THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 LOS ANGELES
 
 
 THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 LOS ANGELES
 
 PBEFACE. 
 
 IT has been the author's purpose in the following pages to 
 give a full and accurate, but at the same time, as he hopes, a 
 popular account of the Schools and Scholars of Ancient 
 Ireland. It is a subject about which much is talked, but 
 little is known, and even that little is only to be found in 
 volumes that are not easily accessible to the general reader. 
 In the present work the history of the Schools and Scholars 
 of Celtic Erin is traced from the. time of St. Patrick down to 
 the Anglo-Norman Invasion of Ireland. The first three 
 centuries of this period is certainly the brightest page of 
 what is, on the whole, the rather saddening, but not inglorious 
 record, of our country's history. It was not by any means 
 a period altogether free from violence and crime, but it was 
 certainly a time of comparative peace and security, during 
 which the religious communities scattered over the island 
 presented a more beautiful spectacle before men and angels, 
 than anything seen in Christendom either before or since. 
 It is an epoch, too, whose history can be studied with pleasure 
 and profit, and in which Irishmen of all creeds and classes feel 
 a legitimate pride. 
 
 It has been questioned, indeed, if the Monastic Schools of 
 this period were really so celebrated and so frequented by 
 holy men, as justly to win for Ireland her ancient title of the 
 INSULA SANCTORUM ET DOCTORUM the Island of Saints and 
 Scholars. We venture to hope that the following pages will 
 furnish, even to the most sceptical, conclusive evidence on this 
 point. It has been our purpose to show not merely the 
 extent, the variety, and the character of the studies, both 
 sacred and profane, pursued in our Celtic Schools, but also
 
 VI PREFACE. 
 
 the eminent sanctity of those learned men, whose names are 
 found in all our domestic Martyrologies. 
 
 Perhaps the most striking feature in their character, 
 speaking generally, was their extraordinary love of solitude 
 and mortification. They loved learning much, it is true ; but 
 they loved God and nature more. They knew nothing of 
 what is now called civilization, and were altogether ignorant 
 of urban life ; but still they had a very keen perception of 
 the grandeur and beauty of God's universe. The voice of 
 the storm and the strength of the sea, the majesty of lofty 
 mountains and the glory of summer woods, spoke to their 
 hearts even more eloquently than the voice of the preacher, 
 or the writing on their parchments. 
 
 The author has sought throughout to put all the infor- 
 mation, which he could collect in reference to his subject, in 
 a popular and attractive form. At the same time he has 
 spared no pains to consult all the available authorities both 
 ancient and modern ; and he has always gone to the original 
 sources, whenever it was possible to do so. We do not 
 pretend to have avoided all mistakes in matters of fact, nor 
 to be quite free from errors in matters of opinion. But we 
 can say that we have honestly done our best to make the 
 sludy of this portion of our Celtic history interesting and 
 profitable to the general reader. And there is no doubt that 
 the study of the holy and self-denying lives of our ancient 
 Saints and Scholars will exercise a purifying and elevating 
 influence on the minds of all, but more especially of the 
 young, will teach them to raise their thoughts to higher 
 things, and set less store on the paltry surroundings of their 
 
 daily life. 
 
 With the single exception of lona, which may be con- 
 sidered as an Irish island, we have spoken in this volume 
 only of the Monastic Schools at home. Irishmen founded 
 during this period many schools and monasteries abroad ; but
 
 PREFACE. VII 
 
 it would require another volume to give a full account of 
 those monasteries and their holy founders. 
 
 There are many friends to whom we owe thanks for 
 assistance ; but we have reason to believe that they would 
 prefer not to have their names mentioned in this preface. 
 
 In conclusion, we have only to add, that these pages have 
 not been written in a controversial spirit ; because in our 
 opinion little or nothing is ever to be gained by writing 
 history in a spirit of controversy, which tends rather to 
 obscure than to make known the truth. It is better from 
 every point of view to let the facts speak for themselves ; and 
 hence not only in quoting authorities, but also in narrating 
 events, we have, as far as possible, reproduced the language 
 of the original authorities. 
 
 A few of the papers here published have appeared in the 
 Irish Ecclesiastical Record, but they are now presented in a 
 more popular form. 
 
 * JOHtf HEAL Y, D.D. 
 
 PALMERSTOX HOUSE, PORTUMNA, 
 May, 1890. 
 
 " May the tongue of Sage and Saint be lasting."
 
 TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 STATE OF LEARNING IN 
 IRELAND BEFORE ST. 
 PATRICK. 
 
 I. THE DRUIDS 1 
 
 Learning of the Druids ... 1 
 
 Religious Worship ... 2 
 
 Sacrifice of Human Victims 3 
 
 Worship of the Elements... 3 
 
 Enchantments ... .. 4 
 
 Acquaintance with Letters 4 
 
 Sun-Worship ... ... 5 
 
 II. THE BARDS 7 
 
 The Files 7 
 
 The Ollamh-Poet 7 
 
 Historic Poet 8 
 
 Neidhe ... 9 
 
 Ollioli Olum 10 
 
 Ossian 10 
 
 III. THB BREHONS 11 
 
 Office of Brehon thrown 
 open to all possessing 
 
 necessary qualifications 1 1 
 
 Morann 12 
 
 Their Course of Instruction 12 
 
 IV. THE OanAH ALPHABET ... 13 
 
 Inscribed Stones ... ... 13 
 
 Invention of the Ogham ... 14 
 Letters of the Ogham 
 
 Alphabet 15 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 IRISH SCHOLARS BEFORE 
 ST. PATRICK. 
 
 I. CORMAC MAC ART 16 
 
 Battle of Magh Mucruimhe 17 
 
 Fenian Militia 18 
 
 Finn Mac Cumhail ... 19 
 
 FeisofTara 19 
 
 ' ' The Teach Miodchuarta" 2 J 
 
 Writings ascribed to Cormac 23 
 
 Saltair of Tara 23 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Schools at Tara 23 
 
 BookofAicill 25 
 
 Death of Cormac Art ... 26 
 
 TornaEigas 28 
 
 II. SEDULITTS ... ... ... 29 
 
 Evidence of Irish Birth ... 29 
 
 Religious Training ... 32 
 
 Writings of Sedulius ... 35 
 
 Carmen Paschale ... ... 36 
 
 Elegiac Poems ... ... 37 
 
 III. - -CAELESTIUS AND PELAGITTS 39 
 Caelestius not an Irishman 39 
 Pelagius of British Birth, 
 
 but of Scottish Origin ... 40 
 No evidence to show that 
 Caelestius was either a 
 Briton or Scot His Cha- 
 racter ... 41 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 LEARNING IN IRELAND IN 
 THE TIME OF ST. PATRICK. 
 
 I. ST. PATRICK'S EDUCATION... 43 
 Life at Mannontier ... 44 
 
 St. Germanus of Auxerre... 46 
 Patrick accompanied Ger- 
 manus on his journey to 
 Britain, A.D. 429 ... 48 
 
 St. Patrick in the Island of 
 
 Lerins 49 
 
 St. Patrick commissioned 
 by St. Celestine to Preach 
 the Gospel in Ireland ... 
 
 II. ST. PATRICK'S LITERARY 
 
 LABOUR IN IRELAND ... 50 
 
 Arrival in Ireland 50 
 
 He lights the Paschal Fire 51 
 Miraculous Destruction of 
 the two Chief Druids of 
 
 Erin 51 
 
 Patrick burnt the idolatrous 
 books at Tara and over- 
 turned the idols in 
 Leitrim . , 52
 
 TABLE OF CONTEXTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 II. ST. PATBICK REFOBMS THE 
 
 BBEHON LAWS 52 
 
 The Senchus Mor ... ... 52 
 
 Commission of Nine ... 53 
 Benignus ... ... ... 54 
 
 Church Organization ... 35 
 Friendly Alliance with the 
 
 Bards 57 
 
 Church Music ... ... 58 
 
 St. Patrick accompanied by 
 Bishops and Priests in 
 his Mission to Ireland ... 69 
 Synod of Patrick, Auxilius 
 
 and Iserninus 60 
 
 Holy See Supreme Judge of 
 
 Controversies 60 
 
 Duties of Ecclesiastical 
 
 Judges and Kings ... 61 
 Oral Instruction communi- 
 cated by St! Patrick to his 
 Disciples during Mission- 
 ary Journeys ... ... 62 
 
 Books used by St. Patrick 63 
 Elements, or " Alphabets" 
 
 of Christian Doctrine ... 63 
 Equipment of the young 
 Priest beginning his Mis- 
 sionary Work 64 
 
 Patrick's Household ... 65 
 Patrick's Artificers ... 66 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THE WRITINGS OF SAINT 
 PATRICK AND OF HIS DIS- 
 CIPLES. 
 
 I. ST. PATBICK'S CCXNTESSION... 67 
 Evidence in favour of its 
 
 authenticity 68 
 
 The Saint's motive in writ- 
 ing it 69 
 
 Patrick's parents in Britain 71 
 Patrick met opposition in 
 preaching the Gospel in 
 Ireland 72 
 
 II. THE EPISTLE TO COEOTICUS 73 
 
 III. THB LOEICA, OB THE 
 
 DEEE'S GET 75 
 
 IV. SECHNALL' s HYMN OF ST. 
 
 PATRICK 77 
 
 Secundinus ... ... ... 77 
 
 Sechnall, son of Patrick's 
 
 sister, Darerca ... ... 79 
 
 Sechnall's father 79 
 
 . PACK 
 
 V. THF. HYMN Sancti Venite.'.. 80 
 St. Sechnall the first Chris- 
 tian Poet in Erin ... 81 
 
 VI. ST. FIACC OF SLETTT 
 
 Fiacc receives grade or 
 
 orders ... 83 
 
 He founds two Churches ... &o 
 Fiacc's Metrical Life of St. 
 Patrick ... ''. 85 
 
 VII. THE SAYINGS OF SAINT 
 
 PATBICZ ... 87 
 
 VIII. THE Tripartite Life of 
 
 St. Patrick 88 
 
 Its date and authorship ... S'J 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 SCHOOLS OF THE FIFTH 
 CENTURY. 
 
 I. THE SCHOOLS OF AEMAOH ... 91 
 
 Emania ... 92 
 
 Daire 92 
 
 Patrick founds Armagh ... 93 
 Ecclesiastical Buildings at 
 Armagh ... ... ... 94 
 
 St. Benignus ... ... 95 
 
 Death of Benignus ... 97 
 The Book of Rights attri- 
 buted to Benignus ... 97 
 The School of Armagh, 
 primarily a great Theolo- 
 gical Seminary 98 
 
 The Mor aha of St. Gregory 
 
 the Great 98 
 
 GUdas the Wise 99 
 
 His Destruction of Britain 100 
 English Students at Armagh 100 
 Churches and Schools of 
 Armagh burned and plun - 
 dered between A.D. 670 
 
 and 1179 101 
 
 Imar O'Hagan 102 
 
 The Boole of Armagh ...103 
 The Mac Moyres ... ... 105 
 
 II. THE SCHOOL OF KILDABE... 106 
 
 St. Brigid ]06 
 
 St. Mathona 107 
 
 St. Ita 108 
 
 St. Brigid born at Faugh- 
 
 art 109 
 
 Events of her marvellous 
 
 history 110 
 
 Brigid's religious vows ... Ill 
 Brigid founds Kildare ... Ill
 
 TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
 
 XI 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Brigid the "Mary of Ire- 
 land" 112 
 
 Monastery of Men at Kil- 
 
 dare 113 
 
 St. Conlaeth 113 
 
 St. Ninnidhius 113 
 
 Great Church of Kildare ... 114 
 Six Lives of St. Brigid ... 114 
 
 St. Brogan Cloen 115 
 
 Cogitosus 116 
 
 Round Tower of Kildare... 119 
 Perpetual fire of Kildare ... 119 
 Art of Illumination in the 
 Monastic Schools of Kil- 
 dare 120 
 
 The Book of Leinster ... 121 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 MINOR MONASTIC SCHOOLS 
 OF THE FIFTH CENTURY. 
 
 I. THE SCHOOL OF NOENDRUM 122 
 
 St. Mochae 122 
 
 St. Colman of Dromore ... 124 
 Mochae of Noendrum en- 
 chanted for 150 years by 
 the song of a Blackbird 125 
 
 II. THE SCHOOL OF LOUTH ... 126 
 
 St. Mochta 126 
 
 School found3d 128 
 
 The Druid Hoam 128 
 
 BookofCuana 130 
 
 III. THE SCHOOL OF EMLY ... 130 
 
 St. Ailbe 130 
 
 Pre-Patrician Bishops in 
 
 Ireland 131 
 
 Life of St. Ailbe ofEmly... 132 
 Ailbe preached the Gospel 
 in Connaught ... ... 133 
 
 Life of St. Declan 134 
 
 Sts. Ciaran, Ailbe, Declan, 
 and Ibar yield subjection 
 and supremacy to Patrick 134 
 Difficulties against the 
 authenticity of the Lives 
 of St. Ciaran, St. Declan, 
 and St. Ailbe 136 
 
 IV. ST. IBAE 136 
 
 Beg-Eri 137 
 
 School of Beg-Eri 138 
 
 Beg-Eri no longer an 
 
 Island 139 
 
 V. EARLY SCHOOLS IN THE 
 
 WEST OF IRELAND ... 140 
 
 College at Cluainfois ... 141 
 School of St. Asicus of 
 
 Elphin 142 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 MONASTIC SCHOOLS OF 
 THE SIXTH CENTURY. 
 
 I. GENERAL VIEW OF AN IEISH 
 
 MONASTERY ... ... 144 
 
 Monasticism always existed 
 and always will exist in 
 the Church ... ... 145 
 
 St. Martin of Tours, the 
 Father of Monasticism 
 in Gaul . ... 146 
 
 II. THE BUILDINGS ... 
 
 ... 147 
 
 Cells of the Monks... 
 
 ... 148 
 
 Monastic Hospitality 
 
 ... 149 
 
 III. DISCIPLINE 
 
 ... 150 
 
 The Abbot 
 
 ... 151 
 
 The Monastic Family 
 
 ... 152 
 
 The Rule 
 
 ... 152 
 
 Food 
 
 154 
 
 Ordinary Dress 
 
 ... 155 
 
 . THE DAILY LABOUR OF 
 THE MONASTERY... ... 155 
 
 Religious Exercises ... 156 
 
 Study 156 
 
 Writing ... 157 
 
 Manual Labour ... ... 157 
 
 Church Furniture 158 
 
 x THE THEEE OEDEES OF 
 
 IEISH SAINTS ... ... 159 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 THE MONASTIC SCHOOL OF 
 ST. END A OF A RAN. 
 
 I. LIFE OF ST. ENDA OF ARAN 163 
 Monastic Character of the 
 
 Early Irish Church ... 163 
 
 Family of St. Enda ... 164 
 
 His Sister, St. Fanchea ... 165 
 
 Goes to Candida Casa ... 167 
 
 Goes to Aran ,. 169 
 
 II. THE ISLES OF ARAN 
 Aran Mor ., 
 
 169 
 170 
 
 III. PAGAN REMAINS IN THE 
 
 ISLES OF AEAN ... ... 172 
 
 Dun .ZEngusa 173 
 
 Dun Conchobhair ... ... 175 
 
 These Islands in ancient 
 times the stronghold of a 
 Warrior Race ... ... 176
 
 xn 
 
 TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 IV. CHRISTIAN ABAN OF ST. 
 
 ENDA 177 
 
 The Curragh Stone ...177 
 
 Enda founded his First 
 
 Monastery at Killeany... 177 
 Scholars of St. Enda ... 178 
 Columba and Ciaran at 
 
 Aran 179 
 
 The Life of Enda and his 
 
 Monks, simple and austere 180 
 
 V. ANCIENT CHURCHES IN 
 
 AEAN 181 
 
 Churches in Townland of 
 
 Killeany 181 
 
 Telagh-Enda 182 
 
 The "Seven Churches" ... 182 
 The Tomb of St. Brecan ... 183 
 The Septem Romani ... 184 
 
 Ruins at Kilmurvey ... 185 
 Tempull na-cheathair-Aluinn 186 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 THE SCHOOL OF ST. FINNIAN 
 OF CLONARD. 
 
 I. PRELIMINARY SKETCH OF 
 
 CHRISTIAN SCHOOLS ... 188 
 The First Christian Schools 183 
 Schools of the Pagans ... 189 
 
 Episcopal Schools 190 
 
 School founded by John 
 
 Cassian near Marseilles 190 
 Monastery of Lerins ... 192 
 
 II. ST. FINNIAN OF CLONARD 193 
 
 Finnian's birth 194 
 
 Goes to Britain 195 
 
 Dubricius ... 196 
 
 St. David 196 
 
 Cathraael 197 
 
 Finnian returns to Erin ... 198 
 
 III. THE SCHOOL OF CLONARD 199 
 Scholars of Clonard ... 201 
 Instruction altogether oral 202 
 Knowledge of the Sacred 
 
 Scriptures 203 
 
 "Tutor of the Saints of 
 
 Ireland" 203 
 
 Remains at Clonard ... 205 
 St. Aileran the Wise ... 206 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 THE SCHOOL OF CLONFERT. 
 
 I. ST. BRENDAN OF CLONFERT 209 
 Fostered by St. Ita ... 211 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Brendan's progress in learn- 
 ing under St. Ere ... 211 
 Seminary at Cluainfois ... 212 
 
 Brendan's Rule 213 
 
 St. Brendan's Oratory on 
 the summit of Brandon 
 
 Hill 214 
 
 Brendan's Voyages ... 215 
 
 He goes to Britain ... 217 
 
 The Cursing of Tara ...218 
 He founds the Monastery 
 of Inchiquin ... ... 219 
 
 Founds Clonfert 220 
 
 .Death of Brendan 221 
 
 II. ST. MOINENN 222 
 
 St. Fintan 224 
 
 The Abbot Seanach Garbh 225 
 
 St. Fursey 226 
 
 Birth of Fursey 227 
 
 III. Si. CUMMIAN THE TALL, 
 
 BISHOP OF CLONFEET ... 228 
 
 Birth of Cummian 229 
 
 Pupil of St. Finbar's ... 230 
 Cummian and King Domh- 
 
 nall 232 
 
 Paschal Controversy ... 233 
 
 The Irish Usage 234 
 
 Main charge brought 
 
 against the Irish ... 235 
 
 A National Synod at Magh 
 
 Lene 236 
 
 Cummian's Paschal Epistle 227 
 He appeals to the authority 
 
 of the Church 238 
 
 Quotes the Synodical De- 
 crees of St. Patrick ... 239 
 The Liber deMensura Poeni- 
 tentiarum ... 240 
 
 IV. SUBSEQUENT HISTOEY OF 
 
 CLONFERT ... ... 242 
 
 Turgesius and the Danes... 242 
 Old Cathedral of Clonfert 24S 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 THE SCHOOL OF MOVILLE. 
 
 I. ST FINNIAN OF MOVILLE ... 245 
 His Boyhood and Education 246 
 
 Candida Casa 246 
 
 Finnian at Candida Casa... 247 
 
 He goes to Rome 248 
 
 Returns to Ireland and 
 
 founds a School at Moville 249 
 Columcille's Copy of St. 
 
 Finnian's Psaltery ... 251
 
 TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
 
 Xlll 
 
 PAGE 
 
 The Cathach, 252 
 
 St. Tinman's Rule 253 
 
 His Death 254 
 
 Thelfymn of St. Colman ... 255 
 Marianus Scotus ., ... 256 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 THE SCHOOL OF CLONMAC- 
 NOISE. 
 
 I. ST. CIABAN OF CLONMAC- 
 NOISE 258 
 
 Clonmacnoise ... ... 253 
 
 St. Ciaran at the School of 
 
 Clonard 259 
 
 He goes to Aran ... ... 260 
 
 Visits St. Senan at Scatter? 261 
 Founds Churches at IseU 
 Ciaran and Hare Island, 
 and the Monastery at 
 
 Clonmacnoise 261 
 
 Origin of the Diocese of 
 
 Clonmacnoise 262 
 
 Death of St. Ciaran ...263 
 Festival of St. Ciaran ... 264 
 TheEclaisBeg 265 
 
 II. THE RUINED CHUBCHES AT 
 
 CLONMACNOISE ... ... 266 
 
 Round Tower 267 
 
 O'Rourke's Tower 268 
 
 De Lacy's Castle 269 
 
 Inscribed Tombstones ... 269 
 
 III. THE SCHOLAES OF CLON- 
 MACNOISE 270 
 
 Grants to the School of 
 
 Clonmacnoise 271 
 
 Colgan, or Colgu the Wise 272 
 
 Alcuin 272 
 
 The Ferleginds 273 
 
 The Prayer oj St. Colgu ... 273 
 
 Scuap Chrabhaigh 274 
 
 Plundered by the Danes ... 274 
 Felim Mac Criffan 275 
 
 IV. ANNALISTS OF CLONMAC- 
 NOISE 276 
 
 Tighernach 276 
 
 Chronicon Scotorum ... 278 
 
 Gilla-Christ O'Maeileon ... 279 
 Annals of Clonmacnoise ... 279 
 
 V THE ' ' LEABHAR - NA - H - 
 
 UIDHEE" ... 280 
 
 Coun-na-m-Bocht ... .. 280 
 
 PAGE 
 
 VI. DIOUIL, THE GEOOEAPHEE 281 
 The De Memura Orbit 
 
 Terrarum 281 
 
 His Learning 284 
 
 Irish Pilgrimage to Jeru- 
 salem ... ... ... 285 
 
 The " Barns of Joseph' ... 286 
 Dicuil' s reference to Iceland 287 
 Love of the Ancient Irish 
 Monks for island soli- 
 tudes 288 
 
 Iceland and the Faroe Isles 
 occupied by Irish Monks 
 prior to discovery of these 
 islands by the Danes ... 289 
 Dicuil's testimony that 
 Sedulius was an Irishman 290 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 THE COLUMBIAN SCHOOLS 
 IN IRELAND. 
 
 L ST. COLUMBA'S EDUCATION... 291 
 St. Columba, a typical Celt 291 
 
 Early History 292 
 
 Goes to the School of St. 
 
 Finnian at Moville ... 294 
 Columba at the School of 
 
 Clonard 295 
 
 Columba at Glasnevin ... 296 
 He returns to his native 
 
 territory 297 
 
 II. COLUMBA FOUNDS DEEEY... 298 
 Columcille's original Church 298 
 Personal description of 
 Columba 299 
 
 III. THE SCHOOLS OF DUEEOW 
 
 AND KELLB 301 
 
 Columba founded the 
 
 Monastery of Durrow... 301 
 Interesting incidents ... 302 
 Cormac Ua Liathain ... 303 
 The Book of Durrow ... 304 
 Ancient remains at Durrow 305 
 Assassination of De Lacy 306 
 
 IV. THE FOUNDATION OF KELLS 306 
 King Diannait ... ... 306 
 
 St. Columba's House ... 308 
 Round Tower of Kells ...309 
 
 Book of Nells 309 
 
 This MS. caused the Battle 
 
 of Cuil-Dreimhne ... 310 
 
 Columba's departure from 
 
 Derry 312 
 
 Port-a-Churraich .. ..314
 
 XIV 
 
 TABLE OF CONTE>TS. 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 THE COLUMBIAN SCHOOL 
 IN ALBA. 
 
 L IONA 315 
 
 Columba settles in lona ... 316 
 
 ReiligOdhran 317 
 
 Columba's Monasteries ... 318 
 Scribes in lona ... ... 319 
 
 Rule in lona 319 
 
 II. COLUMBA PROTECTS THB 
 
 BAEDS 320 
 
 Threatened destruction of 
 tbe Bards 320 
 
 Convention of Drumceat ... 321 
 
 Columba's defence of the 
 Bards 322 
 
 The Bardic Schools .. 323 
 
 III. DEATH OF COLUMBA 
 
 324 
 
 IV. --"WETTINGS OF COLTJHBA ... 326 
 The Altus Prosator... ... 327 
 
 In te Uhriste 328 
 
 Noli Pater 328 
 
 Irish Poems attributed to 
 
 Columcille 329 
 
 Columba's Prophecies ... 329 
 
 V. LIVES OF COLUMCILLE 
 
 330 
 
 VI. OTHEE SCHOLAES OF IOXA 331 
 
 Baithen 331 
 
 Death of Baithen 333 
 
 Laisren ... ... ... 333 
 
 Seghine 333 
 
 Suibhne 334 
 
 Cuimine the Fair ... ... 334 
 
 VII. ADAMNAN, NINTH ABBOT 
 
 opHY 335 
 
 Greek Tongue taught in 
 the School of Hy 1170 
 
 j-ears ago 336 
 
 Adamnan's Birth... ... 336 
 
 His Parentage 337 
 
 King Finnachta 337 
 
 Adamnan goes to lona ... 338 
 
 Vita Columbae 339 
 
 Adamnan introduces the 
 new Paschal observance 
 
 into Ireland 341 
 
 Dispute between Adamnau 
 
 and Finnachta 342 
 
 Canon of Adamnan ... 342 
 
 Death of Adamnan relics 
 
 transferred to Ireland ... 343 
 Adamnan's writings ... 344 
 De Locis Sanctis . .. 344 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Expulsion of the Colum- 
 bian Monks by the Pict- 
 ish King Nectan ... 345 
 
 The " Gentiles " make their 
 first descent on the He- 
 brides 346 
 
 Martyrdom of St. Blaith- 
 mac 347 
 
 The Rule of Columba ... 347 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 THE LATER COLUMBIAN 
 
 SCHOOLS IN IRELAND. 
 I. KELLS HEAD OF THE COLUM- 
 BIAN HOUSES 348 
 
 Kells pillaged by the Danes 348 
 The Cathach , 348 
 
 II. MABIANUS SCOTUS ... ... 349 
 
 Commentaries on the Epistles 
 of St. Paul 351 
 
 III. THE LATEB SCHOOL OF 
 
 DEHEY 352 
 
 The Ua Brolchain 352 
 
 St. Maelisa O'Brolchain ... 353 
 Flaithbhertach O'Brolchain 354 
 The Abbot of Derry resolves 
 to renovate his monastery 
 and collects funds for the 
 
 purpose 355 
 
 Synod of the Clergy of Ire- 
 land convened at Bri Mac 
 Taidgh in Laeghaire ... 356 
 See of Derry established ... 357 
 
 ]V. GELASIUS 358 
 
 His name of Mac Liag ... 358 
 Gelasius becomes Abbot of 
 
 Derry 359 
 
 He reforms the morals of 
 
 clergy and people ... 359 
 
 Synod of Kells 360 
 
 Synod of Mellifont ... 361 
 
 Synod of Brigh Mac- 
 
 Taidgh 361 
 
 Synod of Clane 362 
 
 Gelasius consecrates St. 
 
 Laurence O Toole ... 362 
 Death of Gelasius 363 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 THE SCHOOL OF BANGOR. 
 
 I. _ST. COMGALL OF BANGOB ... 364 
 Birth and parentage ... 365 
 Com gall enters the Monas- 
 tery of Fintan 366
 
 TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 He visits Clonmacnoise, and 
 receives the priesthood 367 
 
 Description of Bangor ... 367 
 
 St. Columba visits Comgall 
 at Bangor 368 
 
 The fame of Comgall at- 
 tracts crowds to Bangor 369 
 
 Death of Comgall 370 
 
 II. ST. CoLUMBANTTS 370 
 
 His early life 371 
 
 Goes to Cluaninis and 
 
 places himself under the 
 
 care of Smell 372 
 
 He enters Barigor 372 
 
 Preaches the Gospel in Gaul 3 ) 3 
 He buries himself in the 
 
 depths of the forest ... 373 
 Increase of Disciples ... 374 
 Founds a monastery at 
 
 Leuxeil ... ... ... 375 
 
 Columbanus and his Irish 
 
 Monks banished from 
 
 Leuxeil 376 
 
 They establish themselves 
 
 at Bregentz 376 
 
 He founds the Monastic 
 
 Church of Bobbio ... 378 
 
 Death of Columbanus ... 378 
 
 " 'His writings ... ... 379 
 
 The Bobbio Missal 380 
 
 The Antiphonarium Bencho- 
 
 rense 381 
 
 III. DUNGAL 381 
 
 Theologian, astronomer and 
 
 poet 381 
 
 - Dungal was an Irishman... 382 
 Probably educated in the 
 
 School of Bangor ... 382 
 
 Dungal goes to France ... 382 
 His Letter tc Charlemagne 
 on the two solar eclipses 
 said to have taken place 
 
 in A.D. 810 383 
 
 He opens a school at Pavia 385 
 The last struggle of "West- 
 ern Iconoclasm ... ... 385 
 
 The Libri Carolini 386 
 
 Synod of Frankfort ... 386 
 
 The Caroline Books ... 387 
 The Paris Conference ... 388 
 Claudius of Turin ... 389 
 
 Dttvgali Responsa contra per- 
 versas Clattdit Tawinemis 
 Episcopi Sententw ... 390 
 Character of DungaTs 
 
 writings 391 
 
 His death . .. 392 
 
 PAGE 
 
 IV. ST. MALACHY 393 
 
 Sketch of his life 393 
 
 He rebuilds the monastery 
 
 at Bangor 394 
 
 Becomes Bishop of Connor 394 
 Founds the Monasteriwn 
 
 Ibracense ... ... ... 395 
 
 Malachy transferred to the 
 
 Primatial See 395 
 
 Difficulties in Armagh ... 395 
 Malachy honoured at Rome 
 
 by Pope Innocent III. ... 396 
 Death at Clairvaux ... 397 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 THE SCHOOL OF CLONE- 
 NAGH. 
 
 I. ST. FINTAN 398 
 
 Churches founded round 
 
 the base of the Slieve 
 
 Bloom mountains ... 398 
 
 Clonenagh 398 
 
 Fintan's Rule 401 
 
 St. Comgall a pupil of the 
 
 School of Clonenagh ... 402 
 Miracles of St. Fintan ... 403 
 Fintan, "Father of the 
 
 Irish Monks" 404 
 
 II. ST. JENGUB 404 
 
 A Ceile De 405 
 
 He leads a solitary life ... 405 
 
 Dysert-Enos 406 
 
 Penitential Exercises ... 407 
 dingus arrives at Tallagh 407 
 Martyrology of Tallagh ... 408 
 
 The Feilire ' 409 
 
 Fothadh-na-Canoine ... 410 
 Invocation of the Saints ... 411 
 The Saltair-na-Rann ... 412 
 Opinions of Dr. Stokes with 
 regard to the writings of 
 
 -3Engus 412 
 
 Death of ^Engus 413 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 THE SCHOOL OF GLENDA- 
 LOUGH. 
 
 I. ST. KEVIN 414 
 
 Sketch of his Life 414 
 
 Coemghen is placed under 
 
 the care of St. Pet roc ... 415 
 He goes to Glendalough ... 416 
 Description of Glendalough 4 1 7
 
 XVI 
 
 TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 St. Kevin's Bed 418 
 
 Tempull-na-Skellig ... 419 
 
 Glendalough, a Seminary 
 
 of Saints and Scholars... 420 
 Kevin meets Columba, 
 
 Comgall and Canice at 
 
 the hill of Uisnech ... 421 
 
 Death of Kevin 421 
 
 Writings attributed to 
 
 Kevin 422 
 
 II. RUINS AT GLENDALOUGH... 422 
 
 The Cathedral 423 
 
 St. Kevin's Kitchen ... 423 
 
 Our Lady's Church ... 424 
 
 Trinity Church 424 
 
 Kevin's Yew Tree 425 
 
 III. ST. MOLING 425 
 
 St. Moling 426 
 
 Teach Moling 426 
 
 Moling becomes Bishop of 
 
 Ferns 427 
 
 Remission of the Cow-Tax 428 
 \\ritings attributed to 
 
 St. Moling 429 
 
 Glendalough ravaged by the 
 
 Danes 429 
 
 " Gilla-na-naomh Laighen" 430 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. (continued). 
 
 THE SCHOOL OF GLENDA- 
 LOUGH. 
 
 ST. LATTBENCE O'TooLE ...432 
 
 His Parentage 433 
 
 He goes to Glendalough ... 434 
 - Lorcan as a Student ... 435 
 
 He is placed at the head of 
 St. Kevin's Great Estab- 
 lishment ... ... ... 436 
 
 Consecrated Archbishop of 
 Dublin 437 
 
 Synod of the Irish Prelates 
 atClane 437 
 
 He reforms the Clergy ... 437 
 
 His Spirit of Mortification 
 and Prayer 438 
 
 Dermott McMurrougrh and 
 Maurice Fitzgerald attack 
 Dublin 440 
 
 He stimulates the slothful 
 king, Rory O'Connor, to 
 action 441 
 
 Laurence O'Toole attends a 
 General Council in Rome, 
 and secures many privi- 
 leges for the Church in 
 Ireland ..443 
 
 PAGE 
 
 He travels to England in 
 the interests of Rory 
 O'Connor the discrowned 
 
 king 444 
 
 Detained a prisoner in the 
 
 monastery of Abingdon 444 
 His death ... ... ... 445 
 
 Canonization .. 446 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 SCHOOLS OF THE SEVENTH 
 CENTURY. 
 
 I. THE SCHOOL OF LISMOBE, 
 
 ST. CAETHAGE 447 
 
 St. Carthage 447 
 
 He visits the School of 
 
 Bangor 448 
 
 He founds a monastery at 
 
 Rahan 449 
 
 "Effugatio" of Carthage 
 
 from Rahan ... ... 450 
 
 He founds Lismore ... 453 
 
 Retires from community 
 
 life to prepare for death 454 
 
 Miracles ... 454 
 
 Rule of Carthage ... ... 455 
 
 II. ST. CATHALDUS OF TAEEN- 
 
 TTJH 457 
 
 The Life of St. Cathaldus... 457 
 
 His Birth-place 458 
 
 - A Student at Lismore ... 460 
 
 He becomes a bishop ... 461 
 
 See of Rachau 462 
 
 Pilgrimage to Jerusalem ... 462 
 
 Taranto 463 
 
 Cathaldus endeavours to 
 reform the licentious in- 
 habitants of Taranto ... 463 
 His death at Taranto ... 464 
 Invention of the Saint's 
 Relics 464 
 
 III. OTHEE SCHOLARS OF Lis- 
 
 MORB ... 465 
 
 St. Cuanna ... ... ... 465 
 
 St. Colman O'Leathain ... 467 
 Aldfrid, King of Northum- 
 bria 468 
 
 IV. SUBSEQUENT HISTORY OF 
 
 LISMORE 466 
 
 Lismore ravaged by the 
 
 Danes 469 
 
 Scenery at Lismore ... 471 
 
 Inscribed stones ... ... 472 
 
 The Crozier of Lism^re ... 472 
 The Book of Lismore ... 473
 
 TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
 
 XV11 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 THE SCHOOLS OF 
 DESMOND. 
 
 I. THB SCHOOL OF COBK ... 475 
 
 St. Finbarr 476 
 
 Gougane Barra 478 
 
 Cork in A.D. 1600 480 
 
 Death of St. Finbarr ... 482 
 
 His character 483 
 
 Assassination of Mahoun... 484 
 Giolla Aedha O'Muidhin... 486 
 
 II. ST. COLMAN MAC UA CLTTA- 
 
 SAIOH 487 
 
 Pestilence in Ireland ... 487 
 
 St. Column's Hymn ... 488 
 
 III. THE SCHOOL OF Ross ...490 
 
 St. Fachtna 490 
 
 Geographical Poem of Mac 
 Cosse 494 
 
 IV. THE SCHOOL OF INNISF AL- 
 LEN ... ... ... 495 
 
 St. Finan the Leper ... 496 
 St. Finan Cam 497 
 
 V. THE ANNALS OF INNISFAL- 
 
 LEN 
 
 Maelsuthain O'Cearbhail... 500 
 Curious anecdote of Mael- 
 suthain ... ... ... 502 
 
 Annals of Innisfallen ... 503 
 Description of Innisfallen 505 
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 THE SCHOOLS OF THOMOND. 
 
 I. THK SCHOOL OF MUNG RET... 506 
 
 St. Nessan 507 
 
 St. Munchin 508 
 
 Mungret plundered by the 
 
 Danes 510 
 
 "The Learning of the Wo- 
 men of Mungret " ... 511 
 
 II. THE SCHOOL OF INISCALTEA 531 
 Island of Iniscaltra ... 513 
 
 St. Columba of Terry glass 513 
 Death of St. Columba ... 515 
 
 St. Caimin 517 
 
 Round Tower of Iniscaltra 519 
 St. Caimin's Church ... 519 
 
 Sculptured stones 530 
 
 Iniscaltra ravaged by the 
 Danes 621 
 
 HI. OTHER MONASTIC SCHOOLS 
 
 OF THOMOND 522 
 
 St. Brendan of Birr ... 622 
 St. Cronan of Roscrea ... 523 
 BookofDimma 524 
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 LATER SCHOOLS OF THE 
 WEST. 
 
 I. ST. COLMAN'S SCHOOL OF 
 
 MAYO 627 
 
 The Easter Controversy ... 527 
 
 Inisboffin 531 
 
 Death of Column 533 
 
 II. ST. GERALD OF MAYO ... 534 
 
 Life of St. Gerald 534 
 
 Adamnan promulgates the 
 celebrated "Lex Inno- 
 centiae" ... ... ... 537 
 
 Date of St. Gerald's Death 537 
 
 III. SUBSEQUENT HISTORY OF 
 
 THE SCHOOL OF MAYO ... 538 
 Cele O'Duffy 539 
 
 TV. THE SCHOOL OF TUAJI ... 540 
 St. Jarlath 541 
 
 "Meadow of Retreat" ... 542 
 St. Brendan visits St. 
 Jarlath's School at 
 Cluainfois ... ... 543 
 
 St. Jarlath founds Tuam... 544 
 
 CHAPTER XXII. (continued). 
 
 CELTIC ART IN THE WEST- 
 ERN MONASTERIES DURING 
 THE REIGN OF TURLOUGH 
 O'CONNOR. 
 
 I. THE O'DuFFYs 547 
 
 II. CELTIC ART AT CLONMAC- 
 
 NOISE ... 550 
 
 The Ollamh-builder ... 551 
 
 Gobban Saer 551 
 
 Religh-na-Cailleach ... 552 
 
 Crosses and Architectural 
 Ornaments in Sculpture 
 at Tuam and Cong ... 554 
 Turlough rebuilds the 
 
 Cathedral of Tuam ... 657 
 The Abbey of Cong ... 658 
 
 The Cross of Cong 560 
 
 The Chalice of Ardagh ...562 
 The Shrine of St. Manchan 564 
 
 CHAPTER XXIII. 
 IRISH SCHOLARS ABROAD. 
 
 I. ST. VIROILIUS, ARCHBISHOP 
 
 OF SALZBURG ... ... 566 
 
 Country of St. Virgilius ... 566 
 Accusations against Vir- 
 gilius ... ... 569
 
 XV111 
 
 TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Doctrine of the Antipodes 570 
 Virgilius, the Apostle of 
 
 Cariuthia... ... ... 572 
 
 Discovery of the Tomb of 
 
 Virgilius 573 
 
 II. SEDULIUS, COMMENTATOR ON 
 
 SCEIPTUEB 574 
 
 "Writings of Sedulius ... 574 
 
 III.--JOHN SCOTTJS ERIGBNA ... 676 
 Born in Ireland ... ... 576 
 
 Patronised by Charles the 
 
 Bald 579 
 
 His Liber de Praedestina- 
 
 tione ... ... ... 581 
 
 Alleged Errors about the 
 
 Real Presence 583 
 
 His Translation of the 
 
 Pseudo-Dionysius ... 584 
 His Treatise De Divi<ione 
 
 Naturae 586 
 
 This Book condemned A.D. 
 
 1225 587 
 
 His Death 588 
 
 IV. FOREIGN SCHOLAES IN 
 
 IRELAND 589 
 
 College of Slane 590 
 
 Dagobert, a Pupil of Slane 590 
 
 Egbert in Ireland 591 
 
 Studies in Connaught ... 592 
 
 St. Chad in Connaught ... 593 
 
 St. Willibrord in Ireland ... 594 
 Agilbert, Bishop of Paris, 
 
 in Ireland 595 
 
 CHAPTER XXIV. 
 
 GAEDHLIC SCHOOLS AND 
 SCHOLARS OF ANCIENT 
 ERIN. 
 
 I. ORGANIZATION OF THE GAEDH- 
 LIC PROFESSIONAL SCHOOLS 597 
 - The Learned Professions in 
 
 Erin 598 
 
 Degrees in Poetry, in Law, 
 in History 600 
 
 PAGH 
 
 II. SCHOOL OF TUAM DRECAIN 602 
 Three Schools at Tuaim 
 
 Drecaiu ... 602 
 
 Cennfaeladh, Professor in 
 all the Faculties 604 
 
 III. CORMAC MAC CULLINAN... 605 
 
 Disert-Diarmada 605 
 
 Cormac, King of Caahel ... 607 
 
 Bishop of Cashel 609 
 
 Cashel then a Royal Dun 610 
 Battle of Ballaghmoon ... 611 
 
 IV. WRITINGS OF CORMAC MAC 
 
 CULLINAN 612 
 
 Psalter of Caiseal 613 
 
 Cormac's Glossary 612 
 
 CHAPTER XXIV. (continued). 
 
 I. GAEDHLIC SCHOLARS OF THE 
 SIXTH AND SEVENTH 
 
 CENTURIES 614 
 
 Amergin Mac Awley ... 615 
 Dalian Forgaill 616 
 
 IL GAEDHLIC SCHOLARS OF THE 
 NINTH AND TENTH CEN- 
 TURIES 617 
 
 Maelmura of Fa than ... 617 
 
 Flann Mac Lonan 618 
 
 Eochaid O'Flinn 619 
 
 III. GAEDHLIC SCHOLARS OF 
 
 THE ELEVENTH CENTURT 620 
 
 MacLiag 620 
 
 His writings 623 
 
 Cuan Lochain ... ... 624 
 
 Buite of the Monastery ... 625 
 
 IV. DISCIPLINE OF THE LAY 
 
 COLLEGES 628 
 
 Relations between pupils 
 and Teachers laid down 
 in the Senchus Mor ... 629 
 
 Corporal punishment some- 
 times inflicted 630
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 STATE OF LEARNING IN IRELAND BEFORE 
 ST. PATRICK. 
 
 " The wrath of Crom spoke in the storm, 
 
 The blighted harvests felt his eye ; 
 The cooling shower, the sunshine warm, 
 Answered, the Druid's plaintive cry." 
 
 T. D. McGee. 
 
 IT is not our purpose to discuss at length the state of 
 learning and civilization in Ireland before the coming of 
 St. Patrick. It is a question about which much difference 
 of opinion exists even amongst learned men. A few remarks, 
 however, on this subject will enable the reader to understand 
 more clearly the literature and history of the Christian 
 Schools of Ancient Ireland. 
 
 It is admitted by all that whatever learning existed in 
 Erin during the pagan period of her history, was the 
 exclusive possession of certain privileged classes amongst 
 the Celtic tribes. They may be included in the three great 
 orders, so familiar to the students of our ancient history 
 the Druids, Bards, and Brehons. We shall offer a few brief 
 observations about each of these highly privileged classes. 1 
 
 I. THE DRUIDS. 
 
 In Ireland, as in all the Celtic nations, the Druids were 
 priests and seers, and frequently poets and judges also, 
 especially in the earliest periods of our history. We know 
 from Caesar that their learning, at least in Gaul, consisted 
 for the most part in rather fanciful theories about the 
 heavenly bodies, the laws of nature, and the attributes of 
 their pagan deities. These doctrines, like their religious 
 tenets, were not committed to writing, but were handed 
 down by oral tradition ; for they wished above all things to 
 keep their knowledge to themselves, and to impress the 
 common people with a mysterious awe for their own power 
 and wisdom. It has been said 2 by some writers that druidism 
 
 1 "It would be futile," says O'Curry, "to attempt to give any close 
 and detailed account of the state of education in this country before the 
 Christian era." Lectures, vol. ii., page 49. 
 
 2 See Dr. O'Rorke's excellent History of Sligo, vol. ii., page 7. 
 
 A
 
 2 STATE OF LEARNING IN IRELAND BEFORE ST. PATRICK. 
 
 was a philosophy rather than a religion ; but this statement 
 cannot be admitted against the express testimony of Caesar, 1 
 who must have often seen the Druids both in Gaul and 
 Britain. He asserts 2 most distinctly that they attended to 
 religious worship, offered sacrifice both in public and in 
 private, and also expounded omens and oracles. Cesar's 
 statement in this single sentence offers a text for our observa- 
 tions. And we must bear in mind what he says of the 
 Druids of Gaul, as well as of the British Druids ; because it 
 is quite evident that the Druids of the three great Celtic 
 nations about this period had practically the same religion. 
 He says that they had exclusive charge of public worship, 
 sometimes even offered human sacrifice ; and ws shall show, 
 notwithstanding O'Curry, 3 that they did the same in Ireland 
 also. A similar long course of instruction, sometimes 
 extending to twenty years, was required for their disciples 
 in Ireland as in Gaul. As judges, too, the Druids enforced 
 their decisions by a kind of social excommunication, which 
 few people dared to despise. It is curious how the Celtic 
 races, even to this day, have recourse to similar excommuni- 
 cations, both in things social and political. The Druids of 
 Gaul were subject to an Arch-Druid, who was, like the 
 Jewish High Priest, elected for life. Above all things, the 
 Druids of Gaul taught the immortality of the soul, and also 
 its transmigration, and appeared most anxious to inculcate 
 these doctrines on all their disciples. This is the one saving 
 doctrine of druidism, which thus prepared the way for 
 Christianity. 
 
 There were Druids amongst all the Celtic tribes of 
 France, Britain, and Ireland. The British Druids in the 
 time of Ca3sar were very famous both as priests and scholars ; 
 so that it was customary for the young Druids of Gaul to be 
 sent over to Britain to finish their education in the colleges 
 of the British Druids. Their chief establishment was in the 
 Island of Anglesey, anciently called Mona ; so at least it is 
 called by Tacitus, although Caesar seems to give that name 
 to the Isle of Man. During the period immediately pre- 
 ceding the arrival of St. Patrick in Ireland, it seems highly 
 probable that Mona was occupied by a colony of the Irish 
 Celts. It is certain, at least, that very frequent and friendly 
 intercourse took place between Ireland and Anglesey, from 
 
 1 Caesar, De Bella Gallico, Liber iv., c. 13 and 14. 
 
 2 Illi rebus divinis intersunt, sacrificia publica et prirata procurant, 
 religiones interpretantnr. 
 
 Vol. ii, page 222.
 
 THE DRTJIDS. 6 
 
 which it may be safely inferred that if the druidism ot' 
 Anglesey was not of Irish origin, Irish as well as Gaulish 
 Druids were certainly educated in that island. 
 
 The Druids worshipped not in temples made with hands. 
 As in Palestine, and many Eastern countries, these pagan 
 priests conducted their religious services in ' groves ' and 
 ' high places ' under the shade of the spreading oaks, from 
 which some writers derive their name derw being the 
 Celtic, not the Greek name for oak. Hence this tree was 
 sacred in their eyes ; their dwellings were surrounded with 
 oak groves, whose dark foliage threw a sombre and solemn 
 shade over the rude altars of unhewn stone on which they 
 offered their sacrifices. The yew, blackthorn, and quicken 
 were also regarded as sacred trees, at least by the Irish 
 Druids, who made their divining rods in some cases from the 
 yew, but oftener from oaken boughs. The mystic ogham 
 characters were also cut by the Druids on staves made from 
 the yew, at least so we are informed in some of our oldest 
 Irish tales. 1 
 
 Our knowledge of Irish druidism is derived chiefly from 
 incidental references in the old romantic tales, and also in 
 the Lives of the Saints, and especially in the Lives of 
 St. Patrick, who came into direct antagonism with their 
 entire system. It is certain that in other countries the 
 Druids sometimes offered human victims in sacrifice; and 
 there is some evidence that the same custom, although, 
 perhaps, more rarely, prevailed in Ireland. There is a 
 passage in the Book of Leinster? which expressly states that 
 the Irish used to sacrifice their children to Crom Cruach, 
 or more correctly, Cenn Cruaich, the great gold-covered idol 
 of Magh Slecht, on the borders of Cavan and Leitrim. 
 Hence it was called the Plain of Slaughter, and the sight of 
 the foul idol so excited the righteous zeal of St. Patrick that 
 he smote it deep into the earth with a blow of his crozier. 
 We also know from the Saint's " Confession" that the Irish to 
 whom he preached the Gospel, had previously worshipped 
 idols and unclean things, 3 which goes to prove that idol- 
 worship was a part of the druidical ritual in Ireland. 
 
 There is no doubt also that the worship of the elements 
 was a part of the druidical religion. Their most terrible 
 oaths were sworn on the Sun and the Wind ; and it was 
 confidently believed that the perjurer could never escape the 
 vengeance of these mighty elements. The account given in 
 
 1 See O'Curry's Lectures, vol. ii., p. 203. 2 Folio 2135. 
 
 3 "Idola et immunda."
 
 4 STATE OF LEARNING IN IRELAND BEFOkK ST. PATRICK. 
 
 the Tripartite of St. Patrick's interview with the daughters 
 of King Laeghaire by Cliabach "Well, on the slopes of 
 Cruachan, shows that the worship of fairy gods, or elves, 
 was a part of the druidical religion ; and the same is expressly 
 stated in the very ancient metrical Life of the Apostle, by 
 St. Fiacc of Sletty. 1 
 
 It is evident also not only from Caesar's statement, but 
 also from several passages in our earliest extant writings, 
 that one of the principal functions of the Druids was to act 
 as haurispices, that is, to foretell the future, to unveil the 
 hidden, to pronounce incantations, and ascertain by omens 
 lucky and unlucky days. Hence we always find some of 
 them living with the king in his royal rath ; they are not 
 only his priests, but still more his guides and counsellors on 
 all occasions of danger or emergency. King Laeghaire had 
 at Tara Druids and enchanters, who used to foretell the 
 future by their druidism and heathenism; 2 and they an- 
 nounced the coming of the tailcend, or shaven-crown, that is 
 St. Patrick, long before his arrival. They were powerful in 
 charms and spells. They could bring snow on the plain, but 
 could not, like Patrick, take it away ; they could cover the 
 land with sudden darkness, but could not, like him, dispel it. 
 They were powerful for evil, but not for good; they could 
 with the charm called the * Fluttering Wisp/ strike their 
 unhappy victim with lunacy, or afflict him by the elements ; 
 they would even promise to make the earth swallow him up, 
 as they said it would swallow St. Patrick when he was preach- 
 ing on the banks of the Moy in Tyrawley. Their incantations, 
 too, were in some instances not only wicked, but filthy and 
 unclean, 3 and as such were of course strictly prohibited by 
 St. Patrick. 
 
 The Druids of Gaul although unwilling to commit their 
 doctrines to writing, were acquainted with the use of the 
 Greek letters. The British Druids of Anglesey were even 
 more learned ; and we must infer that the Irish Druids 
 possessed a similar culture. They had 'books,' 4 when 
 St. Patrick met them at Tara ; and two of them were 
 entrusted with the education of the king's daughters at 
 Cruachan. They were also skilled in medicine, and 
 possessed a knowledge of healing herbs ; they discoursed to 
 their disciples on the nature of things, 5 and had some know- 
 
 1 " On Ireland's folk lay darkness, the tribes worshipped fairies 
 (side)." Line 21. 
 
 2 Tripartite, Stokes, p. 33 8 See O'Curry, vol. ii., p. 209. 
 4 Tripartite, Stokes, p. 57. 6 Caesar, De Bella Gallico.
 
 THE DRUIDS. 
 
 ledge of astronomy. Thus vested with mysterious and 
 supernatural powers, and possessed of an esoteric learning, 
 that was exclusively their own, the Druids were held in 
 great reverence and fear. " Tara was the chief seat of the 
 idolatry and druidism of Erin," 1 but we also find them at 
 Cruachan in Connaught, and at Killala beyond the Moy 2 
 both royal seats of the kings of that province. They ac- 
 companied the kings in their journeys and were present 
 sometimes on the field of battle. 3 They were generally 
 dressed in white, but wore an inner tunic to which reference 
 is sometimes made. It is probable that at least one of them 
 abode in the Raths of all the great nobles, who claimed to 
 be riglis, or kinglets, in their own territories. They were 
 sworn enemies of Christianity, and frequently attempted to 
 take St. Patrick's life by violence or poison. In the remote 
 districts of the country some of them remained for several 
 centuries after the island became generally Christian ; and 
 to this day we can find traces of ancient druidism in the 
 superstitions of the people. 
 
 Their New Year's Day was about the 10th of March, and 
 was deemed holy as the great day on which they cut the 
 mistletoe from the sacred oak. The first of May was kept as 
 a festival in honour of the Sun-God ; and probably gave 
 origin to the custom, of lighting fires in honour of the god, 
 which was afterwards transferred to the eve of the 24th of 
 June, in order to do honour to St. John. 
 
 St. Patrick in his Confession clearly refers to this 
 sun-worship as an idolatrous practice prevalent amongst our 
 pagan forefathers. " That sun," he says, " which at His 
 bidding we see rising daily for our sake will never reign, and 
 its splendour will not last for ever ; but those who adore it 
 will perish miserably for all eternity." The great November 
 festival called Samuin, seems to have been held especially in 
 honour of the side, or fairy-gods, who dwelt in the bosom of 
 the beautiful green hills of Erin, and were supposed to hold 
 high revel throughout all the land on November Eve. But 
 the Druids had influence even with these gods of the hills ; 
 and we are told that when Edain, the lovely queen of royal 
 Tara, was stolen away from her husband, and hidden in the 
 Land of Youth under Bri Leith, near Ardagh, in Longford, 
 she was restored to her home and her husband by the mighty 
 magic of Dalian the Druid. 
 
 1 Tripartite, p. 40. 2 AtTulach-na-Druadh. 
 
 3 See the account of the battle of Cuil-drehnlme.
 
 6 STATE OF LEARNING IN IRELAND BEFORE ST. PATRICK. 
 
 We find reference made to the Druids as present with 
 every colony that came to Erin, which shows at least that 
 the old bards and chroniclers regarded them as an essential 
 element of the nation. They were endowed with lands for 
 their maintenance, and enjoyed special privileges and 
 immunities, like the Bards and Brehons. But, as they were 
 the priests of a false and idolatrous religion, it was sought as 
 far as possible to remove every trace of their existence from 
 the minds of the people ; and hence after the revision of the 
 Brehon Laws in the time of St. Patrick, we find all refer- 
 ence to the Druids, their rights, and their privileges, entirely 
 expunged from that ancient code. Accordingly we know 
 nothing about them, except what may be gathered from such 
 accidental references as those to which we have already 
 referred. 
 
 II. THE BARDS. 
 
 Under this term we include both poets and chroniclers 
 that is, the Fileadh and the Fer-comgne?- Sometimes history 
 and poetry are represented as distinct branches of learning 
 in ancient Erin ; it is certain, however, that in pre-Christian 
 times, and long after the introduction of Christianity, the 
 chronicler made poetry the medium of preserving and com- 
 municating to posterity both the genealogical and historical 
 records of his tribe or clan. It is true, indeed, that the Intro- 
 duction to the Senchus Mor makes a careful distinction between 
 the chronicler and the poet. "Until Patrick came only three 
 classes of persons were permitted to speak in public in Erin : 
 a Chronicler to relate events and to tell stories ; a Poet to 
 eulogise and to satirize ; a Brehon to pass sentence from pre- 
 cedents and commentaries." It is added that since Patrick's 
 arrival, each of these professions is subject to his censorship ; 
 and it is noteworthy that no reference at all is made to the 
 Druids since Patrick came to Erin, and this Brehon Code 
 came to be purified. The commentator on the Senchus also 
 notes that for a long time the judicature had belonged to the 
 poets alone, that is, from the time of Amergin, the first poet- 
 judge, down to the time of the Contention at Emhain Macha 
 between the two Sages, Ferceirtne and Neidhe. The langu- 
 age which the poets spoke on that occasion was so obscure 
 that the chieftains could not understand what had passed 
 between the rival Sages. It was therefore ordained by Con- 
 chobhar (Connor) and his chieftains, that thenceforward the 
 
 1 See Introduction to Senchus Mor, p. 18.
 
 THE BARDS. 7 
 
 poets should be deprived of that exclusive privilege which they 
 had hitherto enjoyed, andmade too exclusive ; and that the men 
 of Erin in general should be entitled to have their proper 
 share in the judicature. This dim tradition clearly represents 
 a protest against the technical language of an exclusive and 
 privileged class, who, for their own. purposes, sought to keep 
 secret their traditionary lore. Thus it came to pass that 
 thenceforward the profession of the judge and poet became 
 quite distinct, and the judge assumed the post of official chro- 
 nicler and keeper of the records for his tribe. 
 
 The function of the Bard, or poet, thenceforward was ' to 
 eulogize and to satirize ; ' and in this more restricted sense 
 of the word the term poet or Bard is frequently employed in 
 Christian times. We know, however, that as a matter of 
 fact all our historical documents down to the tenth century 
 are written in poetry, that is, in a certain metre and rhythm, 
 which would help to preserve these compositions even without 
 the aid of writing for the benefit of posterity, that is to say, 
 the Chronicler was also a poet. 
 
 The File, or poet in the more restricted sense of the word, 
 soon became a pest and a nuisance. He was willing enough 
 to eulogize when he expected liberal rewards ; but if he were 
 disappointed in his hopes, or if from any other cause he 
 wished to inflict the lash of his satire on any person, he never 
 spared the poisoned shafts of his flashing wit. Hence Cormac 
 Mac Cullinan, who knew the tribe well, derives File, the old 
 Irish word for poet, from fi, poison, and It, brightness ; 
 because in eulogy the poet is bright, but in satire he is 
 venemous. The poets were extortionate, too, in exacting 
 rewards for their eulogistic verses, so that the order came to 
 be feared more than loved, and at length incurred the danger 
 of extinction, as we shall see further on. Hence, too, it was 
 expressly ordained in the Senchus Mor that the poet who 
 demands an excessive reward, or claims an amount to which 
 he is not entitled, or composes unlawful satire, is to be de- 
 prived of half his ' honour price ' for the first and second 
 offence, and of his full honour price or social status for the 
 third. Among the four dignitaries of a territory who might 
 be degraded, besides the lalse-judging king, the stumbling 
 bishop, and the unworthy chief, was the fraudulent poet, who 
 demanded an exorbitant reward for his compositions. 
 
 No man was qualified to become Chief-poet, or Doctor in 
 Poetry ' Ollamh-poet ' who was not able to compose an 
 extempore stanza on any subject proposed to him. And the 
 way in which it is done is this". " When the poet sees the
 
 8 STATE OF LEARNING IN IRELAND BEFORE ST. PATRICK. 
 
 person or thing before him he makes a verse at once with 
 the ends of his fingers, or in his mind without studying, and 
 he composes and repeats at the same time." 1 This, however, 
 was after the reception of the New Testament in the time of 
 St. Patrick. "Before Patrick's time the poet placed his 
 (divining) staff upon the person's body, or upon his head, and 
 found out his name, and the name of his father and mother, 
 and discovered every unknown thing that was proposed to 
 him in a minute or two or three." But St. Patrick abolished 
 these profane rites amongst the poets when they believed, for 
 they could not be performed without offering to idol gods, 
 and thenceforward he made the profession pure. 2 
 
 The chief duty of the Historic Poet, or Chronicler, was to 
 register the genealogies of the men of Erin, and to rcite lays 
 of battle and rhymed stories or tales of Courtships, Voyages, 
 Cattle- spoils, Sieges, Slaughters, and other moving incidents 
 by field and flood. The Ollamh poet, or Doctor of Poetry, 
 was required by law to spend at least twelve years in careful 
 preparation for his final degree, and to have prepared for 
 public recitation seven times fifty tales or stories of the cha- 
 racter already indicated. He was also required to be perfectly 
 familiar with the pedigrees of the principal families, their 
 topographical distribution, the synchronisms of remarkable 
 events both at home and abroad, and the etymologies of 
 names in Erin. He was besides required to know the artistic 
 rules of poetry, and to have a knowledge of the seven kinds 
 of verse and their various metres. It is evident that these 
 manifold accomplishments required long and careful study ; 
 and the necessity of this training explains, what many per- 
 sons think incredible, the wonderful accuracy of our ancient 
 historical and genealogical records, which the evidence of 
 facts now proves to be on the whole undoubtedly authentic 
 and trustworthy documents. 
 
 In the Book of Ballymote there is a long list of great 
 historians and poets, who flourished in ancient Ireland ; many 
 of them, however, are now known only by name. All our 
 ancient records point to the fact that the Tuatha de Danaan, 
 who colonized this country before the Milesians, were a people 
 of considerable civilization. Their royal family seems to have 
 possessed great culture. Daghda, the king, and his wife the 
 Great Queen Mor Eigan are both represented as distin- 
 guished poets, and flourished more than 1,000 years before 
 
 1 Senchus Mor Introduction. The ends of his fingers were probably 
 employed to count the syllables and feet. 
 * See Introduction to the Senchus Mor.
 
 THE BARDS. i) 
 
 Christ. Diancecht, the royal physician, was also a distin- 
 guished judge and poet ; his daughter, the princess Etan, 
 was a poetess, and her son was no less remarkable for poetic 
 talent. About the same period flourished the poet Ogma, the 
 traditional inventor of the Ogham alphabet. 
 
 The Milesians cultivated poetry with equal zeal. We have 
 already referred to the poet- judge, Amergin, and we are told 
 that a poet called Cir, and a harper named Ona, were amongst 
 the first Milesian colonists. After the conquest of the country 
 by the brothers Heber and Heremon, it was resolved to cast 
 lots for the possession of these distinguished bards. The poet 
 fell to Heremon andthe harper to Heber, whence it came to pass 
 that the Northerns were, in after times, distinguished for poetry ; 
 but the gift of music remained with their Southern brothers. 
 
 There is still extant 1 a curious genealogical poem attri- 
 buted to Conor of the Bed-Brows (about B.C. 6) which 
 O'Curry seems to have regarded as genuine. But the most 
 remarkable remnant of pre-Christian literature, if, indeed, it 
 can be regarded as such, is the Dialogue of the two Sages, 
 which is attributed to the reign of Conor Mac Nessa, king of 
 Ulster, about the period of the birth of Christ. These two 
 sages were Ferceirtne, the royal poet of Emania, and Neidhe, 
 son of Adhna, the predecessor of Ferceirtne in the Chair of 
 Poetry. The young Neidhe, after completing his education 
 at home, went to Scotland, where he still further pursued his 
 studies. Upon learning the death of his father he returned 
 home, and happening to find the chief poet's chair just then 
 empty by the temporary absence of the Professor Ferceirtne, 
 who had succeeded his father, he put on the poet's Gown 
 which he found lying on the chair, and sat himself down in 
 state in the vacant seat. Thereupon Ferceirtne returned, and 
 finding his place occupied, asked in poetic phrase who was 
 the distinguished stranger upon whom rested the splendour of 
 the poet's Gown. Neidhe answered him in language as 
 poetic as his own, and thereupon began the famous Dialogue, 
 in which the rival poets displayed all their various accom- 
 plishments in literature, history, and druidism. The victory 
 was finally gained by the youthful Neidhe, who proved him- 
 self fully worthy of his father's Chair ; but with modest con- 
 descension he yielded the place to the elder Ferceirtne, and 
 consented to become his pupil and destined successor. The 
 language of the Dialogue shows its great antiquity ; but the 
 frequent allusions, although only by way of prophecy to 
 Christian usages, throw grave doubt on its authenticity. 
 
 1 In the Bodleian Library, Oxford.
 
 10 STATE OF LEARNING IN IRELAND BEFORE ST. PATRICK. 
 
 Learning is said to have greatly flourished in Erin during 
 the reign of Conor Mac Nessa. He was certainly a bounti- 
 ful benefactor to the poets ; and, when their numbers and 
 avarice raised loud complaints against them in other parts of 
 the country, he invited the whole tribe to his own kingdom of 
 Ulster, where he entertained them hospitably for seven years. 
 
 Ollioll Olum, that is Ollioll the Sage, was, as his name 
 implies, a learned poet, who flourished from A.D. 186 to 
 234. He is said to have written several poems of great merit, 
 three of which, according to O'Curry, are still preserved in 
 the Book of Leinster. It is said also that Finn Mac Cum- 
 haill was a poet as well as a warrior ; and several poems are 
 attributed to him in our ancient books. 
 
 He was at least the father of Erin's greatest poet from 
 him and Graine of the golden hair the primal poet sprung. 
 He flourished during the later heroic period, which corres- 
 ponds to the third century of the Christian era. Ossian, or 
 more properly Oisin, his son, is the Homer of Gaedhlic song, 
 whose name and fame have floated down to us on the stream 
 of time from those far distant and misty ages. Many poems 
 still extant are attributed, and perhaps j ustly, to the grand old 
 warrior Bard of Erin. The publications of the Ossianic 
 Society have done much to make the history of the heroic 
 period familiar to modern readers. More than one of our 
 Irish poets, 1 too, have, with the quick ear of genius, caught 
 up the faint echo of Ossian's song, and once more attuned the 
 harp of Erin to the thrilling melodies of her heroic youth. 
 Once more the Fenian heroes begin to tread the hills of fame, 
 and the spirit of Ossian's vanished muse, like the quickening 
 breath of spring, is felt over all the land. 
 
 Chsian ! two thousand years of mist and change 
 
 Surround thy name 
 Thv Fenian heroes now no longer range 
 
 The hills of fame. 
 The very name of Finn and Goll sound strange 
 
 Yet thine the same, 
 By miscalled lake and desecrated grange, 
 
 Remains, and shall remain. 
 
 Th Druid's altar and the Druid's creed 
 
 We scarce can trace ; 
 There is not left one undisputed deed 
 
 Of all your race, 
 Save your majestic song, which hath their speed 
 
 And strength and grace, 
 In that sole song they live and love and bleed, 
 
 It bears them on through space. T. D. M'Get. 
 
 1 Notably Ferguson and De Vere, with Mangan and T. D. M'Gee.
 
 THE BREHONS. 11 
 
 III. THE BREHONS. 
 
 They formed the third of the learned and specially privi- 
 leged Orders in ancient Erin. During the pre-Christian period 
 the customary laws, by which the Celtic tribes were governed, 
 were formulated in brief sententious rhymes. These rhyth- 
 mical maxims of law were at first transmitted orally, but 
 afterwards in writing from each generation of Poets to their 
 successors. For up to the first century of the Christian era 
 the Files or Poets had not only the custody of the laws, but 
 also the exclusive right of expounding them to the people, 
 and pronouncing judgments both civil and criminal. Even 
 when the King himself undertook to adjudicate, the File was 
 his official assessor, and the royal judge was guided by his 
 advice in the administration of justice. The Poets were 
 exceedingly jealous of this great privilege, and in order to 
 exclude outsiders from any share in the administration of the 
 law they preserved the archaic legal formula with the greatest 
 secrecy and tenacity. 
 
 But as we have already seen, this jealous spirit over- 
 reached itself, and in the reign of Conor Mac Nessa the men 
 of Erin resolved to deprive the Poets of this exclusive 
 privilege, and throw open the office of Brehon to all who 
 duly qualified themselves by acquiring the learning necessary 
 to enable them to discharge its duties. 
 
 It was after the ofiice was thus thrown open to men of 
 talent and industry that some of those ancient judges flour- 
 ished in Erin, whose names and decisions are spoken of with 
 the greatest reverence in the Senchus Mor. " It was," we 
 are there told, " Sen, son of Aighe, who passed the first judg- 
 ment respecting Distress at a territorial meeting held by the 
 three noble tribes who divided this island." This points to 
 legislation on the subject of Distress formulated at a tribe- 
 assembly by a great jurist, and then solemnly ratified by 
 popular consent. The gloss on this text adds that Sen was of 
 the men of Connaught, and that the meeting was held at 
 Uisneach in Westmeath. Another distinguished judge was 
 Sencha, son of Ailell, on whose face three permanent blotches 
 appeared whenever he pronounced a false judgment. Connla 
 Cainbrethach (of the Fair Judgments) was the chief legal 
 doctor of Connaught ; he excelled the men of Erin in wisdom, 
 for he was " filled with the grace of the Holy Ghost." 1 He 
 it was who said that it was God, and not the Druids, who 
 made the heavens, and the earth, the sun and the moon and 
 
 1 Introduction to the Senchus Mor.
 
 12 STATE OF LEARNING IN IRELAND BEFORE ST. PATRICK. 
 
 the sea. This seems to imply that Connla was wise and 
 courageous enough to reject the philosophy and probably also 
 the worship of the Druids. The Light had already arisen in 
 the east, and the first faint dawnings of Christianity were 
 beginning to illumine the horizon of Erin. Morann, another 
 great judge, who flourished during the first century of our 
 era. wore a chain around his neck, and if ever he pronounced 
 a false judgment the chain tightened around his neck ; but it 
 began to expand again, when he came to speak what was just 
 and true. These and other great judges of the same period 
 appear to be undoubted historical characters, whose wisdom 
 and learning, hallowed by the reverence of ages, appeared to 
 their successors to be in some way divinely inspired. They 
 were, it is true, at the time without the light of Revelation 
 to guide them, but as the gloss says, the grace of the Holy 
 Ghost would not be wanting to help men, who were striving 
 according to their conscience to be just and good. 
 
 Connac Mac Art, of whose writings we shall presently 
 speak, did much to encourage the systematic study of law 
 amongst the Brehons. He appears to have been the first who 
 reduced to writing the traditional legal maxims of the 
 Brehon's court, and thus may be regarded as the author of 
 the earliest Code of Laws in pagan Ireland. This great work 
 was afterwards purified and perfected in the time of St. Patrick, 
 when the Senchus Mor, as it is now known, was first compiled. 
 
 These three Orders of Druids, Bards, and Brehons were, 
 as we have seen, close corporations, invested with many 
 privileges, communicating a professional knowledge for the 
 most part by oral instruction to their disciples. This course 
 of instruction was very long and elaborate, sometimes extend- 
 ing to a period of twenty years. It included, as in more 
 modern times, various steps or degrees of learning, the 
 highest of which always was that of Ollamh or Doctor, 
 whether in law, poetry, or divinity. The ordinary course was 
 twelve years, and each year's work seems to have been as 
 carefully fixed as in a modern college or university. A great 
 portion of the work after the purely elementary studies con- 
 sisted in getting off by rote either the bardic tales, or legal 
 maxims with their leading cases, or historical poems and 
 genealogies. This included a very perfect knowledge of 
 topography, chronology, and family history. Versification of 
 a very artificial and complicated character was also a portion 
 of the programme. Besides the students had undoubtedly, 
 at least in pre-Christian times, some kind of 'secret,' language 
 known only to the initiated. It would seem as if each pro-
 
 THE OGHAM ALPHABET. 13 
 
 fession or school had its own peculiar Oghamic alphabet, the 
 key of which was known only to themselves; but in this 
 matter we have no certain knowledge, and are left almost 
 entirely to pure conjecture. Hereafter we shall see that 
 the legal relations between the professor and his pupils were 
 definitely ascertained, and are laid down in that portion 
 of the Brehon Code which deals with the Law of Social 
 Connections. 
 
 IV. THE OGHAM ALPHABET. 
 
 We shall see presently when treating of the literary history 
 of Cormac Mac Art that the use of letters, and most probably 
 of Roman letters, was quite common in Erin before the 
 coming of St. Patrick. Besides the Roman alphabet there 
 was, however, an earlier and ruder alphabet, which seems to 
 have been used in Erin even in the pre-historic times. This 
 is called the Ogham alphabet which has had a very strange 
 and curious history. It is a singular fact that all knowledge 
 of the Ogham alphabet, as well as of the existence of any 
 inscriptions written in its peculiar characters, had for a con- 
 siderable period completely disappeared from the minds of 
 Irish scholars. Yet the Ogham score was all the time 
 contained in the Book of Ballymote and the key to its 
 interpretation also. Inscribed stones too were thrown about 
 unnoticed in various parts of the country down to the year 
 1820, when Mr. John Windele discovered the first inscrip- 
 tion in the Co. Cork. 
 
 Since that time no less than 200 inscribed stones have 
 been discovered in various parts of the country, but especially 
 in the South and West ; and Irish scholars have directed 
 their attention to decipher and explain these mysterious and 
 time-worn lines. Twenty-two stones inscribed" with similar 
 characters have been found in Wales and Devonshire, that is 
 the South and West of England, and ten in Scotland. Almost 
 all their inscriptions have been examined by the late Mr. 
 Brash of Cork, a most painstaking and accurate investigator, 
 who has published the result of his labours in a very interest- 
 ing work on the subject. 1 His conclusions may be briefly 
 summed up as follows 2 : 
 
 The inscriptions have been invariably found on pillar 
 stones and flags, and are nearly all of a sepulchral character. 
 The lettering is in a style peculiar to the Gaedhlic race, and 
 represents a very ancient dialect of the Gaedhlic language. 
 The inscribed stones are found only in those districts, where 
 
 1 " Ogham Inscribed Monuments." ' Page 373.
 
 14 STATE OF LEARNING IN IRELAND BEFORE ST. PATRICK. 
 
 the Gaedhils are known to have established themselves ; and 
 the mode of forming the characters and formulating; the 
 inscriptions is the same in Ireland, in Wales, and in Scotland. 
 He asserts, moreover, that no Ogham monument hitherto 
 discovered bears any trace of any Christian formula, or any 
 symbol of Christian hope ; that any such smybols when found 
 upon an Ogham stones, are manifestly of later date than the 
 original inscription ; and that the allusions in our ancient 
 MSS. to the Ogham mode of writing have reference only to 
 pre-Christian times. He thinks too that the Ogham mode of 
 writing was not invented in Ireland, but carried to this 
 country by a colony that landed on our south-western shores, 
 and moved gradually from "West to East, and thence across 
 the Channel to Wales. He adds that in all probability this 
 colony came originally from the East, then settled for some 
 time in Egypt, and migrated thence to Spain conclusions 
 that are all in conformity with the common traditional account 
 of the advent of the Milesian race to this country, as con- 
 tained in our own ancient Books. 
 
 The invention of the Ogham is attributed in bardic 
 history to Ogma, son of Elathan, a prince of the Tuatha de 
 Danaans, that people whom all our national traditions repre- 
 sent as a more cultured race than any of the other colonies 
 that took possession of this island in primitive times. The 
 most singular fact connected with the Ogham inscriptions is 
 their geographical distribution. They are in Ireland almost 
 all confined to the South and West, and to those parts of 
 Wales and England that could be most easily reached from 
 the South of Ireland. The few inscriptions found elsewhere 
 in Ireland are only found in those places, to which we have 
 reason to know that families from the South- West migrated 
 in early times. This certainly would seem to indicate that 
 an immigrant colony landed somewhere in Kerry ; and 
 gradually diffusing themselves through the country carried 
 this archaic form of writing along with them ; but either they 
 never succeeded in occupying the whole country, or before 
 the occupation of the remote parts they gradually gave up 
 the Ogham, and adopted a form of writing more suitable for 
 general use, but not so well adapted for brief permanent 
 inscriptions in stone. As Mr. Brash has declared, no Oghams 
 of a Christian character have yet been discovered, nor is there 
 any coeval reference to any Christian symbols on the Ogham 
 pillar- stones, a fact which of itself clearly proves that all the 
 Oghams date from pagan times. In most cases they are 
 sepulchral inscriptions of the briefest character, merely giving
 
 THE OGHAM ALPHABET. 15 
 
 the name of the deceased and the name of his father with, in 
 a few instances, one or two short laudatory epithets. 
 
 The letters of the Ogham alphabet are divided into four 
 groups of five letters each, twenty in all. Taking the 
 angular edge of the upright pillar to be represented by a 
 straight line the following is the score : 
 
 h d t c g 
 
 aov e i | f) m HI! !!!!! mgngst P 
 
 iillllliilllllh 
 
 b 1 f 
 
 Besides these we find a few dipthongal symbols, but 
 apparently of later date : 
 
 - y o HI 
 
 s^ H ^ . 
 
 ot ou ia as 
 
 The line on which the letters are written is nearly always the 
 rectangular line on the left hand side of the upright flag, 
 facing the spectator. The inscription begins below at the 
 left hand corner, and is read upwards, but sometimes it is 
 continued downwards on the right hand angular line of the 
 pillar on the same face. The vowels are generally not much 
 larger than points on the very angle of the stone, or very short 
 lines cutting the angular line ; the consonants are much longer 
 scores drawn to the left or to the right of the angular line as 
 the word requires ; the last five scores are longer lines across 
 the angular line and oblique to it. 
 
 From various references in our ancient MSS. it appears 
 that the Oghams were written not merely on stones, but also 
 on rods and tablets of wood, which could be easily tied up in 
 bundles and carried from place to place. A letter written to 
 a friend might thus consist of a bundle of rods, duly marked 
 and numbered. The bark of trees, being easily notched, was 
 probably used for the same purpose, and thus even before the 
 introduction of parchment and Roman letters, there would be 
 no want of writing materials. There is no evidence that 
 before the introduction of Roman letters there was any other 
 kind of alphabet in use except the Ogham. But as the 
 Druids of Gaul, in the time of Csesar, were acquainted with 
 the use of the Greek letters, why should not the 'more 
 learned ' Druids of Britain and Ireland be familiar with the 
 Greek or Roman alphabet? It will be seen in the next 
 chapter that there is every reason to conclude that at least 
 after the Roman occupation of Britain they were quite 
 familiar with Roman letters and Roman writing.
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 IRISH SCHOLARS BEFORE ST. PATRICK. 
 
 " Crom Cruach and his sub-gods twelve," 
 Said Cormac, '* are but carven treene ; 
 The axe that made them, haft and helve, 
 Had worthier of our worship been." 
 
 Ferguson. 
 
 WE are frequently told that before the time of St. Patrick 
 the Irish were an utterly barbarous people like the North 
 American Indians. They had of course an unwritten 
 language ; but neither scholars, learning, nor even letters. 
 Vague statements of certain Roman writers are cited in proof 
 of these assertions we shall appeal to the evidence of facts. 
 The Roman writers of that period knew far less of ancient 
 Ireland than even we do at present. It was beyond the 
 sphere of their knowledge, as well as of their empire. But 
 as a matter of fact the statements of Roman historians, eo 
 far as they go, tend to prove that a considerable amount of 
 civilization existed in Erin during the time of the Roman 
 occupation of Britain ; and in proof of this statement it is 
 quite enough to examine the history of Cormac Mac Art. 
 
 I. CORMAC MAC ART. 
 
 The reign of Cormac Mac Art furnishes, perhaps, the 
 most interesting chapter in the history of pre-Christian 
 Ireland. He may be regarded with justice as the greatest 
 king that ever reigned in ancient Erin. He was, as our 
 poets tell us, a sage, a judge, and a scholar, as well as a great 
 prince and a skilful warrior. His reign furnished, indeed, 
 many rich themes for the romantic poets and story-tellers of 
 subsequent ages, in which they greatly indulged their per- 
 fervid Celtic imagination. But the leading facts of his reign 
 are all within the limits of authentic history, and are provable 
 by most satisfactory evidence. 
 
 Cormac was the son of Art the Solitary, or the Melancholy, 
 as he is sometimes called, and was grandson of the celebrated 
 Conn the Hundred-Fighter. Hence he is sometimes called 
 Cormac O'Cuinn, as well as Cormac Mac Art. His father 
 was slain about the year A.D. 195, in the great battle of
 
 CORMAC MAC ART. 17 
 
 Magh Mucruimhe where, as at the battle of Aughrim in the 
 same county, a kingdom was lost and won. Magh 
 Mucruimhe was the ancient name of the great limestone 
 plain extending from Athenry towards Oranmore ; and the 
 spot where King Art was killed has been called Tulach Art 
 even down to our own times. It was between Oranmore and 
 Kilcornan, and close to the townland of Moyvaela. The 
 victor in this great battle was Lughaidh, surnamed Mac Con, 
 who had been for many years a refugee in Britain, and now 
 returned with a king of that country and a host of foreigners 
 to wrest the kingdom from Art, who was his maternal uncle. 
 The flower of the chivalry of Munster perished also on that 
 fatal field; for the seven sons of Ollioll Olum who had 
 come to assist King Art, their mother's brother, were slain 
 to a man on the field or in the rout that followed. 
 
 Fortunately for young Cormac, the king's son, he was at 
 that time at fosterage in Conn aught, probably with Nia Mor, 
 who was his cousin, and one of the sub-kings of the province 
 at that time. So Mac Con, the usurper, found no obstacle to 
 prevent him assuming the sovereignty of Tara ; and we are 
 told that he reigned some 30 years, from A.D. 196 to 226. 
 
 Meantime young Cormac was carefully trained in all 
 martial exercises, as well as in all the learning befitting a 
 king, until he came to man's estate. Then he came to Tara 
 in disguise, and according to one account, was employed in 
 herding the sheep of a poor widow, who lived close to Tara, 
 when some of the sheep were seized for trespassing on the 
 queen's private green or lawn. When this case of trespass 
 was brought before the king in his court on the western 
 slope of the Hill of Tara, he adjudged that the sheep should 
 be forfeited for the trespass. " No," said Cormac, who was 
 present, " the sheep have only eaten of the fleece of the 
 land, and in justice only their own fleece should be forfeited 
 for that trespass." The bystanders murmured their approval, 
 and even Mac Con himself cried out " It is the judgment of 
 a king" for kings were supposed to possess a kind of 
 inspiration in giving their decisions. But immediately 
 recognising Cormac, whom he knew to be in the country, he 
 tried to seize him on the spot. But Cormac leaped the 
 mound of the Claenfert, and not only succeeded in effecting 
 his escape, but also in raising such a body of his own and his 
 father's friends, that he was able to drive the usurper from 
 Tara. Mac Con fled to his own relatives in the South of 
 Ireland, where he was shortly afterwards killed, at a place 
 called Gort-an-Oir, near Cahir, in the Co. Tipperary. 
 
 B
 
 18 IRISH SCHOLARS BEFORE ST. PATRICK. 
 
 So Cormac, disciplined in adversity, came to the throne 
 in the year A.D. 227, according to the Four Masters. 1 
 During the earlier years of his reign he was engaged in 
 continual wars with the provincial kings, who had yet to 
 learn that Cormac was their master in fact as well as of 
 right. We are told that he fought no less than fifty battles 
 against the provincial kings to vindicate his own position as 
 High King of Erin. The accurate Tighernach furnishes us 
 with brief notices of these various battles against these 
 refractory sub-kings. In one year he fought three battles 
 against the Ultonians. In another he fought four times 
 against the Momonians. The Leinster King, Dunlaing, 
 taking advantage of Cormac's absence from Tara, attacked 
 the royal rath itself, and wantonly slaughtered thirty noble 
 maidens with their attendants thirty for each who lived 
 in a separate building on the north-western slope of Tara. 
 Cormac promptly avenged this awful massacre by invading 
 Leinster, and putting to death twelve sub-kings of that 
 province, and besides he increased and enforced the payment 
 of the ancient Borrumean or cow-tribute imposed by his 
 predecessors on that province. The Ultonians, however, 
 were his most inveterate foes ; and twice, it seems, they 
 succeeded in "deposing" him, that is, in driving him for 
 some months from Tara. At length, however, the king 
 gained a complete victory over his northern rivals, with the 
 aid of Tadhg, a grandson of Ollioll Olum, and his Munster 
 auxiliaries. Cormac rewarded the Munster hero by giving 
 him, as he had promised, as much of the territory of Meath 
 as Tadhg could drive round in his chariot from the close of 
 the battle till sunset. The veteran hero, spent with loss of 
 blood and battle toil, still contrived to drive his chariot round 
 a district extending from Duleek to the Liffey, which was 
 afterwards called Cianachta the land of Cian's descendants. 
 Tadhg's father was Cian, son of Ollioll Olum, hence the 
 name. 
 
 Cormac, now undisputed master of his kingdom, took 
 measures to preserve the public peaee and secure the pro- 
 sperity of his dominions. He was the first, and we may say 
 also, the last king of Erin, who maintained a standing army 
 to check the arrogance of his turbulent sub-kings. This 
 Fenian militia was, it is said, modelled after the Roman 
 legions, which Cormac might have seen or heard of at the 
 lime in Britain. They were quartered on the people in 
 
 1 It was A.D. 218 according to Tighernach.
 
 CORMAC MAC ART. ]9 
 
 winter ; but in summer they lived on the produce of the 
 chase, and gave all their leisure to martial exercises. By 
 this means they became most accomplished in all feats of 
 arms, so that the fame of these Fenian heroes has come 
 down to our own time in the living traditions of the people. 
 The celebrated Finn Mac Cumhail was their general a poet 
 too, it was said, he was, and a scholar, as well as a renowned 
 warrior. Ossian, the hero-poet, was his son, and the brave 
 and gentle Oscar, who fell in the fatal field of Gavra, was his 
 grandson. 
 
 We are told, too, that Cormac kept a fleet on the sea for 
 three years, and doubtless swept away the pirate ships of 
 Britain and the islands that used to make descents from time 
 to time on the eastern coasts of Ireland. 
 
 But it is with the literary history of King Cormac's reign 
 we are most concerned, and to this we invite the special 
 attention of the reader. His first work was to re-establish 
 the ancient Feis of Tara. 
 
 Tara even then had been the residence of the High Kings 
 of Erin from immemorial ages. Slainge, the first king of 
 the Firbolgs, was its reputed founder, and all the kings of 
 that colony, as well as of the Tuatha De Danaan and 
 Milesian race, had generally dwelt on the same royal hill. 
 Ollamh Fodhla, one of the most renowned kings in the bardic 
 history, " reigned forty years and died in his own house at 
 Tara." It is said that this king was the first who convened 
 the great Feis of Tara to legislate in solemn assembly for all 
 the tribes of Erin. O'Flaherty adds that the same ancient 
 monarch founded a " Mur Ollamhan "or college of learned 
 doctors at Tara ; but Petrie could find no authority for this 
 statement except the term " Mur Ollamhan," which might, 
 however, simply mean the mzir, or fortified house of Ollamh 
 Fodhla himself. 
 
 During the shadowy period that follows down to the 
 Christian era, we hear little of Tara, even in bardic history. 
 An undoubtedly historical king, Tuathal Teachtmar, about 
 the year 85 of the Christian era, took a portion of each of the 
 four provinces to make a mensal demesne for the High King 
 of Tara. He convened the states of the kingdom, too, 
 on the royal hill in solemn assembly, and induced the 
 assembled kings and chiefs to swear on all the elements 
 that they would always yield obedience to the princes of his 
 race. 
 
 The Feis of Tara, then, was in existence before the time 
 of Cormac ; but it was seldom convened and had almost
 
 20 IRISH SCHOLARS BEFORE ST. PATRICK. 
 
 fallen into disuse. Cormac it was who made arrangements 
 for the regular meetings of this great parliament of the 
 nation, and provided adequate accommodation for the 
 assembled notables. Here we are on firm historic ground 
 and can enter into more minute details with security. 
 
 The object of this Feis of Tara was mainly three-fold. 1 
 First, to enact and promulgate what was afterwards called 
 the catn-law, which was obligatory in all the territories and 
 tribes of the kingdom, as distinguished from the urradkus, 
 or local law. Secondly, to test and sanction the Annals of 
 Erin. For this purpose each of the local Seanachies or 
 historians brought in a record of the notable events that 
 took place in his own territory. These were publicly read 
 for the assembly, and when duly authenticated were entered 
 on the great record of the King of Tara, called afterwards 
 the " Saltair of Tara." Thirdly, to record in the same 
 great national record the genealogies of the ruling families, 
 to assess the taxes, and settle all cases of disputed succession 
 among the tribes of the kingdom. Too often was this done 
 by the strong hand ; but it was Cormac's idea to fix the 
 succession, as far as possible, according to definite principles 
 amongst the ruling families. The neglect of a strong 
 central government to enforce this most wise provision 
 was one main cause of the subsequent distracted state of the 
 kingdom. 
 
 This great national assembly, convened for these purposes, 
 met once every three years. The session continued for a 
 week, beginning the third day before, and ending the third 
 day after November day. When so many turbulent chieftains, 
 oftentimes at feud amongst themselves, met together, it was 
 necessary to keep the peace of Tara by very stringent regu- 
 lations, enforced under the most rigorous penalties. It is to 
 Cormac's prudent forethought we owe these regulations, 
 which were afterwards inviolably observed as the law of 
 Tara. Every provincial king and every sub-king had his 
 own fixed place allotted to him near the High King by the 
 Marshals of Tara ; and every chief was bound to take his 
 seat under the place where his shield was hung upon the 
 wall. Brawling was strictly forbidden, and to wound another 
 was a capital crime. 
 
 In order to provide suitable accommodation for this great 
 assembly, Cormac erected the Teach Miodhchuarta, which 
 
 1 See O' Curry's Lectures, vol. ii., page 14, and Keating, Reign of Tuathal 
 Teachtmar.
 
 CORMAC MAC ART. 21 
 
 was capable of accommodating 1,000 persons, and was at 
 once a parliament house, banquet hall, and hotel. We have 
 two accounts of this great building, as well as of the other 
 monuments at Tara, written about nine hundred years ago 
 one in poetry the other in prose. The statements made by 
 these ancient writers have been verified in every essential 
 point by the measurements of the officers of the Ordnance 
 Survey, who were enabled from these documents to fix the 
 position and identity of all these ancient monuments at 
 Tara. 
 
 " The Teach Miodhchuarta" says the old prose writer 
 in the Dinnseanchus, " is to the north-west of the eastern 
 mound. The ruins of this house it was even then in ruins 
 are situate thus : the lower part to the north and the 
 higher part to the south ; and walls are raised about it to the 
 east and to the west. The northern side of it is enclosed and 
 small, the lie of it is north and south. It is in the form of a 
 long house, with twelve doors upon it, or fourteen, seven to 
 the west and seven to the east. This was the great house of 
 a thousand soldiers." 1 We ourselves have lunched on the 
 grass-green floor of this once famous hall, and we can of our 
 own knowledge testify to the accuracy of this ancient writer. 
 The openings for the doors can still be traced in the enclosing 
 mound, and curiously enough, one is so nearly obliterated 
 that it is difficult still to say whether there were six or seven 
 openings on each side. The building was seven hundred and 
 sixty feet long, and originally nearly ninety feet wide, 
 according to Petrie's measurements. There was a double 
 row of benches on each side, running the entire length of the 
 hall. In the centre there was a number of fires in a line 
 between the benches, and over the fires there was a row of 
 spits depending from the roof, at which a very large number 
 of joints might be roasted. There is in the Book of Leinster 
 a ground-plan of the building, and the rude figure of a cook 
 in the centre turning the spit with his mouth open, and a 
 ladle in his hand to baste the joint. The king of Erin took 
 his place at the head of the hall to the south surrounded by 
 the provincial kings. The nobles and officers were arranged 
 on either side according to their dignity down to the lowest, 
 or northern end of the hall, which was crowded with 
 butlers, scullions and retainers. They slept at night on the 
 couches, but not unfrequently under them. 
 
 The appearance of Cormac at the head of this great hall 
 
 1 See Petrie's Antiquities of Tara Hill, p. 129.
 
 22 IRISH SCHOLARS BEFORE ST. PATRICK. 
 
 is thus described in an extract copied into the Book of Batty - 
 mote from the older and now lost Book of Navan 1 : 
 
 " Beautiful was the appearance of Cormac in that assembly. 
 Flowing and slightly curling was his golden hair. A red buckler 
 with stars and animals of gold, and fastenings of silver upon him. 
 A crimson cloak in wide descending folds around him, fastened at his 
 neck with precious stones. A neck torque of gold around his neck. 
 A white shirt with a full collar, and intertwined with red gold thread, 
 upon him. A girdle of gold inlaid with precious stones was around 
 him. Two wonderful shoes of gold, with golden loops, upon his feet. 
 Two spears with golden sockets in his hands, with many rivets of red 
 bronze. And he was himself besides symmetrical and beautiful of 
 form, without blemish or reproach." 
 
 This might be deemed a purely imaginary description if 
 the collection of antiquities in the Royal Irish Academy did 
 not prove beyond doubt that similar golden ornaments to 
 those referred to in this passage were of frequent use in 
 Ireland. In the year 1810 two neck torques of purest gold 
 similar to those described above were found on the Hill of 
 Tara itself, and are now to be seen in the Academy's col- 
 lection. 
 
 "Alas," says an old writer, " Tara to-day is desolate, it is 
 a green grassy land, but it was once a noble hill to view, the 
 mansion of warlike heroes, in the days of Cormac O'Cuinn 1 
 when Cormac was in his glory." 
 
 Everything at Tara, even its present desolation, is full of 
 interest, and reminds us of the days "when Cormac was in 
 his glory." His house is there within the circle of the great 
 Rath na Riogh. The mound where he kept his hostages may 
 still be seen beside his Rath. The stream issuing from the 
 well Neamhnach, on which he built the first mill in Ireland 
 for his handmaiden, Ciarnaid, to spare her the labour of 
 grinding with the quern, still flows down the eastern slope of 
 Tara Hill, and still, says Petrie, turns a mill. Even the well 
 on the western slope beside which Cormac's cucktair, or 
 kitchen, was built, has been discovered. The north-western 
 claenfert, or declivity, where he corrected the false judgment 
 of King Mac Con about the trespass of the widow's sheep 
 may still be traced. The Rath of his daughter, Maeve, may 
 be seen not far from Tara, and to the west of the Teach 
 Miodhchuarta may be noticed Rath Graine, the sunny palace 
 of his daughter, the faithless spouse of Finn Mac Cumhail. 
 
 O 'Flaherty tells us on the authority of an old poem found 
 
 1 I.E. The Book of the Ua Choi gsibhail, kept probably in ancient times at 
 Kildare.
 
 CORMAC MAC ART. 23 
 
 in the Book of Shane Mor O'Dugan, who flourished about 
 A.D. 1390, that Cormac founded three schools at Tara one for 
 teaching the art of war, the second for the study of history, 
 and the third was a school of jurisprudence. It was, doubt- 
 less, the first regular college founded in ancient Erin, and 
 like the school of Charlemagne, was within the royal palace. 
 The fact is extremely probable, especially as Cormac himself 
 was an accomplished scholar in all these sciences. This brings 
 us to the literary works attributed to Cormac Mac Art by 
 all our ancient Irish scholars. 
 
 The first of these is a treatise still extant in manuscript 
 entitled Teagusc na Riogh or Institutio Principum. It is 
 ascribed to King Cormac in the Book of Leinster written 
 before the Anglo-Norman Invasion of Ireland. It is in the 
 form of a dialogue between Cormac and his son and successor, 
 Cairbre Lifeachair ; " and," says the quaint old Mac Geogh- 
 egan, " this book contains as goodly precepts and moral 
 documents as Cato or Aristotle did ever write." The 
 language is of the most archaic type, but extracts have been 
 translated and published in the Dublin Penny Journal. 
 
 A still more celebrated work, now unfortunately lost, the 
 Saltair of Tara, has been universally attributed to Cormac 
 by Irish scholars. Perhaps we should rather say it was com- 
 piled under his direction. " It contained," says an ancient 
 writer in the Book of Ballymote, " the synchronisms and 
 genealogies, as well as the succession of the [Irish] kings and 
 monarchs, their battles, their contests, and their antiquities 
 from the world's beginning down to the time it was written. 
 And this is the Saltair of Tara, which is the origin and foun- 
 tain of the histories of Erin from that period down to the 
 present time." " This," adds the writer in the Book of Bally- 
 mote, "is taken from the Book of Mac Chongbhail" that is 
 the Book of Navan, a stiil more ancient but now lost work. 
 Not only does the writer in the ancient Book of Navan, and 
 the copyist in the Book of Ballymote, expressly attribute this 
 work to Cormac, but a still more ancient authority, the poet 
 Cuan O'Lochain, who died in A.D. 1024, has this stanza in his 
 poem on Tara : 
 
 " He [Cormac] compiled the Saltair of Tara, 
 In that Saltair is contained 
 The best summary of history, 
 It is the Saltair which assigns 
 Seven chief kings to Erin of harbours," &c., &c. 
 
 And it is, indeed, self-evident to the careful student of 
 our annals that there must have been some one ancient
 
 24 IRISH SCHOLARS BEFORE ST. PATRICK. 
 
 " origin and fountain " from which the subsequent historians 
 of Erin have derived their information which existing 
 monuments prove to be quite accurate concerning the reign 
 of Cormac and his more immediate predecessors in Ireland. 
 The man who restored the Feis of Tara, and who, as we shall 
 presently see, was also a celebrated judge and lawyer, was 
 exactly such a person of forethought and culture as would 
 gather together the poets and historians of his kingdom to 
 execute under his own immediate direction this great work 
 for the benefit of posterity. Keating tells us that it was 
 called the Saltair of Tara because the chief Ollave of Tara 
 had it in his official custody ; and as Cormac Mac Cullinan's 
 Chronicle was called the Saltair of Cashcl, and the Festilo- 
 gium of Aengus the Culdee was called the Saltair na Rann, 
 so this great compilation was named the Saltair of Tara. 
 This, as O'Curry remarks, disposes of Petrie's objection that 
 its name would rather indicate the Christian origin of the 
 book. The answer is simple Cormac never called the book 
 by this name, any more than the compilers of the great works 
 like the Book of Ballymote or the Book of Leinster ever called 
 those great compilations by their present names. 
 
 Cormac was also a distinguished jurist of that we have 
 conclusive evidence in the Book of Aicill, which has been 
 published in the third volume of the Brehon Law publica- 
 tions. The book itself is most explicit as to its authorship, 
 and everything in the text goes to confirm the statements in 
 the introduction, part of which is worth reproducing here. 
 
 "The place of this book is Aicill close to Temh air [Tara], and 
 its time is the time of Coirpri Lifechair, son of Cormac, and its 
 author is Cormac, and the cause of its having been composed was the 
 blinding of the eye of Cormac by JEngus Gabhuaidecb, after the 
 abduction of the daughter of Sorar, son of Art Corb, by Cellach, son 
 of Cormac." 
 
 The author then tells us how the spear of Aengus grazed 
 the eye of Cormac and blinded him. 
 
 "Then Cormac was sent out to be cured at Aicill [the Hill of 
 Skreen] . . . and the sovereignty of Erin was given to Coirpri 
 Lifechair, son of Cormac, for it was prohibited that anyone with a 
 blemish should be king at Tara, and in every difficult case of judg- 
 ment that came to him he [Coirpri] used to go to ask his father about 
 it, and his father used to say to him, ' my son that thou mayest know ' 
 [the law], and ' the exemptions ; ' and these words are at the begin- 
 ning of all his explanations. And it was there, at Aicill, that this 
 book was thus composed, and wherever the words ' exemptions,' and 
 ' my son that thou mayest know,' occur was Cormac's part of the 
 book, and Cennfaeladh's part is the rest."
 
 CORMAC MAC ART. 25 
 
 This proves beyond doubt that the greatest portion of 
 this Book of Aicill was written by Cormac at Skreen, near 
 Tara, when disqualified for holding the sovereignty on 
 account of his wound. It was a treatise written for the 
 benefit of his son unexpectedly called to fill the monarch's 
 place at Tara. The text, too, bears out this account. Cormac 
 apparently furnished the groundwork of the present volume 
 by writing for his son's use a series of maxims or principles 
 on the criminal law of Erin, which were afterwards developed 
 by Cormac himself, and by subsequent commentators. That 
 the archaic legal maxims so enunciated in the Book of Aicill 
 were once written by Cormac himself there can be no reason- 
 able doubt ; although it is now quite impossible to ascertain 
 how far the development of the text was the work of Cormac 
 or of subsequent legal authorities, who doubtless added to 
 and modified the commentary whilst they left Cormac's text 
 itself unchanged. 
 
 This Book of Aicill, the authenticity of which cannot, we 
 think, be reasonably questioned, proves beyond all doubt 
 that in the third century of the Christian era there was a 
 considerable amount of literary culture in Celtic Ireland. 
 These works are still extant in the most archaic form of the 
 Irish language ; they have been universally attributed to 
 Cormac Mac Art for the last ten centuries by all our Irish 
 scholars ; the intrinsic evidence of their authorship and 
 antiquity is equally striking why then should we reject 
 this mass of evidence, and accept the crude theories of certain 
 modern pretenders in the antiquities of Ireland, who without 
 even knowing the language undertake to tell us that there 
 was no knowledge of the use of writing in Ireland before 
 St. Patrick ? 
 
 And is not such an assertion a priori highly improbable ? 
 The Romans had conquered Britain in the time of Agricola 
 the first century of the Christian era. The Britons them- 
 selves had very generally become Christians during the 
 second and third centuries, and had to some extent at least 
 been imbued with Roman civilization. Frequent intercourse, 
 sometimes friendly and sometimes hostile, existed between 
 the Irish and Welsh tribes especially. A British king was 
 killed at the battle of Magh Mucruimhe in Galway where 
 Cormac's own father was slain. The allies of Mac Con on 
 that occasion were British. He himself had spent the years 
 of his exile in "Wales. Captives from Ireland were carried to 
 Britain, and captives from Britain were carried to Ireland. 
 Is it likely then that when the use of letters was quite com- 
 mon in Britain for three centuries no knowledge of their use
 
 26 IRISH SCHOLARS BEFORE ST. PATRICK. 
 
 would have come to Ireland until the advent of St. Patrick 
 in the fifth century of the Christian era ? 
 
 There is an ancient and well founded tradition that Cormac 
 Mac Art died a Christian, or as the Four Masters say, " turned 
 from the religion of the Druids to the worship of the true 
 God." It is in itself highly probable. Some knowledge of 
 Christianity must have penetrated into Ireland even so early 
 as the reign of Cormac Mac Art. It is quite a popular error 
 to suppose that there were no Christians in Ireland before the 
 time of St. Patrick. Palladius had been sent from Rome 
 before him "to the Scots," that is the Irish, " who believed 
 in Christ." Besides that intimate connection between Ireland 
 and Britain, of which we have spoken, must have carried 
 some knowledge of Christianity, as well as of letters, from 
 one country to the other. King Lucius, the first Christian 
 King of the British, flourished quite half a century before the 
 time of King Cormac. Tertullian apeaks of the Isles of the 
 Britains as subject to Christ about the time that Cormac's 
 father, Art, was slain at Magh Mucruimhe. There was a 
 regularly organised hierarchy in England during the third 
 century, and three of their bishops were present at the 
 Council of Aries in A.D. 314. 
 
 Nothing is more likely then than that the message of the 
 Gospels was brought from England to the ears of King 
 Cormac, and that a prince, so learned and so wise, gave up 
 the old religion of the Druids, and embraced the new religion 
 of peace and love. 
 
 But it was a dangerous thing to do even for a king. The 
 Druids were very popular and very influential, and moreover 
 possessed, it was said, dreadful magical powers. They 
 showed it afterwards in the time of St. Patrick, and now they 
 showed it when they heard Cormac had given up the old 
 religion of Erin, and became a convert to the new worship 
 from the East. The king's death was caused by the bone of 
 a salmon sticking in his throat, and it was universally believed 
 that this painful death was brought about by the magical 
 power of Maelgenn, the chief of the Druids. 
 
 " They loosed their curse against the king, 
 
 They cursed him in his flesh and bones ; 
 Aad daily in their mystic ring 
 
 They turned the maledictive stones. 
 
 " Till where at meat the monarch sate, 
 
 Amid the revel and the wine, 
 He choked upon the food he ate 
 
 At Clettv, southward of th Bovnp." 1 
 
 1 Lays of the Western U-uel.
 
 CORMAC MAC ART. 27 
 
 So perished A.D. 267, the wisest and best of the ancient 
 kings of Erin. Cormac, when dying, t.old his people not to 
 bury him in the pagan cemetery of Brugh on the Boyne, but 
 at Rossnaree, where he first believed, and with his face to the 
 rising sun. But when the king was dead, his captains declared 
 they would bury their king with his royal sires in Brugh : 
 
 " Dead Cormac on his bier they laid ; 
 
 He reigned a king for forty years, 
 And shame it were, his captains said, 
 
 He lay not with his royal peers. 
 " What though a dying man should rave 
 
 Of changes o'er the eastern sea ; 
 
 In Brugh of Boyne shall be his grave 
 
 And not in noteless Kossnaree." 
 
 So they prepared to cross the fords of Boyne and bury 
 the king at Brugh. But royal Boyne was loyal to its dead 
 king ; " the deep full-hearted river rose " to bar the way ; 
 and when the bearers attempted to cross the ford, the 
 swelling flood swept them from their feet, caught up the 
 bier, and "proudly bore away the king" on its own heaving 
 bosom. Next morning the corpse was found on the bank of 
 the river at Rossnaree, and was duly interred within the hear- 
 ing of its murmuring waters. There great Cormac was left 
 to his rest with his face to the rising sun, awaiting the dawning 
 of that glory which was soon to lighten over the hills and 
 valleys of his native land. 
 
 Cormac Mac Art was not only himself a lover of letters, 
 but seems to have transmitted his own talents to his daughters. 
 There is a very ancient poem in the Book of Leinster, which 
 has been published by O'Curry, and has been attributed to 
 Ailbhe, daughter of Cormac Mac Art. The language is of 
 the most archaic character, and the sentiments expressed are 
 not inconsistent with the origin ascribed to the poem in the 
 Book of Leinster. Still critics will be naturally sceptical as 
 to the authenticity of the poem. Meave (Meadhbh), another 
 daughter of Cormac, who has given her name to Rath Meave 
 at Tara, is credited with being the author of a poem in praise 
 of Cuchorb, in which his martial prowess and numerous 
 battles are duly celebrated. This lady seems to have been 
 decidedly * blue ' in her tastes, for she built a choice house 
 within her Rath, where the chief master of every art used to 
 assemble. She was amorous too and " would not permit any 
 king to reign in Tara who did not first take herself as wife. ; ' 
 Perhaps there is some truth in the ancient and romantic 
 story recorded in the same Book of Leinster, that when 
 Cuchorb was killed, she was sorrowful in heart, and when
 
 28 IRISH SCHOLARS BEFORE ST. PATRICK. 
 
 they set up the grave stone of the fallen hero, she chanted 
 his death song in presence of the assembled warriors, who 
 stood around his grave. 
 
 Another pre-Patrician, if not pre-Christian poet, to whom 
 some extant poems have been attributed, was Torna Eigas, the 
 Bard of Kiall of the Nine Hostages. Mall died in A.D. 410, 
 twenty-two years before St. Patrick came to preach in Erin ; 
 so that even if Torna Eigas, as Colgan thinks, became a 
 Christian, his training and inspiration must belong to the 
 pre-Christian times. If the works attributed to him are even 
 substantially genuine, they must have been interpolated by 
 later copyists with Christian references and Christian senti- 
 ments. O'Reilly mentions four poems as passing under his 
 name. The first is addressed to King Niall his patron, and 
 foster son. The second was designed to effect a reconciliation 
 between Niall and the foster child of the poet, King Core of 
 Munster, who, as we shall see hereafter, certainly lived to 
 become a Christian. In the third the poet describes the 
 pleasant life which he spent with these two kings, his foster 
 children, who lavished upon him alternately during his visits 
 their friendship and their favours. But the fourth is by far 
 the most interesting, for it describes the famous burying 
 place of the Pagan kings of Erin, Relig na Riogb, at Bath 
 Cruachan in Connaught. It consists of twenty-eight stanzas, 
 and enumerates the great kings and warriors who sleep on 
 the hill of Royal Cruachan, ending with the valiant Dathi, 
 whose grave is marked by a red pillar stone, which stands 
 there to-day, even as it stood before St. Patrick crossed the 
 Shannon to preach the Gospel to Laeghaire's daughters on 
 that famous hill. This poem has been published by Petrie in 
 his Essay on the Antiquities of Tara Hill. 
 
 The history of the valiant King Dathi is full of charm 
 for our Celtic poets, and several of them have sought, not 
 unsuccessfully, to reproduce the spirit of the original poem 
 by Torna Eigas. Better than all others poor Clarence 
 Mangan tells : 
 
 " How Dathi sailed away away, 
 
 Over the deep resounding sea ; 
 Sailed with his hosts in armour gray ; 
 
 Over the deep resounding sea, 
 Many a night and many a day ; 
 
 And many an islet conquered he, 
 Till one bright morn, at the base 
 
 Of the Alps in rich Ausonian regions, 
 His men stood marshalled face to face 
 
 With the mighty Eoman legions. . . .
 
 SEDULIUS. 29 
 
 But : Thunder crashes, 
 Lightning flashes, 
 
 And in an instant Dathi lies 
 On the earth a mass of blackened ashes. 
 
 Then mournfully and dolefully 
 The Irish warriors sailed away 
 
 Over the deep resounding sea," 
 
 Reference is made in our ancient extant manuscripts to 
 several ' Books ' now lost, which are said to have been written 
 before the arrival of St. Patrick in Ireland. It is unnecessary, 
 however, to refer to these in detail, because any statements 
 about their character and origin can be little better than mere 
 conjecture. O' Curry names several of them, and tells all that 
 can possibly be known about them. The " Cuilmen" appears 
 to have been one of the oldest and most celebrated because 
 it contained the great epic of ancient Erin known as the 
 " Tain Bo Chuailgne." Another famous ancient ' Book ' 
 now lost was the " Gin Droma Snechta," or the Vellum Stave 
 Book of Drom Snechta, as O'Curry translates it. It is quoted 
 in the Book of Bally mote^ and in the Book of Lecan. 
 
 Another lost work, to which, we have already referred, 
 was the Book of Ua Chongbhail. It was extant in the time 
 of Keating, who quotes it as one of his authorities, but has 
 since been unfortunately lost, and nothing is known of its 
 contents. 
 
 II. SEDULIUS. 
 
 It is said, however, that there were not only pagan writers 
 and scholars, like Cormac Mac Art, in Ireland before the 
 time of St. Patrick, but that several celebrated Christian 
 writers, who flourished before the advent of our national 
 Apostle, were of Irish birth or parentage. And this is the 
 opinion, not merely of superficial writers, but of grave and 
 learned men like Colgan, Usher, and Lanigan ; and what is 
 more, it has been admitted by foreigners as well as by our 
 native authorities. These authorities have claimed for 
 Ireland the great glory of having given birth to the 
 celebrated Sedulius, the Christian Virgil, as he has been most 
 appropriately called. The more doubtful honour of producing 
 Caelestius, the associate of the heresiarch Pelagius, has been 
 also claimed for Ireland ; and according to others Pelagius 
 himself was at least of Irish extraction. "We propose to 
 examine at some length the history of these writers, and 
 especially to examine the evidence in favour of their alleged 
 Irish origin. In the first place we shall give a full account,
 
 30 IRISH SCHOLARS BEFORE ST. PATRICK. 
 
 so far as it is now possible to ascertain his history, of the 
 celebrated poet Sedulius. 
 
 In the best MSS. the name given is always " Caelius 
 Sedulius," and although the praenomen savours of Latin 
 origin, and the nomen itself was not quite unknown in Rome, 1 
 still the name Sedulius gives decided indications of his Irish 
 birth. At least two other distinguished Irishmen bore the 
 same name. The first is that Sedulius of Irish origin, the 
 Bishop of Britain, as he describes himself, 2 who subscribed 
 the Acts of the Council of Rome held under Gregory II., in 
 A.D. 721. The other, known as Sedulius the Younger, 
 flourished in the first quarter of the ninth century, wrote a 
 Commentary on St. Paul's Epistles, and, as we shall see, has 
 been frequently confounded with his more celebrated name- 
 sake, the poet. The old form of the name in Irish was 
 Siadhal, or Siadhel, now pronounced Shiel. But in these 
 older forms of the language the letters were not mortified in 
 pronunciation ; and thus Sedulius is naturally the latinized 
 form of the Irish name. From the dawn of our history it 
 was a name celebrated in Irish literature, especially in the 
 department of medicine. Colgan refers to eight distinguished 
 Irishmen who bore the family name of Siadhal, amongst 
 others to Siadhal, son of Luath, Bishop of Dubhlinn, whose 
 death on the 12th of February, 785, is recorded in the 
 Martyrology of Donegal. The Danes, indeed, had not 
 arrived in Dublin so early as A.D. 785, nor is there any satis- 
 factory evidence of a diocese of Dublin at that time. He 
 may, however, have been an abbot in the place, with episcopal 
 orders. 
 
 The oldest writer who distinctly asserts that the poet 
 Sedulius was an Irishman is John of Tritenheim, or Trithe- 
 mius, as he is more generally called. 3 This Trithemius, 
 Benedictine abbot of Spanheim, flourished towards the end 
 of the fifteenth century, and was certainly a very learned 
 man. In some of the statements, however, made in this 
 paragraph, he is not supported by any ancient authority 
 that we know of. It is, moreover, evident from the list of 
 
 1 Apud Ciceronem Pro Domo Sua, c. 3, and elsewhere. 
 
 2 Sedulius Episcopus JBritannise (Strathclyde ?) de genere Scotorum, 
 Iraic constitute vobis promulgate subscripsi. Apud Labbeum. Vol. iv. 
 
 3 His statement is worth quoting. " Sedulius presbyter natione Scotus, 
 Hildeborti Scotorum Archiepiscopi ab ineunte aetate discipnlus, vir in 
 divinis scripturis exercitatus, et in saecularibus litteris eruditissimus, car- 
 mine excellens et prosa, amore discendi Scotiam relinquens. venit in 
 Franciam, deinde Italiam perlustravit, et Asiam, postrems Achaiae finibus 
 excedens in urhe Roma mirabali doctrina clarus eluxit."
 
 SEDULIUS. 31 
 
 the writings of Sedulius which he gives, that he confounds 
 the poet with the commentator on St. Paul and St. Matthew, 
 who, as all admit, was an Irishman, but flourished nearly 
 four centuries later than the poet. Colgan, Usher, Ware, 
 and a host of other writers at home and abroad, have followed 
 Trithemius, and made the poet an Irishman. 
 
 It is, however, certain that although there is some 
 evidence that he was of Irish birth, there is absolutely no 
 evidence that he was a native of any other country. It was, 
 indeed, said that the poet was a Spaniard, and Bishop of the 
 Oretani, but Faustinus Arevalus, himself a Spaniard, and 
 author of a very able dissertation on Sedulius, prefixed to 
 his splendid edition of the Christian Poets of the Fourth 
 Century, published at Rome in A.D. 1794, declares that love 
 of truth compels him to admit that the story of his preaching 
 at Toledo, and of his Spanish episcopacy, is fabulous. 1 
 
 Let us now try to ascertain what is known with certainty 
 of this great Christian poet, whether Irishman or not. 
 
 In the " Palatine " Codex of the Vatican Library, No. 
 242, there is a paragraph which states that " Sedulius was a 
 Gentile, but learned philosophy in Italy, was afterwards 
 converted to the Lord, and baptized by the priest Macedonius, 
 then came to Arcadia, or according to other MSS., Achaia, 
 where he composed this book," that is his Carmen Paschale. 
 
 In the Vatican Codex, No. 333, probably of the eleventh 
 century, it is added that " St. J erome, in his Catalogue of 
 Ecclesiastical Writers, says that Sedulius was at first a 
 layman, learned philosophy in Italy, and afterwards, by the 
 advice of Macedonius, taught heroic and other kinds of metre 
 in Achaia ; he wrote his books in the time of Valentinian 
 and Theodosius," etc. Substantially the same statement is 
 found in nearly all the twelve MSS. in the Vatican. 
 
 The scribe attributes to St. Jerome, who died in A.D. 420, 
 that continuation of Jerome's great Catalogue of Ecclesiastical 
 Writers, which was really the work of Gennadius of Mar- 
 seilles, who flourished in A.D. 495 the very time, as we 
 shall see, that the writings of Sedulius were published. We 
 find no statement of this kind about Sedulius in Gennadius' 
 Catalogue, as actually published, but Sirmond declares that 
 he himself saw in some copies of Gennadius, that Seduliua 
 died during the reign of Valentinian and Theodosius the 
 Younger, to the latter of whom, as he alleges, he had 
 dedicated his work. 
 
 x See Migne's Patrologia Lat., vol. 19, page 440.
 
 32 IRISH SCHOLARS BEFORE ST. PATRICK. 
 
 "We may then take it as certain that Sedulius flourished 
 during their joint reigns, that is, at some period from 
 A.D. 423 to 450, when Theodosius died ; and in all probability 
 Sedulius himself had died some years previously that is, 
 between A.D. 445 and 449. He is described as at first a layman 
 and a Gentile, which is not at all unnatural, especially it* 
 he were a native of Ireland. There were indeed some Chris- 
 tians in Ireland before the time of St. Patrick, for Palladius 
 was sent in A.D. 431, the year before the mission of St. 
 Patrick " to the Scots who believed in Christ ; J>1 but these 
 Christians must have been very few. At the beginning of 
 the fifth century, however, considerable intercourse, some- 
 times friendly, and sometimes hostile, existed between the 
 Scots of Ireland and the natives of Roman Britain as well as 
 of Roman Gaul. It would be very easy, therefore, for a 
 young Irishman to join a band of his roving countrymen, 
 and after learning Latin in the provincial schools of France 
 or England, he would naturally in his search after philosophy, 
 migrate to Italy, and there find the double treasure of faith 
 and wisdom. 
 
 Sedulius is said to have penetrated from Italy to Achaia, 
 where he became the pupil and intimate friend of the priest 
 Macedonius. This much is manifest from his own writings, 
 for in the dedication of his Carmen Paschale? he touchingly 
 alludes to the progress in Christian wisdom which he had made 
 under the guidance " of his most holy father." He adds 
 that previously he had devoted to secular studies the energies 
 of that restless mind vim impatientis in genii which Pro- 
 vidence had given him ; and had made his literary training 
 subservient, not to the profit of his soul and the glory of his 
 Maker, but to the fruitless task of this fleeting life. Arevalus 
 justly observes that if Sedulius had been baptized by Mace- 
 donius, he would not have omitted all reference to it in 
 this dedication, whence we may fairly conclude that although 
 he received most of his religious training from the venerable 
 Macedonius, he must have been already a Christian when he 
 came to Greece. 
 
 The same dedication leads us to infer that at this time he 
 was a member of some kind of religious institute, which was 
 under the guidance of Macedonius, and in which he himself 
 taught rhetoric and poetry by the advice of his spiritual father. 
 
 1 Ad Scotos in Christo credentes. Prosper (p. 43). 
 
 2 Sancto et Beatiesimo patri Macedonio preebytero Sedulius in Christo 
 ealutem.
 
 SEDULIUS. 33 
 
 He gives, too, a very pleasing picture of the members of that 
 religious association of the Venerable TJrsinus antistitem 
 plenum reverentiae sacerdotalis who had been once a soldier 
 of Caesar, and was then a soldier of Christ ; of Laurence, the 
 incomparable priest, who gave up his patrimony to the Church 
 and the poor ; of Gallicanus, likewise a priest, well read in 
 secular books, yet meekest of the meek, teaching the rule of 
 Catholic discipline by word, but still more by example ; of 
 TJrsicinus, also a priest, and a man " of hoary patience and 
 youthful old age ; " of Felix, the truly happy ; and of many 
 others equally worthy of the dedication f his book. He 
 makes special reference to the virgin Syucletice, who seems 
 to have been a deaconess of the Church, noble by blood, but 
 still more illustrious by her virtues, chastened by -fasts, 
 nourished by prayer, and spotless in purity. 1 Moreover, he 
 adds, she drank so deeply of Scriptural lore, that had not 
 her sex forbidden it, she was in every way qualified to become 
 the teacher of others. Her sister, too, the young Perpetua, 
 though her junior in years, was her rival in virtue, the chaste 
 spouse of an honourable marriage. Such was the society of 
 which Sedulius was a member during his sojourn at Achaia 
 holy, learned, and loving. 
 
 It seems very probable that it was during these happy 
 years that Sedulius composed his great poem in some sweet 
 valley under the shadow of the steep Arcadian Mountains, 
 whose bold spurs are washed by the glancing waters of the 
 Corinthian Gulf. Although the work was formally dedicated 
 to Macedonius, and copies were doubtless multiplied for 
 the benefit of his famliar associates, it does not appear 
 that it was published for the literary world in general 
 during the lifetime of the author. That publication seems 
 to have taken place some years later, as we shall pre- 
 sently see, and under the direction of one who was eminently 
 well qualified for the task. 
 
 How or where Sedulius ended his life we have no means 
 of ascertaining. Some say he returned to Rome, where he 
 died about A.D. 449 ; others make him a bishop, but the see 
 which' he ruled cannot be ascertained ; while many think 
 he ended his life in Greece, amongst those dear associates of 
 whom he speaks so tenderly in the dedication. 
 
 But although the poet himself seems to have been 
 during his lifetime somewhat indifferent to worldly fame, 
 
 1 Jejuniis castigata, crationibus refecta, puritate mundissima. 
 
 C
 
 34 IRISH SCHOLARS BEFORE ST. PATRICK. 
 
 his friends did not forget him. 1 There is a considerable 
 variety of readings, but in substance all the MSS. agree that 
 Sedulius left his poems scattered amongst his papers, and 
 that the scattered portions cf the Carmen Paschale especially 
 were collected, arranged, and elegantly published by the 
 ex-consul, Turcius Ruffus Asterius. We find two consuls of 
 this name in the Fasti of the fifth century, one in A.D. 449, 
 whose colleague was Protogenes, and the other in A.D. 494, 
 whose colleague was Praesidius. Very many writers think 
 that the publisher of Sedulius was that Asterius, whose 
 consulate is fixed for A.D. 449. But as his praenomen was 
 Flavius, it is much more probable that the consul of A.D. 
 494, who was also the editor of the splendid Medicean 
 Codex of Virgil, must get the credit of collecting and pre- 
 serving the poems of the great Christian poet who was 
 perhaps Virgil's closest imitator. 
 
 Asterius prefixed to his edition an epigram, 2 which, 
 according to some authorities, is addressed to Macedonius, the 
 spiritual father of Sedulius ; but as Macedonius was at this 
 time, in all probability, some forty or fifty years dead, it 
 is much more natural to suppose that the dedication of 
 Asterius is addressed to the Pontiff Gelasius (A.D. 492-496), 
 especially as the Pope, about that very time, had passed a 
 signal eulogy on Sedulius, to which we shall immediately refer. 
 In the year A.D. 494, or as others think in A.D. 495, the Pontiff 
 held a council of seventy bishops, most learned men, in which 
 he published his famous decree, "De recipiendis et abjiciendis 
 Libris," which may be regarded as the first formal publica- 
 tion of an Index Expurgatorius. In this decree the Pontiff, 
 after reciting the canonical books of the Old and New 
 Testament, gives a list of the Fathers of the Church whose 
 writings he particularly recommends to the perusal of the 
 faithful. In this document emanating from the supreme 
 
 1 In most of the MSS. copies of his works we find the following para- 
 graph : " Hoc opus Sedulius in certas chartulas dispersum relinquit, quod 
 recollectum, adunatum, atque ad omnem elegantiam divulgatum est a 
 Turcio Euffo Asterio, vio claro, exconsule ordinario, atque patricio." 
 
 1 " Sume, sacer meritis, veracis dicta poetae, 
 
 Quae sine figmenti condita aunt vitio. 
 Quo caret alma fides, quo sanoti gratia Christi 
 Per quam Justus ait talia Sedulius." 
 
 Some critics suggest the reading : 
 
 " Summe sacer meritis, veri accipe dicta poetae." 
 "Which would leave no doubt that the epigram was addressed to Gelasius.
 
 SEDULIUS. 3 
 
 teaching authority in the Church, we find the following 
 honourable mention of Sedulius : 
 
 *'!TEM VENERANDI VIRI SEDULII PASCHALE OPUS, 
 QUOD HEROICIS DESCRIPSIT YERSIBUS, INSIGNI LAUDE 
 PRAEFERIMUS." 
 
 After this formal and emphatic approbation of the writings 
 of Sedulius by the Pope, his works speedily became popular 
 in all the monastic schools. Cassiodorus (A.D. 470-562), the 
 senator, statesman, and monk, closely studied the Christian 
 poet in his far-famed retreat on the Calabrian shore, and 
 proclaims him by excellence the "Poet of Truth." 1 Fortunatus, 
 the laureate of the royal and saintly Hadegonde, himself the 
 author of the Vexilla Regis and the Pange lingua, ranks the 
 " sweet Sedulius " with. Ambrosius, Jerome, and Augustine 2 . 
 The cruel Chilperic, an unworthy grandson of the great 
 Clovis, instead of trying to govern his people like a king, 
 spent his time in vain attempts to imitate the stately muse of 
 Sedulius, and of course failed miserably in the attempt. 
 Gregory of Tours tells us that his verses had no feet to stand 
 on, and were composed in defiance of all the laws of metre. 
 
 The Irish monks of Bobbio carefully copied the poems of 
 their great countryman, and the oldest existing MS. of the 
 poet, which is still to be seen in the Library of the Royal 
 Academy of Turin, is inscribed with the words Liber Sancti 
 Columbani de Bobbio. 
 
 Isidore of Seville, the greatest scholar of his age, compares 
 Sedulius with his own great countryman, Juvencus, and 
 recommends the study of their works in preference to those 
 of the Gentile poets. 3 
 
 Ildelfonsus describes him as the ' excellent ' Sedulius, the 
 poet of the Gospel, an eloquent orator, and truly Catholic 
 writer ; and another author declares that Sedulius left nothing 
 unlearnt necessary to make him a perfect theologian, as well 
 as a brilliant poet. 4 And in a somewhat similar strain 
 Sedulius has been eulogised by all subsequent critics, from 
 Bede to the present time. 
 
 Our remarks on the writings of Sedulius must necessarily 
 
 1 Liber xxvii. De Inst. Div. Lit. * L. 8. Carmen 9. 
 
 8 " Ambo pares lingua, florentes versibus ambo, 
 Fonte evangelico pocula larga ferunt, 
 Desine gentilibus ergo inseruisse poetis, 
 Dum bona tanta potes quid tibi Calliroem ?" 
 
 4 Guiliehnus Eysengrein in Catalogo anno 412.
 
 36 IRISH SCHOLARS BEFORE ST. PATRICK. 
 
 be very brief, and for convenience sake we snail follow tbe 
 order of the excellent edition by Arevalus as given in 
 Migne's Patrology, vol. xix. 
 
 His great work was the Carmen Paschale, as he himself 
 calls it, which is preceded by that dedicatory epistle to which 
 we have already referred. It is accompanied with a prose 
 version which he furnished at the special request of. 
 Macedonius, and which he calls the Opus Paschale. Tbe 
 prose only serves to make the poetry more intelligible for 
 half- educated scholars, like the similar prose translations in 
 the Delphin editions of the Latin poets. The style, too, of 
 the explanation is wordy and laboured, quite unlike the 
 limpid elegance of the poetry. The Carmen Paschale in the 
 MSS. is divided into five books. The first treats of the 
 creation and fall of man as well as of the principal miracles 
 recorded in the Old Testament ; the second gives a beautiful 
 account of the incarnation and birth of our Lord and the 
 wonders of the Holy Childhood; the third and fourth deal 
 with the miracles and note-worthy events of our Saviour's 
 public mission ; whilst the fifth details the passion, death, 
 and resurrection of Christ. It is thus a poetic history of the 
 wonders of the divine revelation as contained in the Old and 
 New Testament. Each of the books contains from three 1o 
 four hundred lines of heroic metre, in which the style and 
 language of Virgil are as closely imitated as the nature of the 
 subject will permit. The language is chaste, elegant, and 
 harmonious ; the verse is sweet and flowing, with scarcely a 
 single rugged line, although sometimes one meets with a 
 harsh or limping foot. The prosody, however, is on the 
 whole wonderfully accurate, and the sentences are con- 
 structed with true Yirgilian simplicity. The author had to 
 deal with very many delicate topics, and he was of course 
 greatly restricted in his choice of language by the necessities 
 of the metre ; yet in no single instance that we are aware of, 
 has any fault been found with the poet on the score of any 
 want of theological accuracy. The tone is generally elevated, 
 imparting dignity by choice language even to common-place 
 topics, as Virgil does in the Georgics ; but we cannoi say 
 that he often reaches the sublime. His muse takes few bold 
 and daring flights, but, on the other hand, she never descends 
 to what is mean or trivial. We would take the liberty of 
 strongly recommending the careful perusal of this beautiful 
 poem to priests who are anxious to read the great events of 
 sacred history, clothed in elegant language and adorned with 
 becoming imagery.
 
 SEDULIUS. 37 
 
 We have next the " Elegia," containing 110 lines in 
 elegiac metre, which form a collection of moral maxims and 
 examples borrowed from the personages and facts of sacred 
 history. 1 Every second line is made to begin and end with 
 the same clause, but used in different senses. The reader will 
 probably agree with us in thinking that this style of 
 composition is more likely to develop ingenuity than 
 inspiration. 
 
 After the " Elegia " is the truly beautiful hymn begin- 
 ning with the words, "A solis ortus cardine," some portions 
 of which are familiar to all our readers. It is an abecedarian 
 poem, the first stanza commencing with the first letter of the 
 alphabet, A, the second with B, and so on through the letters. 
 It contains 92 lines, or 23 stanzas, and details the leading 
 facts of the life of Christ in language that is very terse and 
 striking. The first seven stanzas are read by the Church in 
 the Lauds of her greatest festival on Christmas Day ; and 
 the next four at first Vespers of the Epiphany, but in the 
 first line for the latter feast the words 
 
 Hostis Herodes impie 
 Christum, 
 
 are changed into 
 
 Crudelis Herodes Deum 
 Begem. 
 
 It is noteworthy, too, that the Introit of the Mass of the 
 Blessed Virgin " Salve Sancta Parens enixa puerpera 
 Regem," as well as several other expressions in the Divine 
 Office, are borrowed from the Carmen Paschale of Sedulius. 2 
 At the end of his poems the author adds a short epigrammatic 
 prayer, in which he asks that the doctrines of the life of 
 Christ which he has written may remain engraven in his 
 heart, and so by doing the divine will he may secure a share 
 in the joys of heaven. 3 
 
 1 The construction is too artificial to please the critics of our time or 
 leave freedom of thought and language to the poet. 
 
 Primus ad ima ruit magna de luce superhus ; 
 , Sic homo cum tumuit primus ad ima ruit. 
 
 2 See Lib. ii., 1., 63 and 69. The whole passage, describing the Saviour's 
 miraculous birth, is very beautiful. 
 
 8 Haec tua perpetuae qui scripsi dogmata vitae 
 
 Corde, rogo, facias, Christe, manere meo ; 
 
 Ut tibi quae placeant, tete faciente, requirens 
 
 Gaudia caelorum, te duce, Christe, metam.
 
 38 IRISH SCHOLARS BEFORE ST. PATRICK. 
 
 "We have two double acrostic poems, eloquent with the 
 praises of the great iSedulius, one attributed to a certain 
 Liberius, of whom nothing further is known, and the other 
 to Belisarius, if that be the true reading, who in some MSS. 
 is described as a scholastic that is, master or professor of a 
 school of rhetoric. According to other critics this Belisarius, 
 who so highly eulogises our Sedulius, was no other than the 
 great general, the saviour of the Roman Empire, who was 
 driven by the ungrateful master whom he had served to beg 
 his bread. 
 
 What is most remarkable in these two poems, is that in 
 both the acrostic represents our author as SEDULIUS ANTISTES. 
 The latter term is usually applied, at least by Christian 
 writers, only to bishops, and certainly goes to show that the 
 poet was elevated to the episcopal dignity. Alcuin also 
 attributes the hymn, " A solis ortns cardine " to the 
 " Blessed Bishop Sedulius," and Sigebert of Gembloux 
 (died A. D. 1112), seems to have been of the same opinion. 
 Yet, in several MSS. he is spoken of simply as a priest, and 
 even of those authors who describe him as a bishop none has 
 determined his See. 
 
 It is very doubtful, too, whether our poet has any claim 
 to be venerated as a saint. Our latest Irish hagiologist, 1 
 following Colgan, gives a very full account of the venerable 
 Sedulius, under date of the 12th of February. But the name 
 does not occur in any Martyrology at home or abroad, for 
 the " Siatal bishop " on the 12th February, of the Martyr- 
 ology of Tallagh, is evidently the same as Siadhal, son of 
 Luath, Bishop of Dublin, who, according to the Donegal 
 Martyrology, died in A.D. 785. That the poet was, however, 
 a holy and venerable man, is abundantly evident from his 
 writings as well as from the high estimation in which he was 
 held both by contemporary and subsequent writers. Asterius, 
 his editor, calls him the " Just ; " Alciun calls him the 
 "Blessed;" another ancient writer describes him as "Sanctus;" 
 and our own Colgan justly designates him " the Venerable 
 Sedulius." That his fame as a Christian poet has been 
 wide and enduring is sufficiently evident from the fact that no 
 less than forty-one different editions of his works have been 
 published at various times and places for the last four hundred 
 years ; and we cannot help endorsing the indignant excla- 
 mation of a German critic " It is a shame that the Christian 
 poets should be so much neglected, that the youth of our 
 
 1 O'Hanlon, Lives of the Irish Saints, vol. ii., p. 487.
 
 CAELESTIUS AND PELAGIUS. 39 
 
 schools should know nothing even of the name of a writer 
 like Sedulius, who with equal piety and learning transferred 
 from profane to sacred subjects the style and sweetness of the 
 Mantuan bard." 1 
 
 III. CAELESTIUS AND PELAGIUS. 
 
 Ireland has also been credited with the doubtful honour 
 of having given birth to Caelestius, the friend and associate 
 of the celebrated heresiarch Pelagius. We believe that 
 notwithstanding the authority of many eminent Irish 
 scholars, we can show that Caelestius was not an Irishman, 
 and that the idea of his being a ' Scot ' arose from misunder- 
 standing a passage in the writings of St. Jerome, which 
 passage was the only authority ever alleged in favour of his 
 Irish origin. This celebrated passage is contained in the 
 Preface to the Saint's Commentaries on Jeremias. Here it 
 is "He (Grrunnius), though silent now himself, barks by 
 the mouth of the Alban dog, a corpulent and unwieldy brute, 
 better able to kick than to bite, who derives his origin from 
 the Scottish nation in the neighbourhood of Britain." 2 Now 
 so far as we know, this solitary sentence is the only original 
 authority for the Irish birth of Caelestius; yet as a matter 
 of fact it does not appear to refer to Caelestius at all, but to 
 Pelagius himself. Grrunnius, to whom the context clearly 
 shows that St. Jerome refers, was a nickname often given by 
 the saint to Bufinus of Aquileia. Rufinus was then (mutus} 
 silent, most probably in death, but still barks through his 
 disciple Pelagius not Caelestius who in the vigorous 
 controversial language of the saint is described as the Alban 
 or Scottish dog, rilled with the porridge of his native country 
 in the neighbourhood of Britain. As a matter of fact, 
 however, Jerome does not say that the person of whom he is 
 speaking was a Scot (whether of Erin or Alba), but that he 
 was of Scottish origin, which is a very different thing. His 
 words are " Habet progeniem Scotticae gentis." He is of 
 Scottish extraction, which can be very well said of Pelagius, 
 even though he were a Briton by birth. 
 
 1 Privata lectione evolvatur Sedulius antiquorum imitator, qui et verba 
 Publii Maronis et contexendi suavitatem a seculari ad sacrum argumentum, 
 turn scite turn pie accomodavit ; indignum sane est christianos poetas adeo 
 negligi ut ne nomen quidem juventuti scholasticae sit cognitum. Walch, 
 His. Crit., cap. 10, n. 7. 
 
 2 Ipse mutus latrat per Albinum (in some MS3. Alpinum) canein 
 grandem et corpulentum, et qui calcibus magis salvire possit quam 
 dentibus ; habet enim progeniem Scotticae gentis de Brittanorum vicinia. 
 Praef. in Lib. iii. , Jeremite.
 
 40 IRISH SCHOLARS BEFORE ST. PATRICK. 
 
 The great difficulty in the way of this explanation is that 
 Pelagius is always described as a Briton, not an Irishman or 
 Scotchman. As a fact, however, at that time Scotland was 
 included under the name of Britain; but whether it was or 
 not, St. Jerome does not say that Pelagius was a Scot, but 
 that he was of Scottish race, which is a very different thing, 
 and which is perfectly compatible with his British birth. 
 The authorities indeed in favour of his being in some sense 
 a Briton, are quite conclusive. St. Augustine, his greatest 
 opponent, frequently speaks of Pelagius as a Briton. 1 St. 
 Prosper of Aquitaine, who continued to assail him after the 
 death of Augustine, describes him as a ' British snake ;' 2 and 
 in another passage he speaks of him as nurtured amongst the 
 ' sea-girt Britons.' Elsewhere he describes Britain as the 
 native land (patrid) of the Pelagian heresy, which can be 
 true only in so far as it produced Pelagius himself. Marius 
 Mercator 3 says, like St. Jerome, that the first author of the 
 heresy was the Syrian Rufinus, but being too cunning to 
 expose himself to danger, he propagated his doctrines 
 through the agency of the ' British monk' Pelagius. Every- 
 thing, therefore, points to the fact that Pelagius was of 
 British birth, but of Scottish origin. St. Jerome's expres- 
 sion per Albinum canem seems to point to a Scot of Alba 
 rather than of Erin ; but in any case the Scots of both 
 countries, especially at this early period (A.D. 420), were of 
 the same race. If Britain be taken to include Scotland, as 
 it certainly did at that period, then ' de vicinia Brittanorum ' 
 must refer to Ireland ; but it must be borne in mind that 
 St. Jerome speaks not of Britain, but of the Britons quite 
 a different thing. 
 
 Whether he was of Irish or Scotch descent, Pelagius was 
 an able man. He appeared in Rome about the year A.D. 400. 
 St. Augustine says he lived there for a long time and taught 
 a school in that city. About the year A.D. 405 St. Chrysostom 
 complained of the defection from his own supporters of the 
 monk Pelagius, which would seem to imply that at that time 
 he was known and esteemed at Constantinople, where he 
 probably went to learn the Greek language, with which we 
 know for certain he was familiar. Before his departure from 
 Rome, at the approach of Alaric in A.D. 410, he had published 
 commentaries on the Pauline Epistles in which for the first 
 time in expounding Rom. chap. v. verse 12, he gave expression 
 to his heretical views. He had already acquired great 
 
 1 Epist. 185, No. 1. 2 Carmina. 3 Comminotorium.
 
 CA.ELESTIUS AND PELAGIUS. 41 
 
 influence in the imperial city, for Augustine says that he was 
 learned and acute, and that his letters were read by many 
 persons for the sake of their eloquence and pungency. 1 We 
 nave a very favourable specimen of his composition still 
 extant in his Epistle to the noble lady Demetrias, who was 
 quite as remarkable for her virtues as for her wealth and 
 learning. Augustine found it necessary to caution her 
 against the snares of Pelagius, and whoever reads this letter 
 will readily admit that the caution was by no means unneces- 
 sary, for in graceful and elegant language he conveys 
 excellent rules for the guidance of devout souls, just barely 
 flavoured with the views of his dangerous and subtle heresy, 
 so flattering to the instincts of noble and generous natures. 
 
 On the other hand there is nothing known in connection 
 with the history of Caelestius that could lead us to suppose 
 that he was either a Briton or a Scot. He was, it is said, of 
 noble birth most likely a Gaul or Italian but being from 
 infancy a eunuch he spent his youth in a monastery which at 
 that time (before A.D. 400) he certainly could not find in 
 Ireland. From this monastery he wrote three letters to his 
 relations, which as Gennadius tells us were of great utility 
 for the guidance of all persons really anxious to serve God. 2 
 He afterwards became an advocate (auditorialis scholasticus) 
 and was doubtless practising in the Roman Courts when, 
 about the year A.D. 400, he first met Pelagius in the imperial 
 city. The latter was very anxious to secure such an ally for 
 his own purposes, for Caelestius was a man of great eloquence 
 and courage, as well as of much keeness in disputation 
 acerrimi ingenii just the very thing the ruder British 
 Provincial wanted in his associate. Thus it came to pass 
 that Pelagius succeeded in alluring to his own views the 
 young and brilliant advocate, through whom he hoped to 
 disseminate his own doctrines throughout the chief cities of 
 the empire. But to suppose that such a man as Caelestius, 
 born of noble Christian parents, whose youth was spent in a 
 monastery, and who was able to write a spiritual treatise in 
 Latin before he left it, and afterwards became an advocate in 
 Rome to suppose that he was born in Ireland some fifty 
 years before the advent of St. Patrick is altogether out of the 
 question. As a matter of fact there is not a shadow of 
 ancient authority for any such assumption. 
 
 1 Propter acrimoniam et facundiam. 
 
 2 " Omni Deum desideranti necessarias."
 
 CHAPTER III 
 
 LEARNING IN IRELAND IN THE TIME OF 
 ST. PATRICK. 
 
 " 'Tis morn on the hills of Innisfail." 
 
 M'Oee. 
 
 WE now come to discuss the state of learning in Ireland 
 during- the sixty years commonly assigned to St. Patrick's 
 preaching, that is from A.D. 432 to 492. We have seen that 
 when the Saint landed on our shores, he did not, as is some- 
 times ignorantly asserted, find the Irish tribes utterly savage 
 and barbarous. He found an organized pagan priesthood, 
 who had a learning and philosophy of their own, as they had 
 both in Gaul and Britain, when these countries were con- 
 quered by the Romans. He found the customary laws of the 
 tribes reduced to a definite legal system, and administered by 
 a body of Brehons, or judges, who had been specially trained 
 for that office ; and he also found that the Annals of the 
 nation were carefully preserved, and that the territories, 
 rights, and privileges of the sub-kings were definitely ascer- 
 tained and faithfully recorded in a great national register. 
 The leading men of the tribes were certainly acquainted not 
 only with the primitive Ogham Alphabet, but also with the 
 letters, if not with the language, used in Britain and in Gaul 
 by the Romans. 
 
 If St. Patrick himself could learn the Irish language 
 during his captivity in Antrim, there was nothing to prevent 
 Irish captives learning something of the Roman customs and 
 Roman letters in Britain, and bringing that knowledge back 
 with them to Ireland. Our ports were more frequented 1 by 
 foreign merchants than the ports of Britain ; our chieftains 
 frequently harried their coasts and carried off both Gaulish 
 and British Christians as captives ; Irish princes were some- 
 times refugees in Britain, and British princes were sometimes 
 allies and sometimes refugees in Ireland. It was, therefore, 
 quite impossible that some knowledge of the language, and 
 of the arts of the British provincials should not, during a 
 period of three centuries, cross the British seas into Ireland. 
 
 1 Tacitus- Agricola, c. 24.
 
 ST. PATRICK'S EDUCATION. 43 
 
 All our Annals testify to the fact of this intercourse. Ireland 
 was not surrounded by a wall of brass, or by a trackless sea, 
 cutting off all communication with other lands. The wonder 
 is not that something of .Roman letters and civilization 
 should penetrate to Erin but the great wonder would be if 
 the thing were otherwise. 
 
 The great defect in the Irish social system, as we have 
 already observed, was the want of a strong central govern- 
 ment. It is true that the Gaedhlic tribes in Erin recognised 
 the supremacy of the High King of Tara ; but that recogni- 
 tion was merely nominal. There was no really effective 
 central government strong enough to cause its authority to 
 be enforced and respected throughout all the land. Able 
 princes, like Cormac Mac Art, arose from time to time, who 
 sought to correct this great evil. In proportion as they were 
 successful in reducing the sub-kings to obedience, they were 
 also able to extend the blessings of a yet imperfect civiliza- 
 tion, which, however, could never come to perfection without 
 an organized and settled government. 
 
 I. ST. PATRICK'S EDUCATION. 
 
 But now a great change came over all the land. St. 
 Patrick not only introduced the Christian religion into 
 Ireland, but profoundly modified the laws, customs, and 
 literature of the nation. To his influence in these respects 
 we wish to call attention at present ; but first of all, it is 
 necessary to understand the sources of his own intellectual 
 training, and the literary as well as the religious influences 
 that moulded his own mind. We do not propose to enter at 
 all into any of the manifold controversies that surround the 
 facts and dates of the life of our great Apostle, but merely to 
 reflect on those acts which his biographers generally admit. 
 
 It is agreed upon all hands that the Saint derived his 
 literary aquirements, such as they were, from Gaul. 1 Refer- 
 ence is made to three distinct sources whence he derived his 
 education to St. Martin, to St. Germanus, and to Saints of 
 the Island of Lerins in the Mediterranean. His biographers 
 are not agreed either as to the order in which our Saint 
 visited these masters of a spiritual life, nor the number of 
 years he spent under each, but all unite in pointing to these 
 three sources whence St. Patrick derived his learning and his 
 holiness. 
 
 1 It is clear from his own confession that Britain (Brittaniae) was his 
 native country (patria) ; but Britain then included Scotland.
 
 44 LEARNING IN IRELAND IN THE TIME OF ST. PATRICK. 
 
 It must be borne in mind that Patrick was made a captive 
 at the age of sixteen, and that he spent six years in captivity 
 on the slopes of Slieve Mish, in the county Antrim. His 
 education in his youth seems to have been much neglected, 
 for he tells us himself that although born of noble parents 
 according to the flesh his father, Calphurnius, was a decurio, 
 that is, a member of a local municipium, most probably on 
 the banks of the Clyde, in North Britain ; still he had little 
 or no knowledge of God, and could scarcely discern between 
 good and evil. The years of his captivity served to open his 
 mind to a higher spiritual life, but could afford him no oppor- 
 tunity of adding to his purely literary knowledge. 1 So when 
 he succeeded under divine guidance in making his escape at 
 the age of twenty-two, he was indeed a holy but certainly not 
 a learned young man. 
 
 Escaping to France according to the generally received 
 opinion, he first seems to have made his way to Tours, 
 towards the closing years of the fourth century, for the date 
 cannot be accurately fixed. At that time St. Martin, the 
 soldier Saint, was Bishop of Tours, and led a life of extraor- 
 dinary holiness and mortification at the monastery of Mar- 
 moutier, on the banks of the Loire, in the neighbourhood of 
 that city. Many writers say that Patrick's mother, Conchessa, 
 was a niece of St. Martin, and this fact would easily explain 
 why St. Patrick fled for refuge and guidance to his venerable 
 relative, whose fame at that time was spread over all France. 
 The story of the relationship is strange enough, seeing that 
 St. Martin was a native of Sabaria, in Pannonia, where he 
 was born about A.D. 316. But though strange, it is not 
 incredible, and goes far to explain the great veneration in 
 which St. Martin of Tours has always been held in Ireland. 
 The authors of the TJiird and Fifth Lives of St. Patrick, as 
 printed by Colgan, tell us that the young Patrick spent four 
 years under the guidance of St. Martin, who gave him, accord- 
 ing to Probus, the tonsure and religious habit in his monastery 
 of Marmoutier. It is not easy to fix the exact period. 
 According to the common opinion, Martin died in A.D. 397, so 
 that Patrick must have made his escape to Gaul in A.D. 393. 
 Others, however, fix the date of St. Martin's death in A.D. 400 
 or 402, so that we shall not be far wrong if we suppose these 
 years which Patrick spent under the guidance of St. Martin 
 to have been the closing years of the fourth century. 
 
 1 He became familiar with the Irish language, but it was, as he himself 
 implies, at the expense of the vernacular, which in his case was the provin- 
 cial Latin, a corrupt dialect.
 
 ST. PATRICK'S EDUCATION. 45 
 
 They were certainly fruitful years for the young Apostle. 
 In some respects the career of the soldier Saint was not un- 
 like that of Patrick himself hitherto. His parents were 
 gentiles, but Martin, in his youth, fled to the Church to 
 become a catechumen and prepare himself for a life of holi- 
 ness in the desert. Being, however, the son of a veteran 
 his father was a tribune in the imperial armies they forced him 
 at the age of fifteen to join the cavalry, and serve some twenty 
 campaigns under Constantius and Julian the Apostate, before 
 he recovered his freedom. He could, therefore, understand 
 the dangers and difficulties that beset the path of his young 
 relative, who was carried off a captive at the same age at 
 which he himself had been forced to become a soldier. No 
 one, too, was better qualified to guide the steps of Patrick up 
 the steep ascent of virtue, and prepare him for his future 
 apostolate than the aged soldier Saint. 
 
 The life of Martin and his monks at Marmoutier was the 
 marvel of all the West. We have the picture drawn by one 
 who witnessed it by the eloquent, nobly-born, high-souled 
 Sulpicius Severus, whose life of St. Martin is one of the most 
 charming biographies ever penned. 
 
 He was indeed, the greatest example of saintly mortifica- 
 tion hitherto seen in the West. When the people of Tours 
 clamoured for Martin to become their Bisnop, several 
 prelates objected to his elevation, because his person was 
 contemptible, his looks lowly, his clothes filthy, and his hair 
 unkempt. The young soldier, it seems, had long before put 
 off the mien and garb of a warrior, and put on that true 
 nobility of soul, which so rarely accompanies gaudy apparel 
 and lofty deportment. But in A.D. 371 they made him Bishop 
 all the same in spite of his mean appearance, still Martin in 
 no way changed his manner of life in consequence. He built 
 himself a little cell close by his church, and there he spent 
 his days when he was not preaching to the people or travers- 
 ing his diocese on foot. 
 
 But too many crowded round his cell in the great city, 
 and then he betook himself to Marmoutier. It was at that 
 time a lonely valley, less than two miles from Tours, on the 
 right or north bank of the Loire, shut in on one side by a line 
 of steep cliffs, and enclosed on the other by a sweep of the 
 river, which at either extremity of the valley rushed close 
 under the rocks and thus completely isolated the valley on 
 both sides. Here Martin built himself a wooden cell, and 
 was soon surrounded by a crowd of monks anxious to place 
 themselves under his guidance. They lived for the most
 
 46 LEARNING IN IRELAND IN THE TIME OF ST. PATRICK. 
 
 part in the damp caverns between the cliffs that overhung 
 the stream. At one period he had eighty monks under his 
 control in this desert valley. They had no property of their 
 own, says S. Severus, but lived in common, neither buying 
 nor selling anything. The younger members spent most of 
 their time in writing and sacred study ; the older gave them- 
 selves up to prayer. They seldom left their cells except to 
 go to the Church, or to take their solitary meal in the 
 evening, it would seem post horamjejunii and they never 
 tasted wine except in sickness. They were clad in hair cloth 
 anything else they regarded as a criminal indulgence. Yet 
 many of them were amongst the noblest in the land, and 
 several of them afterwards became bishops of various cities. 
 Such was the society at Marmoutier of which our St. 
 Patrick became a member. There is no doubt, that as one of 
 the juniors, he gave himself up to prayer, penance, and sacred 
 study in order to prepare himself for that high mission of 
 which God as yet had only given him a dim vision. Many 
 writers say that Martin must have been dead before Patrick's 
 arrival in Gaul, and that our saint did not come to Tours 
 until several years later, probably about the year A.D. 409 or 
 410. It matters little for our argument whether Martin was 
 himself alive or not his spirit reigned in Marmoutier, his 
 rule and his disciples were there : 
 
 " Dead was the lion ; but his lair was warm ; 
 In it I laid me and a conquering glow 
 Rushed up into my heart. Discourse I heard 
 Of Martin still his valour in the Lord, 
 His rugged warrior zeal, his passionate love 
 For Hilary, his vigils and his fasts, 
 And all bis pitiless warfare on the Powers 
 Of Darkness." 1 
 
 When Patrick had learned the discipline and divine 
 wisdom of Marmoutier he seems to have spent some years 
 with his friends in Britain, 2 and then in order to perfect 
 himself hi sacred studies, he put himself under the guidance 
 of the great St. Germanus of Auxerre, who at that time 
 enlightened all the Gauls. 
 
 Germanus was of noble birth, and completed his studies 
 in Rome, where he adopted the profession of the law and 
 practised for some time in the Courts with great applause. 
 He was eagerly sought after by the first society in the 
 
 1 Legends of St. Patrick, by Aubrey de Vere. 
 
 * This is manifest from the Confession Et iterum post paucos annos 
 eram in Britannis cum parentibus meia.
 
 ST. PATRICK'S EDUCATION. 47 
 
 capital, and having married a rich and noble lady he settled 
 at Auxerre, where he was made governor of the province. 
 He was passionately devoted to the chase, and used to hang 
 the spoils of his hunting expeditions on a stately pear tree 
 that grew in the centre of the city, where they were eagerly 
 scanned by an admiring crowd. The Bishop, St. Amator, 
 not relishing this vain display, had the tree cut down in the 
 absence of Germanus, who, hearing of this outrage on the 
 chief magistrate of the city, sought out the prelate, breathing 
 vengeance. But the Bishop seems to have disarmed his 
 resentment, and shortly after sensible of his own approaching 
 end, and finding Germanus in the church, he ordered the 
 doors to be closed, and the people crowding round the 
 magistrate took off his fine clothes, while Amator tonsured 
 him on the spot, cutting clean away all his flowing hair. The 
 event proved that it was done by a divine inspiration. 
 
 After the death of Amator, Germanus became Bishop of 
 Auxerre, and led a life of extraordinary virtue and austerity, 
 as we know from his biography written by an almost con- 
 temporary author, Constantius. 
 
 From the moment he was tonsured, his wife became to 
 him as a sister ; he sold his property which was considerable, 
 and gave the proceeds to the poor and to the Church. His 
 food was the coarsest and scantiest ; he never ate wheaien 
 bread, nor used any wine, or oil, or even vinegar, or vege- 
 tables. Barley bread and water, or a little milk, was his only 
 refection. Twice a year, at Christmas and Easter, he took a 
 little wine with water. He tasted ashes before his food ; 
 and threshed and ground with his own hands the barley of 
 which his bread was made. A tunic and hood over a hair 
 shirt were his only clothing in winter and summer ; his bed 
 was made of planks strewn with ashes, which soon became as 
 hard as the board itself. He slept in his clothes, seldom 
 removing anything but his belt and sandals, and his only 
 covering at night was a piece of coarse cloth. He had no 
 pillow for his head, and spent a great part of the night in 
 tears and prayers for the sins of his life. Such was the 
 episcopal life of the brilliant Germanus, the statesman and 
 orator, the delight of Roman society, the keen huntsman in 
 the field, the accomplished magistrate in the court; and such 
 was the second teacher of St. Patrick. The Irish Lives call 
 him the ' tutor ' of our apostle, and all our ancient authorities 
 are agreed that Patrick spent several years under the guid- 
 ance of this holy and learned man. Some think he spent 
 thirty years under Germanus ; this, however, is an impossi-
 
 48 LEARNING IN IRELAND IN THE TIME OF ST. PATRICK. 
 
 bility for Germanus became bishop in A.D. 418, and went to 
 Britain with St. Lupus of Troyes to extirpate the Pelagian 
 heresy in A.D. 429 two years defore the date of St. Patrick's 
 own mission. Others say he spent fourteen years with Ger- 
 maiius and this is more like the truth. One thing is certain, 
 that our apostle owes to Germanus most of his sacred learning, 
 which was very considerable as we shall see ; and he learned 
 not only " Queenly Science, and the forest huge of Doctrine," 
 but what is more, he learned the wisdom that rules, the 
 prudence that moderates, the patience that spares, and above 
 all and beyond all the life hidden with Christ in God. 
 
 Germanus had built a monastery beyond the river in view 
 of his episcopal city, but completely cut off from its noise and 
 bustle. Every day he was wont to cross the stream in his 
 little skiff to visit and instruct his beloved monks, of whom 
 St. Patrick was one for many years. Thus slowly and surely, 
 under the guidance of the holiest and most learned men in 
 the West, did God prepare His servant Patrick for the work 
 before him. 
 
 The Scholiast on St. Fiacfs Life of St. Patrick, which 
 was written in the early part of the sixth century, tells us 
 that Patrick accompanied Germanus on his journey to 
 Britain in A.D. 429. If so, and the statement is highly probable, 
 Patrick must have learned much during that memorable 
 journey, and witnessed the famous * Alleluia Victory' over 
 the Saxons and Picts. These barbarians were just then 
 making one of their usual incursions on the helpless 
 Christians of Wales, when Germanus hearing of the ap- 
 proaching tumult, and learning the cause, led out on Easter 
 Sunday his newly baptized catechumens, and having posted 
 the mighty multitude amongst the steep hills that overlooked 
 the valley through which the enemy had to pass, he calmly 
 waited their approach. When they entered the valley, 
 suddenly the mighty shout of the 'Alleluia' re-echoed 
 through the mountains, and the affrighted barbarians think- 
 ing themselves surrounded by an immense army, fled in 
 confusion without striking a blow. Germanus seems to 
 have returned to France in A.D. 430 or 431. 
 
 It is said by most of our ancient authorities that it was 
 Germanus who sent St. Patrick to Celestine to receive 
 episcopacy and authority for the Irish mission. 1 Celestine at 
 
 J The Tripartite says that " Caelestinus, Abbot of Home, read Orders 
 over Patrick," and the Scholiast on Fiacc's Hymn, says that Gennanua 
 said, "Go to Caelestinus that he may confer Orders upon thee, for he is 
 proper to confer them." Stokes 1 Edition, vol. ii., 419.
 
 ST. PATRICK'S EDUCATION. 49 
 
 first refused, as he had already in A.D. 429 sent Palladius with 
 authority to preach to the Scots, who believed in Christ 
 " Ad Scotos in Christum credemes." But when news was 
 brought to Rome by his disciples, Augustine and Benedict, 
 of the failure of that mission and the death of Palladius, 
 Germanus sent Patrick again to Rome accompanied by a 
 priest called Segetius, who gave testimony of his merits and 
 desires. Perhaps it was in the interval between these two 
 journeys that St. Patrick went to the Island of Lerins, near 
 Cannes, on the coast of the department, now called the 
 Alpes Maritimes. 
 
 Very many of our ancient authorities mention this visit 
 to Lerins, or some other of the rocky islets that abound in 
 that part of the Mediterranean, and several of which were 
 then inhabited by holy men. It is said expressly in the 
 hymn of St. Fiacc, the oldest of St. Patrick's lives, that he 
 studied the canons with Germanus, that the angel sent him 
 across the Alps, and that he staid in the islands of the 
 Tyrrhene Sea. It is not easy to fix the date of this visit nor 
 its duration ; it is, however, in itself extremely probable, 
 independently of the high authority of Fiacc' s Metrical Life, 
 as well as of the Third Life, and Probus' Fifth Life. The 
 Third Life represents our saint as spending several years in 
 an island called Tamerencis, or as Probus puts it, with the 
 barefooted hermits in a certain island of the sea. This 
 island in all probability was Lerins, and the barefooted 
 hermits were the monks of St. Honoratus, who was thus the 
 third teacher of St. Patrick. 
 
 "When Honoratus flying fame and friends came to Lerins 
 In A.D. 410, it was covered with dense shrubberies, through 
 whoee tangled masses innumerable serpents glided and 
 scared away the fishermen, who chanced to land on the barren 
 and inhospitable rock. But Honoratus was not to be 
 daunted. With a few faithful companions he set to work, 
 and soon cleared a space for their cells, and for such patches 
 of agriculture, as would supply their scanty needs. The 
 monks were patient and laborious ; the soil was naturally 
 not ungrateful. The serpents were banished, the brakes 
 were all cut down, and fruit trees planted in their stead. 
 There was a bright sky above, and glittering seas around ; 
 snow-capped mountains arose in the blue distance ; orange 
 groves wafted their delicious fragrance over the waters, so 
 that Lerins became an Eden, where the sights of nature were 
 as fair, and the hearts of the men as pure, as they were in 
 Paradise. There, too, St. Honoratus, afterwards raised in 
 
 D
 
 50 LEARNING IN IRELAND IN THE TIME OF ST. PATRICK. 
 
 A.D. 429 to the See of Aries, founded a famous school which 
 was long celebrated in the south of Europe, and produced 
 some of the most distinguished scholars of the fifth century. 
 Such was their piety and learning that all the cities round 
 about strove emulously to have monks from Lerins for their 
 bishops. 
 
 This was the last school in which St. Patrick made his 
 final preparation before presenting himself to St. Celestine, 
 and receiving his commission to preach the Gospel in 
 Ireland. Not rashly surely, nor without due preparation in 
 the greatest and holiest schools of the Continent, did Patrick 
 undertake the work of God. Letters, borne by angels con- 
 taining the voice of the Irish, had long been calling him ; 
 the wailings of the children from the wood of Focluth, by 
 the shore of the western sea, whence he had escaped to 
 France, were ringing in his ears night and day imploring 
 Patrick to come and walk once more amongst them. He 
 had prepared himself most carefully for his great mission ; 
 he was duly commissioned by St. Celestine, as both the 
 Tripartite and the Scholiast on Fiacc's hymn expressly 
 informs us; he received the blessing of the beloved teachers 
 under whose guidance he had lived so long; and thus full of 
 courage and trust in God, he set out for the difficult and 
 dangerous task of converting the Irish nation to the faith of 
 Christ. 
 
 II. ST. PATRICK'S LITERARY LABOUR IN IRELAND. 
 
 St. Patrick not only converted the Irish, but purified 
 their laws, gave new inspiration to their Bards, and laid the 
 foundations of that system of education which for the next 
 three centuries made Ireland the light and glory of all 
 western Europe. We propose briefly to sketch his labours 
 in these respects. 
 
 When Patrick arrived in Ireland in A.D. 432, after a 
 fruitless attempt to convert his old master Milcho, he went 
 straight to Tara, where King Laeghaire was then holding 
 his court, and as might be expected, he at once came into 
 collision with the Druids. They had already, according to 
 the Tripartite, foretold his advent, for they were mighty 
 magicians, and the two chief Druids of Erin, Lochru and 
 Luchat the Bald, were then at Tara, as it was the time of 
 the great Feast, and Tara was " the head of the idolatry 
 and druidism of Erin." 1 Patrick lit his paschal fire at Slane 
 
 i Tripartite.
 
 ST. PATRICK'S LITERARY LABOUR IN IRELAND. 51 
 
 on Holy Saturday, and when the two Druids beheld from the 
 green slopes of Tara the strange fire, they at once told the 
 king that the flame must be extinguished before 
 morning, or it could never be extinguished in Erin. The 
 angry monarch ordered his horses to be yoked, and set out 
 to meet the bold stranger, who had dared to kindle the 
 forbidden flame in sight of the royal palace. The Druid 
 Lochru fiercely and enviously assailed Patrick in presence of 
 the king at Slane, but at Patrick's prayer the impious man 
 was first raised high in the air, and falling down his brains 
 were dashed on the ground before the king. Now although 
 the monarch and his attendants feared much, and in their 
 fear dared not touch the Apostle, yet we find that next day 
 when Patrick suddenly appeared at Tara, the second Druid, 
 Luchat the Bald, tried to poison him, but that attempt 
 failing, he challenged the Saint to contend with him in 
 miracles before all the people. Patrick readily accepted the 
 challenge, and of course defeated the Druid, who was con- 
 sumed to ashes in an attempt to save himself from the 
 flames, while the youthful Benignus escaped the fiery ordeal 
 unhurt. 
 
 These miraculous stories at least express one undoubted 
 truth, that the conflict between Christianity and druidism 
 was a conflict to the death. One or the other must be utterly 
 routed; there could be no league between light and darkness, 
 between Christ and Belial. The victory gained over druidisoa 
 at Tara was conclusive ; all the nation felt and recognised the 
 might of the man who had conquered the royal Druids ; for 
 it was their proud boast that they held dominion over the 
 elements and could make them work their will. But now 
 there appeared a mightier man than they, who utterly 
 vanquished them, and bound in strong bonds the Princes of 
 Darkness, the real authors of their wondrous deeds. Else- 
 where indeed they strove to renew the conflict, as when 
 Patrick crossed the Shannon, the Druids of Cruachan, Moel 
 and Caplait, brought a thick darkness over all the plain of 
 Magh Aei. But, again, the power of Patrick's God van- 
 quished them the darkness was miraculously dissipated by 
 Patrick, and they themselves were converted to the faith of 
 Christ. 
 
 Yet when Patrick had proved the might of the God 
 whom he adored, although he burnt the idolatrous books at 
 Tara, and overturned the idols of Magh Slecht in Leitrim, 
 and gave no toleration to heathen rites, still, in other 
 respects he dealt tenderly with the failings and even with the
 
 52 LEARNING IN IRELAND IN THE TIME OF ST. PATRICK. 
 
 superstitions of the people. Their sacred places were conse- 
 crated and utilized in many cases for Christian worship ; the 
 Druids themselves were, when truly converted, not deemed 
 unworthy of a place in the Christian ministry ; the wells and 
 streams were blessed by the Apostle, where pagan rites had 
 been often celebrated, and the ancient festivals of the Druids 
 were now made to do honour to the Christian saints. Thus 
 it came to pass that the mid-summer festival of paganism 
 became henceforward a festival in honour of John the 
 Baptist, and November Eve of the Druids was made the 
 Vigil of All Saints. 
 
