Fintan (Findan) of Rheinau

  • fl. 9th century
  • feast-day: 15 November, 25 November
  • saints of Ireland
  • Rheinau, Switzerland, Orkneys, Ireland
Irish saint from Leinster who is said to have been captured by vikings and carried off as a slave to the Orkneys, only to escape and embark on a pilgrimage to Rome; while returning home, he met and joined a community of anchorites based at Rheinau (at the Rhine, near Schaffhausen, modern Switzerland).
See also references for related subjects.
Beuckers, Klaus Gereon, “Sancte Blasi, qui peregrinus his locis, sicut et ego, esse cognosceris. Zu Findan von Rheinau, der Vita Findani und der Übertragung der Blasiusreliquien in die Albzelle von St. Blasien”, Zeitschrift für die Geschichte des Oberrheins 160 (2012): 13–32.
Altendorf, Hans-Dietrich, “Die Lebensbeschreibung Findans”, in: Hans Rudolf Sennhauser (ed.), Die Klosterkirche Rheinau: frühe Geschichte, Bau und Ausstattung bis in die barocke Zeit, 6, Zürich: Fotorotar, 2007. 129–142.
Sennhauser, Hans Rudolf, “Findansklause und Klosterkirchen von Rheinau im Mittelalter”, in: Hans Rudolf Sennhauser (ed.), Die Klosterkirche Rheinau: frühe Geschichte, Bau und Ausstattung bis in die barocke Zeit, 6, Zürich: Fotorotar, 2007. 27–108.
Derschka, Harald Rainer, “Das Leben des heiligen Findan von Rheinau nach der St. Galler Vita Findani aus der Handschrift 317 der Vadianischen Sammlung, Kantonsbibliothek (Vadiana)”, Rorschacher Neujahrsblatt 84 (1994): 77–86.
Löwe, Heinz, “Zur Überlieferungsgeschichte der Vita Findani”, Deutsches Archiv für Erforschung des Mittelalters 42 (1986): 25–85.
Holm, Poul, “The slave trade of Dublin, ninth to twelfth centuries”, Peritia 5 (1986): 317–345.  
abstract:
From the ninth century, the taking of slaves was an integral part of Viking warfare. Though never the prime motive for raiding, it was a means of indicating defiance and was followed up by the extraction of ransom and tribute. Slave-trading with Scandinavia and Iceland developed slowly. In the eleventh century, when the Irish internal struggle for over-kingship escalated, the taking of slaves became a widespread phenomenon. Warring Irish kings sold prisoners of war in the Dublin slave-market and Dublin experienced a growing slave-trade with western Europe. In the second half of the eleventh century, there seems to have developed a specific Irish-Sea slave-market, but in the twelfth century Norman legislation against the slave-trade seems to have been effective and Dublin’s control of the Irish Sea was broken.
Löwe, Heinz, “Findan von Rheinau. Eine irische peregrinatio im 9. Jahrhundert”, Studi Medievali, 3rd series, 26 (1985): 53–100.