St Finian of Movilla (495-579) abbot-bishop
The
Movilla of this saint is not the village of Moville in Co Donegal, but
Movilla in Co Down, just outside Newtownards. A graveyard and ruin off
the B172 to Millisle show the site of his monastery (see image).
It was
formerly on an inlet in Strangford Lough. Finian was famous as a scholar
and teacher.
The tradition about St Finian of Moville
The
tradition about St Finian of Moville (495-589) is that he was born near
Strangford Lough in Co Down, that he studied under Colman of Dromore and
Mochoe of Noendrum (Mahee Island) and went to Candida Casa (Whithorn)
in Scotland, from where he went to Rome and returned with a biblical
manuscript said to be an integral copy of St Jerome's Vulgate. He was
the founder and first abbot-bishop of Movilla, just outside present-day
Newtownards, Co Down, where there is still a graveyard and ruin of an
abbey. His most distinguished disciple there was St Colmcille.
"To every cow its calf"
The story is that
Colmcille surreptitiously copied the manuscript of Finian's psalter and
when Finian found out, he claimed the copy as his and brought the case
to the high-king Diarmuid MacCearbhaill. Diarmuid's judgment - "To every
cow its calf and to every book its copy" - so enraged Colmcille that he
had his tribesman took on the High King in the Battle of Cúl Dreimhne
in 561, which led to his subsequent exile on Iona. What remains of the
copy, together with the casket that contains it, is now in the National
Museum of Ireland. It is known as the Cathach or "Battler", and
it was customary for it to be carried by the O'Donnells in battle. The
inner case was made by Cathbar O'Donnell in 1084, but the outer is
fourteenth century work.
Writings
Finian wrote a rule for his monks, and a Penitential of Vinnian has sometimes been claimed as his.
Confusions with other saints
A saint known in
Wales as St Winnin is said to be the same man. Certainly there have been
confusions between him and Finian of Clonard - which of them wrote the
penitential code? - and with St Frigidian of Lucca.
Professor Thomas
Owen Clancy of Glasgow University has suggested (2001) that the Scottish
St Ninian is in reality a confusion with St Finian of Moville. He bases
his thesis on the confusion of "u" and "n" in the Insular script of
manuscripts.
Another scholar, Pádraig Ó Riain, believes Finbarr of Cork
is an alias of Finian of Movilla. The scholarly debate continues.