St. Gerald of Mayo
Our Patron Saint
It is unknown when exactly St. Gerald of Mayo was born, but we do know he was born sometime in the mid-7th Century. His story begins when we was an English monk who travelled to Ireland with St. Colman of Lindisfarne, and settled on the island of Innisboffin in 668 along with a contingent of about thirty English monks. There, they lived in a monastery with Irish monks, until dissensions arose between the two groups.
The Irish monks would typically leave the monastery during the summer to evangelize and do missionary work, while the English monks preferred to stay in community at the monastery, working and maintaining the rhythm of the monastic life. Unable to reconcile their differences, St. Colman decided to found a separate monastery just for the English monks.
The Abbey of Mayo was founded in 670 with St. Gerald as its first abbot. Though he was a young man compared to the other monks, he was a wise and also excelled in providing pastoral care and religious discipline with an even hand. Under St. Gerald’s stewardship that blended both English traditions and Irish culture, the abbey quickly grew as an institution. It quickly became well-known for its excellent monastic school, and it attracted monks from Ireland, England, and abroad.
After St. Gerald was consecrated a bishop he was able to ordain monks as priests to expand the reach of the sacraments throughout the land. However, records indicate that he remained in Mayo and never held an episcopal see over a territory. He remained the abbot until 697, and continued to serve as bishop of his community until his death. Historical records disagree if he died in 726 or 731.
After the Viking raids of the 9th Century disrupted Irish monasticism, the Abbey of Mayo declined in prominence. With only a parochial church and no cathedral, the see of Mayo existed until 1579 until it was joined to the Tuam diocese in 1631 by papal decree. The devotion to St. Gerald remained strong locally, and across Ireland there is a resurgence of interest in Irish saints and the spiritual and historical roles they contributed to Irish heritage.
St. Gerald’s feast is celebrated on December 5.