[5] His interest in Abbán partly stemmed from the fact that Mag Arnaide lay within the diocese of Ferns, but as this was only a minor church in his time, more must have been involved.

[5] Other sources for Abbán's life and order include the Irish genealogies of the saints and the entries for his feast day in the martyrologies.

[8] The Lives, on the other hand, states that his father was Cormac son of Ailill, king of Leinster, who died in 435 according to the Annals of the Four Masters, and name his mother Mílla, sister to St Ibar.

[12] He is brought into contact with such illustrious saints as Finnian of Clonard, Brendan of Clonfert (d. 577), Columba (d. 597), Gregory the Great, Munnu and Moling.

The Lives tell that he was expected to succeed his father in Leinster, but that his devotion to God and the saintly miracles which he wrought while still in foster care soon made clear that he was destined for a career in the church.

Of special note is the tradition that Saint Gobnait was his sister and that his grave was to be found near her church or nunnery in Bairnech, now Ballyvourney (Muskerry, County Cork).

[5] As the later recensions suggest, Ailbe's original Life seems to build on this connection by claiming that Abbán founded Ballyvourney and gave it to his sister.

Other churches said to have been founded by him include Cell Ailbe (Co. Meath) and Camross (Co. Laois), as well as a monastery at Nurney, County Carlow of which an early high cross survives.

[5] More specifically, Ailbe may have written his Life in response to his quarrel with William Earl Marshall, who had seized two manors near New Ross, and Normans rather than Irishmen may have been his target audience.

[20] It has been argued that the formative occasion for the story was a visit to Abingdon made in 1080 by Lorcán Ua Tuathail (Lawrence O'Toole), Archbishop of Dublin, who stayed there for three weeks before accompanying Henry II to Normandy.

[21] His entries in the Félire Óengusso praise him as an "angelic bush of gold" (doss óir ainglech) and "an abbot fair and train-having" (abb cain clíarach).