The martyrologies, notably the Félire Óengusso, and medieval Irish genealogies identify Ciarán's father as Lugna (also Laighne), a nobleman of the Dál Birn rulers of Osraige, and his mother as Liadán, of the Corcu Loígde.

She related this dream to the druids who were knowledgeable of such things, and they told her that she would bear a son whose fame and virtues would be known as far as the world's end.

A tradition shared by all four Lives describes Ciarán as a holy man wearing skins, whose first pupils are animals in the forest.

His mother, Liadan, is said to have gone to Saighir with a group of women who devoted their lives to the service of God and the members of her son's community.

[7] Sier Kieran became the chief church of the Osraighe, a centre for the preaching of the Gospel and a large industrial community noted for its wealth.

[7] Like the saints Ailbe of Emly, Declán of Ardmore and Abbán, Ciarán is credited with a pre-Patrician career in Munster, though the Lives hardly refer to these putative contemporaries.

[13] One day when Ciarán was still yet a child he made a beginning of his miracles; for in the air right over him a kite came soaring and, swooping down before his face, lifted a little bird that sat upon her nest.

They drew criticism from Dr. Paul Byrne, a Dublin-based independent scholar who has lectured in early Irish history at University College Dublin.

"There is no credible evidence that any Irish saints were involved in any form of abortion," Byrne said in comments provided to CNA.

Tales tell of a fox, badger and wolf who worked with Ciarán and his monks to cut wood and build huts for the brothers.

[22] He is sometimes listed as one of the Twelve Apostles of Ireland, although in the Martyrology of Oengus, Ciarán of Saighir is not enumerated as such, and his association with the students of St. Finnian may be a persistent confusion.

[23] St. Ciarán of Saigir was the subject of New Hagiography's 5 March 2018 release of "Mr. Fox Felt Really Bad"; a reference to the stealing of the saint's leather shoe by one of his first vulpine monastic recruits.

Ciaran spent his early years as a Christian hermit in forests surrounded by the wild animals of the woods, who were said to have been his first pupils.

The animals helped Ciaran construct his first cell in the woods, as a result, the saint always remembered them all as being the first brother monks of his little monastery.

The Pagan faith of the Wicca have the belief that the horned god is born on Winter Solstice, 21 December and dies on Samhain, 31 October.

There have also been attempts to connect Cernunnos with Arawn, another key horned figure of the underworld or otherworld, known as ‘Lord of the Dark Forest’ in Welsh mythology and also the pagan god may have been the who Herne the Hunter in English folklore was based upon.