Saint Enda of Aran (Éanna, Éinne or Endeus, died c. 530) is an Irish saint in the Roman Catholic Church. His feast day is March 21.

Enda was warrior-king of Oriel in Ulster, converted by his sister, Saint Fanchea, an abbess. About 484 he established the first Irish monastery at Killeaney on Aran Mor. St. Enda is described as the “patriarch of Irish monasticism.” ^[1] Most of the great Irish saints had some connection with Aran.

According to the Martyrdom of Oengus, Enda was an Irish prince, son of Conall Derg of Oriel (Ergall) in Ulster. Legend has it that when his father died, he succeeded him as king and went off to fight his enemies.^[2] The soldier Enda was converted by his sister, Saint Fanchea, an abbess.^[3] He visited Fanchea, who tried to persuade him to lay down his arms. He agreed, if only she would give him a young girl in the convent for a wife. He renounced his dreams of conquest and decided to marry. The girl she promised turned out to have just died, and Fanchea forced him to view the girl's corpse, to teach him that he, too, would face death and judgment.^[4]

Such was his pain that he began to lose any interest in life. It is said that on the day that he would leave this mortal plane due to the grief of loss, a strange man came to him in a vision and told him of an isle where he would find peace, Innish. Faced with the reality of death, and by his sister's persuasion, Enda decided to study for the priesthood, and Fanchea sent him to Candida Casa in southwestern Scotland, a great center of monasticism in England. There he took monastic vows and was ordained.^[2]

The stories told of the early life of Saint Enda and his sister are unhistorical. More authentic vitae survive at Tighlaghearny at Inishmore, where he was buried.^[3]

It is said that Enda learned the principles of monastic life at Rosnat in Britain, which was probably Saint David's foundation in Pembrokeshire or Saint Ninian's in Galloway. Returning to Ireland, Enda built a church at Drogheda. About 484 he was given land in the Aran Islands by his brother-in-law, the King of Cashel. On Innish he established the monastery of Enda, which is regarded as the first Irish monastery, the monastery of Killeaney on Aran Mor. He also established one in the Boyne valley, as well as several other across the island, and along with Finnian of Clonard has been known as the father of Irish monasticism. There they lived a hard life of manual labor, prayer, fasting, and study of the Scriptures. It is uncertain how much of Enda's rule was an adaptation of that of Rosnat.

Geologically, the islands are an extension of the Burren in County Clare, on the mainland to the southeast: an uplifted, tilted limestone block. Water percolates right through it, leading sometimes to water shortages and preventing the formation of the typical Irish land form: the bog. Peat for fires had to be imported from Galway. The resulting flora are unique: Mediterranean and Alpine species meet here, attracting masses of tiny multicolored butterflies.^[5]

Enda divided the island into two parts, one half assigned to the monastery of Killeany, the western half, to such of his disciples as chose "to erect permanent religious houses on the island."^[6] Later he divided the island into 8 parts, in each of which he built a "place of refuge", and under his rule the abbey of St. Enda became a burning light of sanctity for centuries in Western Europe. The life of Enda and his monks was very frugal and austere. The day was divided into fixed periods for prayer, labour, and sacred study. Each community had its own church and its village of stone cells, in which they slept either on the bare ground or on a bundle of straw covered with a rug, but always in the clothes worn by day. They assembled for their daily devotions in the church or oratory of the saint under whose immediate care they were placed; silently they took in a common refectory their frugal meals, which were cooked in a common kitchen, for they had no fires in their cloghauns or stone cells, however cold the weather or wild the seas. It is said that no fire was ever allowed to warm the cold stone cells even if "cold could be felt by those hearts so glowing with love of God."

