Monasteries |
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| St. Luna
The village of Cadamstown is about 4 miles east of Kinnitty. The ruins of Litter Luna Abbey are situated a little to the east of the present village of Cadamstown. Litter is the Irish for marshy land and Luna was the saint who founded this famous Abbey. Luna was a direct descendant of Conal Cheamach, prince of Laois. When he arrived he built his first church on the little hill and the old gable is still standing. It's not known where St. Luna is buried but he is supposed to be buried under a slab near the well beside a sycamore tree. The well is known as Tobar Magna. Tobar is the Irish for well and Magna is the Latin for big. It was here he baptised the local people and crowds also came here to be cured of many sicknesses. It was attacked first by the Danes and then later by the Normans. The Abbey existed up until the 1645 when Ireton son-in-law to Cromwell sent an army under General John Reynolds from Kilkenny to the Midlands-having destroyed the Abbey at Kilmanman near Clonaslee he sacked Luna. It is said that the monks fled to the mountains for safety never to return. (Told to me by my grandfather) St. Finan St. Finan was born in Kerry and he went to
school there for about six years and worked as a baker. He wanted to build
a monastery and he went to the Slieve Bloom Mts. He was to meet a flock
of wild boars in the woods where the Church Of Ireland is now. It turned
out to be a great monastery. It was built in 557 AD It was attacked by
the Danes. It was attacked in 839 AD and rebuilt again. The present Church
Of Ireland was built on the ruins of that monastery. The Church Of Ireland
people called their church St. Finan's church. His feast day is on the
seventh of April.
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