THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES INIS-OWEN AND TIEGONNELL. MS-OWEN AND TIRCOMELL BEING SOME ACCOUNT OF ANTIQUITIES AND WRITERS OP TflE COUNTY OF DONEGAL: BY WILLIAM JAMES DOHERTY, MK1IBER EOTAL IEI8H ACADEMY; MEMBER INSTITUTION CIVIL ENGINEERS (IRBLAKD) COKFOHATH MEMBER JSSIITUIION CIVIL EKOIMEEKS (KKQLAND). SECOND SERIES. DUBLIN : PATRICK TRAYNOR, 29 & 30 ESSEX QUAY. 1895. UK Righ PRINTED BY JOHK F. FOWLER, 3 CROW ST , DUBLIN. [This edition is limited to 500 copies. ] DA To THE MEMORY OF MY DAUGHTER ANNA KATE, I DEDICATE THE FOLLOWING PAGES. WILLIAM J. DOHEKTY t-v 715468 x>u\ C&iflen 1nnp, tocc Stiibgi. ( CASTLE OF THE ISLE [!NCH CASTLE,] LOCH S WILLY. ST. MURA'S FAHAN, September 13th, 1894. P RE FACE. To some, the dedication prefixed to this book will afford a sufficient indication of the Author's reasons for its pub- lication. To others, it may not appear quite so intelligible, why the story of poet, sage, scholar, and writer, belonging to Inisowcn and Tirconnell, who by their work have en- riched the country of their birth, should be herein condensed and put into a collected form ; Avhen the details of the works of many of the writers mentioned, have been better told elsewhere. The Author would, however, point out that to many readers for whom this book is intended, more elaborate works OR the Writers of Donegal, are not generally available. And though the summary herein given is in many respects imperfect, yet, the compil- ation here presented may contain some information, which may have escaped the notice of better qualified writers. If the Author has been able to gather a stray head of eram from the gleaning, which might otherwise have been o o *. * forgotten, and so place it within the reach of any student cf the history and antiquities of his native county leaving to more elegant writers, the task of presenting their views in an attractive and polished style, his aim and the object of his labour?, shall have been accomplished. WILLIAM JAMES DOIIERTY. ST. MURA'S FAIIAX, September loth, 1804. ILLUSTRATIONS. Pago. View INCH CASTLE from S.E. (Lough Swil!y), original sketch by W. J. D., Xmas, 1338. SUB-DEDICATION. 7 ION A (As it appears from Staff a), original sketch by W. J. D., 1887. 1 7 ecUlS-111on, 1O11A. The Great Church, IONA (from Pennant's Tour in Scotland, 1774). 31 THE BELL OF ST. BOEDAN, sketch from Bel), by W.J.D., 1800. 38 ,, Drawn from Photograph, By W. F. Wakeman, 180 1 . 3-JO THE DONAGH CROSS (West Face), from a photo, drawn by W. J. D. in 1800. 101 V\VCA11 TniUlA (Fahan Mura), original sketch by W. J. D., Xmas, 1 888. 130 THE LONG TOWER, Deny, from Survey of Londonderry, 1811. Hi THE DONAGH CKOSS (East Face), drawn from a photo by W. J. D., 1892. If. 5 TABLE CROSS OF FAHAN-MURA, drawn for the Author by W. F. Wakeman, from a rubbing made by W. J. D., 18'jO. 221 CAChACVl. (Shrine of Battle Standard of the O'Donnells), kindly drawn for the Author from the original shrine in R. I. A. by Geo. Coffey, M.R.I.A., 1802. 292 " TOP OF THE CAAH",from Betham's 7mA Antlq. Researches 298 irnoSACh, from Betham's 7mA Antlq. Researches. 305 BELL OF ST. MURA (of Fahan-Mura) U. J. Arch., 334-33ti BELL OF ceA11-11A-cUl$, front and end view, drawn from the Bell in Museum R. I. A., by W. J. D., 18S6. . 338 Inscription on the "SANCTA MARIA BELL", drawn by W. J. D., from a rubbing taken off the bell by Mr. Robert Moore, Junr., of Churchtown, 1890. 342 THE Sancfa JVhuu BELL, C.irndonagh, from drawing by Mr. Hubert Moore, Junr., 1 8 90. 343 beAUriAU C011A1U,. (The_; gapped Bell of St. Connell.) The original Bell is now in the British Museum. Reduced from printed engravings given the Author by Council of the Royal Irish Academy. 343 t)CAH1lAn COllAltt, [Front of Bell, with covering piece of early Irish workmanship,] reduced from Plate III of engravings givui by It. I. A. 318 ILLUSTRATIONS (continued.) be Aftn All COnAItt, [Front of Shrine,] reduced from Plato V. of engravings belonging to R. I. A. 350 beARtUMI CO11A1U,, [Back of Shrine.] reduced from Plate VI. R, I. A. 353 beAHHAn COnAlU,, [End of Shrine.] reduced from Plate VII. R. I. A. 356 be ARn All con A1 It, [End of Shrine,] frcm Plate VIII. R. I. A. 358 ST. BOKDAX'S BELL, from a drawing by W. F. Wakemnn, 1891. DRUIDICAL TEMPLE NEAR BOCAN, from original drawing by W. J. D., 1890. 392 THE GOLAN HILL, FAHAN, from original sketch by W. J. D. Xmas. 1888. 401 THE BACHULL-MURA. (Crozier of St. Mura ? ) original drawing made for the Author from the Crozier in Museum R. I. A., by Henry O'Neill, 1880. 402 THE ANCIENT CROSS OF COOLEY (Moville), drawn by W. J.D., from a photo taken by Hon. Capt. Cochranc,R.N., 18'JO. 423 CROSSES AT t>OU-COl1A1S [Carrowmore], drawn from the original Crosses by W. J. D., 1890. 42G-7 CROSS OF ST. BUADON OF cUlAin-CAChA (Cloncn). drawn for the R. I. A., by W. F. Wakeman, from photo?, to illustrate paper read by W. J. D., 1391. 430 AN ANCIENT MONUMENTAL GRAVE-STONE, Drawn by Wakeman to illustrate a paper read at R.I. A. by the Author. The Drawing is reduced from a rubbing taken by Moore and O'Cannon in 1890. 431 EARLY IRISH ORNAMENTAL WORK ON BACHULL- MURA, from original drawing for the Author by Henry O'Neill, R, IT. A., 1880. 452 INCH CASTLE (Inis-Owen) 474 CRUACH-AN-EUN (Sketch by W. J. D.) 512 CRUACH-AN-EUN do. 513 BEART CASTLE do. 529 RUINS OF INCH CASTLE (Xmas, 1883, by W. J. D.) 529 do. 530 RUINS OF ELAGH-BEG CASTLE Cby W. J. D.) . r >50 COLLEGIUM 1RLANDAIS (Sketch by W. J. D ) 55 1 FAC-SIMILE OF COLGAN'S SIGNATURE 550 ISLAND OF INCH, from St. Mura's (Sketch by W. J. D., 1883) 445 GREEK CROSS (from Sketch by W. J. D., Nov. 10th, 1892.) 458 INTRODUCTION. The publication of the following pages, inspired by the scenery, antiquities, and history of my native county, had in part its origin in the fulfilment of a promise made by the Author to deliver a lecture to the young men of Carndonagh, on the subject of " John Colgan, the learned Franciscan Friar", near the spot where he was born. A short notice of Colgan, had previously appeared aa an appendix to a reprint of a paper read at the Koyal Irish Academy. 1 Having consented to deliver the lecture the Author's real difficulty only commenced, as the field for collecting materials was circumscribed, so much so, that Moreri's Dictionary, does not even mention Colgan's name. The same may be said of several other biographical works where far less important writers receive full notice. The Imperial Dictionary of Universal Biography? con- 1 Abbey of Fahan, by W. J. Doherty, Proceedings R.I.A. 2nd Ser. Vol. II. (Polite Literature and Antiq.~) No. 3, Deer. 1881 ; Appendix, Traynor, (Dublin, 1881) p. 29 and following. 1 Impl. Diet. Universal Biography, London, 1865. 2 INIS-OWEN AND TIECONNELL. tains a short article on Colgan, from the pen of John O'Dowd, B.A., which only says " He was born in the end of the 16th century" and tells of his position at Louvain; that " he executed the task left him by Ward in two large volumes ; which are illustrated by useful and most elaborate notes, especially in what relates to the ancient topography of Ireland". The Nouvelle Biographie Genfrale, 1 appearing under the direction of Dr. Hoefer, has no notice of Colgan, whilst it devotes no less than four pages to Toland : Vapereau's Dictionaire Universel Des Literatures, 2 has nothing about Colgan, whilst it notices such writers as Nicholson, Protestant Bishop of Derry. Another edition 3 by the same author of Des Contemporains, professing to con- tainnotices of all the notable persons of France, and Des pays Etrangers, is silent on the subject of Colgan, so also is, the Deutsche Biographie. 4 ' The Dictionary of English Literature, only gives Colgan's name, the date of his death, and the short title of his two first published works. 5 The Biographical Dictionary, that assumes to give particular notices of distinguished men of Great Britain and Ireland, only says of Colgan. " He had a good acquaintance with the Irish Language, as well as with the antiquities of his country, died 1658. He published the lives of all the Irish saints who clied during first three months of the year" after giving the title of these publications, it adds: " He also left some pieces in MS., which were preserved at Louvain". 6 Father Luke Wadding, in his Scriptores Ordinis 1 Paris, 1886. * Paris, 1876. 3 Edition 1880. 187G. * Diet. Eng. Lit,, by W. Davenport Adams, London, 1877. G London, 1883, by Thompson Cooper, F.S.A. INTRODUCTION. o Minorum, published during Colgan's lifetime, mentions liis labours with great respect. -In Harris's translation of Sir James Ware's Writers of Ireland, appears a fair notice of Colgan's works by that eminent antiquarian, who says : " He had a good acquaintance with the Irish language as well as with the antiquities and Church history of his country ; so that he was well qualified for collecting and writing the lives of the Irish saints. He took great pains on this subject". 1 Mervyn Archdall in his Monasticon Hibernicum, whilst he builds his structure, received from perhaps three other previous writers, that gives proofs of the identity of our ancient abbeys and monasteries from " facts", as he says, "imperfectly known to the natives, and not at all to foreigners", 2 draws largely from Colgan's Acta Sanctorum, and Trias Thaumaturga, though he was a "native". Brennan renders ample tribute to Colgan, 3 and the other Donegal writers of his time, from whom it is almost impossible that the name of Colgan can be dissociated. He gives Ward as the originator of the projected Acta, and the O'Clerys as collectors and contributors, with Colgan, as compiler and director of the work. Colgan's rendering into imperishable Latin the contents of the Irish manuscripts placed within his reach has marked more strongly his great ability. Wills, who devotes sixty pages to illustrious Usher, was unable to afford to Colgan more than half-a-dozen lines 1 Ware's Writers of Ireland, Book 1, p. 140, Dublin, 1764. * Mon. Hib., p. XI., London, 1786, 5 Brennan's Ecclesiastical History, p. 308 and following, Book II. (1845.) 4 INIS-OWEN AND TIRCONNELL. " John Colgan, born A.D. ; Died A.D. 1658. Colgan, was a Franciscan in the Irish Convent of St. Anthony of Padua, in Louvain, where he was professor of Divinity, he collected and compiled a well-known work of authority among antiquarians, and of considerable use in some of the earlier memoirs of this work. His writings were numerous, and all we believe on the ecclesiastical antiquities of Ireland. His death, in 1658, prevented the publication of many of them". 1 The first extended and discriminating tribute paid to Colgan was that rendered by Dr. Reeves, who describes Colgan's works with the most friendly appreciation. The tribute is so much the more valuable, as it comes from the pen of one who has since risen to the dignity of a Protestant bishop, and who as an Irish archaeologist has few superiors. Dr. Reeves speaks of Colgan's graceful modesty and candour 2 where he makes enumeration of the services rendered by his valued fellow-labourers, parti- cularly Father Ward : " These services of the various persons who aided me in the furtherance of my undertaking, I record with pleasure, as well that each may receive the acknowledgment and praise which his pious labours deserve, as that I may not appear to arrogate to myself the credit which is due to many, in an undertaking where I cannot lay claim to anything except the feeble industry which I owe to my country, or expend anything except the zeal which long ago I pledged 1 Lives of Illustrious and Distinguished Irishmen, by James Wills, vol. 5 pt. 1, p. 28 (Dublin 1843). 1 Irish Library, No. 1, Ulster Journal of Archeology, p. 295 and follow- ing (Belfast, 1853). INTRODUCTION. 5 by vow to the one God, and the saints, for the reward which is known to them. Nor, even were I so disposed, could I claim much credit to myself in this matter, for as I have before observed, all the lives of the saints in this and the following volumes [that have been unfortunately lost] except a few which have been translated from the Irish and other languages, and some more that were obtained in other quarters, are set out nearly entire and complete as they had been collected and put together by the Rev. Father Hugh Ward ; to whom the others above mentioned supplied the records which were calculated to augment or improve his collection, to these which I have furnished with chapters, marginal remarks, notes, and appendices, I have added nothing but some shorter lives gathered out of the same or other documents, which occurring at almost every day, though more numerous, are greatly inferior in fulness and value to those which he had collected, for which reason it was my desire, when the task of enlarging and illustrating the work was committed to me, to publish the whole under the name of Father "Ward ; under which it was partly prepared, and would certainly have been so presented to the public, were it not that my superiors and friends, influenced by the numerical amount of my gleanings, and other motives than my wishes, thought otherwise". Colgan's patriotism, so worthy of remembrance, is well expressed when he says "I cannot lay claim to anything except the feeble industry which I owe to my country", therefore the best respect we can offer to his memory is to recognize gratefully his indefatigable labours. To his labours we arc indebted for the preservation of much 6 INIS-OWEX AND TIRCONNEL. of the Irish Ecclesiastical History we possess. Every author of importance writing on the subject since Colgan's time quotes him as an authority in support of his statements. Such distinguished writers as Dr. Henthorn Todd, tells how Colgan first published the alphabetical Hymn of St. Sechnall, where he says: "It" seems highly probable that the MS. of the Liber Hymnorum quoted repeatedly by Colgan, and from which he published the Hymn of St. Sechnall, was the same which is now preserved in the Franciscan College of St. Isidore, atEome [now in the archives of the Franciscan Monastery, Merchants' Quay. Dublin.] That MS. belonged to the convent of Donegal with which Colgan was associated .... and in company with other MSS. were undoubtedly in Colgan's hands." > It will be seen that almost every treatise on Colgan of necessity fixes attention on Donegal and its writers, who have aided in conjunction with this "learned native of Glen-tochair" to place the classic figure of their county on the superstructure of Irish ecclesiastical history, literature, and topography. The place .occupied by Donegal in early* Christian civilization has been unique, we find her present from the first, sending forth apostles of religion, recording in the pages of history its progress, successes and vicissitudes, founding schools and universities abroad to impart knowledge, and extend literature, and when the dark wave of a returning barbarism had almost washed down the beacons and marks, that guided the Christian philosopher in his 1 The Book of Hymns, Part I. edited by J. H. Todd, pp. 7, 8. (Dublin, 1855). INTRODUCTION. ~ unerring way, the children of Donegal were Found rescuing from the inundations many treasured relics of antiquity, thereby contributing towards the distinction we claim as a nation, as pioneers in the cause of progress, Christianity, and civilization throughout Western Europe. Eugene O'Curry has nobly vindicated Colgan's re- putation from the attempted aspersions of some of his critics, when he says, " In fact Colgan, like Keating, simply undertook to publish through the more accessible medium of the Latin language the ancient lives just as he found them in Gaedhlic, and it would be more becoming those who have drawn largely, and often ex- clusively, on the writings of these two eminent men, and who will continue to draw on them, to endeavour to imitate their devoted industry and scholarship, than to attempt to elevate themselves to a higher position of literary fame by a display of critical pedantry, and what they suppose to be independence of opinion, in scoffing at the presumed credulity of those whose labours have laid in modern times the very ground-work of Irish History." 