Molaise of Devenish

Saint Molaise of Devenish (Laisrén mac Nad Froích, Lasserian, Mo Laisse) was the patron of Devenish Island in Lough Erne, near Enniskillen in County Fermanagh, Ireland, and the founder of the monastery there. He reposed in 563 or 564. He is counted among the twelve apostles of Ireland and is not to be confused with the five other saints named Lasserian.

A Latin and an Irish Life of him survive, with miscellaneous anecdotes and miracles grouped together. He is chiefly known as the founder of the monastery of Devenish (Irish Daim-⁠inis, "Ox-⁠island"), which was also home to his cult soon after his death. By tradition he was the brother of Óengus mac Nad Froích, the first Christian king of Munster, and studied the Gospels under Finnian of Clonard. The Lives tell that, in conflict with a local pagan king, Conall Derg, he subdued the king by his miraculous powers, and the king ceded the island to him. Among his last deeds was a pilgrimage to Rome; on the way he stopped at Ferns, where he visited his foster brother Máedóc. After his visit to Rome he returned to Devenish with relics of Peter and Paul, Laurence and Clement, which were buried with him in the cemetery so that Devenish could become an Irish Rome.

The Irish annals record his death in 564, and the early martyrologies keep his festival on 12 September. He is not listed in the 2004 Roman Martyrology, but he is venerated in the Orthodox Church as a Western saint of the time before the Great Schism. A testimony to his cult is the book shrine Soiscél Molaisse, "Gospel-⁠book of Molaise", from Devenish, originally an eighth or ninth century portable shrine converted in the early eleventh century at the behest of Abbot Cennfaelad and now kept in the National Museum of Ireland in Dublin. He is commemorated on 12 August as a saint of the undivided Church, by the New Calendar.