Cruithnechan

Saint Cruithnechan (Cruithnechán, Cronaghan) was an Irish saint from around the sixth century, known as one of the mentors of Saint Columba, who founded the monastery of Iona. He is mentioned briefly in Adomnán's seventh-⁠century Life of Columba, where he appears as a priest and tutor to the young Columba, before the latter went to Gemmán in Leinster and then to Finian at Movilla. An anecdote says that once he saw a ball of fire hanging over Columba's head while the boy slept soundly; the episode is explained as a usual way of showing the early holiness of a child.

Adomnán does not mention a church of Cruithnechan, but the present parish of Kilcronaghan (Cill Chruithneacháin) in County Londonderry is thought to bear his name. Later sources add details: the Middle Irish Life of Columba, of the twelfth century, gives his father as a Cellachán and says that he baptized the boy before taking him into fosterage. The Betha Colaim Chille, compiled in 1532, says that Columba was baptized by Cruithnechan at Temple Douglas and then raised at Kilmacrenan in County Donegal. Colgan lists his feast on 7 March. He is a saint of the undivided Church, honoured locally.