Féchín of Fore

Saint Féchín or Féichín (died 665), also known as Mo-Ecca, was a 7th-century Irish saint, chiefly remembered as the founder of the monastery at Fore (Fobar), County Westmeath.

Sources for his life and legend include Irish annals, martyrologies, genealogies and hagiographical works. Of the two surviving medieval Lives, one was written in Latin, the other in Irish. The Latin Life was written c. 1400 by Augustine mac Graidín, who belonged to the Saints' Island on the southeastern shore of Lough Ree, south of the present-day village of Newtowncashel. By the time of his death he had attracted 300 monks to his community at Fore.

His main source appears to have been a Life originating in Féchín's monastery on Omey Island. The Irish Life (Betha Féchín Fabair "The Life of St Féchín of Fore") was written down by Nicol Óg, son of the abbot of Cong, in 1328 and it seems that parts of it go back to even earlier (Latin) sources.

The text may be seen as a combination of two texts. The first part is primarily concerned with the saint's position as a mediator and negotiator between the Luigne (or Luigni) of Connacht, of which he was supposedly a member, and the more powerful Luigne of Meath, on whose territory Fore Abbey was founded.

The second part focuses more attention on Leinster and the payment of tribute. The Latin and Irish Lives both agree that Ailerán of Clonard, a contemporary of St Féchín, had composed an account of the saint's good works. In the 17th century, John Colgan produced another Latin Life (the Vita seu supplementum), for which he drew on three Irish Lives.