CATHALD, St. — An Irish monk of the 7th century, for many years director of the great school of Lismore and later bishop of Rachau. He undertook a pilgrimage to Jerusalem; but death overtook him at Taranto, either on the way or, more probably, on the return from the Holy Land. The Tarentines buried him in their cathedral; and when this was destroyed by the Saracens in 927, his body was found again when it was rebuilt (1084), together with a gold cross on which was inscribed the name of C. and of his see. He is venerated as the patron saint of the city; feast on 10 May.
BIBL.: Acta SS. Maii, II, Paris 1866, pp. 568-77; Martyr, Rosamund, p. 181; G. Blandamura, Un cimello del s. VII istituito nel duomo di Taranto, Lecce 1917; Lanzoni, pp. 315-16; C. Stornaiolo, Crocetta aurea epistografa della cattedrale di Taranto, in Nuovo bull. di arch. crist., 21 (1915), pp. 83-93. Celestino Testore.