St. Modomnoc the Beekeeper of Ossory

 

An Irish bishop and a disciple of St. David of Wales. Sometimes called Domnoc or Dominic, he was a member of the royal Irish family of O'Neil and ended his years as a hermit at Tibraghny in Kilkenny in Ireland. When St. Modomnoc returned to Ireland after studying with St. David, swarms of bees left Wales to follow him, thus supposedly being introduced to Ireland. 

One of the best known stories regarding Saint Modomnoc concerns his work as a beekeeper. Bees were kept both for their honey and the production of mead. Modomnoc was given charge of the bees in a sheltered corner of the monastery garden where he planted the kinds of flowers best loved by the bees. He talked to the bees as he worked among them and they buzzed around his head in clouds as if they were responding. He would walk among the hives in the evening and talk to them, and the bees, for their part, would crowd out to meet him. He was never stung. When the time came for him to return to Ireland, three times the bees followed in great swarm and settled on the mast. St. David perceiving this occurrence to be a good omen allowed Modomnoc to bring the bees to Ireland. When he landed, he set up a church at a place called Bremore, near Balbriggan, in County Dublin, and here he established the bees in a garden just like the one they had in Wales.

Modomnoc's talking to his bees is in keeping with an Irish folklore custom of ‘Telling the Bees’ which ensures that the bees not feel any offense due to exclusion from family affairs and so will remain with the hive. It was believed that if one didn’t tell the bees of a wedding, a birth, or a death they would take offense and leave.
After his return home he served God at Tiprat Fachna, in the western part of the kingdom of Ossory. Molaga founded churches at Tulach Min (Knockaneeun/ and at Teampall Molaga, near Kildorrery. "His last and perhaps greatest foundation was situated in Timoleague or Teach Molaga." an abbey still standing (though without a roof) on the County Cork Coast.

Since he is the patron saint of bees, give thanks for the nature's bounty and the life-giving nature of the bees!

"The Saint and his Bees" by Dessi Jackson

You can also do a lot of crafts with bee themes:

These are cute paper plate painted bees:

A good idea to do with Honeycomb cereal and fingerpainted bees!