1 'Donovan styles Colgan " the most remarkable Milesian that Ireland ever produced," 2 and when supporting his derivation of Grianan, says it simply means solarium " as invariably rendered by the erudite and honest Colgan." 3 The late Rev. C. P. Meehan says " It was then Colgan, Wadding, Fleming, Conry, and others devoted the opulence of their learning to the composition of works which were 1 O'Curry's MS. Materials, pp. 341-342 (Dublin, 1861). 1 O'Donovan's Ordinance Survey Letters, K.I.A., County Donegal, (Aug. 19th, 1835). 3 O'Donovan's Letter to O'Curry, from Dungiven, Aug. 2nd, 1834. 8 INIS-OWEN AND TIRCONNELL. soon to spread the reputation of Irish genius over Europe ; and which are even now the most valuable antiquarian and theological monuments of the period." 1 Father Meehan's respect for Colgan's memory extended to procuring a painting copied from his portrait on the walls of St. Isidore, at Rome, that represents Colgan seated in his cell, in front of a table, surrounded by his books and manuscripts. This portrait Father Meehan presented to the National Gallery of Paintings in Dublin, where it can be seen among the portraits of distinguished Irishmen. Canon O'Hanlon gives an accurate and appreciative account of Colgan's labours ; no one could be better quali- fied, he being himself an able and lifelong labourer in the same cause of Irish hagiology and antiquities. 3 John F. Gilbert, F.S.A., who has thrown a hitherto unknown light on the records of Irish History, particularly on the portion that refers to the seventeenth century in his works History of the Affairs in Ireland, 1641-52," 3 and its companion, History of the Irish Confederation and the War in Ireland",* has in his volume descriptive of the National Manuscripts of Ireland (1884) ; put into concise order the his- torical facts relative to the Donegal writers of the period we are treating of. Gilbert's notice of the Annals of the Four Masters is too extensive for insertion here, 5 but we shall en- hance this introduction by quoting his reference to Colgan. 1 "Flight of the Earls," by Rev. C. P. Meehan, p. 345 (1870 Edition.) 2 O'Hanlon's Lives oj the Irish Saints", vol. 1. 3 Dublin, 1879, etc. 4 Dublin, 1882. 5 Gilbert's National MSS. of Ireland, pp. 311315. INTRODUCTION. " John Colgan, born in Donegal in 1592, became a member of the Irish Franciscan Community at their Collegej at Louvain. To him was entrusted the task of digesting, translating into Latin, and editing the manuscript materials collected through the exertions of the Irish Franciscans for the hagiography and history of their country. The first published result of Colgan's labours was a collection in relation to the Irish saints whose festivals occur in the months of January, February, and March. This volume issued at Louvain in 1645, was in 1647 succeeded by another of similar character, connected with three patron saints of Ireland, Patrick, Columba, and Brigid. These volumes have always held a high place in connection with the early history of Christianity in Europe, as well as with the antiquities and literature of Ireland". Colgan was also author of a treatise on the life and works of Duns Scotus, published at Antwerp in 1655, and in which he maintained that Ireland was the native land of the famous " Subtle Doctor". Colgan's death took place at Louvain in 1658. " Amongst his unpublished works were some of great importance on the labours of, and establishments founded by Irish missionaries in Great Britain and on the Continent. From the few leaves which now survive of these volumes, one page has been re-produced on the present plate. 1 It contains a catalogue of portion of the contents of the fourth book of the work which related to the monasteries founded or administered in other countries by early Chris- tian missionaries from Ireland. At foot of the page has been added a fac-simile of the signature of Colgan". 2 1 Pee fac-simile plates National MSS. by Gilbert. National MSS. of Ireland, p. 315. 10 INIS-OWEN AND TIRCONNELL. Gilbert has also given a fac-simile of Colgan's letter written at Louvain, April, 1642, addressed to Luke Wad- ding, the original of which is now preserved in the archives of the Franciscan Order in Dublin. 1 Although all that is at present accessible referring to Colgan has been collected so far as time and circumstances have permitted ; yet, but an imperfect summary has been obtained ; still, it is to be hoped that this compilation may serve to foster an interest among more youthful students, and lead others better qualified for the work to undertake a closer investigation. Traditional, historical, and anti- quarian relics, are abundantly scattered throughout each of the ancient divisions of Donegal, and it only requires skilled and willing gleaners to gather in the rich harvest. The object aimed at by the compilation of this collection, has been to present an outline of the field wherein students may obtain by greater research, more definite information- Should it serve to assist them to examine the way over which many of the illustrious writers of Tirconnell and Inis-Owen have journeyed, it will have accomplished all for which it is intended. The original scope a popular account and homely rendering of John Colgan's place as awriter and scholar of the seventeenth century has been extended. Other prominent writers of Donegal are noticed, who, in ancient and modern times, by their genius and learning, at home and abroad have upheld the name, and extended the fame of the Irish race. 1 Gilbert's Hist. Affairs in Ireland, vol. 1, part 2, page 407. INTRODUCTION. 11 No person can be more impressed than the writer with the defects and omissions that abound in these pages. Even their imperfections would have been more numerous had it not been for the generous aid rendered by several friends. Among those to whom thanks are eminently due, and are tendered : the Author is indebted to John F. Gilbert, F.S. A., Librarian of the Koyal Irish Academy ; the Author is specially indebted to George Sigerson, M.D., F.R.U.I., etc., he supplied many notes and gave much useful inform- ation, which was always of a reliable kind. Father Hill, O.S.F., placed at his disposal the Library of the Francis- can Convent, Dublin, where the Irish Records, books, manuscripts, formerly in the College of St. Isidore, at Rome, are now preserved. The Rev. Philip O'Doherty, has been untiring in unearthing and furnishing much local informa- tion connected with the birthplace of Toland, Macklin, and Colgan. Rev. J. C. Cannon, and Rev. P. F. Brennan also gave a list of names and particulars of authors that might otherwise have escaped the Author's observation. To the Director of the University of Louvain, M. Adolph Tielemans ; the Conservator of the Burgundian Library, Brussels, M. Tetis, and Frere Didace, of the Order of Charity (that now occupies the buildings at Louvain for- merly the College of St. Anthony of Padua) the Author is indebted for many extracts made from works under their care. A work in the French language by M. Van Buck (one of the Bollandists) has been availed of for many passages relating to Colgan and Louvain. 1 o o fieliyieiises Historiques et LiUcrcdres, Paris, 1869. 12 INIS-OWEN AND TIRCONNELL. Many particulars connected with the writings of Isaac Butt have been obtained from Mr. James Collins of Drum- condra, who for years performed the duties of amanuensis, and enjoyed Isaac Butt's friendship. Extracts from Latin originals that now appear for the first time in English, have been rendered by the Author's son, Patrick Edward Doherty, B.L. INIS-OWEN AND TIRCONNELL i. GARTAN. Within a century after the death of St. Columbkille, (which occurred on the 9th June, A.D. 597.) St. Adam- nan, or St. Eunan, a native of Donegal, patron of the diocese of Raphoe, wrote the life of St. Columba. 1 This memoir has not only immortalized the writer but it has furnished the text for one of the volumes of a distinguished Irish Archaeologist, i.e. Dr. Reeves, Protestant Bishop of Down, 3 as well as for Montalembert's St. Columba. 3 St. Columbkille was born at Gartan, in the territory of Tirconnell, near the base of the Glendowan mountains. 4 Manus O'Donnell chief of Tir-Connell, who died in 1532, has furnished the fullest collection of the acts of St. Columba, the patron saint of Tir-Connell. Dr. Henthorn Todd and Eugene O'Curry made a visit to the Bodleian Library, Oxford, in July, 1849. From O'Curry's inspection it is placed beyond dispute that there the original of O'Donnell's life of St. Columbkille is pre- served. The manuscript it would appear became by some means the property of Sir James Ware, then afterwards that of the Duke of Chandos, at the sale of whose library 1 Vita Sancti, Columbce, auctore Adamnano. 2 Life of St. Columba, by Rev. W. Reeves, I. A. Society, Dublin, 1857. 3 Monks of the West, vol. 2. 4 A posthumous English translation of Adamnan's Life oj St. Columba, by Dr. McCarthy, Bishop of Kerry, has been published by Duffy, Dublin, (1889.) 14 INIS-OWEN AND TIKCONNELL. by auction, commencing March 12th, 1766-7, the work was purchased by Mr. Kawlinson. Manus O'Donnell records how it was he who had ordered the part of this life which was in Latin, to be put into Gaelic, and who ordered the part that was difficult (i.e. very ancient Irish,) to be modified, and who gathered and put together the parts scattered thrQugh the old books of Erin, and who dictated it out of his own mouth with great labour and a great expenditure of time in studying and arranging all its parts, as they are left here in writing by us, in love and friendship for his illustrious Saint, Relative and Patron, to whom he was devoutly at- tached". At the sale this work was disposed of for twenty- three shillings ! Happily it has been preserved. It was writ- ten "A cAiflen phtnjAC-riA-qu tiAitiAC, i.e. at the Castle of the Port of the three enemies", now called Lifford. 1 In this work Manus O'Donnell describes the territory ot of Gartan. " That land, Gartan, which lies in the County of Tir-Connell is desolate, even to the appearance of a wilderness, on account of the very lofty mountains which take up its whole extent to the north, but a declivity which is adjacent to the more cultivated plains and exposed to the rays of the sun, and lakes situate at the foot thereof, render it most delightful in the Summer season". LOUGH BEAGH St. Columbcille was born on the 7th December, A.D. 519 (as Colgan, has the date), O'Donnell gives 520, and Reeves gives 521, as that most likely to be the true period ; 2 he was forty-two years of age when he removed to lona; his death occurring there thirty-four years later. 1 Proceedings R. I. A., vol. v. p. 102. Irish Manuscripts in Bodleian Library, Oxford, Dublin 1851. 2 Reeves' St. Columba, p. Ixix, notes, ]. and m. GARTAN. 15 Around Gartan as the birth-place of St. Columbcille, shall always be centered a portion of the interest and veneration that is attached to his name. The parish of Gartan extends north to Calabbar Bridge, where the road to Dunlewy branches off. Its western boundary skirts west of the Dooish mountain, as it rises 1994 feet over the waters of Lough Glen- Veagh. Through a chasm formed by some mighty convulsion, the Lough extends for a distance of about three and a-half miles in length, by an average of about four hundred and fifty yards in breadth. Here is ' Lone Glenveagh". The weird beauty of the place must be seen, it cannot be pain- ted or sufficiently described. " If your fancy be a glowing one, put it to its most fer- vent test in picturing the wildest, sweetest, weirdest, and most gloriously beautiful spot within its power of creation, and you have not then got a glimpse of the magical fascin- ations of Glen Veagh". After describing its varied beauties in every line of which the words appear in the natural groupings of an inspired poet Wakeman thus apostrophizes it " Grand Glen Veagh ! Noblest of all Erin's wondrous valleys, because grandest fashioned by the Infinite Artificer, and as yet unsrnirched by the defiling hand of gain". 1 Such is the northern fore- ground of what O'Donovan calls " the very wild parish of Gartan". As we proceed south, its eastern confine passes through the centre of Lough Kibbon, (a corruption of its Irish name Loch-mhic-Ciabain^) we reach Gartan Loch, or Lough Beagh, sheltering amidst the more "cultivated 1 Edgar L. Wakcman's Afoot in Ireland, Chicago, 1888. 16 INIS-OWEN AND TIRCONNELL. plains", mentioned in 1532 by Manus O'Donnell. This Lough extends in a south-westerly direction about two and a-half miles, with a more sinuous foreground, and is from a quarter to half a mile in width. Here on its banks St. Columbcille was born. 1 The lines of St. Mura of Fahan cited by O'Donnell and the O'Clery's are : " He was born at Gartan by his con- sent ; And he was nursed at Cill-mic Neoin? and the son of goodness was baptized 3 at Tulacli Dubhglaise of God". 4 Dr. Reeves observes that the local traditions decidedly confirm this Irish account. 5 The writer, several years ago traversed every spot of this district, and stood on the flag- stone pointed out by the people as St. Columbkilles Stone, that marks the place where it is traditionally stated he was born. This stone is to be seen to the S.W., in the town- land of Lacoo. O'Donovan confirms that the traditions were faithfully retained as to the birth-place of Columbkille, and the stone was pointed out at the time of his visit. 6 There is a dis- jointed tradition about a hound connected with the flag- stone which would require more time to collect and place in order of narration than were at our disposal. The stone is about eighteen feet in circumference, and is indented with about sixty holes of average depth of two and- a-half inches. The flagstone itself is about six inches thick. 1 O'Donovan's Ordnance Survey Letters Donegal, 1835. 2 Kilmacrenan (Ci1t-triAC-tteii4in.) 8 Colgan's Trias Thaum. p. 393. a. 4 Tulach-Dulhglaise is now Temple-Douglas, where the ruins of a graveyard and site of a church stood. 5 Beeves' St. Columba, p. Ixviii. ' ; O'Donovan's Ordnance Survey Letters, Donegal, 1835. ti appears from Staffa.} II. IONA. Looking back into the obscurity of the past, specks of light appear studded over the darkness shining like stars on the darkest night. Among the clearest were the lamps of knowledge, lit up and maintained by the genius and sanctity of our Donegal kinsmen. In the beginning of the sixth century, Tirconnell sent forth a noble representative, in the person of Columba who is locally better known as St. Columbkille, i.e., " Dove of the Churches ". Alter founding the Monastery of "Derry-Columbkille", 1 he carried amongst the ancient Briton and the Pict, the faith taught by our National Apostle. 