Abbán moccu Corbmaic (; d. 520? AD), also Eibbán or Moabba, is a saint in Irish tradition. He was associated, first and foremost, with Mag Arnaide (Moyarney or Adamstown, County Wexford, near New Ross) and with Cell Abbáin (Killabban, County Laois). His order was, however, also connected to other churches elsewhere in Ireland, notably that of his alleged sister Gobnait.
Sources
Three recensions of Abbán's Life survive, two in Latin and one in Irish. The Latin versions are found in the Codex Dublinensis and the Codex Salmanticensis, while the Irish version is preserved incomplete in two manuscripts: the Mícheál Ó Cléirigh's manuscript Brussels, Royal Library MS 2324–40, fos. 145b-150b and also the RIA, Stowe MS A 4, pp. 205–21. These Lives probably go back to a Latin exemplar written in ca. 1218 by the bishop of Ferns, Ailbe Ua Maíl Mhuaidh (Ailbe O'Mulloy), who died in 1223. His interest in Abbán partly stemmed from the fact that Mag Arnaide lay within the diocese of Ferns, but as this was only a minor church in his time, more must have been involved. An episode which shows something of Ailbe's personal attachment to Abbán's order is that where Abbán arrives in the area between Éile and Fir Chell, i.e. on the marches between Munster and Leinster: Abbán converts a man of royal rank from the area and baptises his son. Ailbe is known to have been a native of this area, but his own commentary as apparently preserved in the Dublin Life identifies the connection more nearly: "I who gathered together and wrote the Life am a descendant [nepos] of that son" However, the immediate circumstances which prompted the composition of the Life are likely to have been political, relating to Norman presence in the diocese of Ferns. To support his case, Ailbe made much of Abbán's wider connections to other churches and saints, making him travel all across the country and in the case of the anecdote about Abingdon (see below), even inventing tradition.
Other sources for Abbán's life and order include the Irish genealogies of the saints and the entries for his feast-day in the martyrologies. His pedigree is given in the Book of Leinster, Leabhar Breac, Rawlinson B 502 and in glosses to his entries in the Félire Óengusso.
Background and life
His pedigree in the Irish genealogies, which appear to have been composed in the interest of Cell Abbáin, suggests that he belonged to the Uí Chormaic (also Moccu Chormaic or Dál Chormaic). It identifies his father as Laignech (lit. "Leinsterman"), son of Mac Cainnech, son of Cabraid, son of Cormac, son of Cú Corb, while an Irish note to the Félire Óengusso (for 27 October) largely agrees if substituting Cabraid for Imchad. The Lives, on the other hand, state that his father was Cormac son of Ailill, king of Leinster, who died in 435 according to the Annals of the Four Masters, and name his mother Mílla, sister to St Ibar.
The Lives confuse the time of Abbán's historical floruit by attributing to him a life-span of over 300 years. He is brought into contact with such illustrious saints as Finnian of Clonard, Brendan of Clonfert (d. 577), Columba (d. 597), Gregory the Great, Munnu and Moling. One of Abbán's foundations is said to have been repeatedly pillaged by Cormac mac Diarmata (fl. 2nd half of the 6th century), king of Leinster from the Uí Bairrche, who is portrayed in much Leinster hagiography as a rival to the Uí Chennselaig. Abbán is also made a contemporary of even earlier figures like Íbar, who is claimed to be his maternal uncle, and Saint Patrick.
Nothing is known of Abbán's early life. The Lives tell that he was expected to succeed his father in Leinster, but that his devotion to God and the saintly miracles which he wrought while still in fosterage soon made clear that he was destined for a career in the church. The boy was sent to his maternal uncle, the bishop Íbar, with whom he travelled to Rome. In Italy, Abbán's saintly powers proved to be of much use in warding off any danger presented by men, monsters and supernatural phenomena. Throughout the text, Abbán can be seen demonstrating his powers, exercising special authority over rivers and seas.
Abbán had six brothers who all appear in the Martyrology of Donegal as bishops: Damán Uí Chormaic of Tígh Damhain (Tidowan), in the barony of Marybouragh, County Laois; Miacca Uí Cormaic of Cluain Fodhla in Fiodhmar (borders Uí Duach/Bally Fíodhmor, Ossory); Senach Uí Chormaic of Cillmór; Lithghean Uí Chormaic of Cluain Mór Lethghian in Uí Failge (Barony Ophaly, Co. Kildare); Dubhán Uí Chormaic; Toimdeach Uí Chormaic of Rosglas, Monasterevin, County Kildare.