Ciaran of Clonmacnoise, Saint

Ciaran of Clonmacnoise, Saint

 or Kieran the Younger

(born c. 516, Ireland—died c. 549, Clonmacnoise; feast day September 9) Irish abbot, one of the founders of monasticism in Ireland. Ciaran was educated with St. Columba at the monastery of Clonard and then lived on the island of Aranmore as a disciple of St. Enda. He traveled to central Ireland and settled with eight companions at Clonmacnoise, where he founded an abbey (548) that later won renown as a center of medieval learning. Ciaran's abbey was so influential that more than half the monasteries in Ireland followed its severely ascetic rule. There is an annual pilgrimage to Clonmacnoise on his feast day.