St. Taovog

According to tradition, it is said that St. Taovog, the founder of the parish of Kilteevogue, was a sister of the ruling chief in East Donegal whose name was Daimhin or Devenny and that when St. Patrick visited them, he converted the whole family to Christianity. Taovog became a nun and obtained from her brother five townlands to endow a church and convent. Tradition also states that Taovog built her monastery where the moorcock called, the deer frisked and the salmon leaped on the banks of the River Finn in Ballybotemple and that she and her two sisters Riaghain and Cartha fulfilled the prophecy of St. Patrick by building three "Cealla" (monasteries) twelve miles apart as the crow flies. Cill Riaghan in Glenties, twelve miles due west of Taovog's settlement and Cill Cartha a further twelve miles west.

However historical facts cast doubt on this story because firstly, history states that Kilcar derived it's name from a bishop St. Carthagus and secondly, records show that St. Riagnach after which Kilraine is named, lived in the second half of the 6th century and not during St. Patrick's time in Ireland.

These historical facts do cast a different light on the traditional story since records show that St. Riagnach had two notable sisters, Cumain and Crone, both of whom were recognised as saints. There is a Cill Raghain (Kilraun) in Glenfin and the tradition always stated that Riaghan had a settlement there before she moved west to the Glenties area. Nothing remains of this settlement today but a children's burial ground. It is also an extraordinary coincidence that there is another place called Commeen so near to Cill Raghain. Taking this into consideration, it is highly likely that indeed three sisters did come to Glenfin in the late 6th century and that Comain may have imparted her name to Commeen in Kilteevogue and also to the Commeen which is east of Doochary, for there too tradition tells us that there was once a religious house near Lough Barra. The common derivation of Commeen as a place name is Cumain, a little hollow, which is not very appropriate in any of the cases in question.

For the record, the three sisters Riaghnach, Cumain and Crone were daughters of Ard Mor, Son of Guaire, Son of Amhalgadha, Son of Fiachrach, Son of Breacan, Son of Maine, Son of Nial of the Nine Hostages, who brought St. Patrick to Ireland as a slave.

This leaves us with the question - who was Taovog? Donegal historian Christopher Mc Donagh maintained that Taovog and Davóg, the Patron Saint of Lough Derg, were the same person, and that she (or he) had also descended from a different son of Niall of the Nine Hostages. McDonagh places her existence at around the same time that Raighain and her sisters were in Glenfin. Raighain's family were landowners and great chieftains with fortresses in Tyrone and Fermanagh and McDonagh maintains that since Taovog or Davóg lived so close to them at Lough Derg that he or she may have been invited to help the three sisters set up a monastery in Glenfin in the latter part of the 6th century.

It is accepted that Taovog's monastery was situated in the same place as the old church ruins in the centre of the graveyard. Early Christian churches were very often built near where pagans had previously worshipped and prehaps this was the reason why Taovog built her church adjacent to Alt na Peiste hill, where the Druids worshipped a monster. Cruach na Fola, or Knocnafola lies nearby. Possibly blood victims were offered there in Druidic times.