Ibar of Beggerin: Difference between revisions

According to the Annals of the Four Masters, Ibar was of noble birth, and descended from the tribe of Ui Echach who occupied east [[County Down]]. His sister Mella married Hua-Carbmiac, king of Hy-Kensellagh, a kingdom which consisted of all current county Wexford and a considerable part of Wicklow and Carlow.<ref name="Odden">[http://www.katolsk.no/biografier/historisk/imeath Odden, Einar. "The Holy Ibar of Begerin (d. 500)", Roman Catholic Diocese of Oslo]</ref>

Much obscurity attaches to his early training, but it is said that his early education took place in an important druidic school. When followers of [[Martin of Tours]] began to appear in Ireland, Ibar traveled to [[Armorica]] to learn more of this new teaching. He spent some time at [[Lérins Abbey]] where he must have met [[Ciarán of Saigir]].<ref name="Odden"/>

When Ibar returned from Lérins, he was accompanied by some companions, who constituted the first community that Ibar established on one of the Aran Islands in Galway Bay on the west coast of Ireland. But his stay in the West did not last very long, for he moved his monastery to plain Geshille in County Offaly.<ref name="Odden"/> He then settled at Beggerin, where he built an oratory and cell. In the ''Life of Saint Abbán'' it is stated that Saint Ibar's retreat was soon peopled with numerous disciples from all parts of Ireland, and the 'Litany of Aengus' invokes the three thousand confessors who placed themselves under Ibar's direction.

Ibar is regarded as the patron of [[History of County Wexford#Coming of Christianity|Beggerin Island]] (Begerin), in Wexford harbour. (Although Beggerin was formerly an island in the north of Wexford harbour, it has long since been reclaimed).<ref name="grattan">[http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/07613b.htm Grattan-Flood, William. "St. Ibar." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 7. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1910. 19 Jul. 2013]</ref> He is also to patron saint of the town of Wexford.