Saint Natfrioch of Kildare

Saint Natfrioch of Kildare

A monastery for the canons of St. Augustine was founded at Kildare, of which St. Natfrioch is said to have been the first Abbot – he was the Priest who attended the institution of St. Brigid before the appointment of its first Bishop – he is spoken of as the companion of St. Brigid, and to have remained with her all his life, notwithstanding the superintendence of Conlaeth, and it is also stated that he was wont to read in the refectory while the nuns were at their meals.

P. 486, Ecclesiastical History of Ireland by Rev. Thomas Walsh

Saint Natfrioch of Kildare, pray for us!

China (20th) Jubilee of the FSSP

Several members of St. Conleth's Catholic Heritage Association were in Rome to celebrate with the Priestly Fraternity of Saint Peter the 20th Anniversary of their Foundation.


Some members of the Irish Sodality of Our Lady can be seen (above) at the top right in their blue cloaks. The ceremonies were held in the Church of the Fraternity's Personal Parish in Rome, Santissima Trinita dei Pellegrini (the Church of the Most Holy Trinity of the Archconfraternity of Pilgrims), located near the Piazza Farnese. In the Sanctuary (seen below at Solemn Vespers), the Altarpiece is The Holy Trinity painted by Guido Reni in 1625.

A Pontifical High Mass (below) was celebrated on Saturday, 18th October, by His Eminence, Darío Cardinal Castrillón Hoyos, President of the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei.


It will be remembered that His Eminence, at a Press Conference in London, on 14th June, 2008, was asked by a reporter from the english Daily Telegraph newspaper: "So would the Pope like to see many ordinary parishes making provision for the Gregorian Rite?" His Eminence replied as follows:

"All the parishes. Not many - all the parishes, because this is a gift of God. He offers these riches, and it is very important for new generations to know the past of the Church. This kind of worship is so noble, so beautiful - the deepest theologians’ way to express our faith. The worship, the music, the architecture, the painting, makes a whole that is a treasure. The Holy Father offers to all the people this possibility, not only the groups who demand it, but so that everybody knows this way of celebrating the Eucharist in the Catholic Church."

Source: Website of the Latin Mass Society of England and Wales.

Ad multos annos, your Eminence!

St. Ethbin of Kildare

St. Ethbin was born in Great Britain; and died in Kildare about the year 600. He was of noble birth. His father died when he was only about 15 years of age. His widowed mother then entrusted his education to his countryman, Saint Samson of Dol Abbey in Brittany.

One day, while Ethbin was at Mass, he really heard the words: "Every one of you that cannot renounce all that he possesses, cannot be my disciple." He immediately resolved to renounce the world. Because he was a deacon, Ethbin sought the permission of his bishop to withdraw from the world. Upon receiving it, Ethbin retired to the abbey of Taurac. This was about the year 554.

For his spiritual director, this saint chose another: Saint Winwaloë. The community of Taurac was dispersed by a Frankish raid in 556 and Winwaloë died soon thereafter.

Ethbin then crossed over to Ireland, where he led the life of a hermit for 20 years in a forest near Kildare, now unidentifiable, called Nectensis. Historically, there was no cultus for Saint Ethbin in Ireland. His relics are claimed by Montreuil and Pont-Mort in France. The date assigned to his feast, for example, in the Martyrology of Donegal, is 19th October.

St. Ethbin of Kildare, pray for us!

First Monthly Mass in the Diocese of Kildare and Leighlin

The First Monthly Mass in the Extraordinary Form provided by the Diocese of Kildare and Leighlin took place this afternoon a little after 1 p.m. in the Church of Our Lady (Cill Mhuire), Newbridge, Co. Kildare, Ireland.



Following intensive publicity in print and radio media by the Diocesan Communications Office, a congregation of almost 60 was in attendance. That congregation of almost 60 included the Most Reverend Bishop James Moriarty of Kildare and Leighlin, as well as Fr. Brendan Gerard, FSSP, resident in Rome, who was celebrant and who preached a short homily, together with Mr. John Heather, from Dublin.

Also in the congregation were Mr. Kieron Wood of the Sunday Business Post, together with his family, from Dublin, and Mr. David McEllin, former Chairman of both the Latin Mass Society of Ireland and Ecclesia Dei - Ireland, also from Dublin. The music was provided by the Lassus Scholars from Dublin.

Bishop Moriarty welcomed the many people who had come from Dublin for this Mass but noted that it cannot be expected that they will attending Mass in Kildare in the future.

Christus Vincit! Christus Regnat! Christus Imperiat!

Announcing the forthcoming issue of 'Christus Regnat', the journal of St. Conleth's Catholic Heritage Association. Articles will include:

• Most Reverend Bishop Thomas Keogh, D.D.


• The Origins of the Laudes Regiæ


• Tranquillity and the Sacrifice of Calvary


• Roman Conference Report

Potential contributors or subscribers can obtain further details from: catholicheritagegroup@catholic.org

50th Anniversary of Pope Pius XII

On this day in 1958, His Holiness, Pope Pius XII died. Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam uasail.

Bishop invites priests for Latin Mass

At the invitation of Bishop Moriarty and in response to Pope Benedict's Apostolic Letter Summorum Pontificum, priests from the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter will celebrate a Latin Mass for the faithful of the Diocese attached to the older ("extraordinary") form of the Roman Rite (liturgical books of 1962). This Mass will be celebrated on the 2nd Sunday of every month in Cill Mhuire Church, Newbridge, Co. Kildare, beginning on Sunday, 12th October, at 1.00 p.m.

From St. Conleth's Parish Newsletter for Sunday, 5th October, 2008.

Most Extraordinary!

Soli Deo Gloria!

St. Erk of Slane

St. Erk of Slane, Bishop
Friend of St. Brigid of Kildare, co-consecrator of St. Conleth, first Bishop of Kildare.

“St. Erk, ‘the sweet spoken judge’, was, in all probability, a native of Munster; and is said to have been page to King Laoghaire at the time he showed this respect to St. Patrick. [Lanigan, vol. 1, p. 346] He was consecrated some time before the year 465, and was the first bishop of the ancient diocese of Slane, and abbot of the monastery which was erected there by St. Patrick. He is said to have been the preceptor of St. Brendan, and was an intimate friend of St. Brigid. At the synod of Magh-Femyn, in Tipperary, it is related that Erk spoke highly of the great abbess of Kildare, and of the miraculous favours with which she was endowed by the Almighty. He assisted at the consecration of Conlaeth, first bishop of Kildare, and took an active part in all the ecclesiastical movements of the age… Colgan says that, in the old calendars, Ercus is treated of on 2nd of October and 2nd of November Probus, writing of him in the tenth century, says: “Hercus, filius Dego, cujus reliquae nunc venerantur in civitate, quae vocatur Slane.”

From: The Diocese of Meath, Ancient and Modern, by Rev. A. Cogan, C.C., Published in Dublin, 1862.

St. Erk of Slane, pray for us!