Conleth

Conleth (Conleat) (d. c.520), Irish monk and bishop of or at Kildare. According to the Life of Brigid by Cogitosus, Conleth was a hermit who lived at Old Connell (Co. Kildare) on the Liffey and who was a skilled metalworker. Brigid invited him not only to make sacred vessels for Kildare but also to be pastor of the people near by. Traditionally he was the sculptor of the crozier of St. Finbar of Termon Barry, now in the Royal Irish Academy. A gloss in an Irish martyrology says that he was devoured by wolves on his journey to Rome, undertaken against the wishes of Brigid. This might be an attempt to explain his name, i.e. coin ‘to wolves’ and leth ‘half ’. Feast (nowadays with Catald): 3 May.

Bibliography
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• The Irish Saints, p. 132; B.L.S., v. 20