1 The modernized Londonderry. 18 . INIS-OWEN AND TIRCONNELL. The fame of lona soon spread a ray of light over both sea and land, until it became the beacon that guided the pilgrim to its sanctified retreat. And for centuries it remained selected as the resting place for the ashes of all who were celebrated, throughout Pictland and Scotland. A short description of lona, derived from authentic sources and from personal observation, may interest some who may not have had an opportunity of examining this historical island. Hy, I, Columbkille, or loNA, 1 is a comparatively small island lying off the greater island of Mull, on the Western Coast of Scotland, in latitude 56 40" (north), and longi- tude 6 45" (west). Its position in reference to Ireland, is to be found in a line produced slighly east by north ; from Malinhead in Inis-owen, till it reaches Skerryvore Light House, as it stands isolated in the Atlantic, and distant from Malin Head about sixty-five miles ; thence at right-angles from Skerryvore, or about twenty-five miles due east lies the Island of St. Columbkille. lona extends in length, from N.E. to S.W. about three miles, and from about a quarter of a mile at its northern end it broadens out to the westward to one and a half miles. At a point about one mile from its northern end it returns to a width of about one mile, which it maintains through- out to its southern extremity. Its western coast line is irregular in outline ; where, 1 Reeves says : The word (lona) as it stands in Adamnan is an adjec- tive, was suggested by Colgan although, from a faulty transcript of a MS. of eighth century now in the public library of Schaffhausen, he was led into the error of supposing lona to be its correct form instead of Jott'i Reeves' St. Columba, p. Ii5 IONA. 19 from its exposure to the continual wash of the Atlantic, several slight embayments, called ports, have been formed. The native population (now about two hundred) speak the Gaelic language ; and give each port, rock, or knoll, on the island its distinctive name, derived in many instances from the traditions associated with St. Columbkille or some of his disciples. The ports, or landing places, are named Port-Ban, the white Port ; Port-nacloch geal, Port of the bright stones ; Port beul moir, Port of the large mouth. The eastern coast line, from its more sheltered position, is not so irregular, between which and the low lying pro- montory of the Ross of Mull passes the channel, about one mile in width, named by Adamnan in his Life of St. Columba, "ultra Fretum clamatum", 1 and now called the Sound of lona. About halfway on the eastern shore occurs the present principal landing place, near Port Ronain, named after St. Ronan, the Ronan Fionn of 22nd May in the Irish Calendar, of Lann Ronain Finn, in Iveagh in Ulster. 2 Here, at a rude inclined slipway of a form almost as pri- mitive as it existed in the days of St. Columbkille, pilgrims and passengers are landed. Advantage has been taken, to utilize the original trap rock of which the landing slip is formed, by smoothing its rugged inequalities, into some- thing approaching an even surface, and filling up the gaps with irregular stones set in cement-mortar so as to form a permanent face work. Here the boats that attend on the well-managed steamers, that sail daily from Oban during the season, land and embark their passengers. 1 Lib. i., cap. 43. - Martyrologij of Donegal, LA, and C.S., 1864, p. 137. 20 INIS-OWEN AND TIRCONNELL. PHYSICAL APPEARANCE. Approaching the island from the south-east, and on rounding the western point of the Ross of Mull, one wonders how ever the captain of the Grenadier pilots the steamer in safety through the numerous islets and sunken reefs that are scattered here in profusion. lona appears suddenly in view ! It presents at first sight the appearance of a low-lying, weather-beaten island. Proceeding up the Fretum, or Sound, patches of cultivation, interspersed with pasturage, are seen among the cnocans, and the escarpments of the druims that form the rugged outline of the island. None of the hills is lofty enough to be styled a Sliav ; the highest on the island, the eminus supereminet of Adamnan, is called Dunii, the summit of which is stated to be 330 feet above the level of the sea. Dunii is a conspicuous object, and lies N.W. of the landing slip, about half a mile distant, rising above the slightly sloping plateau that runs north of the slip, and along the eastern shore. Here over this plane are scattered the chief ecclesiastical ruins, as well as the chief religs, or cemeteries, that are found on the island. RUINS. Leaving the slip, and advancing by the principal road in a N.E. direction, within an area of about half a mile in length and a quarter of a mile in width, are to be seen the remains of the convents and churches. Near the modern village, are the ruins of the Nunnery and the Tempul Ronain. The cross of St. Adamnan, or St. Eunan of Raphoe, formerly stood at the N.E. end of IONA. 21 the village over the port or landing place, to which it gave the name POJAC A qioif etones), says " Originally" (says Mr. Sacheverell) " here were three noble globes, of white marble, placed on three stone basons, and these were turned round, but the Synod ordered them and 60 crosses to be thrown into the Sea".* Dr. Reeves continues "It is alleged that multi- tudes of them were carried away to different parts of Western Scotland, and among them the two beautiful crosses of Inverary and Campbelton. This is all very irrational, it only wants a 5 instead of the cypher, in the total 360, to complete its absurdity. There probably never were more than two dozen real crosses standing at anyone time, and if every tombstone in the cemeteries which ever had a cross of any form inscribed on it were included, the number 360 would not be arrived at", then Dr. Reeves asks " If some were thrown into the sea, why any left standing ? " and winds up by quoting from Mr. David Laing's Letter to Lord Murray (1854, p. 12), wherein that writer states his belief that as to 360 stone crosses having existed in the island, this should be considered as very 1 Kocves' St. ColunAa, pp. 419-420. Tcnnan Voy. Hebrides", vol. 2, p. 251. IONA. 23 apocryphal, and their alleged destruction by the Reformers as, at best, a vague tradition". 1 Dr. Johnson, in 1773, says " The place is said to be known where the black stones (CtocliA bftecA) 2 lie con- cealed, on which the old Highland chiefs, when they made contracts and alliances, used to take the oath which was considered as more sacred than any other obligation, and which could not be violated without the blackest infamy. In those days of violent rapine it was of great importance to impress upon savage minds the sanctity of an oath, by some particular and extraordinary circumstances. They would not have recourse to the black stones, upon small or common occasions, and when they had established their faith by this tremendous sanction, inconstancy and treachery were no longer feared'"' . 3 Henry Davenport Graham 4 published a series of 52 plates with letter-press description, which was seen by Dr. Reeves since he quotes from it the particulars of St. Martins cross, which Dr. Reeves calls a noble monument, opposite the west door of the cathedral, " fourteen feet high". The next cross in Graham's collection " St. John's cross", is also mentioned by Dr. Reeves. Graham describes as having been similar to "St. Martin's cross", " but of which only a portion remains", Graham adds however " It must have been knocked down by a most violent blow, for it is broken short off at the base". From whence came the violent blow? Laing might reply : 1 Beeves' St. Columba, addition notes pp. 419, 420. * Speckled stones. 3 Johnson's Western Highlands of Scotland, p 244 (Dublin, 1775,. 1 Graham's Antiquities oflona, London, 1850. 24 INIS-OWEN AND TIRCONNELL. "a vague tradition!" and be afterwards quoted as an authority. 1 Pennant did not doubt the account he has left on record of the 360; and Sacheverell may have left out the 3 in his account; violence was used as shown by Graham. The Eev. J. S. F. Gordon, D.D., says " Like the tomb- stones the crosses consisted of a single slab of mica slate, a stubborn subject for a chisel, albeit the sculpture was elaborate in intricate tracery. Not very long ago when any one from the adjacent islands desired a tombstone, they conveniently helped themselves at lona Con- sequently humble cottars in Mull and Lorn sleep uncon- sciously imder a monument carved for an ecclesiastic or a chieftain. The same handy arrangement holds good in lona itself ' Calvinian heretics ', reposing under borrowed flags of accommodation". 3 Is it probable that during ten centuries, " when it was customary either from a vow or in the vain hope of per- petuating their memory " " to erect crosses in Scotland", as Pennant affirms not three individuals, " ecclesiastic or chieftain" were yearly interred in lona, over whom it would be considered a token of Christian respect to inscribe on their monumental slab "across of any form?" "St. Matthew's cross" is a fragment. " St. Adamnan's cross" has disappeared. "St. Brandon's cross" no trace remain- 1 The Lords Justices, September 13th, 1632, issued an order with the advice of the Privy Council, to break down, deface, and demolish any Convent at Lough Derg, County Donegal, and this order not being suffi- ciently attended to, an act of Parliament was passed in 2nd year reign of Queen Anne (1703), against Pilgrimages in general; Richardson's Folly of Pilgrimages, pp. 44-45 (Dublin, 1727.) Gordon's lona, p. 37 (Glasgow, 1885). IONA. 25 ing. "Torr Abb", the socket of a cross is said to have been observed. " HA Cj\o-pf AH mop" (The great crosses) have been long since removed. These were prominent crosses, but they have vanished ; and their " alleged destruction" is, " at best a vague tradi- tion !" Dr. Reeves, very properly qualifies the quotation in a foot-note, where he says " There is however, nothing in such a tradition inconsistent with the Reformation move^ ment in Scotland". 1 IRISH INSCRIPTION. Among the inscriptions on the slabs that remain, only two have a special Irish interest, because on these are graven almost the oldest form of Irish lettering that is to O O be found on mural monuments. They appear unquestionably more ancient than any others now remaining in lona. Macleans Cross, generally agreed to be a vulgar mis- nomer, 2 is supposed to occupy the site of the cross referred to by Adamnan, in margine cernitur viae, and which Dr. Reeves observes " is the only one remaining in the island whose position answers this description. Its age probably is not so high as the date of these memoirs (Adamnan' s), but it may occupy the site of an earlier and less- elaborate monument", 3 Graham's plate of this cross, which he says " is supposed to be contemporary with St. Columba", exhibits in outline a highly artistically carved cross of Irish pattern, 11 feet high and only three inches thick, of hard whinstone. On the projection of the cross 1 Reeves' St. Columba, p. 420, note r. 2 Reeves' St. Columba, p. 421. 3 Ibid, p. 231, note/. 26 INIS-OWEN AND TIRCONNELL. standing above its circular head, is an unmistakable Fleur de Us carved in relief, and the arms of the cross extending right and left beyond the circumference of the circle have carved, on one a chalice, and on the other, a dagger or short sword ; on the circle itself is a draped figure repre- senting the Crucifixion with a girdle and crown, while the main stem of the cross has carved tracery of a kind cer- tainly not bearing any characteristic of work done at the date ascribed to it. It is much too floriated. The stones bearing Celtic inscriptions have an Irish, if not a wider interest. An attempt appears to have been made to deprive them of their proper signification. Whether it has been done from ignorance or system it matters not. Pennant refers to them thus " Among these stones are found two with Gaelic inscriptions, and the form of a cross carved on each ; the words on one were Cros Domhail fatdsich, or The Cross of Donald Long-Shanks" [assuming/a to be from the adjective/ac?a long, the Gaelic word corresponding to " shanks", is lurga, so that how Pennant could render fatbsich into " Long-Shanks" must remain a mystery] " The other signified the cross of Urchvine Guin. The letters were those of the most ancient Irish alphabet, exhibited in Valiancy's Irish grammar". 1 Graham 2 gives illustrations of these stones the first he describes as a very ancient stone, with a cross and Gaelic inscription Orar anmin Eogair" [corresponding to Pennant's Urchvine Gritiri]: Graham proceeds to explain the inscription thus " OKAR probably stands for MOKAR or 1 Pennant's Voyage to the Hebrides, vol. 2, p. 249. y Graham's Antiquities of lona, photos 22-25. IONA. 27 MOR'EAK (great man, or lord). ANMIN, not explainable. EOGAIN, Eoghan, Ewen", and adds " The stone is so much worn, that it is with great difficulty that this inscription can be made out, but when the sun shines upon it, the letters are distinctly traceable when examined with attention". The second he calls the "Disputed inscription", as if the first has been irrevocably fixed and determined. Or Domail Fatasic (the cross Domhail Fatasich of Pennant) ; no one, says Graham, of the inscriptions in lonahas been so much written about as this, and antiquarians do not agree as to its signification* "It is in the old Gaelic characters and has been usually interpreted into Donnell Fadachasach " The cross of Donald Long-Shanks". Here is what the Rev. J. S. F. Gordon, D.D., of St. Andrews Glasgow says, so recently as 1885. ! " From an accurate drawing made by James Logan, Esq., it appear that what is now legible is but a fragment of a much larger inscription, in the old Gaelic character and runs thus ON Do MAIL FATA, etc" the learned doctor adds" This is, doubtless, the fragment of the tombstone placed over Alexander Macdonald, the second of the Glengarn line, who died by violence, and was certainly buried in Relig Orain, the family burying place in 1461. No one of the inscriptions at lona, has been so much discussed as this one". How ON Do MAIL FATA is connected with the second of the Glengarn line, and what it signifies, the learned doctor does not explain, though he destroys his " Glengarn theory" by inserting 2 an extract on these, inscriptions from Reeves' St. Columba. 1 Gordon's lona, p. 10. 4 ' Gordon's lona, p. 34. 28 INIS-OWEN AND TIRCONNELL. Dr. Reeves says: "The eldest tombstones in the cemetery are the two with the Irish inscriptions OR ATI e i:e<\ji AijrninoneAC tAn t)o name, "oo cenn]'A ^511^ t)o t^loine c|\oit>e to ecc co 1 Beeves' St. Columba, p, 418. 2 Reeves' St. Columba. p. 408. 3 Ibid, p. 408, note m., also lona, by J. Huband Smith, Ulster Journal Archaeology, vol. 1, pp. 84, 85, 86. IONA. 29 ti 1 Cho'lxvim ChiVle IAJ\ SeAiTOArAit> co5Ait>e"i.e. "Maol patrick O'Banain Bishop of Connor and Dal Aradia, a man to be venerated, full of sanctity of life, mildness and purity of heart, died in a good old age in Hy of Columbkille". 