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653; in some places his feast is celebrated on March 25. The Irish
Saint Caimin was half-brother to King Guaire of Connaught and Cumian
Fada, and himself a distinguished scholar. But he retired from
the vanities of the world to live as a hermit on Inish-Keltra (Caltra)
in Lough Derg near Galway. Although Saint
Columba of Terryglass had founded a monastery on the island a
century earlier, Saint Caimin is the reason the people call it
"Holy Island" after many disciples were drawn there
because of his reputation for holiness. Later in life he founded a
monastery and church, named Tempul-Cammin, on the island of the
Seven Churches.
The monastery on Inish-Keltra thrived through 1010 (when its last
recorded abbot died) despite its being in the direct path of the
Danish invaders. The abbey was plundered c. 836 and again in 922.
Brian Boru restored the church c. 1009. Now, however, only ruins
recall the grandeur of Inish-Keltra's past: the 80-foot tall round
tower, early grave markers, and ivy-covered church ruins.
Saint Caimin was a fellow-worker with Saint
Senan. A fragment of the Psalter of Saint Caimin, claimed
by some to have been copied by his own hand, still exists in the Franciscan
library at Killiney, County Dublin. He is also credited
with authorship of the Commentary on the Hebrew Text of the
Psalms (Benedictines, D'Arcy, Healy, Husenbeth, Montague,
Muirhead, Neeson).
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