Date: 21/06/2025

A visitor to the Galway Gaeltacht at this time of the year might be struck by the sight of blazing bonfires on the night of 23rd June, the eve of St. John’s feast-day. In Ireland, these mid-summer fires appear to have been transferred from the ancient May festival of Bealtaine (see Kay Muhr, ‘Bealtaine in Irish and Scottish Place-Names’, Journal of Scottish Name Studies 10). It is notable that the saint celebrated on the night of 23rd/24th June, Saint John the Baptist – Eoin Baiste in Irish – does not feature in the Martyrology of Donegal (see Felire na Naomh nÉrennach), the 17th-century version of the ecclesiastical calendar of native saints. Note also that parishes dedicated to Saint John are found for the most part in areas heavily colonized by the Anglo-Normans. Witness Saint John’s / Paróiste Eoin in Cos. Dublin, Kildare, Kilkenny, Laois, Limerick, Wexford, and Waterford (see logainm.ie). The parish of Teach Eoin ‘Saint John’s (religious) house’ (logainm.ie #2112) in Co. Roscommon, called Saint John’s in English, can also be traced to Anglo-Norman settlement in the area, as can Teampall Eoin ‘Saint John’s church’ (logainm.ie #2147) in Sligo Town, and Templeowen / Teampall Eoin (logainm.ie #3548) at Tullow in Co. Carlow refers to a friary founded in 1314 by Simon Lumbard and Hugh Talun (see Historic Environment Viewer: CW008-045001).

Of the placenames commemorating this saint, the ones containing the element cill ‘church’ are perhaps the most interesting, such as the parish of Killone / Cill Eoin ‘the church of Saint John’ (logainm.ie #485) near Ennis in Co. Clare. The generic element cill ‘church, cell’ usually denotes an ecclesiastical site of some antiquity (see Pádraig Ó Cearbhaill, Logainmneacha na hÉireann II: Cill i logainmneacha Co. Thiobraid Árann (2007) lch.2), but the example in Co. Clare refers to an Augustian foundation that certainly post-dates the Anglo-Norman invasion. There are other attested examples of Cill Eoin ‘the church of Saint John’ in Cos. Cork, Down, Galway and Waterford, easily confused with the slightly more common Cill Eoghain ‘the church of Saint Eoghan’, commemorating a native saint. Note that these two placenames are homophonous in later Modern Irish and we are often reliant on secondary evidence, such as patron dates, to identify the original Irish precursor. (As to the official anglicized spellings, based on the information gathered by the Irish scholars at the Topographical Department, the Ordnance Survey standardized Cill Eoin to Killone and Cill Eoghain to Killowen wherever they could, but later research sometimes shows their analysis to have been incorrect.)

(Note in passing that the saint’s full title was used in the Irish name of the townland Baptistgrange / Gráinseach Eoin Baiste ‘the grange of John the Baptist’ (logainm.ie #47624) in Co. Tipperary: ‘grainseach Eóin Baiste’ (1840), another placename of probable Anglo-Norman origin.)

The proliferation of Anglo-Norman dedications does not necessarily mean that Saint John the Baptist was neglected by the Irish prior to the invasion. We have some good onomastic evidence to the contrary. Although omitted from the 17th-century martyrology mentioned above, we should note that Eoin (Saint John the Baptist) is mentioned in the earlier Irish calendars: ‘Ríg-gein Iohain baptaist…’ in The Martryology of Oengus the Culdee/Félire Óengusso Céili Dé [24th July, recte June]. (As mentioned before, Irish Eoin is a borrowing from Biblical Latin Joannes, in contrast to the later borrowings Seon and Seán from the Anglo-Normans, through English John and Norman French Jehan, respectively.) But of course a mere mention in the early calendar is not in itself evidence of an Irish cult of Saint John, as many other non-Irish saints who were never venerated in Ireland are included in the same source. Stronger evidence is found in the form of the surname Ó Maoileoin ‘descendant of the follower of St. John’ (now generally anglicized Malone). The significance is that the prefix Ó (Mid.Ir. Úa) ‘descendant of’ (originally meaning ‘grandson of’) was not productive in Irish surnames after the arrival of the Anglo-Normans. (Native surnames coined after the invasion use the prefix mac ‘descendant of’, originally ‘son of’, or no prefix at all, e.g. Mac Seáin [anglic. McShane], Caomhánach [anglic. Cavanagh/Kavanagh].) Therefore, the existence of the surname Ó Maoileoin ‘descendant of the follower of Saint John’ points to veneration of John the Baptist in Gaelic society before the arrival of the Anglo-Normans. The underlying personal name is of course Maoileoin [Mid.Ir. Mael Eóin] (cf. eDIL s.v. 3 Mael (c); cf. ‘Maoileoin, epscop acus angcoiri’ [Maoileoin, bishop and anchorite] in the Martyrology of Donegal (20th October)).