 III. ST. PATRICK REFORMS THE BREHON LAWS, 
 
 One of St. Patrick's greatest works was his reform and 
 ratification of the ancient Brehon Laws as embodied in the 
 great compilation known as the Senchns Mor, or Great 
 Antiquity. His labours in this respect claim special attention 
 for the Brehon Code prevailed in the greater part of Ireland 
 down to the year A.D. 1600, and even still its influence is felt 
 in the feelings and habits of the people. The laws of a nation 
 necessarily exercise a great and permanent influence in 
 forming the mind and character of the nation ; nor can the 
 provisions of the Brehon Code be safely ignored by those 
 whose duty it is even now to legislate for Ireland. 
 
 As explained before, the Brehon Code, which St. Patrick 
 found in Ireland, owed its existence mainly to three sources, 
 first to decisions of the ancient judges (of whom the most 
 distinguished was Sean, son of Aighe), given in accordance 
 with the principles of natural justice, and handed down by 
 tradition ; secondly, to the enactments of the Triennial 
 Parliaments, known as the Great Feis of Tara ; thirdly, to 
 the customary laws, which grew up in the course of ages and 
 regulated the social relations of the people, according to the 
 principles of a patriarchal society, of which the hereditary 
 chief was the head. This great Code naturally contained 
 many provisions that regulated the druidical rights, privi- 
 leges, and worship, all of which had to be expunged. The 
 Irish, too, were a passionate and warlike race, who rarely 
 forgave injuries or insults, until they were atoned for accord- 
 ing to a strict law of retaliation, which was by no means in 
 accordance with the mild and forgiving spirit of the Gospel. 
 In so far as the Brehon Code was founded on this principle, 
 it was necessary for St. Patrick to abolish or amend its 
 provisions. Moreover, the new Church claimed its own 
 rights and privileges, for which it was important to secure
 
 ST. PATRICK REFORMS THE BRKHON LAWS. 53 
 
 formal legal sanction, and to have embodied in the great 
 Code of the Nation. This was of itself a difficult and 
 important task. 
 
 The Senchus Mor explains the motives that prompted 
 the revision of the Brehon Code with great clearness. 
 Dubhthach Mac Ua Lugair, the Chief Poet and Brehon of 
 Erin, was one of the first to believe in Patrick's Gospel at 
 Tara ; and it happened to be his duty to pronounce judgment 
 on the man who slew Odhran, Patrick's Charioteer. There- 
 upon Patrick and Dubhthach convoked the men of Erin to a 
 conference at Tara, as it would seem, and Dubhthach 
 explained all that Patrick had achieved since his arrival in 
 Erin, and how he had overcome Laeghaire, and his Druids 
 by the great signs and wonders which he had wrought. 
 " Then all the men of Erin bowed down in obedience to the 
 will of God and St. Patrick. It was then that all the pro- 
 fessors of the sciences in Erin were assembled, and each of 
 them exhibited his art before Patrick in the presence of every 
 chief in Erin. It was then too that Dubhthach was ordered 
 to exhibit the judgments, and all the poetry of Erin, and 
 every law which prevailed amongst the men of Erin, through 
 the law of nature, and the law of the seers, and in the judg- 
 ments of the island of Erin, and in the poets," who were at 
 first the j udges. 
 
 "Now the judgments of true nature which the Holy 
 Ghost 1 had spoken through the mouths of the Brehons and 
 just poets of the men of Erin from the first occupation of 
 this island down to the reception of the faith, were all 
 exhibited by Dubhthach to Patrick. Whatever did not clash 
 with the Word of God, in the written Law, and in the New 
 Testament, and with the consciences of the believers, was 
 confirmed in the laws of the Brehons by Patrick, and by the 
 ecclesiastics and chieftains of Erin, for the law of nature had 
 been quite right except the faith and its obligations, and the 
 harmony of the Church and the people. And this is the 
 Senchits." 
 
 This great conference took place in the year A.D. 438. Of 
 course the work thus briefly summarised was not done in a 
 day. A regular Commission was appointed consisting of 
 nine learned men representing the various classes and 
 interests of the entire nation. 
 
 This Commission of Nine from whom the Senchus was 
 
 1 What is naturally just comes from the Holy Ghost, as the author of 
 the Natural Law.
 
 51 LEARNING IX IRELAND IN THE TIME OF ST. PATRICK. 
 
 called the Nofis, or Knowledge of Nine consisted of three 
 Kings, three Bishops, and three men of Science. The Kings 
 were Laeghaire, Core, and Daire ; the Bishops were Patrick, 
 Benignus, and Cairnech ; the men of Science, or antiquaries 
 as they are called by the Four Masters, were Dubhthach 
 himself, Chief Poet and Brehon of all Erin, Rossa, a Doctor 
 of the Berla Feini, or legal dialect, which was very abstruse, 
 and Fergus, a Poet, who represented the most learned and 
 influential class in the country. Evidently Patrick had 
 studied under Germanus to some purpose ; no one can help 
 admiring the skill which he displayed in organizing and 
 selecting this great Commission. 
 
 It has been said that the members of this Commission, 
 especially Core and Cairnech, could not have been present 
 from A.D. 438 to 441, that the former was dead, and the latter 
 not yet born, seeing that he died, according to Colgan, in 
 A.D. 534 nearly a hundred years later. This is not the 
 place to enter into details; the answer, however, is very 
 simple. King Core was, it is true, grandfather of Aenghus 
 Mac Nadfraich, who when a youth was baptized by Patiick 
 at Cashel, in A.D. 445. But the latter had not then commenced 
 his reign, and his grandfather may have been alive in A.D. 
 441, and for several years later, for we know, both from the 
 Book of Rights, and the poems of Dubhthach, that he was a 
 contemporary of St. Patrick. 
 
 As to the alleged death of Cairnech in A.D. 530, that 
 Cairnech, whose festival day is set down on the 28th of May, 
 was quite different from St. Cairnech of Tuilen (now Tulane 
 in Meath), whose festival is the 16th of May, and who is said 
 to have been one of the British saints, probably from 
 Cornwall, that accompanied St. Patrick to Ireland. He it 
 was who was chosen to act on the Commission which pro- 
 duced the Senchus Mor. 
 
 Benignus, was a mere boy of some sixteen years of age 
 when Patrick stayed for a night at the mouth of the 
 Nanny River near Duleek, and being weary from his journey 
 the Saint fell asleep on the green sward. Then the boy 
 gathered sweet-smelling flowers and tenderly laid them in 
 the Saint's bosom as he slept. "Stop doing that lest thou 
 awake Patrick," said the others ; and thereupon Patrick 
 awoke, and blessed the boy, and foretold that he was to be 
 the heir of his kingdom. So the boy was baptized and ever 
 afterwards followed the Saint, who appointed him his 
 Coadjutor Bishop in the See of Armagh, so early as A.D. 450. 
 Benignus being young and carefully trained by St. Patrick,
 
 ST. PATRICK REFORMS THE BREHON LAWS. 55 
 
 and also learned in the Irish tongue, in all probability acted 
 as Secretary to the Commission, and drafted with his own 
 hands the laws that were sanctioned by the Seniors. Accord- 
 ing to O'Donovan he was also the original author of the 
 famous Chronicle called the Psalter of Cashel, which gives a 
 full account of the laws, rights and prerogatives of the 
 Monarchs of Ireland, and especially of the Kings of Cashel. 
 He seems also to have been the original author of the Book 
 of Rights, although in its present form it gives manifest 
 proof of considerable changes, and much later emendations. 
 Daire, the only remaining member of whom it is necessary 
 to make any remark, seems to have been the same who 
 granted Armagh to St. Patrick as a site for his Cathedral, 
 and whose daughter was one of the first, if not the very first 
 of the Irish maidens, who took the veil from the hands of 
 St. Patrick, and with her companions, some the daughters of 
 kings, spent her life of utter purity in working vestments for 
 the priests, and altar-cloths for the service of the Cathedral. 
 Yet romance was mingled with her name, for she : 
 
 " The best and fairest, 
 King Daire's daughter, Erenait by name, 
 Had loved Benigmis in her Pagan years. 
 He knew it not ; full sweet to her his voice, 
 Chanting in choir. One day through grief of love 
 The maiden lay as dead ; Benignus shook 
 Dews from the font above her, and she woke, 
 With heart emancipate that out-soared the lark, 
 Lost in the blue heavens. She loved the Spouse of Souls." 1 
 
 Such was the Commission of Nine selected by St. Patrick 
 to purify the ancient pagan Code. We have still in existence 
 of the fruit of their labours substantially unchanged, although 
 as we might expect, a vast mass of accretions, in the shape of 
 commentaries and glosses, has gathered round the original 
 text. The Nine were, however, the real authors of the 
 Senckus Mor, which still furnishes the most abundant and 
 authentic materials for the study of our national history. It 
 is a very large work, and the archaic text was so obscure that 
 even O'Donovan and O'Curry were sometimes unable to 
 explain its meaning. It is certainly the greatest monument 
 in existence of the learning and civilization of the ancient 
 Gaedhlic race in Erin. 
 
 St. Patrick not only reformed the State Organization, he 
 also established a Church Organization in Ireland. He 
 knew well that it was not enough to preach, and baptize, 
 
 1 Aubrey de Vere. Legends of St. Patrick.
 
 56 LEARNING IN IRELAND IN THE TIME OF ST. PATRICK. 
 
 and build churches ; it was necessary, if his work was to 
 endure, to train a native ministry, and organize the native 
 Church in harmony with the institutions and character of 
 the Celtic tribes in Ireland. It was a very difficult task ; 
 for the tribes were still very simple and primitive in their 
 habits, and were moreover devotedly attached to the tribal 
 institutions, which had come down to them from a remote 
 antiquity. 
 
 In accomplishing this task, which he did with perfect 
 success, Patrick displayed singular firmness and prudence. 
 Whenever there was question of principle, that is, of the 
 truths of the Gospel and the teaching of the Church, he was, 
 as might be expected, unyielding as the rock. But, on the 
 other hand, he was no root-and-branch reformer; he dpalt 
 most tenderly with the usages and with the prejudices of the 
 people. He utilized whatever was good in their existing 
 habits and instructions, reformed what was imperfect, and 
 lopped off what was evil. With druidism, for instance, he 
 could make no terms. There could be no alliance between 
 Christ and Belial ; it must be utterly rooted out of the land. 
 Not so with the Brehons, and the Brehon Code. He made no 
 attempt to introduce the Roman Civil Law into Ireland ; it 
 would have been utterly unsuited to the tribal system. But 
 he reformed the Brehon Code, and retained " all the judg- 
 ments of a true nature, which the Holy Ghost had spoken 
 through the mouths of the Brehons, and the just Poets of 
 the men of Erin," thus winning over to his side that in- 
 fluential Order, who might otherwise have been arrayed 
 against the propagation of the Gospel. 
 
 In like manner he dealt with the Bards. In a spirit of 
 consummate prudence, he sought to secure the aid of that 
 powerful corporation for his infant Church, and succeeded in 
 establishing a friendly alliance with the Arch-Poet of Erin. 
 Dubthach Mac Ua Lugair held the twofold office of Chief 
 Poet and Chief Brehon of Ireland, and St. Patrick utilized 
 his influence and his services in both capacities. He was 
 the working head of the Commission for the reformation of 
 the Brehon Laws ; but St. Patrick seems also to have secured 
 his influence as Chief Poet in procuring eligible candidates 
 for the sacred ministry from the schools of the Bards the 
 most lettered class in the community. It was thus the, 
 young poet, Fiacc of Sletty, was ordained by Patrick on the 
 advice and at the suggestion of Dubthach. St. Patrick 
 indeed had every reason to be grateful to the Arch-Poet; he 
 was the first to believe in the Saint's teaching at Tara, and
 
 ST. PATRICK REFORMS THE BREHON LAWS. 67 
 
 rose up to do him honour even against the king's command ; 
 he aided in reforming the laws ; he gave his most promising 
 young pupils for the service of the altar, including several 
 of his own sons, who otherwise would doubtless have fol- 
 lowed the profession of their father. 
 
 This friendly alliance between St. Patrick and the Bardic 
 Order is personified in the story of Ossian's relations with 
 the Saint. According to the legend the venerable old man 
 had long survived the fall of his house, and the destruction 
 of the Fenian chivalry on the fatal field of Gabhra, yet lived 
 on to find himself friendless and helpless under a new and 
 strange order of things in Christian Erin. But Patrick in 
 the true spirit of the Gospel took the homeless old man 
 under his own protection, and, treating him with the greatest 
 generosity and forbearance, sought to console him for the 
 vanished glories of the heroic past, and fill his mind with 
 brighter visions of a more glorious and immortal future 
 beyond the grave : 
 
 "Patrick, this other boon I crave, 1 
 
 That I to thee in heaven may sing 
 Full loud the glories of the brave, 
 And Fionn, my sire and king." 
 
 "Oisin, in heaven the praises swell 
 
 To God alone from soul and saint ; 
 Then Patrick, I their deeds will tell 
 In little whisper faint." 
 
 " Prince of thy country's tuneful choir, 
 
 Thou wert her golden tongue, 
 Sing thou the new strain, ' I believe,' 
 Give thou to God her song." 
 
 It was in this spirit Patrick dealt with the Bards of Erin. 
 They might keep their harps, and sing the songs of Erin's 
 heroic youth, as in the days of old. But the great Saint 
 taught them how to tune their harps to loftier strains than 
 those of the banquet-hall or the battle-march. He sought to 
 drive out from their songs the evil spirit of undying hate and 
 rancorous vengeance, to impress the poet's mind with some- 
 thing of the divine spirit of Christian charity, and to soften 
 the fierce melody of his war-songs with cadences of pity for a 
 fallen foe. He taught the sons of the Bards how to chaunt 
 the psalms of David, and sing together the sweet music of 
 the Church's hymns. Thus by slow degrees their wild ways 
 
 1 The Legends of St. Patrick, by Aubrey de Vere.
 
 58 LEARNING IN IRELAND IN THE TIME OF ST. PATRICK. 
 
 were tamed, their fierce hearts were softened, and the evil 
 spirit of Discord gave place to the heavenly spirit of brotherly 
 Love. 
 
 The Irish people have been always passionately fond of 
 music, and this was especially so in those early times when 
 other great attractions were entirely wanting. There can 
 be no doubt that the Church music exercised a great in- 
 fluence in attracting the new converts to the services of the 
 clergy both in the monastic and secular Churches a fact of 
 which St. Patrick was fully sensible. Hence we find that 
 from the very beginning he made provision to have his new 
 converts trained in psalmody. 
 
 St. Benignus, of whom we have already spoken, the 
 sweet and gentle boy, who strewed the flowers in Patrick's 
 bosom, and would not be taken from his side, is called 
 " Patrick's Psalm-Singer" in the Lives of the Saint, as well 
 as in the Annals of the Four Masters. 
 
 r ihis plainly signifies that Patrick selected Benignus, 
 doubtless on account of his sweet voice and skill in music, 
 to be what should be now called his choirmaster. Whenever 
 a new Church and new congregation was founded, it would be 
 the duty of Benignus from such materials as were at hand, 
 to try and organize a Church choir, and conduct the musical 
 service. He seems to have accompanied St. Patrick in all 
 his earlier missionary journeys, and doubtless this would be 
 the principal duty of the gentle youth who so well deserved 
 his name. 
 
 This brings us to consider what provision St. Patrick 
 made for training up a native ministry in the Irish Church, 
 which would be competent to continue and perfect his work. 
 The question is a very interesting one, and intimately con- 
 nected with our subject ; but the means of furnishing an 
 answer are exceedingly scanty, and can only be gleaned with 
 difficulty from isolated passages recorded in the Acts of the 
 Apostle of Ireland. 
 
 The earliest instance on record is that of St. Benignus 
 himself, which shows that from the very beginning of his 
 missionary career, St. Patrick had this purpose of training 
 up a native ministry to continue his work strongly before his 
 mind. When the Saint was on the point of starting on his 
 journey from the house of the father of Benignus, he had one 
 foot on the ground and the other in his chariot, when the 
 boy rushed up, and caught hold of Patrick's foot with his 
 
 1 Almost every member of the family could play on the harp. See 
 Gerald Barry's Descnptio Kambriae, p. 183.
 
 ST. PATRICK REFOMS THE BREHON LAWS. 59 
 
 two hands, crying out, " Oh, let me go with Patrick, my 
 iather." 1 And when they were going to take him away 
 Patrick said " Baptize him, and put him with me in my 
 car, for he will yet be the heir of my kingdom." This was 
 done, and Benignus never afterwards left Patrick. He 
 accompanied him on his missionary journeys ; he con- 
 ducted the musical services of the Church for Patrick, and he 
 died the heir of his kingdom, that is, Coadjutor Archbishop 
 of Armagh, about the year A.D. 468 long before St. Patrick 
 himself went to his rest. It is evident, therefore, that 
 St. Benignus was trained for the sacred ministry under the 
 personal care of St. Patrick. And, as we shall presently see, 
 this was the usual course before the monastic schools were 
 yet established in Erin, to train the young levites under the 
 personal care of some other ecclesiastic, priest or bishop, as 
 the case might be. In nearly the same way Patrick 
 happened about the same time to meet Mochae of Noendrum, 
 while he was yet a boy, herding swine, and " Patrick 
 preached to him, and baptized him, and tonsured him," thus 
 selecting him as a candidate for the ecclesiastical state. Of 
 this Mochae, one of the earliest disciples of St. Patrick, we 
 shall see more hereafter, when we come to speak of the 
 school of Noendrum. 
 
 Yet it must not be supposed that St. Patrick came single- 
 handed to preach the Gospel in Erin, and that he had no 
 assistance until these boys were old enough to become them- 
 selves priests and bishops. We know that the contrary was 
 the fact. 
 
 We are told by a very ancient authority 2 that the Saint 
 was accompanied to Ireland by a great number of holy bishops 
 and priests and deacons, and other youths in minor orders 
 whom he had himself ordained for the Irish Mission. They 
 were Britons, Franks, and Romans, the latter term simply 
 meaning that some amongst them enjoyed the rights of Roman 
 citizenship. Many of them were his own blood relations, 
 like Sechnall or Secundinus, the son of Patrick's sister, 
 Darerca. Others, like Auxilius and Iserninus, are said to 
 have been sent by Germanus of Auxerre to aid St. Patrick 
 in preaching to the Irish. These two prelates, however, 
 though ordained with St. Patrick, did not come to Ireland 
 for some time after the arrival of St. Patrick. Iserninus 
 
 1 Book of Armagh. 
 
 2 Tirechan's Collections " Et secum f uit multitude episcoporum 
 sanctorum, et presbiterorum, et diaconorum, ac exorcistarum, hostiarium, 
 lectorumque, necnon filiorum quos ordiuavit." Book of Armagh, fol. 9.
 
 60 LEARNING IN IRELAND IN THE TIME OF ST. PATRICK. 
 
 founded his church at Kilcullen in the co. Kildare, and 
 Auxilius founded Killossy, in the barony of Naas, which takes 
 its name Cill-Usailli (Gen. of Ausaille) from that Saint. 
 
 The names of these two bishops are chiefly memorable in 
 connection with a celebrated Synod the first held in Ireland 
 which is commonly called the Synod of Patrick, Auxilius, 
 and Iserninus. Having been ordained Priests, if not 
 Bishops, on the same day with St. Patrick himself, these 
 two prelates seem to hav0 enjoyed a certain kind of co-ordi- 
 nate authority with Patrick, but still in subjection to his 
 primatial jurisdiction. The name of Secundinus is not men- 
 tioned in connection with this Synod, which was held A.D. 
 447 or 448, either because he was already dead, or did not 
 possess independent jurisdiction as one of the original epis- 
 copal founders of the Irish Church. We cannot now enter 
 into the question how far all the Canons attributed to St. Patrick 
 in the great collections published by several writers are 
 genuine, or merely circulated under his name with a view to 
 lend them greater authority. 1 Those attributed, however, to . 
 the Synod of Patrick, Auxilius, and Iserninus are commonly 
 regarded as authentic, 2 and indeed bear intrinsic evidence 
 that they were framed at a time when paganism was yet 
 common in Ireland. 
 
 The most celebrated of these Canons is that which for- 
 mally recognises the supremacy of the Holy See as the 
 Supreme Judge of Controversies Si quae quaestiones (diffi- 
 ciles) in hac insula oriantur ad Sedein Apostolicam referantur. 3 
 A Canon to the same purport is contained in the Book of 
 Armagh (fol. 21, b. 2) and is there expressly recorded as 
 the decree of Auxilius, Patrick, Secundinus, and Benignus. 
 After reciting that if any difficult case arose in the nations of 
 the Scots it should be referred to the See of Patrick, the 
 Archbishop of the Scots, for decision, it is added : But if 
 the aforesaid cause cannot easily be decided in it (Armagh), 
 we decree that it be transmitted to the Apostolic See, that is, 
 to the See of theApostle Peter, which has authority over the 
 city of Rome. 4 Another Canon (Lib. xxxiv. c. 2) orders that 
 
 1 See Wasserscfdeben's great collection, published at Leipzig, 1885. 
 
 2 See Todd's St. Patriot, p. 457. 
 
 3 See Wasserschleben, page 61, Lib. xx., c. 5; Haddan and Stubbs,\o\. ii., 
 Partii., page 332. 
 
 4 " Si vero in ilia (Cathedra Patricii) cum suis sapientibus facile sanari 
 non poterit causa praedictae negotionis, ad eedem Apostolicam decrevimus 
 ease mittendam, id est, ad Petri Apostoli Cathedram. auctoritatem. Rom* 
 Urbis habentem." " Hi sunt qui hoc decreverunt id est. Auxilius, 
 Patricius, Secundinus, Benignus." See Stokes, p. 356, vol. ii.
 
 ST. PATRICK REFORMS THE BREHON LAWS. 61 
 
 if a cleric go security for a gentile that is, a pagan and 
 that the gentile fail to keep his engagement, the cleric must 
 make good the loss from his own goods, and not contend with 
 the adversary in armed strife. This Canon shows that a 
 portion of the population was still unconverted, though living 
 on terms of familiar intercourse with the Christians, both 
 clergy and people. 
 
 This ecclesiastical legislation of Patrick and his assistant 
 prelates must have exercised a most beneficial influence in 
 restraining crime and superstition amongst all classes. The 
 first element of civilization is the recognition of the reign of 
 law instead of brute force ; and that was a lesson which it 
 was especially necessary to inculcate on the Irish tribes. 
 
 Hence the Apostle inculcates at some length, and in very 
 beautiful language, the duties of the ecclesiastical judges and 
 of good kings, while he does not spare to draw the sword of 
 excommunication against the crimes and excesses of all, both 
 rulers and subjects. 
 
 The judges of the Church, he says, must have the fear of 
 God, not of man ; and the wisdom of God, not the wisdom of 
 the world, which is folly in His sight. They must not accept 
 any gifts, for gifts blind the judgment; they must have 
 before their minds, not secular cunning, but the precedents 
 of the divine law (exempla divina). They should be sparing 
 in their words, and slow to pronounce sentence, and above all 
 never utter a falsehood, judging in all things justly, because 
 as they judge others, by the same standard shall they them- 
 selves be judged. Principles like these thus solemnly enun- 
 ciated must have exercised a very great influence in teaching 
 all classes that respect for law and the rights of others, which 
 is the foundation of all civilization. 
 
 Then the kings a numerous class in Erin were also 
 taught their duties, and by one who was able to give a sanc- 
 tion to his teaching. The duty of the king is to judge no 
 one unjustly ; to be the protector of the stranger, the widow, 
 and the orphan ; to punish thefts and adulteries ; not to 
 encourage unchaste buffoons, nor exalt the wicked, but root 
 them out of the land; to put to death parricides and perjurers; 
 to defend the Church and give alms to the poor ; to select 
 just and wise ministers, and prudent counsellors ; to give no 
 countenance to druids, or pythonesses, or augurers ; to defend 
 his country in strength and in justice ; to put his confidence 
 in God, not being elated by prosperity nor cast down by 
 adversity ; to profess the Catholic faith and restrain his sons 
 from evil deeds ; to give time to prayer, and not to spend it
 
 62 LEARNING IN IRELAND IN THE TIME OF ST. PATRICK. 
 
 unduly in unseasonable banquets. This, he says, is the justice 
 of a king, which secures the peace of the people, the defence 
 of the country, the rights of the poor, and all other blessings 
 spiritual and temporal, including fruitful trees, abundant 
 crops, genial weather, and universal happiness. Such were 
 the noble principles inculcated by St. Patrick in his preach- 
 ing, formulated in his laws, and enforced by all the power of 
 his authority. 1 
 
 Although St. Patrick was accompanied to Ireland by a 
 very considerable number of clerics of every order to aid him 
 in his great task of the conversion of Ireland, still he must 
 have found it difficult, as new churches were founded and the 
 foreign clergy died out, to supply labourers for the ripening 
 vineyard. As yet there were no Christian Schools in Erin. 
 Armagh was probably the first, but Armagh was not founded 
 until A.D. 445, when the site of a cathedral was granted by 
 Daire to Patrick on Macha's Height. The school could not 
 be organized for some years later, perhaps about the year 
 A.D. 450. 
 
 But meantime Patrick had organized a kind of peripatetic 
 school, which accompanied the Saint in his frequent mis- 
 sionary journeys through the various parts of the country, 
 He himself spent his time in preaching, baptizing, founding 
 churches, and making such provision, as he could, for the 
 administration of the sacraments and the celebration of Mass. 
 The clerical students, his disciples, accompanied him, and in 
 this way were able to obtain both theoretical and practical 
 instruction in the work of missionary life. The instruction 
 which the Bards, Brehons, and Druids communicated to their 
 disciples was mainly, if not exclusively, of an oral character. 
 The memory was highly trained by exercise, and the art of 
 recitation was carried to a wonderful degree of perfection. 
 The disciples too accompanied the master on his rounds from 
 one chieftain's dun to another, and were sharers in the hospi- 
 tality and rewards, which were freely bestowed on alL 
 
 Oral instruction of a similar character was doubtless also 
 communicated by St. Patrick to his disciples during their 
 missionary journerys, as well as in those places where he and 
 his household remained for any considerable time. Books 
 were scarce, but were not unknown. The British and French 
 clergy no doubt brought with them to Ireland such books as 
 were indispensable for a missionary priest or bishop. These 
 would be a Mass-book, a ritual, and a copy of the psalms, 
 
 1 See Stokes' Tripartite, Vol. ii., page 607.
 
 ST. PATRICK REFORMS THE BREHON LAWS. 63 
 
 and of the Gospels. They were carried in leathern wallets 
 slung from the girdle, and sometimes in covers, or cases of 
 wood, strengthened and adorned with metallic rims and clasps. 
 Such were the book-covers (leborchometd), which St. Asicus 
 of Elphin used to make for Patrick. 1 Once also when Patrick 
 was journeying from Rome he met six young clerics with 
 'their books at their girdles/ who were going to the holy 
 city on their pilgrimage. And Patrick gave them a hide of 
 seal-skin, or cow skin it is doubtful which, says the narrator 
 to make a wallet, as it would seem, for their books, for they 
 had it adorned with gold and white bronze. 2 Palladius left 
 books (libni) after him in Leinster, and both Patrick and the 
 Druids had books at Tara, and Patrick's books (lib air) once 
 fell into one of the streams that flow into the Suir and were 
 * drowned.' Probably these were some of the books which 
 Celestine gave to Patrick. * in plenty,' when he was about to 
 come to Ireland. 3 Patrick gave Deacon Justus of Fuerty in 
 the Co. Roscommon, his own book of ritual and of baptism 
 (lebar nuird ocus baptismi.}* He also carried across the 
 Shannon the books of the Law and of the Gospel, and left 
 them in the new Churches which he founded. 5 Lebar n-uird is 
 the same as Liber ordinis, and means a missal, or Ordo Missae, 
 and the Liber baptismi would be what we now call a ' ritual/ 
 containing the forms for the administration of the sacraments. 
 In Tyrawley the Saint gave Bishop Mucknoi, whom he there 
 ordained, " seven Books of the Law," in order that Mucknoi 
 himself might ordain other bishops and priests, and deacons 
 in that country, and as it would seem, have copies of the 
 Books of the Law to give them. (Book of Armagh, f. 14). 
 These books St. Patrick and his companions in all proba- 
 bility carried with them from the Continent. But there was 
 one kind of smaller book corresponding to our smallest and 
 simplest form of catechism, which the Saint usually wrote for 
 his favourite disciples with his own hand. It is sometimes 
 described as the ' Elements/ and sometimes as an ' Alphabet/ 
 or brief outline of the essential truths of Christianity. It was 
 the first book put into the hands of the educated converts, 
 who knew how to read and write, which was always an 
 indispensable qualification for admission into the ranks of the 
 clergy. Of course the common people could be taught the 
 essential truths of religion duly by oral instruction. It was 
 
 1 Tripartite, page 97. 2 Tripartite, page 75. 
 8 Scholiast on Fiacc's Hymn. * Trip. p. 105, vol. i, 
 B " Libros legie, evangelii libros, et reliquit cos in iocia novis." Book 
 of Armagh, f. 9
 
 04 LEARNING IN IRELAND IN THE TIME OF ST. PATRICK. 
 
 for those whom he destined to be themselves teachers that he 
 wrote the ' Elements ' or ' Alphabets ' of the Christian 
 Doctrine. The phrase in Latin is scripsit elementa, corre- 
 sponding to the Irish scnbais aipgiter, and sometimes scripsit 
 abigitorium (as in the Book of Armagh, f. 13). 
 
 The word aipgiter or abgitir has been frequently used in 
 this sense in ancient Irish manuscripts, not to express the 
 letters of the alphabet, but a simple compendium of the art 
 or other subject in question. Thus abgitir crabailh means 
 the alphabet of faith, that is, the simple and fundamental 
 truths of faith ; abigiter in crabaid is the ' alphabet of piety,' 
 and so in similar cases. Patrick had no suitable work for 
 this purpose, and, hence, he himself frequently wrote a 
 catechism or outline of these elementary truths of the 
 Christian doctrine suited to the capacity of the learners. 
 
 So we find that the equipment of a young priest begin- 
 ning his missionary work was very simple. He got in the 
 way of books his abigitorium, or catechism, his Mass-book 
 (or Liber ordinis), his ritual, his psaltery, and when it could 
 be spared a copy of the Gospels; and then if he were a bishop 
 Patrick gave him also, as he did to Fiaac of Sletty, a case 
 (cumtach*} containing a bell, a chalice, a crozier, and book- 
 satchel with the necessary books. We have distinct evidence 
 too, from the Epistle to Coroticus that he himself taught 
 these students. He describes the messenger who carried 
 that letter to the tyrant as a holy priest, whom he (Patrick) 
 had taught from his childhood (infantia). The reference can 
 scarcely be to St. Benignus, his coadjutor in Armagh, for 
 Benignus died A.D. 457 or 458, many years in all probability 
 before the Epistle to Coroticus was written. It is more likely 
 the apostle refers to Mochae of Noendrum, who was a tender 
 youth when the Saint first met him in A.D. 432, when he 
 baptized the boy and gave him a gospel and a menistir, which 
 means a chalice and paten. Dr. Whitley Stokes translates it 
 ' credence-table/ which is unlikely, as it was sometimes made 
 of creduma or bronze, 2 and in low Latin ministerium was 
 frequently used to designate the utensils for the Holy 
 Sacrifice. 
 
 St. Patrick, coming as he did, into a pagan country 
 altogether outside the pale of Roman civilization, had many 
 difficulties to overcome, and exercised great ingenuity in 
 
 1 See "Tirechan's Collections," Book of Armagh, fol. 18, a2 " Ocus 
 dubbert Patrice cumtach du Fiacc, idon, clocc, ocua menstir, ocus bachall, 
 ecus poolire." 
 
 2 Trip. vol. i., page 87.
 
 ST. PATRICK REFORMS THE BREHON LAWS. 65 
 
 overcoming them. He sought to procure everything required 
 for public worship of native manufacture, and indeed he had 
 no other means for the most part of procuring them. Every- 
 thing which was necessary in the public worship of God, with 
 the exception of some books and the relics of the saints, was 
 made in Ireland, and by artificers, who though otherwise well 
 skilled in their various crafts, were quite new to this kind of 
 work. But the apostle met this difficulty by having artificers, 
 who gave their exclusive attention to the manufacture of 
 these necessaries of divine worship, and he promoted them as 
 a reward for their labours even to the highest offices in the 
 Church. His family or household included persons so trained 
 in every branch of technical knowledge necessary for the due 
 equipment of a Church, and they were all in holy orders. 
 This household, which numbered no less than twenty-four 
 persons, generally accompanied him in his missionary 
 journeys from place to place in order to provide all things 
 necessary for the young Churches which he founded. The 
 list of their names and functions is given in the Tripartite. 
 Sechnall, his nephew, was his ' bishop/ that is his coadjutor 1 
 in spirituals and temporals, especially in his episcopal func- 
 tions, in consecrations, ordinations, and so forth. Benen was 
 his psalm-singer to lead and teach the Church choirs. Mochta 
 of Louth was his priest, or as we now say, his 'assistant 
 priest,' and attendant in the public functions of the church. 
 Bishop Ere, a Brehon by professian, was his judge, and no 
 doubt a very necessary official in dealing not only with the 
 clergy, but also with the frequent controversies that arose 
 amongst the chiefs and were referred to Patrick's arbitration. 
 Bishop Mac Cairthinn was his champion, or rather strong 
 man, to bear him over the floods and perhaps defend him 
 against rude assaults in an age of lawless violence. Colman 
 of Cell Riada, was his chamberlain or personal attendant. 
 Sinell of Cell Dareis was his bell-ringer, an officer whose 
 duty it was to carry with him the famous hand-bell of the 
 Saint, and no doubt also to ring it at appropriate times, 
 especially during Divine Service, for the purpose of securing 
 due attention to the sacred mysteries. He had also a cook, 
 brewer, chaplain at the table, two waiters, and other officers 
 necessary for providing food and accommodation for himself 
 and his household. It must be borne in mind that in those 
 days there were no hotels, frequently the apostle with his 
 attendants had to camp out, and procure their own food 
 
 1 Benignus succeeded Seelmallas Coadjutor or Auxiliary Bishop. 
 
 E
 
 66 LEARNING IN IRELAND IN THE TIME OF ST. PATRICK, 
 
 often too, in face of an unfriendly, or even hostile population. 
 Hence, he was sometimes reduced to great straits for food, 
 and more than once we find him begging the fishermen to 
 try and procure a fish for his refection when nothing else 
 was forthcoming. We are also told that he had three 
 smiths, and three artificers, and three embroideresses in his 
 company. The smiths, like St. Asicus of Elphin, made 
 altars, and square tables, and book-covers, and bells for the 
 churches, which were founded by St. Patrick. His artificers 
 were Essa, Bite, and Tassach. They may be described as 
 artificers both in wood and metal, and church builders, who 
 erected the primitive churches mostly of wood founded by 
 the apostle. Bite was a son of Asicus, and hence a skilled 
 workman like his father, both as a smith and carpenter. 
 Tassach is spoken of as making patens and credence-tables, 
 and altar-chalices; he also made a case for St. Patrick's 
 crozier the celebrated staff of Jesus. He was Bishop of 
 Raholp, not far from Downpatrick, and was privileged to 
 administer the Body of Christ to his dying master. The 
 three embroideresses, Lupait, sister of Patrick, and Ere, 
 daughter of Daire, and Cruimthiris, made with their own 
 pure hands the vestments and altar linens used during the 
 Holy Sacrifice in the churches of Erin. 
 
 " Beneath a pine three vestals sat close veiled : 
 A song these childless sang of Bethlehem's Child, 
 Low-toned and worked their altar cloth, a Lamb 
 All white on golden blazon ; near it bled 
 The bird that with her own blood feeds her young. 
 Red drops her holy breast affused. These three 
 Were daughters of three kings." Aubrey de Vere. 
 
 Although St. Patrick did not in the ordinary sense of the 
 word establish schools such as are frequently mentioned in 
 the next century, he not only trained candidates for the 
 sacred ministry during the earliest years of his mission, but 
 also seems to have established in his own city of Armagh a 
 school for carrying on that work in a more regular and 
 efiicient manner. Having the care of all the Churches of 
 Ireland on his own shoulders, he could not govern this school 
 in person. But we are told that he placed over it his best 
 beloved disciple Benignus, who was, so far as we can judge, 
 eminently qualified to discharge that high office. Before, 
 however, we proceed to give an account of this celebrated 
 school of Armagh, it will be necessary to give a short account 
 of the writings of St. Patrick himself and of those attributed 
 to the more eminent amongst his disciples and contempor- 
 aries.
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THE WETTINGS OF ST. PATRICK AND OF 
 HIS DISCIPLES. 
 
 " And this is my confession before I die." 
 
 Confession of St. Patrick. 
 
 THE writings of St. Patrick and his disciples are highly 
 interesting, both in themselves, and in the effects which they 
 produced on the Irish Church. Fortunately several of these 
 monuments of our early ecclesiastical history have come down 
 to our own times, and no rational doubt can be raised about 
 their authenticity by well-informed scholars. 
 
 The principal documents attributed to St. Patrick himself 
 are his ' Confession,' the 'Epistle to Coroticus,' and a poem 
 called the ' Lorica,' and sometimes the ' Deer's Cry.' Then 
 we have in praise of Patrick a Hymn by his nephew, 
 St. Sechnall or Secundinus, a metrical Life or Eulogy, by 
 St. Fiacc of Sletty, and certain sayings attributed to our 
 national apostle in the Book of Armagh. We shall have 
 also something to say of the Tripartite Life of the Saint, 
 which is one of the earliest and most important documents 
 connected with the history of the Patrician Church in Ireland. 
 
 I. ST. PATRICK'S CONFESSION. 
 
 The Confession of St. Patrick, as he himself calls it, 
 or the Book of St. Patrick the Bis/top, as it is called in 
 the MSS., is the most important and interesting document 
 connected with the primitive Church of Ireland. The text 
 itself is found in the Book of Armagh, and in several ancient 
 manuscripts, some of which belong to the tenth century. 1 
 It is referred to also in Tirechan's Collections in the Book of 
 Armagh as the ' Scriptio,' or Writing of St. Patrick himself. 
 At the end of the copy in the Book of Armagh it is described 
 as the volume which Patrick wrote with his own hand " Hue ' 
 usque volumen quod Patricius manu conscripsit sua." This 
 would seem to imply that the scribe of the Book of Armagh 
 took his copy from the autograph by St. Patrick himself. 
 
 1 For instance the Cotton MS. Nero. E. 1, fol. 171; and two in the 
 Bodleian Fell. I., ff. la-lib and Fell. III., fol. 168-164.
 
 68 THE WRITINGS OF ST. PATRICK AND OF HIS DISCIPLES. 
 
 The evidence, both intrinsic and extrinsic, in favour of 
 its authenticity is so strong that no competent Irish scholar 
 has ventured to question the genuineness of this venerable 
 document. 
 
 Indeed, if not genuine, it is impossible to assign any 
 motive for such a forgery. The tone and spirit of the entire 
 are such as could only come from one who was filled with the 
 apostolic spirit. Many incidental references to Decurions, to 
 the ' Brittaniae,' or Britains, to slave-traffic all point to 
 the fifth century as the date of its composition. The rude 
 and barbarous Latinity, which some writers use as an argu- 
 ment against its authenticity, is in reality a strong proof in 
 its favour, for it is exactly what we should expect from one 
 who, like St. Patrick, spent the six years which are generally 
 given to the acquisition of a liberal education, herding sheep 
 and swine on the hills of Antrim. As Patrick himself 
 remarks in apologizing for the rudeness of his style, of which 
 he was fully sensible, he had to forego using his vernacular 
 Latin during the years of his captivity, and his speech and his 
 language were changed into the tongue of the stranger, "as 
 any one may perceive from the flavour of my style." 1 Of 
 course we should make allowance for the faults of copyists 
 especially where the original MS. itself seems to have been 
 illegible or obscure, still it must be confessed that the 
 Latin is very rude, sometimes even ungrammatical, and not 
 always intelligible. But the spirit of deep humility and 
 fervent devotion, which breathes in every line, is of itself 
 sufficient to stamp this work as genuine. A falsifier, or 
 impostor, might possibly write such Latin, but he never 
 could forge the spirit that breathes in the language, which is 
 the manifest outpouring of a heart like unto the heart of 
 St. Paul. 
 
 The Book of Armagh contains the earliest copy of the 
 Confession that we possess, and it appears not a little strange 
 that several important passages are omitted from this copy, 
 which are found in the copies preserved in the Cottonian and 
 Bodleian Collections. Some writers have suggested that 
 these passages of the later copies are interpolations. It is 
 far more likely, however, that the Armagh scribe left out 
 some passages from his own copy, that he could not decipher 
 in the original, which as the marginal notes show, was in 
 some parts obscure or illegible. These omitted passages too 
 
 1 " Nam senno et loquela mea translata est in linguam alienam, sicut 
 facile potest probari ex saliva scripturae meae." Conjesiion.
 
 ST. PATRICK'S CONFESSION. 69 
 
 are manifestly written in the same style, and in the same 
 spirit as the body of the Confession, and may certainly be 
 regarded as genuine. It may be, too, that the scribe of 
 Armagh left out some passages from a groundless fear that 
 it would not be to the honour of the great Apostle to speak 
 so strongly of his own unworthiness. That passage, for 
 instance, has been omitted in which the Saint refers to 
 certain elders, who opposed his elevation to the episcopacy on 
 the gi'ound that thirty years previously, before he became a 
 deacon, he had committed some sin, which he then confessed 
 to a dear friend, and which it was now sought to make an 
 obstacle to his promotion. 
 
 The Saint's motive in writing this Confession in his old 
 age, as he tells us, was to defend himself against some vague 
 charges of presumption in undertaking the Irish mission, 
 and incompetence in discharging that onerous task, whilst 
 acknowledging in all humility the sins and ignorance of his 
 youth, and the difficulties under which he laboured by reason 
 of his imperfect education. Patrick points out that in all 
 things he sought to listen to the voice of God, and to be 
 guided by the inspirations of His Holy Spirit. 
 
 Like St. Paul in similar circumstances, he refers to the 
 perils by which he was encompassed, and the many toilsome 
 ditties of his episcopacy. He then vindicates his own dis- 
 interestedness, and challenges his accusers to show that he 
 ever received a single farthing for preaching the Gospel and 
 administering baptism to so many thousand persons, even in 
 the remotest parts of the country, where the Word of God was 
 never heard before. Not that the people were not generous, 
 for they offered him many gitts, and cast their ornaments 
 upon the altar ; but he returned them all lest even in the 
 smallest point the unbelievers might have cause to defame 
 his ministry, or question the purity of his motives. 
 
 Finally, he appeals to the success of his ministry in the 
 conversion of Ireland, as the best proof of God's approval of 
 his work, and bears noble testimony to the sanctity and zeal 
 of his new converts. "The sons of the Scots, and the 
 daughters of their princes, became monks and virgins of 
 Christ . . . not by compulsion, but even against the wishes of 
 their parents, and the number of the holy widows and continent 
 maidens was countless." Even the slave-girls, despising 
 their masters' threats, continued to persevere in the profes- 
 sion and practice of holy chastity. Still in his old age he 
 was surrounded by dangers; but it mattered not, at any 
 moment he was ready to die for Christ, and he solemnly calls
 
 70 THE WRITINGS OF ST. PATRICK AND OF HIS DISCIPLES. 
 
 God and His Angels to witness that, in returning to preach 
 the Gospel in the land of his captivity, he came solely for 
 the Gospel's sake, and his only motive was to preach the 
 glory of Christ and share in the recompense of the Gospel. 
 " And this " said the Saint in beautiful and touching 
 words " this is my confession before I die." 
 
 This Confession contains many interesting references to 
 the personal history and apostolic labours of St. Patrick, 
 which are not always remembered ; and which ought to be 
 separated from the more uncertain and controverted facts of 
 his history. 
 
 His father was Calpornus, or Calpornius, a deacon, who 
 was the son of Potitus, and Potitus was the son of Odissus, a 
 priest. The text, however, leaves it doubtful whether the 
 word priest belongs to Potitus or to Odissus. 1 His father 
 dwelt in the township (vico) of Bannavem Taberniae. He 
 had also a small villa not far off, "where I was made captive 
 at the age of nearly sixteen years." He was in ignorance of 
 the knowledge of the true God, 2 which is to be understood of 
 his defective training as a Christian during the years of his 
 boyhood ; for he adds that he did not keep God's Command- 
 ments, and was not obedient to the priests our priests as 
 he calls them, when they admonished him to attend to his 
 salvation. Therefore it was God punished him by this 
 captivity in a strange land, at the end of the world. But 
 that God pitied his youth and ignorance, and showed 
 him mercy, consoling the captive as a father consoles his son. 
 For which he earnestly lhanks God, and takes occasion to 
 profess his faith in the Holy Trinity, as Arianism was then 
 rampant in the Church. Alter much hesitation he resolved 
 to write this Confession in order to show the true motives of 
 his own heart to his friends and relations. 
 
 The reason of his delay and hesitation was the rudeness 
 of his style and language in consequence of his captivity 
 when he had to make use of a strange tongue. But he 
 should be forgiven, for the conversion of the Irish was the 
 epistle of salvation, which he had written by deeds, not by 
 words, not in ink but in the Spirit of God. Though he was 
 a stone sunk in the mire, a man of no account in the eyes of 
 the world, yet God in His mercy exalted him ; for which he 
 will always give earnest thanks to God. Hence he wishes to 
 make known God's goodness in his regard, and to leave it as 
 
 1 Patrem habui Calpornum diaconum filium quendam Politi filii Odissi 
 presbyteri. 2 Deum verum ignorabam.
 
 ST. PATRICK'S CONFESSION. 71 
 
 a legacy of God's mercy to his brethren, and to the thousands 
 of spiritual children whom he baptized. 
 
 When he came to Ireland (Hiberione), his daily employ- 
 ment was to feed cattle (pecora) ; but then it was the love of 
 God began to grow within him, and he used to pray even up 
 to a hundred times a day and as many in the night ; he used 
 to rise before the dawn to pray in the woods and mountains 
 in the midst of rain, and hail, and snow. 
 
 One night he heard a voice saying to him in sleep 
 " your ship is ready " and he travelled 200 miles to the 
 port, where he had never been before, and where he knew no 
 one. Thus after six years' captivity he succeeded in reaching 
 this port. The master of the vessel at first would not take 
 him on board, but afterwards he relented, when Patrick was 
 returning to the cottage where he had got lodging. He was 
 called back, and invited to go on board as one of themselves ; 
 but he declined familiar intimacy 1 through fear of God, 
 because they were Gentiles. 
 
 In three days they disembarked in a desert land, through 
 which they travelled for twenty-eight days, and were well 
 nigh starving, until relieved at the prayer of Patrick. 
 Reference is then made to the great stone that seemed to fall 
 upon him in a dream, from the weight of which he was 
 relieved by invoking Elias, It seems, too, that he fell into a 
 second captivity, which continued for two months ; but the 
 text here is uncertain, and can scarcely be relied on. 
 
 He succeeded, however, in reaching the home of his 
 parents in Britain in Britannis and they most earnestly 
 besought him to remain with them, now that he had escaped 
 from so many dangers. 
 
 But the Angel Victor, in the guise of a man from Ireland, 
 gave him a letter in which the " voice of the Irish" called 
 him away ; the voices of those who dwelt near the wood of 
 Focluth, from which he seems to have escaped, also called upon 
 him to come once more and walk amongst them. The Spirit 
 of God, too, spoke within his soul and urged him to return to 
 Ireland. The same Holy Spirit encouraged him to persevere 
 when objection was made by certain elders to his elevation to 
 the episcopacy. Therefore, he was encouraged to undertake 
 the great task, and his conscience never blamed him for what 
 he had done. 
 
 l The strange phrase "Repuli sugere raammellas eorum" seems to 
 signify that he rejected the preferred intimate association "with them. 
 Mammella was used metaphorically as a term of endearment, in classical 
 Latin.
 
 72 THE WRITINGS OF ST. PATRICK AND OF HIS DISCIPLES. 
 
 It would be tedioup, he adds, to recount all his missionary 
 labours, or even a part of them. Twelve times his lite 
 (anima) was in danger, from which God rescued him, and 
 from many other plots and ambuscades also, and therein God 
 rewarded him for giving up his parents and his country, and 
 all their gifts, and heeding not their prayers and tears, that 
 he might preach the Gospel in Ireland, where he had to 
 endure insult and persecution even unto bonds. But he 
 strove to do the work faithfully, and God blessed his efforts, 
 and those wonderful things were accomplished by the apostle, 
 to which we have already referred. 
 
 Hence, though anxious to visit his parents and his native 
 country in Britain, and even to revisit the brethren in Gaul 
 here referred to for the first time and to see the face of 
 God's Saints there, he was bowed in spirit, and would not 
 leave his beloved country, but resolved to spend the rest of 
 his life amongst them. 
 
 Yet he was not free from temptations against faith and 
 chastity, but in Christ Jesus he hoped to be faithful to God 
 unto the end of his life, so that he might be able to say with 
 the apostle, " Fidem servavi." God, too, deigned to work 
 great signs and wonders by his hands, for which he will 
 always thank the Lord. 
 
 He confidently appeals also to his converts, who knew 
 how he lived amongst them, how he refused all gifts, and 
 spent himself in their service. Nay, he it was who gave the 
 gifts to the kings and to their sons and sometimes they 
 plundered him and his clerics of everything ; and once 
 bound him in iron fetters for fourteen days, until the Lord 
 delivered him from their hands. When writing his Confes- 
 sion he was still living in poverty and misery, expecting 
 death, or slavery, or stratagems of evil ; but he feared not, 
 because he threw himself into the hands of God, who will 
 protect him. One thing only he earnestly prays for, that he 
 may persevere in his work, and never loose the people whom 
 he gained for God at the very extremity of the world. 
 
 This Confession clearly shows that St. Patrick was a 
 native of some part of Britain, and that he met more opposi- 
 tion in preaching the Gospel in Ireland than is commonly 
 supposed. He was put in bonds of iron on one occasion for 
 fourteen days, and even in his old age was living in poverty 
 and in daily fear of death. It shows, too, that although the 
 Saint was an indifferent Latinist, he was intimately acquainted 
 both with the letter and spirit of the Old and New Testament, 
 which he quotes constantly and always from the Pre-Hier-
 
 THE EPISTLE TO COB.OTICUS. 73 
 
 onyraan version another strong proof of the authenticity 
 of the Confession. It is singular that no reference is made 
 to the Roman Mission, or to his ever having been at all in 
 the City of Rome. But neither does the Saint refer to St. 
 Germanus, although all the Lives agree in saying that he 
 spent many years in Gaul with that holy and eminent prelate, 
 nor does he even tell us where or by whom he was consecrated 
 bishop. Nothing, therefore, can be deduced from his silence 
 regarding St. Celestine and the Roman Mission, especially 
 in face of the ancient and authentic testimonies which 
 assert it. 
 
 II. THE EPISTLE TO COROTICUS. 
 
 The Epistle to Coroticus, or more properly to " the 
 Christian subjects of King (Tyrannus) Coroticus," is also 
 without doubt the genuine composition of St. Patrick. It 
 bears a striking resemblance to the Confession in its style 
 and language, sometimes even entire phrases are re-produced 
 from the Confession with scarcely any change of language. 
 It is not found in the Book of Armagh, but it is found in 
 several ancient MSS. dating back to the tenth century. 
 From a reference made to the pagan Franks, it must have 
 been written before their conversion to Christianity, which 
 took place A.D. 496. It is evident, however, that it was 
 written towards the close of the Saint's missionary career 
 probably some time between A.D. 480-490. 
 
 This Coroticus or Cereticus, was most probably a semi- 
 Christian King of Dumbarton 1 or Ail-Cluade, and seems to 
 be the same referred to in the Book of Armagh as Coirthech, 
 King of Aloo. He is called in the Welsh genealogies 
 Ceretic the Guletic, which term corresponds exactly with 
 Tyrannus in St. Patrick's letter. Other Welsh authorities, 
 however, have made Coroticus a petty King of Glamorgan- 
 shire and identified him with Caredig or Ceredig, of the 
 Welsh genealogies ; 2 but the former is the much more prob- 
 able opinion, especially as we find that Coroticus was the 
 ally of the " apostate Picts and Scots," in their bloody raids 
 on the shores of Ireland. After the death of St. Ninian, 
 who converted some of the Scots and southern Picts to 
 Christianity, these latter fell away from the faith, and aided 
 by the King of Dumbarton harried the coasts both of England 
 and Ireland. 
 
 1 This is the opinion of Skene Celtic Scotland, p. 153, vol. i. 
 J See Todd's St. Patrick, p. 391.
 
 74 THE WRITINGS OF ST. PATRICK AND OF HIS DISCIPLES. 
 
 It was probably towards the end of St. Patrick's laborious 
 life that the incursion took place, which called forth this 
 indignant letter of the Saint. The raiders had landed some- 
 where on the eastern coast of Ireland, and carried off into 
 slavery a number of men and women, on whose foreheads 
 the holy oil of confirmation, which then usually followed 
 baptism, was still glistening. The white garments which 
 the neophytes wore were stained with their own blood, or 
 the blood of their slaughtered companions. Thereupon the 
 Saint wrote these letters, which he sent by one of his own 
 priests, whom he had taught from his infancy, to be handed 
 to the soldiers of the tyrant, and read for them as it seems, 
 in his presence. In the first letter he asked to have the 
 Christian captives and some of the spoils restored ; but they 
 laughed at the demand in scorn, wherefore the Saint wrote 
 this second letter in which he excommunicates Coroticus and 
 his abettors, calling upon all Christian men not to receive 
 their alms, nor associate with them, nor take food or drink 
 in their company, until they do penance and make restitu- 
 tion for their crimes. 
 
 Incidental references are made by the Saint to his own 
 personal history. He himself for God's sake preached the 
 Gospel to the Irish nation, which had once made himself a 
 captive and destroyed the men-servants, and maid-servants of 
 his father's house. 1 He was born a freeman, and a noble, being 
 the son of a decurio, 2 but he sold his nobility for the benefit 
 of others, and he did not regret it. It was the custom of the 
 Gaulish and Roman Christians to pay large sums of money 
 to the Franks for the ransom of Christian captives ; but 
 " you you often slay them, or sell them to infidels, sending 
 the members of Christ as it were into a brothel." " Have 
 you," adds the Saint, " any hope in God what Christian can 
 help you or abet you ? " 
 
 Then Patrick in passionate grief bewails the fate of 
 the captives. " Oh ! my most beautiful and most loving 
 brothers and children, whom in countless numbers I have 
 begotten for Christ, what shall I do for you? Am I so 
 unworthy before God and man that I cannot help you ? Is 
 it a crime to have been born in Ireland ? And have not we the 
 same God as they have ? I sorrow for you yet I rejoice 
 for if you are taken from the world, you were believers through 
 me, and are gone to Paradise." 
 
 1 " Et devastaverunt servos et ancillas doraus patris mei." 
 - The Decurio was under the Empire an official somewhat like a Resident 
 Magistrate.
 
 THE LORICA, OR THE DEER's CRY. 75 
 
 And then in the last paragraph he expresses a hope that 
 God will inspire those wicked men with penance, and that 
 they will restore their captives, and save themselves for this 
 world and for the world to come. Like the Confession, this 
 letter abounds in quotations from the old version of the Bible 
 before it was corrected by St. Jerome. 
 
 In the Brussels MS. of the Book of Armagh there is a 
 chapter which purports to give an account of " Patrick's 
 conflict against the King of Aloo," whom it calls Coirthecli, 
 and a little lower down the name is given as Corictic. When 
 Patrick failed to convert him by his letters and admonitions, 
 which the tyrant despised, he besought the Lord to drive 
 this reprobate " from this world and from the next." A very 
 short time afterwards, as Coroticus was sitting on hi? throne, 
 he heard a certain magic song chanted, and hearing it he 
 came down from his seat in the hall of justice. Thereupon 
 all his nobles took up the same chant ; whereupon suddenly 
 in the midst of the market place, Coroticus was changed into 
 the form of a fox in the presence of them all, and running 
 away like a stream of water he disappeared i'rom their eyes, 
 and was never afterwards heard of. 
 
 III. THE LORICA, OR THE DEER'S CRY. 
 
 The Lorica, or Shield of St. Patrick, is a rhythmical 
 prayer said to have been composed by the Saint to implore 
 the divine protection, when he and his companions were 
 approaching Tara for the first time to proclaim the unknown 
 God in the very stronghold of druidism, sustained as it was 
 by all the power of the Ard-righ of Erin. It was a bold and 
 perilous thing to do thus to face the pagan king and his 
 idol priests on the very threshold of their citadel ; and it 
 shows how strongly armed in faith St. Patrick was on that 
 day, when he so dared to bid defiance to the powers of 
 darkness. 
 
 The Saint was by no means insensible of the danger to 
 which he exposed himself, nor of the strength of the wily foe 
 whom he challenged so boldly to the combat. But he put 
 his confidence not in man but in God, and this poem is 
 simply the poetic expression of the sentiments which filled 
 and strengthened his soul on that momentous occasion. This 
 is the key to the meaning of the poem "It was to be a 
 corslet of faith for the protection of body and soul against 
 devils, and human beings, and vices ; and whoever shall sing
 
 76 THE WRITINGS OF ST. PATRICK AND OF HIS DISCIPLES. 
 
 it every day with pious meditation on God, devils shall not 
 stay before him." 1 
 
 It is then easy to understand why it was called the 
 Lorica, or Corslet of Patrick ; because it was his defence 
 against the ambushes set for him by Laeghaire and his Druids 
 when be was approaching Tara. But it was also called the 
 Faed Fiada, or Deer's Cry ; because it was said that the 
 apostle and his companions escaped the ambush by seeming 
 to their enemies to be a Deer and her fawns in flight to the 
 shelter of the woods. 
 
 Patrick knew that the Druids of Laeghaire possessed 
 magical powers ; they even claimed dominion over the ele- 
 ments, and therefore strong in the faith of the Holy Trinity 
 he appeals to the Triune God of all the elements to shield 
 him against evil. God sometimes permitted the powers of 
 evil to use His creatures as instruments to injure the wicked 
 and try the good ; and therefore the Saint calls upon God to 
 use His creatures on this occasion for His own glory and the 
 protection of His servant. It is in this sense that Patrick 
 calls to his aid not only the Holy Trinity, but all the 
 elements created by God, but sometimes perversely used by 
 the Druids for evil purposes. 
 
 " I bind unto myself to-day 
 
 The strong name of the Trinity, 
 J3y invocation of the same 
 
 Three in One and One in Three. . . . 
 
 " I bind unto myself to-day 
 
 The virtues of the star-lit heaven, 
 The glorious snn's life giving ray, 
 
 The whiteness of the moon at even, 
 The flashing of the lightning free, 
 
 The whirling wind's tempestuous shocks, 
 The stable earth, the deep salt sea, 
 
 Around the old eternal rocks. 
 
 " I bind unto myself to-day 
 
 The power of God to hold and lead, 
 His eye to watch, His might to slay, 
 
 His ear to hearken to my need. 
 The wisdom of my God to teach, 
 
 His hand to guide, His shield to ward ; 
 The word of God to give me speech, 
 
 His heavenly host to be my guard." 
 
 This is merely a specimen of the beautiful Gaedhlic hymn 
 as translated and well translated by Mrs. Alexander. 
 
 1 Irish Preface to the Hymn.
 
 SECHNALL' s HYMN OF ST. PATRICK. 77 
 
 Even to this day the original is chanted by the peasantry of 
 the South and West in the ancestral tongue, and it is regarded 
 as a strong shield against all evils natural and supernatural. 
 We know from the Book of Armagh that it has been thus 
 recited at least from the eighth century, so that even then its 
 use was universal, and in a certain sense obligatory. St. 
 Patrick is there declared entitled to four ' honours ' in all the 
 churches and monasteries of Erin. First, his festival was to 
 be celebrated for three days and three nights with every kind 
 of good cheer except flesh that being forbidden in Lent ; 
 secondly, a special offertory was to be immolated in his 
 honour, which seems to imply that there was a special offer- 
 tory, and perhaps preface for the Mass on these days; thirdly, 
 his Hymn, that is, the hymn in praise of Patrick written by 
 his nephew, St. Sechnall was to be sung during these days ; 
 and fourthly, "his Irish Canticle was to be always sung" in 
 the liturgy, as it would seem, and apparently also throughout 
 the entire year. So it appears that from the earliest ages 
 this Canticle was regarded in the Irish Church as the genuine 
 composition of St. Patrick, and the greatest efficacy was attri- 
 buted to its pious recitation. 
 
 IV. SECHNALL'S HYMN or ST. PATRICK. 
 
 ' The Hymn of St. Patrick' that is, the Hymn composed 
 in his honour by St. Sechnall, to which reference is made in 
 the extract from the Book of Armagh is another very sin- 
 gular and interesting literary monument of our early Celtic 
 Church. It has been published with valuable notes and 
 scholia by the late Dr. Todd in the first volume of the Liber 
 Hymnorum. 1 This curious Latin hymn, which is justly re- 
 garded both on internal and external evidence, as the genuine 
 composition of St. Sechnall, or Secundinus, owed its origin 
 to a singular circumstance. The following is Colgan's account 
 taken from the Preface to the Hymn, as given by a very old 
 but unknown authority : 
 
 Secundinus (in Irish Sechnall), the son of Restitutus, a 
 Lombard of Italy by his wife Darerca, a sister of St. Patrick, 
 was the author of this Hymn. It was composed at Dun- 
 shaughlin, county Meath, which in Irish is called Domnach- 
 Sechnaill, from the name of its founder. It was written in 
 the time of Laeghaire Mac Neil, then king of Ireland ; and 
 it must have been written before the year A.D. 447, when, 
 
 1 It was first published in 1647 by Colgan from the Isidore MS., and then 
 by "Ware in his Opuseula S. Patritii. It is also published in Stoke 's Tripar- 
 tite in the series of the Master of the Rolls.
 
 78 THE WRITINGS OF ST. PATRICK AND OF HIS DISCIPLES. 
 
 according to the Four Masters, " Secundinus, the son of 
 Patrick's sister, yielded his spirit on the 27th of November, 
 in the seventy-fifth year of his age " The object of the 
 writer was to give due praise to Patrick, also to offer it as a 
 kind of apology for having offended the Saint. For, on one 
 occasion, Sechnall was reported to have said that Patrick 
 would be perfect if he had insisted more strongly in his 
 preaching on the duty of alms-giving for works of charity ; 
 for then more property and more land would have been 
 devoted to pious uses for the good of the Church. This 
 remark was carried to the ears of Patrick, and moreover was 
 probablymisrepresented. St. Patrick was much displeased with 
 his nephew, and said it was " for sake of charity he forbore 
 to preach charity ;" that is, in order that the holy men who 
 were to arise after him might benefit by the oblations of the 
 faithful, which he left untouched for that purpose. Then 
 Sechnall sorrowed much for the rash judment of which he 
 had been guilty, and humbly asked pardon of the Saint, who 
 readily granted it. But in order fully to atone for his sin, 
 Sechnall composed this hymn in honour of Patrick. 
 
 It consists of twenty-two stanzas, the stanzas beginning 
 with a letter of the alphabet in regular order from the first 
 to the last. Each stanza consists of four strophes or lines, 
 each line of fifteen syllables. So that it was written in 
 what the grammarians call trochaic tetrameter catalectic. 
 In Irish prosody, however, regard is had in measuring the 
 feet rather to the accent or beat of the verse than to the 
 length of the syllables. 
 
 When the hymn was composed Sechnall asked per- 
 mission to read for Patrick a hymn, which he had composed 
 in praise of a certain holy man, who was still alive. Patrick 
 readily granted this request, for he said he would gladly 
 wish to hear the praises of any of God's household. 
 
 Then Sechnall read the poem, suppressing the first line 
 only, which contains Patrick's own name as the subject of 
 the eulogy. Patrick listened attentively until Sechnall 
 came to the line in which the subject of the poem is described 
 as ' greatest in the kingdom of heaven ' maximus in regno 
 ccelorum. " How can that be said of any man ?" said 
 Patrick. " The superlative is there put for the positive," 
 replied Sechnall ; " it only means very great." Patrick 
 appeared to be pleased with the poem, whereupon Sechnall 
 insinuated that Patrick himself was the subject of the 
 poem ; and, according to the Bardic custom he asked for a 
 reward for his poem. When Patrick, however, learned that
 
 SECHN ALL'S HYMN OF ST. PATRICK. 79 
 
 the poem was about himself he was not well pleased, but 
 knowing Sechnall meant well in writing it, he did not wish 
 to grieve him by a refusal. So he answered that Sechnall 
 might expect that our Saviour in His mercy would 
 give the glory of heaven to all who recited the hymn 
 piously every day both morning and evening. "I am 
 content," said Sechnall, " with that reward ; but as the 
 hymn is long and difficult to be remembered, I wish you 
 would obtain the same reward for whosoever recites even a 
 part of it." Then Patrick said that whoever faithfully 
 recites the last three verses of the hymn morning and 
 evening shall obtain the same reward, and Sechnall said, 
 " Deo gratias," and was content. 
 
 It was only natural that this hymn, having such a 
 promise of salvation, though written in Latin, should become 
 very popular, and be recited in the monasteries and churches 
 of Ireland as one of the four " Honours of St. Patrick." It 
 bears intrinsic evidence both in style and language that it 
 was written during the lifetime of St. Patrick. He is 
 represented in the hymn as still keeping all God's com- 
 mandments, and as one who will possess the joys of heaven, 
 and will reign with, the apostles as saint and judge over 
 Israel. 1 
 
 Of Sechnall himself little is known. All the authorities 
 agree in saying that he was the son of Patrick's sister 
 Darerca, whom others call Lupait, and sometimes Liemania. 
 It is said that she was taken captive at the same time as 
 St. Patrick himself, and was carried with him by the captors 
 to Ireland, and there sold as a slave in the district called 
 Conailli Muirtheimne, which is better known as the 
 patrimony of the greatest of Erin's ancient warriors, the 
 heroic Cuchullin. It included the territory around 
 Dundalk, and stretched northward to the modern barony of 
 Mourne, with its unrivalled mountain scenery. 
 
 All the authorities say that Sechnall' s father was 
 Restitutus, ' a Longobard of Leatha ;' or, as some writers 
 add, 'Armoric Leatha.' Now the Lombards known to 
 history did not conquer the territory, which bears their 
 name, until the middle of the sixth century. This difficulty 
 is met by assuming that 'Leatha' means Brittany in France, 
 
 1 For instance : 
 
 " Maximus namque in regno coelorum vocabitur, 
 Qui quod verbis docet sacris factia adimplet bonis : 
 Bono procedit exemplo fonnamque fidelium, 
 Mundo que in corde habet ad Deuni fiduciam."
 
 80 THE WRITINGS OF ST. PATRICK AND OF HIS DISCIPLES. 
 
 and although we have no historical evidence that a colony of 
 the Longobardi ever dwelt there, still a Roman soldier of 
 the Longobardic race might have been living there, and 
 might have been married to one of the sisters of St. Patrick. 
 
 The word Armorica as it is in Latin, and Airmoric in 
 Celtic, really signifies any western land bordering on the 
 sea ; and it is quite possible that in this sense the word 
 should have been applied to Ayrshire or Wigtown in 
 Scotland. Others have suggested that the word Lungbaird, 
 as it is in our earliest native authorities, means nothing 
 more than a ' long-bearded' man of Leatha, or America, 
 which is by no means improbable. This would also help to 
 explain why Eochaidh 'Flanagan, an old poet of the 
 eleventh century, calls St. Sechnall by the surname Ua Baird, 
 or O'Ward, as if the tribe name was really that of Bardi, 
 whom some authorities describe as an ancient race of Gaul 
 or Saxony, from whom the Longobardi derived their origin. 1 
 Later authorities, knowing nothing of any Longobardi except 
 those of Northern Italy, would readily enough fall into the 
 anachronism of placing them there in the time of St. Patrick. 
 
 Sechnall with Auxilius and Iserninus were disciples of 
 St. Patrick from the beginning, and seem to have accom- 
 panied him on his arrival in Ireland. The Annals of Ulster, 
 however, mark their arrival in Ireland as ' Bishops' to aid 
 Patrick in the year A.D. 439. This seems to be the date of 
 their episcopal consecration, which they received either in 
 France or in Britain, for St. Patrick alone would be un- 
 willing to consecrate them contrary to the canons. Sechnall 
 seems to have been placed temporarily over the Church of 
 Armagh, founded A.D. 445, and hence he is sometimes called 
 Archbishop of that See. 
 
 V. THE HYMN " SANCTI YENITE." 
 
 It was in St. SechnalPs Church of Dunshaughlin that a 
 beautiful Eucharistic Hymn, ' Sancti Yenite,' was first sung, 
 and most probably composed by that saint himself. In the 
 Preface of the Leabhar Breac, it is said that this hymn was 
 first chanted by angels in St. Sechnall's Church, on the 
 occasion of his reconciliation with St. Patrick, to which we 
 have already referred. The choir of angels was heard 
 singing the hymn during the Holy Communion, and "hence 
 arose the custom ever afterwards observed in Erin," says the 
 writer, " of singing this hymn at the Communion ; " and 
 
 1 See Krantz Danaiae, Liber iv., c. 19.
 
 ST. FIACC OF SELTTY. 81 
 
 hence, too, the title which it bears in the Antiphonary of 
 Bangor the only ancient work in which it is found " Hymn 
 during the Communion of the Priests." 1 We could wish this 
 beautiful hymn were still used in our national liturgy. 
 Denis Florence M'Carthy has left us an excellent transla- 
 tion of this remarkable hymn, of which we give the first and 
 last stanza : 
 
 " Draw nigh, ye holy ones, draw nigh, 
 And take the body of the Lord, 
 And drink the Sacred Blood outpoured, 
 By which redeemed ye shall not die. 
 
 * * 
 
 The Source, the Stream, the First, the Last, 
 Even Christ the Lord, who died for men, 
 Now comes but he will come again 
 To judge the world, when time hath passed." 
 
 The original stanzas are as follows : 
 
 " Sancti Venite, 
 
 Christi Corpus Sumite; 
 
 Sanctum bibentes 
 
 Quo redempti sauguinem. 
 
 Alpha et Omega, 
 
 Ipse Christus Dominus, 
 Venit venturus 
 Judioare homines. 
 
 St. Sechnall was the first Christian poet in Erin ; may his 
 name and memory linger long amongst the children of 
 St. Patrick. 
 
 VI. ST. FIACC OF SLETTY. 
 
 St. Fiacc, Bishop of Sletty, and author of what is perhaps 
 the earliest biography of our national Apostle, belongs also to 
 the Patrician era, that is the fifth century of the Irish Church. 
 A brief account of his life and labours will be found interest- 
 ing. He was sixth or seventh in descent from tne celebrated 
 Cathair Mor, King of Leinster, towards the close of the second 
 century. His father is called Mac Dara, a prince of the Hy 
 Bairrche. His mother, the second wife of Mac Dara, was a 
 sister of Dubhtach Mac Ua Lugair, the Chief Poet and 
 Brehon of Erin when St. Patrick arrived in Ireland. Fiacc 
 was not only a nephew of Dubhtach, but also his pupil and 
 foster son ; and he is described as a 'young poet' in the retinue 
 of Dubhtach on that famous Easter Sunday morning, when 
 
 1 ' ' Hymnus quando Communicarent Sacerdotes."
 
 82 THE WRITINGS OF ST. PATRICK AND OF HIS DISCIPLES. 
 
 St. Patrick first stood in the royal presence on the Hill of 
 Tara. King; Laeghaire had forbidden any of his courtiers to 
 rise up in token of respect to St. Patrick, and accordingly, 
 when Patrick came before the King, all remained seated 
 except " Dubhtach the Royal Poet, and a tender youth of his 
 people, named Fiacc, the same who is commemorated in 
 Sletty to-day." 1 Dubhtach was the first who believed at Tara 
 on that day, and doubtless his youthful disciple soon after 
 embraced the same faith as his master ; although probably he 
 was not baptized until some years later. At this period the 
 boy-poet was not, it seems, more than sixteen or eighteen 
 years of age, and must, therefore, have been born about the 
 year A.D. 415. 
 
 Dubhtach, the arch-poet of Laeghaire, was a Leinster 
 man, and received from Crimthan, King of the Hy Kinnselach, 
 a grant of a considerable territory in North Wexford, east- 
 ward of Gorey, in the territory then called Formael "a 
 \vave-bound land beside the fishful sea." St. Patrick had 
 converted and baptized this king, Crimthan, at Rathvilly in 
 the County Carlow, about the year A.D. 450 during his 
 progress through Leinster. On this occasion he very 
 naturally came to see his old friend Dubhtach, the first of the 
 believers at Tara, and found him at a place called Domnach 
 Mor Magh Criathar, that is Donoughmore of " the marshy 
 plain." This marshv plain extends along the sea shore to 
 the north of Cahore Point, Co. Wexford. At the northern 
 extremity of the plain are the ruins of the old Church of 
 Donoughmore, half covered by the sand; and close by is a holy 
 well where a ' patron ' was formerly held on the last Sunday 
 of July. The late Rev. Father Shearman has, we think, 
 shown conclusively that this is the Donoughmore, where 
 St. Patrick met Dubhtach, the High Bard of Erin. 
 
 On the occasion of this meeting Patrick, anxious to pro- 
 vide for the government of the young Church in Leinster, 
 requested Dubhtach to find him a man of good family, and 
 good morals, the husband of one wife, 2 and with one child 
 only, that he might ordain him Bishop of the men of Leinster. 
 " Fiacc is the very man you require," said Dubhtach ; " but 
 at present he is in Connaught" to which province he went, 
 it seems, at his master's request, to make the usual bardic 
 visitation, and bring home the gifts which the sub-kings 
 
 1 Tripartite Life. 
 
 2 We know from St. Paul that no person who has been twice married 
 can be lawfully ordained. 1 Tim. iii. 2.
 
 ST. FIACC OF SLETTY. 83 
 
 were wont to offer to the Chief Poet of Erin. Just then it 
 so happened that Fiacc came in sight of the fort of Dubhtach 
 on his return from his visitation in Connaught. " There is 
 the man himself," said the Arch-poet, " of whom we have 
 been speaking." "But he may not wish to receive orders," 
 said Patrick. "Proceed as if to tonsure me," replied the 
 poet, "and we shall see." Thereupon St. Patrick made 
 preparations as if to tonsure the aged poet it was the first 
 step to orders thereupon Fiacc said, " it would be a great 
 loss to the Bardic order to lose so great a poet ;" and he 
 offered himself for the service of the Church instead of 
 Dubhtach. The offer was gladly accepted, and so Fiacc came 
 to receive grade, or orders, and finally became Ard-espog, or 
 Chief Bishop, of the Leinster-men. This was a mere title of 
 honour given to him on account of his seniority and pre- 
 eminent merits. In the canonical sense the office of 
 Archbishop did not then exist in Leinster, nor for many 
 centuries afterwards. 
 
 On this occasion we are told that Patrick wrote an 
 ' Alphabet ' for Fiacc that is, a brief exposition of the 
 Christian doctrine ; and he is said to have learned in one 
 night, or as others say, in fifteen days, the ' ecclesiastical 
 ordo/ that is, the method of administering the sacraments 
 and celebrating the Holy Sacrifice. It must be borne in 
 mind that previously Fiacc was an accomplished poet, a man 
 therefore of learning, with a highly trained memory, well 
 skilled in his native tongue, and perhaps not altogether 
 unacquainted with the rudiments of the Latin language, at 
 least he must have frequently heard it at Tara and elsewhere, 
 when the clergy were performing their functions. 
 
 Fiacc founded two Churches with which his name is 
 intimately connected. The first is called in old writers, 
 Domnach Mor Fiacc, and is described as being situated mid- 
 way between Clonmore and Aghold ; and therefore about 
 six miles due east of Tullow on the borders of Carlow and 
 Wicklow. It was also called Minbeg, that is, the Little Wood 
 or Brake, which was probably near the old church. It is 
 identical with Kylebeg, the name of a townland in the same 
 locality. The old church itself has disappeared. 
 
 Here he led a life of great austerity until he was com- 
 manded by an angel to remove thence to the west of the 
 River Barrow, for there he was to find the "place of his 
 resurrection." He was directed to build his refectory where 
 he should meet with a boar, and his Church where he should 
 see a hind. Fiacc, however, was unwilling to go there
 
 84 THE WRITINGS OF ST. PATRICK AND OF HIS DISCIPLES. 
 
 without the sanction of St. Patrick. So Patrick himself 
 came and fixed the site of his Church at Sletty (Sleibhte), 
 and there Fiacc and his son Fiachra, were afterwards 
 interred, the two saints in the same grave. 
 
 Sletty is about one mile and a -half north-west of Carlow, 
 on the right bank of the River Barrow. It takes its name, 
 " the Highland," from the hills of Slievemargy, in Queen's 
 County, which have also gave their name to the entire 
 barony. During the devastations of the Danes, Sletty being 
 so near a large river, was almost totally destroyed by the 
 frequent incursions of those marauders. A portion of the 
 old church still remains, but the See of Sletty was long ago 
 transferred to Leighlin, which is still the name of the 
 diocese. 
 
 In his monastery of Sletty, Fiacc presided over many 
 monks, his disciples, and continued to lead the same austere 
 life, as at Donoughmore. He was at once abbot of the 
 monastery at Sletty, and besides performed his episcopal 
 functions through all the surrounding country. He was 
 moreover wont every year, at the beginning of Lent, to 
 retire to a lonely cave at Drum Coblai, taking with him a 
 few barley loaves, which were the only food he used, with 
 water from the spring, during all the days of Lent, until he 
 returned to his monastery to celebrate with his brethren the 
 great festival of Easter. This cave of Drum Coblai has been 
 identified with a remarkable cave at the base of the north- 
 east escarpment of the hill called the Doon of Clopook, about 
 seven miles north-west of Sletty, and a little to the east of 
 the old and famous monastery of Timahoe. Near at hand 
 there is an ancient church and graveyard, and it is said that 
 a dim tradition still lingers in the neighbourhood of a saint, 
 who used to retire to this cave to fast and pray alone with 
 God. As no person could see him leave the cave, he was 
 supposed to return to his own church further south by a 
 subterranean passage, which is believed to be still in 
 existence, although no one can ascertain its whereabouts. 
 
 During a great portion of his episcopal life Fiacc suffered 
 much from a fistula, or running sore, near his hip-joint, so 
 that he was unable to walk except with much pain and 
 difficulty. St. Patrick commiserating Bishop Fiacc's in- 
 firmity, sent him all the way from Armagh a present of a 
 chariot and horses. But Fiacc in his great humility was 
 unwilling to accept the gift, until an angel appeared to him, 
 and assured him that Patrick sent him the chariot and horses 
 because he was acquainted with the sore infirmity, under
 
 ST. FIACC OF SLETTY. 85 
 
 which. Fiacc suffered, and wished to relieve him. Then Fiacc 
 reluctantly consented to ride in the chariot. 
 
 Thus it was that Fiacc spent a long life in labour, and 
 prayer, and silence, enduring also much physical suffering, 
 until the poet-saint had seen ' three twenties of his own 
 disciples' precede him to the grave. His youth was given to 
 poetry, when he was taught by his uncle to chant the war- 
 songs of Ossian, and the bold deeds of the Fenian heroes ; 
 but his manhood and old age were given to God's service, 
 when he was wont to chant the diviner songs of the Royal 
 Bard of Israel. He died about the year A.D. 510. He must 
 have been at that time over ninety years of age, and we are 
 told he was buried in his own Church of Sletty. 
 
 There is hardly any document of higher importance in 
 connection with the early history of our Irish Church than 
 the Metrical Life of St. Patrick, written in his old age by 
 the poet-saint of Sletty. The author having been a Bard by 
 profession wrote very naturally in metre, and in the ancient 
 language of the Bards of Erin. The cultivation of poetry 
 was then as now one of the fine arts most highly esteemed 
 by an imaginative and impulsive race. The authenticity of 
 the poem has been questioned by some critics, who think that 
 there are certain expressions in the work itself, which show 
 that if not written, it certainly must have been retouched at 
 a later age. 1 We have carefully considered these arguments, 
 and we feel bound to say that we consider them very flimsy. 
 Fiacc, it is said, speaks of ' history,' as telling us that 
 St. Patrick was born at Emptur, and studied under Germanus 
 language, they say, which a friend and contemporary 
 would hardly use. But these are facts which he could not 
 have known of his own knowledge, and the statements of 
 St. Patrick himself, and also of his associates and companions, 
 whether oral or written might very well be described by the 
 Irish words which the poet used probably because they 
 suited his metre. 2 Another objection is derived from two 
 references to Tara, where the poet says he wished not that 
 Tara should be a ' desert / and, again, where he says that the 
 Tuatha of Erin at the advent of St. Patrick, foretold that the 
 land of Tara would be ' waste and silent? from which these 
 critics infer that the poem must have been written after the 
 cursing and desolation of Tara, about the middle of the sixth 
 century. But is this a just inference ? Can anything be 
 more natural than that the Druids should declare the new 
 
 1 See Liber Hymnorum, Tol. ii., page 287. 2 Scela and lini.
 
 86 THE WRITINGS OF ST. PATRICK AND OF HIS DISCIPLES. 
 
 faith would be fatal to the pagan royalty of Tara, and that 
 the poet immediately after when proudly referring to 
 Patrick's new spiritual sovereignty at Armagh, and the 
 glory of his grave at Downpatrick should add, to prevent 
 misconception, that he himself did not wish the destruction 
 of the temporal sovereignty then flourishing at Tara, ' I wish 
 not that Tara should he a desert.' As to the argument 
 derived from the fact that Fiacc is named Ard-espog of 
 Leinster, as we have already stated, that it is merely, like 
 arch-poet, an honorary title to express pre-eminence and 
 superiority in the spiritual office. The ablest of our critics 
 regard the poem as the genuine composition of Fiacc of 
 Sletty, the friend and contemporary of Patrick, written 
 shortly after his death in A.D. 493 ; and hence the earliest 
 and most authentic biography of the saint that has come 
 down to us. It [is, moreover, a document of supreme im- 
 portance, for competent judges, like O'Curry, have pronounced 
 it to be written in pure and perfect Gaedhlic. " It bears 
 internal evidence," says O'Curry, " of a high degree of per- 
 fection in the language, at the time it was composed ; it is 
 unquestionably in all respects a genuine native production, 
 quite untinctured with the Latin or with any other contem- 
 porary style or idiom." This is a most important fact, because 
 in our opinion it settles the question as to the use of letters 
 and writing in Ireland before St. Patrick. No language could 
 by any possibility in one or two generations be developed 
 from being the rude unwritten jargon of an unlettered people 
 into a perfect written language of artistic structure with 
 definite grammatical form and arrangement. That the poem 
 of Fiacc is an elaborate composition of this character indi- 
 cating not only the existence of settled grammatical forms, 
 but also a great richness and flexibility in the language, even 
 the merest tyro in the Gaedhlic tongue can perceive. Indeed 
 in every respect it is much superior to the debased Gaedhlic 
 of the last three centuries. 
 
 This important poem was first printed by John Colgan, 
 the father of Irish hagiology. It has been reprinted much 
 more accurately from the copy in the Liber Hymnorum, 
 T.C.D., and in the Irish Ecclesiastical Record for March 1868, 
 where the philological student will find not only the text and 
 glosses, but also an accurate translation from the pen of one 
 of our most eminent Celtic scholars, Eugene O'Curry of the 
 Catholic University of Dublin. More recently the poem 
 has been printed in Stokes' Tripartite (Rolls Series), and in 
 Haddan and Stubbs' Councils, etc.
 
 THE SAYINGS OF ST. PATRICK. 87 
 
 VII. THE SAYINGS OF ST. PATRICK. 
 
 In the Book of Armagh there is a paragraph headed 
 Dicta Patritii or Sayings of St. Patrick. They appear to 
 have been certain sayings which were frequently on the lips 
 of the apostle, and which came to be handed down to posterity 
 as expressive of his apostolic spirit. Brief and few as they 
 are, these spiritual maxims have been well chosen, and may 
 be said to govern in their application the whole life of the 
 individual Christian, as well as of the Irish Church. 
 
 First maxim " I had the fear of God as the guide of my 
 way through Gaul and Italy, and also in the islands, which 
 are in the Tyrhene Sea." 1 The second maxim " From the 
 world ye have gone to Paradise." This saying is taken from 
 the Epistle to Coroticus, in which the Saint after bewailing 
 his slaughtered neophytes, yet rejoices that it happened after 
 they believed, and were baptized ; for then they merely left 
 this world to go to Paradise. In course of time this appears 
 to have been adopted in Ireland as a consoling thought for 
 the survivors that their deceased friends had gone from this 
 world to Paradise De seculo recessistis ad Paradisum. 
 Third maxim " Deo gratias " thanks be to God. It? was 
 always on the lips of St. Patrick whether the news was 
 good or bad, pleasing or displeasing, the same word was there 
 Deo gratias. The fourth maxim " Church of the Scots 
 nay of the Romans as ye are Christians, be ye also Romans." 
 That is, as ye are Christians, and bound to obey Christ, so 
 be ye also Romans obedient to the See of Rome. Maxim 
 the fifth " At every hour of prayer it is fitting to sing that 
 word of praise ' Lord have mercy on us, Christ have mercy 
 on us.' Let every Church which follows me sing ' Kyrie 
 eleison, Christe eleison, Deo gratias.' ' It would seem that 
 the ' Kyrie eleison ' at the beginning of Mass, and the 'Deo 
 gratias ' at the end of Mass were not at that early period 
 universally chanted in the public liturgy. Hence the 
 Saint, who seems to have a special love for these two brief 
 and frequent expressions of pardon and thanksgiving; made 
 it a rule that they should be sung in the liturgy of all the 
 Churches which he founded in Ireland. The practice has 
 since become obligatory throughout the universal Church. 
 
 1 The entire passage is as follows: " Timorem Dei habui ducem itineris 
 mei per Gallias atque Italiam, etiam in insulis quae sunt in mari Tyrrhene 
 De Saeculo recessistis ad paradisum Deo gratias ^Ecclesia Scotorum, imo 
 Romanorum ut Christian! ita et Romani sitis Ut decantetur vobiscum 
 oportet omni hora orationis vox.illa laudabilis Kyrie eleison, Christe eleison 
 Oranis secclesia, quae sequitur me cantet, ' Kyrie eleison, Christe eleison, 
 Deo gratias.'"
 
 OO THE WRITINGS OF ST. PATRICK AND OF HIS DISCIPLES. 
 
 VIII. THE TRIPARTITE LIFE OF ST. PATRICK. 
 
 The earliest memoir of St. Patrick was perhaps the Metrical 
 Life by St. Fiacc of Sletty, to which we have already referred. 
 Of the Life of St. Patrick in the Book of Armagh we shall 
 speak in the next chapter. But what is called the " Tripar- 
 tite Life " of the Saint is, as far as we can judge, if not the 
 earliest, certainly the fullest and most authentic account of 
 our national Apostle now extant. 
 
 It took its name of the Tripartite, or Three- Divisioned- 
 Life from the fact that the whole history of St. Patrick is 
 divided into three homilies, one of which was probably 
 preached by its author on each of the three festival days 
 celebrated in honour of the Saint the vigil, or day before 
 the Feast itself and perhaps the day after, or the Octave 
 day. The preacher, taking for his text the verses of Isaias 
 Populus qui sedebat in tenebris vidit lucem magnam, etc., etc:., 
 declares that Patrick was of that light a ray, and a flame, 
 and precious stone, and a brilliant lamp, which lighted the 
 western world and that he was Bishop of the west of the 
 earth, and the father of the baptism and belief of the men of 
 Ireland. Then the writer, or speaker, undertakes to narrate 
 "something of the carnal genealogy, of the miracles and 
 marvels of this holy Patrick, as set forth in the Churches of 
 Christians, on the sixteenth of the Calends of April (17th of 
 March), as regards the day of the solar month." The Life, 
 or homily, next states explicitly that Patrick was by origin 
 of the Britons of Ail-Cluade the Rock of the Clyde now 
 Dumbarton, a statement in which we entirely concur. 
 Calphurn was his father's name, and a noble priest was he, 
 and his grandfather was the deacon Potitus (Fotid in the 
 Irish MS.). In those early days, especially in the outlying 
 provinces of the empire, it was not unusual to seek for the 
 fittest candidates for Holy Orders amongst men, who had 
 been married, or who were even at the time of their selection 
 married men. They were in fact the best candidates for the 
 sacred ministry that could be had at the time ; for most of 
 the young men were not only without special training, but 
 unreliable and licentious. It was, however, the general rule 
 in the western but not in the eastern Church, that the mar- 
 ried man after his ordination, and especially after his elevation 
 to the Episcopate, should abstain from all conjugal inter- 
 course with his wife. Such, for instance, was the case with 
 St. Germanus, Bishop of Auxerre, the teacher and friend of 
 St. Patrick. The Irish Canons, too, even of the fifth century,
 
 THE TRIPARTITE LIFE OF ST. PATRICK. 89 
 
 are particularly imperative on this point, and snow clearly 
 that although the celibacy of the clergy was not, strictly 
 speaking, obligatory even in the west during the centuries of 
 the persecutions, no sooner was the Church free to carry out 
 her own purposes than she strove to make this legislation 
 compulsory throughout all Christendom. 
 
 The second part of the Tripartite begins with St. Patrick's 
 arrival at Tara to preach to King Laeghaire and his Druids, 
 and is by far the most momentous portion of the work. The 
 third part begins with the statement that Patrick left presbyter 
 Conaed in Domnach Airther Maige, in the province of the 
 Northern Hui Briuin, and ends with an account of Patrick's 
 holy death and illustrious burial " after founding churches 
 in plenty, after consecrating monasteries, after baptizing the 
 men of Ireland, after great patience and after great labour, after 
 destroying idols and images, and after rebuking many kings 
 who did not do his will, and after raising up those who did 
 his will, after ordaining three hundred and three score and 
 ten 1 bishops, and after ordaining three thousand priests and 
 clerics of every grade in the Church besides, after fasting and 
 prayer, after mercy and clemency, after gentleness and mild- 
 ness to the sons of life, after the love of Grod and of his 
 neighbours, he received Christ's Body from the Bishop 
 from Tassach and then he sent his spirit to heaven" in 
 the hundredth and twentieth year of his age. 
 
 The most interesting question connected with this Tri- 
 partite life is its date and probable authorship. Unfortu- 
 nately we have intrinsic evidence for neither, the manuscript 
 itself is silent both as to its date and authorship. Hence 
 there is much difference of opinion even amongst learned 
 and honest scholars. Colgan thought that St. Evin of 
 Monasterevan, who flourished about the middle of the sixth 
 century, was its original author, and 0' Curry adopted the 
 same opinion. Petrie thought it a " compilation of the ninth 
 or tenth century;" and Dr. Whitley Stokes, in his excellent 
 edition of the Tripartite, undertakes to show that " it could 
 not have been written before the middle of the tenth century, 
 and that it was probably compiled in the eleventh." 
 
 His arguments are two-fold linguistic and historical. 
 So far as the former are concerned, we may fairly say that he 
 is not a better authority than O' Curry, and that if O' Curry 
 thought this Life might have been of the sixth century, no 
 philological arguments of Dr. Whitley Stokes will override 
 
 1 In the early ages of the Church a bishop was placed over every town.
 
 90 THE WRITINGS OF ST. PATRICK AND OF HIS DISCIPLES. 
 
 his authority in that respect. But Stokes goes farther, and 
 quotes entries from the Tripartite, which he alleges must 
 have been made in the seventh, eighth, ninth, and tenth cen- 
 turies. This we readily admit is a weightier argument. He 
 cites nine or ten instances of this kind, which, as he alleges, 
 were neither additions nor interpolations. Such, for instance, 
 is the reference to Connacan, son of Colman, and grandson of 
 Niall Frossach, who was killed in Ulster, A.D. 873. 
 
 It is obvious that to prove anything it must be shown 
 conclusively that the event was referred to in the original Tri- 
 partite and is that same event which is recorded in our Annals 
 in the ninth or tenth century. Yet it is exceedingly difficult 
 to prove this essential point. Take, for instance, one of the 
 clearest cases mentioned by Stokes, that death of Connacan, 
 grardson of Mall Frossach. "Whoever examines this passage, 
 which is at page 174 (not 173) will notice that it is just such 
 a statement as might be added or interpolated by a copyist. 
 The original writer quotes a prophecy of St. Patrick that 
 " the land of thy place (z'.., of Conaed) shall not be reddened." 
 The copyist then adds apparently as of himself " Quod 
 probavimus, when Connacan, son of Colman, son of Niall 
 Frossach (the Showery) came into the land with an army." 
 Is this statement that of the copyist or of the original writer? 
 Until it is clearly shown that it is a sentence written by the 
 original author, no argument as to the age of the Tripartite 
 can be based on it, or on similar passages. 
 
 This Tripartite Life is on the whole the most valuable 
 document concerning St. Patrick that has come down to our 
 times. It was written chiefly in Gaedhlic of the purest type 
 of the language, interspersed here and there with passages 
 in Latin. And it was because Jocelin has said that St. 
 Evin wrote a work of this kind, 1 partly in Irish and partly 
 in Latin, that Colgan not unnaturally infers that the Tri- 
 partite must be the work to which Jocelin refers. "We 
 certainly know of no other work of a similar character to 
 which Jocelin's observation can apply, and if there were any 
 other similar work we certainly should have heard of it either 
 as a lost or an extant work. Hence, although, ratione forma, 
 Colgan's logic may be weak, ratione materiae, it is unimpeach- 
 able, no matter what Stokes may say to the contrary. 2 
 
 1 " Acta S. Patricii partim Latino, partim Hibemico Sermone." 
 
 2 He says that Colgan's argument furnishes a choice specimen of an 
 undistributed middle term.
 
 CHAPTER Y. 
 SCHOOLS OF THE FIFTH CENTURY. 
 
 Our Kings sat of old in Etnania and Tara ; 
 
 These new Kings whence are they ? Their names are unknown ! 
 
 Our saints lie entomb'd in Ardmagh and Kildara ; 
 
 Their relics are healing, their graves are grass-grown. 
 
 I. THE SCHOOLS OF ARMAGH. 
 
 THE School of Armagh, seems to have been the oldest, and 
 always continued to be one of the most celebrated, of the 
 ancient schools of Ireland. It dates in all probability from 
 the very foundation of the See of Armagh, for it has always 
 been regarded in the Church as one of the primary duties of 
 a bishop to make provision for the training and education of 
 his ecclesiastics, and as far as possible under bis own imme- 
 diate supervision. We may be sure that our great Apostle 
 did not neglect this duty ; and, indeed, the most ancien,fc 
 writers inform us that the School of Armagh dates from the 
 foundation of the See the history of one is in fact told in 
 the history of the other. 
 
 St. Patrick had purposed to build his Church and found 
 his primatial See in the sweet and flowery fields of Louth, 
 where the deep seclusion of a sheltered meadow wooed his 
 weary heart to build a house for God, and a home for his own 
 declining years. But God had willed otherwise. " Get thee 
 northward," said the angel visitor, " to the Height of Macha 
 (Ard-Macha) ; it is there that Providence wills that you 
 should build your church and fix your chair for ever." 
 Promptly, though regretfully, the Apostle obeyed ; and cross- 
 ing the slopes of Slieve Gullion soon came in sight of the 
 swelling hills of Macha of which God's angel spoke 
 
 "So long as Sea 
 
 Girdeth this isle, so long thy name shall hang 
 In splendour o'er it like the stars of God." 
 
 The place had long been famous in the legendary history 
 of Ireland. It was the classic ground of poetry and romance. 
 Kavan fort, just one mile to the west of the present city of
 
 92 SCHOOLS OF THE FIFTH CENTURY. 
 
 Armagh, was the site of the ancient and famous palace of 
 Emania, founded three hundred years before the Christian 
 era by Macha of the golden hair, who traced the site of the 
 rath with the brooch of gold from her neck, and hence it was 
 called Eamhuin, in Latin Emania, but pronounced in Irish 
 avan, so that with the article prefixed it becomes Navan, or 
 "the fort of the neck brooch," the name which it retains to the 
 present day. Macha of the golden hair was buried on the 
 height called from her A rd- Macha, although the spot cannot 
 be exactly identified. On the western slope of Navan fort is 
 a townland now called Creeveroe, which takes its name from 
 the famous Red Branch Knights (Craebh-ruadh), who dwelt 
 in the western slope of Emania where they had a School of 
 Chivalry, in which they were trained to all martial feats of 
 valour, and were always at hand to defend their sovereign and 
 follow him to the battle-field. When St. Patrick came to 
 Ard-Macha, that home of chivalry was silent and deserted, 
 for Emania had been totally destroyed by the Three Collas 
 about the year A.D. 322, after it had flourished for more than 
 600 years. The old order changed, yielding place to the 
 new, and the foundress of Emania gave her name to the royal 
 seat of a more enduring kingdom. 
 
 When Patrick, with his train of clerics, came to Armagh, 
 he went straight to the local dynast, whose name was Daire, 
 a grandson, it seems, of Eoghan, son of Niall of the Nine 
 Hostages, the common ancestor of the O'Neill's. Daire was 
 a rough and bold, but not a cruel prince ; he had heard, too, 
 of Patrick and of the God of the Christians ; so when the 
 Saint asked him for a site of a church on the Ridge of the 
 Willows (Druim-Saileach), although he refused him that proud 
 site on the hill, he granted him leave to build a church in 
 the neighbouring plain to the west, which was called Na 
 Fearta, or the Church of the Graves. But Daire, greedy 
 even for what he had given to God, sent down two of his 
 fleet coursers to graze on the green and fertile meadow which 
 Patrick had enclosed for his church. It was very necessary 
 to teach the rude warriors of the time that God's acre may 
 not lawfully be profaned by man or beast, so it came to pass 
 that when the horses tasted of the grass, they both fell dead, 
 and the king's servants brought word to their master that 
 the Christian priest had killed them. Daire's brow grew 
 dark, and mentally he swore that he would slay Patrick and 
 all his people, when suddenly he sickened with a sickness 
 nigh to death. Then in great haste the queen, " whose lus- 
 trous violet eyes were lost in tears," sent a messenger to the
 
 THE SCHOOLS OF ARMAGH. 93 
 
 Saint and besought him to heal her husband, for she knew 
 his malady was a chastisement from God. Patrick yielded 
 to the woman's gracious prayer, and blessing water from the 
 font, he gave it to the messengers, and bade them sprinkle 
 therewith the horses and the king. This was done, and lo ! 
 the horses came to life again, and the king's sore sickness 
 left him. 
 
 Then Daire sent to Patrick as a gift a huge bronze caul- 
 dron, in those days a gift not unworthy of a king. The 
 Saint, raising his eyes from his breviary, said " Deo gratias," 
 but no more. " How did the priest receive my gift?" said 
 the king. " 'Gratzicam/ was all he said," replied the messen- 
 gers. Then the king in wrath bade them go again, and bear 
 away the gift from the ungrateful priest ; and again Patrick 
 merely said, "Deo gratias." " What said he now ?" asked 
 the king. "Only ' Gratzicam,'" answered the messengers. 
 " It is strange," said Daire. " 'Gratzicam,' when it is given, 
 ' Gratzicam' when it is taken away. The word must be good. 
 I will restore him the cauldron, and give him the Ridge of 
 the Willows that he may build a church unto his God." 
 
 So Patrick, and Daire with his queen, and the clerics and 
 the warriors of Daire, ascended the slope, and on the crown 
 of that sacred hill, Patrick, book in hand, marked out the 
 site of the church, and all the buildings connected therewith, 
 and consecrated it to God forever. Now it came to pass that 
 as the concourse was advancing a doe with her fawn was 
 lying under a tree. The startled doe flew swiftly away to 
 the north, and the king's attendants were going to kill the 
 little fawn, but Patrick said, "IFo"; and putting forth his 
 hand he took the fawn, and put it on his own shoulders, and 
 the doe taking courage followed him home, and remained 
 with the nuns of Na Fearta ever after, giving them milk, 
 too, besides feeding her fawns. This lesson of love and ten- 
 derness even to the brute creation produced a great effect on 
 the rude warriors of Daire. They saw how Patrick pitied 
 the poor doe, and would not hurt its offspring; they saw in 
 him the image of that Good Shepherd of whom he spoke to 
 them so often ; and thus they were made to learn that the 
 Gospel of Patrick was a message of love of love for God, 
 their great Father in heaven, and for all their fellow-men on 
 earth. 
 
 According to the Book of Armagh, written about the year 
 A.D. 807, the doe with her fawn was lying on the very "spot 
 where the altar of the northern church in Ard-Macha now 
 stands ; " and Patrick carried the fawn on his shoulders until
 
 94 SCHOOLS OF THE FIFTH CENTURY. 
 
 he laid it " on another eminence at the north side of Armagh 
 where, according to the statement of those who know the 
 place, miraculous attestations are to be witnessed to this day." 
 (Fol 6: b. 2.) The northern church to which the reference 
 is made built on the very spot where the doe was lying 
 is generally thought to have been the Sabhall, or Barn, called 
 also the " Ecclesia Sinistralis" because it was to the left of 
 the great church, for persons entering the latter from the 
 west. The great church itself known as the Damhliac 
 (Duleek) or the great Stone Church, occupied the site of the 
 present Protestant cathedral ; and it is an extraordinary co- 
 incidence that the new Catholic Cathedral, the crowning 
 glory of modern Armagh, stands on the opposite hill to the 
 north dwarfing by its majestic proportions the Protestant 
 church and stands, it is said, on that very " eminence to the 
 north " whither the great apostle carried the fawn on his 
 shoulders ! The hunted doe there found rest ; and there, 
 too, that other "milk white hind," during the stormy centu- 
 ries of the past so often doomed to death yet fated not to die, 
 was destined to find a refuge and a home. " Great shall be 
 the glory of this last House, more than of the first, and in 
 this place I will give thee peace, said the Lord of Hosts." 
 (Agg. 2, 10.) 
 
 There were many other ecclesiastical buildings at Armagh, 
 of which we can only mention the names. There was the 
 Damhliac Toga, or the " Stone Church of the Elections," on 
 the south side of the Cathedral, but close at hand ; there was 
 a Cloictech, or Round Tower, at its north-west angle; there 
 was a Teach Screaptra, or House of Writings (library), also 
 within the original rath, as well as the Abbot's House, were 
 the Cuicin or Kitchen, the prison for refractory monks or 
 students, and the Reilig or Cemetery, which was more to the 
 south, but afterwards extended all round the church. It was 
 there that Brian Boru and his gallant son, Murchadh, were 
 interred after the battle of Clontarf in 1014. Maelmuire, the 
 Primate, proceeded with his clergy and relics to Swords, and 
 waked the royal dead with all honour and reverence. Then 
 they carried the bodies to Armagh, and they were both in- 
 terred in the same new tomb. 
 
 All these buildings, including the houses for the monks 
 and students, crowned the summit of the holy hill, and were 
 surrounded with a large rath or earthen mound, as well as 
 by a Fith-nemhedh, or Sacred Grove, where learning and 
 religion sat side by side enthroned for many centuries in spite 
 of much turbulence and bloodshed.
 
 THE SCHOOLS OF ARMAGH. 95 
 
 The Churches and Schools of Armagh are said to have been 
 founded between the years A.D. 450 and 457 we can scarcely 
 assign an earlier date. At that time St. Patrick had done 
 much for the conversion of Ireland, but much still remained 
 to be accomplished, so he chose and consecrated as his 
 coadjutor Benignus, his young and faithful desciple, to pre- 
 side over the Church of Armagh and over all its monasteries 
 and schools. So that in truth we may regard Benignus as 
 the first president, and one of the chief professors of the 
 young seminary which St. Patrick had just founded. 
 Benignus from his boyhood had been trained by St. Patrick 
 himself ; he had accompanied him hitherto on all his mis- 
 sionary journeys ; he was " psalm-singer " to the Saint, by 
 whom he was tenderly loved, and not without good cause. 
 The brief story of the life of Benignus is very touching 
 beautiful with a beauty that is all divine. 
 
 As we have seen, when St. Patrick first came to preach the 
 Gospel in Ireland, he coasted northward, seeking a suitable spot 
 to land, and amongst other places he put in for a little at the 
 stream now called the Nanny Water in the County Meath, a 
 little to the south of Drogheda. There he visited the house 
 of a certain man of noble birth, by name Sescnen, whom after 
 due instruction he baptized, together with his wife and 
 family. Amongst the children there was one, a fair and 
 gentle boy, to whom the saint, on account of the sweetness 
 and meekness of his disposition, gave in baptism the appro- 
 priate name of Benignus. Shortly after the baptism Patrick, 
 wearied out with his labours by sea and land, fell asleep where 
 he sat, as it would -seem, on the green sward before the house 
 of Sescnen. Then the loving child, robed in his baptismal 
 whiteness, gathered together bunches of fragrant flowers and 
 sweet smelling herbs and strewed them gently over the head 
 and face of the weary Saint ; the child then sat at his feet, 
 and pressed Patrick's tired limbs close to his own pure heart 
 and kissed them tenderly. The Saint's companions were in 
 the act of chiding the boy, lest he might disturb Patrick, who 
 thereupon awaking and perceiving what took place, thanked 
 the tender-hearted child for his kindness, and said to those 
 standing by : " Leave him so ; he shall be the heir of my 
 kingdom," by which he meant, says the author of the 
 Tripartite Life, to signify that God had destined Benignus 
 to succeed Patrick in the primatial chair as ruler of the Irish 
 Church. After this nothing could separate the boy from his 
 spiritual father; he hung on the words of wisdom that fell 
 from Patrick's lips ; he accompanied him everywhere, and
 
 96 SCHOOLS OF THE FIFTH CENTURY. 
 
 thus from his boyhood was trained by the apostle himself in 
 all divine and human knowledge. We cannot stay to discuss 
 the question whether Secundinus preceded Benignus as 
 coadjutor to St. Patrick in the See of Armagh. We think 
 not ; it is certain at any rate that for ten years, about the 
 time we speak of, that is, from A.D. 455 to 465, Benignus 
 ruled under the guidance of Patrick the Church and School 
 of Armagh. 
 
 His voice was sweet and pleasing, and his knowledge of 
 the chants of the church was very considerable, acquired 
 doubtless from Patrick himself, who had been trained in Gaul 
 and Britain. Hence he was " psalmist " to Patrick, he led 
 the choir of priests and monks at all the solemn ceremonies, 
 and he trained the "wild eyed" Celtic youth to sing the 
 praises of God like another Orpheus, softening them into 
 Christian meekness by the charms of sweet melody the 
 melody of his voice and the still sweeter melody of his gentle 
 heart. 
 
 Yet though a child of grace he had need of caution. His 
 own sweet winning ways, 1 the music of his voice, his face so 
 modest and so fair, deeply, though to himself unconsciously, 
 won the affections of Ercnat, the beautiful and yet unbaptized 
 daughter of King Daire. Most of all she was smitten by his 
 sweet voice in the choir of the church. But she told no one ; 
 only going home she pined away in silence, and " through 
 grief of love the maiden lay as dead." Then at length 
 Benignus hearing the cause, went and told his father Patrick, 
 and Patrick gave him holy water, and bade him go and 
 sprinkle it over the dying maiden. At once sue awoke to a 
 new life, with her heart emancipated from every trace of 
 earthly love. 
 
 " Thenceforth she loved the spouse of souls. 
 It was as though some child that dreaming wept, 
 Its childish playthings lost, by bells awaked 
 Bride-bells, bad found herself a Queen new wed 
 Unto her Country's Lord." 
 
 Aubrey de Vere. 
 
 St. Benignus died, it is generally stated, on the 9th of 
 November, A.D. 468. A short time before his death he is 
 said to have resigned his primatial coadj utorship, for 
 St. Patrick was still alive, at least according to the much 
 
 1 Benignus was, says the author of the Tripartite Life of St. Patrick, an 
 " adoleseens facie decorus, vultu modestus, moribus integer, nomine uti et in 
 re Benignus," and his voice " cunctos oblectans."
 
 THE SCHOOLS OF ARMAGH. 97 
 
 more general and more probable opinion, which places his 
 death in A.D. 492, at the great age of 120 years. The death 
 of Benignus is thus noticed in the Martyrology of Donegal : 
 
 "November 8th, Benignus, i.e. Benen, son of Sescnen, disciple of 
 St. Patrick, and his successor, that is Primate of Ard-Macha . . . 
 The holy Benen was benign, was devout ; he was a virgin without 
 ever defiling his virginity, for when he was psalm-singer at Ard- 
 Macha along with his master, St. Patrick, Ercnat, daughter of Daire, 
 loved him and she was seized with a disease so that she died (appeared 
 to die) suddenly ; and Benen brought holy water to her from 
 St. Patrick, and he shook it upon her, and she arose alive and well ; 
 and she loved him spiritually afterwards, and she subsequently went 
 to Patrick and confessed all her sins to him, and offered her virginity 
 to God, so that she went to heaven ; and the name of God, of Patrick, 
 and of Benen was magnified through it." 
 
 The celebrated Irish work called the Leabhar Na 
 g Ceart, or Book of Rights, has been generally attributed 
 to St. Benignus, although there seems to be good reason for 
 doubting if he was really its author, at least in its present 
 shape. The title or inscription of the book certainly attri- 
 butes it to Benignus. It is to this effect : " The beginning 
 of the Book of Rights, which relates to the revenues and 
 subsidies of Ireland as ordered by Benen, son of Sescnen, 
 Psalmist of Patrick, as is related in the Book of Glendaloch." 
 
 The Book of Glendaloch is no longer extanc ; but it seems 
 clear from'this very title that the work in its present form, 
 is derived from the ancient compilation known as the Book 
 of Glendaloch, and which the Four Masters tell us was in 
 their hands when composing their own immortal work. The 
 copy in the Book of Glendaloch may have been itself made 
 from the original treatise on the subject by St. Benignus, 
 who was in every way well qualified for the task, both by his 
 literary training as well as by his knowledge of his native 
 language, and his familiarity with the laws and customs of 
 the various provinces. 
 
 The title of the book very fairly describes its contents. It 
 gives an exceedingly minute and interesting account of the 
 revenues and rights of the supreme king ; of the services and 
 duties rendered to him by the provincial kings and inferior 
 chiefs, as well as of the gifts and subsidies which he owed 
 them in return. It gives also a full account of the revenues 
 and rights of each of the provincial raonarchs, and the 
 services to be rendered to them by the sub-chiefs of the 
 various districts, and the hereditary offices and honours held 
 by the heads of the great families in the provincial assemblies. 
 The work is partly in poetry and partly in prose ; and although 
 
 G
 
 98 SCHOOLS OF THE FIFTH CENTURY. 
 
 in its present form it cannot have dated from the time of 
 St. Benigmis, it is still an exceedingly valuable work as 
 illustrating the internal organization of the entire kingdom, 
 and its minor principalities, and may have been originally 
 drawn up by that learned and holy man, with a view of pre- 
 venting internecine feuds by definitely and authoritatively 
 fixing the rights and duties of the various princes and chiefs 
 of the kingdom. This work has been translated and anno- 
 tated for the Dublin Archaeological Society by the late John 
 O'Donovan. St. Benignus is said by Jocelin to have written 
 also a life of St. Patrick, but no copy of it is now known to 
 exist ; and he has been always regarded as one of the 
 compilers of the great collection of Brehon Laws known as 
 the Senchus Mor. 
 
 The School of Armagh seems to have been primarily a 
 
 great theological seminary. This is only natural ; for the 
 
 seat of authority should be also the fountain of sound 
 
 doctrine. Of course in those far distant days theological 
 
 learning had not assumed the strictly scientific form which 
 
 was given to it by the great scholastic doctors, and which 
 
 has been retained and gradually perfected ever since. It 
 
 was the Positive Theology of the Fathers that was taught in 
 
 our ancient Irish schools. But the difference regards the 
 
 form rather than the matter ; in both cases the matter is 
 
 derived from divine revelation. The Fathers, however, 
 
 explained and enforced the great principles of Christian 
 
 doctrine and morality with rhetorical fulness and vigour, 
 
 exhibiting great fecundity of thought and richness of 
 
 imagery, but not attending so closely as the great scholastics 
 
 to scientific arrangement or to the accurate development of 
 
 their principles and the logical cogency of their proofs. 
 
 Each of these systems has its own merits and defects ; the 
 
 former is better suited for the instruction and exhortation of 
 
 the faithful, the latter for the refutation of error ; the 
 
 Positive Theology was of spontaneous growth ; the Scholastic 
 
 System has been elaborately constructed ; the one is a stately 
 
 tree, that with the years of its life, has gradually grown in 
 
 size and beauty to be the pride of the forest ; the other is the 
 
 Gothic Cathedral that from its broad and deep foundations 
 
 has been laboriously built up, stone by stone, unto the glory 
 
 of its majestic proportions and the strength of its perfect 
 
 unity. 
 
 One of the most famous books in the schools of Ireland, 
 and especially of Armagh, was the Morals of St. Gregory the 
 Great. It is a very large treatise in thirty-five books, and
 
 THE SCHOOLS OF ARMAGH. 99 
 
 though nominally a commentary on the Book of Job, it is in 
 reality one of the most beautiful works on moral theology in 
 its widest sense that has been ever penned. Every verse of 
 Job is made the text for a homily, not a homily of a formal 
 character, but a series of moral reflections conveyed in sweet 
 and touching language language in which argument and 
 exhortation are very happily blended. 
 
 On Sacred Scripture St. Jerome seems to have been their 
 great authority. We know both from the fragments of 
 Aileran the Wise, published by Migne, and from the Irish 
 manuscripts of St. Columban's great monastery at Bobbio, 
 that our Irish scholars were familiar with nearly all his 
 works. In Dogmatic Theology I do not think that during 
 the first two centuries of their history the Celtic scholars 
 were familiar with the writings of St. Augustine on Grace ; 
 they seem to have derived their dogma from St. Hilary, and 
 other writers of the French Church, rather than from the 
 great Father of the African Church. 
 
 One of the earliest and most distinguished teachers of the 
 School of Armagh, after the time of St. Patrick and 
 Benignus, was Gildas the Wise. Many writers think there 
 were at least two great saints of this name the Albanian 
 Gildas, and his namesake, Gildas of Badon (Badonicus), to 
 whom the appellation of the Wise more properly belongs. 
 We are inclined to think there was only one great saint of 
 the name, and that the distinction is due to that confusion 
 and uncertainty in our early chronology, which has been the 
 fruitful parent of many errors. However, we are more con- 
 cerned with facts than with dates, and it is an undoubted 
 fact, stated by his biographer, Caradoc of Llancarvan, that 
 Gildas was Regent or Rector, of the great School of Armagh 
 for several years, after which he returned to Wales from 
 Ireland about A.D. 508, when he heard that his brother Huel 
 had been slain by King Arthur, who, by the way, in sober 
 history is by no means the " blameless King" he is repre- 
 sented to be in the romantic idyls of Lord Tennyson. Here 
 are the exact words of Caradoc the biographer of Gildas. 
 After stating that Gildas, a most " holy preacher of the 
 Gospel," passed over to Ireland from Wales, and there con- 
 verted very many to the Catholic faith, he adds : " Gildas, 
 the historian of the Britons, who was at that time (when his 
 brother was killed), living in Ireland, being rector of the 
 school, and a preacher in the city of Armagh, hearing of the 
 death of his brother," returned to Wales and was reconciled 
 to Arthur. Thus we learn that Gildas, the historian of the
 
 100 SCHOOLS OF THE FIFTH CENTURY. 
 
 Britons, was the same Gildas who had been head of the 
 School of Armagh, the preacher renowned throughout all 
 ihe Britains, and the first historian of that nation. His work 
 called The Destruction of Britain? is still extant, and shows 
 that he was a man of large culture and of great holiness, in 
 every way qualified to rule the Schools of Armagh. He gives 
 a fearful picture of the Britons of his time, reduced as they 
 were, to the greatest extremities by domestic tyrants and 
 foreign foes. The first part of his work gives a sketch of 
 British history, both civil and ecclesiastical, during the 
 Roman domination in Britain, of the devastations by the 
 Picts and Scots, and of the advent of the Saxons and Angles. 
 The second part, called the " Epistle of Gildas," is addressed 
 to the five petty princes, or tyrants, of Britain to 
 Constantine, whom he charges with perjury, robbery, 
 adultery, and murder; to Aurelius, whom he calls a "lion's 
 cub ;" to the " panther," Vortiporius ; to the " butcher," 
 Cuneglass ; and to Magnoclunus, the " insular dragon." On 
 the whole, it is a very spicy piece of writing, and clearly 
 proves that the Welshmen of the time more than merited 
 by their crimes the bitter chastisements which they received 
 at the hands of the Saxons. The third part of the work is 
 addressed to the clergy, and he rebukes them with no less 
 severity of language. He is a new Jeremias, denouncing 
 woe against the faithless pastors who sold the priesthood, who 
 are the blind leaders of a blind flock, whom they bring with 
 themselves into perdition. There is certainly no want of 
 vigour, although there sometimes maybe of eloquence, in the 
 style of this work. It shows a wonderful familiarity with 
 the text and the application of Sacred Scriptnre ; and shows, 
 too, that Gildas the Wise, the regent of the School of 
 Armagh, was in truth a deep divine, and must have been, 
 beyond all doubt, a powerful preacher. 
 
 We know little or nothing of the writings of the subse- 
 quent teachers in the School of Armagh, but we have a 
 record of the names of several, with eulogies of their wisdom 
 and scholarship. The number of English students attracted 
 to these schools by the fame of their professors was so great 
 that in later times we find that the city was divided into 
 three wards, or thirds, as they were called the Trian Mor, 
 the Trian-Masain, and the Trian-Saxon the latter being the 
 English quarter, in which the crowds of students from 
 Saxon-land took up their abode, and where, as we know on 
 
 1 The full title of the work is De Excidio Britaniee Liber Querulus.
 
 THE SCHOOLS OF ARMAGH. 101 
 
 the express testimony of a contemporary writer, the Vener- 
 able Bede, they were received with true Irish hospitality, 
 and were all, rich and poor, supplied gratuitously with food, 
 books, and education. No more honourable testimony has 
 been ever borne to any nation's hospitality and love of 
 learning than this. Alas, that England, in the centuries 
 that followed, could make no better return to the Irish 
 people, who, says Bede, had been always most friendly to the 
 English, than to make it penal for an Irish Catholic to teach 
 a school in his native land. 
 
 In the opinion of the learned Bishop Reeves, the Trian- 
 Saxon was the district now occupied by Upper English Street 
 and Abbey Street, and gave its name to the former. 
 
 Any one glancing at the Annals of the Four Masters will 
 find frequent reference made from the sixth to the twelfth 
 century to the deaths of the "learned scribes," the "professors 
 of divinity," the " wise doctors/' and the " moderators," or 
 rectors ot the School of Armagh. In A.D. 720, 727 and 749 
 we have recorded the death of three of these learned scribes 
 within a very short period. Their duty was to devote them- 
 selves to the transcription of manuscript-books in the Teach- 
 screaptra, or House of Writings, corresponding to the 
 modern library. The Book of Armagh, transcribed there 
 in A.D. 807, shows how patiently and lovingly they laboured 
 at the wearying work ; " as if," says Miss Stokes, " they had 
 concentrated all their brains in the point of the pen." In 
 A.D. 829 died Cernech, a priest and scribe who was known 
 as the Wise by excellence ; in A.D. 925 died Maelbrighde, 
 successor of Patrick, " a vessel full of all the wisdom and 
 knowledge of his time," and eulogies of this fashion are of 
 very frequent occurrence in recording the deaths of the great 
 scholars of Armagh. 
 
 And yet, during these very centuries the schools, the 
 churches, and the town itself suffered terribly from the 
 lawless men of those days, especially from the Danes. Armagh 
 was burned no less than sixteen times between the years A.D. 
 670 and 1179, and it was plundered nine times, mostly by 
 Danes, during the ninth and tenth centuries. How it 
 survived during these centuries of fire and blood is truly 
 marvellous. In A.D. 1020, for instance, we are told by the 
 Four Masters that " Ard-Macha was burned with all the 
 fort, without the saving of any house in it except the House 
 of Writings only, and many houses were burned in the 
 Trians (or streets), and the Great Church was burned, and 
 the belfry with its bells ; and the other stone churches were
 
 102 SCHOOLS OF THE FIFTH CENTURY. 
 
 also burned, and the old preaching chair, and the chariot of 
 the abbots and their books in the houses of the students, with 
 much gold, silver, and other precious things." It is evident 
 that on this occasion the efforts of the community were 
 directed to secure their invaluable manuscripts, the loss of 
 which could never be repaired. Yet the city and schools of 
 St. Patrick rose again Phoenix-like from their ashes. In 
 A.D. 1100, Imar O'Hagan, the master of the great St. Malachy, 
 was made abbot just two years before the death of St. Malachy 's 
 father, the blessed Mugron O'More, who had been " chief 
 lector of divinity of this school, and of all the west of 
 Europe." 
 
 It was this same Imar O'Hagan, who, when made arch- 
 bishop in A.D. 1126, rebuilt the great church of St. Peter and 
 St. Paul in more than its ancient splendour, and introduced 
 into the Abbey the Canons Regular of St. Augustine. These 
 Canons by their learning and zeal effected a complete restora- 
 tion of piety, discipline and learning, which had been much 
 neglected during the ravages of the Danes. Twelve years 
 later we have a record of the death of O'Drugan, chief 
 professor of Ard-Macha, "paragon of the wisdom of the 
 Irish, and head of the council of the west of Europe in piety 
 and in devotion." Just at this time, in A.D. 1137, the great 
 Gelasius, who well deserved his name the Giolla losa, or 
 servant of Jesus succeeded St. Malachy in the See of 
 Armagh, and in spite of the disturbed state of the times 
 raised the school to the zenith of its splendour. In A.D. 1162 
 he presided over a synod of twenty-six bishops, held at Clane 
 in the County Kildare, in which it was enacted that no 
 person should be allowed to teach divinity in any school in 
 Ireland who had not, as we should now say, graduated in the 
 School of Armagh. To make Armagh worthy of this pre- 
 eminence, we find that in A.D. 1169, the very year in which 
 the Norman adventurers first landed in Ireland, King Rory 
 O'Connor " granted ten cows every yeav from himself, and 
 from every king that should succeed him forever, to the 
 professor of Ard-Macha in honour of St. Patrick, to instruct 
 the youths of Ireland and Alba in learning." And the pro- 
 fessor at the time was in every way worthy of this special 
 endowment; for he was Florence O'Gorman, "head moderator 
 of this school and of all the schools in Ireland, a man well 
 skilled in divinity and deeply learned in all the sciences." 
 He had travelled twenty-one years in France and England, 
 and at his death in A.D. 1174 had ruled the Schools of Armagh 
 for twenty years. It was well for the venerable sage that he
 
 THE SCHOOLS OF ARMAGH. 103 
 
 died in peace. Had he lived four years more, he would have 
 seen the sun of Armagh's ancient glory set in darkness and in 
 blood, when DeCourcy and DeBurgo and DeLacy year after 
 year swooped down on the ancient city, and plundered its 
 shrines, and slaughtered or drove far away its students, its 
 priests, and its professors. Once again Emania was made 
 desolate by ruthless hands, and that desolation was more 
 complete and more enduring than the first. We may hope, 
 however, that the proud cathedral just built on Macha's 
 Height gives promise of a glorious future yet in store for the 
 ancient city of St. Patrick. 
 
 In connection with the School of Armagh we may appro- 
 priately speak of the Book of Armagh. It is one of the 
 oldest, and, beyond any doubt, the most valuable of the 
 ancient books of Ireland. 1 Its contents are singularly varied 
 and interesting, and its history, too, has a melancholy interest 
 for Irish scholars. To Dr. Ch. Graves, Protestant Bishop of 
 Limerick, is due the merit of fixing the date of its transcrip- 
 tion. In one place there is an entry asking a prayer for 
 Ferdomnach pro Ferdomnacho ores and in another place 
 there is an entry which Dr. Graves deciphered with the use 
 of acids, to this effect " Ferdomnach wrote this book from- 
 the dictation of Torbach, the heir of St. Patrick/' 2 Torbach 
 was primate only for a single year (A.D. 807) ; and we find 
 from the Annals of the Four Masters that Ferdomnach " a 
 sage and choice scribe of the Church of Armagh," died in 
 A.D. 844. "We are justified, therefore, in concluding that 
 Torbach, the primate in A.D. 807 (he died on the 16th of 
 July in that year) had this great work transcribed under his 
 own direction by the choice scribe, Ferdomnach. Moreover, 
 before his elevation to the primacy, Torbach had been himself- 
 a scribe of the Church of Armagh, and thus very naturally 
 took an interest in the transcription and preservation of this 
 great treasure of his church. 
 
 The Danes, too, at this time, hungry for pillage and 
 slaughter, were hovering around the coasts of Ireland. They 
 had as yet made no descent on Armagh, but they had at 
 several points round the coast, especially on the islands, as 
 at Rathlin in A.D. 794, and Innismurray, off the coast of 
 Sligo, in A.D. 804, and at lona more than sixty of the clergy 
 and laity were slain by the foreigners. It was of the highest 
 
 1 " The penmanship is," says Bishop Resves, " of extreme elegance, and 
 is admirable throughout for its distinctness and uniformity." 
 
 2 " Ferdomnach hunc librum, dictante Torbach, herede Patricii scripsit." 
 The only word somewhat illegible is " Torbach."
 
 104 SCHOOLS OF THE FIFTH CENTURY. 
 
 importance, therefore, .just at this time, to secure a copy of 
 this ancient book. We know, too, from several marginal 
 entries that it had in some places become so illegible 
 from age and use that the " choice scribe " had great difficulty 
 in ascertaining the genuine text, so that we are justified in 
 inferring that even in A.D. 807 it was a very old book, highly 
 prized in the Church of Armagh. The sketch of the life of 
 St. Patrick given in this book purports to be taken down by 
 Bishop Tirechan from St. Ultan, who so early as A.D. 650 
 was Bishop of Ardbraccan, in Meath, and partly also from 
 the dictation of Muirchu Maccu Mactheni, at the request of 
 his preceptor, Aedh, Bishop of Sletty. It is not too much 
 then to say that the Life of St. Patrick in the Book of 
 Armagh, is perhaps the oldest and certainly the most authentic 
 document of its kind in existence in Ireland. The hand- 
 writing of the book, too, is uniform throughout, and very 
 beautiful, showing that Ferdomnach was, indeed, as he is 
 called in the Annals, a " choice scribe." 
 
 Some leaves are wanting in the beginning, but they do 
 not seem to be of great importance. We have, first of all, 
 the short life of St. Patrick, and annotations thereon in 
 Latin and Irish the Irish is now, perhaps, the very oldest 
 form of the language to be found anywhere, "We have next 
 a treatise on the rights and privileges of the Church of 
 Armagh ; then the Confession of St. Patrick, followed by 
 the words and they are very important " Hucusque 
 volumen quod Patritius scripsit manu sua" this is the part 
 of the volume which Patrick wrote with his own hand. 
 The reference seems to be principally to the Confession, and 
 clearly implies that the original copy was made from the 
 autograph of the apostle himself. 
 
 After this come several other tracts, amongst them an 
 entire copy of the New Testament, 1 gospels and epistles, 
 including the spurious epistle to the Laodiceans. The 
 Gospels, in Dr. Todd's opinion, are of the recension of 
 St. Jerome, but not so the epistles. They bear no traces of 
 his correction, a thing, however, not without example in 
 ancient manuscripts. There is next a copy of the beautiful 
 life of St. Martin of Tours, written by the " Christian 
 Sallust," Sulpicius Severus, which is the last complete treatise 
 in the book, although there are, here and there, extracts 
 
 1 This is the only complete copy of the Scriptures of the New Testament, 
 which has come down to our times from the Celtic Church of Ireland. The 
 rest were all destroyed by the Danes.
 
 THE SCHOOLS OF ARMAGH. 105 
 
 from that work so famous in the early Irish Church, the 
 Moralia of St. Gregory the Great. 
 
 One of the most remarkable features in the Book of 
 Armagh is that many of the Gospel headings are written in 
 Greek characters, and the last entry of all is a colophon of 
 four Latin lines, but written in Greek letters, showing 
 clearly that even at this early date a knowledge of Greek was 
 general in our Irish schools. 
 
 This book was, not unnaturally, looked upon on account 
 of its sacred character and great antiquity as the priceless 
 treasure of the Church of St. Patrick. It was incased in a 
 shrine so early as A.D. 937 by Donogh, son of Flann, King 
 of Ireland, and a special custodian was appointed to guard 
 it. He was called the maor, or steward, who had the custody 
 of the book, and as the office became hereditary in one 
 family, they were allowed lands for their support, and came 
 to be called MacMoyres the descendants of the Keeper. 
 Alas, for human nature ! when Oliver Plunket, the martyr 
 Primate of Armagh, was tried in A.D. 1681 for treason, in 
 London, and sentenced to be executed on the testimony of 
 those whom the sainted prelate described as "merciless 
 perjurers," two of the MacMoyres, Florence and his brother 
 John, were amongst the perjured witnesses that swore away 
 his life. And what is saddest of all, the wretch, Florence 
 MacMoyre, was at the time the custodian, or keeper, of the 
 Book of Armagh, and pawned it for 5 to a Protestant 
 gentleman, Arthur Brownlow of Lurgan, that he might, it 
 seems, find means to go over to London and earn his blood 
 money by betraying the noblest Heir of Patrick that ever sat 
 in his primatial chair. 
 
 The folios of the Book of Armagh were arranged, num- 
 bered, and incased by Mr. Brownlow, in whose family the 
 work continued down to the year A.D. 1853, when it was pur- 
 chased for 300 by the present venerable and learned 
 Dr. Reeves, 1 who has been for many years preparing to print 
 it, and there is none more capable than he to execute that 
 task. From Dr. Reeves the book passed on the same terms 
 to Primate Beresford, by whom it was presented to the 
 library of Trinity College, where it is open to the inspection 
 of all scholars through the great courtesy of the librarian, 
 Dr. Ingram, F.T.C.D. 
 
 1 Now Bishop of Down and Connor.
 
 CHAPTER ^(continued). 
 II. THE SCHOOL OF KILDARE. 
 
 "Brigid is the Mary of the Gaedhil." 
 
 Book of Hymns. 
 
 FROM Armagh we not unnaturally turn to Kildare. If 
 St. Patrick is the father, St. Brigid is the mother of all the 
 saints of Erin, both monks and nuns. She may be regarded 
 not only as the foundress of the monasteries and School of 
 Kildare, but also, in one sense at least, of the diocese of 
 Kildare itself. She has always been deemed one of the 
 three great patron saints of Ireland. Her festival was 
 honoured next after that of St. Patrick himself. The name 
 has always been a favourite one with the daughters of 
 Ireland. She was a woman not only of great virtues but of 
 great talents; and exercised a powerful influence on the 
 Church in her own day. She was the hope of the poor, the 
 counsellor of bishops, the guide of kings ; and to some extent 
 that influence is felt even at the present hour. Her history, 
 too, is exceedingly interesting, and throws much light on the 
 manners and morals of these early days. We can, however, 
 only give the reader a brief sketch of the leading incidents in 
 her very remarkable career. 
 
 Although Brigid was the greatest, she certainly was not 
 the first of the daughters of Erin who dedicated their 
 virginity and their lives to the service of Jesus Christ, and 
 received the veil from St. Patrick himself. 
 
 The sisters twain who died after their baptism at Clebach's 
 Well, on the slopes of Rath Cruachan Fedelm the ruddy, 
 and Ethne of the golden hair were probably the first 
 daughters of Erin 1 who put on the veil for Christ. 
 
 " Patrick put a white veil upon their heads," as we are 
 told in the Tripartite, and having received Communion 
 Christ's Body and His Blood they fell asleep in death, and 
 Patrick laid them side by side under one mantle in the same 
 bed. And their friends bewailed them greatly ; but God's 
 angels rejoiced, for they were the first fruits that the Spouse 
 took to himself from all the land of Erin. 
 
 1 If the nuns at Clonbroney, Co. Longford, were not before them.
 
 THE SCHOOL OF KILDARE. 107 
 
 About the same time Mathona, the sister of the young 
 and gentle Benignus, received the veil from Patrick in the 
 first bloom of her youth and beauty. It seems she accom- 
 panied her brother, who attended the Apostle all the way 
 from the banks of the Boyne ; and that she, too, had the 
 privilege of ministering to Patrick and his companions. She 
 had heard, if she had not seen, how when Patrick abode at 
 her father's house near Inver Boinde, the earth opened wide 
 its jaws and swallowed up the wizard or Druid, who had 
 mocked at Mary's virginity ; l and she resolved to become a 
 virgin like unto Mary. So when Patrick had crossed the 
 Shannon, and was come to Elphin in Roscommon, we are told 
 that he went thence to Dumacha of the Hy Ailella, and 
 founded there at Senchell, near Elphin, a church in which he 
 placed Maichet, and Cetchen, and Rodan, the arch-priest, 
 and Mathona Benen's sister, who took the veil from Patrick 
 and from Rodan, and became a religious. She afterwards 
 crossed the mountain to the north-east and founded a church 
 and convent of her own at Tawnagh, near Lough Arrow, in the 
 County Sligo. This is the second express reference to the 
 profession of a nun in Ireland. Bishop Cairell was also 
 placed by St. Patrick in Tawnagh to watch over that infant 
 establishment. 
 
 It is not unlikely that the ' sisters twain of Fochlut's 
 wood,' whose infant voices had summoned Patrick over the 
 sea, calling him to come and walk once more amongst 
 them, were also clothed with the religious veil by the Saint, 
 when he went to Tyrawley. He certainly baptized them 
 there, and we are told that they are the patronesses of the 
 church called " Cell Forgland," which was situated a little to 
 the north of Killala over the present road to Palmerston. 
 
 " On a cliff 
 
 Where Fochlut's Wood blackened the northern sea, 
 Their convent rose. Therein these sisters twain, 
 Whose cry had summoned Patrick on the deep, 
 Abode, no longer weepers. Pallid still 
 In radiance now their faces shone ; and sweet 
 Their psalms amid the clangour of rough brine." 2 
 
 We are told in the same Tripartite that once when Patrick 
 was at Armagh, nine daughters of the King of the Lombards 
 came over the sea, and a daughter of the King of Britain came 
 
 1 Tripartite, page 37. " Patrick went to Inver Boinde. He found a 
 wizard in that place who mocked at Mary's virginity. Patrick sained the 
 earth, and it swallowed up the wizard." 
 
 2 Aubrey de Vere, Legends of St. Patrick.
 
 108 SCHOOL OF THE FIFTH CENTURY. 
 
 also on a pilgrimage to Patrick, and they tarried at the place 
 near Armagh, called Coll-nan-Ingen the Hazel of the 
 Daughters. Some of the virgins died and were buried there, 
 but the others went to Drum-Fendeda, and there abode. The 
 virgin Cruimtheris, however, went and set up at Cengoba, 
 and Benen used to carry food to her until Patrick planted an 
 apple tree for the holy virgin ; and then she lived on the 
 fruit of that tree and on the milk of a doe, that grazed in her 
 little orchard. 
 
 There is no doubt therefore that Patrick received the 
 vows of many holy virgins in Erin before St. Brigid 
 was professed. As Benen himself was the earliest and 
 apparently the best beloved of Patrick's disciples, so his 
 sister was the first of the daughters of Erin that he clothed 
 with the veil of virginity, and there is every reason to believe 
 that her holy relics sleep in the old church of Tawnagh, in 
 Tirerrill, Co. Sligo. 
 
 It is not improbable too, that Patrick received the vows 
 of St. Fanchea, the sister of the celebrated St. Enda of Aran, 
 whose convent was established at Rossory, on the shore of 
 Lough Erne. Hereafter we shall see how Enda owed his 
 own conversion to his sister, St. Fanchea, and as this event 
 must have taken place about the year A.D. 480, she herself 
 may have seen St. Patrick if she did not receive the veil 
 from his hands. 
 
 AVe shall see hereafter also, when treating of St. Brendan, 
 J/IA that the convent of St. Ha, was founded about the same time. 
 
 She was the Brigid of Munster and the nursing mother 
 of many other saints besides St. Brendan. Her memory is 
 fondly cherished to this day in the Co. Limerick, and 
 immense crowds of people still assemble on her feast day at 
 Killeedy, where the ruins of her ancient church are still to 
 be seen. So the virgins of Christ were established every- 
 where in Ireland during the life-time of St. Patrick himself, 
 and many must have made their profession before St. Brigid. 
 But that holy virgin in other respects has eclipsed them all, 
 and has come to be regarded as the queen and the mother of 
 all the holy virgins, whose names are known in Erin, or as 
 jEngus calls her ' the head of the nuns of Erin.' 
 
 A great controversy rages round the parentage of 
 St. Brigid. Cogitosus, the author of the Second Life, as 
 given by Colgan, was a monk of Kildare, who flourished not 
 later than the end of the eighth century, and must therefore be 
 recognised as a competent authority. He declares that she was 
 born of Christian parents of a noble race, and this statement
 
 THE SCHOOL OF KILDARE. 109 
 
 is confirmed by the author of the Sixth Life, who was a monk 
 of the island of Iniscaltra, in Lough Derg. All the authori- 
 ties, indeed, admit that she was noble on the father's side, 
 for Dubhtach, her father, was a chieftain, the tenth in descent 
 from the celebrated Feidhlimidh Rechtmar. the Lawgiver, 
 King of Ireland, who flourished in the second century of the 
 Christian era. But the authors of the Third, Fourtli, and FiftJi 
 Lives of the Saint declare that Brigid's mother was a female 
 slave or captive in the house of Dubhtach, that her own birth 
 was illegitimate, and that shortly before that event took place 
 the captive maiden, her mother, whose name was Brocessa, 
 was driven from her home through the bitter jealousy of her 
 master's wife, and sold to a certain Druid or magus, who 
 carried her to Faughart, where the future saint was born. It 
 is difficult to assign any reason why the admirers of St. Brigid 
 would invent this story ; on the other hand it is easy to see 
 why Cogitosus, jealous for glory of the foundress of his own 
 Kildare, might be induced to pass it over in silence. It is 
 certainly consistent with the manners of the time, for the 
 Brehon Code clearly shows that then and long after slavery 
 and its attendant evils existed in Ireland. The very fact that 
 Brigid was not born in the house of her father, who seems to 
 have dwelt in Leinster, appears to be a further confirmation 
 of the story. St. Patrick was at one time a slave, and so it 
 appears, too, that Brigid, to whom Ireland owes so much, 
 was born of a slave-mother, and during the years of her 
 youth had herself to endure, even after she came to her 
 father's house, the bitter taunts of her father's wife, and the 
 ceaseless drudgery of a captive maid. So it was that 
 Providence prepared her, as it prepared Patrick, for the 
 accomplishment of her lofty mission. 
 
 There are still many interesting memorials of St. Brigid 
 at Faughart. The village is not quite two miles to the north- 
 east of Dundalk. It is situated amid fertile fields, overlook- 
 ing the sparkling waters of the Bay, and nestling under the 
 shelter of the Carlingford mountains. It was once ruled over 
 by Cuchullin, the Hound of the North, who kept the ford of 
 Ardee against the hosts and the heroes of Queen Meave ; and 
 in its old church-yard was buried the headless trunk of the 
 gallant Edward Bruce, who was slain close at hand the spot 
 is still shown in the year A.D. 1318. St. Brigid's Well is 
 there, roofed over with masonry, but its waters are gone. 
 The flag on which she was placed after her birth is also 
 pointed out, and there also are Brigid's Pillar, and Brigid's 
 Stone, of a horse-shoe shape, and the remains of an old
 
 110 SCHOOLS OF THE FIFTH CENTURY. 
 
 church, but certainly not dating from Brigid's time. The 
 old church-yard surrounding it is crowded with ancient 
 a raves, and enclosed by a tall hedge of fragrant hawthorns. 
 There are several ' forts ' and ancient ' mounds ' in the 
 neighbourhood, which show that it has been a populous and 
 important place, probably from the pre-historic ages of 
 Cuchullin. One of them is sixty feet in height, and its level 
 summit is still crowned with the foundations of a strong 
 octagonal building, the purpose of which cannot now be 
 ascertained. 1 
 
 St. Brigid was born about the year A.D. 450, and was 
 baptized shortly after her birth, with the consent of the 
 magus or Druid in whose service her mother was engaged. 
 She grew up, according to all her biographers, to be a young 
 girl of singular grace and beauty, greatly favoured by nature, 
 but still more richly endowed by grace. The daughter of 
 the captive was watched over by guardian angels ; her food 
 was the milk of a white cow, that typefied the purity of her 
 own young heart ; and the butter from her master's dairy, 
 that she too generously gave to the poor, was miraculously 
 replaced that she and her mother might not be blamed on 
 account of waste or extravagance. 
 
 We cannot trace all the events of her marvellous history 
 how she was carried to Connaught and to Munster ; how 
 many suitors vainly sought her hand ; how she returned to 
 her father's house and provoked the jealousy of her step- 
 mother ; how for peace sake her father offered to sell his 
 beautiful daughter to the King of North Leinster, as he had 
 sold her mother to the magus. But Providence watched 
 over her in all her ways, and at length brought about the 
 consummation of her most ardent wishes. With seven other 
 young virgins she received the religious veil from the hands 
 of Bishop Macaille, whose church was on the eastern slope of 
 Cruacban Bri Eile in the modern King's County, not far 
 from the historic field of Tyrrells Pass. It is still called 
 Croghan Hill, and an old church-yard yet marks the site of 
 St. Macaille's Church. It is uncertain, however, whether 
 Brigid was veiled there or at Uisneach Hill in Westmeath, 
 where, according to other accounts, the holy bishop was at the 
 time. The exact spot would be worth knowing, for during 
 the course of the ceremony when Brigid's hand touched the 
 wood of the altar, that dry wood felt the virtue of the virgin's 
 touch, and became in the sight of all as fresh and green as it 
 
 O'flanlon's Life of St. Brigid.
 
 THE SCHOOL OF KILDARE 111 
 
 was on the day when it felt the wood-man's axe in the forest. 
 It is not unlikely that Brigid and her seven virgin com- 
 panions lived for some time at Croghan Hill under the care 
 of St. Macaille ; afterwards, however she returned to her 
 father's territory and founded, nigh to an old oak tree, the 
 church, which ever since bears the name of Kildare the 
 Church of the Oak. It was founded in Magh Liffe, the Plain 
 of the Liffey, and it is remarkable that even when her most 
 ancient lives were written, the holy virgin is represented as 
 driving in her chariot over the Curragh of Kildare, which 
 even then was used as a race-course. 
 
 Some authorities say that Brigid made her religious vows 
 in the hands of St. Mel, of Ardagh, whose name is frequently 
 mentioned in some of her lives. It is strange that so little 
 reference is made to St. Patrick, if he were indeed alive, as 
 is commonly supposed, for many years after Brigid's profes- 
 sion, which took place about the year A.D. 467. There is no 
 mention made of Brigid in the Lives of St. Patrick except 
 once. The Saint had founded the Church of Clogher for St. 
 Mac Cairthinn, and afterwards went to preach in the neigh- 
 bourhood at a place called Lemain, a plain watered by the 
 river Laune, which takes its name from the plain. For three 
 days and three nights he was preaching, and Brigid fell 
 asleep during his preaching ; but the saint would not allow 
 Brigid to be disturbed, for he knew that she was sleeping a 
 mystic sleep. As she slept she dreamt, and thought she saw 
 at first white oxen in white cornfields ; then she saw darker 
 oxen, and lastly oxen that were black. After these she saw 
 sheep, and swine, and dogs, and wolves quarrelling with each 
 other all of which Patrick explained were symbols of the 
 present and future state of the Irish Church a prediction 
 that has been wonderfully verified by the event. It was 
 on the same occasion that King Echu allowed his daughter 
 to be united to Christ, and Patrick made her his own disciple, 
 and she was taught by a certain virgin at Druim Dubain, in 
 which place both virgins have their rest. It is stated in 
 Tirechan's collections in the Book of Armagh that Bishop 
 Mac Cairthinn was the uncle of the holy Brigid ' Brigtae ' 
 the abbreviated form of the name. This fact would explain 
 her presence at Clogher on this interesting occasion. 
 
 We are told that Kildare was first called Drumcree 
 Druim Criaidh before it took the name of Cell-Dara from 
 the beautiful oak tree which Brigid loved much, and under 
 whose shade she built her first little oratory. That tree re- 
 mained down to the end of the tenth century, when Animosus
 
 112 SCHOOLS OF THE FIFTH CENTURY. 
 
 wrote her life ; and it was held in such veneration that no 
 profane hand dare venture to touch it with a weapon. In 
 a very short time after its foundation Kildare grew to be a 
 great religious establishment, having two monasteries sepa- 
 rate, yet side by side, one for women and one for men and 
 both, to a certain extent, under her own supervision. "See- 
 ing," says her biographer, " that this state of things could 
 not exist without a pontiff to consecrate her churches, and 
 ordain the sacred ministers, she chose an illustrious anchorite, 
 celebrated for his virtues and miracles, that as Bishop he 
 might aid her in the government of the Church, and that 
 nothing should be wanting for the proper discharge of all 
 ecclesiastical functions." It is obvious from these words that 
 Brigid herself selected St. Conlaeth, or Conlaedh,to rule her 
 churches and monasteries, but in accordance with her sugges- 
 tions and advice. She, of course, conferred no jurisdiction 
 on St. Conlaeth, but she selected the person to whom the 
 church gave this jurisdiction. Her biographer does not say 
 that Conlaeth was subject to Brigid, but that Brigid chose 
 him to govern the Church along with herself ut ecclesiam 
 in episcopali dignitate cum ea gubernaret. These few simple 
 words dispose of a vast amount of foolish talk about Brigid's 
 jurisdiction over St. Conlaeth. She, herself, never claimed 
 or possessed any such thing. 
 
 It is, however, abundantly evident that Brigid was a 
 woman of strong mind and of great talents, that she was 
 admirably fitted to rule and to organize, that her influ- 
 ence was widely felt, and her wisdom and prudence held in 
 the highest estimation by the greatest ecclesiastics of her 
 time. Moreover, her great virtues were confirmed by many 
 miracles, so that crowds of men and women came from all parts 
 of the country either to make a pilgrimage, or place themselves 
 permanently under her guidance. But Brigid did more than 
 this. One of her greatest virtues was her hospitality to all 
 the ecclesiastics who came to visit her, and especially to the 
 bishops. She seems, too, to have accepted their invitations, 
 and to have made many journeys, especially through the 
 South and West of Ireland, where she made so deep an im- 
 pression by her preaching, her miracles, and her example, 
 that her memory is still fondly cherished in all parts of the 
 country. She became the " Mary of Ireland" what Patrick 
 was for the men, she was for the women their national saint 
 and patroness. They called their daughters by her sweet 
 name. The wells at which she drank and prayed became for 
 ever blessed wells. The parishes which she visited were in
 
 THE SCHOOL OF KILDARE. ] 13 
 
 many instances placed under her special protection, and called 
 by her name. And so we have Tubber-bride and Kil- bride 
 in all parts of the country, exactly as we have Kil-patrick 
 and Tubber-patrick. 
 
 It is very manifest that St. Brigid felt from the beginning 
 that a monastry of men at Kildare, presided over by a bishop, 
 would be a great means of protecting her own nunnery of 
 tender virgins and widows. It was a lawless age, as the 
 history of St. Enda shows, and hence Brigid wished for secu- 
 rity, as well as for instruction and religious guidance, to have 
 the bishop and his clergy near her. She was anxious to have 
 a complete and self-sufficing religious city at Kildare, and 
 such, in fact, it very soon became. Besides St. Conlaeth to 
 rule and to ordain, she had another bishop, St. Nadfraoich, 
 to instruct herself and her nuns, for Bishop Mel had told her 
 that she should never take food without having just heard 
 the "Word of God preached to her. She had secured another 
 holy prelate, St. Ninnidhius, to administer the viaticum to 
 her when dying, and that saint hearing this covered his right 
 hand with a case or shell of metal, so that the hand which 
 was to give the Communion to Brigid might never be defiled. 
 Hence he was called jSTinnidh of the Clean Hand. 
 
 It is said but the tradition is rather uncertain that 
 Brigid had the consoling privilege of weaving with her own 
 hands the winding sheet in which the body of St. Patrick 
 was laid. At the time of his death, if, as is generally be- 
 lieved, he died in A.D. 493, Brigid must have been a nun for 
 several years, and have already founded her own great con- 
 vent at Kildare. She lived, -however, until A.D: 523, or more 
 probably until A.D. 525, and then died in her own holy city, 
 and was buried at the right of the High Altar Bishop Con- 
 laeth, having been already laid on the left hand of the same 
 altar, and both within the sanctuary. 
 
 Brigid is called by JEngus the chaste head of the nuns 
 of Erin ; and St. Cuimin of Connor describes her " as Brigid 
 of the blessings, fond beyond all women of mortification, of 
 vigils, of early rising to pray, and of hospitality to saintly 
 men." Her very name wa* prophetic, for it signifies either 
 a ' fiery dart ' or the ' strength' of her virtue brigi being 
 the Celtic for strength or might. 
 
 Kildare, as might be expected, became, during the life 
 and after the death of Brigid, a great city and a great school 
 Cogitosus, with pardonable exaggeration, describes it as the 
 head city of all the bishops, and calls Conlaeth and his suc- 
 cessors Arch-bishops of the Bishops of Ireland, and Brigid 
 
 H
 
 114 SCHOOLS OF THE FIFTH CENTURY. 
 
 (and her successors) the Abbess, whom all the Abbesses of 
 Ireland hold in veneration. He says that no one could count 
 the crowds of people coming to Kildare from all the provinces 
 of Erin ; that some come for the feasting or food ad epulas 
 that the sick come to be healed ; the rich come with gifts 
 for the shrine of St. Brigid, especially on the 1st of February; 
 and that sight-seers come to enjoy the wonderful spectacle. 
 
 He also gives a most interesting description of the great 
 Church of Kildare in his own time. It was very lofty and 
 very large, richly adorned with pictures, hangings, and orna- 
 mental doorways. A partition ran across the breadth of the 
 church near the chancel, or sanctuary ; at one of its extre- 
 mities there was a door which admitted the bishop and his 
 clergy to the sanctuary and to the altar ; at the other extre- 
 mity, on the opposite side, there was a similar door by which 
 Brigid and her virgins and widows used to enter to enjoy the 
 banquet of the Body and Blood of Christ. Then a central 
 partition ran down the nave, dividing the men from the 
 women the men being on the right and the women on the 
 left, and each division having its own lateral entrance. These 
 partitions did not rise to the roof of the church, but only so 
 high as to serve their purpose. The partition at the sanctu- 
 ary, or chancel, was formed of boards of wood, decorated with 
 pictures and covered with linen hangings, which might, it 
 seems, be drawn aside at the consecration to give the people 
 in the nave a better view of the Holy Mysteries. Such was 
 the great Church of Kildare in the seventh and eighth cen- 
 turies before the advent of the Danes to Ireland. 
 
 In connection with St. Brigid and the School of Kildare, 
 we may here make brief reference to the celebrated scholars 
 who have compiled her biography. 
 
 The first of the six Lives printed by the learned Father 
 John Colgan is the metrical Hymn of the Saint commonly 
 attributed to St. Brogan Cloen of Rostuirc in the Diocese of 
 Ossory. The original Hymn is written in the Irish language ; 
 Colgan also gives a Latin translation. But the Irish original 
 has been printed by Dr. AVhitley Stokes, and also in the 
 Irish Ecclesiastical Record for February, 1868. This Irish 
 original has been preserved in the Liber Hymnorum, and 
 also in a MS. in Trinity College of very recent date. The 
 following Irish preface is prefixed to the Hymn in the MS. of 
 St. Isidore's, now in Merchants' Quay, Dublin. 
 
 " The place where this hymn was composed was Sliabh Bladhma 
 (Slieve Bloom), or Cluain Mor Moedhog. The author was Brogan 
 Cloen. The time (to which it refers) was when Lughaidh, son of
 
 THE SCHOOL OF KILL) ARE. 115 
 
 Laeghaire, was King of Ireland, and Ailill, son of Dunlang, King of 
 Leinster. The cause of writing it, viz., 'Ultan of Ardbraccan, the 
 tutor of Brogan, requested him to narrate the miracles of Brigid in 
 suitable poetical language, for Ultan had collected all the miracles of 
 Brigid for him." 
 
 We gather from this interesting statement that St. Ultan 
 of Ardbraccan, who was an uncle on the mother's side of 
 St. Brigid, collected the materials for this poem. It is true 
 St. Ultan did not die until the year A.D. 656 or 657, but if 
 he were then, as is stated in the Martyrology of Donegal, 
 189 years of age, he might well have been the uncle and con- 
 temporary of the Virgin Saint. He was a very celebrated 
 man, and was especially remarkable for his love of poor 
 orphans, for he often had no less than 200 of them together, 
 whom he used to feed with his own hands. He was also very 
 mortified in his life, sleeping on the bare board in his narrow 
 stone cell, and bathing his body in cold water in the sharpest 
 blasts of the wintry wind. " It was he," says the same 
 authority, " that collected the miracles of Brigid in one book, 
 and gave them to his disciple Brogan Cloen to render them 
 in verse." 
 
 St. Brogan Cloen himself lived, it seems, for some time in 
 the monastery near Slieve Bloom, founded by St. Molua, and 
 afterwards in that of Clonmore, in the barony of Bantry, 
 County Wexford, which was founded by St. Aidan about the 
 year A.D. 620. The scholiast doubts whether he composed 
 this hymn while at Slieve Bloom or Clonmore ; so we may 
 fairly suppose that it was composed sometime between A.D. 
 620 and 657, when St. Ultan died. The statement of the 
 scholiast as to the time of the hymn seems to refer not to 
 the time of its composition, but to the time of the events 
 which it narrates ; and which, he says, took place during the 
 reign of Lughaidh, King of Tara, and Ailill, King of Leinster. 
 The former reigned 25 years and died in A.D. 503 ; the latter 
 died in A.D. 523, so that their joint reigns would exactly 
 mark the period during which St. Brigid flourished in Kildare. 
 The hymn consists of 212 lines or 54 stanzas of four lines 
 each. It describes at great length the virtues and miracles 
 of St. Brigid, but is unhappily too meagre in historical facts. 
 The writer assumes that because her history was well known 
 in his own time, it would continue to be equally well known 
 in future generations. It is, however, a most interesting 
 monument of our early Irish Church, and competent judges 
 pronounce it to be an admirable specimen of early Celtic 
 versification.
 
 116 SCHOOLS OF THE FIFTH CENTURY. 
 
 There is also in the Book of Hymns published by Dr. 
 Todd, what seems to be a fragment of an ancient Latin 
 hymn in praise of St. Brigid. The preface to this Hymn 
 attributes it either to St. Ninnidh of the Clean Hand, Brigid's 
 chaplain, or to St. Fiacc of Sleibte, or to St. Ultan of Ard- 
 braccan. This last conjecture, however, seems to arise from 
 the statement that Ultan collected the miracles of St. Brigid 
 into one book. It was an Abecedarian hymn originally, and 
 is undoubtedly a very ancient composition. At present it 
 consists of four stanzas of four lines each, having a rhyme 
 or assonance in the middle and at the end of each line, which 
 properly should consist of sixteen syllables. The first line 
 at present is : 
 
 " Christus in nostra insula quae vocatur Hibernia," 
 and notwithstanding the statement of the scholiast that the 
 hymn was Abecedarian, these words Christus in nostra 
 insula appear to have been always regarded as the beginning 
 of the hymn. In the eighth line Brigid is declared to be 
 " Mariae sanctae similem," an expression which may have 
 given origin to the saying that Brigid was the " Mary of the 
 Irish." The following passage from the Leabhar Breac gives 
 a glowing eulogy of St. Brigid, and formally calls her the 
 " Mary of the Gaedhil." 
 
 "There was not in the world one of more bashfulness and modesty 
 than this holy virgin. She never washed (as was then not unfrequent) 
 her hands, or her feet, or head before men. She never looked a man 
 in the face. She never spoke without blushing. She was abstinent, 
 unblemished, fond of prayer, patient, rejoicing in God's commands, 
 benevolent, humble, forgiving, charitable. She was a consecrated 
 shiine for the preservation of the Body of Christ. She was a temple 
 of God. Her heart and mind were the throne of the Holy Spirit ; 
 she was meek before God. She was distressed with the miserable. 
 She was bright in miracles. And hence in things created her type is 
 the Dove among birds, the Vine amongst trees, and the Sun above 
 the stars." 
 
 This beautiful eulogy concluded by declaring that Brigid 
 is " The Queen of the South. She is the Mary of the 
 Gaedhil." 
 
 The Second Life, printed by Colgan, is the celebrated 
 work of Cogitosus, to which we have already referred. He 
 tells us himself that he was a monk of Kildare, and that he 
 wrote in obedience to the wishes of the community, not of his 
 own presumptuous motion. In the last chapter he asks a 
 prayer, " Pro me Cogitoso culpabili," but it is evident when 
 he calls himself a ' nepos,' that ue does not mean that he was 
 the ' nepos ' of St. Brigid, as some have fancied. In his
 
 THE SCHOOL OF KILDARE. 117 
 
 humility he uses the word in its secondary classical sense, 
 and calls himself a sinful spendthrift of God's time and of 
 God's graces. The use of the word 'nepos/ therefore, 
 furnishes no argument that this Life was written shortly 
 after the death of St. Brigid. On the other hand, there is 
 nothing in this Life that, as Basnage insinuates, ' smells of a 
 later age ' than the eighth or the beginning of the ninth 
 century. As we have already observed, the description which 
 Cogitosus gives of the great Church of Kildare, of its wealth, 
 of the tomb of its founders, and the inviolable character of 
 the city, clearly proves that it must have been written 
 earlier than the ravages of the Danes. There are, however, 
 some expressions that show it was written a considerable 
 time after the decease of St. Brigid and St. Conlaeth. The 
 writer speaks of ' the prosperous succession ' of prelates and 
 abbesses who ruled in the sacred city, ritu perpetuo, a strong 
 expression, which points to a long series of successors in 
 Kildare. The very use of the Latin word ' archiepiscopus,' 
 which Cogitosus uses when speaking of the prelates of 
 Kildare, shows that the work cannot have been written 
 before the eighth century. Petrie in his observations on this 
 subject makes one remark, which we venture to think is 
 founded on a false assumption. 1 Cogitosus tells us that in 
 his own time the bodies of St. Brigid and of St. Conlaeth were 
 placed in tombs richly adorned, one on the right and the other 
 on the left of the high altar. Now the Annals of Ulster 
 state that A.D. 799, the relics of Conlaeth were placed in a 
 shrine of gold and silver, whence he infers that Cogitosus 
 must have written after this enshrining, that is, after 
 A.D. 799, but before A.D. 835, when Kildare was pillaged by 
 the Danes and half the church burned. But Cogitosus 
 speaks of the bodies of the saints as being placed in 
 tombs, not of the enshrining of the relics of one of them, 
 which is a very different thing. The shrine was a metal 
 case, highly ornamented, for containing the relics of a saint 
 not a tomb for the body. Hence the language of Cogitosus 
 clearly shows that he must, have written before this enshrin- 
 ing of the relics of Conlaeth, for in his time the body of 
 that saint was in a tomb. The truth seems to be that about 
 this time, and through fear of the Danes, the relics of 
 St. Brigid were carried to Downpatrick as being then a safer 
 place, and at the same time the relics of Conlaeth were also 
 taken from the tomb-monument, and placed in the rich 
 
 1 dee Round Towers, page 203.
 
 118 SCHOOLS OF THE FIFTH CENTURY. 
 
 shrine, which was easily portable, and might be carried off 
 at the approach of danger, with its precious contents. 
 
 The language and style of Cogitosus show considerable 
 acquaintance with the Latin tongue, and the work furnishes 
 us with a very creditable specimen of the scholarship 
 possessed by the monks of Kildare in the eighth century. 
 
 We need make no special reference to the other four 
 anonymous Lives printed by Colgan. The Third is attributed, 
 but without any proof, to St. Ultan ; the Fourth is probably 
 the work of a monk called Animosus, of whom nothing else 
 is known ; the Fifth was written by an Englishman, Laurence 
 of Durham,. in the twelfth century. The Sixth, like the 
 First Life, is a poetic work in Latin, which Colgan got from 
 Monte Cassino, and which the MS. itself attributes to 
 Chilien, or, perhaps, more properly, Coelan, a monk of Inis- 
 caltra, or the Holy Island, in Lough T)erg, who probably 
 nourished in the eighth century. We know that many 
 monks from Holy Island went abroad in the ninth and tenth, 
 centuries to preach the Gospel, and, doubtless, one of them 
 carried this MS. with him either to Bobbio, or some other 
 Benedictine Monastery, whence it might easily find its way 
 to Monte Cassino. The prologue of the poem is attributed to 
 Donatus, an Irish prelate in Tuscany, during the ninth 
 century. This also helps to explain how the Irish-born 
 prelate would get this volume from some of his countrymen 
 abroad, and also write a prologue to this poetic life of the 
 Queen of Ireland's virgin saints. 
 
 Kildare is the only religious establishment in Ireland 
 which preserved down to a comparatively recent period the 
 double line of succession, of abbot-bishops and of abbesses, 
 and what is more, the annalists take care to record the names 
 of the abbesses as well as of the abbots. This, no doubt, 
 arose from the fact that at least in public estimation the 
 lady abbesses of Kildare enjoyed a kind of primacy over all 
 the nuns in Ireland, and, moreover, were in some sense 
 independent of episcopal jurisdiction, if, indeed, the Bishops 
 of Kildare were not rather to some extent dependent on 
 them. 
 
 St. Conlaeth was not only a scholar and a bishop, but also 
 a most cunning artificer in metal work, and made all kinds 
 of chalices, patens, bells, and shrines for the use of his 
 churches and monasteries. It appears to be quite evident, too, 
 that he founded a school of metal work and decorative art at 
 Kildare, which was conducted with much success under his 
 successors in that see. In our own times sacred art is left to
 
 THE SCHOOL OF KILDARE. 119 
 
 take its chance ; little or no official patronage is extended to 
 the workmen, and no special care is given to their training. 
 Not so in ancient Erin. The greatest attention was paid to 
 these subjects, and, as we know, the arts of metallurgy, of 
 illumination of MSS., of sculpture, and of architectural 
 ornamentation were carried to the greatest perfection under 
 the patronage of distinguished ecclesiastics. 
 
 The ancient buildings of Kildare have, with the excep- 
 tion of the Round Tower, completely disappeared. This is 
 all the more to be regretted, when we see the beautiful orna- 
 mental door-way of the Round Tower, a class of buildings in 
 which ornamentation of any kind is rarely met with. Even 
 in the time of Giraldus Carnbrensis it was a venerable build- 
 ing, and he tells a story of a falcon that used to nestle in its 
 summit all alone, admitting no mate, and was on quite 
 familiar terms with the monks and citizens, for it was called 
 St. Brigid's bird. This beautiful tower, the tallest in Ireland, 
 is 1 36 feet 7 inches in height, and still pointing heavenward, 
 as of old, marks out for every stranger who travels on the 
 Great Southere Line, the sacred city of St. Brigid, in the 
 great plain of the Liffey. 
 
 Notwithstanding the ravages of the Danes, we find the 
 obits of many of the Professors of the School of Kildare 
 recorded in the Annals. We find also reference made to the 
 Chief Professor of Kildare, Cosgrach, who died A.D. 1041, 
 and Cobthac, another professor of Kildare, who died in 
 A.D. 1069, was celebrated for "his universal knowledge of 
 ecclesiastical discipline." In- A.D. 1110, died Ferdomhach, 
 the Blind Professor of Kildare, who was eminently skilled in 
 the Holy Scriptures. In A.D. 1135 Diarmaid Mac Murrogh, 
 who had even then begun his career of violence and crime, 
 "forcibly carried away the Abbess of Kildare from her 
 cloister, and compelled her to marry one of his own people." 
 K ext year Diarmaid O'Brian. and his brothers plundered and 
 burned the town. Yet the holy line of Brigid's successors 
 was still carried on there was a Comorbana of Brigid who 
 died in A.D. 1171. But in A.D. 1220 Henry de Loundres put 
 out the fire of St. Brigid, called the inextinguishable, which 
 had been preserved burning by the nuns of St. Brigid, in all 
 probability from the time of the foundress herself. It was 
 lit again by order of the Bishop of Kildare, and continued to 
 burn in spite of all the troubles of the times down to the 
 total suppression of the monasteries by Queen Elizabeth. 
 