1 Colgan in the Triadis also notices this Maol-Patrick. Considering that these inscriptions have been a fruitful source of speculation to native (Scottish) antiquaries, Dr. Reeves, in his St. Columba, might have pointed out their rendering more authoritatively, thereby laying the spectres of Donald Long Shanks, and Urchuaine O'Guin, with a Requiescant in pace for ever ! AUTHOKITIES. The Cros Domliail fafasich of Pennant, the Or Domail Fadachasach of Graham, and the On do mail Fata of Gordon, is properly rendered by Dr. Reeves as i OTfOO ITlAll/pAUAtllC, 6~p" being a well recognized form of contraction used in ancient Irish inscriptions and MSS. for the word OJAAIT), or OJIAC, a prayer and rendered by Reeves, Oratio, t)o for pro, [mAit, a servant of, PAUAJMC, Patrick, i.e. " A prayer for the servant of Patrick" the fc denoting the sign of the Bishop, 111 All, pATTRAICC tk\ bAtiAin (as we have seen) being Bishop of Connor and Dal' Aradia, Down and Connor. The (Urchvine 0* Guiri) of Pennant, and the (Orar anmin Eogain) of Graham, becomes as stated by Reeves OR -All -Antrim eO^Ain, Oratio super anima Eogani. OR con- traction for OlxAIT), AH An nun, on the soul.anmor, COgAlll, Eoghain, Eogani, i.e. A prayer on the soul of Eoghain. 1 See note O. by O'Donovan, under year 1174. /'..I/. 30 INIS-OWEN AND TIRCONNELL. It is quite possible that this slab and inscription was originally laid over Gogh ATI (UA CeAjAnAit^h) ATpcmnech *Ooijie, who died on the 18th Kals. Jan. 1096, as given by the Four Masters. Reeves gives the date of the death of the Aircinneach, or Superior Eoghain O'Cearnaigh, of Deny as occuring on the 15th Deer., 1096. 1 1 J. Huband Smith contributed an interesting article on lona to the Ulster Journal of Archaeology, vol. 1, pp. 79-91, in which he enters the correct rendering of the Irish inscriptions, this volume was published in 1853. Beeves' Columba is dated 1857, Smith points out that Pennant, Maclean, Benjamin Motte, Graham, and even Dr. Danl. Wilson in his Archaeology and Prehistoric Annals of Scotland are all more or less incorrect, W. F. Skene in his " Ancient Inscribed Scottish Monuments" appears to approach nearest to the correct rendering. III. THE O'BROLCHAINS, From plate xxti., Pennant's Tour in Scotland, Cheter, 1774. IONA. The cathedral, or ecluf TTIOJA, is stated by Reeves and others to be an edifice of the early part of the 13th century : "The capitals of some of the columns exhibit bas-reliefs similar to many found in Ireland. The inscription on a capital of the S.E. column clearly denotes the name of the builder, which tends to confirm a belief that artificers were in part hereditary during the Middle- Ages. The Ua Brolcliain, a branch of the Kinel-Owen, were an old family in Inis-Owen. 1 The first of the name mentioned in the Irish 1 Reeves' St. Columba, p. 406. 32 INIS-OWEN AND TIRCONNELL. Annals is TnAelbjii^lToe HA "bfiotcnAn, styled by the " Four Masters " prnorhfAori, or chief artificer of 6pm ; and his death is set down at 1029. Keeves quotes Ann. Ult. where he is styled (Chief Mason of Ireland) ttlAelior'A UA bfiolctiAin, Lector of t)och-ChonAif, in Inis-Owen, the wisest senior in Ireland, died 16th January, 1086.' Ae*oTi ITIAC THAet-1ofA U A brtotcliAin; who is styled praecipuus lector, died 1095, and at 1097, TTlAet bi^troe (THAC ATI rfAor*), son of the artificer, 11 A blotch Ain, who had become Bishop of Kildare, died. Of this family, TTlAel-cotAitn and another TnAet-bjujlToe, were bishops of Armagh, dying in 1122 and 1139 respectively, and "ptAicbejAUAch UA bjAotcAin, coarb of Columbkille died at Derry 1175, about this time (1164) the abbacy of Hy was offered to Flaithbertaigh but owing to the task of re-erecting his Cathedral of Deny, he was not permited by the Arch- bishop of Armagh, and the King of Ireland to accept it. 'OomtiAtt HA b]Ao1cliAin, prior of Derry, died April 27th, 1202. It is to this Domnal that the erection of the Eclus-Mor of lona, is attributed. " On the capital of the south-east column under the tower, near the angle of the south transept and choir of the cathedral in Hy are the remains of the inscription ^ DONALDU8 O'BBOLCHAN FECIT Hoc OPUS, Graham says in 1850, "Two years ago the inscription was quite perfect, but since that time the corner of the capital has been knocked off, and some of the letters obliterated." 2 Reeves says he examined it in 1853 and found only DONALDUS ...... ECIT Hoc OPUS. The inscription runs along the face of two sides of the 1 Acta. SS, p. 108. 2 Graham's lona, p. 23. THE O'BROLCHAINS. 33 principal abacus, so that the fracture of an angle removes the middle part of the legend as the column is clustered, there is an appendage to the abacus, on the face of which the two last words are continued at a right angle". 1 "This is tho most ornamented with grotesque reliefs of any in the building. Those figured in Graham's lona plates xii., 2, xlii., 1, belong to it. It has besides a monstrous animal with two bodies meeting in one head, a pair of griffins with tails entwined, and at the junction a grotesque head. ' Could these designs (Reeves asks), so characteristic of the Irish school be the Hue opus of O'Brolcliain ?' " 2 To this query there only can be one intelligent reply. O'Brolchain^ the excelsus senior, died 27th April, 1202. The Irish school and the Irish mind had founded lona, and had mainly directed its usefulness for nearly seven hundred years. Donegal was the home of its founder, as it was now, in the beginning of the 13th century, the place from whence it derived its re-organization. After the first quarter of the 13th century, the Scottish element appears to have prevailed in lona up to the date of its last abbot in 1492. Petrie, in 1833, gave a drawing of an ancient bronze altar vessel, having an Irish inscription around its neck, " which is in a beautiful square Irish character" *%* Oil *Oo niA]\cAin 1m t)]iotAc1iAin, " Pray for Martin O'Brola- chain". The Annals of Inisfallen, and Four Masters, shews that this Martin O'Brolochain was professor of Divinity in the Abbey of Armagh, and is called the most wise of all the Irish of his time; he died in the year 1188. This beautiful bronze altar cup is about three inches high, two 1 Reeves' Am, some what like the diphthong au, in English". 1 O'Donovan gives numerous instances of the various inflections, and peculiarities of provincialisms used in many Irish words, and says, " It can be directly proved that St. Onan, is Adamnan. The pronunciation in the 1 See .also, Inis-Owcn and Tirconncll, 1st series, p. 70. ST. EUNAN. 43 parish agrees with the Irish spelling of his name, and Colgan, who well knew the pronunciation and the spelling, mentions in a note that Adamnanus was venerated (colitur) at Airegal, this is proof enough". 1 O'Donovan after defining the word Airegal (a place, locality, a residence, or habitation) an apartment, as Airegal Adamnain, i.e. Adamnan's place, residence, or church, con- tinues, "I must return to Adamnan, (an old sage who puzzles me much) ; it appears that a St. Eunan (pronounced Unan), Bishop and Confessor, is the Patron of Raphoe, where his festival is kept on the 7th September. By his festival I do not mean that there is a holiday kept in honour of him, but that his name is mentioned in the Mass of that day. Now I have no books to refer to, but I am at present satisfied that Onan and Unan are a corruption of the name -dtxMtiriAn, and I have a clear recollection that Colgan always explains, " Comharba Choluim chilie agiig Adhamhnain" (to be) Abbot of Derry and Raphoe, and that he states in a note that Adamnanus was venerated at Raphoe and Airegal; and by Comharba (Coarb) Adham- nain, he always understood abbot of Raphoe. Colgan, who was born in the Diocese of Raphoe (O'Donovan was under the impression that Inis-Owen, formerly belonged to the Diocese of Raphoe), was better acquainted with this subject than anyone now living" 2 Before passing from O'Donovan's reference to this locality, what he has recorded of one or two persons from whom he received assistance in the district of Maghera may 1 O'Donovan's Ordnance Survey Letters, in K.I.A., dated Maghera, August 23rd, 1834. 2 Ibidem. 44 INIS-OWEN AND TIECONNELL. be interesting, as at least one of the names has been well and favourably known to many Donegal men. O'Donovan says, " I had Mr. JohnMcCloskey here all day, he is a sensible, clever, and worthy man, universally liked and respected by all classes. He has lent me statistical accounts of the parishes of Dungiven, Banagher, Boveragh, Desertmartin. Kilcronaghan and Ballynascreen, and pro- mises to give us every assistance in his power besides the MSS. he has lent. He has several notes concerning the antiquities of the county and its general history, he is a man of vast erudition, a rara avis. In his account of Ballynascreen he gives specimens of the poetic productions of the Rev. Christopher Conway, R.C. priest. Conway is an Anglicizing of the word MacConmidhe, the name of O'Kane's Bard". 1 The poem O'Donovan refers to was a Latin satire upon a certain person named Francis who pledged his horse, having made his pilgrimage as an equestrian, but returned a pedestrian. Another was a Latin poem, on one Rody Cassidy, with one on Phelimy O'Neill, who upon becoming rich, had deserted his religion and changed his name to Felix Neil. O'Donovan's rendering from the Latin of Father Conway's last named poem will serve as an example of their style. "All things has Felix changed, he changed himself, Among the mountaineers he scorned to lead A sluggish life ; despising bracks and brogues, He laid aside the arms of his old tribe (i.e. The ship, the salmon and the famed red hand), And blushed to hear his name pronounced O'Neall ! Poor man, deserter of thy noble tribe. Infelix Felix ! do return in time". ' O'Donovan's Letters in RJ.A., Maghera, August 24th, 1834. ST. EUNAN. 45 O'Donovan pronounced the Latin of these poems to be perfectly classical, and particularly valuable as the pro- duction of a descendant of the hereditary bards of the district. INTELLECT AND RELIGION. O'Donovan's estimate of John McCloskey, is shewn when he mentions a question forced upon his notice by the Rev. W. Knox, then Rector of Maghera, who endeavoured to persuade O'Donovan that the religious belief held by Catholics, as contrasted with the Scotch and English of the plantation, who were Protestant and Presbyterians rendered the Catholics inferior to their dissenting neigh- tours in intellectual powers, and totally incapable of comprehen cling abstract or metaphysical subjects. Yet Mr. Knox declared his Catholic neighbours to be as honest in their dealings, as obliging to their benefactors, and as obedient to their superiors as those of any other religion. 1 We have often heard the same assertions made, and the chief reason assigned for Ulster's superiority, when con- trasted with the other provinces, has been declared to be consequent upon the majority of its inhabitants being Protestant. Here is what O'Donovan wrote on this subject, forced unwillingly on his notice, and says " which I wish to avoid. I am convinced Mr. Knox speaks his candid opinion, yet I do not believe that the mind of the Irish Catholic is in~ ferior to that of the Scotch and English here, nor do I believe that the Catholic religion checks the progress of intellectual improvement". O'Donovan proceeds "McCloskey, a i O'Donovan's 0. S. Letters, R.I.A., Maghera, August 24th, 1834. 46 INIS-OWEN AND TIRCONNELL. cleverer man than Mr. Knox, has given the following character of the Irish and Scotch settlers for the North West Society, and there is no man now living that knows this Irish district better, or better understands the capacity of the Irish mind in attaining knowledge than McCloskey. Of the Irish, he says : " Taken as a body, if not better educated than the race of settlers, their exertions to acquire education are greater ; they are unquestionably more ac- tive, more enterprizing, more intelligent, and when placed in situations favourable to the development of the faculties, mental and physical, their superiorty is quite manifest. They have been often taunted, and by professed friends too, with their clan-like propensities, and servile submission to leaders. Formerly, perhaps, they may have been too easily caught by the magic of a name, and have leaned too often on rotten reeds ; but this confiding temper is now nearly effaced. It can scarcely be reckoned among their present foibles, and, yet in the ordeal of bondage and persecution which they had to undergo, a recourse to patronage may have been pardonable. There are shades yet darker in the portrait, their thought- lessness, their irritability, their improvidence, their stoical indifference to personal and domestic convenience ; and the apathetic acquiescence of the poor under the privations of their abject state are the greatest obstacles to their improvements". 1 EDUCATION UNDER DIFFICULTIES. McCloskey 's estimate of the character of the people of l _ O'Donovan's Co. Dcrry Toilers, in R.I.A., Maghera, August, 1834. ST. EUNAN. 47 this Irish district is sustained by Rev. Alexander Ross, Protestant Rector of Dungiven ; for, in a very carefully prepared statistical account of this parish he has a chapter on what he terms, " two races of men as totally distinct as if they belonged to different countries and regions. " These (in order that we may avoid the invidious terms of Protestant and Roman Catholic, which, indeed, have little to say to the matter), may be distinguished by the usual names of Scotch and Irish, the former including the descendants of all the Scotch and English colonists who emigrated hither since the time of James L, and the latter comprehending the native and original inhabitants of the country". 1 Mr. Ross points out what is, in his opinion, the steady patient foresight of the Scotch, and the more rash and variable temperament of the Irish, what he terms their inferiority he does not ascribe to their religion, but to the traits and customs derived from their ancestors. 2 Genius and disposition, says Ross, may be divided by the same line as occupations and language ; but, as in the former case the superiority of the Scotch was manifest^ so in this, the advantages are altogether on the side of the native Irish. With the Scotch, most of them can read, write, and understand a little arithmetic ; yet remarkable talent is absent; " but in the mountains among the Irish, the few who receive instruction siirmount by ardent zeal and per- severing talent every obstacle to knowledge and often arrive at attainments in literature of which their wealthier and more favoured neighbours never dream". 3 1 Parochial Survey of Ireland, vol. 1. p. 307, Dublin, 1814. 2 Ibid. p. 308. 3 Mason's Parochial Survey, vol. 1, p. 314. 48 INIS-OWEN AND TIRCONNELL. Enough has been given to support the position taken up by O'Donovan, and vouched for by McCloskey. Yet more has been said by the Rev. Alexander Ross, who mentions several "young mountaineers" of his acquaintance whose knowledge and taste in the Latin poets might put to blush manywho had all the advantages of recognized schools. He gives as a specimen, about seventy lines of a poetic translation of the first Ode of Horace, translated by a " young moun- taineer of Irish descent" only eighteen years old, named Paul MacCloskey of Crebarky.' Ross mentions another " young mountaineer" named Bernard MacCloskey, who had taken down at his request eight poems attributed to Ossian, he describes this second MacCloskey as being a good Latin scholar, and possessed of a critical knowledge of the ancient Irish language. Ross was Rector of Banagher and Dungiven from llth May, 1810. As the County of Deny is one of the Ulster Counties chiefly planted with Scotch and English settlers by the Irish Society, or Guilds of the City of London, an exa- amination of the statement of another Protestant clergyman the Rev. John Graham, in the Statistics of the parish of Maghera, will be interesting. He divides the inhabitants into English, Irish, and Scotch.'" The English, among whom he classes the Protestants (as distinct from the Scotch, who are chiefly Presbyterians), are treated with respect and kindness by both the Scotch and the Irish. The Scotch "'have a gravity and severity of deportment" that strongly contrast with the lighter and more accommodating manners of their 1 Ibidem, pp. 315, 316, 317. " Ibid. p. 691. COLGAN. 