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]

In the ten years since its publication by Four Courts Press in 2011 A dictionary of Irish saints has attracted a large amount of supplementary material, mainly through comments and corrections provided by readers, colleagues and reviewers. As these are to be included in a planned second edition of the Dictionary, it is felt by both Press and author that those who own a copy of the first edition should also benefit from them through this publication.

As part of the historicizing corpus of seventh-century Irish writing, the Lives framed the narrative of the early saints as an effective weapon in contemporary political and ecclesiastical conflicts. Cogitosus’s Life of Brigit, Muirchú’s and Tírechán’s accounts of Saint Patrick, and Adomnán’s Life of Columba created the understanding of the history of early Ireland that has endured to this day. How did the writers accomplish this through their literary choices? The authors of Irish saints’ Lives used the literary form of hagiography (Christian biography), miracle stories, and an elaborate rhetorical style to present the words and actions of their subjects. These Lives created a narrative of early Irish history that supported the political/ecclesiastical elites by showing that their power derived from the actions of their patron saints.

Drawing on the work of leading figures in biblical, religious, historical, and cultural studies in Ireland and beyond, this volume explores the reception of the Bible in Ireland, focusing on the social and cultural dimensions of such use of the Bible. This includes the transmission of the Bible, the Bible and identity formation, engagement beyond Ireland, and cultural and artistic appropriation of the Bible. The chapters collected here are particularly useful and insightful for those researching the use and reception of the Bible, as well as those with broader interests in social and cultural dimensions of Irish history and Irish studies. The chapters challenge the perception in the minds of many that the Bible is a static book with a fixed place in the world that can be relegated to ecclesial contexts and perhaps academic study. Rather, as this book shows, the role of the Bible in the world is much more complex. Nowhere is this clearer than in Ireland, with its rich and complex religious, cultural, and social history. This volume examines these very issues, highlighting the varied ways in which the Bible has impacted Irish life and society, as well as the ways in which the cultural specificity of Ireland has impacted the use and development of the Bible both in Ireland and further afield.