He is often called Saint Ciarán the Younger to distinguish him from Bishop St. Kieran of Saighir. His feast day is September 9.

Saint Ciarán (or Saint Kieran) is the name of many Irish saints. St. Kieran of Clonmacnoise is founder of Seir-Kieran, Kings County (about A.D. 450), and also of the See of Ossory. Clonmacnois is a ruined monastery that dates back to the 7th century. It is located in the middle of the country approximately halfway between Galway and Dublin. Clonmacnoise is situated on the Shannon, about half way between Athlone and Banagher, in Co. Offaly, Ireland. The ancient monastic site of Clonmacnoise is one of Europe's most highly regarded sites of its kind. It was founded in 545 AD by St. Ciarán, (Kieran in English).

The monastic ruins are the most extensive of their kind in Ireland consisting of a cathedral, eight churches, two round towers, three high crosses and hundreds of Early Christian cross slabs. There are also the remains of a 13th Century castle. It became a monastic city, a University of Saints and Scholars, and it flourished under the patronage of various High Kings of Ireland, including the last High King, Rory O'Connor. It was plundered in 800 A.D by the Vikings and then again by the Normans. During Elizabethan times the monastery and the castle were destroyed by Cromwell.

On the banks of the River Shannon, in County Offaly, lie the ruins of the once-thriving monastic community of Clonmacnois. Today, only a handful of the original 105 structures are standing. Ciaran was born in 516, the son of a chariot-maker from the area now known as Roscommon. According to the legend, Ciaran's parents were too poor to pay anything toward his education, so Ciaran asked for a cow to offer as payment. Not being able to do without their cow, his parents refused. However, as Ciaran began his journey to Clonard, a dun cow and her calf followed him. During his years at the monastery, the cow provided milk for the monks and students. Even after her dying, the cow continued to provide - it is said that her hide became the parchment on which the Lebor na h'Uidre (Book of the Dun Cow) was written. It is one of the two oldest surviving manuscripts - a compilation of stories, poems, genealogy, and history in the vernacular. After some years at Clonard, Ciaran traveled to the remote islands of Aran. He was convinced to establish a church in the middle of Ireland. He chose his site of the River Shannon. Ciaran liven only seven months after the founding of Clonmacnois, dying at the age of 33 of the yellow plague, which swept over Ireland in 549." These passages allude to the Aran islands that are off the west coast of Ireland, not the Isle of Arran that is between Ireland and Scotland. St. Ciaran spent the 7 yrs. studying with St. Enda who had his monastery on Inishmore (one of the islands of the set referred to as Aran Islands off western Ireland). in the early Irish language the Islands of Aran would be "Oileain Arainn", or Island(s) (Isle/s/?) of Aran. It is interesting that we have two sets of similar names, one off the west coast of Ireland and the other between Ireland and Kintire.

St. Ciaran of Clonmacnoise was definitely associated with the area around Campbeltown in Kintire, and several place-names in the area were named after him. Kintyre is in Adamnan 'Caput Regionis', a literal translation of Ceann Tire. Columba, when visiting Kintyre, spoke with the captain and crew of a ship newly arrived from Gallia (France); the most likely place for the incident would be Ceann Loch Cille Chiarain, 'Head of St. Ciaran's Loch, now Cambeltown. The Ciaran who is commemorated in Scotland is probably Ciaran of Cluain mac Nois, styled 'Mac in t-Sair,' Sept. 9, who died in 549 A.D. In the west there are Cill Chiarain, Kilchieran or Kilcherran, near Kilchoman in Islay, in Lismore, and in Kintyre, where Kilkerran was the old name of Campbeltown parish; the site of the town is Ceann Loch Cille Chiarain. There was a church os St. Ciaran at Lianishader in Barvas, Lewis. Caibeal Chiarain, his chapel, is at the north-east end of Loch Awe. In the east, Caibeal Chiarain once stood on Boreland farm, Loch Tay, near the gate of the road to the farm-house, and a meadow there is called Dail Chiarain. Another Dail Chiarain is on Duneaves, between Duneaves House and the river Lyon. The saint is also connected with Fetteresso in Forfarshire, and his well was in Glenbervie. He had also a chapel in Strathmore in Caithness.

St. Ciaran - One of the three major monastic communities in Ireland, Clonmacnois became by the time of Charlemagne, one of the most illustrious seats of learning in the Christian world, the center of Irish art and literature. With Kimbay (Cimbaoth),about 300 B.C., we come to a landmark in history. "All the historical records of the Irish, prior to Kimbay, were dubious "- so, with remarkable critical acumen for his age, wrote the eleventh-century historian Tierna of Clonmacnois ["Omnia monumenta Scotorum ante Cimbaoth incerta erant."

