St Carthage (or Mochuta) (d. 637) founder of Lismore abbey
Early life in Kerry
Carthage was born in Kerry.
One day as he was herding pigs in the fields, he saw a bishop and his
clergy in procession, chanting psalms, and ran to tell his father he had
never seen anything so beautiful.
His father wanted him to become a
warrior, but he eventually agreed to allow him become a monk in a
neighbouring monastery under the guidance of St. Carthage the Elder.
Carthage the Elder called him 'Mo-chuta' as an affectionate dimunitive
and subsequently ordained him a priest.
Pursued by the young women
Mochuta founded a
small monastery in Kerry.
Since he was very handsome, 'maidens to the
number of thirty were so enamoured of him that they could not conceal
their feelings'.
He built cells and a monastery especially for them, and
persuaded them to devote themselves to God as virgins.
Visits to other monasteries
After some time
he visited and stayed with other abbots and monasteries, Comhgall at
Bangor and Colman Elo at Lynally in Offaly, on whose recommendation in
590 he founded his monastery at Rahan about two miles away.
Rahan
The monastery at Rahan had many monks
and thrived for over 40 years. But the regime was so severe that
Carthage would not provide his monks with oxen and a plough, forcing the
monks to till the soil manually.
There are stories of efforts by
his monks to get rid of him, saying they felt unable to be his equal in
virtue and austerity.
Eventually the whole community was expelled by
orders of Blathmac, the High King of Tara.
The real reason may have
been that the neighbouring communities envied him his success or
possibly because he observed the Roman Easter date, whereas local
monasteries followed the older Celtic reckoning.
Lismore
At Eastertide of the year 635, the saint
and his whole community were forced out by soldiers.
Journeying by
Saighir, Roscrea, Cashel, and Ardfinnan (the narrative implies the
approval of the patrons of these places), St Carthage finally came to
the banks of the River Blackwater, where he obtained a place for his
foundation from the king of the Déisí at Lismore in Co Waterford.
Although he died within a short time on 14 May 637, Lismore became a
famous abbey and later a cathedral, giving its name to the diocese that
since 1363 has been joined with Waterford.
Influence
Carthage's chief legacy was that of an austere and blameless life. But by the end of the 7th century, Lismore Mochuda,
besides having a thriving abbey, also had a scriptorium that produced
three important manuscripts of works on scripture, asceticism and
morals.
A Life of St Mochuda survives, as does a considerable fragment of a Rule of St Carthage (more a series of Christian ascetical counsels than regulations for running a monastery).
Besides at Lismore, Carthage is also remembered in the dedication of St Carthage's Church, Killina, Rahan in Co Offaly.