Kevin of Glendalough

Life events

1. Born — 498

   Kevin (Old Irish: Cóemgen) was born reputedly in 498 at the Fort of the White Fountain in Leinster, the son of Coemlog and Coemell, of noble lineage. His name Cóemgen means "fair-begotten" or "of noble birth" in Old Irish.

2. Baptized

   According to the late-medieval Latin Vita preserved at the Franciscan Convent in Dublin, Kevin was baptized by Cronan of Roscrea.

3. Ordained

   Bishop Lugidus ordained Kevin, after which Kevin withdrew to Glendalough in County Wicklow to live as a hermit and avoid the company of followers.

4. Other

   Kevin lived as a hermit at Glendalough for seven years in a man-made cave called St. Kevin's Bed — cut into the rock face 10 metres above the upper lake — wearing animal skins, sleeping on stones, going barefoot, and eating very sparingly.

5. Other — 540

   By 540 Kevin's reputation as a teacher had spread widely; disciples gathered around him and a walled settlement called Kevin's Cell was established near the lakeshore, which grew into a renowned monastic school and the parent of several other monasteries.

6. Pilgrimage — 544

   In 544 Kevin traveled to the Hill of Uisneach in County Westmeath to visit the abbots Columba, Comgall, and Cannich, then proceeded to Clonmacnoise, arriving three days after the death of Ciarán.

7. Died — 618

   Kevin died around 3 June 618, presiding over the Glendalough monastery until the end of his life; no contemporaneous documentary record of the death survives. His feast day is observed on 3 June.

8. Other — 1903

   Pope Pius X formally confirmed Kevin's cultus on 9 December 1903, recorded by Wikipedia as his canonization.

Relationships

Documented claims

• St. Kevin's Bed, the cave hermitage above Glendalough's upper lake, measures only 1.2 m wide and under 1 m high — too small to stand upright in — perched about 10 m above the water in the rock face. (likely)
• The church of Kevin at Glendalough housed a writing room that produced the Book of Glendalough in the 12th century; the manuscript is now held at the Bodleian Library, Oxford. (likely)
• Kevin is one of the patron saints of the Diocese of Dublin, belongs to the second order of Irish saints, and Glendalough grew to seven churches to become one of Ireland's chief pilgrimage destinations. (likely)
• Seamus Heaney's Nobel-prize-winning poem "St Kevin and the Blackbird" retells the legend of Kevin holding out his hand motionless while a blackbird builds a nest, lays eggs, and raises chicks to fledging. (certain)
• James Joyce references Kevin several times in Finnegans Wake; the longest episode appears in Part IV, pages 604–607, and was among the earliest-drafted vignettes of the novel. (certain)