author
active 6th century Bishop of Sletty Saint Fiech
A sixth-century Irish bishop, poet, and companion of Saint Patrick, he is remembered for founding the monastery at Sletty and for an early verse life of Patrick. His story sits at the crossroads of early Irish Christianity and native bardic tradition.
1 Audiobook
A Hymn on the Life, Virtues and Miracles of St. Patrick Composed by his Disciple, Saint Fiech, Bishop of Sletty
by active 6th century Bishop of Sletty Saint Fiech
About the author
Tradition remembers Saint Fiech, more often called Saint Fiacc, as an early Irish bishop linked with Sletty in Leinster. Sources describe him as a disciple and later bishop associated with Saint Patrick, and they credit him with founding churches at Domnach-Fiech and Sletty, near present-day Carlow.
He is also notable as a poet. Early and later reference works say he was trained in the bardic tradition and is reputed to have written a metrical life of Saint Patrick in Irish, often described as one of the earliest biographies of the saint. That blend of church leadership and literary reputation is a big part of why he remained well known in Irish Christian memory.
Accounts of his life survive mainly through later hagiographical tradition, so exact dates and details are not certain. Still, he is consistently remembered as an active sixth-century bishop of Sletty whose monastery became an important religious center, and his feast day is traditionally given as October 12.