Four Tipperary Saints The Lives of Colum of Terryglass, Cronan of Roscrea, Mochaomhog of Leigh and Ruadhan of Lorrha

When St. Patrick was leaving Munster via the Little Brosna River, close to Tipperary's northern boundary, he is said to have given a blessing to the province's people - its men, women, and children. Much of this blessing must have lingered over north Tipperary, because no fewer than four of its saints were made the subjects of written lives, Ruadhan and Colum from the neighboring parishes of Lorrha and Terryglass, Cronan of Roscrea, and Mochaomhog of Leigh in Twomileborris. The lives written for these saints in Latin, translated here for the first time into English, contain much that is of interest, not only to Tipperary people, but to all who wish to know more about the history of early Irish Christianity. Written many centuries after the golden age of the saints, these texts tell us a great deal about the fortunes of their churches, and about the aims and associations of the communities devoted to them. This new translation gives access to these four lives to a brand new audience. *** "On the whole, this is an excellent book. ...an excellent starting point for those seeking fruitful avenues of further scholarship while being an ideal example of how to engage with a text clearly and briefly for the modern reader. This ties in very neatly with O Riain's ongoing work towards a suitable methodology for hagiological scholarship and as such, for the modern scholar of saintly materials, it is, quite frankly, an indispensable work." --CSANA Newsletter 35.1, Samain 2017 [Subject: History, Medieval Studies, Irish Studies, Religious Studies]