View source for Foillan

{{For|the Manx coastal path|Raad ny Foillan}}
{{EngvarB|date=August 2014}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2014}}
{{Infobox saint
|honorific_prefix = [[Saint]]
|name = Foillan
|birth_date=
|death_date=seventh century
|feast_day= 31 October (Diocese of Namur); 5 November (Dioceses of Mechelen and Tournai)
|venerated_in= [[Roman Catholic Church]], [[Eastern Orthodox Church]]
|image= Foillan.jpg
|imagesize= 150px
|caption=
|birth_place= Ireland
|death_place= [[Sonian Forest]], Belgium
|titles=
|beatified_date=
|beatified_place=
|beatified_by=
|canonized_date=
|canonized_place=
|canonized_by=
|attributes=Represented with a crown at his feet to show that he despised the honours of the world
|patronage=[[Fosses]]; [[truss]]-makers, [[dentists]], surgeons, and children's nurses.
|major_shrine=
|suppressed_date=
|issues=
}}
'''Saint Foillan''' (''Faélán, Faolán, Foélán, {{langx|fr|link=no|Feuillen}}'') is an Irish saint of the seventh century.
== Family ==
Foillan was the brother of Saints [[Saint Ultan|Ultan]] and [[Saint Fursey|Fursey]]. He is described as the 'uterine brother' of Fursa, meaning that they had the same mother but not the same father.<ref>[[Bruno Krusch]] (Ed.), 'Additamentum Niuialense de Fuilano', ''Monumenta Germaniae Historica'', SRM IV, (Hannover 1902), p. 449-451.</ref> Certain Latin ''Lives'' of Foillan therefore incorporate the Fursa ancestry into Foillan's origins: his mother is stated to have been Gelges, the Christian daughter of 'Aed Finn' (possibly meaning [[Áed mac Echach]]), [[List of kings of Connacht|King of Connacht]].<ref>Société des Bollandistes, ''Acta Sanctorum'', October XIII, (1883), Section 'De Patria et Genere S. Foillani, pp. 375–376.</ref> Fursey's father is stated to be Fintan son of Finlog (though whether of Momonia or of Mag Murthemni, the [[Bollandist]] editor finds the sources not in agreement).
== Mission to East Anglia ==
Foillan, probably in company with Ultan, went with his brother Fursa when the latter retired to a lonely island, escaping from the multitudes who gathered around him, some of whom harboured ill-feeling towards him. From there, around 633, Fursa went through [[Britons (historic)|British]] territory to the [[Kingdom of East Anglia]] with a group of followers including Foillan and Ultan and priests named Gobán and Dicuill. There they were received kindly by King [[Sigeberht of East Anglia]], who gave Fursa the site of a Roman shore-fort at a place called ''Cnobheresburg'', to build a monastery. The monastery was built at the site usually identified as [[Burgh Castle Roman Site|Burgh Castle]] or [[Gariannonum]] (formerly in [[Suffolk]], now [[Norfolk]]), and it flourished between c. 634 and c. 650. The earliest source for Fursa and Foillan in East Anglia is the ''Vita Sancti Fursei'':<ref>Bruno Krusch (Ed.), 'Vita Sancti Fursei', ''Monumenta Germaniae Historica'', SRM IV, (Hannover 1902), p. 434-440 (visions omitted). cf. Oliver Rackham, ''Transitus Sancti Fursei'' (Fursey Pilgrims, Norwich 2007) contains the full text including visions.</ref> this was the primary source quoted by the [[Venerable Bede]] in his ''[[Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis Anglorum]]'' of 731.<ref>B. Colgrave and R. A. B. Mynors (Eds), ''Bede's Ecclesiastical History of the English People'', 269–277 (HE III.19) and see note 2 p.268.</ref>
== Abbot of ''Cnobheresburg'' ==
Seized again with the desire for solitude, about 643 Fursa left the monastery of ''Cnobheresburg'' in the care of Foillan, while he (Fursa) went off to find his brother Ultan, who had previously gone to live in the East Anglian wilderness as a hermit: Fursa and Ultan lived together for a year in austerity and prayer.<ref>''Transitus Sancti Fursei'': Bede, HE III.18</ref> At the end of the year Fursa, seeing that East Anglia and the monastery were threatened by hostile invasions, decided to take his leave of East Anglia, and went into Gaul leaving Foillan now fully in charge of the monastery.
