Dúnchad mac Cinn Fáelad facts for kids
Dúnchad mac Cinn Fáelad (also known as Dunichad, Duncad, and Donatus) was an important leader of a famous monastery called Iona. He was the eleventh abbot (which is like the head of a monastery) of Iona from 707 to 717 AD.
Dúnchad came from a powerful family in Ireland called the Cenél Conaill. His grandfather, Máel Coba, was a High King of Ireland, and two of his uncles, Cellach and Conall, were also high kings. This was unusual because most abbots of Iona from this family came from less important branches.
We first hear about Dúnchad as the abbot of a place called Killochuir, which was on the coast of southeastern Ulster. Later, he became the abbot of Iona. However, there's some debate about exactly when and how this happened.
Leading the Monastery at Iona
The old records, called the Annals of Ulster, first mention Dúnchad as abbot of Iona in the year 707. But another person, Conamail of Iona, is also said to have been the abbot from 704 to 710. This means Dúnchad might have been a "coadjutor" (a helper or assistant leader) to Conamail.
It's also possible that Dúnchad was chosen as abbot by a group of monks who disagreed with Conamail. There might have been different groups of monks at Iona who had different ideas about how things should be run.
Disagreements and Changes at Iona
During Dúnchad's time, there were some big disagreements at Iona. One of the most important was about how to calculate the date of Easter. For a long time, the Celtic churches (like the one on Iona) used a different method than the rest of Europe.
A priest named St. Ecgberht of Northumbria, who had studied in Ireland, helped to settle this argument. He successfully convinced the monks at Iona to start using the same Easter date as the rest of the Christian world. They also changed their style of tonsure (the way monks shaved their hair).
The End of Dúnchad's Time
Dúnchad died in 717. In the same year, King Nechtan mac Derile, who was the Gaelic ruler of the Picts (a group of people in what is now Scotland), supposedly sent the clergy from Iona out of his lands.
Dúnchad's feast day, which is a special day to remember him, is on May 25th.