49 Irish Catholic neighbours. Graham describes the duties that were not performed towards the education of the people of Maghera by the London Guilds, who received the rents, which they expended on Guildhall feastings ; and says : ' ' There are sixteen schools in the parish, and the wretched men who are employed in the important business of education have no encouragement, except the hospitality of the parents of their pupils. The school-houses are in general, wretched huts, built of sods in the highway ditches, they had neither door, window, or chimney". 1 This is how some of the London companies contributed towards educating the children of their Irish tenants, as told by one of their own Protestant clergymen, A.D. 1814. Amidst all the disabilities the native Irish population laboured under, literature, was still recognized and respected among them. O'Donovan has preserved in his letters many remarkable instances of their love of learning, and has collected from among the dwellers in these mountains several examples of Latin hexameters. V. COLGAX. John Colgan, who is styled by O'Donovan in his unpub- lished letters "the Iberno-leamed native of GlenTochair", 2 has contributed to the cause of Antiquarian research, Irish 1 Ibid, p. 593. 2 O'Donovan's Orel. Survey Letters, R.I. A., Raphoe 1 Oct., 1835. 7 50 INIS-OWEN AND TIRCONNELL. Topography, and Ecclesiastical History, the greatest boon ever conferred on any country. Dr. Reeves says " that to his labours the Irish antiquarian and ecclesiastical historian are under endless obligations. 1 Colgan was born in the year 1592, 2 on the lands attached to the ancient church of 'OorhnAc mo\\ mtnghe UodiAi|A as he himself relates " In cujus et agro ego natus fui. 3 TDingVie UocliAip extended south from where the valley begins at the base of the Crock-a-veeney hills near Laght- na-Cooey, and then extending north across the parish of Donagh, on both sides of the Glen-Tochair and Donagh rivers, to where the united waters are emptied in the sinus At the date of Colgan's birth, the lands belonging to the ancient church of Donagh comprised three out of fifteen quarter lands that were included in the whole parish. We have this on the authority of one of those post mortem inquiries called Inquisitions, then held so frequently in Ulster. At an Inquisition held at Lifford on the liJth September 1609, under the pressure of such skilful experts as Chichester Lord Deputy, Montgomery, Protestant Bishop of Deny, 4 and Sir John Davis, Attorney General, with some Judges equally interested eighteen gentlemen, principally mem- bers of the ancient septs of Donegal, were collected, and a " true verdict gave" in the enumeration of the ecclesiastical 1 Ulster Journal Arch., vol. 1, p. 295. (Belfast, 1853.) * Obituary notice, Archives, Irish Francisans, Dublin. 3 Colgan's, Trias Thaum., p. 181 and 173. 4 Knox had not yet arrived, he was this year King's commissioner at Icolumkille or lona. COLGAN. 51 lands, with their distinctive nomenclature, as they existed, and were then known throughout the entire county. In the legal parlance adopted by the king's attorney- general, they found that in the parish of Donagh-Clantagh, or Donagh-Gluine-Tochair, the three quarter lands attached to the ancient church of Donagh were named Carrowtemple, Carrick, and Carrogh-ne-farne-ballibronaghan, the latter occupying the place of Moneyshandowny, as it is now called Carrogh-ne-fartie-ltaLlibronaghau was found to be free to the ancient herenagh of the parish, who was then named McColligan Donill. There were also set apart two parts of glebe land, one to the vicar, and the other to the keeper of the Saint's bell, 1 as well as sixty acres of glebe lands, the two latter being a parcel of the quarter land of Clonmagee. With a view of locating these church lands, the Author examined the original maps of the Down Survey kindly produced for inspection by the late W. H. Ilennesy of the Record Office Dublin, and a map laid down about 1656 by one Aeneas Higgins, the individual who performed on that occasion the duties of surveyer for this portion of Innis-Owen. From this it would appear that the gort belonging to the keeper of the Saint's bell was isolated from the other lands. It forms on the Down Survey map a kind of triangle, with its base lying on the northern slope next Traigh-Breige, a distance of about eighty-five perches ; the southern side of the triangle measuring about seventy- wo perches ; whilst the western arm measured about forty- eight perches ; the whole is recorded as containing 14a. lr. 1 This ancient bell is in the collection belonging to the R.I.A., now exhibited in the Museum of Science and Art Dublin. 52 INIS-OWEX AND TIRCONNELL. 24p. of arable land. From the N.W. angle to the margin of Traigh-Breige, is a distance about equal to that of its western side, it is numbered 24 on the map, and is called '* part of Clonagee". If the position delineated on the Down survey be correct, the location of this gort would appear to have existed between the present Glebe house and Leanamore. In the index or reference to the survey, the three quarter lands of these church lands are described as containing 691a. Or. 32p. of arable and mountain pasture. It. is difficult to locate the divisions on the present site owing to an almost total absence of any well defined and reliable points being marked on the survey. The best location the Author can give of the position of the 691 acres as shewn on this survey would appear to be on the north, by a slightly curved line, extending from the boundary of Glenmakee, at a point near the summit of the hill, opposite Hilltown, through the northern boundary of Priest-Town, to Cean-na-clng,* returning south for a short distance by the Glen-na-gannon river, crossing to the Donagh river on the west, along this river south as far as Ballylosky bridge. Then proceeding west, joining the boundary of Glenmakee near the rise of the streamlet named Srahan Sherry. The present church-land quarters contain 5,187 acres, 1 rood, and fifteen perches. The church lands of Donagh appear to have multiplied at least one hundredfold during the Episcopal land fever that followed the confiscations in Ulster. 1 The head of the bell, where it has been traditionally stated the bell now preserved in the R.I. A. was dug up LOUVAIN. 53 HEEENACHS. There is no absolute proof, but it is almost certain that it was on this quarter land of Carre gh-ne-farne balhbro- naghan, Colgan was born. Let us examine its etymological signification ; there cannot exist much doubt about the location of the land of Carrogli-ne-farne ballibronaghan- owned in 1609 by McColligan Donnell. The McColli- gans, in the Author's opinion, were a branch of the O'Donnells, rather than of the O'Dohertys, and that Sir John Davis' name for the Herenagh of the parish of Donagh was intended to be McColgan O'Donnell, just as in the case of the other church lands in Innis-Owen, mentioned in the same In- quisition, he recorded the family name of the herenaghs, thus the Herenaghs of Fahan. were of the sept of O'Donnell MacNeal O'Donnell, the Herenagh of Deserteigney was the MacRuddy ; the Herenagh of Clonmany who owned the third quarter of Dunally was Donnogh O' Morreesen ; the Herenaghs of Cloncae of which there were three, namely, O'Harkin, O'Mullinogher, and the Clan Loughlins of Grel- ach; the Herenagh of Cooldaff wasO'Dooghie, or O'Dufiey (O'Dooey), the Herenagh of Moville was Manus M'Laughlin, who owned the quarters of Carrowcoley, then in the possession of Wm. Linn and the sept of the O'Dohertys. VI. LOUYAIN. Louvain, a city in Belgium of about thirty-seven thousand inhabitants, has been too little known, too long 54 INIS-OWEN AND T1RCONNELL. forgotten, and not until the publication of Dr. French's work, was Louvain or the Belgian people sufficiently re- cognized by any of our Irish writers. 1 Formerly there was no country in Europe with which the Irish people had been more intimately connected than with Belgium. In every page of history, military and ecclesiastical, our countrymen have been distinguished alike for their bravery piety and learning. 2 It was at Louvain the project set on foot by Florence Conry, and the accomplishment of the scheme, for founding the Irish College of St. Anthony of Padua was carried into effect. An Irish writer addresses the venerable pile, "Sacred Saint Anthony's! through thy corridors and cloisters, Ward and Colgan have walked with O'Clery, Chief of Donegal's Four Masters. Ah Louvain, Louvain, Ireland has been a sadly backward debtor to thee". 3 The Collegium Pastorale Hibernorum of which Nicholas Aylmer was first president, was founded in Louvain under a bull from Pope Urban VIII., dated 14th December, 1624. 4 The Irish Pastoral or Secular College, just named, is not to be confounded with the Franciscan convent of St. Anthony of Padua, the most celebrated of the Irish Colleges of Louvain. M. Alphonsus Tilemans, Professor and Librarian of the 1 Samuel H. Bindon's Preface and Introduction to Irish Colleges of Louvain, by Dr. French, Dublin, (1846.) 2 Ibidem, Introduction, p. xvii. 3 Thomas D*Arcy M'Gae's Gallery of Irish Writers, p. 21, Dublin (January 1846.) 4 Bindon's Irish Colleges of Louvain, p. xxvi. LOUVAIN. 55 Catholic University of Louvain, to whom we are indebted, has recently furnished us with many interesting details, extracted from historical works written on the subject of Louvain and the convent of the Franciscans. The Convent of the Irish Recollets was founded in 1601, through the bounty of Philip III., King of Spain. The church of the convent was built in 1618, and the founda- tion stone laid on the 7th May, 1616, by the Archduke Albert and his consort Isabella Clara Eugenia. A tablet of grey marble bearing an inscription commemmorative of the event is inserted in the wall of the corridor of the Convent. A copy of the Latin inscription is given by Bindon ; ' the building was reconstructed in 1753. The convent suppressed in January, 17^7, was publicly sold at Brussels, and bought by Father Guardian, who passed it to the British Missions. The " Freres de Charite", purchased the convent in 18--52. M. Didace, the Keverend Superior of the Order at Louvain, to whom we are indebted for the information obtained says; " that at present nothing remains within the convent relating to the Ancient Irish fathers, that there exists not writing, book, or monumental slab, whereby to trace the spot where rests the remains of the Irish Franciscans". 2 The monumental stones, that were in the chapel of the convent have been for the most part worn out and piled up ; there remains at present but two or three, which are to be found in the wall of the corridor. 3 It appears the efface- 1 Bindon's Introduction Irish Colleges of Louvain, p. Ivii. 2 M. Didace's Letters, see Appendix. 3 M. Tilenian's Letter lltk January, 1889. See Appendix. 56 INIS-OWEN AND TIRCOXNELL. ment foretold by Bindon, of the inscriptions upon the small tiles in the corridors has actually taken place, and the slabs marking the last resting place of the following fathers no longer exist : Father O'Donnell, who died 3rd April, 1714, Fr. Francis Tully, loth March, 1715, Fr. Peter Murphy, 5th January, 1730, Fr. James Casey, 14th October, 1732, Fr. Bonaventure O'Donnell, Lector Jubilatus, 28th August, 1784, Fr. Simon O'Reilly, Librarian and Archivist, 26th October, 1773, Fr. James Mannin, 15th October, 1776, Fr. James Gorman, 1781, Fr. Francis Stuart, Librarian, and Archivist, 22nd September, 1783. Fortunately these few inscriptions were recorded and preserved in 1846. Even at that time Bindon adds, " not another line remains which can remind that Irishmen once peopled these venera- ble walls". 1 Close by the opening into the enclosure before the altar of the chapel, underneath a large stone that formed part of the flooring, lie the remains of Dominick de Burgo, Bishop of Elphin, who died January, 1704. At the end of this there is another slab, about seven feet in length upon which is an epitaph bearing names certain to awake both sympathy and interest throughout Inis-own and Tir- connell. The inscription is in Latin, 2 from which we make the following translation : To the Greater Glory of God Here Lies awaiting the Resurrection 1 Bindon'a Irish Colleges of Louvain in Reprint of French's Works, pp. Ixix-lxvii. 2 Ibidem p. ix. LOTJVAIN. 57 D. 0. M. The Most Excellent Lady Rosa Docharty, Daughter and Sister of Chiefs of Inisowen. The honour of her exalted race ; illustrious by character and by her splendid alliances. She was first married to that eminent man, her kinsman, Lord Cathbar O'Donnell, Chief of Tirconnell. Subsequently she married, His Excellency Lord Eugene O'Neill, 1 Commander-in-Chief of the Catholic Army in Ulster. She experienced good and evil fortune, And strove through her beneficence to become worthy of Heaven. She was more than seventy years when she died in Brussels, 1st November A.D. 1670. This monument was erected by her first-born son Hugh O'Donnell. Here, her body awaits the resurrection. 11 Let us hope that this is one of Les pierres tumulaires mentioned by M. Tielemans that yet remain in the convent. IN THE BANKS. Louvain, during the year 1635, was the scene of a gallant defence ; in which our countrymen proved their title to be considered citizens ; and rendered worthy service for the hospitality they had received. 1 Owen Roe O'Neill. 2 For Latin see original Historical Works of the Right Rev. Nicholas French, D.D., edited by Bindon, p. lx., Dublin, 1846, 8 58 INIS-OWEN AND T1RCONNELL. The Dutch, having joined France, decided to attempt the subjugation of Belgium, with a force of over 60,000 men under the Prince of Orange as Commander-in-Chief, Tirlemont, a small town was attacked. The besieged having sent a flag of truce, had temporarily left the ramparts, when the enemy taking advantage of their absence, rushed in and committed atrocities almost unequalled in warfare. They spared neither churches nor ecclesiastics, burning the first and murdering the latter as they stood at the altars. For three entire days, women, young and old, were torn by the hair in the streets, and in the convents where they fled for shelter. The dead did not escape the insults and brutality of the soldiery. On the third day 20th June, 1635, the inhabitants of Louvain trembled at the approach of this devastating army, that had already committed similar ferocities between Brussels and Malines. The town, sur- rounded on three sides by slight eminences that commanded the ramparts, gave the enemy superior advantages, and the only defence left to the citizens was a few regiments, in all about four thousand, as against sixty thousand in the confederate army. One of the regiments was exclusively Irish, recently formed, 1 and commanded by Thomas Preston, who on this occasion displayed greater generalship than he afterwards did at home as Major-general under the Irish Confedera- tion in 1642. 