Born in Ireland; died April 18, c. 639. Probably identical to
Saint Lamliss (f.d. March 3),
Saint Laserian was the grandson of King Aidan of
Scotland, nephew of
Saint Blane (f.d. August 11),
and son of Cairel and
Blitha. This noble Ulster couple entrusted the education of their
precious son to Saint Murin at Iona. The Celtic prefix of endearment
makes his name Molaise, and in Scotland it is so accentuated that he is
usually known as Molios.
He is said to have travelled to Rome, where he was ordained to the
priesthood by
Saint Gregory the Great (f.d. September 3).
Returning to
Ireland, he brought with him a new version of the Holy Scriptures, and
the rules by which the Roman Church fixed the date of Easter.
He settled near
Saint Goban's (f.d. May 23)
abbey of in Carlow, built a
cell, and gathered disciples around himself. He succeeded Goban as
abbot of the monastery of Leighlin and is said to have founded
Inishmurray in County Sligo.
At the national synod in March 630, held in the White Fields (Synod of
Magh Ailbhe) he,
Cummian of Clonfert (f.d. November 12),
and others
advocated abandoning the Irish method of calculating Easter in deference
to the Nicene formulation. Because of the opposition to the change
offered by such luminaries as
Saint Munnu (f.d. October 21),
a
delegation with Laserian at its head was sent to Rome to investigate the
question more fully.
As a result of the delegation's report, all of Ireland, except Columba's
monasteries, adopted the new reckoning for Easter in 633. The final
decision in favour of the Nicene reckoning in England was made at the
Council of Whitby some thirty years later.
An additional outcome was Laserian's consecration as bishop (either
without a particular see or of Leighlin--this is disputed) and
appointment by Pope Honorius I as apostolic legate to Ireland.
Laserian returned to Ireland with the relics of
Saint Aidan of Ferns (f.d. January 31).
In the 11th century an intricately
wrought shrine with blue glass insets and parti-coloured enamel work was
designed for the relics. Stokes details the beauty of the surviving
portions of the piece which now resides in the National Museum.
Of an
original 21 saints arranged in three rows, eleven figures and three
pairs of feet survive. Three nuns in uniform habits with their hair
hanging in long curls. Eight male figures are in varied dress and
various postures, one with a sword, one 'standing in sorrow his cheek
resting in his hand.'
Devotion to him is strongest on Inishmurray, where there are notable
monastic ruins and a series of praying-stations. He is
also venerated in Scotland, where a cave hermitage bearing his name
survives on Holy Island in Lamlash Bay, off Arran.
At Old Leighlin, there is still his well and S. Laserian's Cross, but
these are the only remains of his monastery. On Holy Island, in Lamlash
Bay, at Arran, there is a cave believed to be the saint's retreat and
marked with many pilgrims' crosses
(
Attwater2,
Benedictines,
Coulson,
D'Arcy,
Farmer,
Husenbeth,
Kenney,
Montague,
Muirhead,
Porter,
Stokes).