Dubthach of Armagh

Dubthach was Bishop of Armagh in Ireland from 497 to 513, successor of Saint Cormac on the see founded by Saint Patrick. Very little is known of his life, and the Irish sources show that he does not seem to have been venerated as a saint in ancient times. The Russian Orthodox Church nevertheless commemorates him on 7 October, in the synaxis of the saints of Britain and Ireland. This text is a short biography, not a saint's life.

Who he was

There were two bishops of Armagh of this name, Dubthach I and Dubthach II, and the sources do not say clearly which of them was proclaimed a saint. His name is written in many ways in the sources: Dubthach, Dubhthach, Dubtach, Duach, Duffy, Doachus, so that even the exact name is not certain. Dubthach I was from Druim-⁠Dearbh, probably Derver in County Louth. After the death of Saint Cormac, on 17 February 497, he was appointed to the see of Armagh, the sixth or seventh after Saint Patrick, and shepherded it for sixteen years. He died in 513 (the annals give years from 512 to 516), and the annals call him bishop or abbot of Armagh. A later writer says, without naming his source, that he took the life of Saint Patrick as his model, built churches on the northern and western coasts and cared for schools, especially the celebrated one at Armagh.

Dubthach II, of the Uí Thuirtri clan on the western shore of Lough Neagh, was the ninth bishop and shepherded between 536 and 547 or 548.

The story of Saint Tigernach

The only episode tied to his name is in the Life of Saint Tigernach of Clones. Visiting Tigernach, Bishop Dubthach had a spiritually profitable conversation with him. Setting out on foot, he died on the plain of Magh Glas, a fact revealed to Tigernach in prayer. Tigernach ordered a chariot prepared and told the charioteer not to open his eyes without permission. The charioteer looked anyway, was blinded, and his sight was restored by the sign of the Cross. Coming to the body, Tigernach sprinkled it with holy water and prayed, and Dubthach rose and said: Tigernach on earth, Tigernach in heaven. The two kissed each other with brotherly love. Scholars such as Plummer and McCone thought the story concerned Dubthach II, but its place in the Life suggests rather that it is the first.

Veneration

No record survives of any day of commemoration of him in the ancient Irish Church. It seems that neither of the two was in fact venerated as a saint, and the only Church that commemorates him is the Russian, on 7 October, taking into account the date of repose, that is, by all signs the first.