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In the ninth and tenth centuries these islands were easy prey for marauding Viking fleets; Inishbofin was one of the first attacked. At least one Viking warrior met his match, and his grave and armour were discovered in the sand dunes at Eyrefort on the Sky Road. This is the only known Viking grave on the West coast of Ireland. Placename evidence suggests further Viking influences at Omey, Ballyconneely and Cleggan.
Given that Clonmacnoise was founded around 548 AD, that would mean that the Ogham inscription most likely dates to after this, which would seem to be confirmed by the fact that it is a Scholastic style inscription.
St. Declan, a prince of the Decies Kingdom in Munster, was born in the 5th century. He was baptised by a priest named Colman, later to become St. Colman. When Declan was seven years old he studied under a sage called Dioma and continued for many years until Declan, taking with him some of his disciples, went to Rome for further instruction in Christianity. While in Rome the Pope consecrated Declan. Declan had a strong desire to return to Ireland and, according to legend, he had in his possession a miraculous black bell with which we summoned an empty vessel to carry him on his journey. The bell was placed in a rock and when Declan prayed the rock floated out to sea. He followed it and eventually, it led him to shore at Ardmore, Co. Waterford. There Declan worked conscientiously among the people and built a Church.
A major monastery was founded on Inishbofin by St. Colman, a monastic exile from Lindisfarne and Iona. He brought with him numerous Saxon followers. In all, seventeen islands off the Connemara coast have monastic remains. These islands provided an important retreat and a home for hermits away from the bustling world of Early Christian Ireland. The Irish name for Clifden is Clochán; a beehive cell. This indicates an Early Christian association with the town, but the site has yet to be found.
St. Colman's Cathedral, overlooking Cobh, carries within its walls the traditions of thirteen centuries of the Diocese of Cloyne. It is dedicated to St. Colman who founded the diocese in 560 A.D. Colman was a poet bard to the Court of Aodh Caomh, King of Munster, at Cashel in Tipperary. Influenced by St. Brendan and St. Ita, he left Palace life to become a priest. He received grants of land at Cloyne, on the eastern shore of Cork Harbour, from the King of Cashel. There he founded his monastery, traces of which still survive.
While returning to Ireland it is reported that Declan met St. Patrick. Declan and three other Bishops – Ibar, Cieran and Ailbe were evangelising in Ireland when St. Patrick arrived here. Declan did not confine his work to Ardmore and the Déise region but he also travelled further afield and especially to Cashel.
According to tradition St. Finian established a church in Achonry (Irish Achadh Chonaire, the field of Conaire), Co. Sligo, in the sixth century and placed his pupil NATHY who was born in Sligo possibly of the O’Hara family, in charge of it.
The boundaries of the diocese emerged in the early twelfth century and it was formally established by the Synod of Kells in 1152 when the present Irish diocesan structure was laid out. Abbot Nathy of Fobhar is commonly referred to in the writings as Crumther Nathy or Cromnathy (Irish Cruimhthir, a priest) in Westmeath, and served as its first abbot. From the likelihood that Nathy had been a priest for some years when St. Finian died in 552 and that he was still alive when St. Fechin founded the abbey in Fore - which was probably not before 610. St. Nathy and St. Attracta are the patrons of the diocese. St. Attracta had her convent in Killaraght (Irish Cill Araght, the church of Attracta), where she was renowned for her charity and her hospitality. A very old tradition associates her with St. Patrick, which would place her in the fifth century and close to the origins of Christianity in Ireland. In 650, Aileran became rector of Clonard, and was recognized as a classical scholar and a master of Latin and Greek. He wrote The Fourth Life of St. Patrick, a Latin-Irish Litany and The Lives of St. Brigid and St. Fechin of Fore. Aileran died from the Yellow Plague. His death on December 29, 664 is chronicled in the Annals of Ulster.
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