Ailbe (early 6th century), Irish bishop. Little is known of his life. He obtained for Enda the gift of an Aran Island (Co. Galway) from King Angus of Munster; he is reputed to have written a monastic Rule; above all, he was a travelling evangelist who preached mainly in southern Ireland. He is the reputed founder of the see of Imlech (Emly, Co. Tipperary).

Legendary accretions credit him with having been suckled by a she-wolf, and with having retired, late in life, to the mythical Land of Promise, a blend of the Christian Paradise and the Celtic happy other-world. Feast: 12 (13) September.

Bibliography
Click here for a list of abbreviations used in this bibliography.

• V.S.H., II, xxviii–xxxi. 46–64; L. Gougaud, Christianity in Celtic Lands (1932); J. O'Neill, ‘The Rule in Ailbe of Emly’, Eriu, iii (1907), 92–115

Ailbhe
[cf. Irish albho-, white; Gaulish Albiorix, world-king]

The name of both men and women in Old Irish narrative, including twelve warriors of the Fianna in the Fenian Cycle and two saints. Incorrectly anglicized as Albert or Bertie.

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