They invariably carried out the monastic rule of procuring their own food and clothing by the labours of their hands. Some fished around the islands; others cultivated patches of oats or barley in sheltered spots between the rocks. Others ground it or kneaded the meal into bread, and baked it for the use of the brethren. So, in like manner, they spun and wove their own garments from the undyed wool of their own sheep. They could grow no fruit in these storm-swept islands; they drank neither wine nor mead, and they had no flesh meat, except perhaps a little for the sick.^[6] St. Enda himself died in old age around the year 530.^[4]

Enda's monastery flourished until Viking times, but much of the stone was ransacked by Cromwell's men in the 1650's for fortifications, so only scattered ruins remain.^[5] Cattle, goats, and horses now huddle and shiver in the storm under many of the ruins of old walls where once men lived and prayed. Most survive as coastal ruined towers. These structures were the chosen home of a group of poor and devoted men under Saint Enda. He taught them to love the hard rock, the dripping cave, and the barren earth swept by the western gales. They were "men of the caves", and "also men of the Cross", who, remembering that their Lord was born in a manger and had nowhere to lay His head, followed the same hard way.

One tale tells that St. Brecan was not happy with Enda’s land division (he had given himself half of the island, and the other half was divided among nine other monks!) So Enda and Brecan made a deal: they would each say mass at their respective monasteries on either end of the island, and when they finished they would begin walking towards the center. Wherever they met, that’s where they’d divide the land. But Brecan began saying mass earlier than he’d agreed to in order to try to con Enda, who, of course, found out about the deception. Enda prayed for divine intervention, and Brecan’s feet became stuck in the sand at the beach of Kilmurvey, and Enda wound up getting most of the land.^[7]

During his own lifetime, Enda's monastic settlement on the Aran islands became an important pilgrimage destination, as well as a center for the evangelizations of surrounding areas. At least two dozen canonized individuals had some association with “Aran of the Saints.”^[4] Among these were Saint Brendan the Voyager^[6] was blessed for his voyage there; Jarlath of Tuam, Finnian of Clonard, and Saint Columba of Iona called it the "Sun of the West." Aran became a miniature Mount Athos, with a dozen monasteries scattered over the island, the most famous, Killeany, where Enda himself lived. There a great tradition of austerity, holiness, and learning was begun.^[2]

There was Saint Ciaran of Clonmacnoise, who came there first as a youth to grind corn, and would have remained there for life but for Enda's insistence that his true work lay elsewhere, reluctant though he was to part with him. When he departed, the monks of Enda lined the shore as he knelt for the last time to receive Enda's blessing, and watched with wistful eyes the boat that bore him from them. In his going, they declared, their island had lost its flower and strength. Another was Saint Finnian, who left St Enda and founded the monastery of Moville (where Columba spent part of his youth) and who afterwards became bishop of Lucca in Tuscany, Italy. Among them also was Carthach the Elder.

When Saint Brendan returned from his travels far to the West he thanked God at the Abbey and laid down the only gift he bought back from his travels, a stone with an eye carved on one end and a rune on the other. It was given him by a dwarf far to the West. This stone floats if placed on water and the gem points to the Last Isle of the West. The rune is a variant of the Norse Reith rune which resembles the letter 'r'. This is called the “Styrimathr” (STEE-ri-mah-thur) meaning in Norse “the Captain of the Seas path”. It is carried in a small silk purse by the Abbot of the Abbey of St. Enda.

The very wildness of Innish made it richer and dearer to those who lived there. They loved that island which "as a necklace of pearls, God has set upon the bosom of the sea," and all the more because they had been the scene of heathen worship. There will be left only three islands altogether, when Innish is sent from mortal planes. They carry lovely Irish names: Inishmore, Inishmaan, and Inisheer. On the largest will stand Saint Enda's well and altar, and the round tower of the church where the bell was sounded which gave the signal that Saint Enda had taken his place at the altar. At the tolling of the bell the service of the Mass began in all the churches of the island.

"O, Innish," cried Columba in ecstasy, "the Rome of the pilgrims!" He never forgot his spiritual home which lay in the western sun and her pure earth sanctified by so many memories. Indeed, he said, so bright was her glory that the angels of God came down to worship in the churches of Innish on the day it disappeared.

Patrick Pearse named his school for young boys St. Enda's School in honour of the saint in 1908.^[8] Ballyboden has a Gaelic Athletic Association club named after him, Ballyboden St. Enda's. Omagh St. Enda's Gaelic Athletic Club is also named in his honour and in 2011, members of the club paid tribute to their patron by visiting his church on the Aran Islands before 150 members of the club cycled from Galway to Omagh.

• Brendan
• Conainne

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