 I find no satisfactory account of the origin and purpose of 
 this perpetual fire of Kildare. De Loundres must have
 
 120 SCHOOLS OF THE FIFTH CENTURY. 
 
 deemed there was something savouring of paganism or 
 superstition about it, or he would hardly undertake the risk 
 and odium of having it extinguished. His conduct would be 
 still more inexplicable if this fire were kept always burning 
 in the guest house, as some think, for the comfort of 
 benighted travellers. But English prelates have never been 
 discerning judges of Irish usages, and we are not bound to 
 set much store on the soundness of the Norman bishop's 
 judgment in this instance. They came over to reform, as 
 well as to conquer, and if abuses did not exist, it was neces- 
 sary for appearance sake to assume their existence. Can it 
 be that the 'Kildare nuns anticipated the general and now 
 obligatory rule of keeping a perpetual lamp before the Blessed 
 Sacrament? Or was it a sacred fire that was kept always 
 burning before the tomb of their holy foundress ? " The 
 early Christians, as well as the Jews and pagans, were accus- 
 tomed to place lamps "in the company of the dead," 1 great 
 numbers of which have been found in the catacombs and 
 elsewhere. Many of them, too, are beautifully wrought in 
 various material, and bear characteristic Christian symbols. 
 In all probability the perpetual fire of Kildare was for the 
 purpose of keeping the lamps lit before the shrines of their 
 holy founders. Many accidents might lead to the lamp itself 
 being extinguished, but the sacred fire, night and day, under 
 the sedulous care of St. Brigid's daughters, might be cherished 
 through long ages of darkness and storm if not extinguished 
 by the Danes or reformers like Henry de Loundres. 
 
 Gerald Barry also tells us another fact which shows to 
 what a degree of perfection the art of illumination was 
 carried in the monastic schools of Kildare. Nothing, he says, 
 that he saw at Kildare appeared to him more admirable than 
 the wondrous book, which as report goes, was written from 
 the dictation of an angel in the time of the holy virgin her- 
 self. It was a manuscript of the Four Evangelists, according 
 to St. Jerome's version, but every page was illuminated with 
 various figures, delineated with the utmost distinctness in 
 every variety of colouring. The symbolical figures of the 
 Evangelists themselves were wrought with extraordinary 
 eubtilty and grace, and all the other drawings and figures 
 likewise were so delicate, and subtile, so close and so narrow, 
 so knotted and interwined together, yet every most intricate 
 line and point and knot so vivid, as if with quite recent 
 colours, that one would think it all was the work of angelic, 
 
 1 Dictionary of Christian Antiquitiet. 'Lamps.'
 
 THE SCHOOL OF KILDARE. 121 
 
 and not of mere human skill. The more carefully he looked 
 at it, the more he was astonished, and the more things he saw 
 worthy of admiration. 
 
 Gerald Barry's description of this famous Evangeli;=- 
 tarium, which unfortunately appears to have perished, will 
 not appear exaggerated to any person who has ever seen the 
 Book of Kelts. They were both written about the same 
 period, and illuminated by equally skilled hands ; still it is 
 greatly to be regretted that this wondrous Book of Kildare, 
 which won such a eulogy from the fastidious Welshman, is 
 no longer amongst the extant literary treasures of Ireland. 
 
 It is not unlikely that the great manuscript known as the 
 Book of Leinster, was originally compiled and preserved in 
 Kildare ; or perhaps, more accurately speaking, it was copied 
 from originals that were compiled and preserved at Kildare. 
 The work of copying in great part was certainly executed by 
 Finn Mac Gorman, who was Bishop of Kildare from 
 A.D. 1148 to 1160, when his death is recorded. He was 
 evidently a man of much learning, and an entry in his own 
 hand testifies that he wrote the work for Hugh Mac Crim- 
 thann, tutor of Diarmaid Mac Murrogh, King of Leinster. 
 The work was no doubt written bv 0' Gorman before 
 A.D. 1148, when he became Bishop of Kildare. The manu- 
 script at present consists of 177 loose leaves of vellum, which 
 are preserved in Trinity College, and seven additional leaves 
 of the same original, which belong to the Franciscans of the 
 Irish Province. No doubt the entire work belonged to them 
 originally, but was taken from them by force or fraud, and 
 thus found its way to Trinity College. Its contents are of an 
 exceedingly various and interesting character heroic tales 
 and poems, genealogies, calendars of saints, and Tarious tracts 
 used in the Irish monastic schools, dealing with both sacred 
 and profane learning.
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 MINOR MONASTIC SCHOOLS OF THE FIFTH 
 CENTURY. 
 
 " The chapel where no organ's peal 
 Invests the stern and naked prayer ! 
 With penitential cries they kneel 
 And wrestle ; rising theu with bare 
 And white uplifted faces stand, 
 Passing the Host from hand to hand." 
 
 Arnold. 
 
 I. THE SCHOOL OF NOEXDRUM. 
 
 THERE were a few other early monastic schools founded during 
 the lifetime of St. Patrick to which reference must be made here 
 before we pass to the more celebrated schools of the sixth 
 century. Although St. B&trick could not attend in person 
 to the government and organization of these seminaries ; he 
 gave every encouragement to his disciples in carrying on that 
 necessary and excellent work. It was specially for this pur- 
 pose, as we have already seen, that he placed St. Benignus 
 over his own school at Armagh. With the same purpose in 
 view, he chose the youthful Mochae, or Mochay, of Noeii- 
 drum first to be his own disciple, and afterwards to be the 
 guide and teacher of others in their preparation for the sacred 
 ministry. 
 
 Mochae was one of St. Patrick's earliest converts in Ire- 
 land. Like St. Benignus, he seems to have been a mere boy, 
 when he first believed and was baptized, before St. Patrick 
 had yet met King Laeghaire on the royal Hill of Tara. 
 
 It is thus narrated in the Tripartite : " Now whilst 
 Patrick was going on his journey from Saul (near Down- 
 patrick) he saw a tender youth herding swine. Mochae was his 
 name. Patrick preached to him and baptized him and ton- 
 sured him, and gave him a Gospel and Mass-chalice. And he 
 gave him also later on a crozier, that had been bestowed on 
 them by God, to wit, it fell from heaven with its head in 
 Patrick's bosom, and its foot in Mochae's bosom, and this is 
 the Etech of Mochae of Noeudrum. And Mochae promised 
 a shaven pig every year to Patrick (that is, to his Church), 
 and this is still offered."
 
 THE SCHOOL OF NOENDRUM. 123 
 
 This is a very interesting passage, and points to Patrick's 
 mode of procedure, when he found a youth suitable for the 
 ecclesiastical state. This boy was, we are told, 1 the son of 
 Bronach, daughter of Milchon, with whom Patrick himself 
 had spent the years of his own captivity at the same occupa- 
 tion herding swine. He had been probably acquainted with 
 the mother of this youth ; he remembered his own boyhood, 
 which he spent in the midst of many sorrows and much 
 labour on the barren slopes of Slemish ; and his heart was 
 touched, and he preached the new G-ospel of peace and love 
 to this grandson of the master who had held him so long in 
 bondage. The boy's heart, too, was touched by grace he 
 believed, was baptized, and tonsured. The tonsuring, if it 
 took place then, could only mean that Patrick destined the 
 youth for the sacred ministry. We are also told that he 
 gave him a copy of the Gospels, doubtless when he had 
 learned to read a little Latin, and a menister, which Stokes 
 strangely translates ' credence-table,' but which is manifestly 
 a loan-word from the Latin ministerium? and signifies the 
 chalice and paten necessary for offering the Holy Sacrifice of 
 the Mass. Later on this youth btjpame a bishop, he was con- 
 secrated by Patrick himself, and Patrick gave him this crozier 
 a heavenly gift which came to be known from that cir- 
 cumstance as the Etech, or flying crozier of Mochae of 
 Noendrum. 
 
 This name is simply Oendrum with the article prefixed, 
 and the island in which Mochae founded his monastery and 
 school was so called because it was formed as it were of a 
 single hill or rising ground oen-druim the one-ridged 
 island. It is now corrupted into Mahee Island from the name 
 of its holy founder, which still survives in the mouth of the 
 ' stranger ' though its origin is quite forgotten. The island 
 contains about 170 acres of land, and is situated not more 
 than a quarter of a mile from the western shore of Strang- 
 ford Lough, anciently known as Lough Cuan. The saint 
 built his monastery and church on the very summit of the 
 ridge, which rises to about the height of sixty feet, and com- 
 mands a fine view of the far-reaching inland sea, whose 
 western marge especially is studded with pleasant islets and 
 bordered by many a grassy down and fertile field, rich, when 
 we saw them, with the promise of abundant harvests. The 
 
 1 O'Clery'a Martyrology. 
 
 2 Du Cange. See Dr. McCarthy's able Paper in the Proceedings of the 
 RI.A., May, 1889. In the Tripartite (Stokes, p. 251), menister seems to 
 mean the paten, and mias (quasi menia) the altar-table.
 
 124 MINOR MONASTIC SCHOOLS OF THE FIFTH CENTURY. 
 
 original edifice was, as we gather from a story in the saint's 
 life, constructed of wood, which he helped to hew down him- 
 self and carry on his own shoulders. The later buildings, 
 however, were of stone, and the church for many centuries 
 a cathedral church was 58 feet long by 22 wide. Only its 
 foundations can now be traced ; but the castle on the summit 
 of the hill, and the outer concentric earthworks that were 
 thrown up to protect it, can still be seen. During the 
 Danish incursions it suffered much, and a small round tower 
 was built as usual near the church's western door to afford an 
 asylum to the monks. A small portion of it still remains. 
 
 Mochae was about the same age as Benignus, and it is 
 not improbable that he founded his island monastery quite as 
 early as St. Patrick founded the See of Armagh. Patronis2d 
 as it doubtless was by St. Patrick, and presided over by one 
 of his earliest disciples, Noendrum soon became a celebrated 
 centre of sanctity and learning. Two very remarkable men 
 received their education there St. Colman of Dromore and 
 St. Finnian of Moville. Of the latter we shall speak later on 
 when we come to give an account of his own celebrated school 
 at the head of Lough Cuan. The life of Colman, however, 
 furnishes us with some interesting particulars concerning 
 Koendrum and its monastic school. 
 
 Colman, like Mochae, was a native of the territory of 
 Dalaradia, and in his youth was sent, we are told, by his 
 parents to the blessed Caylan, otherwise called Mochae, the 
 Abbot of Noendrum, that he might be trained in learning 
 and virtue. The young man made great progress in his 
 studies, and still more in the practice of all virtue, so that 
 once when he had got his lesson by heart, and asked the holy 
 abbot what he was to do next, the abbot replied : " Break up 
 that rock which is in the way of the brethren when going to 
 matins." Matins were recited before day dawned, and no 
 doubt the rock was an obstacle in the darkness for the bre- 
 thren when going from their cells to the church. Obedience 
 is the first virtue of a monk, so Colman made the sign of the 
 cross over the rock, and forthwith it split up in pieces. 
 " Now, cast them into the sea," said the abbot, and Colman 
 did so with the help of God's angels ; and lo ! the fragments 
 were again united together into the great stone on the sea 
 shore before the monastery, which is still called Colman's 
 Rock. 
 
 From Noendrum Colman went to St. Ailbe, of Emly, to 
 study the Sacred Scriptures. St. Ailbe, as we shall see 
 presently, had even at this early period founded a great
 
 THE SCHOOL OP NOENDRUM. 125 
 
 school at Emly, and having himself been trained abroad, 
 when he came home, he gave his newly converted country- 
 men the benefit of his learning. Colman, after his return 
 from the South, again paid a visit to his old preceptor, St. 
 Caylan, or Mochae of Noendrum, which shows that the latter 
 must have been alive at the close of the fifth century. 
 
 Very friendly relations existed between Noendrum and 
 Candida Casa in Galloway, which was founded by St. Ninian 
 about the year A.D. 398. Ninian himself is said to have 
 visited St. Caylaii at Noendrum ; and as it is highly probable 
 that Ninian lived until the middle of the fifth century, this 
 is by no means impossible. Other writers have sought to 
 identify St. Ninian of Candida Casa with Nennio, or Mo- 
 nennio, who is said to have founded a church at Cluain- 
 Conaire in Hy Faclain now Cloncurry, in the Co. Kildare. 
 There are, however, grave chronological difficulties against 
 this hypothesis, to which we shall refer hereafter. 
 
 St. Mochae was, like his successors down to the close of 
 the tenth century, both bishop and abbot. They appear to have 
 exercised episcopal jurisdiction in their own neighbourhood. 
 The saint is said to have died A.D. 496 that is only three 
 years after the death of St. Patrick himself. There was 
 another saint who died A.D. 644, and was called Mocua, a 
 similarity which probably gave rise to the strange story told 
 both by ^ngus and O'Clery, that Mochae of Noendrum 
 was enchanted for 150 years by the song of a black-bird, so 
 that he felt not the flight of time nor the withering influence 
 of the passing years. 
 
 He went with seven score young men to cut wattles to 
 build his church. He himself was engaged cutting timber 
 like the rest. He had got his load ready before the others, 
 and sat down beside it. Just then he heard a beautiful bird 
 singing on the boughs of a blackthorn bush close at hand. 
 It was the most beautiful bird he had ever seen, and speaking 
 with a human voice the Bird said : " This is diligent work 
 of thine, cleric." "It is required," replied Mochae, "for 
 building a church in honour of God ; " and then he added, 
 "Who, may I ask, is addressing me?" "A man of the 
 people of my Lord is here," replied the Bird, " that is, an 
 Angel of God from heaven." "All hail to thee," said Mochae, 
 " and why hast thou come hither ? " " To speak to thee 
 from thy Lord, and amuse thee for a while." " I like it," 
 said Mochae. Then Mochae remained for three hundred 
 years listening to that Bird, having his load of wood by his 
 side, and the wood was not withered, and his flesh decayed
 
 126 
 
 MINOR MONASTIC SCHOOLS OF THE FIFTH CENTURY. 
 
 not, and the time did not seem longer than one single hour 
 of the day. At length God's angel bade him farewell, and 
 Mochae returned home with his load, and he found his church 
 built, and he saw only strange faces, for all his friends and 
 acquaintances had long been dead. But when he told them 
 his strange story, they believed it, and knelt before him to 
 do him honour, and built a shrine on the spot where he had 
 seen God's angel, and heard the heavenly song. JEngus 
 says the Bird sang three songs only, but each lasted fifty 
 years, so that the three hundred given in the Martyrology of 
 "Donegal was probably by a mistake in the figures put for one 
 hundred and fifty. If one Angel's song can be so sweet and 
 so beguiling, what a joy to listen to the chorus of all the 
 heavenly choirs. 
 
 We have seen that St. Colman of Dromore went from the 
 School of Noendrum to be instructed by St. Ailbe of Emly 
 in the Sacred Scriptures. It is stated also in the Life of St. 
 Ibar of Beg Erin, that his first instructor in the Sacred 
 Sciences was Saint Motta, who if he be not St. Mochta of 
 Louth, must have been St. Mochae of Noendrum. This is 
 all the more likely, as] we know that St. Ibar was himself a 
 native of Dalaradia, and doubtless received his early training 
 from the oldest Christian teachers of his native territory. 
 This brings us to give a sketch of the history and of the 
 schools of these three distinguished saints Mochta of Louth, 
 Ailbe of Emly, and Ibar of Beg Erin all of whom cer- 
 tainly founded their monastic schools during the second 
 half of the fifth century. We shall begin with Mochta, 
 or Mochteus, whose history is in some respects very in- 
 teresting. 
 
 II. THE SCHOOL OF LOUTH ST. MOCHTA. 
 
 St. Mochta, or Mochteus, the founder of the School of 
 Louth, was a disciple of St. Patrick and a Briton by birth. 
 Adamnan describes him as a British immigrant, a disciple of 
 St. Patrick, and a very holy man. 1 He was accompanied to 
 Ireland by twelve disciples, and preached the Gospel chiefly 
 in the County Louth. The Annals of Ulster, A.D. 534, give 
 the beginning of one of his letters in which he describes 
 himself in his humility as "Mochta the sinful priest, a 
 disciple of St. Patrick." His Life is given in the recently 
 published Salamanca MS., from which Colgan extracted it to 
 publish at the 24th of March. 
 
 1 "Proselytus Brito, homo sanctus, S. Patricii discipuluo. " 
 
 Secunda Praefatio, p. 6.
 
 THE SCHOOL OF LOUTH ST. MOCHTA. 127 
 
 From this Life we learn that Mochta was born in Britain, 
 and that whilst still a child he was brought with his parents 
 to Ireland by a certain magus, or Druid, called Hoam. The 
 Druid took up his abode in the territory of Hy Conail, that 
 is in the County Louth, and there the young Mochta was 
 brought up in the Druid's house as a member of his family. 
 One day an Angel brought waxen tablets to the boy, from 
 which he learned his letters ; and then commanded him to 
 go to Rome to study Sacred Scripture. The boy obeyed, 
 and made his way to Peter's City, where he made so much 
 progress in learning and holiness that he was consecrated a 
 bishop by the Pope, and many disciples placed themselves 
 under his guidance. 
 
 By command of the Pope he then returned home accom- 
 panied by twelve disciples, one of whom, Edanus, in Irish 
 Aedhan, seems to have been his favourite disciple, and 
 succeeded the Saint in the first church which he founded in 
 Ireland. This church is called in the Latin life Cella magna, 
 or Kill-rnor, and is said to have been built in memoribus 
 Metheorum in the woods of Hy Meith. This was the 
 territory called in Irish Hy Meith, and Hy Meith Macha, 
 and the Church itself is identified by Colgan as C ill-Mo r- 
 Aedhan in Hy Meith Macha. It is referred to in the 
 Martyrology of Donegal as the Church of Aedhan, son of 
 Aenghus, who was doubtless the disciple of the Saint. 
 
 The graveyard of Kilmore is still made use of ; it is about 
 four miles south of the town of Monaghan, in the barony of 
 Monaghan, which corresponds with the ancient territory of 
 Hy Meith Macha. (Four Masters, A.D. 922.) 
 
 It seems the people of this district compelled the Saint to 
 depart from amongst them, and so leaving his monastery of 
 Kilmore to his disciple, he betook himself to Louth, which 
 was still in the possession of the Druids, or magi, according 
 to this Latin life. Here he built his cell and his oratory, 
 which was surrounded by a cemetery, to be the last resting 
 place of the brethren and the place of their resurrection. 
 
 We are told in the Life of St. Patrick that when he 
 contemplated founding his own great Church in that " sweet 
 and flowery sward " of Louth a beauteous meadow land, 
 blooming with all the fairest promise of the year an angel 
 told him to go northward to Ard-Macha ; that Louth was 
 destined by God for a pilgrim from the Britons, who should 
 one day build therein a monastery which would afterwards 
 pass under the dominion of Patrick's successors ; and so in 
 truth it came to pass.
 
 128 MINOR MONASTIC SCHOOLS OF THE FIFTH CENTURY. 
 
 Here then in the flowery meads of Louth beside a limpid 
 stream, which was said to have followed the saint from 
 Kilmore, 1 he built his cell. In a very short time the ardour 
 of his virtues was diffused over all the land ; and monks 
 gathered round in swarms like bees in summer to place 
 themselves under the direction of one so eminent for his 
 learning and virtues, so that he reckoned amongst his 
 disciples before his death no less than 100 bishops and 
 300 priests. In this way from the parent-hive at Louth 
 new swarms went forth yearly to people other schools and 
 monasteries, and preach the Gospel all over the land. 
 
 St. Patrick himself in his old age came and spent some 
 time with his beloved disciple Mochta ; for it seems he greatly 
 loved the place, and loved the man who, like himself, was of 
 British blood, and like him had come to preach and dwell 
 amongst the kindly Scotic race. 
 
 Mochta wished to leave the place entirely to Patrick, 
 because he knew Patrick loved it much even more than 
 Mucha's Height ; but Patrick told him the word of God 
 sent by the angel could not be changed. But both promised 
 that whoever pre-deceased the other, would when dying 
 commit his religious family to the charge of the survivor. 
 Patrick died first, and we are told that for a few days Mochta 
 took charge of Armagh, but then committed the burden to 
 another, that is, to Benignus, second of that name. 
 
 The Druid Hoam had a virgin daughter, who wished to 
 preserve her virginity for Christ. Her father, however, gave 
 her in marriage ; but on the same day shej was called away 
 by her Heavenly Spouse, whilst the lily of her chastity was 
 still inviolate. Her parents then consented to resign all claim 
 over her to Mochta, if he could raise her again to life. 
 Mochta full of confidence in God besought the Lord, and the 
 virgin was restored to life at the prayer of the saint. For 
 thirty years afterwards she lived, serving God in perfect 
 chastity as a professed nun, and her time was wholly given 
 to making vestments for the priests and altar-cloths for the 
 altars at which ' they offered the sacrifice.' It is said that 
 the virgin, like St. Brigid, was of wondrous beauty, but it 
 was heavenly and awe-inspiring : 
 
 " From her eyes 
 
 A light -went forth like morning o'er the sea, 
 Sweeter her voice than wind on harp ; her smile 
 Could stay men's breath." 
 
 1 We believe this stream is a tributary of the Fane river, which as a fact 
 does come from the County Monaghan to Louth.
 
 THE SCHOOL OF LOUTH ST. MOCHTA. 129 
 
 And so the maiden lived above the world clothed in the 
 light of holiness, the first of that bright choir from the fair 
 Hy-Conail land, that gave themselves to Christ led on by 
 love divine. 
 
 Now this same Hoam, the Druid, was betrothed to 
 another Christian maiden named Brigid. But he fell sick, 
 and the maiden ministered to him ; and we are told that by 
 her prayers and the bright example of her virtues, the Druid 
 became a Christian, and a fervent penitent. He renounced 
 all claim to his bride, that he and she might serve God in 
 holiness, and sickening shortly afterwards, he died a holy 
 death as Mochta had foretold. 
 
 It is highly probable that the Brigid here referred to was 
 the great St. Brigid of Kildare. We know that she was 
 sought in marriage by many suitors, and that her own master 
 was a Druid, who lived near Dundalk, and in this way she 
 might easily have been noticed by the Druid Hoam, who 
 lived in the neighbourhood. But his earthly passion was 
 elevated and purified by its object into a diviner flame, that 
 brought him from paganism to Christianity, and from sin to 
 life eternal. 
 
 Many striking miracles are recorded; of St. Mochta of 
 Louth, which we cannot now recount. The extraordinary 
 length of life attributed to him is probably due to an error 
 of the copyists, .who wrote trecenti (three hundred), for 
 Iriginta (thirty). The statement in the Life is that such was 
 the self-denial of the man of God, that for thirty years he 
 never tasted flesh, nor spoke an idle word ; but the copyist 
 seems to have made it three hundred years. The Annals of 
 Ulster give his death in the year A.D. 534, others at A.D. 536, 
 when he was doubtless a very old man. He is said to have 
 been the last survivor of St. Patrick's disciples. 
 
 We may infer from the fragment referred to in the 
 Annals of Ulster that the saint was an accomplished scholar 
 and writer. He was the author of a Rule for his monks, of 
 which, however, no trace remains. He seems to have 
 been especially skilled in Sacred Scripture, the knowledge of 
 which was the foundation of all the theology known at that 
 time. 
 
 Besides the Rule for his monks, and the Letters already 
 referred to, it seems that Mochta was also the original 
 author of a work called the Book of the Monks, or the Book 
 of Cuana. It is cited by the author of the Annals of Ulster 
 under date of the year A.D. 471. In the same Annals of 
 Ulster^ A.D. 527, the same work seems to be referred to ; it 
 
 i
 
 130 MINOR MONASTIC SCHOOLS OF THE FIFTH CENTURY. 
 
 is there called the Book of Mochod. It was probably a 
 series of annals begun in the monastery of Louth by St. 
 Mochta, or Maucteus, and afterwards continued under the 
 direction of the abbots, his successors. O'Curry thinks that 
 the Book of Cuana, quoted in the Annals of Ulster, was 
 written at Treoit (now Trevit), in Meath, by a scribe of that 
 place called Cuana, whose death is recorded in the same 
 Annals, A.D. 738, after which the book is quoted no more. 
 We are rather inclined to think that Cuana, or Cuanu, from 
 whom this book gets its name, was the person whose death, 
 is noticed by the Four Masters in A.D. 823, and who is 
 described in the Annals of Ulster, A.D. 824, as Cuana of 
 Lughmadh, or Louth, " a wise man and a bishop," as the 
 Four Masters also describe him. It seems highly probable 
 therefore, that this work was begun by Maucteus in Louth, 
 that it afterwards was called the Book of the Monks, and 
 finally the Book of Cuana, the wise man and bishop, who 
 was probably its compiler in the shape in which it is quoted 
 in the Annals of Ulster, first under the year A.D. 468, and 
 for the last time under date A.D. 610. 
 
 The death of this distinguished bishop and scholar, "who 
 was a man of uncommon erudition, and as a doctor was 
 universally esteemed," marks the period at which the School 
 of Louth reached the zenith of its fame. It were bootless to 
 tell how it was again and again burned and pillaged by the 
 Danes, who during the tenth century seem to have taken 
 permanent possession of the monastery, although a round 
 tower had been built to protect it, which was blown down in 
 A.D. 981. The Celtic princes during the eleventh century 
 frequently imitated the bad example of the Danes, for we are 
 told that in A.D. 1043 one of the O'Rorkes organized a 
 plundering expedition, or a hosting, as they loved to call it, 
 against the monasteries of Louth and Dromiskin. 
 
 Yet the torch of learning still flickered on in Louth 
 during the disastrous eleventh century, for the death of 
 Molassius, lector of Louth, is recorded in A.D. 1047. It was 
 totally destroyed in A.D. 1148, and although subsequently 
 rebuilt, its fame as a school was eclipsed by other institutions 
 during the twelfth century. But the monastery itself lived 
 on down to the genera] suppression, and was largely endowed 
 by successive generations of benefactors. 
 
 III. THE SCHOOL OF EMLY ST. AILBE. 
 
 When St. Colman left Noendrum, he went to study 
 Scripture under St. Ailbe of Emly, and after his return he
 
 THE SCHOOL OF EMLY ST. AILBE. 131 
 
 paid a visit to St. Caylan, or Mochta, who was therefore still 
 alive. His death is given as occurring in the last years of 
 the fifth century ; and hence the School of St. Ailbe must 
 have been founded some years previously. 
 
 This, however, raises another very interesting question as 
 to the existence of pre-Patrician bishops in Ireland, that is, 
 prelates whose orders and jurisdiction were derived from 
 another source, although themselves contemporaries of 
 St. Patrick. We cannot enter into a lengthened discussion 
 of this question ; but, on the other hand, we must not pass it 
 over when treating of the monastic schools of the fifth 
 century. 
 
 It is now generally admitted that there were many 
 Christians in Ireland when St. Patrick first landed on our 
 shores. He was neither the first nor the only Christian 
 captive carried to Erin ; and as we have already seen, frequent 
 intercourse, whether friendly or hostile, did exist before 
 St. Patrick's time between the Britons and the Celts of 
 Ireland. The existence of Christians in Erin is in any case 
 conclusively proved from the statement in St. Prosper's 
 Chronicle, that Palladius was sent by Pope Celestine to 
 preach to the Scots, who believed in Christ. 1 To explain this 
 definite statement as if it merely meant that he was sent to 
 convert them to Christ, is to do violence to the language. 
 The words clearly imply that the primary object of this 
 mission was to gather into regular Christian communities the 
 believers scattered throughout the island, to organize the 
 Irish Church, and of course to labour also for the conversion 
 of unbelievers. His mission was only very partially success- 
 ful. He met with so much opposition in Leinster, that 
 although he founded a few churches, his labours did not 
 extend beyond that province, and after a short time he 
 abandoned his Irish mission in despair. 
 
 We are told, too, in the ancient Tripartite Life of 
 St. Patrick, that after crossing the Shannon near Battle 
 Bridge, at a place then called Dumha Graidh now Doogary 
 Patrick ordained his disciple St. Ailbe, to minister for the 
 sons of Ailioll in that district, since called Shancoe, in the 
 Barony of Tirerrill; and he showed him "a cave in the 
 mountain and within it a wonderful stone altar, and on it 
 were four chalices of glass." Such chalices were undoubtedly 
 sometimes used in the early Church. Mention is also made 
 
 1 Ad Scotos in Christum credentes ordinatus a Papa Caelestino Palladius 
 primus episcopus mittitur.
 
 132 MINOR MONASTIC SCHOOLS OF THE FIFTH CENTURY. 
 
 of this wonderful stone altar in the Book of Armagh, so that 
 the story is beyond doubt authentic, and shows that before 
 St. Patrick's advent into Connaught there were Christians 
 already there and in a remote district, too, who had worshipped 
 God in secret, like the early Christians of the Catacombs. 
 Indeed, it would be a very extraordinary thing if there were 
 no Christians to be found in Ireland before St. Patrick, 
 seeing the frequent intercourse, sometimes friendly and 
 sometimes hostile, that existed between the eastern coasts of 
 Ireland and the western coasts of England. 
 
 But the question then arises, were there any prelates in 
 Ireland exercising jurisdiction before the arrival of St. Patrick, 
 who were not his disciples in the ordinary sense, and did not 
 receive episcopal consecration at his hands ? Such eminent 
 authorities as Usher and Colgan, relying on the statements 
 made in several ancient Lives of Saints, incline to the opinion 
 that there were at least four bishops in Ireland before Patrick 
 or Palladius, namely, Ailbe of Emly, Ciaran of Saigher, 
 Declan of Ardmore, and Ibar of Beg-Erin. On the other 
 hand, many recent authorities, led by Dr. Lanigan and Dr. 
 Todd, hold that there is no foundation in our earliest docu- 
 ments for these pre-Patrician bishops ; that the Lives 
 containing an account of these prelates are forgeries of the 
 eleventh or twelfth century, invented in the south of Ireland 
 for the purpose of contesting the claim of Armagh to the 
 primacy of all Ireland, and of establishing the new-fangled 
 claims of the Bishop of Cashel to a primacy over the Southern 
 Province. It is quite impossible with the evidence attain- 
 able at present to settle this question ; so we shall only refer 
 to it briefly. 
 
 There is a Life of St. Ailbe of Emly in the Salamanca 
 MS. recently published. It certainly abounds in marvellous 
 anachronisms as well as in marvellous miracles ; and by itself 
 cannot be deemed worthy of credit. From this Life we 
 learn that Ailbe was a native of eastern Ara Cliach (not 
 Eliach as Dr. Todd has it) ; that he was the son of Olcu (in 
 the MS. Olcnais) by a female slave named Sant, and that 
 King Cronan in whose household he was born, ordered him 
 to be exposed under a steep cliff, where he was afterwards 
 found alive 1 by a man named Lochan, who gave him to a 
 family of the Britons to be nurtured. It is a striking fact 
 that we find Britons in eastern Ara Cliach at this period, 
 and it is conjectured that from them the Barony of Bally- 
 
 1 Hence ( the name Ailbe = ail-beo } "living under the rock."
 
 THE SCHOOL OF EMLY ST. AILBE, 133 
 
 brit takes its name. This fact would also go to explain how 
 the child was reared a Christian at this early period by these 
 Christian Britons. There Palladium, when he came to 
 Munster, found the boy and baptized him. But when it is 
 said by this writer not only that Palladius came to Ireland 
 many years before St. Patrick, but conversed with King 
 Conor Mac Nessa, who flourished in the first century of the 
 Christian era, we see how little credence can be given to his 
 statements. 
 
 Afterwards Ailbe went to Rome, and studied Sacred 
 Scripture there under the Bishop Hilary, who sent him to 
 Pope Clement, in whose presence he was consecrated bishop 
 by the ' ministry of angels.' There was a Pope Hilary 
 who flourished from A.D. 461-467, but there is no record 
 of any Pope Clement during the fourth or fifth century in 
 Rome. 
 
 We are told that many of his countrymen followed Ailbe 
 to Rome twelve Colmans, twelve Kevins, and twelve 
 Fintans and lived with him in community in the holy 
 city. Then Ailbe went to preach the Gospel in the cities 
 of the Gentiles, where he wrought many miracles, and finally 
 returned to his native country, landing just in the north of 
 Ireland, in which he founded the Church of Cell Roid in 
 Dalaradia. Then we find him in Magh Liffe with St 
 B rigid, and afterwards, according to the narrative, he met 
 St. Patrick at the court of -ZEngus Mac Nadfraich at Cashel. 
 We find him in the plain of Magh Femhin going to salute 
 St. Patrick in company with Ibar, and an angel declared, 
 when Ailbe was giving precedence to Ibar as the elder, that 
 Ailbe, and not Ibar, should go first* This certainly looks 
 like a suspicious attempt to procure a recognition of the 
 primacy for Ailbe's See, which about the twelfth century was 
 united to that of Cashel. 
 
 Ailbe also preached the Gospel in Connaught, and 
 wrought numerous miracles there ; but he must be dis- 
 tinguished from another Ailbe, the disciple of St. Patrick, 
 who was ordained by that saint in Tirerrill, and " who is in 
 Shancoe," as the Tripartite informs us. Afterwards an 
 angel brought Ailbe to the place of his resurrection in 
 Imleach Jubhair, or Emly of the Yew Tree. So this Life 
 of Ailbe represents that saint as consecrated at Rome, 
 getting an independent mission from the Pope to preach to 
 the Gentiles, and while deferring to St. Patrick's higher 
 authority, still duly constituted with the sanction of that 
 saint as Metropolitan of Munster.
 
 134 MINOR MONASTIC SCHOOLS OF THE FIFTH CENTURY. 
 
 The Life of St. Declan contains some further particulars 
 to the same effect not explicitly stated in the Life of Ailbe. 
 
 Declan was of the Nandesi race, who then dwelt in the 
 Barony of Decies in Waterford his father Ere being a 
 chieftain of that tribe. The boy was baptized by a certain 
 Colman and educated by Dimma, who was a learned and 
 holy man that came to Waterford from foreign parts. By 
 his advice it seems Declan also went to Rome, where he met 
 St. Ailbe and became a member of his community. In 
 Italy he also met St. Patrick, and Usher says this meeting 
 took place so early as A.D. 402 thirty years before St. 
 Patrick came to Ireland. Having been consecrated bishop 
 in Rome, Declan returned to his native country to preach 
 the Gospel amongst his own kindred, and there founded the 
 See of Ardmore on an eminence overlooking the sea. He 
 also tried to convert JEugus of Cashel, but failing in this 
 attempt, he paid a visit to St. David in Wales. Here is a 
 singular statement, which makes David Bishop of Menevia 
 before JEngus was converted by St. Patrick an event which 
 took place nearly a hundred years before St. David's epis- 
 copacy. This Life of Declan then describes how the four 
 prelates ordained abroad met St. Patrick, and how they 
 entered into a friendly arrangement with him, not however 
 without some difficulty. First of all Ciaran, the first-born 
 of the saints of Erin, " yielded all subjection, and concord, 
 and supremacy to Patrick both when present and absent." 
 Ailbe also came to Cashel and accepted Patrick as his master 
 and superior in presence of JEngus the king. And this was 
 all the more admirable, because the three Bishops, Declan, 
 Ciaran and Ibar, had previously constituted Ailbe as their 
 master and metropolitan ; and hence he came to make his 
 own submission to Patrick lest any of them might resist him. 
 Ibar was the most reluctant to accept this arrangement, for 
 being a decided home ruler " he was unwilling to receive a 
 patron of Ireland from any foreign nation," and Patrick, 
 though nurtured in Ireland, was by birth a Briton. At first, 
 says the Life, there were conflicts between them that 
 is Patrick and Ibar but afterwards at the persuasion of 
 an angel, they made peace and concord and fraternity 
 together. 
 
 If St. Peter and St. Paul had their own little disputes, it 
 is not to be wondered that Celtic saints should sometimes 
 differ amongst themselves. In the same spirit Declan, who 
 at first was unwilling to submit to Patrick, as he himself 
 also had the apostolic dignity, yet when admonished by an
 
 THE SCHOOL OF EMLY ST. AILBE. 135 
 
 angel, crossed Slieve Gua, and came to Patrick to profess his 
 obedience and submission. 
 
 "Thereupon Patrick and King .2Engus, with all the people, 
 ordained that the Archbishopric of Munster should be in the 
 city and See of Saint Ailbe, who was then by them ordained 
 archbishop for ever ; " and Declan was formally authorized to 
 take spiritual charge of the Desii, and became also their 
 patron for ever. It is singular that no mention is made of 
 Ciaran and Ibar as assenting to this arrangement, although 
 it was previously stated that they also " came to an arrange- 
 ment with Patrick." 
 
 It cannot be denied that this entire narrative, which is 
 mainly taken from the Life of St. Declan , is exceedingly 
 suspicious, and hence it is worth while to point out the argu- 
 ments in favour of the possibility of its truth, and also the 
 great difficulties against it. 
 
 There is one very significant reference to Ibar and Ailbe 
 in the Tripartite Life of St. Patrick, which, notwithstanding 
 the arguments of Dr. W. Stokes, we believe to have been written 
 originally by St. Evin in the seventh century. It is this : 
 when Patrick came to Cullen in the present barony of COOT 
 nagh, Co. Limerick, the Tripartite tells us that he ordered a 
 Culdee of his household to resuscitate a child that had been half - 
 devoured by a pig. "His faith failed him, however, and he 
 said he would not tempt the Lord. Then Patrick ordered 
 Bishops Ibar and Ailbe to bring the boy to life, and he be- 
 sought the Lord along with them, and the boy was brought to 
 life through Patrick's prayer." 
 
 " The Apostle turned 
 To Ibar, and to Ailbhe, bishops twain, 
 And bade them raise the child. They heard and knelt ;. 
 And Patrick knelt between them : and these three 
 Upheaved a mighty strength of prayer ; and lo ! ' 
 All pale, yet shining, rose the child, and sat, 
 Lifting small hands, and to the people preached, 
 And straightway they believed, and were baptized." 
 
 This passage represents St. Patrick as meeting these two 
 Bishops in Munster, of whom there was previously heard 
 nothing, and so far seems to confirm the statement in the 
 Lives of these Saints that they were consecrated abroad, and 
 not by St. Patrick. 
 
 Again, why should there not be bishops in Ireland before 
 St. Patrick as well as priests and laymen? In his Con- 
 fession, which has been always regarded as an authentic 
 document, St. Patrick himself says : " For your sake I faced
 
 ] 36 MINOR MONASTIC SCHOOLS OF THE FIFTH CENTURY. 
 
 many dangers, going even to the limits of the land where no 
 one was before me, and whither no one had yet come to bap- 
 tize, or ordain clerics, or confirm the faithful." This certainly 
 seems to imply that in the less remote parts of the country 
 there may have been priests, or even bishops, who did per- 
 form these functions before him. 
 
 The chief difficulty against the authenticity of the Lives 
 of St. Ciaran, St. Declan, and St. Ailbe, is a chronological one. 
 If they were bishops before St. Patrick, how could they have 
 lived down to the first quarter or even to the middle of the 
 sixth century, as some of them are said to have done? St. 
 Ibar died, it seems, the earliest, about A.D. 500; but Ailbe's 
 death is given in the Annals of Ulster under date of A.D. 526, 
 and again at A.D. 533 and 541, which shows that at least he 
 must have lived into the first quarter of the sixth century. 
 Ciaran of Saigher was at the School of Clonard, and is spoken 
 of as the friend of his namesake of Clonmacnoise, and of the 
 two Brendans, who were students in the same great semi- 
 nary; and according to many authorities, Declan lived late 
 into this same century, if not into the next. The authors of 
 the Lives were not unconscious of this difficulty, and boldly 
 meet it by giving to these saints lives of extraordinary 
 duration, extending from 200 to 300, and even to 400 years. 
 Statements of this kind cannot of course be accepted, and of 
 themselves sufficiently refute the authenticity of these Lives. 
 As a matter of fact, however, it is not at all necessary 
 to assume that these saints lived so long in order to be 
 contemporaries of St. Patrick, and even consecrated before 
 him. St. Patrick, according to the common chronology, was 
 about sixty years of age when he came to Ireland, so that 
 Ibar or Ailbe might have been consecrated before him and 
 still have outlived him some twenty or thirty years, if we 
 only assume that they reached the same great age as St. 
 Patrick himself. Our own opinion is that Ibar and Ailbe, 
 if not also Ciaran and Declan, were not consecrated in Erin 
 but abroad, that probably they had returned to their native 
 country before St. Patrick, and were engaged in preaching 
 the Gospel to their countrymen when he arrived in Ireland ; 
 but the great fame and success of St. Patrick eclipsed their 
 labours, and then they also consented to become his disciples 
 and recognise his superior authority and greater success. 
 
 IV._ST. IBAR. 
 
 There is, however, in the Scholia on -ZEngus a curious 
 story which would seem to imply that Ibar, at least, was at
 
 ST. IB AH. 137 
 
 first somewhat reluctant to yield to St. Patrick's authority. 
 It is said that he had a great conflict with Patrick, and 
 that "he left the roads full and the kitchens empty in 
 Armagh." Patrick was thereupon angry with him, and 
 this is what he said : ' Thou shalt not be in Ireland," quoth 
 Patrick. "Ireland (Eri) shall be the name of the place wherein 
 I am," quoth Bishop Ibar. Whence, Beg-Eri (or Little 
 Ireland) was so called, that is, the island which is in " Ui-Cenn- 
 selaig and out on the sea it is." 1 It is stated in the same 
 place that Bishop Ibar was 353 years when he died. 
 
 It seems to us highly probable that Ibar was a pre-Patri- 
 cian bishop, although he afterwards yielded to St. Patrick, 
 and in a certain sense became his disciple. He was of the 
 race of the Hy-Eathach of Ulster, who have given their name 
 to the barony of Iveagh in the Co. Down, not in Armagh as 
 Todd seems to assert. Of his life only few notices are pre- 
 served besides those already referred to. Mella, his sister, 
 was mother of St. Abban, and it is in the Life of this nephew 
 of Ibar that we find the most important notices with reference 
 to Ibar himself. We cannot say with certainty where Ibar 
 received his early training ; an abbot, St. Motta, is mentioned 
 as his first instructor in sacred learning, but, if he be not St. 
 Mochtae of Louth, nothing further is known concerning him. 
 In Tirechan's Collections in the Book of Armagh, an ancient 
 and venerable authority, we find the name of Iborus in the 
 list of bishops consecrated by St. Patrick, and the name seems 
 identical with Ibar. 2 At one time it is said the saint was 
 placed by St. Patrick in charge of St. Brigid's community at 
 Kildare, in which office he was succeeded by St. Conlaeth. 
 He afterwards preached the Gospel in Leix and Hy-Kinse- 
 lagh, converting many to the faith. At length he came to 
 Wexford and resolved to retire from the active missionary 
 life, and devote the remainder of his yea,rs to prayer and 
 sacred study. For this purpose he took possession of the 
 small island of Beg-Eri, or Begery, in the north-west of 
 Wexford Harbour. Here he built his oratory and cell about 
 the year A.D. 485, some fifteen years before his death. Like 
 many other of our Irish Saints, he loved to rest within the 
 hearing of the great Sea, and we are told that he had previ- 
 ously spent some time in one of the islands off" the wild west 
 coast of Ireland perhaps in Aran. 
 
 A man so famed for sanctity and learning could not thus 
 
 1 See Stokes' Calendar of JEngus, April 23rd. 
 
 2 In the Tripartite he is represented as founding Pallas Green in the 
 Barony of Coonagh.
 
 138 MINOR MONASTIC SCHOOLS OF THE FIFTH CENTURY. 
 
 escape from his disciples. They soon discovered his retreat, 
 and crowded round him in his island home. It was easy 
 enough to build their cells of stone or wattles, fish abounded in 
 the channels around the island, and countless flocks of wild fowl 
 covered the pools, so that it would not be difficult to find food 
 for the scholars, even in this small island of twenty-one acres. 
 Amongst the rest was his own nephew, St. Abban the Elder, 
 who became one of his most distinguished scholars, and was 
 the spiritual father and first teacher of the great St. Finnian 
 of Clonard. 
 
 We are told in the Life of St. Abban that " at this time 
 innumerable holy monks and nuns in various parts of Ireland 
 lived under the direction of Ibar, so that in the Litany of 
 .^Engus are invoked three thousand father confessors, who 
 gathered together under Bishop Ibar to consider certain 
 questions. He lived, however, chiefly in his celebrated 
 monastery of Beg-Erin, because he loved that place more 
 than any other. It is situated in a small island off the 
 southern part of Hy-Kinselagh, ramparted by the sea ; and 
 in that same island the remains of the holy prelate rest, and 
 the place itself is greatly honoured by all the Irish on account 
 of their veneration for St. Ibar, and the wondrous miracles 
 performed there through his intercession." 
 
 We are also told that Abban was only twelve years old 
 when he came to the School of Beg-Erin, and that he made 
 great progress there under the direction of Ibar in the study 
 of the Sacred Scriptures and of all the liberal arts, so that 
 his companions wondered much at his great learning and 
 eloquence. Ibar wishing to go to Rome on a pilgrimage, 
 resolved to leave the charge of his monastic school to Abban 
 during his absence. Abban, however, ardently desiring to 
 see the Holy City of the Apostles, earnestly besought his 
 uncle to allow him to go in the same ship ; but all in vain, 
 until with the aid of an angel he was taken over the waves 
 and thus reaching the vessel, he was allowed to come on 
 board. Then both the pilgrims visited Home, passing 
 through Britain on their way, and after many wonderful 
 incidents returned in safety to Lough Garman. Then Abban 
 himself went through Erin preaching the Grospel, and found- 
 ing monasteries in various parts of the country. Thus it came 
 to pass that the learning and discipline of the School of Beg- 
 Erin were carried to other parts of Ireland, and that seed 
 was scattered, which in the next century produced such 
 marvellous fruit throughout all the land. St. Ibar died on 
 the 23rd of April, A.D. 500, in his beloved island retreat ; and
 
 ST. 1BAR. 139 
 
 there he was buried, where the prayers of his children and 
 the voices of the sea would murmur round his grave for ages. 
 
 Not for ever for Beg-Erin was one of the first of our 
 religious schools to feel the destroying presence of the Danes 
 around our coasts. So early as A.D. 819 it was plundered by 
 the Danes. In A.D. 884 is recorded the death of its abbot, 
 Diarmaid, and of Cruimneal in A.D. 964. The citizens of 
 Wexf ord kept it as a place of refuge and security for their 
 Norman prisoners, when the town was beseiged by Strong- 
 bow in A.D. 1172. The veracious Gerald Barry tells us that 
 St. Ibar had expelled the rats from his island, so that not one 
 of them could live there or even be born in it afterwards. 
 
 For ages, however, it continued to be regarded as a very 
 holy shrine, and the men of "Wexf ord made frequent pilgrim- 
 ages to the grave of its holy founder. 
 
 Colonel Solomon Richards, a Cromwellian adventurer, 
 who settled in Wexford, published, in A.D. 1682, an interest- 
 ing, but bigoted account of the Barony of Forth. 1 He tells 
 us that in "the little chapel (of Beg-Erin) there was a 
 wooden image of the Saint (whom he calls Iberian) that 
 people go there to worship him, and settle any cases of con- 
 troversy that may arise amongst them by oath before the 
 image of the Saint. Moreover, if any false charge were made 
 against a man, the parties take boat to the island, the 
 suspected man swears that the charge is false, and this oath 
 before the Saint is at once readily accepted as satisfactory 
 proof of innocence. Once or twice, ' idle fellows who love 
 not wooden gods,' stole away St. Iberian, and burned him, 
 but the image was miraculously restored, as the silly people 
 believe, once more to its place." It is well known that 
 similar wooden images of the patron saints have been pre- 
 served in the islands of Innismurray and Inisgloria down 
 to our own time. 
 
 Beg-Erin is no longer an island. The slob-lands of the 
 harbour have been reclaimed, and this most interesting spot 
 has become part and parcel of the main-land. It was dis- 
 covered during the process of the reclamation works that 
 Beg-Erin was in ancient times connected by a causeway or 
 togher with the adjoining ' Great Island.' The remains of 
 the togher, consisting of two rows of oak piles, were still 
 found in situ ; an ancient wharf also stood at the northern 
 extremity of the island, close to the Bunatroe Channel, which 
 ran between the island and the shore, but has now disappeared. 
 
 1 See Kilk. Arch. Soc., vol. iv., New Series, page 90.
 
 140 MINOR MONASTIC SCHOOLS OF THE FIFTH CENTURY. 
 
 The old church of Ard Colum and a holy well are on the 
 main-land due west of Beg- Erin; to the south was another 
 old church and well dedicated to St. Coemghen, brother of 
 the saint of Glendalough, and popularly called Ard-Cavan. 
 The ancient oratory of Ibar on Beg-Erin has entirely dis- 
 appeared, but the remains of a much more modern church 
 are still to be seen surrounded by a grave-yard, with numerous 
 ancient head-stones. Two of these flags one red and the 
 other green are inscribed with ancient crosses, but no names 
 have been found. Taking into account its antiquity and 
 history, we must regard Beg-Erin as one of the most interest- 
 ing spots in Ireland, and we cannot but regret that its 
 insular character has been effaced by modern improvements. 
 
 V. EARLY SCHOOLS IN THE WEST OF IRELAND. 
 
 Neither was the West of Ireland without its own schools 
 even so early as the latter part of the fifth century. The 
 first school in the West seems to have been established by 
 St. Benignus at his own monastery of Kilbannon, about 
 three miles to the north of Tuam. His sister Mathona was, 
 as we have seen, one of the first nuns veiled in Erin, and 
 settled down at Tawnagh, in the County Sligo, where she 
 founded a church and convent under the guidance of Bishop 
 Cairell, a disciple of St. Patrick. 
 
 Benignus belonged to the race of Cian of Cashel, son of 
 Oilioll Olum. 1 Two offshoots of this family established 
 themselves, one in the barony of Keenaght, in the County 
 Derry, to which they gave their name, and the other in 
 Bregia, to which the family of St. Benignus belonged. It 
 is stated indeed in the Leabhar Breac. and in the Book of 
 Rights, that he belonged to the Cianachta of Gleann 
 Geimhin (Glengiven), but that is clearly a mistake, except 
 the name be taken to include both the families of Meath and 
 of Derry, which is not unlikely. 
 
 A third branch of the same family had settled down in 
 the barony of Leyney (Luighne), County Sligo ; and that 
 Luigb, from whom they took their name, was according to 
 the genealogies, a first cousin of the father of Benignus. 
 This would, no doubt, help to explain why the virgin 
 Mathona founded her convent at Tawnagh, near her cousins, 
 in the County Sligo, and would also help to explain the 
 
 1 His father was son of Laei, son of Tadhg, son of Cian, son of 
 Oilioll Olum. See Book of Rights, page 50, and page 103.
 
 EARLY SCHOOLS IN THE WEST OF IRELAND. 141 
 
 special preference which Benignus himself manifested in 
 favour of the western province. 
 
 He had been commissioned, it is said, by St. Patrick to 
 preach especially in those districts, which he himself had not 
 visited. Accordingly we are told that Benen preached in 
 Kerry, in Clare, and in South Connaught, the very localities 
 which St. Patrick did not find time to visit. He blessed 
 that province, too, with a special blessing from Bundrowes, 
 near Bundoran, to Limerick, and the grateful natives paid 
 to him and his successors a yearly tribute of milk and 
 butter, calves, lambs, as well as first fruits of the rest of their 
 produce. 
 
 Now Kilbannon, in South Connaught, was Benen's 
 principal church, and continued to be for many centuries a 
 very important religious foundation, as its ruined round 
 tower still proves. But Benen was above all things a 
 scholar and a psalm-singer, so he founded a school for young 
 ecclesiastics in his monastery, of the history of which un- 
 fortunately we know little or nothing. 
 
 He had at least one illustrious disciple, and that was 
 St. Jarlath, afterwards Bishop of Tuam. It has been said 
 that Jarlath could not have been a disciple of Benignus 
 before A.D. 455, when the latter was transferred to Armagh. 
 We answer that Jarlath was an old man in A.D. 512, when 
 St. Brendan of Clonfert became his disciple at Cluainfois, 
 near Tuam, and hence there is nothing to prevent Jarlath 
 being a disciple of Benignus, if he were about the same age, 
 that Benignus himself was, when he became a disciple of 
 St. Patrick. 
 
 St. Jarlath founded his own college at Cluanfois towards 
 the end of the fifth century. Colgan fixes the date at 
 A.D. 510 ; but there are passages in the Life of St. Brendan, 
 which go to show that it must have been founded at an 
 earlier date, probably about the year A.D. 500. Of this 
 college at Cluainfois, and of St. Jarlath's School at Tuam, 
 we shall have something more to say hereafter. 
 
 Lanigan, 1 quoting the Tripartite Life of St. Patrick, 
 says that there was an episcopal seminary at Elphin, in the 
 County Roscommon, governed by St. Asicus, even at this 
 early period. In truth all that we know of St. Asicus is 
 derived from the Tripartite. The beautiful site on which 
 the monastery was built got its name, Aelfind, from the 
 white stone that was raised out of the well, which was made by 
 
 i., page 403.
 
 142 MINOR MONASTIC SCHOOLS OF THE FIFTH CENTURY. 
 
 Patrick in the green, and " that stone stands on the brink of 
 the well," says the author of the Tripartite, " and it is called 
 from the water " that is, Elphin means the stone of the 
 clear stream. That clear and bountiful spring still flows 
 through the street of Elphin before the site of the monastery 
 of Asicus, literally in the green, and it is only a short time 
 since the stone itself was carried off by some profane hands. 
 It is now, we believe, somewhere at or near the Protestant 
 Church. 
 
 Patrick blessed Ono the converted Druid, who gave him 
 that beautiful site overlooking to the south, the fertile and 
 far-reaching plain of Magh Aei, and added, moreover : 
 "Thy seed shall be blessed, and there shall be victory of 
 laymen and clerics from thee for ever, and they shall have 
 the inheritance of this place." 
 
 Then Patrick placed over the infant Church of Elphin 
 Asicus, and Bite or Biteus, the son of Asicus, and Cipia, 
 mother of Bite the Bishop. The family was, doubt- 
 less, of the race of Ono the Druid, and it seems they were 
 held in high repute in the neighbourhood. Asicus himself 
 must have been advanced in years, but he was an expert 
 artificer in metal-work ; and we are told that he made altars, 
 :md quadrangular tables (iniassa) and square book covers for 
 Patrick, and these tables were so highly prized that one was 
 taken to Armagh, one was kept in Elphin, and another was 
 taken far westward to the Church of Domnach Mor Maige 
 Scolai, and placed on the altar of Bishop Felart. It seems 
 highly probable that these square miassa were stone or 
 metal altar-flags, and were used to place over the rude altars 
 of the churches during the celebration of the Holy 
 Mysteries, a practice still common in the country where duly 
 consecrated altars are not to be had. 
 
 No doubt St. Asicus attended to these duties, whilst his 
 son, Bishop Biteus, took care of his infant monastery and 
 school. It was the very infancy of the Church in Ireland, 
 for Elphin was one of St. Patrick's earliest foundations, 
 dating from the year A.D. 433 or 434. It has always con- 
 tinued to hold a distinguished position amongst the episcopal 
 Sees of the West ; and although the Bishop dwells there no 
 longer, it still gives title to the most ancient of the Western 
 Sees. 
 
 Asicus himself in shame because of a lie told either by 
 him, or as others say of him fled into Donegal, and for 
 seven years abode in the island of Rathlin O'Birne. Then 
 his monks sought him out, and after much labour found him
 
 EARLY SCHOOLS IN THE WEST OF IRELAND. 143 
 
 in the mountain glens, and tried to bring him home to his 
 own monastery at Elphin. But he fell sick by the way, and 
 died with them in the wilderness. So they buried the 
 venerable old man in the churchyard of Rath Cunga now 
 Racoon, in the barony of Tirhugh, County Donegal. The 
 old churchyard is there still, though now disused, on the 
 summit of a round hillock close to the left of the road from 
 Ballyshannon to Donegal, about a mile to the south of the 
 village of Ballintra. We sought in vain for any trace of an 
 inscribed stone in the old churchyard. He fled from men 
 during life, and, like Moses, his grave is hidden from them 
 in death. 
 
 The artistic spirit, however, remained in Elphin ; and, as 
 we shall see hereafter, some of the most beautiful works of 
 the twelfth century were designed and executed by the 
 spiritual sons of St. Asicus.
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 MONASTIC SCHOOLS OF THE SIXTH CENTURY. 
 
 " Fenced early in this cloistral round 
 Of reverie, of shade, of prayer, 
 How can we grow in other ground ? 
 How can we flower in foreign air ? " 
 
 I. GENERAL VIEW OF AN IRISH MONASTERY. 
 
 BEFORE we can understand the nature of a monastic school, 
 it is necessary to get a clear idea of the general character of 
 our Irish monasteries, such as they were before the advent of 
 the Danish hordes to this country. This is all the more 
 necessary, because a Celtic monastery of the olden time was 
 a very different thing from those great mediaeval establish- 
 ments, whose ruins are still to be seen both in England and 
 Ireland. 
 
 In ancient Erin they had no such structures as were 
 built in later ages by the Cistercians, Dominicans, and 
 Franciscans noble piles of buildings with the stately church, 
 in the centre surrounded by beautiful cloisters, and dormi- 
 tories, and kitchen, and all other necessary offices. These 
 notions must be entirely removed from the mind, if we wish 
 to get an idea of the primtive Celtic monastery, as it existed 
 in the earliest and best days of our Irish Church. 
 
 Of course monasteries in the spiritual sense as moral 
 entities have always been much the same in every country 
 and in every age of the Church's history. The plan of the 
 spiritual edifice is found in the Gospel, and has been drawn 
 for all time by Christ Himself. 
 
 The true monk is a man, as his name implies, who 
 whether in the city or in the desert, should always strive to 
 be alone with. God. In this sense the prophets Elias and 
 Eliseus under the Old Law, like John the Baptist at the 
 threshold of the New Law, were monks in the most perfect 
 sense of the word. Then, again, the monk whether living 
 alone in the desert, or in community with others, must follow 
 those counsels of perfection, which have been set forth by 
 the teaching and example of the Son of God Himself. That 
 is to say, he must renounce all worldly goods and live in
 
 GENERAL VIEW OF AN IRISH MONASTERY. 145 
 
 poverty, in chastity, and obedience, when he has a superior. 
 If he has no immediate superior, then he is a hermit, and 
 God Himself, whom he seeks to please in all things, becomes 
 his Superior. These means of perfection have been always 
 deemed essential to the monastic character in the Church of 
 God. One cannot conceive a married monk, nor one in the 
 full enjoyment of his worldly fortune, nor one without a 
 superior, except where he lives altogether alone with God, 
 following His inspirations ; and even the bishop of the 
 locality is always recognised by the Church as the Superior, 
 whom he is bound to obey. 
 
 With these essential means of perfection were also com- 
 bined silence, prayer and labour, whether manual or mental. 
 Idleness is unknown to the monastic state ; the monk should 
 be always doing something pleasing to God. It may be to 
 pray, or to read, or to work in the fields, or to take his 
 necessary rest, but he must be always doing the work of 
 God. 
 
 Monasticism in one sense or another always existed, and 
 always will exist in the Church. It flourished amongst the 
 first Christian communities at Jerusalem, who had only one 
 heart and one soul, who sold their lands and houses, and laid 
 the price at the feet of the Apostles to feed the poor. It 
 existed in the catacombs during the persecutions, and took 
 more definite shape in the deserts of Syria, Egypt, and 
 Armenia. 
 
 At first the monk was, as his names -implies, a hermit 
 eremites- one who lived alone in the desert in the practice of 
 evangelical perfection. Such were St. Paul, St. Anthony, 
 Serapion, and thousands of others who imitated their 
 example and lived in solitary cells or rocky caves in Syria, 
 Armenia, and Nitria on the western shores of the Nile some 
 thirty miles from Cairo. Pachomius seems to have been the 
 first who formed these solitaries into a community following 
 one rule and recognising a common superior. He founded 
 his monastery at Tabenna, on the Nile, in Lower Egypt. 
 His sister is said to have been the first who founded a convent 
 of nuns not far from her brother's monastery, in order that 
 she might have the benefit of his advice and direction. The 
 exact date cannot be ascertained ; but as he died rather 
 young about the year A.D. 349, it cannot have been much 
 earlier than A.D. 340. St. Anthony had indeed already 
 undertaken the guidance of certain solitaries, who had 
 placed themselves under his direction. But it was 
 Pachomius who really changed the monasteries, or rather 
 
 K
 
 146 MONASTIC SCHOOLS OF THE SIXTH CENTURY. 
 
 the laura, into a ' convent/ in which all the members of the 
 community dwelt within the same building, 1 were subject to 
 the same rule, and obedient to the same Superior. This 
 change, however, as might be expected, was not accomplished 
 at once ; it was rather very gradual, and grew out of the 
 necessities of the time. The laura, which was a group or 
 village of monastic cells, surrounding the oratory and cell of 
 the abbot, under whose direction the monks assembled for 
 their common devotions in the Church, and sometimes for 
 their common meals in the refectory, was the intermediate 
 stage of monastic development, and it continued to be both 
 in Egypt and in Ireland for many centuries the prevalent 
 form of monastic life. 
 
 From Egypt and Syria monasticism was brought to Rome 
 about the middle of the fourth century by Athanasius, the 
 great champion of the Divinity of Christ, by Honoratus, who 
 founded the island monastery of Lerins, and by John Cassian, 
 whose Institutes were a kind of a manual in all the earlier 
 monasteries of the West. 
 
 The great St. Martin of Tours, the father of monasticism 
 in Gaul, was inspired by the writings of Athanasius, and 
 \mder the influence of that inspiration founded his own 
 monastery at Liguge, and subsequently at Marmontier, on 
 the banks of the Loire, which became the cradles of monastic 
 life in Gaul. "VVe have already seen that St. Patrick had 
 full opportunity of learning the discipline of Marmontier, 
 and of course what he learned there and elsewhere, he carried 
 home with him to Ireland. But his life was too full of 
 missionary labours to be given to the government or 
 foundation of monasteries. That work was left to the rising 
 generation ; by them it was undertaken and nobly accom- 
 plished. Enda of Aran, Finnian of Clonard, Brendan of 
 Clonfert, and their associates of the Second Order of the 
 Irish Saints, were the men who first founded regular 
 monasteries and monastic schools in Erin. 
 
 In trying to give a view of the general character of the 
 monastic institutions founded by those holy and learned men, 
 it is well to consider the subject in its various aspects; that 
 is to say, the Buildings, the Discipline and Government, and 
 the Work of an Irish Monastery. We have abundant 
 materials to help us in this inquiry in the Monastic Rules, 
 in the lives of the founders of these houses, and in the 
 
 1 Strictly speaking, that building was a collection of cells, each of 
 which was tenanted by three monks.
 
 THE BUILDINGS. 147 
 
 remnants of the ancient buildings themselves, which are 
 still to be seen on our remotest shores and islands. But 
 there is one work especially valuable in this enquiry that 
 is, Adamnan's Life of St. Columba, edited by the learned 
 Dr. Reeves, now Bishop of Down and Connor. No other 
 work that we know of is so valuable or so indispensable to 
 the Irish ecclesiastical historian, and none has been edited 
 with greater learning and impartiality. 
 
 IT. THE BUILDINGS. 
 
 The various buildings connected with an Irish monastery 
 were generally but not always surrounded by a circular or 
 oval rampart, which was at once a protection against 
 enemies, or wild beasts, and also a limit beyond which the 
 brethren were not allowed to wander without permission, and 
 within which strangers, as a rule, were not allowed to intrude. 
 Women were in all cases excluded from the sanctuary within 
 this boundary. The wall or rampart was composed some- 
 times of earth dug up from a fosse at its base, when it was 
 called a rath or Us; sometimes of stone, when it was called 
 a caiseal, and sometimes of earth faced with stone, and then 
 also it was known as a caithir or caiseal. The name dun, 
 according to Dr. Petrie, was indifferently applied to any of 
 these structures. But O'Curry quotes an ancient legal tract, 
 which proves that the dun, strictly speaking, was " an 
 enclosure made by two walls or mounds, with water between 
 them." (Manners and Customs, vol. ii., p. 4.) This mur or 
 mound was sometimes very strong and very high, fenced, 
 too, with stakes on the top, and when necessary was double 
 or threefold, with a deep dyke between each rampart. There 
 was generally only one entrance, and when danger was 
 apprehended from lawless foes, this entrance was strictly 
 guarded night and day. It was considered sufficiently 
 effective against the passing attacks of the native spoilers ; 
 but when the Danes began their bloody and relentless raids, 
 the round tower was found to afford a much stronger and 
 safer asylum. 
 
 The monks in surrounding the ecclesiastical village with 
 a rath or caiseal, adopted no new contrivance. It was the 
 custom of the country to surround the home of every 
 chieftain's family with a similar defence, which the unsettled 
 state of the country at the time rendered very necessary. 
 
 The principal building within the monastic enclosure was 
 of course the church. If it were a cathedral church, or one 
 of the greater abbey churches, it was usually built of stone,
 
 148 MONASTIC SCHOOLS OF THE SIXTH CENTURY. 
 
 and termed in Gaelic, a daimhliag, that is, the stone-house 
 by excellence ; because very many of the churches of an 
 inferior kind were built of more perishable materials, com- 
 posed of clay and wood, or wattles. Hence Colgan used the 
 Latin word ' Basilica,' as equivalent to the Irish term, 
 daimhliag. Churches of this kind varied of course in dimen- 
 sions but were relatively large ; generally speaking, they 
 were about 60 feet in length (Petrie, p. 161). If the church 
 were merely an oratory for the abbot and his monks, along 
 with such casual strangers as might happen to be present at 
 the time, it was called a duirtlieach, and in the southern and 
 western parts of the country, where stone abounded, and 
 wood was scarce, it was frequently built of stone as in Kerry 
 and Galway. But far more frequently, especially in the east 
 and north-east, it was built of wood, which explains the 
 frequent reference in our annals to the burning of buildings 
 of this character. 1 The term itself was derived from daire, 
 an oak wood. 
 
 Adjoining the church, or oratory,. there was frequently 
 another building called an erdamh or urdumh, which Petrie 
 thinks was a building adjacent to the side wall of the church, 
 whence it name ear-dom,.^ side-house serving the purpose 
 of a sacristy and store-house for the sacred utensils. During 
 the Danish period especially the round tower is found near 
 the west entrance of the principal church, but as we think 
 this was a later feature introduced into the Irish monastic 
 buildings, we decline to discuss that question further for the 
 present. The abbot's house was generally very near his 
 oratory, with which it was sometimes connected by a passage 
 underground, or roofed with flags ; and sometimes it was 
 under the same roof with the oratory as in Columcille's house 
 at Kells, and probably also at St. Kevin's Cro or 'Kitchen,' 
 at Glendalough. The cells of the monks were distributed in 
 convenient spots. over the-sacred enclosure, sometimes in the 
 form of irregular streets or squares, according to the nature 
 of the ground. I am inclined to think from the small size of 
 the existing stone cells that every monk had a separate cell 
 for his own use ; although it would, no doubt, sometimes 
 happen in Ireland, as it certainly often happened in Egypt, 
 that three or four monks had to live in the same cell. They 
 had no beds, in the modern sense of the word; they either 
 slept on the naked earth, or on a skin, which sometimes 
 covered a heap of straw or rushes. There was only a single 
 
 1 See Life of St. Moling, and of other saints.
 
 THE BUILDINGS. 149 
 
 entrance, and generally speaking no windows of any kind 
 to the cells. In form they were nearly always circular, about 
 ten feet in diameter by seven in height. When built of stone 
 they were cone-shaped and brought to a point at the summit 
 by a gradual inclination of each course of flags above the 
 other,' but the builders seemed to be ignorant of the principle 
 ot the arch. More generally, however, the cells were con- 
 structed of wood, or wicker work, and these, although by no 
 means so durable, were probably much more comfortable than 
 the cells of stone. 
 
 One of the most necessary buildings for a laura or monas- 
 tery was the kitchen the cuicin in Irish, or culina in Lalin. 
 St. Patrick's 'kitchen' at Armagh was seventeen feet long, 
 and is spoken of as one of the principal buildings within the 
 lis, or monastic enclosure. The 'Tripartite Life of the Saint 
 in the same place tells us that the Great House was twenty- 
 seven feet in length, and consequently much longer than the 
 ' kitchen ' with which it seems to have been connected. The 
 Great House tigh-mor was in all probability the refectory 
 or dining-room, which is more generally and appropriately 
 called in Irish, the proinn-teach, or dinner-house. It is 
 doubtful if we have any specimens of the Refectories or 
 Kitchens of our earliest monasteries still surviving, because 
 as a rule they were composed of perishable materials. Another 
 important building annexed to the monastery, but generally 
 outside the enclosure was the Hospice, or Guest-House, where 
 strangers were entertained with the utmost hospitality, 
 whether they came as mere visitors (peregrint\ or penitents to 
 atone for their sins, and receive spiritual consolation. There 
 was, however, another class of guests (Iwspites}., distinguished 
 ecclesiastics or princes, the friends of the abbot or community, 
 who were treated with the greatest consideration. They 
 were admitted within the sacred enclosure, and if bishops or 
 priests they were usually invited to officiate for the commu- 
 nity. There is no more beautiful trait of monastic hospitality 
 than the consideration with which they treated distinguished 
 strangers, and the care they bestowed on the poor. 
 
 There were two other indispensable buildings connected 
 with the monastery the store-house for provisions, and, 
 wherever a stream of water could be had, a kiln for drying, and 
 a mill for grinding their corn. Bread was always the main 
 sustenance of the monks, and hence the site of the monastery 
 was generally so chosen that a small stream could be artifici- 
 ally dammed up, and thus supply sufficient power to turn a 
 small water wheel to grind their corn. We find traces of
 
 150 MONASTIC SCHOOLS OF THE SIXTH CENTURY. 
 
 these dams even in the most unlikely places, where in our 
 day no one would dream of erecting a mill. The manifest 
 reason is that it was a great saving of manual labour, for if 
 the monks did not grind their corn with water, they should 
 grind it with the hand-quern. For obvious reasons, too, one, 
 or more wells were also near the monastery ; sometimes, 
 too, they were covered over to preserve the water from the 
 pollution of cattle or rubbish. These wells, used and blessed 
 by so many generations of holy men, are very naturally 
 now deemed "blessed wells." Such then was the general 
 character of the monastic enclosure and the monastic build- 
 ings not one imposing edifice, as in more modern times, but 
 rather a village of huts surrounding the church and house of 
 the abbot, and enclosed by a large circular rampart of earth 
 or stones. Within the enclosure in the larger monasteries a 
 workshop for the smith and carpenter was generally provided, 
 and the lay brothers were frequently expert in the use of 
 their tools. When the monastery was surrounded by marshy 
 land, a tochar or stone causeway was built to the nearest 
 highway, in order to facilitate communications with the outer 
 world. 
 
 III. DISCIPLINE. 
 
 In monasteries we must not confound the essential dis- 
 cipline of every true religious house with the accidental 
 differences, which may be found in different monasteries, and 
 still more in different Orders, or under different Rules. The 
 essential monastic discipline is always the same, but there 
 are, so to speak, several varieties of the species, and these 
 varieties are best exhibited to us in the various .Rules which 
 the founders of Religious Orders have left for the guidance 
 of their spiritual posterity. The learned Dr. Reeves 1 seems 
 to doubt it' the founders of our Irish Religious Houses ever 
 promulgated any systematic Rule like that of St. Benedict. 
 We certainly have no Irish Rule, not even that of Columbanus, 
 PO definite or so systematic as that of St. Benedict; the 
 legal organizing mind of the Italian herein displays its 
 superiority to the untutored mind of the Celt. Moreover 
 Benedict is, so to speak, more human he is not so terribly 
 austere in his discipline as are our Irish Saints ; and no 
 doubt this was one great reason why it was that when his 
 Rule and that of St. Columbanus were brought into rivalry in 
 France and Northern Italy, that the Rule of Benedict 
 conquered. 
 
 1 Additional Notes, page 336.
 
 DISCIPLINE. 151 
 
 "We cannot, however, admit that cur Irish Saints did not 
 frame distinctive and definite Rules, although not at all, in 
 our opinion, so distinctive or so definite as the great Rule of 
 St. Benedict. Eugene O'Curry tells us that he examined in 
 the original Irish, eight different Monastic Rules, of which 
 " six are in verse, and two in prose, seven in vellum MSS., 
 and one on paper." These are the Rule of St. Ailby of Emly, 
 addressed to Eugene, sou of Saran ; the Rule of St. Ciaran of 
 Clonmacnoise ; the Rule of St. Comghall of Bangor ; the 
 Rule of St. Columcilie ; the Rule of St. Carthagh of Lismore; 
 St. Maelruain's Rules for the Culdees ; a Rule of later date 
 for the Grey Monks ; and lastly, the Rule written by the 
 famous Cormac Mac Cullinan, the Royal Bishop of Cashel. 
 The three most important of these Rules have been published 
 in the Irish Ecclesiastical Record, that is the first, the Rule 
 of St. Ailby, for the son of Saran ; the Rule of St. Carthagh 
 of Lismore, and the Rule of St. Maelruain of Tallaght. 
 
 By comparing the general ordinances laid down by the 
 founders of our early monasteries, and still more by carefully 
 noting the references made to the domestic and religious 
 discipline in the Lives of the founders themselves, we can 
 obtain a very distinct idea of the true character of monastic 
 life in Ireland. 
 
 The " Abbot " was the superior of the monastic family, 
 and frequently had several houses under his supreme control. 
 He generally lived at the mother-house, where he had a 
 separate cell larger than that of the other brethren, and 
 usually very near to the church or oratory. The branch 
 houses were then governed by local superiors frequently 
 called ' priors,' but they were subject to removal by the 
 Abbot, who had the right at any time of visiting the estab- 
 lishments subordinate to the mother-house ; and this right 
 was repeatedly exercised, as we know, from the Lives of 
 Enda, Brendan, and Columcilie. Sometimes the Abbot was 
 a bishop, but more frequently during the sixth century he 
 was not, as in the case of Enda and Columcilie, and very pro- 
 bably of St. Brendan also. Nearly always, however, in that case 
 a bishop was a member of the religious community, who per- 
 formed all the episcopal functions and received all the honour 
 due to his office ; but, as a member of the community, he was 
 inferior in jurisdiction, and otherwise obedient to the Abbot. 
 During this period diocesan jurisdiction was not well defined, 
 because there was a great number of bishops in the country, 
 and dioceses properly so called were only in process of forma- 
 tion. At this early age the diocese, or ' parrochia/ of a bishop
 
 152 MONASTIC SCHOOLS OF THE SIXTH CENTURY. 
 
 in many cases extended only to the church or churches which 
 he or his predecessor had founded, and to their adjacent ter- 
 ritory. It was a fixed maxim, however, that if one saint had 
 established himself in a district another was not to intrude 
 on his territory without his permission. St. Brendan is said 
 to have at first established himself near the Shannon, at a 
 place called Tulach JBrendain ; but when he found that he 
 was within hearing of the bell of St. Ruadhan of Lorrha, he 
 removed further to the north and established himself at Clon- 
 fert, whereupon St. Ruadhan prophesied that Brendan's 
 'parrochia' would be blessed by God, and in after years 
 become greater than his own. And so it came to pass. 
 
 The monastic " Family " included priests, deacons, minor 
 clerics, and lay brethren, who all yielded implicit obedience 
 to the Abbot as to the representative of God in their regard. 
 The life of the community was a ' warfare,' they were soldiers 
 of Christ, and hence were to be trained and armed for this 
 spiritual combat. Therefore they stripped themselves of the 
 encumbrance of worldly goods, and entered the 'arena' quite 
 naked. They were obedient to the voice of the general, and 
 always ready to sacrifice their lives for Christ. Their obedi- 
 ence was like that of Christ an obedience unto death. St. 
 Brendan once told one of his monks to go to save another 
 who was sinking, and die in his stead. The monk did so 
 without a murmur the brother was saved but the rescuer 
 perished. 1 
 
 The Rule of St. Columba prescribes absolute nakedness 
 from worldly goods in imitation of -Christ. No brother could 
 possess anything of his own everything was in common. 
 The community itself was poor ; the inmates were to be con- 
 tent with the bare necessaries of 'life anything beyond that 
 was for the poor and the stranger. Of course chastity was 
 deemed essential, so much so that no woman was permitted to 
 enter the -monastic enclosure ; in certain cases they were even 
 excluded from the island on which the monastery was built. 
 The members .of the community were to be "virgins in mind 
 and in body ;" it'was not mere celibacy, but perfect chastity 
 in thought, and word, and work that was required from all 
 true monks. In all this, however, there is nothing peculiar 
 to Irish monasteries these virtues have been always con- 
 sidered essential to the monastic state, although not always 
 professed by solemn vow. 
 
 "Silence, which is the practice of justice," says the Rule 
 
 1 Vita Brendani, cap. 14.
 
 DISCIPLINE. 153 
 
 of St. Columbanus, 1 " must, at every task and in every place, 
 be carefully observed." The tongue is the source of many 
 sins, and hence the monks are strictly forbidden to speak 
 except when there is need, and even then with caution. Of 
 course when abroad it would be difficult to observe silence, 
 but still the spirit of the Rule was to be followed. Even the 
 Abbot, in his necessary communication with his subordinates, 
 was to be brief and to the point. The monks frequently 
 communicated their more usual wants by silent signals, espe- 
 cially in the refectory, lest speaking would interfere with the 
 reading, which always took place at meal time. 
 
 "Humility" in spirit and the external practice of that 
 virtue were specially inculcated, because spiritual pride is one 
 of the sins most dangerous to religious men, and most diffi- 
 cult to guard against. The Rule of St. Carthagh of Lisnaore 
 requires the monk to live in humility and self-abasement 
 towards all persons, high and low, showing to every one 
 "devotion, humbleness, and enslavement." The brethren 
 in Columcille's monasteries spoke to the Abbot on their knees. 
 If rebuked by his superiors for any fault the monk remained 
 prostrate on the ground until .the words of blessing admon- 
 ished him to rise up it mattered not whether the brother 
 was really culpable or not, he was to demean himself as a 
 culprit. 
 
 One of the characteristic virtues of our Celtic monasteries 
 was their spirit of hospitality. Every monastery had its 
 guest-house for the reception -of strangers. They were to be 
 saluted both when coming and going by bowing down the 
 head, and in case of persons of greater consideration by pros- 
 tration. St. Comgall of Bangor, himself, washed the feet of 
 Columba and his companions, when they came to visit him at 
 Bangor. Upon their arrival the guests generally were either 
 received by the Abbot in person, who gave them the kiss of 
 peace, or by the brother in charge of the hospice, who 
 attended to their immediate wants. One of the first things 
 done was to wash their feet ; they were then led to the 
 church to join in a short prayer for their safe arrival. After- 
 wards they partook of refreshment, and had an opportunity 
 of conferring with the Abbot. When a distinguished guest 
 arrived, the best cheer the monastery afforded was produced. 
 It became a feast day for the entire community ; even if it 
 were an ordinary fasting day, by St. Benedict's Rule the fas: 
 was to be relaxed in honour of the guest. No sinner, who 
 
 1 Cap. II., De Silentio.
 
 154 MONASTIC SCHOOLS OF THE SIXTH CENTURY. 
 
 came in a spirit of penance was excluded ; but if not peni- 
 tent, notorious sinners were very properly excluded i'rom the 
 monastic enclosure. 
 
 The discipline of the Irish monasteries as to fasting was 
 very rigid. This rigour began in the monasteries of Egypt and 
 Syria, and was afterwards imitated in the West. But in the 
 cold and stormy climate of Ireland such observances must 
 have been exceedingly trying to human nature. Yet, per- 
 haps, nowhere in the Church were these penitential exercises 
 carried out with such unsparing rigour. The penances, even 
 apart from fasting, practised by some of our Irish Saints were 
 simply appalKng. In our days we should consider them almost 
 suicidal. To spend half the night up to the neck in a stream 
 of cold water, to sleep on the rock in a cell or cave without 
 coverlet or pillow, to wear the same coarse garment until it 
 fell to pieces in rags, to spend the whole of Lent in the woods 
 or mountains with only a few loaves of bread and a little 
 water, were not unusual exercises of mortification in those 
 days of primitive fervour. This, was, however, mostly the 
 case with hermits or recluses. The discipline of the regular 
 monastic life was severe, but not quite so rigorous as this. 
 
 The ordinary meal for the 'family' was barley or oaten 
 bread, with milk when it could be had, and a little fish, per- 
 haps sometimes eggs. Flesh meat was rarely allowed except 
 on high festival days, or when distinguished strangers came 
 to the monastry. The brethren were then allowed a share of 
 the good cheer provided for the strangers. There was, how- 
 ever, except for those labouring in the fields, only one meal 
 in the day the Columban Rule borrowed from Bangor 
 expressly says that the fare was to be plain and only taken 
 in the evening, that is, after noon. 1 Vegetables, porridge, 
 and baked bread are the principal items mentioned as allow- 
 able, and barely as much as would support life. Excessive 
 abstinence from food, however, was to be deemed a vice, not 
 a virtue ; but to some extent a monk was to fast every day. 
 The ' order of refection, and of the refectory.' is one of the 
 most interesting portions of the Rule of St. Carthage of Lis- 
 more. 2 He allows an ample meal for the workman and special 
 delicacies for the sick. On Sundays and other festivals of 
 the year, especially on the greater festivals, meals were * in- 
 creased.' From Easter to Pentecost was also a season of full 
 meals " without fasting, heavy labour, or great vigils." 
 The Summer and Winter Lent are more bitter to laics than 
 
 1 " Gibus sit vilis et vespertinus." 2 Sec. I., Ecchs. Record, Jan. 1865.
 
 THE DAILY LABOUR OF THE MONASTERY. 155 
 
 to monks, for to the latter all seasons should be as Lent. 
 The meal was to be at vesper time only, except from Easter 
 to St. John's Day, when a refection was also allowed at noon. 
 The bell was to be the signal for the meal, but first there was 
 a Pater with three genuflections in the church ; then the 
 meal was blessed. Alleluia was sung, and a benediction pro- 
 nounced by the Senior, who said, " God bless you." The meal 
 was followed by thanksgiving, after which all retired to their 
 cells for private prayer preparatory to vespers. Wednesday 
 and Friday were generally fast days. 
 
 The ordinary dress consisted of a cuculla or habit of coarse 
 undyed wool with a hood, and a tunic or short underneath 
 garment. Sandals were sometimes worn when travelling, 
 but rarely at home. There is no mention made of any 
 covering |for the head, but the cowl or hood which was 
 sometimes thrown over it. No doubt a leathern or hempen 
 girdle was worn round the loins. The monk slept in his 
 clothes on a pallet of straw in his cell. He had a straw- 
 pillow under his head, and probably some kind of a rug for 
 a coverlet in severe weather. St. Columba himself slept on 
 the bare stone, which was covered only with a skin, and this 
 practice seems not to have been unusual. 
 
 IV. THE DAILY LABOUR OF THE MONASTERY. 
 
 St. Columbanus tersely describes the daily work of every 
 monastery when he says " Ergo quotidie jejunandum est, 
 sicut quotidie orandum est, quotidie laborandum, quotidieque 
 est legendum." x Fasting and prayer, labour and study, are 
 the daily task of the monks in every monastery. How 
 patiently and unselfishly that toil was performed the history 
 of Europe tells. The monks made roads, cleared the forests, 
 and fertilized the desert. Their monasteries in Ireland were 
 the sites of our cities. To this day the land about a monas- 
 tery is well known to be the greenest and best in the district ; 
 and it was made fertile by the labour of the monks. They 
 preserved for us the literary treasures of antiquity ; they 
 multiplied copies of all the best and newest works ; they 
 illuminated them with the most loving care. They taught the 
 children of the rich and the poor alike ; they built the church 
 and the palace ; they were the greatest authors, painters, 
 architects, since the decline of the Roman Empire. They 
 were the physicians of the poor when there were no dispen- 
 sary doctors ; they served the sick in their hospitals and at 
 
 1 Regula., cap. 3.
 
 156 MONASTIC SCHOOLS OF THE SIXTH CENTURY. 
 
 their homes. And when the day's work was done in the fields 
 or in the study, they praised God, and prayed for men who 
 were unable or unwilling to pray for themselves. Ignorant 
 and prejudiced men have spoken of them as an idle and 
 useless race. They were in reality the greatest toilers, and 
 the greatest benefactors of humanity that the world has ever 
 seen. 
 
 Religious exercises were the first duty of the monk 
 * Orare' This was called the Work of God, and consisted 
 of Mass, the Divine office, with private prayer and meditation. 
 The Holy Sacrifice was celebrated every day, at which all 
 the community was to attend ; it was generally at an early 
 hour in the morning, before the labour of the day began. 
 The ordinary canonical hours were chanted in choir 
 Matins and Lauds generally at midnight. Mistakes, even 
 from inadvertence in chanting, were punished by Columbanus 
 with a small penance-genuflection. The brethren labouring 
 in the field were not required to attend in choir during the 
 day. The entire psaltery seems to have been recited during 
 the daily office at least at certain times of the year. If a 
 brother had any leisure he might, at any time, retire to the 
 oratory to pray. At all their incomings and outgoings they 
 made the sign of the cross, sometimes turning themselves to 
 the east. It seems, too, that making the same holy sign was 
 a frequent method of salutation. 
 
 A noviciate of varying length was observed before a 
 candidate was admitted to the brotherhood. After suitable 
 probation, he took the monastic vow l before the Abbot and 
 the brethren on his knees in the church. It was a very 
 solemn vow taken "in the Name of the High God." The 
 tonsure (up to A.D. 640) from ear to ear was generally 
 received by the brethren, even when they did not intend to 
 proceed to higher orders. It was considered to be a sign of 
 the total renunciation of the world, and a dedication of them- 
 selves to the service of God. Yet, the monk did not, properly 
 speaking, belong to the clergy. 
 
 Study. The study of the Sacred Scriptures was daily 
 practised by the learned members of the community the 
 younger got by rote a portion of the Psalter until they could 
 recite the whole from memory, for books were then very 
 scarce. They had also the study of the Greek and Latin 
 languages, and of the Fathers in the Irish Monasteries, as 
 we shall more fully explain hereafter. The Lives of the 
 
 1 " Votum Monasticum. " Adamnan,
 
 THE DAILY LABOUR OF THE MONASTERY. 157 
 
 Saints were read for the community, and conferences 
 collationes like those of Cassian on spiritual and theological 
 questions were frequently held under the presidency of the 
 abbot or prior. 
 
 Writing formed a principal part of the literary work 
 in every monastery. There was a special building set apart 
 for that purpose called the Scriptorium where all necessary 
 appliances, waxen tablets, parchments, inks, style?, pens, 
 were to be had, and a library was also kept for the use of 
 the students and the custody of the books. Too often both 
 buildings were burned, and their precious treasures lost for 
 ever. The work of transcription was executed with great 
 care and beauty. To be ' a choice scribe ' was an accom- 
 plishment highly prized by the individual and by the 
 community. That our Celtic monks were indeed the choicest 
 of the choice is abundantly proved by the marvellous beauty 
 of many of our existing manuscripts. 
 
 Manual Labour. It was a maxim in all our primitive 
 Irish monasteries that the monks were to support themselves 
 by the labour of their hands. The mendicant orders, who 
 lived to a great extent on the alms of the faithful, were a 
 later institution, first introduced into Ireland about the year 
 A.D. 1225. Hence, ill every monastery a number of the 
 stronger brethren devoted themselves mainly to manual 
 labour, and indeed all, even the scribes as well as the literary 
 and artistic workmen, were required to give some time to 
 manual labour also. In their case it would serve as healthy 
 recreation, while, at the same time it would remind them 
 that all the members of the community were on terms of strict 
 equality, and that no privileged classes were recognised 
 amongst them. Everything that the community needed was 
 produced or procured by themselves. They raised their own 
 corn ; they themselves dried and ground and baked it into 
 bread. They had their own dairy ; they milked their own 
 cows ; they made excellent cheese and butter ; for no female 
 was allowed to live amongst them, or even permitted to enter 
 the monastery. They had their own sheep, and their habits 
 were produced from the wool, combed, spun, and woven by 
 themselves. They built their own churches and cells, 
 whether of stone or of timber; they made their own simple 
 furniture and kitchen utensils ; they cut and dried their own 
 fuel, both turf and wood ; they washed their own habits, 
 about the cleanliness of which, however, they were not 
 filways over particular. When a monk died there was no 
 need of an undertaker his brethren made the grave, and he
 
 158 MONASTIC SCHOOLS OF THE SIXTH CENTURY. 
 
 was simply buried in his habit, with the cowl over his head. 
 No man could say they were idlers, or that they were a 
 burden to the community. They owed nothing to the 
 general community, but the community owed much to them. 
 Everything needed for food, clothing, and shelter they 
 produced themselves even the very soil of their fields they 
 reclaimed from the woods and the wilderness. 
 
 Both church and monastery were furnished in the 
 simplest style they devoted more attention to holiness of 
 life and purity of heart than to the magnificence of their 
 buildings. As we have already seen, the church was not 
 large, only what was needed for the accommodation of the 
 brethren, and where the community was large we find 
 several churches close together, to which the various sub- 
 divisions of the community repaired. The altar was generally 
 of stone, sometimes merely a rectangle of plain masonry 
 not even cemented and covered with a flag or slate. Such is 
 the altar in the oratory of St. Molaise on Innismurraytlsland, 
 which is still to be seen in that highly interesting spot, 
 within the little stone-roofed duirteach of St. Molaise. 
 The chalices were of simple workmanship of metal, wood, 
 or even sometimes of stone, if the vessel No. 34, second cross 
 case, in the Royal Irish Academy, be indeed an ancient 
 chalice. The paten was generally composed of the same 
 material as the chalice itself. St. Patrick is said to have 
 disco verd chalices of glass or crystal in a cavern in the 
 mountains of Breifney, after crossing the Shannon for the 
 first time into Connaught. We have no specimen of very 
 ancient vestments ; they were, probably, of a simple 
 character, but certainly not destitute of embroidery. 1 
 
 In some of the churches mention is made of an urdom, 
 or sacristy, properly a ' side-house/ opening on the chancel 
 of the church, and having also an exterior door for the 
 
 1 St. Patrick had, we are told, three maidens who were constantly em- 
 ployed on embroidery work for sacred purposes one was his own sister, 
 Lupait, another is called Cruimtheris, and the third was King Daire's 
 royal daughter. 
 
 " Beneath a pine three vestals sat close veiled ; 
 
 A song these childless sang of Bethlehem's child, 
 
 Low-toned, and worked their altar cloth, a lamb, 
 
 All white, on golden blazon." 
 
 Columcille, too, had his own special embroideress for working his vestments 
 and altar cloths. She was called Coca, and has given her name to the 
 ancient church of Kilcock, in the County Kildare, which she founded.* 
 In the Book of Kells too, we find examples of vestments in the ornamenta- 
 tion portrayed in the richest and most vivid colouring. 
 
 * See O'Curry, Manners and Customs, vol. iii., p. 123.
 
 THE THREE ORDERS OF IRISH SAINTS 159 
 
 clergy arc at present. In several of the churches, however, 
 we find no trace of any sacristy. Bells were used to summon 
 the community to the church and to the refectory ; they were 
 generally square hand-bells, made of sheet iron or bronze, of 
 which some very ancient specimens are still extant. 
 
 In the refectory we find reference made to the table, 
 also to the use of knives, drinking-cups, probably made of 
 wood, ladles, and in the kitchen we hear of fryingpans, grid- 
 irons, pots and water jars, probably similar to those used in 
 the houses of hospitality throughout the country generally, 
 specimens of which may still be seen in the museum of the 
 Royal Irish Academy. They were able to fuse metals in 
 Hy, for on one occasion we are told that St. Columba blessed 
 inadvertently a butcher's knife, but his attention being called 
 to the nature of the article, he said it would never hurt 
 man or beast again. As the butcher tried in vain to kill a 
 heifer with the knife it would not, on account of the saint's 
 blessing, even pierce the skin the knife was smelted down, 
 and all the instruments were dipped in the liquid metal, so 
 that they never again cut or wounded any flesh on account of 
 the might of the saint's blessing. It would seem, therefore, 
 that at least in the larger establishments, besides the 
 carpenter, there were also brothers of the community, who 
 worked in metals, such for instance as smiths and braziers. 
 Existing remains prove beyond doubt that in metallurgy the 
 Irish monks were pre-eminently skilful both in originality 
 of design and delicacy of execution. In this special depart- 
 ment they seem to have distanced all rivalry during the 
 Middle Ages. 
 
 We see, then, that in the monastery there were not 
 merely artisans, such as are needed for the purposes of every 
 day life, but artists of the greatest skill and ingenuity. 
 
 We shall take occasion hereafter to point out how 
 instruction was communicated in the schools, and to explain 
 what educational appliances were at their disposal, the 
 subjects that were taught, and the proficiency attained. 
 
 In connection, however, with this chapter, it is necessary 
 to say something of the Three Orders of Irish Saints, to 
 which reference will frequently be made in the following 
 pages. 
 
 Y. THE THREE ORDERS OF IRISH SAINTS. 
 
 We shall find, at least, to some extent, a new departure 
 in the great monasteries and monastic schools, founded during 
 the sixth century by the saints of the Second Order. Every
 
 160 MONASTIC SCHOOLS OF THE SIXTH CENTURY. 
 
 one who knows anything of the history of this period will 
 have heard of these Three Orders of Saints in the Celtic 
 Church, but by whom they were first thus arranged and 
 characterised is altogether unknown. Tighernach, the cele- 
 brated annalist of Clonmacnoise, is the earliest who refers 
 to them as thus classified, and he died A.D. 1088. 
 
 The ancient document in which they are thus formally 
 classified purports to be a "Catalogue of the Saints in Ireland, 
 according to the different times in which they flourished." 
 
 The First Order was in the time of St. Patrick. They 
 were all then great and holy bishops filled with the Holy 
 Ghost, 350 in number, the founders of churches, worshipping 
 one head, namely, Christ, following one leader, Patrick, and 
 having one tonsure, and one celebration of Mass, and one 
 Easter, which they celebrated after the vernal equinox ; and 
 what was excommunicated by one Church all excommuni- 
 cated. They did not reject the service and society of 
 females, because founded on Christ the Rock, they feared not 
 the wind of temptation. This- Ordo flourished during four 
 reigns, that is, during the time of Laeghaire, son of Niall 
 (A.D. 432), who reigned thirty-seven years, and of Ailill 
 Molt, who reigned thirty } T ears,.and of Lugaid, who reigned 
 seven years. And this Order continued to the last 'years of 
 Tuathal Maelgarbh (A.D. 543). They all continued holy 
 bishops, and they were chiefly Franks and Romans, 1 and 
 Britons, and Scots by birth. 
 
 The Second Order of Saints was as follows. In the 
 Second Order there were few bishops,, but many priests in 
 number 300. Whilst worshipping God as their one head, 
 they had different rites for celebrating, and different rules of 
 living j they celebrated one Easter on the 14th moon ; they 
 had a uniform tonsure, videlicet, from ear to ear. They shunned 
 the society and services of women, and excluded them from 
 their monasteries. This Order also flourished during four 
 reigns, i.e., during the last years of Tuathal Maelgarbh, and 
 during the thirty years of Diarmait's reign, the son of 
 Cearbball, and during the time of the two grandsons of 
 Muiredach, who reigned seven years, and during the time of 
 Ardh, son of Ainmire, who reigned thirty years (A.D. 597). 
 These received their rite for celebrating Masses from the 
 holy men of Britain, from St. David, and St. Gildas, and 
 St. Docus. And the names of these are Finnian, Enda, 
 Colman, Comgall, Aidus, Ciaran, Col umba,B randan, Birchin, 
 
 1 The Romans were those who enjoyed the rights of the Imperial 
 citizenship, which at this time had come to be a badge of slavery.
 
 THE THREE ORDERS OF IRISH SAINTS. 161 
 
 Cainnech, Coemghan, Lasrian, Lugeus, Barrind, and many 
 others who were of this Second Order of Saints. 
 
 The Third Order was of this kind they were holy 
 priests and a few bishops, one hundred in number, who dwelt 
 in desert places. They lived on herbs and the alms of the 
 faithful ; they despised all things earthly, and entirely 
 avoided all whispering and detraction. They had different 
 rules (of life), and different rites for celebrating; they had 
 also a different tonsure, for some had the crown (shaven), 
 but others kept their hair (on the crown). They had also a 
 different pascal solemnity; for some celebrated it on the 
 fourteenth, but others on the thirteenth moon. This Order 
 flourished during four reigns, that is, from the time of Aedh 
 Slaine, who reigned only three years, and during the reign 
 of Domhnall, who reigned thirty years, and during the 
 time of the sons of Maelcobha, and during the time (of the 
 sons of) Aedh Slaine. And this Order continued down to 
 the time of the great plague (in A.D. 664). Then follows a 
 list of their names. 
 
 Then the writer says: "Note that the first Order was 
 most holy, the Second holier, and the Third holy. The first 
 glowed like the sun in the fervour of their charity ; the 
 Second cast a pale radiance like the moon ; the Third shone 
 like the aurora. These Three Orders the blessed Patrick 
 foreknew, enlightened by heavenly wisdom, when in pro- 
 phetic vision he saw at first all Ireland ablaze, and afterwards 
 only the mountains on fire ; and at last saw lamps lit in the 
 valleys. These things have been extracted from an old Life 
 of Patrick " l 
 
 Such is the account given in our ancient books of the 
 Three Orders of the Irish Saints. 
 
 I have here followed the copy of this ancient document, 
 taken from the Salamanca MS., and published at the expense 
 of the Marquis of Bute. It is beyond doubt a very ancient and 
 most interesting document ; but for the present we can only 
 refer to those points that concern our immediate purpose. 
 
 It clearly marks a transition as having taken place in the 
 early part of the sixth century from the missionary church 
 of St. Patrick, who was engaged in founding churches and 
 preaching the Gospel, to the monastic church of the sixth 
 century. It emphasises the rejection of female ministration 
 by the monks, and the exclusion of females from the monas- 
 teries, a thing that could not be done and never has been 
 
 1 See the Salamanca MS., p. 161.
 
 162 MONASTIC SCHOOLS OF THE SIXTH CENTURY. 
 
 done in the case of the secular clergy living in the world, 
 and engaged in missionary labour. It points to the different 
 rules of life followed in different monasteries, and also to the 
 different rites used in the celebration of Mass, and expressly 
 asserts that the rite used by the saints of the Second Order 
 was derived from Wales from David, Gildas, and Docus. 
 This is a most important statement, if it is well founded ; for 
 it shows that these saints of the Second Order derived both 
 their liturgy and discipline, not from St. Patrick and his 
 immediate disciples, but rather from the great Welsh Schools 
 that grew up during the sixty years when St. Patrick was 
 engaged in preaching the Gospel in Ireland. Indeed, 
 although Ware says that St. Patrick himself wrote a monas- 
 tic Rule, we can find no good authority for the statement. 
 His hands were full, and he was too busy to attend to the 
 organization of monastic life beyond laying down these 
 general principles that are common to all monastic houses. 
 It is a much stranger thing that the saints of the Second 
 Order should introduce into Ireland, so soon after St. Patrick's 
 death, those later modifications in the liturgy which they saw 
 in use in the Welsh monasteries. It is insinuated, too, that 
 St. Patrick and his disciples followed the correct Easter, but 
 that the saints of the Second Order introduced the British 
 Easter, which was celebrated on the fourteenth day of the 
 moon, as well as the frontal tonsure from ear to ear. As we 
 shall hereafter see, this statement about the time of celebrat- 
 ing Easter is quite inaccurate, but may have crept into the 
 text through the fault of copyists. 
 
 The important point to bear in mind is that these saints 
 of the Second Order are represented as deriving their liturgy 
 and discipline from British sources ; and it is also expressly 
 stated that this liturgy and discipline differed in some respects 
 from the liturgy and discipline introduced into Ireland by 
 St. Patrick, and practised by his immediate disciples. This 
 is a question of great interest, but by no means easily solved. 
 As a matter of fact, it seems highly probable that the saints 
 of the Second Order did, to a great extent, derive their 
 monastic discipline from two great British sources, as will now 
 be more fully explained in treating of St. Enda of Aran and 
 St. Finnian of Clonard. We begin with St. Enda, the older of 
 the two.
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 THE MONASTIC SCHOOL OF ST. ENDA OF ARAN. 
 
 " You'll see the homes of holy men 
 
 Far west upon the shoreless main 
 In sheltered vale, on cloudy Ben, 
 
 Where saints still pray, and scribes still pen 
 The sacred page, despising gain." 
 
 lona to Ireland. 
 
 I. LIFE OF ST. ENDA OF ARAN. 
 
 IF we accept the authority of the Catalogue of the Three 
 Orders of Irish Saints, those of the fifth century were mainly 
 missionaries ; those of the sixth century were cenobites ; and 
 the Third Order were for the most part anchorites, or Cul- 
 dees as they afterwards came to be called. To a certain 
 extent this is true. The Church of the sixth century partook 
 very much of the monastic character; as Skene says, "There 
 was episcopacy in the Church, but it was not diocesan epis- 
 copacy." 1 We should be inclined to accept this statement, 
 if the learned writer had inserted one word, and said that it 
 was not always diocesan episcopacy. In lona, and doubtless 
 in other great monasteries also, there was generally a resi- 
 dent prelate, subject in jurisdiction to the presbyter- abbot ; 
 but Venerable Bede says expressly 2 that it was an unusual 
 arrangement inusitato ordine and his authority settles the 
 question ; it was unusual even in the Celtic Churches. 
 
 There is no doubt that monastic influence predominated 
 in the Irish Church of the sixth century, and that the head 
 of the monastery was not always, though he certainly was 
 very frequently, a bishop. This arose partly from the ardour 
 of the Celtic character in its efforts to reach perfection, partly 
 from the unsettled state of the country, and to some extent 
 from the influence and example of the great Columba himself. 
 It was by accident he was not ordained a bishop, and his 
 successors would not pretend to be greater than their holy 
 founder. But the system at least produced one excellent 
 effect it was under God the means of establishing those 
 wonderful monastic schools so famed in every Christian land. 
 
 1 Celtic Scotland, Book II., p. 44. a Histor. Eccles., Liber III., c. 4.
 
 164 THE MONASTIC SCHOOL OF ST. END.V OF ARAX. 
 
 It is certain, as we have seen, that there were in Ireland 
 from the very first conversion of the people both monks and 
 nuns, and therefore monasteries also. But the founders of 
 these religious houses could give very little time to regulate 
 their constitution and government, much less to undertake 
 the management of these institutions themselves. St. Patrick 
 and his fellow labourers were '-the founders of churches' 
 rather than of monasteries their work was to preach, to 
 ordain, to baptize. It was the next generation of monks that 
 undertook to found monasteries properly so called ; men who 
 themselves were trained in religious houses elsewhere, and 
 thus becoming acquainted with religious life and discipline 
 were fitted to found similar institutions at home. The earliest 
 of these monasteries properly so called date from the begin- 
 ning of the sixth century ; and perhaps the two most cele- 
 brated fathers of Irish monastic life, in this sense of the 
 word, were St. Enda of Aran, and St. Finnian of Clonard. 
 "We shall first speak of St. Enda. 
 
 Aran, under St. Enda, may be called the novitiate of the 
 Irish saints of the Second Order, as Clonard may be con- 
 sidered their College ; and hence we shall trace as carefully 
 as we can the history of these two famous foundations of 
 sanctity and learning, to which the ancient Church of Ireland 
 owed so much. 
 
 St. Enda, or Endeus, was of royal blood one of " the sons 
 of the Kings of the Scots," who embraced the monastic style 
 even during the lifetime of St. Patrick himself. His father, 
 Conall Derg, was king of Oriel a wide territory extending 
 from Lough Erne to the sea at Dundalk, and nearly conter- 
 minous with the modern diocese of Clogher. His mother was 
 Evin (Aebhfhinn) grand-daughter of Ronan, King of the 
 Ards of Down. He had a sister called Fanchea, a devout 
 maiden, who is said by some to have received the veil from 
 the hands of St. Patrick, and to whom her brother owed his 
 conversion to the religious life. The young prince succeeded 
 his father as chieftain of the men of Oriel, and although 
 high-minded and pure-hearted, he took a chieftain's share in 
 the wild work of mutual pillage and slaughter to which these 
 Irish chieftains were always too much prone. His pious 
 sister had founded a convent of nuns at a place called Ross 
 Oirthir, which is in all probability identical with the old 
 church and cemetery of Rossory, in the parish of the same 
 name by the shores of the River Erin, on its left bank near 
 Enniskillen, and not far from the famous Franciscan Abbey 
 of Lisgoole. The old church has disappeared with the pro-
 
 LIFE OF ST. END A OF ARAN. 165 
 
 gress of modern ' improvements ;' but the home of the dead 
 is still untouched. Here St. Fanchea had her oratory and 
 nunnery, when it happened that her brother led the clans- 
 men past the convent to attack their enemies. Shortly after 
 a wild song of joy told the terrified maidens that they were 
 returning home triumphant, having conquered their foes and 
 slain the leader. 
 
 The young prince stopped to see his sister at the convent 
 gate, but she forbade him to approach, stained as he was, 
 with the blood of his fellow creatures. Enda said it was his 
 duty to defend his people and conquer their enemies " I 
 have not killed any man," he said, "nor yet have I ever 
 sinned with women" and then it seems he asked his sister 
 to allow him to take to be his wife one of the young ladies 
 under her care who was remarkable for her beauty. Fanchea 
 knew she was powerless to resist if her warrior brother per- 
 sisted in his purpose. So she bade him stay where he was, 
 and going into the convent called the maiden before her, and 
 said, " My sister, a choice is given you to-day wouldst thou 
 love the Spouse whom I love, or rather a carnal spouse?" 
 '' I will always love thy Spouse," said the maiden. Then 
 Fanchea brought her to an inner chamber, and bade her lie 
 down on the bed. She did so, and soon after fell quietly asleep 
 in the Lord. Then Fanchea put a veil on the face of the dead, 
 and bringing in her brother, she said, taking the veil sud- 
 denly off, " Come and see her whom thoulovest." He started 
 at the sight, but not thinking her dead, he only said " She 
 is awfully pale and ghastly." " It is the paleness of death," 
 said his sister ; " and so shall you soon be if you repent not 
 your sins." The young man retired conscience-stricken, and 
 Fanchea so used the auspicious moment to remind him of the 
 torments of hell and the joys of heaven, that he at once 
 resolved to renounce his principality and become a monk. 
 
 Enda at once gave striking proof of the sincerity of his 
 conversion. The convent and oratory of his sister Fanchea 
 were still unprotected by a rampart of any kind ; and what 
 had just taken place clearly showed the want of some enclo- 
 sure in those turbulent days. Enda resolved to accomplish 
 the work with his own hands, and doubtless with the aid of 
 some of his tribesmen. He dug a deep fosse and raised 
 a large ' mur' or rampart of earth all round the sacred enclo- 
 sure, so that in future one or two faithful attendants could 
 defend the narrow entrance of the fort against sudden attack. 
 It is interesting to know that a portion of this earthen ram- 
 part raised by Enda himself is still to be seen on the western
 
 166 THE MONASTIC SCHOOL OF ST. ENDA OF A RAX. 
 
 side of the rath levelled low by time, but still some thirteen 
 yards in thickness and several feet in height. 
 
 From Rossory Enda went to Killany, in the Co. Louth, 
 and there within the bounds of his own principality he set 
 about the construction of a monastery for himself and such 
 religious men as might join him in the service of God. Here 
 also he directed the workmen in the construction of the build- 
 ings, and it seems that his sister, too, had a second religious 
 house not far distant, where she appears to have spent a por- 
 tion of her time. A party of freebooters once passed by laden 
 with booty where Enda and his men were working. The 
 tribesmen siezed their weapons to attack the marauders, and 
 Enda himself caught up one of the poles sunk in the soil for 
 a rampart to join in the fray. Just then his sister, who hap- 
 pened to be present, told him to put his hand to his head and 
 remember whose soldier he was. Enda did so, and feeling 
 the tonsure that he wore, he remembered that he was the 
 soldier of Christ, and cast aside at once both his weapon and 
 the spirit of strife that was excited within him. So his 
 sister Fanchea was, as it were, his good angel, and he was 
 always obedient to her instructions. 
 
 Enda, however, was still only a novice in the religious 
 life, and, therefore, not well qualified to be a guide for 
 others. So his sister said to him, " Go thou to Britain, to 
 the monastery of Rosnat, and there become the humble 
 disciple of Mancenus, the head of that monastery. 1 This 
 monastery of Rosnat is by some writers placed in the valley 
 of Rosina, in Wales, where a certain St. Manchen is said to 
 have founded a religious house. We are inclined to agree 
 with Skene that it was rather the celebrated monastery 
 known as Candida Casa, or Whithern, founded by St. Ninian 
 at the extremity of the Peninsula of Galloway. This 
 religious house was also known as the Magnum Monasterium, 
 and sometimes as the monastery of Rosnat. It was dedicated 
 to St. Martin of Tours, and hence it is sometimes called the 
 House of Martin. We are here on firm ground, for we have 
 the express testimony of Bede that Ninian, or Ninias. " had 
 been regularly instructed in Rome in the faith and the 
 mysteries of the truth," that his episcopal see was named 
 after St. Martin, that it was in the province of Bernicia, and 
 that there Ninian had built a stately church, generally 
 called Candida Casa, or the White House, because it was 
 
 1 Vade ad Brittaniam ad Rosnatum monasterium, et este humilis 
 diecipulufl Manceni, Magistri illius monasterii." Vita S. Endei.
 
 LIFE OF ST. ENDA OF ARAN. 167 
 
 built of stone, which was not usual amongst the Britons. 1 
 This is a most important statement of Bede, for, as we shall 
 see, very many of the founders of the earliest and the greatest 
 of our Irish monasteries were trained at Whithern, and the 
 founder of Whithern himself was trained at Rome in the 
 faith and mysteries of religion, thus directly connecting the 
 fathers of Irish monasticism with the discipline and dogma 
 of Rome. 
 
 It is said that St. Ninian, on his return from Rome, called 
 to see the great St. Martin, and that he received from the 
 latter masons to build him a church, as the Britons were not 
 then skilled in stone-work. Ninian was actually building 
 Candida Casa in A.D. 397, when he heard of the death of 
 St. Martin ; and, accordingly, when the building was finished 
 he dedicated it to his deceased friend and patron, the 
 great founder of monasticism in Gaul. This fixes the date 
 of its foundation with sufficient accuracy. Candida Casa- 
 became, under St. Ninian and his successors, during the fifth 
 century, a great seminary of sanctity and learning, and 
 undoubtedly was one of the chief sources from which Irish 
 monasticism was derived. Usher quotes an ancient Irish life 
 of St. Ninian (Primordia, page 1058), in which it is stated 
 that in his old age, Ninian, who is there said to have been an 
 Irishman, deserted Candida Casa at the earnest request of 
 his mother and of other relations also, and founded a monas- 
 tery in a beautiful spot called Cluain Conor, where he died 
 several years afterwards. Bede, however, distinctly says that 
 his remains are in Candida Casa, St. Cairnech, to whom we 
 have already referred as one of the co-operators of St. Patrick 
 in the reform of the Brehon Laws, appears to have been a 
 successor of Ninian at Candida Casa, for, in his Life, it is 
 described as the monastery of Cairnech. Afterwards, it is 
 said, he came to Erin, and singularly enough, is described as 
 " the first Bishop of the Clan Niall, the first martyr, and 
 the first monk of Erin, and the first Brehon (that is 
 Christian Brehon), of the men of Erin also." 2 Cairnech was 
 thus, even during the life of St. Patrick, a connectiug link 
 between Candida Casa and the North of Ireland ; and hence 
 we find that in subsequent years several of our earliest saints 
 repaired to that great seminary to be trained in learning and 
 the discipline of the monastic life. Amongst these may be 
 mentioned Tighernac of Clones and Eugenius of Ardstraw. 
 The former in his Life is said to have been trained in the 
 
 1 Ckron. Picts and Scots, page 55. "Lib. III. c. 4.
 
 168 THE MONASTIC SCHOOL OF ST. END A OF A RAN. 
 
 monastery of Rosnat, which by another name is called 
 Alba (the White), under the guidance and discipline of 
 Monennius ; and in the Life of the latter, the same " wise 
 and holy man, Nennio, who is also named Mancennus, of the 
 Monastery of Rosnat," is stated to have been the master both 
 of Tighernach and Eugenius ; and it is added that with his 
 blessing and advice, after some years spent there, they set 
 sail for Ireland. 
 
 Here we have the same Nennio, or Mo-nennius, called 
 also Mancennus, to whom Enda is directed to go by his 
 -sister, and become his humble disciple. Rosnat was then, and 
 long after the great seminary of the early Northern Saints, 
 before regular monasteries were founded at home ; and hence 
 Enda, a Northern Prince of Oriel, whose mother came from 
 the Ards of Down, would naturally cross the narrow sea to 
 the same great school which his countrymen frequented. 
 In the Tripartite Life of St. Patrick, Manchan the Master is 
 said to have accompanied the apostle to Tyrawlay, when the 
 chiefs and people of that district were converted about the 
 year A.D. 449. Colgan says, 1 " that this Manchan the Master 
 was the same person who elsewhere is called Mancennus of 
 the Monastery of Rosnat, and that he received the name of 
 Master from his great learning, especially in Theology and 
 Sacred Scripture." The only point at issue seems to be 
 whether Rosnat, the " Great Monastery," was in Galloway or 
 Glen Rosyn 2 in Wales. 
 
 It is difficult to fix the period when Enda went to study 
 under the Master at Rosnat. It was probably about the year 
 A.D. 475, for he was still a young man, and as he died very 
 old, about A.D. 540, we may assume that he was born about 
 A.D.450,and would thus go to Britain between A.D. 470 and 480. 
 From Rosnat, Enda, like Ninian and several other saints 
 at the time, is said to have gone to Rome, and even to have 
 founded somewhere in Italy a monastery called Laetinum or 
 Latinum. But his sister, Fanchea, who loved him dearly, is 
 said to have followed him thither, and induced him to make 
 her a promise that he would return home within a year ; and 
 this promise he fulfilled. He landed at Drogheda, which was 
 probably at the time a portion of his father's kingdom of 
 Oriel, and there he founded some churches after his return. 
 
 But Oriel was not to be the place of his resurrection. 
 He longed for solitude to be away from the world, and to be 
 
 1 Trias Tham., page iii. note 67. 
 
 2 The word Rosnat simply means a sea-girt promontory, and would be 
 equally applicable to Whithorn and St. David's Head.
 
 THE ISLES OF ARAN. 169 
 
 alone with God and he found it. One of his sisters, called 
 Darenia, was married to JEngus (son of Nadfraich) the King 
 of Munster, whom St. Patrick had baptized ; and Enda, 
 hearing that certain wild and lonely islands in the western 
 sea belonged to the territory of the King of Munster, 
 resolved to ask his brother-in-law to give him a grant 
 of these islands that he might there establish his 
 monastery, and live in solitude and security for the times 
 were lawless, and even God's servants were not always 
 respected. ^33ngus tried to disuade Enda from his project, 
 telling him that the islands were inhabited by a race of 
 infidels from Corcomroe, who hated God and His saints, and 
 that his life would not be safe amongst them. Moreover, 
 he offered him a fertile tract in the Golden Vale in which to 
 found a monastery, if Enda so willed it. But he still per- 
 sisted in his project, and ^ngus then made a grant of the 
 Aran Islands to him, and to any religious brethren who 
 might accompany him thither. This must have taken place 
 before the year A.D. 484, which is the date commonly 
 assigned for the death of ^Engus Mac Naidfraich. 
 
 Aran Mor, the largest and most westerly of the three 
 Islands of Aran, is called in Irish Aran-na-naomh Aran of 
 the Saints, for it is the holiest spot on Irish soil. In days 
 past it was the chosen home of the Saints of God where they 
 loved to live, and where they longed to die. One hundred 
 and twenty seven saints sleep in the little grave-yard around 
 Killeany Church ; and we are told elsewhere that it will 
 never be known until the Day of Judgment, the countless 
 host of saints, whose relics are mingled with the sacred soil 
 of Aran. We propose, therefore, to give a fuller account of 
 the Aran Islands, both in the present and the past, than 
 might, perhaps, be expected from the scope of this work. 
 The islands are thronged with both Pagan and Christian 
 antiquities ; the inhabitants are a singularly aimiable and 
 interesting people; and the physical features of the islands 
 are very bold and striking. We shall say something of 
 them all. 
 
 II. THE ISLES OF ARAN. 
 
 These Isles of Aran, with which the name of Enda is so 
 intimately associated, stretch across the entrance to Galway 
 Bay, forming a natural breakwater against the wild Atlantic 
 billows. They are three in number Aran Mor, Inismaan or 
 Middle Island, and Inishere, or the Eastern Island, but 
 frequently also called the Southern Island. A glance at the
 
 170 THE MONASTIC SCHOOL OF ST ENDA OF ARAX. 
 
 map will show that the islands trend to the north-west, 
 opposing a straight wall of lofty cliffs to the waves of the 
 Atlantic Ocean. Geologically the islands are a continuation 
 of the limestone formation of the Burren mountains " a gray 
 and bluish-gray splintery limestone," containing in some 
 places quarries of marble, which even in the time of Roderick 
 O'Flaherty, some two hundred years ago, were worked for 
 tomb-stones, chimney-pieces, and high crosses. The same 
 author says the soil was paved with stone ; in some places 
 nothing is to be seen but the naked rock, cropping up every- 
 where with wide openings between the joints, " where cattle 
 frequently break their legs." 
 
 The surface falls to the north-east, and this lower shore 
 line of Aran Mor is broken into two bays, which afford shelter 
 from the prevailing winds. But on the south-west, or seaward 
 line, the islands offer an almost unbroken wall of rock to the 
 long swell of the ocean, rising in some places sheer from the 
 ^ea to a height of three hundred feet, and hidden beneath 
 the waters to a depth of from twenty-five to thirty fathoms. 
 Here and there the harder rock stands out in bold precipitous 
 headlands, or completely isolated cliffs ; while at other points 
 the sea eats its way through caverns, where the waves roll in 
 with hollow, thundering sound into the bowels of the rocks ; 
 and the compressed air within forcing its way upward forms 
 ' puffing holes/ through which the spray is shot high, in 
 luminous columns into the air. 
 
 Aran Mor is about nine miles long and two at its greatest 
 breadth ; it is separated by Gregory Sound 1 from the Middle 
 Island, which is rudely eliptical and about eight miles in 
 circumference. This latter island is separated from Inishere 
 by a narrower passage, less than two miles wide, called the 
 " Foul Sound," 2 which deserves the name, for it is a shallow, 
 dangerous passage, containing a hidden shoal with only six 
 feet of water over it. Gregory Sound is wider and deeper, 
 being quite navigable from shore to shore. The tides blocked 
 by the island barriers rush with great force through these 
 narrow channels, rendering the navigation very difficult and 
 dangerous. The passage between the north-western extremity 
 of Aran Mor and Golam Head in Connemara is called the 
 North Sound in Irish Bealach Locha Lurgain. It is about 
 eight miles across. The passage between Inishere and the 
 Co. Clare the more usual one for sea-going ships is called 
 
 1 Called also Bealagh-na-haite, from the overhanging cliffu. 
 
 2 In Irish Bealagh-na-fearbach.
 
 THE ISLES OF ARAN. 171 
 
 the South Sound, and is about five miles broad at its narrowest 
 point. There is a light-house at a place called Finnis Rock 
 at the south-eastern extremity of Inishere, which marks the 
 limit of a very dangerous shoal, that stretches out from the 
 island into the Sound. This rock, says O'Flaherty, was 
 remarkable for ' ship-wrecks.' 
 
 Aran Mor contains 7,635 acres, with a population of 
 about 2,100, the greater part of whom, in 1871, could neither 
 read nor write. It has three considerable villages Killeany 
 on the east ; Kilmurry in the middle ; and Oonagh towards 
 the north-western extremity of the island. 
 
 On the northern slopes of the island there is a sweet, 
 juicy herbage, on which sheep and cattle thrive very well. 
 The grasses are intermingled with various medicinal herbs, 
 such as the wild garlic, which is said to give a delicate flavour 
 to butter, and the rineen, or fairy flax, which is believed to 
 have wonderful curative properties. R. O'Flaherty declares 
 that in his own time " beef, veal, and mutton are better and 
 earlier in season here than anywhere else." He could hardly 
 say so now with truth ; but there is no doubt that the veal 
 and mutton are well flavoured. On the shore, in his time, 
 " were samphire in plenty, ring root, and sea-holly, or sea 
 cabbage." The samphire is there still the crithmum mari- 
 timum, or cranagh. It is said to have been used for preserves, 
 and when boiled is frequently eaten by the poorer classes. 
 
 The crops consist of patches of oats, rye, and potatoes 
 the latter is an uncertain crop, whose failure causes great 
 hardships to the islanders. Kelp- making and fishing are the 
 two staple industries of the place. The kelp, or burned sea- 
 weed, is used in the manufacture of iodine, and pays very 
 fairly in dry seasons. 
 
 All kinds of fish abound near the islands cod, ling, 
 haddock, turbo t, gurnet, mackerel, glassin, bream, and her- 
 ring ; besides there are lobsters, crabs, and cockles ; but the 
 appliances for fishing are of a very primitive description, and 
 the boats are unable to stand severe weather. Many coarse 
 seals are shot on the rocks, and sun-fish used to be speared in 
 April and May from which a considerable quantity of oil was 
 extracted. 
 
 All manner of sea-birds frequent the cliffs : plovers, 
 gannets, pigeons, ducks, and anciently hawks in considerable 
 numbers. Some of these birds, says O'Flaherty, " never fly 
 but over the sea, and are therefore used to be eaten on fasting 
 days, to catch which people go down with ropes tied about 
 them into the caves of the clifts by night, and with a candle-
 
 172 THE MONASTIC SCHOOL OF ST. ENDA OF ARAN. 
 
 light kill abundance of them." " Here, too," he adds, " are 
 Cornish choughs with red legs and bills." 
 
 There are several small wells, many of them holy wells, 
 but in very dry weather the supply of water is exhausted, 
 and the cattle must be removed, or water carried from the 
 mainland. Fuel is very scarce, and now, as well as two 
 hundred years ago, they have to burn cow-dung dried in the 
 sun, when they cannot get turf from Connemara. 
 
 Inismaan contains 2,252 acres less than one-third the 
 area of the Great Island of an equally churlish soil and 
 rugged surface, yet sustaining a population of about 430 
 persons. Inis-Airther or Eastern Island, though much the 
 smallest in area, had, in 1871, about 495 inhabitants. 
 The entire population of the three islands then amounted to 
 3,050, of whom 56 belonged to the Protestant Church. Of 
 the entire population 504 could read and write, while 143 
 could read only. The Irish language is almost universally 
 spoken by the islanders, who are very conservative of their 
 traditions, and are especially remarkable for their attachment 
 to their native island they are happy nowhere else. In 
 person they are a tall and handsome race, frank and courteous 
 in their demeanour, with a free and graceful carriage, for 
 their limbs are very lithe and active. They wear shoes of 
 untanned leather, which contributes to this free and easy 
 movement, enabling them to spring from rock to rock with 
 the agility of goats. They are moreover full of faith and 
 piety, considerate and obliging to strangers, strictly honest, 
 truth-telling, and certainly not greedy of gain, as we can 
 affirm from personal experience. They are remarkably 
 industrious bold fishermen in those wild seas, and on shore 
 are ready to carry on their backs the soil necessary to cover 
 the arid rock, and enable them to cultivate their patches of 
 potatoes. In a wet season they have an excellent crop on 
 these limestone platforms, so lightly covered with clay ; but 
 in seasons of drought the parched roots can find no nourish- 
 ment, and the potato crop is a failure. The consequences 
 are sometimes deplorable ; the poor people are half starved 
 sea fish, when they can catch any, and sea-weed when they 
 cannot, being then their principal nourishment. Such were 
 the islands of Aran when Enda first landed on those stormy 
 shores, and such they are to this day. 
 
 III. PAGAN REMAINS IN THE ISLES OF ARAN. 
 
 These islands contain, perhaps, the earliest existing 
 remains of pagan architecture in Western Europe. In every
 
 PAGAN REMAINS IN THE ISLES OF ARA.N. 173 
 
 part of the three it-lands one meets with some monument of 
 a great pre-historic people, whose works even in their ruins 
 will outlive the monuments of later and more civilized 
 peoples. "We can only refer to them very briefly, but they 
 are too interesting to be passed over altogether in silence. 
 Those who wish for fuller information would do well to 
 consult Lord Dunraven's admirable Notes on Irish 
 Architecture. 
 
 In each of the three islands are found ancient forts or 
 duns, which are traditionally attributed to the Firbolg or 
 Belgic race. After their overthrow by the Tuatha de 
 Danaans in the great battles of North and South Moytury, 
 it is said that the survivors fled for refuge to the remotest 
 shores and islands of the western coast, and there built on 
 almost inaccessible sites those wondrous forts, whose ruins 
 are still to be seen on the islands and sea- washed promon- 
 tories from Tory Island to Valentia. 
 
 It is said that many of this subjugated and exiled race 
 returned from their wanderings about the first century before 
 the Christian era ; that they were kindly received by Meave 
 and Aillil. then rulers of the western province ; and that 
 they received from them a grant of Connemara, the Isles of 
 Aran, and other uncultivated districts, in which they strongly 
 entrenched themselves against any possibility of future attack. 
 
 Not without cause did they take these precautionary 
 measures, for it is recorded that Conall Cearnach, and other 
 heroes of 'Ulster, sought to dislodge them from their desolate 
 homes on those remotest shores. It is highly probable that 
 it was at this period the Firbolgic tribes sought to protect 
 themselves by raising those wondrous stone forts that still 
 excite the admiration of every traveller. Such is the Bardic 
 narrative, and it furnishes a more satisfactory explanation of 
 those ancient stone fortresses along the western coast than 
 any other that has yet been devised. 
 
 According to another tradition it was not the heroes of 
 the North, but the Dalcais of Thomond, who sought to expel 
 the wanderers from their island homes ; and then the Clann 
 Umoir built in self-defence those marvellous fortresses whose 
 remains still excite our admiration, as a further protection 
 against their foes. 
 
 There are remains of seven forts in the three islands 
 the first is Dun .2Engusa, the Fort of JEngus. 
 
 This fort gets its name from .^Engus, one of the sons of 
 Hua Mor, a famous chieftain in our pre-Christian history. 
 It is situated at the very edge of the highest portion of the
 
 1 74 THE MONASTIC SCHOOL OF ST. EXDA OF ARAX. 
 
 sea-wall on the southern shore of the Great Isle of Aran. 
 Nothing finer can be imagined either for strength or 
 grandeur than the site of this fort. At this point the cliff 
 rises from the waves 304 feet in perpendicular height. To 
 the north and west stretches out the ultimate ocean ; on the 
 south the bold promontories of Clare go out to meet the 
 advancing waves ; and further on can be discerned in the 
 dim distance Cuchullin's Leap (now called Loup Head), and 
 Brandan Mountain in Kerry, faintly traceable against the 
 sky. All around there is the naked limestone rock, and 
 scarcely discernible from the rock are the giant walls that 
 once formed the last refuge of the ancient Belgic race in 
 Ireland. 
 
 The plan of Dun JEngus can be much better understood 
 since the recent restoration effected by the Board of Works. 
 This wonderful fort occupies an angle of the cliff, and in out- 
 line is semi-elliptical, with the diameter resting on the edge 
 of the cliff, which itself formed a natural and impregnable 
 wall on the sea side. The fort consists of a triple line of 
 defence, and thus included a triple area rudely concentric. 
 The wall of the inmost area is eighteen feet high, and about 
 eight feet thick. It was built without cement of any kind ; 
 but really consists of two separate walls built close together 
 of stones moderate in size, but carefully laid in horizontal 
 positions. This inner wall surrounds a bare rocky floor, now 
 covered with green turf, 142 feet along the cliff's edge, and 
 about 150 feet in depth from the cliff to the furthest 
 extremity. 
 
 This inner wall had an entrance some 3 feet 4 in. wide, 
 and quite perfect when visited by John O'Donovan in 1839 ; 
 but its lintel has since been thrown down, and the margins 
 broken. It has, however, been lately restored by the Board 
 of Works. The middle wall is at a considerable distance 
 from the inner enclosure, in some places more than 200 feet, 
 but on the north-western corner, where it approaches close to 
 the cliff, it is not more than 22 feet from the inner wall. 
 Outside of this second wall there is a very extraordinary 
 ckeveaux-de-fri&i consisting of large sharp stones set on end, 
 so sharp and so closely set that even to this day it is im- 
 possible for man or beast to make his way through them, 
 even with the greatest caution, without cut shins, if nothing 
 worse should happen. We have ourselves tried the experi- 
 ment, and we did not escape scatheless. Nothing more 
 efficacious to break the ranks of an advancing foe, whether 
 horse or f oof, could possibly have been devised.
 
 PAGAN REMAINS IN THE ISLES OF ARAN. 175 
 
 Beyond this cheveaux-de-frize there are the remains of a 
 third wall, which enclosed a very considerable space, and 
 terminates, like the other two, on the very edge of the 
 stupendous cliffs. 
 
 This fort of Dun ^Engus, with its triple walls, and its 
 chevaux-de-frize, defending it all round to edge of the cliff, 
 was a fortress so formidable that even still a hundred reso- 
 lute men could hold it against an army, at least so long as 
 artillery was not employed to dislodge them. 
 
 Dun Conchobhair, or Conor's Fort, on the Middle Island 
 is a still more astonishing structure, if we have regard to the 
 time when it was built. Tradition ascribes the building of 
 this noble fort to Conor, another son of Hua Mor, and brother 
 of ^ngus. It is larger, and better built than the Fort of 
 ^ZEngus, and is finely situated in the centre of the island at 
 its highest point about 250 feet above the sea. The inner- 
 most enclosure measures 227 feet in length by 115 feet in 
 breadth, and is oval in form. The wall had two faces and a 
 central core ; it has besides a considerable batter, and varies 
 in different parts to from five to eight feet in width. On the 
 east side there was a triple wall nearly eighteen feet in 
 breadth, and twenty feet high. Its summit seems to have 
 been approached by a flight of lateral steps in the wall, of 
 which the traces still remain. 
 
 In this, as well as in some of the other forts, are the 
 remains of cloghauns, or small cells, of beehive shape, built 
 of stone, which were evidently the habitations of the 
 defenders of the fortress. This fact is highly important, 
 because it goes to show that the beehive cells of the early 
 saints within the caiseal or sacred enclosure, was not a 
 new idea, but simply the practice, which the saints had 
 themselves seen in those pagan forts, where stone abounded. 
 
 There is another fort called Mothar Dun, on the Middle 
 Island, which is both in size and outline merely a reproduc- 
 tion of Dun Oonacht, to which we shall presently refer. Its 
 largest diameter is 103 feet, and its smallest 93 feet. It was 
 so situated on the slope of the hill, that the summit of the 
 rocky cliff overlooks the area of the fort. 
 
 Dubh Cathair, the Black Fort, is in the townland of 
 Killeany, on Aran Mor. It was situated on an isolated pro- 
 montory rising high above the sea, and separated from the 
 mainland by a wall and fosse about 220 feet in length. The 
 fort takes its name from, the black colour of the stones with 
 which it was built. 
 
 Dun Oonacht is also on the Aran Mor, at its northern
 
 176 THE MONASTIC SCHOOL OF ST. EXDA OF ARAN. 
 
 extremity, and commands a magnificent view of coast line 
 and mountains of Connemara. In shape it is nearly circular, 
 with a diameter of 94 feet, and is built of large stones, laid 
 horizontally, but not in courses. The fort wa'l was very 
 much broken ; it has, we believe, been repaired since our 
 visit, but it is still quite 15 feet high on the southern side. 
 There are no traces of a chevaux-de-frize, as at Dun -ZEngus, 
 and at the Black Fort. Dun Oghil is also in Aran Mor, 
 and crowns the summit of the highest hill on the island. It 
 has two concentric enclosures, the inner of which is an oval 
 75 by 91 feet. The name meant the Fort of the Yew Wood. 
 
 There was another large fort on the Southern Island, but 
 even tradition has forgotten its name. There are also other 
 remains of a similar character in these islands, especially on 
 Aran Mor, but even their names have vanished from the 
 tenacious memory of the islanders. At least one of these 
 ancient forts, the Dun of Muirbheach Mil, was utilized in 
 Christian times as a monastic enclosure, within which the 
 oratory and the cells of the monks were constructed. It is 
 not unlikely that all the stone caiseals on the shores and 
 islands of the West, were similarly of pagan origin, but were 
 utilized by the monks to protect their own religious buildings. 
 
 It is quite evident to any one, who surveys these ruins on 
 Aran Mor, that the islands were in ancient times the strong- 
 hold of a warrior race, who preferred the freedom of these 
 barren crags to serfdom in the more fertile lands of the 
 interior. They were men of might, who loved their freedom 
 dearly and resolved to defend it to the last extremity. They 
 could not have subsisted on the naked rocks around them, 
 and were most likely toilers on the sea, if not freebooters as 
 well, who seized with strong hand whatever they could grasp 
 by land or water ; and then fled for shelter to their insular 
 fortresses, where they might laugh to scorn any force sent to 
 punish them. Yet they must have been men of bold hearts, 
 burning with an unconquerable love of liberty, to build their 
 eyries on the topmost cliffs of those storm swept islands. So 
 we thought, as we sat, on the lofty cliff of Dun JEngus, 
 three hundred feet above the boiling sea, surrounded by the 
 grand old walls, which their hands had reared at least 2,000 
 years ago. And if the spirits of the dead can ever revisit the 
 haunts they loved during life, we can well fancy how the 
 ghosts of the vanished sea-kings would still revel on those 
 lone heights, when the storm swept in from the west, and 
 the scream of the sea birds was mingled on some wild night 
 with the roar of the white-breasted b'llows.
 
 CHRISTIAN ARAN OF ST. ENDA. 177 
 
 It is strange that history furnishes us with no account of 
 the final extinction of these bold warriors. Were they swept 
 into the sea by the advancing hosts of the Milesian tribes ? 
 or were they the " infidels from Corcomroe," who dwelt in 
 the islands when Enda first dared to set his foot on the god- 
 less shores? We cannot tell, we only know that Enda 
 changed these pagan isles into islands of the blest, that side 
 by side with the pagan ruins of sea-kings are the churches 
 and cells of himself and his followers, which taken together, 
 make the Isles of Aran the most holy and most interesting 
 spot within the wide bounds of Britain's insular empire. 
 
 IY. CHRISTIAN ARAN OF ST. ENDA. 
 
 Tradition tells us that Enda came once across the North 
 Sound from Garomna Island on the coast of Connemara, and 
 landed in the little bay under the village of Killeany, to which 
 he has given his name. He came over too in a stone boat, which 
 floated lightly on the tide. It is there still; we saw it our- 
 selves on the sea shore. "Where is it/' I said to my guide. 
 " Yonder on the shore near the boat," he replied, and keeping 
 my eyes fixed on the boat, which was before us, and towards 
 which we directed our steps iu the gloom as to a land mark, 
 I did not perceive until quite close that the ' boat ' was in 
 reality a large rock, so like a boat in shape that a stranger 
 could not tell the difference at any distance in the fading 
 light ! This spot, in Enda's Life, is called Leamhchoill, but 
 according to O'Flaherty it is more properly called Ocuill, and 
 it is nigh, he says, to the great Curragh Stone, in which 
 Enda sailed over the sea to the island. 
 
 Corban, the chief of the ' Gentiles,' who dwelt on the 
 islands, was at first hostile to Enda, and plotted against his 
 life. But frightened by the prodigies which he witnessed, 
 and convinced that Enda was indeed a man of God, he appears 
 to have quietly given up the Great Island to the saint and 
 withdrawn with his people, who consented to become 
 Christians, either to the neighbouring islands or to -the main- 
 land. 
 
 Enda founded his first monastery at Killeany, close to the 
 present village of the same name, and the fame of his austere 
 sanctity soon spread throughout all Erin, and attracted 
 religious men from all parts of the country. Amongst the 
 first who came to visit Enda's island sanctuary was the 
 celebrated St. Brendan, the Navigator as he is called, who 
 was then revolving in his mind his great projects of discover- 
 
 II
 
 178 THE MONASTIC SCHOOL OF ST. ENDA OF ARAN. 
 
 ing the Promised Land beyond the western main. He came 
 to consult Enda and seek his blessing for the prosperous 
 execution of his daring purpose. 
 
 " Hearing bow blessed Enda lived apart, 
 
 Amid tbe sacred caves of Aran-Mor, 
 And how beneath his eye spread like a chart, 
 
 Lay all the isles of that remotest shore ; 
 And how he had collected in his mind 
 
 All that was known to man of the Old Sea, 
 I left the Hill of Miracles behind, 
 
 And sailed from out the shallow sandy Lea. 
 
 *' When I proclaimed the project that I nursed, 
 
 How 'twas for this that I his blessing sought, 
 An irrepressible cry of joy outburst 
 
 From his pure lips, that blessed me for the thought. 
 He said that he too had in visions strayed 
 
 Over the untracked ocean's billowy foam ; 
 Bid me have hope, that God would give me aid, 
 And bring me safe back to my native home." 
 
 D. F. McCarthy. 
 
 Thither too came Finnian of Clonard, himself the " Tutor 
 of the Saints of Erin," to drink in heavenly wisdom from the 
 lips of the blessed Enda ; for Enda seems to have been the 
 senior of all these saints of the Second Order, and he was 
 loved and reverenced by them all as a father. Clonard was 
 a great College ; but Aran of St. Enda was the greatest 
 sanctuary and nursery of holiness throughout^ all the land of 
 Erin. Thither came, even from the farthest iNorth, another 
 venerable sage, Finnian of Moville, one of the teachers of the 
 great Columcille. And thither too came Columcille himself, a 
 scion of the royal race of Niall the Great, the ardent high-souled 
 prince of Tirconnell, who had not yet quite schooled his fiery 
 spirit to the patient endurance of injustice or insult. And 
 therefore he came in his currach with the scholar's belt and 
 book-satchel to learn divine wisdom in this remote school of 
 the sea. Here he took his turn at grinding the corn, and 
 herding the. sheep; he studied the Scriptures and learned 
 from Enda's lips the virtues of a true monk, as practised by 
 the saints and fathers of the desert, and as daily exhibited in 
 the godly life and conversation of the blessed Enda himself, 
 and of the holy companions who shared his studies and his 
 labours. 
 
 Most reluctantly he left the sacred isle, and we know 
 from a poem which he has left how dearly he loved Aran, 
 and how bitterly he sorrowed in his soul when " the Son of
 
 CHRISTIAN ARAN OF ST EXDA. 179 
 
 God " called him away from that beloved island to other 
 scenes and other labours. 
 
 " Farewell to Aran Isle ; farewell ! 
 
 I steer for Hy my heart is sore ; 
 The breakers burst, the billows swell, 
 Twixt Aran Isle and Alba's shore." 1 
 
 He calls it Aran, " Sun of all the "West," another Pilgrims' 
 Rome, under whose pure earth he would as soon be buried, 
 as nigh to the graves of St. Peter and St. Paul. 
 
 With Columcille at Aran was also the mild-eyed Ciaran, 
 'the Carpenter's son,' and the best beloved of all the disciples 
 of Enda. And when Ciaran, too, was called away by God to 
 found his own great monastery in the green meadows by the 
 Shannon's side, we are told that Enda and his monks came 
 with him down to the sea shore, whilst their eyes were moist 
 and their hearts were sorrow-laden. Then the young and 
 gentle Ciaran, whose own career was destined to be so bright 
 and so brief, knelt down on the white sand and begged his 
 holy Father's blessing, while the tears streamed down his 
 cheeks. It was too much for the holy old man to bear ; in 
 the pathetic language of the Scripture he lifted up his voice 
 and wept aloud " Oh ! my brethren," he said, " why should 
 I not weep ? this day our island has lost its choicest flower 
 and the strength of religious observance." So Ciaran got 
 his Abbot's blessing, and entering his currach, sailed away 
 for the mainland ; but he often turned his streaming eyes to 
 look back on Aran, the home of his heart, and on the little 
 cells where his brethren dwelt, and the oratory of his beloved 
 father, Enda, and the billowy cliffs of the holy island now 
 fast fading irom his view. 
 
 There is hardly a single one of the great saints of the 
 Second Order who did not spend some time in Aran. It was, 
 as we have said, the novitiate of their religious life. St. 
 Jarlath of Tuam, nearly as old as Enda himself, St. Cathage 
 the Elder of Lismore, the two St. Kevins of Glendalough 
 two brothers, St. Mac Creiche of Corcamroe, St. Lonan Kerr, 
 St. Nechan, St. Guigneus, St. Papeus, St. Libeus, brother of 
 St. Enda himself, all were there. 
 
 There is no other part of Ireland so interesting as these 
 Aran Islands, not only from their past history, but from the 
 great number of Christian remains that are still to be found 
 on these shores. No where else do we find so many and so 
 various specimens of early Christian architecture churches, 
 
 1 Aubrey de Vere's Translation Irish Odes and other Poems.
 
 180 THE MONASTIC SCHOOL OF ST. ENDA OF ARAN. 
 
 cloghauns, duirteachs, crosses, and cashels. To these monu- 
 ments, however interesting in themselves, we can make but 
 very brief reference. 
 
 Enda divided Aran Mor into two parts, one-half he as- 
 signed to his own monastry of Killeany ; the other or western 
 half he assigned to such of his disciples as chose to erect per- 
 manent religious houses in the island. This, however, seems 
 to have been a later arrangement, for at first it is said that 
 he had 150 disciples under his own care; but when the estab- 
 lishment grew to be thus large in numbers, he divided the 
 whole island into ten parts each having its own religious 
 house, and its own superior, while he himself retained a 
 general superintendence over them all. The existing remains 
 prove conclusively that there must have been several distinct 
 establishments on the island, for we find separate groups 
 of ruins at Killeany, at Killronan, at Kilmurvey, and further 
 west at " The Seven Churches." The islanders still retain 
 many vivid and interesting traditions of the saints and their 
 churches. Fortunately, too, we have other aids also to con- 
 firm these traditions, and identify the founders or patrons of 
 the existing ruins. 
 
 The life of Enda and his monks was simple and austere. 
 The day was divided into periods for prayer, labour, and sacred 
 study. Each community had its own church and its village 
 of stone cells in which they slept either on the bare ground 
 or on a bundle of straw covered with a rug, but always in the 
 clothes worn by day. They assembled for their devotions in 
 the church or oratory of the saint, under whose immediate 
 care they were placed ; they took their frugal meals in a 
 common refectory, and cooked their food in a common kitchen 
 for they had no fires in the stone cells however cold if 
 cold could be felt by these hearts so glowing with the love 
 of God. They invariably carried out the monastic rule of 
 procuring their own food by labour. Some fished around the 
 islands ; others cultivated patches of oats or barley in sheltered 
 spots between the rocks. Others ground it with the quern, 
 like Ciaran, or kneaded the meal into bread, and baked it for 
 the use of the brethren. They could have no fruit on these 
 islands, nor wine or mead, nor flesh meat, except perhaps a 
 little for the sick. Sometimes on the great festivals, or when 
 guests of distinction came to the island, one of their tiny 
 sheep was killed, and then the brethren were allowed to share, 
 if they chose, in the good cheer provided for the visitors. 
 Enda himself never tasted flesh meat, and we have reason to 
 believe that many of his monks followed the eaint's example.
 
 ANCIENT CHURCHES IN ARAN. 181 
 
 Yet their lives were full of sunny hope and true happiness. 
 That desert island was a paradise for those children of God ; 
 its arid rocks were to them as a garden of delights ; the sun- 
 light on its summer seas was a picture for them of heavenly 
 joys ; and the roar of its wintry billows reminded them of 
 the power and of the wrath of God. So they passed their 
 blameless lives living only for God, and waiting not in fear, but 
 in hope, for the happy hour when their Heavenly Father would 
 call them home. Their bodies were laid to rest beside the 
 walls of the little churches their graves may still be seen 
 stretched side by side, and who can doubt that their sinless 
 souls went up to God in heaven ? 
 
 Y. ANCIENT CHURCHES IN ARAN. 
 
 Colgan has fortunately preserved for us a description of 
 the old churches of Aran, written about the year A.D. 1645, by 
 the learned and accomplished Malachy O'Queely, Archbishop 
 of Tuam. It is very doubtful if O'Queely's list, even in his 
 own time, was quite accurate ; with its help, however, and 
 such information as we were able to collect from the tradi- 
 tions of the people, as well as from other sources, we shall 
 give as full a list of the existing remains as we can at present 
 obtain. 
 
 In the townland of Killeany, O'Queely enumerates the 
 following churches: (1) Killeany itself, that is, Kill-Enda, 
 pronounced Killeany for Enda is pronounced Enna by tne 
 islanders. It was the parish church, he tells us, and gave its 
 name to the village, which is close at hand. (2) There is the 
 oratory of St. Enda, a much smaller building, close to the sea 
 shore, in which the saint himself was buried. It is called 
 Teglach-Enda, which probably means the tumulus, or grave 
 mound of Enda. (3) There was another church called Tern- 
 pull Mic Longa, doubtless founded by the saint, whose name 
 it bears, but of whom nothing further is known. O'Queely 
 says it was near the parish church, but the place cannot at 
 present be identified with certainty. (4) Tempull Mic 
 Canonn, of whom O'Queely says nothing more is known. 
 (5) Another church called Tempull Benain, which gives rise 
 to a very interesting question as to whether it was dedicated 
 to St. Benignus or founded by that saint. St. Benignus was 
 dead before St. Enda first arrived in Aran ; it may be, how- 
 ever, that Benignus founded an oratory in the island, near to 
 which Enda subsequently built his own church and cell. 
 This Tempull Benain is one of the most interesting ruins in 
 the island, and is a very beautiful .example of our primitive
 
 182 THE MONASTIC SCHOOL OF ST. ENDA OF ARAN. 
 
 stone oratories. (6) Another church was dedicated to the 
 Blessed Virgin, as was indeed usually the case in our great 
 monastic enclosures. (7) Then there was another church 
 called Mainister Connachtach the Connaughtman's monas- 
 tery which O'Queely holds to have been distinct from (8) 
 Kill-na-manach, the latter being founded by, or dedicated to, 
 St. Caradoc a British ' monk/ who is probably the same 
 as the celebrated St. Cadoc, the founder of Llancarvan in 
 Wales. 
 
 Thus we have in the single townland of Killeany no less 
 than seven or eight churches and oratories, grouped together 
 around the oratories of St. Enda and of St. Benignus. It is 
 remarkable that these two alone now survive perhaps 
 because the islanders would not allow the vandals, who 
 carried off the stones of the other churches, and of the round 
 tower, to build ' Cromwell's Fort,' to touch these two more 
 ancient and more holy oratories. There was also a Franciscan 
 monastery on the sea shore, and it may be some of the stones 
 were carried off for its construction also. 
 
 The oratory of St. Enda, called Telagh-Enda, is of 
 course the most interesting of all these ruins. It is still 
 wonderfully well preserved, and, although some repairs took 
 place at different times, there is no doubt that the greater 
 part of the original building still remains. The grave-yard 
 in which 127 saints are buried surrounds the church. The 
 grave of the founder himself, according to O'Flaherty, was a 
 few paces to the north-west from the door of the church. 
 The holy spot is sometimes quite covered with the drifting 
 sand ; at other times Enda's grave, and the leac or flag 
 covering it, can be pointed out by any of the islanders. 
 There were other primitive churches founded by Enda 
 which still bear his name both in Clare and Galway ; and 
 we find that even in Meath, Limerick, and Queen's County, 
 there are parishes, as there were once, no doubt, old churches, 
 dedicated to his name. Killeany of Arran, however, was the 
 most celebrated of them all there he lived for more than 
 sixty years, ' in his prison of hard narrow stone,' and there 
 he sleeps beside the sea, surrounded by the loved ones whom 
 he taught and sanctified. 
 
 Of the group now called by the natives the ' Seven 
 Churches,' O'Queely mentions ouly two, the parish church 
 known as Tempull Brecain, and another church close at 
 hand which, he says, is commonly called Tempull a PhuilL 
 It is highly probable that there were other churches also 
 around Tempull Brecain, although it is now quite impossible
 
 ANCIENT CHURCHES IN ARAN. 183 
 
 to ascertain either the patrons or founders. Dr. Petrie, 
 however, whose opinion is entitled to the greatest weight, 
 thinks that the other buildings, whose remains are still to be 
 seen at the "Seven Churches" in Aran Mor, were monastic 
 buildings annexed to the churches. Tempull Brecain was 
 certainly the central building of this group, and was of 
 considerable size, the nave measuring 32 feet by 18, and the 
 chancel 20 feet by 18J in breadth. The latter in its present 
 state seems to be the work of a later period, although portions 
 of the original wall still remain. The masonry in the earlier 
 parts is more coarse and irregular, and is apparently coeval 
 with that of Kill-Enda. There is in the north wall a very 
 peculiar angular-headed window, which seems to have 
 belonged to the primitive structure, and is characteristic of 
 our most ancient churches. The western door has dis- 
 appeared ; but a chancel-arch of exquisite workmanship has 
 been inserted in the eastern gable. It is so beautifully built, 
 and so Roman in its style, that Dr. Petrie came to the con- 
 clusion that it must have been executed by foreign work- 
 men. In the interior of the west wall of the nave is an 
 inscribed stone having in uncial letters the words 
 OR AR II CANOIN "A prayer for the two canons" 
 but who they were is quite unknown. It will be recollected 
 that there was at Killeany, according to O'Queely's list, a 
 church called " Tempull Mic Canonn," perhaps the son of 
 one of those here commemorated. 
 
 The tomb of the founder, St. Brecan, was discovered 
 about forty years ago, says Petrie, when a grave was being 
 opened to receive the remains of a priest who, at his death, 
 expressed a wish to be buried in that grave. Un the flag- 
 stone was a cross within a circle with the words (s)ci 
 BRECANI, which Petrie translates " for the Head (Capiti) of 
 Brecan." It is obvious, however, that the first word is an 
 abbreviation for ' Sancti,' and that the meaning is " (the 
 stone) of holy Brecau," which was doubtless placed over the 
 saint by his beloved disciples. On the same occasion another 
 stone was discovered within the grave with the simple legend 
 in the rudest Irish characters -f OR AR BRECAN N'ALILHER 
 a prayer for Brecan the pilgrim. This was probably written 
 by the saint himself, and points to the identity of the 
 pilgrim of Aran with the founder of Ardbraccan in Meath. 
 He was of the Dalcassian race in Munster, and is said to have 
 been great-grand-son of Eochaidh Balldearg, Prinoe of 
 Thomond, who was baptized by St. Patrick. He came to 
 Aran, which had belonged to his relatives, during the life-
 
 184 THE MONASTIC SCHOOL OF ST. ENDA OF A RAX. 
 
 time of Enda, who divided the island, as it seems, between 
 their respective followers. An amusing story is told by the 
 islanders of this division. It was agreed that the two saints 
 should commence Mass at the same hour, and then, after 
 Mass, set out with their followers to meet each other. The 
 point of meeting was to be the boundary. Now Brecan took 
 advantage of Enda, and began Mass before him, so that he 
 was able to gain the start first. TVhen Enda reached the 
 high ground he saw that the other saint had not dealt 
 fairly with him ; and, praying to God, "he fastened him and 
 his monks, your reverence, near the sea at Kilmurvey, so 
 that he could not stir an inch until the blessed Enda came 
 leisurely up to him, and fixed the line of division at that 
 spot." 
 
 In the church-yard of St. Brecan's Church are five graves 
 
 .covered with flags lying side by side, but only recently. 
 
 exposed to view. On one of the headstones is the following 
 
 curious inscription engraved by Petrie (who did not see the 
 
 graves) and still distinctly visible and legible 
 
 MA I) NI 
 
 around the letters of the cross. The Septem Romani, or 
 Seven Romans, here commemorated, doubtless, sleep together 
 in these five graves, for two of the graves are much larger 
 than the others, and are supposed to contain two bodies each. 
 
 At first sight it might appear strange to have ' seven 
 Romans ' buried together in this far off island ; but it must 
 be borne in mind that Gauls, or Britons, who enjoyed the 
 Imperial citizenship in the fifth century would be called 
 ' Romans,' and we know from the Lives of our early Saints, 
 and from the Calendar of ^Engus, that many "Britons, 
 Franks and ' Romans ' of the provinces came to Ireland in 
 the time of St. Patrick, as well as in the following century, 
 when the Anglo-Saxons drove them out of England, as the 
 Franks had driven these ' Romans' out of Gaul. It is a 
 touching sight to see their graves side by side in this far off 
 Isle of the West those citizens of Imperial Rome forced to 
 seek an asylum in this quiet home of sanctity and learning, 
 which was beyond the limits even of their world-wide 
 empire. Their simple headstone has outlived the Forum 
 and the Colosseum ; it is still standing on the spot where it 
 was placed by pious hands thirteen hundred years ago. 
 Even still the islanders point to it with veneration as the 
 resting-place of pilgrim saints, but who they were, or whence 
 they came, they have no notion whatsoever. 
 
 There are many other interesting monuments at the
 
 ANCIENT CHURCHES IN ARAN. 185 
 
 " Seven Churches," which we cannot now describe in detail, 
 such as sculptured stones and crosses with the characteristic 
 Celtic ornamentation of the most elaborate style, including 
 on one stone a rude figure of the Crucifixion. There are also 
 the ruins of a curious building called the " Church of the 
 Hollow," of mediaeval date, which was probably the oratory 
 and cell of one of the enclosed saints, who flourished in 
 Ireland during the ninth and tenth centuries. There was 
 also an ancient baptistry supplied by a perennial fountain 
 from the living rock one of the few in Aran which 
 points to the early custom of baptism by immersion, as then 
 practised in Ireland. 
 
 The group of ruins at Kilmurvey was situated within one 
 of those ancient caiseals probably of pagan origin, but 
 utilized by the monks for the protection of their own 
 ecclesiastical buildings. The ancient dun of Muirbheach 
 Mil a stout Firbolgic warrior of Aran was thus utilized 
 by Colman Mac Duagh, and then the place changed its 
 name, and came to be called Kilmurvey, as if the savage old 
 pagan had changed his nature, and having become a monk 
 had founded the church within his stronghold. It was. 
 however, founded not by him but by St. Colman Mac Duagh, 
 from whom the Diocese of Kilmacduagh takes its name. 
 Thus was another church close at hand known as Tempull 
 Beg-na-Naiomh the Little Church of the Saints. It was 
 a small oratory without nave or chancel, 15^ feet long by 
 9^ feet in breadth. 
 
 The Great Church, however, founded by St. Colman, was 
 a very beautiful building, and was regarded by Lord 
 Dunraven as the most interesting in Aran Mor. The nave 
 was 18 feet 8 inches long, by 14^ feet broad ; the chancel 
 was 15 feet 4 inches in length by 11 feet 2 inches in breadth. 
 The lintel of the western door is a single granite block, 
 borne by a glacier from the mountains of Connemara, 5 feet 
 in length by 2^ feet in depth. 
 
 Around the churches were discovered the remains of 
 several cloghauns, or beehive cells, and a great number of 
 ornamental brass pins, used to fasten the mantles of the 
 ancient warriors. As these were found within the cells it 
 would go to prove that they were originally built and 
 tenanted by the warriors of Muirbheach Mil, that the 
 monks of St. Colman simply took possession of the deserted 
 stronghold with its cells, and then built their churches within 
 its walls. The pins were of various forms and sizes, and of 
 tasteful workmanship. No coins were discovered, which
 
 186 THE MONASTIC SCHOOL OF ST. ENDA OF ARAN. 
 
 would go to show that these pins did not belong to Danish 
 warriors, and the monks certainly never used such articles. 
 Inscribed stones were also found in the neighbourhood of 
 these churches, but they have have all unfortunately disap- 
 peared. This ancient church is near the residence of 
 Mr. Johnstone, and some of the stones were probably used in 
 building the house or garden walls. As St. Colman flourished 
 about the year A.D. 620, this group of buildings must be 
 regarded as of nearly 100 years later date than the oratories 
 of St. Benen and St. Enda. 
 
 One of the most beautiful and interesting of the old 
 churches in Aran Mor is that which is called in Irish, 
 Tempull-na-Cheathair-Aluinn, the Church of the Four 
 Beauties ; that is, according to O'Queely, of St. Fursey, 
 St. Brendan of Birr, St. Conall, and St. Berchan. It is, 
 says Petrie, a small but beautiful edifice of cut stone, and 
 was lighted by three small round-headed windows so placed 
 as to illuminate the altar, two being in the side wall, and one 
 in the east gable over the altar. In Petrie's time this broken 
 window was over-arched with ivy, woodbine, and thorny 
 brambles. The late restorations by the Board of Works 
 have removed these tangled growths, and revealed the little 
 church in something of its primitive beauty. The simple 
 stone altar is still standing at which the four beautiful 
 saints officiated, and a small chamber, 6 feet long by 3 feet 
 10 inches in breadth, can still be seen within the wall on the 
 west side. It may have been used as a sacristy, or, perhaps, 
 as the dwelling-place of a recluse. There are cloghauns 
 close at hand, which were, doubtless, the cells of the four 
 saints. Most interesting of all are the four graves lately 
 revealed, stretched side by side, within a small enclosure 
 under the wall of the church. It is truly a touching sight, 
 which few can see unmoved, when they think of the simple 
 and holy lives of these four beautiful saints ; how they lived 
 and loved together, how calmly and how sweetly they rest 
 under the shadow of those holy walls, where they worshipped 
 God, and how tenderly their memory is still cherished by 
 islanders after a lapse of more than twelve hundred years. 
 Close at hand is the holy well, whose crystal waters was their 
 only drink, and near it a large cloghaun about 20 feet in 
 length, which seems to have been the refectory, where they 
 took their frugal meals together. 
 
 O'Queely's conjecture as to their identity is highly 
 improbable, for the four saints whom he names could not 
 have lived together, and certainly were not buried together
 
 ANCIENT CHURCHES IN ARAN. 187 
 
 in Aran Mor ; whereas everything connected with the Four 
 Beauties would seem to show that they lived together around 
 this little church, and are buried without doubt in the four 
 graves, that are still to be seen side by side within their own 
 enclosure. Such, too, is the continuous living tradition of 
 the islanders. There was, doubtless, another group of 
 churches at Kilronan, but all traces of them have disappeared. 
 
 It will be seen that Aran Mor is pre-eminently a holy 
 island, and well deserves its name, Aran of the Saints. It 
 had four distinct groups of churches, the ruins of most of 
 which are still visible, and from every point of view it is well 
 worthy of a visit. In ancient times the holy island was a 
 favourite place of pilgrimage, where the saints loved to live 
 and die, for its soil was deemed to be holy ground. And it 
 should still be a place of pilgrimage for every Irishman, who 
 loves the ancient glories of his native land. He will during 
 his visit see many things to instruct and edify him, and teach 
 iiim to love the ruins of holy Ireland 'with a love far brought 
 from out the storied past,' but elevated and purified by the 
 contemplation of holiness and self-denial. 
 
 There are numerous and interesting ruins of a similar 
 character, both pagan and Christian on the Middle and on 
 the Eastern Island also. We cannot, however, describe them 
 at present ; let us hope that we have said enough to awaken 
 a more general interest in those ancient sanctuaries. The 
 history of the Holy Islands of the West is yet to be written, 
 and it will be a story full of sacred and romantic interest.
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 THE SCHOOL OF ST. FINNIAN OF CLONARD. 
 
 " I would the great world grew like thee, 
 Who grewest not alone in power 
 And knowledge, but by year and hour 
 In reverence and in charity." 
 
 Tennyson. 
 
 I. PRELIMINARY SKETCH or CHRISTIAN SCHOOLS. 
 
 WE have said that as Aran was the noviciate so Clonard 
 was the great college of the Irish Saints of the Second 
 Order. Before, however, we proceed to give an account of 
 this great seminary and its founder, it will be useful to give 
 a short sketch of the Christian Schools up to that period. 
 
 Of Christian Schools, in the modern sense of the word, 
 there were none, and there could be none, during the first 
 three centuries of the Church's history. She had then to 
 struggle for a bare existence against the most powerful 
 enemies ; neither her worship nor her schools would be 
 sanctioned, or even tolerated by the Roman Empire. Yet it 
 was even then essential to train the clergy in sacred learning, 
 and to instruct the people in the saving truths of faith. But, 
 as a rule, this was done privately and unostentatiously in the 
 catacombs ; in the houses of the bishops when they had any 
 fixed residence ; and very frequently in the private grounds 
 or private houses of wealthy and influential Christians. 
 
 The first Christian School, really worthy of the name, so 
 far as we can judge, was established at Alexandria about the 
 year A.D. 180. It became famous as a catechetical school, 
 or school of dogma, and was conducted by several illustrious 
 men Pantaenus, Origen, Dionysius, and others whose 
 learning was celebrated throughout the whole Church, and 
 whose lectures and writings exercised a very wide and 
 enduring influence on their own, as well as on later genera- 
 tions. But this was rather a school of theology than of 
 general literature, and designed more for adult inquirers, 
 both male and female, than for the systematic instruction of 
 the young. Similar schools were afterwards founded at 
 Antioch, at Caesarea, at Edessa, and subsequently at Msibis 
 in Armenia.
 
 PRELIMINARY SKETCH OF CHRISTIAN SCHOOLS. 189 
 
 Even during the centuries when these schools of dogma 
 were most flourishing, young Christians found it necessary 
 to frequent the schools of the pagans for the purpose of 
 obtaining a professional or general education. The masters 
 were pagan ; the books were the ancient classics of Greek 
 and Rome ; and the majority of the pupils in many cases 
 belonged to the old pagan religion. But it was a case of 
 absolute necessity, as St. Jerome says ; and they must either 
 forfeit the culture, or face the danger. The most celebrated 
 of these schools was at Athens, and there we find together 
 under a pagan professor of Rhetoric, St. Basil, St. Gregory 
 of Nazianzen and Julian, afterwards the Apostate, on the same 
 benches with sons of pagan senators and scoffing rhetors. 
 
 Christians might not be teachers in these schools, for 
 they would have to explain the mythology, and observe the 
 festivals, and in other respects honour the gods of Greece 
 and Rome. But Christians were sometimes allowed to attend 
 the lectures of distinguished teachers, guarding themselves 
 against the dangers that might arise from the influences of 
 the teachers, of their companions, and of the pagan authors. 
 It is true, indeed, the more rigid Christians denounced the 
 whole system as not only dangerous, but essentially wrong 
 and immoral. They preferred to do without this mental 
 culture, rather than obtain it at so much peril to their own souls. 
 They censured even the study of the pagan authors under 
 the guidance of Christian teachers. The false maxims of 
 their philosophers would make some impression, they alleged, 
 on the retentive and plastic minds of the young ; the stories 
 of the loves of their gods and goddesses would sully the purity 
 of innocent hearts, and the coarseness of the thoughts 
 could not be effectually screened by eloquence of language 
 and mere beauty of literary form. The study of the Sacred 
 Scriptures ought to bo enough for all true Christians, whose 
 sole aim should be to purify the heart and elevate their 
 thoughts to God and heavenly things. 
 
 Fortunately these strict principles were not generally 
 followed in practice. Most of the Greek and Latin Fathers 
 not only studied the classics, but availed themselves of the 
 lectures of the most celebrated professors of their own time, 
 whether Christian or pagan ; and so they were enabled to meet 
 their opponents on equal terms to refute the philosophers 
 by philosophy, and the rhetoricians by rhetoric, to point 
 out the turpitude of the gods of Greece and Rome, and to 
 contrast in glowing language of the most fervid and lofty 
 eloquence, the nobility of Christian doctrine, and the purity
 
 190 THE SCHOOL OF ST. F1NNIAN OF CLOXAKD. 
 
 of Christian morals with the false ethics and unclean practices 
 of the pagan religion. 
 
