TS-EMOG-0160

NB. St. Ailbe’s Cross, dedicated  to Saint Ailbe, who is venerated as one of the four great patrons of Ireland.

His feast day falls on the 12^th  September.

Emly was an important ecclesiastical centre until the seventeenth century. The founding of the monastery in Emly was attributed to St. Ailbe, who according to the Annals of Inis Fallen died in 528 AD.

No physical remains of the original monastery survive but it is presumed that the monastic enclosure coincided with the present day old graveyard. The presence of a cross ( image 0160 ) and a well ( image 0501), both traditionally associated with St. Ailbe tend to support this assumption.

St. Ailbe is the patron saint  of the Archdiocese of Cashel and Emly and Emly’s RC church is called St. Ailbe’s.

His burial place is uncertain.