Feastday: 11 August

Hermitess and co-worker with St. Patrick, also called Araght or Taraghta. She is traditionally listed as a daughter of a noble Irish family. Her father opposed her religious vocation but Attracta went to St. Patrick at Coolavin, Ireland, and made her vows to him. Attracta founded a hospice on Lough Gara called Killaraght. She also performed miracles, while living at Drum, near Boyle.

Feast Day - 9 June

St. Columba 521-597. There are several accounts of Columba's life, all attesting to the miraculous signs which preceded his birth at Gartan, Co. Donegal, in 521. An angel assured his mother that she would bear a son of great beauty who would be remembered among the Lord's prophets. Saint Buite, the dying abbot of Monasterboice in Co. Louth, is said to have foretold the birth of "a child illustrious before God and men". Columba was of royal blood. His father Phelim was of the Uá Náill clan and descended from the famous Niall of the Nine Hostages, while his mother Eithne was descended from a king of Leinster.

Patrick was born around 385 in Scotland, probably Kilpatrick. His parents were Calpurnius and Conchessa, who were Romans living in Britian in charge of the colonies. As a boy of fourteen or so, he was captured during a raiding party and taken to Ireland as a slave to herd and tend sheep. Ireland at this time was a land of Druids and pagans. He learned the language and practices of the people who held him.

During his captivity, he turned to God in prayer. He wrote "The love of God and his fear grew in me more and more, as did the faith, and my soul arosed, so that, in a single day, I have said as many as a hundred prayers and in the night, nearly the same. I prayed in the woods and on the mountain, even before dawn. I felt no hurt from the snow or ice or rain." Patrick's captivity lasted until he was twenty, when he escaped after having a dream from God in which he was told to leave Ireland by going to the coast. There he found some sailors who took him back to Britian, where he reunited with his family.

Feastday: 11 July

Oliver Plunkett was born in Loughcrew in County Meath, Ireland on November 1, 1625. In 1647, he went to study for the priesthood in the Irish College in Rome. On January 1, 1654, he was ordained a priest in the Propaganda College in Rome.

Due to religious persecution in his native land, it was not possible for him to return to minister to his people. Oliver taught in Rome until 1669, when he was appointed Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of Ireland. Archbishop Plunkett soon established himself as a man of peace and, with religious fervor, set about visiting his people, establishing schools, ordaining priests, and confirming thousands.

Feastday: 31 August

Aidan of Lindisfarne - (Feast day - August 31) Born in Ireland, He may have studied under St. Senan before becoming a monk at Iona. At the request of King Oswald of Northumbria, Aidan went to Lindisfarne as bishop and was known throughout the kingdom for his knowledge of the Bible, his learning, his eloquent preaching, his holiness, his distaste for pomp, his kindness to the poor, and the miracles attributed to him.

He founded a monastery at Lindisfarne that became known as the English Iona and was a center of learning and missionary activity for all of northern England.

Feastday - 31 January

Bishop and missionary, born in Inisbrefny, in County Cavan, circa 550, who is probably to be identified with Aidan. As a small boy he was held as a hostage by AedhAinmire, High King of Ireland, probably to insure the loyalty of his family. Released, Aidan studied at Kilmuine, in Wales, a famed institute of Christian learning conducted by St. David.

In 580, he returned to Ireland, going to the coast of Wexford. He served the area and was honored by Bran Dubh at the synod held to celebrate victory over King Aedh. Ferns, the area in which Aedan conducted his priestly ministry, was elevated at this time to the status of a diocese.

Feast Day 14 May
Irish hermit and bishop, also called Carthage, Cuda, or Mochuda. Originally a swineherd, Carthach was ordained and then became a hermit about 590 in Kiltulagh and then in Bangor, under St. Comgall. Carthach traveled to Offaly, where he founded a monastery, ruling more than eight hundred monks. He wrote a rule for the monastery in metrical verse, a document that is extant. He is believed to have served as the bishop of Fircall until he and his monks were expelled by some local lord. Carthach founded another monastery at Lismore on the banks of the Blackwater, and lived in a nearby cave.

Feastday: 24 July

First bishop of Ardmore in Ireland was baptized by St. Colman, and preached the faith in that country a little before the arrival of St. Patrick, who confirmed the episcopal see of Ardmore, in a synod at Cashel in 448. Many miracles are ascribed to St. Declan, and he has ever been much honored in the viscounty of Dessee, anciently Nandesi.

Feastday - 31 January

Monastic founder, bishop, and miracle worker known for his kindness to animals. Known as Edan, Modoc, and Maedoc in some records, Aidan was born in Connaught, Ireland. Tradition states that his birth was heralded by signs and omens, and he showed evidence of piety as a small child.

Educated at Leinster, Aidan went to St. David monastery in Wales. He remained there for several years, studying Scriptures, and his presence saved St. David from disaster. Saxon war parties attacked the monastery during Aidan's stay, and he supposedly repelled them miraculously.

In time, Aidan returned to Ireland, founding a monastery in Ferns, in Wexford.

Feastday: 9 August

Felim (spelt Fedilmith in Adomnán's life of Columba) was the father of Columba (Colmcille), according to tradition. The abbey on Trinity Island in Lough Oughter, not far from the diocesan cathedral, recalls the early days of Christianity in Cavan and the neighborhood.

A later Norman doorway from the island is now incorporated in the present cathedral. William Bedell, the much honored 17th century bishop of Kilmore, is remembered for his saintly life and his work of translating the scriptures into the Irish language.