 In the fifth century, however, of the Christian era a 
 change gradually took place. With the decline of paganism 
 the great schools in the various cities of the empire began 
 to decay, and were finally closed during the reign of 
 Justinian. Meanwhile episcopal schools for the education 
 of the clergy were further developed and enlarged. St. 
 Augustine at Hippo, St. Ambrose at Milan, St. Eusebius at 
 Aries, had founded establishments of this kind, and the 
 fame of these great and learned prelates soon attracted large 
 numbers of pupils to these episcopal seminaries. The 
 Churches of Africa eagerly sought for pupils of St. Augustine's 
 school to fill the vacancies occurring in their sees, and many 
 other pupils from the more celebrated of these seminaries 
 were raised to the highest dignities in the Church. 
 
 But with the spread of monasteries in the West during 
 the fourth and fifth centuries a new and vigorous impulse 
 was given not only to all branches of sacred learning, but 
 indirectly to profane literature also. Sacred reading and 
 sacred study was deemed an essential portion of monastic 
 work. Legere, laborare, orare study, prayer, and labour 
 was the daily work of the monk ; and if it was not always 
 the task of the individual it certainly was of the community. 
 Of course the sacred volume was the primary object of their 
 study ; but almost all branches of human learning are aids 
 to the study and right understanding of Scripture, and were 
 cultivated for that purpose. 
 
 Then again, monasticism was, as we have seen, intended 
 to be self-sufficing. It was a world of its own, a city of God, 
 producing for itself all that is needed in the physical and 
 moral order. So the monks found it necessary to cultivate 
 the ornamental as well as the useful arts of life. They 
 delved and sowed and reaped ; but they also built their 
 churches, and decorated their altars, and wrote their books, 
 and sang in choir, and computed their festivals, and healed 
 the sick. There must be amongst them physicians, astrono- 
 mers, geometers, and musicians, as well as moralists, 
 preachers, scribes, and illuminators. Every branch of 
 human knowledge was useful, if not necessary, for a great 
 monastery, and they all came to be cultivated in the great 
 monastic schools. 
 
 One of the earliest and most celebrated of these schools 
 in the West was that founded by the illustrious John Cassian 
 near Marseilles, between the years A.D. 415-420. No man was
 
 PRELIMINARY SKETCH OF CHRISTIAN SCHOOLS. 191 
 
 better qualified than Cassian to introduce the monasticism of 
 Egypt into Europe. He spent the earlier years of his life at a 
 monastery in Bethlehem, then he retired to the Thebaid for 
 seven years, conversing with the Fathers of the Desert, and 
 closely observing their religious exercises, and the daily 
 routine of their lives. Afterwards he visited Constantinople, 
 Rome, and even the far distant Churches of Mesopotamia. At 
 length about A.D. 415 he settled down in the neighbourhood 
 of Marseilles, then as in Cicero's time famous for intellectual 
 pursuits, and there founded the celebrated monastery of 
 St. Victor, which was the nursery of many of the greatest 
 prelates of the fifth century. He gave himself up with all 
 zeal to the propagation of monasticism in the West, and 
 with this view wrote twelve books of Monastic Institutes, in 
 which he deals at great length with the nature of the 
 monastic life, its aids, and its hindrances. In the twenty- 
 four books of his ' Conferences ' Collationes he deals with 
 the eremetical life as he saw it in Egypt, and purports 
 to give the discourses of the Egyptian Fathers,. whom he 
 had himself seen and heard. These works have been always 
 highly prized in the Church, although the author in one or 
 two of his ' Conferences ' is supposed to have touched too 
 closely on the errors of Semi-Pelagianism. 
 
 The most celebrated disciple of John Cassian was St. 
 Honoratus of Aries, the founder of the famous monastery of 
 Lerins. There he put in practice the divine maxims of 
 Cassian, and changed that barren island, which he found 
 covered with brushwood and filled with serpents, into a garden 
 of Eden, where man once more walked in innocence with 
 God ; and bounteous nature rewarded the incessant labour of 
 the monks with fruits of choicest flavour and flowers of richest 
 hues. He was taken away much against his will from his 
 beloved island and made Bishop of Aries; but he survived 
 only two years, dying in the year A.D. 429, just at the time 
 that St. Patrick, his disciple, was preparing to come to Ireland. 
 A similar monastery and monastic school was about the same 
 time, and under the same influence, founded by St. Germanus 
 at Auxerre, as we have already seen, when speaking of St. 
 Patrick's training for the Irish mission. 
 
 It is in these cradles of western monasticism that we must 
 try to find the true character of the monasticism, as well as 
 of the discipline and ritual, which St. Patrick introduced into 
 Ireland. If, as the Tripartite asserts, St. Patrick spent some 
 thirty years in France and Italy, and the islands of the 
 Tyrrhene Sea, preparing for the work for which Providence
 
 192 THE SCHOOL OF ST. F1NXIAN OF CLONARD. 
 
 destined him in Ireland, he had ample time to visit all these 
 celebrated monasteries, and doubtless spent some of these 
 years not only at Marmoutier of St. Martin, and with St. 
 German at Auxerre, but also with Cassian at St. Victor's, and 
 with Honoratus in Lerins, and probably also at Aries. The 
 Tripartite states distinctly that first of all he resolved to go 
 to Rome, the citadel and mistress of Christian faith and doc- 
 trine, in order that he might draw from these fountains of 
 true wisdom and orthodox doctrine ; that he went to France 
 and even beyond the Alps to the southern region of Italy, 
 where he found Germanus, then a most famous bishop, with 
 whom he read, like another Paul at the feet of Gamaliel, the 
 ecclesiastical canons, serving God in labour, in fasting, in 
 chastity, in compunction, and in love of God and his neigh- 
 bour. The same writer adds that he went to St. Martin's of 
 Tours to receive tonsure, and that he studied at Aries or 
 what he calls insula A ralanensis which he seems to con- 
 found with the city of St. Germanus. 
 
 We are also told that when he was in the Tyrrhene Sea 1 
 he met three other Patricks, which is not at all unlikely, for 
 Patrick was a common name, and the great monastery of 
 Lerins had attracted strangers from every part of the Chris- 
 tian world, who had established themselves in some of the 
 neighbouring islets. These three Patricks lived together in a 
 rocky cave between the cliff and the sea, and our Patrick wished 
 to live with them in the solitary service of God. But it was 
 only for a time, for God had destined him for another and 
 loftier purpose. It is quite evident, however, that Patrick 
 was trained under the greatest masters of the spiritual life, 
 and in the greatest monastic schools of the Western Church. 
 These considerations will also serve to explain why the Irish 
 Church of the sixth, seventh, and eighth centuries was so 
 monastic in its character and tendencies, why the religious 
 houses rather than the cathedrals were the centres of its 
 spiritual life, and also why its greatest schools were in the 
 halls of the cloister, and its greatest scholars wore the frontal 
 tonsure and the monk's cowl. 
 
 Yet St. Patrick did not himself establish monasteries or 
 monastic schools in Ireland. His work was to preach, to 
 baptize, to ordain, to found churches. Monasteries are the 
 outcome of an existing Church. The nation must become 
 Christian before the Church could in any wide sense become 
 monastic. It was always so, even in the time of the Apostles. 
 
 1 " In the Islands of the Tyrrhene Sea.' 1 Fiacc's Hymn.
 
 ST. FINNIAN OF CLONARU. 193 
 
 They did not found monasteries or monastic schools, or col- 
 leges of any kind. They had other and more urgent work 
 on hand. It was only after Christianity took hold of men's 
 minds that the nobler and more grateful hearts amongst 
 them sought to realize the Gospel ideal of Christian perfec- 
 tion. 
 
 Even in the time of St. Patrick, however, there were 
 monks and nuns in Ireland, as we have already seen. He 
 himself expressly declares it. " The sons of the Scots," he 
 says, " and the daughters of the princes became monks and 
 virgins of Christ." And he tells a touching story of an Irish 
 maiden of noble birth and of great beauty pulcherrima 
 whom he himself baptized: "A few days afterwards the 
 maiden came to me and told me that she got an intimation 
 from God to become a virgin of Christ, and thus become nigh 
 to God. Thanks be to Him on the sixth day after she per- 
 fectly and ardently embraced that vocation ; and so do all the 
 virgins of Christ, even against the will of their parents, from 
 whom they patiently endure reproaches." 
 
 With such ardour did the noble sons and daughters of 
 the Scottish race advance in the paths of perfection. And 
 therefore Patrick loved them so dearly that he would not 
 leave them, as he tells us, even to pay a visit to his own 
 country and his own friends. He sowed the seed, and after 
 ages reaped the crop. The great monasteries and monastic 
 schools of the sixth century, though not founded by him, 
 were the outcome of that spirit of faith and love which he 
 had planted so deeply, especially in the hearts of the young. 1 
 
 II. ST. FINNIAN OF CLONARD. 
 
 St. Finnian of Clonard is set down first in the Catalogue 
 of the Saints of the Second Order ; and his School of Clonard 
 was certainly the most celebrated, if not the earliest, of the 
 great schools of the sixth century. It was the nursery of so 
 many learned and holy men that its founder came to be known 
 as the "Tutor of the Saints of Erin." Twelve of his most 
 distinguished disciples were called the Twelve Apostles of 
 Erin, because, after St. Patrick, they were recognised as the 
 Fathers and Founders of the Irish Church ; and the monas- 
 teries and schools which they established became, in their 
 turn, the greatest centres of piety and learning throughout 
 the entire island. 
 
 It must not, however, be supposed that all these holy men 
 
 1 Confession, page 396, Vol. II., Rolls Series.
 
 194 THE SCHOOL OF ST. F1NNIAN OF CLOXARD. 
 
 were themselves younger than Finnian of Clonard, or re- 
 mained for a very long period at his monastic school. 
 
 It sometimes happened that the disciple was quite as old, 
 if not older than the master ; for it was by no means unusual 
 at this period for holy men to visit the monasteries of younger 
 men who had become remarkable for sanctity and learning, 
 and, placing themselves under their guidance, they ranked 
 themselves in their humility as disciples of their juniors. 
 Lanigan, keen and learned as he was, allows himself sometimes 
 to be led into error by forgetting this custom, which is more 
 than once explicitly referred to in the lives of these saints 
 themselves. 
 
 Clonard in Irish Cluain Eraird, and sometimes Cluain 
 Iraird, that is, Erard's meadow was very favourably 
 situated for a great national college. Although within the 
 territory of Meath, it was situated on the Boyne close to the 
 Esker Riada, which formed the ancient and famous boundary 
 between the northern and southern half of Ireland. It was 
 thus a kind of neutral territory, open to the North and South 
 alike ; and both North and South availed themselves of its 
 advantages. 
 
 Its founder, St. Finnian, was by birth a Leinster man. 
 His father, Finloch, was descended from Ailill Telduib, of 
 the Clanna Rory, hence his own patronymic, TJi Telduib. 
 His mother's name, according to all the authorities, was 
 Talech, and she belonged to the family of a Leinster chieftain. 
 He was born at Myshall, in the Barony of Forth, County 
 Carlow. The date of his birth cannot be ascertained ; but 
 if we are to accept the statements in his life, it cannot have 
 been later than A.D. 470. When the child was born, his 
 parents sent him to be baptized by the holy Bishop Fortchern, 
 in the Church of Roscur Roscurensem ecclesiam. This 
 Bishop Fortchern was son of Fedlimidh, and grandson of 
 King Laeghaire. He was converted by Loman of Trim, 1 
 shortly after the year A.D. 432, the date of St. Patrick's arrival, 
 and being a skilful artisan in metal work, he made chalices 
 and patens for the use of the new churches founded by 
 St. Patrick. At the earnest entreaty of St. Loman, he con- 
 sented to become Bishop of Trim after that saint's death, but 
 he only retained, it is said, that oneious office for three days. 
 After his resignation, he retired into Leinster, where many 
 churches are said to have been founded by him in a district 
 
 1 Loman was a Briton, and Scotha, mother of Fortchern, was also a 
 Briton, perhaps a connection.
 
 ST. FINN1AN OF CLONART). 195 
 
 up to that time only partially evangelized. The Church of 
 Killoughternan, parish of Slyguff, in the ancient Ui Drona, 
 still bears his name ; it is a corruption of Gill Fortchern. 
 The town of Tullow, in the County Carlow, was anciently 
 called Tullagh Fortchern, 1 and it is said that the saint had a 
 school there, in which young Finnian studied for many years. 
 
 When the women were carrying the child to be baptized 
 by Fortchern at Roscur, it chanced that the holy priest 
 Abban met them, and inquired whither they were going. 
 They replied that they were carrying the child to be baptized 
 by Fortchern. Thereupon Abban, moved by a divine inspi- 
 ration, took the child and baptized him, giving him the 
 name of Finluch, or Finloch, because he was baptized at the 
 place where two streams meeting formed a pool of clean 
 water. But the name Finnian was afterwards given to him 
 as a more appropriate one retaining the first, but omitting 
 the second part of the compound. A cross afterwards marked 
 the spot where the saint was baptized, and it was called the 
 Cross of Finnian. 
 
 When the child grew up he was placed under the care of 
 St. Fortchern, most probably at Tullow, and remained, it is 
 said, under his care until he reached the age of thirty years. 
 We thus see that So. Finnian was brought under British 
 influence from his boyhood, for the mother of Fortchern was 
 of British birth, and it was probably at the suggestion of his 
 holy teacher that Finnian resolved to visit the saiuts of 
 Wales, and perfect his education in the schools of that 
 country. On his way, however, he stopped to visit a holy 
 elder named Coemhan, who dwelt in the Island of Dairmis, in 
 Wexford Harbour, and there he remained some time in the 
 further pursuit of knowledge. Then taking voyage with 
 some merchants, who were going to Britain, he set sail from 
 Wexford, and arrived at Kilmuine, since called St. David's, 
 in South Wales. 
 
 Here he had the good fortune to meet three celebrated 
 saints, who seem to have exercised great influence over the 
 mind of Finnian, and through him over the destinies of the 
 Irish Church St. David, St. Gildas, and. St. Cathmael, or 
 Cadoc, or Docus. As Finnian was trained, at least to some 
 extent, by these holy men, and as they are all more or less 
 intimately connected in many other respects also with the 
 early monastic Church of Ireland, it is well to know some- 
 thing about their history. 
 
 1 Loca Patriciana, page 162.
 
 196 THE SCHOOL OF ST. FIXNIAN OF CLONARD. 
 
 Dubricius, Bishop of Landaff, who was a contemporary 
 of St. Patrick (A.D. 421-522), and was consecrated by 
 St. Germanus of Auxerre, perhaps at the time of his second 
 visit to "Wales, A.D. 449, or some years later, is exhibited in 
 the doubtful chronicles of this early period as the first 
 Archbishop of South Wales, and the great father of 
 monasticism in Wales. His monastery at Llancarvan was 
 the nursery of those great saints, whose names are still 
 familiar both in Ireland and in Wales. Dubricius himself 
 was, it is said, a grandson of that Brychan, who has given 
 his name to Brecknockshire, and who was himself an Irish 
 chieftain, though settled in Wales. It is certain that the 
 Irish monks, like Finnian, found a warm welcome in 
 Llancarvan, both during the life of Dubricius, as well as 
 after his death ; and in that celebrated college were trained 
 many Irish saints, who afterwards carried its learning and 
 its discipline to their native land. 
 
 St. David, Archbishop of Menevia, is the most striking 
 figure amongst the Cambro-British saints, and his memory is 
 still venerated by all true Welshmen of every religious sect. 
 Bicemarch, his successor in the See of David's towards the 
 close of the tenth century, has written his life, which was 
 afterwards dressed up in more elegant language by the 
 celebrated Gerald Barry. St. David was born about the 
 middle of the fifth century, and lived, it seems, till the 
 middle of the sixth. His father was Sanctus or Xantus, 
 Prince of Ceretica, and his mother was Nonna, a religious, 
 forcibly carried off by this rude prince, who was captivated 
 by her beauty. The child was born at Old Menevia, near 
 the place where he afterwards founded his cathedral city at 
 the extremity of that bare and bold promontory which 
 overlooks St. George's Channel. St. Ailbe of Emly just then 
 happened to arrive by divine guidance at Menevia, and he 
 baptized the child. The young David was at first a pupil of 
 St. Iltutus, and afterwards of Paulinus, who were both, it 
 seems, disciples of St. Germanus of Auxerre. 
 
 In course of time David founded a great college of his 
 own at a place called by Gerald Barry, 'Vallis Rosina,' 
 which may mean either the ' Marshy Yalley,' or the ' Valley 
 of Roses,' for rhos is a swamp, and rhosyn means a rose. 1 
 And it was probably to this seminary that Finnian came on 
 his first arrival in Wales. St. David afterwards became so 
 celebrated that he succeeded Dubricius as Archbishop of 
 
 1 Gerald Barry seems to think the name meant the Valley of Hoses, of 
 which he says there were none ; it should be called the Marble Valley.
 
 ST> FINNIAN OF CLONARD. 197 
 
 Caerleon-upon-Usk ; but \vitli the permission of King 
 Arthur, who was his near relative, he changed the seat of his 
 Episcopal Chair from the City of the Legions to Menevia, 
 which was at once his birthplace, and monastic home during 
 what he doubtless regarded as the happiest and holiest years 
 of his life. 
 
 It is said that Finnian also met Cathmael, as well as 
 David and Gildas, at the city of Killmuiue in Britain. 
 Killmuine of the Irish Lives is the exact equivalent of the 
 Latin Ecclesia Menevensts, called in Welsh Mynyw or Miniu, 
 The old monastic buildings still surround the cathedral, but 
 are now much dilapidated. Gerald Barry, himself a Welsh- 
 man, describes in his odd incisive way, " this remote angle 
 overlooking the Irish Sea, as a stony, barren, and unfruitful 
 soil, neither clothed with woods, nor diversified by streams, 
 nor adorned with meadows, but exposed to perpetual storms 
 and whirlwinds the storms of nature and the storms 
 of war." 1 
 
 Cathmael is commonly identified with Cadoc or Docus, 
 one of the most celebrated fathers of the Welsh Church. It 
 is said there were two saints who bore thnt name, if so 
 !Finnian's tutor must have been Cadoc the Elder. His mother 
 was Gladys, the daughter or grand-daughter of the Irish 
 Chieftain, Brychan, who gave his name to Brecknock so 
 Cadoc " who has made a deep impression on the Celtic race." 
 was not only of Irish blood, but was baptized and trained up 
 from his youth for many years by an Irish anchorite named 
 Meuthi, whose cell was in the neighbourhood of his father's 
 castle. Afterwards he went to Givent in Monmouthshire, 
 where he studied under another Irish master, St. Tathai. 
 There he made great progress in learning and holiness espe- 
 cially in the knowledge of the Sacred Scriptures, so that he 
 was called Cadoc or Cattwy, the Wise. He was under 
 Dubricius the founder and chief professor of the celebrated 
 College of Llancarvan, near Cowbridge in Glamorgan. This 
 became the most famous centre both of secular and sacred 
 learning in Wales. A great number of young Irishmen 
 crowded its lecture rooms, who afterwards became very 
 famous in their own country, so that if Cadoc received much 
 from Irishmen himself, he gave them even more in return. 
 There can be no doubt that, as we shall see further on, he 
 visited Ireland afterwards, and doubtless spent some time 
 with those who were once his own pupils in Wales. 
 
 J See Itinerarium Cambriae, page 102.
 
 198 THE SCHOOL OF ST. FINNIAN OF CLONARD. 
 
 The influence exercised over the Celtic Church in Ireland 
 by David, Gildas, and Cadoc may be estimated from the fact 
 already referred to, that they are said to have given a Mass 
 to the Second Order of the Irish Saints. This would seem to 
 imply that these saints, most of whom spent some time in 
 "Wales, adopted the liturgy of the "Welsh Church, which may 
 have in some respects differed from the older liturgy estab- 
 lished by St. Patrick. Finnian was the great means of 
 diffusing the learning and practices of Llancarvan in Ireland. 
 He taught at Clonard, what he had himself learned or seen 
 at St. David's and at Llancarvan ; and thus became the means 
 of diffusing the monasticism of the Welsh Church through 
 most of Erin, especially in its southern parts. 
 
 The Life of Finuian given in the Salamanca MS. records 
 many miracles which he performed in Wales. By his prayers 
 and his great faith in God he dried a lake to get a site for 
 a monastery ; he caused mountains to overwhelm the invading 
 Saxons ; he drove away the serpents, wasps, and birds that 
 afflicted the religious men in the island called Echin, whom 
 he visited in order to derive consolation from their life and 
 doctrine. It is evident, however, from the narrative that he 
 spent most of the thirty years of his sojourn in Britain 
 under the spiritual guidance of Cathmael, and most probably 
 in his great school at Llancarvan. The years being expressed 
 in the manuscript Lives of the Saints by Roman numerals, 
 are always liable to error the addition of an X will make 
 thirty out of twenty, and a double XX added by the fault of 
 the copyist would make thirty out of ten. It is, however, 
 stated expressly that Finnian having completed the XXXth 
 year of his pilgrimage returned to his native country with 
 Biteus and Genocus and some other religious men of the 
 Britains, who followed the saint on account of the great] holi- 
 ness of his life and conservation. By God's help they landed 
 at Magh Itha in the south of Wexford, 1 at a port called 
 Dubglais, whence they proceeded to visit his ancient preceptor, 
 the holy Coemhan, who still dwelt in Dairinis. There was a 
 Dairinis or Oak island in the Blackwater, which was known 
 as Dairinis Molana ; but the island here referred to is 
 " Dairinis of Coemhan," as it is called in the Four Masters, 
 A.U. 820. It was in Wexford Harbour; and, as we have 
 already seen, Finnian when going to Wales spent some time 
 with Coemhan in that island, and it is only natural that he 
 should return to the scenes of his early years. From Dairinis 
 
 1 See Tripartite, voL ii., page, 632.
 
 THE SCHOOL OF CLONARD. 199 
 
 Finnian went to visit Muiredach Melbrugh, King of Hy 
 Kinselagh at that time, and sought permission to build a 
 church in his territory. The king received Finnian with all 
 honour and reverence, and sent him effective aid in building 
 a church at a place called Achadh Abhail, now Aghold, a 
 parish church in the barony of Shillelagh, County of 
 Wicklow. 
 
 Leaving some of his monks to continue his work at 
 Aghold, he went himself into the neighbouring district of 
 Hy Bairrche, and spent seven years teaching and preaching 
 at a place called Maonaigh in the Saint's Lite. It takes its 
 name from the Hy Maonaigh, an influential tribe who 
 possessed that territory, some of whom having migrated to the 
 North settled near the river Erne and gave their name to the 
 Co. Monaghan. The are now known as Mooneys. 1 
 
 As we are told that Finnian, during his residence in this 
 neighbourhood, sometimes preached before St. Brigid and 
 her nuns, his sojourn there must be fixed before the death 
 of that saint, A.D. 523 or 525. In his great love for holy 
 poverty the saint refused to accept even from St. Brigid a 
 gold ring which she presented to him as a token of her esteem. 
 
 Going still further north he founded another church at 
 a place called Esker Brenain, which in the Irish fashion he 
 fenced in with a circular mound and trench, dug with his 
 own hands. One day he found beside his church a poor boy. 
 who had been carried off as a captive by some robbers, and 
 was abandoned by them near the church. Finnian took 
 charge of the poor child, and finding him a youth of good 
 parts, diligently instructed him both in virtue and learning, 
 gave him, the tonsure, and made him it seems, his assistant, 
 either there or at Clonard. After the departure of Finnian he 
 became his master's successor in Esker Brenain. 
 
 Then an angel appeared to Finnian and told him that he 
 was to seek elsewhere the place of his resurrection, Finnian 
 promptly obeyed, and rising up, under the guidance of the 
 angel, he came to the place called Cluain Eraird. 
 
 III. THE SCHOOL OF CLONARD. 
 
 St. Finnian seems to have founded his school at Clonard 
 about the year A.D. 520, when he himself was in all proba- 
 bility not less than forty-five years of age. The place was 
 
 1 See Loca Patriciana, page 2o4.
 
 200 THE SCHOOL OF ST. FINNIAN OF CLOXARD. 
 
 previously a wilderness inhabited by wild beasts, who seem 
 to have made their lairs in the dense shrubberies that covered 
 the marshy banks of the Boyne and Kinnegad rivers. We 
 are told expressly in the Saint's Life, that a huge wild boar, 
 who had frequented the spot where the saint resolved to 
 remain, abandoned the place for ever. The saint threw him- 
 self on his knees in prayer, crying out in the words of the 
 Psalmist " This shall be my resting-place for ever ; here 
 will I dwell for I have chosen it." So he built his hut in 
 Eraird's Meadow, where the wild boar had previously kept 
 his lair. 
 
 An Irish school and monastery of the sixth century was, 
 as we have seen, very different from the monastic establish- 
 ments of modern times. Finnian began alone without, it 
 seems, a single disciple. He built his little cell of wattles 
 and clay, for stones are scarce at Clonard, and with such help 
 as he could procure he also built his church quite near his 
 cell, and in all probability of similar materials. We know, 
 indeed, that afterwards there was a daimhlaig or large stone 
 church at Clonard for we are told that it was burnt down in 
 A.D. 1045 no less than three times in one week, which is to be un- 
 derstood, however, of the furniture and the perishable materials 
 of the roof. This stone church, however, was not built until 
 the place had become famous by the life and labours of the 
 saint. When the little church was built, he fenced around 
 both the cell and the church with a deep trench or fosse 
 which formed the monastic enclosure, and, heedless of the 
 world, began to live for God alone in labour and watching, 
 fasting and perpetual prayer. We are told that he slept on 
 the bare ground, that he had a chain around his naked body 
 which sank into his flesh, and that he wore the same old 
 clothes until they fell to pieces from his back. 
 
 His ordinary food was a little bread with herbs and salt 
 and water. On festival days he allowed himself some fish, 
 or whey and porridge ; but flesh meat he never tasted. 
 It was not difficult to procure these luxuries, and what time 
 he could spare from labour he devoted to prayer and sacred 
 study, especially to the study of the Sacred Scriptures, for 
 deep knowledge of which he became pre-eminently re- 
 markable. 
 
 The fame of a life so austere and self-denying very soon 
 spread abroad, and great numbers came to visit him. He 
 performed many wondrous miracles ; and, moreover, gave 
 his visitors such heavenly instruction as showed that he was 
 a man not only of great holiness but of great learning. He
 
 THE SCHOOL OF CLONARD. 201 
 
 had all the science of the saints, for he had been in all the great 
 monastic schools of Britain ; some said he had been to Tours, 
 others added that he had gone all that way to Rome and 
 these statements have come down even to our time, but 
 unsupported by any satisfactory evidence. Then a great 
 crowd of scholars began to gather round him ; they were of 
 all ages and came from all parts. Abbots left their own 
 monasteries, even great bishops left their cathedrals, 
 some of them older than Finnian himself, to profit by his 
 bright example, and learn the lessons of Divine wisdom that 
 fell from his lips. To Clonard came all the men who were 
 afterwards famous as " The Twelve Apostles of Erin." 
 Thither came the venerable Ciaran of Saigher, a companion 
 of St. Patrick, to bow his hoary head in reverence to the 
 wisdom of the younger sage ; and that other Ciaran, the Son 
 of the Carpenter, who in after years founded the famous 
 monastic school of Clonmacnoise in the fair meadows by the 
 Shannon's shore. Thither, too, came Brendan of Birr, 
 " the prophet," as he was called, and his still more famous 
 namesake, Brendan of Clonfert, St. Ita's foster son, the 
 daring navigator, who first tried to cross the Atlantic to 
 preach the Gospel, and revealed to Europe the mysteries of 
 the far off Western Isles. There, too, was young Columba, 
 who learned at the feet of Finnian those lessons of wisdom 
 and discipline which he carried with him to lona, which 
 in its turn became for many centuries a torch to irradiate the 
 spiritual gloom of Picts, and Scots, and Saxons. And there 
 was that other Columba of Tir- da- glass, and Mobhi- 
 Clairenach of Glasnevin, and Rodan, the founder of Lorrha 
 near Lough Derg, and Lasserian, the son of Nadfraech, 
 and Canice of Aghaboe, and Senanus from Inniscathy, and 
 Ninnidh the Pious from the far off shores of Lough Erin. 
 It is said, too, that St. Enda of the Aran Islands and 
 Sinellus of Cleenish, and many other distinguished saints 
 spent some time at Clonard, but they are not, like those 
 mentioned above, reckoned amongst " the Twelve Apostles 
 Erin." 
 
 We are told in the office of St. Finnian that he had no 
 less than 3,000 scholars under his instruction, and that, too, 
 not meaning those merely who were there at different times, 
 but that there were so many as 3,000 together in his school. 
 It might seem at first sight that this was a rather extrava- 
 gant number, and that it would be impossible to find 
 suitable accommodation for so many persons in this wild 
 spot. We must remember, however, not to judge things
 
 202 THE SCHOOL OF ST. FINNIAN OF CLONARD. 
 
 according to modern notions. There were no school build- 
 ings necessary in our sense, no libraries, lecture halls, or 
 museums. 
 
 The instruction was altogether oral. There were no 
 books except a few manuscripts, and they were very highly 
 prized. The instruction was generally given in the open 
 air, and no more suitable place could be selected for the pur- 
 pose than the green fields around the moat of Clonard. If 
 the preceptor took his stand on its summit, or seated his 
 pupils around its slopes, he could be conveniently heard, not 
 only by hundreds, but even by thousands. They were easily 
 accommodated, too, with food and lodging. They built their 
 own little huts through the meadows, where several of them 
 sometimes lived together like soldiers in a tent. They sowed 
 their own grain ; they ground their own corn with the 
 quern, or hand-mill ; they fished in the neighbouring rivers, 
 and had room within the termon lands to graze cattle to give 
 them milk in abundance. When supplies ran short they 
 put wallets on their backs and went out on their turn to seek 
 for the necessaries of life, and were never refused abundant 
 supplies by the people. They wore little clothing, had no 
 books to buy, and generally, but not always, received their 
 education gratuitously. 1 
 
 The routine of daily life in St. Finnian's monastic school 
 we can easily gather from his own Life, and from what we 
 know of the monasteries in which he was trained. We are 
 told in his Life that on a certain occasion he said to his 
 beloved disciple Senachus, who succeeded him in the abbacy 
 of Clonard : " Go and see what each of my disciples is doing 
 at this moment." Senachus bowed his head and went ; and 
 lo ! he found them all intently engaged at their various 
 occupations. " Some were engaged in manual labour, some 
 were studying the Sacred Scripture, and others, especially 
 Columba of Tir-da-Glas, the son of Crimthann, he found 
 engaged in prayer with his hands stretched out to heaven, 
 and the birds came and alighted on his head and shoulders." 
 " He it is," said Finnian, " who will offer the Holy Sacrifice 
 for me at the hour of my death," for his, it seems, was pre- 
 eminently the spirit of holy prayer and meekness. 
 
 The study of Sacred Scripture, as this reference shows, 
 was especially cultivated at Clonard. It is the most sublime, 
 and in one sense the most difficult of all branches of sacred 
 knowledge. Moreover it is a study in which prayer and 
 
 1 See Life of St. Columba of Tir-da-glas in Colgan.
 
 THE SCHOOL OF CLONARD. 203 
 
 meditation can do more for the student than mere human 
 wisdom. It can be beet acquired at the foot of the crucifix, 
 and its best teacher is the Holy Spirit of God. But human 
 wisdom, too, is necessary, and all the aids which it supplies ; 
 and Finnian made use of that, also, for his own advancement 
 and for the instruction of his pupils. From his youth, under 
 the guidance of St. Fortchern, he had been a diligent student 
 of the Sacred Volume; he pursued the same studies in 
 foreign schools under many teachers ; God's Holy Word was 
 food for his mind and a lamp to his feet through all his days, 
 and in all his wanderings. 
 
 It was this knowledge of the Sacred Scriptures, in which, 
 it seems, he excelled all others, that attracted so many holy 
 and venerable men to the banks of the Boyne at Clonard, 
 and made his name so famous in the early Church of Ireland. 1 
 For the Irish, though a newly converted people, had an 
 insatiable thirst for sacred knowledge, and hung on the lips 
 of every teacher who could expound with clearness and with 
 power the mysteries and beauties of God's revelation to man. 
 And we know of our own knowledge that it is so still. There 
 is not a congregation in the wildest part of Ireland that will 
 not listen with the most intense interest to a preacher who 
 can clearly and literally explain the Gospel or Epistle for any 
 Sunday. They will be more attentive then than at any 
 other time ; they will catch up his smallest word ; they will 
 take it home with them and tell it to their children ; and 
 the children sometimes will take it home to the parents. 
 And they are right ; for the words of God are far beyond 
 any words of men. 
 
 It seems to have been this power of expounding the 
 Sacred Scriptures to his scholars that secured for Finnian 
 such prominence in sacred learning beyond all his contem- 
 poraries, and filled the school of Clonard not only with 
 scholars but with masters in Israel, who came with the rest 
 to acquire divine wisdom at his feet. Hence he enjoys in 
 history the glorious title of " Tutor of the Saints of Ireland." 
 Of the Second Order of Saints, the men who shone like the 
 moon in the firmament of our early Irish Church, Finnian 
 has been always recognized as the teacher and the chief. 
 He has been compared to the rose tree to which the bees 
 
 1 Regressus in Clonardiam 
 Ad cathedram lecturae, 
 Apponit diligentiam 
 Ad stadium Scriptnrae. 
 
 Hymn from St. Finnian' s Office.
 
 204 THE SCHOOL OF ST. FINNIAN OF CLONARD. 
 
 from every quarter gather in order to extract the honey. 
 His seminary at Clonard has been described by others as a 
 wonderful treasure-house, where illustrious men from all 
 parts of Ireland assembled together in order to enrich them- 
 selves with the wealth of ecclesiastical discipline and 
 Scriptural knowledge. The h3 r mn for the Lauds of his office 
 has a stanza which may be imperfectly rendered in English 
 
 " Before three thousand scholars he, 
 
 Their humble master, meekly stood ; 
 His mind a mighty stream that poured 
 For all its fertilizing flood." 1 
 
 The Four Masters record his death under date of A.D. 548, but 
 it may with more probability be fixed about A.D. 552 ; Colgan, 
 however, thinks he lived until A.B. 563. The Four Masters 
 frequently antedate by four or five years, so that the date of 
 his death as fixed by them is really equivalent to A.D. 552 of the 
 common era, which date is, we think, nearest the truth. In 
 O'Clery's calendar he is described as " St. Finnian, abbot of 
 Clonard, son of Finlogh, son of Fintan, of the Clanna 
 lludhraighe (Clan Rory). Sir James Ware calls him 
 Finnian, or Finan, son of Fintan, placing the grandfather in 
 place of the father. 
 
 " He was a philosopher and an eminent divine, who first 
 founded the College of Clonard in Meath, near the Boyne, 
 where there were one hundred bishops, and where with great 
 care and labor {he instructed many celebrated saints, among 
 whom were the two Brendans, the two Columbs, viz., 
 Columkille and Columb mac Crimthainn, Lasserian, son of 
 Xadfraech, Canice, Mobheus, Rodanus, and many others not 
 here enumerated. His school was in quality a holy city, full 
 of wisdom and virtue, according to the writer of his life, and 
 he himself obtained the name of Finnian the Wise. He 
 died on the 12th of December, A.D. 552 ; or according to others 
 A.D. 563, and was buried in his own church at Clonard." 
 
 We could find no trace of his tomb, because in truth there 
 is now no trace of his church. The hand of the spoiler has 
 devastated Clonard perhaps more completely than any other 
 of our ancient shrines. There was, we know, a round tower 
 there, which is said to have partially fallen in A.D. 1039. 
 " The Cloichtheach of Clonard fell," according to the Four 
 
 1 Trium virorum millium 
 Sorte fit doctor humilia ; 
 Verbi his fudit fluvium 
 Ut f ons emanans rivulis.
 
 THE SCHOOL OF CLONARD. 205 
 
 Masters, in that year. But the stump remained down to the 
 close of the last century. Sir W. Wild says nobody knows 
 what has become of it ; we believe it was used for the purpose 
 of building or repairing the present Protestant church, which 
 is a plainer and uglier building than even such edifices 
 usually are in Ireland. There are only two relics of antiquity 
 now remaining at Clonard, and it needs a close inspection to 
 find them out. The first and principal is an octagonal bap- 
 tismal font of dark gray limestone about 3 feet high (with its 
 pedestal), 2 feet in diameter, and some 20 inches deep, with 
 an opening in the bottom to permit the water to flow away, 
 after use, into the sacrarium. The eight panels of the basin 
 are beautifully sculptured with various figures in bold relief, 
 supposed to represent St. Finnian himself in his episcopal 
 robes, St. Peter, St. John, the Baptist, the Baptism in the 
 Jordan, and other kindred and appropriate subjects. The faces 
 of the pedestal on which the basin rests are in like manner 
 appropriately ornamented with various floral decorations. 
 No date is marked, nor can it be exactly fixed ; the work, 
 however, is in the highest style of Celtic art, and though it 
 cannot by any means be referred to so early a date as the 
 time of St. Finnian himself, it is of very great antiquity, at 
 least dating back to the eleventh century. Some persons 
 fancy that on one of the panels there is a representation of 
 Augustinian monks, and hence they say this font cannot be 
 older than A.D. 1175, when Walter de Lacy rebuilt the abbey 
 for monks of that order. But as far as we could judge, the 
 assumption that the figures represent Augustinian monks 
 is somewhat gratuitous. This interesting monument of ancient 
 monastic Clonard now stands before the Communion table of 
 the Protestant church. It is quite evident that the worthies 
 who placed it there knew little of ancient Christian usages. 
 
 The other relic is a curious stone trough now placed 
 within a few paces of the entrance to the church. It is 2 feet 
 2 inches long, 21 inches wide and 15 deep. It may have been a 
 piscina to receive the water that flowed from the font referred 
 to. My Catholic guide told many marvellous things of the 
 efficacy of its waters for curing various diseases, how it never 
 runs dry, and how fowl and other animals that profanely 
 drink of it perish. But the unbelieving sexton of the church 
 promptly contradicted him, at least on two points. He him- 
 self had seen it dry, and he saw the hens that drank of the 
 water living to lay many excellent eggs. There is also a 
 curious head-shaped stone which was once a corbel in the old 
 abbey, but is now inserted in the church tower over the door.
 
 206 THE SCHOOL OF ST. FINNIAN OF CLOXARD. 
 
 Like everything else of the olden time it is not only out of 
 date, but out of place in its present position. 
 
 From the time of St. Finnian to Stephen Rochfort, the 
 Norman Bishop of Meath, who transferred his episcopal resi- 
 dence from Clonard to Newtown, near Trim, we have a 
 chronicle of the bishops and abbots who sat in the chair of 
 St. Finnian. It is not certain that he was himself a bishop, 
 although he is spoken of in his office as Praesul and Pontifex. 
 
 It is. much more probable, however, that he was a bishop, 
 and his successors, though frequently styled abbots, seem to 
 have been in episcopal orders ; and all of them certainly 
 exercised episcopal jurisdiction. The school of Clonard, too, 
 for many centuries retained its ancient fame, and from time 
 to time produced distinguished saints and scholars. St. 
 Aileran the Wise, who, like many other Irish saints, died of 
 the fatal yellow plague that devastated the country in A.D. 
 664, is described as chief professor of the schools of Clonard. 
 He was also, in Colgan's opinion, the author of what is known 
 as the Fourth Life of St. Patrick, as well as of Lives of St. 
 Brigid y and St. Fechin of Fore, in Westmeath. He was also 
 the author of a Litany partly in Latin and partly in Irish, 
 which O'Curry discovered in the Yellow Book of Lecain in 
 Trinity College. Fleming, too, has published a fragment of 
 a Latin treatise by St. Aileran on the " Mystical Interpre- 
 tation of the Ancestry of our Lord Jesus Christ" This 
 fragment was found in the Irish monastery of St. Gall in 
 Switzerland. It \vas first published by Fleming in A.D. 1667, 
 and reprinted in the famous Benedictine edition of the 
 Fathers in A.D. 1677. It may, perhaps, with greater readi- 
 ness be referred to in Migne's Patrology (vol. 80, page 328). 
 We make special reference to this fragment because we have 
 no other writings of the Clonard school remaining, either of 
 St. Finnian himself or of his immediate successors; and 
 secondly because of itself it furnishes ample proof of the high 
 culture attained at that early age in this great Irish seminary. 
 The Benedictine editors say that although the writer did not 
 belong to their order, they publish it because Aileran " un- 
 folded the meaning of Sacred Scripture with so much learning 
 and ingenuity that every student of the sacred volume, and 
 especially preachers of the Divine Word, will regard the 
 publication as most acceptable (acreptissima)." 
 
 This is high praise from perfectly impartial and compe- 
 tent judges, and in that opinion we cordially agree. We 
 read over both fragments carefully, that mentioned above, 
 and also a " Short Moral Explanation of the Same Names,"
 
 THE SCHOOL OF CLONARD. 207 
 
 by the same author, and we have no hesitation in saying that 
 whether we consider the style of the Latinity, the learning, 
 or the ingenuity of the writer, it is equally marvellous and 
 equally honourable to the School of Clonard. The writer 
 cites not onlv St. Jerome, St. Augustine, and the author of 
 the " Imperfect Work," but what is more wonderful still, he 
 q uotes Origen repeatedly, as well as Philo, the Alexandrine 
 Jew. We cannot undertake to say that he was familiar with 
 these two authors in the original Greek, but even a know- 
 ledge of the Latin versions in that rude age is highly 
 honourable to our Irish schools. This fragment shows, too, 
 that a century after the death of the holy founder scriptural 
 studies of the most profound character were still cultivated 
 with eagerness and success in the great school of Clonard. 
 But evil days came upon this sanctuary of the holy and the 
 learned, especially after the advent of the Danes. 
 
 It was plundered and partially destroyed some twelve 
 times in all. But the Danes had half that work of sacrilege 
 to their own exclusive credit they plundered it on five or 
 six recorded occasions. It was burned no less than fourteen 
 times, sometimes partially, but on other occasions almost 
 wholly, as for instance in A.D. 1045, " when the town of 
 Clonard, together with its churches, was wholly consumed, 
 being thrice set on fire within one week." On another occa- 
 sion, in A.D. 1136, the men of Breifney, led even then by 
 O'Rorke of the One-Eye, the husband of the faithless Der- 
 vorgilla, " plundered and sacked Clonard, and behaved in so 
 shameless a manner as to strip O'Daly, then chief poet of 
 Ireland. Amongst other outrages they sacrilegiously took 
 from the vestry of this abbey a sword which had belonged to 
 St. Finnian the Founder." (Four Masters.} 
 
 Even in that century of nameless outrage and bloodshed, 
 Clonard was still the home of poetry and learning, and to their 
 shame be it spoken, it was an Irish chieftain and his followers 
 who destroyed what the Danes had spared the very men who 
 claimed to have on their side " virtue and Erin," forsooth, 
 while on the other was the " Saxon and guilt." But any one 
 who has ever read the bloody annals of the long reign of 
 Tiernan O'Rorke in Breifney will have some difficulty in 
 accepting him as the representative of virtue and Erin. His 
 rival, Dermod McMurrbugh, who was not outdone in villany 
 by any other Irishman of the time, plundered and burned 
 Clonard in A.D. 1170, and was aided in his foul work by Earl 
 Strongbow and his friends from England ; but next year he 
 paid the penalty of his crimes, dying of a loathsome disease,
 
 208 THE SCHOOL OF ST. FINNIAN OF CLONARD. 
 
 without the sacraments, accursed of God and man, for the 
 Four Masters tell us that " he became putrid whilst living, 
 by the miracle of God, and Columkille, and Finnian, and the 
 other saints of Ireland, whose churches he had profaned and 
 burned " truly a fitting end for such a life as his. In A.D. 
 1175 Walter de Lacy founded the monastery of Clonard for 
 the Canons regular of St. Augustine, but in A.D. 1206, as we 
 observed above, Simon de Rochford transferred the See of 
 Meath from Clonard to Trim ; and so the ancient glory of the 
 place faded away until now it is merely a name known only 
 to scholars, without even a broken arch or ruined wall to speak 
 with saddening eloquence of its glorious past.
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 THE SCHOOL OF CLONFERT. 
 
 " I grew to manhood by the western wave, 
 
 Among the mighty mountains on the shore ; 
 My bed the rock within some natural cave, 
 
 My food whate'er the seas and seasons bore; 
 My occupation morn and noon and night 
 
 The only dream my hasty slumbers gave 
 Was time's unheeding unreturning flight, 
 
 And the great world that lies beyond the grave.'' 
 
 The Voyage of St. Brendan. 
 
 THE School of Clonfert was for many centuries the most 
 celebrated and most frequented in the West of Ireland. 
 From the earliest times the fame of its great founder, St. 
 Brendan, did much to attract students to its halls from all 
 parts of Ireland. He was succeeded in the Monastery and 
 See of Clonfert by several other distinguished scholars, some 
 of whose writings still remain to show the extent and variety 
 of their learning. In spite of the incursions of the Danes 
 a continuous succession of prelates and abbots, whose names 
 have been all handed down to us, continued in Clonfert to 
 cultivate and encourage the pursuit of sacred studies. Even 
 in more recent times its prelates were generous patrons of 
 learning and learned men, and many important works con- 
 nected with Celtic Ireland still remaining for us, were due 
 in great measure to their munificence. 
 
 I. ST. BRENDAN OF CLOXFERT. 
 
 St. Brendan, the founder of the See of Clonfert, and the 
 patron of the diocese both Ardfert and Clonfert, is in many 
 respects the most interesting figure amongst the saints of 
 ancient Erin. His travels by land, and still more his voyages 
 by sea, have made him famous from the earliest times. 
 Manuscript copies of his Seven Years' Yoyage in the 
 Atlantic Ocean, some of them dating from ninth and tenth 
 centuries, are to be found in every great library, and almost 
 in every language of Europe. In our own times, poets and 
 
 o
 
 210 THE SCHOOL OF CI.ONFERT. 
 
 literary men, both in these countries and in France, have 
 been attracted to celebrate his romantic career, and their 
 genius has helped to lend a new immortality and more 
 attractive grace to his strange adventures. We can, how- 
 ever, at present only give the reader a very brief sketch of 
 his holy but adventurous career. 
 
 St. Brendan, the Navigator, as he is frequently called, 
 to distinguish him from Brendan of Birr, was born on the 
 sea coast a little to the west of Tralee, in the County Kerry, 
 about the year A.D. 484. The time, place, and circumstances 
 of his birth can be fixed with greater accuracy than is 
 usual in the case of most of our Irish saints. He was the son of 
 Finding, who was grandson of Alta.of the race of the celebrated 
 Fergus Mac Roy ; and hence he is frequently called Brendan 
 Mac Hy Alta. His family belonged to the tribe called 
 Ciarri Luachra, and they dwelt, we are told, in Altraighe 
 Chaille, at Rand Bera. 1 This place, still called Barra, 
 retains its ancient name, and is close to the little promontory 
 of Fenid, north of the Bay of Tralee. It is said that the ruins 
 of an old church, still traceable at Fenid Point, mark the 
 exact spot where the saint was born. Findlug was a Chris- 
 tian, and, with his wife, lived under the spiritual direction 
 of the holy Bishop Ere, who then dwelt at a place about 
 three miles north of Ardfert, still called by the peasantry 
 Termon Eire. His mother had a vision foreshadowing his 
 birth, in which she thought she saw her bosom filled with 
 purest gold and radiant with heavenly light. This the holy 
 bishop explained to signify the fulness of the Holy Spirit 
 which would adorn the offspring then in her womb. A 
 prophet of God called Bee Mac De also announced the future 
 sanctity of Brendan, and the fact of his birth, to a rich man 
 called Mac Airde, who dwelt at a place still called Cahir- 
 Airde close to Rand-Bera. This rich man made an offering 
 of thirty cows, with their calves, to the infant, and from 
 his very birth took him to be the patron of his home and 
 family. 
 
 The child was baptized shortly after his birth by Bishop 
 Ere at Tubber na Molt, or the Wedder's Well, which has 
 given its name to the townland of Tubrid, near Ardfert, and 
 i- -till regarded as a holy well by the people, who hold a 
 Ballon there on the festival of Brendan. Numerous votive 
 oiferings of every kind, hung around the well, attest the 
 faith of the people in the healing virtue of its waters. 
 
 1 Leabhar Breac.
 
 ST. BRENDAN OF CLONFERT. 211 
 
 For one year the child was nursed in the house of his 
 parents, and was then taken away by Bishop Ere to be 
 placed under saintly fosterage. St. Ita had just then 
 founded her convent of Ceall Ita, now known as Killeedy, 
 in the great plain south of Newcastle West, in the County 
 Limerick, and close to the northern limits of that Slieve 
 Lougher range, which bounded the native territory of St. 
 Brendan. The ruins of her ancient church are still to be 
 seen, as well as the bountiful stream from which young 
 Brendan must have often drunk, and also the lofty fragment 
 of an ancient castle, doubtless built there to defend the 
 church, like a round tower, during the stormy centuries of 
 the Danish incursions. 
 
 The young Brendan remained under the care of St. Ita 
 for five years, and no doubt during these years acquired 
 much of that spirit of confiding and fervent piety in which 
 he walked all the days of his life. He always looked upon 
 St. Ita as a mother ; in his temptations and trials he had 
 recourse to her holy counsels ; " for she was prudent in word 
 and work, sweet and winning in her address, but constant of 
 inind and firm of purpose." (Life of St. Ita.} 
 
 St. Ere, the tutor of Brendan, then took the boy under 
 his own charge. He was a learned as well as a holy man, 
 and is most proVbly to be identified with Ere of Slane, 
 ' the sweet spoken judge of Patrick/ who was one of the high 
 officials of the king, when St. Patrick visited Tara, and whose 
 death is recorded A.D. 512. 
 
 Young Brendan made great progress in learning under 
 the care of St. Ere. We are told that he read day and night 
 under the holy bishop, and being still very young he had 
 many privations to endure in the hermitage of the austere 
 prelate. Once, it is said, that in his thirst he cried for a 
 little milk, such as he used to get from St. Ita's dairy ; but 
 there was none to be had from St. Ere, until a doe from the 
 mountains came of her own accord to be milked to satisfy 
 the cravings of the child. His young sister, Briga, came at this 
 time to visit the holy youth, and was so much impressed by 
 what she saw and heard, that she too resolved to renounce 
 the world and devote her life to the service of God in 
 perpetual virginity. 
 
 We are told that Brendan studied the Latin language 
 from his ' infancy,' and it is most likely that the Psaltery and 
 the New Testament were his principal books at this period. 
 We may be sure, however, that the old Brehon of King 
 Lacghaire did not leave him in ignorance of his country's
 
 212 THE SCHOOL OF CLONFERT. 
 
 language and history, nor of the sweet songs of her ancient 
 bards. 
 
 St. Brendan remained under the tuition of the blessed 
 Ere until he grew up to be a young man able to take care of 
 himself, and fully instructed in all the learning that St. Ere 
 could teach him. Then Brendan, with the permission of his 
 master, and the blessing both of his master and foster mother, 
 St. Ita, resolved to go, " and see the lives of some of the holy 
 fathers of Erin." " But come back," said Ere, " that you 
 may receive priestly orders from my hands before I die." 
 " Go, my child/' said Ita, " and study carefully the rules of 
 the perfect fathers of the Irish Church, but do not visit often 
 the holy virgins, lest evil tongues defame thee." 
 
 Fortified with God's blessing and this sage advice Brendan 
 travelled northwards to visit the already celebrated school of 
 St. Jarlath, near Tuam. On his way he met Colman Mac 
 Lenin, whom he induced to give up his worldly life and 
 accompany him, it seems, on his journey. That Colman 
 afterwards founded the See of Cloyne, and became its first 
 bishop. 
 
 At this time St. Jarlath had a seminary for sacred learn- 
 ing at Cluainfois (Cloonfush), about two miles to the west of 
 Tuam. He himself had been the pupil of St. Benignus, the 
 sweet psalm-singer, and favourite disciple of St. Patrick. 
 The Church of Kilbannon, with its old round tower, may 
 still be seen in ruins a little to the north of Cluainfois. There 
 is also a vivid local tradition that St. Benignus, St. Jarlath, 
 and other saints used to hold spiritual conferences there 
 together. St. Benignus, however, was dead at least thirty years 
 before young Brendan came to this seminary. This " School 
 of the Saints" is still vivid in traditional memory of the people. 
 St. Jarlath was particularly skilled in the exposition of the 
 Sacred Scripture ; and we are told that it was love for that 
 branch of knowledge especially that induced young Brendan 
 to come to this remote seminary of the West. St. Brendan 
 remained some years at Cluainfois in the acquisition of 
 knowledge, and the practice of all virtue. Before his 
 departure he told St. Jarlath that Providence wished him to 
 remove to Tuam, which was destined by God to be the place 
 of his resurrection, and then getting his master's blessing he 
 left the seminary of Cluainfois. 
 
 St. Brendan next travelled northward to the plain of 
 An. 1 It is more commonly called by our Irish writers, Magh 
 
 1 See Latin Life of St. Brendan, edited by Cardinal Moran.
 
 ST. BRENDAN OF CLONFERT. 213 
 
 Enna, which is the Celtic form of the ' Campus An.' It 
 includes the wide undulating plain that extends from 
 Manulla Junction to Castlebar. This district was colonized 
 then or shortly afterwards by the tribesmen of Brendan, 
 and from them got the name of Upper Kerry (Ciarraige 
 Uachthair). There the Angel of the Lord appeared 
 to him saying : " Write the Rule that I shall dictate, 
 and live thou in accordance with that Rule." Then 
 Brendan wrote this Rule according to the dictation of 
 the Angel ; and it was the Rule by which Brendan 
 himself, and the monastic families founded by him, have 
 lived ' up to this day,' says the writer of the Latin Life of 
 Brendan. 
 
 Unfortunately this Rule is no longer extant, or at least 
 has not yet been discovered. It was whilst in the plain called 
 Magh Enna that Brendan performed a very striking miracle 
 in presence of a great crowd of people. A young man was 
 being carried to the grave, when Brendan met the corpse, 
 and calling on the mourning relatives to have confidence in 
 God, he approached the bier and with words of power bade 
 the eold corpse rise up from the bier. At once the dead man 
 arose ; and Brendan gave him to his friends. Then they 
 brought Brendan to the king, and told him all that had 
 happened. And the king offered to Brendan lands for ever 
 to found a monastery, if he would consent to remain amongst 
 them. But Brendan replied that he could not found a 
 monastery any where without the permission of his master, 
 Bishop Ere ; and that he had promised to return and receive 
 orders from him before he died. The King of Connaught at 
 that time was probably Eoghan Beul, whose palace was on an 
 island in Lough Mask. He seems to have reigned from 
 A.D. 510 to 542. 
 
 So Brendan returned home to Tralee, and received the 
 priesthood from his beloved master, the holy Bishop Ere. 
 The death of St. Ere of Slane is noticed in our Annals, 
 A.D. 512 or 513 ; and it was therefore a little before this time 
 that Brendan was elevated to the priesthood, when he was 
 about twenty-six years of age. 
 
 At this period we are told that Brendan built cells in his 
 native territory for the accommodation of the disciples, who 
 gathered round him, attracted by the fame of his sanctity. 
 But at that time he founded only a few cells, and had com- 
 paratively few disciples ; for he was yet young and almost 
 unknown outside his own country. However, when he 
 returned from his Atlantic voyages, his fame extended far
 
 214 THE SCHOOL OF CLONFERT. 
 
 and near ; and lie founded many monasteries both at home 
 and in various parts of Ireland. 
 
 It was probably at this period that St. Brendan built his 
 oratory on the summit of Brandon Hill, and there conceived 
 the bold idea of seeking the Promised Land beyond the 
 billows of the Atlantic. Brandon Hill rises over the ocean 
 to the height of 3,127 feet at the north-western corner of the 
 barony of Corcaguiny to the south of the Bay of Tralee. 
 The entire promontory of Corcaguiny is one range of bare 
 and lofty hills, at the extremity of which Mount Brandon 
 rises as a huge detached cone overlooking the western ocean. 
 It was a daring thought to build his cell and oratory on the 
 bare summit of this lone mountain, which is frequently covered 
 with clouds, and nearly always rudely swept by the breezes 
 that rise from the Atlantic Ocean. But on a clear day the 
 spectacle from its summit is one of sublime and unapproach- 
 able grandeur. All the bold hills and headlands from Aran 
 to Kenmare, that go out to meet the waves, are visible from 
 its summit. The rocky islets of the Skelligs and the Maherees 
 are the sentinels that guard its base. Inland the spectator 
 can cast his gaze over half the South of Ireland mountain 
 and valley, lake and stream and plain and town, stretching 
 far away to the east and south. But the eye ever turns 
 seaward to the grand panorama presented by the ultimate 
 ocean. No such sea view can be had in the British Islands ; 
 and Brendan while dwelling on the mountain summit saw it 
 in all its varying moods at early morning when the glory 
 of the sun was first diffused over its wide reaches ; at mid- 
 night when the stars swept round the pole that feared to dip 
 themselves in the baths of ocean ; at even above all at 
 even when the setting sun went home to his caverns beneath 
 the sea, and the line of light along the glowing west seemed 
 a road of living gold to the Fortunate Islands, where the 
 sorrows of earth never enter, and peace and beauty for ever 
 dwell. It was a dim tradition of man's lost Paradise floating 
 down the stream of time, for with curious unanimity the 
 poets and sages both of Greece and Rome spoke of these 
 Islands of the Blessed as located somewhere in the "Western 
 Ocean. The same idea from the earliest times has taken 
 strong hold of the Celtic imagination, and reveals itself in 
 many strange tales, which were extremely popular especially 
 with the peasantry on the western coast. To this day the 
 existence of O'Brazil, an enchanted land of joy and beauty, 
 which is seen sometimes on the blue rim of the ocean, is very 
 confidentially believed* in by the fishermen of our western
 
 ST. BRENDAN OF CLONFERT. 215 
 
 coasts. It is seen from Aran once every seven years, as 
 
 Brendan saw it in olden times, like a fairy city on the far 
 , . , j j 
 
 horizon s verge : 
 
 " And often now amid the purple haze 
 
 That evening breathed on the horizon's rim 
 
 Methought, as there I sought my wished for home, 
 I could descry amid the waters green, 
 
 Full many a diamond shrine and golden dome, 
 And crystal palaces of dazzling sheen." 
 
 Brendan was confirmed in his resolution to seek the 
 Blessed Islands by a strange tale told by Barinthus, a monk 
 from the neighbourhood, whose church of Kilbarron is not 
 far from Tralee. One of the monks of Barinthus, Mernoc by 
 name, had fled from his monastery in search of a desert in 
 the ocean. Barinthus followed after him, and at length 
 found him in the island called ' Delicious,' from which they 
 sailed further west, and came to the Land of Promise of the 
 Saints a beauteous land of light beyond the clouds and 
 mists of the western sea, covered with verdant glades and 
 flowery fields. But an angel told them to return home 
 again, that this land of light and beauty was not yet to be 
 revealed to men. 
 
 Then Brendan's heart was filled with this one thought, 
 to find out for himself this ' Land of Promise,' if haply it 
 were God's high will. So with his monks he fasted forty 
 days, and then choosing fourteen of their number he made 
 ready for the adventurous voyage. Even the great St. Enda of 
 Aran commended Brendan's purpose, and foretold that God 
 would bring his enterprise to a happy issue. So they built 
 themselves a large currach with ribs and frame of willow, 
 but covered with hides, and taking with them oars and sails, 
 and provisions for forty days they set out upon the trackless 
 sea steering for the " Summer solstice." 
 
 It is not our intention at present to follow Brendan and 
 his monks in their wanderings through the Atlantic. For 
 seven years they sailed from island unto island in the 
 Atlantic main, seeing many marvels by land and sea, follow- 
 ing God's guidance, fed by His Providence, and protected by 
 His power. At length, it is said, they reached the Continent 
 of America, and found the place where they landed to be 
 indeed a delicious country abounding in everything to 
 gratify the palate and please the eye 
 
 " The wind had died upon the ocean's breast, 
 
 When like a silvery vein through the dark ore, 
 A smooth bright current gliding to the west, 
 Bore our light bark to that enchanted shore.
 
 216 THE SCHOOL OF CLONFERT. 
 
 It was a lovely plain spacious and fair, 
 
 And blessed with all delights that earth can hold, 
 
 Celestial odours filled the fragrant air, 
 That breathed around that green and pleasant wold. 
 
 ' Thre may not rage of frost, nor snow, nor rain 
 
 Injure the smallest and most delicate flower ; 
 Nor fall of hail wound the fair healthful plain, 
 
 Nor the warm weather, nor the winter's shower. 
 That noble land is all with blossoms flowered, 
 
 Shed by the summer breezes as they pass ; 
 Less leaves than blossoms on the trees are showered, 
 
 And flowers grow thicker in the fields than grass. 
 
 " We were about to cross its placid tide 
 
 When lo ! an angel on our vision broke, 
 Clothed in white upon the further side ; 
 
 He stood majestic, and thus sweetly spoke 
 ' Father, return, thy mission now is o'er, 
 
 God who did bring thee here, now bids thee go, 
 Return in peace unto thy native shore, 
 And tell the mighty secrets thou dost know.' " 
 
 Therefore Brendan, in obedience to the voice of God's angel, 
 would not cross the mighty stream that watered this all- 
 beauteous land ; so they embarked once more, and guided by 
 Providence, they all returned in safety to their native 
 homes. 
 
 After this voyage, which was soon noised abroad, 
 Brendan became very famous, and crowds of holy men from 
 all parts of the conntry came to place themselves under his 
 spiritual direction. There can hardly be any doubt that it 
 was then these villages of beehive cells and stone oratories at 
 Kilmalkedar and Gallerus, as well as on the Blasquet Islands, 
 were built for the accommodation of these monks, the 
 disciples of St. Brendan. 
 
 But like Ulysses, Brendan had become a name, and had a 
 hungry heart for much roaming, that he might preach the 
 Gospel to the half -instructed natives, whom he had met in 
 his journey through Connaught. So he left his native place, 
 having founded the See of Ardfert, and crossing over the 
 estuary of the Shannon, then called Luiranech, he founded a 
 monastery in the island called anciently Inis-da-druim, or 
 the Island of the Two Ridges, in that great expanse of 
 water which flows up to Clare, near the town of Ennis. The 
 island is at present called Coney Island, and some remains of 
 ancient churches are still to be seen, there, but probably of 
 later date than the time of Brendan.
 
 ST. BRENDAN OF CLONFERT. 217 
 
 About this time, too, lie went to Wales, where he met the 
 great St. Gildas, and journeyed still further north to lona, 
 as we know from Adamnan's Life of St. Columcille. It is 
 said that this pilgrimage to Britain was imposed on Brendan 
 by St. Ita, as a penance for a rash command given by him in 
 Inis-da-druim, which caused the death by drowning of a too 
 obedient monk. It is probable that in the first instance he 
 went to the Scottish Dalriada, visiting lona and the neigh- 
 bouring islands ; for it is only after three years spent in 
 ' Britain * (which included Scotland) that we find him in 
 Wales with St. Gildas. 
 
 During this journey he preached the Gospel everywhere, 
 and founded many churches. He visited the Island of Heth, 
 or Tiree, which is about twenty miles north-west of lona. 
 Kilbrandon in the Island of Seil, a little to the south of 
 Oban, still bears his name, and Cuilbrandon shows where he 
 made his temporary residence. He visited a place called 
 Ailech, in the Latin Life, which is probably Alyth in Perth- 
 shire, and the Sound between Aran and Kintyre is still 
 called Eilbrennan Sound. 1 
 
 We gather from an incidental reference during his Welsh 
 journey, that Gildas had a missal written in Greek characters, 
 which he himself had probably got during his sojourn at the 
 Greek monasteries of Marseilles, and he invited Brendan to 
 offer up the Body of Christ on the altar, and make use of this 
 missal. When Brendan saw the strange characters he 
 prayed to God for help, and " sang the Mass from this 
 missal with the Greek characters, even as if they were the 
 Latin letters, which he had known from his infancy." This 
 seems to have taken place at Gildas' monastery of 
 Llancarvan, in South Wales, and it is remarkable that Gildas, 
 David, and Docus, or Cadoc of Llancarvan, are said to have 
 given a new Mass or new Liturgy to the saints of the 
 Second Order in Ireland. 
 
 It was perhaps after his return from Britain that Brendan 
 spent some time at the great College of Clonard and visited 
 the King of Tara. All accounts agree in making the two 
 Brendans the one of Clonfert and the other of Birr 
 
 1 " Bute (Scotland) is said to derive its name from bothe, a cell, St 
 Branden having once made it the place of his retreat, and for the same 
 reason, the natives of this isle, and also of Arran, have been sometimes 
 styled Brandani." Pennant's Tour in Scotland, vol. ii.. 4th edition, Dublin, 
 1775, p. 164. 
 
 [This note was sent to me by the late lamented Mr. Hennessy.]
 
 218 THE SCHOOL OF CLONFERT. 
 
 disciples of St. Finnian of Clonard, who was known as the 
 tutor of the Saints of Erin. This does not imply that 
 Brendan might not himself be almost as old as his tutor, 
 and he probably was so at the time. The saints were not 
 ashamed to become pupils of younger men than themselves, 
 if they had anything to learn either of knowledge or holiness. 
 It is more likely, however, that he spent his time at Clonard 
 before his sojourn in Britain, and that it was after his return 
 that he visited King Diarmaid at Tara. 
 
 On this occasion it seems he came to Tara on an errand 
 of mercy, which was destined to have very important con- 
 sequences. 
 
 King Diarmaid Mac Cerbhaill reigned from A.D. 544 to 
 A.D. 564 or 565. His high steward, when going round the 
 country to enforce the ancient laws of hospitality, was slain 
 by Aedh Guaire at his Dun in Hy-Many. Guaire fled to 
 escape the vengeance of the king, and took refuge with his 
 uncle, St. Ruadhan of Lorrha, on the other side of the Shan- 
 non. But the king discovered his retreat, and dragged off 
 the criminal to Tara to be punished for his crime. Ruadhan 
 closely followed, and it seems he begged St. Brendan, who 
 had by this time founded Clonfert on the Shannon in Hy- 
 Many, to accompany him. Brendan did so ; and thus both 
 saints, with their clerics and their bells and their croziers, 
 came to Tara to intercede for the criminal. But the King 
 was obdurate, and refused to release his prisoner. All the 
 courtiers joined the bishops in asking his pardon, but Diar- 
 maid still refused. Then Ruadhan of Lorrha and " another 
 bishop who was with him," incensed with the king for his 
 obduracy, " took their bells that they had, which they rung 
 hardly, and cursed the king and the place, and prayed God 
 that no King or Queen would or could even dwell in Tara, 
 and that it should be waste for ever, without court or 
 palace, and so it fell out accordingly." 1 Next year the 
 king was slain, and after him no king or queen ever 
 reigned again in Tara. The spot where Ruadhan and 
 Brendan stood, when pronouncing this dreadful excommuni- 
 cation, was on the Rath of the Synods, which is still shown 
 on Tara Hill. 
 
 St. Brendan founded one church at least in Leinster at a 
 place called Cluain Imaire, now Clonamery, in the Co. Kil- 
 kenny. It stands on the left bank of the river Nore, about 
 two miles below Inistiogue. Brandon Hill rises a little to the 
 
 1 Anna.lt of Clonmacnoit.
 
 ST. BRENDAN OF CLOJSFERT. 219 
 
 east of the old church, whose ruins are still to be seen, and 
 show it to have heen of the most primitive type of church 
 architecture. 
 
 But Brendan, probably at an earlier date, founded two 
 still more celebrated establishments in the West of Ireland 
 even before founding Clonfert, which has always borne his 
 name. 
 
 The first of these was the celebrated monastery of An- 
 naghdown, on the shore of Lough Corrib, which he founded 
 for his sister, St. Brigid, and where he himself died on Sun- 
 day, the 16th of May, A.D. 577. 
 
 It seems that after Brendan's return from Britain, he paid 
 a second visit to Connaught. During his first sojourn there 
 he became familiar with the great plain stretching westward 
 from Tuam to Lough Corrib, and doubtless also saw the 
 beautiful islands that stud that noble sheet of water. In one 
 of these islands, called Inchiquin, which is separated by a 
 narrow rocky channel from the eastern shore of the lake near 
 Headford, he founded his first monastery in the province of 
 Connaught. It seems to have been founded about the year 
 A.D. 550 or 552. He was accompanied to the island by his 
 nephew, the Bishop Moennu, or Moinenn, whom he after- 
 wards appointed to preside over Clonfert. With their own 
 hands they carried the stones and built their cells and little 
 oratory. Here, too, St. Fursey, who was a near relation of 
 St. Brendan, received his early training, as we shall see 
 further on. 
 
 When Brendan had established himself on Inchiquin, his 
 sister, St. Briga, came from Kerry, for she loved her brother 
 dearly, and was anxious to be near him for spiritual advice 
 and instruction. Then Brendan built for his sister the convent 
 of Annaghdown, on the shore of the lake a few miles to the 
 south, and there she governed under Brendan's guidance a 
 convent of holy nuns. The place afterwards became very 
 celebrated and was greatly enlarged. A parish church, and 
 afterwards a cathedral were established there, which flour- 
 ished for many centuries as the chief church of O'Flaherty's 
 territory, until it was finally appropriated somewhat harshly 
 by the Archbishops of Tuam. 
 
 It was probably whilst Brendan lived at Lough Corrib 
 that seeking after solitude, which has always had such a charm 
 for pious souls, he went further north to the extreme west of 
 Erris, and there founded an oratory and a cell that still 
 remain, though in ruins, and still bear his name. The island 
 of Inis-gluair, or Inishgloria, lies off the extreme west of
 
 220 THE SCHOOL OF CLONFERT. 
 
 Erris, and is about one mile distant from the mainland at 
 Cross in the Mullet. We have, not without difficulty, visited 
 this remote and lonely island, and we found the place still 
 teeming with recollections of Brendan and his few disciples, 
 but we only found three cells on the island. It is along, low- 
 lying rocky island, containing only about twenty acres of 
 fair pasture land for sheep. It is at present without inha- 
 bitants, for it is bare and barren of itself, and besides is 
 separated from the shore by a shallow stormy sea, which can 
 be only navigated in currachs with safety, and even then only 
 in very mild weather. In broken weather, as there is no 
 landing place on the island, it is absolutely unapproachable. 
 Brendan's oratory is still to be seen, and the remains of two 
 churches one the Church of the Men, and the other the 
 Church of the Women the latter without the monastic 
 enclosure. The cells have almost disappeared, and doubtless, 
 in a few years nothing but a heap of stones will be left to 
 mark the spot where these men of God slept, and prayed, and 
 lasted, surrounded by the billows of that angry and desolate 
 sea. A few paces to the east of the doorway of Brendan's 
 oratory are two flags which mark the spot where the Chil- 
 dren of Lir, whose fate is so pathetically told in Celtic legend, 
 sleep in peace awaiting their resurrection. " After this," 
 says the tale, "the Children of Lir were baptized ; and they 
 died and were buried; and Fiachra and Conn were placed at 
 either side of Fionngb uala, and Aedh before her face ; and 
 their tombstone was raised over their tomb, and their Ogham 
 names were written and their lamentation rites performed ; 
 and heaven was obtained for their souls." Inishgloria is one 
 of the least known but most interesting of the many holy 
 islands around Ireland. 
 
 According to an ancient tradition, no flesh can corrupt in 
 this island of purity ; even the bodies of the dead remain for 
 ages free from putrefaction, and their nails and hair continue 
 to grow, so that people may there recognise the features of their 
 ancestors, who left the world centuries before. This strange 
 story is not corroborated by modern experience ; but it i^ as 
 old as the time of the veracious and legend-loving Gerald 
 Barry, who, however, in his account mistakes Aran for 
 Inishgloria. 
 
 It was in A.D. 556 or 557 that St. Brendan founded his 
 great monastery of Clonfert. It was regarded as a very 
 important event ; and hence its date is expressly recorded in 
 all our Annals. " Brendinus ecclesiam in Cluain fertha 
 fundavit." (Annals of Ulster, ANNO 557). The celebrity of
 
 ST. BRENDAN OF CLONFERT. 221 
 
 the founder soon attracted a vast number of students and 
 religious men to this great monastic school, so that Brendan 
 in his life is said to have been the father of 3,000 monks. 
 Probably this refers to the number of monks and scholars in 
 the various monasteries governed by him, who lived under 
 his rule and obedience. But making the allowance even for 
 this sub-division, there still must have been a vast number 
 of students in that monastery on the banks of the Shannon. 
 Its name implies that it was a retired and sheltered meadow, 
 surrounded on one side by what was then a vast forest, and 
 is now an equally vast bog. To the north and east it was 
 bounded by fertile meadows stretching away towards the 
 river, which at the nearest point is two miles distant ; but 
 in rainy weather the river overflowed its low and sedgy 
 banks, converting all these meadows into one vast lake, so 
 that the Cluain itself became an island. It is so called in 
 some ancient references, which have been misunderstood 
 even by Dr. Lanigan, who could not understand why it was 
 called the " Island of Clonfert." 
 
 For twenty years Brendan presided over this great 
 establishment ; but occasionally left it for a time in order to 
 visit his other monasteries. Hence he placed Moinenn over 
 Clonfert as permanent prior, or Head of the House, so 
 that his own frequent absences might not interfere with 
 the permanent efficiency of the monastic and scholastic 
 work. 
 
 Brendan died at his sister's Monastery of Annaghdown 
 in the year A.D. 577, as already stated, in the ninety-fourth 
 year of his age. His remains had to be carried away by 
 stealth from his western people around Lough Corrib, who 
 loved him much, and by his own directions were brought to 
 his Church of Clonfert, where they were interred with all 
 honour by the myriads of his spiritual children, who 
 crowded to his obsequies. 
 
 I find no reference to any writings of St. Brendan except 
 the Rule already referred to, which he wrote at the dictation 
 of the Angel. The great influence which he exercised in his 
 own time was due to the zeal and sanctity of his life ; and 
 was felt for many centuries after his death. He has even 
 now more far more than 3,000 spiritual children in Kerrv 
 and Galway who revere his memory as a precious inheritance 
 and a bright example. The ancient cathedrals of Clonfert 
 and Ardfert have been seized by the stranger, and are 
 desolate or decaying. Inishgloria and Inchiquin are waste 
 and silent solitudes. Annadown and Inish-da-druim are in
 
 222 THE SCHOOL OF CLONFERT. 
 
 ruins ; yet the tree of Christian faith and virtue, which 
 Brendan planted, flourishes like the palm-tree by the waters, 
 producing each year richer and more abundant fruit. 1 
 
 II. ST. MOINENN. 
 
 This name is spelled in a great variety of ways. Here 
 we shall adopt the form given in the Feilire of .ZEngus, our 
 oldest and best authority. The nominative there is Moinen, 
 the genitive is Moinend or Moinenn. His festival day, as we 
 know from the same authority, and from all our niartyr- 
 ologies, was the first day of March. 
 
 As Colgan observes in the sketch which he has given 
 us of this saint, there are some things concerning him which 
 are certain, and some which are doubtful we should sav 
 very doubtful. First of all it is certain that he was the 
 intimate friend and associate of St. Brendan for many years, 
 both during his Atlantic voyages, and when he was found- 
 ing his monasteries on Lough Corrib's shores and islands. 
 Secondly, he was chosen by St. Brendan from amongst his 
 three thousand disciples to rule over Clonfert, and if he 
 outlived his master, to succeed him in the See and Abbacy. 
 He was in fact a Coadjutor to St. Brendan, chosen by that 
 saint himself on account of his great learning and holiness. 
 Thirdly, it is certain that St. Moinenn after governing 
 Clonfert with great prudence and success, died in the year 
 A.D. 570 or 571, that is six or seven years before the death 
 of Brendan himself. In the scholiast's annotations to the 
 Feilire of ^ngus "Moinenn is described as bishop and 
 comarb of Brendan ; " and the Martyrology of Donegal 
 calls him at the same date, like all our other Martyrologies 
 Bishop of Cluain-fearta-Brenainn. The scholiast on ^Flngris, 
 from the fact that he and St. Senan of Iniscathy are men- 
 tioned on the same day, the eighth of March, which is Senan's 
 
 1 From the late W. M. Hennessy I received shortly before his lamented 
 death the following note : 
 
 "In an Irish MS. in Trinity College, Dublin (Class H. 1, 7), in a 
 tract beginning on fol. 84, two poems are copied, the composition of which 
 is ascribed to St. Brendan (obviously of Clonfert). The first, No. 7, begins 
 
 An da Aodh mo dha Charaid 
 (The two Hughs, my two friends). 
 The second begins 
 
 Beannacht an Choimhdhe chomachtaigh 
 
 (The blessing of the Almighty Lord). 
 
 This," adds Mr. Hennessy, " is stated to be in praise of Aedh, King of 
 Cashel ; but there is no record of such a King of Cashel in the time of St. 
 Brendan." It is much more likely it refers to Aedh, King of Connaught, 
 who gave Inchiquin to Brendan.
 
 ST. MOINENN. 223 
 
 proper festival, infers that the latter was Bishop Moinenn' s 
 psalmist. 
 
 Now as to what is uncertain, Colgan is inclined to think 
 that this Bishop Moinenn of Clonfert is identical with 
 Monennius, the founder of the great Monastery of Rosnat 
 in Britain, and the master of several of our most distinguished 
 Irish saints, including St. Tighernach of Clones, St. Eugenius 
 of Ardstraw, St. Enda of Arann, and St. CairbreofColeraine. 
 It is well known that the prefix mo is merely a term of 
 endearment, and hence the name Moinenn or Mo-nenn, is 
 really the same as Nennio or Mo-nennius, the great and 
 celebrated saint who was undoubtedly the tutor of the saints 
 of Northern Erin, as St. Finnian of Clonard was the tutor 
 of the Saints of the South and West the celebrated Twelve 
 Apostles of Erin. 
 
 Colgan' s opinion is always entitled to the highest respect, 
 and the more deeply one is versed in the ecclesiastical history 
 of ancient Ireland, the more likely he is to set a high value 
 on the opinion of Colgan. Still we cannot assent to this 
 conjecture of his, especially for reasons of chronology. 
 
 We agree with the learned and judicious Skene that the 
 monastery of Rosnat, the magnum monasterium, which was 
 also called Albeit and Candida, can be no other than Whiterne 
 in Galloway, or as it is sometimes called Futerna. There is 
 no doubt that St. Nennio, Nennius or Ninian, was the 
 founder of that great monastery, and he may have been the 
 teacher of some of the great saints from the north of Ireland, 
 whose names are mentioned above. Furthermore it was 
 through him and his great monastery that monastic life and 
 discipline were introduced into those parts of Ireland, where 
 these early saints, his disciples, founded their own establish- 
 ments. St. Nennio or Ninian of Candida Casa was building 
 his new stone church the White House in Galloway when 
 he heard of the death of St. Martin of Tours, whose disciple 
 he had been. Now, Martin died the llth of November, 
 A.D. 397 ; and it is manifestly out of the question to suppose 
 that this Ninian, or Nennio, could have lived on to the year 
 A.D. 570, when he would be at least 200 years of age. This 
 assumes, however, the identity of Rosnat with Candida Casa. 
 But if Rosnat were a Welsh monastery, and that Moinenn is 
 merely another name for St. Manchan, or Manchenus, the 
 Master, as some think, then Moinenn, Bishop of Clonfert, 
 was we think that person, and derived his training and 
 
 1 Life of St. Tiyhernach.
 
 224 THE SCHOOL OF CLOXFERT. 
 
 knowledge of monastic discipline, at least to some extent, 
 from that source. We have seen that St. Brendan spent 
 some time in Wales, that lie belonged to the Second Order of 
 Saints, which got a JVIass from the three great Saints of 
 Wales. As St. Moinenn had accompanied him in his voyages 
 in the Atlantic, nothing in more likely than that he would 
 also accompany him to Wales, and remain there until such 
 time as Brendan founded Clonfert, when he was called home 
 by the latter to take charge of this new and important 
 foundation. It is evident, moreover, that he was a man of 
 large culture, and that during his presidency over Clonfert 
 he laid the foundations of that celebrity which the school 
 subsequently attained. 
 
 There is no satisfactory evidence that St. Brendan himself 
 ever received episcopal orders, but rather that in his humility 
 he, like the great St. Columba of lona, continued all his life 
 a presbyter-abbot. Of course the necessary episcopal func- 
 tions would be preformed by St. Moinenn, and no doubt that 
 was one of the reasons why he was chosen to preside over the 
 monastery and school of Clonfert. A similar arrangement 
 existed for a long period in lona. The head of the commu- 
 nity was a presbyter-abbot ; but there was nearly always a 
 bishop belonging to that great House, who conferred the 
 necessary orders on the various members of the Community. 
 All, or nearly all, Brendan's successors, however, appear to 
 have been bishops, as well as abbots, down to a comparatively 
 recent period, when the offices and mensal estates of the 
 bishop and abbot became quite distinct. The monastery as 
 such was nominally suppressed in the reign of Henry VIII., 
 but the incumbents contrived to hold their ground until 
 A.D. 1571, when the bishop, Roland de Burgo, came into 
 possession of the monastic as well as of the See lands. They 
 afterwards passed to the Protestant prelates whose represen- 
 tatives hold them still. 
 
 St. Fintan, surnamed Corach, seems to have been the 
 immediate successor of St. Brendan, for, as we have seen, 
 St. Moinenn was really coadjutor to Brendan, and died before 
 the coadjutus. 
 
 We are told in the Feilire of ^Engus that Fintan's feast 
 was the 21st of February, i.e., Fintan Coragh or the Melodious, 
 because he was famed as a psalm-singer and choir-master. 
 The scholiast after giving other explanations of the term, 
 adds that he was Brendan's successor, and came of the Corco 
 Duibne race, and that Brendan's mother belonged to the 
 same tribe. That tribe has given its name to the present
 
 SL. MOINENN. 225 
 
 barony of Corcaguiny, and we know that Brendan spent 
 many years of his life in that district, in which the famous 
 Mount Brandon is situated. He had only to cross the Bay 
 of Tralee to reach it from the place where his father's family 
 lived at Fenid. Fintan's father, according to the same 
 authority, was Gaibrene, son of Cocran. The names of his 
 two immediate successors in Clonfert are also given : 
 
 " Fintan the melodious, Senach the rough, 
 Colman, son of Comgall, the guileless, 
 Three great (spiritual) kings with warfare of valour, 
 One after the other in the abbey (of Clonfert). 
 
 The Martyrology of Donegal describes " Fintan Corach 
 as Bishop of Cluain-ferta-Brenainn , and he is in Cluain- 
 eidhnech also." But it is uncertain if Fintan ever went to 
 Clonenagh, and it seems highly probable that he was con- 
 founded with some of the othpr Fintan s, who founded and 
 ruled that Church. The fact that he was a connection of 
 St. Brendan by the mother's side, will explain why he was 
 chosen to succeed that saint in the government of the Church 
 of Clonfert. It was an established rule to select the comarb 
 from the kin, or failing that, from the tribe of the founder, 
 when a suitable candidate so recommended was forthcoming. 
 
 No doubt St. Fintan, whilst he governed Clonfert, did 
 much to encourage the study and practice of sacred psalmody 
 in the abbey choir. He could hardly he false to his name, or 
 allow discords to prevail, where harmony heavenly har- 
 mony should help to raise the mind to God and His 
 Angelic Choirs. He seems to have died towards the end of 
 the sixth century. Archdall gives the date as A.D. 590, but 
 nothing is known for certain on the point. 
 
 The Abbot Seanach Garbh appears to have been the 
 successor of St. Fintan, but beyond the record of his death, 
 which the Ulster Annals give A.D. 620, we know nothing. 
 St. Colman, son of Comgall, is mentioned by the scholiast of 
 dingus as the next of the three ' kings' who ruled the abbey 
 in succession to Brendan, but of him in like manner we know 
 nothing further. 
 
 The next Abbot-Bishop of Clonfert was the celebrated 
 Cummian Fada, or Cummian the Tall, perhaps the most dis- 
 tinguished scholar of his time in Ireland. Before, however, 
 we give an account of his life and writings, it is necessary to 
 refer briefly to another famous disciple of St. Brendan, that 
 is, the celebrated St. Fursey. 
 
 After Brendan himself, St. Fursey is the most remarkable 
 saint of the times in which he lived, and it is fortunate that
 
 226 THE SCHOOL OF CLONFERT. 
 
 we have a Life of this saint still extant which at least in 
 substance must be accepted as authentic. This Life is referred 
 to by Bede, who himself gives a long and most interesting 
 account of the saint. It is evident that the Life quoted by 
 Bede was the work of an almost contemporary writer ; for 
 he speaks of the plague and the great eclipse of the sun, 
 which happened last year, that is, as we know from Bede 
 himself, on the 3rd of May, A.D. 664. The Life was therefore 
 written within ten or fifteen years of the death of Fursey 
 himself ; and although additions were probably made to it 
 afterwards, it must be accepted even in its present shape as 
 authentic and truthful, at least in substance. It is, moreover, 
 confirmed in many particulars by the evidence of our native 
 annals. 
 
 According to this Life, which has been published bj 
 Colgan, at January 16th, St. Fursey was the son of aMunster 
 prince named Fintan, 1 son of Finloga, and this Fintan, either 
 by his father's or mother's side was a nephew of St. 
 Brendan. The history of the birth of the saint is not 
 without an element of romance, and hence we shall refer to 
 it more in detail that our purpose would otherwise require. 
 
 Young Fintan from some cause or other left the home of 
 his father, who is described as King of Western Muuster, 
 and came as a soldier of fortune to the Court of Brudin, or as 
 he is sometimes called, Brendinus, King of North Con- 
 naught. In some of the versions of the Life of Fursey he is 
 made to come to the Court of Brandubh, King of Leinster ; 
 but this error arose from confounding the latter with 
 Brendinus, or Brudinus, King of North Connaught. 
 
 The Hy-Briuin race of Connaught derived their descent 
 from Duach Galach, youngest son of Brian, son of Eochaidh 
 Muighmheadhoin (Eochy Moyvane). Feargus, great grandson 
 of Duach, "the Victorious" (galach) was king, or prince of 
 Connaught about the year A.D. 517, whilst St. Brendan was 
 still a young man. He had three sons, who became the 
 ancestors of the three great branches of the Hy-Briuin race 
 namely, Eochaidh Tirmcharna, the ancestor of the 
 O'Conors, Duach Teangumha, the head of the great clan of 
 the O'Flahertys of West Connaught, and Feargna the 
 common ancestor of the O'Rorkes and O'Reillys of Breifney. 
 Now Aedh, son of Eochaidb, was King of Connaught at 
 least of South Connaught when St. Brendan founded his 
 monastery on Inchiquin, about A.D. 550. His uncle Feargna 
 
 1 Some confound this St. Fursey with another Fursey, son of Lochan of 
 the Dal-araidhe.
 
 ST. MOINENN. 227 
 
 had three sons, who at the same time ruled in North 
 Connaught Brendin or Brudin, Aedh Finn, and Fearadach. 
 It was to Brudin, the eldest, it seems, of these three brothers, 
 that young Fintan came from Kerry as a soldisr of ^fortune. 
 It must be borne in mind, too, that there was a great 
 emigration at this period from Kerry to North Connaught. 
 So that probably Fintan did not come alone, but accompanied 
 with some of his tribesmen. 
 
 Now Aedh Finn, the Prince of North Connaught, had a 
 beautiful daughter called Gelges, and she fixed her affections 
 on the young prince from Kerry. The father would not 
 allow her to marry a penniless exile, but love ignores such 
 obstacles ; they were secretly married, and the fact was first 
 disclosed to the king by the visible pregnancy of his 
 daughter. In his wrath he condemned the daughter and her 
 unborn child to be burned alive. But Providence extinguished 
 the fire ; and it seems, too, that the king's sub-chieftains 
 would not tolerate the commission of this great crime. So 
 Fintan and Gelges were allowed to escape death, but were 
 ordered to return no more to Breifney. 
 
 In this great difficulty Fintan bethought himself of his 
 uncle, St. Brendan, just then established in Inchiquin ; and 
 to him he fled for refuge. The saint received his kinsman 
 kindly, and as he and his wife were in danger of their lives, 
 he allowed them to lodge for the time in the hospice of 
 Inchiquin. There within a few days the unhappy Gelges 
 gave birth to a boy, the future Fursey, the renowned saint of 
 Ireland, and England and France. He was baptized by St. 
 Brendan, and we are told so long as Brendan lived 1 that he 
 instructed the youth in all knowledge, sacred and profane, 
 and that the work was afterwards continued by his disciple, 
 St. Meldan, of Inchiquin. It is no wonder that Brendan, 
 remembering his own youth spent under the care of St. Ita 
 and St. Ere, now in his turn sought to give to this princely 
 youth the same tender care, and the same religious training 
 which he had himself received. We can even trace the vivid 
 imagination of Brendan himself in the wonderful visions of 
 Fursey, and the same restless longing, peregrinari pro 
 Ckristo, to preach Christ in strange lands, which caused 
 Brendan to sail the Atlantic seas, caused Fursey to preach at 
 first in Ireland, then in England, and afterwards in France. 
 
 It is said in his life that Fursey founded a monastery of 
 his own in the Island of Rathmat, or Ramath, in Lough 
 
 1 Fursey must have been very young, certainly not more than ten years 
 of age, when Brendan died in A.D. 577.
 
 228 THE SCHOOL OF CLONFERT. 
 
 Corrib. This island cannot now be identified, but on the 
 shore of Lough Corrib, not far from Inchiquin, is the old 
 church and parish of Killursa, which bears his name, and of 
 which Fursey was undoubtedly the founder and the patron. 
 
 There is also a place near Inchiquin on the mainland 
 called Ard-fintain Fintan's Height near Headfort, which 
 still gives its name to the townland ; and there are traces of 
 an ancient rath in the place. It seems almost certain that 
 Fintan, leaving Inchiquin, took up his residence with his 
 wife at Ard-fintain, that there his children, St. TJltan and 
 St. Foillan, brothers of St. Fursey, were born, and like him, 
 were educated on the neighbouring island of Inchiquin by 
 the good monks of St. Brendan. It is likely, too, though 
 not mentioned in Fursey's Life, that the brothers were sent, 
 when they grew up, to the great School of Clonfert, which 
 had been founded by their grand uncle, and which was still 
 governed by their own kinsmen. 
 
 Of the subsequent career of the great St. Fursey we 
 cannot now speak at length. His celebrated visions were 
 known to all mediaeval Europe, and it is said they furnished 
 Dante with the groundwork of the plot of the scenes of the 
 Divina Commedia. His influence has been felt according to 
 certain writers in shaping the entire course of mediaeval 
 theology with regard to the state of the souls in the world to 
 come. This of course is an exaggeration, but it shows how 
 widely the influence of his life and actions is supposed to 
 have extended. Bede evidently believed in the reality of 
 these visions of the saint, and \vas very far indeed from re- 
 garding them as the purely subjective visions of a disordered 
 imagination. Of Fursey's subsequent career, both in England 
 and France, we shall, let us hope, learn more hereafter. 
 
 III. ST. CUMMIAN THE TALL, BlSHOP OF CLONFERT. 
 
 St. Cummian, surnamed the Tall (fada), to distinguish 
 him from Cummian the Fair (finn), Abbot of Hy, was the 
 most learned Irish scholar of the seventh century. He took 
 a leading part in the famous Paschal controversy, and his 
 letter on that question, which is fortunately extant, proves 
 him to be perfectly familiar with Church history, and deeply 
 versed in Sacred Scripture. He was well skilltd, too, in the 
 moral theology of the times, as the Liber de Mensura 
 Poenitentiarum clearly shows. He tried his hand at poetry 
 also, but we cannot say as much for his verses as for his 
 theology : it is rarely, indeed, that theologians are good 
 poets they have too much sobriety of mind. His contem-
 
 ST. CUMMIAN THE TALL, BISHOP OF CLONFERT. -2.) 
 
 poraries likened Cummian in morals and life to St. Gregory 
 the Great, and one of his admirers, in an old rann preserved by 
 the Four Masters, says he was the only Irishman of his time 
 fit to succeed that illustrious Pontiff in the chair of St. Peter. 
 
 Yet, the birth of this holy and learned man was the fruit 
 of an unspeakable crime, to which it is unnecessary here to 
 make further reference. His father was Fiachna, son of 
 Fiachra Gairine, King of "West Munster. The clan were 
 known as the Eoghanach of Lough Lein, because they were 
 sprung from the great Eoghan More, son of Ollioll Olum, 
 and dwelt in the woods and mountains round the far-famed 
 lakes of Killarney. His unhappy mother was, it seems, in 
 early youth called Flann, but she was also called Mughain or 
 Mugania, and was sometimes known as Rim, or, as Colgan 
 latinises it, Rima. Her identity, however, under these 
 various names is sufficiently established by the great mis- 
 fortune of her life, for which, perhaps, she may not have 
 been responsible. 
 
 The child was born in A.D. 589, or 590, for he died in 
 A.D 661, at the age of seventy-two. Drumdaliter Marianus 
 O'Gorman tells us was " the name of his town," and 
 Aedh or Hugh was his " proper name " at first. Shortly 
 after his birth the infant was exposed by his parents, and 
 left at the head of the cross in a small Cummian or basket 
 near St. Ita's Convent of Killeedy, and the holy sisterhood 
 finding the child thus abandoned took charge of the foundling, 
 and called him Cummian, because he was found in the basket. 
 
 The history of the lady Flann, the mother of Cummian, 
 is very singular. The great misfortune of her life seems to 
 have happened when she was very young, and it may have 
 been greatly, if not entirely, against her own will. It seems, 
 too, that she was very beautiful in a stanza composed by 
 Cummian himself, she is called Flann the Fair it is said too 
 that she was four times married, and became tbe mother of 
 no less than' six kings and six bishops. 
 
 After the death of her fourth husband, Flann, whether 
 tired of the cares of married life, or anxious to do penance 
 for the sin of her youth, consulted her son Cummian as to her 
 i'uture ; and he advised her to retire from the world, and 
 spend the rest of her days in prayer and penance. She did 
 so, and died a holy nun at an advanced age. 
 
 From Killeedy, or perhaps from Killarney, young 
 Cummian was sent to the great school of Cork, founded by 
 St. Finnbarr about the beginning of the seventh century, 
 when Cummian would be twelve or fifteen years of age.
 
 230 THE SCHOOL OF CLONFERT. 
 
 Among the teachers in Cork, either then, or a little later 
 on, was Colman Mac O'Cluasaigh, who is called the " tutor " 
 of young Cummian, to whom he became greatly attached. 
 Colman O'Cluasaigh was, it seems, a most accomplished 
 scholar, and had, moreover, an Irishman's love for poetry and 
 song. Dr. Todd 1 has published, in the first volume of the 
 Liber Hymnorum, a very beautiful Irish hymn composed 
 by Colmau to invoke for himself and his pupils the protection 
 of God and His Saints against the yellow plague, which 
 devastated Ireland between the years A.D. 660-664. He is 
 described in the preface to that hymn as a reader of Cork 
 (fer-legind), and is said to have composed it when he was 
 flying, with his pupils, from the plague, to take refuge in 
 some island of the sea, because it was thought the contagion 
 could not extend beyond nine waves from the land, which, 
 even from a sanitary point of view, was likely enough. He 
 also composed, about the same time, an elegy on the death 
 of Cummian. 
 
 Colman inspired his pupil with his own love for poetry ; 
 and fortunately we have, in the same Book of Hymns, a Latin 
 ooem written by Cummian, which we should reprint if the 
 space at our disposal were not so limited. 
 
 From St. Finnbarr's school Cummian seems to have gone 
 to visit his half brother Guaire, who was King of South 
 Connaught at this period, or a little later on. As Cummian 
 was already famous for sanctity and learning, and belonged 
 to an influential family, who would now be ready enough to 
 acknowledge the relationship, we can easily conceive how his 
 own merits and Guaire's influence, would have procured his 
 selection for the bishopric of Clonf ert. "All the Martyrologies 
 and Annals," says Cardinal Moran, 2 " agree in styling 
 St. Cummian Fada, Bishop and Abbot of Clonfert." 
 
 But it is not easy to fix the exact date of his appointment. 
 We find the death of Senach Garbh, Abbot of Clonfert, 
 marked by the Four Masters under the date of A.D. 620, and 
 his successor Colman died, according to Archdall, in the same 
 year which he gives as A.D. 621. As there is no other obituary 
 of a Bishop or Abbot of Clonfert noticed in our Annals until 
 the death of Cummian himself in A.D. 661, we may perhaps, 
 fairly assume that he succeeded the Abbot Colman and 
 governed the See for forty years. Colman, King of Con- 
 naught, the uncle of Cummian and father of Guaire, was 
 slain in A.D. 617, and Guaire, if not actually king at this 
 
 1 To whom we are indebted for much information about Cummian. 
 
 2 Note to Archdall, sub vote, " Cloiift-rt."
 
 ST. CUMMIAN THE TALL, BISHOP OF CLONFERT. 231 
 
 date, was an influential chief, and his defeat with others at 
 the battle of Cam Fearadhaigh in Limerick is noted by the 
 annalists in A.D. 622, and his death in A.D. 662, so that the 
 two brothers,Uhe Bishop and Chieftain, were contemporaries 
 ruling in South Connaught during a long and chequered 
 career. This fact will help to explain the great influence 
 which Cummian possessed, and the leading position which 
 he occupied in the Irish Church at that period. 1 His fame 
 as a saint and scholar spread throughout all Ireland, and 
 attracted crowds of students to his great school at Clonfert. 
 He appears, as we shall see further on, to have taken a 
 leading part in the Synod of Magh Lene, held about 
 A.D. 630, and no doubt it was at the request of the Fathers 
 of that Synod, that he wrote his famous epistle on the 
 Paschal Question to the Abbot Segienus of Hy, about the 
 year A.D. 634. There is every reason to believe that Segienus 
 and Cummian were, if not personal friends, at least well 
 known to each other, for the Columbian Abbey of Durrow in 
 King's County, was not far from Clonfert, and the uncle of 
 Segienus had been Abbot of that house until he was transferred 
 to Hy in the year A.D. 600. Segienus himself was very likely 
 educated there under his uncle's care, and perhaps succeeded 
 him later on in the government of the Abbey. It is at all 
 events certain that frequent intercourse existed between Hy 
 and Durrow, and that Cummian must have been well known 
 at Durrow is manifest. 
 
 About a mile and a-half from Shinrone, to the west of 
 Hoscrea, there is an old ruin, perhaps originally built by St. 
 Cummian, which gives its name Kilcommin to the parish. 
 This was Disert Chuimin in regione Roscreensi, to which 
 Cummian probably retired before the Synod of Magh Lene, 
 to devote himself to a year's study of the Paschal question. 
 It is about twenty -five miles from Durrow, and fifteen from 
 Clonfert. The old church was built under the shadow of 
 
 1 There is a characteristic story of Cummian, Guaire, and Caimin, told 
 by the scholiast on the Felire of JEngus, The three half brothers were at 
 one time in Caimin' s Church of Inis Cealtra in Lough Derg. " What would 
 you wish to have this Church filled with ?" said Caimin to Guaire. " With 
 silver and gold," he replied, "that I might give it to for my soul's sake to 
 saints, and to churches, and to the poor." " And you, Cummian, what would 
 you have it filled with?" "I would have it full of books to instruct 
 studious men, to enable them to preach the Gospel, and save souls," 
 said Cummian. Then they said, " But thou, Caimin, what would you wish 
 to have in it?" " I would wish to have the full of it of diseases and 
 sicknesses to afflict my body," replied Caimin. And all three got their 
 wish, " the earth to Guaire, wisdom to Cummian, and sickness and disease 
 to Caimin. ; " and they all went to heaven in the way they wished.
 
 232 THE SCHOOL OF CLONFERT. 
 
 Knockshigowna, the beautiful hill on which the Tipperary 
 fairies hold their revels. 
 
 The knowledge of these facts will help to explain Cum- 
 mian's relations with King Domhnall a few years later. 
 
 When Domhnall, King of Ireland from A.D. 628 to 642, 
 was a mere boy, he accompanied his father to the great Synod 
 of Drumceat. On that occasion his relative Columcille put 
 his hands on the boy's head and blessed him, foretelling at 
 the same time that he would survive his brothers, and become 
 a great king, and, moreover, that he would expire peaceably 
 and happily on his bed surrounded by his family quite an 
 unusual occurrence for an Irish king in those days. King 
 Domhnall reigned and sinned, like most other kings ; so that 
 towards the end of his life he did not feel himself well dis- 
 posed to die, because, says the scholiast, he had not the gift 
 of penance to bewail his sins. However, he had confidence 
 in Columcille's prediction, so he sent a message to the Abbot 
 of Hy to ask whether he should go there in person to do 
 penance, or, if not, what soul's- friend the Abbot would recom- 
 mend him. Segienus, then Abbot of Hy, sent back word to 
 the king, that his confessor would come to him from the 
 south, and he very likely asked, at the same time, Cummian 
 to visit the monarch. This message was attributed, in accord- 
 ance with the custom of the times, to Columcille himself. It 
 is preserved by the scholiast on Cummian's hymn, and is to 
 the following effect : 
 
 " A Doctor who shall come from the south, 
 
 It is with him (Domhnall) shall find what he wants; 
 He will bring Communion to his house, 
 To the excellent grandson of Ainmire." 
 
 There is a play on the word Communion which in Irish 
 is the same, or almost the same, as Cummian, the man's 
 name. 
 
 Thus, it came to pass, whether by accident or design, that 
 Cummian, the great Saoi or Doctor of the south, came all 
 the way to Derry to visit the king, and administer spiritual 
 consolation to him. But it seems the heart of the king still 
 continued dry and impenitent. Then Cummian had recourse 
 to prayer, and in order to obtain the gift of tears for his royal 
 penitent, he composed, in honour of the Apostles, the very 
 striking hymn in the Liber Hymnorum. It seems that this 
 poetic prayer was efficacious, Domhnall became a sincere 
 penitent, bewailing his sins with floods of tears. The pre- 
 diction of Columcille was completely verified, and the Four
 
 ST. CUMMIAN THE TALL, BISHOP OF CLONFERT. 233 
 
 Masters tell us that Domhnall died at Ard-folhadh, near 
 Ballymacgrorty, in the Barony of Tirhugh, "after the victory 
 of penance, for he was a year in mortal-sickness, and he used 
 to receive the body of Christ every Sunday." As King 
 Domhnall died in A.D. 642, we may fix this visit of Cummian 
 in A.D. 640 or 641 ; the scholiast in the poem that caused the 
 conversion of the king, tells us expressly, that it was " written 
 in Derry," nigh to the ancient Aileach, the royal residence 
 of the northern kings. 
 
 By far the most important and interesting event in the 
 life of Cummian was the part he played in the great Paschal 
 controversy. We can at present only give the merest sketch 
 of the history of this great discussion, so as to enable our 
 readers to understand Cummian's share in the controversy. 
 
 Of course the system of computing the date of Easter in 
 use both in Ireland and England at the beginning of the 
 seventh century was that which was introduced by St. Patrick 
 himself, and which he acquired in the schools of France and 
 Italy. From the very beginning, however, much diversity 
 of practice existed between the Churches of the East and 
 West, and even between some Churches in the West itself, in 
 reference to the date of Easter Day. With a view to secure 
 uniformity as far as possible, the Synod of Aries, to which 
 Cummian refers, held in A.D. 314, prescribes in its first canon 
 that the whole world should celebrate the Easter festival on 
 one and the same day, and that the Pope, according to custom, 
 should notify that day to all the Churches. 1 There were three 
 British bishops present at that Synod. But the diversity of 
 practice still continued, to the joy of the pagans and to the 
 scandal of the faithful. 
 
 Then the Nicene Synod intervened in A.D. 325, and com- 
 manded all the Eastern Churches " which heretofore used to 
 celebrate the Pasch with the Jews," 2 to celebrate it in future 
 at the same time with the Romans and with us so say the 
 prelates of the Synod in their circular letter to the Egyptian 
 Churches. Constantine, the Emperor, in his own circular 
 says that the Synod agrees that all should celebrate the Pasch 
 on the same day, but that it should never be on the same day 
 with the Jews ; and Cyril of Alexandria states, and Leo the 
 Great confirms the statement, that the Alexandrian Church 
 was to calculate the dates, and then notify them to the Roman 
 
 1 Primo loco de observations Paschae Domini, et uno die et uno tempore 
 per omnem orbem a nobis observetur et juxta consuetudinem litteras ad 
 omnes tu dirigas. 
 
 2 See Hefele. Councils, vol i., page 314. French. Edition, 1569.
 
 234 THE SCHOOL OF CLONFERT. 
 
 Church, which was to convey the information to the other 
 Churches. This was virtually adopting the Alexandrian 
 cycle of nineteen years which was very different from the 
 Roman cycle. Then at Alexandria the equinox was rightly 
 fixed on the 21st March, at Rome it was the 18th ; at Alex- 
 andria they celebrated Easter on the 15th day of the moon, 
 when the 14t/i was a Saturday ; at Rome they did not cele- 
 brate Easter in any circumstances before the 16th day of the 
 moon assuming that as the 14th day represented Good 
 Friday, the Pasch of the Passion, Easter Sunday, the Pasch 
 of the Resurrection, could not rightly take place before the 
 16th. It is curious that Cummian in his Epistle supports 
 this opinion, although Bede makes the 15th of the moon a 
 possible Easter Sunday, and such is still the usage. A diver- 
 sity of practice, therefore, between Rome and Alexandria 
 still continued for many years. However, the Alexandrian 
 usage ultimately prevailed, but was finally accepted in the 
 Western World only about A.D. 530, wiien explained and 
 developed by Dionysius Exiguus. 
 
 This, the correct system, therefore, lays down three prin- 
 ciples. First, Easter Day must be always a Sunday, never 
 on, but nezt after the 14th day of the mocn. Secondly, that 
 14th day, or the full moon, should be that on or next after 
 the vernal equinox ; and thirdly, the equinox itself was 
 invariably assigned to the 21st of March. 
 
 Whilst, however, the Continental Churches aimed at uni- 
 formity after a troublesome experience of their own errors, 
 the Irish and British Churches, practically isolated from their 
 neighbours, tenaciously clung to the system introduced by 
 St. Patrick. It was the system of their sainted fathers, and 
 that was enough for them. So when Augustine and his 
 companions, having partially converted the Saxons, came 
 into contact with the Christians of the north of England, they 
 were much scandalized at their celebrating Easter at a dif- 
 ferent time from the rest of the world. They remonstrated, 
 but in vain ; the Scots of England and Ireland would not 
 change their ways ; some of them would not even eat with 
 the newcomers ; the Britons of Wales refused to aid them in 
 converting the Saxons. Colman, after his discussion with 
 Wilfred at Whitby, refuted but not convinced, left England 
 with his monks and sailed away to a lonely island in his 
 native Mayo, rather than give up his Irish tonsure and his 
 Irish Easter. Columbanus was equally obdurate in France, 
 and the Abbots of Hy for a hundred years more tenaciously 
 adhered to the traditions of their own great founder. But
 
 ST. CUMMIAN THE TALL, BISHOP OF CLONFERT. 235 
 
 all Ireland was not equally stubborn, and the Southerns 
 yielded first. 
 
 The English Prelates, Laurence of Canterbury, Millitus of 
 London, and Justus of Rochester, shortly after the death of 
 Augustine, addressed a letter to " their most dear brothers 
 the Lords, Bishops, and Abbots throughout all Ireland 
 (Scotia)," admonishing them to give up their " errors " in 
 reference to Easter, and celebrate it in conformity with the 
 Universal Church. But the Irishmen appear to have taken 
 no notice of this document, for it looked like an attempt to 
 assert a spiritual supremacy over the " Scots " which they 
 always vigorously repudiated. 
 
 Millitus afterwards went to Rome, and others, too, going 
 there after him spoke of the errors and contumacy of the 
 Scots in this matter of Easter as well as in some other things 
 also. So Pope Honorius, about the year A.D. 629, addressed 
 an admonition to the pastors of the Irish Church, sharply 
 rebuking them for their pertinacity in their erroneous prac- 
 tices, especially in reference to Easter, and calling upon 
 them to act thenceforward in conformity with the Universal 
 Church. 
 
 The main charge brought against the Irish, so far as we 
 can gather from Bede and Cummian, was that they celebrated 
 Easter from the 14th to the 20th day of the moon, thus cele- 
 brating it on the same day with the Jews, viz., the 14th, if 
 that should happen to be Sunday, which was contrary to the 
 express prohibition of the Council of Nice. Most certainly 
 they did not celebrate it with the heretical Quartodecimans 
 on the 14th day of the moon, no matter what day of the week 
 it might happen to be they never celebrated Easter on any 
 day but a Sunday, as both Bede and Cummian expressly 
 admit. Cummian says that St. Patrick assigned the equinox 
 to the 21st of March, but their cycle was the older Roman 
 cycle of eighty-four years, not the new and more correct 
 cycle of nineteen years adopted first at Alexandria and after- 
 wards at Rome. The main charge, however, was opposition 
 to the Universal Church in celebrating Easter frum the 14th 
 to the 20th of the moon, because the 14th of Nisan being the 
 Jewish festival was, by the Council of Nice, declared unlaw- 
 ful for the Christian festival. 
 
 How, then, could St. Patrick have come to admit the 14th 
 of the moon in any circumstances as a lawful date for Easter 
 Day? This is a difficult point not yet clearly determined. 
 We rather think that this usage of celebrating Easter on the 
 14th of Nisan, if it fell on Sunday, was retained in several
 
 236 THE SCHOOL OF CLONFERT. 
 
 of che Galilean Churches even after the Council of Nice. The 
 Council itself expressly tells us that it was retained up to its 
 own time in the Eastern Churches. Now, Eastern influence 
 and Eastern customs prevailed to a considerable extent in 
 Southern Gaul during the fifth century. The great monastery 
 of Lerins was founded about A.D. 410, and from its cloisters 
 issued the greatest prelates of Southern France. John Cassian 
 came from the East, and, as we know, was imbued with 
 Eastern ideas Cassian, the greatest man of his time, so holy, 
 so learned, and so amiable, was a monk of Lerins, and in 
 A.D. 415 founded the great monastery of St. Victor, where 
 Eastern ideas were also prevalent. It is not unlikely that 
 St. Patrick derived his Paschal computation from these 
 monasteries, or from some of the great scholars who issued 
 from their cloisters. 
 
 Be that as it may, when the Irish clergy received the 
 admonition of Pope Honorius, they convened a National 
 Synod, which met at a place called Magh Lene, or Campus 
 Lene, in the ancient Feara-Ceall, close to Rahan, in the 
 King's County. Cummian, in his epistle, incidentally tells us 
 almost all we know of this important Synod. The successors 
 of Ailby, of Ciaran, of Clonmacnoise, of Brendan, of Nessan, 
 of Molua, were there assembled about the year A.D. 630. The 
 result of their deliberations was " to receive humbly and 
 without hesitation " the doctrines and practices brought to 
 them from the Holy See as their forefathers had commanded 
 them, and therefore they resolved to celebrate Easter next 
 \ear, and thenceforward with the Universal Church. But 
 shortly after a "whitened wall" rising up amongst them 
 caused disunion, under pretext of urging them to preserve 
 the traditions of the elders. At last a com prom i:-e was 
 adopted, and it was resolved to send messengers to Rome to 
 see with their own eyes what was the custom of the Holy City 
 in reference to the celebration of Easter. The messengers 
 returned on the third year, and told them how they saw 
 strangers from the whole world keeping the Roman Easter in 
 the Church of Peter. Many wondrous cures were also 
 wrought by the relics of the martyrs which they had brought 
 with them from Rome, so it was resolved thenceforward to 
 celebrate Easter on the same day with " their mother the 
 Church of Rome ;" and that resolution was faithfully carried 
 out in the southern and midland parts of the kingdom, which 
 were principally represented at the Synod. The north still 
 held out, mainly through the influence and example of the 
 great monastery of lona and its dependent houses iti Ireland.
 
 ST. CUMMIAN THE TALL, BISHOP OF CLONFERT. 237 
 
 It was to try and induce Segienus, Abbot of Hy, to give up 
 the ancient usage, and like the rest of the world, adopt the 
 Roman practice, that Cummian, probably at the request of 
 the Synod, wrote this Paschal Epistle. He was favourably 
 known in lona, as we have already seen ; bis learning and 
 sanctity were greatly respected there, and Cummian, who had 
 given special stud)' to the question, not unnaturally thought 
 he might be able to persuade the abbot to give up the old 
 Columbian usage. Though he failed in the attempt, his letter 
 was carefully preserved, and either the original, or a copy, 
 was carried by refugees from lona to St. Gall, where it was 
 fortunately secured for posterity. 
 
 The epistle begins with the motto or inscription : " I 
 confide in the Divine Name of the Supreme God " and is 
 addressed by its author, who calls himself a suppliant sinner, 
 to the Abbot Segienus, successor of St. Columba, and of other 
 saints, and to the Solitary Beccan, 1 " my brother in the flesh 
 and in the spirit." The following is a brief analysis of this 
 most interesting monument of our early Irish Church. 
 
 First of all the writer humbly apologises for presuming to 
 address these holy men, and he calls God to witness that in 
 celebrating the Paschal solemnity with the learned generally 
 he does so in no spirit of pride or contempt for others. For 
 when the new (Dionysian) cycle of 532 years was first intro- 
 duced into Ireland, he did not at once accept it, but held his 
 peace, not presuming to praise or censure either party. 
 
 For he did. not think himself wiser than the Hebrew?, 
 Greeks, and Latins, nor did he venture to disdain the food he 
 had not yet tasted ; he rather retired for a whole year into 
 the sanctuary of sacred study, 2 to examine as best he coul 1 
 the testimonies of Scripture, the facts of history, and the 
 nature of the various cycles in use. The results of this year's 
 study he sums up in this epistle. He first proceeds to explain, 
 from Scripture the proper date of the Jewish Pasch, which, 
 including the days of unleavened bread, began on the 14th 
 day of the moon, and ended on the 21st; and he quotes 
 St. Jerome, who declares that as Christ is our Pasch, we must 
 celebrate that festival from the 14th to the 21st day of the 
 moon (the date with us necessarily varying with the day of 
 the week). But the Pasch, he says, means the day on which 
 the lamb was slain, for our Saviour himself said, " With 
 
 *Was this Breacan. of Dairinis, near Waterford, half-brother to 
 Cummian ? He might have been then at Hy. 
 
 8 Perhaps to Disert Chuimin, where he wrote : " Ut me ut nycticoracem 
 in domicilio latitantem defenderem." Epistola.
 
 238 THE SCHOOL OF CLONFERT. 
 
 longing I have longed to eat this Pasch with you before I 
 suffer." Hence, the day of Passion in the Christian Festival 
 can never begin before the 14th day of the moon ; then the 
 day of burial will be the 15th of the moon, and therefore the 
 day of the Resurrection can never be earlier than the 16th 
 day of the moon ; and being always a Sunday, must be on 
 some day between the 16th and 22nd day of the moon, 
 inclusive. " For if he says, as you do, the Resurrection were 
 celebrated on the 14th of the moon, then the day of burial 
 will be the 13th, and the day of Passion the 12th, which is 
 preposterous and opposed to the clear testimony of Scripture." 
 Then he appeals to the authority of the Ecclesiastical 
 Synods against the Irish usage. There was, he admits, in 
 the beginning a diversity of practice even in the Apostolic 
 churches founded by Peter the Key-bearer, and John the 
 Eagle-pinioned, for the Apostles themselves, driven hither 
 and thither by persecution, had no time to fix a uniform 
 cycle for all the Churches. But afterwards " I find it was 
 ordered that all those were to be excommunicated who dared 
 to act against the statutes of the four Apostolic Sees of 
 Rome, Jerusalem, Antioch, and Alexandria." The Nicene 
 Synod, he adds, composed of three hundred and eighteen 
 bishops, ordained that the same rule should be followed in 
 all the Churches of the East and West. The Synod of Aries 
 also, where six hundred bishops were present, insisted on 
 uniformity throughout the whole world in the observance of 
 the Pasch, lest, as St. Jerome observes, we should run the 
 risk of eating the Pasch contrary to the law, extra unam 
 domum, that is, outside the communion of the Universal 
 Church. " Consider you well, therefore, whether it is the 
 Hebrews, Greeks, Latins, and Egyptians, united together, 
 that are the extra domum, or a fragment of the Scots and 
 Britains, living at the end of the world, that form a con- 
 venticle separated from the communion of the Church. You 
 are the leaders of the people ; beware how you act, leading 
 others into error by your obstinacy. Not so our Fathers, 
 whom you pretend to follow, for they were blameless in their 
 own days, seeing that they faithfully followed what they 
 thought in their simplicity to be best ; but you can scarcely 
 excuse yourselves for knowingly rejecting the observances of 
 the Universal Church." The writer then proceeds to insist 
 at great length on this argument from the practice and 
 authority of the Church ; and recites various passages from 
 St. Augustine, St. Jerome, St. Cyprian, and St. Gregory, on 
 the unity of the Church, and the guilt and danger of schisma-
 
 ST. CUMMIAN THE TALL, BISHOP OF CLONFERT. 239 
 
 tical practices. " Non alia Romanae urbis ecclesia, alia 
 totius orbis aestimanda est," he says, quoting St. Augustine ; 
 and then he adds from St. Jerome, " Si quis Cathedrae S. Petri 
 jungatur meus est ille," communion with Rome was in 
 Cummian's estimation, as in Jerome's, the test of orthodoxy 
 both in doctrine and discipline. " Can anything," he says, 
 " be more absurd than to say of our mother the Church 
 Rome errs, Jerusalem errs, Antioch errs, and the whole 
 world errs, the Irish (Scoti) and Britons alone are in the 
 right?" In this part of his letter Cummian certainly 
 displays not only great learning but also great vigour and 
 eloquence of style. 
 
 Lastly, he discusses the various cycles in use at different 
 periods, and although he found much diversity with various 
 nations, you, he says, have one of your own quite different 
 from them all. First, there is the Paschal cycle introduced 
 by St. Patrick, our spiritual Father (Papa nostra), according 
 to which the ^Equinox was assigned to the 21st of March, 
 and Easter day ranged from the 14th to the 21st day of the 
 moon. He then refers to the cycles of Anatolius, Theophilus, 
 Dionysius, Cyril, Morinus, Augustine, Victorius, and lastly 
 he mentions the cycle of Pachomius to whom an angel 
 revealed the proper way to calculate Easter cycle meaning, 
 it would seem, the special manner of calculating Easter 
 peculiar to each. He then refers to the cycle of nineteen 
 years adopted by the Nicene Fathers, calling it by its Greek 
 name Iwea-KaiSeKanyptSa which, he adds, might enable you 
 to ascertain the date of Easter with sufficient accuracy. 
 " It is, as I find, quite different from yours in its kalends, 
 its bissextile, in its epact, in its fourteenth moon, in its first 
 month, and in its equinox." This is an important passage, 
 because it shows that the Irish cycle was in every respect 
 different from the cycle of nineteen years as adopted by the 
 Church of Alexandria. He then refers to St. Cyril, and the 
 cycle of Victoricius, clearly showing that he was familiar 
 with the entire subject, and probably had in his hands some 
 works which we no longer possess. 
 
 After referring to the Synod of the Campus Lene, as 
 explained above, and the appeal to Rome in accordance with 
 the ancient statute (mandatum) of the Irish Church, he goes 
 on to say that according to the synodical decree 1 all such 
 
 1 This is the synodical decree quoted in the Book of Armagh, and already 
 referred to in this work at page 60. Its citation by Cummian so early aa 
 A.D. 640 is a clear proof that the Synod's decrees are authentic.
 
 240 THE SCHOOL OF CLONFERT. 
 
 "causae majores ad caput urbium sunt referenda." This 
 refers to the decree of the Synod of Patrick, Auxilius, and 
 Isernius, bidding the Irish prelates if any cause of disunion 
 arose, to go to the place which the Lord hath chosen (to 
 Rome, the caput urbium) for the decision of these more 
 important causes, " so we sent there certain wise and humble 
 men whom we knew as children to their mother." And they 
 returned on the third year, and told us what they had seen 
 and heard, and how in the Church of St. Peter, the common 
 hospice of all the faithful, Greeks and Hebrews, Scythians 
 and Egyptians all celebrated Easter on the same day, which 
 differed an entire month from our own, and we saw with our 
 own eyes many miracles wrought by the relics of the saints 
 and martyrs which they had carried home with them from 
 the holy city. In conclusion, he adds that he had not written 
 to attack them but to defend the truth; he apologises for any 
 wrong or harsh words that might have fallen from him, and 
 in the last sentence implores on them all the strong blessing 
 of the Holy Trinity to guard them from all evil. 
 
 This remarkable epistle affords a striking proof, not only 
 of Cummian's own learning, but of the high efficiency of the 
 schools of bis native land, in which he studied. He gives the 
 Hebrew, Greek and Egyptian names of the first lunar month. 
 He refers to almost every cycle, and emendation of a cycle, 
 of which we have any account, briefly, indeed, but sufficiently 
 to show that he was acquainted with them, and with the 
 decrees of synods, and with the passages of the Fathers that 
 make reference to them. Above all things, he insists upon 
 the unity of the Church, and incontestably establishes the 
 Irish tradition in his own time, that the Irish Church was 
 founded from Home, that Rome is the Source of Unity, the 
 final Court of Appeal, and the Mother of the Irish, as of all 
 other Churches. The text is unfortunately somewhat corrupt, 
 and the style wants polish ; but, though in this respect 
 Cummian is inferior to several Irish writers of the seventeenth 
 century, his Latin is much superior to that of several ecclesi- 
 astical documents that we have seen in our own nineteenth 
 century. 
 
 The Liber de Mensura Poenitentiarum, cannot with 
 certainty be ascribed to Cummian Fada ; but it is highly 
 probable that he was the author. It was presorted like so 
 many other invaluable Irish MSS., in the Monastery of St. 
 Gall, and has been published in the Bibliotheca Patrum, 
 and, together with the Paschal Epistle, has been republished 
 by Migne (Tome 87, Patr. Latina). We have seen that
 
 ST. CUMMIAN THE TALL, BISHOP OF CLONFERT. 241 
 
 Cummian was regarded by the Abbot of Hy as a great 
 moralist, and it may be that the same Segienus was the 
 " faithful friend," whom the author addresses mi fidelis- 
 sime in the prologue. The treatise consists of fourteen 
 chapters, giving the canonical penances assigned to sins of 
 various kinds. It treats of these sins in the most minute detail, 
 but contains little original matter ; for the penances are, in 
 most cases, taken from the works of the Fathers and the peni- 
 tential canons of various early Councils. But itshows how care- 
 fully these matters were attended to in our early Irish Church, 
 and is another striking monument of ecclesiastical learning. 
 
 Cummian Fada has not unfrequently been confounded 
 with Cummian Finn, the nephew of Segienus, Abbot of Hy. 
 The latter wrote a life of St. Columba, to which Adamnan 
 refers, and most of which he, Adamnan, inserted in the 
 third Book of his own Life of St. Columba. The Paschal 
 Epistle has also been attributed to him, but without any 
 grounds. The intrinsic evidence of the letter itself shows 
 that it was written by a prelate of the southern half of 
 Ireland ; he speaks of Ailby, Brendan, and the rest as " our 
 fathers and predecessors ;" he had accepted the Roman usage 
 which Hy and its family refused to accept for many years 
 after; and he uses in reference to St. Peter the very peculiar 
 expression, " clavicularis," which is also used by the author 
 of the poem in honour of the Apostles, which was undoubtedly 
 the work of Cummian Fada, the Bishop of Clonfert. 
 
 The Four Masters tell that " St. Cummian Fada, son of 
 Fiachna, Bishop of Cluainfearta Brennain, died on the 12th 
 of November, 661," which is his festival day. The entry of 
 the death of his beloved tutor, St. Colman O'Cluasaigh, is 
 marked a little later on as happening in the same year, and 
 therefore towards its close. Colman, however, lived long 
 enough after Cummian to compose an elegy on his death. 
 The Four Masters have preserved a few fines, which may 
 be thus translated : 
 
 " No bark o'er Luinmeach's bosom bore, 
 From Munster to the Northern shore, 
 A prize so rich in battle won, 
 As Cummian's corpse, great Fiachna's son. 
 Of Erin's priests, it were not meet 
 That one should sit in Gregory's Seat, 
 Except that Cumraian crossed the sea, 
 For he Rome's ruler well might be. 
 Ah ! woe is me, at Cummian's bier 
 My eyelids drop the ceaseless tear ; 
 The pain, of hopeless anguish bred, 
 Will burst my heart since Cuminiau's de&d." 
 
 Q
 
 242 THE SCHOOL OF CLONFERT. 
 
 The poet's verse was true Colman died within a month 
 of his pupil to whom he was so deeply and tenderly attached. 
 We may infer, too, from these verses that Cummian died 
 at home in his native Kerry, but that his remains were 
 carried up the Shannon in a boat to his own Cathedral of 
 Clonfert, where he was interred. The Four Masters tell us 
 that in A.D. 1162 the " relics of Maeinenn and of Cummian 
 Fada were removed from the earth by the clergy of Brenainn 
 (that is, of Clonfert), and they were enclosed in a protecting 
 shrine." So far as I know there is no account to be had 
 now of the existence of this shrine. 
 
 IY. SUBSEQUENT HISTORY or CLONFERT. 
 
 Frequent reference is subsequently made in our Annals to 
 the monastery and See of Clonfert, but it is oftentimes a 
 saddening record. Its buildings were four times plundered, 
 and six times burnt. Nor was this the work of the Danes 
 alone. The degenerate chieftains of Ireland too frequently 
 followed their bad example, and provoked Divine vengeance 
 by unspeakable acts of sacrilege, especially during the tenth 
 and eleventh centuries. 
 
 In A.D. 838, Turgesius brought a great fleet to Lough 
 Ree, which he stationed there for the express purpose of 
 harrying the banks and islands of the Shannon. He plun- 
 dered and burnt Clonfert, Clonmacnoise, and indeed all the 
 monasteries and churches from Lanesborough to Limerick, 
 which were within reach of his marauders ; and not once but 
 frequently between the years A.D. 838 and 845. Yet strange 
 to say it is stated in the old Annals of Innisf alien, that 
 Feidhlimidh, son of Crimthann, King of Munster, had a 
 friendly conference with Niall, son of Hugh, King of Ulster, 
 in the year A.D. 840, at Clonfert, and there received Niall's 
 homage as High King, and sat in the seat of the abbots 
 of Clonfert. 
 
 Yet the schools were not entirely destroyed, for in 
 A.D. 868 is recorded the death of Cormac Steward, Scribe, 
 and Doctor of Clonfert Brenainn. It was well that 
 God then called him away, for next year, in A.D. 869, 
 came Earl Tomrar with his warriors from Limerick 
 to Clonfert. "He was a fierce, cruel, rough man of 
 the Lochlans ;" and hoped to obtain a great prey in 
 the church and monastery. But he was disappointed, 
 for the brethren heard of his approach, and fled expertly 
 before him, as the Annals tell us, some in boats, and some
 
 SUBSEQUENT HISTORY OF CLOXFERT. 243 
 
 into the surrounding morasses. Others took refuge in the 
 church, but the disappointed freebooter killed them all, both 
 those whom he found in the church and in the cemetery. 
 Tomrar, however, died of madness three days afterwards, for 
 Brendan wrought a miracle upon him for plundering his 
 monastery and killing his monks. In A.D. 949, Ceallachan, 
 King of Cashel, plundered the monastery of Clonfert. But 
 the men of Munster were not without rivals in their deeds 
 of sacrilege. In A.D. 1031 Art O'Rorke, surnamed the 
 4 Cock,' plundered the monastery once more, but providen- 
 tially when returning laden with his pillage, he fell in with 
 Doncha, son of Brian, who defeated him and his followers 
 with great slaughter. 
 
 Some thirty years later in A.D. 1065, Aedh O'Rorke and 
 Diarmaid O'Kelly plundered Clonfert and Clonmacnoise, and 
 once more speedy vengeance overtook the robbers ; for Aedh. 
 O'Connor came against them and defeated them through the 
 miracles of Ciaran and Brenainn, whose churches they had 
 plundered. A bloody slaughter was made by Aedh, and, 
 moreover, he captured or sunk their boats, and drove great 
 numbers of the plunderers into the river. Yet the monastery 
 and School of Clonfert still lived on down to the advent of 
 the Anglo-Normans, for in the year A.D. 1170, is recorded 
 the death of Cormac O'Lumluini, whom the Four Masters 
 in pathetic language describe as the remnant of the Sages of 
 Erin. The subsequent history of the School and See of 
 Clonfert is foreign to our present purpose. 
 
 The old Cathedral of Clonfert still survives, and is one of 
 the few of our ancient buildings still used for religious 
 worship. It has passed, however, from Catholic hands, and 
 will, doubtless, soon be abandoned by the Protestants too, 
 for the few persons who attend divine worship in the old 
 Cathedral of St. Brendan can hardly be called a congrega- 
 tion. 
 
 The church consisted of a nave with a western tower in 
 the centre, and a chancel with two transepts branching 
 nearly at the centre of the nave. The building is small, the 
 nave being 54 feet by 27 in the clear, but very beautiful. 
 The western doorway is described with great fulness of 
 detail by Brash (p. 43), who declares that in point of design 
 and execution, it is not excelled by any similar work that he 
 has seen in these islands. There is not, he says, a square 
 inch of any portion of this beautiful doorway, with its six 
 orders of shafts and arches, that is without the mark of the 
 sculptor's tool, every bit of the work being finished with the
 
 244 THE SCHOOL OF CLONFERT. 
 
 greatest accuracy. Romanesque and Norman porches and 
 doorways, he adds, exist of grander proportions, but none 
 exhibiting the fertility of invention and beauty of design 
 which this one does. 
 
 The altar window of the chancel is also greatly praised by 
 the same competent authority. " The design of this window 
 is exceedingly chaste and beautiful, the mouldings simple 
 and effective, and the workmanship superior to anything I 
 have seen either of ancient or modern times. The mouldings 
 are finely wrought, and the pointing of the stone work so 
 close, that I cannot believe they were ever worked by tools." 1 
 
 He says the work is, in his opinion, of the twelfth 
 century, and he is inclined to attribute its building to the 
 celebrated Peter O'Mordha, a Cistercian monk, who was first 
 Abbot of Boyle, and afterwards became Bishop of Clonfert. 
 He was unfortunately drowned in the Shannon two days 
 after Christmas Day, in the year A.D. 1171. With him we 
 may fitly close the history of the School of Clonfert. 
 
 1 Ecclesiastical Architecture of Ireland, page 44.
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 THE SCHOOL OF MOYILLE. 
 
 " Transfigured Life ! 
 
 This was the glory, that, without a sigh, 
 Who loved thee, yet could leave thee." 
 
 I. ST. FlNNIAN OF MOVILLE. 
 
 THERE are two saints of the same name whom it is absolutely 
 necessary to keep distinct in dealing with the literary history 
 of the early Irish Church St. Finnian of Clonard, and St. 
 Finnian of Moville. We have already spoken of the former ; 
 we now propose to speak of the latter and of the great school 
 of which he was the founder. 
 
 Moville, or Movilla, is at present the name of a townland 
 less than a mile to the north-east of Newtownards, at the 
 head of Strangfgrd Lough, in the County Down. This dis- 
 trict was in ancient times famous for its great religious 
 establishments. Bangor, to which we shall refer presently, 
 is not quite five miles due north of Moville. Newtownards, 
 as its name implies, is a much more modern place, but it was 
 the seat of a great Dominican Priory almost since the first 
 advent of the Friar Preachers to Ireland. Comber, a few 
 miles to the west at the head of Strangford Lough, con- 
 tained both a Cistercian and an Augustinian Monastery. 
 Abbey Grey, on the opposite or eastern shore of the Lough, 
 had another great Cistercian house, founded by John de 
 Courcy, the conqueror, and, we must add, the plunderer of 
 Ulster. Further south, but on the western shores of the 
 same Lough, anciently called Lough Cuan, were the Abbey 
 of Inch, the famous Church of Saul, in which St. Patrick 
 died, and the Church of Downpatrick, in which he was buried 
 with St. Brigid and Columcille. And in one of the islands 
 in the same Strangford Lough, now called Island Mahee, 
 quite close to the western shore, was that ancient monastery 
 and school of Noendrum, of which we have already spoken. 
 Religious men from the beginning loved to build their 
 houses and churches in view of this beautiful sheet of water, 
 with its myriad islands and fertile shores, bounded in the dis- 
 tance by the swelling uplands, that lend a charming variety 
 to this rich and populous and highly cultivated county.
 
 246 THE SCHOOL OF MOVILLE. 
 
 Of the boyhood and education of St. Finnian little is 
 known with certainty. He belonged to the noble family of 
 the Dalfiatach, who seem to have been dynasts of the district 
 to the north of this great inlet of the sea, which they called 
 Lough Cuan. He was probably born some years before the 
 beginning of the sixth century. His first teacher was 
 St. Colman, afterwards Bishop of Dromore, who at that time 
 seems to have been himself under the guidance and instruc- 
 tion of St. Mochae in the Island of Noendrum, but known at 
 present as Island Mahee, in Strangford Lough. Colman 
 became a favourite pupil of Mochae, who, when he himself 
 was growing old, seems to have entrusted him with the care 
 of the younger boys who had come to the island seminary 
 to be trained up by these great masters in learning and piety. 
 It is said that on one occasion St. Colman was going to 
 chastise the young Finnian for some real or imaginary fault, 
 when he felt his hand invisibly restrained by an angel, and 
 he thereupon declared that he was unworthy to be entrusted 
 with the care of so holy a youth, and that henceforward he 
 would resign that office, so far as Finnian was concerned, to 
 St. Mochae himself. This story at least shows that the 
 young boy made great progress in virtue and wisdom under 
 the guidance of both these holy men on the Island of 
 Noendrum. 
 
 Now it came to pass whilst Finnian was at Noendrum, 
 under the care of St. Mochae, that " ships " came from Britain 
 into Strangford Lough, and east anchor in front of the island. 
 On board these vessels was a certain Bishop called Nennio, 
 who, with several of his disciples, had come from the famous 
 monastery called Candida Casa, on the opposite shores of 
 Galloway, to pay a visit to the religious family of Noendrum. 
 We know from the lives of our early saints that this was no 
 unusual occurrence. In those early days religious men were 
 inspired with a spirit of spiritual enterprise, and several of 
 them made it a point to visit the most renowned saints both 
 in Ireland and Britain, in order to benefit by their instruction 
 and example. 
 
 As we have seen the Candida Casa, or White House, 
 was a stone church built on the extremity of a promontory 
 in Galloway, about the year A.D. 397, by the great St. Ninian, 
 the first apostle of the Northern Britons, at least after 
 the departure of the Romans. It is true Christianity had 
 been previously known in the district, for St. Patrick himself 
 was in all probability a native of the valley of the Clyde, 
 and was a captive in Ireland about the very time that
 
 ST. FINNIAN OF MOVILLE. 247 
 
 St. Ninian first came to Galloway. But after the with- 
 drawal of the Roman troops from the northern province the 
 district was overrun by the Picts and Scots, so that the 
 remnants of the faithful were almost all driven out from the 
 Lowlands of Scotland. 
 
 Ninian, who was a native of the district, had been 
 educated in Rome during the pontificate of Pope Damasus, and 
 later on returned to preach the Gospel anew in his native land. 
 On his way he stopped for a short time at Tours, to pay a 
 visit to St. Martin, the most prominent figure at the time in 
 Christendom. It was from St. Martin, as Bede informs us, 
 that he got the masons through whose means he was able to 
 build the first stone church in Britain. The people had 
 never before seen anything of the kind they had no stone 
 houses and no masons able to build them hence in their 
 admiration they called the new building the White House, 
 to signify, just as the Americans do, that it was the grandest 
 building in the kingdom. We are enabled to fix the date 
 of its erection, because it is distinctly stated that during the 
 progress of the work Ninian heard of the death of St. Martin 
 of Tours, and dedicated the new church to him, which could 
 only be done after his death, that is, about the year A.D. 397 
 some thirty-five years before St. Patrick began to preach in 
 Ireland. 
 
 It cannot have been St. Ninian himself under whom 
 St. Finnian studied at the Candida Casa, which was founded 
 at least a hundred years before the date of this visit. In 
 some of the lives he is called Nennio ; in others he is called 
 Mugentius (see Colgan, page 633). It seems, certain, how- 
 ever, that young Finnian, thirsty for sacred knowledge, 
 begged permission from St. Mochae to accompany the 
 visitors on their return to the White House. The permission 
 was readily granted ; so, gliding southward in their boats 
 between the multitudinous islands of Lough Cuan, they were 
 carried out to sea through its narrow mouth by the swiftly 
 receding tide, and then spreading every sail to catch the 
 western breeze a few hours would bring them across the 
 narrow channel that separates the Ards of Down from Mull 
 of Galloway. At the southern extremity of the inner 
 promontory of Wigtown, there is a very small island which 
 still bears the name of the Isle of Whithern. On this island 
 are the ruins of an old church, which is probably all that 
 now remains of the Candida Casa a spot like Aran, Glaston- 
 bury, and lona, to be ever venerated as one of the cradles of 
 Celtic Christianity.
 
 248 THE SCHOOL OF MOVILLE. 
 
 How long Finnian remained at Candida Casa cannot be 
 exactly ascertained ; but it was at least long enough to 
 acquire the learning and discipline of the place in which, 
 according to some accounts, he succeeded so well as to incur 
 the bitter jealousy of his master. 
 
 The original founder of the Candida Casa had been 
 educated at Rome, and no doubt the thoughts of its inmates 
 were from time to time turned to the school of their great 
 founder. Finnian, at least, resolved to go to the fountain 
 head, and so, putting on his wallet and grasping his pilgrim 
 staff, he set out upon his long journey. It was much more 
 difficult and dangerous then to go to Rome than it is now, 
 but these heroic Christian men despised dangers and hardships. 
 
 Their life was a warfare for Christ; they cared little when 
 or where they fell in their Master's cause. Besides, they 
 were never refused hospitality at the religious houses where 
 they called, and even the rude mariners welcomed on board 
 their vessels a holy man whose prayers were strong to calm 
 the wrath of tempestuous seas. Finnian spent three months 
 at Rome " learning the Apostolical customs and the Ecclesi- 
 astical Laws," and then resolved to return to his native land. 
 But he bore with him from Rome a priceless treasure, or, as 
 the Martyrology of jEngus calls it " yellow gold from over 
 the sea," not, however, yellow gold from the mine, but what 
 our Celtic fathers valued more, the pure red gold of the 
 Gospel corrected by the great St. Jerome and formally sanc- 
 tioned by the Pope as the authentic text. The Vulgate, as 
 we now have it, is substantially the work of St. Jerome to 
 this extent, that he corrected the New Testament of the Old 
 Vulgate ; he translated from the Hebrew the proto- canonical 
 books of the Old Testament ; and moreover corrected the 
 deutro-canonical books of the Old Testament according to the 
 best MSS. of the Septuagint. It is, however, his correction, 
 and not his own translation from the Hebrew, which under 
 the name of the Gallican Psaltery, is still retained in our 
 Latin Vulgate. But although this great work had been 
 performed with the sanction of the Popes between the years 
 A.D. 383 and 403, yet it was two hundred years before this 
 version came into general use ; and though it was commonly, 
 it was not yet extensively used even when St. Finnian was 
 in Rome, between, A.D. 530 and 540. It was, however, a 
 great improvement on the previous version, and as such 
 highly valued by all scholars. It seems, however, that the 
 new version had not been hitherto introduced into Ireland, 
 and so special mention is made of Finnian's copy in the
 
 ST. FJNNIAN OF MOVILLE. 
 
 249 
 
 Calendar of Cashel quoted by Colgan " Finnian the White, 
 of Maghbile (Moville) ; it was he who first carried into 
 Ireland the Mosaic Law and the whole Gospel" mean- 
 ing thereby that it was he who first brought the first 
 integral copy of St. Jerome's Vulgate, which afterwards came 
 into exclusive use in the Irish as in the other churches. 
 
 Colgan identifies St. Finnian of Moville with St. Fridian, 
 or Frigidian, who became bishop of Lucca in Italy about the 
 middle of the sixth century. There are undoubtedly several 
 facts narrated in the lives of both that go to establish this 
 identity; but there is one great diificulty. According to the 
 life of Fridian he died at Lucca, where it is said his blessed 
 body is still preserved and reverenced ; but according to the 
 ancient Life of St. Comgall of Bangor and the local traditions 
 Finnian the bishop, or Finbarr, as he is often called, " sleeps 
 amid many miracles in his own city of Maghbile " (Moville). 
 
 Finnian is said to have returned to Ireland and founded 
 his school at Moville about the year A.P. 540, that is some 
 twenty years after his namesake of Clonard had opened his 
 own great school on the banks of the Boyne. The name 
 Maghbile means the plain of the old tree, probably referring 
 to some venerable oak reverenced by the Druids before the 
 advent of St. Patrick. At present there is nothing of the 
 ancient abbey-school except a few venerable yews to mark the 
 city of the dead, and an old ruined church on the line of the 
 high road from Newtownards to Donaghadee. This old 
 church, which was one hundred and seven feet in length, in 
 all probability did not date back to the original foundation of 
 the place, although it undoubtedly stands on the site of 
 St. Finnian's original church. The spot was aptly chosen, 
 sheltered by an amphitheatre of hills i'rom the winds of the 
 north and east, and commanding far away to the south a noble 
 prospect of Lough Cuan's verdant islets and glancing waters. 
 
 The most famous pupil of the infant seminary was 
 St. Columba, the light of all the Celtic west. 
 
 If the incident to which Adamnan refers (Book II. c. 1.) 
 in his Life of St. Columba be understood of Moville rather 
 than Clonard, it seems that at this period Columba was 
 studying Sacred Scripture under Finnian, that he was then a 
 deacon, and on one occasion when the wine tailed for the Holy 
 Sacrifice, he went with the cruet to the neighbouring well 
 (since closed up, but within living memory), and blessing the 
 water, it was changed into wine, with which the Holy 
 Sacrifice was duly offered up on that Festival Day. 
 
 There is another very celebrated incident recorded of
 
 250 THE SCHOOL OF MOVILLE. 
 
 St. Finnian and Columcille, which seems to have really 
 happened, and produced consequences of great import in the 
 designs of Providence. 
 
 As we have seen, Finnian had brought from Rome a copy 
 of the entire Bible, partly translated, partly corrected by 
 St. Jerome. Very naturally this copy was highly prized and 
 jealously guarded by the saint, for if any part were lost or 
 injured the damage might have been, at least for him, irrepar- 
 able. Now, the young Columba was an ardent student of the 
 sacred volume ; and especially he was anxious to get a copy 
 of the new Psalter}', which most of our early saints were in 
 the habit of reading daily. In truth it was their Breviary, 
 and in their estimation was the greatest of their treasures. So 
 Columba begged Finnian to allow him to make a copy of the 
 Gallic Psaltery, as we now have it in the Vulgate, but Finnian, 
 fearing for his treasure " of pure red gold," would not allow 
 him, lest the manuscript might be lost or injured. Then 
 Columba, finding a suitable opportunity, stealthily transcribed 
 the Psalter, remaining up all night for the purpose, so that 
 when Finnian came to his cell he found Columba hard at 
 work at midnight, and, lo ! a Divine radiance illuminated 
 his cell. Next day Finnian sought his manuscript, and 
 Columba confessed that he had made the copy without his 
 permission. Finnian thereupon demanded the copy, but 
 Columba claimed it as his own it was the fruit of his labour, 
 and the original was uninjured. Nevertheless, as Finnian 
 persisted in his demand, it was agreed to leave the matter to 
 the arbitration of King Diarmaid at Tara. Tara was not far 
 from Druim-fhinn (now Drumin in Louth) where this 
 incident is said to have taken place. The king heard the 
 parties, and then pronounced his award : " The calf goes 
 with the cow, and the son-book, or copy, must go with the 
 mother-book, or original." The decision was not equitable, 
 and Columba was sore distressed. Moreover, it came to pass 
 that a young prince, Curnan by name, accidentally killed a 
 companion at court, and fled for refuge to Columba, who was 
 then standing near at hand. But the king had him dragged 
 from the protection of the saint and slain on the spot. 
 Columba, thus doubly wronged, fled from Tara, and told his 
 royal kinsmen how he had been treated by King Diarmaid. 
 They at once flew to arms to avenge the insults offered to a 
 prince of Conal Grulban's royal line, whose holiness moreover 
 even than was celebrated through all the North. They 
 gathered together a mighty army all the Clanna Niall of 
 the North and met the monarch and his forces at a place
 
 ST. FINNIAN OF MOVILLE. 251 
 
 called Cull-Dreimlme (now Cooldrummon) in the parish of 
 Drumcliff, to the north of Sligo. In the bloody battle which 
 followed, the forces of king Biarmaid were nearly annihilated 
 but Columcille was praying for his kinsmen during the 
 battle, and so they nearly all escaped, whilst the enemy was 
 destroyed. The Psalter, too, it seems, became the prize of 
 the victors, and the most famous heirloom in the family of 
 the O'DonnelFs. But the blood shed on this occasion weighed 
 heavily on the conscience of Columba, although he may have 
 been the innocent, cause of it ; and for his share in this battle 
 he narrowly escaped excommunication at the hands of the 
 saints of Ireland later on. With heroic fortitude, however, 
 he accepted the penance imposed upon him by St. Molaise of 
 Innismurray at the cross of Ahamlish in ISligo to go to 
 foreign lands to preach the Gospel and never look upon his 
 native land again. The saint obeyed and, it is said, religiously 
 kept his vow for though he returned to Ireland again at the 
 high call of duty, he bandaged his aged eyes with a cloth, so 
 that they were never gladdened even with one glance of the 
 green hills of his native land, which he loved with even more 
 than the passionate tenderness of the Irish heart. He gave 
 expression to his bitter grief in several touching poems, 
 written in the sweet and musical tongue of Erin. 
 
 The copy of St. Finnian's Psaltery furtively made by 
 Columcille has had a very strange, eventful history, and is 
 perhaps the most interesting of our ancient relics. At present 
 the manuscript, with the casket which contains it, is the 
 property of Sir Richard O'Donnell of Newport in the County 
 Mayo ; but it is preserved for public inspection in the strong 
 room of the Royal Irish Academy in Dublin. It is known as 
 the Cathach, or Battler, from the Irish word Cath, a battle ; 
 and was so called because if carried three times around 
 O'Donnell's host, in battle, on the breast of a priest free from 
 mortal sin, it was sure to bring victory to the clan. Columcille 
 was himself great grandson of Oonal Gulban, the great sire 
 of all the Cinel Conal. He thus became the patron of that 
 warlike clan ; in defence of his honour and to maintain his 
 right to this very Psalter, they fought the great battle of 
 Cuildremhne, and they won the victory through his strong 
 prayers. So it was only natural that the Psalter on earth 
 and the saint in heaven should still be shield and buckler for 
 the clan in the hour of danger. 
 
 And so indeed it was. But St. Cailin of Fenagh had told 
 them to guard it well, and above all to see that it never fell 
 into the hands of the foreigner, for that day would work woe
 
 252 THE SCHOOL OF MOVILI.E. 
 
 for Erin and confusion to the O'Donnells. Thus it became 
 the most precious treasure of the Clan-Conal, and not a man 
 of them that was not ready to die in its defence on the field 
 of battle. Moreover, they appointed as hereditary guardians 
 of the Cathach, the family of McRobartaigh now McGroarty 
 and assigned for their maintenance the lands still called 
 from them Ballymacgroarty, in the parish of Drumhome, 
 County Donegal. The casket, or cumdach, in which this 
 treasure was contained, bears an inscription in Irish on three 
 sides to this effect : " Pray for Cathbarr O'Donnell for whom 
 this casket was made, and for Sitric, son of Mac Aedha, who 
 made it, and for Domnall MacRobartaigh (abbot) of Kells at 
 whose house it was made." The casket itself is of the most 
 exquisite workmanship, and this inscription proves that it 
 was made at the expense of Cathbarr O'Donnell, chief of his 
 name in Donegal about the end of the eleventh century he 
 died in A.D. 1106. It was made, however, in the Abbey of 
 Kells, which had been founded by Columcille, and was then 
 ruled by a member of that very family of McGroarty, 
 who were the hereditary custodians of the Cathach. The 
 McGroartys were more faithful to their trust than the 
 McMoyres, who had the custody of the Book of Armagh, 
 and more than one of the family met his death in defence of 
 their sacred charge. In A.D. 1497 Con O'Donnell led an 
 army against McDermott of Moylurg ; but he and his troops 
 were defeated, and "the Cathach of Columcille was also taken 
 from them, and McGroarty, the keeper of it, was slain." It 
 was restored, however, two years later. Again, in A.D. 1567, 
 McGroarty, the keeper of the Cathach, was slain in a fratri- 
 cidal conflict between the O'Donnells and O'Neills on the 
 shore of Lough Swilly. In A.D. 1647, when John Colgan 
 wrote, it was still, he tells us, in his own native County of 
 Donegal. Daniel O'Donnell, who fought well for King 
 James, carried it with him to the Continent, and had a new 
 rim fixed on the casket with his name and the date, A.D. 1723. 
 He died in A.D. 1735, leaving this precious relic on the Con- 
 tinent, where it remained until 1802, when it was claimed 
 and recovered by Sir Neal O'Donnell of Newport in the 
 County Mayo, from whom it passed to its present owner, Sir 
 Richard O'DonneU. 
 
 It was deemed a heinous crime to open the sacred casket, 
 and the widow of Sir Neal actually brought an action in the 
 Court of Chancery in 1814 against Sir W. Betham, Ulster 
 Kin g-at- Arms, for daring to open the casket without her per- 
 mission. He has at any rate gratified our curiosity, for when
 
 ST. FINNIAN OP MOVILLE. 253 
 
 opened it was found to contain a small wooden box very much 
 decayed. Within the box was a dark, damp mass which, on 
 careful and cautious examination, proved to be a portion of 
 the Psalter in Latin, written in a neat but hurried hand, of 
 which, however, several folios at the beginning and end were 
 utterly destroyed by the damp. Fifty-eight leaves remain, 
 containing the Psalter from the 31st to the 106th psalm. 
 We have examined the fac-similes published in the first 
 volume of the National Manuscripts of Ireland, and we find 
 that it is a portion of the Gallican Psalter, that is the Psalter 
 at present in our Latin Vulgate, which was a second and 
 more careful correction of the then existing Psalter made by 
 St. Jerome, not according to the Septuagint, like his first 
 correction, the Roman Psalter, but made according to the 
 Hexaplar Greek of Origen. St. Columcille's copy is executed 
 with wonderful neatness and accuracy, containing even the 
 asterisks and obelisks of St. Jerome's correction. We note 
 these facts to show that the Bible brought from Rome by St. 
 Finnian was in truth the new and corrected edition of the old 
 Vulgate, which was just then coming into universal use. 
 This fact is quite enough to explain St. Columcille's anxiety 
 to get a copy, as well as St. Finnian's fear that his own trea- 
 sure might be lost or injured. 
 
 Tourists visiting Ireland would do well to examine this 
 venerable memorial of our ancient Church, as well as the other 
 relics in the Royal Irish Academy. The casket itself con- 
 sists of a brass box nine and a half inches long, eight in 
 breadth, and two in thickness. The top, however, is covered 
 with a silver plate, richly gilt, chased, and adorned with 
 marvellously wrought figures of Columcille, the Crucifixion, 
 and other sacred objects. The corners, too, were set in pre- 
 cious stones crystals, pearls, sapphires, and amethysts, many 
 of which, as might be expected, have been lost. The whole 
 work furnishes a striking proof of the skill of our Celtic fore- 
 fathers in metallurgy so early as the eleventh century, when 
 it was an almost lost art elsewhere. 
 
 St. Finnian composed a Rule for his monks, and a peni- 
 tential code, which latter is still extant, and of much interest 
 to antiquarians, as it is, perhaps, the earliest expression of 
 the discipline of the primitive Irish Church on this important 
 subject. These penitential canons are fifty-three in number, 
 and several of them are rather rigorous, at least according to 
 our relaxed modern notions. In those days men were more 
 in earnest in the work of saving their souls, and punished 
 with voluntary severity any grave neglect of this great dutv. 
 A penance of seven years was imposed for perjury, with the
 
 254 THE SCHOOL OF MOVILLE. 
 
 additional penalty of setting free a bondsman or bondswoman. 
 This goes to show that slavery had not yet been abolished in 
 Ireland ; but that the Church took every opportunity of pro- 
 moting its abolition, not indeed by violence or injustice, but 
 by the gentler method of persuasion and mercy. These peni- 
 tential canons have been published by Wasserschleben at 
 Halle in 1851, from manuscripts in the libraries of St Gall, 
 Paris, and Vienna. There is also extant in MSS. an interest- 
 ing romantic dialogue said to have taken place between Tuan 
 Mac Cairill and Finnian of Moville. In all probability, 
 however, it is a composition of a much later date, and the 
 dialogue, though highly interesting, is purely imaginary. 
 There is a copy of this romantic tale in the book known as 
 Leabhar na h Uidhre, an ancient work said to have been 
 originally written at Clonmacnoise, in the lifetime of its 
 founder, St. Ciaran. 
 
 St. Finnian died in A.D. 589, according to the Annals of 
 Ulster, at a very great age. In those days, when men led 
 temperate and active lives, free from care, and always rejoic- 
 ing in God, it was no unusual thing to live to the age of one 
 hundred, or even one hundred and twenty, like St. Patrick 
 and St. Kevin of Glendaloch. This date, too, goes to show 
 that Finnian of Moville was identical with St. Frigidian of 
 Lucca in Italy, for the death of the latter is assigned to A.D. 
 588 by Ughelli in his Italia Sacra (Cardinal Moran's 
 Essays, page 138). His death was much lamented, for his 
 fame was great throughout all the land ; and all our martyr- 
 ologists bear testimony to his merits. Marianus O'Gorman 
 calls him " Finnian with heart devout," and another writer 
 exclaims, " O blessed school (of Maghbile) the resting place 
 of Finnian ; how blessed that one saint should be the tutor 
 of his fellow saints." His festival is celebrated on the 10th 
 of September, the day after the festival of his contemporary, 
 St. Ciaran of Clonmacnoise, and his blessed relics rest amid 
 many miracles within that old Church of Moville, under the 
 shadow of its ancient yews, forgotten by men, but watched 
 over by the angels of God. 
 
 There is an ancient poem in the Saltair na Rann on the 
 patron Saints of the various Irish clans. In the opening 
 stanza Finnian is described as the patron of Ulidia the 
 Ulidians, it is said, all stand behind his back, that is, under 
 his protection. Here it is in poetry : 
 
 " Of Erin all is Patrick judge 
 
 On Macha's Eoyal Hill ; 
 They bless his name with loud acclaim, 
 Our King by God's high will.
 
 ST. FINNIAN OF MOVILLE. 255 
 
 The Clanna Neil a sheltering oak 
 
 Have found in Columcille, 
 And Uladh's sons are strong behind 
 
 Great Finnian of Moville." 
 
 St. Ffnnian was, it seems, a bishop, and his successors in 
 Moville for some two hundred years are spoken of as bishops; 
 but from A.D. 731 they are merely described as abbots, and 
 seem to have lost their episcopal jurisdiction. Still the School 
 of Moville then and long after continued to flourish, although 
 it seems to have been eclipsed by the brighter flame of 
 Bangor, its younger neighbour to the north. 
 
 In A.D. 730 flourished Colman, son of Murchu, Abbot of 
 Moville, who is regarded as the author of a Latin hymn of 
 singular beauty preserved in the famous work known as the 
 Liber Hymnorum now in Trinity College, Dublin. " Colman, 
 son of Murchu," is described as the author of the hymn, and 
 hence Dr. Todd very justly regards him as identical with the 
 Abbot of Moville. The following is an English translation 
 made for the learned Father O'Laverty, author of the History 
 of the Diocese of Down and Connor, by the late lamented 
 Denis Florence McCarthy, a poet whose own pure heart could 
 well interpret the soaring aspirations of a saintly soul: 
 
 THE HYMN OF ST. COLMAN, SON OF MURCHU, IN PEAISE OF 
 ST. MICHAEL THE ARCHANGEL. 
 
 " No wild bird rising from the wave, no omen from the land or sea, 
 Oh Blessed Trinity, shall shake my fixed trust in thee. 
 No name to God, or demon given, no synonyme of sin or shame, 
 Shall make me cease to supplicate the Archangel Michael's name, 
 That he, by God the leader led, may meet my soul that awful day 
 "When from this body and this life it trembling takes its way. 
 Lest the demoniac power of him, who is at once the foot of pride 
 And prince of darkness, force it then from the true path aside. 
 May Michael the Archangel turn that hour which else were dark and 
 
 sad 
 
 To one, when angels will rejoice and all the just be glad. 
 Him I beseech that he avert from me the fiend's malignant face, 
 And lead me to the realm of rest in God's own dwelling place. 
 May holy Michael day and night, he knowing well my need, be nigh, 
 To place me in the fellowship of the good saints on high ; 
 May holy Michael, an approved assistant when all else may fail, 
 Plead for me, sinner that I am, in thought and act so frail, 
 May holy Michael in his strength my parting soul from harm defend, 
 Till circled by the myriad saints in heaven its flight doth end ; 
 For me may holy Gabriel pray for me may holy Raphael plead 
 For me may all the angelic choirs for ever intercede. 
 May the great King's eternal halls receive me freed from stain 
 
 and sin, 
 That I the joys of Paradise may share with Christ therein.
 
 256 THE SCHOOL OF MOVILLE. 
 
 Glory for aye be given to God for aye to Father and to Son 
 For aye unto the Holy Ghost with them in council one. 
 
 V. May the most holy St. Michael 
 
 The prince of angels defend us, 
 Whom to conduct our souls heavenward 
 God from the highest doth send us." 
 
 The School of Moville during the subsequent centuries of 
 disaster not only maintained its existence but produced one 
 of the most distinguished of the mediaeval historians, the 
 celebrated Marianus Scotus, the chonicler, to be carefully 
 distinguished from his namesake and contemporary, 
 Marinus Scotus, a poet, theologian and commentator of 
 Sacred Scripture, to whom we hope to refer on another 
 occasion. 
 
 Marianus Scotus, the Chronicler, was born, as he himself 
 tells us, in the year A.D. 1028 ; but we know nothing of his 
 family, or the place of his birth. Marianus is the smooth, 
 Latinized form of Maelbridge, the servant of St. Brigid, a 
 favourite pre-nomen in ancient Ireland. He tells us, too, in 
 his chronicle, that when he had on one occasion committed a 
 slight fault, his preceptor Tighernagh Boirceach reminded 
 him, how the abbot of Iniscaltra, an island in Lough Derg, 
 had expelled a holy man from the Island and commanded 
 him to leave Ireland for giving a little food to the brethren 
 without permission. This shows that Tighernach Boirceach, 
 Abbot of Moville for several years beforehis death in A.D. 1061, 
 must have been the spiritual guide who reprimanded 
 Marianus for his fault ; whence we infer that Marianus 
 spent his youth in the School of Moville. In A.D. 1056 he tells 
 us " I, Marianus, left my native country this year, having 
 1 ecome a pilgrim for the kingdom of God." He came to 
 Cologne and there entered the Monastery of St. Martin, at 
 that time ruled over by Irish abbots, and containing a com- 
 munity of Irish monks. Two years later he went to Fulda, 
 and " all unworthy as I am, I Marianus, was ordained priest 
 with Sigfrid, Abbot of Fulda, nigh to the body of the blessed 
 Martyr Kilian of Wurtzburg " his countryman who had 
 been like himself a pilgrim and died for Christ in a foreign 
 land. There he became a recluse, shut up in his little cell 
 for ten long years, given wholly to prayer, penance, and 
 study. Every day during these ten years he offered the Holy 
 Sacrifice over the tomb of his countryman, Anmchaidh, the 
 same who was driven from Inniscaltra as a penance for his 
 fault, and who died in A.D. 1043 in the odour of sanctity. From 
 Fulda in A.D. 1069, he the " wretched Marianus,'' was, as he
 
 ST. FINNIAN OF MOV1LLE. 257 
 
 tells us, transferred by order of the Abbot of Fulda and the 
 Bishop of Mayence to that city, and there again, as he tells 
 us in his sweet humility, he became once more a hermit for 
 his sins. His learning, especially in history and chronology, 
 was very extensive, and so by order of his superiors he wrote 
 a Chronicle in Three Books, which is one of the most valuable 
 memorials of mediaeval learning that have come down to our 
 times. The first two books are mainly devoted to questions 
 of chronology in which the writer exhibits vast learning and 
 great ingenuity He labours especially to refute the date of 
 the natal year of our Saviour's birth as fixed by the 
 Dionysian computation, which he affirms is twenty-two 
 years behind the proper date. For this, though he is 
 not followed by modern chronologists, he certainly won the 
 applause of his mediaeval contemporaries. Unfortunately 
 these two books have not yet been published ; but the 
 " Third Book " has been published by the learned Waitz 
 in the fifth volume of Perils Historical Monuments 
 of Germany. It has been since republished in Migne's 
 Latin Patrology, volume 147, where it can be more 
 readily consulted by Irish scholars. The work extends from 
 the birth of Christ to the year A.D. 1081 ; the following year 
 A.D. 1082 the writer ended a life full of good works, glorious 
 for God, and for his country. He sleeps, like many another 
 Irish saint, far away from the green hills of Ireland ; but 
 he sleeps well with kindred dust in the monastery of 
 St. Martin of Mayence, and posterity has honoured, with the 
 name of " the Blessed," Marianus Scotus, the latest glory of 
 the School of Moville.
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 THE SCHOOL OF CLONMACNOISE. 
 I. ST. CIARAN OF CLONMACNOISE. 
 
 " Quomodo sedet sola civitas plena populo." 
 
 Jeremiaa. 
 
 How solitary now she sits by the great river that once 
 thronged City ! Her gates are broken, and her streets are 
 silent. Yet in olden time she was a queen, and the children 
 of many lands came to do her homage. She was the nursing 
 mother of our saints, and the teacher of our highest learning 
 for a long six hundred years. The most ancient and the 
 most accurate of the Annals of Erin were written in her halls ; 
 the most learned ' Doctors of the Scots ' lectured in her class- 
 rooms ; the sweetest of our old Gaedhlic poems were com- 
 posed by her professors ; the noblest youth of France and 
 England crowded her halls, and bore the renown of her 
 holiness and learning to foreign lands. Even still her 
 churches, her crosses, aud her tombstones furnish the best 
 and most characteristic specimens of our ancient Celtic art in 
 sculpture and in architecture. View it as you may, 
 Clonmacnoise was the greatest of our schools in the past, as 
 it is the most interesting of our ruins in the present. 
 
 How well St. Ciaran chose the site of his monastic city in 
 those turbulent and lawless days ! It reposed in the bosom of 
 a grassy lawn of fertile meadow land on the eastern bank of 
 the Shannon, about ten miles south of Athlone. Just at this 
 point the majestic river takes a wide semi-circular sweep 
 first to the east and then to the south ; presently it widens 
 and deepens into calm repose under the shelter of that grassy 
 ridge, which Ciaran chose as the site of his monastery. A 
 vast expanse of bog lies beyond the river ; and in the time of 
 St. Ciaran the country all round about was an impassable 
 morass to the east, south, and ..north of the verdant oasis on 
 which he built his little church. So it became necessary to 
 construct a causeway through the bog from the monastery 
 somewhat on the line of the present road to Athlone. At 
 this day the aspect of the place is very desolate and lonely.
 
 ST. CIARAN OF CLONMACXOISE. 259 
 
 There is nothing to distract the attention of the stranger 
 save the gray ruins, the sweep of the full- bosomed river 
 stealing silently onwards like time in its flight, and vast 
 flocks of plover and curlew that are now settled on the 
 meadows, and a moment after are circling in flying clouds 
 around us. The report of a gun had startled both them and 
 us. It was like a voice in the regions of the dead. 
 
