Kerrill

Kerrill (Caireall mac Curnain) was a Christian missionary in east County Galway, Ireland, in the second half of the 5th century. He belonged to the Soghain people. Tradition calls him a disciple of Saint Benen of Kilbennan, who founded there a school for evangelists. Kerrill is said to have been with Saint Patrick when he founded the church at Tawnagh near Lough Arrow, and Patrick made him a bishop and put him in charge of it, then moved him to Soghain, where he had to evangelize.

Among the legends about him is a fight with a monstrous serpent that was devastating the land around Cloonkeen; the historian Joseph Mannion sees in it an echo of the struggle between Christianity and paganism. The story also tells of a rivalry with Saint Connell of Kilconnell, ended with mutual curses; it is said that to this day no funerals are held on Monday at Cloonkeenkerrill. He is commemorated on 13 June: the faithful walk four miles from the church of Saint Michael at Gurteen to Kerrill's holy well, stopping five times to plant crosses and pray, and the water of the well protects houses from lightning. Venerated locally, from the time of the undivided Church.