Báetán moccu Chormaic explained

Báetán moccu Chormaic, abbot of Clonmacnoise, died 1 March 664.

Báetán was a member of the Moccu Chormaic, a prominent line of the Conmaicne Mara (now Connemara). In 653 he became ninth abbot of Clonmacnoise in succession to Aedlug mac Caman. He held office for twelve years, a considerable period considering most candidates were elderly.

He may have been an exegetical scholar. Michael Richter argues that he was a teacher of the Irish "Augustine" (died 665), identifying him with the Bathanus named by Augustine in his De mirabilibus sacrae scripturae.^[1]

He was included in the martyrologies, which implies he was considered, at least by some, to be a man of saintly character. He was succeeded by Colmán Cass mac Fualascaig, of the Corcu Moga of what is now north-east County Galway

References

• Records Relating to the Dioceses of Ardagh and Clonmacnoise, p. 82, Rev John Monahan, Dublin, 1886.
• Lives of the Irish Saints, Canon John O'Hanlon, 1876-1905.
• Abbatial succession at Clonmacnois, p. 496, Feil-sgribhinn Eoin Mhic Neill, 1938.
• Ireland and her neighbours in the seventh century, Michael Richter, 1999.
• Dictionary of Irish Biography from the Earliest Times to the Year 2002, p. 214, Cambridge, 2010.

Notes and References

1. Richter, Ireland and her neighbours in the seventh century (1999): p. 188.