 St. Ciaran, the founder of Clonmacnoise, is usually called 
 Ciaran Mac In Tsair, that is, the Son of the Carpenter, and 
 sometimes Ciaran the Younger, to distinguish him from St. 
 Ciaran of Saigher, the patron of the diocese of Ossory. His 
 father, Beoit, son of Olcan, though a carpenter by trade, 
 came of high descent. His mother, Darerca, was a daughter 
 of the race that gave its name to the County Kerry. Beoit 
 lived at Larne, in Antrim, but being greatly harassed by the 
 exactions of Ainmire, king of the district, he migrated to the 
 Province of Connaught, and settled at a place called Rath 
 Crimtan, near Fuerty, in the County Roscommon. He was, 
 it seems, unmarried at the time, and there took to himself a 
 wife from the daughters of the Ciarraighe, who about the 
 same time had migrated from Irluachair, in Kerry, and 
 settled along the western bank of the Suck in that very 
 district. 1 They were a holy couple, and trained up a holy 
 family, for they had no less than five sons and three 
 daughters, who were great servants of God. 
 
 Ciaran was baptized by the deacon Justus at Fuerty 
 (Fidhartd), in the year A.D. 512, which we take to be the 
 date of the saint's birth. 2 He received his early education 
 from the same holy man, and in his turn was not too proud to 
 tend the herds of his tutor at Fuerty, especially during the 
 absence of the holy deacon. We are told, too, that while 
 tending the cattle he was also much given to study and 
 prayer. 
 
 It is probable that young Ciaran went directly from home 
 to the great School of Clonard, of which we have already 
 spoken. While he was there, he gave himself up with great 
 zeal to the study of holy Scripture under the direction of the 
 wise and learned Finnian. He made the acquaintance, too, 
 of nearly all the great and holy men who about this period 
 lived in blessed brotherhood at Clonard, and were afterwards 
 known as the Twelve Apostles of Erin. He was much 
 beloved both by his master, who called him the *' gentle 
 youth," and by his companions, whom he was always anxious 
 
 1 Book of Rights, page 100, note. 
 
 2 See Chronicon Scotorum, compiled at Clonmacnoise.
 
 260 THE SCHOOL OF CLONMACXOISE. 
 
 to oblige. Books were then very scarce, and on one occasion 
 when St. Ninnidius of Lough Erne, was vainly searching for 
 a copy of the Gospels, Ciaran gave him his own copy, saying, 
 that we should do to others as we would have others do to 
 us the text which he was studying in St. Matthew at the 
 moment. 
 
 Ciaran once made a present of corn to his master and the 
 brotherhood, which sufficed for their wants during forty 
 days it was said, too, this blessed food given by Ciaran 
 had virtue to heal the sick, who partook of it, and a portion of 
 it was reserved for that purpose. Finnian in return blessed 
 his generous and holy pupil, and foretold that his Church in 
 the coming years would be fruitful " of nobility and wisdom ;" 
 that it would have much glory and much land ; and that 
 half Ireland would one day be subject to his rule. When the 
 master was absent, Ciaran was deputed to take his place, 
 which shows the high opinion then entertained by Finnian 
 of his learning and holiness. One day Finnian saw in vision 
 two golden moons in the firmament of Erin ; one he said is 
 Columcille, to illumine the North with the lustre of his 
 virtues and high descent ; the other was Ciaran, who would 
 shine over central Erin, with the mild radiance of charity 
 and meekness. 
 
 At length the time came for Ciaran to leave Clonarl. 
 Both masters and scholars were sorry to part with the gentle 
 youth. Finnian even offered to resign the master's chair iu 
 his favour ; but Ciaran wisely declined the great honour, 
 for he was too young and inexperienced for that office. 
 Columcille was then at Clonard about the year A.D. 537 or 
 538, and was greatly attached to Ciaran; he composed 
 regretful stanzas at his departure, and afterwards followed 
 him all the way to Aran : 
 
 " The noble youth that goeth westward, 
 And leaves us mourning here 
 Ah ! gentle, loving, tender-hearted 
 Is Ciaran Mac In Tsair." 
 
 We have in a previous chapter referred to Ciaran's 
 sojourn in Aran with St. Enda. On his departure from the 
 blessed isles Ciaran told the venerable Enda that he saw in a 
 vision a large fruitful tree planted in the midst of Erin, and 
 its boughs sheltered all the land. Its fair fruit was borne 
 over land and sea, and all the birds of the air came and eat 
 thereof. " That tree is thyself," said Enda ; " all Erin shall 
 be filled with thy name, and sheltered by the grace that will 
 be in thee, and many men from all parts will be fed by thy
 
 ST. CIARAN OF CLONMACNOISE. 261 
 
 prayers and thy fastings. Go, then, in God's name, and found 
 thy Church on the Shannon's banks in the centre of the island." 
 
 After leaving Aran, Ciaran paid a short visit to St. 
 Senan of Scattery Island, in the Lower Shannon, and was 
 much edified by the example and conversation of that holy 
 man. He then went north in obedience to the word of Enda, 
 and at first founded a church at a place called Isell Ciaran, 
 where he remained only a short time. He then founded 
 another oratory on Inis Ainghin, now called Hare Island, in 
 Lough Ree, a beautifully wooded islet about two miles north 
 of Athlone, where a ruined church may still be seen that was 
 built on the site of Ciaran's more ancient oratory. 
 
 It was an admirable site for a monastery ; far enough from 
 the shore for security, but ! near enough for convenience, and 
 situated just at the point where the wide and beautiful lake 
 con tracts its waters into the stately stream that flows beneath 
 the historic arches of the bridge at Athlone. 
 
 For three years and three months only Ciaran remained 
 at Hare Island. This would fix his arrival there in A.D. 540 
 if, as we shall see, he died in A.D. 544 at the age of thirty- 
 three years. Going further south by the bank of the river 
 to a place that would be nearer to the centre of the island, 
 he stopped at the spot then called Ard Mantain, which in 
 his opinion was too fertile and too beautiful to be chosen as 
 the abode of fasting saints. " We might," he said, " have 
 here much of the world's riches, but the souls going to heaven 
 from it would be few." So he journeyed on still further to the 
 south through what was then a desolate expanse of fens and 
 brakes, until he came to Ard Tiprait, the Height of the 
 Spring. " Here," he said to his companions, " let us remain, 
 for many souls will ascend to heaven from this spot." It 
 was on the 10th of the Kalends of February that Ciaran 
 took up his abode at Clonmacnoise with eight companions ; 
 and it was on the 10th of the Moon, and a Saturday. This 
 is very specific information, and evidently authentic. It 
 shows that the writer of Ciaran's life knew what he was 
 saying, and was not afraid of being contradicted. These 
 dates prove that the foundation of Clonmacnoise took place 
 on Saturday, the 23rd of January, in the year A.D. 544. It 
 was finished on the 9th of May following ; and the same 
 ancient and accurate life tells us the circumstances of this 
 most remarkable event the founding of the greatest school 
 and the greatest monastery in Ireland. 
 
 1 Vita S. Ciarani.
 
 262 THE SCHOOL OF CLONMACNOISE. 
 
 When Ciaran was planting the first post to mark out the 
 site of the Cathair of Clonmacnoise, Diarmaid Mac Cearbhaill, 
 who happened to be present with a few of his companions, 
 helped the saint with his own hands to fix the post in the 
 earth. "Though your companions to-day are few," said 
 Ciaran, "to-morrow thou shalt be High King of Erin." 
 This prophecy, like many others, helped to fulfil itself. 
 One of Diarmaid's companions, Maelmor, 1 his foster brother, 
 overheard the saint's word ; and knowing that he was a man 
 of God, he resolved to help in carrying it out. King Tuathal 
 Maelgarbh, great grandson of Niall the Great, had set a 
 price on Diarmaid's head, or rather on his heart, if brought to 
 him in person ; so Diarmaid was forced to hide himself and 
 live in the deserts and bogs around Clonmacnoise. There 
 he met the saint, and not only aided him to build his 
 monastery as we stated, but in reverence to the saint he 
 placed his own hand beneath that of Ciaran in fixing the 
 first pole. Now, Maelmor hearing the prediction, with 
 Diarmaid's reluctant consent, took his fleet black horse, and a 
 whelp's heart besprinkled with blood on the point of his 
 spear, and rode post haste to a place called Greallach Eillte 
 in Meath, where the king with his nobles happened to be at 
 the time. Seeing the stranger riding post to the king with 
 the bloody heart on his spear, all made way for him, for 
 they, like the king himself, thought it was the heart of 
 Diarmaid, which he was going to present to the king. But 
 instead of Diarmaid's heart, Maelmor gave the monarch a 
 fatal thrust with his spear, which killed him on the spot. 
 Maelmor was immediately set upon by the royal guards and 
 hewn to pieces. But his purpose was achieved Diarmaid 
 MacCearbhaill was the nearest heir to the throne, and was 
 immediately proclaimed king without opposition. During his 
 reign he was, as might be expected, a great patron and bene- 
 factor of Clonmacnoise, and although there is good reason to 
 believe that he still kept Druids and soothsayers in his palace, 
 he gave that monastery large grants of land, and subjected to 
 its authority no less than one hundred of the small churches 
 in its neighbourhood. Such was the origin of the Diocese 
 of Clonmacnoise, which after many vicissitudes is now united 
 to that of Ardagh. 2 
 
 St. Ciaran only lived four months after founding his 
 monastery and little church the Eclais Beg on the banks 
 
 1 Chronicon Xcotorum. Anno 544. 
 
 3 See Dr. Monaghan's interesting Record? of Ardagh and C'onmacnoise.
 
 ST. CIARAN OF CLONMACNOISE. 263 
 
 of the Shannon. The same accurate writer of his life states 
 with great precision that his death came upon him in the 
 thirty-third year of his age, on the fifth of the Ides (the 9th) 
 of September, on a Saturday, the fifteenth day of the moon. 
 These data mark the year A.D. 544 (not 549), as the year of 
 the saint's death. It was also the year in which King 
 Diarmaid ascended the throne, and which brought with it a 
 great plague that proved fatal to many of the saints of Erin, 
 as well as to Ciaran himself. The death of Ciaran was very 
 touching. " Take me out a little," he said, "from the cell 
 into the open air." Then looking up to the blue sky, he 
 said " Narrow indeed is the way which leads to heaven." 
 " Not for you, father, will it be narrow," said one of his 
 monks who was standing nigh. " It is not said in the Gospel 
 that it will be easy for me or for any one," said Ciaran ; " even 
 the blessed Paul and David were afraid." He would not 
 allow the stone pillow to be removed in order to give more 
 ease to his head. He had kept it during life, and he would 
 rest on it in death " Blessed are they," he observed, " who 
 persevere unto the end." The brethren now saw God's 
 angels hovering in the air around them awaiting the moment 
 of Ciaran' s departure. He grew weaker, so they brought 
 him in again to Eclais Beg. It was fitting he should die 
 there ; it was the scene of his prayers and tears. The skin 
 on which he used to sleep in his little cell was stretched on 
 the ground, and he was laid upon it. The end was now at 
 hand. He gave his last blessing to the brethren, and asked 
 them to close the church, and leave him alone with his soul's 
 friend, St. Kevin of Glendaloch, whom he knew and loved at 
 Clonard. Kevin blessed holy water according to the 
 Church's rite, and sprinkled the little oratory, and the 
 couch of the dying saint. Then he gave Ciaran the holy 
 Communion and blessed him once more ere he died. Ciaran 
 loved the holy Kevin much ; God had sent him to his bed- 
 side at the prayer of Ciaran himself and as a pledge of his 
 love the dying saint gave to Kevin his bell the symbol in 
 those days of monastic rule and bidding him a tender fare- 
 well, he gave up his pure and gentle soul to God. 
 
 He was, indeed, a wonderful man that St. Ciaran. He 
 died very young ; it was at the sacred age of thirty-three, as all 
 our Annals tell. In four months from February to May 
 he built his convent; for four months more he ruled his 
 community ; and then he was called to his reward ; yet that 
 community grew to be the greatest and most learned of all 
 the land.
 
 264 THE SCHOOL OF CLONMACNOISE. 
 
 All our martyrologies assign the festival of St. Ciaran 
 to the 9th of September ; and the day has been celebrated 
 from that hour to the present. St. ^Engus says that it is a 
 solemnity that "fills territories and impels fast-going ships " 
 on sea and river hurrying to celebrate the glorious festival 
 of Ciaran of Cluain. 
 
 Any one who visits Clonmacnoise on the 9th of September 
 will still see the "territory" of the saint still filled with 
 pilgrims, and the ' ships ' laden with crowds of men and 
 women crossing the Shannon to visit the shrine of the saint. 
 St. Cummian of Clonfert in his Paschal Epistle, of which we 
 have already spoken, ranks Ciaran, and most justly, amongst 
 the "early Fathers of the Irish Church." 1 Alcuin, who 
 studied at Clonmacnoise. calls him the glory of the Irish 
 nation. 2 " The three worst counsels that were ever accom- 
 plished in Erin," says the gloss on .ZEngus, " by the advice of 
 saints, were the shortening! of Ciaran's life, the exile of 
 Columcille, and the expulsion of Mochuda from Rahan." 
 The ' saints,' it seems, were jealous that Diarmaid had 
 conferred so many favours on Ciaran so they prayed to God 
 to take him out of the world before any harm came of it, and 
 lo ! it was done. A more thoughtful man, however, would 
 say, not without reason, that these three counsels were great 
 blessings for Ireland and for Scotland too. It was well that 
 Ciaran was called away so soon to heaven before jealousy or 
 rivalry made enemies for Clonmacnoise; it was well surely that 
 Molaise of Innismurray sent Columba to Scotland to preach 
 the Gospel ; and it was well too that Mochuda left Rahan ; 
 for it was only to found a greater and more magnificent 
 monastery elsewhere. So Providence always out of seeming 
 evil brings forth good. 
 
 There was hardly time for Ciaran himself to do any 
 literary work at Clonmacnoise he built the house and blessed 
 it ; and was then summoned to his Father's House in heaven. 
 There is, however, an old Gaelic poem widely celebrated, 
 which is. attributed to Ciaran. It begins with the words 
 " An rim, an ri, an richid rain," and seems to have been a 
 fruitless prayer that God would spare his life to do greater 
 works for His glory. God thought, however, he had done 
 enough, and called him home. He was, say the ancients, 
 like to John the Apostle in his life and habits pure, and 
 young, and loving, soaring up to God on the wings of the 
 eagle. 
 
 1 One of the " Patres priorea." 2 " Cheranus Scottorum gloria gentis."
 
 ST. CIARAN OF CLONMACNOISE. 265 
 
 Like most of the Apostles of the early Irish Church, 
 Ciaran led an extremely ascetic life. He never passed a day 
 without manual labour for the benefit of the brethren. He 
 was never idle. He slept on the naked clay ; he had a stone 
 for his pillow ; he never wore a soft garment next his skin. 
 He was, as we know, above all, humble, gentle and chaste ; 
 he never, it is said, told a lie and never looked on the face of 
 a woman. He never drank ale or milk, except diluted one- 
 third with water. He never ate even bread except one-third 
 sand was mixed with it. He was thus a man of humility, 
 abstinence, and prayer, and therefore God blessed the work 
 of his hand, and exalted him both during his life and after 
 his death. There was no saint more beloved by his own con- 
 temporaries by Enda, and Kevin, and Finnian, and 
 Columcille. They all loved him dearly whilst he was with, 
 them ; and their hearts were sore at his departure. And to 
 this day, at least by the Shannon's shore, there is no saint 
 whose name is held in more affectionate remembrance than 
 the founder of Clonmacnoise. 
 
 The Eclais Beg, in which St. Ciaran died, became not 
 unnaturally a sacred spot. It was the very centre of the 
 holiness of Clonmacnoise. He left several relics, which the 
 piety of his children deemed most holy, and not without cause. 
 The Imda Chiarain, or cow-skin couch, on which he died was 
 deemed a most precious relic, and cured the sick who were 
 allowed to stretch their feeble frames over it. His holy body 
 was buried in the Eclais Beg, or Tempull Chiaran, and his 
 grave is still venerated by the faithful, although the site is 
 rather doubtful. The "Cemetery of noble Cluain" was 
 deemed as sacred a burial place as any in Rome itself; and 
 the noblest families in all the land built mortuary chapels 
 within the sacred enclosure. There were saints interred in 
 its cemetery, it was said, " whose prayers would make even 
 hell a heaven." The sound of its bell was holy, and 
 frightened away the demons. The shadow of its round tower 
 sanctified the soil that it fell upon. Ciaran brought to heaven 
 by his prayers, during their life or after their death, the souls 
 of all those who were buried in that holy ground. Or, as it 
 is quaintly put in the Registry of Clonmacnoise "What 
 souls harboured in the bodies buried under that dust may 
 never be adjudged to damnation wherefore those of the 
 same (Royal) blood have divided the churchyard amongst 
 themselves by the consent of Kyran, and of his holy clerks." 
 
 This is not the imagining of later writers, for the vener- 
 able Adamnan tells us that when after the Synod of
 
 266 THE SCHOOL OF CLONMACNOISE. 
 
 Drumceat (A.D. 585) St. Columcille came to visit Clonmac- 
 noise, he took a portion of the same holy clay to bring it home ; 
 but threw it into the sea at Coryvreckan to still the raging 
 waves, which thereupon became quite calm. 
 
 II. THE RUINED CHURCHES AT CLONMACNOISE. 
 
 The existing ruins at 'Clonmacnoise, though now so much 
 dilapidated, are ^highly interesting, both from the historical 
 and artistic point of view. They belong to different periods, 
 the date of which can be easily ascertained, and thus furnish 
 many authentic specimens of the Irish Romanesque. 
 
 Of St. Ciaran's original church or oratory the Eclais 
 Beg not a trace now remains. The grave of the saint is 
 pointed out close by the southern wall of the ruin called 
 Tempull Ciaran, which is in the very centre of the church- 
 yard, and in all probability was built on the site of Ciaran's 
 original oratory. 
 
 The following are the principal ruined churches still to be 
 seen at Clonmacnoise : 
 
 (1.) There is the Daimhlaig, or Great Stone-Church, 
 called also M 'Dennett's Church, and sometimes the Cathedral. 
 "We know for certain that it was built in A.D. 909 by Flann, 
 King of Ireland, and by Colraan, abbot of Clonmacnoise and 
 Clonard at that time. The beautiful stone cross which was 
 erected to commemorate the building of the church itself is 
 still standing before the great western doorway, and tells its 
 own story. In two of the compartments of the sculptured 
 shaft a prayer is asked of every one who passes for the souls' 
 rest of the founders of the church. In one it is : OR DO 
 FLAVND MAC MAELSECHLAIND " A prayer for 
 Fland, son of Maelsechlaind." In the other it is : COLMAN 
 DORROINI IN CROISSA AJR IN RI FLAND that is, 
 " Colman made this cross for King Fland." The inscriptions 
 are partly effaced, but not so as to obliterate the words 
 completely. Taken in connection with the entry in the 
 Annals of Clonmacnoise, A.D. 901 (recte 908), they are highly 
 interesting. " King Flann and Colman Connellagh this year 
 founded the church in Clonmacnoise called the Church of the 
 Kings." Colman outlived King Flann, who died in A.D. 916, 
 by eight years, and no doubt this cross, as Petrie points out, 
 was erected for the two-fold purpose of commemorating the 
 foundation of the church, and of marking the sepulchre of 
 King Flann, its pious founder. The sculptures on the west 
 side of the shaft represent St. Ciaran and King Diarmaid in
 
 THE RUINED CHURCHES AT CLONMACXOISE. 267 
 
 the act of planting the first pole of the Eclais Beg ; the 
 opposite side represents in high relief several events in the 
 life of our Saviour, as recorded in Holy Scripture. Hence 
 this great cross came to be called the Cross of the Scriptures 
 Cros na Screaptra. It is fifteen feet in height ; and is a 
 most interesting specimen of Celtic art in sculpture at that 
 early and unpropitious period. This, the Cathedral Church, 
 afterwards came to be called M'Dermott's Church, because, 
 as the Registry of Clonmacnoise informs us, "Tomaltach. 
 M'Dermott, chief of Moylurg, repaired or rebuilt the Great 
 Church upon his own costs ; and it was for the cemetery of the 
 Clanmaolruany that he did so." This Tomaltach Mac 
 Dermott, the King of Moylurg, " a most formidable and 
 triumphant man against his enemies, and a man of the 
 greatest bounty and alms-giving," died in the year A.D. 1336, 1 
 which sufficiently fixes the period of the restoration of the 
 Great Church. There is an inscription over the northern 
 doorway in Latin, which tells that " Odo, Dean of Clonmac- 
 noise, caused it to be made/' probably in the fifteenth century. 
 
 (2.) On the western boundary of the church-yard is the 
 ruined chancel of the church called Tempull Finnian, which 
 probably dates back to the ninth century, and was built on 
 the sight of a more ancient oratory dedicated to St. Finnian 
 of Clonard, if not actually built by that saint. He was, as we 
 have seen, the ' tutor ' of Ciaran, and loved him much ; so 
 that doubtless he came to visit his former disciple at 
 Clonmacnoise. Close at hand on the river's bank is Finnian's 
 Well ; and tradition still points out the grave in which he is 
 said to be buried. The chancel arch of this church in three 
 orders is highly ornamented, and is considered an excellent 
 specimen of the Celtic Romanesque. The round tower, which 
 adjoins this church, appears to be coeval with the building ; 
 and doubtless both were erected during the Danish wars. It 
 is only 56 feet high, but it is 49 feet in circumference. The 
 material is a fine sand-stone probably carried thither on the 
 river, for there is none in the neighbourhood. Lord 
 Dunraven considered it to be the most interesting monument 
 at Clonmacnoise, and Petrie describes it as wholly built of 
 ashlar masonry with a fine sand- stone laid in horizontal 
 courses. The conical roof is built of a peculiar herring-bone 
 ashlar, such as is not found elsewhere in Ireland. 
 
 This tower is commonly called M'Carthy's Tower ; and the 
 church is frequently called McCarthy's Church, from a 
 
 1 Annals of Loch Ce.
 
 268 THE SCHOOL OF CLONM. \CXOISE. 
 
 mistaken notion that it was built by Finneen M'Carthy of 
 Desmond in the beginning of the thirteenth century. 
 M'Carthy certainly gave some land to the community of 
 Clonmacnoise to secure their prayers, and what he valued 
 even more, a burial-place in its holy soil for his own royal 
 race. Tern pull Finnian was assigned to him for the purpose ; 
 and it was doubtless repaired by M'Carthy ; but it was built 
 long before any of his name was known at Clonmacnoise. 
 
 (3.) The O'Conors, Kings of Connaught, also gave a grant 
 of many townlands to secure a mortuary chapel at Clonmac- 
 noise. It was known as Tempull Conor, and was founded by 
 Cathal, King of Connaught, who died A.D. 1010 ; he was son 
 of that Conor (Conchobhar) who gave his name to their royal 
 race. 
 
 (4.) Another kingly family of Connaught the O'Kellys 
 of Hy-Many built themselves a sepulchral chapel within the 
 sacred enclosure, which they paid for with many a broad 
 acre. It was founded by Conor O'Kelly of Moenmoy, in the 
 year A.D. 1167, as the Four Masters inform us. He was a 
 great chief, famed for his royal bounty, and ruled over Hy- 
 Many for forty years. 
 
 (5.) King Diarmaid, who helped St. Ciaran to fix the 
 first stake enclosing the sacred boundary of Clonmacnoise, 
 belonged to the southern Hy-Niall race. It is no wonder, 
 therefore, that his royal descendants had their chapel there. 
 It was called Tempull High the King's Church and some- 
 times Tempull Ua Maelshechlainn, from the family name, 
 which the southern Hy-Niall afterwards assumed. It stands 
 south-east of the cathedral, and measures 40 feet in length 
 by 17 feet in breadth. 
 
 (6.) The beautiful round tower at the north-western 
 corner of the cemetery is commonly called O'Rorke's Tower, 
 because, as the Registry of Clonmacnoise tells us, it was built 
 by Fergal O'Horke, King of Connaught, towards the middle 
 of the tenth century. This prince, for his soul's sake, and 
 as the price of his family sepulchre, undertook to keep all the 
 churches in repair during his own life ; and he also built the 
 causeway still in part existing from the Yew Tree to the 
 Lough. The portion of the tower built by O'Rorke's men in 
 the tenth century is of fine-jointed ashlar masonry ; but 
 the upper portion, executed two centuries later in A,U. 1135, 
 is of ruder and very inferior workmanship. 1 At that date 
 lightning struck the tower, overthrowing its roof and twenty 
 
 1 See Lord Dunraven's Notes.
 
 THE RUINED CHURCHES AT CLONMACNOISE. 269 
 
 feet of wall. The coarser masonry represents the restoration 
 then effected by Turlogh O'Conor and O'Malone, Abbot of 
 Clonmacnoise. This tower is now sixty-two feet high, and 
 fifty-six feet in circumference. There were other chapels and 
 sepulchral oratories at Clonmacnoise, which have now com- 
 pletely disappeared, and to which it is unnecessary for us to 
 make further reference. The nunnery whose foundations 
 have only recently been brought to light, was about 1,000 
 paces to the east of the monastery. 
 
 On the western border beyond the cemetery are the ruins 
 of a very striking Norman Keep, commonly called De Lacy's 
 Castle. It was built, however, in A.D. 1214, not by De Lacy, 
 who was then dead, but by John de Gray, 1 Bishop of Nor- 
 wich, an able and vigorous justiciary, who built this strong 
 keep to protect the monastery and defend the passes of the 
 Shannon against the turbulent Connaught men. Like all 
 the Norman work of that period in Ireland, it is as solid and 
 massive as if it were built of solid rock, not by man but by 
 nature. 
 
 The churchyard has many inscribed tombstones, which 
 are fully described by Petrie and by Miss Stokes in her inter- 
 esting work on Christian Inscriptions. These were the 
 tombstones placed over the graves of the abbots of Clonmac- 
 noise, for the humble brothers of the monastery were interred 
 beneath ' noteless burial stones.' The most striking feature 
 exhibited in these monuments is their wonderful variety of 
 design and the delicacy of execution. 
 
 One of the most interesting of these stones is that placed 
 over " Suibine, son of Mailae Humai," who, in the Chronicon 
 Scotorum, is described as an anchorite and choice scribe, and 
 whose death is marked at the year A.D. 890 or 891. He is 
 beyond doubt the person who, as we shall see hereafter, is 
 described by Florence of Worcester as the "most learned 
 Doctor of the Scots" Doctor Scotorum peritissimus truly 
 a high eulogy of Suibine, whose name is inscribed on this 
 stone, and whose dust lies beneath it. 
 
 There is another stone on which is incised a cross of very 
 peculiar form with the simple legend BLAIMAC, who, as we 
 learn from the same Chronicon Scotorum, was princeps, or 
 ruling Abbot of Clonmacnoise, and died in A.D. 896. 
 
 There were no less than one hundred and forty of these 
 inscribed stones at Clonmacnoise, when it was first visited by 
 Petrie in early life. Many of them have since disappeared, 
 
 1 See Professor Stukes' Lectures.
 
 270 THE SCHOOL OF CLOXMACXOISE. 
 
 but a few new ones have been discovered during more recent 
 excavations, so that the place is still a perfect treasury of the 
 monuments of our ancient art. There is an ancient Gaedhlic 
 poem in the Burgundian Library at Brussels which gives an 
 account of the kings and warriors who are buried in " the 
 city of Ciaran, the prayerful, the pious and the wise." 1 A 
 somewhat similar poem, written by Conaing Buidhe O'Mul- 
 conry, is in Trinity College, and has been translated by the 
 late Mr. Hennessy. 2 The second stanza tells how Turlough 
 O'Conor and his ill-starred son, Roderick, the last King of 
 Ireland, sleep on either side of the high altar in Temple Mor, 
 which the Four Masters identify with Temple-Ciaran. The 
 independence of Erin sleeps with them in the same tomb. 
 
 III. THE SCHOLARS OF CLONMACNOISE. 
 
 There was one feature in the government of the monastery 
 of Clonmacnoise which served to make it more than any other 
 school in Ireland a kind of national seminary it belonged to 
 no tribe. Its monks and its scholars came from all parts of 
 the country ; and its abbots were chosen not from any family, 
 or from any tribe, but from all the provinces without distinc- 
 tion. Its founder was a Connaughtman of half-northern and 
 half-southern extraction. His successor, St. Oena, was from 
 the territory of Laegbis (Leix) in Leinster. The third abbot, 
 MacNisse, was of the Ultonians ; and the fourth, Alithir, who 
 died in A.D. 599, was a Munsterman. This wise policy tended 
 to develop a generous and large-minded spirit in the commu- 
 nity, which must have been productive of the happiest effects. 
 
 The influence of Clonmacnoise as a great school was first 
 displayed during the discussions on the Easter question. The 
 Columbian houses in the north of Ireland, following the 
 example of the mother house at Hy, adhered to the ancient 
 method of fixing the date of Easter. On the other hand the 
 religious houses of the south and south-eastern parts of 
 Ireland, in obedience to the directions of Pope Honorius, 
 convoked a Synod at Magh Lene in King's County to discuss 
 this most important question. Magh Lene was near Durrow, 
 and not far from Clonmacnoise ; but Durrow was Columbian, 
 and its abbot remained away. Cummian, however, expressly 
 tells us that Ciaran's successor was present at that great 
 assembly and sanctioned its decrees. Though belonging to 
 the northern half for Clonmacnoise was in the ancient 
 
 1 It has been translated for Miss Stokes by Mr. O'Locmey. 
 
 2 See Christian Inscriptions, page 79.
 
 
 THE SCHOLARS OF CLONMACNOISE. 271 
 
 Meath the abbot had learning and courage enough to see 
 that the Irish practice was opposed to that of the universal 
 Church, and ought to be given up in favour of the Roman 
 discipline. 
 
 It is from this time forward that Clonmacnoise begins to 
 rank as the first of our Irish Schools. It was already largely 
 endowed by the Kings of Meath and of Hy-Many, to both 
 of whom, so to speak, it belonged, for the river was the only 
 boundary. These possessions were constantly growing larger, 
 In A.D. 648 or 649, Diarmaid, King of Meath, crossed the 
 Shannon to fight Guaire, King of Connaught, and his Munster 
 allies. Diarmaid on his way to battle stopped at Clonmac- 
 noise, and begged the congregation of Ciaran to pray to God 
 that he would return safe borne " through the merits of their 
 guarantee." Then the King, full of courage, continued his 
 march, and fought the great battle of Carn Conaile, near 
 Gort, in which he was completely victorious. On his return 
 he granted the territory of Tuaim-n-Eirc, now Lemanaghan, 
 in King's County, with all its sub-divisions as an altar sod, 
 i.e., church land, to God and St. Ciaran for ever, so that no 
 King of Meath might take so much as a ' drink of water from 
 its well without paying for it.' For this grant King Diar- 
 maid also secured the right of sepulchre at Clonmacnoise, and 
 was himself buried there. What is stranger still, his rival, 
 Guaire, towards the close of his life came to do penance at 
 Clonmacnoise ; and he, too, the Generous and Hospitable, was 
 buried there in A.D. 663, and no doubt did not forget the 
 monks when he was dying. Just at this time the plague 
 wrought great havoc amongst the saints and students of Clon- 
 macnoise. Two or three abbots died in rapid succession, and 
 doubtless the family of the monastery suffered severely, for 
 the frightened students fled far away. In A.D. 719 the mon- 
 astery was burned. Most of the buildings up to this time 
 were probably of wood, for it was not easy to procure stone 
 at Clonmacnoise. But the schools were soon again at work. 
 In A.D. 724 we hear of the death of Mac Concumba, a learned 
 scribe of this monastery. His duty was to multiply copies of 
 valuable works, and record in the annals of the monastery 
 from year to year entries of all those noteworthy events 
 which happened throughout the kingdom. It was these 
 scribes who prepared the materials afterwards so admirably 
 compiled by Tighernach and his associates. Another 'choice 
 scribe ' died in A.D. 768 ; and we are told that the monastery 
 was burned again in A.D. 751, and a third time in A.D. 773 
 on both occasions probably by accident.
 
 272 THE SCHOOL OF CLONMACNOISE. 
 
 At this time Clomnacnoise was at the height of its literary 
 glory. The Danes had not yet arrived on the coasts of 
 Ireland. Great scholars flourished there, the fame of whose 
 learning attracted students from many lands. Fortunately 
 here we are not left to vague conjecture ; we have definite 
 historical proofs both native and foreign. In the very year 
 the Danes first landed at Rathlin in A.D. 794 or 795 we 
 find recorded the death of Colgan (or Colgu or Colcu), a pro- 
 fessor of Clonmacnoise, who was probahly the teacher of the 
 greatest scholar of that age. He was a Munster-man by 
 birth, but seems to have lived and died at Clonmacnoise. 
 His fame was very great amongsthis contemporaries, who 
 called him Colgu the Wise. He was lecturer in Theology, 
 and seems also to have been Rector of the Monastic College. 
 That he was a diligent student of St. Paul's Epistles we 
 may infer from a story told in his life. One day returning 
 from his class hall with his leathern book-satchel on his 
 shoulder, he sat down to rest at the place called Mointireanir. 
 As he sat a stranger came up and began to converse in the 
 kindest and most affable way with the professor, and even 
 ventured to give him counsel and instruction. Nay, more, 
 he took up the book- satchel, and carried it on his own 
 shoulders, letting the tired master walk on by his side. The 
 kind stranger turned out to be the Apostle Paul himself. On 
 another occasion when public disputation was being held at 
 the college, it seems certain scholars were objecting vigorously 
 to Colgu' s views, when St. Paul once more appeared as a 
 learned stranger, and was invited to take part in the discus- 
 sion. The unknown scholar accepted the invitation, and 
 reasoned so convincingly that in a very short time he clearly 
 showed to the satisfaction of all present that Colgu's view of 
 the question at issue was the correct one. 
 
 The celebrated Alcuin was the most distinguished scholar 
 of his own time in Europe. There is fortunately a letter of 
 his still preserved, which shows quite clearly that he was a 
 student of Clonmacnoise, and a pupil of Colgu, and which 
 also exhibits the affectionate veneration that he retained 
 through life for his Alma Mater at Clonmacnoise. It is 
 addressed to "Colgu, Professor (lectorem) in Ireland the 
 blessed Master and Pious Father of Albinus," 1 the more 
 usual name given to Alcuin in France, by Charlemagne and 
 his courtiers. The writer complains that for some time past 
 he was not deemed worthy to receive any of those letters ' so 
 
 1 Epistola Albini Magistri ad Colcum Lectorem in Scotia 
 Benedicto Magistro, et Pio Patri Colcuo Alcuine humilis levita salutem.
 
 THE SCHOLARS OF CLONMACNOISE. 273 
 
 precious in my sight from your Fatherhood/ but he daily 
 feels the benefit of his absent Father's prayers. He adds 
 that he sends by the same messenger an alms of fifty sides 
 of silver from the bounty of King Charles, and fifty more 
 from his own resources for the brotherhood. He also sends 
 a quantity of (olive) oil which it was then very difficult to 
 procure in Ireland, and asks that it may be distributed 
 amongst the Bishops in God's honour for sacramental pur- 
 poses. This shows the thoughtful piety of Alcuin, who 
 doubtless noticed, when he was a student of Clonmacnoise, 
 the difficulty of procuring pure olive oil for the holy Chrism 
 and Extreme Unction. This letter breathes the most beauti- 
 ful spirit of piety and shows the affectionate gratitude of 
 Alcuin for the home and the teachers of his youth. 
 
 Colgu, or Colgan, of Clonmacnoise, is the earliest 
 Ferlegind who is noticed in our Annals. During the course 
 of the ninth century the Ferlegind appears by name in the 
 School of Armagh, and during the tenth and eleventh 
 centuries we find reference made to these* Readers' in several 
 of our Irish monasteries. We may infer the nature of his 
 office, not only from his name the 'reading-man' or 
 lecturer but also from the position, which he appears to 
 have ! held in the monastery. He is different from the 
 abbot, and subject to him, but he appears superior to all the 
 other teachers and officials, so that he may be described not 
 only as chief professor, but also as the Rector of the Monastic 
 School under the abbot. His position corresponded to that 
 of the scholasticus in the early Continental schools. He 
 arranged the programme of study, superintended the classes ; 
 kept the other officials, like the scribneoir and aeconomus, to 
 their duties, and lectured himself in the most important 
 subjects especially in Scripture and theology. To be an 
 accomplished ' scribe,' however, required very special gifts not 
 merely of beautiful penmanship, but also a knowledge of the 
 subject, which would prevent the writer from making grave 
 mistakes in transcription, thus destroying the value of his 
 manuscript. Hence we find the same person is frequently 
 described as ' scribe and bishop ;' and sometimes ' scribe, 
 abbot and bishop.' 
 
 Colgu has been called a saint, and justly ; his piety seems 
 to have been quite equal to his learning. The " Prayer of 
 St. Colgu," written by the saint in Latin, has been rendered 
 into English from the copy in the ancient Book of Clonmac- 
 noise, called Leabhar-na-h-Uidri. It is a prayer, full of 
 the deepest and most ardent devotion, in which the holy man
 
 274 THE SCHOOL OF CLONMACNOISE. 
 
 implores, " With Thee, holy Jesus," the intercession of all 
 the heavenly host and of all the saints, apostles and martyrs, 
 and bishops, and virgins of the Old and New Law, that, 
 " Thou, Holy Trinity, may take me this night under Thy 
 protection and shelter, and defend me from the demons. . . . 
 and from desires, from sins, from transgressions, from dis- 
 obediences . . . from the fire of hell and eternity . . . and 
 that God may light up in their souls meekness and charity, 
 and gratitude and mercy, and forgiveness in their hearts, 
 and in their thoughts, and in their souls, and in their minds, 
 and in their bowels." 
 
 Colgan also wrote another celebrated work in Irish, 
 called Scuap Chrabhaigh, or the " Besom of Devotion," 
 which his namesake, the renowned Franciscan, also a lector 
 in theology, pronounces to be a " book of most fervent 
 prayers, after the manner of a litany ; a book, moreover, of 
 most ardent devotion and elevation of the soul to God." 1 
 Some think that the " Besom of Devotion" referred to by 
 Colgan, is only the Litany or Prayer of St. Colgan, under 
 another name. 
 
 In spite of the devastations both of the Danes and native 
 princes during the ninth century, learning still nourished at 
 Clonmacnoise. That Suibhne, son of Maeluma, whose grave- 
 stone may still be seen at Clonmacnoise, died in A.D. 891. 
 His fame was great, not only in Ireland, but in England 
 also. The Saxon Chronicle and the Annals of Cambria, as well 
 as Florence of Worcester, all notice his death and describe 
 him as the wisest and the greatest Doctor of the Scots or 
 Irish, and the Annals of Ulster call him a "most excellent 
 scribe." Unfortunately we have none of his writings extant 
 to confirm the judgment of his cotemporaries. 
 
 Yet during this and the following century, which pro- 
 duced these great scholars, we read a shameful record of the 
 burnings, pillage, and slaughter wrought both by native and 
 foreigner in this peaceful home of sanctity and learning. 
 
 It was plundered or burned generally both on at least 
 ten different occasions by the Danes. But the Irish them- 
 selves exceeded even that bloody record, and laid sacrilegious 
 hands on these holy shrines and their inmates no less than 
 fourteen or fifteen times. The Danes began this foul work ; 
 both Danes and Irish continued it at short intervals ; the 
 English of Athlone completed the job. Nothing more 
 shameful, or so shameful, can be found in the annals of any 
 
 1 Acta Sanctorum, page 379.
 
 
 THE SCHOLARS OF CLONMACXOISE. 275 
 
 even half-civilized country. There were many accidental 
 fires that destroyed the monastic buildings during the first 
 three hundred years of its existence, but no pillage, no 
 slaughter is recorded during that period. The Danes set the 
 bad example, and several of the native princes were not slow 
 to follow it. The worst of them was Felim Mac Criffan 
 (Fedhlimidh Mac Crimthann), King of Cashel. He plun- 
 dered Clonmacnoise and its termon lands three times, on one 
 of which, A.D. 833, he spoiled and pillaged up to the church 
 doors, and butchered the monks like sheep jug-u/att'0 is the 
 word in the Annals. He did the same to Durrow and several 
 other religious houses. He broke into the oratory of Kildare 
 in A.D. 836, and took Forannan, the Primate of Armagh and 
 his attendants prisoners, forcing the Primate to give a re- 
 luctant consent to his claim to be recognised as High-King 
 of all Erin. Ten years later he died after a stormy life, and 
 the Annals of Ulster describe him as the best of the Scots 
 optimus Scotorum a scribe and an anchorite ! There is no 
 foundation for Dr. Todd's assertion that he was an ' abbot 
 and bishop,' 1 except a poetic reference to his bockall, which 
 the poet mockingly says he left in the shrubbery, 2 and which 
 was carried off by his rival, Niall Caille, King of the North. 
 Neither is there any ground for O'Donovan's assertion in the 
 note that " he was Abbot and Bishop of Cashel in right of 
 his crown of Munster." There was neither an abbot or 
 bishop of Cashel at the time, nor for many years after ; and 
 although Cormac Mac Cullinan was certainly a bishop, he is 
 not described as Bishop of Cashel either in our Annals or our 
 Martyrologies. 3 The warlike Felim Mac Criffan retired to a 
 hermitage a short time before his death to do penance for his 
 many crimes ; and he seems to have employed his leisure 
 in copying MSS. Hence the Martyrology of Donegal com- 
 memorates him simply as an 'anchorite' 4 who retired into 
 solitude to bewail his sins, and as his penance seems to have 
 beensincere, there wasnothing to prevent him becominga saint. 
 The Chronicon Scotorum, whilst recording his death, as that 
 of ' a scribe and anchorite, and the best of the Scots/ records 
 a little before that Ciaran followed him to Munster after the 
 last violation of his monastery, and gave him a thrust of hia 
 
 1 Wart of the G. G. Introduction, xiv. 
 
 2 Four Matters, A.D. 840. 
 
 8 Professor Stokes repeats these mistakes in his Lectures Celtic Church, 
 page 200. Keating, however calls Cormac Archbishop of Cashel, which he 
 certainly was not. 
 
 4 At his conference with Niall at Clonfert, Felim sat in the seat of the 
 abbots as a token of his superiority over Niall, not as a bishop.
 
 276 THE SCHOOL OF CLONMACNOISE. 
 
 crozier, causing an internal wound, which, no doubt, hastened 
 his death, and perhaps prompted him to do penance. The 
 true date of his death is A.D. 847. 
 
 We cannot stay to record the many similar deeds of 
 violence from which the sanctuary of Ciaran suffered during 
 these lawless times. Even the religious communities them- 
 selves were infected with the evil spirit that prevailed around 
 them. The monks sometimes took up arms, not merely to 
 protect themselves against murderous aggression, which 
 would he reasonable enough, but to wage war on their own 
 account as well. It was a woful time for Inisfail. She was 
 writhing in the grasp of the invader ; and no sooner did that 
 grasp begin to relax than her own false princes drew their 
 aimless swords in fratricidal strife. Even the salt of the earth 
 lust its savour lay usurpers called themselves the Heirs of 
 Patrick in Armagh, and the monks of St. Ciaran forgot to 
 pray, and put their trust in sword and shield, like the lawless 
 chieftains around them : 
 
 " Sure it was a maddening prospect thus to see this storied land, 
 Like some wretched culprit, writhing in the strong avenger's hand 
 Kneeling, foaming, weeping, shrieking, woman- weakand woman-loud 
 Better, better, Mother Erin ! they had wrapped thee in thy shroud.'' 
 
 IY. ANNALISTS OF CLONMACNOISE. 
 
 During the eleventh century Clonmacnoise produced 
 several most distinguished scholars. This was the earliest 
 era for prose chroniclers in Ireland. Hitherto the chronicles of 
 the kingdom were written in verse, which greatly facilitated 
 the work of the professional seanachies. It was the safest 
 way to preserve history in those turbulent days. The monas- 
 tery might be burned, and the parchments all destroyed ; 
 but so long as the rhyming chronicler, or even one of his 
 disciples survived, the historical poem committed to their 
 faithful memory could not perish. Amongst these rhyming 
 chroniclers there are several whose poems are still extant, 
 although unpublished. Such, for instance, were Eochy 
 O'Flinn and Kennett O'Hartigan, and in the eleventh cen- 
 tury Gilla Caemhain, who died in A.D. 1072. But during 
 that century a new race of prose chroniclers arose for the 
 first time in Ireland. Of these the two most distinguished 
 were Flann of Monasterboice, who died in A.D. 1056, and his 
 illustrious contemporary Tighernach, the greatest glory of 
 the School of Clonmacnoise. 
 
 Of the personal history of Tighernach unfortunately we
 
 ANNALISTS OF CLONMACNOISE. 277 
 
 know little. He belonged to the Sil Muiredhalgh of Magh 
 Aei the royal race of Connaught of which the O'Conors 
 were the chiefs. His family name was O'Braoin, 1 and we are 
 merely told that he was Erenach of Clonmacnoise, and else- 
 where, that he was Conmarb of Ciaran and Coman of 
 Roscommon. Like St. Ciaran himself, he was a native of the 
 Co. Roscommon, which bordered on Clonmacnoise ; and he 
 was doubtless educated in that monastery. His death is 
 recorded under date of A.D. 1088, in all our Annals ; and he 
 is described as a Saoi or Chief Doctor, in Wisdom, Learning, 
 and Oratory. His bones repose in the holy clay of Clonmac- 
 noise, but the exact place is not known. 
 
 Tighernach truly was one of the greatest Doctors of the 
 Gael. His Annals are yet extant, and prove him to have 
 been a man of great and various- learning. Unfortunately 
 we have no perfect copy of his Annals. There are many 
 gaps in the entries, and the original text has been greatly 
 defaced by the errors of ignorant copyists. Dr. O'Conor's 
 edition, in the Rerum Hibernicarum Scriptores is by no 
 means faultless, and the book is so rare and expensive, that 
 although Tighernach is much talked about he is very little 
 read. 
 
 Both Flann of the Monastery and Tighernach have done 
 much to fix the true chronology of Irish historical events. 
 They were men of wide culture, and were familiar with the 
 great Ecclesiastical historians Eusebius, Jerome, Orosius, 
 Africanus and followed their example in giving a sketch 
 of universal history in the opening pages of their Annals. 
 They were acquainted not merely with the chronology of the 
 Bible, like several of their predecessors, but also with the 
 history and chronology of Greece, and Rome and the great 
 Eastern Empires. The special value of their work is that for 
 the first time in our history they synchronize the leading facts 
 in Irish history with the great events of the general history 
 of antiquity. They were perfectly well acquainted with the 
 use of the Olympian Era, the Era from the Building of the 
 City, and the Christian Era, and were thus enabled to fix the 
 true dates of the reigns of our early monarchs. This was no 
 easy task ; for hitherto there were confused lists of Kings 
 often handed down by memory with the length of their 
 reigns ; but there was, so to speak, no definite starting point. 
 Tighernach himself, who was a man of highly critical mind, 
 
 1 It is not unlikely that his family resided at Cluain Ui Braoin, now 
 Cloonybrian, near Boyle.
 
 278 THE SCHOOL OF CLOXMACNOISE. 
 
 saw this difficulty, and made the famous statement that hefore 
 the reign of Cimbaeth and the founding of Emania all the 
 historical monuments of the Scots were uncertain. It is 
 strange indeed that he dates our authentic history from the 
 reign of a mere provincial king. The real reason, however, 
 seems to be that from Cimbaeth forward, he found in the 
 poems of Eochaidh O'Flinn definite lists of the Ulster Kings, 
 and of the High Kings also, which enabled him to trace their 
 genealogy, and fix the dates. But he could find no such 
 accurate lists of the earlier kings, and hence he pronounces 
 the bardic histories of the earlier period to be uncertain. 
 
 Tighernach was probably the first Irish historian who used 
 the common era that of the Incarnation. But in the earlier 
 entries he dates from the Creation, giving also the Lunar 
 Epact, and the Day of the Week for the Kalends of January. 
 There are certainly some errors in these dates ; but they have 
 arisen probably from the ignorance of the transcribers. The 
 Annals written by himself came down to the date of his death 
 in A.D. 1088; and the scribe continued them to A.D. 1178. 
 Various subsequent additions were made by different writers 
 down to A.D. 1407, where the entire chronicle ends. 
 
 These Annals undoubtedly furnish the earliest and most 
 authentic record that we possess of our national history. 
 Their author was a man of judgment, learning, and candour. 
 Hence the statements of Tighernach, supported as they 
 are by collateral evidence in very many cases, may always 
 be accepted as authentic history. It is very probable the 
 work was left in an unfinished state ; and this is all the more 
 to be regretted, because he had materials at hand, very many 
 of which have since unfortunately perished. The Irish of 
 Tighernach is considered very pure, like that of Cormac Mac 
 Cullinan, for it was the classic era of the Gaedhlic language. 
 The Annals, however, are too often half-Latin, half- Gaedhlic, 
 although the writer could have done the work much better 
 by adopting either language exclusively. 
 
 To Clonmacnoise we also owe the Chronicon Scotorum, 
 which has been very ably edited by the late lamented ~W. M. 
 Hennessy, and is published in the Rolls Series. The text is 
 mainly taken from a transcript made by the celebrated 
 Duald M'Firbis, and now preserved in the Library of Trinity 
 College, Dublin. O'Curry thought it was a compilation 
 made by M'Firbis 1 from different sources, but in this opinion 
 that eminent scholar was mistaken. The work produced by 
 
 1 See Lectures, page 127.
 
 ANNALISTS OF CtONMACNOISE. 279 
 
 M'Firbis is a mere copy of the original work, which was 
 undoubtedly composed and preserved at Clonmacnoise. This 
 is quite evident, as Hennessy remarks, from an entry made 
 under date of the year A.D. 718 by M'Firbis himself. " A 
 front of two leaves of the old book out of which I copy this 
 is wanting, and I leave what is before me of this page for 
 them. I am Dubhaltach Firbisigh." 
 
 The entries in this Chronicle of the Scots are very brief 
 and condensed ; but contain scraps of most valuable infor- 
 mation not to be found in other authorities. They are 
 particularly valuable in all that refers to Clonmacnoise as 
 well as to its neighbouring territories and monastic houses. 
 In the MS. of the Royal Irish Academy there is prefixed a 
 note written in Graedhlic, which attributes the composition of 
 the Chronicle to Grilla-Christ O'Maeileoin that is O'Malone 
 abbot of Clonmacnoise, who flourished in the twelfth century. 
 This is highly probable. O'Malone was a very distinguished 
 scholar of Clonmacnoise, and was present at the Synod of 
 Uisneach held in the year A.D. 1111, of which Synod this 
 Chronicle alone gives original and detailed information. The 
 writer takes care to add that Gillachrist Ua Maeileoin, 
 abbot of Cluain, with the congregation of Ciaran were 
 present at the Synod. The death of this learned abbot is 
 noticed at A.D. li23, where he is described as "the fountain 
 of knowledge and charity, the head of the prosperity and 
 affluence of Erin." In its present form the Chronicle has 
 been continued by another hand down to the year A.D. 1150. 
 It is, therefore, a later, but hardly less important Chronicle, 
 than that of Tighernach himself. 
 
 The Four Masters had before them when compiling their 
 own immortal work a book which they call the Annals of 
 Clonmacnoise, coming down to the year A.D. 1227. It has 
 been conjectured that the Four Masters in that statement 
 refer to the Chronicon Scotorum, which they do not mention 
 under that name, and which doubtless must have come into 
 their hands. But the Chronicon Scotorum, although it 
 might properly be called the Annals of Clonmacnoise, as 
 having been compiled in that monastery, does not in its 
 present form come down beyond the year A.D. 1150. Neither 
 can the work referred to by the Four Masters be the Book 
 of Clonmacnoise, translated by Macgeoghegan in A.D. 1627, 
 for that work comes down to A.D. 1407, and, moreover, does 
 not contain important passages, which we know were in the 
 work used by the Four Masters. Our own opinion is that 
 the Book of Clonmacnoise, and the Annals of Clonmacnoise,
 
 280 THE SCHOOL OF CLONMACNOISE. 
 
 to which the Four Masters frequently refer,, is identical with 
 the Chronicon Scotorunt, and that the work in their time 
 did come down to A,D. 1227, but the folios containing the 
 years from A.D.. 1050 to that date have perished from mere 
 careless use, if not from accident. 
 
 V. THE LEABHAR-NA-H-UIDHRE. 
 
 Another celebrated work, undoubtedly composed at Clon- 
 macnoise, is the Leabhar-na-Ii-Uidhre, now in the Royal 
 Irish Academy. A great part of the work has unfortunately 
 perished, so that the 138 folio pages still remaining can only 
 be regarded as a fragment. The history of the book is very 
 strange. The author, or rather compiler, was Maelmuire 
 that is, Servant of Mary a grandson of the celebrated 
 Conn-na-mBocht, or Conn of the Poor. Conn himself was a 
 holy and learned man, but seems to have never taken Orders. 
 He was greatly esteemed at Clonmacnoise ; and founded an 
 hospital or refuge for poor laymen, of which he himself 
 seems to have been the head. He had at least two sons, 
 one called Gellananaeve, arch-priest of Clonmacnoise, and 
 another called Ceileachair, probably the father of this 
 Maelmuire. Both were distinguished scholars and writers, 
 whose books Conal MacGeoghegan quotes as sources for bis 
 own Annals of Clonmacnoise. His grandson Maelmuire, 
 must have been a very distinguished scholar, and was also in 
 all probability a lay brother of the community of Clonmac- 
 noise. The Annals of the Four Masters record the tragic 
 end of the industrious scribe. In A.D. 1106 he was slain by 
 a party of robbers in the midst of the great stone church of 
 Clonmacnoise. His work was written therefore during the 
 last years of the eleventh, and the beginning of the twelfth 
 century ; and with the exception of the Book of Armagh is, 
 so far as it goes, the oldest transcript now existing of our 
 great historical works. 
 
 From Clonmacnoise the Book was carried, we know not 
 where or by whom, all the way to Donegal. About the year 
 A.D. 1340 it was given to O'Connor Sligo, so an entry in the 
 Book itself informs us, as a ransom for O'Donnell's chief 
 historian, who had been taken prisoner by Cathal Oge 
 O'Conor. Donnell O'Conor, a chieftain of the same race, 
 ordered his own historian, iSigraidh O'Cuirnin, to make an 
 entry of the name of the author, who composed " this 
 beautiful book," and he made that entry a week before Good 
 Friday in the year A.D. 1345. It seems that even then the
 
 DICUIL THE GEOGRAPHER. 281 
 
 opening pages were lost, and it is to Donnell 0' Conor we 
 owe our knowledge of the writer, small as it is. The book 
 remained in Sligo, where it was highly prized, for about 
 130 years, when the fortune of war brought it back again to 
 Donegal. In A.D. 1470, Hugh Roe O'Donnell took the 
 Castle of Sligo from the O'Conors ; and amongst other 
 trophies carried off this book again to Donegal, as the Four 
 Masters proudly record under date of that year. How it 
 came to the Royal Irish Academy we are not informed, 
 but it is quite evident that the work was just as highly 
 prized in Sligo and in Donegal, as it is in the Academy ; and 
 what is more to the purpose, the O'Clerys and O'Cuirneens 
 knew much better how to interpret its contents than any of 
 the members of that learned body. 
 
 The contents of the fragment are of a very varied char- 
 acter, partly biblical, partly historical, partly old romantic 
 tales. One of the most important documents contained in 
 the Le.abhar-na-h- Uidhre is the ancient elegy on Columcille, 
 composed by another bard, the celebrated Dalian Forgaill so 
 early as the end of the sixth century. This poem is un- 
 doubtedly genuine. The language is so ancient that even 
 the great scholars of Clonmacnoise in the eleventh century 
 found it necessary to write an interlinear gloss in order to 
 render it intelligible to ordinary readers at that early date. 
 
 VI. DICUIL THE GEOGRAPHER. 
 
 In connection with the School of Clonmacnoise an account 
 of Dicuil, the celebrated Geographer, as he is called, will not 
 be deemed out of place. For there is very good reason to 
 believe that he was trained at Clonmacnoise ; and if not 
 trained there, he was certainly a pupil of some of the 
 Columbian Schools, of which we shall treat in our next 
 chapter. A sketch of his history and his writings, therefore, 
 is most appropriate in this place. 
 
 DicuiTs treatise, De Mensura Orbis Terrarum, is one of 
 the most interesting monuments of ancient Irish scholarship, 
 and furnishes most conclusive proof that the culture of our 
 writers and the learning of our schools in the ninth century 
 was superior to almost anything yet exhibited in Western 
 Europe since the fall of the Roman Empire. This work has 
 been published in Paris, but it is now very rare, and hence 
 we purpose giving a fuller account of its contents than might 
 otherwise be deemed necessary. It is not to the credit of Irish 
 learning in the present day that no attempt has been made
 
 282 THE SCHOOL OF CLONMACNOISE. 
 
 even by any of our learned Societies to print this treatise in 
 Ireland. It is to French scholarship we are indebted for 
 editing and annotating Dicuil's treatise. 1 
 
 Unfortunately we know nothing whatsoever of the per- 
 sonal history of Dicuil except what can be gathered from a 
 few incidental references which he makes to himself in this 
 treatise ; but these, though very brief, are clear and definite. 
 He tells us first of all that his name was Dicuil, and that he 
 finished his task in the spring of the year A.D. 825. Like 
 most of his countrymen at that time, he was fond of poetry, 
 and gives us this information in a neat poem, written in Latin 
 hexameters at the end of the MS., to which we shall refer 
 again. He also implies in his opening statement, or prologue, 
 that he had already written an Epistola de questionibus decent 
 Artis Grammaticae, which was probably intended to be copied 
 and circulated amongst the Irish monastic schools of the 
 time, but of which we know nothing more. He tells us that 
 a certain Suibneus (Suibhne), or Sweeney, was his master 
 to whom under God he owed whatever knowledge he 
 possessed. His native country was Ireland, which he des- 
 cribes in affectionate language as " nostra Hibernia," our 
 own Ireland in opposition to the foreign countries of which 
 he had been speaking. Elsewhere he calls it in accordance 
 with the usage of the time nostra Scottia. He also adds when 
 referring to the islands in the north and north-west of Scot- 
 land, that he had dwelt in some of them, he had visited 
 others, more of them had he merely seen, and some of them 
 he had only read of. 
 
 This is really all the information we have about Dicuil, 
 and from data so meagre, it is very difficult to identify 
 Dicuil the Geographer, amongst the many Irish monks who 
 bore that name. 
 
 By a careful examination, however, of these and some 
 other facts to which he refers, we can conjecture with some 
 probability where and by whom he was educated. 
 
 When speaking of Iceland Dicuil refers to information 
 communicated to him thirty years before by certain Irish 
 clerics, who had spent some months in that island. This 
 brings us back to A.D. 795, so that when Dicuil wrote in 
 
 1 It was first published in 1807 by 31. Walckenaer from two MSS. in the 
 Imperial Library of Paris. In 1814, M. Letronne produced a still more 
 learned and accurate edition, in which he shows the advantages that 
 scholars may derive from a careful study of Dicuil's work. It is entitled : 
 Recherches Geographiques, et Critiques sur Le Livre De Mensura Orbis Ter- 
 rarum, compose" en Irlande au Commencement du Neuvieme sitcle par Dicuil.
 
 DICUIL THE GEOGRAPHER. 283 
 
 A.D. 825, he must have been a man considerably advanced in 
 years. We may infer, too, that his master, Suibhne, to whom 
 he owed so much, nourished as a teacher at a still earlier 
 period than A.D. 795. There were several abbots who bore 
 that name between A.D. 750 and A.D. 850 ; but it appears to 
 me that the master of Dicuil must have been either Suibhne, 
 Abbot of lona, who died in A.D. 772, or Suibhne, son of 
 Cuana, Abbot of Clomnacnoise, who died in A.D. 816. If 
 Dicuil were, suppose, seventy-five when he wrote his book, 
 he must have been born in A.D. 750. He would then be about 
 sixteen years of age when Suibhne, Vice-Abbot of lona, 
 came over to his native Ireland in A.D. 766, where he remained 
 some time. Suppose that Dicuil returned with him as a 
 novice in that year, he could have been six years under the 
 instruction of Suibhne before that abbot's death in A.D. 772. 
 It is likely that Dicuil remained in lona for several years 
 after the death of his beloved master. It was, doubtless, 
 during these years that he visited the Scottish islands, and 
 dwelt with some of the communities whom St. Columba 
 had established there. On this point his own statement is 
 clear and explicit. 
 
 The founder of lona, Columcille, with his kinsmen, origin- 
 ally came from Donegal, and the monastery seems to have 
 been principally recruited at all times by members of the 
 Cenel-conaill race. Amongst the saints who were called Dicuil, 
 or Diucholl, were two who were venerated in Donegal; one the 
 son of Neman, whose memory was venerated at Kilmacrenan 
 on December 25th ; the other was Dicuil of Inishowen, whose 
 feast-day is December 18th. The latter is described as a 
 hermit ; and it may be that our geographer, after his return 
 from lona, retired to a life of solitude in Inishowen, and there, 
 towards the close of his life, composed this treatise, of which 
 the most valuable portion is that containing the reminiscences 
 of his early life in the Scottish islands. 
 
 The chief difficulty against this hypothesis, that Suibhne, 
 Dicuil's master, was the Abbot of lona who died in A.D. 772, 
 is the great age at which, in that case, the pupil must have 
 written his book, in A.D. 825. The monks of those days, 
 however, were often intellectually and physically vigorous at 
 the age of eighty, and even of ninety years. 
 
 The other hypothesis certainly fits in better with the 
 dates ; so we must assume that Dicuil was trained at the great 
 College of Clonmacnoise, which at this period was certainly 
 the most celebrated school in Ireland, if not in Europe. 
 Suibhne, we are told, was abbot for two years before his death,
 
 284 THE SCHOOL OF CLOXMACNOISE. 
 
 in A.D. 816 ; but had been, no doubt, for many years pre- 
 viously, a fer-legind, or professor in Clonmacnoise. It was 
 nothing new for the younger monks to travel to other religious 
 houses in pursuit of knowledge and sanctity ; and in this way 
 Dicuil, like so many of his countrymen, would visit lona and 
 the Scottish islands. 
 
 The treatise De Mensura Orbis Terrae is especially valu- 
 able as affording evidence of the varied classical culture that 
 existed in our Irish monastic schools at this period. In the 
 prologue the author tells us that he derived his information 
 mainly from two sources ; first, from the Report of the Com- 
 missioners whom the Divine Emperor Theodosius had sent to 
 survey the provinces of the Roman Empire ; and secondly, 
 from the excellent work of Plinius Secundus that is, the 
 Natural History which is so well known to scholars. Dicuil 
 complains that the manuscripts of the Report in his posses- 
 sion were very faulty ; but still, being of more recent date 
 than Pliny's work, he values it more highly. He adds that 
 he leaves vacant places in his own manuscript for the num- 
 bers, in order to be able to fill them in afterwards when he 
 can verify or correct them by collating his own with other 
 manuscripts of the Report. He also quotes numerous pas- 
 sages from other writers, who, I am afraid, are not very 
 familiar to the classical scholars of our own times, The first 
 of these works is that of Caius Julius Solinus, known as the 
 Polyhistor. Of his personal history we know as little as we 
 do of Dicuil himself- He flourished about the middle of the 
 third century, and appears to have borrowed his matter, and 
 sometimes even his language, from Pliny's Natural History. 
 The contents of this work of Solinus may be inferred from 
 the title of an English translation, published in A.D. 1587 : 
 " The Excellent and Pleasant Work of Julius Solinus, Poly- 
 histor, containing the Noble Actions of Humaine Creatures, 
 the Secretes and Providence of Nature, tJie Description of 
 Countries, the Manners of the People, &c,, &c. Translated 
 out of the Latin by Arthur Golding, Gent." Another work, 
 equally unknown to the present generation, but frequently 
 quoted by Dicuil, is the Periegesis of Priscian. It is a metri- 
 cal translation into Latin hexameters of a Greek work bearing 
 the same title, which was originally composed by Dionysius, 
 surnamed from that fact Periegetes, or the "Traveller," in 
 Goldsmith's sense. He appears to have flourished in the 
 second half of the third century of the Christian era. 
 
 Such are the principal authorities whom Dicuil follows ; 
 and as he knew nothing of foreign countries himself, he cites
 
 DICUIL THE GEOGRAPHER. 285 
 
 his authorities textually for the benefit of his own country- 
 men. It is surely a singular and interesting fact that we 
 should find an Irish monk, in the beginning of the ninth 
 century, collating and criticising various manuscripts of these 
 writers either in some Irish monastic school at home, or in 
 the equally Irish school of lona, though surrounded by 
 Scottish waters and in view of the Scottish hills. 
 
 For us, however, the information which Dicuil gives us 
 of his own knowledge, or gathered from his own countrymen, 
 is far more valuable ; and to this I would especially invite 
 the reader's attention. 
 
 In the sixth chapter, when speaking of the Nile, he says : 
 
 " Although we never read 'in any book that any branch of the 
 Nile flows into the Eed Sea, -yet Brother Fidelis 1 told in my presence, 
 to my master Suibhne (to whom, under God, I owe whatever know- 
 ledge I possess), that certain clerics and laymen from Ireland, who 
 went to Jerusalem on pilgrimage, sailed up the Nile for a long way." 
 
 and thence continued their voyage by canal to the entrance 
 of the Red Sea. 
 
 This Irish pilgrimage to Jerusalem is worthy of notice, 
 for many of our critics where they find mention of such pil- 
 giinages to Rome and to Jerusalem in the Lives of our early 
 Saints, seem to regard it as an exaggeration, if not a kind of 
 pious fraud. But here we have the testimony of one in every 
 way worthy of credit, who himself spoke to such pilgrims 
 after their return from the Holy Land. 
 
 Then their testimony is peculiarly valuable in reference 
 to a vexed geographical question regarding the existence of 
 a navigable canal in those days from the Nile to the Red 
 Sea. A canal called the " River of Ptolemy " and afterwards 
 " The River of Trajan," was certainly cut from the Pelusiac 
 branch of the Nile to the Red Sea at Arisnoe. It was cer- 
 tainly open for commerce in the time of Trajan, but during 
 the decline of the Roman empire became partially filled with 
 sand. Trajan, it seems, however, when re-opening the canal 
 connected it with the river at a point higher up the river 
 than the old route, opposite Memphis, near Babylon, in order 
 that the fresh water might flow through the canal and help 
 to keep it open. Under the Arabians this canal of Trajan 
 was re-opened, but geographers have asserted that it became 
 choked shortly afterwards and remained so ever since. The 
 testimony of the Irish pilgrims quoted by Dicuil is the only 
 satisfactory evidence that we now possess to prove that this 
 
 1 It might be rendered a trustworthy brother.
 
 286 THE SCHOOL OF CLONMACNOISE. 
 
 canal was open at the end of the eighth century for the pur- 
 poses of commerce and navigation. 1 
 
 The pilgrims also give some interesting information with 
 reference to the Pyramids, which they call the "Barns of 
 Joseph." " The pilgrims," he says, " saw them from the 
 river rising like mountains four in one place and three in 
 another." Then they landed to view these wonders close at 
 hand and coming to one of the three greater pyramids, they 
 saw eight men and one woman and a great lion stretched 
 dead beside it. The lion had attacked them, and the men in 
 turn had attacked the lion with their spears, with the result 
 that all perished in the mutual slaughter, for the place was a 
 desert and there was no one at hand to help then. From top 
 to bottom the pyramids were all built of stone, square at the 
 base, but rounded towards the summit, and tapering to a 
 point. The aforesaid brother Fidelis measured one of them 
 and found that the square face was 400 feet in length. 
 Going thence by the canal to the Red Sea, they found the 
 passage across to the eastern shore at the Road of Moses to 
 be only a short distance. The brother who had measured 
 the base of the pyramid wished to examine the exact point 
 where Moses had entered the Red Sea, in order to try if he 
 could find any traces of the Chariots of Pharaoh, or the wheel 
 tracks ; but the sailors were in a hurry and would not allow 
 him to go on this excursion. The breadth of the sea at this 
 point appeared to him to be about six miles. Then they sailed 
 up this narrow bay which once kept the murmuring Israelites 
 from returning to Egypt. 
 
 This is a very interesting and manifestly authentic narra- 
 tive. Another interesting chapter is that in which Dicuil 
 describes Iceland and the Faroe Islands. " It is now thirty 
 years," he says, " since certain clerics, who remained in that 
 island (Ultima Thule) from the 1st of February to the 1st 
 of August, told me that not only at the Summer solstice, 
 (as Solinus said), but also for several days about the solstice, 
 the setting sun at eventide merely hid himself, as it were, 
 for a little behind a hill, so that there was no darkness even 
 for a moment, and whatever a man wished to do, if it were 
 only to pick vermin off his shirt vel pediculos de camisia 
 abstrahere he could do as it were in the light of the sun, 
 and if he were on a mountain of any height, he could doubt- 
 less see the sun all through." This way of putting it is 
 certainly more graphic than elegant, but it is at the same 
 
 1 See Smith's Dictionary of Geography.
 
 DICUIL THE GEOGRAPHER. 287 
 
 time strictly accurate, and shows that the Irish monks had 
 really spent the summer in Iceland. For the arctic circle 
 just touches the extreme north of Iceland, and therefore in 
 any part of that country the sun would even at the solstice 
 set for a short time, but it would be only, as it were, going 
 behind a hill to reappear in an hour or in half an hour. So 
 that by the aid of refraction and twilight a man would 
 always have light enough to perform even those delicate 
 operations to which Dicuil refers. 
 
 He then observes with much acuteness that at the middle 
 point of this brief twilight it is mid-night at the equator, or 
 middle of the earth ; and in like manner he infers that about 
 the Winter solstice there must be daylight for a very short 
 time in Thule, when it is noon-day at the equator. These 
 observations show a keen observant mind, and would lead us 
 to infer that Dicuil, like his countryman Yirgilius, who 
 flourished a little earlier, had been taught the sphericity of 
 the earth in the schools of his native country. He says also 
 in this same chapter, what is certainly true, that those writers 
 are greatly mistaken who describe the Icelandic Sea as always 
 frozen, and who say that there is a perpetual day from Spring 
 to Autumn, and perpetual night from Autumn to Spring. 
 For the Irish monks sailed thither, he says, through an open 
 sea in a month of great natural cold, and whilst they were 
 there enjoyed alternate day and night except about the Sum- 
 mer solstice, as already explained. But one day's sail further 
 north brought them to the frozen sea. 
 
 Dicuil's reference to Iceland is interesting from another 
 point of view. In almost all our books of popular instruc- 
 tion, and even in many standard works on geography, it is 
 stated that the Danes, or Norwegians, "discovered" Iceland 
 about the year A.D. 860, and shortly afterward colonized it 
 during the reign of Harold Harfager. But Dicuil clearly 
 shows that it was well known to Irish monks at least more 
 than half a century before Dane or Norwegian ever set foot 
 on the island, as is now generally admitted by scholars who 
 are familiar with Icelandic literature and history. 
 
 The following interesting passage which shows the roving 
 spirit that animated some of the Irish monks at that period 
 is contained in the third section of the same seventh chapter. 
 " There are several other islands in the ocean to the north of 
 Britain, which can be reached in a voyage of two days and 
 two nights with a favourable breeze. A certain trustworthy 
 monk (religiosus) told me that he reached one of them bv 
 sailing for two summer days and one night in a vessel with
 
 288 THE SCHOOL OF CLONMACNOISE. 
 
 two benches of rowers (duorum navicula transtrorum). Some 
 of these islands are very small and separated by narrow 
 straits. In these islands for almost a hundred years there 
 dwelt hermits, who sailed there from our own Ireland (nostra 
 Scottia). But now they are once more deserted, as they 
 were from the beginning, on account of the ravages of the 
 Norman pirates. They are, however, still full of sheep, and 
 of various kinds of sea birds. We have never found these 
 islands mentioned by any author." 
 
 It is quite evident that Dicuil here refers to the Faroe 
 Islands, which are about 250 miles north of the Scottish 
 coast. A glance at the map will show that they are rather 
 small, and separated from each other by very narrow 
 channels, and in this respect differing from the Shetland 
 Islands, to which this description could not therefore apply. 
 Besides, the Shetlands are only 50 miles from the Orkneys, 
 about 100 from the mainland, and hence could easily be 
 reached in a single day by an open boat sailing before a 
 favourable wind ; whereas the islands occupied by the Irish 
 hermits could only be reached ofter a voyage of two days 
 and a night, even in the most favourable circumstances. 
 The word " nostra Scoltia" of course refers to Ireland ; for up 
 to the time that Dicuil wrote, that word had never been 
 applied to North Britain. Skene, himself a learned Scot, has 
 shown by numerous citations from ancient authors that beyond 
 all doubt the name " Scottia " was applied to Ireland, and to 
 Ireland alone, prior to the tenth century. 1 Up to that time 
 the name of Scotland was Alban or Albania. 
 
 The love of the ancient Irish monks for island solitudes is 
 one of the most remarkable features in their character. There 
 is hardly an island round our coasts, which does not contain 
 the remains of some ancient oratory or monastic cells. But 
 they did not always remain in sight of land. Inspired partly 
 with the hope of finding a " desert" in the ocean, partly, no 
 doubt, also with a love of adventure and a vague hope of 
 discovering the " Land of Promise," they sailed out into the 
 Atlantic in their currachs in search of these lonely islands. 
 Every one has heard of the seven years' voyage of St. Brendan 
 in the western ocean. St. Ailbe of Emly had resolved to find 
 out the island of Thule, which the Homan geographers placed 
 somewhere in the northern sea. He was, however, prevented 
 from going himself, but "he sent twenty men into exile over 
 the sea in his stead." 2 St. Cormac the Navigator, made three 
 
 1 See Introd. to Celtic Scotland, page 3, vol. i. 
 
 2 See Reeve's Adamnan, page 169, note.
 
 DICUIL THE GEOGRAPHER. 289 
 
 voyages in the pathless ocean seeking some desert island 
 where he might devote himself to an eremitic life. It is 
 highly probable he went as far north as Iceland ; for Adam- 
 nan tells us that he sailed northwards for fourteen days, until 
 he was frightened by the sight of the monsters of the deep, 
 when he returned home touching on his way at the Orkney 
 islands. 
 
 When the No rwegians first discovered Iceland in A. D. 860, 
 they found Irish books, and bells, and pilgrims' staffs, or 
 croziers, which were left there by men who professed the 
 Christian religion and whom the Norwegians called " papas " 
 or " fathers." Dicuil, however, gives us the earliest authentic 
 testimony that Iceland and the Faroe Isles had been dis- 
 covered and occupied by Irish monks long before the Danes 
 or Norwegians discovered these islands. Of Ireland itself, 
 Dicuil unfortunately gives us no information. He was 
 writing for his own countrymen, and he assumed that they 
 knew as much about Ireland " our own Ireland " as he did. 
 The only observation he makes in reference to Ireland is that 
 there were islands round the coast, and that some were small, 
 and others very small. But he takes one quotation from 
 Solinus, who says that 
 
 " Britain is surrounded by many important islands, one of which, 
 Ireland, approaches to Britain itself in size. It abounds in pastures 
 so rich, that if the catt.le are not sometimes driven away from them 
 they run the risk of bursting. The sea between Britain and Ireland 
 is so wide and stormy throughout the entire year that it is only 
 navigable on a very few days. The channel is about 120 miles broad." 
 
 Dicuil, however, good Irishman as he was, does not quote 
 two other statements which Solinus made about the prae- 
 Christian Scots for he wrote before the time of St. Patrick 
 first, that the Irish recognised no difference between right 
 and wrong at all ; and, secondly, that they fed their children 
 from the point of the sword a rather inconvenient kind of 
 spoon we should think. In fact the Romans of those days 
 knew as little, and wrote as confidently, about Ireland as 
 most Englishmen do at present, and that is saying a good 
 deal. 
 
 There is one incidental reference in Dicuil chapter v., 
 section ii. which is of the highest importance, because it 
 settles the question as to the nationality of the celebrated 
 Irish poet, Sedulius, the author of the hymns Crudelis Herodes 
 and A solis ortus Cardine, in the Roman Breviary. Dicuil 
 quoting twelve lines of poetry from the Report of the Com- 
 missioners of Theodosius, observes, that the first foot of the
 
 2i)0 THE SCHOOL OF CLONMACNOISE. 
 
 seventh and eighth of these hexameter lines isan amphiniacrus. 
 Here are the lines : 
 
 " Confiel ter qxiinis aperit cum fastibus annum. 
 Supplices hoc famuli, dum scribit, pingit et alter." 
 
 " At the same time," says Dicuil, " I do not think it was from 
 ignorance of prosody these lines were so written, for the 
 writers had the authority of other poets in their favour, and 
 especially of Virgil, whom in similar cases our own Sedulius 
 imitated, and he, in his heroic stanzas, rarely uses feet 
 different from those of Yirgil and the classical poets." " Noster 
 Sedulius," here applied to the great religious poet by his 
 own countryman, in the ninth century, settles the question 
 of his Irish birth. The reader will observe also, what a keen 
 critic Dicuil was of Latin poetry, and will probably come to 
 the conclusion that they knew Prosody better in the Irish 
 schools of the ninth than they do in those of the nineteenth 
 century. 
 
 In the closing stanzas of his own short poem on the 
 classic mountains, Dicuil implies that he finished his work in 
 the Spring of A.D. 825, when night gives grateful rest to the 
 wearied oxen who had covered the seed- wheat in the dusty 
 soil. 
 
 " Post octingentos viginti quinque peractos 
 
 Summi annos Domini terrae, aethrae, carceris atri, 
 Semine triticeo sub ruris pulvere tecto 
 Nocte bobus requies largitur fine laboris."
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 THE COLUMBIAN SCHOOLS IN IRELAND. 
 I. ST. COLUMBA'S EDUCATION. 
 
 " I hold it truth with him who sings 
 To one clear harp in divers tones, 
 That men may rise on stepping stones 
 Of their dead selves to higher things." 
 
 Tennyson. 
 
 COLUMBA was the greatest saint of the Celtic race ; and after 
 St. Patrick, he is the most striking figure in our Celtic 
 history. He was a poet, a statesman, and a scholar, as well 
 as a great missionary saint the apostle of many tribes, and 
 the founder of many churches. His name is dear to every 
 child of the Scotic race both in Erin and Alba ; and what is 
 stranger still, monk and priest though he was, his memory is 
 cherished not only by Catholics but by Protestants and even 
 by Presbyterians also. 
 
 His adventurous career has a strange dramatic interest of 
 its own. He was fortunate too in finding a biographer, who 
 has written his Life in a spirit of loving sympathy ; and in 
 our own times the biographer has found an editor to publish 
 and illustrate his work with great learning and complete 
 impartiality. 1 
 
 Columba was a typical Celt and seems to have been 
 endowed by nature with all the virtues and many of the 
 failings of the Celtic race. He was generous, warm-hearted, 
 imaginative ; he hated injustice and oppression ; he was 
 capable of the tenderest friendship, passionately fond of his 
 native land, and filled with enthusiastic zeal for the propaga- 
 tion of the Gospel. Yet he had his faults. He was fiery 
 and impetuous, impatient of contradiction, and too easily 
 prone to anger and revenge. But this is his glory that with 
 God's help he conquered his faults ; and therefore it is we 
 love him because he is so human, so like ourselves in all 
 things. It gives us greater confidence in the struggle, when 
 
 1 See Bishop Beeves' excellent edition of Adamnan's Life of Columba.
 
 292 THE COLUMBIAN SCHOOLS IN IRELAND. 
 
 we have a patron saint who can have compassion on our 
 infirmities because he was tried like us in all things ; and, if 
 we are to believe the story of his life, not altogether without 
 sin. It is well too that he should be -for us an example of 
 perfect penance ; even as he schooled himself in patient 
 endurance, and all other noble virtues. 
 
 We, however, have to deal with Columba mainly as a 
 scholar, a teacher, and a writer the founder of many schools, 
 the patron of learning, the protector and the idol of all the 
 Bards of Erin. It is perhaps best in sketching the literary 
 history of St. Columba to make separate reference to each of 
 the great schools which he eistablished, and at the same time 
 to give an account of those events which brought him into 
 connection with those various scenes in which he played so 
 striking a part. We shall therefore begin with the School of 
 Derry, which was the first he founded in his own native 
 territory. First of all, however, it is necessary to know 
 something of his own early history. 
 
 St. Columba was born at Gartan, in the barony of 
 Kilmacrenan, Co. Donegal, on the 7th of December, in the 
 year A.D. 521. 1 It is a very wild but beautiful district, 
 surrounded by dark rugged mountains, which cast their 
 shadows over a beautiful sheet of water stretched at their 
 base, sometimes called Lough Veagh, but more properly 
 Lough Gartan. His father, Felimy (Fedhlimidh) was prince 
 of the surrounding district, and a scion of the royal race of 
 Niall the Great, or Mall of the Nine Hostages, and his 
 mother was Eithne, the daughter of a Leinster Chief, who 
 came of the equally royal line of Cathaeir Mor, a famous 
 High King of Erin in the second century of the Christian 
 era. Most justly, therefore, does his biographer, Adamnan, say 
 that Columba was sprung from noble parentage, for he was, 
 through Conal Gulban, the great-grandson of Niall the Great : 
 the reigning king at his v birth. Muircertach (Murtogh) 
 Mac Erca, was his uncle, of the half blood ; and he himself 
 might one day be qualified not only to rule over the Cenel- 
 Conal, but even to be elected High King of all Ireland. 
 
 There is no trace at present of any royal rath or ancient 
 fort at Gartan, so fax as we could ascertain. The land around 
 is naked and barren, and the cabins of the cottagers are 
 even poorer and blacker than may be seen elsewhere in 
 Donegal. About a quarter of a mile from the place of the 
 saint's birth, there is an old ruined church and church-yard; but 
 
 1 See Reeves' Adamnan, page Ixix.
 
 ST. COLUMBA'S EDUCATION. 293 
 
 although certainly ancient, the church does not appear to have 
 been coeval with Columba himself. It was probably founded 
 some years after his death, when the place began to obtain 
 some celebrity as the birth-place of so great a saint. 
 
 But the flag, on which he was born, is pointed out to every 
 visitor ; and there can hardly be any doubt that the tradition 
 fixing the spot is continuous and trustworthy. It is worn 
 quite bare by the hands and feet of pious pilgrims ; -and what 
 is stranger still, the poor emigrants, who are about to quit 
 Donegal for ever, come and sleep on that flag the night before 
 their departure from Derry. Columba himself was an exile, 
 and they fondly hope that sleeping on the spot where he was 
 born will help them to bear with lighter heart the heavy 
 burden of the exile's sorrows. 
 
 Shortly after his birth. the child was brought from 
 Gartan to Tulach Dubhglaisse to be baptized by an old 
 priest named Cruithnechan, who dwelt there. It is now 
 called Temple-Douglas, and the old church and church-yard 
 beside the dark stream is still there about mid- way between 
 Gartan and Letterkenny. There is a parish called Kilcro- 
 naghan in the Co. Derry, which is supposed to take its name 
 from the 'illustrious priest/ who had the privilege of baptizing 
 Columcille, and who was also his tutor and foster-father. 
 
 The boy, however, seems to have spent the years of his 
 early youth mostly at Kil-mac-nenain now corrupted into 
 Kilmacrenan which was in all probability, even at that 
 early period, a place of note in Tir-connell. In after times 
 it became celebrated as the place where the O'Donnells were 
 inaugurated as princes of Tir-connell. It is about three miles 
 north of Tern pie- Douglas, and about the same distance to the 
 north-east of Gartan. The place is supposed to have got its 
 name from the ' Son of Enan,' whose mother was Columba' a 
 sister. 
 
 We need not specially refer to the visions and prophecies 
 concerning Columba, which are given in his various Lives. 
 The authentic facts of his history are : quite. as strange and 
 marvellous as any one can desire in fact his whole life was 
 a miracle of grace. Form the fact that the ' illustrious 
 priest,' who baptized Columba, is also described by Adamnan 
 as his fosterer pueri nutritor we may fairly infer that he 
 was trained by that holy man in the rudiments of learning, 
 both in his native tongue and in the Latin language. It 
 illustrates what was quite a common custom in days when 
 schools were few and far between. The boy designed for the 
 Church was placed under the care of the priest or bishop, and
 
 294 THE COLUMBIAN SCHOOLS IN IRELAND. 
 
 thus trained in virtue and learning from his earliest years 
 under the eyes of one whose duty and interest it was to watch 
 over him with the most zealous care. 
 
 We know little, however, of Columba's history until he 
 came from Kilmacrenan to the more famous School of 
 St. Finnian at Moville, near the head of Strangford Lough. 
 We have already given an account of the seminary founded 
 there by that great saint. At Moville Columba was ordained 
 a deacon ; and here also, according to one account, his 
 baptismal name of Crimthann was changed by his young 
 companions into that other name the " Dove of the Church " 
 Colum-cille by which he is best known to history. Dr. 
 Reeves, however, seems to think that he was called Colum at 
 his baptism, and that cille only was added by his companions 
 because he so loved to haunt the church, when they would 
 have him play. We learn from Adamnan that whilst he was 
 at Moville, the young saint devoted his attention chiefly to 
 the study of of Sacred Scriplure, of which Finnian was a 
 most distinguished professor. We have the sober testimony 
 of the same Adamnan that whilst the saint was a deacon at 
 Moville no wine could be found on a certain festival day for 
 the " Sacrificial Mystery." Whilst the ministers at the altar 
 were complaining of the want of the wine, the deacon took a 
 cruet to the well as it was his duty to procure and taste the 
 water for the Holy Sacrifice. Knowing that the wine was 
 wanting, he invoked our Lord Jesus Christ, and lo ! the 
 water in his hands was changed into wine, as it once was at 
 Cana of Galilee ; and he brought it to Bishop Finnian for the 
 Sacrifice, who gave thanks to God on account of this wondrous 
 miracle. 
 
 It is not certain whether it was at this period or later on 
 that Columba made that furtive copy of Finnian's Gospel, 
 which subsequently begot so much trouble, and appears to 
 have been the main cause of the bloody battle of Cuil-dreimhne 
 in Carberry, Co. Sligo. We have referred to this incident 
 before, and we may have to refer to it again, when we come 
 to explain the causes of Columba's departure from Erin. 
 
 From Moville Columba, still a deacon, went southward to 
 the plains of Leinster, and placed himself under the instruc- 
 tion of an aged bard called Gemman. The young deacon had 
 a soul for music ; and he greatly loved the Bards, who sung 
 of the brave deeds of warrior kings and ancient heroes. He 
 wished, also, to perfect himself in his own native tongue, 
 and to become a pupil in the School of the Bards was the 
 recognised way to study the language and literature of Erin,
 
 ST. COLUMBA'S EDUCATION. 295 
 
 sucli as it was at that time. But he was also learning ' Divine 
 wisdom' in Leinster at the same time, probably at the 
 School of St. Finnian of Clonard, which was on the borders 
 of Meath and Leinster. 
 
 There a very striking incident took place, which is in 
 itself evidence of the lawless character of the times, and the 
 necessity of the presence of some moral power with a Divine 
 sanction to hold that savagery in check. It happened one 
 day that whilst Gemman, the Bard, was sitting in the open 
 field reading his book, he saw a young girl flying to him for 
 protection from the attacks of a ruffian, who pursued her 
 closely as she fled. Gemman called to his disciple Columba 
 who was close at hand, and both of them sought to protect the 
 maiden from the violence of her assailant. But he, heedless 
 of the reverence due both to the deacon and the Bard, pierced 
 the maiden with his lance, even as she sought shelter in vain 
 behind their cloaks. She fell dead at their feet, but Columba, 
 divinely inspired, cried out that her soul would fly to heaven, 
 and the murderer's soul would fly as quickly to hell. No 
 sooner was the word spoken, than the wretch fell dead before 
 them, and the name of God and of Columba was greatly 
 magnified through all the neighbouring country. 
 
 We have already spoken of the great College of Clonard 
 founded by St. Finnian, who is quite distinct from his name- 
 sake of Moville. We have seen that Columba was there, 
 and was recognised as one of the Twelve Apostles of Erin, 
 who were trained up together at that great seminary in all 
 sacred learning. He was about twenty-two years of age at 
 this period, for he was not yet ordained a priest, so that we 
 may fix the .period of his sojourn at Clonard about the year 
 A.D. 543. The immediate purpose of Columba's studies at 
 Clonard was to prepare himself for the priesthood. There 
 he was trained by the most celebrated master in Erin in all 
 the virtue and learning necessary for that holy state. He 
 built his little cell close to the church, and when he was not 
 engaged in study, or attending his lectures, he was nearly 
 always to be found before the altar in prayer. Though of 
 the royal blood of Tara's kings, he was humble, and took his 
 turn at the quern, or hand-mill, grinding the corn that was 
 necessary for himself and his companions. Their chief food 
 was bread and water, or a little milk, when it could be had. 
 No doubt from time to time they might succeed in catching 
 a little fish in the River Boyne, which flows through the 
 meadows around Clonard. It was a simple life, but a happy 
 and a heavenly one, when the youthful Apostles of Erin
 
 296 THE COLUMBIAN SCHOOLS IN IRELAND. 
 
 wandered together by the banks of] that historic stream, or 
 gathered round their venerable master to hear his lectures, 
 as he sat on the old moat of Clonard, or to listen to his burn- 
 ing words in his little church, when he exhorted them to the 
 love of God and the contempt of all worldly things for God's 
 sake. 
 
 It was the custom in those days for the students to visit 
 the various saints of Erin, who were celebrated for holiness 
 and learning ; and so we find that Columba, when he had 
 finished his studies under Finnian of Clonard, directed his 
 steps to the school of another great master of the spiritual 
 life, St. Mobhi Clarainech of Glasnevin. 1 Before his departure, 
 however, from Clonard, according to one account, the saint 
 was ordained a priest, not by Finnian, for he does not appear 
 to have been bishop,. but by Etchen of Clonfad, which is 
 situated a little west of Clonard, and who doubtless exercised 
 at that time the episcopal jurisdiction, which was afterwards 
 exercised by the prelates of Clonard. It is said that it was 
 Finnian's purpose to have Columba ordained a bishop on this 
 occasion, but through some mistake on the part of Bishop 
 Etchen, he was only ordained a priest. Deeming it provi- 
 dential, Columba in his humility would never afterwards 
 consent to be raised to the episcopal dignity. 2 
 
 The students' cells at Glasnevin were situated on one side 
 of the River Tolka, and Mobhi's church was on the other, at 
 or near the spot where the Protestant church now stands. 
 The light-footed youngsters of those days, however, found no 
 difficulty in crossing the rapid and shallow stream at ordinary 
 times. But when the river was swollen with heavy rains, it 
 was no easy task to breast the flood ; yet such was Columba's 
 zeal in the service of God that on one such occasion, to his 
 master's admiration and surprise, he crossed the angry torrent, 
 that he might be present as usual at the exercises in the 
 church. " May God be praised," said Columba,. when he had 
 crossed safely over, "and deliver us from these perils in 
 future." It is said that his prayer was heard ; and that all 
 
 1 Itis more likely that, his ordination took place after he left Glasnevin 
 on his homeward journey. 
 
 2 This mistake led to important consequences. Columba not being him- 
 elf a bishop found it necessary to have a bishop, subject to his jurisdiction, 
 to perform episcopal functions in his monasteries. It was an unusual 
 arrangement, as Bede declares, " Habere solet ipsa insula (Hy) rectorem 
 emper abbatem presby terem, cujus juri et omnis provincia, et etiam episcopi, 
 ordine inusitato, debeant esse subjecti, juxta exemplum primi doctoris illius, 
 qui non episcopus sed presbyter extitit et monachus." Bede, H.E. III. 4.
 
 ST. COLUMBA/S EDUCATION. 297 
 
 the cells, with their occupants, were suddenly transferred to 
 the other side of the stream, and remained there ever after. 
 
 It was doubtless during his leisure hours, while under 
 Mobhi's care at Glasnevin, that Golumba used to ramble out 
 to the Hill of Howth, and sitting on, the brow of its lofty 
 cliffs, gaze in pensive mood over the wide spreading sea, and 
 contemplate, with a poet's eye, all the stern grandeur of that 
 iron-bound coast. He fed his soul on the glorious vision, and 
 in after years, when surrounded by, the sterile rocks of lona, 
 his sad thoughts often turned to those scenes of his youth, 
 and found expression in words that cannot fail to touch a 
 sympathetic cord in every heart. 
 
 " Delightful to be on Benn-Edar 
 Before crossing o'er the white sea, 
 (To see) the dashing of the waves against its brow, 
 The bareness of its shore, and its. border. 
 
 Delightful to be (once more) on Benn-Edar 
 After crossing the white-bosomed sea ; 
 To row one's little coracle, 
 Ochone ! on its swift- waved shore. 
 
 Ah, rapid the speed of my coracle; 
 And its stern turned on Derry;. 
 I grieve at my errand o'er the noble sea, 
 Travelling to Alba of the ravens. 
 
 My foot in my sweet little coracle ; 
 
 My sad heart still bleeding ; 
 
 Weak is the man that cannot lead, 
 
 Totally blind are the ignorant (of God's will.) 
 
 Columba. had for companions at Glasnevin St. Cannech, 
 St. Ciaran, and St. Comgall and during their entire lives a 
 tender and ardent friendship united these holy men together. 
 A pestilence which broke out in A.D. 544, and of which 
 St. Ciaran appears to have died, scattered the holy disciples 
 of St. Mobhi's School ; so Columba resolved to return home 
 to his native territory. 
 
 When he crossed the stream then called the Biar, but 
 now called the Moyola Water, which flows into Lough 
 Neagh at its north-western extremity, he earnestly prayed 
 to God to stay the ravages of the terrible "Buidhe 
 Chonnaill " on the southern banks of that stream, so that it 
 might not invade the territories of his kinsmen. It is said 
 that his prayer was heard, and that Tir-Owen and Tir-Connell 
 escaped the dreadful plague.
 
 298 THE COLUMBIAN SCHOOLS IX 1RKLAND. 
 
 II. CoLUMBA FOUNDS DERRY. 
 
 Columba was now a priest twenty- five years of age ; and 
 he began to think of founding a church in his native territory. 
 The Annals of Ulster record the founding of Deny by 
 Columba in the year A.D. 545 j 1 and it was brought about in 
 this way. Ainmire, son of Setna, and first cousin of St. Columba, 
 who succeeded to the throne of Tara later on, was in A.t>. 545 
 prince of Ailech and the neighbouring territory. His eldest 
 son Aedh, was then a boy of ten years ; but it seems, according 
 to O'Donnell's Life of Columba, the king in the name of 
 his son, Aedh, offered the fort in which he then dwelt on 
 the site of the present City of Derry to his cousin in order 
 to found his church and monastery. Columba, however, 
 was at first unwilling to accept the gift, because his master 
 Mobhi had not yet given him, as was customary, permission 
 to found a church doubtless thinking him too young and 
 inexperienced. But Mobhi himself was taken sick, and died 
 of the plague in A.D. 544, shortly after Columba had left 
 him ; and before he died he retracted his prohibition, and he 
 sent two of his disciples to Columba with his girdle as a 
 sign to give him full permission to act as he pleased. These 
 messengers had just then arrived ; and so Columba gladly 
 accepted the gift of hia cousin, and founded his church on, 
 what was called then and long after, the Island of Derry. 
 It was a rising ground oval in shape containing 200 acres of 
 land, surrounded on two sides by the Foyle, and on the third 
 by low marshy ground since known as the ' bog.' The slopes 
 of the hill were covered with a beautiful grove of oak trees, 
 which gave its name to the place. In ancient times it was 
 called Daire Calgaich, but after the tenth century it came to 
 be more commonly known as Daire Columcille. 
 
 Columcille's original church, called the Dubh-Hegles, 
 was built close to the site now occupied by the Roman 
 Catholic Cathedral ; and hence it was outside the walls of 
 the modern city. Nigh to it were three wells anciently 
 known as Adamnan's Well, and Martin's "Well, and Columba' s 
 Well. One of them is, it appears, now dry ; and the others 
 are called simply " St. Columb's Wells." Near to the church 
 there was also erected a round tower, which in like manner 
 has completely disappeared. So anxious was Columba to 
 spare the beautiful oak-grove which covered the hill, that he 
 would not even build his church with the chancel towards 
 
 1 A.D. 545 " Daire Colum Cille fundata est" (recte, 546).
 
 COLUMBA FOUNDS DERRY. 299 
 
 the east according to custom, because in that case some of 
 his beloved oaks should be cut down to make room for the 
 church. It was probably for the same reason he built on the 
 low ground at the foot of the hill, instead of on its slope or 
 summit, where the modern city stands. He strictly enjoined 
 his successors to spare the sacred grove, and even directed 
 in case any of the trees were blown down by the storm to 
 give a part to the poor, a part to the citizens, and to reserve 
 another part as fuel for the guest house. In later ages a 
 cathedral called Templemore -was built on the slope of the 
 hill, and the Dominicans, Augustinians, and Franciscans had 
 each a church and a monastery in the city of St. Columba. 
 It also seems that a Cistercian convent was founded there, 
 but not a trace of any of them now remains ; so effectually 
 did the imported colonists change the physical as well as the 
 moral aspect of the city. 
 
 We know very little of the history of Derry during the 
 period that Columba ruled over his monastery in person. 
 He always loved it dearly, and many a time his heart turned 
 fondly from his lonely island in the Scottish main to his 
 beloved Derry. 
 
 " The reason I love Derry is 
 For its peace, for its purity, 
 And for its crowds of white angels 
 From one end to the other. 
 
 My Derry ! mine own little grove ! 
 My dwelling, my dear little cell ; 
 O eternal God, in heaven above, 
 Woe be to him, who violates it !" 
 
 From all the highlands and valleys of Tir-connell his kith 
 and kin rallied round the young monk in his infant monas- 
 tery. It was built on the border-land between the territories 
 of both tribes ; and in after ages every acre of its termon lands 
 was stained with blood, shed in fratricidal strife by the two 
 great clans of the north. It stood too under the shadow of 
 that ancient keep, the Grianan of Ailech, which, it is said, 
 was the abode of the northern kings long before the Christian 
 era. It was certainly the Royal Fortress of the Hy-Niall in 
 their proudest days, and still rears its stately walls, that 
 overlook at once the Foyle and the Swilly, as if in silent 
 scorn of time and storm and man. 
 
 It will help us to understand better the subsequent history 
 of Columcille, if we try now to realize what manner of man
 
 300 THE COLUMBIAN SCHOOLS IN IRELAND. 
 
 he was. He came of a fierce and haughty race, and seems to 
 have been himself by nature, .notwithstanding his name, a 
 man of ardent temperament and strong passions. He was, 
 says an ancient commentator 1 quoting from a still more 
 ancient poet, " a man of well-formed and powerful frame ; 
 his skin was white, his face was broad and, fair and radiant, 
 lit up with large grey luminous eyes ; his large and well- 
 shaped head was crowned (except where he wore his frontal 
 tonsure) with close and curling hair. His voice was clear 
 and resonant, so that he could be heard at the distance of 
 fifteen hundred paces, yet sweet with more;than ; the sweetness 
 of the bards." Truly a great and striking man , to hear and 
 to look at ; one to admire but also to fear, and moreover, 
 animated with lofty purpose, and inspired with all the 
 dauntless courage of his race. In many respects his char- 
 acter appears to us to bear a very striking resemblance to the 
 character of the Prince of the Apostles both in, its strength 
 and in its weakness. 
 
 Doubtless such a man as we have described, found it not 
 only useful, but necessary to chastise his body and bring it 
 under subjection. "Though my devotion is delightful," he 
 is represented as saying of himself, "I sit in a chair of glass, 
 for I am fleshly and often frail." 2 We are told that he 
 practised the most extreme austerities. He barely took food 
 enough to sustain- nature, and that was of the simplest kind. 
 " He did not," says the Feilire, " take as much in a week 
 as would serve for one meal of a pauper." He abstained 
 from meat and wine, living exclusively on bread and water, 
 and vegetables sometimes contenting himself with nettles. 
 He slept on the bare ground with a stone, for a pillow, and a 
 skin for a coverlid. Three times at night he rose to pray ; 
 and often scored his flesh with the discipline in atonement 
 for his sins. By day he read, or preached to the brethren, 
 or recited the divine office ; and not unfrequently he took a 
 share in the manual labour of the monks carrying on his 
 own broad bare shoulders the sacks of meal from the mill to 
 the kitchen. 
 
 No wonder with such an example before their eyes 
 that the young nobles of Tirconnell strove with generous 
 emulation to excel each other in the service of God. What 
 marvel if the white-robed brethren under such a master 
 became angels in the flesh ; and what wonder if God's angels 
 came down from heaven, and "crowded every leaf on the 
 
 1 See The Feilire of JEnyus. 2 Notes to the Feilire.
 
 THE SCHOOLS OF BURROW AND KELLS. 301 
 
 oaks of Derry," to listen to such a brotherhood chanting at 
 midnight's hour and at morning's dawn the inspired strains 
 of the Hebrew Bard ? 
 
 III. THE SCHOOLS OF DURROW AND KELLS. 
 
 We know from the express statement of Venerable Bede 
 that Oolumba founded the noble monastery of Durrow 
 before he left Ireland for lona. 1 Like Derry, it takes its 
 name from an oak- grove ; for it means the Plain of the 
 Oaks in Irish Dair-magh. It was anciently called Ros- 
 grencha the oak plain of the far famed Ros-grencha 
 and also Druim-Cain, or the Beautiful Hill ; and even 
 to-day whoever wanders through the rich pastures and 
 the stately groves of Durrow will readily admit that it 
 well deserves its ancient name. It is situated not far from 
 Clara in the barony of Ballycowan, in the King's County ; 
 but in the time of Columcille it formed part of the ancient 
 kingdom of Teffia. Aedh, son of Brendan, prince of the terri- 
 tory, gave it to Columcille for the purpose of founding a 
 monastery. It is true that Brendan himself was alive until 
 A.D. 576 ; but, as not unfrequently happened in Erin, after 
 the death of Crimthann in A.D. 533 the lordship passed not 
 to his brother, but to his nephew, Brendan's son, who 
 doubtless had been previously recognised as the tanist. If, 
 as Bede says, the monastery was founded before Columba 
 set out for Britain in A.D. 563, it certainly was not com- 
 pletely founded ; for several years after Columba's arrival in 
 Britain we read of the building of the Great House of the 
 monastery whether that was, as Petrie thinks, the round 
 tower, or what is more likely, a larger church than the 
 original one designed to accommodate the enlarged com- 
 munity. 
 
 We may assume then that Durrow was founded about 
 A.D. 553, that is seven years after the foundation of Derry. 
 By this time the reputation of Columba had spread far and 
 wide over the entire kingdom. His ' cousins ' too of the 
 Southern Hy-Niall then reigned at Tara, and at this period 
 the saint seems to 'be on friendly terms with that branch of 
 his family. Being so famous and so influential, it is not to 
 be wondered at that Columba was invited to found monas- 
 teries through almost all the northern parts of Ireland to 
 which even Durrow at that period belonged. 
 
 1 Fecerat autem priusquam Brittaniam veniret monasterium nobile in 
 Hibernia, quod a copia roborum Dearmach lingua Scottorum, i.e. Campus 
 roborum cognorainatur. Book iii. 4.
 
 302 THE COLUMBIAN SCHOOLS IN IRELAND. 
 
 Several interesting incidents are recorded by Adamnan 
 in his Life of Columba having reference to Durrow. The 
 monks, it seems, had an orchard near the monastery on its 
 southern border, and in the orchard there was one tree that 
 produced a great abundance of apples ; but they were so 
 bitter that no one would eat them. The saint hearing every 
 one complaining of the sour apples, raised bis hand and 
 blessed the tree in the name of Almighty God, and lo ! 
 at once every apple on the tree became sweet and good to 
 eat. 
 
 Even when he was in lona Columba was solicitous about 
 his beloved monks of Durrow. One cold winter's day the 
 saint in lona was very sad, and shed silent tears. Diarmait, 
 his attendant, asked what troubled him ; and Columba replied, 
 that he was sore grieved because he saw in spirit how Laisren, 
 the prior of Durrow, kept his poor monks working on that 
 bitter day in building the Great House. 1 At the very same 
 moment Laisren in Durrow found himself moved by some 
 internal suggestion, and bade the monks, as the weather was 
 so severe, to get their dinner, and take rest for the remainder 
 of the day. This too was made known in spirit, to Columba, 
 and he greatly rejoiced. 
 
 On another occasion during the building of the same 
 Great House Columba in spirit saw one of the monks falling 
 from the very top of the roof. " Help ! help ! " cried the 
 saint and lo ! the guardian angel of lona flew to his aid at 
 the prayer of Columba, and caught him up before he fell to 
 the ground. Such is the speed of an angel's flight, and the 
 virtue of a saint's prayer ; for it is written, " He hath given 
 His angels charge over thee ; to keep thee in all thy ways. 
 In their hands they shall bear thee up ; lest thou dash thy 
 foot against a stone." (Ps. xc. verse 11.) 
 
 When Columba was leaving Durrow, he was very anxious 
 to secure the future well-being of that dear monastery, which 
 next to Derry appears to have held the highest place in his 
 afiection. There is an ancient poem attributed to the saint 
 in which he describes with loving minuteness the various 
 charms of Durrow. There the wind sings through the elms, 
 as well as through the oaks ; the blackbird's joyous note is 
 heard at early dawn ; and the cuckoo chants from tree to 
 tree in that noble angelic land " all but its government 
 was indeed delightful." Elsewhere the saint speaks with 
 
 1 The ' Great House ' was perhaps the abbot's residence. See Petrie's 
 Round Towers, page 431.
 
 THE SCHOOLS OF DURROW AND KELLS. 303 
 
 tenderest feeling of the toll of its soft- toned bell ; and the 
 glories of the woods in beautiful many-coloured Dair-magh. 
 
 " O Cormac, beautiful is that church of thine 
 With its books, with its learning ; 
 A city devout with its hundred crosses, 
 Without blemish, and without transgression." 
 
 The reference here is to Cormac TJa Liathain, who seems 
 to have been left in charge at Durrow, when Columba himself 
 retired to lona. But Cormac was aMomonian, as he is called 
 in the dialogue with Columba, and hereditary jealousy 
 between North and South soon showed itself at Durrow after 
 Columba's departure. The princes of the Clan-Colman, or 
 Southern Hy-Niall, objected to have a Momonian the ruler in 
 Durrow, and made it so unpleasant for Cormac that the latter, 
 without waiting for Columba's permission, resolved to leave 
 the government of Durrow to Laisren, the first cousin of 
 Columba, and seek for himself a desert isle in the ocean to 
 be the place of his rest and resurrection. 
 
 With a few comp'anions he set out from Killala, and sailed 
 the northern seas for two long years, but yet could find no 
 island home in the northern main. After perils and hard- 
 ships untold, he and his famished crew succeeded in reaching 
 lona, where they were kindly welcomed by Columba. But 
 when Columba discovered why it was that Cormac had sailed 
 so long ' over the all-teeming sea, from port to port and from 
 wave to wave,' his brow grew stern ; and he felt much inclined 
 to rebuke Cormac severly for his disobedience. " Thou art 
 welcome," he said ; " since the sea hath sent thee hither 
 else thou hath merited satire and reproach. 5 ' 1 
 
 Columba then urges on Cormac to return back again to 
 his monastery in Durrow ; he enlarges on the beauty of that 
 devout city with its books, and its learning, and its hundred 
 crosses ; he describes how sweet is the black-bird's song and 
 the music of the wind, as it murmurs through the elms on the 
 Oak-plain of far-famed Ros-grencha ; he promises Cormac 
 that he will cause the Clann-Colman of the reddened swords 
 to protect the monastery of Durrow ; " and I pledge thee my 
 unerring word," he said, " which may not be impugned, 
 that death is better in reproachless Erin than life for ever in 
 Alba." 2 
 
 Still Cormac was unwilling 1 to return " Hew can I go 
 there amongst the powerful northern tribes in that border 
 
 1 See Beeves' Adamnan, page 276. 2 Ibid, page 269
 
 304 THE COLUMBAIN SCHOOLS IN IRELAND. 
 
 land, Colum ? and if it is better to be in noble Erin than in 
 inviolate Alba, do thou return to Erin and leave me at least 
 by turns in Alba." The discussion grew warm between the 
 two saints ; but it appears to have ended amicably. Cormac 
 was allowed to remain for a time in lona, and afterwards to 
 found a monastery of his own in Tyrawley, on condition that 
 he used his influence with his southern kinsmen to make them 
 pay their alms and dues to the monastery of Durrow. 
 
 The two Irish poems printed by Colgan and Bishop 
 Reeves giving an account of these events, can scarcely in their 
 present form be regarded as the composition of Columcille. 
 There can hardly be any doubt, however, that they convey a 
 truthful narrative of the facts, and were in their original 
 form the work of Columcille himself. 
 
 Whilst Columba was at Durrow he wrote, as far as we 
 can judge with his own hands, the celebrated copy of the 
 Gospels, known as the Book of Durrow. That the saint was 
 an accomplished scribe is certain ; we know from many 
 passages in his life that he spent much time in copying parts 
 of the sacred volume ; and he was engaged in the same pious 
 labour when he felt the call of death, and asked Baithen " to 
 write the rest." We shall see later on how he copied stealthily 
 Finnian's MS. of the Gospels, which afterwards led to serious 
 trouble and much bloodshed in Erin. 
 
 The Book of Durrow is a highly ornamented copy of the 
 Four Gospels according to Jerome's version, then recently 
 introduced in Ireland. It is written across the page in single 
 columns, and the MSS. also contains the Epistle of St. Jerome 
 to Pope Damasus, an explanation of certain Hebrew names, 
 with the Eusebian Canons and synoptical tables. It has also 
 symbolical representations of the Evangelists, and many 
 pages of coloured ornamentation spiral, interlaced, and 
 tesselated. 1 There is a partly obliterated entry on the back 
 of fol. 12, praying for "a remembrance of the scribe, Columba, 
 who wrote this evangel in the space of twelve days." That 
 Columba was indeed the scribe who wrote this manuscript is 
 rendered still more probable from the old tradition that he 
 with his own hands wrote a copy of the Gospels for each of 
 the monasteries which he had founded. We have already 
 seen that the Book of Derry was lost, but fortunately the Book 
 of Durrow and the Book of Kells are still in existence. It is 
 referred to by O'Clery in the Martyrology of Donegal, " as 
 having gems and silver on its cover," and was seen by Connell 
 
 1 Gilbert, National AfSS., page 10.
 
 THE SCHOOLS OF BURROW AND KELLS. 305 
 
 Mac Geoghegan, the translator of the Annals of Clonmacnoise , 
 who made an entry at the foot of folio 116 in the year 
 A.D. 1623. It was then at Durrow, but passed into the pos- 
 session of Henry Jones, Vice- Chancellor of Trinity College 
 in the time of Cromwell. O'Flaherty saw it in A.D. 1677, and 
 fortunately then deciphered the inscription on the cover, and 
 entered it on the fly-leaf of the manuscript. The cover has 
 since disappeared with its gems and its silver cross but 
 thanks to O'Flaherty we know the inscription, which it 
 bore in Irish Oroith agus benedacht Coluimcille do Fland 
 Mace Mailshechnaill do righ Erenn las a ndernad a cum- 
 dach so. 
 
 " The prayer and benediction of Columcille for Mail- 
 shechnaill, King of Erin, for whom this cover was made." 
 
 " I have seen," says O'Flaherty, referring to this MS. 
 and its cover, " handwritings of St. Columba, in Irish 
 characters, as straight and as fair as any print of above 1,000 
 years standing, and Irish letters engraved in the time of 
 Flann, King of Ireland, deceased in A.D. 916." O'Flaherty 
 saw the Book in Trinity College in A.D. 1677 ; and it is there 
 still. Jones, the V ice-Chancellor, afterwards Bishop of Meath, 
 gave it to the College. 
 
 At present there is no trace of any of the ancient build- 
 ings at Durrow. There is a holy well St. Columba's well 
 still there, which is greatly venerated for the virtue of its 
 waters, and is kept in good order by the present noble pro- 
 prietor of these lands, Lord Norbury, whose mansion is close 
 at hand. There is an old church-yard, too, which doubtless 
 marks the site of the ancient churches ; it is still much used 
 for burials, although already overcrowded with the dead. 
 The most interesting memorial, however, at present in Dur- 
 row is a beautiful sculptured cross which stands on a low 
 stone pedestal close to the church-yard. It is like the Cross 
 of Monasterboice. There are also two ancient inscribed stones 
 one unfortunately broken, but the inscription remains, 
 * OR DO CHATHALAN (pray for little Cathal) the proper 
 name is a diminutive of Cathal. This fragment is now only 
 six inches long. The other stone asks a prayer for Aigide. 
 The inscribed cross on this stone, now half buried in the grass, 
 is of the most chaste and beautiful design, richly adorned 
 with spirals, knots, and frets, which point to the most flour- 
 ishing period of Celtic art. Nowhere else has a cross of 
 similar design been discovered. Two of the outer arch-stones 
 of an ancient and once very beautiful window are built into 
 a wall near the High Cross. No other remains of antiquitr 
 
 u
 
 306 THE COLUMBIAN SCHOOLS IN IRELAND. 
 
 are now to be found on the site of the once celebrated monas- 
 tery of Durrow. 
 
 Hugh de Lacy completely desolated Durrow and uprooted 
 its ancient shrines. It was in the year A.D. 1186 that he set 
 about building a castle at Durrow. For this purpose he 
 seized the abbey-lands, drove out the neighbouring Celtic 
 proprietor, whose name was Fox, and proceeded to build his 
 castle with the stones of Columba's monastery and churches. 
 But this was the close of his evil career. A workman, sent 
 it is said by Fox for the purpose, was watching for his oppor- 
 tunity, and when De Lacy, who superintended the work in 
 person, was stooping forward, he struck off his head with one 
 blow of his keen axe. The body fell into the ditch of the 
 castle ; and at the same moment the assassin burst through 
 the astonished workmen and fled into the neighbouring woods. 
 " It was in revenge of Columcille " that this was done, say 
 the Four Masters, and certainly it seems as if the fate that 
 overtook this " profaner and destroyer of many churches " 
 was the not unnatural outcome of his own evil deeds. In 
 1839 the Earl of Norbury, a worthy successor of De Lacy, 
 was assassinated in the same spot after he had erected a 
 castle on the site of De Lacy's. 
 
 Pallas te hoc vulnere, Pallas 
 
 Immolat, et poenam scelerato de sanguine sumit. Virgil. 
 
 IY. THE FOUNDATION or KELLS. 
 
 The foundation of Kells took place soon after that of 
 Durrow, but the exact date cannot be assigned all we know 
 is that it was founded during the reign of King Diarmait, 
 the son of Fergus Cerbaill. It is necessary to know some- 
 thing of this King Diarmait, whose history is intimately 
 connected with that of Columcille. He was great grandson 
 of Niall of the Nine Hostages, and therefore a second cousin 
 once removed of Columcille himself. But Columcille belonged 
 to the northern or Ulster Hy-Niall, who derived their descent 
 from Eoghan and Conal Gulban; while the southern, or Meath 
 Hy-Niall, were descended from Conal Crimthann, another 
 son of Niall the Great, who fixed his residence in Meath. 
 Considerable jealousy existed between these two branches of 
 the Hy-Niall stock, especially when Diarmait succeeded to 
 the throne of Tara after the murder of his predecessor, 
 Tuathal Maelgarbh in A.D. 544 ; for he was supposed to have 
 instigated the commission of that crime. The princes of the 
 North, especially the sons of the gallant and ill-fated Muir-
 
 THE FOUNDATION OF KELLS. 307 
 
 ceartach Mac Earca, considered that they themselves had a 
 better title to the throne than Diarmait, and indeed during 
 his reign of twenty years they were often in rebellion against 
 him, and not unfrequently were victorious in the strife. Still 
 Diarmait contrived to maintain his hold of Tara, and governed 
 the kingdom with vigour and wisdom, until he fell out with 
 the ' Saints/ whom he found more difficult to control than 
 the princes of the rival line. In consequence of his dispute 
 with St. Ruadhan of Lorrha, Tara was cursed and abandoned ; 
 and because of another outrage which he offered to Colum- 
 cille the great battle of Cuil-dreimhne was fought in which 
 his army was utterly routed, and he himself escaped with 
 much difficulty. Shortly afterwards he, in his turn, was 
 slain by the hands of an assassin. 
 
 The only authority we have in reference to the foundation 
 of Kells during the reign of this Diarmait is O'Donnell's 
 Life of Coluinba. It is not noticed in our Annals,, nor, at 
 least explicitly, in the other Lives of the Saint. According 
 to O'Donnell's Life, Columba, after founding D arrow, went 
 to Kells in Irish Cenannus where it seems the king then 
 lived, although he happened to be absent at this time. The saint 
 when entering the place was very rudely received by certain 
 soldiers of the Royal Guard, to whom he was most probably 
 unknown. But when the king returned home and heard that 
 his soldiers had insulted the greatest saint in Erin at the time, 
 and moreover one of his own royal blood, he resolved to make 
 over the city itself to Columba for a monastery as an atone- 
 ment for the rudeness of his soldiers. Columba could expect 
 no more, and thankfully accepted the gift. The donation 
 was also ratified by the sanction of Aedh Slaine, the eldest son 
 of the king, and heir apparent to the throne. In return 
 Columba predicted that Aedh would mount the throne of 
 Erin, and that his reign would be prosperous so long as he 
 abstained from shedding innocent blood a condition how- 
 ever which he afterwards did not observe. 
 
 Kells was thus founded about the year A.D. 554, although 
 its foundation is sometimes set down so early as the year A.D. 
 550. It never, however, seems to have attained great emi- 
 nence during the lifetime of St. Columba himself ; for its fame 
 was eclipsed by other more celebrated houses founded by the 
 saint. It was only after the decline of lona in the ninth 
 century, consequent on the ravages of the Danes, that Kells 
 became the chief monastery of the Columbian order both in 
 Erin and Alba, as we shall see further on. 
 
 It may be useful, however, at present to make reference to
 
 308 THE COLUMBIAN SCHOOLS IN IRELAND. 
 
 the chief memorials of Columba, which point to his own 
 intimate connection with that establishment. St. Columba's 
 ' House ' is the most interesting of the existing antiquities 
 at Kells. We may safely accept the opinion of the learned 
 and accurate Petrie, that St. Columba's House at Kells and 
 St. Kevin's at Glendalough were erected by the persons 
 whose names they bear, and that they both served the double 
 purpose of a habitation and an oratory. 1 The building is a 
 plain oblong, twenty-four feet long by twenty-one broad, 
 having a very high-pitched pyramidal stone roof, which is 
 now covered with a luxuriant growth of ivy. The original 
 door was in the west end, but for the purpose of greater 
 security was placed about eight feet from the ground, and 
 must have been reached by a ladder which could easily be 
 drawn up by the inmates in case of alarm or danger. The 
 building contains two apartments the lower, which was the 
 oratory, is covered with a semicircular stone arching, and was 
 lighted by two small windows a slender semicircular one in 
 the east gable, and a triangular headed one in the south side 
 wall. The chamber or sleeping apartment of the saint was 
 in the croft between the convex arching and the roof. It is 
 about six feet high, and is lighted by a small window in the 
 gable. It appears originally to have contained three apart- 
 ments, in one of which is a large flat stone six feet in length, 
 which is traditionally said to have been Columba's bed. If 
 we suppose a somewhat similar house to have been at Durrow, 
 it will help to explain Adamnan's reference to the Great 
 House, and the danger of falling from the ridge of the roof, 
 for in Kells it is thirty-eight feet from the ground. 
 
 There is a sculptured cross standing in the market-place 
 of the same character as that of Durrow ; there is another 
 fine ancient cross in the churchyard having on the plinth 
 in Irish characters the words 
 
 " Patricii et Columbae (Crux)." 
 
 which show that it was erected to commemorate these two 
 great saints, and probably at the time when Kells was the 
 recognised head of all the Columbian foundations. There is 
 a third cross, which Miss Stokes declares to have been the 
 finest of the three, now lying mutilated in the church. These 
 crosses show that ecclesiastical art was carefully and success- 
 fully cultivated at Kells, and that the city well deserved the 
 appellation of " Kells of the Crosses." 
 
 The fine round tower of Kells, which is still ninety feet 
 
 1 Round Towers, page 437>
 
 THE FOUNDATION OF KELLS. 309 
 
 high, marks the importance of the place during the Danish, 
 wars, and fixes also the site of the great church, for the 
 towers were almost always built within ten or twelve paces of 
 the great western door of the church towards the left or 
 southern side, looking from the doorway. No trace, how- 
 ever, of the great church now remains at Kells, from the 
 sacristy of which we are told the Great Gospel of Columcille 
 was stolen at night in the year A.D. 1006. Four Masters. 
 
 This Great Gospel of Columcille was without any doubt 
 the celebrated MS., known as the Book of Kells, and now pre- 
 served in the Library of Trinity College, Dublin. It is highly 
 probable both from intrinsic and extrinsic evidence, that like 
 the Book of Durrow, this celebrated codex was written by 
 Columcille himself, although, doubtless the ornamentation 
 was, at least to some extent, wrought by other, if not by 
 later hands. The tradition of the church itself, as shown 
 from the entry in the Annals quoted above, shows that so 
 early as the year A.D. 1006 it was regarded as a copy of the 
 Gospels, if not written, certainly used by the saint himself. 
 It is called the Great Gospel of Columcille, and truly well 
 deserves that name, for it has been pronounced by Professor 
 J. 0. Westwood, of Oxford, to be "unquestionably thje most 
 elaborately executed MS. of so early a date now in existence, 
 far excelling in the gigantic size of the letters at the beginning 
 of each Gospel, the excessive minuteness of the ornamental 
 details crowded into whole pages, the number of its verj r 
 peculiar decorations, the fineness of the writing, and the 
 endless variety of its initial capitals, the famous Gospels of 
 Lindisfarne in the Cottonian Library." We may add that the 
 Gospel of Lindisfarne was also the work of Irish artists, as 
 Lindisfarne itself was originally a monastery founded and 
 peopled by Irish monks from lona. 
 
 No description can give an adequate idea of the Book of 
 Kells it must be seen and studied to be duly appreciated. 
 
 It has had, too, a strange history. It was stolen, as we 
 have seen, by some sacrilegious wretch in A.D. 1006, and at 
 that time it was regarded as the chief relic of the western 
 world. Fortunately it was found after forty days and two 
 months, but its gold was stripped off, covered with sods in a 
 bog. Some few leaves at the beginning have been lost, and 
 certain deeds and grants of land made to the churches of 
 Kells are recorded in Irish on some of the blank pages pro- 
 bably left there for that purpose. In the time of Usher it 
 was still preserved at Kells ; but he secured it when Bishop 
 of Meath, as he himself tells us, to collate the readings with
 
 310 THE COLUMBIAN SCHOOLS IN IRELAND 
 
 the Vulgate ; whether it was by purchase or otherwise we 
 cannot say. 1 It passed to Trinity College with Usher's 
 collection, and like many of the other ancient treasures of 
 Celtic Ireland, is preserved there at present. 
 
 We have already referred to another manuscript written 
 by Columba, which has had a far more momentous history 
 than either the Book of Durrow or the Book of Kelts, that is 
 the MS. which caused the battle of Cuil-Dreimhne, and 
 which was indirectly, at least according to the common 
 account, the means of sending Columba to preach the Gospel 
 in Alba. It was brought about in this way according to Keating. 
 
 That Diarmait, of whom we have already spoken, made a 
 great feast at Tara, and many princes and nobles were 
 present at the feast. There were also games on the green of 
 Tara, and during a game of hurling Curnan, son of Hugh, 
 son of Eochaidh Tirmcharna, struck the son of the king's 
 steward with his hurley and killed him with the blow. 
 Brawling at the games of Tara was strictly forbidden ; so 
 the young Prince of Connaught knowing the consequences of 
 his rash act, fled for refuge to Columcille, who was in Tara 
 at the time. But Diarmait seized the fugitive, tore him from 
 the embrace of the saint, and had him put to death on the spot. 
 
 But this was not all. It seems that on this occasion 
 Columba came to Tara to claim in the court of the king that 
 copy of the Psalms which he had stealthily made from the 
 copy which St. Finnian had brought from Rome, and which 
 he very highly prized. Finnian waited until Columba, who 
 was a choice scribe, had completed the copy, and then 
 claimed it as his own. We have already spoken of Diarmait's 
 decision, and Columba's appeal to his kinsmen in the North. 
 
 They flew to arms and called to their aid all those who 
 had suffered wrongs at the hands of King Diarmait. Very 
 soon they assembled a great army in the heart of the North. 
 It was led by the two sons of Muircheartach Mac Earca, 
 Fergus and Domhnall, the rival claimants of the crown, and 
 by Ainmire, son of Sedna, first cousin of Columba, and by 
 Nainnidh, son of Duach, another first cousin, and by Aedh,the 
 Prince of Connaught, whose son was put to death by the 
 King at Tara. This was a formidable alliance, but King 
 Diarmait lost no time in raising troops to meet his foes. The 
 two armies came into collision on the ridge of Cuil-Dreimhne, 
 now Cooladrummon, between Benbulbin mountain and the 
 
 1 At the Dissolution in A.D. 1539 the Book came into the hands of Gerald 
 Plunket of Dublin, but he appears to have restored it to the monks of 
 Kells.
 
 THE FOUNDATION OF KELLS. 311 
 
 sea, in the County Sligo. It is said the rival saints supported 
 the rival armies that Columcille prayed for the men of the 
 North, and that St, Finnian was behind the lines of King 
 Diarmait. Be that as it may, the men of the North were 
 completely victorious; three thousand of their foes were 
 slain, while only one man fell on their side, who had trans- 
 gressed the precept of Columba forbidding them to go beyond 
 a certain point on the field. 
 
 Now it seems his conscience sorely smote Columcille. Was 
 he justified in urging his kinsmen to fight this bloody battle 
 which caused the loss of three thousand lives? He went straight 
 to his confessor, St. Molaise, of Innismurray Island, who at 
 the time was in his own Church of Ahamlish, not more than 
 two miles from, the scene of the battle. Molaise declared that 
 Columcille had sinned ; and that he must do penance ; and 
 his penance . must be proportionate to his fault. He bade 
 him leave Ireland, and go to preach the Gospel,, where he 
 would gain as many souls for Christ as lives were lost in the 
 battle, and never look upon his native land again. 
 
 It has been said that this story is the invention of a later 
 ^ige ; x that it is in itself improbable, and above all, that 
 Adamnan is silent in reference to it. It is, however, the 
 -expression of a very ancient tradition, and it is assumed as 
 true by O'Donnell in his Life of Columba, by Keating, and 
 by the Four Masters. The silence of Adamnan, too, is very 
 significant. He refers in more than one place to the battle 
 of Cuil-Dreimhne, as if it were an. era in.the life-history of 
 Columba. He plainly does not want to say anything 
 derogatory to the Saint of lona,; but in, our opinion he also 
 plainly implies that he had some connection with the battle 
 of Cuil-Dreimhne ; to which he either thinks it inexpedient 
 or unnecessary for him to .make more explicit reference. We, 
 therefore, cannot reject the story as either improbable in 
 itself, or unsupported by authority. His connection with 
 this battle may have been a fault, or even a crime, on the 
 part of Columba ; but in itself it is so natural, and in its 
 consequences so edifying, and so encouraging to our frail 
 human nature, that we cannot help saying from our hearts 
 O felix culpa blessed fault which produced so much good 
 both for Erin and for Alba. The poem 2 in which Columba 
 declares that the voyage to Alba was enjoined on him for his 
 own share in this battle, if not his composition, is certainly 
 
 1 Such is the opinion of the learned Cardinal Moran expressed to the 
 writer in person. 
 
 2 See Reeves' Adamnan, page 275.
 
 312 THE COLUMBIAN SCHOOLS IN IRELAND. 
 
 of very ancient origin, and furnishes a distinct proof of the 
 existence of the tradition at the time that it was written. 
 
 The site of the battle is a remarkable spot. The townland 
 of Cooladrummon is situated on the very crest of the hill, in a 
 line with the nose of Benbulben mountain, about six miles 
 north of Sligo. It commands a view of unrivalled beauty 
 both by land and sea. The tourist travelling from Sligo to 
 Bundoran will be on the very battle field of Cuil-Dreimhne 
 as soon as he reaches that point of the road on the very crest 
 of the ridge, where the Bay of Donegal at once bursts full 
 upon his view. Let him pause and admire it at his leisure, 
 for rarely, if ever, will he see again such an expanse of sea, 
 backed by noble mountains, and waving woods, and fertile 
 fields, and, especially in Columba's own Drumcliff, many a 
 neat out frugal happy homestead. 
 
 The battle of Cuil-Dreimhne was fought A.D. 561 ; but 
 Columba and his associates did not set out for -Alba until 
 nearly two years later, in A.D. 563. The traditional accounts 
 of his departure from Derry, and his arrival in lona, are 
 exceedingly touching. 
 
 Having made up his mind to perform the bitter penance 
 enjoined on him by Molaise at the Cross of Ahamlish (Ath- 
 Imlaisi), his first object would naturally be to seek companions 
 for his voyage. It was, no doubt, a perilous and laborious 
 enterprise ; but he found no difficulty in procuring associates 
 in his task. As soon as he made known his resolution to the 
 monks of Derry, he had abundance of volunteers who feared 
 no perils, and were ready to accompany their beloved abbot 
 to any spot on earth where he chose to dwell. He selected 
 twelve from amongst them men of his own blood, and monks 
 of his own obedience. Amongst them were his uncle, Ernaan, 
 who afterwards became superior of the monastery in the 
 Island of Hinba, and his two first cousins, Baithen, who 
 succeeded Columba in lona, and his brother, Cobthach, both 
 sons of Brenden, son of Fergus, grandfather of the saint. 
 
 It appears the exiles set sail from Derry for the north in 
 one or two currachs, in the year A.D. 563, when Columba was 
 in the forty-second year of his age. When they came to set 
 sail, not only the monks of Derry, but thejbishops and clergy 
 and people from all the country round about, crowded to the 
 shore to bid farewell to their beloved saint. Then a great 
 wailing was borne on the breeze that filled the light pails of 
 the currachs ; even the wild sea-birds hovered round their 
 bark, as if loth to leave the blessed Columba. His heart was 
 full, and his eyes were dim with tears, as he saw the oak-
 
 THE FOUNDATION OF KELLS. 313 
 
 woods of Deny and the hills of Inishowen fading, it might 
 be for ever, from his view. In the old Irish poem already 
 referred to, there are some stanzas which are supposed to 
 give expression to the feelings of the saint, when, with 
 bleeding heart, he vainly sought another glimpse of Erin 
 amid the waste of waters all around him. "We venture to 
 render a few of these stanzas in verse : 
 
 " Ah ! my heart will never find rest, 
 
 There's a tear in my soft grey eye ; 
 Give Eri once more to my breast, 
 
 And then I am ready to die. 
 I stand on the deck of my bark, 
 
 And gaze o'er the southern sea ; 
 But alas ! and alas ! my Eri, 
 
 For ever is hidden from me. 
 
 How bright are the eyes of my Eri ; 
 
 Like the gleam of an angel's wing ; 
 And sweet is the breath of my Eri 
 
 Her voice is the music of Spring. 
 
 Ob, deep is my burden of sorrow ; 
 
 I pine like the mateless dove, 
 Will this heart from the years never borrow 
 
 A balm for the loss of my love ?" 
 
 Supposing that Columba and his twelve companions sailed 
 straight for the Western Isles of Scotland, one day's pros- 
 perous breeze would carry them past the Rhynns of Islay, 
 and bring them in sight of Colonsay. It is said that Columba 
 and his companions landed on the southern extremity of 
 Colonsay, now called Oronsay, and mounting the cliffs looked 
 along the verge of the southern horizon. Dimly in the 
 distance like a cloud, he saw the hills of Inishowen, and 
 once more he bade his companions embark for he might not 
 stay where he could see the distant hills of Erin. So they 
 re-embarked and sailed further north, until they landed on 
 lona, which is about twenty miles north-and-by-west of 
 Colonsay. 
 
 " To oars again ; we may not stay, 
 
 For ah ! on ocean's rim I see, 
 Where sunbeams pierce the cloudy day, 
 From these rude hills of Oronsay, 
 
 The isle so dear to me. 
 
 But when once more we set our feet 
 
 On wild sea- crag or islet fair, 
 There shall we make our calm retreat, 
 And spend our lives as it is meet, 
 
 In penance and in prayer." 1 
 
 1 Green Leaves, by T. D. Sullivan.
 
 314 THE COLUMBIAN SCHOOLS IN IRELAND. 
 
 On the southern shore of lona there is a small sandy cove, 
 bounded on both sides by steep and rugged cliffs rising from 
 the waves. A patch of green sward runs down to the sandy 
 margin of this little bay, and outside it is sheltered from the 
 fury of the south and south-west winds by several rocky 
 islets, through which, however, a currach might easily glide 
 even in broken weather, and reach the little sandy beach in 
 safety. This cove is still called Port a Ckurraich, and it is 
 the unfailing tradition of lona that it was in this cove 
 Columba and his companions first landed, and that the cove 
 takes its name from his currach. " The length of the 
 curachan or ship is obvious to anyone who goes to the place, 
 it being marked up at the head of the harbour upon the 
 grass between two little pillars of stone, set up to show forth 
 the same, between which pillars there is three score of foots 
 in length, which was the exact length of the curachan or 
 ship." 1 We must now devote a separate chapter to lona and 
 its scholars, for, during six hundred years, it was an Irish 
 isle in Scottish seas. 
 
 1 From an account written in A.D. 1761.
 
 CHAPTER XIY. 
 THE COLUMBIAN SCHOOL IN ALBA. 
 
 I. IONA. 
 
 " Saint of the seas 
 
 Whose days were passed in teacher's toil 
 
 Whose evening song still filled the aisle 
 
 Whose poet's heart fed the wild bird's brood 
 
 Whose fervent arm upbore the rood 
 
 Still from thy roofless rock so gray, 
 
 Thou preachest to all, who pass that way." 
 
 M'Gee. 
 
 WHEN Columba landed on lona he ascended the steep cliff 
 still called Cnoc-na-Faire the Hill of the Outlook just 
 above Port-a-Churraich, and looking southward over the sea to 
 the utmost verge of the horizon, he sought in vain for one 
 glimpse of the hills of holy Ireland. He could see, as we 
 saw from the same spot, the rugged peaks of Jura, and the 
 brown summits of Islay ; and further still he might perceive 
 the bare blue mountains of Kintyre mingling with the sky ; 
 but no trace of the land of his love to the south or south-west 
 nothing but the open shoreless sea. Then Columba knew 
 that this was the land which God gave him to be the place of 
 his exile, and there he resolved to make his monastic home, 
 lona is little more than three miles long, and less than a 
 mile in average breadth ; and its physical features are unin- 
 viting. It is separated from the Ross of Mull a bare and bleak 
 mountain district by a strait less than a mile wide. The 
 surface of the island is very bare and rugged, especially 
 towards the south and west. On the north-eastern border 
 there are a few patches of tillage, but no trace of a tree. The 
 craggy rock crops up everywhere, interspersed with moory 
 or sandy flats ; and in sheltered corners there are fields of 
 potatoes, oats, and barley, which, especially on the north- 
 eastern shore, grow very well. The cattle are a small woolly 
 haired breed, easily fed and very hardy. Craggy is the only 
 epithet that will correctly describe the general appearance of 
 the place ; there are crags everywhere, interspersed with 
 patches of pasture, which furnish a scanty and precarious 
 herbage to the sheep and black cattle. Dunii is the highest
 
 316 THE COLUMBIAN SCHOOL IN ALBA. 
 
 hill on the island ; it is situated towards the northern 
 extremity, not far from the monastery, and rises to the height 
 of more than 300 feet above the sea. Like the other hills, it 
 is almost all naked rock. The south and south-western portion 
 of the island is entirely uninhabited ; and is still more wild 
 and barren than the north. Across the middle of the island 
 from east to west, there stretches an extensive belt of low and 
 comparatively level land, called the Machar, or Plain. The 
 eastern portion of this plain, called Sliganach, from its shelly 
 beach, is fairly cultivated ; the western part affords pasturage 
 to a goodly number of sheep and small hardy cattle. 
 
 Port Ronan, the usual landing place, is close to the village 
 near the centre of the eastern shore of the island. The village 
 itself, in which there were some hovels as poor as any in 
 Connemara, contains about a dozen of houses ; the whole 
 island has about 500 inhabitants, amongst whom, when we 
 visited it, there was not a single Roman Catholic. There is 
 a fair hotel; but as the Duke of Argyle allows no spirituous 
 drinks to be sold on the island, of which he is proprietor, 
 travellers who wish to procure refreshment of this kind had 
 better take it with them. Porter was, however, surreptitiously 
 sold in more than one house in the village. 
 
 When Coluniba, with his twelve companions, came to 
 lona it was a wilderness, without inhabitants and without 
 cultivation. Fishermen and pilgrims sometimes landed there, 
 but none appear to have settled permanently in the island. 
 Tighernach, the accurate annalist of Clonmacnoise, states 
 expressly that the island of Hy was granted to Columcille by 
 Conall, King of the Dalriada. On the other hand, Bede says 
 that it was the gift of Brude, King of the Picts ; but as 
 Columcille was established at lona before the conversion of 
 Brude, we must understand Bede to mean that the King of 
 the Picts confirmed the grant, which the sub-king Conall had 
 already made to Columba. King Conall was the son of 
 Comgall, who was a grandson of Fergus Mor Mac Earc, one 
 of the leaders of the colon)' 1 that came from Dalriada about 
 the year A.D. 506 to establish themselves in Alba. Cantyre 
 and Knapdale was the cradle of this gallant band, who 
 founded the kingdom afterwards known as the Scottish 
 Dalriada, whose princes became the stem of the Royal line of 
 Scotland's kings. It was from this prince Conall that 
 Columba received permission to settle in lona in the first 
 instance, but Brude later on, being a much more powerful 
 prince and ruler of the outer islands, confirmed the grant, 
 most probably at the earnest request of Columba himself.
 
 IOXA. 317 
 
 There is at present no trace of any of the original build- 
 ings founded by Columcille. They were probably, as at 
 Durrow, constructed for the most part of perishable materials; 
 but if of stone, they were entirely destroyed during the oft- 
 renewed ravages of the Danes. We do not think it necessary 
 to make here special reference to the churches of a later date, 
 which have no special connection with our subject. They 
 are in two groups the Cathedral group about 200 yards 
 from the shore, somewhat to the north of Port Ronan ; and 
 a little to the south and nearer to the shore the nunnery group 
 with the ancient parish church of Kilronan, a portion of 
 whose walls are still standing. Near this group of ruins is 
 an ancient cross standing by the way-side, and now commonly 
 called M 'Lean's Cross. It is a tali thin flag covered with 
 interlacing ornaments of an Irish character. It is fixed in a 
 kind of millstone ; l and is probably as old as the time of 
 Adamnan himself. 
 
 In the cathedral group may be noticed the Reilig Odhrain, 
 or ancient cemetery surrounding the Church of St. Odhran, 
 which is a little to the south of the cathedral. This Odhran 
 was, according to the Irish Life, one of the twelve who came 
 with Columcille, although Adamnan seems to imply that he 
 was a Briton. He took sick and died in the island, and gladly 
 met his end, that the burial of his body might, as Columcille 
 said, fix the roots of the holy community in the island, and 
 make it kindred earth. The cemetery was called by his name, 
 and is to this day the only cemetery in the island; for 
 Columcille saw Odhran's soul going to heaven, and he said 
 that no request would be granted to anyone at his own tomb 
 except it were first asked at the tomb of Odhran. 
 
 There is a large number of sculptured gravestones in this 
 cemetery, and many of them beautifully wrought ; but none 
 are of the most ancient time, and very few of them bear 
 inscriptions. But they are obviously the tombs of dis- 
 tinguished persons during the middle ages of kings and 
 princes ; of bishops and abbots ; of knights in armour with 
 sword and shield all resting side by side in Reilig Odhran. 
 
 There is a low square tower in the very centre of the 
 " Cathedral," between the nave and chancel. It has also two 
 transepts, and apparently two lady-chapels nearly opposite 
 the sacristy ; perhaps one was a mortuary chapel. The 
 
 1 This cross ' in margine viae ' is the only cross now in the island which 
 could answer Adamnan's description as that nigh to which Columba sat down 
 to rest himself on his last journey from the monastic farm. Page 231.
 
 318 THE COLUMBIAN SCHOOL IN ALBA. 
 
 cloister and other monastic buildings adjoined the church on 
 the north -west so as to enable the monks to enter from the 
 cloister by a door beneath the tower. There are two crosses ; 
 one is still standing St. Martin's just before the great 
 western doorway ; the second cross, now broken, stood a little 
 more to the north, and nearer to the wall of the church. The 
 sculptured figures are much effaced by the hand of time, the 
 severity of the climate, and partly, too, it is to be feared, by 
 the zeal of the ' reformers.' In the little church of St. Odhran 
 there was a beautifully sculptured crucifix just over the 
 throne or abbot's seat ; but it has been wantonly broken and 
 defaced. 
 
 These, however except the Reilig Odhran are all the 
 remains of the mediaeval monastery and churches founded by 
 the Scottish Kings long after the ravages of the Danes. It 
 is now difficult to fix the exact sight of Columba's monastery. 
 It was in our opinion within the circular enclosure, a little 
 to the north, just outside the wall enclosing the present 
 cathedral ruins. The site of the mill, to which Adamnan 
 refers, can easily be traced ; there is the lakelet that served as 
 a mill-pond ; the stream that turned the mill still flows to 
 the sea ; and even the place of the sluice can be observed near 
 the cottage, that has been probably built on the site of the 
 mill. Just on the roadside beyond the churchward is the 
 craggy eminence, which Adamnan refers to as the monticulus 
 monasterio eminens ; and Torr Abb the Abbot's Rock is 
 still there within the present enclosure and on the same side of 
 the road. Nature's land-marks are all thera, and testify to 
 the truth and accuracy of Adamnan's most minute details ; 
 but the works of human hands are gone by men they were 
 raised, and by men they were destroyed. 
 
 It is no part of our purpose to refer to Columba's mis- 
 sionary labours amongst the Picts of the Highlands, whom 
 he converted to the faith of Christ. We can only make a 
 brief reference to his influence both as a saint and as a 
 scholar on the learning of his own time, and of subsequent ages. 
 
 In all the monasteries which he founded, we find that 
 Columba made ample provision for the pursuit of sacred 
 learning, and the multiplication of books, without which 
 these studies could not be successfully carried on. He was 
 himself, as we have already seen, a celebrated scribe : 
 
 " Three hundred gifted, lasting, 
 Illuminated, noble books he wrote." l 
 
 1 Irish Life.
 
 IONA. 319 
 
 In lona there was always one or more scribes constantly 
 at work ; and it was considered a most honourable occupation. 
 Baithen, who succeeded Columba as Abbot, was frequently 
 employed as scribe, and on one occasion he wrote rather 
 quickly -percurrens scripsi a copy of the Psalter, yet so 
 accurately, that there was not a mistake of a single letter, 
 except in one word where the vowel i was omitted. Some- 
 times the scribe became abbot, but at other times he became 
 the bishop, usually resident in the community, to perform 
 episcopal functions in lona, and its dependant houses. 
 Dorbene, abbot in A.D. 713, was a " choice scribe." We 
 have one of his manuscripts still with his name in it ] l and 
 the celebrated Adamnan, of whom we shall speak more fully 
 hereafter, also wrote a beautiful hand. There was, doubtless, 
 a scriptorium in lona ; and reference is explicitly made to 
 waxen tablets for writing tabulae and also to the pens 
 and styles graphia and calami and to the ink horn 
 cornicula atramenti. 
 
 The study of the HolyScripture was their primary concern ; 
 the psaltery was generally got by heart ; the Lives of the 
 Saints were read for the community ; and the works, 
 especially of the Latin Fathers, were frequently studied. 
 Classical learning was not neglected in lona, and the writings 
 of Adamnan show that he was familiar with the best Latin 
 authors, and had some knowledge of Greek also. 2 Theological 
 and moral conferences were also held from time to time in 
 presence of the principal members of the community. It was 
 a monastic principle at lona as elsewhere " to let not a single 
 hour pass in which the monk should not be engaged either 
 in prayer, or reading, or writing, or some other useful work." 3 
 This was, Adamnan tells u-s, the invariable practice of 
 Columba himself ; and he sought to make it the rule of life 
 in all the monasteries that he founded. A great portion of 
 the time was undoubtedly given to manual labour but then 
 laborare est or are whilst the hands laboured, the thoughts 
 were with God ; and besides labour is in itself a prayer, when 
 the toil is necessary and the purpose holy. 
 
 , * Codex A. of Adamnan's Vita. 
 
 2 Greek characters are found in Adamnan's earliest MSS. 
 
 3 In the Irish Rule attributed to Columcille we find : " Three labours in 
 thejday,'t.e. , prayers, work, and reading,' ' prescribed for all. But Adamnan's 
 statement is even more authoritative and explicit : 
 
 "Nullum etiam unius horae inter vallum transire poterat (Columba), quo 
 non aut orationi, aut lectioni vel scriptioni, vel etiam alicui operation! 
 incumberat." Adamnan's Praefatio II.
 
 320 THE COLUMBIAN SCHOOL IN ALBA. 
 
 It was aho prescribed in the Rule attributed to St. 
 Columba that the monk should help his brethren by giving 
 them instruction, or by writing for them ; or if he were not 
 qualified to discharge these important works of charity, then 
 he was to help them by sewing their garments, or by what- 
 ever labour they may be most in want of the principle being, 
 never to be idle, and to help others as far as possible. 1 
 
 II. COLUMBA PROTECTS THE BARDS. 
 
 Another way in which Columba exercised great influence 
 on learning in Ireland was by his successful efforts to preserve 
 the Bards from the destruction with which they were 
 threatened. 
 
 All our history and all our literature, even to some extent 
 our laws, down to the time of Tighernach, were written in 
 verse. Some people might think it better if they were 
 written in prose ; but the probability is if we did not have 
 them in verse, we should not have had them at all. " It 
 was their duty," says O'Donnell in his Irish Life of St. 
 Columba, "to record the achievements, wars, and triumphs 
 of the kings, princes and chiefs ; to preserve their genea- 
 logies, and define the rights of noble families ; to ascertain 
 and set forth the limits and extent of the sub-kingdoms and 
 territories ruled over by the princes and chiefs." 
 
 But the Bards did not confine themselves to their official 
 duties. Being a highly privileged class, they soon increased 
 in numbers by the admission of their sons and other relatives 
 amongst their ranks. They became greedy of gain, impor- 
 tunate in their demands, and oppressive in their exactions. 
 They lived at free quarters, extolling their benefactors 
 with extravagant praise, and satirizing the niggardly with 
 unsparing invective. Even their best friends at length 
 became weary of their importunities. The king had 
 expelled them from his palace ; but a party of them soon 
 after reappeared, and audaciously demanded as their fee the 
 royal brooch the Roth Croi which the king wore on his 
 breast. 
 
 Tired of their eulogies and exactions, he and the whole 
 nation rose up against the avarice and venom of the Bards. 
 Their old enemies grew strong in numbers and courage, for 
 now the king himself was on their side. A great convention 
 was to be held forthwith ; and it was given out as the fixed 
 
 1 See Haddan and Stubbs, Vol. II., part I., page 120.
 
 COLUMBA PROTECTS THE BARDS. 321 
 
 purpose of the king and his chiefs to procure the total 
 abolition of the Bardic Order ; and thus get rid of them and 
 their exactions for ever. 
 
 The Bards were now thoroughly alarmed. The whole 
 country was against them, and they probably felt that they 
 were guilty. In this great emergency there was only one 
 person powerful enough to help them ; to him they appealed 
 to come to their relief, and save them from destruction ; and 
 Columba listened to their prayer. 
 
 At this time his influence was all-powerful both in Erin 
 and Alba. He was a cousin of the High King of Erin ; he 
 had inaugurated at lona the king of the Scottish Dalriada, 
 who was also his connection by blood. He had founded 
 many monasteries in both countries ; and though he was a 
 stern ruler, he was beloved and venerated by his disciples. 
 He was known to be a man of miracles, filled with the spirit 
 of prophecy, and powerful in word and work. Every one in 
 Ireland had heard how he converted Pictland ; how the barred 
 doors of King Brude's fort flew open at his touch. Many 
 feared him ; but more loved, and all reverenced him. 
 
 The great Convention of Drumceat, in which the fate of 
 the Bards, as well as some other important questions, was to 
 be decided, appears to have been held in A.D. 575. " The 
 precise spot," says Reeves, " where the assembly was held is 
 the long mound in Hoe Park, near Newtownliraavaddy, 
 called the Mullagh, and sometimes Daisy Hill." Aedh Mac 
 Ainmire was king of Ireland at this period, and was a first 
 cousin once removed of Columcille. The saint was accom- 
 panied to the meeting by Aidan, king of the Scottish 
 Dalriada, who was resolved to assert the independence of his 
 kingdom, and have it formally recognised without bloodshed 
 in this great assembly. Through the aid of Columcille he 
 was successful. The next request made by the saint was the 
 liberation of Scanlan Mor, son of the king of Ossory, who 
 was most unjustly kept in bonds by the High King. In this 
 demand also Columba, though not without difficulty, suc- 
 ceeded. The third great question the proposed abolition of 
 the Bards was then taken into consideration. 
 
 King Aedh himself was their accuser. All the princes of 
 the line of Conn were ranged around him. The Bards were 
 there, too, with the illustrious chief Bard, Dalian Forgaill. 
 The queen and her ladies were, it is said, also present ; and 
 twenty bishops, forty priests, thirty deacons, and many clergy 
 of inferior grade were seated near Columcille in this great 
 parliament of the Irish nation.
 
 322 THE COLUMBIAN SCHOOL IN ALBA. 
 
 The king brought all those charges against the Bards, to 
 which we have already referred their avarice, their idleness, 
 their exactions, their insolence ; and he called upon the 
 assembly to dissolve the Order, and take away all their 
 privileges. Then Columcille arose ; and all that vast 
 assembly did him reverence. With his clear and strong 
 melodious voice, which was borne to the utmost verge of the 
 vast multitude, he defended the ancient Order of the Bards of 
 Erin. He did not deny the existence of grave abuses let 
 them be corrected ; and in future let the guilty be severely 
 punished. But why destroy the Order itself? Who would 
 then preserve the records of the nation celebrate the great 
 deeds of its kings and warriors, and chant a dirge for the 
 noble dead? His eloquence carried the assembly with him. 
 The Order was preserved from destruction ; but it was to be 
 reformed, and restrained by salutary laws from excesses in 
 future. 
 
 It is said that on this occasion Columba made a formal 
 visitation of all the religious houses which he or his immediate 
 disciples had founded in Ireland. It was no easy task to 
 accomplish, for Dr. Reeves in his notes furnishes a list of no 
 less than thirty-seven monasteries throughout the northern 
 half of Ireland, of which Columba is the reputed founder and 
 patron. Besides Durrow, Derry, and Kells, he was also the 
 founder of Swords, Drumcliff, Screen, Kilglass, Drumcolumb, 
 and many other celebrated houses, to which we cannot now 
 refer in detail. 
 
 There is a story told, but without good authority, that 
 during these visits to Ireland Columcille wore a cere-cloth 
 over his eyes, and had clay from lona in his sandals ; so that 
 in accordance with the penance imposed on him by St. 
 Molaise. he neither trod the soil of Erin, nor looked upon his 
 native land again. If such a penance were ever imposed, 
 it was too rigid to be always binding, and even if it was, such 
 a public cause as attendance at the Assembly of Drumceat 
 would render his presence there necessary and lawful, without 
 making any special effort to observe his obligation to the 
 letter. 
 
 Columba was at this period the most powerful man either 
 in Ireland or Scotland. Large grants of land were made to 
 his monasteries, and thousands of people begged to be en- 
 rolled amongst his disciples. St. Patrick himself had not 
 greater influence than Columba possessed at this period in 
 the North of Ireland. 
 
 In gratitude to Columba for preserving the Bardic Order
 
 COLT7MBA PROTECTS THE BARDS. 323 
 
 in Erin, Dalian Forgaill composed the celebrated poem in 
 praise of Columcille, known as the Amhra Choluimcille, to 
 which we shall refer again. But Dalian did more effective 
 service to Irish literature in another way. By the advice 
 and under the direction of the saint, he reorganized and 
 reformed the Bardic Order, as decreed by the Assembly of 
 Drumceat, and moreover founded regular schools for the 
 instruction of the young aspirants to the Order. This tended 
 to check their vagabond disorderly habits, which led to so 
 many abuses in the past. These schools also fostered habits 
 of systematic study, encouraged the cultivation of the Celtic 
 language, and developed a taste for general literature even 
 outside the monastic schools. 
 
 According to Keating, who had sources of information at 
 hand that have since been lost, Dalian appointed four Arch- 
 poets one for each province who were to preside over these 
 Bardic schools, and carry out the regulations enacted at 
 Drumceat. There is no doubt that it is in a great measure 
 to these schools of the Bards, and the systematic training 
 which their pupils received, that we owe the preservation not 
 only of the ancient and authentic chronicles of Erin, but also 
 of that immense mass of romantic literature in the Gfaedhlic 
 tongue, which at length is beginning to attract the attention 
 not only of British, but also of foreign scholars. It was the 
 monastic schools, no doubt, that preserved and transcribed 
 the Lives of the Saints, which in spite of many fables have 
 added so much to our knowledge of ancient Erin in things 
 profane, as well as in things sacred. We know what the 
 Four Masters have done for the literature and history of 
 ancient Erin. But they were in reality the last and not 
 unworthy representatives of the ancient Bards 1 of Erin. 
 Through good and ill they laboured to preserve and per- 
 petuate the knowledge of our ancient books ; and when the 
 nation's day was darkest, and the future without a single 
 ray of hope to light up the deepening gloom, they sat down 
 in the ruined convent of Donegal, and at the peril of their 
 lives, arranged and transcribed for posterity those immortal 
 Annals, which, like the work of the Greek historian, will be 
 our treasured possession for all time. 
 
 We cannot narrate in detail the subsequent history of 
 Columba. It was like what we have already seen, a life of 
 study, of labour, of prayer, a life of missionary toil that 
 carried the light of the Gospel over stormy seas to the re- 
 motest islands on the west of Scotland, and over pathless 
 mountains to the Pictish tribes on its farthest eastern border.
 
 324 THE COLUMBIA?.' SCHOOL IN ALBA. 
 
 We must hasten to the close of his glorious career, and 
 see, as it were with our own eyes, in the simple narrative of 
 his biographer, how an Irish saint could die. 
 
 III. THE DEATH OF COLUMBA. 
 
 There is no more touching or edifying scene recorded in 
 1he life of any saint than that which exhibits in the simple 
 language of his biographer the beautiful death of Columba. 
 We shall give it, as far as possible, in Adamnan's own 
 words. 
 
 In the month of May before his death the saint paid a 
 visit to his monks, where they were working on the farm in 
 the western part of the island, and on that occasion he told 
 them that God would, if he (Columba) wished it, have called 
 him away at Easter, but that he was unwilling then to leave 
 his beloved monks, and turn the joyous festival of Easter in to 
 one of grief and sadness for them. Now, however, the day 
 of his departure, he said, was last approaching, when he 
 should have to leave them for ever. Then they were all 
 filled with grief at his words ; he, however, sought as best 
 he could to give them consolation, and turning towards the 
 east in the direction of the monastery, he blessed it, and the 
 entire island, and all its inhabitants. In consequence of this 
 blessing no noxious thing has ever since been seen in our 
 island. Immediately afterwards the saint returned to the 
 monastery. 
 
 Some days later Columba whilst saying Mass in the 
 church had a vision of an angel, whom God sent to warn 
 him that he should soon be called away. 
 
 Now on the last day of that same week, that is, on 
 Saturday, the venerable man went out with Diarmait, his 
 attendant, to bless the barn ; and after he blessed it, he 
 observed that he was glad to see from the great heaps of 
 corn that his dear monks would have enough of food for the 
 year, even if he himself were called away. Then Diarmait 
 was sad, and said, " You grieve us often of late, father, by 
 referring to your approaching departure from amongst us." 
 "I will tell you a secret. Diarmit," replied the saint, "if you 
 promise faithfully never to reveal it to any one before my 
 death." Diarmait promised on his knees, and then Columba 
 said, " This day (Saturday) is called in Scripture the 
 Sabbath ; and it will also be the Sabbath of my labours, for 
 on this coming Sunday night I will, in the words of Scripture, 
 be gathered to my fathers. My Lord Jesus has deigned 
 just now to invite me ; and at midnight I shall depart in
 
 THE DEATH OF COLUMBA. 325 
 
 obedience to His summons." Diarmait hearing these words, 
 began to weep, and the saint strove as well as he could to 
 console him. 
 
 On their way home from the barn to the monastery, the 
 saint sat down to rest himself on the roadside, at the spot 
 where the cross now stands fixed in the millstone. And as 
 he sat resting his aged limbs, the old white horse that used 
 to carry the milk-pails from the byre to the monastery, came 
 up to the saint, and put his head in the saint's bosom, as if 
 the animal had the use of reason, and knew that his master 
 was going to leave him; and the horse seemed deeply 
 grieved and appeared to shed tears like a human being in his 
 master's bosom. Then the saint was deeply moved, and 
 blessed the poor faithful horse, "for," he said, "it is God 
 that has made known to him through instinct that he will see 
 me no more." 
 
 And going thence the saint ascended the hill that over- 
 looks the monastery (now called Cnoc-na-Carnan), and standing 
 on its summit he raised his two hands aloft and blessed his 
 monastery, and foretold that the kings of the Scots, and even 
 the rulers of rude and foreign nations with their subjects 
 would yet pay much honour to his poor monastery, and that 
 the saints of other churches too would hold it in veneration. 
 
 Then he came down the hill and went straight to his cell, 
 and sat there copying the Psaltery. But as soon as he came 
 to that verse of the thirty-third psalm where it is written 
 Inquirentes autem Dominum non deficient omni bono 
 "Here I must stop," he said, "at the end of this page let 
 Baithen write the rest." And it was an appropriate verse 
 for him to end with, as the next was an appropriate one for 
 his successor to begin with Venite filii audite me, timorem 
 Domini docebo vos. 
 
 Having written his last verse the saint went to the church 
 to join in the first vespers of the Sunday, which are chanted 
 on Saturday evening ; and when the office was over he 
 returned to his little cell and sat down upon his bed during 
 the night that bed was a naked rock with a stone for a pil- 
 low the stone that now stands beside his grave as the title 
 of his monument. Whilst sitting thus on the rocky bed he 
 gave his last instructions to his monks in the hearing of 
 Diarmait alone. "My little children," he said, "my last 
 words to you are : Cherish mutual and unfeigned love for 
 each other, and God will never let you want the necessaries of 
 life in this world, and you will have, moreover, eternal glory 
 in the world to come."
 
 326 THE COLUMBIAN SCHOOL IN ALBA. 
 
 And now, as the happy hour of his departure was quickly 
 approaching, he became silent for a little. But as soon as 
 the bell for matins struck at the midnight hour, he rose up 
 quickly, and going to the church before the others he entered 
 it alone, and threw himself on his bended knees in prayer 
 near the altar. Diarmait, his attendant, followed a little 
 slower to the church, and at that moment as he approached 
 the door, he saw the church lit up with a bright angelic light 
 in the direction of the saint. Others saw it too at the same 
 moment, but when they came nearer it disappeared. Diarmait 
 then entered the church, and groping through the darkness 
 for the lights were not yet brought in he found the saint 
 stretched before the altar, and raising him gently, he sat down 
 beside him and took his holy head and laid it in his bosom. 
 
 The crowd of monks now coming up with lights, and 
 seeing their father dying, broke out into lamentation. But 
 the saint, as we heard from those who were present, lifting 
 his eyes towards heaven, looked around him on both sides, 
 and his face was full of a wondrous heavenly joy, as if he 
 were looking at angels. Then Diarmait raised the saint's right 
 hand to bless the circle of monks, and our holy father moved 
 his hand as well as he could, so that he might with the mo- 
 tion of his hand give them that blessing which he could not 
 utter with his voice. Having thus blessed them, he imme- 
 diately expired ; yet his face remained still bright-coloured, 
 so that he did not look like one that was dead but only sleep- 
 ing. Meanwhile, the whole church was filled with wailing. 
 
 So passed away the blessed Columba, as he had foretold, 
 on Sunday night a little after 12 o'clock, the 9th of June, in 
 the year of our Lord 597. It was the seventy-seventh of his 
 age, and the forty-third of his pilgrimage in lona. 
 
 As soon as matins were finished, the blessed body of the 
 saint was carried back to the hospice, accompanied by all the 
 brethren chanting psalms. Thereafter for three days and 
 three nights the obsequies of the saint were celebrated with 
 all due and fitting rites. After which the venerable bodj r of 
 our holy patron was wrapped up in clean linen and buried in 
 a coffin with all reverence, but Adamnan does not mention 
 the exact spot. 
 
 IY. THE WRITINGS OF COLUMBA. 
 
 Many writings have been circulated under the name of 
 the great St. Columba some few of which are genuine, but 
 most of them spurious. We shall very briefly call attention 
 to both. There are three Latin poems published in the
 
 THE WRITINGS OF COLUMBA. 327 
 
 second volume of the Liber Hymnorum by the late Dr. Todd, 
 which are generally regarded by critics as genuine. The 
 first and most celebrated is the Altus Prosator. It was first 
 printed, by Colgan from the Book of Hymns preserved at St. 
 Isidore's. A splendid edition has also been lately printed by 
 the Marquis of Bute, who has some reason to regard Columba 
 as the patron saint of his family, which is sprung from the 
 early Dalriadan Kings. 
 
 The Altus Prosator is beyond any doubt a very ancient 
 poem, written in rather rude Latinity, but syntactically 
 correct, that is, if we make allowance for the errors and igno- 
 rance of the copyists. It consists of twenty-two capituta or 
 stanzas, each stanza consisting of six lines, except the first, 
 which being in honour of the Holy Trinity has seven, and 
 each line has sixteen syllables. The metre is a kind of tro- 
 chaic tetrameter, with a pause after the eighth . syllable, and 
 a rhyme or assonance at the end of the lines. The first word 
 of each of the twenty-two stanzas begins with one of the 
 letters of the alphabet in. regular order according to the 
 Hebrew letters. 
 
 There is a, preface, or introduction, to the whole poem, 
 and a brief notice of the title and subject matter at the head 
 of each stanza. The preface, which is substantially the same 
 both in the Book of Hymns and in the Leabhar Breac, sets 
 forth as usual the time, place, motive, and author of the 
 poem, but gives two different accounts. The author was, 
 according to all accounts, Columcille, and he wrote the poem 
 in the Black Church of Derry after much careful prepara- 
 tion. His motive was to praise God and do penance for the 
 sins he had committed, especially in causing the bloody battle 
 of Cuil-Dreimhne. The time was during the reign of Aedh 
 Mac Ainmire in Erin, and of Aidan, son of Gabhran in 
 Dalriada. The other accounts represents the poem as written 
 in lona, while Columba was grinding a bag of meal in the 
 mill for the entertainment of some clerics who came from 
 Rome to present him, in the name of Pope Gregory, with a 
 richly enshrined relic of the true Cross, known afterwards as 
 Morgemm, and long, it is said, preserved at lona. This is a 
 much less probable explanation than the former, and pro- 
 bably invented by some foolish admirers of the saint, who 
 did not relish the idea of Columcille having to do penance 
 for grave faults of anger or indiscretion. 
 
 The poem is the production of a fervent and pious spirit 
 that feels the power and mercy of God's all-ruling Provi- 
 dence in the past and in the present. It describes the Trinity, 
 the Angels, the creation of the world, and the fall of man,
 
 328 THE COLUMBIAN SCHOOL IN ALBA. 
 
 also the deluge and other noteworthy events in sacred history, 
 ending with a vivid description of the terrors of the last 
 judgment. Many graces are promised to those who recite it 
 worthily : Angels will attend them while chanting it ; the 
 devil shall not know their way to lie in wait for them, nor 
 their enemies to destroy them ; there shall be no strife in the 
 house where it is sung ; it protects against sudden and 
 violent death ; and there shall be no want where it is regu- 
 larly recited. 
 
