Saighir facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Saighir Seir Kieran
Church
Present parish church at Saighir
Saighir Location in Ireland
Country	Ireland
Province	Leinster
County	Offaly
Time zone	UTC+0 (WET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC-1 (IST (WEST))

Saighir (also known as Seir Kieran or Seirkieran) is a very old church site in Clareen, County Offaly, Ireland. It was started by a famous person called St. Ciaran the Elder. The Irish government has officially recognized Saighir as an important National Monument.

The Story of Saighir

According to old stories, St. Ciaran was born in Ireland when most people were not Christian. He traveled to Rome to become a Christian and study the Bible. After twenty or thirty years, he became a bishop and returned to Ireland.

On his way back, he is said to have met Saint Patrick in Italy. Patrick gave Ciaran a special bell that had no clapper (the part that makes it ring). Patrick told him to build a church where the bell would magically ring, and where he would find a cold spring nearby.

Founding the Monastery

When Ciaran returned to Ireland, he shared his Christian faith with his family. He traveled through their land and over the Slieve Bloom Mountains. Suddenly, the silent bell rang out! Close by, he found a spring of cold water, just as Patrick had said. This is where he decided to build his church.

Growth and Challenges

Saighir quickly became an important place and one of Ireland's oldest Christian sites. It was the main monastery in the area called Osraige. It even became the burial ground for the Kings of Osraige from the Dál Birn family.

Over time, the site faced many challenges. It was attacked and robbed several times by the Vikings. Later, around 1052, another place called Aghaboe Abbey became more important than Saighir.

Later Years and What Remains

Saighir was later restarted around 1170 as a priory for a group of monks called the Augustinian Canons. However, it was closed down in 1568 during a time when many monasteries were dissolved.

Today, not much of the original Saighir remains. You can still see the bottom part of a round tower and the base of a high cross from the 800s. There are also some foundations of the old priory and parts of old forts. A small church from the 1800s stands near where the old priory church used to be.

Close to the site, there's a special whitethorn bush where people hang clothes on March 5th to honor St. Ciaran. There is also a holy well nearby.

A Special Wall for Saighir

An old Irish writer named Geoffrey Keating told a story about a wall built around the royal graveyard at Saighir. This story is found in his book Foras Feasa ar Éirinn.

Queen Sadhbh's Wish

The story says that Donnchadh, who was the King of Ireland, had a wife named Sadhbh. She was the daughter of Donnchadh, the King of Osruighe. Queen Sadhbh noticed that many important churches in Ireland had walls around them, but Saighir did not. This made her sad, especially since Saighir was where the kings of Osruighe, including her father, were buried.

So, Queen Sadhbh asked her husband, King Donnchadh, to send workers to build a stone wall around the graveyard at Saighir. The men of Meath came to help build the wall every day.

Strange Events and a Blessing

During this time, Queen Sadhbh's father, King Donnchadh of Osruighe, was brought to Saighir to be buried. After he was buried, strange things began to happen at night around his grave.

The local religious leaders and people were confused by these events. They knew King Donnchadh had been a very good and religious king. He often confessed his sins, received holy communion, and prayed. He also helped the poor by sending food to churches and supporting orphans in every household.

To understand why these strange things were happening, the religious leaders fasted and prayed for three days. An angel appeared to one of the holy men in a vision. The angel explained that these were not evil spirits, but rather a group trying to cause trouble after the king's death, since they could not harm his soul in heaven.

The angel told them to have a special Mass and bless the grave and the entire churchyard with holy water the next day. They did this, and the strange happenings stopped. The mysterious figures appeared in the air as dark birds but could not land on the blessed ground. They then disappeared and were never seen again.

This story shows how important Saighir was as a burial place for kings and how people believed in the power of blessings to protect sacred sites.

Images for kids

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  Present parish church at Saighir