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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).



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