.
The tradition
in Newbridge holds that he was buried in the Old Connell graveyard. An
alternative version is that his relics were transferred there in 835 to
protect the inhabitants from Danish invaders.
He is the patron saint of
the parish of Droichead Nua (Newbridge), Co Kildare.
Remembrance
A water garden dedicated to St
Conleth designed as a contemplative space and constructed by Martin
O'Neill, "Crookedwood", is situated on the left hand side of the parish
church in Newbridge.
It contains a bronze statue of St Conleth by
Annette McCormack carrying on his shoulders a child holding up a St
Brigid's cross.
Every year on the Sunday after St Conleth's Day a pilgrimage takes
place from the parish church in Newbridge to Old Connell, about two
miles outside the town.