Died c. 530. Little is known of Saint Cannera except that which is
recorded in the story of
Saint Senan (f.d. March 8),
who ruled a
monastery on the Shannon River, which ministered to the dying--but only
men. Cannera was an anchorite from Bantry in southern Ireland. When she
knew she was dying, she travelled to Senan's monastery without rest and
walked upon the water to cross the river because no one would take her
to the place forbidden to women. Upon her arrival, the abbot was
adamant that no woman could enter his monastic enclosure. Arguing that
Christ died for women, too, she convinced the abbot to give her last
rites on the island and to bury her at its furthermost edge. Against his
argument that the waves would wash away her grave, she answered that she
would leave that to God.
Cannera told the abbot of a vision she had in her Bantry cell of the
island and its holiness.
Double (male and female) monasteries already existed in Ireland.
Probably because Saint Cannera walked across the water, sailors honour
their patron by saluting her resting place on Scattery Island (Inis
Chathaigh). They believed that pebbles from her island protected the
bearer from shipwreck. A 16th-century Gaelic poem about Cannera prays,
Bless my good ship, protecting power of grace. . . .
(
Benedictines,
D'Arcy,
Markus,
O'Hanlon).