St Ultan of Ardbraccan (d. 657) abbot-bishop carer of sick infants
St
Ultan may have been abbot-bishop at Ardbraccan in Co Meath, which was
an important ecclesiastical centre in the middle ages.
The image shows
the de-consecrated Church of Ireland church at Ardbraccan.
Today the
catholic parish is Bohermeen.
Ultan is also associated with the care of
sick children.
Monastery at Ardbraccan, Co Meath
Ultan is
thought to have been a holy and learned man, possibly a pupil of St
Declan, who founded a monastery and school at Ardbraccan, near Navan, Co
Meath. Here he educated and fed poor students. He may also have
illuminated manuscripts and written a life of St Brigid. He may also
have been a bishop of the Desi of Meath.
Care of sick children
During the yellow plague (Buidhe Ghonaill)
which broke out not alone in Ireland, but also in England, Scotland,
and many European countries at that time, St Ultan made a shelter for
children who suffered from the plague and at one time had up to 150
children near his monastery.
The first baby's bottle
He was original and
inventive. The annals tell us he designed a feeding bottle using cows'
teats, which he filled with milk and put into the babies' mouths with
his own hands, probably the first mentioned baby's feeding bottle on
record.
Mentioned in the Calendar of Aengus the Culdee
Ultan is
also spoken of in the Feilire of Aengus the Culdee as " the great
sinless prince in whom the little ones are flourishing: the children
play greatly round Ultan of Ardbraccan."
"May Ultan's left hand be against it"
Another
story tells that once when a fleet of ships appeared on the coast with
the evident intention of plundering the monastery, Ultan was holding
something in his right hand so he made the sign of the cross with his
left hand. Immediately all the ships sank like lead into the sea, and
the sailors attempting to swim ashore were turned into rocks. Hence the
old Irish saying, "May Ultan's left hand be against it", and there is a
belief that had he used his right hand no foreign fleet would have ever
been able to land in Ireland.
Ardbraccan an important ecclesiastical centre
Ardbraccan
(Irish "Hill of Breacan") is an ancient place of Christian worship near
Navan in Co Meath, taking its name possibly from a St Breacan who was
his predecessor there. It was an important ecclesiastical, even
diocesan, centre in the middle ages.
Bohermeen today
The Catholic parish today is
Bohermeen, where the church and the primary school are called after St
Ultan. St Ultan's feast is on 4th September.
St Ultan's Infant Hospital, 37 Charlemont Street, Dublin (1919-1984)
Inspired
by the story of St Ultan's care for children, political activist Dr
Kathleen Lynn established St Ultan's Infant Hospital in 1919 at 37
Charlemont Street, Dublin in response to socio-medical conditions in
Dublin at the time.
Many soldiers had come back from World War I with
syphilis.
Dr Lynn had been chief medical officer in James Connolly's
Irish Citizens' Army and a Sinn Féin TD for County Dublin in the early
1920s.
The hospital specialised in child-centred medicine, a new idea at
the time.
Every year the hospital organised a pilgrimage-cum-picnic to
Ardbraccan, Co. Meath, the site of St Ultan’s well and his tiny church.