SAINT MUNCHIN

St. Munchin


Feastday: January 2
Patron of Limerick, Ireland
7th century
St. Munchin, also known in Irish as maincin, "little monk" was a contemporary of St. Patrick's who appointed him abbot of Mungret. This abbey became a center of scriptural scholarship thanks to his efforts. In his later life he built a hermitage at Kill-munchin near lumneach, around which grew up a community of anchorites, fellow hermits. Here, much later, developed the
CITY of LIMERICK.
 Kill-munchin became his place of retirement, or as the Irish saints would say, "the place of his resurrection." There, by prayer, fasts, and deeds of mercy, he lived out his older years in a more contemplative, holy solitude, at home in the strength and beauty of what is today the County of Limerick, which the visitor encounters after leaving Shannon Airport, and which surrounds the city whose patron saint he became

Patron of Limerick, Ireland, called “the Wise.” He may have been a bishop, but he is commonly known as Maincin, or “little monk.” It is believed that Munchin was born in County Clare.