Colman of Templeshambo

Saint Colman of Templeshambo (also called Templeshanbo) was a Catholic saint from Connacht, Ireland. He has been confused with the patron of Kilmacduagh, but he lived somewhat earlier, and the sphere of his ministry lay in the present County Wexford.

Life Colman was the son of Eochaidh Brec, and Fearamhla. He was a contemporary of Máedóc of Ferns (also known as Áedan), who appointed him Abbot of Templeshambo, the mother church of Enniscorthy. It was anciently called "Shanbo-Colman" (Colman's old tent or booth) from St. Colman O'Ficra, the founder and patron, who lived in the seventh century, and who was held in great veneration there during the long lapse of years that the monastery continued to flourish after his death.

St. Colman's Teals Many legends are told of Saint Colman and of his holy well with its sacred ducks. In former days a large pond supplied from the well, where for ages after St. Colman's death a number of ducks were kept, which were believed to be under the saint's special protection, and on this account were regarded with affection and treated with great tenderness. They were quite tame and took food from the hand, never flying away at the approach of pilgrims, and never avoiding the gentle familiarities of the people. He is said to have laboured zealously at the foot of Mount Leinster in the Blackstairs Mountains, his monastery being known as Temple Sean Bothe. He died 595 on October 27, which is his feast day, as recorded in the "Martyrology of Donegal".