The ''Catholic Encyclopedia'' states that Fursa made a return visit to the brethren in East Anglia c. 650. This is derived from the ''Virtutes Fursei'',<ref>Bruno Krusch (Ed.), 'Virtutes Sancti Fursei', ''Monumenta Germaniae Historica'', SRM IV, (Hannover 1902), p. 440-449, at p. 445 (Chapter 14): cf. Rackham (Ed.), 2007, 64.</ref> which states that Fursa decided that he would return to visit his brothers, and set out to do so, but then adds that he died on the journey at his estate at ''Macerias'' ([[Mézerolles]] in [[Ponthieu]]), so in fact did not reach them. Neither the early ''Transitus Fursei'' nor ''Bede'' have the story.
Around 651 there was (as Fursa had foreseen) a disastrous assault on East Anglia by [[Penda]], the [[Mercia]]n king. King [[Anna of East Anglia]] was put to flight, and the monastery of ''Cnobheresburg'' fell into the hands of the enemies. It was pillaged, and its superior, Foillan, barely escaped death. He hastened to ransom the captive monks, recovered the [[relics]], put the holy books and objects of veneration on board ship, and departed for [[Péronne, Somme|Péronne]] in Frankish [[Neustria]], where his brother Fursa was buried.<ref>The story of Anna's exile, and of Foillan's escape from East Anglia and his coming to Nivelles is told in the Nivelles ''Additamentum'' (Krusch, Ed. 1902).</ref>
== At Péronne and Nivelles ==
He and his companions were well received at Péronne by [[Erchinoald]], Mayor of the Palace, who with King [[Clovis II]] had previously befriended Fursa. But soon, turning against these visitors, that nobleman expelled Foillan and his companions from Péronne, and they went to [[Nivelles]], where they were made welcome by (Saint) [[Itta]] (also called Iduberg) and her daughter (Saint) [[Gertrude of Nivelles|Gertrude]], and their protector (Gertrude's brother) [[Grimoald I]].<ref>Source: Nivelles ''Additamentum''.</ref> Itta and Gertrude, wife and daughter of Duke [[Pepin I]] respectively, were the foundresses of the Nivelles monastery in Belgium.
Foillan seems to have been a bishop.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=hNbYuqA0EWQC&pg=PA352 Stephen, Leslie. "Foillan", ''Dictionary of National Biography'', Vol. XIX, Smith, Elder & Co., London, 1889]</ref> He was therefore of great assistance in the organisation of worship, and the holy books and relics which he brought were great treasures for St. Itta and St. Gertrude. As the monastery of Nivelles was under Irish discipline, the companions of Foillan were well received and lived side by side with the holy women, occupying themselves with the details of worship under the general direction of the abbess.<ref>[http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/06123c.htm  Van der Essen, Léon. "St. Foillan." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 6. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1909. 23 Jan. 2013]</ref>
== Foundation of Fosses, and martyrdom ==
Through the liberality of Itta, Foillan was enabled to build a monastery at [[Fosses-la-Ville]], not far from Nivelles, in the province of [[Namur (city)|Namur]]. After the death of Itta in 652, Foillan came one day to Nivelles and sang [[Mass (liturgy)|Mass]], on the eve of the feast of [[Saint Quentin]]. The ceremony being finished, he resumed his journey, doubtless undertaken in the interests of his monastery. In the Sonian Forest the saint and his companions fell into a trap set by [[bandit]]s who inhabited the dense forest. They were slain, stripped, and their bodies concealed. Foillan's head, still speaking prayers, was thrown into a nearby pigsty. The bodies were recovered by St. Gertrude, and when she had taken some relics of the saint, his body was borne to the monastery of Fosses-la-Ville, where it was buried about 655.<ref>The information in this paragraph is mostly repeated by the ''Catholic Encyclopedia'' from the ''Nivelles Additamentum''.</ref>
==Veneration==
Foillan was one of the numerous Irish missionaries who, in the course of the seventh century, evangelised in Neustria, bringing thither the [[liturgy]] and sacred vessels, founding prosperous monasteries, and sharing considerably in the propagation of the faith in these countries. Owing to the friendship which united him with Erchinoald, Mayor of the Palace (who, however, expelled him from [[Lagny-sur-Marne|Lagny]]), and with the members of Pepin's family, Foillan played a significant part in Frankish ecclesiastical history, as shown by his share in the direction of Nivelles and by the foundation of the monastery of Fosses-la-Ville.