Tighernach of Clonmacnois, the most accurate and most ancient prose chronicler of the northern nations, belongs to Clonmacnoise, and probably also Dicuil (q.v), the world-famed geographer. In this school were composed the "Chronicon Scotorum", a valuable chronicle of Irish affairs from the earliest times to 1135, and the "Leabhar na h-Uidhre", which, excepting the "Book of Armagh", is the oldest Irish historical transcript now in existence. Clonmacnoise, one of the most remarkable of the ancient schools of Erin was founded by St. Ciarán surnamed Mac an Tsair, or "Son of the Carpenter". He chose this rather uninviting region because he thought it a more suitable dwelling place for disciples of the Cross than the luxuriant plains not far away. Ciarán was born at Fuerty, County Roscommon, in 512, and in his early years was committed to the care of a deacon named Justus, who had baptized him.

St. Kieran (Ciaran) of Clonmacnoise, also known as St. Kieran the Younger, was born around 512 AD in Connacht, Ireland, a town located in the northern part of County Roscommon. Kieran continued his education at the monastery of Clonard, which was led by St. Finnian. Yet another story, that of the “Dun-Cow of Kieran,” is associated with his move to this abbey. His history is obscure, but he flourished during the greater part of the fifth century, and is venerated in England, Brittany, Wales, and Scotland, on 5 March. St. Kieran of Disert-Kieran, Co. Meath, called by the Irish annalists "Kieran the Devout", wrote a "Life of St. Patrick." He died in 775 on 14 June, on which day his feast is celebrated. St. Kieran, patron of Clonsost, is commemorated on 30 April, and St. Kieran, son of Colga, on 19 May.

The island of Arran is off the coast of Kintire – as for some of the legends regarding St. Ciarian in Kintire" may not be entirely complete despite some of the info about St. Ciaran in Scotland. Lough Erne is in North Ireland (County Fermanagh) and is located SE of the city of Donegal. Lough Rie -actually Lough Ree into and out of which the River Shannon runs which to its south is Clanmacnois. The track of locations would then make sense with St. Ciaran settling in Clanmacnois. Since its history has its location at the Mull of Kintyre where Saint Columba arrived from Ireland in 574 AD (not too long after the death of St. Ciaran), bringing Christianity to Scotland which maybe Saint Columba honored St. Ciaran by using his name in areas that may became place-names, etc? St. Ciaran's Cave at http://www.kintyre-Scotland.org.uk/page1olavsship.html and it states:

"St. CIARAN's CAVE- Auchenhoan Head Campbeltown - NR 745185 One can reach this site at low tide only, so please check with Campbeltown TIC. This is a deep cave, traditionally connected with St. Ciaran, the Abbot of Clorunacnols. The cave contains a stone trough positioned to act as a catchment point for water from the roof, and also a boulder with a carved marigold pattern, and a sandstone slab." What "Clorunacnols" means (is this another variant spelling of Clanmacnois. We have no proof as yet that the Irish Mac an t-Saoirs were descended from the Ó Brolchains of Donegal - but it appears at least possible they were descended from the Maol Brighde mac An t-Saoir Úí Brolcháin of 1097 in the Annals. Both were and are Donegal septs – the Scots may also have used the Mac an t-Saoir label in the same way found in Ireland - and that one of the McIntyre ancestors may have been so-called."

Campbeltown - Originally known as Kilkerran, and later as Kinlochkerran, as the landing place of the Irish St. Ciaran or Ciarn (6th century), a forerunner of Columba, the town takes its name from the Campbells of Argyll, to whom James V transferred it from the MacDonalds. As far as we know, both traditions begin with patronymic bynames. This is when Gaelic clan names got to be known as the "Irish." Their given names were forenames or Christian names. Almost all place names come from placenames that descend from neighboring lines. To find an alternate derivation for the name MacIntyre and any kind of connection with St. Ciaran or the description Mac an t-Saoir in Scotland, as uncovered in Ireland….whether the surname was instead derived from the MacTires, Mac Torquills, or some other Scottish source. The medieval Gaelic clan was held together by household group names whereby names called after individual people described a man's name. As far as Southbend there are two roads: an inland road, 9 1/2 miles, diverging from the Machrihanish road and leading S. through Conle Glen, and a hillier coast road, 13 1/2 miles - following the latter we reach Kilkerran, named after St. Kieran, the 6th century missionary. The ruined castle near the shore was intended by James V to over awe the MacDonalds, who, however, captured it and hanged the governor before the king was well out of sight. About 1 1/2 mile farther on a spit of gravel offers a passage dryshod at low tide to Davaar Island, on the E. side of which is a cave with a modern Crucifixion painted on its wall. - At 4 1/2 miles Achinhoan Head is St. Kieran's Cave, 25 ft. above high water and difficult of access, which recent interesting discoveries tend to identify as perhaps the earliest Christian chapel in Scotland.