2 The schoolmen of the University put aside the pen, and girding on the sword, enrolled themselves into three 1 Relatione Raisonnf du Siege de Louvain, p. 6. 8 Gilbert's Affairs in Ireland, vol. 1, part 1, p. 63. LOUVAIN. 59 cohorts. The theological students formed the first, the graduates the second, and the domestics the third. 1 The French, under cover of their out- works, had ap- proached the " Porte de Bruxelles", the post allotted to be defended by the Irish. On the 26th, Preston, collecting about ninety of the pick of his men under twelve sergeants, thus addressed them" It is in vain, my countrymen, that we hold these gates and entrenchments, unless we present an efficacious barrier to the enemy, who now approach us by souterrains, let us drive him from his retreats, unless we wish to be driven from here and upbraided for cowardice. Have you less courage than he? Don't believe he is more formidable surrounded by earth, the more he trusts to his shelter the more easily is he broken to pieces, I will be the witness of your courage; yes, in the midst of the men who now surround me". 2 The result of that and other sorties, caused the French to abandon their trenches, and attempt to carry by storm a demi-lune erected by the Jesuits close to the Irish station. With three regiments they endeavoured to overwhelm the Irish, but a body of Germans with the Jesuits, coming to the assistance of the Irish, they repulsed the enemy. 3 Colonel Eynhout, in command of the Germans, in de- fending another attack said " Let us teach the enemy as well as the citizens, that Germans are as brave as the Irish". On the evening of the feast of SS. Peter and Paul, a sortie composed of two hundred and fifty selected men Irish, Germans, and Walloons, met at a large tower named the 1 Plot's Hist, de Louvuin, p. 308. 2 Relation du Siege, p. 9. 3 Histoire de Louvain, p. 309. 60 INIS-OWEN AND TIRCONNELL. " Vestooren Kost", from the top of which the enemy could be plainly noted. The result of this brilliant sortie caused the French to ask for a truce of four hours to bury their dead. The Prince of Orange enraged, summoned the city to surrender and threatened a repetition of the massacre of Tirlemont if it delayed, hoisting red flags as a signal for " No quarter". On the 4th July, the Irish rushed out to tear down the despicable symbols but found the enemy had aban- doned the fort on which they floated. The siege had been raised. The following Sunday the victorious defenders met in solemn procession and religiously celebrated their miracu- lous delivery. The Recollects marched in two lines, the one Belgian, the other Irish. 1 FLORENCE CONRY. To Florence Corny, an Observantine Franciscan Friar, afterwards Archbishop of Tuam, the credit of founding the Irish College at Louvain is due. Sir James Ware says, "It was at the solicitation of this learned Franciscan that Philip III of Spain founded for the Irish a college at Louvain, under the invocation of St. Antony of Padua, of which the first stone was laid by the princes Albert and Isabella, A.D. 1616, who were at that time governors of Pays-Bas (Netherlands)". 2 Although the formal founding of the college did not take place till 1616, the Convent of Louvain existed from 1607. Father Conry was raised to the Archbishopric of Tuam 1 Bindon's Irish Colleges oj Louvain, p. xxxvi. 3 Ware's History of Writers of Ireland, edited by Walter Harris, Book, 1. p. Ill, Dublin, 1764. LOU VAIN. 61 in 1609, he had previously been pained, at the way the flower of the Irish youth destined for the priesthood, had to subsist on the charity of the convents of Spain, Italy, France, and Belgium. Louvain under his paternal care, soon became a celebrated school which has placed Ireland under lasting obligations. The community of the college comprised about forty brethren, all skilled and eminent in some particular branch of literature, theology, or science. Archbishop Corny died at Madrid (on the 18th Novem- ber, ] 629, in the 59th year of his age), where he had been held in esteem and " greatly respected by the people of that country". The friars of the Irish college at Louvain, A.D., 1654, four years before Colgan's death, translated his remains from Spain and erected a monument to his memory on the Gospel side of the high altar of their church. The community of St. Antony's, at Louvain, contained an ordinary number of professors, about the middle of the seventeenth century its personel consisted of about forty brethren but at the time of its suppression in 1797, it had become reduced to about fifteen members. MEANS. The resources of the convent were very limited. Parival, the historian of Louvain, writing in 1667, says " They lived poorly, and their poverty was alike seen in their chapel, and in their dress". Nevertheless, as stated by the Guide fidele de Louvain^ " one has not often seen, and may not see again (speaking of the century past) among any religious body such a number of persons of distinction, some of whom belonged to the first nobility, who qualified themselves by their study 62 INIS-OWEN AND TIRCONNELL. and their piety, and who went forth to maintain the Koman Catholic religion in England and Ireland, . . . many of them have suffered all kinds of opprobrium, imprisonments, and even the most cruel tortures for the faith". During nearly a century there existed an interdict against the fathers to cause them to quit Louvain ; and the annual payment they were to receive from the Court of Spain was never regu- larly received ; but frequently, funds were given to them from exterior sources. The years 1686 and 1687, were to them years of parti- cular deprivation. In the necrology of the fathers, and of their benefactors, at present preserved in the Royal Library at Brussels are to be found the names of their principal benefactors. 1 Thus, in the month of June, in the year 1693, is recorded the death of Gertrude de Hart of Antwerp, a native of Holland, who had greatly relieved their wants during the years 1686 and 1687, giving to the college much aid, and who, dying in June, 1693, had left them a further considerable grant, so that this asylum of Irish piety and science was preserved until the time of the second invasion by the French Republic. Catholics, and Irish Protestants of the type of Reeves and Bindon have looked upon this establishment of Irish Franciscans at Louvain as one of the glories of their country. Bindon in his account of the manuscripts forming part of the Bur- gundian Library at Brussels, says, " no Franciscan college has maintained with more zeal than this the character of their order, as expressed in their motto Doctrina et Sancti- tate"* 1 Manuscript numbered 3,944. 3 Proceedings E.I. A. 184C-7, No. 07. Reference to vol. x. 3,944, Bur- gundian Library. LOU VAIN. 63 This praise is in no way exaggerated ; it would be easy to justify it by a glance at the names of the professors assigned to the Convent of St. Antony of Padua They were in a manner stimulated by their Belgian confreres, and formed at the time of their suppression, one of the most learned corporate bodies in the Netherlands on account of their learning they were named the " Brown Jesuits". 1 The Irish Franciscans, before the commencement of their College at Louvain (1601), had in Ireland about fifty-eight convents. In some localities, such as the Convent of Done- gal, they occupied their ancient dwellings, while in others they dwelt in houses borrowed or rented, but in many in- stances, they were obliged to live dispersed. Their ancient monasteries and presbyteries having been absorbed in the confiscations of Henry and Elizabeth, they, from having to live on charity, became known as the Friars Minors. Though the existence of the Irish Franciscans, at the time we speak of, was of so precarious a kind, they had lost none of their taste for study and learning. 2 FATHER MOONEY. Father Donat Mooney, the provincial, had arrived at Louvain in 1616, to organize the seminary of the college, 1 Etudes Religituses Hisloriques, etc., par Victor de Buck, S.J. 2 For other authorities who notices the Irish College of St. Anthony of Padua Louvain, see Brennan's Ecclesiastical History, vol. 11, p. 246, Dublin, 1840; De Parival's Louvain, p. 184; Van Gestel's Historia Archiepiscopatus Mtchliniensis, /., p. 168; Guide fidele de Louvain, -p. 40; Piot's Histoire de Louvain, p. 299; Van Even's, Louvain Monumental, p. 260; Lamerre, etc.; Proc. R.I.A. (1846-7), Bindon's Catalogue of MSS. Burgundian Library Brussels ; vol. x., no. 3944. 64 INIS-OWEtf AND TIRCONNELL. where he employed his leisure time in writing an abridged history of all the convents of his province. The celebrated Luke Wadding received a copy of this history, the auto- graph manuscript exists in the Library of the Royal College at Brussels, it bears the title " Tractatum sequentium de provincia Hiberniae concumamt Rde. adm. P. Donatus Monaeus, dum esset provincialis et hue ex Hibernia ad res Imjus Collegii S. Antonii ordinandus advenisset, and is signed by the Provincial's own signature. This history, incomplete though it be, exhibits wide research and a great knowledge of what passed in Ireland, as well as a certain literary merit. J FATHER HUGH WARD. 2 It is to a Donegal man is due the merit of conceiving the greatest project associated with the Irish Franciscans of Louvain. Father Hugh Ward commonly called Var- deus set for himself the task of not only writing the history of his order in Ireland, but of publishing the Acts of the saints of his country, as well as of making a compila- tion of its ecclesiastical antiquities. This eminent archaeologist was born in Lettermacaward in ancient Tirconnell, now forming a part of the western portion of the County of Donegal of which his father, Geoffrey Ward, was the owner, who rendered all the aid in hia power to the princes of Tirconnell. Ballymacaward still bears the name of this family. 1 See Father Median's Rise and Fa II of the, Irish Franciscan Monas- teries. 8 There is a notice of Fr. Ward given in E. P. O'Sherin's Life of St. Rombaud, in Brenan's Eccl. Hist. 11. vol. p. 252 ; in Nicholson's (7rsA Historical Library}, p. 245, and in several other Irish Biographies, etc, LOUVAIN. 65 With Father Ward the aptitude for learning poetry and Celtic literature was an inheritance belonging to his family. The name Ward is only another form of the word bApt), i.e., 1 a poet ' ; it is popularly (and properly) given as Mac a' Ward, i.e., Son of the Bard. A century before this period, in 1510, Owen Roe McAnBhaird, chief poet of Tirconnell, died. In 1583, Fearghal Og, a celebrated poet of the name died ; and in 1587 Maolmuri, son of Connla MacAnBhaird flourished ; he was author of a poetic address to Red Hugh O'Donnell who was kidnapped at Rathmulleii during that year by Sir John Perrot, who got him carried in a "black- hatched, deceptive" bark to Dublin Castle, where he was cruelly treated by the English. The elegy of GogliAn "Roe ITlACAn bhAi]At>, on the princes of Tyrone and Tirconnell, who died at Rome, is best known through Clarence Mangan's beautiful translation beginning ' ' Oh ! Woman of the Pierc- ing Wail". Among the traditions and inheritance of poetry and learning, Father Hugh Ward's early youth was passed. Fr. Ward joined the brethren of St. Francis at Salamanca, 1 where he studied philosophy and theology so successfully as to call forth the favourable judgment of one of his con- temporaries, P. Jean Poncius, who enjoyed at this period a reputation for science in the Order of St. Francis. Father John Poncius was named by Colgan in his letter to Manero as the person he considered first among the order best suited to take charge of the four Continental colleges belonging to the Franciscans. This depth of theological science possessed by Father Ward was still further aug- mented during his stay at Paris and Louvain, where he 1 A.D. 1G1G, Ware's Writers of Ireland, by Harris, Book 1, p. 114. y 66 INIS-OWEN AND TIRCONNELL. devoted his time to study, so as to enable himself to deliver public lectures with facility. But the love of his native country was even stronger with Father Ward than his great desire for scholastic subtilities. He conceived the great project of bringing together and of publishing the a cts of the saints of his country. Whilst he was at Paris as companion of Fr. Francois de Arriba, confessor to her most Christian Majesty the Queen, he had an opportunity of seeing the accumulated literary treasures then to be found in that great city. Fr. Patrick Fleming, author of the Collectanea Sacra, then passing through Paris in 1623, confirmed Father Ward in his design, and promised to give him effective aid. The following year Father Ward was nominated to a chair of theology at Paris, which suddenly, for the time, upset all his projects. But soon after he was sent to the College of St. Anthony at Louvain, where he filled at first the position of professor of theology, afterwards that of guardian, during which time he was again able to resume his cherished studies. He had visited in France the libraries of Paris, Kouen, Harfleur, and Nantes ; in Belgium he made equally many literary excursions, and he collected a real treasure of historical documents. These were the lives of the Irish saints, some martyrologies and synodical acts of the diocese of Dublin. So rich was this harvest it was all the more a necessity to make further researches in Ireland. Father Hugh Ward died of dropsy at Louvain on the 8th November, 1635, leaving the continuation of the great work he had projected to the care of John Colgan. The Martyrokgm he had collected were left unpublished, and THE CONTENTION OF THE BARDS. 67 only his Life of St. Rombaud has seen the light. 1 O'Sherin's portraiture of Father Ward shows a man of plain appearance ; with mildness of speech, as if "seasoned with salt", of a great genius, and incomparable life. His conversation was mellowed and attractive, strengthened by constant study and literary research. His contact with philosophers and theologians extended even the range of his own extensive knowledge. VII. THE CONTENTION OF THE BARDS. During the time Father Ward was guardian at Louvain, a man already advanced in life, who knew not Latin, knocked at the gate of the convent, and asked to be ad- mitted to wear the habit of the order as a lay brother. This was Michael O'Clery. If in the family of the THac An bliAijvo literature was hereditary, the family of O'CLeijnjj frequently occupied the bardic chair of Tirconnell. It was "LuJAi-o O'CleijMJ;, the chief bard of Tirconnell, who in 1600, replied in the great " Contention of the Bards" to the celebrated poet UA-OJ; TflAc T)Aipe (the chief poet of Donogh O'Brien), who elevated the O'Briens of "LeAC ttloJA as descendants from Heber the elder over the offspring of Niall of the Nine Hostages as descendants of the younger branches of the Milesians through Heremon and Ir. O'Clery advocated in verse the honour of precedence 1 Dissertatio historica de Sancli Rvnwldi pntria, quam Biberniam esse Scriptorum consendu demonstratur. 