Ciarán of Bealach Duin

Saint Ciarán of Bealach Duin (also called Ciarán the Pious, Cearan or Ciarán of Dissert-⁠Kieran) was abbot of the monastery of Bealach Duin, today Castlekeeran, in County Meath in Ireland, and is called the devout. He is the founder of this monastery. He is said to have reposed on 14 June 770 (the calendar gives 870).

The monastery was raided by the Vikings in 949 and later passed into the hands of the Knights Hospitaller. Today a walled graveyard remains with three sandstone high crosses, called termon crosses, and an Ogham stone. A legend says that Columba tried to steal one of the crosses, but Ciarán caught him, and Columba quickly threw the cross into the river; a fourth cross still lies in the water. Ciarán is commemorated on 14 June as a saint of the West before the Great Schism (a saint of the undivided Church), by the New Calendar.