Died c. 823; feast day formerly on January 15. Blaithmac was an Irish
abbot, who, desiring martyrdom, crossed over to England, which was then
prey to the heathen Danes.
His contemporary, Walafrid Strabo (died 849), the German Benedictine of
Reichenau, narrates his life in a 180-line metrical poem, which has been
reprinted in Migne's "Patrologia" and Messingham's "Florilegium Insulae
Sanctorum". According to this
tradition, Blaithmac was heir to an Irish throne, but entered a
monastery instead and later became its abbot. Desiring the crown of
martyrs, he obtained permission to live among his brethren at Iona.
During the absence of its abbot Dermait, Blaithmac foretold the Viking
raid on Iona and buried the shrine containing the relics of
Saint Columba (f.d. June 9).
After carefully replacing the sod above the
burial site, Blaithmac then gave each of the monks the choice of fleeing
or staying.
As he was offering the Holy Sacrifice the next morning, the invaders
rushed in. The whole community was slaughtered, until only Blaithmaic,
the temporary abbot, was left. He was promised that his life would be
spared if he gave them the relics. He refused and was hacked to pieces
by the Danes on the altar steps of the abbey church. When his brethren
returned, they buried him where he had fallen. The relics were later
reposed at Dunkeld in 849
(
Benedictines,
D'Arcy,
Montague,
Moran,
O'Hanlon,
Skene).