Tassach

Saint Tassach (Tassac) was an Irish saint, born in the first decade of the fifth century and died around 497. His commemoration is on 14 April. He is best known for having given Holy Communion to Saint Patrick at the end of his life. Our sources give no act of canonization; his veneration comes from the old Irish calendars.

Both the calendars and the lives of Saint Patrick call him "holy man and craftsman". According to the Tripartite Life of Saint Patrick, Tassach was, with Essu and Bite, one of the three "craftsmen" (cerda) of Patrick: he made the altar table and other altar furnishings. He was a skilled artisan who made crosiers, patens, chalices, credence tables, shrines and crosses for many of the churches founded by Patrick.

He was one of Patrick's disciples and, when Patrick founded the church of Saint Tassach, he placed him in charge of it. The church of Raholp was situated about a mile south of Saul, on the Bannaghan Road, and became united with the Irish diocese of Down (today Down and Connor). Some believe that the church stood in Downpatrick, about two and a half miles south-⁠south-⁠west of Saul, but this is disputed, since the ruins of the original church building are found at Raholp. The remains of the church and its lands are protected by law.

He is remembered chiefly because Patrick chose him to be with him in his last moments and to give him Holy Communion as viaticum. This event is told in the Martyrology of Donegal: Tassach of Raholp gave the Body of Christ to Saint Patrick before his death, in the monastery of Saul. His name appears in all the major calendars of Ireland: those of Oengus of Tallaght, Gorman, Drummond, the Turin calendar and that of Donegal. The late Martyrology of Donegal links him with Rath Colpta (today Raholp), three miles from Downpatrick.

Since the nineteenth century Tassach has sometimes been confused with Assicus of Elphin, in County Roscommon, who had the same skills and is said to have died in the same year, and with Assam (or Assan). In Raholp and the surrounding area many houses bear the name Tassac, Big Tassac and Little Tassac.