68 INIS-OWEN AND TIRCONNELL. to the descendants of Niall, and exalted Torna Eiges (a poet of the 5th century) the preceptor of Niall. Several of the northern poets joined O'Clery in support of 1/eAC Ctnnn, amongst others Father Robert McArthur, a Franciscan friar of the Irish Convent of Louvain. It would appear that O'Clery's verses were considered " polished with learning from the schools" whilst MacDaire's, were " bald and fabu- lous". Another of the O'Clerys (John) entered the list as a peace-maker, asking the poets of Leath Cuinn and Leath Mhogha to desist from their disputes, and leave Heber and Heremon alone, and combine to do justice to IR, to whom the bards were indebted for protection in Ulster, when they were expelled from all the other provinces, during the time of Conor Mac Nessa, who he asserts was the first Irish Chris- tian, John O'Clery shews that from the tribe of Ir, belonged the only female that ever held the reins of government in Ireland, MachaMongruadh, the foundress of Emania(Ard- mach). This splendid poem, contains much real Irish history portrayed in a setting of " the most beautiful poetical flights". ' MICHAEL O'CLERY. From such surroundings in Donegal, the lay brother Michael O'Clery, arrived at Louvain. With the archaeologist and historian, in Ireland, the name of Michael O'Clery, shall always be held in the highest esteem. Born about 1580 in Kilbarron Castle, Tir- connell, he became an antiquarian by profession, and passed among his colleagues as one of the most profound archaeo- logists in Celtic literature. 1 As stated by Boetius Roe MacEgan, who also took part in defence of Leath Cuinn. O'Reilly's Irish Writers, p. civ., Dublin, 1820. MICHAEL O'CLERV. 69 Father Ward demanded from the superiors O'Clery's assistance, which they readily granted. Ward soon dis- covered that this new associate would be of more service to him in Ireland, than in Belgium. The superiors of Louvain were of the same opinion, and they instructed their antiquarian brother to proceed into his own country; to search out and transcribe the lives of the saints, and any other ancient ecclesiastical documents that he would be able to discover ; as a large number of records of the past, were known to have fomerly existed in Ireland. No one could be better adapted for the duty than Brother Michael O'Clery. He dedicated nearly fifteen years of his life to this work, during which time he copied many lives, three or four martyrologies, as well as a considerable number of other manuscripts, which he sent to Father Ward. During the excursions made by this learned brother, through the most desolate by-ways of his country, he con- ceived the noble project of bringing together into one vast methodical collection, the scattered remnants of the whole ecclesiastical and civil history of Ireland. On his return^to the Convent of Donegal in 1632 (where Father Bernard 'O'Clery was guardian), he compiled three historical works. The first, containing a list of the kino-s O O of Ireland; showing the number of years each reigned, their genealogical descent, the date and the manner of their death. The second the genealogies of the Irish saints, arranged in thirty-seven branches. The third, a history of the first inhabitants of the country since 278 years after the arrival of Ceasair, the daughter of Bith, son of Noah, who with her band of antediluvians had only arrived in Ireland forty days before. the Deluge, thus commencing 70 INIS-OWES AND TIRCONNELL. with the invasion of Partholan, or the year of the world, 2520. This he continued down to the year 1171 of the Christian Era, in which he recites the great national revolu- tions, the succession of kings, their combats, conquests, treaties, and all other events of public importance, a work known under the name of the "UieAbhApsAbliAlA, or Book of Invasions. Strange as it may appear, this precious volume, an autograph copy of which is at present in the Library of the Royal Irish Academy, in all the beauty of its original Irish caligraphy, remains untranslated. 1 The writers of the first work were Michael O'Clery ; TDAUfnce rtiAc UoptiA O'TTlAo1cotiAijAe, who attended one month ; "pejipeAf A ITIAC LoghtAin O'tTlAolconAipe, both of the County of Roscommon; CucoigciMghe O'Cle^Aigli, of Tirconnell ; Cucoi^cinghe O'^uigenAti, of County Ros- common, and CotiAijie O'CtejiAigh, of Tirconnell. In 1635, the second book was begun, when Father Christo- pher Dunlevy (surnamed) tltcAch, was guardian of the Convent of Donegal, the writers were Michael O'Clery (Michael was his name in religion, being baptized Tadgh, and known as Tadgh-ant-Sleibhe, or Teige o/the mountain). Cuchory O'Clery, and Conor O'Clery. These writers collectively, compiled the Leabhar Gabhala, the Reim Rioghraidhj or Regal Catalogue, and a Genealogy of the Saints of Ireland.* ' Note Lizeray, who, with the late William O'Dwyer, rendered this work into French, thus expresses his astonishment. " C'est merveille que cet ouvrage, dont 1'importance depasse celle dcs Annales d'Irlande, n'ait pas deja tente un traducteur". Preface Livre des Invasions, p. xix, Paris, 1884. 2 See O'Curry's Lectures, p. 1C8. The Author has made a transcript of the Leabhar Gabhala with the hope of its being translated at some future time hy some Celtic scholar of Donegal, VIII. COLGAN AT LOUVAIN. On his admission into the Order of St. Francis, Colgan studied theology in the College of St. Anthony at Louvain, partly under the teaching of Thomas Fleming, who was promoted to the Archiepiscopal See of Dublin towards the end of October, 1623. Colgan's progress soon obtained for him the distinction of lecturer in theology, and had the duty imposed on him by his superiors of teaching philosophy to the younger brethren, which he taught assiduously for three successive years. He acquitted himself in his professorship in so distin- guished a manner, that he was promoted to the chair of scholastic theology, a chair distinct from that of ordinary theology, a distinction conferred only every three years on two members of the province. In the public thesis which he caused to be held by the students he early shewed that distinguishing characteristic that so marked his whole career and writings, i.e., a great love of truth. Dr. Reeves, quoting Colgan's own words on this subject of truth, says, they are worthy to be recorded in gold. Here is a transla- tion of the quotation used by Dr. Reeves :' " Two things have chiefly prevented these facts from being related in a more elegant style, over and above our own slender ability. The first is that when the acts of the saints, those wonder- ful and great deeds, were expressed by ancient writers in a simple style, frequently but litttle heeding the rules of U.J.A., vol. 1, p. WJ. 72 INIS-OWEN AND TIKCONNELL. Latin I concluded that it was better to give their exact words, though in doing this, for the sake of truth, the laws of grammar were frequently violated, rather than by a little unworthy traffic changing their style into better Latin adopting the mode of expression used by those writers whose era was nearer to the date of the events they recorded so that thereby a closer relation to the truth might, at the expense of style, be obtained. In all these things 1 have used the submitted testimony and words of the writers themselves ; in order that my work (or book) may be a faithful record, I have neither added to or taken away what has been accumulated and assorted, lest, indeed, any person, perchance, might believe I had added things unknown to the people of former times". His subsequent relations with the professors of the seminaries of the Jesuits prove that he was not more par- tizan than the Belgian Eecollects on the then recently for- mulated opinions upon Grace. 1 COLGAN'S APPLICATION. Colgan filled his position with the greatest satisfaction for the term of twelve years, the time required to enable him to receive the distinction of Lector Jubilatus. We find him in possession of this honourable title about the 13th of September, 1643, although he may have held it for some time previously. Once raised to this distinctive honour, he found himself discharged from the routine ot allotted work, and he was in consequence enabled to devote himself entirely to the preparation for publication of the great work projected by Father Hugh Ward. / 1 Eludes, etc., chap. 111., par Victor de Buck, S.J. COLGAN AT LOUVAIN. 73 Having had up to this time, but three months' annual vacation from his collegiate duties, in addition to the short hours allowed him in the intervals of his daily work, he set apart his vacation for visiting the libraries of Louvain, and those of the other cities in Belgium, there searching out and transcribing material for the lives of the saints. He had access to the literary collection formed by Kosweydus, already cultivated by Bollandus and his assis- tant Henschenius. 1 Colgan's work was incessant, the time he could not find during the day he abstracted from the night, and this at the risk of endangering his health. Meanwhile, the documents collected by Fathers Ward and Fleming were so numerous, that his chief difficulty lay in selecting what he most required. It was first necessary to place every document in order so as to be able to dis- tinguish the saints they referred to, their times and their places, where they had laboured and grown old, and to clear up the innumerable difficulties with which these par- ticulars bristled. This task demanded the application of a superior mind, an unruffled and retentive memory, and an intelligence of a high order. Ward had not even commenced this work. The copies of the ancient Annals of Ireland, and more especially the Annals of the Pour Masters, that Brother O'Clery had re- cently sent to Louvain, aided Colgan in a singular manner, they helped him to clear up the chronological obscurities in ' The term " Bollandists" is applied in literary history to a certain number of Jesuits of Antwerp, who collected, .and edited the acts of the Saints. The name is derived from Father Bollandus, one of the early chiefs of the association, though Father Heribert Rosweide laid the design in the beginning of the 17th Century. 10 74 INIS-OWEN AND TIRCONNELL. which much of the material at his disposal was involved. The genealogical devolution of the saints he had furnished by the same archaeologist. Chief among several other Mar- tyrologies, that known as the Martyrologium Dungallense, or, the Martyrology of Donegal was the most detailed and complete. 1 Colgan's chief want was good geographical maps of the Irish dioceses. TOPOGRAPHICAL DIFFICULTIES. The Down Survey, made in 1656, was not available to Colgan. A study of this work carried out by numerous surveying experts, called to aid Sir William Petty, to whom the production of that survey was intrusted, will afford a convincing proof, by the paucity of its results, of how much Colgan suffered from want of materials in this department. It is not to be expected that the skeleton map sketched by hand now in MSS. in the Library of Brussels, produced perhaps from Colgan's memory, could be anything but an incomplete record. Colgan addressed himself in vain to the bishops and others for copies of the registers, rarely receiving any information. Victor de Buck 2 points out the difficulty that Colgan ex- perienced as to the registers arose chiefly from the Protes- tant bishops, having snatched up all the episcopal livings, and having seized a part of the benefices. Therefore, it 1 Martyrologium Dungallense seu Cahndarium Sanctorum fliberniae. Collegit et Digtssit, Fr. Michael O'Clery, 1C30. 2 Etudes Religieuses Historiques (L'archeologie Irlandaise) par. Victor de Buck. COLGAN AT LOUVAIN. 75 rested with them above all things to know the extent of their jurisdiction, through means of the registers. To become the possessors of these documents was to them of primary importance. The registers he received from the Bishop of Lismore, had been compiled by that prelate himself, magna industria collectum. How has it come to pass, nevertheless, that Colgan was able to indicate the position of so many small and obscure localities, his topographical knowledge of so many rivulets, lakes, mountains, abbeys, churches, and chapels ? It is simply incomprehensible. Although Colgan may have been unable to explain the exact topography in some instances, O'Donovan, our greatest modern Irish topo- graphist, frequently takes him as his deciding authority in matters of doubt, the instances where he adopts Colgan's rendering of ancient boundaries are numerous. 1 APPKOBATION. Even before the appearance of the Bollandist's volumes, and as early as 1639, Colgan had advanced his work at the expense of his entire annual holidays. The General of his order, Jean Merinero, wrote to Colgan on the 12th October of that year, having learned that for some years lie had given his attention to writing the lives of the Irish saints and the antiquities of his country, and knowing of his extensive learning, he had no doubt but his 1 In one of his unpublished letters to Hardiman, ODonovan says : " I have latterly become a regular topographical vagabond, and am doing very ittle good for myself, excepting that I,who was a delicate little fellow about a quarter of a century ago, am now a hardy rascal, capable of becoming a rebel, a galloglach, or a ceithernach-coille" (i.e., a wood kerne, or foot- soldier.) This letter is dated Tuam, September 3rd, 1838. 76 INIS-OWEN AND TIRCONNELL. work would serve to the glory of God and the* honour of Ireland. Consequently he gave the necessary permission to have the manuscripts examined by the theologians of the order, and on conforming to the ordinary laws of approba- tion, ordered its publication. But Colgan, who knew all the difficulties, as well as what he was pleased to call the weak parts of his work, was less anxious than were his superiors to proceed with the publications. His programme comprised six volumes in folio. The first was to contain generalities, i.e. A treatise on the topography of Ireland; the propagation and preservation of the faith ; her numerous saints and missionaries, and the civil and ecclesiastical anti- quities of his country. The second volume, he set apart for the lives of the three most celebrated Irish saints, Patrick, Bridget, and Columkille. The four following volumes were intended for the lives of the saints, arranged in four divisions of three months to each division. All this was far from being accomplished at the time of his death. The first volume was never but roughly sketched. FELLOW-WORKERS. With the date of Colgan's elevation to the position ot Lector Jiibilatus arrived the time for putting his plan into operation. On this work several of his brethren rendered him aid. Father Brendan O'Connor, not satisfied with having procured the records of several lives, which he had transcribed in the libraries of Italy and France, gave Colgan unremitting assistance for some years, and his zeal for the furtherance of the general work did not cease even after COLGAN AT LOU VAIN. 77 his departure for Ireland. In the midst of the wars of the Confederation, we find him searching for all documents he could trace, so as to throw more light on the subject. In the necrology of the college, we find the name of another of Colgan's assistants, a name not yet extinguished a n the old peninsula of Inis-Owen, and one that is likely to be found flourishing there luxuriantly even at the advent of Macauley's " New Zealander". We read there of the death at Louvain, on the 29th August, 1680, of Fr. Bona- venture O'Doherty, a very religious man, who, under the guidance of Father Colgan till his death in 1658, and that of Father O'Sherrin, till the latter's decease in 1673, was an indefatigable transcriber of the lives of the saints. Thus we see Inis-Owen represented in a dual personality on that great work, that has ever since commanded the respect of European scholars. Louvain, under the guidance of Colgan became the thesaurus in which were deposited all the chief Irish archaeological and hagiological collections of the seventeenth century that could be procured at home or abroad. An Ulster name (though not a native of Donegal) cannot be passed over, that of Fr. Edmund McKenna, author of the Itinerarium Hiberniae, 1 and a " Description of the Island of Sanda" in Scotland, compilations of antiquarian interest he had made during his travels, these he brought to the O * O brethren of Louvain, whence they passed to the Royal Library of Brussels. The Itinerarium has been com- mented on at length by Dr. Reeves, 2 who has made some researches into the family name ofMaccana. Seagoe in the 1 MS. No. 5,307, Bibliothcque Eoyale, Brussels. - Ulster Journal of Archaeology, vol. ii pp. 45-66. 