Almost all of Mo-Ninne’s life and works are leg-
endary; her Lives consist mainly of a series of miracles
and wonder-working. Three versions of her Life remain
extant; the earliest, by a monk named Conchubranus,
dates only from the eleventh century and, like a
twelfth-century Irish redaction, is probably based on
an earlier Life. Two hymns in honor of Mo-Ninne,
perhaps composed at Killevy, date from about the
eighth century. A third Life, written by Geoffrey of
Burtonin in the twelfth century, is based in part on
Conchubranus but is in honor of St. Modwenna of
Burton-on-Trent, whom he identified with Mo-Ninne.
Mo-Ninne’s traditions make her a contemporary of
Patrick and Brigit. According to her legends, she
sought out Patrick for baptism and consecration, along
with eight other virgins and a widow, all of whom
became her disciples. She adopted the widow’s son,
Luger, as her foster-son and eventually saw him
ordained as a bishop. For a time, she and her nuns
lived under the rule of Ibar, a prominent bishop and
teacher. She then visited Brigit and lived for a time at
the monastery of Kildare before making her own foun-
dation at Killevy. Mo-Ninne was famous for her rig-
orous asceticism: she frequently lived as a hermit in
the wilderness, in prayer and fasting; she wore a gar-
ment of badger skins; she combed her hair only once
a year, at Easter; she tilled the ground herself in order
to grow her own food. She was compared to two
famous biblical desert dwellers, John the Baptist and
the prophet Elijah, and praised for her “manly spirit.”
After her death, her hoe, her comb, and her badger-
skin dress were kept as relics at her monastery at
Killevy. Her ascetic regime extended to her commu-
nity; her legends relate how several of her nuns died
of fasting and hunger until Mo-Ninne miraculously
supplied them with food.
Mo-Ninne’s cult spread to Scotland and to England.
She is said to have sent one of her nuns to the monastery
of St. Ninian at Whithorn in Scotland for further
instruction, and her own legendary travels, as told by
Conchubranus, took her to Scotland and England, where
she founded several monasteries, and to Rome. After
her death, her remains were translated to England.
DOROTHY ANN BRAY
References and Further Reading
Bray, Dorothy Ann. “The Manly Spirit of Saint Monnena.” In
Celtic Connections: Proceedings of the Tenth International
Congress of Celtic Studies, edited by Ronald Black, William
Gillies, and Roibeard Ó Maolalaigh, vol. 1, pp. 171–181.
East Linton: Tuckwell Press, 1999.
Gwynn, Aubrey and R. Neville Hadcock. Medieval Religious
Houses: Ireland. Dublin: Irish Academic Press, 1970.
Harrington, Christina. Women in a Celtic Church, Ireland
450–1150.Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002.
Kenney, James F. The Sources for the Early History of Ireland:
Ecclesiastical. New York: Columbia University Press, 1929.
de Paor, Liam, trans. “The Life of St. Darerca, or Moninna, the
Abbess.” In Saint Patrick’s World, edited by Liam de Paor,
pp. 281–294. Dublin: Four Courts Press, 1993.
Sharpe, Richard. Medieval Irish Saints’ Lives. Oxford: Clarendon
Press, 1991.
Ulster Society for Medieval Latin, ed. and trans. “The Life of
Saint Monenna by Conchubranus.” Seanchas Ardmacha 9
(1978–1979): 250–275; Seanchas Ardmacha10.1
(1980–1982): 117–141; Seanchas Ardmacha10.2 (1982):
426–454.
See alsoHagiography and Martyrologies; NunsMONKS
SeeEcclesiastical OrganizationMORAL AND RELIGIOUS
INSTRUCTION
By the time Christianity arrived in Ireland, assuming
it had a strong foothold by the later fifth century, it
had a firm self-perception (1) as a teaching religion
with a body of doctrine to be transmitted and under-
stood, and (2) that it demanded an ethical and religious
discipline (but which varied with the different kinds
of Christians: laypeople, clerics, monks, nuns). Thus
a major part of the church’s concerns, and a key part
of ecclesiastical organization, was concerned with
teaching that doctrine and discipline. We see this con-
cern with instruction in a number of ways, but most
obviously in saints’ lives where part of the pattern of
most lives is to portray their subject as one who was
“illustrious” as a teacher and whose lifestyle was an
example of discipline to others. We can also observe
the importance attached to teaching in canon law: the
Collectio canonum hibernensis, for instance, assumes
that teaching is one of the duties attached to the senior
grades of cleric (deacon, presbyter, and bishop), and
has a special section devoted to teachers (De doctori-
bus: book 38); while the Collectioitself is a major
repository of the various demands of the Christian life.
However, most of our knowledge of moral and reli-
gious instruction must be derived from their extant
writings, which can be grouped under four broad head-
ings: biblical exegesis being the most important. More-
over, we must not expect the modern distinction
between “moral” and “religious” texts to be always
clearly made: for instance, a biblical commentary may
be primarily doctrinal in its interests, but distinguish
several kinds of exegesis in the same text and label
one kind “spiritual” (roughly equivalent to “religious”
meaning), and another kind “moral” in which case it
is usually the shortest section; likewise, a homily
may be devoted to a doctrinal subject, such as theMORAL AND RELIGIOUS INSTRUCTION