Conleth of Kildare

Saint Conleth of Kildare was a hermit and metalworker, the first bishop of Kildare in Ireland, and a co-⁠worker of Saint Brigid. He reposed around 519, on 4 May by tradition, and the Church commemorates him on 10 May (other lists give 3 or 4 May).

He is believed to have come from the Wicklow area. He was living in seclusion at Old Connell on the River Liffey, in what is now Newbridge, when Saint Brigid persuaded him to make sacred vessels for her convent. He became the spiritual father of the nuns of Kildare. According to Cogitosus, Brigid's biographer, she invited him to be bishop of her double monastery at Kildare. The diocese appears to have been founded around 490, when Conleth, with her help, raised the cathedral and became its first bishop.

Under his guidance a community of monks grew up, renowned for chalices and other metal vessels for the church and for copying and adorning missals, gospels and psalters. He headed the Kildare school of metalwork and penmanship; with Tassach of Elphin and Daigh he was counted one of the three chief artisans of Ireland. Among his known works is the crozier he made for Saint Finbarr of Termonbarry.

Tradition says he was killed by wolves in the forests of Leinster while on pilgrimage to Rome and was buried nearby. In 799 his relics were laid beside Brigid's in the cathedral of Kildare, and in 835 they were finally set at rest in Connell, to protect the inhabitants from invading Danes.