78 INIS-OWEN AND TIRCONNELL. County of Down would appear to be the location of the family of McKenna. Father McKenna was for thirty years a missionary priest in Scotland, and died at Louvain 5th February, 1652, leaving the reputation of a very learned man in the know- ledge of the antiquities of his country. Colgan had now become acquainted with all the docu- ments collected at Louvain from every quarter, " having more materials before him than any man who wrote since". 1 towards the end of 1643 he had three volumes more or less ready for publication, i.e., the Triadis Thaumaturgae, with the first and second tri-monthly divisions of the Acts of the Saints. The division embracing the first three months of the year was by far the most advanced. This work contain- ing nine hundred and six pages, including the indices, but without the preliminaries, was completed in the month of June, 1645, and appeared under the title Acta sanctorum veteris et majoris Scotiae, seu Hiberniae, sanctorum insulae, per Joannem Colganum, etc., etc. 2 The volume is dedicated to Hugh O'Reilly, Primate of all Ireland and Archbishop of Armasrh. IX. COLGAN'S WORKS. It was from the generous aid supplied by the confi- dence and attachment of Irish Catholics to the Primatial 1 O'Donovan's MSS. Survey Letters, R. I. A. Pettigo, Oct. 28ih, 1835. 2 For title-page see the Acta Sanctorum, or Gilbert's National Manu- script's of Ireland, p. 315, London, 1884. COLGAN'S WOKKS. 79 See of Ireland, that Archbishop Hugh O'Reilly was en- abled to assist Colgan to put his works to the press. The Archbishop, by oft repeated references, encouraged the Catholics of Ireland to collect the manuscript materials of the History of Ireland, that were scattered in secluded places throughout the country. By this means the MSS. were placed within reach, -and capable of being submitted to the crucible of criticism. Dr. O'Reilly's noble example inspired others to become generous, and, thanks to the com- bined activity of prelate, priest, and people, Colgan soon found himself in a position to publish his first volume. The Triadis Thaumaturgae, was completed towards the end of August 1647. This volume has the following title : Triadis Thaumaturgae, sen divorum Patricii, Columbae, et JBrigidae, trium veteris et majoris Scotiae, sen Ifiberniae, sanctorum insulae communium patronorum, Acta, etc. The Trias Thaumaturgae, without the preliminaries, but including the index, comprises 740 pages. Colgan dedi- cated this work to his old professor Thomas Fleming, Archbishop of Dublin. This was in the midst of the strug- gle and disagreements of the Confederation. Arch- bishop Fleming who remained steadfast to the policy of Rinuccini the Papal Legate, had no fixed abode in Ire- land, and dwelt at a distance from his diocese. The date of Fleming's death has not been stated exactly, but it would appear to have taken place sometime in 1.656. In spite of the sacrifices which his removal from the country occasioned, and above all the support he gave to the army and in part to the Government of the Confedera- tion, Archbishop Fleming found the means to defray the cost of the publication of the Trias Thaumaturgae. 80 INIS-OWEN AND TIRCONNELL. Colgan celebrates this good deed in the fullest tones of gratitude, without saying one word approvingly about the Archbishop's political adherence, nowhere does he allow it to be understood whether he was himself on the side of Rinuccinni, or on that of the Supreme Council. His brethren in Ireland were not all of one way of thinking during this grave conflict of opinion ; they, by their strong national feelings for the vindication of their ancient laws doubtless, caused many tribulations to the then Commissary- General of the Order, P. Marchant. Colgan, engrossed in his lives of the saints, would appear to have held himself aloof from these divisions. 1 THE SCOURGE OF CROMWELL. The Confederation commenced in 1642, was dissolved at the death of King Charles, who fell by the hands of the public executioner on 30th January, 1649. Soon Cromwell spread fire and sword throughout all Ireland, transporting the Catholic population en masse. He passed over the land like a fiery meteor, leaving behind in the ruins he created the unextinguished sparks of his own fanatical hatred. The bishops found refuge only on the Continent : the lot of the priests and other religious was exposed to greater danger. Those among them who remained in the country, were compelled to disguise themselves as herds, and to live on the milk of the cows they herded ; concealed in the midst of morasses, the fastnesses of the mountains, or among the inaccessible steeps of the hills. Literary pur- suits, and pecuniary help were no longer available ; they / Etudes, etc., chap. iv. COLGAN'S WORKS. 81 were only too happy if they escaped the searches of the Pro- tector's spies, and the swords of his armed banditti. After such a revolution, Colgan could no longer hope for means to enable him to continue his publications. Hence the second division of the sacred antiquities of his country, though ready for publication, unfortunately, never saw the light. ' LOST MANUSCRIPTS. Colgan left besides three volumes of documents in folio, containing, respectively, 852, 1063, and 920 pages. They are carefully described so far as it is possible to do so, with examples and fac-similes, by J. F. Gilbert, in his valuable account of the manuscripts transferred from the Franciscan Convent of St. Isidore at Home, to the library of the Fran- ciscan Convent in Dublin. 2 Some have been found in the Royal Library at Brussels ; many searches have been made to discover the remainder, but in vain. At Louvain there only exists a vague recollection of the sale of the articles found in the College of St. Anthony after the departure of the Irish fathers. It is to be earnestly hoped that the treasures amassed with so much labour and care by Ward, Colgan, and O'Clery, have not been irretrievably lost. D'Arcy McGee, 3 says: "There is a moral in the lives of these men which the reader will not fail to cherish. It preaches in a voice which cannot be unheard, that no man, however humble, need despair of serving Ireland". These exiled Donegal friars, unpensioned, unpatronized, without 1 Ibid, chap. T. 2 Gilbert's National MSS. of Ireland, London, 1884. 3 Irish Writers, llth century, p. 71. 11 82 INIS-OWEN AND TIRCONNELL. hope of worldy gain, entered on their arduous task, and persevered in its prosecution until death. Excess of work had injured the health of the Inis-Owen hagiographer, but, like most men imbued with a love of duty, it was impossible that he could remain inactive. Having taught for over twelve years the doctrines of Duns Scotus, that theological oracle of the Franciscan School, Colgan again returned to his cherished author, and wrote the Tractatus de Vita, Patria, Scriptis, Johannis Scoti, Doc- toris Subtilis, which he published at Antwerp in 1655. The compilation of the life of the Seraphic Doctor at- tracted the profound mind of Colgan, and with its publica- tion it may be said his literary career was closed. A STUDY. It is necessary for the student of Colgan's works to be possessed of some general knowledge of the ancient, civil, political, and ecclesiastical organization of Ireland. One must not be a stranger to the dynasties of her kings, her chief families, and above all, of her ancient and modern topography. At least, the student should avail himself of the best topographical works. A study of the town-land survey of Ireland, made by the Ordnance Surveyors, with the names rendered into modern orthographical equiva- lents, by O'Donovan, will best explain the difficulties that Colgan surmounted. Towards the middle of the seven- teenth century, Colgan was almost alone in possession of this essential knowledge. Even at present, with the aid of lithographed maps, and descriptive references at our disposal, Colgan's works topo- COLGAN'S WORKS. 83 graphically are more or less difficult to the antiquarian student. Invaluable assistance has been rendered by O'Donovan, the great restorer of Irish topography, through the aid of his notes to the Annals of the Four Masters, as well as by his unpublished manuscript letters, now in the Library of the Royal Irish Academy. Canon O'Hanlon, with as much zeal as that of a seventeenth century worker, in his great and still progressing work, has thrown much light on localities mentioned by Colgan. 1 Competent critics, with a loving tenderness for Colgan's fame, do not find fault with either the order or method of his arrangement. The Acta Sanctorum is provided with nine different tables or indexes, and the 'frias has six of a similar kind. Indeed, the particularity and neatness displayed by Colgan in their arrangement is observable in Gilbert's facsimile of one of his indexes. 2 VALUE. The difficulty of appreciation appears to consist in the depth, the quantity and variety of detail, and the entire fresh- ness of the matter. Almost everything found in Colgan's volumes had never been previously published. Victor Van Buck says " one could have read all Baronius 3 without having the least notion of the new world that Colgan was revealing, although not in ignorance that Ireland had for- merly received, by universal consent, the title of the Island of Saints through a knowledge of the lives of her principal 1 Lives of the Irish Saints, by Canon O'Hanlon, P.P., M.R.I. A. 2 See Gilbert's facsimiles of National Manuscripts. 3 Baronius, author of the Annales Ecclesiaslici, Cardinal and Historian born at Naples, 31st October, 1538, died at Rome, 30th June, 1607. 84 INIS-OWEN AND TIRCONNELL. patrons yet, who knew that the Irish could place in their martyrologies on an average a decade of saints per day ? Who knew that St. Aengus the Culdee, an author of the eighth century, enumerated as many as two hundred St. Colmans, all distinct in genealogy, abode, and date? Before Colgan's publications, almost all these had been unknown, which only the researches instituted by Ward, and perfected by Colgan, has brought to light. Even at the present day how many persons of education, without Colgan's aid, would know the names, the localities, or the dates of the Lasreans, Dicuils, Brendans, Konans, Fillians, Kiernans, Ultans, et hoc genus omne, that fill the pages of his Ada Sanctorum Hiberniae P" 1 IRISH SENTIMENT. Indifference, suspicion, and even ridicule, awaited the appearance of Colgan's researches. He himself feared that his own unexhausted list, might excite doubt and astonish- ment amongst the learned men on the Continent. In the absence of the publication of such Martyrologies as Tallaght, since edited by the Rev. Matthew Kelly, and the Marty- rology of Donegal, collected and arranged by the O'Clerys, translated by O'Donovan, and edited by Dr. Todd, and Dr. Reeves, 2 Colgan being alone in possession of this knowledge, was obliged to confront hasty judgment and the complete indifference that were to meet his cherished / 1 Etudes Religieuscs Historiques et Litldraires, par des Peres do la Cora- pagnie dc Jesus, Paris, 18G9. 2 Felire na naomh nerennach, Ro scribadh, F. Michael O'Cleary, 1630; translated by J. O'Donovan, edited by James Henthorn Todd, D.D., and William Reeves, D.D., Dublin, 18G4. COLGAN'S WORKS. 85 labours. Add to this contretemps another disadvantage the effect of which was quite as general, i.e. Ireland, though the possessor of ancient historical manuscripts, unsurpassed by those of any other nation in their present spoken lan- guage, had been unable from the vicissitudes of ever- recurring conquests, to do much more than preserve her historic treasures from extinction. Her ancient manu- scripts like her people, breathed an heroic and lively imagination, sometimes tending to the strange and extra- ordinary. Full of sentiment, with Christian feeling even to exultation. This tended to impress on the Irish mind, that strong veneration which at all times has ever been ren- dered to the patron saints of Ireland. These manuscripts were interwoven with a crowd of traditions, the very frame- work of the history of every ancient nation, so difficult of comprehension to the uninitiated critic, and which has found a place in the lives of several of her saints. Here is where the characteristic trait of Colgan's character came to his aid : his love of accuracy was so great, amounting almost to scruple, that he related with a fidelity, to which almost every one has been pleased to render homage, the exact words of the ancient hagiographers. POVERTY. Another cause contributed at the time of the publication of Colgan's works, to deprive them of the recognition they so justly merited. The political events of the period, were centred around the struggle that had closed the waters of the Schelde against free navigation. The Belgian libraries and printing presses, that had been so flourishing about the 86 INIS-OWEN AND TIRCONNELL. beginning of the seventeenth century, began to languish in consequence of the military and naval operations of the Spaniards. The vessels that carried to France, Ireland, Portugal, Spain, Italy, and South America, the volumes of books and engravings, with the paintings of Rubens, Potter, Rembrandt and \ 7 "andyke, that were objects of uni- versal admiration, were no longer exported from Antwerp. The Bollandists themselves sent their manuscripts to Amsterdam to be printed, from which the carriage into France and Germany became expensive, and commerce became paralyzed by reason of the magnitude of the struggle. Thus we find when Mabillon commenced in 1668 to publish the Acta Sanctorum of the Order of St. Benedict, he had not seen Colgan's Acta Sanctorum Iliberniae, or Triadis T/iaumaturgae. Through the poverty of the Irish fathers, and the position they occupied at home and abroad, Colgan's volumes remained stored at the library of the college, or loaded the otherwise empty granaries of the Convent of St. Anthony of Louvain. ' ETYMOLOGY. That the locality of Carrogh-ne-farne ballybronaghan included the church lands surrounding Carndonagh on the north-west is certain. To those of his readers who may yet speak, and who esteem the mellifluous Celtic language, the Author will attempt to explain this assertion; ceAc1ij\ATn1i