ENGLISH SPEAKING SAINTS May 2

ENGLISH SPEAKING SAINTS May 2 St. Ultan, 686 A.D. Benedictine abbot. The brother of Sts. Fursey and Foil Ian, he followed them into the monastic life, entering the community of monks at Burgh Castle, near Yarmouth, East Anglia, England. He subsequently went to France to escape the predations of the Mercians and was greeted with enthusiasm by St. Gertrude of Nivelles. After serving as chaplain to Gertrude's nuns, be became the founding abbot of Fosses Monastery on land given to him by Sts. Gertrude and Ita. He also ruled Peronne. St. Neachtian. Irish confessor. He was a friend of St. Patrick, possibly a relative, and was supposedly present when Patrick died.