Who St. Ciaran the Younger belongs to:

In early times, monks helped build their own buildings, so perhaps Mhac an t'Saoir was the title of a "real" churchman, who had actually built a church. Certainly, at the end of the exercise, such a cleric would be a fully qualified craftsman, and could be called a son of St. Joseph. …an English hand at work in much of Scottish history. At a certain point, the English displaced the Irish monks in Scotland, and Gaelic literacy was replaced by English. The island and coastal people could well be the last vestiges of the mesolithic people, and that they were there to ferry the neolithic farmers across into Ireland, and millennia later, to ferry them back to Alba. If the Mhac an t'Saoirs are the descendants of the mesolithic people, it would go a long way toward explaining a lot of McAteer traits. St. Ciaran may not be in the direct line of the McAteer's and that the name was only used for those skilled in a specific craft, or artificer (i.e., building of churches) and strong ties to the clergy. It is said that the earliest traditional account as to the origin of the name (sic. "Mac-an-t'Saoir") is as follows:

"Olave the Red, King of Man, came with his fleet to a certain loch in the Western Isles, with the purpose of bringing the whole of the islands into subjection to him. Somerled, Thane of Argyll, came to the other side of the other side of the loch, and calling out Olave how he fared. Olave replied that he was well. Then Somerled said he would assist him in his expedition, if he would give him his daughter in marriage. Olave replied that he would not, but told him he would have to go with him. Somerled resolved to go with Olave, and brought his two galleys over to where Olave's ship was lying at anchor. Maurice (or Murdoch) MacNeill, Somerled's sister's son, was in Olave's company. Maurice came to Somerled and told him he would find means of getting Olave's daughter for him. In the night time Maurice bored Olave's ship with a number of holes and plugged them with tallow. Olave, Somerled, and their followers sailed in the morning. When they had passed the point of Ardnamurchan, Olave's ship began to leak. Olave cried to help to Somerled, but Somerled would not same him unless he would consent to give him his daughter. At last, being in danger of losing his life, Olave promised, with a solemn oath, to give Somerled his daughter. Somerled then received him immediately into his galley. Maurice thereupon stopped the leaks with plugs which he had in readiness, and saved the ship from sinking. From that day he was known as the carpenter. He was the ancestor of those who call themselves "MacIntyres", or sons of the carpenter."

The area around Campbeltown shows a Glen Kerran.

In a life of St. Ciarain, the saint first lived in the monastery of S. Nennid, in an island off Lough Erne in Ireland. He then went to the great monastery of the Isle of Arran, where he spent seven years, the moved to Inniscathig. He then proceeded to an island of Lough Rie, called Aingin, where he erected a monastery, before retiring to Clonmacnoise….St. Ciaran of Clonmacnoise - around Campbeltown in Kintire. It is interesting that reference to him (?) and several place-names in the area having implication to St. Ciaran. Or  Campbeltown as a the landing place of the Irish St. Ciaran or Ciarn (6th century). The island of Arran is off the coast of Kintire - so this may account for some of the legends regarding St. Ciarain in Kintire.

This life of St. Ciarain also has the following statement: "S. Kieran did not long survive the foundation of clonmacnoise, as he fell sick of a pestilence which raged in the yeare 549, and which carried him off, some say at the early age of thirty-three; and from the fact of his being a carpenter's son, and of having died at the same age as Christ, it was thought that the resemblance between the saint and his Lord was remarkable." Does this passage have a bearing on the meaning of the descriptive phrase, Mac an t-Saoir as it is applied to a limited number of individuals in the Irish Annals?  (those that use the first person in his name with Roman vernacular.

So we have placed locations in Kintire connected in legend to St. Ciarain Mac an t-Saoir. Would anyone care to speculate on possible connections with the MacIntyres? note that this new material in no way changes my mind about the derivation of the name Macarill as it appears in Hugh MacDonalds History of the family. It is still in my opinion derived from Mac Torquill. And the MacIntire legend of the white cow is probably derived from the white cow stone visible from their homelands in Kintire.

'Caput Regionis' is head region in Latin, or perhaps head of the region. It does substantiate the suggestion that Kintire (Ceann Tire) means headland. "St. Kieran was born in Connacht, Ireland. He was the son of Beoit, a carpenter. He studied at St. Finnian's school at Clonard and taught the daughter of the king of Cuala, as he was considered the most learned monk at Clonard. Kieran spent seven years at Inishmore on Aran with St. Enda and then went to a monastery in the center of Ireland called Isel. Forced to leave by the monks because of what they considered his excessive charity, he spent some time on Inis Aingin (Hare Island) and with eight companions, migrated to a spot on the bank of the Shannon river in Offaly, where he built a monastery that became the famous Clonmacnois, renowned for centuries as the great center of Irish learning, and was its Abbot. Many extravagant miracles and tales are told of Kieran, who is one of the twelve apostles of Ireland. He is often called St. Kieran the Younger to distinguish him from St. Kieran of Saighir. His feast day is September 9." From Catholic Online: St. Kieran Feastday: September 9