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Died 653; in some places his feast is celebrated on March 25. The Irish Saint Caimin was half-brother to King Guaire of Connaught and Cumian Fada (f.d. November 12), and himself a distinguished scholar. But he retired from the vanities of the world to live asa hermit on Inish-Keltra (Caltra) in Lough Derg near Galway. Although Saint Columba of Terryglass (f.d. December 12) had founded a monastery on the island a century earlier, Saint Caimin is the reason the people call it "Holy Island" after many disciples were drawn there because of his reputation for holiness. Later in life he founded a monastery and church, named Tempul-Cammin, on the island of the Seven Churches.

The monastery on Inish-Keltra thrived through 1010 (when its last recorded abbot died) despite its being in the direct path of the Danish invaders. The abbey was plundered c. 836 and again in 922. Brian Boru restored the church c. 1009. Now, however, only ruins recall the grandeur of Inish-Keltra's past: the 80-foot tall round tower, early grave markers, and ivy-covered church ruins.

Saint Caimin was a fellow-worker with Saint Senan (f.d. April 29). A fragment of the Psalter of Saint Caimin, claimed by some to have been copied by his own hand, still exists in the Franciscan library at Killiney, County Dublin. He is also credited with authorship of the Commentary on the Hebrew Text of the Psalms (Benedictines, D'Arcy, Healy, Husenbeth, Montague, Muirhead, Neeson).


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