Conversion and Ministry
By tradition Erc was originally a pagan druid attached to the court of King Lóegaire mac Néill. He was converted to Christianity by Saint Patrick during Patrick's confrontation with the druids at the Hill of Slane, dated to 433, and was afterward appointed by Patrick as the first Bishop of Slane.
Patrick is remembered as praising him in the words, "Bishop Erc — everything he judged was just," a reputation for equity that attached to his name. Around 450, following the departure of Saint Benignus, Patrick sent Erc south to complete the conversion of Kerry; he thereafter held spiritual charge over County Kerry and southwest Limerick, and exercised authority over the convent of Saint Íte at Killeedy.
He is recorded as a travelling companion of Saint Brigit of Kildare around 484. A later source, the twelfth-century Martyrology of Gorman, also names him Bishop of Lilcach.
Foundations at Slane
Erc founded the original monastery on the Hill of Slane, which remained active for at least six hundred years. He also established a school there, at which, by tradition, King Dagobert II is said to have received his early education.
In his later years Erc withdrew to a hermitage beside the River Boyne at Slane. The site known as St Erc's Hermitage, in the grounds of Slane Castle, preserves a chapel of the late fifteenth or early sixteenth century together with an earlier dwelling.
Saint Brendan the Navigator
Erc's enduring fame rests on his connection with Saint Brendan the Navigator. According to tradition he baptized Brendan as an infant at Tubrid, near Ardfert; the child was originally to be named "Mobhí," but signs attending his birth and baptism led to his being called "Broen-finn," or "fair-drop."
Erc trained the young Brendan at his church at Ardfert, and served as one of his teachers in preparation for the priesthood. The Orthodox Church in America's life of Brendan records that Brendan was ordained priest at the age of twenty-six by Bishop Erc, an event dated to 512.
Cornish Tradition
In Cornish tradition Erc is reckoned the brother of Saints Uny and Ia. He is said to have crossed to Cornwall, where the church and village of St Erth were dedicated to him.
A Chapel of St Ercus was built at Trevessa, in the parish of St Erth, in 1403. His Cornish commemoration falls on 31 October, distinct from his 2 November feast in Ireland and on the Orthodox calendar.
Relics & Shrines
St Erc's Hermitage stands within the grounds of Slane Castle beside the River Boyne, marking the place of his later retreat; it contains a chapel of the late fifteenth or early sixteenth century and an older dwelling.
In Cornwall his memory is preserved at the church and village of St Erth and, historically, at the Chapel of St Ercus built at Trevessa in 1403.
