ST. ABBAN, ABBOT IN IRELAND

HE was son of Cormac, king of Leinster, and of Mella, sister to St. Ibar, who is said by ancient writers to have preached in Ireland a little before the arrival of St. Patrick; though others think he was consecrated bishop by St. Patrick. St. Ibar having labored with zeal in the conversion of the pagans, founded the monastery of Beg-erin, a small island on the coast of Kinselach, in Leinster, where he died about the year 500, and is honored on the 23d of April. After Ibar’s death, our saint, who had been trained up in the monastery of Beg-erin, followed the steps of his holy uncle, and converted a great number of idolaters. He founded the monasteries of Kil-abbain in the north of Leinster, and Magharnoidhe in Kinselach, and died in the former, towards the end of the sixth century. See Usher, Antiq. Colgan, Act. SS. p. 610, et seq.