 Columba's second Latin Hymn, known as the In te 
 Christe, is merely the complement of the Altus Prosator. 
 Columba sent that latter Hymn to Pope Gregory in Rome in 
 return for the portion of the Cross which he had sent to 
 Columba. When it was recited before the Pope he was 
 greatly pleased with it, especially as he was privileged to see 
 the Angels listening to it at the same time. He observed 
 that there was only one fault in it that the praise of the 
 Trinity was too scanty, being confined to the first stanza 
 alone. Columcille hearing this resolved to supplement the 
 Altus by another poem in praise of the Holy Trinity 
 Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. It contains fifteen rhyming 
 couplets of the same character as those in the Altus, but its 
 authenticity is by no means so certain. The fact that it is 
 contained in the Book of Hymns proves, however, that it is 
 a very ancient poem, although even there in the preface some 
 doubt is thrown on its authenticity. 
 
 The third Latin Hymn attributed to Columba is the Noli 
 Pater containing seven rhyming couplets, with sixteen 
 syllables in the line. It is found in the Book of Hymns. The 
 short preface says that it was composed by the saint in Daire 
 Calcaich at the time that he received the grant of that place 
 from Aedh Mac Ainmire ; and the messengers came at the 
 same time announcing Mobhi's death, and bearing his girdle 
 as the token of the saint's permission for Columcille to found 
 his church. But just then the place took fire, and Columcille 
 composed the hymn to stay the ravages of the flames. And 
 it has been sung from that time forward as a protection 
 against fire and lightning and the wrath of the elements. 
 
 The following is the first stanza of the Altus which shows 
 the metre. 
 
 " Altus prosator, vetustus dierum et ingenitus, 
 Erat absque origine primordii et crepidine, 
 Est et erit in saecula saeculorum infinitus, 
 Cui est uuigenitus Christus et spiritus sanctus 
 Coaeternus in gloria Deitatis perpetuae ; 
 Non tres Deos depromimus, sed unum Deum dicimus, 
 Salva fide in personis tribus gloriosissimis."
 
 THE WRITINGS OF COLUMBA. 
 
 329 
 
 The two principal Irish poems attributed to Columcille 
 are the " Dialogue of Columcille and Cormac in Hy " and 
 his pathetic " Lament for his Native Land " to both of which 
 we have already referred. There is a third poem known as 
 his "Farewell to Aran," which has been rendered into English 
 verse by another true poet, Aubrey de Yere. T. D. Sullivan 
 has given a very beautiful rendering, if not of the words, at 
 least of the spirit of Columba's "Lament for his Native Land." 
 " The ' Dialogue ' and the ' Lament ' may not," says Reeves, 
 " be genuine, but they are poems of very considerable 
 antiquity, and the first shows the early notions which existed 
 in Ireland about Oormac's adventures, and his relations to 
 Columba." Colgan is inclined to think them genuine, and 
 has given them amongst the reputed writings of the saint. 
 They may have been retouched by some bard later than 
 Columba's time ; but in our opinion they represent substan- 
 tially poems that were really written by the saint. They 
 breathe his pious spirit, his ardent love for nature, and his 
 undying affection for his native land. Although retouched 
 perhaps by a later hand, they savour so strongly of the true 
 Columbian spirit that we are disposed to reckon them amongst 
 the genuine compositions of the saint. 
 
 That Columba was indeed a true prophet, to whom God 
 made known to some extent things future and things distant, 
 is clearly shown by his biographer Adamnan. It was prob- 
 ably his fame in this respect that gave some countenance to 
 the " forgeries " that were circulated under his name, not 
 one of which appears to have the smallest claim to be con- 
 sidered genuine ; although some of them are undoubtedly 
 very ancient. O'Curry found one of them in the Book of 
 Leinster, purporting to be a prophecy of the coming of the 
 Danes on Lough Ree, and their occupation of the abbacy of 
 Armagh. Reference is also made to the death of Cormac 
 MacCullinan, and the destruction of Aileach by Mortogh 
 O'Brien, and to similar historical events that were manifestly 
 foretold (and sometimes with mistakes) after they had hap- 
 pened. But in the MS. Columcille is described as narrating 
 these things in cold lona to Baithen, his friend and successor. 
 Both Reeves and O'Curry justly denounce the spirit of greed 
 and impiety, that would in recent times try to palm off on 
 simple minded people certain impudent forgeries as the 
 genuine oracles of the saints of God. Such fraudulent prac- 
 tices are injurious to religion; they dishonour the saints, 
 and are unworthy of any publisher who calls himself a 
 Catholic.
 
 330 THE COLUMBIAN SCHOOL IN ALBA. 
 
 V. LlVES OF COLUMCILLE. 
 
 Of these Colgan with his usual industry and erudition 
 has published five. The author of Colgan's First Life is 
 unknown, but Colgan believed that it was written by some 
 contemporary or disciple of the saint, and he therefore 
 placed it first in order. The Second Life is attributed by 
 Colgan to Cuimine the Fair 1 (Cuimineus Albus), seventh 
 abbot of Hy ; who, if he did not himself see the saint, was in 
 daily intercourse with those who did. Adamnan cites this 
 author by name, and embodied the work in his own splendid 
 biography. The Third Life is that published by Capgrave, 
 and taken by him from John of Teignraouth a learned 
 Benedictine monk, who flourished about the year A.D. 1366. 
 He was a mere compiler, not an author. Colgan's Fourth 
 Life is the celebrated one by- Adamnan, to which we 
 shall refer at length a little later on. The Fiftk Life is the 
 only one written in Irish. Its author was Manus O'Donnell, 
 chief of Tir-Connell, as the writer distinctly sets forth in his 
 Preface: "Be it known to the readers of this Life, that it 
 was Manus, son of Hugh, son of Hugh Roe, son of T^iall 
 Garve, son of Torlogh of the Wine O'Donnell, that ordered 
 the part of this Life, which was in Latin to be put into 
 Gaelic, and who ordered the part that was in difficult Gaelic 
 to be modified so that it might be clear and comprehensible 
 to every one ; and who gathered and put together the parts 
 of it that were scattered through 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 how he should 
 arrange all its parts in their proper places, as they are left 
 here in writing by us ; and in love and friendship for his 
 illustrious Saint, Relative, and Patron, to whom he was 
 devoutly attached. It was in the castle of Port-tri-na-namad 
 (that is Lifford the Port of the three enemies) that this 
 Life was indited when were fulfilled twelve and twenty and 
 five hundred and one thousand years of the age of the Lord 
 (A.D. 1532)." 
 
 What may be called the autograph copy it has never 
 yet been printed exists, says Dr. Reeves, in all its 
 original dimensions, beauty, and material excellence written 
 in large vellum folio in double columns, and is preserved in 
 the Bodleian Library at Oxford. Colgan's edition is merely 
 
 1 The first part of this Vita Secunda is not the work of Cuimine the 
 Fair.
 
 OTHER SCHOLARS OF IONA. 331 
 
 an abstract of the Irish Life rendered into Latin. It may 
 be safely said that O'Donnell's Life comprises everything 
 that has been written, or handed down by tradition, con- 
 cerning Columcille. Some of the miraculous stories which 
 he gives were deemed so extravagant even by Colgan, that 
 he omitted them in his own compilation. Still this Life is 
 of great value, and we hope to see it soon fitly edited by some 
 competent Irish scholar. 
 
 VI. OTHER SCHOLARS OF IONA. 
 
 Besides Columba himself there were several other dis- 
 tinguished scholars connected with lona. Of these the most 
 distinguished was the celebrated Adamnan, ninth Abbot of 
 Hy. Before, however, giving an account of Adamnan, it 
 will be useful to give a brief sketch of some of his prede- 
 cessors in the abbatial chair. 
 
 " Let Baithen write the rest," said Columba, when he 
 was attacked with his last illness, and dropped his pen at the 
 end of the page in the middle of the thirty-third psalm. 
 The saying was taken as an indication of his wish that 
 Baithen should succeed him as head of the Columbian 
 Houses. He was a cousin of the founder, and had been for 
 many years Prior of lona. Moreover, he was in every way 
 fitted for the high office by his virtues, his learning, and his 
 prudence. Kinship with the founder, too, was deemed at 
 the time an indispensable qualification for holding the 
 abbacy. The monastic family formed, as it were, a kind of 
 spiritual clan or tribe, and as connection by blood with the 
 head of the tribe was deemed necessary for the chieftaincy in 
 the temporal order, so also it was deemed for many genera- 
 tions to be essential in the spiritual order likewise. 
 
 Baithen from his boyhood was the pupil of Columba 
 himself, and inherited all his virtues. He was especially 
 remarkable for his spirit of prayer. Wben walking his hands 
 were clasped in prayer beneath his habit ; when working at 
 the harvest, he prayed whilst he was carrying his handful of 
 oats to the sheaf ; even at his meals he said, Deus in 
 adjutorum meum intende, between every two morsels of food. 
 He was a monk in Berry, when chosen by Columba to 
 accompany him to lona. There he was appointed a general 
 overseer of the work done by the monks in the field, but 
 being an accomplished scribe, he was often engaged in read- 
 ing and writing. Like his friend and master, whatever time 
 he did not spend in relieving the wants of others, he gave to 
 reading, or prayer, or bodily labour; so his Life expressly states.
 
 332 THE COLUMBIAN SCHOOL IN ALBA. 
 
 His great virtues marked him as a fitting person to be 
 sent to govern the monastery, which Columba had found at 
 Magh-Lunga the Plain of the Ships in the Island of 
 Heth, called also Ethica, ' the low lying land of the barley,' 
 as it is called in an ancient Gaedhlic poem. It was situated 
 about twenty miles to the north-west of lona, from which it 
 is of course distinctly visible. It is a low, sandy tract, 
 about eleven miles long, and varying in breadth from one to 
 three. He, however, maintained a constant connection with 
 the parent house, which he frequently visited ; for twenty 
 miles even of that wild sea were as nothing to the hardy 
 sailor monks, who knew that God watched over them on sea 
 as well as on land. He wrought many miracles, and pos- 
 sessed in a very striking manner that power, which our 
 Saviour gave His apostles of casting out devils. 1 He is also 
 recognized either as the founder or patron saint of 
 Taughboyne (Teach-Baeithin), in the barony of Raphoe, 
 County Donegal. It is not unlikely that this was his native 
 district, and was afterwards placed under his special pro- 
 tection. 
 
 Baithen's rule as Abbot of lona was very brief from 
 A.D. 597 to A.D. 600 three years exactly, if these dates are 
 correct ; for he died on the same day of the month as his 
 beloved master Columcille. He was seized near the altar 
 with a fainting fit on Tuesday, the 4th of June. The 
 brethren crowded round him in tears, for they thought he 
 was going to die, and Dermitius, Columba's old attendant, 
 said to them, " You see, my brothers, what a small interval 
 will separate the feast-days of our two abbots." Thereupon 
 Baithen opened his eyes, and prayed earnestly to God not to 
 take him out of the world until the Feast-day of his beloved 
 master. His prayer was heard ; he died like Columba on the 
 9th of June, and, doubtless, was buried beside him in that 
 church, where they so often joined in prayer before the 
 same altar. 
 
 The very last sentence in the Life, as given in the 
 Salamanca MS., states that the intense pains, which he 
 suffered, did not prevent the sick monk from continuing his 
 constant occupation of writing, praying, and teaching, up to 
 the very moment of his happy death. 
 
 Writing, prajang, and teaching truly fit occupations for 
 the head of a great monastic school. No wonder that 
 Fintin, son of Lippan, when asked about the learning of St. 
 
 1 Matt, x., 8.
 
 OTHER SCHOLARS OF IONA. 333 
 
 Baithen, replied " Be assured that he had no equal on this 
 side of the Alps in his knowledge of Sacred Scripture, and in 
 the profundity of his science." 1 There is an old Irish poem 
 still extant, purporting to be a dialogue between Columcille 
 and Baithen, which has been attributed to the latter ; and 
 some verses eulogistic of Columba have also been circulated 
 under his name. That he was a man of great learning is 
 undoubted ; and that he left his spirit behind him in lona 
 will be seen from what follows. 
 
 Columba used to say that Baithen was like St. John the 
 Beloved in his innocence and simplicity of heart, and that 
 even in the rigorous discipline of perfection they were not 
 much unlike ; but it was very different with their fosterers 
 be himself was very far indeed from being like unto Christ. 
 
 Laisren, who had been Abbot of Durrow during 
 Columba's lifetime, was now called to succeed Baithen in 
 lona. "We know little of his history, except that he was 
 uncle of Seghine, the fifth abbot, who ruled from A.D. 623 to 
 A.D. 652, during the stormy period of the Paschal Contro- 
 versies. The latter was an ardent defender of the ancient 
 discipline both as to the tonsure and paschal observance. He 
 had been a pupil of Columba in lona ; and was of his know- 
 ledge able to testify to many things concerning the saint in 
 presence of the Abbot Falveus, the immediate predecessor of 
 Adamnan. 
 
 In literary history Seghine is chiefly remarkable as the 
 person to whom Cummian addressed his celebrated Epistle on 
 the Paschal Question in the year A.D. 634, to which we have 
 referred at length already. 2 The superscription is " Segieno 
 Abbati Columbae Sancti et Caeterorum Sanctorum Successor! " 
 a high testimony to the reputed sanctity of his prede- 
 cessors. Seghine was also one of those to whom the Roman 
 clergy during the vacancy of the See in A.D. 640, addressed 
 an important letter on the same subject. This shows that 
 from his high official position, as head of the Columbian 
 monasteries, and, doubtless, also from his high personal 
 character, it was deemed of the greatest importance to 
 secure the adhesion of Seghine to the Roman discipline. In 
 this, however, the authors of both the letters were disap- 
 pointed. Seghine, who was animated with the unyielding 
 and somewhat haughty spirit of Conal Gulban's line, could 
 not bring himself to believe that his sainted predecessors, 
 
 1 Sciotote quod nullus citra Alpea compar illi in cognitione divinarum 
 scripturarum et in magnitudine scientiae reperitur." Salamanca MS. 
 
 2 See School of Clonftrt.
 
 334 THE COLUMBIAN SCHOOL IN ALBA. 
 
 whose holiness was proved by so many miracles, could by any 
 possibility be wrong in the discipline, which they followed. 
 The monks who were trained under him, like Aidan and 
 Colman of Lindisfarne, were animated by the same spirit ; so 
 that even after the Conference of Whitby the aged Colman 
 preferred to leave his beloved retreat in Lindisfarne, and 
 sail back again to his stormy home on the coast of Mayo, 
 rather than adopt the new discipline, and we know that the 
 Irish monks of Lindisfarne followed him to a man. 
 
 Seghine was succeeded by Suibhne, the first " outsider " 
 whom the monks of lona elected as head of their Order. 
 Colgan observes that his genealogy is not recorded in our 
 native annals ; whence we may infer that he owed his 
 elevation to his merit rather than to the accident of his 
 birth. He died in A.D. 657. His successor, Cuimine, was of 
 the Cenel-Conail line, for he was nephew of Seghine, the 
 fifth abbot. He wrote a tract, De Virtutibus S. Columbae, 
 which is cited by Adamnan. It really forms the groundwork 
 of Adamnan 's Third Book, into which it has been bodily 
 transferred. It has been also published by Colgan, and the 
 Bollandists, though from different sources. It is also to be 
 found in the recently published Salamanca Codex. This 
 life shows that Cuimine was an excellent Latin scholar, and 
 although scarcely possessing the wide culture of Adamnan, 
 he is little inferior to that celebrated writer, in the graphic 
 account which he gives of the miracles and virtues of St. 
 Columba. 
 
 The Paschal Epistle already referred to has been 
 attributed to this Cuimineus Albus, as Adamnan calls him. 
 We have shown elsewhere that the real author was Cummian 
 Fada, Bishop of Clonfert ; and it is well known that during 
 the whole of the seventh century the entire community of 
 lona was vehemently opposed to the adoption of that 
 discipline, which the author of the Paschal Epistle advocates 
 and defends. This of itself proves that the Abbot of Hy was 
 not its author. We are now come to Adamnan, the ninth 
 abbot, whose history we must narrate at greater length. 
 
 VII. ADAMNAN, NINTH ABBOT OF HY. 
 
 In the year 1845 Dr. Ferdinand Keller was poking with 
 a German's pertinacity through the shelves of the Town 
 Library of Schaffhausen, in Switzerland. In a corner of the 
 room he found a high book chest filled with all kinds of old 
 MSS., without title or number of any kind, and at the very
 
 AUAMNAN, NINTH ABBOT OF HY. 335 
 
 bottom of the heap he came upon a dark brown parchment 
 manuscript, bound in moth-eaten beech wood, covered with 
 calf skin, carefully clasped in front, and very neatly and 
 curiously sewed at the back. It was a goodly quarto of 
 68 leaves, with double columns, written on dark coloured goat 
 skin parchment in large heavy drawn letters of the character 
 known as minuscular. Everything about the MS. showed 
 great antiquity the cover, the parchment, the lettering, and 
 the ornamentation. Dr. Keller at first thought he had come 
 upon a hitherto undiscovered treasure ; but in this he was 
 mistaken. He only recovered a lost treasure, and secured its 
 preservation for the learned world. On examination, the 
 MS. turned out to be the oldest and most authentic copy of 
 Adamnan's Life of St. Columba, made in lona either during 
 the life time of Adamnan himself, or certainly within a few 
 years after his death. 
 
 The monastery of Eichenau in the ninth century appears 
 to have had many Irish inmates ; and this is not unnatural, 
 for the great Irish monastery of St. Gall was within a few 
 miles of the shore of Lake Constance, and considerable 
 intercourse would naturally take place between the two 
 houses. Walafridus Strabo, Abbot of Richenau, from A. D. 8 4 2 
 to A.D. 849, had been previously Dean of St. Gall, and in his 
 writings shows an intimate knowledge of many things 
 connected with Ireland, which he could have learned only 
 from Irishmen. 1 We know, too, from other sources, that 
 crowds of Irishmen came to France and Germany in the 
 beginning of the ninth century, and that many of them 
 brought their books from their schools at home along with 
 them, as Dungal brought the books which he bequeathed to 
 the monastery of Bobbio. It is thus easy to understand how 
 some of the monks of lona, driven from home by the Norse- 
 men, who so often plundered the Island about the beginning 
 of the ninth century, would migrate to some friendly 
 monastery on the continent, carrying their literary treasures 
 with them. 
 
 There can, however, be no doubt that the Schaffhausen 
 MS. of St. Columba's Life was written in the Island of Hy 
 by one of the family, so early as the beginning of the eighth 
 century. The character is of that peculiar kind of which we 
 have almost contemporary specimens in the Book of Kelts, and 
 
 1 For instance, the details of the martyrdom of St. Blaithmac of lona by 
 the Danes ia A.D. 824, which he describes in Latin verse, and may have 
 learned from a fugitive who was, perhaps, the bearer of this very MS.
 
 336 THE COLUMBIAN SCHOOL IN ALBA. 
 
 the Book of Durrow, and which is now universally acknow- 
 ledged to be purely Irish ; the ornamentation of the chapters 
 and of the capital letters is Irish ; the orthography is Irish, 
 and what is stranger than all, the Lord's Prayer is written in 
 Greek on the last page of the MS., and in Greek, of which 
 we have other specimens remaining in old Irish MSS. with 
 the same peculiar spelling, in the same semi-uncial character, 
 without accents, and without breathings a fact which of 
 itself indisputably proves that the Greek tongue was taught 
 and written in the Irish School of Hy, 1170 years ago. 
 
 The Colophon, or superscription, in rubric, at folio 136, 
 at the end of the life, records, according to the usual custom, 
 the name of the scribe : " Whoever reads these books on the 
 virtues of St. Columba, let him pray to the Lord for me, 
 Dorbbeneus, that after death I may possess eternal life." 
 
 In A.D. 713, Tighernach records the death of Dorbene, 
 Abbot of Hy, the very year of his election to that high office. 
 There can be no doubt that this Dorbene was the writer of 
 the Schaffhausen MS. ; there is no mention of any other of 
 the same name in our annals except of one Dorbene, whose 
 son Failan is said to have died in A.D. 724. This Dorbene 
 was, as Dr. Reeves thinks, a layman, and, if his son died in 
 A.D. 724, he himself in the course of nature must have lived 
 and died before Adamnan. But the Abbot who died in 
 A.D. 713, would have outlived Adamnan only nine years, and 
 in all probability had been for many years scribe of the 
 monastery, and may have written the book at the dictation of 
 Adamnan himself. 
 
 And now, who was Adamnan ? Unfortunately we know 
 very little of his early youth. He gives us to understand, at 
 least by implication, that he was born at or near Drumhome, 
 in the barony of Tirhugh, and Co. Donegal. The church of 
 Drumhome was founded by St. Columba, but St. Adamnan is 
 the patron ; and this fact, too, indicates his connection with 
 the locality. There, also, he seems to have spent his earlier 
 years ; for it was there he says, " in my 3'outh that a very 
 old man called Ferreol, a servant of Christ, who is buried in 
 Drumhome, told me of a glorious vision which he saw, when 
 fishing in the valley of the Finn, on the night of Columba's 
 death." Scarcely any traces of the old church of Drumhome 
 now remain ; but it was once nobly endowed by the O'Don- 
 nells. Even so late as A.D. 1609, an Inquisition tells us that 
 " there are in the said parish of Drumhome, four quarters of 
 church land, three quarters of Columbkille's land, each 
 quarter containing six townlands, then in the possession of
 
 A DAMN AN, NINTH ABBOT OF HY. 337 
 
 Lewis O'Cleary," the head of that family, which the Four 
 Masters have made illustrious for ever. The old church 
 was finely situated near the shore of the Bay of Donegal, not 
 far from Ballintra, and in view of the bold range of moun- 
 tains, where the sons of Conal Gulban so loug and so nobly 
 defended their ancient freedom. 
 
 Adamnan's father, Ronan, was sixth in descent from that 
 same Conal Gulban, and thus belonged to the royal blood of 
 Tirconnell ; his mother was Ronnat, a daughter of Enna, who 
 gave his name to Tirenna, the territory that in ancient times 
 extended from Lough Foyle to Lough Swilly. Thus 
 Adamnan was of the same family as St. Columba himself ; 
 for Columba was grandson of Fergus, son of Conal Gulban, 
 and Adamnan was sixth in descent from the same Fergus. 
 He was born in A.D. 624, according to the best authorities, 
 just twenty-seven years after Columba's death, and, as we 
 may fairly assume, was in his youth placed under the care of 
 the monks of Drumhome, in whose old churchyard he him- 
 self tells us many of the monks of Columba await a happy 
 resurrection. 
 
 How long the boy remained in his native Tirhugh, 
 feeding his spirit on the glorious vision of its waves and 
 mountains, we cannot now ascertain. It was at that time, as 
 we have seen, the custom of scholars, even of the noblest 
 birth, to visit the great monastic schools of the country, and 
 all the more celebrated masters were surrounded by crowds 
 of eager students, who lived on their wits, and lodged as best 
 they could, generally in little huts of their own contrivance. 
 A curious story is told of St. Adamnan himself in his youth, 
 which amusingly illustrates what may be called the University 
 life of the time. 
 
 Finnachta, afterwards Monarch of Ireland, from A.D. 675 
 to 695, and Adamnan's greatest friend, although of the blood 
 royal, was at first very poor. He had a house and wife, but 
 only one ox and one cow. Now the king of Feara Ross 
 (Carrickmacross) strayed in the neighbourhood of Finnachta's 
 hut, his wife, too, was with him and a crowd of retainers ; 
 but they could not find their way home, for the night came 
 on dark, cold, and stormy, so they were forced to take refuge 
 in the hut. Small as it was, the size of the house was greater 
 than its wealth. Finnachta, however, " struck the ox on the 
 head and the cow on the head," and feasted all the king's 
 people sumptuously, so that no one was hungry. 
 
 Then the King and Queen of Feara Ross gave large herds 
 of cattle to the generous Finnachta, and made him a great
 
 338 THE COLUMBIA X SCHOOL IN ALBA. 
 
 man. Shortly after this time Finnachta, not yet king, how- 
 ever, was one day coming with a large troop of horse to his 
 sister's house, and as they rode along they overtook Adamnan, 
 then a young school boy, travelling the same road with a 
 vessel full of milk on his back. Anxious to get out of the 
 way, Adamnan stumbled and fell, spilling all the milk and 
 breaking the jar to pieces. The cavalcade rather enjoyed 
 the fun and rode away ; but Adamnan pursued them closely, 
 and said : " O, good men, I have reason to be sad, for there 
 are three good school-boys in one house, and they have us as 
 two messengers for there is always one going about seeking 
 food for the five and it came to my turn to-day. The 
 gathering I made is scattered, and what I grieve for far more, 
 the borrowed vessel has been broken and I have no means to 
 pay for it." But Finnachta declared he would make it all 
 right, and he kept his word. He not only paid for the vessel 
 but he brought the scholars clerics they are called to his 
 own house, and their teacher along with them ; he fitted up 
 the ale-house for their reception, and gave them such abound- 
 ing good cheer that the professor, exhilarated by the ale, or 
 filled with the spirit of prophecy, as the annals say, declared 
 that Finnachta would one day become the King of all Ireland, 
 " and Adamnan shall be the head of the wisdom of Erin, and 
 shall become ' soul's friend,' or confessor to the king." 
 
 When Adamnan was duly trained in the wisdom of the 
 Irish schools at home his thoughts naturally turned to lona. 
 For that remote islet, surrounded by the stormy waters and 
 under the misty skies of the Hebrides, had long been the 
 religious home of his race and family. At this very time, 
 when Adamnan was about twenty-five years old, a cousin of 
 his own, Seghine, fifth Abbot of Hy, ruled the entire Order. 
 So with the south wind blowing fair, we may suppose the 
 young scholar launched his currach on the Foyle, and sweep- 
 ing past the hills of Inishowen, he would in about twelve 
 hours see Columba's holy island slowly rising from the waves. 
 As his bark approached he would eagerly note all the features 
 of the inland the central rugged ridge, the low moory shores 
 and narrow strait separating it from the Ross of Mull on the 
 mainland. With a heart swelling with emotion, he must 
 have stepped on the shore of Port Ronain, and then kneeling 
 prostrate before the Abbot in his wooden cell, he begged to 
 be admitted to the habit of the Order. And we may be sure 
 the venerable Seighine received with open arms the strong- 
 limbed, fair-haired boy, who was sprung of his own ancient 
 line and born in his own Tirhujjh.
 
 ADAMNAN, NINTH ABBOT OF HY. 339 
 
 Adamnan began his novitiate about A.D. 650, and after 
 thirty years' service in the brotherhood was himself raised TO 
 the Abbatial Chair in A.D. 672. "We know little of his life 
 during this period, except that it was eminent for virtue and 
 learning. We have undoubted proofs of his success in sacred 
 studies, not only in the works that remain, but also from the 
 testimony of his contemporaries. He was, says Venerable 
 Bede, a virtuous and learned man pre-eminently skilled in 
 Sacred Scripture. 1 This is high testimony from a high autho- 
 rity. Father H. Ward felt himself justified in saying that 
 Adaranan was thoroughly educated in all the knowledge of 
 his time, liberal, sacred, and ascetical ; that he was also skilled 
 in the Greek and Hebrew languages, as well as in the arts, 
 laws, and history written in his native tongue. 2 
 
 Yet this learned monk was not above giving his assist- 
 ance in the manual labour of the monastery. He tells us in 
 his life of St. Columba 3 how on a certain occasion he and a 
 number of other monks cut down as many oak trees in one 
 of the neighbouring islands, probably Arran, as loaded twelve 
 boats in order to procure material to repair the monastery ; 
 and how, when detained by an adverse wind, St. Columba 
 heard their prayer and procured for them a favourable breeze 
 to waft them home. This fact, incidentally mentioned, 
 proves that most of the monastic cells were made of oaken 
 boards, which were covered in with a roof of reeds. St. 
 Columba's own hut is represented as tabulis suffultum, and 
 we know from other sources that as a protection against the 
 weather these cells were .thatched with reeds harundine 
 tecta. It is in this respect that the " Vita Columbae " is so 
 valuable because it gives us incidentally not only a graphic 
 picture of the simple and pious lives of the Family of Hy, 
 but also of their food, their clothing, their monastery, and 
 their entire social arrangements. 
 
 Although St. Adamnan ruled the monastery of Hy from 
 A.D. 679 to his death in A.D. 704, he paid several visits to 
 Ireland, and exercised a large influence both on its ecclesias- 
 tical and civil polity. This was due partly to his high 
 character for learning and holiness, partly to his position as 
 
 1 "Erat enim vir bonus et sapiens, et scientia Scripturarum nobilissime 
 instructus." 
 
 2 Edoctus est omnes liberal.es, sacras et asceticas disciplines, linguas 
 etiam Hebraicam et Graecam ; et quicquid patria lingua (in qua tune ple- 
 raeque scientiae et Dryadum quae uon fuerant damnata dogmata) scriptum 
 est vel artium vel legum vel historiarum." 
 
 3 Book II., c. 45.
 
 340 THE COLUMBIAN SCHOOL IN ALBA. 
 
 Supreme Head of the Columbian Houses, and in great mea- 
 sure also to his influence with Finnachta, the High King, 
 from A.D. 675 to 695. It is not easy to ascertain the exact 
 date of these visits, nor the work done on each occasion, but 
 the substantial facts are certain. 
 
 In the year A.D. 684 one of the generals of the Northum- 
 brian King, Ecgfrid, made a descent on Magh-Bregh, that 
 is the eastern plain of Meath along the sea-shore. They 
 pillaged and slaughtered in the usual fashion, and further- 
 more carried off many captives, male and female. This 
 attack was wholly unprovoked, and, as Bede testifies, brought 
 down upon the Northumbrian prince the signal chastisement 
 4 of heaven. In the following year, rashly advancing against 
 the Pictish King Brude, Ecgfrid was slain and his army 
 routed at a place called Dun Nechtain. Thereupon Aldfrid, 
 his brother, returned from Ireland, where he had been for 
 many years an exile, and succeeded to the throne. Aldfrid, 
 during the years he spent in Ireland, became intimate with 
 Adamnan our annalists call him the alumnus, or foster son 
 of Adamnan. Now, that he was raised to the throne, the 
 latter took occasion to pay him a visit in order to obtain by 
 his friendly offices the release of the captives. Miraculously 
 crossing the Solway Frith, whose rushing tide "the best 
 steed in Saxon land ridden by the best rider could not hope to 
 escape," he came to the Northumbrian Court at Bamborough, 
 and seems to have been received with open arms by his 
 alumnus, who at once consented to restore the captives, sixty 
 in all, whom shortly after Adamnan brought home to Ireland. 
 But this visit to the English court had other important con- 
 sequences. When he saw, says Bede, during his stay in our 
 province (probably at Easter) the canonical rites of our 
 church, and was prudently admonished that they who were 
 placed on a little corner at the end of the world should not 
 persevere in their peculiar Paschal observance against the 
 practice of the universal church, he changed his mind and 
 willingly adopted our custom. On the same occasion he 
 visited the monastery of Jarrow, where the monks greatly 
 admired the humility and modesty of his demeanour, but 
 were somewhat scandalized at his Irish frontal tonsure from 
 ear to ear, then known as the tonsure of Simon Magus. 
 
 On his return to Hy, Adamnan tried to induce his monks to 
 adopt the Roman Paschal observance ; but they were so much 
 attached to the practice sanctioned by their great and holy 
 founder that even Adamnan failed to bring about a change. 
 It was not until A.D. 716, twelve years after his death, that
 
 ADAMNAN, NINTH ABBOT OF HY. 341 
 
 they finalty consented to adopt the Dionysian cycle of 
 nineteen years in fixing Easter Day. 
 
 He was more successful in Ireland. On his return thither 
 with the captives in A.D. 686, a Synod seems to have been 
 held for the purpose of bringing about this change, to which 
 he himself alludes in his Life of St. Columba. Neither the 
 time nor place of the Synod can be exactly ascertained ; it is 
 not unlikely, however, that it took place on the Hill of Tara at 
 the " Rath of the Synods," where tradition still marks out 
 the place of " Adamnan's Tent," and " Adamnan's Cross." 1 
 Others think it was held at a much later date in A.D. 696 or 
 697, when " Adamnan's Canon " was published, to which 
 we shall refer later on. It is certain, however, that 
 Adamnan exerted his great influence thenceforward to 
 introduce the new Paschal observance into Ireland, although 
 he did not perhaps finally succeed until towards the end of 
 his life. 
 
 On this occasion Adamnan's visit was not of long dura- 
 tion ; but he paid a second visit to Ireland in A.D. 692 
 fourteen years after the death of his predecessor, Failbhe, as 
 the Annals say. This time it was a political question that 
 attracted him from Hy. For forty reign S'the men of Leinster 
 had been paying the cow-tax, known as the Borumean tribute, 
 to the princes of the Hy-Niall race, to which Adamnan 
 himself belonged. Finnachta, however, the present High 
 King, the old friend of Adamnan, remitted this tribute at 
 the prayer of St. Moling, whom our Annalists represent as 
 having recourse to a curious equivocation to effect his pur- 
 pose. The king, at the prayer of the Saint Moling consented 
 to remit payment of the tax for " the day and night." " All 
 time," said the saint, when the king had pledged his royal 
 word to this remission, " is day and night ; thou canst never 
 re-impose this tax." In vain the monarch protested that he 
 had no such intention ; the saint kept him to his word, 
 promising him heaven if he kept it, and the reverse if he did 
 not. When Adamnan heard how weakly the king had 
 yielded the ancient rights of the great Hy-Niall race, he was 
 somewhat wrathful, and at once sought out the monarch, 
 and asked to see him. The king was playing chess, and told 
 Adamnan's messenger, who asked an interview for the saint, 
 that he must wait till the game was finished ; then he played 
 a second and was going to play a third, when the saint 
 threatened him with reading a psalm, that would not 
 
 1 See Petrie's Tara, page 147.
 
 342 THE COLUMBIAN SCHOOL IN ALBA. 
 
 only shorten his life, but exclude him from heaven. There- 
 upon he came quick enough, and at once Adamnan said, " Is 
 this true that thou hast remitted the Borumha for day and 
 night?" "It is true," said the king. "Then it is the 
 same as to remit it for ever," said the saint ; and he 
 " scolded " him in somewhat vigorous language, and made 
 a song on him on the spot, calling him a foolish, white-haired, 
 toothless king, and using several other epithets the reverse 
 of complimentary. 
 
 Of course all this is the work of a northern bard, who 
 puts into the mouth of Adamnan language which he would 
 use himself ; nevertheless, there is a substratum of truth 
 in the story highly coloured as it is by poetic fiction. In 
 the end, however, the writer adds-: " Afterwards Finnachta 
 placed his head on the bosom of Adamnan, and Adamnan 
 forgave him for the remission of the Borumha." Shortly 
 after, however, Adamnan was again angry with the king, 
 and foretold " that his life would be short and that he would 
 fall by fratricide." The Irish life gives the true cause of the 
 anger and the prediction ; it was because Einnachta would 
 not exempt from taxes the lands of Columbkille, as he 
 exempted the lands of Patrick, Finnian, and Giaran. This 
 not unnaturally incensed the saint against the ungrateful 
 king, whose throne he had helped to maintain. The pre- 
 diction was soon verified ; Finnachta fell by the hand of a 
 cousin in A.D. 697. 
 
 It was on his return to Hy after this second visit that 
 Adamnan seems to have written the Life of Columbkille. 
 Shortly after he paid a third visit to Ireland in A.D. 697, 
 and apparently spent the remaining seven years of his life 
 in this country. It was in that ) 7 ear, most probably, was 
 held the Synod of Tara in which the Cain, or Canon of 
 Adamnan was promulgated. According to a story in the 
 Leabhar Breac there are four great Laws, or " Canons " in 
 Ireland. The Canon of Patrick, not to kill the clergy ; the 
 Canon of the nun Dari, not to kill the cows ; the Canon of 
 Adamnan, not to kill women ; and the Sunday Canon, not to 
 travel on that day. The origin of the Canon of Adamnan 
 was this ; He was once travelling through Meath, carrying 
 his mother on his back, when he saw two armies in conflict, 
 and a woman of one party dragging a woman of the other 
 party with an iron reaping hook fixed in her breast. At 
 this cruel and revolting sight Adamnan's mother insisted 
 that her son should promise her to make a law for the people 
 that women should in future be exempted from all battles
 
 ADAMNAN, NINTH ABBOT OF HY.~ 343 
 
 and hoistings. Adamnan promised and kept his word 1 in 
 A.D. 696, according to the Ulster Annals. That is he pro- 
 cured the passing of a law exempting women and children 
 innocentes from any share in the actual conflict or its usual 
 consequences, captivity or death. This fact is substantially 
 true, though considerably embellished in the details. 2 And 
 Ireland owes the great Abbot a lasting debt of gratitude for 
 procuring the enactment of this law, which was afterwards 
 re-enacted in A.D. 727, when the relics of Adamnan were 
 removed from lona to Ireland and the " law renewed." 
 There are several other Canons probably enacted at a Synod 
 at Armagh about the same time, but this is far the most 
 important of them all. 
 
 The Lije of St. Gerald of Mayo represents Adamnan 
 as governing the monastery of that place, originally founded 
 by the Saxons, for seven years. Tradition also connects the 
 saint with the Church of Skreen in the County Sligo, of 
 which he is the Patron, and was in all probability the 
 Founder. As head of the Columbian Order it was his duty, 
 from time to time, to visit the Columbian Churches in Ireland, 
 of which there were very many, especially in Sligo and 
 Donegal. He may thus have spent a considerable time in 
 Mayo of the Saxons, although the Life of St. Gerald is very 
 unsatisfactory evidence of the fact. 
 
 We cannot stay to notice the alleged " cursing " of 
 Irgalach by Adamnan. The story is intrinsically improbable 
 and unsustained by respectable authority. In the last year 
 of his life, A.D. 704, he returned to lona. Although the 
 monks would not consent to give up St. Columba's Easter, 
 he loved them dearly, and wished to bless them before he 
 died. After his noble life he might well rest in peace with 
 the kindred dust of all the saints of Conal Gulban's bine that 
 sleep in the holy island. 
 
 A century later, however, as we have seen, the sacred 
 relics were transferred to Ireland, but it is not known for 
 certain where they were laid. 
 
 Adamnan's two most important works are his Vita Sancti 
 Columbi, and his book, De Lotis Sanctis. 
 
 The life of St. Columba has been pronounced by Pinkerton 
 to be " the most complete piece of such biography that all 
 Europe can boast of, not only at so early a period, but even 
 through the whole middle ages." Adamnan himself declares 
 
 1 " Dedit legem innocentum populis." 
 
 2 The story of Adamnan's carrying his mother on his back originated in 
 his well-known filial piety. Vol. III.
 
 344 THE COLUMBIAN SCHOOL IN ALBA. 
 
 that he wrote the book at the earnest request of the Brothers ; 
 and that he states nothing except what was already written 
 in the records of the monastery, or what he himself heard 
 from the elder monks, many of whom saw the blessed 
 Columba, and were themselves witnesses of his wonderful 
 works. The entire narrative, which is written in fairly good 
 Latin, furnishes ample proof of the truth of this statement. 
 Hence the great value of this -life, not only as -an authentic 
 record of the virtues and miracles of St. Columba, but also as 
 a faithful. picture of the religious life of those early times by 
 a contemporary writer, so well qualified to sketch it, and who 
 does so quite unconsciously. The manuscript in the library 
 of Schaffhausen is of equal authority with the autograph of 
 the saint, if, indeed, it were not actually written at his 
 dictation, so that the most sceptical cannot question the 
 authenticity of this venerable record. The life was printed 
 from this codex byColgan in 1647, and by the Bollandists 
 at a later date. But the edition published in 1837 by Dr. 
 W. Reeves for the Irish Archaeological and Celtic Society, is 
 by far the most valuable. The notes and appendices to this 
 admirable volume render it a perfect mine of wealth for 'the 
 student of Irish History. 
 
 Venerable Bede gives us a very full -account of the treatise 
 de Locis Sanctis, in the 16th and 17th chapters of the fifth 
 book of his Ecclesiastical History. It is, he says, a book 
 most useful to the reader (in that age). The author, 
 Adamnan, received his information about the holy places 
 from Arculfus, a bishop from Gaul, who had himself visited 
 Jerusalem, Constantinople, Alexandria, and all the islands of 
 the sea. When returning home a tempest drove his vessel 
 to the west parts of Britain, 1 where he met Adamnan, 
 probably in Hy, to whom he narrated all 'the noteworthy 
 scenes he had gone through. Adamnan at once reduced the 
 narrative to writing, for the' information of his own country- 
 men. He presented, the work 'to his friend King Aldfrid, 
 through whose liberality copies were multiplied for the 
 benefit of the young, if such be the : meaning of Bede's 
 phrase : " Per ejue largitionem etiam minoribus ad legendum 
 contraditus." Bede himself was greatly pleased with the 
 book, from which he inserts several extracts in his own 
 history, concerning Bethlehem, Jerusalem, Mount Olivet, and 
 other places in Palestine. It was published at Ingoldstadt 
 in 1619. 
 
 1 Up to the tenth century Britannia included Scotland.
 
 ADAMNAN, NINTH ABBOT OF HY. 345 
 
 A Life of St. Patrick and other poems have been attributed 
 to Adamnan, but there is no evidence to prove that they are 
 genuine. The same may be said of the " Vision of Adamnan," 
 a kind of moral discourse in Irish, which purports to relate 
 a wonderful vision of joys of heaven, and of the torments of 
 hell, as seen and narrated by the saint. The work is certainly 
 very ancient, but contains many things that go far to disprove 
 its own authenticity. 
 
 When we consider the life and writings of this great man, 
 as well as the large 'influence which he exercised on Irish 
 affairs during the latter half of the seventh century, few will 
 be disposed to question his right to take a high place amongst 
 the saints and scholars of the west. He has been justly 
 described in the prologue to the Vision as " the noble sage of 
 the Western World." We have already quoted Bede's 
 high testimony to his virtue and learning. The Four Masters 
 emphatically endorse that testimony, and add that " he was 
 tearful, penitent, fond of prayer, diligent and ascetic ;" and 
 that he was, moreover, "learned in the clear understanding 
 of the Holy Scriptures of Grod." 
 
 After the death of Adamnan, A.D. 704, the Annals of 
 Hy become less interesting. It still retained its headship 
 of all the Columbian houses both in Erin and Alba its 
 abbots holding what is called a principatus over the rulers of 
 the subject monasteries. Mention is also made of the 
 cathedra of Columba and of lona ; but probably the same 
 thing is meant j not episcopal or territorial jurisdiction, but 
 the supreme authority over the Columbian houses and their 
 wide domains. Reference, however, is made, for instance, 
 A.D. 712, to the death of " Ceddi, Bishop of lona," but he 
 doubtless derived his jurisdiction from the abbot. In 
 A.D. 717 we are told that the Pictish King, Nectan, expelled 
 the Columbian monks from his dominions, because they 
 refused to conform to the general discipline as to the paschal 
 observance, and the coronal tonsure. This seems to have 
 brought the entire community to a sense of their duty, for 
 now at length, under the Abbot Taelcu, they began to wear 
 the Roman tonsure, as they had already adopted the Roman 
 Easter. In A.D. 727 we are told that the " Relics of 
 Adamnan " were brought to Ireland, and his Law renewed 
 in that countr}'. The object of bringing over these relics 
 seems to have been to heal a feud between the Cenel-Eoghain 
 and Cenel-Conal, in which the clergy appear to have been 
 also mixed up, contrary to the Cain or Law of Adamnan. 
 The relics were brought back again by the abbot in A.D. 730.
 
 346 THE COLUMBIAN SCHOOL IN ALBA. 
 
 In A.D. 739, we read of the Dimersio familiae lae, as if 
 the greater part of the community were lost in some flood or 
 shipwreck most likely the latter. In A.D. 753, and in sub- 
 sequent years reference is made to enforcing the Law of 
 Columcille, which seems to have been a tribute assessed by 
 the parent house on the subject monasteries and their ad- 
 jacent lands. As the relics of Adamnan were carried to 
 Erin, where his Cain was enforced, so it is likely some relics, 
 if not of Columba's body, yet in some other way connected 
 with him, were carried round on these occasions. 
 
 lona had now become a celebrated place of pilgrimage. 
 Even kings and princes, as Columba had predicted, came to 
 the island shrine, and were deemed especially happy, when 
 they died on their pilgrimage. Niall Frassach gave up his 
 crown to take the pilgrim's staff, and died in lona in 
 A.D. 778 ; so did Artgal, son of Cathal, King of Connaught, 
 in A.D. 791, and many princes of the Picts and Saxons in 
 like manner. 
 
 Thus for two hundred years since the death of their holy 
 founder, the community had been growing in celebrity and 
 influence, but now a day of trial and doom was at hand. 
 
 In A.D. 794 the ' Gentiles' made their first descent on the 
 Hebrides ; the following year they attacked and pillaged the 
 holy island itself. It was, however, only the beginning of 
 the evil time. It was burned in A.D. 802, and the same year 
 saw the death of Connachtach, ' a very choice scribe,' whose 
 end was doubtless hastened by the sight of his beloved 
 monastery in flames. 
 
 Fortunately, however, the. community of Hy got two 
 years later " a free grant of Kells without a battle." They 
 had, doubtless, been claiming it as their own ; for it was 
 given to Columba by King Diarmait long ago ; but the place 
 may have got into other hands in the interval Now, how- 
 ever, that they had recovered it in peace, they resolved to 
 make it their headquarters in future. In A.D 807 they 
 began to build a new religious ' city ' in Kells ; the great 
 church was finished in A.D. 814, when the old Abbot Cellach 
 resigned the principatus of lona, which thenceforward 
 was transferred to Kells, where the new abbot fixed his 
 official abode. It seems that the venerable Ceallach would 
 not leave his beloved island for the new city in Ireland, and 
 so he resigned his office, and next year went to his rest in 
 that old churchyard, where the bones of so many of his 
 sainted predecessors were already laid. 
 
 Many of the monks still clung with the same tenacious
 
 ADAMNAN, NINTH ABBOT OF HY. 347 
 
 affection to the old monastery in the sacred island of 
 Columba, although they knew that they lived there in daily 
 peril of their lives. It was thus the martyrdom of St. 
 Blaithmac came to pass in A.D. 825. The Gentiles' fleets 
 were once more upon the seas. Word was brought that they 
 were harrying the neighbouring islands ; and the monks of 
 lona betook themselves to flight. It was not difficult to 
 cross the narrow strait, and escape into the wild hills of 
 Mull. But Blaithmac would not stir ; he was ardently long- 
 ing for the crown of martyrdom, and now the hour of his 
 triumph was at hand. He had hidden the shrine containing 
 the relics of the holy founder, adorned with gold and gems 
 deep in the earth, and covered over the spot with fresh green 
 sods, so as to leave no trace of the treasure beneath. This 
 was, however, ' what the spoilers wanted. They asked the 
 old man where he had hidden the shrine. He refused to tell ; 
 and then enraged by baffled greed, they slew him on the 
 spot. It was fitting that lona, the sacred nursery of so many 
 doctors and confessors, should also have its martyrs in the 
 ranks of the saints of God. It was fortunate, too, that the 
 heroic martyr should have found a poet to celebrate his 
 triumph in verses not unworthy of such a Christian hero. 
 
 Walafridus Sfrabo, a monk of the abbey called Augia 
 Dives, now Reichenaa in Switzerland, heard of the heroism 
 of the Ionian monk from his fellow monks who had fled for 
 refuge to their countrymen in this Irish House on the Rhine. 
 Of German birth himself, he was filled with admiration for 
 such lofty Christian courage ; and composed a poem of 180 
 Latin hexameters, in which he celebrates the fortitude of 
 
 " Blaithmaic, genuit quern dives Hibernia mundo, 
 Martyriique sequens misit perfectio caelo." 
 
 The poem is too long to insert here, but it is a noble 
 tribute from the pen of a foreigner to the courageous virtue 
 of the Columbian monk who gave his life for Christ in lona 
 more than one thousand years ago. 
 
 The Rule of Columba 1 required that his monks should be 
 ready for martyrdom whenever God's honour required it. 
 Their mind was to be always fortified and steadfast for ' the 
 white martyrdom' of patient endurance ; but they were also 
 bound to have the mind if occasion arose prepared for ' red 
 martyrdom.' Blaithmac found the opportunity and was un- 
 willing to lose his crown. 
 
 1 See Haddan and Stubbs, vol. ii., part 1, p. 120.
 
 CHAPTER XY. 
 
 THE LATER COLUMBIAN SCHOOLS IN IRELAND. 
 
 I. KELLS HEAD OF THE COLUMBIAN HOUSES. 
 
 " A voice from the ocean waves, 
 
 And a voice from the forest glooms, 
 And a voice from old temples and kingly graves, 
 And a voice from the catacombs." 
 
 Aubrey de Vere. 
 
 DURING the ninth, tenth and eleventh centuries Kells became 
 the Head of the Columbian Monasteries, and produced several 
 distinguished men. Its professors are frequently referred to 
 during this period in our Annals, especially during the 
 eleventh century. Two of them bore the name of Ua h 
 Uchtain, of whom one was unhappily " drowned coming from 
 Alba, with the bed of Columcille it was a stone and three 
 of Patrick's relics, and thirty persons along with him." In 
 A.D. 1050 died Maelan of Ceanannus, a distinguished sage ; 
 and eleven years later the death of Ciaran is noticed, another 
 distinguished sage of the same school. 
 
 Meanwhile Kells did not escape the ravages of the Danes. 
 In A.D. 949, recte 951, it suffered greatly. Godfrey, King of 
 the Danes of Dublin, marched to Kells, and having plundered 
 all the country round about, returned home with " 3,000 
 captives, besides gold, silver, raiment, and various wealth 
 and goods of every description." 1 Although Kells suffered 
 much in various attacks, both before and after this date, it is 
 doubtful if the good monks of Columcille were ever so 
 completely cleaned out as on that occasion. It is called an 
 exptlatio by an old chronicler pillage that left nothing after 
 it. It was five times plundered during the tenth century ; 
 once also at the close of the ninth, and once at the opening of 
 the eleventh century ; and it was burned during the same 
 period even oftener than it was plundered. Yet the school 
 and monastery lived on, and after the Danish wars seem to 
 have become once more quite flourishing. 
 
 The celebrated Cathach, to which we referred when speak- 
 ing of the School of Moville, was enshrined at Kells about 
 the close of the eleventh century. On the margin of the 
 
 1 four Masters, A.D. 1034.
 
 MARIANUS SCOTUS. 349 
 
 under silver plate of the casket, which contains the MS., the 
 following words in Gaelic are still quite legible. 
 
 "Pray for Cathbarr O'Donnell for whom this casket was 
 made, and for Sitric, son of Mac Aedha, who made it, and 
 for Domnald Mac Robartaigh Comarb of Kells, at whose 
 house it was made." As this abbot of Kells died in A.D. 1098 
 the cumdach, or casket, must have been fabricated by 
 MacHugh's son before that date, probably at the joint 
 expense of O'Donnell and the abbot. 
 
 The family of Mac Robartaigh seems to have produced 
 several distinguished scholars during this century, many of 
 whom were connected with the monastic school of Kells. The 
 MacRobertaighclan appears to have belonged to Donegal. The 
 parish of Ballymacgroarty in Tirhugh was most likely their 
 family inheritance, as it takes its name from the clan. The 
 celebrated Marianus Scotus was a member of the same family; 
 for in his own hand he describes himself as Muredach Mac 
 Robartaig, giving his original Irish name, instead of the 
 literary patronymic, which his learning and virtue have 
 immortalized. 
 
 II. THIS MARIANUS SCOTUS, 
 
 Scribe and Commentator on Sacred Scripture, must be care- 
 fully distinguished from his countryman and namesake 
 Marianus Scotus the Chronicler. We have fortunately an 
 authentic Life of the former written by another Irishman, 
 who was an inmate of the same religious house as Marianus, 
 and who tells us that he derived his inform at ion from Father 
 Isaac, then living, the life-long associate of Marianus himself. 
 
 This Life sets forth that Marianus was a native of the 
 North of Ireland, but does not name the locality in which he 
 was born. In his early youth he was handed over by his 
 parents to the care of certain religious men in order to be 
 trained up for the clerical state in all learning and pious dis- 
 cipline. There is hardly a doubt that the reference here is to 
 the monks of Drumhome, in the barony of Tirhugh, County 
 Donegal. The old monastic church was situated near the sea 
 shore, where the boy must have often wandered in view of 
 the noble mountains that rise up so grandly beyond the bay, 
 and in the sight and hearing of the wild Atlantic waves that 
 break upon its shore. Later on he was doubtless sent to 
 Kells to complete his studies, for several members of his 
 family presided over that abbey about this period. 
 
 We gather from statements made by Marianus himself, 
 that he left Ireland in A.D. 1067 ; and therefore just eleven
 
 350 THE LATER COLUMBIAN SCHOOLS IN IRELAND. 
 
 years after the departure of his namesake, Marianus the 
 Chronicler. At this period old Father Isaac described him 
 to the writer of his life*, as a handsome fair-haired youth, 
 strong-limbed and tall, moreover a man of goodly mien, and 
 gracious eloquence, well trained in all human and divine 
 knowledge. 1 His purpose was to go on pilgrimage to Rome ; 
 but calling to see Bishop Otho of Bamberg, he was induced to 
 remain with that prelate for a whole year. Subsequently the 
 bishop gave Marianus and his two companions a cell at the 
 foot of the mountain, in which they lived as recluses, the 
 bishop generously supplying their simple wants. 
 
 Alter the Bishop's death they journeyed on to Ratisbon, 
 where they were once more induced to stay at the earnest 
 entreaty of the venerable abbess Emma and her nuns. 'As 
 before they lived as recluses in their own little cells, Marianus 
 devoting himself with great zeal to the composition and 
 transcription of religious books for the good abbess Emma 
 and her nuns. He also found leisure to write books for the 
 monks around Ratisbon ; "for his pen was swift, his hand- 
 writing clear and beautiful, and his labour incessant." He 
 worked so diligently in his cell that his two companions, 
 John and Candidus Irishmen also found quite enough to 
 do in preparing the parchments which he filled up with the 
 words of salvation. We are expressly told that they all 
 laboured without fee or reward giving their books gratui- 
 tously, contenting themselves with the poorest raiment and 
 the plainest and scantiest fare. " To tell the truth without a 
 fog of words," says the writer of the Life of Marianus, 
 " amongst all the things which Divine Providence wrought 
 by the hands of the said Marianus, nothing in my opinion is 
 so wonderful and praiseworthy as the zeal with which the 
 holy man, not once or twice, but frequently transcribed with 
 his own hand the entire Old and New Testament with com- 
 mentaries and explanations ; while at the same time he wrote 
 many smaller books, and psalters for poor widows, and for 
 the needy clerics in the same city (of Ratisbon), and that, too, 
 merely for his soul's sake, without any hope of earthly gain. 
 Moreover, many monastic congregations in faith and charity 
 imitating the same blessed Marianus, having come from that 
 same Ireland (Hibernia), and now dwelling throughout 
 Bavaria and Franconia, are for the most part sustained by 
 the writings of that same holy man." 
 
 1 Decoro vultu, crine nitenti, ultra communem valentiam hominum, 
 forma erat speciosus, divinis ac humania litteris et eloquentia erat praeditus. 
 
 Vita.
 
 MARIANUS SCOTUS. 351 
 
 Such is the noble testimony borne to the learning, zeal, 
 and charity of this pure-souled Irish monk in the land of the 
 stranger. And therefore it was idiat, not without good 
 reason, he and his countrymen were so warmly welcomed 
 and so generously treated in all the great cities of mediaeval 
 Germany. 
 
 But Marianus was quite as remarkable for the holiness of 
 his life as for his learning and literary labours. " He was," says 
 the writer of his Life, " like Moses, the meekest of men ; and 
 God bestowed upon him in a wonderful way the gift of heal- 
 ing many diseases, but especially fevers, and not only during 
 his life, as I have heard from trustworthy witnesses, but at 
 his tomb after his death, as I have seen with my own eyes" 
 
 We cannot now, however, give an account of the cele- 
 brated monastery of St. James of Ratisbon, which was founded 
 by Marianus for his countrymen, who came to that city in 
 great numbers towards the close of the eleventh century, nor 
 of the great scholars which it produced. 
 
 Marianus is described by Aventinus in the Annals of 
 Bavaria as a distinguished poet and theologian poeta et 
 theologus insignis second to no man of his time. His poems 
 are unfortunately lost, but his Commentaries still remain to 
 us at least in manuscript. His Commentary on the Psalms 
 was so highly valued, as Aventinus tells us, that it was not 
 allowed outside of the walls of the monastic library without 
 a valuable deposit being left to secure its safe return. There 
 is in the Cotton collection a codex not yet published entitled 
 Liber Mariani genere Scott excerptus de Evangelistarum 
 voluminibus sive Doctoribus. 
 
 His most famous work, however, is the codex containing 
 the Epistles of St. Paul, with a marginal and interlinear com- 
 mentary. This precious MS. is now in the Imperial Library 
 at Vienna, 1 and is especially valuable because it contains several 
 entries in the old and pure Gaedhlic of the eleventh century. 2 
 It is quite astonishing what a number of writers is quoted by 
 Marianus in the marginal gloss Jerome, Augustine, Cassio- 
 dorus, Arnobius, St. .Gregory, Origen, St. Leo the Great, 
 Alcuin, Cassian, Peter the Deacon, Pelagius, and the Ambro- 
 siaster are all laid under tribute. We wonder how many 
 Irish scholars of the present day are acquainted with them. 
 
 This great work was completed on Friday, the 16th day 
 before the kalends of June, A.D. 1079 he marks the date 
 himself, and asks the reader to say ' Amen ' to the brief 
 
 1 No. 1247 (Theol. 287). 2 See Transactions of the R.I.A., Vol. vii., 295.
 
 352 THE LATER COLUMBIAN SCHOOLS IN IRELAND. 
 
 prayer for his soul's salvation. "Amen, God rest him" 
 (Amen Got der Erleick), wrote a pious old German of the 
 fifteenth century on the face of the page in response to this 
 pious request. Amen say we too may God give him rest 
 that God whom he served so well during all the years of his 
 pilgrimage in the land of the stranger. 
 
 " And now, my brothers/' says the eloquent old Irish 
 monk, who wrote the Life of Marianus, thinking no doubt of 
 his own far-off home in Ireland by the swelling Boyne or 
 winding Erne ; " and now my brothers, if you should ask me 
 what will be the reward of Marianus and pilgrims like him, 
 who left the sweet soil of their native land which is free from 
 every noxious beast and worm, with its mountains and hills, 
 its valleys and its groves so well suited for the chase, the 
 picturesque expanses of its rivers, its green fields and its 
 streams welling up from purest fountains, and like the chil- 
 dren of Abraham the Patriach, came without hesitation unto 
 the land which God had pointed out to them, this is my 
 answer : They will dwell in the house of the Lord with the 
 Angels and Archangels of God for ever ; they will behold in 
 Sion the God of Gods, to whom be honour and glory for end- 
 less ages." 
 
 The exact date of the death of Marianus is not marked, 
 but it seems to have occurred in A.D. 1088, just six years 
 after the death of his namesake the Chronicler. After 
 Adamnan he was the most distinguished writer produced by 
 the Columbian Schools. 
 
 III. THE LATER SCHOOL OF DERRY. 
 
 As the great Columbian order of monks and scholars 
 began in the Black Cell of Deny, so also from Derry flashed 
 out the latest bright gleams of that sacred lamp which 
 Columba had kindled, and which at one time irradiated both 
 Scotland and Ireland. Kells held the principatus during the 
 ninth, tenth, and eleventh centuries, as we have already 
 stated ; but during the twelfth century Derry came again to 
 the front, and produced a large number of very distinguished 
 men, most of whom belonged to a famous literary family 
 named Ua Brolchain, or O'Brollaghan. This family derived 
 its descent from Suibhne Meann, who was King' of Ireland 
 from A.D. 615 to 628. He was of the Cenel-Eoghain, but 
 belonged to a sub-division known as the Cenel-Feradhaich, 
 whose tribe-land seems to have been in the barony of Clogher, 
 County Tyrone. The first of the Ua Brolchain family noticed
 
 THE LATER SCHOOL OF DERKY. 353 
 
 in our Annals is Maelbrighde, whose death is recorded in 
 A.D. 1029. He is described as chief -builder of his time in 
 Erin. 1 
 
 The next of the name whom we meet with is St. Maelisa 
 O'Brolchain, a very celebrated man, who died A.D. 1086. He 
 was probably an alumnus of the monastery of Derry, but 
 afterwards retired to Both-chonais, an ancient monastic church 
 in Inishowen, which is best known from its connection with 
 this holy and learned man. It was delightfully situated 2 on 
 the margin of a semicircular bay in the north-western extre- 
 mity of Inishowen, where the fierce Atlantic billows spend 
 their force in broken wavelets on its sandy shore. It is well 
 sheltered on the east and south by a range of steep and rugged 
 hills. The entire parish of Clonmany, in which it was situ- 
 ated, abounds in natural curiosities as well as in objects of 
 antiquarian interest, such as cromlechs, raths, and castles 
 perched on lofty crags. 
 
 No traces of the old monastery now remain, but its site is 
 probably marked by an old church-yard in the townland of 
 Binnion, situated close to a narrow inlet of the bay, and in a 
 spot which a sea-king of old might fitly choose as the site of 
 his stronghold. The place got its name of Both-chonais 
 the House of Conas from its founder, who was the husband 
 of St. Patrick's sister, Darerca, and by her the father of two 
 holy bishops, Mael and Maelchu. It is referred to at inter- 
 vals as a place of some celebrity during the ninth and tenth 
 centuries, and the death of its Airchinneach is recorded in 
 A.D. 1049. 
 
 Maelisa O'Brolchain shunned church dignities, if he were 
 not indeed a lay professor ; but all the same he certainly 
 acquired great fame even in this remotest corner of Erin both 
 as a teacher and a scholar. The Four Masters describe him 
 as " the learned senior (or sage) of Ireland, a paragon of 
 wisdom and piety, in poetry as well as in both languages 
 (Irish and Latin)." The term 'chief senior' is never given 
 except to the most eminent men, who were recognised as such 
 by their contempory annalists. Colgan speaks of him, too, 
 in the highest terms as an humble man shunning all worldly 
 honours, and devoted to a pious and studious life. He was 
 the author of many books " replete with genius and intel- 
 lect," which were preserved in the neighbourhood of Both- 
 chonais in Colgan's time, but have since unfortunately 
 perished. "I have in my own possession," adds Colgan, 
 
 1 Four Masters. 2 According to (XDonovan's identification. 
 
 Z
 
 354 THE LATER COLUMBIAN SCHOOLS IX IRELAND. 
 
 " some few fragments which he wrote," and which also appear 
 to have completely disappeared since Colgan's time. Even 
 the site of his monastery is uncertain. O'Donovan seems to 
 think it was in the townland of Binnion ; hut Reeves places 
 it in the townland of Carrowmore, parish of Culdaff, on the 
 left-hand side of the road from Moville to Cam, and about 
 three miles from the latter village. 1 It is said that he 
 founded an oratory at Lismore, which was burned in A.D. 
 1116, and is called the Oratory of Maelisa. He may have 
 spent some time either as a student or as a teacher in that 
 celebrated seminary. He died in A.D. 1086 at a very advanced 
 age, for he had no sickness, but simply gave back his soul to 
 God. This holy and eminent scholar seems to have belonged 
 to that class of learned lay professors, of whom Conn-na- 
 m-Bocht at Clonmacnoise was the most remarkable example. 
 They were equally renowned for holiness and learning, but 
 abstained from taking Holy Orders either from humility, or 
 in order to have more leisure and more freedom in the pur- 
 suit of knowledge. 
 
 The death of Aedh, son of Maelisa O'Brolchain, who is 
 described as " an eminent professor" (praecipuus lector), is 
 recorded in A.D. 1095. He was, doubtless, the son of Maelisa 
 of Both-chonais, and probably lectured either there or in the 
 monastery of Deny. Two years afterwards, in A.D. 1097, the 
 Four Masters record the death of Maelbrighde Mac-an-tsaer 
 O'Brolchain, Bishop of Kildare, who is described as a 'learned 
 doctor.' There can hardly be a doubt that he was the son 
 of that chief builder prim saer whose fame was known as 
 a mason or architect throughout all Erin, and who died in 
 A.D. 1029. Then we find two members of the family raised 
 to the primatial Chair; one was Maelcolaim disciple of 
 Columba O'Brolchain, who died in A.D. 1122 ; and another, 
 named also Maelbrighde O'Brolchain, who died in A.D. 1137. 
 It is not unlikely he belonged to the class of laymen who 
 claimed jurisdiction over, and called themselves " Bishops of 
 Armagh " during a portion of the eleventh and twelfth 
 centuries; for "Flaithbhertach/son of Bishop O'Brolchain,'" 2 
 was Comarb of Columcille in Derry from A.D. 1150 to 1175. 
 The history of this remarkable man is especially noteworthy. 
 When he was elected as Comarb of Columcille to the 
 abbacy of Deny, in A.D. 1150, that ancient monastic seat of 
 learning was, it appears, very much dilapidated. Like other 
 places near the sea, it was greatly exposed to the ravages of 
 
 1 See Reeves' Adamnan, page 405. 2 Annals of Ulster.
 
 THE LATER SCHOOL OF DERRY. 355 
 
 the Danes, and was several times plundered and burned. 
 Most of the buildings were of wood, for the great stone 
 church Temple-more was not yet built. A new era of 
 ecclesiastical architecture was, however, inaugurated in 
 Ireland towards the middle of the twelfth century by the 
 workmen whom the Cistercians brought over from France 
 and England to build their own magnificent churches and 
 monasteries. Nothing like them had yet been seen in the 
 land. There were Irish workmen, however, who, if opportunity 
 offered, would be worthy rivals of the masons that built 
 the Norman abbeys in France and England ; and they gave 
 proof of their capacity in the building of Cormac's Chapel at 
 Cashel, which is a gem in its own way that cannot be sur- 
 passed. The Abbot of Derry came of a family that had won 
 renown as builders, and he was anxious to show his own taste 
 and skill in the renovation of the ancient monastery over 
 which he had just been placed. Money, of course, was 
 wanting, but it could not be long wanting to the Comarb of 
 Columcille if he were resolved to procure it. He made an 
 official visitation of the Cenel-Eoghain, to whose kith and 
 kin he himself belonged, and ' received his tribute,' in 
 A.D. 1150 the year of his appointment to Derry. Next year 
 he made a visitation of the Siol-Cathusaigh in the County 
 Antrim, " and he obtained a horse from every chieftain, and 
 a sheep from every hearth, and his horse and battle dress, 
 and a ring of gold, in which were two ounces, from O'Lynn, 
 their lord." In A.D. 1153 he made a visitation of the Dal 
 Cairbre, and the Ui Eathach Uladb, and got a horse from 
 every chieftain, and a sheep from every house, and a 
 screaball, a horse, and five cows from O'Donlevy himself, 
 and an ounce of gold from his wife. Coined money was 
 scarce ; but cattle and horses were plenty, and would do as 
 well. Later on he even visited Ossory, and raised his tribute, 
 and procured immunity for the Columbian churches in Meath 
 from all assessments except, we presume, his own. Being at 
 this time Head of the Columbian Order, he was, doubtless, 
 present at the great Synod of Kells, which was held in that 
 city by Cardinal Paparo in A.D. 1152 ; and during that year 
 we find he made no official visitation elsewhere. No doubt 
 he had enough on his hands ; and we may be sure he voted 
 for that Canon of the Council which ordered tithes to be 
 regularly assessed for Church purposes on all the lands of 
 Erin. It was what he had himself twice done already, and 
 what he could now do, not only with custom, but with law 
 also in his favour.
 
 356 THE LATER COLUMBIAN SCHOOLS IN IRELAND. 
 
 O'Brolchain made an excellent use of the funds which he 
 thus procured. He removed all the houses that surrounded 
 and disfigured the church of Deny, and then built on the 
 site of the old church that new Temple Mor which gives its 
 name to the parish, and appears to have been a large and 
 imposing structure. The Four Masters say it was eighty 
 feet long, and that it was built by O'Brolchain and his 
 clergy, with the help of the king of Ireland, in forty days. 
 If so, the materials must have been all prepared, and a large 
 number of tradesmen must have been employed, which is not 
 unlikely, seeing that he had already built a limekiln 1 
 measuring seventy feet every way, which took him twenty 
 days to construct. The limekiln was built in A.D. 1163 ; but 
 the church was not erected until A.D. 1165, and it is highly 
 probable that the walls were being built in the meantime, and 
 that the Four Masters mean that the church was covered in 
 during the space of 60 days, which might easily be done. 
 Doubtless, O'Brolchain constructed many other buildings also 
 at Derry, for otherwise he would scarcely have occasion for 
 building that enormous limekiln. 
 
 The merits of O'Brolchain were fully appreciated by the 
 clergy and people of the north, and led to his formal elevation 
 to the episcopal order in the year A.D. 1158. He had pre- 
 viously enjoyed large jurisdiction as Comarb of Columcille 
 both in Derry, and over the Columbian Churches generally. 
 It was felt, however, especially after the Synod of Kells, that 
 this state of things was now becoming anomalous and 
 unsatisfactory, and might lead to a conflict of jurisdiction 
 between the Comarb of Columcille and the regular diocesan 
 authority. Hence it was resolved at a meeting of the Irish 
 Clergy, held in Meath in that year, to raise O'Brolchain to 
 the episcopal dignity, and circumscribe his jurisdiction by 
 assigning him a definite territory. The Four Masters record 
 it in this manner : 
 
 A.D. 1158. " A Synod of the Clergy of Ireland was con- 
 vened at Bri Mac Taidgh in Laeghaire (near Trim), when 
 there were present twenty-five bishops, with the legate of the 
 Successor of Peter to ordain rules and good morals. It was 
 on this occasion the clergy of Ireland, with the successor of 
 Patrick, ordered a Chair, like every other bishop, for the 
 successor of Columcille Flaithbheartach Ua Brolchain and 
 the Arch-abbacy of the churches of Ireland in general." 
 Very little is known of the history of this Synod ; but we 
 
 1 Four Matters.
 
 THE LATER SCHOOL OF DERRY. 357 
 
 may note the following important facts : The legate of the 
 Comarb of Peter was Christian, Bishop of Lismore ; his 
 presence at the Synod was sufficient to authorize the bishops 
 to proceed to the erection of a new See. The ' Chair ' 
 spoken of means not merely a chair in that assembly, but a 
 new diocese, with all the rights and privileges canonically 
 appertaining thereto. The new bishop was, however, still 
 allowed to retain, and perhaps for the first time canonically 
 to acquire, the Headship of all the Columbian monasteries. 
 It may be that Kells Was still a rival, and that its abbot also 
 claimed to be Comarb of Columba ; if so, this decree settled 
 the question ; and the new bishop of Derry was formally 
 recognised as the Head of all the Columbian houses in Erin 
 for there can be no question of any other. 
 
 Thus it was that the See of Deny was established. 
 Mention is made of a Bishop of Derry previously, and of a 
 Bishop-abbot of Derry ; but it was, so to speak, by accident 
 that this took place. There was no See of Derry, and no 
 Diocese of Derry until A.D. 1158, when O'Brolchain was 
 formally elevated to that dignity. It is not unlikely that 
 he too was in Episcopal Orders previously-^-but now for the 
 first time he got a chair or diocese. This eminent ecclesiastic, 
 the founder of the Diocese of Derry, died in A.D. 1175, and 
 the Four Masters record his death with the following honour- 
 able testimony : 
 
 " Flaithbhertacb O'Brolchain, Comarb of Columcille, a 
 tower of wisdom and hospitality, a man on whom on account 
 of his goodness and wisdom the clergy of Ireland had 
 bestowed a bishop's chair, to whom the abbacy of Hy had 
 been offered (in A.D. 1164), died in righteousness, after 
 exemplary sickness, in the Duibhregles of Columcille ; and 
 Gilla Mac Taidgh Ua Brenain was appointed to his place in 
 the abbacy." It is a curious fact that in A.D. 1173, we find 
 the death of Muiredhach Ua Cobthaich, Bishop of Derry 
 and Raphoe recorded ; but it only implies that before the 
 year A.D. 1158 he was the bishop territorially of Derry ; for 
 after that date he could have no legal claim to the See. 
 
 During the half-century between A.D. 1100 and 1150, 
 lona was under the influence of the Kings of Norway, 
 especially of Magnus the Great, who subjected the island to 
 the jurisdiction of the Bishop of Man ; but in A.D. 1156 royal 
 Somerlid recovered Hy and others of the ' Southern ' islands. 
 Being himself a Celt of Irish blood, he was anxious to restore 
 the Celtic influence in the island ; and hence we find that in 
 A.D. 1164, at his instance the abbacy of Hy was offered to
 
 358 THE LATER COLUMBIAN SCHOOLS IN IRELAND. 
 
 O'Brolchain, Abbot and Bishop of Deny. But O'Brolchain 
 being now Bishop of Derry, and the recognised head of the 
 Columbian Order, declined to accept the abbacy of Hy, 
 preferring to remain in Derry. Domhnall O'Brolchain, 
 however, was appointed to the insular abbacy, and being, 
 like all his family, a building man, he determined to signalize 
 his reign by the erection of a great church in Hy. It was 
 the cathedral whose ruins are still to be seen, and they 
 furnish a striking monument of the taste and munificence of 
 the Irish Abbot. On the capital of the tower column are 
 inscribed the still legible words DONALDUS O'BROLCHAN 
 FECIT HOC OPUS. We cannot have absolute certainty ; but 
 there can be no reasonable doubt of the identity of this name 
 with the Domhnall O'Brolchain, the prior and exalted senior, 
 whose death the Annals of Ulster record in A.D. 1203, and 
 the Four Masters in A.D. 1202. After his death a certain 
 Cellach, " without any legal right, and in despite of the 
 family of Hy, erected a monastery there in the middle of 
 Cro-Hy." But the clergy of the North of Erin, bishops and 
 abbots, passed over into Hy and pulled down this new 
 monastery ; and Awley O'Ferrall was elected Abbot of Hy 
 by the suffrages both of the Foreigners and GaedhiL This 
 points to an attempt made by the foreign influence to eject 
 the Irish monks from Hy ; but for once it signally failed. 
 The last entry in our Annals records the death of Flann 
 O'Brolchain, the last Irish Abbot of Hy, in the year 
 A.D. 1219. Thenceforward it ceased to be Irish, and became 
 a purely Scottish monastery and remained so until the 
 Reformation. 
 
 IV. GELASIUS. 
 
 We cannot pass away from the School of Derry without 
 some reference to one of the most distinguished men it 
 ever produced the celebrated Gelasius, who succeeded 
 St. Malachy in the See of Armagh. He was one of that 
 noble band of prelates who, with Celsus, and St. Malachy 
 at their head, did so much for the true reformation of the 
 Irish Church in discipline and morals during the half-century 
 that immediately preceded the advent of the Anglo-Normans 
 to our shores. 
 
 Gelasius in his native tongue was called Gilla Mac Liag, 
 and also Gilla Mac Liag Mic R-uaidhre. The term Mac 
 Liag is commonly taken to mean the ' son of the scholar ; ' 
 and Harris assures us that he was so called because his father
 
 GELASIUS. 359 
 
 was esteemed a man of learning and the most considerable 
 poet of his age. He is sometimes called Diarmaid, which 
 explains why his son is called Gilla Mac Liag Mic 
 Ruaidhri, that is the youngster, the son of the scholar, who 
 was the soix of Ruaidhri. We know nothing further of his 
 family or hirth-place, but Colgan, who had excellent means 
 of obtaining information, states he was born in A.D. 1088. It 
 is obvious that he was a native of some territory near Derry, 
 and he received his early education in that monastic school, 
 for we find him while still very young holding the important 
 position of airchinneach or erenach as it is frequently spelled 
 of that monastery. It is not improbable that his father, the 
 poet, was connected with the same monastery, if he did not 
 hold the same office. It was one which at this period might 
 be held by a layman, or even by a woman, if we may credit 
 the statement of the Four Masters, that Bebhinn, who died in 
 A.D. 1134, whilst Gelasius was Abbot of Derry, was the 
 female erenach of that monastery. Gelasius became Abbot of 
 Derry in A.D. 1120 or 1121 ; and held that important office 
 for sixteen years. He must have given general satisfaction 
 in his government; of Derry, for he was called by the voice of 
 the clergy and nobles and with the assent of St. Malachy 
 himself, to succeed that great prelate, when he resigned the 
 primacy of Armagh in A.D. 1137. The reign of Gelasius is 
 remarkable for two things first, the success with which he 
 asserted his jurisdiction as Primate during his visitations in 
 all parts of Ireland, and secondly for his zeal in holding 
 Synods to correct abuses and reform the morals both of the 
 clergy and of the people. 
 
 During the centuries preceding the twelfth century, 
 which was a period of reform, the jurisdiction of the Primate 
 was practically in abeyance. If it was recognised at all in the 
 South of Ireland, it was certainly merely nominal. This 
 arose from many causes the troubles of the times, the 
 rivalry of the native princes, the ravages of the Danes, and 
 the intrusion of laymen into the See of Armagh, who claimed 
 to inherit the jurisdiction of St. Patrick to the great disgust 
 of all well disposed persons, both clergy and laity, throughout 
 Ireland. 
 
 The great Brian Boru did much to cause the primatial 
 authority to be recognised and respected once more in the 
 South as well as in the North of Ireland. When the great 
 ' Imperator of the Scots,' himself from the South of Ireland, 
 came and laid his gifts on the altar of Armagh, and after- 
 wards ordered his body to be buried there, it was a recognition
 
 360 THE LATEE COLUMBIAN SCHOOLS IN IRELAND. 
 
 of the prlmatial rights of Patrick's See which, none could 
 affect to ignore or to despise. 
 
 Then during the next century Providence raised up a 
 line of great and holy prelates in Armagh Celsus, Malachy, 
 and Gelasius men of courage, learning, energy, and filled 
 with the apostolic spirit, who expelled the intruders, vindi- 
 cated the rights, and, by their conduct and character even 
 more than by words, asserted the dignity of the primatial 
 See. 
 
 Gelasius had certainly his own share in this noble work. 
 The very year after his accession to the See of Armagh he 
 made a formal visitation throughout the Province of Munster, 
 and was everywhere received with honour and loaded with 
 gifts. 
 
 The next year he went to Connaught, where he was also 
 received with all honour and obedience. Torlough O'Conor 
 was then King of Connaught ; and claimed to be High King 
 of Ireland. He successfully asserted his claim by over- 
 running Munster, Meath, and Leinster in succession ; he 
 even penetrated into Oriel and threatened Ailech itself. But 
 he received the Primate Gelasius with the most profound 
 respect ; he gave him efficient protection in his journeys 
 through the province, and seems to have also assisted him in 
 carrying out his schemes of reform. In fact, whether it was 
 because he wanted to correct abuses, or liked his treatment 
 beyond the Shannon, the Primate visited that province no 
 less than four different times before his death. 
 
 Gelasius was no less zealous in convening and presiding 
 over Synods for the maintenance of discipline and the extir- 
 pation of abuses. 
 
 The earliest of these was held at Holmpatrick by the 
 Primate and St. Malachy in A.D. 1148. It is called by the 
 Four Masters Inis-Padraig, but the place is the same the 
 small island near Skerries, now called Holm-Patrick, or 
 Patrick's Island. Its object was to make formal application 
 to the Pope in the name of the Irish Church for a pallium or 
 pall for each of the archbishops both of the old and new 
 creation. St. Malachy set out for France to meet the Pope, 
 as we have already seen, but died on his way at Clairvaux on 
 the 2nd of November in the same year. 
 
 The object, however, was not lost sight of either by the 
 Pope or the Primate. Cardinal John Paparo landed in 
 Ireland in A.D. 1151, and went straight to Armagh to meet 
 the Primate, with whom he remained for a week making 
 arrangements for the coming Synod. It was held at Kells,
 
 GELAS1US. 361 
 
 not Drogheda or Mellifont, in the spring of next year, 
 A.D. 1152, and was attended by twenty-two bishops and five 
 bishops elect, with a large number some 300 or more of 
 the clergy of the Second Order, both secular and regular. 
 We cannot here enter into the many interesting questions 
 connected with this Synod. It is enough to say that whilst 
 formally recognising the superiority of Armagh as the 
 Primatial See, four palls were granted by the Cardinal 
 Legate, thus legally constituting four archbishops in Ireland 
 for the first time. It is, however, only in this legal and 
 technical sense that Gelasius can be described as the ' first 
 Archbishop of Armagh.' Other regulations were also made 
 at this Synod, two of which are especially noticed. It was 
 ordered by the Synod to put away all concubines from men 1 
 not from the clergy, as Moore falsely says ; and also to pay 
 tithes according to the usage of the Church elsewhere. This 
 is the first reference to tithes we find in our Annals, and it is 
 said that even the clergy did not care to introduce this new 
 system of getting a maintenance. 
 
 The zealous Primate held anqther Synod at Mellifont in 
 A.D. 1157, partly to have the new monastic church of the 
 parent Cistercian House consecrated with greater solemnity, 
 and partly to pronounce sentence of excommunication 
 against Donogh O'Melaghlin for his impiety and contempt of 
 the Primate's authority. We are not acquainted with the 
 full particulars ; but this public act by which the Prince of 
 Meath was solemnly excommunicated and deposed, and his 
 brother appointed by the bishops and the princes in his stead, 
 shows that the Primate was a man of vigour, who was 
 resolved to adopt energetic measures to assert his own 
 authority. 
 
 Next year we find Gelasius holding another Synod at a 
 place called Brigh Mac-Taidgh, near Trim, in Meath. Twenty 
 five bishops were present, with Christian of Lismore, the 
 Papal Legate in Ireland. The Connaught Bishops were 
 unable to attend, because they were robbed and maltreated 
 near Clonmacnoise on their way to the Synod by a party of 
 soldiers belonging to that very Diarmaid O'Melaghlin, whom 
 the Synod of Mellifont had named King of Meath the 
 previous year. This incident shows the violent and lawless 
 spirit of the times, and how necessary it was for the Primate 
 to vindicate to the utmost of his power the authority of the 
 Church, which alone could keep these fierce and bloodthirsty 
 
 a See Four Masters, A.D. 1152.
 
 362 THE LATER COLUMBIAN SCHOOLS IN IRELAND. 
 
 princes in check. It was at this Synod, as we have already 
 se :n,that a Bishop's Chair was set for O'Flaherty O'Brolchain, 
 who was on that occasion formally created, with the assent of 
 the Legate, first Bishop of Deny. 
 
 A few years later in A.D. 1162, the venerable Gelasius 
 presided at another Synod at Clane in Magh Liflfe the 
 north of the present County Kildare. It was at this Synod 
 the important decree was passed, which required all the 
 Fer-leigJiinn, or professors throughout Ireland, to graduate in 
 the great School of Armagh. This decree more than any- 
 thing else shows the far seeing wisdom of the Primate. The 
 School of Armagh was under his own immediate direction 
 and control, so that he conld secure a thorough and orthodox 
 training in theology for the students. Then by requiring 
 the professors from all the other schools to attend lectures 
 at Armagh, he secured at once uniformity of system, and 
 soundness of doctrine in all the other schools where the 
 clergy of the Irish Church were being trained fqr the 
 ministry. At the same time it was a recognition that as 
 Armagh was the seat of authority, it was^lso the mistress of 
 sound theology. It is quite' evident that Gelasius was a man 
 far superior to his contemporaries in wisdom and the science 
 of government. 
 
 In the same year he had the satisfaction of consecrating 
 the great St. Laurence O'Toole to be Archbishop of Dublin 
 the first prelate of that See that was ever consecrated in 
 Ireland. It is clear that the Primate was resolved not to 
 tolerate any longer the claim of the Archbishops of Canter- 
 bury to metropolitan jurisdiction in any part of his primacy. 
 
 Yet another great assembly of the clergy and laity was 
 held at Athboy in Meath, in the .year A.D. 1167. Both the 
 Primate and Rory O'Connor, King of Ireland, were present, 
 with many of the prelates and nobles of the North. Its main 
 object seems to have been to restore peace and concord between 
 the native princes, whose fratricidal strife had reddened every 
 green field in their native land, and offered such strong in- 
 ducements to the stranger to conquer and divide their 
 inheritance. 
 
 The Primate saw the danger, and realized it to the full. 
 As he had held a Synod the year before the arrival of the 
 Anglo-Normans to remove the cause of the danger ; so the 
 year after their arrival, that is in A.D. 1170, he held the last 
 Synod of his clergy, and in his own city of Armagh, to 
 concert means to expel the foreigners, before they could 
 secure a foothold in the countrv.
 
 GELASIUS. 363 
 
 The venerable old man was then in the eighty-third 
 year of his age, but his spirit was braver and his mind was 
 clearer than the degenerate children of Niall the Great, 
 whom he gathered round him in his primatial city. He 
 warned them, and he appealed to them in vain. When the 
 day of trial came, and Strongbow with his knights were 
 besieged in Dublin, and by united energetic action might 
 have been driven into the sea more completely than the 
 Danes were at Clontarf, the men of the North were in their 
 native mountains ignobly heedless of their country's fate. 
 
 Alas ! for the aged Grelasius, who had laboured so hard 
 and so long for the Irish Church and the Irish people. He 
 saw the princes of his country bow the knee in homage to 
 the triumphant invader ; he saw her prelates meet in Cashel 
 at his summons to endorse his laws ; he saw her petty 
 chieftains either warring with each other or allied with the 
 Norman. Then, and only then, the old man came from his 
 episcopal city and kissed the hand of Henry in his new 
 capital of Dublin. He had his old white cow driven before 
 him to give him milk, which was his only sustenance. He 
 paid his homage to the king, and then returned home with 
 a sad heart to Patrick's royal City. Two years after he died 
 at the age of eighty-five, and after his death was recognised 
 and honoured as a saint by the entire Church of Ireland.
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 THE SCHOOL OF BANGOR. 
 
 "Our princes of old, when their warfare was over, 
 
 As pilgrims forth wandered ; as hermits found rest. 
 Shall the hand of the stranger their ashes uncover, 
 In Bangor the holy, in Aran the blest ? " 
 
 De Vere. 
 
 ST. COMGALL, who founded the great School of Bangor, 
 though not greatly celebrated for his own learning, was the 
 founder of a school which of all others seems to have exercised 
 the widest influence on the Continent by means of the great 
 scholars which it produced. 
 
 Bangor and Armagh were by excellence the great 
 Northern Schools, just as Clonard was the School of Meath, 
 Glendaloch of Leinster, Lismore of Munster, and Clonmac- 
 noise and Clonfert of Connaught. For it must be born in 
 mind that Clonmacnoise was founded by St. Ciaran from 
 Roscommon, that he was the patron saint of Connaught, 1 and 
 that until a comparatively recent period it formed a portion 
 of the Western Ecclesiastical Province. The influence of the 
 other schools, however, was mainly felt at home, or to some 
 extent in England, Scotland and Germany; but the influence 
 of Bangor was felt in France, Switzerland and Italy, and 
 not only in ancient times but down to the present day. 
 There are great names amongst the missioneries who have 
 gone from other monastic schools in Ireland to preach the 
 Gospel abroad, but if we except St. Columba, who was trained 
 at many schools in Ireland, there are no other names so 
 celebrated as St. Columbanus, the founder of Luxeuil and 
 Bobbio, and St. Gall, who has given his name to an equally 
 celebrated Monastery and Canton in Switzerland. It is, then, 
 highly interesting and instructive to trace the origin and 
 influence of this famous Irish school. 
 
 I. ST. COMGALL OF BANGOR. 
 
 St. Comgall, the founder of Bangor, was a native of the 
 territory anciently called Benna Boirche, or Mourne, the 
 name of that wild but beautiful mountain district extending 
 
 1 See the poem from the Siltair na Rann on the Patron Saints of Ireland, 
 Cambr. Eversus, vol. ii., page 779.
 
 ST. COMGALL OF BANGOR. 365 
 
 from Carlingford Lough to the Bay of Dundrum. There is 
 some difference of opinion as to the exact date of his birth, 
 and indeed as to the length of his life ; although all admit 
 that he died in the year A.D. 600 or 601. He seems to have 
 been during his life from boyhood to old age a friend and 
 companion of St. Columcille, and hence if we accept the 
 length of his life given by the Bollandists 1 as eighty years, 
 we may fix his birth at about A.D. 520 which was also the 
 date, or near it, of Columcille's birth. Comgallus, the name 
 by which he was baptized, has been frequently explained to 
 signify the ' lucky pledge ' faustum pignus because he 
 was a child of benediction, the only son of his parents, and 
 born, too, when they were advanced in years. As usual in the 
 case of our Irish saints, several prodigies are said to have 
 taken place both before and shortly after his birth. His 
 father was Sedna, a small chief of the district then known as 
 Dalaradia or Dalaray ; his mother was a devout matron 
 called Briga, who is said to have been warned before his 
 birth to retire from the world, because her offspring was 
 destined in future days to become a great saint of God. These 
 pious parents took him to be baptized by a blind old priest, 
 called Fehlim, who knew, however, by heart, the proper 
 method of administering the Sacrament of Baptism. There 
 being no water at hand a miraculous stream burst forth from 
 the soil, and the old priest feeling the presence of the divine 
 influence washed his face in the stream, and at once recovered 
 his sight, after which he baptized the child and gave him the 
 appropriate name of Comgall. This is only one of the num- 
 berless miracles recorded in the two lives of St. Comgall, 
 given by the Bollandists, but it will not be necessary for our 
 purpose to refer to them in detail. 
 
 The boy in his youth was sent to work in the fields, and 
 seems to have assisted his parents with great alacrity in all 
 their domestic concerns. When he grew up a little more he 
 was sent to learn the Psalms and other divine hymns from a 
 teacher in the neighbourhood, whose precepts were much 
 better than his example. The young child of grace, however, 
 was not led away from the path of virtue ; on the contrary, he 
 seems in his own boyish way to have given gentle hints to 
 his teacher that his life was not what it ought to be. On one 
 occasion, for instance, Comgall rolled his coat in the mud 
 and coming before his master, the latter said to him, "Is it 
 not a shame to soil your coat so?" " Is it not a greater 
 
 1 In the Second Life.
 
 366 THE SCHOOL OF BAXGOR. 
 
 shame," replied Comgall, " for any one to soil his soul and 
 body by sin ? " The teacher took the hint and was silent ; 
 but the lesson was unheeded, and so the holy youth resolved 
 to seek elsewhere a holier preceptor. 
 
 This was about the year A.D. 545. At that time a young 
 and pre-eminently holy man, named Fintau, had established 
 a monastery at a place called Cluain-eidnech, now Clonenagh, 
 near Mountrath, in the Queen's County. The fame of this 
 infant monastery had spread far and wide over the face of the 
 land ; for although in many places in those days of holiness 
 there was strict rule, and poor fare, and rigid life, yet Fintau 
 of Clonenagh seems to have been the strictest and poorest and 
 most rigid of them all. He would not allow even a cow to be 
 kept for the use of his monks consequently they had no 
 milk, no butter ; neither had they eggs, nor cheese, nor fat, 
 nor flesh of any kind. They had a Little corn, and herbs, 
 and plenty of water near at hand, for the bogs and marshes 
 round their monastic cells were frequently flooded by the 
 many tributaries of the infant Nore coming down from the 
 slopes of the Slieve-bloom mountains. They had plenty of 
 hard work, too, in the fields tilling the barren soil, and in 
 the woods cutting down timber for the buildings of the 
 monastery as well as for firewood, and then drawing it home 
 in loads on their backs, or dragging it after them over the 
 uneven soil. The discipline of this monastery was so severe 
 and the food of the monks so wretched that the neighbouring 
 saints thought it prudent to come and beg the Abbot Fintan 
 to relax a little of the extreme severity of his discipline, 
 which was more than human nature could endure. The 
 abbot, though unwilling to relax his own fearful austerities in 
 the least, consented at the earnest prayer of St. Canice to 
 modify the severity of his discipline to some extent for the 
 others, and they were no doubt not unwilling to get the 
 relaxation. 
 
 It speaks well for the love of holy penance shown by 
 these young Christians of Ireland that in spite of its severe 
 discipline this monastery was crowded with holy inmates 
 from all parts of the country, and amongst the rest came 
 Comgall from his far-off Dalaradian home to become a disciple 
 of this school of labour and penance. 
 
 He remained a considerable time under the guidance of 
 the holy Fintan, the Benedict of our Irish Church, who, 
 although his " senior," or superior in religion, was probably 
 about his own age in years. There is little doubt that it was 
 from Fintan, Comgall learned those lessons of humility and
 
 ST. COMGALL OF BANGOR. 367 
 
 obedience which, as we know from his Rule and from his 
 disciples, he afterwards taught with so much, effect to others. 
 His teacher then advised him to return to his own country, 
 and propagate amongst his kindred in Dalaray the lessons of 
 virtue which he had learned at Clonenagh. 
 
 Hitherto it seems Comgall had received no holy orders. 
 He was a monk and a perfect one, of mature age too, but in 
 his great humility he had hitherto declined the responsibilities 
 of the priesthood. Now, however, he resolved to pay a visit 
 to Clonmacnoise, which is not very far to the north-west of 
 Clonenagh. Its holy founder, Kieran, was scarcely alive at 
 this time, for he died in A.D. 544 ; but then, and long after, 
 the fame of the school was great, and crowds of holy men 
 were attracted to its walls. Here Comgall was induced to 
 receive the priesthood from the holy Bishop Lugadius, and 
 after a short stay he returned northward to his own country. 
 This was probably about A.D. 550, or perhaps a little later. 
 
 Some authorities place the foundation of Bangor at this 
 time ; but it must be understood only in a very qualified 
 sense at this early date. Comgall was now, indeed, a famous 
 saint himself, and likely enough, companions came to place 
 themselves under his spiritual guidance. But we are ex- 
 pressly told that for some time after his return he went about 
 preaching the Gospel to the people, especially amongst his 
 own kith and kin, and in all probability this took place 
 before he established his monastery at least on any permanent 
 footing at Bangor. But the holy man longed for the solitary 
 life, and so we are told that he retired to an island in Lough 
 Erin, called INSULA CTTSTODIARIA, or, as we should now say, 
 Jail Island, and there he practised such austerities that seven 
 of the brethren who accompanied him died of cold and hunger. 
 He was then induced to relax bis penances and fastings; and 
 shortly after, it seems, at the earnest prayer of his iriends, 
 he was again persuaded to leave Jail Island and return to 
 Dalaray. This was about the year A.D. 559, which seems to 
 be the most probable date of the founding of Bangor, 
 although the Four Masters fix it so early as A.D. 552. 
 
 Bangor is very beautifully situated. It is about seven 
 miles from Belfast, on the southern shore of Belfast Lough, 
 in the County Down, and may be reached either by rail or 
 steamer. It commands a fine view of Carrickfergus on the 
 opposite shore of the bay, with the bold cliffs of Black Head 
 further seaward ; to the right across the narrow sea the bleak 
 bluffs of Galloway are distinctly visible, and far away due 
 north in the dim distance, the Mull of Cantire frowns over a
 
 368 THE SCHOOL OF BANGOR. 
 
 wild and restless sea. "We saw this fair scene on a fine day in 
 June, when the sun lit up the steeples of Carrickfergus, and 
 glanced brightly over the transparent waters, so deeply and 
 purely blue, whose wavelets played amongst the bare quartz ite 
 rocks, and we felt that if the old monks who chose Bangor 
 to be their home loved God they loved nature also. Most of 
 all they loved the great sea ; it was for them the most vivid 
 image of God ; in its anger, its beauty, its power, its immen- 
 sity, they felt the presence, and they saw, though dimly, the 
 glory of the Divine Majesty. It was on the shore of this 
 beautiful bay, sheltered from the south-western winds, but 
 open to the north-east, that Comgall built his little church 
 and cell. Crowds of holy men, young and old, soon gathered 
 round him ; they too, without much labour, built themselves 
 little cells of timber or wattles ; the whole was then sur- 
 rounded by a spacious fosse and ditch, which was their 
 enclosure, and thus the establishment became complete. If 
 St. Bernard in his Life of St. Malachy was rightly informed, 
 it is clear that there were no stone buildings in ancient 
 Bangor before the time of St. Malachy ; and even he, when 
 restoring the place, with some of his companions, only built 
 a small oratory of wood which was finished in a few days. 
 
 Not its buildings, however, but its saints and its scholars, 
 were the glory of Bangor. St. Columba from his home in 
 lona came more than once, with some of his followers, to 
 visit Comgall and his good monks. On one of these 
 occasions one of the brothers died during the voyage, and 
 the corpse at first was left in the boat whilst the monks with 
 Columba went to the monastery. Comgall received them 
 with great delight, washed their feet, and on asking if all 
 had come in, Columba said one brother remained in the boat. 
 The holy man Comgall going down in haste to fetch the 
 brother found him dead, and perhaps thinking it might have 
 happened through his neglect, besought ihe Lord, and calling 
 upon the monk to rise up and come to his brothers, the dead 
 man obeyed. Walking to the monastery Comgall perceived 
 that he was blind in one eye, and telling him to wash his 
 face in the stream that still flows down to the sea from the 
 church, he did so, and at once recovered his sight. St. 
 Comgall brought back the brother from the grave, and, 
 moreover, restored to him his eyesight. In this age of ours 
 we are apt to smile at such miracles as these, because ours is 
 not an age of faith ; and the incredulity of the world around 
 us make us incredulous also. Yet our Saviour said to his 
 disciples (Luke xvii. v. 6), " If you had faith like to a grain
 
 ST. COMGALL OF BANGOR 369 
 
 of mustard seed, you might say to this mulberry tree, be 
 thou rooted up, and be thou transplanted, into the sea, and it 
 would obey you." I doubt if any of our Irish Saints ever 
 did anything apparently so foolish as this, yet even this they 
 could do in the greatness of their faith. 
 
 St. Comgall paid a return visit to Columba, and it is said 
 that he even found a Church in the Island of Heth, now 
 called Tiree, one of the western isles to the north of lona. 
 He also accompanied Columba in the famous visit which he 
 paid to King Brude, the Pictish King, who, at the approach 
 of the saints, shut himself up in his fortress on the shore of 
 the river Inverness. But Columba signed the sign of the 
 cross, and the barred doors flew open in the name of Christ ; 
 and the pagan King of the Picts, fearing with a great fear, 
 allowed the saints to preach the Gospel to his subjects. 
 
 A man so famous for holiness and miracles, soon attracted 
 great crowds to Bangor. St. Bernard in his Life of St. 
 Malachy says that " this noble institution was inhabited by 
 many thousands of monks." Joceline, of Furness, a writer 
 of the twelfth century, says that " Bangor was a fruitful vine 
 breathing the odour of salvation, and that its offshoots ex- 
 tended not only over all Ireland, but far beyond the seas into 
 foreign countries, and filled many lands with its abounding 
 fruitfulness." In the time of the Danes we are told, on the 
 authority of St. Bernard, that nine hundred monks of Bangor 
 vvere slain by these pirates an appalling slaughter, but not 
 at all an unusual, much less an incredible massacre, for the 
 North men to perpetrate. The second life given by the 
 Bollandists says distinctly that in the various cells and 
 monasteries under his care, Comgall had no less than three 
 thousand monks ; but this it seems is to be understood of all 
 his disciples in other monasteries as well as in Bangor. 
 
 Amongst these disciples, besides Columbanus and his 
 companions, of whom we shall presently speak, were Lua, 
 called also Mo-Lua, the founder of Clonfert-Molua, now 
 Clonfert-Mulloe, in the Queen's County, and St. Carthagh, 
 founder of the great School of Lismore, which became almost 
 as famous as Bangor itself. Luanus from Bangor, who 
 seems to be the same as Molua, is said by St. Bernard to 
 have founded a hundred monasteries a statement that seems 
 somewhat exaggerated. Even kings gave up their crowns 
 and came to Banger to live as humble monks under the 
 blessed Comgall. 
 
 Special mention is made of Cormac, King of Hy-Bairrche, 
 in Northern Leinster. That prince had been freed from the 
 
 2A
 
 370 THE SCHOOL OF BANGOR. 
 
 fetters in which lie was held by the King of Hy-Kinselagh 
 at the earnest intercession of St. Fiutan of Clonenagh. Before 
 his death, however, he retired to Bangor, and in spite of 
 great temptations to return to the world, he persevered to 
 the end in the service of God, under the care of Comgall, 
 to whom he gave large domains in Leinster for the endow- 
 ment of religious houses. Comgall, according to some 
 authorities, ruled over Bangor for fifty years, others say for 
 thirty, which is more likely to be true, and died on the 
 13th of May, A.D. 600, at his own monastery of Bangor, in 
 the midst of his children, after he had received the Yiaticum 
 from the hands of St. Fiacra of Conwall, in Donegal, who 
 was divinely inspired to visit the dying saint, and administer 
 to him the last rites of the Church. His blessed body was 
 afterwards enclosed by the same Fiacra, in a shrine adorned 
 with gold and precious stones, which subsequently became 
 the spoil of the Danish pirates. 
 
 That literature, both sacred and profane, was successfully 
 cultivated at Bangor, will be made evident from the writings 
 of the great scholars whom it produced, even during the life- 
 time of its blessed founder. Humility and obedience, however, 
 were even more dearly prized than learning. It was a rule 
 amongst the monks that when any person was rebuked by 
 another at Bangor, whether justly or not, he immediately 
 prostrated himself on the ground in token of submission. 
 They bore in mind that word of the Gospel, " If one strike 
 thee on the right cheek, turn also to him the other." But 
 the career of the great Columbanus will prove that when 
 there was question of denouncing crime against God, or 
 adhering to the traditions of the holy founders of the Irish 
 Church, the monks of Bangor were men of invincible firm- 
 ness, who felt the full force of the Apostolic maxim we 
 must obey God rather than man. In the question of cele- 
 brating Easter, according to their ancient usage, this firmness 
 bordered on pertinacity ; but it was excusable seeing that it 
 sprung from no schismatical spirit, but from a conscientious 
 adhesion to the ancient practice of the Church of St. Patrick. 
 
 II. ST. COLUMBANUS. 
 
 St. Columbanus was the great glory of the school of 
 Bangor. He is one of the most striking figures of his age ; 
 his influence has been even felt down to our own times. The 
 libraries which contain manuscripts written by his mcnks 
 are ransacked for these literary treasures, and the greatest
 
 ST. COLUMBANUS. 371 
 
 scholars of France and Germany study the Celtic glosses 
 which the monks of Columbanus jotted down on the margins 
 or between the leaves of their manuscripts. 
 
 We cannot dwell at length on the facts of his life, striking 
 and interesting as his marvellous career undoubtedly is. 
 His Life, published by Surius, was written by an Italian 
 monk of Bobbio, called Jonas, at the request of his ecclesias- 
 tical superiors, and though full enough in details regarding 
 his career on the Continent, it is meagre as to facts of his 
 youth in Ireland. It is, however, so far as it goes, authentic, 
 for the informants of Jonas were the members of his own 
 community of Bobbio, who were companions of the saint, and 
 eye-witnesses of what they relate. 
 
 Columbanus, or Columba, was the Latin name given to 
 the saint, probably on account of the sweetness of his disposi- 
 tion. For although in the cause of God he was impetuous, 
 and sometimes even headstrong, we are told that to his 
 companions and associates he was ever gracious and quiet as 
 the dove. We know for certain that he was a native of West 
 Leinster, and born about the year A.D. 543 1 if not earlier, for 
 he was at least 72 years at his death in A.D. 615. In his 
 boyhood he gave himself up with great zeal and success to 
 the study of grammar, and of the other liberal arts then 
 taught in our Irish schools, including geometry, arithmetic, 
 dialects, astronomy, rhetoric, and music. He was a hand- 
 some youth, too, well-shaped and prepossessing in appearance, 
 fair and blue-eyed like most of the nobles of the Scots. 
 This was to him a source of great danger, for at least one 
 young maiden strove to win the affections of the handsome 
 scholar, and wean his heart from God. Old Jonas, the writer 
 of the life, shudders at the thought of the danger to which 
 Columbanus was exposed, and the devilish snares that were 
 laid for his innocence. The youth himself was fully sensible 
 of his danger, and sought the counsel of a holy virgin who 
 lived in a hermitage hard by. At first he spoke with 
 hesitation and humility, but afterwards with confidence and 
 courage, which showed that he was a youth of high spirit, 
 and therefore all the more in danger. " What need," replied 
 the virgin, " to seek my counsel. I myself have fled the 
 world, and for fifteen years have remained shut up in this 
 cell. Remember the warning examples of David, Samson, 
 and Solomon, who were led astray by the love of women. 
 There is no security for you except in flight." The youth 
 
 1 Cardinal Moran thinka he was bora as early as A.D. 530.
 
 372 THE SCHOOL OF BANGOR. 
 
 was greatly terrified by this solemn warning, and bidding 
 farewell to his parents, resolved to leave home and retire for 
 his soul's sake to some religious house where he would be 
 secure. His mother, with tears, besought him to stay ; she 
 even threw herself on the threshold before him, but the boy, 
 declaring that whoever loved his father or mother more than 
 Christ, is unworthy of him, stepped aside, and left his home 
 and his parents, whom he never saw again. 
 
 He went straight to Cluaninis, in Lough Erne, whose 
 hundred islets in those days were the homes of holy men, who 
 gave themselves up to prayer, penance, and sacred study. 
 An old man named Sinell, was at that time famous for holiness 
 and learning, and so Columbanus placed himself under his 
 care, and made great progress both in profane learning, and 
 especially in the study of the Sacred Scriptures. 
 
 At this time the fame of Bangor was great throughout 
 the land : so Columbanus leaving his master Sinell of Lough 
 Erne, came to Comgall, and prostrating himself before the 
 abbot, begged to be admitted amongst his monks. The 
 request was granted at once, and Columbanus, as we are 
 expressely informed, spent many years in that great monastery 
 by the sea, going through all the literary and religious 
 exercises of the community with much fervour and exactness. 
 This was the spring-time of his life, in which he sowed the 
 seeds of that spiritual harvest, which France and Italy after- 
 wards reaped in such abundance. His rule was the Rule of 
 Bangor. His learning was the learning of Bangor. His 
 spirit was the spirit of Bangor. 
 
 TVhen fully trained in knowledge and piety, Columbanus 
 sought his abbot Comgall, and begged leave to go, like so 
 many of his countrymen, on a pilgrimage for Christ. It was 
 the impulse of the Celtic mind from the beginning it is so 
 still the Irish are a nation of apostles. It is not a mere 
 love of change or foreign travel, or tedium of home ; no, the 
 pilgrimage, or peregrinatio, was essentially undertaken to 
 spread the Gospel of Christ. The holy abbot Comgall gladly 
 assented. He gave him his leave and his blessing, and 
 Columbanus, taking with him twelve companions, prepared 
 to cross the sea. Money they had none : they needed none. 
 The only treasure they took with them was their books slung 
 over their shoulders in leathern satchels, and so with their 
 staves in their hands, and courage in. their hearts, they set 
 out from their native country, never to return. At first 
 they went to England, and traversing that country, where 
 it seems, too, they were joined by some associates, they
 
 ST. COLUMBANUS. 373 
 
 found means to cross the channel and came to Gaul, about 
 the year A.D. 575. 
 
 The apostolic man with his companions at once set about 
 preaching the Gospel in the half -Christian towns and villages 
 of Gaul. Poor, half-naked, hungry, their lives were a ser- 
 mon ; but moreover, Columbanus was gifted with great 
 eloquence, and a sweet persuasive manner that no one could 
 resist. They were everywhere received as men of God, and 
 the fame of their holiness and miracles even came to the 
 court of Sigebert, King of Austrasia, of which Metz was the 
 capital. He pressed them to stay in.his dominions, but they 
 would not. They went their way southward through a wild 
 and desert country, preaching and teaching, healing and 
 converting, until they came to the court of Gontran, grand- 
 son of Clovis, at that time King of Burgundy one of the 
 three kingdoms into which the great monarchy of Clovis had 
 come to be sub-divided. 
 
 Gontran received the missionaries with a warm welcome, 
 and at first established them at a place called Annegray, 
 where there was an old Roman castle in the modern depart- 
 ment of the Haute-Saone. The king offered them both food 
 and money, but these things they declined, and such was their 
 extreme poverty, that they were often forced to live for 
 weeks together on the herbs of the field, on the berries, and 
 even the bark of the trees. Columbanus used from time to 
 time bury himself alone in the depths of the forest, heedless 
 of hunger, which stared him in the face, and of the wild 
 beasts that roamed around him, trusting altogether to the 
 good providence of God. He became even the prince of the 
 wild animals. The birds would pick the crumbs from 
 his feet ; the squirrels would hide themselves under his 
 cowl ; the hungry wolves harmed him not ; he slept in a 
 cave where a bear had its den. Once a week a boy would 
 bring him a little bread or vegetables : he needed nothing 
 else. He had no companion. The Bible transcribed, no 
 doubt, at Bangor with his own hand, was his only study 
 and his highest solace. Thus for weeks, and even months, 
 he led a life, like John the Baptist in the wilderness, wholly 
 divine. 
 
 Meanwhile the number of disciples in the monastery at 
 the old ruined castle of Annegray daily increased, and it 
 became necessary to seek a more suitable site for a larger 
 community. Here too the Burgundian King Gontran proved 
 himself the generous patron of Columbanus and his monks. 
 There was at the foot of the Vosges mountains, where warm
 
 374 THE SCHOOL OF BANGOR. 
 
 medicinal springs pour out a healing stream, an old Roman 
 settlement called Luxeuil. But it was now a desert. The 
 broken walls of the ancient villas were covered with shrubs 
 and weeds. The woods had extended from the slopes of the 
 mountains down to the valleys covering all the country 
 round. There was no population, no tillage, no arable land ; 
 it was all a savage forest, filled with wolves, bears, foxes, and 
 wild cats. Not a promising site for a monastic settlement, 
 but such a place exactly as Columba and his companions 
 desired. They wanted solitude, they loved labour, and they 
 would have plenty of both. In a few years a marvellous 
 change came over the "scene. The woods were cleared, the 
 lands were tilled, fields of waving corn rewarded the labour 
 of the monks, and smiling vineyards gave them wine for the 
 sick and for the holy Sacrifice. The noblest youths of the 
 Franks begged to be admitted to the brotherhood, and gladly 
 took their share in the daily round of prayer, penance, and 
 ceaseless toil. They worked so long that they fell asleep from 
 fatigue when walking home. They slept so little that it was 
 a new penance to tear themselves from the mats on which 
 they lay. But the blessing of God was upon them ; they 
 grew in numbers, and in holiness, and in happiness, not the 
 happiness of men who love this world, but the happiness of 
 those who truly serve God, 
 
 But now a sore trial was nigh. God wished to purify his 
 servants by suffering, and to extend to other lands the sphere 
 of their usefulness. The first trial came from the secular 
 clergy. Those Irish monks were men of virtue and austerity, 
 but they were also in many respects very peculiar. They 
 had a liturgy of their own somewhat different from that in 
 use around them ; they had a queer tonsure, like Simon 
 Magus, it was said, in front from ear to ear, instead of the 
 orthodox and customary crown. Worst of all, it sometimes 
 happened that they celebrated Easter on Palm Sunday, so 
 that they were singing their alleluias when all the churches 
 of the Franks were in the mourning of Passion time. Re- 
 monstrance was useless ; they adhered tenaciously to their 
 country's usages ; nothing could convince them that what 
 St. Patrick and the saints of Ireland had handed down to 
 them could by any possibility be wrong. They only wanted 
 to be let alone. They did not desire to impose their usages 
 on others. Why should others impose their usages on themr' 
 They had a right to be allowed to live in peace in their wil- 
 derness, for they injured no man, and they prayed for all. 
 Thus it was that Columbanus reasoned, or rather remon-
 
 ST. COLUMBANUS. 375 
 
 strated, with a synod of French bishops that objected to his 
 practices. His letters to them and to Pope Gregory the 
 Great on the subject of this Paschal question are still extant, 
 and he cannot be justified in some of the expressions which 
 he uses. He tells the bishops in effect in one place that they 
 would be better employed in enforcing canonical discipline 
 amongst their own clergy, than in discussing the Paschal 
 question with him and his monks. Yet here and there he 
 speaks not only with force and freedom, but also with true 
 humility and genuine eloquence. He. implores the prelates 
 in the most solemn language to let him and his brethren live 
 in peace and charity in the heart of their silent woods, beside 
 the bones of their seventeen brothers who were dead, "Surely 
 it is better for you," he says r " to comfort than to disturb us, 
 poor old men, strangers, too, in , your midst. Let us rather 
 love one another in the charity of Christ, striving to fulfil 
 his precepts, and thereby secure a place in the assembly of 
 the just made perfect in heaven." 
 
 Language of this character, .used, too, in .justification of 
 practices harmless in themselves, but not in accordance with 
 the prevalent discipline of the Church at the time, was by no 
 means well calculated to beget affection towards the strangers 
 in the minds of the Frankish clergy. Other troubles, too, 
 soon arose. The , young king of Austrasia, Thierry, encour- 
 aged by Brunehaut, his infamous Queen-mother, repudiated 
 his lawful wife and gave himself up to the most scandalous 
 debauchery. Columbanus admonished, remqnstrated, rebuked 
 in vain. Finding his efforts fruitless, he denied the guilty 
 pair admission to his monastery, and thereupon they resolved 
 to expel him and his monks from, the kingdom. 
 
 For the present, however, he was only ma.de a prisoner, 
 and conducted to Besangon, where he was kept under surveil- 
 lance, until one da}', looking with longing to his beloved 
 Luxeuil, and seeing no one at. hand to prevent him, he 
 descended the steep cliff which overhangs the river Doubs, 
 and returned to his monastery. When the king heard of his 
 return, he sent imperative orders to have him and all his 
 companions from Ireland and Britain forcibly removed from 
 the monastery, and conveyed home to their own country. 
 The soldiers presented themselves at Luxeuil when the holy 
 man was in the choir with his monks. They told him their 
 orders, and begged him to come voluntarily with them they 
 were unwilling to resort to force. At first he refused ; but 
 lest the soldiers might be punished for not resorting to that 
 violence which they were unwilling to make use of, he finally
 
 376 THE SCHOOL OF BANGOB. 
 
 yielded. He called his Irish brethren around them : " Let 
 us go," he said, " my brothers, in the name of God." It was 
 hard to leave the scene of their labours, their sorrows, and 
 their joys ; hard to leave behind them the graves of the 
 seventeen brethren with whom they had hoped to rest in 
 peace. But go they must ; the soldiers would not for a 
 moment leave them. It was a brief and sad leave-taking 
 Wails of sorrow were heard everywhere for the loss of their 
 beloved father ; brother was torn from brother, friend from 
 friend, never to meet again in this world. Thus it was that 
 Columbanus and his Irish companions left that dear monas- 
 tery of Luxeuil, ana were conducted by the soldiers to Nevers. 
 There, still guarded by the soldiers, they embarked in a boat 
 that conveyed them down the Loire to its mouth, where they 
 would find a ship to convey them back again to Ireland. 
 
 But it was not the will of Providence that Columbanus 
 and his companions, when driven from Luxeuil, should return 
 to Ireland : other work was before them to do. Accordingly, 
 when they came to the mouth of the Loire, their baggage, 
 such as it was, was put OR board, and most of the monks em- 
 barked. But the sea rose mountains high, and the ship which 
 Columbanus intended to rejoin when under weigh, was forced 
 to return to port. A three days' calm succeeded, and the 
 captain, fearing to provoke a new storm, caused the monks 
 and their baggage to be put on shore, for he feared to take 
 them with him. Thus left to themselves, Columbanus and 
 his companions went to h'oissons to Clotaire, King of Neustria, 
 by whom he was received with every kindness and hospitality. 
 The king cordially hated Brunehaut and her grandson his 
 mother, Fredegonda, had murdered Bruuehaut's sister and 
 he was anxious to keep Columbanus in his own kingdom, but 
 the latter would not stay. He pushed on, with his com- 
 panions, to Metz, the capital of Australia, where Theodebert, 
 the brother of Thierrv, then reigned. Here he was joined 
 by several of his old monks from Luxeuil, who preferred to 
 follow their father in his wanderings, to remaining behind in 
 the kingdom of his persecutor. 
 
 Columbanus now resolved to preach the Gospel to the 
 pagan populations on the right bank of the Rhine and its 
 tributary streams. So embarking at Mayence, after many 
 toils and dangers, they came as far as Lake Zurich in 
 Switzerland, and finally established themselves at Bregentz, 
 on the Lake of Constance, where they fixed their head- 
 quarters. The tribes inhabiting these wild and beautiful 
 regions the Suevi and Alemanni were idolaters, though
 
 ST. COLUMBANUS. 377 
 
 nominal subjects of the Austrasian kingdom. "Woden was 
 their God, and they worshipped him with dark mysterious 
 rites, under the shadow of sacred oaks, far in the depths of 
 the forest. Discretion was not a gift of Columbanus, so he 
 not only preached the Gospel amongst them, but axe in 
 hand, he had the courage to cut down their sacred trees ; he 
 burned their rude temples, and cast their fantastic idols into 
 the lake. It was not wise ; the people became enraged, 
 and the missionaries were forced to fly. After struggling for 
 three years to convert this savage people, Columbanus, 
 perceiving that the work was not destined to be accom- 
 plished by him, crossed the snow-covered Alps by the 
 pass of St. Gothard, though now more than seventy 
 years of age, 1 and after incredible toil, succeeded, with 
 a few of his old companions, in making his way to the 
 Court of the Lombard King Agilulph, whose Queen 
 was Theodelinda, famous for beauty, for genius, and for 
 virtue. 
 
 At this time the Lombards were Arians, and Agilulph 
 himself was an Arian, although Queen Theodelinda was a 
 devout Catholic. Mainly, we may assume, through her 
 influence the Arian monarch received the broken down old 
 man and his companions with the utmost kindness, and 
 Columbanus had an ample field for the exercise of his 
 missionary zeal amongst the rude half-Christian population. 
 But first of all it was necessary to have a permanent home 
 and nowhere could he find rest except in solitude. Just 
 at this time a certain Jucundus reminded the King that 
 there was at a place called Bobbio a ruined church once 
 dedicated to St. Peter ; that the place round about was 
 fertile aud well watered with streams, abounding in every 
 kind of fish. It was near the Trebbia, almost at the very 
 spot where Hannibal first felt the rigours of that fierce winter 
 in the snows of the Appenines, so graphically described by 
 Livy. The king gladly gave the place to Columbanus, 
 and the energetic old man set about repairing the ruined 
 church and building his monastery with all that unquench- 
 able ardour that cleared the forests of Luxeuil, and crossed 
 the snows of the Alps. His labours were regarded by his 
 followers as miraculous. The fir trees, cut down in the 
 valleys of the Appenines, which his monks were unable to 
 carry down the steep and rugged ways, when the old man 
 himself came and took a share of the burden, were found to 
 
 1 According to others he was nearly ninety.
 
 378 THE SCHOOL OF BANGOR. 
 
 be no weight. So, speedily and joyfully, with the visible aid 
 of heaven, they completed the task, and built in the valley of 
 the Appenines a monastery, whose name will never be for- 
 gotten by saints or scholars. 
 
 The holy old man lived but one year after he had founded 
 Bobbio. His merits were full ; the work of his life was 
 complete ; he had given his Rule to the new house ; he left 
 behind him some of his old companions to complete his work, 
 and now he was ready to die. To the great grief of the 
 brotherhood, Columbanus passed away to his reward on the 
 eleventh day before the Kalends of December, in the year 
 A.D. 615, probably in the seventy-third year of his age. He 
 was buried beneath the high altar, and long afterwards the 
 holy remains were enclosed in a .stone coffin, and are still 
 preserved in the old monastic Church of Bobbio. 
 
 It is not too much to say , that Ireland never sent a 
 greater son than Columbanus. to do the work of God in 
 foreign lands. He brought forth much fruit and his fruit 
 has remained. For centuries his -influence was dominant in 
 France and in Northern Italy, and even in our own days, 
 bis spirit speaketh from his urn. His deeds have been 
 described by many eloquent tongues and pens, and his 
 writings have been carefully studied to ascertain the secret 
 of his extraordinary influence over his own and subsequent 
 ages. His character was not indeed faultless, but he was 
 consumed with a restless untiring zeal in the service of 
 his Master, which was at once the secret of his power and the 
 source of his mistakes. He was too ardent in character, and 
 almost too zealous in the cause of God. In this respect he 
 is not unlike St. Jerome, but we forget their faults in our 
 admiration for their virtues and their labours. A man more 
 holy, more chaste, more self-denying, a man with loftier 
 aims and purer heart than Columbanus, was never born in 
 the Island of Saints. 
 
 The writings of Columbanus still extant are a Monastic 
 Rule, a Penitential Treatise, sixteen short Sermons or In- 
 structions, six Letters, and a few Latin Poems. 1 
 
 'HheRfffula Coenobialis or Monastic Rule is divided into ten 
 short chapters which treat of the fundamental virtues of the 
 monastic life. It is especially valuable in so far as it affords 
 points of comparison and contact with the more complete 
 and systematic Rule of St. Benedict. In some things it is 
 exceedingly rigorous and very minute in the penances which 
 
 1 See Migne's Patriologia, vol. Lxxx., page 210.
 
 ST. COLUMBANL'S. 379 
 
 it imposes, even on the most venial and semi-deliberate 
 faults. The six first chapters are devoted to the essential 
 virtues of the monastic state obedience, silence, self-denial 
 in the use of meat and drink, poverty and chastity. The 
 maxim cibus monac/wrum sit vilis et vespertinus seems to 
 allow the poor monks only one plain meal in the day, and 
 that after vespers. He inculcates also a daily fast, daily 
 prayer, daily labour, and daily reading x thus including in 
 one sentence the whole routine of monastic life. The Liber 
 de P aenitentiarum Mensura Taxanda is equally rigorous 
 and minute in prescribing penances proportionate to the 
 guilt of the sinner. In those days when there were no 
 elaborate scientific treatises on moral theology, it was very 
 useful to have a work of this kind which apportioned its 
 own penance to almost every class of sin. The confessor or 
 soul's friend was thus enabled to form an estimate sufficient 
 for most practical purposes of the magnitude of the crimes 
 from the amount of the penance. To i'ast for a number of 
 days, weeks, or even years, on bread and water was the stern 
 penance imposed on the sinner, according to the measure of 
 his guilt, by the rigid directors of the early Irish Church. 
 Drunkenness was punished with a comparatively light 
 penance only a week on bread and water. That same 
 would be still of great service if it were rigorously enforced. 
 
 The Sermons have nothing specially characteristic to 
 recommend them. They are, however, brief and to the point, 
 which is more than can be said of many volumes of more 
 modern discourses. 
 
 The Six Letters are perhaps the most valuable of the 
 literary remains of Columbanus, because they reflect most 
 clearly the character of the man and the genius of the Celt. 
 We have already spoken of his letters to Pope Gregory the 
 Great, and to Pope Boniface. Whilst full of respect for the 
 Holy See they exhibit an uncompromising spirit of resolute 
 independence and conscious integrity. The letter on the 
 Paschal question to a certain synod of French Bibhops is 
 written in the same spirit, and reminds the Gallican prelates 
 of some unpleasant truths, which they must have regarded 
 as a very great impertinence coming from a mere Irish monk, 
 who took up his quarters in the hospitable land of France. 
 
 The Latin poems show considerable acquaintance with the 
 language, and are especially valuable as exhibiting the 
 
 1 "Ergo quotidie jejunandum est, sicut quotidie orandum est, quotidie 
 laborandum, quotidie est legendum."
 
 380 THE SCHOOL OF BANGOR. 
 
 classical culture of our Irish schools in the sixth century. 
 Most of them are in hexameter verse, but contain few classical 
 allusions. The prosody is sometimes faulty ; but on the 
 whole it is perhaps better than the pupils or even the profes- 
 sors of our colleges would produce at present if called upon 
 at short notice. 
 
 The shorter Adonic verses are simply marvels of ingenuity, 
 and it shows great familiarity with the Latin language to 
 be able to write an entire letter of about 150 lines in this 
 metre. 
 
 The two most celebrated literary monuments of St. 
 Columbanus and the School of Bangor that have come down 
 to our time are the Bobbio Missal, and the Antiphonary of 
 Bangor, both of which are at present preserved in the 
 Ambrosian Library at Milan. 
 
 The Missal which was brought from Bobbio to Milan by 
 Cardinal Frederic Borromeo is undoubtedly of Irish origin, 
 and was probably brought from Bangor by St. Columbanus 
 himself, or by some one of the Irish monks who accompanied 
 him. We shall not here repeat the critical arguments used 
 by scholars to prove that it was brought from Ireland in the 
 sixth or seventh century. The fact, indeed, is no longer 
 questioned. This Missal is particularly interesting, because 
 it gives us so early a specimen of the liturgy in use in our 
 Irish Church. The Missa Cotidiana of this Bangor Missal 
 has practically the same Canon as that now found in the 
 Roman Missal, and used throughout the entire world. There 
 is greater variety in the prayers, and our Celtic forefathers 
 were fond of inserting a greater number of them in the Mass 
 after the Gloria in Excelsis. They were inclined too to 
 canonize their own local saints, and even sometimes inserted 
 their names in the Litanies and in the Canon of Mass 
 without any authority but their own devotion. This led not 
 only to variety in the public liturgy but sometimes to other 
 grave abuses, which were not eradicated until the time of 
 St. Malachy and other great reformers of Church discipline 
 in the twelfth century. 
 
 Now that we have the Stowe Missal accessible to scholars 
 in the Royal Irish Academy, we may hope for a minute and 
 careful comparison of these two ancient books, in order to 
 trace the beginnings of these discrepancies in the liturgy 
 which was first introduced into Ireland by the Second Order 
 of Saints, and afterwards led to so much inconvenience. 
 
 The Stowe Missal which is so called, we presume, because 
 it was kept so long locked up in the Duke of Buckingham's
 
 DUNGAL. 381 
 
 Stowe Library, is considered to have belonged to the ancient 
 Monastery of Lorrha, in Lower Ormond, Tipperary. Dr. 
 McCarthy, a very competent judge, thinks it represents 
 the ancient Patrician liturgy used by the First Order of the 
 Saints of Erin, whilst Bangor may be supposed to have a 
 Mass in its Missal derived from Wales, or more likely from 
 Candida Casa. The question is a very intricate one, and full 
 of interest, but cannot be discussed at length in these pages. 
 
 The Antiphonarium Benchorense, or Bangor Hymnal, is 
 a collection of ancient hymns in the Latin language, which 
 were in common use in the ancient Church of Ireland. 
 Many of them are contained in the Book of Hymns edited by 
 Todd, to which we have already referred so often. Some of 
 them were in general use throughout the Latin Church, or 
 at least in the early Gallican Church, like the Hymn of 
 St. Hilary. But others seem to have been peculiar to Bangor, 
 and hence have a special interest for us at present. Such 
 was the Hymnus Sancti Comgilli Abbatis Nostri ; also the 
 Hymnus Sancti Camelaci, and another entitled Memoria 
 Abbatum Nostrorum, which has considerable historical 
 interest, inasmuch as it gives a metrical list of the abbots 
 of Bangor down to the time of the writer. These poems, 
 and also the Missa Cotidiana of the Bobbio Missal may be 
 seen in the second volume of Father O'Laverty's excellent 
 History of the Diocese of Down and Connor. 
 
 There is nothing specially interesting in subsequent 
 history of the School of Bangor down to the time of 
 St. Malachy. It was totally destroyed by the Danes, 
 although a nominal succession of abbots was still kept up, 
 whose names are sometimes mentioned in our annals. 
 
 III. DUNGAL. 
 
 Dungal, however, after Columbanus was, perhaps, the 
 greatest glory of the School of Bangor. This distinguished 
 theologian, astronomer, and poet, was one of the Irish exiles 
 of the ninth century who were so highly honoured in the 
 Court of France. His name is not widely known to fame ; 
 yet few men of his time held so high a place in the estima- 
 tion of his contemporaries, or rendered more signal service to 
 the Church. The controversy concerning image worship 
 was carried on with great warmth in the Frankish Empire 
 during the first quarter of the ninth century, and in 
 this contest Dungal was the foremost champion of orthodoxy. 
 He gave the coup de grace to the "Western Iconoclasts ; after 
 his vigorous refutation of Claudius of Turin, they troubled
 
 382 THE SCHOOL OF BANGOR. 
 
 the Church no more. It is well, therefore, to know some- 
 thing of his history. 
 
 That Dungal was an Irishman is now universally 
 admitted. The name itself is conclusive evidence of his 
 nationality. It was quite a common name in Ireland, and 
 seems to have been peculiarly Irish. We know of no 
 foreigner who was called " Dungal ;" but we find from the 
 index volume of the Four Masters, that between the years 
 A.D. 744 and 1015 twenty-two [distinguished Irishmen bore 
 that name. 
 
 In a poem which he composed in honour of his friend and 
 patron, Charlemagne, Dungal calls himself an Irish exile 
 Hibernicus exul. There can hardly be a doubt that he was 
 the author of this beautiful poem to which we shall refer 
 further on. At the close of his life he retired to the Irish 
 monastery of Bobbio, in the north of Italy, founded by 
 Columbanus, to which he left all his books, as we know from 
 Muratori's published list. One of them, according to the 
 opinion of Muratori, was the famous Antiphonary of Bangor t 
 which Dungal brought from that great school at home, and 
 fittingly restored to Irish hands at his death. 
 
 Yet unfortunately we cannot fix the place or date of his 
 birth in Ireland, although the possession of the Bangor 
 Antiphonary leaves little room to doubt that he was educated 
 in the monastic school of St. Com gall. Not a cross, or even 
 a stone, now remains to mark the site of the famous 
 monastery whose crowded cloisters for a thousand years 
 overlooked the pleasant islets and broad waters of Inver 
 Becne j 1 but the fame of the great school which nurtured 
 Columbanus and Gall, and Dungal and Malachycan never die. 
 
 In all probability Dungal left his native country in the 
 opening years of the ninth century. Two causes most likely 
 induced him to leave Ireland, the fame of Charlemagne, as 
 a patron of learned men, and the threatened incursion of the 
 Danes, who were just then beginning their long career of 
 pillage and slaughter in Ireland. 
 
 However, in A.D. 811, we find Dungal in France. In 
 that year he addressed a remarkable letter to Charlemagne 
 on the two solar eclipses which were said to have taken place 
 in the previous year, A.D. 810. He is described at this time 
 as a recluse, that is, one who led a monastic life in solitude ; 
 
 1 Inver Becne was the ancient name of Bangor Bay ; the islands near 
 the shore, in one of which is an ancient graveyard, are now called the 
 Copeland Islands the name of the foreigner who enjoyed the lands of 
 Bangor Abbey. Dr. M'Cormick, the last Abbot of Bangor, died in 
 Maynooth, and is buried in Larahbrine. See Laverty's Down and Connor.
 
 DUNGAL. 383 
 
 he seems, however, to have had some connection with the 
 community of St. Denis, for he evidently recognised the 
 Abbot Waldo as his superior. From the tone of this letter 
 we can also infer that the Great Charles honoured the Irish 
 monk with his intimacy and confidence, and the monarch 
 seems to have the highest opinion of Dungal's learning. He 
 accordingly requested the Abbot Waldo to ask the Irish 
 monk to write an explanation of the two solar eclipses, which 
 are said to have happened in A.D. 810. It is well known 
 that Charles took -a great interest in the advancement of 
 knowledge, and was himself a diligent student. Hence he 
 was anxious to understand that portion 'of divine philosophy, 
 of which Yirgil sang 
 
 "Defectus soils varies lunacq"ue labores." 
 
 Moreover, although there certainly was a solar eclipse on 
 the 30th of November, A.D. 810, visible in Europe, it was 
 alleged by many persons that there had been another eclipse 
 in the same year on the 7th of June, if not visible in Europe, 
 yet certainly visible in other -parts of the world. This last 
 point especially seems to have staggered the scientific faith of 
 the royal scholar, and hence he appealed to his friend Dungal 
 for aH explanation. 
 
 The" letter of Dungal in reply is exceedingly interesting. 
 It is addressed to Charles, and is entitled, " Dungali Reclusi 
 epistola de duplici solis eclipsi, anno 810 ad Carolum 
 Magnum." We have read it over carefully. It is written 
 in excellent Latin, and shows that the writer was intimately 
 acquainted with many of the classical authors, especially 
 with Virgil and Cicero. But we cannot guarantee its scientific 
 accuracy in all points. He starts with an explanation of the 
 celestial sphere according to the Ptolemaic system, and hence 
 some of his statements seem very strange to those only 
 acquainted with the Copernican theory of the heavenly bodies. 
 In the main, however, his explanation of the eclipses of the 
 sun and moon is accurate enough. 1 " The Zodiac," he says f 
 
 1 Quantum igitur spatii lata dimensio (Zodiac!) porrectis siderilus 
 occupat, duiibus lineis liinitatum est, et tertia ducta per medium ecliptica 
 vocatur, quia cum cursum suum in eadem linea pariter sol et luna confi- 
 ciunt, alterius eorum necesse est evenire defectum ; solis si ei tune luna 
 succedat, lunae si tune adversa sit soli. Ideo nee sol unquam deficit nisi 
 cum tricesimus lunae dies est ; et nisi quinto decimo cursus sui die, nescit 
 luna defectum ; sic enim evenit ut aut lunae contra solem positae, ad 
 mutuandum ab eo solidum lumen, sub eadem lineae inventus terrae conus 
 obsistat, aut soli ipsa succedens, objectu suo ab humano aspeotu lumen ejus 
 repellat. In defectu autem sol ipse nihil patitur . . . luna vero circa 
 proprium defectum laborat non accipiendo solis lumen cujus beneficio 
 noctern colorat. Migne. Patrol., No. 105, page 454.
 
 384 THE SCHOOL OF BANGOR. 
 
 " or space through which the planets revolve, is bounded by 
 two lines," which he takes care to explain are imaginary. 
 " A third line drawn between them is called the ecliptic, 
 because when the sun and moon during their revolution 
 happen to be in the same straight line in the plane of this 
 ecliptic, an eclipse of one or the other must of necessity take 
 place ; of the sun, if the moon overtake it in its course *ei 
 succedat ; of the moon, if at the time it should be opposice to 
 the sun. Wherefore," he adds, " the sun is never eclipsed 
 except the moon is in its thirtieth day ; and in like manner 
 the moon is never eclipsed except near its fifteenth day. For 
 only then it comes to pass that the moon, when it is full, 
 being in a straight line with the earth opposite to the sun 
 receives the shadow of the earth ; while in the other case, 
 when the moon overtakes the sun (is in conjunction), by its 
 interposition it deprives the earth of the sun's light. There- 
 fore when the sun is eclipsed, the sun itself suffers nothing, 
 only we are robbed of its light ; but the moon suffers a real 
 loss by not receiving the sun's light through which it is 
 enabled to dispel our darkness." We think it would require 
 an intermediate exhibitioner to give as lucid an exposition of 
 the cause of the eclipse as was given by this Irish monk of 
 the ninth century, and we are quite certain he would not 
 write it in as good Latin. 
 
 As for determining the exact dates of the eclipses of the 
 sun, and, therefore, the possibility of having two in the year 
 A.D. 810, Dungal cannot undertake to compute them, not 
 having near him Pliny the Younger, and some other necessary 
 works. However, the thing is quite feasible, and many 
 ancient philosophers knew and foreknew scierunt et 
 praescierunt all about these eclipses. He concludes his 
 letter with an elegantly written eulogy of Charles the Great, 
 imploring all Christians to join with him in beseeching God 
 to multiply the triumphs of Charles, to extend his empire, 
 preserve his family, and prolong his life for many circling 
 years. The language in the original is exceedingly well 
 chosen and harmonious. 
 
 After this time we lose sight of Dungal for several 
 years. Charlemagne died in A.D. 814, and was succeeded by 
 his son Louis the Pious, and on the 31st of July, A.D. 817, 
 Louis associatad with himself his son Lothaire in the Imperial 
 Government. Lothaire, young and energetic, was crowned 
 King of Lombardy in A.D. 821, and next year proceeded to 
 put his kingdom in order. The warlike Lombards, though 
 conquered by Charlemagne, and kept in restraint by his
 
 DUXGAL. 38u 
 
 strong arm, were a restless and turbulent people. Lothaire, 
 believing that education and religion would be the most 
 efficacious means to keep them in order, and consolidate his 
 own power, induced Dungal and Claudius of Turin, as weli 
 as several other scholars of the Imperial Court, or the famous 
 Palace School, to accompany him to Italy Claudius, a 
 Spaniard, of whom we shall have more to say again, was made 
 Bishop of Turin ; and Dungal opened a school at Pavia. In 
 a short time it became famous ; for the master was the first 
 scholar in the Court of the Emperor. Students flocked 
 from every quarter from Milan, Brescia, Lodi, Bergamo, 
 No\ara, Yercelli, Tortona, Acqui, Genoa, Asti, and Como. 1 
 This was about A.D. 822, the very year, or as others say, the 
 year after Claudius became Bishop of Turin. About the 
 same time Lothaire himself went on to Home, where he was 
 crowned emperor by the Pope, Pascal L, with great solemnity 
 in A.D. 823. 
 
 Dungal and Claudius were thus immediate neighbours. 
 Both were ripe scholars, both held high and responsible 
 positions ; but Claudius, who had long held erroneous 
 doctrines, now thought it safe to throw off the disguise. 
 The wolf showed himself, and at once the Irish wolf dog 
 sprang upon his foe. In order to understand this struggle, 
 which was the last effort of Western Iconoclasm, we must 
 go back a little and trace the chain of events which led up 
 to the crisis. 
 
 The Seventh ^Ecumenical Council, and Second of Nice, 
 was concluded at that city in A.D. 787. This Council, 
 accepting the teaching propounded by Pope Hadrian I. in 
 his letter to the Empress Irene, and her son Constantino, 
 explained and defined the Catholic doctrine concerning the 
 worship of images. It was distinctly declared that supreme 
 worship was due to God alone ; but that an inferior worship 
 should be rendered to the Blessed Virgin and the saints ; 
 and, finally, that a relative worship was due not only to the 
 sign of the Cross, but also to the pictures and images of the 
 Blessed Yirgin, of the angels, and of the saints of God. 
 This relative worship was not, however, paid to the images 
 on account of their own supernatural excellence ; it was only 
 a token of the love and honour which Christians have for 
 the originals represented by the images. 
 
 1 See Lothaire' s Capitular, de Doclrina, published by Muratori. Primum 
 in Papia conveniunt ad Duiigalum de Mediolano, de Brixia, etc., etc. So 
 that Dungal may be justly regarded as the founder of the University of 
 Pavia. 
 
 2 B
 
 38G THE SCHOOL OF BANGOR. 
 
 The acts of this famous Synod were, of course, in Greek, 
 so Pope Hadrian had them translated into Latin, and sent 
 a copy to Charlemagne, apparently in A.D. 789 or 790. 
 
 Unfortunately the Latin version was very faulty in many 
 respects. Anastasius, the Roman Librarian, a most learned 
 scholar and competent authority, declares that the translator 
 knew very little of the genius either of the Greek or Latin 
 language ; that he made a word-for-word translation, from 
 which it was frequently impossible to ascertain the real 
 meaning ; and hence, in his time, about sixty years later, 
 few persons were found to read or transcribe this faulty copy. 
 So Anastasius himself found it necessary to make a new and 
 correct translation. The French theologians, therefore, at 
 whose head was the keen-eyed Alcuin, found in this transla- 
 tion many things to censure, in which they were right, and 
 many other things they censured in which they were clearly 
 wrong. The result of their labours is known to history as 
 the famous Caroline Books Libri Carolini. They were 
 published under the name of Charles himself, but Alcuin is 
 generally regarded as the real author. 1 
 
 The emperor was so pleased with his work that he 
 resolved to send this treatise to the Pope himself. Meantime, 
 however, he convened the Synod of Frankfort in A.D. 794, 
 at which some three hundred Bishops of the Frankish 
 Empire are said to have assembled. 2 Here, again, the great 
 monarch, following the example, but scarcely imitating the 
 modesty of Constantino at Nice in A.D. 325, presided in. 
 person, and resolved to prove himself a theologian. The 
 Synod met in the great hall of the Imperial Palace. The 
 emperor was on his throne : the bishops were seated round in 
 a circle ; an immense throng of priests, deacons, and clerics 
 filled the hall Rising up from his seat Charles advanced, 
 and standing on the step of the throne pronounced an 
 elaborate harangue, mainly on the heresy of the Adoptionists, 
 but referring also to the errors of the last Greek Synod 
 regarding image worship, and he called upon the prelates 
 present to judge and decide what was the true faith. 
 
 The Council did so, at least in their own opinion, after 
 ten days' discussion. They very properly condemned the 
 heresy of the Adoptionists, and the condemnation was 
 approved in Rome ; but in the Second Canon they very 
 improperly censured the Second Council of Nice, as it 
 
 1 The authenticity of these famous Caroline Books can no longer be 
 questioned. 
 
 2 The real number is unknown. See Hefele, vol. v., p. 102.
 
 DUNGAL. 387 
 
 declared that the same worship and adoration were due to 
 the images of the saints, as are paid to the Holy Trinity. 
 Of course the Council of Nice in their authentic acts had 
 declared exactly the reverse. Moreover, the prelates of 
 Frankfort added that they would give neither servitus nor 
 adoratio to the images of the saints ; and, no doubt, they 
 were right in the sense in which they used these terms. 
 
 It seems probable that the Caroline Books, written about 
 A.D. 790 or 791, were approved of in this assembly before 
 they were sent to the Pope. But when Hadrian received 
 them he very promptly and effectively refuted them. To 
 each censure of the Council of Nice he gave an elaborate 
 answer, in which the Pope convicts the authors of the 
 Caroline Books, from the extracts sent to him, of grave errors 
 in doctrine, as well as of misquotations and misrepresentations 
 of the Fathers. Hs shows that they did not understand the 
 true meaning of the Sacred Scriptures in those passages 
 which they cited, that they attributed to the Nicene Fathers 
 errors which they never taught, and that it was the Pope, not 
 the French bishops, who had received authority to teach the 
 Universal Church. 
 
 The authors of the Caroline Books richly deserved this 
 castigation. They went so far as to declare that the Synod 
 of A.D. 754, which ordered images to be broken, as well as 
 the Synod of A.D. 787, which commanded them to be 
 worshipped, were infamae and ineptissimae. God alone is, 
 according to them, to be adored and worshipped, and the 
 saints may be venerated ; but no kind of adoration or 
 veneration may be paid to the images of the saints, because 
 they are lifeless, and made by the hands of men. It is 
 evident the Frankish theologians did not understand what is 
 meant by relative worship. They admit, however, that the 
 images of the saints may be retained for adorning churches, 
 and also as memorials of the past ; but it is not lawful to 
 worship them even by such veneration as is paid to men, 
 salutationis causa. Such is the substance of the doctrine put 
 forward by the authors of the Caroline Books. 1 Pope 
 Hadrian died on Christmas Day A.D. 795, and the controversy 
 concerning image worship seems to have been lulled for 
 some years in the West. It broke out again, however, with 
 greater warmth in A.D. 824. In the month of November of 
 that year an Embassy arrived at Rouen, where Lothaire was 
 
 1 Hefele clearly proves that the eighty-five Capitula sent to the Pope 
 were not exactly the same as the Libri Carolini which we have. But there 
 was no substantial difference between them.
 
 388 THE SCHOOL OF BANGOR. 
 
 then holding his court, bearing letters and presents from the 
 Greek emperor, Michael the Stammerer, to his western 
 brother. 
 
 Michael was an Iconoclast, but not an extreme one ; and 
 wrote a very plausible letter, in which he complains of the 
 superstitious excesses of the image- worshippers at Constanti- 
 nople. He represents himself as the friend of peace and 
 harmony, anxious to repress the excesses of both the extreme 
 parties ; and he beseeches his brother Lothaire to lend him 
 his aid, especially by his influence with the Pontiff of the old 
 Rome, to whom he sends several presents with a view to 
 gain his good will and co-operation for the same laudable 
 purpose. Lothaire, ignorant of the real facts of the case, 
 ynd misled by this most deceptive document, promised his 
 assistance to the Greek ambassadors in Rome, and resolved 
 to aid in the good work of reconciling the extreme parties in 
 the East. He wrote to Pope Eugenius II. to that effect, and 
 asked his permission to appoint a conference of the prelates 
 of his empire, with a view to sift the question thoroughly. 
 The Pope seems to have consented to this course ; and the 
 conference met at Paris on the 1st of November, A.D. 825. 
 
 These gentlemen issued a most elaborate production 
 addressed to the emperor, by him to be forwarded to the 
 Pope. They begin by attacking the letter of Hadrian to 
 Constantino and Irene, in which letter, as they allege, he 
 ordered images to be superstitiously adored quod super- 
 stitiose eas adorari jussit. In support of his doctrine he 
 cited the Fathers, but according to them it was valde absona 
 what he cited, and ad rent non pertinentia, 
 
 Then they attack the Second Council of Nice which 
 gravely erred by ordering images to be worshipped, as the 
 Great Charles had clearly proved in the books sent to Rome 
 by the Abbot Angilbert. And Hadrian, too, in his answer 
 to this treatise, when defending the Synod, wrote what he 
 liked, not what he ought quae voluit, non tamen quae 
 debuit. 
 
 This was not enough for this Paris Conference ; they had 
 the assurance to dictate to the Pope what he was to write in 
 reply to the Greek emperor ; and to Lothaire himself they 
 recommended what he ought to write to the Pope. On point 
 of doctrine they declare that nothing made by the hands of 
 man is to be adored or worshipped ; and to prove their posi- 
 tion they quote St. Augustine, who, according to them, says 
 that image worship had its origin with Simon Magus, and 
 a meretricula called Helen !
 
 UUXGAL. 389 
 
 When the Emperor Lothaire received these precious 
 documents from the two prelates, Halitgar and Amalarius, 
 deputed to present them, and asca:tained their contents, he 
 told them, as might be expected from a sensible man, that 
 the letter to the Pope especially contained some things that 
 were superfluous and more that were impertinent. He 
 therefore commissioned Jeremias of Sens, and Jonas of 
 Orleans, to make extracts from the report which would be 
 more to the point and less likely to give offence in Rome ; 
 telling them, at the same time, to show every respect to the 
 Pope, as they were bound to do ; that although much might be 
 gained by deference, nothing could be effected by exasperat- 
 ing the Pontiff. If, he adds, the pertinacia Romano, will 
 make no concessions, but the Pope is prepared to send an 
 embassy to Constantinople, then let them try at least to 
 induce him to allow the emperor also to send an embassy in 
 conjunction with that of the Pope. 
 
 The emperor himself wrote a respectful and plausible 
 letter to the Pope, urging upon him to send ambassadors to 
 the Greek court, adding that he might send with them the 
 two bishops who bore the report of the Paris Conference to 
 His Holiness ; and that thus he might be instrumental in 
 restoring peace to the distracted Churches of the East. 
 
 Things were at this pass when Dungal appears upon the 
 scene. The prelates of France were, many of them at least, 
 not quite sound on the question of image worship ; but 
 Claudius of Turin, just about this time, brought things to a 
 crisis. 
 
 This Claudius was a Spaniard, educated in his youth by 
 Felix, Bishop of Urgel, in Spain, one of the leaders of the 
 Adoption! st heretics. The mind of Claudius was infected 
 with this as well as several other errors ; but especially with 
 the most extreme form of Iconoclasm. 
 
 Like Dungal, he seems to have been in high favour at 
 court ; but he kept his errors at that time to himself, at least 
 in their extreme form. When appointed to the See of Turin 
 he threw off the mask. On his tirst or second visitation he 
 removed the crosses from his cathedral, he broke the images 
 of the saints, and the holy pictures on the walls ; he declaimed 
 from the pulpit even against the worship of the saints them- 
 selves, or their relics in any shape or form; and finally, 
 heartily denounced the pilgrimage to Rome, which even then 
 was customary with the faithful, as unnecessary and super- 
 stitious. 
 
 These rash and violent proceedings gave great scandal to
 
 390 THE SCHOOL OF BANGOR. 
 
 the faithful of the diocese. They were divided into two 
 factions ; for the bishop had numerous partisans of his own, 
 but the latter were in a minority ; and on one occasion the 
 bishop very narrowly escaped being torn to pieces by the 
 mob. The wily Claudius, however, by his representations to 
 the emperor, in which he threw all the blame on the turbu- 
 lence of the superstitious Lombards, succeeded in maintain- 
 ing his ground. 
 
 About A.D. 824 a friend of his, the pious Abbot Theodemir, 
 wrote a remonstrance to Claudius on his proceedings, in which 
 he adjured him, by the memory of their former friendship, 
 to discontinue these odious proceedings, reminding him how 
 unworthy it was of a Christian bishop to dishonour the 
 Saints of God, to insult the Cross of Christ, and break the 
 images of His saints and martyrs. 
 
 This gentle remonstrance only made the Iconoclast more 
 furious. He wrote a reply to the holy abbot, a considerable 
 portion of which, has come down to us, and shows Claudius 
 in his true colours. 
 
 It is entitled " Apologeticum atque Rescriptum Claudii 
 Episcopi adversus Theutmirum Abbatem." 
 
 It was this work brought out DungaL He had hitherto 
 been much pained at the proceedings of Claudius ; for being 
 then in Pavia he could scarcely be ignorant of what took 
 place in Turin. Most of the French prelates, however, them- 
 selves more or less infected with unsound doctrine, held aloof ; 
 and even Agobard of Lyons wrote in favour of Claudius, so 
 Dungal, although probably only a deacon, if, indeed, at all in 
 holy orders, felt it his duty to come forward as the champion 
 of the truth. He got his teaching not in France or Germany, 
 but in Ireland ; so he was not tainted with the errors of the 
 Frankish theologians. 
 
 Dungal's treatise against Claudius is entitled : " Dungali 
 Responsa contra Perversas Claudii Taurinensis Episcopi 
 Sententias." 
 
 In the prologue of the book Dungal declares that for God's 
 honour, and with the sanction of Louis and his son Lothaire, 
 he undertakes to defend, on the authority of the Holy Fathers, 
 the Catholic doctrine against the frantic and blasphemous 
 trifling of Claudius, Bishop of Turin. Many times since his 
 arrival in Italy he had just cause to complain," whilst he saw 
 the field of the Lord oversown with tares, yet he held his 
 peace in grief and pain. He can, however, do so no longer, 
 when he sees the Church distracted, and the people seduced 
 by deceivers. He first sets forth very clearly the points at
 
 DUNGAL. 391 
 
 issue between the rival parties, and then proceeds to refute 
 Claudius, and prove the Catholic doctrine, observing at the 
 outset that it was astonishing insolence for any man to 
 presume to " censure and blaspheme that doctrine and practice 
 which for -820 years or more was followed by the blessed 
 Fathers, by most religious princes, and by all Christian house- 
 holds up to the present time." 
 
 After proving that these practices were not only not 
 forbidden, but sanctioned by God Himself in the Pentateuch, 
 he goes on to establish. this tradition of the Catholic Church, 
 quoting most of the Greek and Latin fathers, the poems of 
 Paulinus, Prudentius, and Fortunatus, the Acts of the Martyrs 
 and the .Liturgy of the Church. He quotes, moreover, the 
 Apocalypse, the Gospels, the Acts of the Apostles, .at great 
 length, to prove the same doctrine, and alleges that it was 
 the universal belief and practice in the East and in the West 
 from the days of the Apostles down to his own time. The 
 Greeks lately erred ; but their errors were -retracted and 
 condemned. 
 
 It is impossible not to admire th,e great knowledge of 
 Sacred Scripture and Patristic literature displayed by the 
 author. He reasons, too, clearly and cogently ; and writes in 
 a limpid and flowing style. Indeed, we know no writer of 
 that age who excels Dun gal in Latin composition, whether in 
 poetry or prose ; and this is generally , admitted by those 
 acquainted with the Latin literature of the period. Muratori 
 observes that this work shows that Dungal was a man of wide 
 culture. 1 This is high testimony from such an authority. 
 Papirius Maasonus, in his address to the prelates and clergy 
 of Gaul prefixed to the treatise of Dungal, calls him an 
 excellent theologian Theologus excellens and Alzog declares 
 that the sophistical reasoning of Claudius, Bishop of Turin, 
 was refuted by Jonas, Bishop of Orleans, but much more ably 
 by Dungal, an Irish monk of St. Denys, and subsequently 
 by Strabo and Hincmar of Rheims. 
 
 Dungal's was not only the ablest, but also the first work 
 that was written on the subject ; for in it he alludes to the 
 Synod or Conference of Paris in A.D. 825, as held two years 
 before. So it must have appeared in A.D. 827, long before 
 the refutations published by Jonas, Eginhard, Strabo, or 
 Hincmar. Henceforward Iconoclasm began to lose ground 
 in the West ; and soon entirely disappeared, until revived in 
 the sixteenth century. 
 
 1 Sacris etiam literis ornatum, et simul in grammatical! foro ac Prisciani 
 deliciia enutritum, ut facile legenti conbtabit. See Lauigan, vol. iii., ch. 20 .
 
 392 THE SCHOOL OF BAXGOR. 
 
 As was observed before, towards the close of his life, 
 Dungal retired to the monastery of Bobbio, to which he 
 bequeathed his books. From Bobbio they were transferred 
 to Milan, in A.D. 1606, by Cardinal Frederic Borromeo, and 
 are now in the Ambrosian Library of that city. Among them 
 were three Antiphonaries, one of which seems to have 
 been the famous Bangor Antiphonary. Dungal, no doubt, 
 procured these ancient rituals in order to quote them 
 against Claudius in support of the Catholic doctrine. 
 He appropriately dedicated the work to his countryman 
 St. Columbanus. 1 
 
 Columba, as Lanigan observes, was the real name of 
 Columbanus, the founder of Bobbio, and in all probability, 
 when Dungal calls himself an incola of the saint, he rather 
 means fellow-countryman, than inmate of his monastery. 2 
 
 We cannot stay to criticise the poetry of Dungal. His 
 best poem is an elaborate eulogy on Charlemagne, written in 
 hexameter. Some critics have questioned if Dungal were the 
 author ; the style, however, even of the opening lines of the 
 poem, compared with the first lines of the epitaph which he 
 wrote on himself leaves no doubt that the "Irish Exile " was 
 Dungal. The smaller poems that survive, are written in 
 elegiac metre, and display considerable taste, although not 
 much imagination. 
 
 There is every reason to think that Dungal, who died 
 about the year A.D. 834, was buried in the crypts of Bobbio. 
 He sleeps well with the friendly saints of Erin ; and we 
 earnestly join in his own humble prayer, that he may live for 
 ever with those saints in heaven, even as their dust has long 
 commingled in their far-off graves under the shadows of the 
 Appenines. 3 
 
 1 Muratori adds, that in one of the MS. are inscribed these words : 
 
 " Sancte Columba tibi Scotto tuus incola Dungal 
 M'radidit hunc librum, quo fratrum corda beentur. 
 Qui leges ergo Deus pretium sit muneri8 } oro." 
 
 2 Some critics have doubted if Dungal, the recluse of St. Denys, who 
 wrote the letter on the double eclipse of the sun, were the same as Dungal 
 of Pavia. But there is not a shadow of proof offered in support of their 
 theory ; hence, to refute it is to fight with a shadow. The unusual name, 
 the similarity of style, the testimony of the learned, the phrase ex quo 
 (tempore) in hanc terrain (Italiam) advenerim, all point to the identity of 
 Dungal in Paris and in Italy. 
 
 3 " Te precor Omnipotens quadrati conditor orbis, 
 
 Dungalus ut vigeat miles ubique tuus, 
 Sidereum ut valeat rite comprendere Olympum 
 Cum sanctis vitamque participare queat. "
 
 ST. MALACHT. 393 
 
 IV. ST. MALACHY. 
 
 "We cannot close the history of the School of Bangor 
 without giving a sketch of the life of its greatest abbot, St. 
 Malachy, who may, indeed, be regarded as its second founder. 
 We refer to him here, not because he was a great scholar or 
 a distinguished writer, but rather because the Abbot of 
 Bangor was the great reformer of the Irish Church in the 
 twelfth century a man pre-eminent for the zeal, energy, and 
 holiness of his apostolic career in the face of the greatest 
 difficulties and dangers. He was, says the Chronicon Scoto- 
 rum, the man who restored the Monastic and Canonical rules 
 of the Church of Erin ; and that sentence is really a summary 
 of his whole life. 
 
 St. Malachy in Irish Maelmeadhog was born probably 
 in the neighbourhood of Bangor or Armagh in the year A.D. 
 1095. The family name was O'Morgair, or O'Mongair, which 
 it is said was afterwards changed into O'Dogherty. His father 
 was a lay professor or lecturer in the School of Armagh ; but his 
 mother seems to have come from the neighbourhood of Bangor, 
 of which her brother, the uncle of Malachy, was afterwards 
 titular abbot or perhaps airchinnech. The boy was thus for- 
 tunate not only in having the advantages of a great school 
 and a learned father ; but also in attaching himself as a 
 personal friend and disciple to the great and holy Imar 
 O'Hagan, who then lived as a recluse in Armagh. It was 
 doubtless under his holy guidance that Malachy acquired that 
 fund of solid virtue which he afterwards exhibited throughout 
 his life. 
 
 In consequence of his eminent virtues whilst still very 
 young, Malachy was promoted by Celsus of Armagh to 
 deacon's orders ; and shortly afterwards, before he had at- 
 tained the then canonical age of thirty, he was ordained a 
 priest by the same great prelate. 
 
 Wishing to perfect himself in sacred learning, and espe- 
 cially in the laws and discipline of the Church, St. Malachy 
 next went to the great College of Lismore, which was at this 
 period under the presidency of the venerable Malchus, Bishop 
 of Waterford, and apparently also of Lismore. St. Bernard 
 describes him as then an old man full of days and virtues, 
 and richly endowed with divine wisdom. He was an Irish- 
 man by birth, but had been trained in the monastery of Win- 
 chester to a more accurate knowledge and observance of 
 ecclesiastical discipline than were to be found at that time in 
 Ireland. Under the influence and direction of this prelate
 
 394 THE SCHOOL OF BANGOR. 
 
 the School of Lismore became, perhaps, the first in Ireland, 1 
 and St. Malachy fully availed himself of its great advantages. 
 
 On his return from Lismore in A.D. 1125, he was at once 
 appointed to the Abbacy of Bangor. His uncle, the lay or 
 titular abbot, gave up to Malachy peaceable possession of the 
 ruined monastery and its wide domains, and became himself 
 an humble monk of the new community yes, a new commu- 
 nity the abbey lands were there, and a nominal abbot who 
 enjoyed the revenues, but no church, no school, no commu- 
 nity. 2 The ancient home of the saints became a wilderness, 
 the stones of the sanctuary were scattered, no sacrifice was 
 offered on its altars. 
 
 It was the work of the Danes, who made a more complete 
 ruin of Bangor than any monastery elsewhere ; because it 
 was on the sea shore of that narrow channel between Down 
 and Galloway, which was the highway of the pirates. St. 
 Bernard says that it was reported that in .one day they slew 
 nine hundred monks at Bangor. 
 
 Malachy now took twelve brethren with him and besran 
 to build an oratory once more at Bangor. It was finished in 
 a few days, for it was an humble building in the Irish style 
 opus Scoticum constructed of planed boards, but closely 
 and firmly put together. Cells for the monks were built 
 around it, and thus Bangor again began to flourish. 
 
 Then Malachy most unwillingly was taken from his infant 
 monastery and made Bishop of Connor, that is of the entire 
 County Antrim. At this time things were in a dreadful 
 btate in Antrim. There is no reason to question the testi- 
 mony of St. Bernard. He is an independent and impartial 
 witness, who got his information from St. Malachy and the 
 disciples, whom he had left at Clairvaux. No doubt St. 
 Bernard is rhetorical in style, but he is definite in statement. 
 The natives were indocile and immoral. They neglected to 
 go to confession, contracted illegitimate marriages, paid no 
 tithes or first fruits. There were few priests, and no preach- 
 ing in the churches. Malachy girt up his loins for the work 
 before him. He went amongst the people on foot, accom- 
 panied with a few disciples. He admonished, he instructed, 
 he ordained priests, he preached the Gospel everywhere. He 
 had to endure much, but in the end he succeeded. The face 
 of the country was soon changed, the desert bloomed as a 
 garden, and the people that were not the Lord's became once 
 again the chosen people of God. 
 
 1 St. Bernard says it was "nobilior inter caeteras regni illiuh." 
 
 2 See St. Bernard's graphic account.
 
 ST. MALACHY. 395 
 
 It was during these years that Malachy went to the south 
 of Ireland on a visit to his friend Cormac Mac Carthy, King 
 of Cashel, and there founded the monastery which St. 
 Bernard calls monasterium Ibracense, on land given him by 
 King Cormac for that purpose. St. Celsus, Archbishop of 
 Armagh, had been driven by usurpers out of his See, and 
 was now in the south of Ireland, at Ardpatrick, in the Co. 
 Limerick, over which, as heir of St. Patrick, he claimed certain 
 rights. Feeling his end approaching, and knowing that St. 
 Malachy was, of all others, best fitted to succeed him in the 
 Chair of St. Patrick, he sent him his crozier as a token of his 
 wish to have Malachy as his successor. 
 
 But Malachy was [unwilling to be transferred to the 
 primatial See, and not without good reason. First of all he 
 wished the translation to be made in a canonical way by the 
 bishops of the province with the sanction of Gilbert the Papal 
 Legate. This, however, was soon accomplished, the temporal 
 princes also giving their cordial adhesion to the proposal. 
 Then Malachy consented on one condition, that when things 
 were put in order in Armagh, he might be free once more to 
 return to his own diocese and his beloved monastery of 
 Bangor. 
 
 Malachy now found that he had even a more difficult and 
 dangerous task to accomplish in Armagh than had awaited 
 him in the County Antrim. 
 
 For more than two hundred years a family of usurpers had 
 established themselves at Armagh, and held the land and See 
 of Armagh, transmitting it from father to son, or grandson, 
 in regular hereditary succession. Most of them were laymen 
 and married men ; but they paid regularly ordained prelates 
 to perform all necessary episcopal functions, keeping for 
 themselves the lands, the nomination to the churches, and 
 even the titles of Bishops and Abbots of Armagh. 
 
 It has been said that some of these married men were 
 regularly consecrated prelates duly recognised by the Irish 
 Church. There is not a shadow of evidence for the statement, 
 except the name of bishop which is given to some of them. 
 On the other hand, we have unexceptionable testimony that 
 these men were laymen, and that the name of bishop was 
 given to them, although they were laymen. St. Bernard 
 settles the question. He says that this wicked and adulterous 
 generation were so obstinate in asserting this right of heri- 
 ditary succession, that although clerics of their blood were 
 wanting, bishops were never wanting that is bishops who 
 were not even clerics. Of these, he says, before Celsus there
 
 390 THE SCHOOL OF BANGOR. 
 
 were eight married men, learned enough but without orders. 1 
 " Denique jam octo extiterant ante Celsum viri uxorati, et 
 absque ordinibus, litterati tamen." Gerald Barry tells exactly 
 the same story that various churches in Ireland and Wales 
 had lay abbots. 2 He explains too, how it came to pass. 
 Certain powerful men in the parish, who were at first the 
 stewards of the church lands, and defenders of the clergy, 
 afterwards usurped the ownership of the lands, and in order 
 to secure thm for themselves, their children, or their rela- 
 tions, they called themselves abbots and owners of the lands, 
 leaving only to the clergy such chance Oi/erings as they 
 might happen to receive. 
 
 Such a system was of course the fruitful root of many 
 evils. St. Malachy resolved to expel these usurpers from 
 the See of Armagh. It was a long and difficult task ; and 
 frequently his life was in deadly peril But God visibly 
 protected him ; he was patient, too, and prudent, as well as 
 zealous ; and in the end was completely successful. After 
 three years of patient toil, he was universally recognised as 
 Primate ; and having thus banished the usurpers, he resigned 
 the See to the care of the learned and saintly Gelasius, and 
 retired once more to his beloved Bangor, keeping only the 
 charge of the episcopal Church of Down. 
 