Woulfe also notes ‘a distinguished family of ecclesiastics of Clonmacnoise, of which several O’Malones were abbots and bishops’ (SGG s.v. Ó Maoileóin). Members of the Ó Maoileoin family also crop up as clerics in other places: they were undoubtedly active in the dioceses of Clonfert / Cluain Fearta, Killaloe / Cill Dálua and Tuam / Tuaim, with other possible examples (see Calendar of Papal Registers, passim). Some of these references mention papal dispensations given to the offspring of unions between a priest and an unmarried woman. As mentioned in previous notes, the frequency with which these types of dispensations were issued in Ireland implies that the office of priesthood within the Gaelic Church was regularly passed from father to son. This led to the creation of ‘clerical families’ which persisted in Ireland long after celibacy had become official policy in the rest of the Church. This tradition seems to have survived into the late medieval and early modern period, only coming to an end with the destruction of Gaelic society in the 16th and early 17th centuries. Take for instance a papal letter dated January 1412, concerning the promotion of a clerk, Donald Omulluyn [Dónall Ó Maoileoin] of the diocese of Killaloe, ‘to all, even holy orders and hold a benefice … of Castro Conayng’ [Castleconnell / Caisleán Uí Chonaill (logainm.ie #31374)]. This Donald / Dónall had only lately received papal dispensation as the son of a priest and an unmarried woman (Calendar of Papal Registers VI, pp.254–270). Another such dispensation was given to John Omuleoyn [Seán/Eoin(?) Ó Maoileoin], a priest of the diocese of Tuam, before he received a promotion to the rectory of ‘Magcarnan’ [Moycarn / Maigh Charnáin (logainm.ie #217)] in 1422 (Calendar of Papal Registers VII pp.228–229). The vacancy had arisen upon the death of one Maurianus Omuleoyn, and it is not impossible that this was John’s own father! (The Latinate form Maurianus/Marianus, which was popular enough among Irish clerics in the late medieval period, probably represents Irish Maolmhuire [Mid.Ir. Mael Muire] ‘follower of the Virgin Mary’ in this case. Note that it was also used to refer to Mairín Ó Briain (†1236), archbishop of Cashel (AIF anno 1238), whose Irish (religous) name is a direct diminutive of Muire [earlier Maire] ‘the Virgin Mary’.)

As we have mentioned in earlier notes, recent research has shown – somewhat counterintuitively – that native Irish surnames are not very common in Irish townland names. Those surnames that do occur generally refer to families with a professional pedigree – clerical, legal, literary, etc. – who received better terms of tenure than other Gaelic families. (See C. Ó Crualaoich, ‘Townland and Defunct Placenames in Sligo: Evidence for Surnames in the Historical Forms of Townland and other Placenames’ (Part I)’, in Sligo Field Club Journal, 3 (2017); (Part II), in Sligo Field Club Journal, 4 (2019).) Therefore it should come as no surprise that a surname with the ecclesiastical pedigree of Ó Maoileoin should be found in the townland names Ballyvelone in Co. Cork and Ballymalone in Co. Clare, both of which derive from Baile Uí Mhaoileoin ‘the town(land) of Ó Maoileoin’. It is likely that the families involved were granted those lands on the basis of their professional status.

(Conchubhar Ó Crualaoich & Aindí Mac Giolla Chomhghaill)

• Maigh Charnáin/Moycarn
• Cill Eoin/Killone
• Teach Eoin/Saint John's
• Teampall Eoin/Saint John's
• Teampall Eoin/Templeowen
• Baile Uí Mhaoileoin/Ballymalone
• Baile Uí Mhaoileoin Thiar/Ballyvelone West
• Caisleán Uí Chonaill/Castleconnell
• Gráinseach Eoin Baiste/Baptistgrange

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