Beoan

Beoan There are several saints of this name, but only two of them can be treated in detail.

1. Bishop of Tidhchuillim (now Feighcullen, County Kildare, Ireland, was a son of Nessan, of the race of Cathaoir Mor of Leinster. He was abbot of Ard-cuilin and of Feighcuilin (if they were not identical), and at the latter his feast is celebrated Aug. 8.

2. Bishop of Tamlacht-Menainn — commemorated Oct. 26. The Mart. Doneg., at this date, associates him with "Meallan," and locates them at "Loch Bricreun, in Uieath-Uladh "(Iveagh, County Down). — The other martyrologies call him a Briton, but the writer of St. Fursey's Life says that the "two venerable men "(Beoan and Meldan) were of the province of South Munster (Lanigan, Eccl. Hist. of Ireland, ii, 455, 457; Reeves, Eccl. Antiq. p. 112-114). He is frequently mentioned in the Irish Life of St. Patrick, and Meldan, his companion, wal "synedrus seu pater spiritualis" of St. Fursey. St. Fursey took their relics with him when he left Ireland, and deposited them in the chapel dedicated to Sts. Peter and Paul on the top of the hill of Cignes, at Peronne, in France. Beoan flourished in A.D. 580, but he must have died before 626, as he appears in St. Fursey's vision,