This calendar of saints is drawn from several denominations, sects, and traditions. Although it will no longer be updated daily, the index on the right will guide visitors to a saint celebrated on any day they choose. Additional saints will be added as they present themselves to Major.

Thursday, January 27, 2011

January 28 -- Feast of St. Cannera of Inis Cathaig

Yeah, I know that January 28 is the feast of St. Thomas Aquinas, one of the biggest dogs in the whole canon of saints. I recognize that you can't overstate his influence on the development of the western Church unless you say that he was bigger than Jesus and Paul (he wasn't). I can even see that he and I share a name. Maybe next year, T.Aq but this year goes to Cannera.

With Pyrrhic victories, it is hard to judge who won and who lost. So it is with Cannera's insistence on going to Inis Cathaig, an island on the River Shannon under the direction of an abbot named Senan. Cannera had a vision that she would be buried there, and so she set out promptly to establish her residence there.

Senan told her that she could not land on the island as it was reserved for men only. She of course countered with her vision. He insisted that she could not come ashore, but she countered that Jesus died for women as well as men. Senan relented and she stepped out of her coracle and onto the beach. Point: Cannera.

She dropped dead as soon as she stepped on the beach. Once he recovered from the shock and no doubt sincere concern, Senan must have felt a certain satisfaction that he had told her so. If he did not, he too should be recognized as a saint. Point: Senan.

Any satisfaction Senan felt must have been short-lived; having died on his beach, Cannera was entitled to last rites and burial on Inis Cathaig. I don't know that it is worth a hurried death, but Point: Cannera.

Senan did in fact give Cannera burial on the island, though it was on the very edge of the land rather than in the Abbey pale. Penalty: Senan.

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