Saint Finnian of Moville

Finnian of Movilla (c. 495–589) was an Irish Christian missionary. His feast day is 10 September. Finnian (sometimes called Finbarr "the white head", a reference to his fair hair), was a Christian missionary in medieval Ireland. He should not be confused with his namesake Finnian of Clonard, nor should Movilla (Maigh Bhile) in County Down be mistaken for Moville in County Donegal. Traditional scholarship has it that he was a descendant of Fiatach the Fair and born in Ulster, but his lineage has been questioned lately by the American Celticist Thomas Owen Clancy. He apparently studied under Colman of Dromore and Mochaoi of Nendrum, and subsequently at Candida Casa (Whithorn), after which he proceeded to Rome to complete his studies. Legend has it that whilst at Candida Casa, he played a prank (nature unknown) on Princess Drustice, the daughter of a Pictish king, who was in the ladies' section of the monastery, and perhaps had he not been so well connected, his clerical career could have been in ruins. However, after spending seven years in Rome, he was ordained a priest, and returned to Ireland with a copy of St. Jerome's Vulgate. He returned to found a monastery of his own and, at a time when books were rare, this text brought honour and prestige to the establishment. Finnian founded his new monastery (Movilla Abbey) in 540, at Maigh Bhile (Movilla)—the plain of the ancient tree, a sacred place, venerated in pagan times, about a mile from the northern shore of Strangford Lough (the 15th Century ruins of Movilla Abbey can still be seen in Newtownards). He founded a famous school of Druim Fionn at about this time. Legend has it that he tried to convert Tuan mac Cairill, a mythical figure who was the last survivor of the Partholonian race, and that while doing so had the famous Scéal Tuáin maic Cairell recounted to him. This is a text about takings of Ireland, a source for the famous Lebor Gabála Érenn.