WAS son of Conail, descended from Kian, the son of Alild, king of
Munster. He was a disciple of St. Brendan, and flourished about the
middle of the sixth century. He imitated the patience of Job, under a
loathsome and tedious distemper, from which his surname was given him.
The famous abbey of Innis-fallen, which stood in an island of that name,
in the great and beautiful lake of Lough-Lane in the county of Kerry,
was found ed by our saint.[1] A second, called from him Ardfinnan, he
built in Tipperary; and a third at Cluainmore Madoc, in Leinster, where
he was buried. He died on the 2d of February; but, says Colgan, his
festival is kept on the 16th of March at all the above-mentioned places.
Sir James Ware {599} speaks of two MS. histories of his life. See also
Usher, (Antiq. c. 17,) Colgan, 17 Martii. Mr. Smith, in his natural and
civil history of the county of Kerry, in 1755, p. 127.
Footnotes:
1. In the monastery of Innis-fallen was formerly kept a chronicle
called the Annals of Innis-fallen. They contain a sketch of
universal history, from the creation to the year 430. From that time
the annalist amply enough prosecutes the affairs of Ireland down to
the year 1215, when he wrote. They were continued by another hand to
1320. They are often quoted by Bishop Usher and Sir James Ware. An
imperfect transcript is kept among the MSS. of the library of
Trinity college, Dublin. Bishop Nicholson, in his {}ian Historical
Library, informs us, that the late duke of Chandos had a complete
copy of them.