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{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2020}} {{Use Irish English|date=January 2020}}
{{Infobox saint
|honorific_prefix=Saint
|name=Assicus
|birth_date=unknown
|death_date=c. 490
|feast_day=27 April
|venerated_in=[[Catholic Church]], [[Eastern Orthodox Church]], Anglican Communion<ref>[http://ireland.anglican.org/worship/30 "Commemorations", Church of Ireland]</ref>
|image=Sligo Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception Ambulatory Window 03 Asicus 2013 09 14.jpg
|imagesize=200px
|caption=Assicus in a stained glass window of [[Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, Sligo|Sligo Cathedral]]
|birth_place=
|death_place=Racoo, Ballintra, [[County Donegal]], [[Ireland]]
|titles=[[Saint Patrick]]'s coppersmith and Bishop of Elphin
|beatified_date=
|beatified_place=
|beatified_by=
|canonized_date=
|canonized_place=
|canonized_by=
|attributes=
|patronage=[[Elphin, County Roscommon|Elphin]], [[Ireland]]
|major_shrine=
|suppressed_date=
|issues=
}}
'''Assicus''' ''(Asicus, Assic)'' was the first bishop of [[Elphin, County Roscommon|Elphin]], [[Ireland]], and venerated as the [[patron saint]] of that place. He was also an artisan metalworker.
==Tradition==
Assicus was a friend of St. Patrick, and a skilled metal worker in brass and copper.
Converted to [[Christianity]] by [[Saint Patrick]], he is also said to have been Patrick's worker in [[iron]].<ref name=grattan>[http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/01800a.htm Grattan-Flood, William. "St. Assicus." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 1. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1907. 31 Dec. 2012]</ref>
At Elphin, Patrick built a church, called through centuries, "Tempull Phadruig" (Patrick's church). There he established an episcopal monastery, one of the first monasteries founded by him. He appointed Assicus as abbot-bishop, and with him left Bite, son of the brother of Assicus, and Cipia, mother of Bite.<ref name=Kelly>[http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/05394b.htm Kelly, James Joseph. "Elphin." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 5. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1909. 25 Feb. 2014]</ref> Assicus was of the family of Hono, a druid of wealth and influence, from whom Patrick obtained the land.<ref name="Healy1905">{{cite book|author=John Healy|title=The Life and Writings of St. Patrick: With Appendices, Etc|url=https://archive.org/details/lifeandwritings01patrgoog|year=1905|publisher=M. H. Gill & son, Limited}}</ref>
==Artisan==
Under the [[Brehon Law]], craftsmen were well respected in ancient Ireland.<ref name=Kelly/>
The first bishop of Elphin is described in the "Book of Armagh" as the ''cerd'', (the wright or goldsmith) of St. Patrick. Assicus made chalices, patens, and metal book-covers for the churches founded by Patrick.<ref name=Kelly/>
In the ''Tripartite Life of St Patrick'' is stated:
:''Bishop St. Assic was Patrick's [[coppersmith]], and made altars, tables, and square [[bookcase]]s. Besides, he made our saint's [[paten]]s in honour of Bishop Patrick, and of them I have seen three square patens, that is, a paten in the Church of Patrick in [[Armagh]], and another in the Church of Elphin, and a third in the great-church of Donough-patrick (at Carns near [[Tulsk]]).''<ref name=grattan/><ref name=joyce>[http://www.libraryireland.com/SocialHistoryAncientIreland/III-XX-6.php Joyce, P.W., ''A Smaller Social History of Ancient Ireland'', Dublin,(1906)]</ref>
Assicus was an expert metal worker, and was also renowned as a [[bellfounder]]. Following the example of their masters, the successors and spiritual children of St. Assicus founded a school of art and produced beautiful objects of Celtic workmanship in the Diocese of Elphin.<ref name=Kelly/>
==Death==
Of his last days the following graphic description is given by Archbishop [[John Healy (bishop)|Healy]]:
:''Assicus himself in shame because of a lie told either by him, or, as others say, of him, fled into [[County Donegal|Donegal]], and for seven years abode in the island of [[Rathlin O'Birne]]. Then his monks sought him out, and after much labour found him in the mountain glens, and tried to bring him home to his own [[monastery]] at Elphin. But he fell sick by the way and died with them in the wilderness. So they buried the venerable old man in the churchyard of Rath Cunga, now Racoo, in the Barony of [[Tirhugh]], County Donegal. The old churchyard is there still, though now disused, on the summit of a round hillock close to the left of the road from [[Ballyshannon]] to Donegal, about a mile to the south of the village of Ballintra. We sought in vain for any trace of an inscribed stone in the old churchyard. He fled from men during life, and, like [[Moses]], his grave is hidden from them in death.''<ref name=grattan/>
His feast is celebrated 27 April, as is recorded in the ''[[Martyrology of Tallaght]]'' under that date.
==Identities==
Assicus is sometimes thought to be the same man as [[Tassac]] and Assam (or Assan), or both.
==References==
{{Reflist}}
==External links==
* [http://iolfree.ie/~drumholmparish/page2.html "St. Assicus - Drumholm", Parish of Drumholm]
* [https://books.google.com/books?id=MJVAAQAAMAAJ&dq=Assicus&pg=PA293 Kelly, J.J., "St. Assicus", ''The Irish Ecclesiastical Record'', 1902]
{{Saints of Ireland}}
{{authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Assicus}}
[[Category:People from County Roscommon]]
[[Category:People from County Donegal]]
[[Category:5th-century Irish bishops]]
[[Category:Irish metalsmiths]]
[[Category:Irish goldsmiths]]
[[Category:5th-century Christian saints]]
[[Category:Medieval Irish saints]]
[[Category:Converts to Christianity from pagan religions]]