Family Background and Career
| Mad toich duit, a Hére, | "If thou hast a right, O Erin, |
| dot chobair cing báge, | to a champion of battle to aid thee, |
| thahut cenn céit míle, | thou hast the head of a hundred thousands, |
| Declan Arde máre | Declan of Ardmore." |
| (Félire Óengusso, 24 July) |
It was through his father that Declán belonged to the royal dynasty of the Déisi Muman. The Latin Life names his father Erc(c), as do the Félire Óengusso and the genealogy in the Book of Ballymote, f. 231b. Variant traditions are recorded in the Book of Leinster (f. 348c) and the Book of Ballymote, f. 218b, which call his father Ernbrand, and in the Leabhar Breac (f. 15d), which calls him Ross (or Russ). The conflated version Ercbrand is found in Rawlinson B 502. Declán's mother Dethiden or Dethidin, as she is called in the Latin Life (§ 3), is not given any pedigree in the sources. Declán's birthplace is said to be Drumroe, near Cappoquin (west Co. Waterford).
In the Latin Life, Declán first embarks on a journey to Rome, where he studies and is ordained bishop by the Pope. At Rome, he meets his fellow countryman St Ailbe of Emly, and on returning to Ireland, he meets St Patrick. Throughout the text, Declán recognises the supreme authority of both saints and with Patrick he comes to an arrangement about the sphere of their mission in Ireland. On St Patrick's instructions, Declán founds the monastery of Ardmore (Irish Ard Mór), which lies near the Irish coast, in the southeast of the kingdom of the Déisi Muman, and having obtained Patrick's blessing, goes on to convert the Déisi to Christianity.
The span of Declán's lifetime and career is extended in another chapter (§ 15), which makes him a contemporary of Saint David of Wales in the 6th century. Likewise, the even later saint Ultan of Ardbraccan (d. 655 x 657) is presented as Declán's pupil.
The Lives also relate that the saint later paid a visit to the Déisi of Mide/Meath, where the King of Tara welcomed him and granted him land for the purpose of founding a "monastery of canons". The monastery founded there became known as Cill Décláin (Kilegland, Ashbourne, Co. Meath).
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