Seachaint

Today's issue of The Gods and Their Croziers is out, concerning St.Crónán (AKA Mochua).

By various genealogical and situational clues, I have identified him as Dian Cécht (AKA Cainte), Physician of the Gods.

In the "Patterns" section, I also speculate about wtf is going on with all these faithfully preserved gods-as-saints: why would the Christians do this?

https://buttondown.com/godsandcroziers/archive/mar-30th-cronan-mochua-dian-cecht-physician/
#irishmyths #Mythology #hagiography #ireland #irish

Mar 30th: Crónán (AKA Mochua): Dian Cécht, Physician of the Gods

The several Sts. Crónán, AKA Mochua, are Dian Cécht, god of healing. Saviour against plagues and injury, patron of the "Plain of Herbs", slayer of serpents,...

The Gods and their Croziers
Mar 29 at 10:06amWeb
Show threadSeachaint3d ago

NB that there is an obscure saint whose feast is celebrated _today_ named Mac Luibhneann - possibly "son of herbs" or "son of herbalist". It's quite likely this is a duplicate of Dian Cécht (or perhaps reflected Miach).

Feast days for duplicates could slip up or down the calendar, but it can also be down to how the Celts figured days as starting at nightfall. Confused Christians then sometimes shift the "day" of a feast to the preceding "day", because that's when the festivities began.

Show threadSeachaint3d ago
Tidbits from this issue:
* Crónán stops the Yellow Plague (Regionally? Everywhere?)
* Lugh may have been mute as a child
* Reaffirming Dian Cécht's link to "Lusmagh", a plain if herbs still named as such today
* Hints of a previously-suspected pseudo-identity between Dian Cécht and Cathbad
* Dian Cécht's fathering of some children may have been "immaculate", as with the conception of Conchobhar
Show threadSeachaint3d ago

Today's issue is also the third part of one of my "proof by relationship" groups, where a number of saints who individually correspond to known god-archetypes also happen to have the relationships we expect them to.

Crónán matches Dian Cécht, Coemgen matches Cian, and Fáelán matches childhood Lugh - and the three of them have the expected paternal/filial roles.

This isn't the last: we'll be returning to Íta and her son Brendan and his foster son Moling, which demonstrates the same pattern.