Saints and Holy People

Find out about their lives and how they changed the world

Saint Aengus the Culdee (d. 824)

Saint Aengus the Culdee (d. 824)

Feast day: March 11




The word culdee comes from an Irish phrase meaning "spouse of God." It describes a man or woman who lived a monastic way of life without taking monastic vows. Such a man was Saint Aengus. He lived the solitary and prayerful life of a hermit near the River Nore in Ireland. It is said that he spoke with angels on the bank of the river.

Word of Aengus’s holiness spread, and he was soon bombarded with curious visitors. He sought a more secluded lifestyle at the monastery of Tallaght, near Dublin, Ireland. Aengus, along with his fellow monk Maelruain, penned the Martyrology of Tallaght in 790. He eventually left the monastery to resume life as a hermit. When Saint Aengus was called to his heavenly home, he was buried in the town of his birth, Clonenagh, Ireland.