THE ANGEL IN THE LIVES OF THE SAINTS OF IRELAND

The Irish interest in angelology, in combination with an intense and original interpretation of some biblical motifs, including the importance of water - a therapeutic element par excellence and, as such, of primary importance in the cult of St. Michael - gave place to the inclusion of angelic figures on several occasions in the Vitae sanctorum Hiberniae (VII-XI centuries). In these works we perceive a constant link between the type of miracle wrought by individual saints and the presence of an angel that seals or sometimes promotes the miracle. The angelus works very often in the presence of water, along rivers, near a lake or near sources: the geography of the island pushed to the predilection of the theme of water in the literary production, which is laced with biblical references and constituted the ideal breeding ground for the arrival in Ireland of the cult of the Archangel Michael. The obvious similarities between the cult of St. Michael in its specific characteristics (water, rock, inaccessibility, height) and the Irish miracles mediated by angels, connected with the water and the cave, may constitute evidence of early spread of the cult of the Archangel in Ireland.