Ruadhán of Lorrha

St. Ruadán[1] mac Fergusa Birn, also known Rowan, Ruadon, Roadan, Ruadhán, Rodon and Rodan, (died 15 April 584) was an Irish Christian abbot who founded the monastery of Lorrha (Lothra, County Tipperary, Ireland), near Terryglass.

Ruadan was born in Tara in Leinster, Ireland, and was educated at Clonard, County Westmeath by St. Finnian.

[2] He is said to have replaced St. Brendan (the navigator) at Lorrha, who then crossed the Shannon and set up his monastery at Clonfert, County Galway.

Life for the monks would have been tough but simple, rising early from their beds which would have consisted of rushes or straw placed on the bare ground.

Diarmait then asked his druids to find the manner of his death, and they foretold that he would die of slaughter, drowning and burning, and that the signs of his death would be a shirt grown from a single seed of flax and a mantle of wool from a single sheep, ale brewed from one seed of corn, and bacon from a sow which had never farrowed.

The roof beam of Tara has been recovered from the sea by Banbán and set in his hall, the shirt and mantle and ale and bacon are duly produced for Diarmait.

Diarmait crawls into an ale vat to escape the flames and is duly killed by the falling roof beam.

He founded a large number of churches and colleges, as many as forty-four in all, endowed them with land and rents and so allowed many men of religion to serve God devotedly, although he hardly retained enough for himself to live on.