 We cannot follow St. Malachy through his subsequent 
 glorious career. He went to Rome and was specially 
 honoured by Pope Innocent II., who put his own mitre on 
 his head, and his own stole around his neck in presence 
 of his court, and appointed him his Legate for all Ireland. 
 On his way to Rome he stopped at Clairvaux, where he had 
 the good fortune of meeting St. Bernard, who became his 
 dearest and most intimate friend. In him too, St. Malachy, 
 more fortunate even than St. Columba, found a biographer 
 who made the virtues and merits of the Irish saint known to 
 posterity, and to the entire Church of God. 
 
 The saint also left at Clairvaux four of his disciples to be 
 trained there under the eyes of St. Bernard himself in the 
 discipline of the great Cistercian Order. It is to them we 
 owe the introduction of that order into Ireland in A.D. 1142, 
 and all the great religious houses which the Cistercians 
 founded throughout the length and breadth of Ireland. 
 
 After his return home, armed with the plenary powers of 
 Papal Legate, Malachy devoted himself with even more 
 
 1 See Vita Malachia, c. 10. 
 
 '' Notandum quod haec ecnlesia, sicut et aliae per Hibernian et Wallaim 
 plures, abbatem laic urn habet." Itin Cambriae, L. II., C. 4.
 
 ST. MALACHY. 397 
 
 zeal and success than before to the reformation of his own 
 diocese, and the general restoration of ecclesiastical discipline 
 throughout the kingdom. He was ably supported by the 
 Irish prelates both in the North and in the South ; and 
 would have changed the face of the Church before many 
 years, but it pleased God to call him to Himself all too soon 
 for Ireland. In A.D. 1148 he went to France to meet Pope 
 Eugene III., who was then at Clairvaux. Before Malachy, 
 however, arrived, the Pope had departed, but he was consoled 
 by the warm welcome which he received from St. Bernard 
 and his monks. Shortly after the Irish saint fell sick to 
 the great sorrow of the community, but Malachy consoled 
 them, and told them that there was no chance of his recovery 
 for it was God's will that he should die at Clairvaux. 
 Feeling his strength failing he caused all the brethren to be 
 summoned to his bedside. At once they came St. Bernard 
 at their head. " With longing I have longed," said the 
 dying man, " to eat this pasch with you " that is the holy 
 Viaticum "before I die, and I thank my God that my 
 longing has been gratified." Blessing them one by one he 
 said, " Remember me, and please God I will not forget you." 
 So saying he rested a little ; but towards midnight the com- 
 munity was summoned again, and while they wept and 
 prayed around his bed, he fell asleep in the Lord, and " the 
 Angels carried his soul to Heaven." It was at midnight 
 between the 1st and 2nd of November, but the latter being 
 All Souls' Day, his Feast is kept on the 3rd of November. 
 He was canonized by Pope Clement III., about the year 
 
 A.D. 1190.
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 THE SCHOOL OF CLONENAGH. 
 I. ST. FINTAN. 
 
 " Pleasant to sit here thus 
 Beside the cold pure Nore." 
 
 Leabhar Breac. 
 
 SEVERAL famous religious houses were in ancient days 
 founded around the base of the Slieve Bloom mountains, and 
 the great saints who founded them were mostly contem- 
 poraries and intimate friends. Saigher, now called Serkieran, 
 from the name of its founder, Ciaran the Elder, was situated 
 in the old territory of Ely, at the north-western base of the 
 mountain, about four miles east of Birr. Exactly at the 
 southern corner of the mountain slope St. Molua built his 
 oratory, which was called from him Cluain-ferta-Molua, but 
 now known by the name of Kyle. St. Cronan's Church of 
 Roscrea, his first oratory, close to Corville House, and the 
 beautiful little abbey of'Monahincha Giraldus' Island of the 
 Living called by the Four Masters, Inis-locha-Cre, are all 
 still to be seen in the north-western extremity of Tipperary, 
 not more than three miles from Kyle. There on the great plain 
 that stretches along the south-eastern base of the mountain, 
 we find, a little to the right of the railway to Maryborough, 
 first St. Canice's old abbey of Aghaboe, then farther on to the 
 left, near Mountrath, is St. Fintan's Church of Clonenagh. 
 Not far from Clonenagh is the townland of Disartbeagb, 
 where St. .ZEngus used to sit by the side of the ' clear cold 
 Nore,' and like Abraham, received visits from the angels. 
 Still further on, not far from Maryborough to the right, are 
 Dysartenos, to which the same .ZEngus gave his name, and 
 Coolbanagher beyond the Heath of Maryborough, where he 
 saw the angels around the grave of the old soldier who loved to 
 invoke the saints of God. Not inviting from a scenic point 
 of view are the marshy meadows and sluggish streams of 
 that broad plain; but it is relieved by the great bold 
 mountain on the left, and more than all it is crowded with 
 memorials of the saints of God. 
 
 Clonenagh, in Irish, Cluain Eidnech, the Ivy Meadow, 
 is situated about four miles south-west of Maryborough, in the
 
 ST. FINTAN. 399 
 
 Queen's County. At one time, it is said, there were no less 
 than seven churches there, and the fact that there are at least 
 four distinct old grave-yards, quite convenient to each other, 
 shows that there were at least several distinct churches 
 around Clonenagh in ancient times. From the sixth to the 
 twelfth cantury, it was not only a great school and monastery, 
 but also the seat of a bishop, who appears to have exercised 
 jurisdiction over the western portion of the ancient Leix 
 (Laeghis), the territory of O'Moore. 
 
 It was indeed a secluded spot, almost surrounded by bogs, 
 but the rounded slopes of its verdant knolls gave picturesque 
 variety to what would otherwise be a very dreary scene. Its 
 founder, St. Fintan, was a very remarkable man in fact an 
 extreme type of the asceticism of the age; yet he was greatly 
 beloved in his own time, and his influence was felt for many 
 centuries after his death. Clonenagh, too, derives a special 
 interest from the fact that it was the Alma Mater of .ZEngus 
 the Culdee, the most ancient and reliable authority we have 
 on the history of the early saints of Ireland. 
 
 Fintan was the son of Gabhren, of the race of Eochaidh 
 Finnfuathairt, and is said to have been born in the territory 
 of Leinster. Leinster at that time was, roughly speaking, 
 bounded on the west by the River Barrow, and did not 
 include Leix. This Eochaidh was a brother of Conn the 
 Hundred Fighter, who came to help the Leinster King to 
 expel the men of Munster from Leix and Ossory. For this 
 service he received the Seven Forthartha in Leinster, in 
 which he and his descendants settled. The Barony of Forth 
 in Wexford was one of these districts, and still retains the 
 name. There is a local tradition that Fintan was born near 
 Clonenagh, 1 but this can hardly be reconciled with the 
 express statement of his Leinster origin. His mother was 
 Findath, probably of the same race. She was warned by an 
 angel to retire to a secret place until after the birth of her 
 son who would be holy to the Lord. On the eighth day the 
 child was baptized by a certain holy man, who dwelt in 
 Cluain Mac Trein ; and hence it would appear that it was 
 near this place the child was born. It is supposed that the 
 place takes its name from Trein, or Trian, son of the cele- 
 brated Dubthach Mac Ua Lugair, who rose up to do honour 
 to St. Patrick at Tara. The Hy- Trian, his descendants by 
 this Trian, seem to have been located at Limbrick, in the 
 Barony of Gorey, County Wicklow, and it is not unlikely 
 
 1 At a place now called Churchfield, where a disused churchyard ia 
 supposed to mark the site of a church built there in his honour.
 
 400 THE SCHOOL OF CLOXEXAGH. 
 
 that Fintan was born there about the year A.D. 525. "We 
 know that he was a little younger than Columcille. and as the 
 latter was born about A.D. 521, Fintan must have been born 
 a few years later. 
 
 During his youth Fintan studied under the care of the 
 holy man who baptized him ; but the place is not indicated 
 in his life. It must have been some place not very far 
 from Clonard, for we are told that on one occasion as 
 Columcille was passing not far off, he stopped and invited 
 his companions to visit the master and his pupil. Fintan 
 already filled with the spirit of prophecy, had told his master 
 to prepare for guests, as Columcille was coming to visit him. 
 The master doubting the boy, and probably a little jealous 
 of the favour shown him, sharply rebuked Fintan for his 
 presumption ; but when Columcille arrived, he rebuked the 
 master, and told him that both himself and his place of abode 
 would belong to Fintan for ever. This would seem to imply 
 that this incident took place somewhere in the neighbourhood 
 of Clonenagh. 
 
 Shortly afterwards Fintan was placed under the care of 
 Columba Mac Crinthann, better known as Columba of 
 Terryglass ; but he had yet not founded that celebrated 
 establishment on the shores of Lough Derg. With Fintan 
 there were two others, St. Caemhin of Annatrim, not far from 
 Clonenagh, and St. Mocumin, or Mochocma, who succeeded 
 Columba at Terryglass. These were both half-brothers of the 
 great St. Kevin of Glendalough ; and very naturally were 
 placed under the care of St. Columba, son of Crimthann, who 
 was their first cousin. Fintan was probably also connected 
 with these saints by family ties, as they all came originally 
 from the same district of Leinster. At first it seems Columba 
 wished to settle with his disciples at some place in their native 
 territory in finibus Lageniensium and actually had chosen 
 a beautiful spot for their monastery, where they hoped to 
 live together in holiness and peace ; for, says the Life, they 
 had only one heart, and in the gladness of their united souls 
 they cried out to their master, " Oh ! it is good for us to be 
 here." " Not so," said Columba ; " God reserves this place 
 not for us, but for one not yet born, Mobhi Mac Calde," 1 or, 
 as it is elsewhera, Mobhi Mac Cumalde. The true reading 
 is probably Mobhi Mac Colmaidh, who was the son of 
 Caeltigerna, a sister of St. Kevin, and a nephew (yet unborn) 
 of the two brothers, Mocumin and Caemhin ; but the place 
 
 1 Salamanca MS.
 
 ST. FINTAN. 401 
 
 of his Church has not been ascertained. Thereupon they 
 left the territory of Leinster and came to the place now called 
 Clonenagh, where they remained for an entire year without, 
 however, founding there as yet any permanent establishment. 
 It was surrounded by bogs, but sheltered by great oak woods 
 festooned with clustering ivy. Great crowds of people, 
 however, and amongst them numbers of their own friends, 
 continued to crowd in upon the saints, and disturbed their 
 repose, so that Columba resolved to seek some more retired 
 place in which to serve God. They saw the wild solitudes 
 of tSlieve Bloom rising over them to the north-west, and 
 thither Columba now directed his steps, followed by his 
 faithful disciples. On the mountain side they met several 
 boys who were herding cattle, one of whom, Setne, was 
 voiceless from his mother's womb. Columba made the sign 
 of the cross upon his mouth, and bade him tell them the 
 place of their resurrection. Then the dumb boy spoke plainly, 
 and told each of them where he was to die, and arise from 
 the dead. Hereupon Columba looking down the mountain 
 saw Clonenagh, which they had left filled with God's angels, 
 and he was much saddened at the sight. Upon enquiry he 
 told them the reason how he saw the place they had deserted 
 filled with ministering angels, and how anxious he was that 
 some of them should return to the holy spot. So Fintan 
 promptly volunteered to return, and thus became the real 
 founder of that great monastic establishment, which bears his 
 name ever since. 
 
 Numbers of disciples now gathered round him, for the 
 fame of his sanctity was very great. He wrote a Rule for 
 his community which unfortunately has been lost ; but we 
 are told that it was very strict, even beyond the Monastic 
 Rules of that time. His monks worked with hands and feet, 
 digging the soil with spade and hoe, as hermits usually do. 
 They had no cattle not even a single heifer and therefore 
 no milk ; they even refused to take the milk which their 
 neighbours, pitying their poverty, used to bring them. Fintan 
 would not allow it. 
 
 Cainnech, however, of Aghaboe, and other saints in the 
 neighbourhood came to Fintan, and begged him to remit a 
 little of the extreme rigour of their lives. Fintan, divinely 
 admonished, yielded to their suggestions remitting the 
 severity of his Rule in favour of others but still himself 
 adhering to his own practices of mortification. 
 
 It is no wonder that such a man was filled with the spirit 
 of prophecy, and performed manv wonderful miracles, that 
 
 2c
 
 402 THE SCHOOL OF CLOXENAGH. 
 
 were much noised abroad. One miracle is recorded, which 
 illustrates the spirit of filial affection that prevailed in the 
 midst of all this rigour of discipline. The saint went out to 
 see his monks, who were working in the field. When they 
 saw their father, like children, the half -starved monks ran up 
 to him, and catching hold of him, they besought him to give 
 them something better than usual for their refection, as great 
 folk do, who visit the workmen. Fintan smiled on his 
 children, and told them he had nothing to give them ; but 
 that God was good, and might give in his stead. Next day 
 certain men came from Leinster, bringing to the monastery 
 waggon loads of provisions, as much as eighty men could 
 carry, so that the poor famished brethren, living almost 
 entirely on herbs, got more than one good meal from these 
 supplies. 
 
 One of the most distinguished pupils that issued from this 
 great school was St. Com gall of Bangor. So great was the 
 fame of Clonenagh at this period that Com gall came all the 
 way from Dalaradia to place himself under the guidance of 
 its holy abbot. As Clonenagh was founded about the year 
 A.D. 548, when Fintan was not more than twenty-five years 
 of age, Comgall can hardly have arrived there earlier than 
 A.D. 550, and in that case the master was probably eight or 
 ten years younger than the disciple a not unusual occurrence 
 in those days. Comgall at first felt all the severity of the 
 discipline at Clonenagh, and was greatly tempted to abandon 
 his purpose; but by God's grace, and the advice of Fintan, 
 he persevered, and then found his soul filled with great spiri- 
 tual joy. He remained some years at Clonenagh, where he 
 formally received the monastic habit, though he was not yet 
 admitted to Holy Orders. By Fintan' s advice he then re- 
 turned home to found the celebrated monastery on the 
 southern shores of Belfast Lough, which will be for ever 
 connected with his name. 
 
 On another occasion, a certain cruel and heartless king, 
 Colman, son of Cairbre, the ruler of North Leinster, kept in 
 bonds a noble youth, Cormac, the son of Diarmaid, king of 
 Hy-Kinsellagh, with the intention, it appears, of putting 
 him to death. Fintan, who was himself connected with the 
 royal race of the Hy-Kinsellagh, set out with twelve com- 
 panions for Kathmore, where Colman then lived and kept his 
 prisoner. This is more likely to be Kathmore, about four 
 miles east of Naas, where the great rath still exists, than 
 Rathmore, east of Tullow, in the County "Wicklow. In the 
 Salamanca MS., the place is called Ratlimoin, and there is a
 
 ST. FINTAN. 403 
 
 Rathmoon close to Baltinglass, which possibly may have 
 been the scene of the miracle. When Colman heard of 
 Fintan's approach, he locked his gates, and doubled the 
 guards over the prisoner ; but it was all in vain. The gates 
 opened of themselves to admit Fintan, and the terrified 
 guards ran off to tell their still more affrighted master, who 
 quickly consented to release young Cormac. One of Colman's 
 sons wished to slay the late captive before he could get away ; 
 but Fintan threatened him with Divine vengeance, a threat 
 that was speedily fulfilled, for he was slain before the end of 
 a month, whilst Cormac, the captive, became a monk, and 
 ended his days in peace and holiness in the monastery of 
 Bangor. It may be that he was a fellow-student of Comgall 
 at Clonenagh, and was thus induced to go to the monastery 
 of his ancient fellow- student. We find, indeed, that an in- 
 timate friendship and intercommunication existed between 
 these two monasteries; and very frequently the monks of 
 Clonenagh paid a visit to St. Comgall, at Bangor, by whom 
 they were always most kindly received. 
 
 On another occasion Fintan was sojourning at the monas- 
 tery of Achad-Finglass, most likely founded by himself at 
 Idrone, in the County Carlow. The old church of Agha, 
 about four miles east of Old Leighlin, probably marks the 
 site of this monastery. A holy bishop, called Brandubh, of 
 the Hy-Kinsellagh, came to ask permission of the saint to be 
 allowed to end his days at Clonenagh. The saint readily 
 consented, but advised the bishop rather to remain where 
 they then were, and where the rule was not so strict, and 
 would not be so severe as at Clonenagh. The bishop followed 
 Fintan's counsel, but induced him to promise that in case 
 Fintan died first, he would soon come to meet him, and bring 
 his soul to heaven also. Fintan promised, and kept his 
 word ; for three weeks after his own death, he came with 
 seven spirits, clothed in white, to bring to heaven the holy 
 soul of the venerable bishop. May not this Agha monastery 
 be that religious house founded by Columba and his three 
 disciples in the territory of the men of Leinster before they 
 came to Clonenagh ? 
 
 " No one," says the writer of his Life, " can describe the 
 charity, meekness, humility, patience, abstinence, watchings, 
 and other virtues of this blessed man." He constantly 
 watched over his community with the most tender and 
 devoted care. He was always ready to succour the afflicted, 
 and to protect the oppressed ; his was a name which good 
 men loved, and bad men feared throughout all the territory
 
 404 THE SCHOOL OF CLONENAGH. 
 
 of Leinster. Towards the close of his life he chose one of his 
 own monks, named Fintan Maeldubh, as his successor, and 
 ' placed him in his chair.' Then calling all the members of 
 the community around him, he raised his hands to heaven, 
 and solemnly gave them his blessing. After which he re- 
 ceived the " Sacrifice," and went to sleep in the Lord. He 
 died on the 17th February, about the year A.D. 592, some 
 time before the death of St. Columba in A.D. 597. 
 
 A young man from Leix went to lona, and when there 
 asked St. Columba's advice as to the choice of a spiritual 
 director, when he should return home. Columba recom- 
 mended Fintan as the best and holiest director he knew. 
 We are told, however, that sJwrtly after this young man's 
 return to Ireland, Fintan was called to his reward; which 
 shows that he must have died at Clonenagh before St. 
 Columba died at lona. He was buried at Clonenagh; but 
 there is now no trace of his tomb. 
 
 St. Fintan has been called by many old writers the 
 Father of the Irish Monks, and he has been likened in his 
 manner of life to St. Benedict, the great founder of western 
 monasticism at least on the Continent of Europe. He was 
 not, indeed, the oldest, nor even the most celebrated of the 
 Second Order of Irish Saints, who devoted themselves to the 
 monastic life. But he founded his monastery when very 
 young; his own life was extremely ascetic; and he had 
 amongst his novices and disciples several of the most cele- 
 brated founders of religious houses in Ireland. In this way 
 it came to pass that as Finnian of Clonard was the tutor of 
 the Saints of Ireland, so Fintan came to be described as the 
 Father of the Irish Monks. And as Clonard was looked upon 
 as a great school, so Clonenagh, like Aran, came to be re- 
 garded during the life of its holy founder as a kind of 
 noviciate for the training of monks, many of whom went to 
 Bangor, and elsewhere ; and thus diffused through Erin his 
 discipline and his spirit. 
 
 The most remarkable scholar of Clonenagh was St. 
 .ZEngus, the Culdee. 
 
 II. ST. ^NGUS. 
 
 -ZEngus was a student at Clonenagh during the prelacy of 
 the Abbot Melaithgen or Melaithgenius. 
 
 The materials for a Life of St. ^Engus are very scanty. 
 "We have no original Life, and only two documents that tell us 
 anything about him the Scholiast's Introduction to his
 
 ST. jENGUS. 405 
 
 writings, and a poem in praise of the saint, written by a 
 namesake, apparently not very long after his death. From 
 these two sources we gather the following facts : 
 
 Through his father, Oengoba, son of Oblen, he derived 
 his descent from Coelbach, King of Ireland, who belonged to 
 the royal race of the Dalaradians of Ulster. He was probably 
 born in the neighbourhood of Clonenagh, about the middle of 
 the eighth century. From his earliest youth he seems to have 
 been trained to sanctity and learning in the monastic school 
 of Clonenagh, which, as we have seen, was then ruled by the 
 learned and pious Melaithgen. Under this holy master the 
 young .2Engus made very great progress. He not only 
 became, as his writings prove, an accomplished scholar, but 
 also a model of every virtue. He seems to have been devoted 
 to ascetical practices even from his earliest youth ; and he 
 loved to spend most of his time in prayer and solitude. 
 Hence he came to be called by excellence the Culdee, that is, 
 the Ceile De, or servant of God. He was probably the first 
 to whom this appellation was given, as a kind of surname in 
 recognition of his great sanctity and self-denial. Afterwards 
 the name was given to other ascetic solitaries, who, though 
 not a religious order in the proper sense of the word, still 
 formed communities of anchorites living apart, but yet 
 frequently meeting in the same church for devotional pur- 
 poses, and recognising a common superior to whom they were 
 duly obedient. Later on numbers of the regular clergy 
 formed themselves into somewhat similar communities, 
 and came to be known by the same name. They were in 
 reality, however, what is known as Canons regular, that is a 
 body of regular clergy, living apart, but subject to a common 
 rule, which was generally the rule of St. Augustine. 
 
 The Ceile De of the earlier period divided his time between 
 prayer, manual labour, and literary employment, if he were 
 a man of learning and ability. He was never a burden to 
 others, for he and his brethren contrived to procure from 
 their little farms not only their own scant and meagre fare, 
 but also the means of hospitable entertainment for the poor 
 and the stranger. 
 
 -ZEngus seems to have spent many years in this kind of 
 solitary life, living alone in his little cell, and finding susten- 
 ance in the roots of the earth, or the produce of his garden. 
 His first cell was probably at Disert-beagh, which is not more 
 than a mile from Clonenagh, and likely got its name from 
 having been the desertum, or solitary abode of the saint. He 
 had not yet forsaken his beloved community of Clonenagh on
 
 406 THE SCHOOL OF CLOXENAGH. 
 
 the banks of the infant Nore ; and he loved them dearly to 
 the end, if we may believe his poetical namesake in the 
 Leabhar Breac 
 
 " Pleasant to sit thus here 
 Beside the cold pure Nore," 
 
 And then follow the stanzas which, Mr. Matthew Arnold 
 declared, show as fine a perception of what constitutes pro- 
 priety and felicity of style as anything to be found in a Greek 
 epitaph 
 
 " JEngus out of the assembly of Heaven, 
 Here are his tomb and his bed, 
 It is hence he went to death, 
 On Friday to the holy Heaven ; 
 It is in Cluain Eidnech he. was reared, 
 It is in Cluain Eidnech he was buried, 
 It is in Cluain Eidnech of many crosses 
 He first read his psajms." 
 
 But Disert-beagh was not lonely enough, for .^Engus it was 
 too near the great monastic school, and doubtless his solitude 
 was often disturbed by truant youth, or inquisitive strangers, 
 So he put his books in his satchel, took his staff' in his hand, 
 and made his way as best he could through the bogs and 
 morasses, where the railway now runs, un,til he came to the 
 place called after him, Dysert Enos or the Desert of .ZEngus. 
 It is about eight miles from Clonenagh, and two to the south- 
 east of Maryborough on the slope of a broken ridge of bluish 
 gray limestone, that relieves to some extent that dreary and 
 featureless plain. The present grave-yard, surrounding the 
 roofless Protestant Church, probably marks the site of the 
 primitive oratory founded by JEngus ; and shows that though 
 dead to the world, like most of his countrymen the self- 
 denying ascetic had an eye for the natural beauty of a 
 picturesque landscape. It afforded him too what he no doubt 
 prized much, a distant prospect of his beloved Clonenagh, 
 beyond the swampy moorland, under the shadow of Slieve 
 Bloom. 
 
 In this lonely retreat .ZEngus practiced the severest 
 penitential observance. He made three hundred genuflections 
 every day ; and moreover recited the entire psaltery. But 
 not in ordinary fashion ; he divided his self-imposed office 
 into three parts. Fifty psalms he said in his cell ; fifty more 
 he recited in the open air under the shade of a spreading tree 
 that embowered his little oratory ; the last fifty, if we can 
 credit his biographer, he repeated with his neck chained
 
 ST. JEN G US. 407 
 
 to a post, and his body half plunged in a huge tub of cold 
 water. 
 
 Penance like this showed that JEngus was a saint ; so in 
 spite of his efforts to conceal himself the world soon found 
 him out, and strangers began to disturb him once more. 
 Before all things he loved to be alone, and so once again he 
 resolved to make his escape from men, and hide himself for 
 ever from their foolish admiration and applause. This time 
 he resolved to adopt another plan, and strove to escape from 
 the crowd not so much by shunning their presence, as by 
 concealing his own identity. 
 
 It is doubtful if JEngus when setting out knew what was 
 to be his final destination. He left his cell at Dysart Enos, 
 trusting solely to the guidance of Providence ; and Provi- 
 dence never deserts those who put their trust in God. 
 
 Shortly after setting out on his journey, as we should 
 now say towards Dublin, JEngus entered a way-side church 
 to pray to God, and ask His guidance and protection. This 
 was probably the first church which he met on his way ; it 
 is now called Coolbanagher, about four miles from Dysart 
 Enos, beyond the Heath of Maryborough, and not far from 
 Portarlington. There he saw a vision of Angels hovering 
 around a newly-made grave. He asked the priest, who 
 served the little church, whose was that new grave. The 
 priest told him it was the grave of a soldier who had served 
 God faithfully for many years. Then .ZEngus asked him was 
 he in the habit of practising any special mortification, or any 
 peculiar devotion. The priest knew of nothing special, or 
 unusual, in his case, except that he made it a constant practice 
 every day to invoke the intercession of all God's saints, 
 whom he could call to mind. This incident made a very 
 deep impression on -ZEngus. He saw how meritorious it was 
 to invoke the saints ; and so he resolved thereafter, if he 
 could find time and place, to compose a metrical catalogue of 
 the saints, which devout souls might more easily remember 
 and recite for their own spiritual welfare. 
 
 Afterwards .ZEngus went his way, and at length came to 
 St. Maelruain's monastery at Tallagh near Dublin, then, and 
 almost ever since, a favourite home of religious men. He 
 was quite unknown to the inmates of the monastery, so, 
 concealing his name and learning, he sought admission into 
 the community as an humble lay-brother. His pious request 
 was readily granted ; but, of course, the novice was put to 
 the meanest and hardest work in the monastery. He reaped 
 the corn in the field ; carried it to the barn on his back ;
 
 408 THE SCHOOL OF CLONENAGH. 
 
 threshed it ; winnowed, dried, and ground it in the mill for 
 the use of the brotherhood. He wore the poorest rags he 
 could find during his rounds of daily toil ; his hair was so 
 unkempt that it was as if the ears of corn grew in it ; his 
 hands were horny with the flail, and his face black with 
 sweat and dust. So he lived unknown to all, labouring with 
 his hands, but praying to God in his heart. 
 
 At length it pleased Providence to uncover this shining 
 light, so that it might be seen by men. A truant scholar of 
 the monastery, who was either unable or neglected to learn 
 his lesson, fearing to present himself before the abbot in 
 class, took refuge in the barn where .2Engus was working. 
 He sympathised with the poor boy, bade him lie down in 
 the straw, and rest himself, and that all would be well. The 
 boy did so, and soon fell fast asleep in the barn. When he 
 awoke refreshed, JEngus asked him to repeat the lesson ; he 
 obeyed, and partly, no doubt, by the instructions, and partly 
 by the kind encouragement of the good monk, he completely 
 succeeded in mastering his lesson. .ZEngus then told him go 
 to the school, but to say nothing of what happened in the 
 barn. The boy went to his class, and astonished his master 
 by having his lesson perfectly- which seems to have been in 
 his case quite an unusual occurrence. The abbot, suspecting 
 something, made inquiries, and insisted on learning the 
 whole truth. Then the boy confessed what took place in the 
 barn, and how the lay-brother had gone over his lesson with 
 him. The truth at once flashed upon the mind of Maelruain; 
 he had probably heard of the disappearance of JEngus from 
 Dysart Enos, and now felt certain that the hard- working lay- 
 brother was no other than the great scholar of Clonenagh. 
 So he went at once to the barn, and embracing ./Engus 
 most tenderly, reproached him for so long concealing himself 
 from the community. .ZEngus humbly asked pardon of the 
 abbot, which, of course, had been already granted, and was 
 at once received into his most intimate friendship a friend- 
 ship that endured until Maelruain's death. 
 
 The abbot now resolved to utilize, for God's glory, the 
 great learning and talents of the distinguished scholar, whom 
 Providence had bestowed on the community of Tallagh. 
 JEngus, on his part, was most anxious to co-operate with 
 Maelruain ; and so these two holy men set about the composi- 
 tion of those works which have contributed so nmcb to the 
 glory of God, and of the ancient Church of Ireland. 
 
 The Martyrology of Tallagh was probably their first 
 work ; and is supposed to have been the joint production of
 
 ST. JENGUS. 409 
 
 JEiigus and Maelruain. If so, it must have been written 
 before the year A.D. 792, when Maelruain died. It is 
 described by O'Curry as a catalogue in prose of the saints 
 of Erin, and their festival days, with brief notices in some 
 instances of their fathers and of the churches which they 
 founded. It is considered to be the oldest of our Irish 
 Martyrologies ; and according to Michael O'Clery no mean 
 authority it furnished the materials for the great poem 
 called the Fetlire, or Festology of the Saints, which ./Engus 
 susbequently composed. Nor is it difficult to explain O'Curry's 
 objection to this hypothesis namely, that it contains the 
 names of several 'saints who lived longer than .ZEngus 
 himself as, for instance, of Blathmac, who was martyred 
 in Hy by the Danes in A.D. 823, and Felimy MacCrifFan 
 (Crimhthainn) King of Munster, who died in A.D. 825 for 
 these names may have been added by a later hand, or by 
 the first copyist. The oldest copy of this Martyrology is 
 found in fo&Book of -Leinster, but Brother Michael O'Clery 
 made a more complete copy, which is now in the Burgundian 
 Library at Brussels. It was borrowed from the Belgian 
 Government in 1849, and copied for Dr. Todd by the late 
 lamented Eugene O'Curry. The same text was translated 
 and published, with notes, by Dr. Mathew Kelly, of May- 
 nooth, in 1847. 
 
 The most celebrated, however, and by far the most valu- 
 able of the writings of ^Engus is his Feilire, or Festology of 
 the Saints. He conceived the idea of this work from the 
 vision of Angels which he saw in the old Church of Cool- 
 banagher, over the grave of the poor soldier, who used to 
 invoke the saints of God. Doubtless, as^an aid to the memory, 
 it is written in verse, and in what O'Curry pronounces to be 
 the best and purest style of our language the Gaedhlic of 
 the eighth century. The same authority declares that it is 
 the oldest and the most important of all our Martyrologies. 
 One of the best copies is that contained in the famous com- 
 pilation called the Leabhar Breac, or Great Book of Duniry, 
 in the County Galway. In the preface or introduction to the 
 work there is a short notice of the writer, and of the time, 
 place, and purport of his composition. 
 
 The time of its composition was during the reign of the 
 monarch Aedh Oirnidhe, who reigned from A.D. 793 to 817, 
 so that though planned during the abbacy of Maelruain, it 
 was not written until after his death. It appeared probably 
 about the year A.D. 800, with the approbation of one of the 
 greatest scholars of the time, " Fothadh of the Canon."
 
 410 THE SCHOOL OF CLONENAGH. 
 
 O'Curry conjectures that at this period JEngus had left 
 Tallaght and returned to his first cell at Disert-beagh, near 
 Clonenagh. Aedh, the King, just at this time made an in- 
 cursion into Leinster, and pitched his camp not far from 
 Monasterevan, in the Queen's County. It seems that up to 
 this period the clergy were compelled to follow the native 
 princes in battle, and even sometimes took an active part in 
 the conflict. This, however, was altogether against the 
 Canon Law ; and on the present occasion Conmach, the 
 Primate-Archbishop of Armagh, and his clergy protested 
 against the practice, and appealed to the king to allow them 
 to return home and confine themselves to the discharge of 
 their spiritual functions. The king took this remonstrance 
 in good part, and as they were encamped in Leix, offered to 
 refer their complaint to the decision of Fothadh, his own 
 poet, tutor, and adviser. Fothadh thus appealed to, gave his 
 decision in favour of the clerics and against the king, and 
 being a poet gave it in rhyme. His decision thus given, 
 exempting the clergy from military service, was known as 
 the Canon, and he himself came to be called Fothadh-na- 
 Canoine. 
 
 Fothadh showed the stanzas in which he expressed his 
 decision to ^Engus, who entirely approved of it both as to 
 matter and form. JEngus on the same occasion showed his 
 own poem on the Saints of Erin to Fothadh, for he was fully 
 sensible of the great importance of securing for his own work 
 the approbation of the royal Bard. That approval was 
 warmly and generously given, accompanied with a strong 
 recommendation to the faithful generally to use the poem in 
 their public and private devotions. 
 
 The Feilire is divided into three parts : the first part is 
 introductory to the body of the work, and consists of five 
 quatrains, invoking in very beautiful language the gift of 
 heavenly wisdom from the King of the White Sun, that the 
 poet may, with a pure heart, fitly celebrate the praises of the 
 royal hosts of the great and good all-righteous King. He 
 then alludes to the consolation which he himself found iu 
 celebrating the praises of the saints. He describes thevarious 
 ways in which the soldiers of Jesus were tormented, and which 
 they endured with joyful heroism. Now they enjoy their 
 reward for ever with Mary's Son ; while their bodies here 
 below are enshrined in bright gold. Herod and Pilate are 
 ihen contrasted with Christ, Nero with Peter and Paul, 
 Pilate's queen with the Virgin Mary. Earthly power and 
 glory are fleeting in comparison with the love of ' Mary's
 
 ST. 2ENGUS. 
 
 411 
 
 Son,' and earthly princes are less than the lowly soldiers of 
 Jesus. Tara has perished, but Armagh is still crowded with 
 the sons of wisdom. King Laeghaire's glory is gone, but 
 Patrick's name still lives and will live for ever. 
 
 The body of the work contains 365 quatrains, in which 
 the writer celebrates on every day the praises not only of our 
 principal Irish saints, but also commemorates several saints 
 of the Universal Church. The text is interlined with a very 
 ancient gloss and commentary, as well as with notes fixing 
 the sites of the churches of several of the saints referred to. 
 This gloss and the accompanying notes, whilst adding much 
 to the difficulty of editing the work itself, render it an in- 
 valuable aquisition to the historian and archaeologist. 
 
 In the third part the author recapitulates his poem, explains 
 its construction and arrangement, directs the faithful how to 
 use it, and apologises for the fact that of necessity he could 
 only introduce the chiefs and princes of the saints into his 
 poem. Yet he spared no pains to make it as complete as 
 possible, consulting lor the foreign saints, Ambrose, Jerome, 
 and Eusebius ; and for the Irish saints, he not only consulted 
 " the countless hosts of the illuminated books of Erin," but 
 he himself travelled throughout the entire country visiting 
 their churches and collecting the local traditions regarding 
 them. Lest, however, any might be jealous for being 
 omitted, he invokes them in this third part under certain 
 general heads patriarchs, prophets, virgins, martyrs, etc., 
 etc. so that not a single one of the heavenly host at home 
 or abroad can complain of the want of some reference to his 
 or her memory. It is not too much to say that the Feilire 
 of ^ZEngus is on the whole the most valuable of the Irish 
 ecclesiastical treatises that have happily been preserved down 
 to our own times. 
 
 Another valuable work which we owe to the indefatigable 
 industry of JEngus is the collection of Pedigrees of the Irish 
 Saints the oldest, and therefore the most authentic collec- 
 tion that we possess, and enriched moreover with valuable 
 topographical notes and references to many of our ancient 
 churches. The fifth part of this work is the Book of 
 Litanies, which has been published in the third volume of 
 the Irish Ecclesiastical Record. It affords conclusive proof 
 of one fact, that the invocation of the saints was not only a 
 well recognised, but quite a common form of devotion in the 
 early Church of Ireland. Indeed there is scarcely a single 
 folio of any portion of the writings of -ZEngus that does not 
 afford conclusive evidence of the same fact.
 
 412 THE SCHOOL OF CLONENAGH. 
 
 The last work of ^Engus ia the Saltair-na-Rann, whicli 
 Eugene O'Curry describes as "consisting of 150 poems on 
 the history of the Old Testament, written in the finest style 
 of the Gaedhlic language of the middle of the eighth cen- 
 tury." Probably it got its name from its resemblance, at 
 least in number, to the Psalms of David. It is, according to 
 the same authority, altogether a different work from the com- 
 paratively modern poem of the same name in the British 
 Museum. 
 
 In the year 1880 the Feilire, or Metrical Calendar of 
 sEngus, edited" and translated by Dr. Whitley Stokes, was 
 published by the Royal Irish Academy. In a paper read be- 
 fore the Academy so early as 1871, and prefixed to this work, 
 Dr. Stokes asserts that ^Engus cannot have been the author 
 of the Feilire; that similar linguistic reasons prove that he 
 cannot have been the author of the Saltair-na-Rann, and 
 that there is not a particle of trustworthy evidence to show 
 that JEngus ever wrote either the Pedigrees of the IrisJi 
 Saints, or his celebrated Litany 'of the Irish Saints. Dr. 
 Stokes is a conscientious and painstaking writer, but with a 
 love of originality in his views. We carefully examined the 
 reasons which he gives in favour of these very original 
 views, and we must say we thought them exceedingly hollow. 
 As to his linguistic reasons for asserting that the Feilire and 
 the Saltair could not have been written before the close of 
 the tenth century, we may confidently set the opinion of an 
 Irish scholar like Eugene O'Curry against that of Dr. 
 "Whitley Stokes, whose knowledge of Irish is purely book 
 knowledge. There is not a single linguistic form in the 
 MSS., which he alleges to be later than the eighth century, 
 that cannot be explained by the well-known custom of the 
 copyists modernizing the language of the MSS., so as to 
 make their copies more intelligible to those for whom they 
 wrote. We have already explained how in a similar way 
 the names of a few saints, and of the author himself, might 
 have been added to the Feilire by a copyist who wished to 
 pay honour to a favourite saint of his own church. Flimsy 
 reasons of this kind manifestly cannot outweigh the explicit 
 testimony of the Scholiast's Introduction written before the 
 twelfth century in very ancient Irish that these were the 
 works of -ZEngus, and giving us the time, the place, and the 
 circumstances of their composition, with the few facts that 
 are known to us concerning the life of the writer. 
 
 It is very likely that JEngus died in his beloved retreat 
 at Disert-beagh ; but, according to the metrical Life, he was
 
 ST. ^ENGUS. 413 
 
 buried at Clonenagh. He had laboured long and travelled 
 far to illustrate the history of the saints of his native land; 
 and now that long day's work was done, and he lay down to 
 sleep in the bosom of the dear and holy scenes of his child- 
 hood. He knew that the pious brotherhood of Clonenagh 
 would not forget to chant for many a year the requiem for 
 his soul's repose ; and the ' pure cold Nore ' of his youthful 
 love would breathe its gentle murmurs near his grave for 
 ever. But his voice has not been stilled by the flight of 
 centuries even now he speaks to us on earth in his writings, 
 and he- prays for us amongst the choirs iDf angels and 
 saints in heaven. 
 
 Clonenagh suffered so much during the Danish wars that 
 it gradually fell away from its ancient importance, and in the 
 twelfth century sank to the rank of a parochial church. At 
 present it is only a green mound associated with a historic 
 name.
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 THE SCHOOL OF GLENDALOUGH. 
 I. ST. KEVIN. 
 
 " By that lake, whose gloomy shore 
 
 Skylark never warbles o'er, 
 Where the cliff hangs high and steep, 
 Young St. Kevin stole to sleep.'' 
 
 Moore. 
 
 GLENDALOUGH the Valley of the Two Lakes is, for a 
 religious and cultivated mind, one of the most interesting 
 spots in Ireland. Nature has made it wild and beautiful ; 
 religion has hallowed its scenery with the holiest associations ; 
 the genius of song has lit up its dark lakes and mountains 
 with all the radiance of romance. It is one of those places 
 the very sight of which raises the mind from mean and sordid 
 thoughts to the contemplation of what is beautiful and good. 
 
 This will be felt all the more by those who are acquainted 
 with the holy and self-denying life of the founder of Glenda- 
 lough. His career is peculiarly interesting and attractive ; 
 for he was a man of the most amiable disposition, and yet of 
 the most austere virtue ; a lover of nature and a teacher of 
 men, with the emotional soul of a poet, and a conscience of 
 angelic purity. We are told that the wild birds loved to 
 alight on his shoulders, and that the savage beasts fawned at 
 his feet. He felt himself most at home in the midst of the 
 wild majestic scenery of his mountain valley, where he loved 
 to commune with Nature and with Nature's God. We are 
 told in his Life that his eyes and ears were always open to 
 the sights and sounds around him that the birds made sweet 
 music in his ears that the toil of his austere life was 
 lightened by listening to the gentle murmurs of the wind 
 through the leaves of the trees around his cell. 
 
 Kevin in Irish Coemghen, or the Fair-begotten came 
 of the royal stock of Leinster both on his father and mother's 
 side. His father, Coemlug, was seventh in descent from 
 Messincorb, the common ancestor of the Dal Messincorb, who 
 himself was son of Cucorb, a king of Leinster in the beginning 
 of the second century. Coemell, his mother, was the daughter
 
 ST. KEVIN. 415 
 
 of Cennandan, a chief of the Dal Cormac, so called from 
 Cormac Caech, who was a brother of that Messincorb already 
 alluded to. 
 
 Kevin was born A.D. 498, for we are told that he was one 
 hundred and twenty years old when he died A.D. 618. The 
 place of his birth is not given in his Life ; but it was some- 
 where in the County Wicklow, the south-eastern corner of 
 which, around Rathdrum, seeras to have been the patrimony 
 of his family. It was a family of saints ; for Kevin had two 
 brothers and two sisters, whose names are in the Calendar. 
 One of the brothers was Caemhan of Ard-Chaemhain, 
 near Wexford ; the other was Mocuemiu, or Nathchaemh, 
 the cousin and successor of St. Columba of Terryglass, in 
 Lower Ormond. The sisters were St. Coeltigerna, mother of 
 St. Dagan of Inver Daoile, in Wicklow, and Melda, the 
 mother of the younger St. Abban, who was born about the 
 year A.D. 520. Then, again, Kevin's paternal uncle was 
 St. Eugenius, Bishop of Ardstraw, the principal patron saint 
 of the Diocese of Deny. 
 
 The family, too, seems to have been remarkable for 
 personal beauty as well as for sanctity of life all its 
 members, male and female, being described in their very 
 names as ' beautiful ' or ' fair-begotten.' Young Coemghen of 
 Glendalough grew up to be a youth of remarkable beauty, so 
 that his good looks became a source of great danger and 
 temptation to the boy, as we shall presently see. 
 
 The child was baptized by a priest called Cronan, not by 
 an Angel, as has been sometimes foolishly said. It is stated, 
 however, in the saint's Life in the Salamanca MS., that an 
 Angel under the appearance of a beautiful boy, met the child 
 when it was being carried to the font, and blessed the infant 
 a fact which is not at all improbable. 
 
 At the early age of seven the child was placed under the 
 care of St. Petroc, a learned and holy man who came from 
 Cornwall, and hence is called a Briton in the Life of St. 
 Kevin. Petroc came to Ireland in A.D. 492, and devoted 
 himself to the study of Sacred Scripture, as well as to the 
 instruction and edification of his neighbours in Wicklow, 
 both by word and example. He afterwards returned to his 
 own country, where he continued the same course of saintly 
 life. His monastic school in Cornwall became a great centre 
 of learning and holiness, and was known as Petroc-Stowe, 
 which afterwards came to be corrupted into Padstow its 
 present name. 
 
 Under the care of this venerable master young Coemghen
 
 416 THE SCHOOL OF GLENUALOl Gil. 
 
 remained for twelve years, until A.D. 512, when he was 
 transferred to the guidance of his uncle, St. Eugenius, after- 
 wards founder and Bishop of Ardstraw. He had studied 
 some years in Britain in the great monastery of Rosnat, 
 which by some writers is placed in Wales, but by others, 
 with much more probability, is identified with Whithern 
 in Galloway. Eugenius, after his return to his own country, 
 in conjunction with St. Lochan and St. Enna, founded a 
 monastic school at a place called Kilnamanagh, in his native 
 territory of Cualann. There is a townland called Kilna- 
 managh in the parish of Glenealy, north-east of Rathdrum, 
 in Wicklow; and it was here, doubtless, that Coeraghen lived 
 under the care of these three saints, making, we are told, 
 daily progress in virtue and learning. 
 
 St. Eugenius, though he had studied in the schools of 
 Britain, was probably not much older than his nephew. He 
 was now, it seems, desirous to preach the Gospel in the native 
 territory of his mother, who came from the North of Ireland, 
 and was anxious to appoint young Coemghen to succeed 
 him at Kilnamanagh. Thereupon Coemghen, fearing to be 
 raised to this post of honour and responsibility, fled from his 
 uncle's monastery to the desert of Glendalough, and hid 
 himself in the remotest recesses of that wild mountain valley. 
 
 There was it seems another reason, too, which has been 
 much distorted by poetic licence, that induced him to fly 
 from his native district. The genuine story is told in his 
 Life, and is very different from the popular and poetic 
 account. Coemghen was a very handsome youth, and his 
 good looks won the affection of a beautiful girl of his own age, 
 whose sorrow was great to find her love not only unrequited, 
 but unnoticed. On one occasion she even followed the 
 gracious boy, when he went with his brothers to the woods, 
 and finding him alone exerted all her blandishments to win 
 his heart. The young saint, tormented instead of softened by 
 her proffered caresses, which he had tried in vain to repel, 
 resolved to give her a lesson for the future. He had flung 
 himself half-naked into a brake full of nettles, and now 
 gathering a handful, he scourged the girl with the burning 
 nettles on her face and arms. " The fire without," says the 
 author of the saint's Life, " extinguished the fire within." 
 Her heart was touched with the grace of penance. She 
 humbly asked Coemghen's pardon for all she had done to 
 tempt him, and besought him to pray to God in her behalf. 
 Such prayers could not but be heard ; and so we are told 
 that she became a sincere convert, consecrating her virginity
 
 ST. KEVIN. 417 
 
 to God, and faithfully following all the years of her life the 
 counsels and spiritual guidance of St. Coemghen. To scourge 
 the fair Kathleen with, nettles for the good of her soul is a 
 very different thing from flinging her into the lake. 
 
 Before Kevin retired to the recesses of Grlendalough, he 
 was ordained priest by Bishop Lugaidh, or Lugidus. Some 
 persons think it was by his advice that Coemghen sought that 
 lonely retreat. 
 
 In order to understand the subsequent events in the life 
 of St. Coemghen, or, as we may now call him, St. Kevin, it is 
 necessary to have some idea of the topography of Grlendalough. 
 
 The valley is something more than two miles long, and 
 about three quarters in average breadth. It runs from east 
 to west, slightly trending towards the north at its western 
 extremity. Towards the east it gradually opens into the 
 valley of the Avonmore ; but on the other three sides it is 
 completely enclosed by lofty and precipitous mountains. To 
 the south, or left hand, looking westward, are the mountains 
 of Derrybawn and Lugduff, the latter especially rising iu 
 steep and gloomy grandeur, like a great wall, from the floor 
 of the valley. On the north or right hand are the two 
 mountains of Brockagh and Comaderry neither so bold nor 
 so steep as Lugduff ; Comaderry, however, rises to the height 
 of 2,296 feet, while Lugduff is only 2,140 above the level of 
 the sea. 
 
 There are two lakes in this dark valley, one called the 
 Upper, or western lake, which is the larger and gloomier sheet 
 of water lying under the gigantic shadow of Lugduff, whose 
 cliffs rise sheer from the water to the height of 1,000 feet. 
 The Lower, or eastern lakelet, is smaller and brighter in its 
 aspect, and leaves a foot passage on either side between its 
 shores and the mountains to the north and south. At the 
 extreme western end of the valley a mountain torrent dashes 
 down a steep ravine into the lake, forming a fine cascade, 
 which may be seen from the eastern shore of the lake. There 
 is another mountain stream that rushes down between 
 Lugduff and Derrybawn on the south, forming a fine 
 waterfall called Pollanass, escaping from which its waters 
 enter the Upper Lake at its south-eastern extremity. Fed 
 by these two streams and numerous rivulets, the Upper Lake 
 sends out its surplus waters down the valley in a considerable 
 stream called here the Glenealo River, which rushes eastward 
 over the broken ground until it takes rest for a while in the 
 Lower Lake. Emerging thence, and still flowing westward 
 for half a mile, it unites with another stream called the 
 
 2D
 
 418 THE SCHOOL OF GLENDALOUGH. 
 
 Glendasan River, which flows down the back of Comaderry 
 mountain. For about a quarter of a mile before uniting, 
 these two streams flow almost parallel through the valley, 
 and then suddenly bending towards each other, send their 
 united waters still eastward to join the Avonmore at Larah, 
 towards the eastern extremity of the Valley of Glendalough. 
 The delta, formed in the valley by the Glenealo and Glen- 
 dasan rivers, was the site of the ' City' of Glendalough, and 
 there still the principal ruins are to be found. 
 
 When Kevin fled from Kilnamanagh and its dangers, he 
 penetrated to the very heart of this wilderness, and took up 
 his abode in its most inaccessible retreats. The writer of his 
 Life gives a most accurate description of the spot which he 
 chose for his place of abode. " It was a valley closed in with 
 lofty and precipitous mountains, and in the western part of 
 this valley towards the south he found a lake enclosed 
 between two mountains." 1 On the shores of this lake he lived 
 for seven years the life of a solitary, without fire, without a 
 roof, and almost without human food. " On the northern 
 shore his dwelling was in a hollow tree ; but on the southern 
 shore of the lake he dwelt in a very narrow cave, to which 
 there was no access except by a boat, for a perpendicular 
 rock of immense height overhangs it from above." This is 
 St. Kevin's Bed on the face of Lugduff, overhanging the 
 southern shore of the Upper Lake, whose deep waters wash 
 the base of the rock 30 feet beneath. Even from the lake 
 the path is steep and difficult, but not dangerous. Very 
 few, however, have the steadiness and courage to descend to 
 the cave from the overhanging cliffs above. 
 
 The cave itself is only about four feet square, and not 
 high enough to stand upright in. But there is a smaller 
 hollow within where the saint might lay his head and snatch 
 his few hours of brief repose. It was a dizzy height, and a 
 hard bed ; but we cannot judge of the saints of God by our 
 own worldly and selfish standard. And for one who loved 
 God and His glorious works, as St. Kevin did, there were 
 never wanting, by day or night, sights and sounds to fill his 
 mind with manifold ideas of the wondrous attributes of the 
 great Author of all. The majesty of these dark mountains, 
 the changing glories of these lakes and streams, the voices 
 oi; 1 the falling waters, the roaring of the storms through the 
 wintry hills, Arturus and the Bear rising over the lofty 
 crest of Comaderry and for ever silently sweeping round the 
 
 1 " Cujus (vallis) in occidental! parte versus meridiem extension! inter 
 duos montes repperit stagnum." Salamanca MS.
 
 ST. KEVIN. 419 
 
 changeless pole, the morning sun flooding the dark valley with 
 light a pale reflection of the splendour around the Great 
 White Throne these were the sights that met his eyes, and 
 the voices that spoke in his ears during the days and nights 
 that he spent on the rocky floor of his narrow cell. He spoke 
 to no man, but he communed with God and Nature his body 
 was on the naked rock, but his soul was in heaven. It was 
 during these years that the birds and beasts came to know 
 and to love the gentle saint, who lived as Adam did in 
 Paradise. He had made for himself a hut of boughs on the 
 northern shore of the lake, where he spent much of his time, 
 and we are told that the birds used to come and alight on 
 his hands and shoulders, and sing for him their sweetest 
 songs ; and that the trees were like -<3Eolian harps whose 
 melody lightened the toilsome routine of his life. As for his 
 food, " no man knows on what he lived during these years, 
 for he himself never revealed it to any one." 
 
 And now it pleased God to make known the virtues of 
 his servant to his fellow men. A shepherd discovered the 
 saint's retreat, and told far and wide of the holy man who 
 had led for so long the life of an angel in the desert. Crowds 
 of persons made their way to the heart of the mountains, and 
 St. Kevin could no longer be alone. It was revealed to him 
 that he was destined to be the father of many monks, and he 
 submitted to the will of Providence. 
 
 Still he was at first unwilling to go far from his beloved 
 cave in Lugduff. So they built him a cell a circular bee-hive 
 hut of stones close to the southern shore of the lake ; and 
 near at hand his disciples also built him an oratory on a rock 
 projecting from the base of Lugduff into the lake, hence called 
 Tempull-na-Skellig. This was the " clara cella quae Desertum 
 Coemghini appellatur." 1 But that beautiful and celebrated 
 oratory is now like the saint's cell, almost a heap of ruins 
 the sight-seers are even worse than the Danes, and fifty 
 years of tourists in the mountain valley have caused more 
 ruin to these venerable monuments than centuries of civil 
 strife. Not far from Tempull-na-Skellig, and on the same 
 southern shore of the Upper Lake, there is another ruined 
 church and church-yard, known in the guide books as 
 Rifearta Church ; that is, the 'royal cemetery' (righ-feartd) of 
 the O'Toole kings. They were not the original rulers of this 
 district ; but after the Norman Conquest they retired from 
 the plains of Kildare before invaders, and held these valleys 
 
 1 Others think it was the Recfert Church, as it is now calle 1.
 
 420 THE SCHOOL OF 6LENDALOUGH. 
 
 and mountains as a stronghold of freedom against the 
 ' strangers.' 
 
 But this place became too small for the multitude of the 
 saint's disciples, who now dwelt around his little church 
 it was inconveniently situated, too, and very difficult of access. 
 So God's Angel appeared to Kevin, and commanded him to 
 go and build his monastery at the eastern shore of the smaller 
 lake, about half a mile further down the valley. 
 
 " If it was God's will," said Kevin, " I should : prefer to 
 remain until my death near this place, where I have laboured 
 in His service." "Nay," said the Angel, " if you dwell 
 where I say, many thousands of -happy souls will have their 
 resurrection there, and go with you to the heavenly king- 
 dom." Then the Angel led the saint, after he had spent four 
 years at Lugduff, to the eastward of A the smaller lake, and 
 marked out the site of his church and monastery ; and "there 
 he built that celebrated monastery of the Valley of the Two 
 Lakes, which was the mother house of many others." 
 
 And there, too, he lived as of old in the practice of the 
 most rigid austerity. "He was clothed in the coarsest gar- 
 ments ; his bed was the bare ground ; he broke his fast at 
 evening on a meal of herbs and water ; he kept constant and 
 prayerful vigils often in the open air ; and so he lived a long 
 time in the monastery, as he used to live in the desert, until 
 at the earnest entreaty of many holy men he consented sat 
 last to live like his monks in the ordinary monastic way." It 
 is evident that the saint was most reluctant to give up 
 those habits of extreme asceticism which he had adopted in 
 the desert ; and he only yielded in deference to the en- 
 treaties of other venerable men who feared to loose so 
 precious a life. 
 
 It is not to be wondered at that large crowds of disciples 
 came to the monastery of this great servant of God, and were 
 anxious to place themselves under his guidance, so that 
 Glendalough became a seminary of saints and scholars, who 
 went forth from its halls to found other monasteries, and rule 
 other churches. In fact, it became quite a * city ' in the 
 desert, whose citizens were " cives sanctorum et domestic! 
 Dei," clothed with human nature, but living like the house- 
 hold of God in heaven. 
 
 At this period Kevin must have been still a comparatively 
 young man, certainly not exceeding forty years of age. For 
 all these events are narrated in his life as if happening 
 before he left Glendalough to pay a visit to the holy abbots, 
 Columba, Comgall, and Canice, who met the saint of Glenda-
 
 ST. KEVIN. 421 
 
 lough at the celebrated hill of Uisnech (now Usney) in 
 "Westmeath. This visit is represented as having taken place 
 only a few days after the death of St. Ciaran at Clonmac- 
 nois, which took place in A.D. 544, so that the large monastery 
 of Glendalough was probably founded about A.I). 540, when 
 the saint was 42 years of age. The hill of Uisnech was from 
 time immemorial a celebrated place of meeting, being situated 
 in the centre of Ireland, and, though belonging to Heath, it 
 was considered neutral ground, with the privilege of sanctuary 
 during these meetings. It is probable these holy abbots, 
 Columba of Kells and Durrow, Comgall of Bangor, Canice of 
 Aghaboe, were met together for the transaction of some 
 weighty matters arising from the accession of the new king 
 of Tara, Diarmaid Mac Cearbheoil, and they invited to their 
 meeting the already famous abbot of the great Leinster 
 monastery. In the Life of Kevin it is said that he went to 
 establish, or confirm, a league of brotherly friendship with 
 these saints ; and so much was he respected that Columba 
 stood up at his approach, and remained standing until he 
 arrived. And when the ruder multitude (plebs) censured the 
 great Columba for acting thus in deference to an unknown 
 stranger, Columba warmly replied : " Foolish men ! why 
 should not I stand at the approach of that servant of God, in 
 whose honour God's Angels in heaven will yet rise from their 
 thrones?" 
 
 After his return to Glendalough he presided over that 
 great monastery and school for 60 years more, leading still 
 the same heavenly life, training others by word and example 
 to walk in the paths of holiness, and confirming his teaching 
 by the performance of many miracles. But as was said by 
 one of his disciples, his own life was the greatest miracle of 
 them all. Special mention- is made of two of his favourite 
 disciples St. Berach, who himself afterwards founded a great 
 monastery at Cluaincairpthe, since called Tarmonbarry, on 
 the banks of the Shannon, and Mochoroy^ a Briton, who was 
 for many years a loving disciple- of the saint and founder of 
 the Church of Delgany. He enjoyed the great privilege of 
 giving the Yiaticum to Kevin, when the holy old man was 
 about to be called away to his reward. St. Kevin died on 
 the 3rd of June, A.D. 618, at the great age of 120 years, and 
 was buried by his sorrowing children in his own church at 
 Glendalough. 
 
 The memory of St. Kevin is greatly revered, not only in 
 Wicklow but in all parts of Ireland ; and he seems to hold a 
 place in popular affection next after the great patron saints 
 of Ireland, Patrick, Bridget, and Columcille.
 
 422 THE SCHOOL OF GLENDALOUGH. 
 
 Some writings have been attributed to the saint, amongst 
 others a Life of St. Patrick, but without sufficient evidence. 
 He was certainly the author of a very celebrated monastic 
 Rule, which unhappily is no longer extant. It would be 
 invaluable as exhibiting the special bent of his mind in the 
 formation of the religious character. It was in this that his 
 great influence made itself felt during the long years of his 
 life. It was by this means he stamped his own character on 
 the minds of his disciples, and made Glendalough famous 
 during subsequent centuries as a nursery of holy and learned 
 men. His monastery was for the East of Ireland for many 
 ages what Aran of St. Enda was for the West a great school 
 of asceticism, a novitiate for the training of the young saints 
 and clergy of Erin in virtue even more than in knowledge. 
 It was his noble ambition to elevate the standard of ecclesi- 
 astical knowledge, and make the cloister not only the house 
 of all virtue, but the asylum of all the liberal arts. This was 
 all the more necessary in a turbulent and semi-barbarous age, 
 when the strong hand made its own laws. In this respect 
 the seclusion of Glendalough, as well as the sanctity of its 
 founder and of its holy places, rendered it a most secure 
 asylum down to the advent of the Danes, and even after their 
 departure down to the time of the Anglo-Normans. 
 
 II. KUINS AT GLENDALOUGH. 
 
 The existing ruins in the ancient city of Glendalough 
 may, as we have observed, be divided into two groups those 
 at the shore of the Upper Lake, to which we have already 
 referred, and those at the junction of the two rivers and east 
 of the Lower Lake, which constitute the City proper. This 
 group of buildings was enclosed by a caiseal, or strong stone 
 wall, which not only served the purposes of defence, but also 
 marked the limits of the clausura, or enclosed space, which 
 females were not allowed to enter, nor the monks to leave 
 without permission. Within this enclosure are the ruins of 
 the following buildings: (1) the cathedral; (2) the round 
 tower ; (3) Cro Coemghin, or St. Kevin's kitchen ; (4) the 
 Church of the Blessed Virgin. 
 
 The wall of the cashel has now almost entirely disap- 
 peared ; but the magnificent gateway by which it was entered, 
 after crossing the bridge of the Glendasan river, still remains. 
 " This gateway was very nearly a square, being sixteen feet 
 between the side walls and sixteen feet six between the per- 
 forated or arched walls." 1 It was built of mica slate the 
 
 1 Petrie Round Towers, p. 451.
 
 RUINS AT GLENDALOUGH. 423 
 
 stone of the district except the arches and pilasters, which 
 are built of large chiselled blocks of granite. The two arches 
 are of equal height five feet to the chord and ten to the 
 soffit. A tower arose originally over this double arch, but 
 it has now quite disappeared. There can be no doubt that 
 the gateway tower and cashel were coeval with the completed 
 monastery, and date from the beginning of the seventh 
 century. 
 
 The nave of the great church or cathedral, and the round 
 tower are, in Petrie's opinion, coeval, and also belong to the 
 early part of the seventh century. He bases his opinion 
 mainly on the character of the masonry, which in the tower 
 is perfectly similar to that of the round tower of Kilmacduagh. 
 There is historical evidence that the great Church of Kilmac- 
 duagh was built by Guaire Aidhne, about the year A.D. 610. 
 The masonry of this church is so similar to that of the tower 
 at Kilmacduagh that they must be regarded as of contempor- 
 aneous construction. The magnificent tower of Glen dalo ugh 
 is still 110 feet high; with its conical cap it would have been 
 originally 132 feet high. The doorway is at present ten feet 
 from the ground, and is perfectly similar in construction to 
 the door- way s of the ancient churches in the valley in this, 
 that they are all constructed of chiselled blocks of granite, 
 while the walls are built of the rubble masonry with the 
 stones of the district. The door- way is five feet seven inches 
 high, two feet wide at the cill, and one foot ten inches at the 
 arch, which is cut out of the stone a feature characteristic 
 of our earliest churches. The nave of the great church which 
 is of the same date (the chancel is in the later ornamented 
 style), and of perfectly similar masonry, was 55 feet in length 
 by 37 in breadth; the chancel seem to have been a later addi- 
 tion. 
 
 The building called St. Kevin's Kitchen, with its belfry 
 tower and high pitched stone roof, is perhaps the most 
 interesting building at Glendalough, and was, there is no 
 longer reason to doubt, like Columcille's House at Kells, the 
 oratory and dormitory of the saint. It is evident, upon close 
 examination, that the chancel and sacristy annexed to 
 it, as well as the belfry, were later additions. It was 
 originally a simple oblong 30 feet long and a little more than 
 22 feet wide ; the side walls are 11 feet in height, whilst its 
 height to the ridge of the roof is 31 feet. The lower apart- 
 ment was an oratory arched with stone, the high pitch of the 
 stone roof leaving space for the croft, or upper chamber, 
 which was at once the cell and sleeping apartment of the
 
 424 THE SCHOOL OF GLENDALOUGH. 
 
 saint himself the oratory beneath was what would now be 
 called a private oratory. The belfry is a small round tower, 
 with conical cap, at the western end of the building. 
 
 "Our Lady's Church" is situated a little to the west 
 of these buildings already described, which are in close 
 proximity to each other. It is said to have been the first 
 church built by the saint, eastward of the smaller lake; and 
 its architecture confirms this tradition. The door-way is of 
 singular beauty, and of the most primitve type. It is figured 
 in Petrie's great work, and exhibits all the characteristic 
 features of the earliest doorways. The architrave, however, 
 is ornamented with a plain double moulding ; and a cross, , 
 saltier-wise, is carved on the soffit of the lintel. St. Kevin 
 himself was buried within this ancient church, which he had 
 dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary. 1 His grave was shown 
 in the last century, but it seems that it is now covered over 
 with rubbish from the falling walls. This is also called the 
 Ivy Church, for its walls are festooned with that charitable 
 creeper which flings so much beauty around decay. 
 
 This group of buildings were all erected during the life- 
 time of the saint, or shortly after his death. There were, 
 however, two other edifices further down the valley to the 
 east, of a more ornamental character and of later date. 
 
 ' Trinity Church ' is about a furlong eastward of the 
 'City' proper, standing alone close to the road on the left from 
 Larah to those buildings which we have just described. It 
 has, or rather had, a chancel with a very beautiful semi- 
 circular chancel arch, and also a round tower, which Petrie 
 thinks was built so late as the thirteenth century when the 
 valley of the saints had become " a nest of robbers and 
 murderers." Still further to the east near Larah bridge, and 
 about a mile from the ' City,' was the Priory of St. Saviour, 
 or as it is sometimes called, the Monastery. It is now almost 
 a heap of ruins; portions, however, of the pilasters supporting 
 the chancel arch still remain. The nave of this church was 
 42 feet long by 26 in breadth ; the monastic buildings seem to 
 have been annexed to the north side of the church, but cannot 
 now be traced. Its most interesting feature, however, was the 
 elaborate carving in blow-relief on the bases and capitals of 
 the piers (at one side only) that supported the chancel arch. 
 The character of the ornamentation would seem to point to the 
 
 1 Petrie says there were no such early dedications to the B. V. Mary ; but 
 the Life of Carthagh of Lismore shows that he built and dedicated a church 
 in honour of the B. V. Mary.
 
 ST. MOLING. 425 
 
 end of'the eleventh, or the beginning of the twelfth century, 
 as the probable date of this once beautiful building. The 
 little oratory -within the cathedral cemetery, called the 
 "Priest's House," which has now completely disappeared, 
 but of which drawings are preserved, also belonged to the 
 Romanesque period. It was called the 'Priests' House,' 
 according to Petrie, because it was reserved for the burial 
 place of the Roman Catholic clergy of the surrounding 
 districts. 
 
 Within the cemetery which surrounds the cathedral, and 
 is much overcrowded' with 'graves, was the famous yew tree, 
 said to have been planted by St. Kevin himself ; but it has 
 now entirely disappeared. It is said that some of its branches 
 were lopped off to make furniture, and that the ancient tree 
 then gradually withered and decayed. 
 
 In close proximity to St. Kevin's Kitchen there were 
 anciently several other buildings, all traces of which have 
 now quite disappeared. Mention is made of Oro-Chiarain or 
 St. Ciaran's House, and also of the church of the " Two 
 Sinchells " Regies an da Sinchell the patron saints of 
 Killeigh in the-King's County. These saints were friends 
 and contemporaries of St. Kevin, and probably resided for a 
 while in the ' Houses ' which they or their disciples had con- 
 structed in the holy valley. The remains of numerous 
 ancient crosses and tombstones have been discovered during 
 the recent restorations, and are now better cared than they 
 were heretofore. 
 
 III. ST. MPLING.. 
 
 Many celebrated scholars were trained in Grlendalough 
 from the time of St. Kevin to St. Laurence O'Toole. The 
 See of Glendalough, too, occupied a highly honourable posi- 
 tion amongst the bishoprics of Leinster, sometimes claiming 
 the place of honour next to Kildare itself. Yet there is no 
 evidence that St. Kevin himself was raised to the episcopal 
 dignity ; and we may fairly assume that if he were a bishop 
 the fact would not have been passed over in silence by the 
 writers of his Life. But the fame of the monastery and 
 schools became so great during the life of the holy founder, 
 that his successor and nephew, St. Molibba, was consecrated 
 bishop, and probably during the lifetime of St. Kevin him- 
 self. The subsequent prelates are styled sometimes 'bishops,' 
 and sometimes ' abbots ' of Glendalough; and in one instance, 
 at least, that of the abbot Cormac, who died in A.D. 925, the 
 same person is styled bishop and abbot.
 
 426 TF1E SCHOOL OF GLENDALOTGH. 
 
 It was during the abbacy of Molibba that the school of 
 Glendalough produced a distinguished pupil, whose name is 
 well known in Leinster, that is, St. Moling, the patron and 
 founder of St. Mullins. 
 
 St. Moling was one of the most celebrated of the holy and 
 learned men who were trained in Glendalough during the 
 lifetime, or shortly after the death of the founder. His name 
 is still preserved in the parish and barony of St. Mullins, on 
 the left bank of the Barrow, in the extreme south-west of 
 the County Carlow. Moling's first name was Daircell or 
 Taircell. He came of the royal race of Cathaoir Mor, a cele- 
 brated king of Leinster in the third century of the Christian 
 era. His father's name was Faolain, whence he is sometimes 
 called Mac Faolain, and his mother Eamhnat, is said to 
 have been a Kerry woman. Though sprung from the Ui 
 Deagha, on the left bank of the Barrow, he was probably 
 born in his mother's country ; and hence he is sometimes 
 called Moling Luachra, from the mountain district in Kerry, 
 where he was either born or fostered amongst; the friends of 
 his mother. The date of his birth is not known ; but as he 
 died in A.D. 697, it was probably some time in the early part 
 of the same century. 
 
 Few particulars of his early life are preserved, except 
 certain miraculous stories, which we need not refer to 
 here. It is expressly stated, however, that he spent some 
 time in the monastery of Glendalough, which was not very far 
 from Hy-Kinsellagh, and was then the most celebrated 
 establishment in Leinster. As St. Kevin died about A.D. 618, 
 young Moling cannot have seen much of that great saint, 
 if indeed he ever had an opportunity of meeting him 
 at all. But the spirit of Kevin was there his Rule and his 
 discipline flourished in Glendalough ; and hence in any case 
 we may regard St. Moling as his disciple. It was most pro- 
 bably at Glendalough that the young saint acquired that 
 great knowledge of the Sacred Scriptures which he afterwards 
 manifested, as well as those exalted virtues which bore such 
 lasting fruit on the banks of the Barrow. 
 
 The place where he founded his cell and monastery was 
 then called Achadh Cainidh ; but the name was soon changed 
 into Teach Moling the House of Moling since corrupted 
 into St. Mullins. He chose for his home a beautiful spot on 
 a gentle eminence overlooking the noble river, which here 
 mingles its waters with the rising tide between the green 
 meadows and rich groves that crown its swelling banks. A 
 small stream here joins the Barrow, and Moling built his
 
 ST. MOLING. 427 
 
 monastery on a high ground, between the junction of the 
 river and the stream. His own cell he built lower down, 
 close to the river, for he loved to be alone with God as much 
 as possible, although he frequently visited his monastery, and 
 allowed his monks to confer with himself whenever it was 
 necessary. 
 
 He had, too, that love of useful labour which pre-emin- 
 ently marked the great Benedictine Order. Laborare est 
 orare. To labour is to pray when the labour is sanctified by 
 its motive and its object. Moling wished to grind the corn 
 for his monks, and for this purpose, with his own hands, he 
 dug a mill-race from the stream already referred to, in such 
 a way as to convey the water more than a hundred yards 
 from the river, even through high ground, in ordjer to get a 
 fall for the water to turn the mill-wheel near his monastery. 
 He kept a curragh, too, on the river, near his own cell, and 
 was always ready to ferry strangers across the broad river, 
 who came to pray and do penance at the monastery. During 
 all this time his food was herbs and water ; and according to 
 some accounts probably in imitation of St. Kevin he lived 
 a long time within a hollow tree. 
 
 His austerities and his virtues soon attracted around 
 Moling a great number of disciples, so that a large com- 
 munity was formed under his guidance and direction. The 
 ruins of four ancient churches are still to be seen on the 
 slope of the hill overlooking the Barrow and the streamlet, 
 some of which were certainly built in his time. It is said, 
 too, that a portion of the mill-stone of Moling's mill was 
 found in the stream, and that the mill-race which he dug 
 out can still be clearly traced. 
 
 St. Aidan, called also Mo-Eadan, which has been shortened 
 into Moedog and Moque, the celebrated Bishop of Ferns, died 
 A.D. 632. It is said that he wished St. Moling to be his suc- 
 cessor, and that the princes and clergy of Leinster invited 
 Moling to become the Bishop of Ferns. Reluctlantly the 
 eaint complied with their wishes for he loved Teach Moling 
 much and preferred to spend his life there in solitude, 
 attending only to himself and the direction of the chosen souls, 
 who placed themselves under his direction. But Grod willed 
 it otherwise; and Moling became, at least for some years, 
 Bishop, or High-bishop of Ferns for at this period a certain 
 kind of precedence was claimed for Ferns over the other 
 bishoprics of Leinster. It is by no means certain, however, 
 that Moling became Bishop of Ferns in immediate succession 
 to Aidan in A.D. 632. If so he must have afterwards resigned
 
 428 THE SCHOOL OF GLENDALOUGH. 
 
 his See, which is highly probable, and thus made room for 
 other bishops of Ferns, whose names are mentioned in con- 
 nection with that See during the seventh century, and during 
 the lifetime of Moling himself. It cannot, therefore, be 
 determined whether he became Bishop of Ferns in A.D. 632 
 or 691 the former is, however, the more probable date. 
 
 Moling procured for his tribes-men one signal temporal 
 advantage the remission of the celebrated cow- tribute, called 
 the Borumha, which was., levied by the King of Tara in 
 Leinster every three years. It was an oppressive tax origin- 
 ally inflicted for a great crime committed by the King of 
 Leinster in A.D. 1.06, and was. productive of much bloodshed, 
 end mutual hatred, between the men of Leinster and the Hy- 
 Niall. Now King Finnachta the Festive, had already twice 
 exacted the tribute, and was coming to levy it a third time. 
 The Lagenians resolved to .fight rather than to pay; but 
 first of all it was. deemed expedient to get St. Moling to use 
 his great influence in their behalf to have the tribute remitted. 
 The saint succeeded beyond their expectations, although, it 
 is said, he made use of an. equivocation to effect his purpose. 
 Failing to get a promise of the absolute remission of the 
 tribute, he asked the king to grant him a stay of execution 
 until luan. The king promised to grant this stay. Now 
 luan means Monday ; and so the king understood it, but it also 
 means the Judgment Day, in which sense Moling understood 1 
 it, and insisted on the fulfilment of the promise in that sense. 
 The king feared the saint, and moreover was unwilling to be 
 deemed a pledge-breaker, so he was constrained to remit the 
 tribute for ever. The remission, however, was a most un- 
 popular act with his own northern subjects ; and it is not 
 unlikely that the story of the equivocation was invented by 
 the king's friends, who wished to please the saint, and yet to 
 throw the odium of this unpopular measure on one who was 
 much better able to bear it than Finnachta. Even the wise 
 Adamnan is represented as -counselling his royal master to 
 assert the legal claims of the great Hy-Niall race to which 
 he himself belonged ; and he is said to have blamed the king 
 for yielding so weakly to the Leinster saint. The remission 
 was made about the year A.D. 693 ; and the cow-tax was never 
 levied in Leinster afterwards. 
 
 St. Moling is said to have been a great scholar, and a 
 great writer. More ancient Irish poems, several of which 
 are still extant, have been ascribed to St. Moling than to any 
 
 1 See page 342, where the equivocation is put in another way.
 
 ST. MOLINO. 429 
 
 other of Our Irish saints, 1 with the exception, perhaps, of 
 Columcille. Some of these have reference to that Borromean 
 Tribute of which we have already spoken ; others pur- 
 porting to be prophetical, give a list of the kings of Erin, 
 their battles, victories, and death. In consequence of these 
 and several other prophetical poems, St. Moling has been set 
 ddwn as one of the four great prophets of Erin. The others 
 are St. Patrick, St. 'Columcille, and St. Berchan of Clonsast. 
 One of Moling's prophecies foretells the coming of the Anglo- 
 Normans to -Ireland, and the ' conquest ' of the country by 
 Henry TI. Some of these poems are manifest forgeries 
 written after the event. They were ascribed to St. Moling, 
 because he was pre-eminently a holy man, who enjoyed in 
 his own time the reputation of a prophet amongst all the 
 people. 
 
 ; Keating had in his possession a work which he calls the 
 Yellow Book of St. Moling, but which has since been unfor- 
 tunately lost. Hence we know nothing of it beyond the 
 name. It was probably begun by St. Moling and afterwards 
 continued by his monastic successors as an authentic record 
 of local and national events, like the A nnals of Tighernach, 
 or the Chronicon Scotorum at Clonmacnoise. Colgan observes 
 that St. Moling had a great devotion for St. Kevin, and 
 constantly invokes that saint in his poems and prophecies. 
 He was probably privileged to see during his boyhood the 
 venerable Kevin at Glendalough, and must have been greatly 
 impressed by that saintly master. St. Moling died towards 
 the close of the seventh century. 
 
 Notwithstanding its remoteness, the Danes frequently 
 ravaged Glendalough during the ninth century ; and again 
 repeated their ravages during the tenth and following century. 
 There could be no peace for the monks of St. Kevin whilst 
 the fleets of foreigners were on the Boyne, the Liffey, and 
 even at the mouth of the Bray River if it be the Inner-na- 
 mbarc referred to by the Four Masters in A.D. 836, as 
 O'Donovan conjectures. Still the sanctuary retained at least 
 to some extent its ancient fame even during these troubled 
 times, for Cormac Mac Cullinnan before his death in A.D. 907, 
 bequeathed to Glendalough an ounce of gold and an ounce 
 of silver, as an offering to secure the prayers of the com- 
 munity. It contained ' learned men ' and ' anchorites,' as 
 we know during this century, for the death of one of them is 
 recorded by the Four Masters in A.D. 953 (recte 954) ; and 
 
 1 See O'Hanlon, Volume vi., p&ge 714.
 
 430 THE SCHOOL OF GLEXDALOl (. II. 
 
 the death of several other anchorites is noticed by the Masters 
 in this same century. They were probably the same as the 
 inclusi of whom we read later on each of them living in 
 his own little cell, or ' kitchen/ which was at once his house 
 and his oratory. One of them was also what was called 'Head 
 of the Rule ' at Glendalough, and died in A.D. 965. The 
 death of a lector or reader in theology is also noticed the 
 previous year ; both bore the surname of O'Manchan, and were 
 probably members of the same family. 
 
 But it was not the Danes alone who wasted the abbey-lands 
 and destroyed the sacred edifices. Native Irishmen now 
 followed their bad example both at Glendalough and else- 
 where. In A.D. 983, " the three sons of Cearbhall, son of 
 Lorcan, plundered the termon, or abbey-lands of Coemghin ; 
 but the three were killed before night through the miracles 
 of God and Coemghin." No one can regret their fate ; it 
 was an example and a warning greatly needed in those rude 
 and lawless days. Five times during the next thirty years 
 St. Kevin's sacred city was plundered and destroyed by the 
 Danes j 1 yet it was still a venerated and much frequented 
 shrine during the whole of the eleventh and twelfth centuries. 
 In A.D. 1095 died the Brehon O'Manchan, Comarb of St. Kevin, 
 and a most celebrated judge. He was doubtless a member 
 of the same distinguished family, which had already given 
 many abbots and anchorites to Glendalough. 
 
 Noble ladies, too, we find, used to go on the pilgrimage to 
 Glendalough ; for in A.D. 1098, Dearbhforgaill, daughter of 
 Tadhg Mac Gillaphadraig, and mother of Murtogh and 
 Tadgh O'Brian, died in pilgrimage at Glendalough. The 
 same year Mac Maras Cairbreach, a noble priest and learned 
 senior, died in the sacred vale ; but whether on his pilgrimage 
 or in his own monastery is not stated. In A.D. 1127, the 
 abbot Gilla Comghall 6'Toole was slain by the men of 
 Fertuathal ; he was doubtless a member of the same family 
 as the illustrious Laurence O'Toole, the greatest glory of 
 Glendalough after its founder, of whom we must give a more 
 particular account, for he was the last canonized of the 
 countless saints of ancient Erin. 
 
 The Four Masters in A.D. 1085 record the death of " Gilla 
 na-naomh Laighen (the Leinster-man), noble bishop of 
 Gleann-da-locha, and afterwards head of the monks of 
 Wiirzburg." The celebrated monastery of Wiirzburg in 
 Germany, called in Latin Herbipolis, was founded by 
 
 1 See Archdall.
 
 ST. MOLING. 431 
 
 St. Killian. There is still preserved in the library of its 
 university a famous MS. called the Codex Paulinus, or Codex 
 of the Epistles of St. Paul in Latin, with copious glosses, 
 both marginal and interlinear, in the Irish language, which 
 were largely made use of by Zeuss, in the composition of his 
 Grammatica Celtica. This MS. is hardly of the time of 
 St. Killian himself. Zeuss thinks it was written either by 
 Marianus Scotus, or more probably brought from Ireland by 
 one of the learned pilgrims, who crowded the Scoto-German 
 monasteries at that time. He makes special reference to 
 Gilla na-Naomh, Bishop of Glendaloch ; and it may be that 
 he was the writer of this Codex, which still proves to the 
 learned world how carefully the Scriptures were studied in 
 our Irish schools, and how the Irish language was cultivated 
 by our native scholars during the ' darkest ' of the Middle 
 Ages.
 
 CHAPTER XVIII (continued]. 
 
 THE SCHOOL OF GLENDALOUGH. 
 
 ST. LAURENCE O'TooLE. 
 
 " And, Thou, O mighty Lord, whose ways 
 
 Are far above our feeble minds to understand, 
 Sustain us in these doleful days, 
 
 And render light the chain that binds our fallen land. 
 Look down upon our dreary state ; 
 
 And through the ages that may still roll sadly on, 
 Watch Thou o'er hapless Erin's fate, 
 
 And shield, at least from darkeriH, the blood of Cor.n." 
 
 Clarence Mangan. 
 
 SOMETHING like this was the prayer of St. Laurence O'Toole 
 when he was dying in a foreign land. He was the last of 
 our saints ; and he was also the associate and intimate friend 
 of the last of our kings. At one time both had high hopes 
 that the demon of civil strife might be banished from the 
 land ; and that Celtic learning and Celtic art would find 
 their highest development under the protection of a strong 
 government and a united people. 
 
 Together they drew a sword, that could not save, in 
 defence of hapless Ireland. Together they were forced to 
 bow the knee in homage to the Norman King. But St. 
 Laurence did not forget his old master in his new loyalty. 
 He was faithful through all his misfortunes to the unhappy 
 Roderick O'Connor ; and it may be truly said that he met 
 his noble death striving to obtain Henry's pardon for the 
 discrowned king, and " to render light the chains that bound 
 his fallen land." The saint's career, from every point of 
 view, is full of interest ; and therefore we make no apology 
 for tracing his history at some length. 
 
 It is fortunate that in the case of St. Laurence, or Lorcan 
 O'Toole, we are not left to tradition or imagination to enable 
 us to ascertain what manner of man he was. We have an 
 accurate and authentic Life of the saint, rich in all details, 
 and written by one who was in every way qualified for the 
 task. The writer was a member of that community at Eu, 
 in whose bosom St. Laurence found a home and a grave ; 
 and he must have had ample and authentic information at 
 his disposal. For the Life was written shortly after the
 
 ST. LAURENCE o'TOOLE. 433 
 
 saint's death ; its author must have seen and probably con- 
 versed with Laurence himself ; and, doubtless, he made the 
 acquaintance of the clergy who accompanied him from Ireland 
 to Normandy. Above all, he had at his command the official 
 documents, which were transmitted from Dublin to Rouen, at 
 the request of the Bishop and Chapter of that Cathedral, 
 and which were drav/n up by the Bishop of Kildare and the 
 Prior of Christ's Church by command of Henry de Loundres, 
 Archbishop of Dublin, for the process of the saint's canoni- 
 zation. 
 
 Laurence O'Toole, both by father and mother, came of 
 the noblest stock of Leinster. His father, Murtough, was 
 hereditary prince of the Hy-Murray, a race that inhabitated 
 the fertile lands of south-eastern Kildare (which still belongs 
 to the diocese of Dublin), until they were driven into the 
 mountains of Wicklow by the Normans. His mother was 
 the daughter of O'Byrne, the ruler of north-eastern Kildare, 
 who shared the same fate ; for both were driven from the 
 plains into the mountains, where they maintained a sturd}' 
 but turbulent independence, down to a period within the 
 memory of men still living. 
 
 The young Lorcan was baptized at St. Brigid's famous 
 shrine in Kildare, by the hands of the bishop of that ancient 
 See, who seems to have been in some way connected with the 
 family of the saint. We need not dwell on the alleged 
 prophecies of the saint's future greatness too often these 
 prophecies were composed after the event. A few years at 
 most after the birth of the child, Dermott JVl'Murrough, of 
 infamous memory, became King of Leinster, and as Gerald 
 Barry testifies, he was a tyrant from the beginning, a cruel 
 oppressor of the nobles, a man whose hand was against every 
 man, and who had every man's hand against him. The 
 father of the young Lorcan being suspected or defeated by 
 the tyrant, was forced to give his youngest child as a hostage 
 to H'Hurrough. Sometimes these hostages were treated 
 with great cruelty ; and if any violation of faith, real or 
 imaginary, took place, were not unfrequently put to death in 
 circumstances of the greatest atrocity. M'Murrough was 
 a savage, and treated the child savagely. He had him at the 
 tender age of ten led away in bonds ; he caused him to be 
 sent into a desert, stony land, somewhere probably to the 
 north of Ferns, and there the child was left almost without 
 food, until he was nearly starved to death, and his clothes 
 were reduced to rags ; so that, as the author of his Life tells 
 us, he had nothing to shelter him from the biting north winds
 
 434 THE SCHOOL OF GLENDALOUGH. 
 
 of winter. It was the discipline of the Cross which sometime 
 or other God prepares for those whom he destines for a high 
 degree of sanctity, that they may thus learn the best of all 
 lessons the lesson of patient endurance at the foot of the 
 Cross. 
 
 "When his father heard of the sad plight to which his 
 poor son was reduced knowing that prayers would be 
 fruitless with such a man he fortunately made prisoners of 
 twelve of M'Murrough's followers, and then gave the 
 tyrant to understand that if his son were not released, he 
 would take summary vengeance on the captives. The threat 
 was effective; M'Murrough could not afford to lose his 
 followers. So he agreed to give up the boy to the Bishop of 
 Glendalough on condition that his own followers were at once 
 released. 
 
 It was fortunate for young Lorcan that the chances of war 
 brought him to Glendalough, for it was the crisis of his life. 
 His captivity was, after all, a blessing in disguise, since it 
 ended in thus bringing him to the holy city of St. Kevin. In 
 spite of the ravages of the Danes, and of other spoilers like 
 Dermott M'Murrough, the lamp of learning still burned 
 brightly in the mountain valley, and the virtues of St. Kevin 
 were still cultivated, at least to some extent by his monastic 
 children. There were, it is true, from time to time burnings 
 at Glendalough, and deeds of violence were perpetrated even 
 under the shadow of its holy mountains. But the learning 
 and holiness acquired by St. Laurence in its cloisters for it 
 was his only school is the clearest proof that both sacred 
 and profane studies were there cultivated in comparative 
 peace, and that the Churches of Glendalough were crowded 
 with holy and learned monks until the Norman spoilers 
 came, when it was made a desert, or afforded refuge only to 
 the robber and the outlaw. 
 
 Young Lorcan was at once placed under the protection of 
 the Bishop ; and when his father came to bring him home, 
 the noble boy asked permission to remain for ever in the 
 family of St. Kevin, and forego his hopes of an earthly and, 
 in those days, a very brilliant inheritance. The father 
 gladly consented ; and thus, at the early age of twelve, 
 young Lorcan was given over to God, and like Samuel, was 
 brought up in the temple of the Lord, serving day and night 
 before His altar. His whole time, like that of his young 
 companions, was given to prayer and study. It was his 
 highest privilege to be allowed to attend at the altar, to 
 train his young voice to sing the praises of God with the
 
 ST. LAURENCE o'TOOLE. 435 
 
 monks in the choir, and prepare the requisites for the Holy 
 Sacrifice, especially the spotless host, and the wine, and the 
 limpid water from St. Kevin's well. He was assiduous in 
 attendance at all the lessons of the lectors, that is the readers 
 in Divinity and Sacred Scriptures, who were attached to the 
 monastic school, and delivered their lectures in a somewhat 
 free and easy, but very effective, sort of way. In rainy 
 weather they assembled in the church, or the abbot's house, 
 or the reading room ; but when the sun shone the professor 
 and monks strolled about, or sat down under the shade of 
 St. Kevin's yew, while the teacher expounded the Sacred page, 
 or read the lives of ancient saints, or went through the 
 canons of the Church, explaining how the law was violated, 
 how transgressors were punished, and how the truly repent- 
 ant after condign penance were reconciled. It was not so 
 elaborate a system as we have at present ; but it was admir- 
 ably suited to the wants of the time. It certainly produced 
 great prelates and great saints ; and beyond all doubt it was 
 more healthy for soul and body to hear the Word of God ex- 
 plained in the bracing air of Glendalough, under the shadow 
 of its majestic mountains, than to be cooped up in a dusty 
 hall, where one can hardly even catch a ray of the glorious 
 sun struggling through the murky atmosphere. 
 
 Lorcan was a diligent and keen-witted scholar. He was, 
 says the writer of his Life, " Fervens in audiendo, sagax in 
 repetendo, prudens in discernendo, solicitus audita tenaci 
 memoriae commendare." No good quality of a perfect student 
 was wanting. He was not merely an attentive but an eager 
 listener fervens in audiendo. He went carefully and wisely 
 over whatever he heard or read sagax in repetendo. This 
 improved his natural talents, and made him a youth of keen 
 and penetrating judgment prudens in discernendo and the 
 knowledge which he acquired he stored up, not in a confused 
 heap, but with system and order, which helped to strengthen 
 his retentive memory, and enable him to have his know- 
 ledge ready for use sollicitus audita tenaci memoriae com- 
 mendare. 
 
 For thirteen years he spent his life in the service of God, 
 in the improvement of his mind, and the acquisition of Sacred 
 knowledge. They were probably the happiest years of his 
 life ; his young: heart, pure and free from care, was given to 
 the only love that begets perfect happiness, the love and 
 service of God. Then it came to pass that the abbot of 
 Glendalough, the comarb of St. Kevin, died ; and, young as 
 he was, the unanimous voice of the clergy, and of the people,
 
 436 THE SCHOOL OF GLENDALOUGH. 
 
 called for Lorcan as his successor. He was only twenty-five 
 too young, indeed, in ordinary circumstances to be placed 
 at the head of a great community ; but his virtues, his learn- 
 ing, and his prudence far exceeded the measure of his years, 
 and so they placed him, reluctant as he was, at the head of 
 the great establishment of St. Kevin, probably about the 
 year A.D. 1153, when we read that the abbot Dunlaing Ua 
 Cathail died. 
 
 We cannot stay to recount his wisdom, his zeal, and, above 
 all, his great charity in his new post. The abbey lands were 
 wide ; the family of St. Kevin was very large ; the duties of 
 the abbot very onerous ; but we find young Lorcan discharged 
 all these duties with complete success. Above all, his charity 
 to the poor was remarkable. A time of great scarcity had 
 come upon the people in all that mountain region, and great 
 numbers would, undoubtedly, have perished of cold and 
 hunger, but the abbot found means to be generous to all 
 no appeal was made to him in vain ; no one left the gates of 
 the monastery hungry. When necessary he gave the scanty 
 meal from his own table to feed the starving people. Perhaps 
 it was that he was too profuse of the property of the monastery, 
 or because in the common need he made all give a share to 
 the poor, but it is certain that at this period in his own 
 religious family there were false brethren who calumniated 
 their abbot, whispering evil things against him. Yet he bore 
 all with perfect patience, and took no measures to vindicate 
 his own character, until his enemies, from very shame, were 
 forced to confess that they did injustice to their blameless 
 abbot. 
 
 Shortly after the See of Glendalough became vacant and 
 the eyes of all were turned on Laurence as the most suitable 
 person to assume the mitre. But the pious abbot this time 
 absolutely refused ; they made him a religious superior 
 against his will ; but he would not become bishop at any rate; 
 and that for two very good reasons first, because he had not 
 yet attained the canonical age ; and secondly, because in his 
 humility he thought himself unable to bear so heavy a 
 burden. 
 
 But Providence reserved him for greater things. 
 
 Shortly after the archiepiscopal See of Dublin became 
 vacant by the death of Gregory in October, A.D. 1161. Xext 
 year the abbot of Glendalough was chosen to succeed to the 
 vacant See, and was consecrated in Christ Church Cathedral 
 by the Primate Gelasius, attended by several other prelates 
 and abbots from various parts of the kingdom. The choice
 
 ST. LAURENCE o'TOOLE. 437 
 
 of Lorcan to fill the See of Dublin is a singular proof of the 
 great esteem is which he was held by all classes of his country- 
 men, clergy and laity. For the citizens of Dublin were 
 mostly of Danish origin, and had small sympathy with the 
 natives. Hitherto their prelates were either of foreign 
 extraction, or Irishmen, who had been trained and educated 
 in England. They were consecrated too by the Archbishops 
 of Canterbury ; and they invariably took an oath of obedience 
 and subjection to the See of Canterbury. 
 
 But the election of Lorcan inaugurated a new era. He 
 was Irish of the Irish ; trained and educated at home, as far 
 as we know, exclusively within the shadow of the Wicklow 
 Mountains. He was consecrated by the Primate of Armagh, 
 and of course he was neither asked, nor if asked, was he a 
 man to promise obedience to the See of Canterbury, which 
 certainly had no claim de jure to the obedience of any Irish 
 prelate. Neither after him did any prelate consecrated for 
 any Irish See promise or pay any such canonical obedience 
 to any prelate except the Pope. So that in the person of 
 Lorcan the Irish Church was finally emancipated from this 
 dependance on the Primate of all England, which in after 
 days, had it continued, might have been the means of causing 
 the shipwreck of our country's faith. 
 
 Laurence was consecrated Archbishop of Dublin 
 Glendalough was not yet united to the Archdiocese in the 
 year A.D. 1162. In the same year we find that there was a 
 Synod of the Irish prelates held at Clane in the Co. Kildare, 
 at which twenty-six bishops and several abbots are said to 
 have assembled for the reformation of abuses, and the enact- 
 ment of salutary discipline. The Primate Gelasius presided ; 
 and it is highly probable that many of the same prelates 
 assisted at the consecration of St. Laurence in Dublin. 
 
 At that time the city seems to have been greatly in need 
 of some moral reformation ; and the holy prelate at once girt 
 up his loins for the difficult task. 
 
 He began with the clergy ; for he knew that the people 
 would readily follow their good example. He persuaded the 
 secular clergy of the Cathedral Church to form themselves 
 into a kind of religious community. With the sanction of 
 the Pope they adopted the rule of life followed by the regular 
 Canons of Aroasia a reform that had been introduced into 
 the diocese of Arras in France some eighty years before. The 
 Archbishop himself adopted the same rule of life, and became 
 a living model of its perfect observance for all his clergy. 
 We fortunately have accurate details regarding his manner
 
 438 THE SCHOOL OF GLENDALOUGH. 
 
 of life at this period ; and beyond all doubt it was, as the 
 lessons read on his festival declare, a life of marvellous 
 austerity. 
 
 Beneath his episcopal dress he wore the habit of a Canon 
 Regular, but, unlike the others, next his skin he wore a 
 coarse hair shirt night and day; and as if that were not 
 enough to mortify his flesh, he had himself frequently 
 scourged, often no less than three times in the day, by an 
 attendant who knew how to keep the scourging secret. He 
 dined in 'the same refectory with the other canons, and, as 
 with St. Augustine and his clergy, whilst the body was 
 refreshed with food, the spirit was nourished by spiritual 
 reading. He was most abstemious too at all his meals, and 
 never tasted meat. On Friday his only food was bread and 
 water ; and sometimes on that day he absolutely abstained 
 from all food feeding his soul, however, with meditation on 
 the passion of Christ. Yet he was hospitable as became a 
 great prelate, and had banquets rich and abundant prepared 
 for his guests. He even pretended on these occasions to take 
 a share of the good things provided for the strangers, and 
 coloured his water with a little wine, lest his own abstinence 
 might prevent them from fully enjoying the bountiful 
 hospitality prepared for them. 
 
 He was assiduous in prayer, and before all things anxious 
 to promote the beauty of God's house, as well as the splendour 
 and regularity of Divine worship. Here, too, the example of 
 the holy prelate must have exercised a very powerful in- 
 fluence both on the clergy and on the people. We are told 
 by the writer of his Life that he was a constant attendant at 
 all the offices of the Church, when not visiting his diocese ; 
 and not content at presiding at the daily offices, he regularly 
 got up at midnight to recite matins and lauds with his 
 canons ; and when they retired to rest after the office was 
 completed, he generally remained behind in the choir, before 
 the miraculous crucifix of Christ Church, sometimes stand- 
 ing, or sitting, or kneeling, but always praying ; so that he 
 often continued reciting the psaltery until the morning 
 dawned, and then he would go out to the cemetery to say a 
 prayer for the dead before retiring for a few hours' brief 
 repose. Yet in all things which might win popular favour 
 or applause, he loved to hide even his good works lest they 
 might beget self-esteem or hypocrisy. 
 
 Such a life was sufficiently rigorous, but it was not enough 
 for this man of God. His nephew Thomas, whom he greatly 
 loved, became Abbot of Glendalough; and then the holy pre-
 
 ST. LAURENCE o'TOOLE. 439 
 
 }&te having one in whom he could confide, used to retire to 
 his beloved mountain valley at the approach of Lent, in order 
 to give himself up to a forty days' retreat in the desert. All 
 the saints of God loved solitude, and longed to fly from the 
 haunts of men. They seem to have been especially anxious 
 to select for their place of retreat those secluded spots where 
 the sights and sounds of nature might be most apt to raise 
 their minds to God. Hence we find them in the islands of 
 the great sea, or of some lonely lake; or they retired to the 
 majestic solitude of some mountain valley, where nd mean or 
 sordid thoughts could cross their minds ; nay, rather every thing 
 around them helped to raise them up to heaven. It was in this 
 spirit the spirit of a noble generous soul that Laurence 
 used to leave the city and go out to meet and commune with 
 God in the solitude of the mountains of Wicklow. It was the 
 same Spirit of God that brought Moses to Nebo, and Eliseus 
 to Horeb. Therefore it was that St. Gall sought the inmost 
 recesses of the Alps, and St. Kevin the deepest valleys of the 
 Wicklow mountains. So Laurence, like another Kevin, took 
 up his abode not with his nephew in the monastery at the 
 bottom of the valley, but in the bosom of the hills in the 
 very cave where St. Kevin himself spent his earliest peniten- 
 tial years. There St. Laurence dwelt in the grotto in the 
 face of Lugduff, under the mountain's brow, overlooking the 
 gloomy lake, to which access could be gained only by a boat, 
 or by a ladder planted in the lake itself. Twice a week his 
 nephew brought him a little bread and water to support life, 
 and ascertained his wishes or commands in all things con- 
 cerning the government of the diocese. If urgent business 
 called him, he went at once from his retreat ; but this rarely 
 happened. And whilst there he saw no one but his nephew. 
 His bed was the rock ; his canopy the sky ; his lamps the 
 midnight stars that shone above the summit of Camaderry 
 mountain. He was there in cold and hunger, in storm and 
 sunshine, alone all the day and all the dreary night. Yet he 
 was perfectly happy, for he lived with God. The saints are 
 not alone in these solitudes, they are watched by angels ; the 
 light of heaven is around them ; the glow of perfect love is in 
 their hearts ; God speaks to them in all the voices of the 
 mountains, and they see Him in all the majestic sights before 
 their eyes. He spoke by day and night to Laurence, as He 
 spoke to holy Job of old. 
 
 But what useful purpose does this extreme austerity serve? 
 We can only answer very briefly that it serves two things 
 first, it serves to emancipate and ennoble the soul in its con-
 
 440 THE SCHOOL OF GLENDALOUGH. 
 
 flict with the flesh ; second, it serves to assimilate us with 
 Christ crucified. "We with our selfish hearts, our sordid un- 
 generous souls, cannot understand the saints of Go'd ; we can- 
 not realize how God speaks to them, and comforts them, and 
 feeds them like the ravens in the wilderness. Yet this bishop 
 was a man like ourselves, a man whose life was cast on evil 
 days, and lived in the midst of a wicked and perverse 
 generation. 
 
 Yes, the prelate was a Saint and an Apostle ; but the 
 people were sensual and wicked ; they would not hearken to 
 his word, nor turn away from their evil courses. Danish 
 Dublin at this time was not a model city, nor a truly 
 Christian city. It was still, in many ways, half pagan ; or if 
 they had faith, they certainly had not works. The Arch- 
 bishop was sorely grieved; he forewarned them, like another 
 Jeremias, of the wrath to come. He told them, what even 
 human sagacity might perceive, that every kingdom divided 
 against itself must fall ; that an evil day was in store for 
 them, as well as for the wicked and perverse generation that 
 was over all the land. God had sent them prophets, and 
 they would not hearken ; apostles, but they would not be 
 converted. "So the day is at hand, and thy house will be 
 laid desolate." It was even at their doors a day of wrath 
 and vengeance and yet a day of justice and mercy, because 
 their bitter chastisement was yet their salvation. 
 
 Shortly after the arrival of the Norman freebooters in the 
 year A.D. 1169, Dermott M'Murrough and Maurice Fitzgerald 
 made their first attack on Dublin. On this occasion the 
 citizens kept within their gates, and the enemy was not 
 strong enough to take the city. But the midnight sky was 
 red with the glare of burning homesteads through all the 
 valley of the Liffey ; and when the plunderers departed, 
 scarcely a living thing survived in all that fertile region. 
 
 Next year the attack was renewed in force, and this time 
 it was directed against the city itself. The citizens had great 
 reason to fear the vengeance of M'Murrough, for they had 
 put his father to a cruel death in the midst of their city, and 
 had shamefully buried him with a dog. Now M'Murrough, 
 with the Normans led on by Strongbow in person, was 
 thundering at their gates. The city, too, was baotly prepared 
 for a siege, and there were traitors within the walls ; so the 
 citizens resolved to make the best terms they could, and 
 surrender the city. The Archbishop was asked to negociate 
 tke terms of surrender ; but even whilst he and the Earl 
 were in conference outside the walls of the city, Milo de
 
 ST. LAURENCE o'TOOLE. 441 
 
 Cogan, and some of the more lawless spirits, burst over the 
 walls, and attacked the town. They burned, robbed, and 
 slaughtered as usual, so that the streets were filled with the 
 dead and dying. Then it was that St. Laurence proved him- 
 self a true pastor. Rushing from the false parley, he entered 
 the city, and snatched from the brutal soldiers the palpitating 
 bodies of their victims. A hundred times he interposed his 
 own body to ward off the fatal stroke from others. He went 
 about through the slippery streets in his episcopal robes, 
 with the cross in his hands, imploring the merciless foe for 
 Christ's sake to stop the horrid carnage ; and when he could 
 do no more, he gave absolution to the dying, and helped to 
 bury the heaps of dead. It was a fearful foretaste of what 
 his native land was destined to endure in the future. 
 
 But the Archbishop was not only a true pastor, but a 
 true patriot. He knew that the first adventurers were 
 simply robbers, some of whom were afterwards imprisoned 
 for daring to effect a. hostile landing in Ireland, without the 
 licence of the king, at the invitation of a traitor. So he 
 stimulated the slothful king, Rory O'Connor, to action ; he 
 implored the native princes to give up for a while their 
 insane divisions, to unite against the common foe, and come 
 to the aid of the Capital. These efforts were partially 
 successful. Some thirty thousand Irish soldiers under the 
 supreme command of Roderick himself beleagured the city 
 from Dalkey to Clontarf, whilst the ships of Hasculf the 
 Dane crowded the river, and watched the river-gate. It was 
 the supreme moment of Ireland's destiny. Had the Irish 
 been soldiers, or even men, they might have annihilated their 
 foes. But they were neither. After a two months' siege, in 
 which the garrison was reduced to the verge of starvation, 
 Milo de Cogan made a desperate sally with a few hundred 
 soldiers, and routed the hosts of the Irish, almost with a 
 shout, as boys frighten away the flocks of birds from the 
 fields in spring. 
 
 The Archbishop doubtless saw clearly enough from what 
 he witnessed on that occasion, that the Irish soldiers had no 
 discipline, that their leaders had no union amongst them- 
 selves ; and that such a heap of uncementing sand, as the 
 event proved, would have no chance of withstanding the 
 mail-clad warriors, who were victorious on every battlefield 
 in Europe. So when the king himself came over towards 
 the close of A.D. 1171, Laurence O'Toole, with the rest of the 
 Irish prelates, followed the example of the kings of the 
 "West, and South, and East, who all submitted to Henry
 
 442 THE SCHOOL OF GLENDALOUGH. 
 
 without striking a blow. Herein, too, lie proved himself a 
 true patriot, although submission must have cost him a bitter 
 pang. He had seen enough to prove that resistance was 
 utterly hopeless, and that his duty to God and to the people 
 was to yield to a power which he could not oppose. So we 
 find his name amongst the prelates who assembled at Cashel in 
 A.D. 1171, or the beginning of A.D. 1172, to enact such discip- 
 linary laws as the deplorable state of the times had rendered 
 imperatively necessary for the reformation of morality and 
 the reform of discipline. From the Pope's reply to the 
 Synodical letter of this Council we can readily infer, what 
 indeed we might naturally expect from the disturbed state of 
 the times, that very grave abuses prevailed at this period in 
 various parts of the country abuses which it was a blessing 
 to have reformed almost at any cost. 
 
 Yet the great Archbishop was devotedly loyal to his own 
 sovereign, Rory O'Connor, and continued to be faithful to 
 him to the end, even when he became a crownless king, 
 forsaken by his own subjects, and despised and imprisoned 
 by his own sons. Indeed it is not too much to say that 
 Laurence lost his life in the service of that worthless king, 
 whose misfortunes he did so much to alleviate. 
 
 In A.D. 1175 Rory O'Connor finally and formally gave up all 
 claims to the kingdom of Ireland, and was content to accept 
 his own hereditary kingdom of Connaught as a fief from the 
 English monarch. The treaty is still extant ; and we find 
 the name of Laurencius Dublinensis as Chancellor for the 
 unfortunate King of Connaught. He even went over to 
 London in person in company with the Archbishop of 
 Tuam, and the Abbot of St. Brendan's, Clonfert, to 
 negociate the treaty for his old and beloved monarch. 
 Such fidelity to fallen princes is rare, and is highly 
 honourable to the great prelate of Dublin. 
 
 Towards the end of the year A.D. 1178 Alexander III. 
 convoked for the first Sunday of the following Lent a 
 General Council to meet in Rome, in order to heal the 
 deplorable wounds which the Church had received from a 
 schism of some twenty years' standing. The Letters of 
 Convocation did not arrive in Ireland until near Christmas ; 
 the journey to Rome was toilsome and perilous, especially in 
 the winter season ; yet the good Archbishop at once prepared 
 to obey the voice of the Pope as the voice of God. He 
 started immediately after Christmas, and crossing over to 
 England was with the Irish prelates, his companions, very 
 rudely treated by the king. Before they were allowed to
 
 ST. LAURENCE o'l'OOLE. 443 
 
 cross to France the jealous tyrant compelled them to swear 
 that during their stay in Rome they would do nothing 
 derogatory to the dignity of the English crown. But in 
 spite of every obstacle they succeeded in making their way 
 to Rome, and were present at all the sessions of the Council. 
 It is a proud thing to find the names of six Irish prelates 
 amongst the signatories of that great Council a larger 
 number than came from England and Scotland together 
 and at their head stands the name of Laurence, Archbishop 
 of Dublin. 
 
 But Laurence did more than attend the sessions of the 
 Council. He opened the eyes of the Pope to the true state of 
 affairs in Ireland, and not only secured many privileges for 
 his own Church in Dublin, but also insisted on the Pope 
 recognising and safeguarding the liberty and independence 
 of the Church in Ireland. Unfortunately our information on 
 this question is very scanty. However we are inclined to 
 think that, when it is said St. Laurence secured the 
 liberty of the Church in Ireland, it means not only that, like 
 Thomas a Becket, he took measures to protect it against the 
 encroachments of the civil power, but what was at least of 
 equal importance, he preserved it from all dependence on the 
 See of Canterbury. It was only two years before in A.D. 1177 
 that the Scottish prelates and abbots were forced to swear 
 obedience to the Archbishop of York as their metropolitan. 
 The same crafty policy would no doubt be also attempted in 
 Ireland; and although we cannot prove it, we are convinced in 
 our own mind that it is to St. Laurence O'Toole we owe the 
 spiritual independence of the Catholic Church in Ireland. 
 
 The Pope conceived a very strong regard for St. 
 Laurence ; he conferred on him the high and special honour 
 of Apostolic Legate in Ireland ; and the independence of the 
 Irish Church having thus been once formally recognised in 
 Rome, could not afterwards be easily undermined. But we 
 must hasten to the end. Laurence came home to Ireland ; 
 but his stay there was very brief, when he was again com- 
 pelled to travel to England in the interest of Rory O'Connor, 
 the discrowned king. Several abortive attempts were made 
 to get rid of the English influence in the West of Ireland ; 
 Rory, or at least his sons, were implicated in these designs, 
 and Henry, who only wanted an excuse, threatened to depose 
 the old king, and confiscate all his territories to the Crown. 
 Rory was alarmed, and what was worse, he was helpless. 
 His own sons had turned against him ; so in his misery 
 he implored the Archbishop to be his mediator with
 
 444 THE SCHOOL OF GLENDALOUGH. 
 
 the king. He had no one else to rely on, and the 
 Archbishop did not disappoint him. Again he left the 
 shores of Ireland on a mission of charity ; and doubtless his 
 eyes were not dry as he gazed on the lessening summits of 
 the far-off Wicklow mountains, and thought of the many 
 happy days he had spent in the wild solitude of his beloved 
 Glendalough. When he arrived in England Henry could 
 not, or would not, see him ; moreover, he forbade the prelate 
 to return again to Ireland, and he himself sailed away to 
 Normandy. For three weeks the Archbishop was kept as a 
 sort of prisoner in the monastery of Abingdon, when, resolv- 
 ing to dare all in order to accomplish his purpose, he made 
 up his mind to find out the king beyond the Channel. He 
 embarked at Dover ; but a fever had already laid hold of 
 him, so that when he landed, he was unable to travel. He 
 struggled onward, however, for a little until he came to the 
 brow of the hill which overlooks the church and monastery 
 at the little town of Augum or Eu, on the borders of Nor- 
 mandy. Enquiring the name of the place, he learned that 
 it was the Church of the Regular Canons of St. Victor, a 
 branch closely allied to his own. Thereupon he cried out 
 " Haec requies mea in aternum, hie habitabo quoniam elegi 
 earn." 
 
 Arriving at the monastery, he first paid a visit to the 
 church, and after spending some time in fervent prayer 
 before the altar, he was carried to the Hospice. The scene 
 that followed is touching in the extreme, and is taken exactly 
 from the Latin Life written by a brother of the Order. After 
 reposing a little he sent for the Abbot Osbert, and made his 
 confession with great sorrow and humility. But still his 
 mind was not easy ; for the task for which he crossed the sea 
 was unaccomplished, and he was no longer able to plead in 
 person before the king. Then he called one of his attendant 
 clerics, David by name, the tutor of Rory's son, who was to be 
 given as a hostage to Henry for his father's loyalty. " Go," 
 said he to David, " find out King Henry, tell him I am dying, 
 and ask him in God's name to forgive the King of Connaught, 
 and receive him again into favour." David bowed his head, 
 and set out to find the king. He was favourably received, 
 for his story made a deep impression on the king, whose 
 hard heart was softened by the sufferings of the Archbishop 
 in the cause of his sovereign. He granted the boon, and 
 pledged his royal word that he would receive Rory again 
 into favour. So David, after four days, returned to the 
 dying prelate, who anxiously awaited his arrival, aud told of
 
 ST. LAURENCE o'lOOLE. 445 
 
 his success. Then St. Laurence called David to him, made 
 him sit close by his side, for he was almost unable to speak, 
 and laid his head upon the bosom of the priest to imply that 
 he was now satisfied, and that he would die in peace. 
 
 Shortly after, his mind being now at ease, he received the 
 Viaticum with the greatest devotion, and then begged to be 
 anointed. Some one of the bystanders suggested that now, 
 as he had received all the sacraments, it were well if the 
 Archbishop made his will. Raising his eyes to heaven he made 
 use of these solemn and memorable words : " I declare 
 before God that I have not one penny under the sun to dis- 
 pose of not one penny " he was a religious, a Canon 
 Regular ; he professed poverty and he kept his vow. What- 
 ever he possessed he gave to the poor ; indeed he never 
 possessed anything at all. No sooner was it got than it was 
 gone again. Happy the priest who at his dying hour can 
 make the same declaration with the same truth. Then his 
 thoughts wandered back to his native land that native land 
 which he loved so wisely and so well, which he tried in vain 
 to save, and which he now saw torn with internal dissensions 
 and trampled under foot by foreign foes and he dying far 
 away, and leaving no one behind him to guide his people or 
 heal his country's wounds. These bitter thoughts sank deep 
 into his heart; and in anguish of mind he exclaimed alas ! 
 we know how prophetically " Heu popule stulte et insipiens, 
 quid jam facturus es quis sanabit aversiones tuas ? Quis 
 medebitur tui ? " Ah, foolish and misguided people, what 
 will now become of thee ? Who will cure thy dissensions ? 
 Who will heal thy wounds ? He longed to be dissolved and 
 to be with Christ ; yet for the sake of his perishing flock he 
 would still remain. But the end was now at hand. With 
 dim eyes he kept reading a MS. copy of the Seven Peniten- 
 tial Psalms which he had brought to him; and when he could 
 read no more, orally or mentally, about twelve o'clock on 
 Friday, the 14th of November, the glorious Confessor closed 
 his eyes in a peaceful, happy death. 
 
 The body of the holy Confessor was buried in presence 
 of Cardinal Alexis, the Papal Legate of Scotland. But it 
 remained in its place of burial only four years and six months, 
 when the many wondrous miracles wrought at his tomb 
 caused the remains of St. Laurence to be transferred, and 
 with great solemnity enclosed in a crystal case before the 
 high altar of the church. 
 
 Shortly after, at the urgent request of the Canons Regular 
 and the faithful of Eu, a petition for the canonization of the
 
 
 446 THE SCHOOL OF GLENDALOUGH. 
 
 holy servant of God was sent to Rome by the Archbishop 
 and Chapter of Rouen, to which diocese the Church of Eu 
 belongs. The Pope, Honorius III., ordered the usual inves- 
 tigation to be made by the ecclesiastical authorities. But 
 St. Laurence came from Ireland shortly before his death, and 
 hence it was necessary to have an official report concerning 
 the life of St. Laurence from that country. The task was 
 committed by the Pope to Henry de Loundres, Archbishop 
 of Dublin ; but he being absent in England on affairs of 
 State, commissioned the Bishop of Kildare and the Prior of 
 Christ's Church to collect the necessary depositions and trans- 
 mit them to Rome. After the usual process with legal proof 
 of the practice of heroic virtues during life and miracles after 
 death, Honorius III., in the tenth year of his pontificate, in 
 a Bull issued from Reate, solemnly enrolled St. Laurence 
 O'Toole amongst the canonized saints of the Church. It was 
 the year of our Lord A.D. 1225 that the latest of our saints 
 was thus formally canonized. 
 
 It is the greatest glory of the School of Glendalough to 
 have produced such a man so learned, so holy, so faithful to 
 his king and to his country in the hour of trial. When shall 
 we see his like again ? And who will deny that the Church 
 which produced such men as St. Laurence and St. Malachy 
 was sound at the core in spite of many faults and abuses? 
 
 After his death the School and monastery of Glendalough 
 gradually fell into decay, until at length the holy valley of 
 St. Kevin became little better than a nest of robbers and 
 murderers.
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 SCHOOLS OF THE SEVENTH CENTURY. 
 
 I. THE SCHOOL OF LISMORE, ST. CARTHAGE. 
 
 " I found in each great church, moreo'er, 
 Whether in island or on shore, 
 Pity, learning, fond affection, 
 Holy welcome and kind protection." 
 
 King Aldfrid's Poem on Ireland. 
 
 THE Minister Schools were of somewhat later origin than 
 the monastic schools of the North ; but during the seventh 
 century some of them became very celebrated, especially the 
 great School of Lismore, which was second only to that of 
 Clonmacnoise. It was founded by St. Carthach, or Carthage, 
 about the year A.D. 636, and soon became the chief seminary 
 in the South of Ireland. 
 
 St. Carthage, its founder, was born about the middle of 
 the sixth century in that remote district of West Kerry, 
 which also gave birth to St. Brendan of Clonfert. He was 
 sprung, too, from the same race as Brendan, for his father 
 Firaull, son of Fingin, derived his descent from the renowned 
 Fergus Mac Roy, the northern hero, so celebrated in romantic 
 legend and bardic song. His mother, Findmaith the noble- 
 fair one is said to have been the daughter of another Fingin, 
 who was chieftain of Corcoduibhne, in the same County 
 Kerry. This lady was twice married, and by the second 
 marriage became the mother of St. Cuanna of Kilcoony, and 
 probably of other saints also. 
 
 The infant was baptized by a priest called Aidan, 1 who 
 gave him Carthage as his baptismal name ; but the future 
 saint was more commonly called Mochuda, which seems to 
 have been a pet name given to the boy by his teacher 
 St. Carthage the Elder. 2 The Elder Carthage at this time, 
 about A.D. 570, lived at his monastery at the foot of Slemish 
 (Slieve Mis) on the right bank of the river Mang, not far 
 
 1 See Life in the Salamanca MS. 
 
 3 It is more likely his first name was Cuda, and that he got the name of 
 Carthage Junior in honour of his master. Martyrology of Donegal.
 
 448 SCHOOLS OF THE SEVENTH CENTURY. 
 
 from Castlemaine. His younger namesake had just attained 
 the age of twelve, and was according to the writer of his 
 Life, a handsome youth, whose bright face and winning ways 
 made him a great favourite with all who knew him. As yet, 
 however, he had received little or no training either in virtue 
 or learning. Like St. Patrick at the same age, he was 
 employed in herding his father's swine on the banks of the 
 river, when it chanced that he came near the monastery of 
 St. Carthage. Just then he happened to hear the monks 
 pouring forth the solemn strains of sacred psalmody, and was 
 filled with such rapture that he remained all night near the 
 holy place without food or shelter. When asked by his 
 parents where he had spent the night, he told them ; and 
 added that he was ready to leave all and join that sacred choir 
 of white-robed monks. His parents gladly consented, and 
 sending for the Bishop Carthage, they handed over the boy 
 for the service of the Lord. 
 
 The bishop trained the youth in sacred learning, and saw 
 him daily, to his great joy, make even greater progress in 
 virtue, so that after some years he ordained him priest. The 
 holy prelate then after a short term of trial gave him per- 
 mission to found a monastery of his own at a place called 
 Killtulach, which is described as between Slemish mountain 
 and river Mang not far it would seem from Castlemaine, 
 on the right bank of the river. This was about the year 
 A.D. 590 ; so that we may assign the date of his birth to about 
 the year A.D. 560. 
 
 It was very usual at this period for young monks to travel 
 to different monasteries, and spend a period in each in order 
 to perfect themselves in sanctity and learning. Bangor had 
 acquired great fame under the rule of St. Comghall, and so 
 Carthage went to visit his kinsmen in the far north, and 
 make himself still further acquainted with monastic discipline 
 under so great a master. After staying some time at Bangor 
 he returned home to Kerry ; but once more went northward to 
 the extreme limit of Munster to pay a visit to St. Molua of 
 Clonfert Molua, whose monastery was situated at the roots 
 of Slieve Bloom at the place now called Kyle. It still forms 
 a part of the diocese of Killaloe, though quite close to the 
 frontier of the ancient Heath. 
 
 Shortly afterwards we find him at the great monastery 
 founded by Colrnan-elo, and called from him Land-elo, now 
 Lynally, quite near to Tullamore, and only three miles from 
 Raithain, where the saint was soon to found an establishment 
 of his own.
 
 THE SCHOOL OF LISMORE, ST. CARTHAGE. 449 
 
 It is evident that it was St. Coman-Elo who advised 
 St. Carthage to found a monastery near his own in the 
 territory, not of Munster, but of Meath in fact it was near 
 the site of some of our most famous battles, which the sons 
 of Heber and Heremon fought for supremacy on this border 
 land. The name Raithain signifies filicetuin, or the Ferney 
 Land ; and it was not more than three miles from Lynally, 
 the ancient Land-elo, which is derived by some from ealla, 
 meaning an ancient grove or wood. 
 
 St. Carthage lived at Rahan for nearly forty years, and at 
 Lismore, certainly not more than two years ; yet his name is 
 generally connected with the latter, and hardly ever with 
 the former monastery. Perhaps it was because the men of 
 Meath treated the saint so badly after his long and laborious 
 career at Rahan. Indeed, it is quite evident, that it was 
 jealousy jealousy which the Hy-Niall monks, probably of 
 Durrow, near Raban, felt at the success of St. Carthage 
 that prompted them to expel the saint and his scholars from 
 the dear old convent, where he had lived so long. There 
 are few things less creditable to the Southern Hy-Niall, 
 both princes and priests, than their conduct on this occasion. 
 It is manifest that Carthage by his piety and learning had 
 gathered around him a great monastic school at Rahan. 
 For not to speak of boys and servants, the Life in the 
 Salamanca MS., tells us that he had gathered round him 
 some 847 monks, who supported themselves and succoured 
 the poor by the labour of their own hands, and with their 
 holy founder served God together unanimiter with one 
 mind and in one spirit. " Their toil," says the Life, " was 
 severe, but the fire of charity lightened the burden of this 
 labour, so that to none of them did it seem heavy " (Vita I., 
 sect. 15). It is said, too, that Carthage himself was raised to 
 the episcopal dignity in Rahan. 
 
 Now, the ' native clerics,' says the Life, of the Hy-Niall 
 race, were jealous of this success, and instigated by Satan, 
 they resolved to drive the southern monk from their terri- 
 tories. The Kerryman, of course, though a saint, was, no 
 doubt, annoyed by these proceedings of the men of Meath. 
 It was indeed hard to be borne, for his was a holy, a useful, 
 and an inoffensive life. He had spent forty years amongst 
 them. His soul clung to the place, because he fondly 
 believed, as it was the scene of his labours, so also it would 
 be the place of his resurrection. He had built for himself 
 and his monks a very beautiful church, the ruins of which 
 are still to be seen. He had established a famous school, and 
 
 2F
 
 450 SCHOOLS OF THE SEVENTH CENTURY. 
 
 crowds of young men had placed themselves under his 
 direction, and were, doubtless, tenderly attached to their 
 master. He was near the monasteries, too, of some of his 
 dearest friends, who dwelt around Slieve Bloom. And now 
 they were going to drive him from his home, and his monks, 
 and his friends, at an age too when the strength of his arm 
 was weakened, and the vigour of his mind diminished. 
 
 It was a wanton and a cruel eviction, for which Prince 
 Blathmac, son of Aedh Slaine, seems to be primarily 
 responsible. The Annalists denounce this expulsion ; but 
 they seem afraid to mention openly the authors of the crime. 
 The Ulster Annals (A.D. 635), call it the ' effugatio ' of 
 Carthage from Rahan, which is not merely a flight but an 
 expulsion. The Four Masters say that he was ' banished ' 
 from Rahan, and date it as taking place in A.D. 631 ; but 
 both the Chronicon Scotorum and the Annals of Ulster give 
 A.D. 635, at Easter, which is in all probability the true 
 date. 
 
 The Life of St. Carthage, however, assigns the real 
 motive for thus evicting the saint. The clergy of the district, 
 moved by jealousy at the success of Carthage, resolved to 
 expel- the ' stranger ' from their province ; and Blathmac, 
 then ruler of that territory, was persuaded to carry out this 
 wicked purpose. Can it be that the Columbian monks of 
 Durrow were envious at seeing the fame of their own estab- 
 lishment eclipsed by the greater renown of Rahan ? It is 
 not at all unlikely, although it is not expressly stated ; for 
 the Life attributes it simply " to some of the native clergy of 
 that province." Elsewhere it is said that the expulsion of 
 Carthage is one of the three evil things for which certain 
 ' saints ' of Erin were responsible the other two being the 
 shortening of St. Ciaran's life, and the banishment of 
 Columcille to lona. We entirely sympathise with this 
 traditional sentiment. If any of the ' saints' were responsible 
 for driving away the venerable old man from his monastery 
 at Rahan, they must have done penance for the deed before 
 they could deserve the name. It was a cruel and an evil 
 deed ; and although Providence brought much good from the 
 evil by the foundation of Lismore, there is some reason to 
 fear that it broke the old man's heart, and brought down his 
 grey hairs in sorrow to the grave. 
 
 When the edict went forth that Carthage and his monks 
 were to be driven from Rahan, we are told that he departed 
 reluctantly. "Leave this city with your monks," said the 
 chiefs of Meath, " and seek a settlement in some other
 
 THE SCHOOL OF LISMORE, ST. CARTHA8E. 451 
 
 country." 1 " I wish to end my days here," said Carthage, 
 " for I have served God many years in this place, and now 
 my end is nigh. Therefore, I will not depart, except I am 
 compelled, lest men think me inconstant of purpose. I am 
 ashamed to become a wanderer in my old age." After some 
 hesitation the men of Meath plucked up an ignoble courage ; 
 and it is said that Blathmac himself took the hand of the 
 saint, and led him forth from his monastery. 
 
 The poor old man was not equal to long journeys ; and so 
 slowly and regretfully he travelled southward, having turned 
 his back for ever on the jealous and ungrateful men of 
 Meath. 
 
 The first night he stopped with St.Barrind (or Barrindeus) 
 of Drumcullen, in the barony of Eglish. The name is still 
 retained as that of an old parish church, about four miles 
 north-east of Parsonstown. Drumcullen is about three miles 
 east of Eglish old church at the foot of the mountain. It 
 cannot be more than ten miles from Rahan, and thus marks 
 the extent of the first day's journey. 
 
 But the saint was now in his native Munster, and could 
 proceed with greater leisure and more security. The second 
 night he rested in the famous old monastery of St. Giaran 
 of Saigher. This was one of the cradles of Christianity in 
 Ireland. If we may accept the statement in the Life of St. 
 Ciaran, he was directed by God's Angel to go to a well in 
 the middle of Ireland, and found his church at the place 
 where his bell would ring of itself. The saint obeyed, and 
 travelled onward until he came to the place now called Bell 
 Hill, near the fountain Huaran. There his bell tolled, and 
 close at hand he founded his church, at Saigher, now called 
 Seir Kiaran, which is not more than two miles south of 
 Drumcullen, under the western shadow of the mountain. 
 There was every reason why St. Carthage the Younger should 
 rest at Seir Kiaran. His old master, St. Carthage the Elder, 
 to whom he owed so much, had been once bishop of that 
 ancient See, in succession to Ciaran himself. It was about 
 the year A.D. 540, before Carthage the Younger was born, for 
 it appears that it was after leaving Seir Kiaran, about 
 A.D. 560, that Carthage the Elder came to his native Kerry, 
 and there met with his younger disciple of the same name. 
 There was reason why Carthage should love that old 
 monastery, under the shadow of the morning sun when rising 
 over Slieve Bloom, where his beloved master had spent so 
 
 1 O'Hanlon's Licet, page 263, VoL v.
 
 452 SCHOOLS OF THE SEVENTH CENTURY. 
 
 many years, and where the first-born of the Celtic Saints of 
 Erin had gone to his rest. 
 
 It was a short stage from Seir Kiaran to Roscrea some 
 seven or eight miles ; but Roscrea had become even then, in 
 A.D. 635, so famous a retreat for saintly men, that it could 
 not be passed by without a visit. There was no town of 
 Roscrea there at the time ; all the low-lying lands were con- 
 stantly flooded, and formed the Stagnum Cre frequently 
 mentioned in the Lives of the Saints of that district. The 
 Res, or wooded promontory, on which St. Cronan founded his 
 monastery, rose up from these flooded low lands. At first he 
 established himself at Seanros, a wooded hill in Corville 
 Demesne, where his church is still to be seen ; but afterwards, 
 about the year A.D. 606, he founded a second monastery on 
 the Ros of Lough Cre, the site of which is now occupied by 
 the Catholic Church of the town of Roscrea. It is probable 
 that he was dead before the visit of St. Carthage ; but all 
 the same, his monastery and his spirit were there on the 
 great Munster highway. 
 
 Leaving Roscrea the saint seems to have made his way 
 to the royal rath of Faibhe Flann, King of Magh Femhin, 
 as he is called in the Annals of Ulster. Magh Femhin was the 
 fertile and picturesque plain stretching from Cashel to Slieve- 
 namon on the east, and on the south to the Knockmealdown 
 Mountains, which separated it from the territory of the Desii. 
 It was a rich and fertile land, watered by swelling rivers, 
 and bounded towards the south and east by bold and savage 
 mountains. 
 
 Failbhe Flann, the ancestor of the MacCarthys, was then 
 king at Cashel, and kindly received Carthage, who showed 
 his gratitude by curing the king's son of a sore eye. The 
 king offered Carthage a site for a monastery in his own 
 territory of Magh Femhin ; but Carthage knowing that this 
 was not God's will in his regard, declined the prince's 
 generous offer, and resolved to go further southward. It is 
 likely that the saint met at the court of Faibhe that prince's 
 son-in-law, Maeloctraigh, Chief of the Desii of Waterford, 
 who offered to Carthage a large territory beyond the mountain 
 (of Knockmealdown), where he might establish himself and 
 his brother monks in peace beside the Great River, and with- 
 out any fear of further disturbance during the brief span of 
 his remaining life. 
 
 The saint gladly accepted this offer, and stopping for a 
 brief rest at Ardfinnan, which was destined for another saint 
 later on, he crossed the rugged hills that rose up before him,
 
 THE SCHOOL OF LISMORE, ST. CARTHAGE. 453 
 
 probably by the pass leading southward from Clogheen, and 
 coming down the southern slopes of the hill he saw stretched 
 before him that beautiful valley through which the Blackwater 
 forces its way from Lismore to Cappoquin. " Here shall be 
 my rest, for I have chosen it," exclaimed the saint, and cross- 
 ing, not without miraculous aid, it is said, the swelling waves 
 of the Avonmore, he crept up the wooded heights that 
 overhung the southern bank of the stream, and sat down on 
 Magh Sciath the Plain of the Shields close to what 
 Keating calls Dunsginne the great rath surmounting the 
 height to the east of the present town of Lismore. 
 
 Many writers have asserted that there was a monastery at 
 Lismore before St. Carthage's arrival there. Mention is 
 certainly made of the death of Lugaid of Lismore in the 
 Ulster Annals, A.D. 591 ; and the Four Masters record the 
 death of Neman, Abbot of Lismore, in A.D. 610. In A.D. 634 
 the Annals of Ulster tell us that Eochaidh of Lismore died. 
 O'Donovan thinks these entries refer to Lismore on the 
 Blackwater ; it is more probable, however, that the reference 
 is to Lismore an island near Oban in Scotland where an 
 Irish saint called Molua or Moluag had founded a famous 
 monastery much celebrated in later times. 
 
 Assuming with the Ulster A nnals that Carthage came to 
 Lismore after Easter of the year A.D. 635, he cannot have 
 lived there more than two years and probably died on the 
 14th of May, A.D. 637. The Ulster Annals fix his death in 
 A.D. 636 ; but from the statements in his Life we gather that 
 he must have spent at least two years at Lismore. We are 
 told that on his arrival there he at once proceeded to mark 
 out the site of his monastery, surrounding it as usual with a 
 strong fence and ditch. Thereupon the holy virgin Coemell, 
 whose cell was not far off, came to see the saint, and finding 
 him at work she inquired what the saint and his monks were 
 doing. They replied that they were building for themselves 
 a small habitation Lios-beg it would be in Irish. " Not 
 so," replied the virgin saint ; "this place will be called Lios- 
 mor," " which," adds the writer of the Life, " means in Latin 
 atrium magnum, or Great Hall ; and her prophecy," adds 
 the author, " was verified by the event. For Lismore is now 
 a large city, half of which is an asylum where no female is 
 allowed to enter, for it is full of cells and other monastic 
 buildings, and a great number of holy men always dwell there. 
 For they come there in great numbers, these saintly persons, 
 not only from every part of Ireland, but also from England 
 (Anglia), and from (Britannia) Britain." This distinction
 
 454 SCHOOLS OF THE SEVENTH CENTURY. 
 
 between Anglia, or Saxon land, and Britannia, or the country 
 from the Clyde to the Severn inhabitated by the native 
 Britons, shows that this Life was written at a very early date 
 probably in the seventh or eighth century. 
 
 Having founded his monastery the saint wished to retire 
 from community life for some time to prepare himself for death 
 by undivided communion with God. The great fame of Car- 
 thage was attracting numbersof monks and students to this new 
 foundation, so that he was frequently disturbed by this great 
 influx of pious visitors. Labour and old age too were telling 
 on his emaciated frame, and he knew that the end was not 
 far off. Then he retired to a lonely valley, which was 
 under the monastery, and there for one year and six months 
 gave himself up to the service of God in solitude. The 
 monks, however, especially the older ones, were still allowed 
 to visit their beloved father, and he seeing the difficult}'' they 
 had in reaching the high ground on which the monastery 
 was built, resolved to return to the community once more. 
 So the brethren came to carry him up the steep ascent, and 
 now they had reached the middle of the ravine, when the old 
 man seeing a ladder reaching up to the open heavens told 
 the brethren to lay him on the ground and administer to him 
 the last sacraments. Tenderly and piously they did so, " and 
 having partaken of the sacrament of the Lord's Body and 
 Blood and given his last injunctions to the brethren, he bade 
 them all a tender farewell, and giving to each of them the kiss 
 of peace he died in their arms on the day before the Ides of 
 May," in the year A.D. 637, which seems to be the true date. 
 
 Like St. Ciaran of Clonmacnoise, Carthage only spent a 
 very short time with his monks in this monastery that was 
 afterwards to become so famous. He laid, however, the 
 foundations of the spiritual edifice as well as of the material 
 building. During his long residence at Rahan, he wrote a 
 Rule for the guidance of his monks, which no doubt was the 
 same that was adopted at Lismore. Many of the monks of 
 Rahan, too, when expelled by the Hy-Niall, accompanied 
 their beloved father to Lismore. These were no doubt the 
 holy ' Seniors/ who used to visit him in his cell in the lonely 
 valley ; and who ruled the community after his death in the 
 same spirit and in obedience to the same Rule. 
 
 Many striking miracles are recorded in the First Life of 
 St. CartJiach, to only one of which we shall make reference 
 here. 
 
 When Carthage, or Carthach, and his companions were 
 coming to Lismore the place given by the prince of the Desii,
 
 THE SCHOOL OF LISMORE, ST. CARTHAGE. 455 
 
 "where they might live on the fruits of their own labour, and 
 serve God in peace, without becoming a burden to anyone," 
 they saw from the high lands a great impetuous river, swollen 
 by the tide of the neighbouring estuary, barring the way, so 
 that there was no means of crossing to the southern bank. 
 Then, whilst the others were in doubt what to do, Carthach, 
 with his friends, Colman-eLo and Molua (of Kyle), bent their 
 knees in earnest prayer to God, and lo ! the waves were 
 divided on the right hand and on the left, opening a passage 
 for the saints to cross over on dry ground. And so these 
 true Israelites, with hymns of praise to God, crossed the bed 
 of the Avonmore, and came to Lismore, as it was afterwards 
 called the place which God himself had prepared for them. 
 The word Us, anciently les, properly signifies the mound 
 surrounding the buildings, and also by a secondary significa- 
 tion, the space enclosed within. Here it includes both the 
 defending mound and the enclosed space which contained all 
 the ecclesiastical buildings the church, the cells, the refec- 
 tory, stores and other necessary adjuncts to a great monastery. 
 In those early days . these buildings .were of rude materials 
 and simplest structure ; but all the same they were the choice 
 abodes of learning and holiness. 
 
 The most interesting literary monument connected with 
 Lismore is the Rule of St. Carthach. It is one of the eight 
 Monastic Rules of our early Church still- extant in Dublin 
 manuscripts, and, in the opinion of O'Curry, is certainly 
 authentic. The language, the style, the matter, are all such 
 as might be expected from the persons to whom they 
 are attributed at the time they are supposed to have been 
 composed. We know, too, from other sources that these 
 saints really did compose what are called Monastic Rules, 
 and hence, when we find these Rules in ancient MSS. 
 bearing their names, we are not justified in rejecting their 
 authenticity without some tangible reason. 
 
 It is to be regretted, although it is an additional proof of 
 their authenticity, that almost all these ancient rules have 
 been written in verse. The construction of these verses is very 
 intricate and artificial, and as a consequence, the matter was, 
 to some extent, sacrificed to the form we lose in precision 
 what we gain in harmony. 
 
 The Rule of Carthach, or Mochuda, is much more than a 
 Monastic Rule in the ordinary sense. It gives precepts for 
 the spiritual guidance of almost all classes of persons. The 
 entire poem, as translated by O'Curry, consists of 135 four- 
 lined stanzas. The first eight of these stanzas contain a general
 
 456 SCHOOLS OF THE SEVENTH CENTURY. 
 
 exhortation addressed to all Christians, urging on them the 
 observance of the great law of charity, as well as of all the 
 other Commandments of God. 
 
 The next nine stanzas are addressed to ' Bishops,' and 
 contain some judicious and wholesome admonitions. The 
 Bishop is responsible to Christ, and must be a vigilant 
 shepherd and an orthodox teacher, checking the pride of 
 kings, resisting evil doers, and conciliating the lay multitude. 
 He is to be skilled in Holy Scripture, for if he is not a learned 
 man he is only a step- son of the Church. He is bound to 
 condemn all heresy and crime, for it is certain that on 
 the Day of Judgment he will have to answer not only for his 
 own faults, but for the sins of those under his government. 
 
 Then the Rule for an abbot is prescribed. It is a noble 
 office to be ' Chief of a Church,' but the holder must be worthy 
 of it, and set his subjects a good example by his own deeds. 
 He is to exhort the aged, and to instruct the young ; to 
 reprove the silly, and censure the disorderly but in all 
 patience, modesty, and charity. He must be constant in 
 preaching the Gospel, and "in offering the Sacrifice of the 
 Body of the great Lord .upon the altar." Otherwise he will 
 be the enemy of God, and cannot become the Heir of the 
 Church of God. 
 
 The " priest," as distinct from the abbot, is enjoined to 
 lead a truthful, laborious life, and to offer up worthily the 
 Body of THE KING. His learning should be correct, and he 
 should be accurate in the observance of the Rule and of the 
 law. When he goes to give Communion, at the awful point 
 of death, he must receive the confession without shame and 
 without reserve. 
 
 The ' soul's-friend ' is admonished not to be a blind 
 leader of the blind, but to teach the ignorant, to receive 
 their confessions, not their alms, candidly and devoutly ; 
 and not lead them into sin in imitation of himself. If he 
 has not Mass on every day, he will, at least, on Sunday and 
 Thursday, to banish every wickedness far from him. 
 
 Still more minute prescriptions are given to regulate the 
 conduct of a " monk." All the faults he is to avoid, and all 
 the virtues he is to practise are described in great detail ; but 
 as they really contain nothing new, we need not further refer 
 to them here. 
 
 The special duties of the Cele De, or Culdee, are also 
 denned, and, if we may judge from this Rule, they were not 
 ' recluses' living alone, nor yet monks, supporting themselves 
 by the labour of their hands in the fields ; but regular clergy,
 
 ST. CATHALDUS OF TARENTUM. 457 
 
 living in community, engaged in the celebration of Mass, the 
 recitation of the Divine Office, the instruction of the ignorant 
 in the church, and the teaching of the novices and students 
 in their schools. The statements, however, are so vague that, 
 to some extent at least, they would apply to all the clergy, 
 whether secular, regular, or monastic. 
 
 " The order of the Refectory " is prescribed with great 
 minuteness, but as we have already referred to this subject, 
 we will not deal further with it here. Taken in all its parts 
 this Rule of St. Carthach is a highly interesting, and most 
 important monument of the early Irish Church. 
 
 II. ST. CATHALDUS OF TARENTUM. 
 
 The great glory of the School of Lismore was St. Cathaldus- 
 Like many other Irishmen, who left home and died abroad, 
 he has been almost forgotten by our native writers. But the 
 country of his love and of his adoption has not been ungrate- 
 ful to Ireland. With one accord all foreign writers, following 
 the testimony of Tarentum itself, proclaim that Cathaldus, 
 its second apostle and patron saint, was an Irishman and a 
 scholar of the great School of Lismore. 
 
 Lismore is far away from Taranto, as it is now called. It 
 was a city of ancient Magna Graecia, frequently hostile to 
 Rome, and at the best of times yielding only a reluctant 
 obedience to the Queen of the Seven Hills. She preferred 
 Pyrrhus and Hannibal to the Curii and Scipios. Seated on the' 
 southern sea that looks towards Greece, its cultured and pleasure- 
 loving inhabitants had more affection for their ancient mother- 
 land than for their stern mistress by the Tiber. Even in the 
 days of the Empire they were more loyal to Byzantium than 
 to Rome. Strange that this Greek-Italian city, situated in 
 the very heel of Italy, should get its apostle from a Munster 
 monastery. Yet such is the fact, to which its own writers 
 bear unanimous and grateful testimony. 
 
 The Life of St. Cathaldus has been written by two 
 Tarentines the brothers Bartholomew and Bonaventure 
 Morini of whom the former wrote his account of the saint 
 in prose, and the latter in poetry. Both being citizens of 
 Taranto, were acquainted with all the traditions of the place 
 in reference to their patron saint, and, moreover, formally 
 appeal to the testimony of the ancient public records of the 
 Church and of the city in all those things to which these 
 ancient records could bear witness, and also to the Office for 
 the Feast of St. Cathaldus, which was published at Rome in 
 the year A.D. 1607, by the Cardinal Archbishop of Taranto,
 
 458 SCHOOLS OF THE SEVENTH CENTURY. 
 
 with the sanction of the Holy See. The brothers Morini 
 wrote shortly afterwards the Life of the Saint. The poetic 
 Life by Bonaventure Morini was first written in eight books ; 
 and is greatly and justly praised for the elegance of its Latin 
 style. Bartholomew Morini gives a briefer, but more 
 authentic narrative in prose, which he hoped would help to 
 make known beyond the bounds of their own city the labours, 
 and virtues, and miracles of the saint, whom his brother had 
 already celebrated in verse, and whom Providence had sent 
 from the remotest shores of Ireland (Hibernia) to be the 
 patron and protector of their native city. Unfortunately we 
 have, as I observed before, no account of St. Cathaldus in our 
 domestic Annals ; and we must, therefore, follow the guidance 
 of those foreign writers, who whilst unanimous as to the 
 place of birth and education of our saint, so render the 
 uncouth Irish names in the Latin tongue, that it is very 
 difficult to identify the persons and places to whom they 
 refer. The substance of their account is as follows : 
 
 Cataldus, or Cathaldus, which is the Latin form of Cathal, 
 a very common Irish name, " came from Hibernia, which is 
 an island beyond Britain, in the western sea, smaller in area, 
 but fully equal to it in fertility of soil and productiveness of 
 cattle ; whilst in the warmth of the land, in the temperature 
 of the climate, and the salubrity of the air, it is even superior 
 to Britain." 
 
 Some say, continues Morini, that Rachau was the Irish 
 city in which he was born, because in many books he is called 
 Cathaldus of Rachau ; but the writer rather thinks his 
 native town was Cathandum, which by a change of letter 
 would be Cathaldum, the town of Cathal. He was, he 
 thinks, called Cathaldus of Rachau, because he was bishop of 
 that place in Ireland ; but the name Cathaldus he got from 
 his native town, so that the saint's name would be a 
 patronymic. 
 
 It is very difficult, to ascertain where these two places 
 were. Colgan, a very high authority, seems to think that 
 Cathaldum or Cathandum was Baile-Cathail (i.e., Ballycahill) 
 in Ormond, which was the birth-place of the saint, and that 
 Rachau was the foreign way of expressing Rahari, the 
 original monastery and See of St. Carthagh, and of which 
 Cathaldus might have become bishop on the expulsion of its 
 holy founder by the Hy-Niall. On the whole, we think this 
 is a probable explanation, and not inconsistent with the 
 facts narrated in the Lives both of St. Carthagh and of 
 St. Cathaldus.
 
 ST. CATHALDUS OF TARENTTJM. 459 
 
 For all the accounts agree that the native place of 
 Cathaldus was in Momonia, or as some call it, Mumenia, 
 which in the Office of the saint is changed by mistake of a 
 letter into Numenia. But the reference is clearly to Munster, 
 in Irish Mumhan, which is usually latinized Momonia, or 
 more accurately, perhaps, Mumonia. There are three town- 
 lands in North Tipperary called Ballycahill, one of which 
 gives its name to the parish of Ballycahill, west of Thurles, 
 in the barony of Eliogarty. Seeing that this church took its 
 name from Bally-Cahill, it is highly probable that the village 
 itself got its name from a saint who was a native of the place, 
 and under whose protection too the church of his native 
 village would naturally be placed. There is every reason to 
 assume that Cathaldus was of the royal blood of the Munster 
 Kings, and that he lived not very far from Lismore ; both of 
 which circumstances would very well apply to Ballycahill. 
 Cashel, the royal residence of the Munster Kings, is about 
 twelve miles further south ; and Ballycahill itself was, on 
 the highway from north to south Munster, the very road that 
 Carthagh and his monks would follow in their flight from the 
 North to the court of Failbe Flann at Cashel, on their way 
 to Lismore. 
 
 His father's name was Euchus, and his mother's name is 
 rendered Achlena or Athnea. Euchus is an attempt at 
 Latinizing the Irish Eochaidh. Achlenna was a not 
 un frequent Irish female name, which was borne by the 
 mothers of St. Fintan and St. Columbanus. More likely, 
 however, the original name was the Irish form Ethnea a 
 very common name which the Tarentines, with their Greek 
 tastes, would very naturally render Athnea in Latin. 
 
 As to the date of the saint's birth there is more difference 
 of opinion. The Morini, who speak, however, doubtingly, 
 seems to think the saint was born in the reign of the 
 Emperor Adrian, and came to Tarentum during the reign of 
 Aurelius, or Antoninus Pius. In this, however, they seem 
 to have merely made a conjecture, having no ancient authority 
 to follow. They were anxious to make this second foundation 
 of the Tarentine Church after St. Peter and St. Mark, who 
 were said to have first preached the Gospel there, as ancient 
 as possible. It is evident, however, even from their own 
 narrative that a much later date must be assigned to the 
 advent of Cathaldus to Tarentum. For he came there on his 
 return from Jerusalem, where with his companions he had 
 been to visit the Holy Sepulchre of our Lord. But the Holy 
 Sepulchre was not discovered until the time of St. Helen, in
 
 460 SCHOOLS OF THE SEVENTH CENTURY. 
 
 A.D. 336, after which this pilgrimage became common in 
 Christendom, so that we cannot assign by any possibility this 
 early date to the mission of Cathaldus at Tarentum. 
 
 Of course, too, the history of the Irish Church is entirely 
 inconsistent with so early a date for the apostolate of this 
 Irish saint. For we are told that he studied and taught at 
 Lismore ; that he was Bishop of Rachau ; that he preached 
 the Gospel successfully in Ireland before he left for the 
 Holy Land facts which more clearly mark the seventh than 
 the second century as the period during which he lived and 
 flourished. 
 
 The young Cathal, who seems to have been born about 
 the year A.D. 615, grew up in holiness and grace before God 
 and men ; and, according to the author, was whilst yet a 
 youth sent to study in the great monastic school of Lismore 
 (Lesmoria). It was, as we have seen, founded by St. Carthach 
 in the year A.D. 635. Indeed, Morini's account of our saint 
 at Lismore would seem to imply that he was a professor 
 there as well as student, for he tells us that the fame of his 
 learning and virtues attracted many disciples to the new 
 college, 1 and what is more, raised up against himself some 
 powerful enemies. He not only taught in the schools, but 
 he preached the Gospel most successfully in all the country 
 of the Desii, working many miracles too, and building 
 churches one of which dedicated to the Blessed Yirgin 
 Mary, is specially mentioned in his Life as the glory of 
 Lismore. The author even exaggerates his labours, for he 
 adds, that no one was left throughout all Ireland whom 
 Cathaldus did not instruct in the saving truths of the 
 Gospel. 
 
 Now the king (of Munster no doubt), was jealous of the 
 great popularity of the saint, and fearing that Cathal, relying 
 on the good will of the people, might aspire to the throne, he 
 
 1 In the Office of St. Cathaldus it is stated that : 
 
 Adolescens liberalibus disciplinis eruditus ad earn brevi doctrinse excel- 
 lentiam pervenit ut ad ipsum audiendum Galli, Angli, Scoti, Theutones, 
 iiliique finitirnarum aliarum regionum quain plurimi Lesmoriam. con- 
 venirent. 
 
 Horini tells in elegant verse of the same influx of students to Lismore 
 from most of the countries of Europe. 
 
 Celeres, vastissima Rheni 
 Jam vada Teutonici, jam descruere Sicambri ; 
 Mil tit ab extremo gelidos Aquilone Boemos 
 Albis, et Arverni coeunt, Batavique frequentes 
 TCt quique colunt alta sub rupe Gehennas . . . 
 Certatim hi properant diverso tramite ad urbem 
 Lesmoriam, juvenis primes ubi transigit annos.
 
 ST. CATH ALDUS OF TAKEN TUM. 461 
 
 sailed to Lismore, intending to seize and imprison the saint. 
 But God protects His own. This evil-minded prince was 
 warned by two Angels in a vision not to touch Cathaldus at 
 his peril ; but rather to make him successor to Meltrides, 
 the regulus of the Desii, who had inflamed by evil counsel 
 the king's mind against Cathaldus ; and lo ! whilst the king 
 was narrating this vision in the morning to his counsellors 
 a messenger came to announce the sudden death of this 
 Meltrides, the king's evil counsellor. The king, now filled 
 with terror, asks pardon of Cathaldus, who was then a 
 deacon, and was going to make him ruler over the Desii ; but 
 Cathaldus modestly refused the honour, preferring to serve 
 God in religion. Thereupon he was made bishop, and the 
 king assigned him mensal lands around Lismore, in the 
 territory of Meltrides, and he became not only bishop, but 
 even an archbishop, with twelve suffragan sees subject to 
 him as metropolitan ! The facts here seem much exagger- 
 ated, but were probably quite true in substance. 
 
 Meltrides seems to have been that prince of the Desii, 
 
 who gave Lismore to St. Carthach in A.U. 635. His death is 
 
 recorded under date A.D. 670. If Cathaldus were a deacon, in 
 
 A.D. 670, he can hardly have been a disciple of St. Carthach, 
 
 who died thirty-three years before. Colga, son of Failbe 
 
 Flann, was King of Munster at this period, for his death is 
 
 noticed, in A.D. 674 by the accurate Chronicon Scotorum. It 
 
 is not unlikely then that Cathaldus, the professor of Lismore, 
 
 who was supposed to be aiming at the crown of Munster, 
 
 was a member of the rival line sprung from Fingin, the elder 
 
 brother of Failbe Flann. Fingin died in A.D. 619, leaving 
 
 the crown to Failbe ; but of course his sons would have a 
 
 better claim than Failbe's, when they grew up to man's 
 
 estate. These two princes, Fingin and Failbe Flann, were 
 
 respectively the heads of the great rival families of Munster 
 
 the O'Sullivans and M'Carthys ; and although the latter 
 
 rose to greater power, the former was, it is said, the senior 
 
 branch of that royal stock, and retained their lands in the 
 
 Golden Vale down to the advent of the Anglo-Normans, 
 
 when they were driven to the mountains of Kerry. It was 
 
 Colga, therefore, King of Munster, in A.D. 670, who caused 
 
 Cathaldus the deacon to be elected Bishop, and not only 
 
 endowed his See of Rachau with the lands of the Desii, but 
 
 also subjected to his authority all the Bishops of the South, 
 
 whose sees were within the kingdom of Cashel. In this way 
 
 we can explain the statement in the Life that Cathaldus was 
 
 made an archbishop with twelve suffragan prelates subject
 
 4(52 SCHOOLS OF THE SEVENTH CENTURY. 
 
 to his authority. Colga would lend himself all the more 
 readily readily to this project, because there would be now 
 less danger of Cathaldus, after he became a bishop, aiming at 
 the crown of Munster. 
 
 But where was the See of Rachau ? We cannot agree 
 with Colgan that it was Rahan. Rahan was in Meath in 
 the territory of the Southern Hy-Niall, and we may assume 
 it as certain that the spirit of jealousy, which in A.D. 635, 
 drove St. Carthach from Rahan would never tolerate the 
 appointment of this Munster prince as bishop in any part of 
 Meath. It is, of course, still more improbable that the same 
 jealous rivals would consent to give him metropolitan juris- 
 diction over the princes and prelates of their own race. 
 
 From the narrative in the saint's Life, if it can be relied 
 upon, it is quite evident that Rachau was not far from Lis- 
 more, that it was in the territory of the Desii, and like the 
 See of Sletty it may, for a while, have attained to a certain 
 pre-eminence in Munster in consequence of the learning and 
 virtue of Cathaldus. Still it is very difficult to ascertain the 
 exact locality of this 'city of Rachau.' There was, as we 
 know from the Four Masters, a mountain in this district, 
 about six miles north of Dungarvan, which was called Slieve 
 Cua, now Slieve Gua, There must have been an old church 
 in the district also, for there is a parish called Slievegue ; and 
 if there was a rath named from the territory, it would be 
 Rath-cua, or Rachue, as any Irish scholar will readily admit. 
 There was a pass through the valley beneath Slieve Cua, 
 which as it led from Magh Femhin into Decies without the 
 Drum, was in ancient times the scene of many a bloody battle. 
 I am inclined to think that Rachau of the saint's Life is 
 simply another form of Rath-cua, which was doubtless the 
 ancient name of the residence of the family of Cathaldus, 
 who were probably the rulers of the district. The old church 
 might have once had the same appellation, although so far as 
 we know it is now lost. After the departure of Cathaldus, 
 this church would lose its pre-eminence like many another 
 church in Ireland which was once the seat of a bishop, and 
 at present does not rank even as a parochial church. 
 Clonenagh is an example, as we saw when treating of its 
 history. However, I merely offer this as a conjecture, for I 
 can find no reference to the church or district of Rachau in 
 our domestic Annals. 
 
 After Cathaldus had ruled the See of Rachau for some 
 years, with his brother Donatus and several companions, he 
 went on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem a journey that it was by
 
 ST. CATHALDUS OF TARENTUM. 463 
 
 no means unusual for the fervent saints of Erin to accomplish 
 even at that early period. On their return from Palestine, 
 their vessel was wrecked in the Gulf of Taranto, not far 
 from the city of the same name. 
 
 Taranto, the classical Tarentum, was an ancient and 
 famous city, beautifully situated on the northern shore of the 
 bay. It was founded by a Spartan colony of young men, 
 who left their native country because they were branded with 
 the stigma of illegitimacy. But they selected a beautiful site 
 for their city, under the shadow of the lapygian hills, and 
 surrounded by the sun-lit waters of that spacious bay. The 
 climate was delightful, the air bracing and salubrious ; for 
 the summer's heats were tempered by the sea breezes, and 
 the mountains sheltered them from the biting winds of 
 winter. The hills were clothed with olive trees and vine- 
 yards, which were specially prized ; the wool of their sheep 
 was of the finest quality ; the inner harbour was filled with 
 shell-fish ; and their honey was equal to that produced by the 
 bees of Hymettus. Horace, in a well-known Ode, extols its 
 mild winter and lingering spring ; and declares that its rare 
 products and smiling towers woo him to make his sojourn in 
 that happy land. 1 
 
 But its inhabitants, even in the days of Pyrrhus, were 
 said to be an effeminate and licentious people, more devoted 
 to the pleasures of peace than to the arts of war. They had 
 heard the Gospel from the lips of the Apostles St. Peter and 
 St. Mark ; but during the disturbances succeeding the fall of the 
 Western Empire, they became once more practically pagans. 
 Such was the state of things when Cathaldus and his com- 
 panions were wrecked on the shore of the Tarentine Gulf. 
 
 When the Irish bishop saw this beautiful city thus given 
 over to pleasure and to vice, like St. Paul at Athens, his 
 spirit was moved within him, and in burning language he 
 implored the inhabitants to return to the service of the God 
 whom they had forgotten. He performed also many striking 
 miracles in the sight of all the people, healing the sick, and 
 even it is said, raising the dead to life. It happened at this 
 
 1 Ille terrarum mihi praeter omnes 
 Angulus ridet, ubi non Hymetto 
 Mella decedunt, viridique certat 
 Bacca Venafro. 
 
 Ver ubi lougum, tepidasque praebet 
 Jupiter brumas, et amicus Aulon 
 Fertili Baccho minimum Falernis 
 Invidet uvis.
 
 464 SCHOOLS OF THE SEVENTH CENTURY. 
 
 time that there was no bishop in the city ; so the Tarentines 
 besought the Irish saint to become their bishop, and promised 
 to obey his commands, and follow all his counsels. Reluct- 
 antly he consented, in the hope that he might thus be able 
 to win them back to the service of God. His efforts were 
 crowned with complete success. Once more Tarentum 
 became a Christian city in reality as well as in name ; and 
 Cathaldus was venerated as the second apostle and patron 
 saint of the city. 
 
 Cathaldus spent some years in his new See ; then feeling 
 his end approaching, the saint once more exhorted the people 
 and the clergy, in language of the most tender affection, to be 
 true to the profession and practice of the Christian faith. 
 He died, shortly after, in his city of Tarentum, towards the 
 close of the seventh century, on the eighth day of March, 
 which is his festival day. The holy remains, by which many 
 miracles were wrought, were buried in a marble tomb, which 
 up to this day is preserved in the sacristy of the Cathedral of 
 Tarentum. For a long period the identity and position of 
 the tomb were unknown, until the time of the Archbishop 
 Drogonus, by whose orders the old cathedral was restored. 
 The workmen in excavating the old walls came upon the 
 marble tomb ; and the Archbishop having been sent for, 
 caused the tomb to be opened, when the sacred relics were 
 discovered, with a golden cross on which the name of 
 Cathaldus was inscribed. So Archbishop Drogonus, full of 
 joy, caused the holy relics to be translated, and the tomb 
 itself to be rebuilt close to the high altar of the new Cathe- 
 dral Church, where they are preserved with great honour 
 down to the present day. In the year A.D. 1150, Archbishop 
 Giraldus caused the holy relics to be enclosed in a silver 
 shrine, richly adorned with gold and jewels. A large silver 
 statue of the saint was also erected in the church, and a por- 
 tion of the skull was placed within the figure. The feast of 
 the Invention of the saint's Relics is celebrated on the eighth 
 day of May, and the Translation is kept on the tenth of the 
 same month. Both these festivals, as well as the Natalis of 
 the saint on the eighth of March, are celebrated with much 
 pomp by the Tarentines even to the present day. The silver- 
 gilt cross found within the tomb is hung around the neck of 
 the silver statue of the saint, and on the cross may still be 
 seen, engraved in characters quite legible and distinct 
 CATHALDTJS RACHATJ, which identify so conclusively the pre- 
 late of Lismore and Tarentum with the sacred relics that were 
 discovered by Archbishop Drogonus.
 
 OTHER SCHOLARS OF LISMORE ST. CUANNA. 465 
 
 Certain writings have been attributed to Cathaldus by 
 Colgan, and others; but it is difficult to regard them as 
 genuine. 
 
 There is a short treatise, given by Colgan, containing an 
 account alleged to be taken from the Records of the Church 
 and City of Tarentum, of the principal miracles of the saint. 
 It is a very striking enumeration of most wonderful cures 
 effected through the intercession of the saint, and bears in- 
 trinsic evidence of authenticity at least such is Colgan's 
 opinion. 
 
 There is also extant a prophecy attributed to the saint, 
 which he uttered shortly before his death, and which was by 
 his order, if not by his own hand, inscribed in certain leaden 
 tablets, and hidden within a column in the Church of 
 St. Peter without the eastern walls of the city. It is said 
 that in the year A.D. 1492, the saint appeared to a certain 
 deacon of Tarentum, by name Raphael Crurera, and com- 
 manded him to tell the Archbishop that he would find in the 
 said church the figure of a boy painted on the column with 
 the hand pointing out the spot where the leaves of the 
 leaden record containing the prophecy would be found. The 
 Archbishop sought the place indicated, and found the two 
 sheets of lead inscribed with the prophecy. But the whole 
 thing looks very like a forgery concocted for political 
 purposes. 
 
 III. OTHER SCHOLARS OF LISMORE ST. CUANNA. 
 
 It does not appear that St. Cathaldus was ever Abbot or 
 Bishop of Lismore, although he was certainly a student of 
 that great seminary. St. Carthach appears to have been 
 succeeded in the government of Lismore by St. Cuanna, who 
 is said to have been his uterine brother. As Cuanna, or at 
 least one who bore that name, was also the author of an 
 ancient book of Annals, he is worthy of special mention in 
 this place. Colgan is of opinion that St. Cuanna, the Abbot of 
 Lismore, is the same as that Cuanna, who has given his name 
 to Kilcooney, near Headfort, on the shores of Lough Corrib, 
 and he thinks it highly probable that he was also the original 
 author of the Book of Cuanach, cited in the Annals of Ulster. 
 It is not quoted after A.D. 628 ; and we know that St. Cuauna 
 of Lismore died about A.D. 650, so that this fact of itself 
 lends some probability to Colgan's view. The facts of 
 his history, however, will clearly show that Cuanna of Lismore 
 was the founder of Kilcooney, near Lough Corrib. 
 
 St. Cuanna of Kilcooney was born near the eastern
 
 466 SCHOOLS OF THE SEVENTH CENTURY. 
 
 shore of that lake, for he is described as founding a church 
 in his native district. 1 His mother, Findmaith, was a near 
 relation of St. Brendan, and appears to have been also the 
 mother of St. Fursey, and St. Eany, who also founded 
 churches on the Corrib shore. In that case Findmaith was 
 the second wife of Fin tan of Ard-fintan, near Headford, who 
 is said to have been a nephew of St. Brendan. We know 
 that both St. Brendan and St. Carthach belonged originally 
 to the same district in the west of Kerry, and that both were 
 sprung from Fergus Mac Roy. We know also that many of 
 the tribesmen both of Carthach and Brendan migrated to 
 West Connaught about this period, and that the father of 
 Fursey was amongst them. It may be that his wife after- 
 wards got married to another Kerry chieftain, and this 
 would explain how Carthach and Guanna were uterine 
 brothers, although one was born at Tralee and the other near 
 Lough Corrib. 
 
 About A.B. 590 Cuanna went to the school of St. Carthach, 
 at Rahan, where he remained many years. Then he was 
 sent about A.D. 620 to found a monastery " in the delightful 
 land of the Ui-Eachach, in the south of the woody Inisfail." 
 Afterwards, however, he returned home to Lough Corrib and 
 founded Kilcooney. The " Fragment of his Life," in the 
 Salamanca MS. then tells how he was carried off into 
 Connemara, but God's angels took charge of him, and 
 brought him over the lake in safety, floating on a flat stone, 
 to his own side of the lake. Then it was he resolved to 
 found his Church of Kilcooney, or Kilcoonagh, of which the 
 remains are still to be seen in the old churchyard not far 
 from Headford. There is also the stump of a round tower close 
 at hand, which shows the ancient importance of the place. 
 
 Great numbers of saints and monks from all parts of 
 Ireland were soon attracted to Kilcooney by the fame of its 
 learned and holy founder. In fact we are told that on one 
 occasion no less than 1,746 of these holy men assembled in 
 conference in a beautiful meadow near the church, and there 
 entered into a league of holy friendship with each other 
 surely a beautiful spectacle before angels and men in that 
 rude and barbarous age. 
 
 It seems that it was after the death of his brother, 
 St. Carthach, in A.U. 636 or 637, that Cuanna was called to 
 preside at Lismore. The kin of the founders always got a 
 preference when rulers were elected for these ancient 
 
 1 See Salamanca MS., page 931.
 
 OTHER SCHOLARS OF LISMORE ST. CUANNA. 467 
 
 monasteries, and his near kinship with Carthach was, 
 together with his virtues and merits, the main reason of this 
 election. It is certain, however, that he was Abbot of 
 Lisraore, for two of our ancient calendars describe him as 
 such, and in the notes to the Feilire of -ZEngus he is simi- 
 larly described. He died about the year A.D. 650. 
 
 The School of Lismore continued to flourish under him 
 and his successors, attaining, it seems, the zenith of its 
 celebrity towards the opening years of the eighth century 
 under St. Colman O'Leathain. 
 