It is not surprising, therefore, that he should be honoured and venerated both at Nivelles and Fosses-la-Ville and to find at [[Le Roeulx]] (Belgium) a monastery bearing his name. As late as the twelfth century the veneration in which he was held inspired [[Philippe de Harvengt]], [[Abbot of Bonne-Esperance]], to compose a lengthy biography of the saint. He is the patron of Fosses, near [[Charleroi]]. In the [[Diocese of Namur]] his feast is celebrated on 31 October, in the [[Diocese of Mechelen]] and [[Diocese of Tournai]] on 5 November.
There are several Latin ''Lives'' of Foillan of varying authority, reproduced by the Society of [[Bollandists]] in the ''[[Acta Sanctorum]]''.<ref>Société des Bollandistes, ''[[Acta Sanctorum]]'', October Vol XIII, p. 370 ff.</ref> Around 1100 Hillinus, a deacon and cantor of the church of Fosses, wrote a metrical life of Foillan for his master Sigebert, the patron of Fosses.<ref>Bollandists, ''[[Acta Sanctorum]]'', October Vol XIII, pp 395–408.</ref> Soon afterwards, between 1102 and 1112, Hillinus also wrote a prose ''In Miraculis Sancti Foyllani Martyris'', a book of the miracles associated with St. Foillan at Fosse.<ref>See p. 924, in 'Ex Miraculis S. Foillani Auct Hillino Cantore Fossensi', Ed. O. Holder-Egger, in G. H. Pertz (Ed.), ''Monumenta Germaniae Historica'' Vol. XV part II (Supplementa tomorum I-XII, Pt 2), Vitae Aliaeque Historiae Minores, pp. 924–928.</ref>
==Musician==
According to Gratten Flood, ''"About the year 653, St. Gertrude, of Brabant, (daughter of Pepin, Mayor of the Palace), abbess of Nivelle, in Brabant, sent for St. Foillan and St. Ultan, brothers of our celebrated St. Fursey (Patron of Perrone), to teach [[psalmody]] to her nuns. These two Irish monks complied with her request, and built an adjoining monastery at Fosse, in the diocese of Liege."'' (* ''A History of Irish Music'', p.&nbsp;12, William H. Gratten Flood, Dublin, 1906.)
== Notes ==
{{reflist}}
==External links==
*{{PASE|1669|Foillán 1}}
*[http://www.saintpatrickdc.org/ss/1031.shtml Saint of the Day, October 31: Foillan]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20070106060100/http://catholic-forum.com/saints/saintf60.htm Patron Saints: Foillan]
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[[Category:Musicians from County Roscommon]]
[[Category:7th-century Irish Christian clergy]]
[[Category:Irish Christian monks]]
[[Category:Irish Christian missionaries]]
[[Category:Medieval Irish musicians]]
[[Category:Irish expatriates in England]]
[[Category:Irish expatriates in France]]
[[Category:East Anglian saints]]
[[Category:7th-century Christian martyrs]]
[[Category:Year of birth unknown]]
[[Category:Christian missionaries in England]]
[[Category:Christian missionaries in France]]