Background
Born in Northumbria, the son of an Anglo-Saxon king, he was one of the English monks at Lindisfarne who accompanied Colmán of Lindisfarne to Iona and then to Ireland.
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Gerald Mayo
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This occurred after the Synod of Whitby 664AD which decided against the Celtic Church"s method of calculating the date for Easter. Colman was an ardent supporter of the Celtic mode of calculating Easter. After the synod decided to adopt the Roman computation in place of Celtic custom, Colman and thirty Anglo-Saxon monks, Saint Gerald among them, left Lindisfarne and eventually settled on Inishboffin off the coast of Company Galway in 668.
Saint Gerald became the first abbot of the monastery of Mayo after disputes arose among the monks on the island.
The Anglo-Saxons were disgruntled by the behaviour of the native monks, who would leave Inishboffin to preach around the rest of the country for the duration of the summer while the Anglo-Saxon monks were left to tend to the island. Saint Colman resolved the dispute by founding the monastery at Mayo and settling them there with Gerald as abbot.
Saint Gerald"s College in Castlebar, County Mayo is named for Gerald. Taoiseach Enda Kenny is a former pupil.
