Daig MacCairill, St.
DAIG MACCAIRILL, ST.
Irish bishop; d. 586–7. He is known as Daig MacCairill (Daig the son of Cairell), Dagaeus, and Daganus, and is said to have been a pupil of finnian of clonard. The early, and largely legendary, accounts of his life state that he was a scribe and a worker in metal. It is highly questionable, however, whether Kieran of Clonmacnois (d. 549) was his patron, and it is extremely doubtful whether he was ever consecrated a bishop. He is the patron of Iniskeen, a parish on the borders of Counties Louth and Monaghan that belonged to the paruchia of Kieran. His genealogy was apparently composed only later in order to link his church with the Úi Néill.
Feast: Aug. 18.
Bibliography: Annals of Inisfallen, ed. and tr. seÁn macairt (Dublin 1951), give his obit under year 589 and make him, through a scribal error, grandson of Colmán Bec. Annals of Ulster, ed. w.m. hennessy and b. maccarthy, 4 v. (Dublin 1887–1901), under year 586. e. knott, ed., "A Poem of Prophecies," Ériu 18 (1958) 65, 79. tallaght abbey, Martyrology of Tallaght, ed. and tr. r.i. best and h. j. lawlor (Henry Bradshaw Society 68; 1931) 126. Martyrology of Oengus, ed. and tr. w. stokes (ibid. 29; 1905) 186. Kenney 383–384.
[c. mcgrath]