Benignus of Armagh

Saint Benignus of Armagh (Irish Benen or Benan) was the beloved disciple of Saint Patrick and his successor at Armagh, a saint of the undivided Church, also venerated in the Orthodox Church. He was the son of Sesenen, a chieftain in Meath, and tradition calls him Patrick's psalmist.

According to tradition Patrick came to the house of Sesenen, who was baptised with all his household. The boy, then seven years old, laid flowers over the sleeping Patrick; the saint saw in the gesture a sign of future holiness and took him along, giving him the Latin name Benignus, "the gentle one". Benignus followed his master on his journeys and in his mission, helped to order the sung services, and, being well trained in the learning of his country, was appointed secretary to the commission of nine that compiled the Brehon laws. He became the first head of the cathedral school at Armagh.

Tradition keeps two further stories. When Patrick and his companions passed through King Laoghaire's ambush at Tara they appeared as eight deer and a fawn, and the fawn was Benignus, carrying Patrick's book on his back. The Tripartite Life of Patrick and the Martyrology of Donegal also tell that Earcnat, daughter of Daire, died of love for him; Benignus sprinkled her with holy water from Patrick, she came back to life, repented and vowed chastity.

He resigned his office in 467 and died the same year. He is commemorated on 9 November, the day on which both the Martyrology of Tallaght and the Martyrology of Donegal enter him. Some sources confuse him with Benignus of Kilbannon near Tuam, the patron of Connacht.