S aint Gerald was an English monk and later the bishop of Mayo. His exact birthdate is unknown, but history records that after the Synod of Whitby in 664, he left England and followed Saint Colman to Ireland. In 668, they settled in Innisboffin.

After some time, disagreements arose between the Irish monks and the English monks living there. To resolve this, Saint Colman established a separate monastery for the thirty English monks. This became known as the Abbey of Mayo, often called Mayo of the Saxons. In 670, Saint Gerald became its first abbot.

The Venerable Bede later wrote that by the year 731, the monastery was still occupied by English monks who lived a disciplined and simple life. They supported themselves by manual work, followed a monastic rule and a canonical abbot, and lived

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