Kevin of Glendalough

Who they were

Kevin, Cóemgen in Irish, was born in Leinster around 498 into a noble family. As a young man he withdrew to the valley of Glendalough in the Wicklow mountains and lived for seven years as a hermit, barefoot, sleeping on stones and giving his time to prayer.

The monastery he founded by the lakes grew by about 540 into a renowned school of saints and scholars. He is said to have died on 3 June 618, which is kept as his feast day. What we know of him comes from Latin and Irish Lives written centuries after his death.

The miracles

No miracle was ever examined or approved for Kevin. He lived long before the Church's formal process existed and was honoured as a saint in Ireland for centuries. He was never formally canonised: on 19 June 1902 Pope Leo XIII confirmed the long-standing devotion to him and added him to the Church's calendar. The stories told of him, such as the blackbird that nested in his outstretched hand while he prayed, are treasured legends from the medieval Lives, not examined miracles.

Why that counted as sanctity

By long devotion. Generations kept his memory and prayed to him, and in 1902 Rome confirmed that devotion as it stood. No miracle was examined, and this page will not present the legends as if one had been.

Connected on this site

• Caoimheall Saint Brother or sister
• Saint Berach Saint Pupil
• Saint Petroc Saint Teacher