 St. Colman O'Leathain flourished as Abbot and Bishop of 
 Lismore from A.D. 698, or A.D. 699 to 702 ; and during this 
 brief period became very celebrated. He was the son of Fin- 
 barr, of the race of Hy-Beogna, the hereditary princes of Ibh 
 Liathain a district extending from Cork to Youghal, and 
 nearly corresponding with the modern barony of Imokelly. 
 He was a pupil of Lismore during the incumbency of 
 St. Hierlog, or Jarnlach, as we find it in the Ulster Annals, 
 the same as the Hierologus of Colgan. His death is noted 
 on the 16th January, A.D. 6$8 ; but in the Annals of Ulster 
 it is A.D. 699. The former is the true date. Lismore had 
 now become so celebrated that the Irish princes, tired of the 
 world, began to seek peace and penance in its sacred shades. 
 The first of these princes, of whom we read, was Theodoric, 
 or Turlogh, King of Thomond, of the celebrated Dalcassian 
 line. His father Cathal died in A.D. 624, so that this prince 
 must have ruled over his native territory for many years. 
 He is celebrated, too, as the father of St. Flannan, the 
 founder of the See of Killaloe. Theodoric came secretly to 
 St. Colman, and flinging off his royal robes, and renouncing 
 his crown, placed himself amongst the humblest disciples of 
 that saint. Though now an old man, he would not consent 
 to be idle, but insisted on earning his bread with the labour 
 of his hands, like the monks around him. The road to the 
 monastery from the low ground was steep and uneven, so 
 Theodoric, whose strong arms so often wielded the sword of 
 Thomond in battle, got his sledge and hammer, and spent his 
 time breaking stones to repair the road. With such zeal did 
 he work that the streams of perspiration poured down from 
 his body to the ground, and it is said a sick man was healed 
 by washing in these waters of holy and penitential toil. 
 With Colman's permission he returned to his kingdom to 
 protect it from its enemies, whom he seems to have crushed 
 as easily as he did the stones, and he then returned again to 
 die in Lismore.
 
 468 SCHOOLS OF THE SEVENTH CENTURY. 
 
 St. Colman O'Leathain is sometimes called Mocholmoc, 
 but as Colgan points out, it is really the same name Coiman 
 and Colmoc being both diminutives of Colum, with the term 
 of endearment prefixed in one case mo-Cholmoc, which is 
 the same as 'my dear little Colman/ This great saint 
 died on the 22nd of January, A.D. 702, and was interred at 
 Lismore. 
 
 It has been said that Aldfrid, King of NorthumbrJa, was 
 a student at Lismore before he was called to the throne after 
 the death of his brother, Ecgfrid, in A.D. 685. This statement 
 is, however, merely a conjecture. We know, indeed, from 
 the express statement of William of Malmesbury that Aldfrid 
 spent his youth in Ireland, that he was trained in all the 
 learning of our Irish schools, and that when he was called to 
 the throne of Northumbria, he gave both sympathy and 
 effective assistance to the Irish prelates and monks of the 
 North in opposition to Wilfrid and his associates. It is 
 unlikely, however, that he remained at any one monastic 
 school during all the years of his enforced sojourn in Ireland. 
 Armagh would be one of the nearest to a Northumbrian 
 exile ; and being the seat of the primacy, as well as a cele- 
 brated school, it would naturally attract him first. If he 
 then came south he certainly would visit Clonmacnoise, and 
 remain some time in its halls. The great fame of Lismore 
 in the middle of the seventh century would doubtless attract 
 him also ; and he certainly would not leave unvisited the new 
 monastery founded about this very time by his own country- 
 men in the plains of Mayo. And if we are to accept the 
 authenticity of the old Irish poem attributed to Aldfrid, this 
 is precisely what did happen. He went throughout the entire 
 country from school to school, spending some time in each of 
 them ; and he testifies that he was treated everywhere with 
 generous hospitality, and experienced at the hands of all his 
 teachers and entertainers a kindly Irish welcome. This 
 poem has been translated by Clarence Mangan, and the spirit 
 of the original has been admirably preserved in the trans- 
 lation. 
 
 ' ' I found in Innisf ail the fair, 
 In Ireland while in exile there 
 "Women of worth, both grave and gay men, 
 Many clerics and many laymen. 
 
 I travelled its fruitful provinces round, 
 And in every one of the five I found, 
 Alike in church and in palace hall, 
 Abundant apparel aud food for all."
 
 SUBSEQUENT HISTORY OF LISMORE. 469 
 
 Then he tells how he found ' in Armagh the splendid 
 meekness, wisdom, and prudence blended' ; how he found 
 kings and queens and poets in Mnnster ; in Connaught he 
 found riches, hospitality, vigour and fame ; in Ulster, ' from 
 hill to glen, he met hardy warriors and resolute men' ; and 
 so on throughout all the land. 
 
 During his residence in Ireland Aldfrid acquired much 
 knowledge, and a great love of learning and learned men. 
 He was an intimate friend of Adamnan, the celebrated Abbot 
 of lona, and probably spent some lime in that monastery also. 
 Another distinguished scholar, Aldhelm, Abbot of Malmes- 
 bury, dedicated to Aldfrid a poetical epistle in Latin on 
 Metres and the Rules of Prosody, which shows that the 
 king must have been competent to appreciate such a work. 
 Aldhelm, in this Epistle, congratulates the king on his good 
 fortune in having been educated in Ireland ; and he knew 
 well what the Irish scholars were, for his own master, Mail- 
 dulf, was an Irishman. Aldhelm afterwards studied in 
 Canterbury under Theodore and Adrian ; and though trained 
 by an Irishman, in one of his letters he shows himself a little 
 jealous 1 of the greater fame and popularity which the Irish 
 schools at this period enjoyed both at home and abroad. 
 Maildulf 2 taught a school at Malmesbury, and from him it 
 takes its name ; but after his death it was placed in the hands 
 of Englishmen. 
 
 IV. SUBSEQUENT HISTORY OF LISMORE. 
 
 We cannot narrate at length the subsequent history of 
 the monastery and School of Lismore. We find a regular 
 succession of Bishop-abbots down to the advent of the Danes. 
 But the position of Lismore on a great river not far from the 
 sea rendered it especially exposed to their ravages ; and 
 hence, like our other great monastic schools, we find that it 
 was repeatedly pillaged and burned during the ninth and 
 tenth centuries. Nor was the plundering and burning alto- 
 gether the work of the Danes. 
 
 As usual the native princes followed their example ; and 
 
 1 See Opera Ed., Giles, p. 94. He says that the English swarmed to the 
 Irish Schools like bees, whilst the great School of Canterbury was by no 
 means overcrowded. 
 
 2 He is called Mailduf by Bede ; but it is merely another way of render- 
 ing the Irish name Maeldubh. Bede calls Malmesbury Maildufi urbem, that 
 is, Mailduf 's-bury, contracted afterwards into Malmsbury. William of 
 Malmesbury describes it as founded by Meildulf. "Natione Scotus, erudi- 
 tusque philosophus, professions monachus." See Lanigan, Vol. iii., p. 100.
 
 470 SCHOOLS OF THE SEVENTH CENTURY. 
 
 so we are told that in A.D. 978 the Ossorians plundered and 
 burned both the town and abbey. Yet the school and monas- 
 tery survived the ravages both of the Danes and natives, and 
 were held in great veneration by the wisest and best men in 
 Erin. Cormac Mac Cullinan, the King-bishop, loved Lis- 
 more, although he was not educated there, and in his will 
 left a bequest of a gold and silver chalice, and a suit of silk 
 vestments to the -monastery. 
 
 We read in Archdall that there was at Lismore, as at 
 Armagh and many other principal churches, a hermitage, 
 where one- or more anchorites dwelt enclosed in their cells 
 after the fashion of the primitive Egyptian saints in the 
 Desert. St.- Carthach himself had set the example at Lismore ; 
 and it seems it was regularly followed, for a small endowment 
 in land was provided for the maintenance of these anchorites at 
 Lismore. The death of one of the most celebrated is noticed 
 A.D. 1040: "Corcran Cleireach, anchorite, the head of the 
 West of Europe for piety and wisdom, died at Lis-mor " 
 (F.M.). Another authority tells us that such was his learn- 
 ing and integrity that every dispute throughout the kingdom 
 was confidently referred to his arbitration. It was for this 
 reason also that during the interregnum that succeeded the 
 death of Maelsechlainn II. in A.D. '1022, he, with Cuan 
 O'Lochain, were chosen to guide the provisional government 
 then established, as it would seem, with the consent of both 
 the North and the South. 
 
 During the subsequent century a period of much turmoil 
 and bloodshed, when there was no recognised High King of 
 Tara, who was able to keep the provincial kings in check, 
 many of the southern princes retired to Lismore to end their 
 days in peace and penance. Amonst these was the brave and 
 generous Murtogh (Muircheartach) O'Brien, the grandson of 
 Brian Boru, whom the Four Masters themselves describe "as 
 King of Ireland, and the prop of the glory and magnificence 
 of the West of the world." He died after the victory of 
 penance at Lismore, but was buried at Killaloe. In A.D. 1127 
 Turlough O'Conor, the bravest and most capable of his name, 
 forced Gormac Mac Carthy, King of Desmond, to go on pil- 
 grimage to Lismore,. and put on the habit of a monk. But 
 Cormac soon flung it off again, and once more met Turlough 
 in the field, but unsuccessfully; for we are told that there 
 was a great fight at ' sea ' (on Lough Derg) between the 
 fleets of the Connaughtmen and of the men of Munster, and 
 that the former gained the victory and harried the territory 
 of Munster.
 
 SUBSEQUENT HISTORY OF LISMORE. 471 
 
 Another noteworthy event in connection with Lismore s 
 recorded in A.D. 1129. It is the death and burial at Lismore 
 in this year of the great St. Celsus, after St. Malachy, the 
 greatest man of his age. He laboured with the most constant 
 and self-denying zeal to reform the gross abuses prevalent 
 in the Irish Church, and to stay the fratricidal hands of the 
 native princes, whose whole career was at this time one sad 
 record of violence and slaughter. His life, say the Annals, 
 was " a life of fasting, prayer, and mass-celebration ; and 
 after unction and good penance he resigned his spirit to 
 heaven at Ard Patrick," in the Co. Limerick. He was buried 
 at Lismore, by his own desire, and was waked, as was fitting, 
 with psalms, hymns, and canticles, and buried with all honour 
 in the tomb of the bishops, on Thursday, the 4th of April, 
 having died on the previous Monday. 
 
 So Lismore was still held in great honour, and owned 
 large possessions for the education of the clergy and the 
 maintenance of the poor down to the advent of the Anglo- 
 Normans. Then in A.D. 1173 we have the significant entry 
 that Strongbow, after wasting the territory of the Desii, 
 " extorted a large sum from the bishop to prevent the church 
 from being burnt," but in the following year his son com- 
 pleted his father's work, "and plundered - Lismore ;" and 
 four years later,: in A.D. 1178, we are told that the town was 
 again plundered, and set on fire by the English forces. 
 Whatever still remained was wholly consumed a few years 
 after, in A.TX 1207, when the town and all its churches were 
 entirely consumed. Shortly afterwards, this ancient See was 
 united to the Danish bishopric of Waterford, and the lamp 
 of learning in its schools was extinguished for ever. 
 
 Lismore is beautifully situated on the steep southern 
 bank of the Blackwater, overlooking the picturesque valley 
 of this noble river, which here teems with natural beauties. 
 In this respect Innes declares that Lismore cannot be sur- 
 passed. " The Blackwater, both above and below the bridge, 
 which leads into the town, flows through one of the most 
 verdant of valleys. The banks bounding this valley are in 
 some places thickly, in other places lightly, shaded with 
 wood. Nothing can surpass in richness and beauty the view 
 from the bridge, when at evening the deep woods, and the 
 grey castle, and the still river are left in the shade, while 
 the sun streaming up the valley gilds all the softer elopes 
 and swells that lie opposite." (Journey, 1834.) 
 
 Nothing, in truth, is wanting that can lend beauty and 
 interest to this scene, which nature has so richly dowered
 
 472 SCHOOLS or THE SEVENTH CENTURY. 
 
 with all her charms. And then the grand old castle, towering 
 over the river, recalls to the mind of the beholder all those 
 associations that cling like the ivy to its old historic walls. 
 
 Of the twenty churches once in Lismore not a vestige 
 
 remains. The existing Protestant cathedral was rebuilt by the 
 
 Earl of Cork in A.D. 1663 ; but his workmen destroyed every 
 
 trace of the ancieift church, which is alluded to as the 
 
 cathedral, or great stone church of Lismore, so early as 
 
 A.D. 1052. Five inscribed stones are preserved in the present 
 
 cathedral. They are fragments of ancient tombstones, with 
 
 the peculiar Celtic crosses, and lettered in very ancient types 
 
 of the Celtic alphabet. 1 One asks a blessing for the soul of 
 
 Colgen, who, according to the Annals of Imsf alien, was an 
 
 eminent ecclesiastic, who died in Lismore in A.D. 850. The 
 
 words are BENDACHT FOE AMAIN COLGEN. 
 
 Another is simply inscribed SUIBNE M CONHUIDIR 
 
 Suibne, son of Conhuidir, an anchorite and abbot of Lismore, 
 
 who went to his rest in A.D. 854. Another still more 
 
 interesting inscription asks a prayer for Cormac, a priest 
 
 OR DO CORMAC P. The letter P stands apparently for 
 
 the Latin word, presbyter, i.e., priest. He seems to have been 
 
 " Cormac, son of Cuilcanan, Bishop of Lismore, and Lord of 
 
 the Desii of Mumhan, who was killed by his own family, 
 
 A.D. 918 " a different person from the King-bishop of 
 
 Cashel, who was slain in A.D. 903. The other two merely 
 
 ask a blessing for the soul of MART AN, and a prayer for 
 
 DONNCHAD, who seems to have been the person bearing 
 
 that name who was assassinated within the very walls of the 
 
 old cathedral in A.D. 1034. 
 
 THE CROZIER OF LISMORE was discovered in 1814 in a 
 tower of Lismore Castle, belonging now to the Duke of 
 Devonshire hence it is sometimes improperly called the 
 Devonshire Crozier. It was made, as the inscription on it 
 records, for Niall Mac Mic Aeducan, who was Bishop of 
 Lismore from A.D. 1090 to 1113. The artist was Nectan 
 also a Celtic name and the Crozier itself is one of the most 
 beautiful specimens of Celtic art of this character that have 
 been yet discovered. " It measures three feet four inches in 
 length, and consists of a case of bronze of a pale colour, 
 which enshrines an old oak stick perhaps the original staff 
 of the founder of Lismore. Most of the ornaments are richly 
 gilt, interspersed with others of silver and niello, and bosses 
 of coloured enamels. The crook of the staff is bordered with 
 
 1 See Christian Inscriptions. Vol. ii., p. 31.
 
 SUBSEQUENT HISTORY OF LISMORE. 473 
 
 a TOW of grotesque animals like lizards or dragons, one 
 of which has eyes of lapis lazuli." 1 The staff seems 
 to have been divided into compartments, which were 
 filled in with filagree work. It is most likely this 
 beautiful work of art was made at the monastery, and that 
 Nechtan, the artificer, was a member of the brotherhood of 
 Lismore. The inscription is as usual in Irish, and runs 
 thus : OR DO NIAL MAC MEICC AEDUCAN LASAN 
 DERNAD IN GRESSA + OR DO NECTAIN CERD 
 DORIGNE IN GRESSA Pray for Niall, son of Aeducan, 
 for whom this work was made : pray for Nectan, who made 
 this work of art. 
 
 THE BOOK OF LISMORE was found in 1814, together with 
 the Crozier of Lismore, in a wooden box, which was enclosed 
 within the wall of a built up doorway in the Castle of Lismore. 
 Both evidently belonged to the bishops of Lismore, for the 
 castle was the ancient episcopal palace, and the box was built 
 into the doorway for security on some occasion when the 
 castle was being beseiged by enemies, who might be disposed 
 to appropriate these venerable relics. This castle was 
 originally built by Prince John, in A,D. 1185 ; and at first 
 was garrisoned for the Crown. It was, however, soon 
 destroyed by the natives ; but was rebuilt by the king, and 
 became the residence of the bishops of Lismore down to the 
 time of Miler MacGrath, who added the See of Lismore to 
 his other ecclesiastical preferments. Afterwards, the castle 
 sustained several seiges during the troubles that followed 
 A.D. 1641, when it was held at different times for the Crown 
 or for the Parliament ; and it was, doubtless, during one of 
 these sieges that both the Crozier and Book of Lismore were 
 concealed. When discovered it had suffered much from damp, 
 and the edges, O'Curry tells us, seem to have been partially 
 gnawed by rats or mice. It was, however, still tolerably 
 legible, but was, unfortunately, lent by the Duke of Devon- 
 shire's agent to a Cork seanachie, named O'Flynn, that it 
 might be transcribed; and O'Curry alleges that several 
 folios, and in some places entire sections of the MS., were 
 deliberately cut out by those who had the temporary custody 
 of the Book. In 1839 O'Curry made a copy on paper of all 
 that remained for the Royal Irish Academy ; but that 
 institution vainly sought to obtain the missing portions. 
 
 It is said that these excised parts were purchased, no 
 doubt, in good faith, by a Mr. Hewitt, who lived near Cork, 
 
 1 Christian Inscriptions. Vol. ii p., 118.
 
 474 SCHOOLS OF THE SEVENTH CENTURY. 
 
 and they may, perhaps, be still secured and re-bound with 
 the original MS. 
 
 This original was a vellum MS. said to be 900 years old. 
 It consists principally of copies of the lives of certain Irish 
 saints of Patrick, Bridget, Columcille, Senan, Finnian of 
 Clonard, and Finnchu of Brigobhan, near Cork " all," says 
 O'Curry, " written in Gaelic of great purity and antiquity." 1 
 There are also several historical and romantic tracts, and 
 bardic accounts of several ancient battles. One treatise a 
 dialogue between St. Patrick and the Fenian warriors, 
 Caoilte MacRonan and Oisin is, says the same learned 
 authority, especially valuable for the topographical informa- 
 tion it contains. 
 
 1 See Lectures on MS. Materials.
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 THE SCHOOLS OF DESMOND. 
 
 I. THE SCHOOL OF CORK ST. FINBARR. 
 
 " I found in Munster, unfettered of any, 
 Kings and queens, and poets a-many ; 
 Poets well skilled in music and measure, 
 Prosperous doings, mirth and pleasure." 
 
 King Aldfrid's Poem. 
 
 MUNSTER was always celebrated for classical studies. 
 Even within the memory of living men it attracted ' poor 
 scholars * from every part of Ireland ; and they were received, 
 as they were in the days of Bede and King Aldfrid, with 
 kindly welcome and generous hospitality. In spite of the 
 confiscations and penal laws of three hundred years, the old 
 Celtic love of learning was still cherished in their hearts, and 
 their doors were never closed against the homeless scholar, 
 or bard, or seanachie. As in the days of Bede, " they 
 willingly received them all, and took care to supply them 
 with food, and also to furnish them with books to read, and 
 their teaching gratis." 1 Of the Desmond schools the most 
 celebrated, though not, perhaps, the earliest, was the School 
 of Cork founded by St. Finbarr. 
 
 The name of the city itself is derived from Corcagh, 
 which signifies a marshy place ; and at the time St. Finbarr 
 founded his church there, and for centuries afterwards, it 
 certainly well deserved the name. Especially when the 
 mountain floods came down the valley of the river Lee the 
 whole right bank of the stream was converted into a vast 
 lake called Loch Eirce or Loch Irce. 2 This valley extends 
 from west to east, and is enclosed on either side by bold and 
 fertile hills, now crowned with groves and villas which 
 render Cork one of the most picturesque cities of the empire. 
 
 1 Liber iii. c. 27. "Erant (in Hibernia) eo tempore multi nobilium 
 
 simul et mediocrium de gente Angelorum quos omnes Scoti 
 
 libentissime suscipientes victum eis quotidianum sine pretio, libros quoque 
 ad legendum, et magisterium gratuitum praebere curabant." 
 
 2 Mr. Caulfield seems to think that Loch Irce -was the lake since called 
 Gougane Barra ; but such does not seem to have been Colgan's opinion. 
 See Life, of St. Barre, page iv.
 
 476 
 
 THE SCHOOLS OF DESMOND. 
 
 The river Lee itself rises in the wild and barren mountain 
 range which separates Cork from Kerry, and after a course 
 of more than fifty miles, flows into the sea below the city. 
 The river before reaching the city, divides itself into two 
 main branches, which afterwards re-unite, thus forming an 
 island of considerable extent, on which the city proper was 
 originally built, and strongly fortified by walls and towers. 
 
 The Lee may be said to take its rise in the mountain lake 
 of Gougane Barra, which is simply a natural reservoir that 
 collects the streams flowing down the sides of these wild 
 mountains. The name simply means ' Barra's Lone Retreat/ 
 because, as we shall presently see, the saint dwelt for some 
 time on an island in the lake. 
 
 The facts of St. Finbarr's history are narrated in two 
 Latin Lives which have been published by Mr. Caulfield of 
 Cork College. 1 His baptisimal name was Lochan ; but as 
 the boy grew up with beautiful fair hair he was called 
 Find-barr ; and sometimes Barra, Barre, Bairre, or Barry. 
 He was sprung from the Hy-Briuin Ratha, who dwelt about 
 Lough Corrib in the County Galway. His father, Amergin, 
 being the fruit of unlawful love, left his native territory and 
 came to the territory of Hy-Liathain in the County Cork, 
 where his skill as an artificer secured him the patronage of 
 the local dynast, who appears to have dwelt at Achad 
 Duirbchon in Muskerry. This dynast is described also righ 
 of Rathend. 
 
 A beautiful young maiden was staying at the house of 
 this kinglet, who would not allow her marry ; and all un- 
 becoming intimacy was also strictly forbidden between her 
 and any member of the king's household. But the smith, 
 not knowing or ignoring this prohibition, won the affections 
 of the lady, and married her in secret. The result was the 
 conception of Barry. When this became visible, the king 
 was so wrathful at this contempt of his authority, that he 
 ordered the parents to be burned to death. But the great 
 lime-kiln, lighted to carry out this sentence, was extinguished 
 by a violent storm of rain, accompanied with fiery flashes of 
 lightning. 
 
 This was, of course, attributed to the fact that the child, 
 which the lady bore in her womb, was destined by God for 
 great things, as in truth, subsequent events proved to be the 
 fact. Indeed, the Martyrology of Donegal makes a still 
 more incredible statement, that " Barre spoke in his mother's 
 
 1 London, 1864. There is an Irish Life in the Book of Lismore.
 
 THE SCHOOL OF CORK ST. FINBARR. 477 
 
 womb, and also immediately after his birth, in order to 
 justify his father and mother, as his Life states in the 
 first chapter." 1 This speaking in the womb may, perhaps, be 
 understood in the metaphorical sense already explained. 
 
 St. Barry had for his teacher a holy man called in the 
 Irish Life Mac Cuirp, or Curporius in the Latin Lives. 
 Mac Cuirp is stated to have spent some time in Rome, and 
 to have been whilst there a disciple of St. Gregory the Great. 
 St. Gregory was Pope from A.D. 590 to 604, but for some 
 years previous to A.D. 590 he held various offices in the 
 church ; and it was probably between A.D. 575 and 590 that 
 the Irish monk had an opportunity of becoming his disciple 
 in the great monastery of St. Andrew, which was once the 
 private mansion of St. Gregory. 
 
 From a master so trained for some time in Rome itself, 
 young Barry had an opportunity of acquiring a fuller 
 knowledge of ecclesiastical discipline, as well as sounder and 
 wider theological views than the ordinary Irish schools could 
 at the time afford. How long he remained under the care of 
 this holy man is unknown ; but from the active life which 
 St. Barry led, we must infer that he began to preach and 
 found churches whilst he was still a young man. We are 
 told that even before he came to Cork he had founded twelve 
 churches in various parts of the country. Amongst these we 
 find special reference to the Church of Achadh Duirbchon 
 near Cuas Barra, which was somewhere in the neighbourhood 
 of the river Blackwater, and probably not far from Fermoy. 
 For it is said that after he founded this church, he crossed 
 the river and came to Cill Cluana, and built a church there 
 also. Cill Cluana is supposed to be the place since known as 
 Cloyne ; this, however, we venture to think is improbable, for 
 St. Colman, the founder of Cloyne, was a contemporary of 
 St. Brendan, and must have flourished and founded the 
 Church of Cloyne many years before Barry could have 
 arrived at man's estate. There is a Kilclooney in the barony 
 of Condons and Clangibbon, County Cork, which is much 
 more likely to have been the Church of Cill Cluain erected 
 at this period by St. Barry. 
 
 We are told that two disciples of St. Ruadhan 6f Lorrha, 
 Cormac and Baoithen by name, travelled thither. They 
 were directed by their own master, St. Ruadhan, to remain 
 where the tongues of their bells would sound. To their 
 surprise the silent bells rang out, when they had come to 
 
 1 See 25th Sept.
 
 478 THE SCHOOLS OF DESMOND. 
 
 Barry's Church at Cill-Cluain, and they were much grieved 
 when they found it occupied, without, as they thought, any 
 chance of their being allowed to remain in the place. But 
 Barry, knowing the divine will, at once gave them his own 
 church, and they remained there, whilst he himself went 
 elsewhere to found new churches for the honour of God and 
 the advantage of the people. 
 
 It is probable that Gougane Barra, so celebrated for its 
 wild romantic beauty, was the earliest foundation of St. 
 Barry, and that it was there during the years of his retirement 
 that he prepared himself for that great spiritual work, which 
 he afterwards accomplished. 
 
 This lovely lake is situated amongst the mountains on 
 the western border of Cork, and in that very territory of 
 Muskerry where St. Barry is said to have been born, so that 
 he was probably familiar with it from his childhood. The 
 savage grandeur of this mountain valley has been celebrated 
 both in poetry and in prose by many writers ; and, no doubt, 
 Callanan's stanzas are familiar to all our readers. The lake 
 is surrounded on all sides by an amphitheatre of lofty and 
 rugged mountains, rising up in naked grandeur from its 
 lonely shores. Only at one place towards the south-east is 
 there an opening, where the infant Lee bursts through the 
 rocky barrier of loose stones and dashes down in foaming 
 leaps to the lower lake of Inchigheela. The lake itself 
 covers about 900 acres. Its waters flowing down from the 
 heathery slopes of the hills are rather dark in colour, and 
 abound in pike, which have completely devoured the trout 
 that were, it seems, numerous enough heretofore in these 
 waters. About the centre of the lake, which is oval in form, 
 is the island that formed the retreat of St. Finbarr. It is 
 deeply and beautifully green, where the broken walls do 
 not cover the turf, and contrasts strikingly with the dark 
 waters of the lake, and the bluish gray of the rugged pre- 
 cipices that frown down on the gloomy waters. Its shores 
 too are beautifully fringed with hoary ash trees, and a few 
 willows that stoop to kiss the wavelets : 
 
 " There grows the wild ash, and a time stricken willow 
 Looks chidingly down on the mirth of the billow ; 
 As like some gay child that sad monitor scorning, 
 It lightly laughs back to the laugh of the morning." 
 
 The works of man are in ruins, but the face of nature is 
 changeless and grand as it ever was. There is still the 
 " zone of dark hills " that brighten in the lightning's flash,
 
 THE SCHOOL OF CORK ST. FINBARR. 479 
 
 when the rocks give back the thunder's voice in a thousand 
 echoes. There are still the " thousand wild fountains " in 
 summer tiny rivulets, but in rainy weather angry cataracts 
 leaping from rock to rock. It is true the glory of the woods 
 that once belted these mountains is gone, and nothing now 
 remains but the island grove, which is all the more attrac- 
 tive because no foliage elsewhere relieves the eye, weary 
 with the hungry grey of the rocks and the dark brown of 
 the heather. 
 
 But the ancient church with the monastic cells and court- 
 yard are all in ruins ruins, too, even in this wild retreat, 
 that have apparently been wrought by the hand of man. 
 The little island on which these ruins stand is near the centre 
 of the lake. It is approached from the east by a low narrow 
 causeway, which connects it with the shore. From the 
 causeway the pilgrim walks through an avenue of ash trees 
 towards a terrace, which is elevated four or five steps before 
 him. On this terrace there is an ancient quadrangular 
 caiseal, which had two monastic cells built into each side of 
 the quadrangle. These cells arched overhead were about four 
 feet wide, ten feet deep, and eight feet high. The masonry 
 is of a primitive character, and may be of the age of Barry 
 himself, for we find the circular arch as early as the first 
 quarter of the seventh century. In the centre of this court- 
 3 T ard there is a mound having stone steps around, and 
 surmounted by an ancient wooden cross. This cross marks 
 the principal penitential station, and closely resembles some 
 of the mission crosses seen in the churchyards of our country 
 churches. The church and monastery proper were outside 
 this enclosure, and are now quite ruinous. They were prob- 
 ably coeval with the cells in the enclosure ; but it is quite 
 unusual to find them outside the enclosing wall. The quad- 
 rangular cashel, too, is quite a peculiar feature, and shows 
 that it is of a later and undoubtedly Christian origin. 
 
 About the year A.D. 1700, a priest named Father Denis 
 O'Mahony took up his residence in this lonely retreat, and, it 
 is said, caused its " seven chapels " to be restored. These so 
 called chapels were the cells already referred to, which 
 surround the cloister. He was buried in the little grave- 
 yard on the mainland close to the causeway, where the rude 
 forefathers of the hamlet sleep. And Smith tells us that the 
 following inscription was placed over his tomb " Hoc sibi 
 et successoribus in eadem vocatione monumentum imposuit 
 Dominus Doctor Dionysius O'Mahony, presbyter licet in- 
 dignus, A.D. 1700." There is, we believe, no trace of a stone
 
 480 THE SCHOOLS OF DESMOND. 
 
 bearing this inscription to be seen at present on this spot. 
 The tendency of the Church in our days seems to be altogether 
 in favour of the cenobitic life ; this was one of the few cases 
 in which the ancient love for the eremetic life has again 
 appeared in our Irish Church. At present we have neither 
 hermits, nor recluses, as of old. Is it that the spirit of 
 ancient asceticism has departed ? Or is it that charity has 
 grown cold ? To be quite alone with God is a dangerous and 
 difficult state of life ; but it is after all the state of the very 
 highest perfection known to theology. 
 
 It was probably after spending some time in his hermitage 
 at Gougane Barra that St. Finbarr came, as is stated in his 
 Life, to the lake, which in Irish is called Loch Eirce. Close 
 to the shore of this lake he built a monastery, to which as to 
 the home of wisdom, and the nursery of all Christian virtues, 
 crowds of zealous disciples flocked together from all quarters 
 in such numbers and inspired with such zeal for holiness, 
 that the solitude around became filled with cells of monks, 
 and thus grew into a great city. From the school which 
 Finbarr established there, a vast number of men, conspicuous 
 for sanctity and learning, went forth, amongst whom especi- 
 ally worthy of note were St. Eulangius or Eulogius who it 
 seems had some share in training Finbarr himself St. Colman 
 of Doire Dhunchon, St. Baithin, St. Nessan, St. Garbhan, 
 St. Talmach, St. Finchad of Ross Ailithir, St. Lucerus, 
 St. Cumanus, St. Lochin of Achadh Airaird, St. Carinus, 
 St. Fintan of Ros-Coerach, and several other saints, whose 
 names and churches are mentioned in the Irish Life of 
 Finbarr. 
 
 The site of Finbarr's primitive church and monastery was 
 that now occupied by the Protestant Cathedral of St. Finbarr 
 on the south-west of the city, but all traces of the primitive 
 buildings have entirely disappeared. An ancient round tower 
 stood in the south-west corner of the churchyard, which has 
 also completely disappeared. But as the round towers were 
 generally built some ten or twelve paces from the great 
 western entrance of the church, which they protected, the 
 site of the ancient cathedral can be ascertained with sufficient 
 accuracy. 
 
 In the Pacata Hibernia there is a very interesting map 
 of Cork, which shows the city and its environs, as they were 
 about the year A.D. 1600. It has been reproduced by 
 Mr. John George M'Carthy, in a pamphlet of great value, 
 which he published in 1869, and which gives a lively sketch 
 of the history of Cork, both ancient and modern. The city
 
 THE SCHOOL OF CORK ST. FINE ARK. 481 
 
 proper is shown on the island with its walls and towers, and 
 its two principal streets the Main Street and Castle Street 
 intersecting each other at right angles. Outside the city 
 walls, it is all a marsh, and in the south-west corner, close to 
 the southern bank of the stream, is shown " ye Cathedrale 
 Church of Old Corcke," which marks the site of St 1 Finbarr's 
 primitive abbey. 
 
 It is stated in the ancient Life of Finbarr that, like many 
 other of the Irish saints of his time, he went on a pilgrimage 
 to Rome to the threshold of the Apostles. On his way 
 back from Rome he paid a visit to St. David, the celebrated 
 Bishop of Menevia, and thence we are told he returned to 
 Cork. This would seem to imply that the monastery of Cork 
 was founded before St. Barry's departure from Rome. Gerald 
 Barry in his Life of St. David refers to this visit paid to 
 that saint by his namesake of Cork, whom, however, he calls 
 ' Barrocus,' and as usual he indulges largely in the super- 
 natural, in his account of the visit. 
 
 It was, he says, the custom in those times for the Irish to 
 go on pilgrimage to Rome in order to venerate the shrines of 
 the Apostles. Amongst others a certain Barry (Barrocus) 
 from the territory of Cork went to Rome ; and returning 
 from his pilgrimage he called to see St. David, which was 
 also customary with those good men from Ireland, when 
 going to or returning from Rome. Barry having paid his 
 respects to the Welsh saint, was anxious to return home to 
 his own country and flock ; but the winds were contrary, and 
 he could not cross the Channel. Now the Bishop, St. David, 
 had a horse for his own use, and Barry, full of faith, asked 
 and obtained the use of this horse to carry him home to Cork ; 
 and he rode the animal straight over the sea to the west. 
 On his way St. Barry met Brendan mounted on a whale, and 
 going to see St. David also. They saluted each other, and 
 with mutual good wishes went each his own way, and arrived 
 safe one in Cork and the other at St. David's. Barry then 
 told his monks all that had happened ; so they praised God, 
 and made a small metal statue of horse and man, adorned 
 with gold and silver, " which is preserved to this day," says 
 Giraldus, " in the Church of St. Finbarr at Cork, and is 
 held in great reverence on account of the signs and miracles 
 which have been wrought through its instrumentality." 1 
 
 The Bollandists reject this story as an interpolation in the 
 Life of St. David ; but Gerald Barry dearly loved a story of 
 
 See Vita S. Davidis, Lectio vi., p. 394. Rolls Series, Vol. iii. 
 
 2H
 
 482 THE SCHOOLS OF DESMOND. 
 
 this kind, no matter how extravagant. "We may add that 
 St. Brendan of Clonfert, to whom the reference is made, was 
 dead before Finbarr could have been more than twelve years 
 of age. 
 
 St. Finbarr ruled the monastery and church of Cork for 
 a period of seventeen years before he died. Hence the 
 monastic school had time to grow up under his own holy and 
 prudent management ; and thus, as his Life says, Cork from 
 a solitude became a city. We are not to understand a city 
 in the modern sense, with stone houses, bridges, and regular 
 streets. There was no city of this kind in those days in 
 Ireland. The 'city* consisted of the cathedral church, 
 probably of stone, and afterwards protected by its round 
 tower, the monastery with its group of buildings, the 
 scattered cells or bothies of such students as crowded to hear 
 the lectures in the schools, or in the green meadows by the 
 river's side, and doubtless also the dwellings of the trades- 
 men and other work-people connected with the monastery. 
 The Danes afterwards seem to have established a permanent 
 colony at Cork, as they did in Dublin, and raised buildings 
 of a more enduring and imposing character, but the monastic 
 city was there before them, and was the real nucleus of the 
 present beautiful city by the pleasant waters of the River 
 Lee. 
 
 St. Finbarr died not in his own monastery of Lough Eirce, 
 but at Cloyne, some fifteen miles distant on the other side of 
 the bay. It seems he went there on a pilgrimage, doubtless 
 preparing for the end, which he felt was close at hand, for 
 we are told that he died at the Cross of Cloyne, which was in 
 the church of that monastery. But his loving disciples 
 would not let his remains repose there holy ground though 
 it was always believed to be. They were enclosed in a silver 
 shrine, and carried to his own monastery, on the banks of 
 the beautiful river, where he dwelt so long. According to 
 another account the holy remains were at once carried to 
 Cork, and buried in his own cathedral church, beneath a 
 monumental cross, which marked the spot. Afterwards the 
 tomb was opened, and the sacred relics enclosed in a silver 
 shrine, which was preserved with great veneration near the 
 high altar ; and this is the more probable account. But in 
 later days nothing in Ireland was safe from sacrilegious 
 hands, and we are informed in the Annals of Innisfallen 
 that A.D. 1089, a fleet, with Dermot O'Brien, devastated Cork, 
 and carried away the relics of Barre from the church of Cill- 
 na-Clerich.
 
 THE SCHOOL OF CORK ST. FINBARR. 483 
 
 The character of this great saint is thus given in one of 
 the Irish Lives, published by Mr. Caulfield in 1864 : " His 
 humility, his piety, his charity, his abstinence, his prayers 
 by day and night, won for him many great privileges ; for 
 he was god-like, and pure of heart and mind like Abraham ; 
 mild and well-doing like Moses ; a psalmist like David ; 
 wise like Solomon ; firm in the faith like Peter ; devoted to 
 the truth like Paul the Apostle ; full of the Holy Spirit like 
 John the Baptist. He was a lion in (spiritual) strength, and 
 an orchard full of apples of sweetness. When the time of 
 his death arrived, after erecting churches and monasteries to 
 God, and appointing over them bishops, priests, and other 
 grades, and baptizing and blessing districts and people, 
 Barre went to Cill-na-Cluana (Cloyne), and with him went 
 Fiana, at the desire of Cormac and Baoithen, where they con- 
 secrated two churches. Then he said, " It is time for me to 
 quit this prison of my body, and go to the Heavenly King, 
 who is now calling me to Himself. And then Barre was con- 
 fessed, and received the Holy Sacrament from the hand of 
 Fiana, and his soul went to heaven at the Cross which is in 
 the middle of the church of Cloyne ; and there came bishops, 
 priests, monks, and other disciples, when his death was 
 announced, to honour him. And they took his body to Cork, 
 the place of his resurrection, honouring him with psalms and 
 hymns and spiritual songs ; and the Angels bore his soul 
 with great joy to heaven to the company of the patriarchs, 
 prophets, apostles, and disciples of Jesus Christ, and of the 
 Holy Trinity, the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost." 
 
 This seems to be an accurate and truthful narrative of 
 what really happened, and shows that the enshrining took place 
 afterwards in his own church of Cork. It appears to show, 
 too, that the church already referred to as Cill-Cluana was 
 really the famous church of Cloyne ; but St. Colman, its 
 founder, had been dead for some time, and St. Barry, who, 
 according to other accounts, was educated there by Mac Cuirp, 
 or Curporius, as he is called in Latin, always retained a great 
 praedilection for that holy ground. St. Barry's death is 
 generally recorded as having taken place about the year 
 A.D. 630 ; but the exact date cannot be ascertained. 
 
 Both during the life of St. Finbarr, and after his death, 
 great crowds of holy and learned men continued to come to 
 his monastery of Cork ; and many of them, it seems, elected 
 to make it the place of their resurrection, ^ngus invokes 
 " seventeen holy bishops, and seven hundred favoured servants 
 of God, who rest in Cork with Barre and Nessan, whose
 
 484 THE SCHOOLS OF DESMOND. 
 
 names arc written in heaven." Elsewhere he invokes three 
 hundred and fifty holy bishops, three hundred and fifty 
 priests, three hundred and fifty deacons, and as many lectors, 
 and ostiarii, with other saints, who, with God's blessing, rest 
 in Lough Eirce, 1 in the territory of Muskerry. Numerous, 
 says the annexed quatrain, as the leaves on the trees are the 
 saints who dwell around it. " Them all I invoke to my aid 
 through our Lord Jesus Christ." 
 
 There is no reference made to any writings left by 
 St. Finbarr, except a copy of the Gospels, written by his 
 own hand, which was afterwards encased, like other precious 
 relics of our great saints, in a shrine richly adorned with 
 gems and gold. One of the most tragic events recorded in 
 our annals took place in connection with this shrina It is 
 told with many graphic details in the Wars of the Gaedkill 
 with the Gaill, p. 89. 
 
 Mahoun, the elder brother of Brian Boru, by combined 
 skill and valour raised himself to supremacy over all Munster 
 about the year A.D. 970. He defeated the Danes in seven , 
 successive battles, and succeeded in driving Irnar, their leader, 
 for a time from Limerick. He also took hostages from all 
 the chiefs of Desmond, and became undisputed sovereign of , 
 Munster. Then the heads of the rival Eoghanacht clans 
 grew jealous ; and Donovan, son of Cathal, chief of the Hy- 
 Fidhgente in the South and West of Limerick,, together with 
 Molloy, the chief of Desmond, and Imar, the Dane, entered 
 into a conspiracy to destroy the gallant leader of the Dal- 
 cassians of Thomond. Pretending friendship, Donovan in- 
 vited Mahoun to his house at Bruree, and Mahoun foolishly 
 accepted the invitation ; but he safeguarded himself, as he 
 thought, by putting himself under the protection of the 
 clergy, and the Gospel of Barry, which was brought from 
 Cork for the purpose by Columb, son of Ciaragan, comarb of 
 Barry. However, when Donovan got the king in his power, 
 he made him a prisoner ; and then sent him on to Molloy, 
 who had undertaken to have him assassinated. Molloy was 
 waiting with the Bishop of Cork, who had no suspicion of his 
 purpose, at Sliabh Caein, near Fermoy. It is supposed that 
 they were standing on the eastern ridge overlooking the gap 
 through which the road now passes from Kilmallock to Cork, 
 a little south of the church of Kilflin. When Mahoun's escort 
 reached the spot agreed upon, the assassin drew his sword to 
 
 1 This clearly shows that Loch Eirce was at Cork, not in the mountains 
 at Gougane Barra, for they rest with Finbarr.
 
 THE SCHOOL OF CORK ST. FINBARR. 485 
 
 slay the king at the place called Redchair, on the side of the 
 pass opposite to where Molloy was waiting. Mahoun had on, 
 his person, for his own protection, the Q-ospel of Barry ; but 
 when he saw the fatal blow descending, he flung the holy 
 shrine from him to a priest standing at some distance, that it 
 might not be stained with his blood. At the same moment 
 Molloy saw the gleam of the sword from the place where he 
 was with the Bishop of Cork on the opposite side of the hill, 
 and called for his- horse, which stood ready saddled to carry 
 him off. " What am I to do ? " said the Bishop, not under- 
 standing Molloy's movements. "Cure yonder man," said 
 Molloy, ironically, " if he is able to come to you." The hor- 
 rified priest, who accompanied Mahoun, caught up the Gospel 
 shrine, which Mahoun had flung towards him, and found it 
 stained with the blood of the murdered man. Then in sorrow 
 they buried the noble-souled Mahoun on the southern slope 
 of the hill where he had fallen, and sent word to Brian Boru 
 of the assassination of his brother. Then Brian Boru resolved 
 on stern vengeance, and soon accomplished his purpose. The 
 murderous conspirators were banned by the Church, and 
 deserted by their allies. Imar and his son were slain by 
 Brian; Donovan fell in battle; and Molloy, the actual assassin, 
 was tracked for two years, and at length taken prisoner and 
 slain close to that very pass where he had planned and wit- 
 nessed the murder of the chivalrous Mahoun. He was buried 
 like a dog on the northern side of that same hill where 
 Mahoun was buried; but " the sun," says the Annalist, " never 
 shines on his grave," and the infamy of his dark deed will 
 hover round his resting-place for ever. There is nothing 
 known at present of this Gospel of St. Barry, nor for some 
 hundred years has anything been heard of it. 
 
 Nessan, a disciple of St. Barry, succeeded him in the See 
 of Cork, and in the government of the monastery and monastic 
 school. He, too, was remarkable for his learning and holi- 
 ness, but of his personal history nothing is known. His fes- 
 tival day is the seventeenth of March the feast day of our 
 national apostle, and his death is supposed to have taken 
 place about A.D. 651. 
 
 It is manifest that Cork continued to be a flourishing 
 monastic school, at least down to the time of St. ^Engus 
 (A.D. 800), who speaks of it as if it were still a flourishing 
 institution, filled with monks and scholars. In spite of the 
 repeated devastations of the Danes, who plundered it four 
 times between A.D. 822 and 840, we find the death of 
 Domhnall, a scribe of Cork recorded in A.D. 874, and of
 
 486 THE SCHOOLS OF DESMOND. 
 
 Soirbreathach, son of Connadh, " scribe, wise man, bishop, 
 and abbot of Cork," in A.D. 891. It is evident, therefore, 
 that even during the stormy period of the ninth century the 
 succession of prelates was maintained in Cork, and the 
 monastic school still continued to flourish. The proper busi- 
 ness of the scribe was, as we have seen, to transcribe books in 
 the scriptorium of the monastery for the use of the monks 
 and students. The term egnaidh, or wise man, shows that 
 this prelate was especially skilled as A moral teacher and 
 adviser. 
 
 During the subsequent centuries, down to the Anglo- 
 Norman invasion, a regular succession of bishop-abbots was 
 preserved, and recorded in the church of Cork. But beyond 
 the list of their names we know nothing of interest concerning 
 them. I do not find that any amongst these .later coraarbs 
 of Barry were specially distinguished either as scholars or 
 as writers ; and hence it is unnecessary to make any special 
 reference to them here. 
 
 In the eleventh century the ancient monastery, which had. 
 fallen into decay, was refounded about the year A.D. 1134 by 
 Cormac Mac Caiithy, the celebrated King of Monster, from 
 whom Cormac' s Chapel at Cashel takes its name. Imhai 
 O'Hagan, who died at Armagh in that very year, a most 
 holy and learned man, had some years previously introduced 
 a much needed reform in the monastery of Armagh, by 
 placing the monks and clergy under the rule of St. Augustine. 
 This reform was very generally adopted throughout Ireland 
 by such of the ancient monasteries as had survived the 
 ravages of the Danes. It was thus introduced at Cork by 
 King Cormac, who also in refounding the monastery required 
 that it should always afford hospitality, and refuge to 
 strangers from Connaught, because, its original founder, 
 St. Barry, came himself from that province. In A.D. 1172, 
 according to the Four Masters, died Giolla Aedha O'Muidhin, 
 of the family (or community) of Errew of Lough Conn, in 
 Connaught. He was, according to "Ware, Bishop and Abbot 
 of Cork, from A.D. 1152, when he was present at the Synod 
 of Kells, to A.D. 1172. It was from this prelate's name 
 Giolla or Gille, that Gill Abbey came to be so called. It 
 was previously known as the Abbey of the Cave, or the 
 Abbey of St. Finbarr's Cave, which was the saint's place of 
 retirement on the south side of the river, near to which 
 St. Finbarr's Abbey was built. This prelate was regarded as 
 a man of great piety, and more than any of his predecessors 
 sought to renew the ancient spirit aswell as the ancient walls
 
 THE SCHOOL OF CORK ST. COLMAN MAC UA CLUASAIGH. 487 
 
 of his monastery. The fact that he came all the way 
 from Lough Conn, near Ballina, in the County Mayo, and 
 though a stranger, was chosen to rule over this great diocese 
 and monastery, shows that he was a man of great fame for 
 holiness and learning. It is most likely that this Giolla 
 Aedha O'Muidhin was that prelate of whom St. Bernard 
 speaks in his Life of St. Malachy. Cork was, he says, then 
 without a bishop, and there was much discord amongst the 
 supporters of the rival candidates, St. Malachy begged them 
 all to leave the choice to hijn ; and they agreed to do so. 
 Then St. Malachy choose for bishop not any one of the nobly 
 born of the land, but a poor man and a stranger, who happened 
 to be then on his sick bed in the city, but a man remarkable 
 for sanctity and learning, Malachy bade him arise in the 
 Lord's name, and said that, obedience would make him strong 
 again. He did so, and ruled the See with much rigour until 
 his death in A.p. 1172. The Four Masters described him as 
 " Grilla Aedh O'Muidhin (of the family of Errew of Lough 
 Conn) Bishop of Cork. He was a man full of the grace of 
 God, the tower of the virginity and wisdom ,of his time." 
 
 II. SCHOOL OF COEK ST. COLMAN MAC FA CLUASAIGH. 
 
 It was during the abbotship of St. Nessan.in Cork, or 
 shortly afterwards, that St. Colman Mac TJi Clusaigh, as he 
 is called in, the Liber Hyffinorun^,, flourished in the school of 
 that monastery. He is the only , scholar of that ancient 
 school, whose, writings have in any shape come-down to us. 
 What we have written by St. Colman is not -indeed much, 
 but it is highly interesting, and was published for the first 
 time by Dr. Todd in the second volume of the Liber 
 Hymnorum*, page 121. 
 
 Of his personal history we .know nothing. His name 
 implies that he was the grandson, or great grandson, of 
 Cluasach ; but nothing of his history either can, be ascer- 
 tained. It is clear, however, both frcon the Scholiast's 
 preface, and from intrinsic., evidence that, this St. Colman 
 was a Ferlegind, or Professor, in the School of Cork in the 
 year A.D. 664/ At that period, as. is well known,, a terrible 
 pestilence devastated Ireland, and aj so extended to England, 
 and probably to many parts of the Continent also. It carried 
 off nearly half the population of Ireland kings, saints, and 
 people without distinction. A panic spread through all the 
 land, and all classes, who could do so, sought to fly from the 
 plague ; but their flight was vain, for go where they would
 
 488 THE SCHOOLS OF DESMOND, 
 
 the plague overtook them, and claimed its victims. An idea, 
 however, had gone abroad that the pestilence could not 
 extend nine waves beyond the shore of Erin, and hence we 
 find that there was a rush to such of the islands on the coast 
 as were supposed to be outside the infected area. 
 
 Colman and his scholars took the very prudent resolution 
 of leaving their monastery by the marshes of Cork, and 
 making their way to one of the islands on the coast, the 
 name of which unfortunately is not given. But like a good 
 and holy man, he put more faith in God's protection and 
 blessing than in mere sanitary precautions. So he invited 
 the school to help him in composing this hymn as a lorica or 
 coat of mail against the pestilence, and all other dangers 
 temporal and spiritual. It seems, too, that it was recited 
 during the voyage, and no doubt filled the fugitives with 
 hope and confidence in God's fatherly love. 
 
 The Scholaist in his preface tells us that Colman com- 
 posed the bymn to protect himself against the yellow plague 
 (buidhechair) that was prevalent in the reign of the sons of 
 Aedh Slaine (A.D. 656-664 1 ), and of which they themselves 
 died in A.D. 664. The cause of the plague was, he alleges, 
 the over-population of the country at the time,, for so great 
 was the number of the people, that the land could afford but 
 thrice nine ridges to each man in Erin nine of bog, nine of 
 arable, and nine of wood " and, therefore, the noblemen of 
 Erin fasted along with the sons of Aedh Slaine, and with 
 Fechin of Fore, and with Aileran (the Wise), and with 
 Manchan of Liath, and with very many besides, for the 
 reduction of the population, because of the scarcity of food in 
 consequence of the great population." In fact, there seemed 
 to be no alternative but famine or pestilence ; and these holy 
 men appear to have preferred the latter alternative ; which 
 was granted to their prayers, and by which they themselves 
 also were sent to heaven. 
 
 Some say, adds the Scholiast, that St. Colman composed 
 the whole of it ; but others say he only composed the first 
 two stanzas, and that his scholars composed the rest that is, 
 each man of them made a half stanza. As the original poem 
 consisted of forty-six lines, this would give the number of 
 scholars belonging to the school at something more than 
 eighty ; or, if the stanza be taken to mean a distich of two 
 
 1 In the Annals of Ulster the death of Diannaid and Blathmac, sons of 
 Aedh Slaine, is marked both at A.D. 664 and 667 ; the former is the true 
 date.
 
 THE SCHOOL OF CORK. ST. COLMAN MAC TIA CLTJASAIGH .489 
 
 riming lines, which seems more probable, they would 
 number about forty -four. 
 
 " It was composed," adds the Scholiast, " in Cork in the 
 time of Blathmac and Diarmaid, on the occasion of this great 
 plague, which left only one out of every three persons alive 
 in Erin. And the place where they happened to compose it 
 was in the course of their voyage to a certain island in the 
 sea of Erin, flying from this pestilence ; because the plague 
 did not extend further than nine waves from the land, as the 
 learned relate." 
 
 In its present form the hymn consists of fifty-two lines, 
 
 with an added prayer ; but it is quite evident that it 
 
 originally consisted of forty-six stanzas, and the remaining 
 
 six, asking the blessing and protection of the patron saints 
 
 of Erin Patrick, Brigid, Columcille, and Adamnan, were 
 
 subsequently added. The language is the very oldest form 
 
 of the Gaedhlic, which has come down to us, and, as Dr. 
 
 Todd remarks, " it fully confirms the early date assigned to 
 
 it by the Scholiast." The metre is in rhyming distichs 
 
 with fourteen syllables in each line when we say rhyming, 
 
 we mean that there is a rhyme, or at least an assonance, 
 
 between the final syllables of each two lines. Here and there 
 
 Latin phrases, taken from the Scripture, are introduced in 
 
 the Gaedhlic lines, and made to rhyme, as the Gaedhlic lines 
 
 themselves do. The author was evidently familiar as well 
 
 with the Latin as with his native Gaedhlic, both of which he 
 
 manipulates with considerable dexterity. The subject matter 
 
 mainly consists of an invocation addressed in appropriate 
 
 language to God, and to the Son of Mary, as well as to the 
 
 Saints of the Old and New Testament, to protect the writer 
 
 and his school from the pestilence, and from all assaults of 
 
 their foes, both spiritual and temporal. The following stanza 
 
 may be taken as a specimen : 
 
 Maire, Joseph don ringnat et spiritus Stephani, 
 As each ing Son f orslaice taithmet anma Ignati. 
 
 <( Mary, Joseph, guard us with the spirit of Stephen ; 
 
 May it deliver us from every difficulty to invoke the name of 
 Ingatius." 
 
 This poem is an exceedingly interesting monument of the 
 time in which it was written ; and moreover, shows what a 
 deep spirit of piety and filial confidence in God and His 
 saints inspired the mind of the writer. We have finer poetry 
 in our own days ; but we have nothing that breathes a deeper 
 and more fervent spirit of earnest devotion.
 
 490 THE SCHOOLS OF DESMOND. 
 
 III. THE SCHOOL OF Ross. 
 
 The monastic School of Ross, more commonly called Ross 
 Ailithir, was one of the most celebrated in the South of Ire- 
 land. Its founder was St. Fachtna, the patron of the diocese 
 of Ross, who is commonly identified with St. Fachtna, the 
 founder and patron of the diocese of Kilmore. This is, indeed, 
 highly probable, seeing that both dioceses celebrate the feasts 
 of their respective patrons on the same day, the 14th of 
 August, and besides, both belonged to the same princely race 
 of the Corca Laighde. 
 
 The territory of Corca Laighde, which takes its name 
 from the ruling tribe, was conterminous with the diocese of 
 Ross, of which, as we said, St. Fachtna, was founder and 
 first bishop. It extended in ancient times along the south- 
 western coast of Cork from Courtmacsherry Bay to Dursey 
 Head, and included besides East and West Carberry, the 
 modern baronies of Beare and Bantry towards the western 
 margin, as well as the baronies of Ibane and Barryroe on its 
 eastern borders. Afterwards, however, this territory was 
 greatly contracted by hostile incursions, especially by the 
 inroads of the O'Sullivans on the west, of the O'Mahonys on 
 the east, and thus the territory of Corca Laighde was reduced 
 so as to include only West and a small portion of East Car- 
 berry. The race called the Corca Laighde derived their name 
 from Lugaidh Laighe of the line of Ith, uncle of Milesius, 
 who flourished in the second century of the Christian era. 
 The mother of the celebrated St. Ciaran of Saigher belonged 
 to this family. Her name was Liaghaiu, latinized Liadania, 
 and she was married to an Ossorian prince called Luigh- 
 neadh, of which marriage St. Ciaran was born at the residence 
 of his mother's family, called Fintraigh, in Cape Clear Island, 
 but the date is very uncertain. St. Faehtna was born also in 
 the same territory at a place called Tulachteann, 1 in sight of 
 the southern sea, but as he died young about forty-six years 
 of age late in the sixth century, he cannot have been born 
 for many years after St. Ciaran. He is sometimes called 
 Mac Mongach, either from the name of his father, or because 
 he was born with much hair on his head mongack, i.e., 
 hairy. 
 
 Like Brendan and Cummian of Clonf ert, he was nurtured 
 under the care of St. Ita, the Brigid of Munster, and 
 received from that wise and gentle virgin those lessons of 
 piety that afterwards produced such abundant fruit. The 
 
 1 Aeta SS., page 471.
 
 THE SCHOOL OF ROSS. 
 
 491 
 
 whole of his family, however, must have been trained in 
 virtue at home, for we are told that no less than seven of his 
 brothers were enrolled in the catalogue of the Irish saints. 
 After leaving Ita's care he went to the famous seminary at 
 Lough Eirce, near Cork, where so many of the holy men of 
 the sixth century received their early training. 1 The name 
 of Fachtna (i.e. facundus, the eloquent), is expressly men- 
 tioned in the Life of St. Garvan (26th March) amongst those 
 who crowded that domicile of all virtue and of all wisdom. 
 
 Leaving St. Barry's academy, Fachtna founded for him- 
 self the monastery of Molana, in the little island of Dririnis, 
 near Youghal, at the mouth of the Blackwater. Shortly 
 afterwards, however, he returned to his native territory, and 
 founded on a promontory between two pleasant bays of the 
 southern ocean the celebrated establishment now called Ross 
 Carberry, but anciently known as Ross-ailithir, from the 
 number .of pilgrim students who crowded its halls, not only 
 from all parts of Ireland but from all parts of Europe. It 
 was admirably situated as a retreat for the holy and the wise, 
 on a gentle eminence rising from the sea, in the midst of 
 green fields, looking down on the glancing waters of the 
 rushing tides, and smiling under the light of ever-genial 
 skies. Here Fachtna "the good and wise," though still 
 young in years, founded what is called in the Life of St. 
 MochoemaCy " magnum studium scJiolarium" a great college 
 not only for the study of Sacred Scripture, but also for the 
 cultivation of all the liberal arts. 
 
 Amongst other distinguished teachers who helped to make 
 the School of Ross famous was St. Brendan, the Navigator, 
 who later on founded the Sees both of Ardfert and Clonfert. 
 Usher tells us, quoting from an old document, that about the 
 year A.D. 540, Brendan was engaged for some time in teach- 
 ing the liberal arts at Ross-ailithir during the lifetime too of 
 its holy founder. Fachtna and Brendan were intimate 
 friends, for both were nurtured by the holy virgin Ita of 
 Killeedy, and no doubt loved each other with the deep and 
 abiding affection of foster brothers. It is only natural, there- 
 fore, that Brendan should go to visit St. Fachtna at Ross, 
 and aid him with the influence of his name and character in 
 starting and organising the new school. 
 
 It was at this period that an unforeseen misfortune hap- 
 
 1 It is not easy to see how Fachtna could have visited the School of Cork 
 for he died young, aiid the school could scarcely be founded before the last 
 quarter of the sixth century.
 
 492 THE SCHOOLS OF DESMOND. 
 
 pened to Fachtna, which to one engaged, as he was, would 
 become a double misfortune. By some accident he became 
 entirely blind, so that he could neither read nor see anything. 
 In this affliction the saint had recourse to God, and was 
 directed by an angel to apply to Nessa, the sister of St. Ita, 
 and then about to become the mother of that child of pro- 
 mise, St. Mochoemoc, through whom he would obtain his 
 eyesight. Fachtna did so, and miraculously recovered his 
 eyesight. 
 
 It seems St. Fachtna must have acquired great fame as 
 a preacher, and no doubt too as a teacher of eloquence, for 
 the surname of " Facundus," which is sometimes used instead 
 of his own name, was given to him. He was, it appears, 
 clothed with the episcopal dignity, and thus became founder 
 of the diocese of Ross, which, not however without mutations,, 
 has continued down to our own times,, and still ranks amongst 
 the independent Sees of Ireland. The saint died at the early 
 age of forty-six, and was buried in his own Cathedral Church 
 of Ross. The holy work, however, in which he was engaged, 
 was continued by his successors, and for many centuries Ross- 
 continued to be a great school whose halls were crowded by 
 students from every land. St. Cuimin of Connor, describes 
 Fachtna as the " generous and steadfast, who loved to address 
 assembled crowds, and never spoke aught that was base 
 and displeasing to God/' in allusion to his sanctity and elo- 
 quence. 
 
 His immediate successor was Conall, whose succession to 
 Fachtna in the monastery and See of Ross was foretold by 
 St. Ciaran of Saigher. 1 Mention is also made of St. Finchad 
 of Ross-ailithir, who seems to have been a fellow pupil 2 of the 
 founder at the great School of Finnbarr at Cork. These two 
 saints were probably tribes-men of St. Fachtna, for we are 
 told that he was succeeded in his See by twenty-seven bishops 
 of his own tribe, whose jurisdiction was conterminous with 
 the chief of the clan over the territory of Corca Laighde. 
 
 " Seven and twenty bishops nobly 
 Occupied Boss of the fertile fields, 
 From Fachtna the eloquent r the renowned, 
 To the well-ordered Episcopate of Dongalach." 
 
 The names are unfortunately not given in our annals in 
 this as well as in many other instances, where a succession 
 of bishops with well-defined jurisdiction was undoubtedly 
 
 1 Acta SS., page 471. 2 See Ada SS., page 607, Life of St. Talmach.
 
 THE SCHOOL OF ROSS. 493 
 
 preserved. O'Flaherty puts the same statement in hexa- 
 meters 
 
 " Dongalas a Fachtna ter nonus episcopus extat 
 Lugadia de gente, dedit cui Rossia mitram." 
 
 Which another poet translates -in this fashion : 
 
 " Hail happy Boss, who could produce thrice nine 
 All mitered sages of Lugadia's line, 
 From Fachtna crowned with everlasting praise 
 Down to the date of Dongal's pious days." 
 
 During the ninth century we find frequent mention of 
 the " abbots " of Ross-ailithir in the Four Masters, and we 
 are told that it was ravaged by the Danes in A.D. 840, along 
 with the greater part of Munster. In the tenth and eleventh 
 centuries we find reference is made, not to the " bishops " or 
 " abbots," but to the " airchinnech " of Ross-ailithir ; and it 
 is quite possible that during this disturbed period laymen 
 took possession of the abbacy with this title, having ecclesi- 
 astics under them to perform the spiritual functions. Once 
 only we find reference to a " bishop," in A.D. 1085, when the 
 death of Neaehtain Mac Neachtain, the distinguished Bishop 
 o Ross-ailithir is recorded. 
 
 But whether it was bishop, abbot, or airchinnech, who 
 held the spiritual sway of the monastery, and its adjacent 
 territory, the school continued to flourish even during those 
 centuries most unpropitious to the cultivation of learning. 
 In A.D. 866, or according to the Chronicon Scotorum, in 
 A.D. 868, we are told of the death of Feargus, scribe and 
 anchorite of Rose-ailithir, showing that the work of copying 
 manuscripts were still continued in its schools. But we 
 have still more striking evidence during the tenth century 
 of the literary work done at Ross-ailithir, for a manual of 
 Ancient Geography, written by one of these lectors in the Irish 
 language, is happily still preserved in the Book of Leinster. 
 
 The author of this most interesting treatise, as we know 
 from the same authority, was Mac Cosse, who was Ferlegind, 
 that is a reader or lecturer of Ross-ailithir. A passage in 
 the Annals of Innisf alien enables us to identify him, and his 
 history furnishes a striking example of the vicissitudes of 
 those disturbed times : 
 
 "The son of Imar left Waterford and [there followed] the 
 destruction of Ross of the Pilgrims by the foreigners, and the 
 taking prisoner of the Felegind, i.e. Mac Cossa-de-brain, and his 
 ransoming by Brian at Scattery Island." 1 
 
 1 See the Paper by the Rev. Thomas Olden (in the Proceedings of the 
 Royal Irish Academy, Jan.. 1884), who gives the text and a translation of 
 this geographical poem of Mac Cosse.
 
 494 THE SCHOOLS OF DESMOND. 
 
 This entry enables us to fix the probable date of this 
 geographical poem of Mac Cosse, which seems to have been 
 the manual of Classical Geography made use of in Ross- 
 ailithir, and hence so full of interest for the student of the 
 history of our ancient schools. The Imar, referred to in the 
 above entry, was king of the Danes of Limerick, but in 
 A.D. 968 the Danes of Limerick were completely defeated by 
 Mahoun and his younger brother Brian Boru. Imar made 
 his escape to Wales, but after a year or two returned again, 
 first, it would seem, to Waterford ; issuing thence he harried 
 all the coasts and islands of the South, and finally returned 
 to Limerick with a large fleet and army. But he deemed 
 Scattery Island a more secure stronghold, and having fortified 
 it he made that island his head-quarters, and no doubt kept 
 his prisoners there also. Scattery itself was captured from 
 the Danes by Brian, a little later on in A.D. 976, and there 
 Imar was slain ; so that it was the interval between A.D. 970- 
 976 that Mac Cosse was kept a prisoner at Scattery Island, 
 and ransomed by the generosity of Brian, who always loved 
 learning and learned men. 
 
 This poem consists of one hundred and thirty-six lines, 
 giving a general account of the geography of the ancient 
 world, and was, no doubt, first got by rote by the students, 
 and then more fully explained by the lecturer to his pupils. 
 This tenth century is generally regarded as the darkest of 
 the dark ages ; yet, we have no doubt, whoever reads over 
 this poem will be surprised at the extent and variety of the 
 geographical knowledge communicated to the pupils of Ross- 
 ailithir in that darkened age, when the Danish ships, too, 
 were roaming round the coasts of Ireland. It is not merely 
 that the position of the various countries is stated with much 
 accuracy, but we have, as we should now say, an account 
 of their fauna and flora their natural productions, as well 
 as their physical features. The writer, too, seems to be 
 acquainted not merely with the principal Latin authors, 
 but also with the writings of at least some of the Grecian 
 authorities. 
 
 In the opening stanza he describes the five zones: "two 
 frigid of bright aspect," alluding, no doubt, to their snowy 
 wastes and wintry skies, lit up by the aurora borealis and 
 then two temperate around the fiery zone, which stretches 
 about the middle of the world. There are three continents, 
 Europe, Africa, and Asia ; the latter founded by the Asian 
 Queen, and much the larger, because she unduly trespassed 
 on the territories of her neighbours. Adam's paradise is in
 
 THE SCHOOL OF ROSS. 495 
 
 the far East, beyond the Indus, surrounded by a wall of fire. 
 India " great and proud," is bounded on the west by that 
 river, on the north by the hills of Hindoo Coosh. That 
 country is famous " for its magnets, and its diamonds, its 
 pearls, its gold dust, and its carbuncles." There are to be 
 found the fierce one- horned beast, and the mighty elephant 
 it is a land where " soft and balmy breezes blow," and two 
 harvests ripen within the year. In like manner he describes 
 the other countries of Asia ; the mare rubrum " swift and 
 strong," and Egypt, by the banks of the Nile, the most fertile 
 of all lands. He even tells us of the burning fires of the 
 Alaunian land, alluding to the petroleum springs around the 
 Caspian. He names all the provinces of Asia Minor 
 " little Asia," be calls it and says most accurately, that it 
 was bounded on the west by the Propontus and the .ZEgean 
 sea. In like manner he describes Africa, and derives its 
 name from Apher, a son of Abraham and Keturah, showing 
 that he was familiar with the Greek of the Antiquities of 
 Josephus. 1 He then goes through the various countries of 
 Europe, giving their names, and chief cities. The principal 
 rivers, too, are named, and their courses fixed, as when he 
 says that^- 
 
 r 
 
 " Three streams issue from the Alps westward, and across Europe 
 they appear 
 
 The Rhine in the north-west, the Loire, and the River Rhone." 
 
 Finally, he comes to Ireland, which, in loving language, 
 he proclaims to be 
 
 "A pleasant and joyous land, wealth-abounding; the land of the 
 sons of Milesius ; a land of branching ^sterns ; the most fertile land 
 that is under the sun." 
 
 So ends this most interesting manual of geography, 
 written by an Irish scholar, in the Irish tongue, and taught 
 to the students of Ross-ailithir, whilst the Danish pirates 
 were roaming round our seas, and ruling with strong hand 
 in Dublin, Waterford, and Limerick. 
 
 Of the subsequent fortune of Ross-ailithir we know little. 
 In A.D. 1127 the fleet of Toirdhealbach O'Conor sailed to Ross- 
 ailithir, and despoiled Desmond, as the Chronicon Scotoruni 
 informs us for it was not the Dane alone that our schools 
 and churches had to fear often, far too often, the spoiler 
 was some rival chieftain, whose churches and monasteries 
 were sure to be spoiled very soon in their turn. Then came 
 
 1 Book I., o. xv.
 
 496 THE SCHOOLS OF DESMOND. 
 
 the greatest of all the devastators the Anglo-Normans, who 
 laid waste Corca Laighde under FitzStepheii, a few years 
 after Bishop O'Cearbhail went to his rest in A.D. 1168. Since 
 that period the school has disappeared, but the See of Ross 
 still holds its ground, after having gone through some strange 
 vicissitudes of union and separation from the neighbouring 
 dioceses of Cloyne and Cork. 
 
 IV. THE SCHOOL OF INNISFALLEN ST. FINAN. 
 
 The island of Innisfallen in the Lower Lake of Killarney 
 has been long celebrated both in song and story for its 
 wonderful scenic beauty. It is commonly regarded as the 
 Queen of Irish Islands, and one enthusiastic admirer has 
 declared that it is the most beautiful spot in Europe. The 
 monks of old were great lovers of nature, and hence, as might 
 be expected, we find that at a very early period a monastery 
 was founded on the island of Innisfallen. It offered many 
 advantages to saintly men, who wished to give themselves up 
 entirely to a life of holiness and learning. It was not merely 
 its own sweet beauty and the glory of the lake and mountains 
 round about, that made it a desirable place of seclusion ; it 
 had more prosaic advantages to commend it. It was near 
 enough for convenience to the promontory of Ross, yet far 
 enough for security ; as it was surrounded by deep water 
 and was within sight of that noble keep whose friendly 
 owners were always the protectors and benefactors of the 
 monks of Innisfallen. It is true, indeed, the monks had 
 been there long before the present picturesque ruin was built, 
 but then there was always some dun or fort on Ross Island, 
 as it is now called, for it is a spot not only of singular beauty 
 but also admirably situated for defensive purposes. 
 
 All our authorities agree that the monastery of Innisfallen 
 was founded by St. Finan; but to which St. Finan it 
 owes its origin is another question. There were many saints 
 who bore that name, of whom two were particularly 
 distinguished, St. Finan the Leper, and St. Finan Cam, or 
 the Crooked. It is commonly said that St. Finan the Leper 
 was the founder of Innisfallen. After a careful examination 
 of his Acts as given by the Bollandists on his feast day, 
 which is believed to be the 16th of March, we can find no 
 evidence to support this statement, which in itself also is 
 sufficiently improbable. It is true, indeed, that St. Finan 
 the Leper came of the old Desmond race, for his father, Conal 
 was fourth in descent from Ollioll Olum, the common ancestor
 
 THE SCHOOL OF INNISF ALLEN ST. FINAN. 497 
 
 of all the great Munster families. But Fin an belonged to 
 that branch of the race of Cian, son of Ollioll Olum, which 
 was settled in the portion of Bregia called from him 
 Keenaght, extending from Dromiskin to Dublin ; and it is 
 highly probably that Finan himself was a native, not of Ely 
 O'Carroll, as Colgan says, but of Sord, now called Swords, 
 where his family seems to have resided. He was called the 
 Leper, because on one occasion when a poor woman brought 
 her son to the saint, who was blind, deaf, and leprous from 
 his birth, the saint prayed to God to cure the child and offered 
 himself to bear its leprosy. His prayer was heard the child 
 was made whole, but the saint was stricken with the dread 
 disease, which he suffered for thirty years. St. Finan the 
 Leper is said to have been a disciple of St. Columba, and to 
 have been placed by that saint over his own foundation at 
 Swords; but at what time it is difficult to determine. The 
 saint is also said to have founded Ardfinnan on the Suir in 
 Tipperary, which took its name from him. He is also 
 mentioned in connection with Clonmore in the Co. Carlow, 
 founded by St. Maedhog, 1 and according to the writer of his 
 Life, he was buried there. His connection, however, with 
 Innisfallen in Lough Lein is very doubtful and unsupported 
 by any satisfactory evidence th.at we have seen. It is much 
 more likely that the Inisfaithlen referred to by his biographers 
 was the island off the Coast of Dublin, now called by its 
 Danish name of Ireland's Eye, but which in ancient times 
 was known as Inisfaithlen a fact of which Colgan does not 
 seem to have been aware. The same name was also given 
 to the island of Beg Erin, or Begery, in the Bay of 
 Wexford. 
 
 On the other hand, St. Finan Cam was a Kerry man by 
 race and birth, and moreover spent most of his life in the 
 West of Kerry, which has many places connected with his 
 name and memory. He was borne in that wild promontory 
 of Corkaguiny (Corca-Duibhne) which is swept bare by the 
 wild Atlantic blasts. His father Mac Airde 2 is mentioned in 
 the Life of St. Brendan, for it seems to be the same person, 
 as a man of considerable wealth, who made a present of thirty 
 cows with their calves to that saint shortly after he was born. 
 Indeed it seems highly probable from the narrative that the 
 family of St. Brendan and St. Finan were connected by ties 
 of consanguinity. We are told too in the Life of Finan in the 
 
 1 Martyr. Doneg. April 1 3th. 
 
 2 Others say he was Kennedy, son of Maenag. Becnait, daughter of Cian, 
 was his mother. 
 
 2i
 
 498 THE SCHOOLS OF DESMOND. 
 
 Salamanca MS. that St. Brendan was the first tutor of the 
 boy, and that the latter spent seven years in Brendan's 
 corner contra fornacem whilst he was learning to read 
 and studying monastic discipline under the guidance of that 
 great master. This was probably in the early part of the 
 sixth century, whilst Brendan was still living in his native 
 Kerry, before he went on his Atlantic voyages, or founded 
 any of his monasteries in the province of Connaught. 
 
 It was by the direction of the same saint that young 
 Finan, who was already far advanced in holiness, left his 
 native territory, and went to Slieve Bloom, the utmost 
 boundary of his native Munster towards the north, and 
 there, about A.D. 560, founded the monastery of Kinnity, near 
 Birr, at the roots of Slieve Bloom, with which his name has 
 been ever since associated. It is a singular fact that so late 
 as the year A.D. 907, we find that Colman, Abbot of Kinnity, 
 and King of Corca-Duibhne, was slain in the fatal field of 
 Ballaghmoon, where Cormac Mac Cullinan, and so many of 
 his Munster nobles lost their lives. 
 
 Finan, however, returned after a brief sojourn at Kin- 
 nity to his native territory ; and thenceforward we find that 
 almost all the events recorded in his life took place in Kerry. 
 
 There is one incident mentioned, which goes far to show 
 that this St. Finan Cam was the founder of the monastery 
 on Innisfallen. For we are told that a boat was built on 
 ' St. Finan's Island/ 1 and that a message was sent to 
 Fedelmith, the King of Lough Lein, to carry away the 
 boat. The king came with thirty men to bring the boat to 
 the water, but they could not carry it. Then the angels of 
 God, with Finan, carried the boat down to the Lake Lugdech. 
 It is true this seems to refer to Finan's Island on Lough 
 Currane, but the incident certainly shows that Finan had 
 friendly relations with the King of Lough Lein, who in 
 return would very naturally grant the holy man one of the 
 islands on his own lake for a religious house. 
 
 On another occasion we find that when Finan's horse 
 died, another steed came out of Lough Lein, and for three 
 years drew the saint's waggon ; and then at the bidding of 
 Finan once more returned to his stable beneath the waves of 
 Lough Lein. So the saint then probably had his own 
 
 1 " Alio autem tempore ratis fabricates est in insula apud S. Finanum, 
 et missum est ab eo ad regem stagni Lein, scilicet Fedelmith, ut portaretur 
 secum ratie." . . . " Et portaverunt ratem secuin (angeli) super 
 stagnum Lugdech."
 
 THE SCHOOL OF INXISFALLEN ST. FINAN. 499 
 
 'home' on the shore, or in an island of the lake. Once 
 again, on a certain occasion, when Finan was living on a 
 certain island, and his horses were on the mainland grazing, 
 as it seems, with their feet tied, they swam to the saint's house 
 without loosening the bonds, and at his bidding swam back 
 again to the shore. We find him also protecting his tribes- 
 men of Corkaguiny against the attacks of Nechtan, King of 
 the Hy-Fidhgente, who dwelt beyond Slieve Lougher, in the 
 west of the County Limerick. This prince, refusing to listen 
 to the prayers of Finan, was conquered in battle, and forced 
 to fly from his kingdom. We are then told that he betook 
 himself to Diarmaid, King of the Hy-Mall, which fixes the 
 date of these events at some time between A.D. 544 and 565, 
 the limits of the duration of King Diarmaid's reign. He re- 
 turned, however, more than once to his monastery of Kinnity, 
 where many monks lived under his rule and guidance. We 
 find him also, towards the close of the sixth century, at an 
 assembly of the Munster chiefs, probably at Cashel, in the 
 time of Failbhe Flann. Failbhe succeeded his brother as 
 King of Muuster in A.D. 619 ; but he was, no doubt, for 
 many years previously a prince of much influence and power. 
 On this occasion Finan wrought some wondrous miracles 
 before the king, and Failbhe did penance, and granted all 
 the requests of Finan one being to allow him ' to take a 
 census of the population,' it means rather to remit a tax that 
 pressed on the people. We also find the saint nigh to Lough 
 Lugdech, which seems to be the lake now called ' Lough 
 Currane,' in the south-eastern extremity of Iveragh, near 
 the Bay of Ballinskelligs. It seems to have been a favourite 
 haunt of the saint ; and the remains of his oratory are still 
 to be seen on an island in the lake. On this occasion Finan 
 wanted to get his horse shod ; but the smith had broken his 
 tongs, and could not hold the glowing iron. " Take it in 
 your hands," said the saint. The smith did so, and held it 
 without inconvenience, whilst he fashioned the shoe with his 
 hammer ! This is a fair specimen of some of the extravagant 
 miracles attributed to Finan by the writer of his Life. 
 
 "Lough Lugdech, now," says O'Donovan, " called Lough 
 Luigeach (Lee), or Currane Lough," is of oval form, about 
 three miles long by two broad. It abounds with salmon and 
 white trout, which, no doubt, often furnished a luxurious 
 meal to the abstemious saint. On the south it is surrounded 
 by a range of bold mountains, partly covered with woods in 
 Smith's time, 1 but now quite bare of timber. The remains 
 
 1 History of Kerry, p. 100.
 
 500 THE SCHOOLS OF DESMOND. 
 
 of Finan's Church and cell were to be seen on the largest of 
 three small islands in the lake, 1 when Smith wrote about 140 
 years ago ; and he says that they keep his (Finan's) festival 
 on the 16th of March. This is the day generally assigned 
 to Finan the Leper in our Marty rologies the 7th of 
 April being the festival of Finan Cam, according to the 
 Marty rology of Tallaght the change may have taken place 
 from the confusion of names, for no one says that the Leper 
 saint ever penetrated as far to the south-west as Lough 
 Currane. The obliquity which gave Finan the surname of 
 ' Cam,' was in his eyes, not in his body, adds the same 
 eminent authority. 
 
 Derrynane also takes its name from our saint ; it means 
 'the oak-grove of Finan Daire Fwnainthe letter *f 
 being aspirated, and not sounded in the compound. The old 
 abbey, however, situated on the shore, is of medieval origin, 
 as its ruins tell. St. Finan's Bay. north of Bolus Head, also 
 speaks of the saint. It is quite open and exposed to all the 
 fury of the Atlantic billows. 
 
 St. Finan was in all probability the first founder of the 
 oratory on the Greater Skelligs, which is directly opposite 
 the bay to the south-west. When the Dan,es swarmed round 
 our coasts, the monastery was removed from the island to the 
 mainland, and its dilapidated walls may still be seen in the 
 only sheltered corner at the head of St. Finan's Bay. Several 
 holy wells also bear the saint's name, and his memory is still 
 vivid in various parts of Kerry. In our opinion this 
 St. Finan Cam, not St. Finan the Leper, was the founder , of 
 the monastery of Innisfallen. 
 
 Y. THE ANNALS OF INNISFALLEN. 
 
 There are only two entries referring to Innisfallen in the 
 Four Masters, one A.D. 1144, merely records the death of 
 Flanagan of Innisfallen, a distinguished anmchara, or soul's 
 friend that is counsellor and confessor or as we now say, 
 spiritual director. The other entry, however, is an earlier 
 and far more important one. It records the death in A.D. 
 1009 (recte 1010) of Maelsuthain O'Cearbhail (Carroll) of the 
 community or family of Innisfallen, "chief doctor of the 
 western world in his time, and lord of the Eoghanacht of 
 Lough Lein," who died 'after a good life.' This Maelsuthain 
 was a very celebrated man, and in all probability the 
 original compiler from older authorities of the Annals of 
 
 1 It contains about two acres, and is called Church Inland.
 
 THE ANNALS OF INNISFALLEN. 501 
 
 Innisfallen. Hence he deserves special notice at our bands. 
 The Eoghanacht of Lough Lein, of whom, he wao chief, was 
 that branch of the great Eugenian race of Desmond, whose 
 territory surrounded the beautiful Lakes of Killarney, and 
 included the greater part of the Barony of Magunihy. 
 O'Donoghue of Lough Lein, whose principal stronghold was 
 on Ross Island, was the chief of this wide territory. He 
 derived his descent from Cas, son of Core, King of Munster, 
 whose elder brother, Nadfraich, was the ancestor of the great 
 MacCarthy family. In A.D. 1015 was slain Domhnall, who 
 commanded the forces of Desmond at Clontarf, and he was 
 father of Donchadh, from whom the family name has been 
 derived. The O'Carrolls 6f Lough Lein were sub-chieftains 
 under the O'Donoghues, and derived their descent from a 
 younger brother of that Nadfraich above referred to as 
 ancestor of the MacCarthy Mor. 
 
 Maelsuthain O'Carroll was in the -beginning of the 
 eleventh century head of this sub-tribe, and hence is called 
 lord of Lough Lein. The School of Innisfallen was one of 
 those which appear to have suffered least from the ravages 
 of the Danes. This, no doubt, was mainly due to its remote 
 insular situation amongst the mountains of Kerry. It is 
 highly probable that Brian Boru, the hero of Clontarf, was 
 educated at Innisfallen ; at least we find that Maelsuthain, 
 the head of the island school, was his intimate friend and 
 counsellor during many years of his victorious career. When 
 Brian marched in triumph to Armagh, he laid an offering of 
 twenty ounces of gold on the High Altar of the cathedral ; 
 and our Maelsuthain O'Carroll, of Lough Lein, who accom- 
 panied him, made the following entry in the name of the 
 king, in the Book of Armagh : "St. Patrick, when going 
 to heaven, ordained that all the fruit of his labour, as well of 
 baptisms, as of causes and other alms, should be carried to 
 the apostolic city, which in Irish is called Ardd-Macha. So 
 I have found it in the libraries of the Scots. This I have 
 written, that is, Calvus Perennis, ' the ever bald,' (which is 
 equivalent to the Irish Mael-suthain), in the sight of Brian, 
 Emperor of the Scots, and what I have written he determined 
 for all the kings of Maceria," 1 which is the Latin equivalent 
 of Cashel. 
 
 1 The original entry may still be seen in the Dock of Armagh, as follows : 
 " Sanctus Patricius iens ad caeluro mandavit totum fructum laboris sui tarn 
 baptismi tarn causarum quam eleinoisinarum deferendum esse apostolicae 
 urbi quae Scotice nominatur Ardd-Macha. Sic reperi in Bibliothecis 
 Scotorum. Ego scripsi, id est, Calvus Perennis in conspectu Briain impera- 
 toris fc'cotorum et quod scripsi finivit pro omnibus regibus Maceriae."
 
 502 THE SCHOOLS OF DESMOND. 
 
 Maelsuthain is sometimes called the Anmchara 1 of Brian; 
 but as it seems that he was a layman, the word must mean 
 rather counsellor than ghostly adviser. That Maelsuthain 
 was a renowned professor of the Innisfallen school is apparent 
 not only from the eulogy of the Four Masters and the Ulster 
 Annals, which call him ' chief sage of Ireland,' but also from 
 the curious tale about Maelsuthain that has been translated 
 by O'Curry. It is in substance as follows. Maelsuthaiu was 
 so renowned a professor that three students came all the way 
 from Connor, in the County Antrim, to his school at Innis- 
 fallen, in which they spent three years. Then they resolved 
 to go on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, but their professor told 
 them that it was now high time to pay him something for 
 their education. They had no money, however, which is 
 always a scarce commodity with students, but offered to 
 spend three years in service with their teacher as a recom- 
 pense for their education. " No," said he, " go to Palestine, 
 and all I ask is that when you die, as you will in the Holy 
 Land, you shall come to me, and let me know whether I also 
 shall die in the peace of the Lord." They agreed to this, and 
 went to Palestine, where they died in grace ; but they asked 
 permission from St. Michael to return to their old professor, 
 and tell him his fate before going to heaven themselves. 
 St. Michael granted this request, and bade them tell Mael- 
 suthain that he had only three years and a-half to live, and 
 then he was to be condemned to hell for all eternity. So 
 they came to Maelsuthain, in the shape of three white doves, 
 who bade them welcome, and asked what was to be his future 
 lot. They told him. "And why am I .to be sent to hell ? " 
 said he. They told him the reasons also, as St. Michael had 
 directed them : first, because he interpolated the canons ; 
 secondly, because of unchastity ; and, thirdly, because he had 
 given up the Altus. " I shall not go to hell all the same," 
 replied the professor, " for God has promised that ' the im- 
 piety of the wicked shall not hurt him in whatsoever hour he 
 shall turn himself away from it.' I will turn away from my 
 sins ; I will put no sense of my own in the canons ; I will 
 perform a hundred genuflexions every day ; I will recite the 
 Altus seven times every night to make up for my past 
 neglect ; and I will keep a three days' fast every week." On 
 the day of his death the three white doves returned, and told 
 
 1 Lectures, MS. Materials, p. 77. Though Anmchara generally mean 8 
 confessor, it sometimes means counsellor. It is applied to the Angel Victor 
 by the scholiast on Fiacc's Hymn.
 
 THE ANNALS OF INNISFALLEN. 503 
 
 him that his penance was accepted by God, and that they saw 
 his place in heaven, and would now accompany him into 
 eternal glory. So he was anointed by the clergy around his 
 bed ; and his three pupils parted not with him until they all 
 went to heaven together. " And," adds the tale, " it is this 
 good man's writings (or manuscripts screptrd), that are in 
 Innisfallen in the church there still." 
 
 This reference seems to designate some well known writ- 
 ings connected with Innisfallen, of which Maelsuthain was 
 the author or compiler, and which can hardly be any other 
 than the well known A nnals of Innisfallen. Eugene O'C urry 
 tells us that it has been a constant tradition in the South of 
 Ireland that the Annals of Innisfallen were compiled by 
 Maelsuthain, and he adds that he himself had no doubt the 
 O'Carroll was either ' the original projector of the compila- 
 tion/ or that he enlarged the previous meagre outlines kept 
 in the monastery of Innisfallen into this more regular and 
 extensive historical work. 
 
 The principal copy of these A nnals is at present preserved 
 in the Bodleian Library at Oxford. " It contains," says Dr. 
 O'Conor, "fifty-seven leaves (of parchment), of which the 
 three first are considerably damaged, and the fourth partly 
 obliterated. Some leaves at the beginning are also missing." 
 The missing leaves seem to have begun with a short account 
 of the creation and the history of the early patriarchs extracted 
 from the Book of Genesis. At the sixth begins the history 
 of the Kingdom of the Greeks ; then it treats of the general 
 history of the great empires of the world down to the year 
 A.D. 430 (at foHo 9), where their real interest begins. Thence- 
 forward there is a brief chronicle of Ireland in different 
 hands, down to the year A.D. 1319. The first scribe has 
 written down to the year A.D. 1130 (at folio 30) ; the writing 
 of this portion is free and elegant ; the initial letters are 
 coloured and adorned, and everything seems to point to the 
 fact that the original scribe of this manuscript wrote no 
 further. But afterwards the work becomes more rude and 
 careless ; there is no attempt at ornamentation ; in fact, the 
 appearance of the manuscript is a faithful picture of the state 
 of the country daily going from bad to worse. It is fruit- 
 less now to speculate how this venerable monument of Irish 
 learning came into the Bodleian Library of Oxford. 
 
 What are called the Dublin Annals of Innisfallen is a 
 translation in Trinity College Library, which Theophilus 
 O'Flanagan testifies 1 that he made into English " about 
 
 1 In a letter to Thomas Wright, 15th Jan., 1803.
 
 504 THE SCHOOLS OF DESMOND. 
 
 nineteen years ago, from a copy perfected under the direction 
 of Dr. O'Brien, Bishop of Cloyne and Ross, from the original 
 in the Bodleian Library." Dr. O'Brien's scribe was, accord- 
 ing to O'Flanagan, a priest of the name of Conroy, who was 
 well versed in the Irish language. 
 
 There is another copy in the Royal Irish Academy in 
 Irish and English, beginning with A. u. 250, and coming down 
 to A.D. 1320. It is on paper, and contains 320 folios. 
 During the later years it deals chiefly with the affairs of 
 Munster. At A.D. 1010' we find the following entry : 
 " Maelsuthain, son of O'Carroll, King of the Eoghanacht of 
 Locha Lein, and the Primate of Ireland, died in Aghadoe." 
 In the Irish it is 'Priomfaidh Eirron/ which appears to mean, 
 ' chief sage of Ireland.' More than half this volume deals 
 with the period from A.D. 1170 to 1320, and it contains many 
 interesting entries during that time. The chronology is, 
 however, very defective. 
 
 Poetry, it seems, was cultivated in Innisfallen as well as 
 history for we are told that in A.D. 1197 Gilla Patrick 
 O'Huihair went to his rest. He was archdeacon of the island 
 which shows that there was a considerable community there 
 at the time and superior of the convent. He also founded 
 many religious houses, to which he gave books, vestments, and 
 other necessaries. He was, moreover, the Annalist tells us, 
 * a celebrated poet ;' and was held in the highest estimation 
 for his chastity, piety, wisdom, and universal charity. "We 
 have also another entry, 'A.D'. 1208, which gives us a beautiful 
 picture of a reverend priest of ' Cloonuama,' who died in. this 
 abbey, where he passed the evening of a life chequered by 
 misfortune in penitence and prayer, and was buried in the 
 cemetery of the Abbey of Innisfallen. 
 
 There is one significant entry a few years earlier 
 " anno 1180, this abbey of Inisf alien being ever esteemed a 
 paradise and a secure sanctuary, the treasure and the most 
 valuable effects of the whole country were deposited in the 
 hands of its clergy ; notwithstanding which we find the 
 abbey was plundered in this year by Maolduin, son of Daniel 
 O'Donoghue. Many of the clergy were slain even in their 
 cemetery by the MacCarthys. But God soon punished this 
 act of impiety and sacrilege, by bringing many of its authors 
 to an untimely end." 
 
 During the eleventh century the O'Donoghoes of Lough 
 Lein rose to great power and influence one of them became 
 King of Cashel, and several of them are described as royal 
 heirs of Cashel. It was an O'Donoghoe who restored the
 
 THE ANNALS OF 1NN18F ALLEN. 505 
 
 cathedral church of Aghadoe in the twelfth century he was 
 slain in A.D. 1166. In all probability this Maolduin, son of 
 Daniel, was in feud with his own family, who were always 
 the protectors of the monks of Innisfallen, and he called in the 
 MacCarthys to help him in plundering this venerable shrine. 
 It is satisfactory to know that vengeance soon overtook the 
 despoilers of this paradise, as the chronicler aptly describes it. 
 Yes, Innisfallen is, in truth, an earthly paradise. The 
 island contains about twelve acres ; but this small area is 
 dowered with every charm that can gratify the senses. The 
 surface, fringed with evergreen bowers, is gently undulating, 
 and covered with a carpet of green, so pure and so soft, that 
 the eye loves to linger on its hues. There are miniature 
 creeks, where the wavelets die in gentle ripples ; there are 
 giant elms and hoary ash trees, that have lived for centuries ; 
 the holly and the arbutus are not shrubs, but forest trees, 
 and their bright green leaves, with blossoms of purest white, 
 or berries of deepest red, gleam through the heavy-laden 
 boughs. Then there are the manifold associations of religion, 
 and history, and poetry, and romance, called up before the 
 mental vision by the aspect of the ruined churches on this 
 queen of islands. You have, besides, the mingled melodies 
 of whispering leaves, and singing birds, and murmuring 
 waters, tilling the ear, and inviting the listener to contem- 
 plation and repose. Of old, the tinkling of bells was heard 
 from these ruined cloisters, and the gray Franciscan habit 
 was seen stealing along the shores of Muckross, and the 
 cathedral chimes of Aghadoe were borne over the waters to 
 the students' ears. Now they are all gone no lectures 
 within these silent roofless walls ; no midnight vigils of the 
 gray friars in Muckross ; no bishop's throne in Aghadoe. 
 Yet young Killarney rivals these ivy-grown haunts of ancient 
 learning and holiness in all things save one the unapproach- 
 able beauty of the sites chosen by the monks of old. Their 
 successors live nigh to scenes of beauty ; but they have so 
 placed themselves that they can never see them. They seem 
 to prefer naked walls and flat fields to the the glorious vision 
 of nature's unapproachable beauties, which she has poured 
 out with lavish hand, by mountain, stream, and woodland all 
 around this peerless Lake of Learning. 1 
 
 1 Lough Lein is written Loch Leighinn in an old MS., and the natives 
 of the district explain the word as the Lake of Learning.
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 THE SCHOOLS OF THOMOND. 
 I. THE SCHOOL OF MUNGRET. 
 
 " Though Garry o wen has gone to wreck, 
 
 We'll win her olden glories back ; 
 The night long, starless, cold and black, 
 We'll light with song and story." 
 
 THE first reference 1 we find made to Mungret is in the 
 Tripartite Life of St. Patrick. When the saint had come into 
 the territory of Hy-Fidhgente, which included that portion 
 of the modern County Limerick west of the river Maigue, 
 with a small portion of the barony of Coshma east of that 
 river, Lomman, the king of the district, made a feast for 
 Patrick on the summit of Mullagh Cae, to the south of Carn 
 Feradaig. This hill still bears its ancient name, and the 
 gifted poet 2 from whom we have already so often borrowed 
 beautiful thoughts, describes its situation : 
 
 " That pleasant hill ascends 
 Westward of Ara girt by rivers twain, 
 Maigue, lily-lighted, and the ' Morning Star ' 
 Once Sainhair named, that eastward through the woods 
 Winding, upon its rapids earliest meets 
 The morn, and flings it far o'er mead and plain." 3 
 
 Now Lomman, son of Mac Eire, and Mantan, a deacon of 
 Patrick's household, had prepared a feast for the saint and 
 his people on the summit of this green hill, when it chanced 
 that a band of itinerant jugglers came upon the scene, and 
 meeting Patrick first, asked him for some food. The laws of 
 hospitality were always imperative in Celtic Ireland, and 
 accordingly Patrick told them to go to Lomman and Mantan, 
 and that they would supply their wants. No one had yet 
 tasted of the banquet, not even Patrick himself; and hence, 
 when the jugglers applied for food, they were rather rudely 
 
 1 There ia no foundation for O'Halloran's statement that Mungret was 
 founded before the time of St. Patrick. 
 
 2 Aubrey de Vere. 
 
 3 The Feast of Knock Cae.
 
 THE SCHOOL OF MUNGRET. 507 
 
 repulsed by Lomman and the deacon, who told them in effect 
 that strollers like them were not the persons to bless the meat 
 and partake of it first. 
 
 They meant no harm, but still Patrick's request was not 
 complied with, and his honour was compromised, when 
 hospitality was refused even to the jugglers. So Patrick 
 said: . 
 
 " To the boy who cometh from the north (Limerick) 
 To him the victory has been given." 
 
 And forthwith a youth named Nessan appeared coming up the 
 hill side with his mother, and she being the stronger was 
 carrying a cooked ram on her shoulders for the king's feast. 
 Then the saint asked the boy to give him the wether, that he 
 might give it to the jugglers, and thus save his honour by 
 complying with the laws of hospitality. The boy at once 
 gladly gave the ram to Patrick ; but his mother grumbled a 
 little when she saw its destination. 
 
 Patrick, however, resolved to teach them all, that obedi- 
 ence and charity are the first of Christian virtues. Therefore, 
 he said to Lomman, his host, that none of his race should 
 ever be king, or crown-prince, or bishop ; and to Deacon 
 Mantan, he said that his cloister would not be lofty, and that 
 it would be the dwelling of a rabble, and that sheep and swine 
 would tread on his remains but to Nessan he said : " Thou 
 wilt be mighty of race" : 
 
 " Thou that didst the hungry feed, 
 The poor of Christ that know not yet His name, 
 And helping them that cried to me for help, 
 Mine honour cherish, like a palm one day, 
 Shall rise thy greatness." 
 
 Nessan's mother, too, was punished for her grumbling. 
 She was not to be buried in her son's church of Mungret, 
 but beyond the cloister wall to the west, where its sweet- 
 toned bell could not be heard. Then Patrick ordained Nessan 
 a deacon, and founded a church for him, that is, Mungret, 
 near Limerick. 
 
 On one occasion Nessan went to visit St. Ailbe of Emly, 
 that he might inquire from that saint if it were right for a 
 monk to receive or to refuse the offerings of the faithful. 
 When Nessan arrived it was the hour of None, and the 
 community were chanting the office in the church. Nessan, 
 however, declined to go into the guest-house until he should 
 see Ailbe and put his question. Now Ailbe continued in
 
 508 THE SCHOOLS OF THOMOXD. 
 
 prayer from the hour of None until Tierce on the following 
 day ; and no one went into him except the guest-master. 
 
 At length he gave his answer to the patient deacon 
 " Go," said he, " and tell Nessan this verse in the Scottish 
 tongue : 
 
 " Danae Dee nis frithchoirthi, 
 Selba forri miscorthi ; 
 Acht toberthar, rogabae, 
 Feet in muiie, in chele." 
 
 That is : 
 
 Gifts of God are not to be refused, 
 
 [But] possession is not to be retained of them 
 
 [Literally : possession is not to be put upon them] 
 
 If they are offered, you shall accept them, 
 
 But you shall not boast [of], you shall not conceal [them]. 1 
 
 The festival of Nessan is given in the Calendar of JEngus 
 as the 25th of July. " It is of him," says the Martyrology of 
 Donegal, " Cuimin of Condeire gave his testimony in showing 
 that he never told a lie out of his mouth. Thus he says : 
 
 " Nessan, the holy deacon, loves 
 Angelic pure devotion ; 
 Never came outside his teeth 
 What was untrue or guileful." 
 
 And the same authority likens him to Laurentms the Deacon 
 in his habits and life. 2 Colgan says that Nessan died in 
 A.D. 551 ; but even granting that he was a mere boy when 
 St. Patrick was in Monster it is difficult to suppose he could 
 have lived so long. 
 
 The fame of Mungret School is, however, due much more 
 to St. Munchin, or Manchin, surnamed the Wise, than to 
 Deacon Nessan, although unfortunately little can be ascer- 
 tained with certainty about his history. He was of the 
 
 1 On this passage Dr. M'Carthy has kindly sent me the following note: 
 That is : do not refuse what is offered, but dispense what you do not 
 
 require for your own needs : ask not, but accept what is proffered, without 
 being vainglorious thereat, or without concealing the benefaction (in order to 
 hoard it without incurring the censure of being avaricious). 
 
 The metre is heptasyllabic, each line ending in a word of three syllables, 
 the final syllable being a vowel. Its name is Sedni (Shaydnee). 
 
 The old forms are the words forri, upon them, which is pure old Irish ; 
 and ragabae ro-a-gabae, that is, the pronoun a (ea, them) infixed between 
 the verbal particle ro and the verb, them you shall accept. 
 
 Plainly this was & rule of the monastery of Nessan ; for most of their 
 legulations were embodied in verse, being thus easier to be remembered. 
 
 2 Nessan is expressly named amongst the saints of the Second Order j if, 
 indeed, it be Nessan of Mungret who is referred to.
 
 THE SCHOOL OF MUNGRET. 509 
 
 Dalcassian race, being son of Sedna, and grandson of Gas, 
 who was seventh, in descent from Cormac Gas, son of Ollioll 
 Olum, the great father of the race. His uncle Blod was 
 King of the Dalgais of Thomond, during the early years of 
 St. Patrick's mission in Ireland. According to some writers, 
 St. Manchan or Munchin, of Limerick, was identical with. 
 Manchan the Master, who is mentioned in the Life of St. 
 Patrick. There were, however, several saints who bore 
 that name ; and it seems nigh ly improbable that 'Master,' 
 Manchan of the Tripartite was the founder of St. Munchin's. 
 0' Gurry says that this latter saint was daltJia, or foster-son, 
 and pupil of St. Mac Creiche of Enistimon in Clare, who 
 flourished towards the end of the fifth century ; for he was 
 the friend and contemporary of St. Ailbe of Emly. We 
 assume, therefore, that Manchin, the founder of Cill-Munchin, 
 now known as St. Munchin's, flourished in the first half of 
 the sixth century. It is said that he succeeded Nessan as 
 Abbot of Mungret, and that under- him and his successors, 
 this monastic school attained great fame during the sixth 
 and seventh centuries. The fame/ of Mungret, however, 
 seems to be principally founded on local tradition, for I can 
 find no satisfactory evidence to prove its celebrity in any of 
 our ancient documents. It is said, that there were no less 
 than six churches in Mungret, and no less than 1,500 monks 
 (not to speak of the boys at schopl) within its cloisters. Of 
 these one-third were preachers, or as we should now say, went 
 about giving missions; one-third were constantly engaged in 
 celebrating the divine office ; and the remaining third were em- 
 ployed in teaching in the schools, or labouring for the commu- 
 nity. 1 It is strange that no trace of these ancient buildings 
 now remains, with the exception of the walls of one not very 
 ancient church, which is 41 feet long, by 23 feet in breadth. 
 The door-way in the west gable has a flat lintel with sloping 
 jambs its most characteristic feature. The round arches of 
 the remaining opes rather show that this church belongs to 
 the ninth or tenth century, than to the time of St. Munchin. 2 
 It is probable, that St. Munchin presided for many years at 
 Mungret'; and then in his old age retired from community life, 
 and built himself acell and oratory in the neighbourhood, which 
 was afterwards known as Cill-Munchin, and became the nucleus 
 
 1 The Psaltair of Cashel is quoted for this statement, but that work no 
 longer exists ; Keating, however, saw it. 
 
 2 The remains of a smaller, but later church, are still to be seen a little 
 to the south of the older and larger building.
 
 510 THE SCHOOLS OF THOMOND. 
 
 of the present city of Limerick. Thus it was that he came 
 to be recognised as the patron of the city and diocese of 
 Limerick ; and, as such, his church is said to have been the 
 cathedral church of the city down to the building of St. 
 Mary's by Donald O'Brien, who died in A.D. 1194. 
 
 It is very doubtful if there was any See in Limerick 
 before the Danish colony became Christian, and got a bishop 
 of their own. The only scrap of evidence in favour of a line 
 of earlier prelates in St. Munchin's that I could find, is the 
 statement in the prose Life of St. Senan, that " Deron, 
 Bishop of Limerick," was present at the obsequies of St. 
 Senan in Scattery Island. But, as Langan remarks, this 
 Life is of the post-Norman period, and cannot be accepted as 
 an unquestionable authority. 
 
 The subsequent history of Mungret may be briefly 
 summed up. The death of Ailill, Abbot of Mungret, is notice'd 
 by the Four Masters in A.D. 760, which shows that there was 
 a succession of abbots in that great school. But evil days 
 were now in store for Mungret. Situated close to the great 
 highway of the Shannon, it was one of the first places that 
 felt the fury of the Danes, and suffered most from their 
 constant presence in the great estuary of Luimnech. We are 
 told that it was burned and plundered by these 'gentiles' in 
 A.D. 834, like most of the great monasteries on the southern 
 coasts and estuaries. Shortly afterwards the Danes took 
 permanent possession of the estuary of the Shannon ; and 
 although defeated by the native tribes at Shanid and else- 
 where, still, owing to their possession of the sea, and the 
 constant arrival of fresh hordes, they were able to maintain 
 themselves at Limerick, where they established strong forts 
 on the King's Island, which they held against all comers 
 down to the time of Brian Boru. They were, indeed, the 
 real founders of the city of Limerick, and their choice of that 
 site, so suitable at once for commerce and defence, shows how 
 keenly alive their chiefs were to the advantages to be derived 
 from a good natural position. Of course whilst the Danes 
 held the lower Shannon and all its islands, Mungret could 
 not flourish. At best they could only live there on sufferance, 
 and were constantly exposed to pillage and murder. 
 
 Still Mungret was not obliterated. Cormac Mac Cullinan 
 by his will, which he made before he set out for the fatal field 
 of Ballaghmoon, bequeathed, amongst other charitable 
 bequests to other churches, three ounces of gold, an embroi- 
 dered vest, and his blessing to Mungret ; so that it is not 
 improbable the great King-bishop, so learned in the Scotic
 
 THE SCHOOL OF MTJNG RET. 511 
 
 tongue, as the Four Masters tell us, had himself been a 
 student of Mungret. 1 In A.D. 909, Maelcaisil, Abbot of 
 Mungret, died : and notwithstanding that it was burned in 
 A.D. 934, we read of Abbot Muirgheas, whose death is noticed 
 in A.D. 993, by the Four Masters. They also record the death 
 of " Rebachan, son of Dunchadh, Archdeacon of Mungret," or 
 as they write it Mungarid, in the next year ; so that it was 
 still a place of importance, having an abbot, an archdeacon, 
 and an airchinneach also, for Constans, who held that office, 
 died in A.D. 1033. It was burned in A.D. 1080 ; and was no 
 sooner rebuilt than it was once more destroyed by a native 
 prince, Domhnall Mac Lochlann, 'King of Ireland/ in 
 A.D. 1088. On this occasion the King of Ireland harried the 
 coasts and the churches of Thomond quite as cruelly as ever 
 the foreigners had done. 
 
 Yet, phrenix-like, it rose once more from its ruins, for we 
 are told that in A.D. 1102, "Moran O'Moore (Mughron 
 O'Morgair), chief lector of Armagh, and of all the west of 
 Europe, died on the third of the nones of October at Mungret 
 in Munster." Though the Irish princes of the North and 
 South were as usual at deadly feud, Mungret gave a hospit- 
 able home and an honourable grave to the great professor 
 from Armagh, who was the father of St. Malachy one of the 
 greatest of our Celtic saints. The last entry in the Four 
 Masters is the shameful record that Mungret was plundered 
 in A.D. 1107 by Mortogh O'Brian. Can it be that this 
 Mortogh, who thus impiously plundered the shrine of his 
 kindred at Mungret, is the same Mortogh who gave Cashel to 
 the Church, and carried the arms of Thomond in triumph 
 from Luimnech to Lough Foyle ? Thenceforward Mungret, 
 as a school, disappears from our Annals almost, but not 
 quite, up to the present hour. 
 
 ' The learning of the Mungret women ' is proverbial about 
 Limerick ; and the proverb had its origin in this way. 2 A 
 controversy arose between Mungret and some other monastic 
 school of the South, as to which was the more learned com- 
 munity ; and it was agreed by both parties that their best 
 scholars should meet at Mungret on a certain day, and exhibit 
 their learning in a public disputation. Now as the time drew 
 nigh the Mungret scholars feared they would be worsted in 
 the disputation, and so they had recourse to stratagem. A 
 
 1 Sneidhiufl of Disert Diarmada was Cormac's principal tutor. 
 'See the Eev. Denis Murphy in the Journal of the R. If. A. A., for 
 July, 1889.
 
 512 THE SCHOOLS OF THOMOND. 
 
 number of them dressed themselves as women, and going to 
 the place, where a stream crossed the highway near Mungret 
 by which the visitors were to approach, they began to wash 
 clothes. The strangers coming up put some questions to the 
 ladies in the vernacular, but the ladies replied in excellent 
 Latin, and even some, it is said, in Greek. The visitors were 
 filled with astonishment, and asked them how they learned the 
 ancient languages. " Oh," they said, " every one about 
 Mungret speaks Latin and Greek; that is nothing at all 
 'mere crumbs from the monks' table ' would you like to talk 
 philosophy and theology with us." When the strangers saw 
 that even the women were so learned they knew they would 
 have no chance at all if they met the monks ; so they 
 decamped right off, leaving the victory to the ' wise women 
 of Mungret.' 
 
 Mungret is finely situated on a gently rising sweep of 
 fertile land, close to Lord Emly's beautiful demesne at Tervoe, 
 about three miles to the south-west of Limerick. It com- 
 mands a grand view of several reaches of the Shannon, with 
 the pine clad hills of Clare rising in the distance beyond the 
 river. Once more, too, bands .of students roam through r its 
 meadows ; and in statelier hajls than St. Nessan built the 
 languages and philosophy of Greece and Home are taught to 
 eager disciples. There, is once more a great college at 
 Mungret ; once more its students come from afar to seek 
 sanctity and learning tinder the shadow of the ancient Church 
 of St. Nessan. The Jesuits have there established, since 1884, 
 a College and Apostolic School, both of which have achieved 
 wonderful success during the brief period of their existence. 
 May St. Nessan, and all the. saints of Mungret, help them to 
 revive the ancient glories of their own monastic school, and 
 to send to foreign lands missionaries of the Celtic race, as 
 zealous and as learned as the men who in olden days carried 
 the faith and fame of Erin from the Shannon's banks through 
 go many distant lands, even to the utmost shores of Calabria. 
 
 II. THE SCHOOL or INISCALTRA. 
 
 Another celebrated nursery of ancient sanctity and 
 learning flourished in the island of Iniscaltra, especially 
 during the seventh and eighth ceuturies. This beautiful 
 island is situated in the south-western angle of Lough Derg, 
 where that great expansion of the Shannon runs in towards 
 the village of Scariff, between the Counties of Galway and 
 Clare. It is elliptical in shape, and contains 45 statute
 
 THE SCHOOL OF IN1SCALTRA. 513 
 
 acres of exceedingly fertile land, so that 100 per annum 
 have been frequently paid for the grazing of the island. It 
 belongs to the County Galway, but ecclesiastically the island 
 is a portion of the parish of the same name, in the diocese of 
 Killaloe. The gaze of every stranger is at once arrested by 
 the stately round tower, which rises up in lonely grandeur 
 from this green speck in the placid bosom of the lake, 
 marking the spot where the saints of old sought communion 
 with God, and spent their lives in prayer, and fasting, and 
 sacred study. No one now dwells on this lonely and beautiful 
 island ; and indeed it would be a profanation to erect a 
 building for the common-place purposes of every-day life on 
 its sacred soil. Better far better to leave its tower, its 
 graveyards, and its ruined churches to be the lone and silent 
 memorials of the vanished past, than to mar their holy 
 memories by association with anything that would be common- 
 place or trivial. 
 
 Mention is first made of this island in A.D. 548, when, as the 
 Four Masters and the Annals of Ulster record, " Colum 
 of Inis-cealtra died " of the Crom Chonaill, or Yellow Plague, 
 which then for the first time, but not for the last, depopu- 
 lated these countries, and carried off amongst others 
 many of the most distinguished saints and scholars of 
 ancient Erin. The Four Masters record in this same 
 year, and probably from the same cause, the death of 
 St. Ciaran of Clonmacnoise, St. Tighernach of Clones, 
 St. Finnian of Clonard, the tutor of the saints of Ireland, 
 St. Colum of Inis-cealtra, and also of St. MacTail of Old 
 Kilcullen, of Sincheall of Druimfada, now Killeigh, in 
 King's County, of St. Odhran of Latteragh, on the eastern 
 slopes of Keeper Hill, and of St. Colum, son of Ninnidh, 
 called also Colum Mac Hy-Crimthann, the celebrated founder 
 of Terry glass. It is highly probable that the two Colum s 
 here mentioned, Colum of Inis-cealtra, and Colum Mac Hy- 
 Crimthann, were really one and the same person ; but the 
 transcriber finding Colum in one place, called ' Colum 
 of Iniscaltra,' and in another place ' Colum of Terryglass '- 
 Tir-da-glas thought they were different persons, and 
 recorded them as such. 
 
 The Life of St. Coluvtba of Terryglass, recently pub- 
 lished in the Salamanca MS., shows how this error may 
 have arisen. This St. Columba was of Lagenian origin, for 
 his patronymic, Mac Hy-Crimthann, is derived from an 
 ancestor, who was King of Leinster five generations before. 
 His father, Ninnidh, seems to have been born not far from 
 
 2K
 
 514 THE SCHOOLS OF THOMOXD. 
 
 Clonenagh, in Queen's County, for in his youth we are told 
 that the saint learned his psalms and hymns from a holy old 
 man named Colman Cule, who lived in that neighbourhood, 
 and founded the Church of Cluain Cain. This has been 
 identified with great probability as Clonkeen,near Clonenagh, 
 in the Queen's County. Columba afterwards studied under 
 the celebrated Finnian of Clonard, and he, with his greater 
 namesake, Columba of lona, is reckoned amongst the Twelve 
 Apostles of Erin, who studied together at that great school. 
 When he was sufficiently trained in all spiritual knowledge 
 at Clonard, we are told that he resolved to go to Rome, and 
 bring home with him some of the relics of St. Peter and 
 St. Paul. On his return he came to St. Martin's monastery 
 at Tours, where he was privileged to obtain the staff and 
 chrismal of that saint, which he carried home with him to 
 Erin. He also visited England during this return journey, 
 and preached with some success to the still unconverted 
 Saxons. Returning home to Leinster his brother Cairbre 
 offered him a place called Echargabul, on which to build a 
 church and monastery ; but he preferred to leave in that 
 place one of his disciples called Cronan, who was a foreigner. 
 Afterwards, with his disciples, he remained a year at 
 Clonenagh, 1 and then crossing Slieve Bloom he came to 
 Hy-Many of the Connaughtmen, and founded a church, where 
 he had a flock of 700 souls, atra place called Tir Snama, which 
 seems to have been not far from Lough Derg ; for we are 
 told that shortly afterwards he founded other churches near 
 the lake, called Aurraith Tophiloc and Tuam Bonden, where 
 he dwelt for some time. 
 
 Then an angel appearing to him bade him go to the 
 island Keltra since called Iniscaltra. At that time a certain 
 old man dwelt on the island, called Maccrihe ; but the angel 
 told him to leave the island to St. Columba, which he 
 willingly did. 
 
 Thus we find St. Columba of Terryglass established at 
 Iniscaltra, where he remained a ' long time,' and where he 
 was miraculously supported for a while by the liquor that 
 distilled from a lime tree growing on the island. The birds 
 that lived on the island, too, became quite familiar with the 
 saint ; and when Nadcumius, one of his disciples, asked him 
 the reason, he gave a very beautiful reply. " Am I not a 
 bird myself," he said " why should they fear me, for my 
 soul always flies to heaven, as they fly through the sky ?" 
 
 1 See Life of St. Fintan in this work, p. S99.
 
 THE SCHOOL OF INISCALTRA. 515 
 
 It is said that on one occasion, when one of his ' family ' 
 died suddenly on the shore opposite the northern part of the 
 island at Mount Shannon, he ordered his monks to go and say 
 to the dead man " Columba bids thee arise" and the dead 
 man arose and returned with them to the island. 
 
 Whilst at Iniscaltra the saint seems to have made frequent 
 voyages over the lake. On one of these occasions seeing the 
 place, ' where Terryglass now is,' rising over the broad waters 
 of the lake, towards the east, he said, " Oh ! that my resur- 
 rection would take place from that sweet spot" a wish that 
 was afterwards destined to be fulfilled. 
 
 Crowds of people came to visit the saint and his com- 
 panions at Iniscaltra, so that he pined for some more lonely 
 spot, where he might hide himself far away from men. 
 Accordingly he embarked in his curragh, as we may sup- 
 pose, and snooting the rapids, and then sailing out into the 
 estuary of the Shannon, called Luimnech, he established him- 
 self with a few companions in a lonely island, called ' Insula 
 Erci ' in the Latin Life, which may, perhaps, have been cor- 
 rupted into Iniscorcy, the name of an island in the bay 
 formed by the Fergus River, close to Kilydysart. The 
 place, at any rate, was west-north-west (a circio) of Mungret, 
 not very far away ; and had, close at hand, another small 
 island, to which the saint was sometimes in the habit of re- 
 tiring, in order, it would seem, to be still more alone with 
 God. 
 
 From this island he was called away to visit his master, 
 St. Finnian of Clonard, who had been stricken with the 
 yellow plague, and anxiously longed to receive the Holy 
 Communion from his hands. -The saint at once set out for 
 far-distant Meath, a ten days' journey, and arrived in time 
 to give the ' sacrifice ' to his beloved master before he died of 
 that dreadful pestilence. It was in the year, it seems, 
 A.D. 551 or 553 (548 with the Four Masters). 
 
 The blessed Columba himself seems to have caught the 
 contagion whilst attending his dear old master ; for retiring 
 to a neighbouring place called Cluain Hii, where one of his 
 old fellow-students had founded a church, he sickened and 
 died of the same disorder towards the close of the same year 
 his festival day being December 13th, as marked in all our 
 Calendars. 
 
 The men of Meath learning that so great a saint had died 
 amongst them, were unwilling to let the blessed body be 
 carried off, so that his companions had recourse to stratagem 
 to convey the body secretly away. But even this they could
 
 516 THE SCHOOLS OF THOMOND. 
 
 not effect until a year after the saint's death, so closely were 
 they watched by the men of Heath. At last they hid the 
 remains of their beloved father in a waggon, covered over 
 with oats, and taking several other waggons also, as if for 
 the purpose of bringing a supply of provisions with them, 
 they set out for the Shannon, choosing the road towards 
 Clomnacnoise. There they were hospitably received ; and 
 they told the abbot, in confidence, of the blessed burden 
 which they bore along with them. The abbot then greatly 
 rejoiced, and wished to have the holy relics kept at Clonmac- 
 noise ; but the brethren would not consent. Terryglass, 
 blessed by St. Patrick, on the swelling shore of the beautiful 
 Lough Derg, was chosen by himself to be ' the place of his 
 resurrection ; ' so the Abbot jfEngus, next successor to St. 
 Ciaran, let them go in peace with his blessing. But the 
 men of Meath now began to suspect that their treasure was 
 taken away, and followed quickly after, headed by the prince 
 of the southern Hy-Niall, Colman Beg. The brethren, however, 
 had already embarked ; and when Colman took the helm to 
 pursue them, Nadcumius threatened him with God's anger if 
 he followed them further. So for the time he turned back, 
 and the monks with swelling sail and sturdy oar quickly 
 traversed the lake, and came to Iniscaltra, where they buried 
 the saint in secret for seven years, giving out, it seems, that 
 his remains reposed at Terryglass. 1 We are told that the 
 lake was lit up with a heavenly light of marvellous beauty 
 during all the time that the body of the saint was borne over 
 its heaving bosom. 
 
 Meantime the men of Meath, for seven years, kept watch 
 around Terryglass, to see if they could get a chance of 
 recovering their lost treasure ; but finding no opportunity, 
 they returned at last to their homes. Only then did the 
 faithful Nadcumius transfer the holy relics from Iniscaltra 
 to Terryglass, and thus carry out at length the dying wish 
 of his beloved master. The men of Meath saw the bright 
 beams that shone from heaven over all the lake on the night 
 the holy relics were transferred ; and it was only then they 
 said "Let us cease this toil. The saint chose this place for 
 himself ; let him rest in peace there for ever." 
 
 Such is the account given in the Life ; but in the Leabhar 
 Breac, it is stated that the relics of Colum, son of Crimthann , 
 
 1 The ruins of a mediaeval monastery may still be seen at Terryglass ; and 
 a beautiful new church has been lately erected through the munificence of 
 Colonel Hickie of Slevoir, at a cost to him of nearly 10,000.
 
 THE SCHOOL OF INISCALTRA. 517 
 
 were taken by Mochoemhe of Terryglass, and by Odhran the 
 Master, on a wain southwards over Esge, to Caimin of Inis- 
 caltra. Esge is a corruption of Echtge, the ancient and cor- 
 rect name of the Slieve Aughty mountains, that separates 
 Gralway from Clare. As St. Oaimin was certainly not then in 
 Iniscaltra, this would seem to point to a subsequent trans- 
 lation of the holy relics once more to the beautiful island 
 where Columba had spent so many years. His successor, 
 Caimin, had, it would seem, rendered the island once more a 
 celebrated home of learning and piety, and wished to possess, 
 at least a portion of the blessed body of his illustrious 
 predecessor. 
 
 Columba died A.D. 552 ; St. Caimin, the still more famous 
 saint of Iniscaltra, and who has always been regarded as its 
 patron, died, according to theAnna/s of Innis fallen, just one 
 hundred years later, in A.D. 653 ; so that Caimin cannot 
 have been a disciple of Columba. He came, however, of the 
 same royal Lagenian race of Catbair Mor, for his father 
 Dima, or Dimma, belonged to Hy-Kinsellagh, but his mother 
 Cumaine, who was also, it is said, the mother of G-uaire, King 
 of Connaught, and of Cummian Fada, Bishop of Clonfert, 
 belonged originally to the west of the County Kerry, 
 We know little of the life of this great saint. He appears 
 to have been present at the Synod of Easdara, now Ballysa- 
 dare, which was held by St. Columba, and attended by the 
 principal saints of Erin about the year A.D. 580 or 585. In 
 that case the saint must have been born about the middle of 
 the sixth century, and reached the age of one hundred years 
 before he died. It is still more difficult to explain how he 
 could have been a friend and contemporary of St. Senan of 
 Scattery Island, who died about the year A.D. 544. 
 
 It is certain, however, that Caimin has always enjoyed 
 the reputation of being himself a distinguished scholar, and 
 the master of a very famous school. Lanigan tells us that 
 he wrote " a Commentary on the Psalms collated with the 
 Hebrew text," a portion of which Usher says that he himself 
 saw, and that both the text and notes were generally regarded 
 as in the handwriting of St. Caimin. 
 
 If this be the fragment of the Commentary on the 
 119th Psalm, now in Merchants' Quay, Dublin, that hand- 
 writing is certainly marvellously beautiful, but there is, we 
 believe, no appearance of any collation with the Hebrew 
 text. This fragment was once in the Franciscan Convent of 
 Donegal ; afteiwards, it was in Colgan's possession, and has 
 now fitly returned to the representatives of the original owners.
 
 518 THE SCHOOLS OF THOMOND. 
 
 Caimin's school at Inisealtra attracted, we are told, great 
 numbers of pupils, even from foreign countries. In the Life 
 of St. Senan reference is made to seven ships that arrived in 
 the Shannon crowded with students seeking this island 
 college of St. Caimin. Some poems have been attributed 
 also to the saint, but without good authority. At present the 
 remnant of the 119th Psalm is all that can fairly be regarded 
 as his ; but when complete, it must have been a very 
 beautiful and most interesting specimen of our ancient 
 Latin MSS. 
 
 Belonging, as he did, to the ruling classes, and connected 
 by blood with several of the provincial kings, being, more- 
 over, a man of great wisdom and virtue/ Caimin seems to 
 have exercised very considerable influence over the course of 
 public events in his own time. Guaire, his half-brother, 
 much against the wish, and counsel of Caimin, provoked the 
 King of Tara at the time, Diarmaid, son of Aedh Slaine, to a 
 pitched battle at a place called Carn Conall, near Gort. 
 Guaire was defeated, and his allies, the kings of Munster 
 and Hy-Fidhgeinte, were slain on the field, thus verifying 
 Caimin's predictions of the disastrous consequences that 
 would certainly result to the authors of this unjust war. 
 The Four Masters say this great battle was fought in 
 A.D. 645, but A.D. 648 or 649 seems to be the true date. 
 
 It would seem, from the curious story told by the 
 Scholiast on the Feilire of ALngus that Caimin was afflicted 
 during the latter years of his life with many painful diseases, 
 which he bore in a spirit of perfect resignation. On a 
 certain occasion when Guaire, Caimin, and Cummian were 
 together in the great church of Inisealtra, which Caimin 
 had built, and the two saints were giving spiritual counsel to 
 Guaire, Caimin said to his brother, " Well, Guaire, what 
 would you wish to have this church filled with ? " " With, 
 gold and silver," replid Guaire, " that I might give it in 
 charity to the saints and to the poor for the good of my 
 soul." Cummian, in answer to the same question, said he 
 would wish to have it filled with books, for learned men to 
 instruct others in the Word of God ; but Caimin himself, 
 when asked the same question, said he wished it full of all 
 diseases and sicknesses to afflict his body. And we are told 
 that each of the brothers got his wish from heaven, " so that 
 sickness and disease came on Caimin, and not one bone of 
 him remained united to the other on earth, but his flesh was 
 dissolved, and his nerves with the excess of every disease 
 that fell upon him." On account, doubtless, of this peni-
 
 THE SCHOOL OF INISCALTRA. 519 
 
 tential spirit, Caimin has been likened, by an old author, to 
 Pachomius the monk, one of the great fathers of Eastern 
 monasticism. The monastic school of Caimin continued to 
 flourish for many centuries after his death, and produced 
 several distinguished scholars, whose names are still held in 
 great veneration by the learned. 
 
 The ruined monuments still remaining at Iniscaltra, and 
 now happily in charge of the Board of Works, sufficiently 
 attest the ancient importance of the religious establishment 
 on " Holy Island." The peasantry still speak of it as the 
 " Seven Churches," and the island is almost invariably called 
 'Holy Island/ which shows the reverence that still clings to its 
 ruined walls. The round tower which, in the distance, seems 
 to rise from the waters of the lake, is a strikingly beautiful 
 and picturesque object in the landscape. It is still 80 feet 
 high, 46 feet in circumference, with an internal diameter 
 of nearly 8 feet. The stones in the lower courses are very 
 large, and the masonry of a massive character for the first 
 seven or eight feet ; after that the work becomes coarser and 
 more irregular, and the stones are much smaller. The door- 
 way is 10 feet 7 inches above the present level anciently it 
 was much more. There is a single window for each of the 
 different lofts, looking towards the' cardinal points, and 
 lighting the different storeys. The northern window is 
 formed of finely cut stone, and is triangular outside, but 
 square-headed within. 
 
 There is probably no foundation for the local tradition 
 which ascribes the building of this tower, as well as those of 
 Inis Clorann and Scattery Island, to St. Senanus. It is much 
 more likely that it was built at the close of the tenth, or the 
 beginning of the eleventh century, by Brian Boru, who also 
 erected or repaired the great church, which had been more 
 than once partially destroyed by the Danes. The doorway 
 of the tower is circular-headed, and formed of very finely- 
 chiselled blocks of stone. It was anciently secured by an 
 iron door the bolt hole and traces of its fastenings were 
 visible in 1838, when O'Donovan visited the island, and one 
 of the floors existed, in the memory of an old man then 
 living ; no traces, however, of the flooring now remain. 
 
 What is now called St. Caimin' s Church, a little to the 
 east-north-east of the belfry or round tower, was probably a 
 restoration by Brian Boru of the great church built by 
 St. Caimin himself. It consists of a nave and chancel, the 
 former 31 feet by 20 ; and the latter 15 by 12 feet. The 
 east wall of the chancel was quite gone, but has been partially
 
 520 THE SCHOOLS OF THOMOND. 
 
 restored. The masonry of the chancel is finely jointed 
 ashlar, much superior to the coarser work of the nave. The 
 chancel arch is the most striking and characteristic feature in 
 this old church. It is semi-circular, formed of fine cut stone 
 in three plain orders, rising from engaged jamb-shafts with 
 very peculiar capitals. The arch is 10 feet 2 inches wide at the 
 bottom, narrowing to 9 feet 11 inches at the top of the jambs. 
 It is regarded by the best judges as a work of the time of 
 King Brian. The west doorway has been lately restored. 
 Its character is similar to that of the chancel a plain impost 
 moulding, two orders rising from engaged pilasters, with 
 sculptured heads carved on the round at the top. There was 
 a chevron moulding round the face of the arch. The cill is 
 of limestone, and the entire door seems to have been an inser- 
 tion in an older building. There are two windows in the 
 south wall of the nave one square, the other round-headed, 
 but not specially striking ; the round-headed window has a 
 deep and finely executed splay. 
 
 A stone font, one foot and a half deep, probably for holy 
 water, was close to the west door at Lord Dunraven's visit, 
 and is there still. Traces of the ancient cashel which sur- 
 rounded the monastic church were also visible. There are 
 many interesting inscribed stones and crosses lying about. 
 The base of a cross lies sunk in the ground north-east of a 
 piece of a wall said to have been portion of a small chapel 
 called ' Teampul na bh fear ngonta,' or the Church of the 
 Slain Men. Here, it is said, the bodies of those slain in battle 
 were usually buried. 
 
 The fine Church of St. Mary Tempull Maire is about 
 fifty paces from St. Caimin's Church, and is much larger ; but 
 we cannot now describe it at length. The view through the 
 arch of the church over the lake towards the wooded hills of 
 Tipperary is of surpassing beauty, and once seen can never 
 be forgotten. 
 
 Several sculptured stones have been also found, and six of 
 them still bear the names of the deceased persons over whose 
 graves thev were placed. One oblong slab with the words 
 OR DO ARSSEI ... was partially broken, so that the full 
 name cannot be deciphered. Another flag has a beautiful 
 cross within a circle with the words, MOENGAL MAC 
 LODGIN, over the arms of the cross. Another is inscribed, 
 HILAD I DECHENBOIR the stone tomb of ten persons. 
 Another stone with Celtic cross of interlaced bands, asks 
 a prayer for " Conn ; " whilst three simpler flag stones, 
 with rather plain crosses of similar formation, ask a
 
 THE SCHOOL OF INISCALTRA. 521 
 
 prayer for Diarmait Mace Delbaid, for Maelpatraic, and for 
 Laithbertach. 
 
 We can identify with much probability Diarmaid, as 
 " Diarmaid, son of Oaicher, Bishop of Inis-cealtra," who died 
 A.D. 951 (F. M.) The last may refer to " Laithbeartach son of 
 .ZEngus, Bishop of Cluain-fearta Brenainn (Clonfert)," who 
 died A.D. 820, probably during a pilgrimage at the Holy 
 Island. Diarmait is the only bishop whose name is 
 mentioned by the Four Masters in connection with Inis- 
 caltra. They also give the names of five abbots, and one 
 anchorite 1 of Iniscaltra. St. Caimin himself was probably 
 only a priest. He died in A.D. 652 ; but I could find no trace 
 of his tomb-stone, although he was certainly buried there. It 
 may be that he was the saint interred in the square building 
 outside the present wall of the churchyard and which is 
 sometimes called the ' Confessional.' The churchyard is still 
 much used for interments, and is greatly overcrowded, the 
 coffins in some cases not being covered with more than six 
 inches of earth. 
 
 This holy and beautiful island suffered fearfully during the 
 ravages of the Danes. The Shannon was a highway for their 
 'ships' from Limerick to Lanesborough, and hence we find that 
 all the churches on its shores and islands were frequently 
 pillaged and burned by these marauders during the two 
 centuries of their domination. It was first plundered by 
 Turgesius about the year A.D. 836, who on the same occasion 
 plundered all the churches of Lough Derg and set up his wife 
 Ota, as a kind of priestess to deliver oracles on the high altar 
 of Clonmacnoise. It was again plundered in A.D. 922 by the 
 Danes of Limerick, who brought a fleet on Lough Derg " and 
 plundered Inis-cealtra, and they drowned its shrines, and its 
 relics, and its books," and having harried both shores of the 
 river as far as Lough Ree, they returned safely to Limerick. 
 Yet we find it had a bishop in A.D. 951 ; and the comharb of 
 Colum Mac Hy-Crimthainn in Terryglass, Killaloe, and 
 Inis-cealtra, died A.D. 1009 (recte 1010). This is the last abbot 
 of whom we have any record. It is evident, however, that 
 the school and monastery still continued to flourish. Brian 
 Boru repaired the great church about that very time, 
 A.D. 1005-1010, and no doubt also restored the efficiency 
 of the schools, for his biographer tells that he sent pro- 
 fessors and masters to teach wisdom and knowledge, and 
 
 1 This anchorite, who died in A.D. 898, is called Cosgraich. He dwelt in 
 the round tower, which on that account is sometimes call Cosgraich's tower.
 
 522 THE SCHOOLS OF THOMOXD. 
 
 to buy books beyond the sea and the great ocean, because 
 their own writings and books, in every church and in every 
 sanctuary where they were, were burned and thrown into the 
 water by the plunderers from first to last, and Brian himself 
 gave the price of learning and the price of books to every one 
 separately who \vent on this service. 1 
 
 We may be sure that Brian did not neglect Iniscaltra ; 
 for it was the great school of his own hereditary kingdom, 
 and was within a few. miles distance, of his own palace of 
 Kincora. 
 
 III. OTHER MONASTIC SCHOOLS OF THOMOXD. 
 
 There were, at least, four other great monasteries in 
 Thomond, and two of them, are mentioned as having monastic 
 schools connected with them, that is,Birr and Roscrea. But 
 I do not find the names of any distinguished scholars. 
 educated in these schools, and hence our account of these 
 monasteries must be very brief. 
 
 St. Brendan of Birr, is to be carefully distinguished from 
 his more celebrated namesake of Clonfert. He is sometimes 
 called Brendan the Elder Brendanus , Senior and like 
 Brendan of Clonfert, came of the race of Fergus MacRoy, 
 which produced more saints and heroes than, perhaps, any 
 of the other Celtic tribes. The two Brendans were together 
 at Clonard under St. Finnian, and both are ranked amongst 
 the Twelve Apostles of Erin. St. Brendan of Birr was 
 especially remarkable for the fulness of the prophetic spirit 2 
 which he possessed ; and, according to one account, it was 
 in obedience to his counsel that St. Columba, after the 
 battle of Cuil-Dreinihne, resolved to leave Ireland, and 
 preach the Gospel in Alba. It is said that on the same 
 occasion he befriended Columcille at a Synod held near 
 Teltown in Meath, where an attempt was made by some of 
 the ' saints ' to excommunicate Columba for his alleged share 
 in bringing about that bloody conflict. 
 
 It is certain that Brendan was highly esteemed by all his 
 contemporaries, and when he founded his monastery at 
 Biorra, or Riverstown, as it would be called in English, it 
 soon grew to be a very celebrated institution. The Four 
 Masters, at A.D. 553, tell us that " Brendan of Birr was seen 
 
 1 " Wars of the, Gael" page 139. 
 
 2 " Qui Prophetain scholia illiset etiam Sanctorum Hiberniae habebatur." 
 Vita.
 
 OTHER MONASTIC SCHOOLS OF THOMONU. 
 
 523 
 
 ascending a chariot into the sky this year." This entry is 
 not intended to signify that he died ; hut rather that, like 
 St. Paul, he was taken up to heaven for a little, for his 
 death is noticed by the same Four Masters under date of the 
 year A.D. 571, when they tell us that he died on the 29th of 
 September. The real date appears to have been A.D. 573. 
 From a scholastic point of view, the subsequent history of 
 this monastery contains nothing especially interesting. 
 
 St. Cronan of Eoscrea belonged to the territory and sept 
 of Ely O'Carroll, in which his monastery was situated. He 
 spent much of his youth in Connaught; 1 but afterwards 
 returning honxe, he founded his first monastic cell at a place 
 called Seanross. This old church, though, perhaps, subse- 
 quently modified and restored, is .situated within a few paces 
 of Corville House, near Eoscrea, the beautiful residence of 
 Count O'Byrne, who carefully preserves the building from 
 injury or profanation. At this period, however, all the low 
 ground around Corville, towards the railway, was the Locha 
 Ore, or Stagnum Ore, so frequently mentioned in the Lives 
 of the Saints of this district. Seanross was a -wooded pro- 
 monotory running into the lake, and it was then so inaccessible 
 and secluded (desertus et avius] that even Cronan resolved to 
 leave it, and establish his monastery for the convenience of 
 his disciples at the Ross of Cre, .which was on the highway 
 from Meath to Munster then, as it is now. 
 
 Here St. Cronan, who was himself an accomplished 
 scholar, established what was certainly a very famous school, 
 although, unfortunately, we know very little of its history. 
 There is a Life of the saint in the Salamanca MS., but 
 although abounding in miracles, it is very scanty in facts. 
 Here is a specimen of the miracles. . On one occasion Cronan 
 requested a certain skilful scribe, named Dimma, to write a 
 copy of the Four Gospels for him. Dimma said he could only 
 afford to give one day's writing doubtless he was otherwise 
 engaged. " Very well," said Cronan, " it will suffice ; but 
 begin at once, and continue to write without stopping until 
 sunset." So Dimma set to work ; but wondrous to relate, 
 the sun's light shone round him for forty days and forty 
 nights, until the entire manuscript of the Gospels was com- 
 pleted. 
 
 We have, there is every reason to believe, still in 
 existence, this wonderful manuscript written by Dimma for 
 St. Cronan ; and it was so highly prized in Roscrea that 
 
 1 Ad gurgitem Kuyad, perhaps Ball yshannon.
 
 524 THE SCHOOLS OF THOMOXH. 
 
 Tatheus O'Carroll, chieftain of Ely, had a beautiful cover or 
 shrine made to enclose the precious volume, about the middle 
 of the twelfth century. The manuscript itself contains an 
 entry, which tells who the writer was, not for the sake of 
 vain glory, but to beg a prayer from every reader for his 
 soul's welfare, according to the good old Celtic custom. 
 
 Finit. Oroit do Dimmu rod scrib pro Deo et bene- 
 dictione 
 
 That is " A prayer for Dimma, who wrote it for God, 
 and a blessing." 
 
 And at the end of the Gospel of St. John we read thus : 
 
 Finit. Amen ^ Dimma Mace. Nathi <%> . This Book 
 of Dimma contains " the Four Gospels, with the Latin ritual 
 and prayers for the visitation of the sick. A coloured figure 
 of each of the first three Evangelists precedes his Gospel, and 
 there is a. special symbol prefixed to the opening of the 
 Gospel according to St. John. On the fractured final page 
 of the volume, at the termination of St. John's Gospel, after 
 the words quoted above ' Dimma Mace Nathi ' there are 
 two imperfect and archaic Irish lines, in which the writer 
 prays that ' he may not be venomously criticised,' and 
 that he may attain ' a mansion in heaven,' as the reward of 
 his labours." 1 
 
 This Book of Dimma is at present in the Library of Trinity 
 College, Dublin ; but only a small portion of the ornamenta- 
 tion of the beautiful cumdack, or shrine, is now to be had. 
 The shrine and its contents were taken 'away from Roscrea 
 monastery at the suppression ; but were, it is said, found in 
 the year A.D. 1789 by some boys who were hunting for 
 rabbits in the Devil's Bit Mountain, which is not far from 
 Roscrea. The silver plate of the shrine was, it is supposed, 
 then torn off, and the precious stones that adorned it were 
 also abstracted ; but the portion representing the Passion of 
 Christ was left untouched. It afterwards passed from Dr. 
 Harrison, of Nenagh, through Dr. Todd into the Library of 
 Trinity College. 
 
 Of Dimma, the scribe, nothing else is known for certain. 
 There were many saints and scholars of the name ; but it is 
 supposed that this scribe is identical with Dimanus, whose 
 name is mentioned in connection with that of St. Cronan in 
 the letter addressed to the Irish Prelates in A.D. 634, by 
 Pope John IV., concerning the alleged appearance of 
 Pelagianism in Ireland. 
 
 1 See Gilbert's National Manuscripts, Vol. i., page 21.
 
 OTHER MONASTIC SCHOOLS OF THOMOND. 525 
 
 We know from various entries in our Annals that 
 St. Cronan's School of Roscrea continued to flourish for many 
 centuries even during the worst period of the Danish ravages. 
 We find frequent reference to its abbots, scribes, and pro- 
 fessors down to the period of the Anglo-Norman invasion. 
 A portion of the old abbey still remains, and shows that it 
 was one of tbe most beautiful specimens of .Romanesque 
 architecture in Ireland. 
 
 St. Senan's monastery on Scattery Island was also a very 
 famous institution ; but I do not find that it was celebrated 
 as a school. Neither was St. Flannan's monastery at 
 Killaloe frequented by scholars, who seem to have preferred 
 the quiet beauty of Iniscaltra to the passes of the Shannon, 
 especially after the arrival of our unwelcome visitors from 
 Scandinavia.
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 LATER SCHOOLS OF THE WEST. 
 
 I. ST. COLMAN'S SCHOOL OF MAYO. 
 
 " Tis a rosary of islands in the 'Ocean's hollow palm 
 
 Sites of faith unchanged by storms, all unchanging in the calm, " 
 There the world-betraved may hide them, and the weary heart find 
 balm." 
 
 M'Gee. 
 
 THE history of St. Colman, who founded the monastery of 
 Innisboffin, and the Monastic School of Mayo, is full of 
 interest. He may be called an island-saint, like Enda of 
 Aran ; but his was a far more strange and adventurous career. 
 Trained in Ion a, ruling in Lindisfarne, defeated but not 
 subdued by Wilfrid at Whitby, and then coming home in 
 his old age with the relics of his sainted predecessors to 
 labour and to die in the misty islands of the West there is 
 no element of romantic interest wanting in Colman' s extra- 
 ordinary history. 
 
 We may, I think, fairly assume with Colgan that he was 
 a native of some part of the West ; for otherwise the very 
 existence of Innisboffin would have been unknown to him. 
 It is quite certain, however, that he received his education 
 and religious training in lona, and that he was for many 
 years a member of that community. Bede describes him as 
 an Irish Bishop (de Scottia Episcopus), and shows very clearly 
 what he means thereby, when he adds, that on his departure 
 from Lindisfarne he returned to Ireland (in Scottiam re- 
 gressus est). Indeed, Bede has never, even once, applied the 
 word ' Scottia ' except to Ireland. 1 
 
 Colman was a monk in lona during the abbacy of Segienus, 
 the third ruler of that monastery from A.D. 623 to 652. These 
 were years of much missionary enterprise, especially after 
 King Oswald mounted the throne of Northumbria in A.D. 634. 
 At his request Segienus sent one of his monks, Corban by 
 name, to preach to the Northumbrians. But Corban's mission 
 was a failure ; he expected too much from the semi-barbarous 
 Angles of Northumbria ; and he offered them the solid food 
 
 1 See Skene's Celtic Scotland, Introduction, page 3.
 
 ST. COLMAN'S SCHOOL or MAYO. 527 
 
 before lie gave them the milk of sound doctrine. After his 
 return to lona, Aidan, an Irishman, as Bede tells us, was 
 consecrated bishop, and sent to preach in Northumbria. 
 Bede gives a most interesting account of his life and cha- 
 racter, 1 and adds, as might be expected, that his mission 
 was entirely successful. He converted the Northumbrians, 
 and founded the monastery and See of Lindisfarne about the 
 year A.D. 635. When Bishop Aidan died in A.D. 651, another 
 Irish prelate called Finan was sent to succeed him in the 
 government of the Northumbrian Church. His first task 
 was to build a church in Lindisfarne, of hewn oak, after the 
 manner of the Irish, and he covered it with reeds. In this 
 church he laid the body of his sainted predecessor on the 
 right side of the high altar. 
 
 The Easter Controversy, of which we have already spoken, 
 embittered the brief episcopacy of Finan. Like Aidan and 
 all the monks of lona, he still followed the old Irish custom 
 of calculating the Easter Day, so that the southern Angles, 
 who followed the Roman method, were much scandalized to 
 see the King celebrating Easter Sunday, while the Queen, 
 Eanfled, and her' Roman chaplain were keeping the rigorous 
 feast of Palm Sunday. 
 
 Bishop Finan died in A.D. 661, after ten years' episcopacy, 
 during which nothing was done to bring about uniformity; 
 and Colman, another Irish monk of lona, was appointed to 
 succeed him. But he, too, persisted in observing the old 
 Irish Easter, and wearing the frontal tonsure, so that even 
 King Oswy felt it was high time to try and establish one 
 uniform usage in Northumbria. 
 
 For this purpose a Conference, or Synod, was appointed 
 to meet in the monastery of Streaneshalch, since called 
 Whitby. The abbess Hilda favoured Bishop Colman, and 
 presided over the assembly as it was held in her monastery ; 
 and she was besides a royal lady. King Oswy also favoured 
 the Scots, but Aldfrid, his son, the crown prince, was in 
 favour of the Roman usage. The learned and eloquent 
 Wilfrid, then an abbot, but afterwards Archbishop of Fork, 
 was the great champion of orthodoxy, and was supported in 
 his views by Agilbert, a Frenchman, who had studied the 
 Scriptures in Ireland, and appears to have been acquainted 
 with the Irish language and usages. On the other side was 
 Colman, and he had an able episcopal supporter in Bishop 
 Cedd, who, though a southern prelate, was inclined to favour 
 
 1 Bede, Liber iii., C. v.
 
 528 LATER SCHOOLS OF THE WEST. 
 
 the Irish usage, for he was trained and consecrated by the 
 ' Scots/ that is the Irish party. 
 
 Colman was called upon by the king to open the discus- 
 sion. He justified his own usage by three arguments first, 
 because he received the practice from the holy elders of the 
 Irish Church, who had ordained him bishop and sent him to 
 Northumbria ; secondly, because it was the practice of the 
 holy Apostle St. John ; and thirdly, because this usage had 
 been sanctioned by the holy and learned Anatolius, a man of 
 great authority in the Church of God. 
 
 Then Wilfrid 1 rose to reply, as he was well acquainted 
 with the Anglo-Saxon tongue. He was, besides, an able and 
 learned man who had travelled much abroad. His first 
 argument against Colman was of itself quite conclusive : 
 " The Easter which we observe we saw celebrated everywhere 
 in Africa, Asia, Egypt, and Greece we saw it celebrated by 
 all men at Rome, where the blessed Apostles, Peter and Paul, 
 lived, taught, suffered, and were buried." Apostolic authority 
 and universal usage were thus clearly against the few Picts 
 and Britons the Irish had nearly all given in by this time 
 who still adhered to the old Easter and the frontal tonsure. 
 As to the authority of St. John, to which Colman appealed, it 
 was not to the purpose. For according to Wilfrid, St. John 
 kept Easter on the 14th day of the first moon in the evening, 
 no matter what day of the week it happened to be in this 
 respect following the Jews, whilst it was yet lawful to 
 Judaize. "But you, Colman, admit that Easter may not be 
 celebrated on a week day, and hence you do not follow the 
 practice of St. John, nor, as I have shown, of St. Peter 
 either." This was a home thrust for poor Colman, and Wilfrid 
 followed it up by disposing of Anatolius also. " He was, I 
 admit, a holy, learned, and commendable man ; but you do 
 not observe his decrees ; for he had a cycle of nineteen years 
 of which you know nothing, or if you do, you despise it ; 
 although it is now followed by the entire Church." 
 
 As to Column's appeal to the authority of his sainted 
 predecessors, Wilfrid admitted that they were holy men, and 
 perhaps even men of miracles ; but they were excusable on 
 account of ignorance of the truth : " you, however," he says, 
 " have no such excuse because the more perfect rule adopted 
 by the entire Church is now brought home to your minds." 
 
 Wilfrid concluded by appealing once more to the authority 
 of the Apostolic See of Peter as conclusive, for it was to 
 
 1 See Irish Ecclesiastical Record for April, 1887.
 
 ST. COLMAN'S SCHOOL OF MAYO. 529 
 
 Peter our Lord said " Thou art Peter, and upon this rock 
 I will build my Church, and the gates of hell shall not 
 prevail against it." 
 
 "Colman," said the king, "is it true that these words 
 were spoken to Peter by our Lord ? " It is true, king," said 
 Colman. " Then," said the king, " as Peter is the door- 
 keeper, I will not contradict him in anything lest there 
 should be none to open to me if I made him my adversary." 
 So the Conference ended, and Colinan and his clerics felt 
 that they were defeated. It was a severe blow to the old 
 man ; and he felt it keenly, not for his own sake, but for the 
 sake of his sainted predecessors. " His doctrine," says Bede, 
 " was rejected and his sect despised ; " and that, too, by men 
 whom he must have regarded as interlopers. Why should they 
 put their sickles into his harvest ? Why not leave him and 
 his clergy and people in peace ? When hard work was to be 
 done, they were not to be found it was the monks of lona 
 who converted the Northumbrians to the Church ; but now 
 these Southerns came to regulate the date of their Easter 
 Day, and forbid them to wear the tonsure, which they had 
 worn from their boyhood, and which was worn by Columcille 
 himself, the great Apostle of the Picts and Scots. It was 
 intolerable ; and now as King Oswy and his son Aldfrid had 
 turned from their spiritual fathers to Wilfrid and his associ- 
 ates, Colman resolved to leave Northumbria for ever. 
 
 But first the old man returned to Lindisfarne, and told his 
 monks all that had happened. For his own part, he declared 
 that he would not accept the new discipline, nor give up the 
 traditions of his sainted predecessors, who proved their 
 mission by countless miracles ; and that, as the king was 
 determined to follow the new discipline introduced by 
 Wilfrid, he himself would return to his native country 
 where he might follow the ancient discipline in peace. 
 Those who listed might remain ; but those who choose to 
 come with him were welcome, and together they would seek 
 an asylum in the far west of Ireland. 
 
 The sequel is told by Bede : " Colman, the Irish Bishop, 
 departed from Britain, and took with him all the Irish (Scoti) 
 that he had assembled in the Island of Lindisfarne, and also 
 about thirty of the English nation, who had been instructed 
 in the monastic life, and leaving some brothers in his church 
 of Lindisfarne, he repaired first to the Island of Hii, whence 
 he had been first sent to preach the Word of God to the 
 English nation. Afterwards he retired to a small island, 
 which is to the west of Ireland, and at some distance from its 
 
 2L
 
 530 LATER SCHOOLS OF THE WEST. 
 
 coast, called, in the language of the Irish (Sooti), Inisbofinde, 
 that is, the Island of the White Cow. Arriving there he 
 built a monastery, and placed in it the monks he had 
 brought with him of both nations ; who, not agreeing among 
 themselves, by reason that the Scots that is the Irish in 
 the summer season, when the harvest was to be brought in, 
 leaving the monastery, wandered about through places with 
 which they were acquainted, yet wished to get a share of 
 what the English monks had provided for their common 
 table. Colman sought to put an end to these dissensions ; 
 and, travelling about, at length found a place in Ireland fit 
 to build a monastery, which, in the language of the Scots, is 
 called Mageo " (Mayo.) 1 
 
 Such is the brief, but most interesting, account which the 
 Father of English History gives of the founding of the two 
 monasteries of Inisboffin and Mayo ; and it is confirmed in 
 all points by our native Annalists. But there are some few 
 additional particulars to be noted. 
 
 When Colman and his monks were leaving Lindisfarne, 
 their hearts were sore at the thought of leaving behind them 
 the relics of their sainted father Aidan, who had founded 
 that church and monastery. Yet they did not wish to carry 
 away all the holy relics, and so they adopted a middle course. 
 They opened the grave which was outside their wooden 
 church, in the little green churchyard, where they had so 
 often walked and prayed. With reverent hands and stream- 
 ing eyes they took a part of the sacred relics to carry home 
 with them to their native Ireland ; the rest, for greater 
 security, they re-interred in the sacristy for those who were 
 to come after them. 
 
 Then the band of exiles set out on their journey home. 
 But first, as in duty bound, Colrnan and his monks resolved 
 to visit lona, the parent house, w r hich had sent them to preach 
 the Gospel in Northumbria. Bede does not tell us how long 
 the}- remained there ; and it is not easy to fix the period from 
 the dates given in our own Annals. Colman left Lindisfarne 
 A.D. 664 ; and the Chronicon Scotorum?- and the first entry in 
 the Annals of Ulster 3 tell us that in the same year he came to 
 Inisbofinde. In that case the visit to lona could only have 
 been a passing one. But the weight of authority goes to 
 
 1 Bede, Eccles. Hist., Book iv., c. 4. 
 
 2 A.D. 644, " Navigatio Colmain episcopi cum reliquis Scotorum ad 
 insulum Vaccae Albae in qua fundavit ecclesiam. 1 ' Ch, Scotorum. 
 
 s They say he came in the year in which Diarmait and Blathmac died ; 
 that ie, in A.D. 664, according to the first entry.
 
 ST. COLMAN'S SCHOOL OF MAYO. 531 
 
 show that this voyage of Colman did not take place until 
 A.D. 667 or 668. l In the Ulster Annals, Hennessy renders 
 the contraction " cum reliquis scorum," as if it were cum 
 reliquiis sanctorum " with the relics of saints," which they 
 undoubtedly had with them ; but in the Annals of the Four 
 Masters it is rendered with " the other saints ; " and in the 
 Chronicon, " with the other Irish monks " as if it were, 
 cum reliquis scotorum. There is, however, no difference in 
 meaning, because Colman brought both with him to Mayo 
 his Irish monks, and the relics of his sainted father Aidan, if 
 not, also of Columba, and some other saints of lona. 
 
 And there, says Bede, in luisbofinde he founded his 
 monastery ; and, as the Irish Annals say, there he also built 
 his church. 
 
 It is a bare and desolate island exposed to all the fury of 
 the Atlantic storms ; but the monks of old thought little of 
 comfort so long as they could be alone with Grod and who 
 was to disturb them on the naked shores of this barren 
 island ? It is probable that at this time the island was un- 
 inhabited ; and we know, from the Life of St. Flannan of 
 Killaloe, that the people of these western coasts were still 
 half pagan. The more need then of apostolic men to instruct 
 them in Christian doctrine. 
 
 The island took its ancient name from a wild tale of a 
 certain white heifer that dwelt in an enchanted lake in the 
 island, whence it was seen to emerge from time to time to 
 graze on its shores. The lake is there still, and, if one may 
 credit the islanders, the White Cow is there too, in spite of 
 St. Colman and all his monks. The island is about six miles 
 due west of Renville Point, in the Joyce country, and con- 
 tains 2,312 statute acres, most of which, however, is quite 
 naked and barren. At one time the population amounted to 
 fifteen hundred souls, who lived very much on the produce of 
 their stormy seas ; but at present, we believe, it has fallen to 
 about two-thirds of that number. 
 
 Inisbomn still contains several interesting memorials of 
 St. Colman. The ruins of his ancient church are still to be 
 seen in the townland of Knock. There is also a holy well to 
 the south-west of St. Colman's oratory, which is called Tobar 
 Flannain, and takes its name from the patron saint of 
 Killaloe, who spent a considerable time on the island, and 
 was much venerated there. In the townland of Middle 
 
 1 See the Four Masters, the second entry in the Annals of Ulster 
 A.D. 667, and Tighernach, who has it in A.D. 668.
 
 532 LATER SCHOOLS OF THE WEST. 
 
 Quarter dwelt another recluse, who appears to have been a 
 disciple of St. Colman ; the site of his ' House ' is still 
 pointed out, and called in Irish Aittighe Guarim the 
 place of Guarim's House. The celebrated Grace O'Malley, 
 better known as Grana Weale, had a castle on the island, 
 which has almost quite disappeared but the place is still called 
 Dun-Graine. In Cromwell's time the island was fortified, 
 and became a kind of penal colony, in which many horrible 
 atrocities were committed on the helpless Irish. The remnant 
 who survived were crowded into ships, like African slaves, 
 and transported to Barbadoes. Those who did not perish 
 during the voyage soon succumbed beneath the broiling sun 
 of the West Indian plantations. The islanders still remember, 
 with a shudder, those terrible times. 
 
 It seems, however, that the Celts and Saxons did not get 
 on amicably together even in St. Colman's time. The saints 
 themselves will sometimes disagree ; and, according to Bede, 
 the Irish monks were much in fault. During the summer 
 months, when the grain was to be sown, and reaped, and 
 harvested, they wandered about in the neighbourhood 
 " through places with which they were acquainted " 
 coshering, in fact, upon their friends, and very likely 
 pocketing such alms as they could get. But when the 
 winter came, they returned to the monastery to eat what they 
 had not sown nor helped to reap. It was too bad ; and if it 
 be true, and not the recital of some Anglo-Saxon returned 
 to Yarrow from Connemara, one cannot blame the Saxon 
 monks for objecting to such a state of things. 
 
 So Colman resolved to put the Saxon monks in a monas- 
 tery by themselves, and make the Irishmen work for their 
 living. He travelled about far and near to find a suitable 
 place on the mainland for a monastery. At length he suc- 
 ceeded. He bought a small parcel of land from the ' earl ' 
 to whom it belonged this is Bede's way of saying it and 
 got mere, it seems, on condition that the monks residing there 
 should pray to the Lord for him who let them have the place. 
 "Then Colman, building the monastery with the help of the 
 earl and all his neighbours, placed the English there, leaving 
 the Scots in the aforesaid island. That monastery is to this 
 day (A.D. 730) possessed by English inhabitants; being the 
 same, that growing up from a small beginning, to be very 
 large, is generally called Mageo (Magh eo) ; and as all 
 things have long since been brought under a better method, 
 it contains an exemplary society of monks, who are gathered 
 there from the province of the English, and live by the
 
 ST. COLMAN'S SCHOOL OF MAYO. 533 
 
 labour of their hands, after the example of the venerable 
 fathers, under a rule and canonical abbot, in much continency 
 and singleness of life." The English monks were anxious, in 
 fact, to get Home Rule, even in Ireland ; and were, it seems, 
 much the better of getting it. We shall presently return to 
 the history of this monastery of Mayo. 
 
 Of Colman's further history we know nothing except the 
 date of his death. Doubtless with his Celtic sympathies he 
 preferred to live in his island retreat ; although no doubt he 
 visited from time to time the English monks of Mayo. But 
 they had now got a 'canonical abbot ' of their own, one 
 elected by themselves*, and were, it seems, an entirely indepen- 
 dent community. Their subsequent history shows that the 
 monastery of Mayo, as Bede says, became a large establish- 
 ment, and ultimately an episcopal See. 
 
 Colman's death is noticed by the Four Masters in 
 A.D. 674 ; the Annals of Ulster enter it under A.D. 675 ; but, 
 the true year appears to be A.D. '676 the ninth after his 
 arrival in Inisboffin. All our martyrologies give his festival 
 on the 8th of August. In the Feilire of -ZEngus he is set 
 down as the " praiseworthy Colman of Inis-bo-finde ; " and 
 the scholiast describes that . island as situated in the western 
 sea off Connemara in the west of Connaught. There, too, he 
 was buried. 
 
 Bede, while strongly dissenting from Colman's views on 
 the Easter Question, -bears noble testimony to his many 
 virtues. He was much beloved, he says, by King Oswy, 
 on account of his singular discretion. Then he adds that the 
 place (Lindisfarne) he governed shows how frugal he arid his 
 predecessors were j Jaow they despised earthly goods ; and 
 kept no money which they did not give to the poor ; how 
 their whole care was. to serve God, not the world to feed the 
 soul, and not the belly. Hence the religious habit was then 
 held in great veneration ; the monk was joyfully received 
 everywhere, and people from all quarters ran to get his bless- 
 ing. When these Irish monks went into a village, it was 
 either to preach, baptize, visit the sick, or otherwise take care 
 of souls. They refused to endow their monasteries with lands 
 or other possessions, content to preach the Gospel and to live 
 by the labour of their hands, and the small alms of the 
 faithful. It is not wonderful that they converted Northum- 
 bria, and that even in these unbelieving days of ours the 
 memory of the Irish monks of Lindisfarne is still revered by 
 men of all classes and of all creeds.
 
 534 LATER SCHOOLS OF THE WEST. 
 
 II. ST. GERALD OF MAYO. 
 
 St. Gerald was in all probability the first 'canonical abbot' 
 whom the Saxons of Mayo elected with the assent of Colman 
 to preside over that famous monastery. There is a Life of 
 this saint given by Colgan at the 13th of March, his festival 
 day. 1 It was evidently not written for a considerable period 
 after the saint's death ; and although containing much that 
 Lanigan calls ' sorry stuff,' it still furnishes us with some 
 valuable information. The composition of the Life has been 
 attributed to Auguhtin, Magraidin, the compiler of the 
 celebrated manuscript belonging to the Monastery of All 
 Saints in Lough Ree. The substance of Magraidan's strange 
 biography is as follows : 
 
 Whilst Colman was Archbishop of Northumbria, the king 
 of that or some neighbouring territory, Cusperius by name, 
 sent his four sons to be educated under Colman's care, at 
 Lindisfarne. Their names were Gerald, Balanus, Berikertus 
 and Hubritanus or Hulbritanus. The queen, their mother, 
 was called Benitia. It is not a little remarkable that 
 we find the names of these holy brothers in our domestic 
 martyrologies. Balloin of Tech-Saxon (in the Co. Mayo) is 
 given in the Martyrologyof Donegal an. the 3rd of September; 
 Beret chert of Tolach-leis is given at the 6th of December ; 
 and Huildbriti at the 24th of April, is given both by Marianas 
 U'Gorman and the M.artytoLogy of Tallaght. The four 
 brothers were instructed by Colman in the liberal arts, in 
 theology, and in. monastic discipline, and/ seem to have 
 become greatly attached to their master. 
 
 It is said that Gerald became Abbot of Winton before 
 Colman's departure > from Lindisfarne.. When these four 
 brothers saw how the kings and clergy of Northumbria 
 rejected the discipline and authority of Colman, they resolved 
 to leave their native country and accompany their beloved 
 master to Ireland. There was nothing to detain them in 
 England. Their 'mother was dead, and their father, it seems, 
 entered on a career of crime, which hastened their departure. 
 And so, says the Life, embarking in their fleet of ships, or 
 rather boats, and taking with them all necessaries, they set 
 sail and landed at the ' mouth of the Shannon in Connaught.' 2 
 The subsequent narrative, however, shows that it is much 
 more piobable that they landed at the mouth of the rivir 
 
 1 See also O'Haiilon's Lives of the Saints. 
 
 2 Clare was a part of Counaught, at least at an earlier date.
 
 ST. GERALD OF MAYO. 535 
 
 Moy near Killala, for it is in that district we find them shortly 
 after their arrival. 
 
 It was nothing new or strange for English princes and 
 nobles to go to Ireland to be educated at this period. It is 
 fortunate that on this point we have the unexceptional testi- 
 mony of Bede himself. " Many of the nobility, and of the 
 lower ranks of the English nation were there (in Ireland) at 
 that time (when the pestilence broke out), who, in the days 
 of the Bishops Finan and Colman, forsaking their native 
 island, retired thither either for the sake of divine studies, or 
 of a more continent life ; and some of them at once devoted 
 themselves to a monastic life ; others chose rather to apply 
 themselves to study > going about from, one master's cell to 
 another. The Irish (Scoti). willingly received them all, and 
 took care to supply them.with food, and also to furnish them 
 with books to read, and their teaching gratis." 1 
 
 It. seems that the west of Ireland was, especially after 
 the return of, Colman, a favourite place of refuge for these 
 Saxqn scholars. In fact we find in all our native annals that 
 the. sons -of Gartnait,. King of tb Picts, with the people of 
 Sketh (probably Sky-) made-a voyage to Ireland in the very 
 same year, according to the Ulster Annals., that Colman sailed 
 for Inisbofinde. Their return to Scotland two years later is 
 also mentioned, which shows that they spent at least two 
 years, most probably in the West of Ireland with Colman. 
 
 Whether St. Gerald and his brothers actually accompanied 
 St. Colman to Ireland is doubtful. The narrative in the 
 Life would seem to imply. that they. came straight to Ireland 
 after Colman's departure from Lindisfa.rne, and that during 
 the time he remained in lona Gerald and his companions had 
 founded the monastery of Elitheria, or ' The Pilgrims' 
 Home,' as we might call it. At first, it seems, they met with 
 some opposition from a certain wicked ruler in the district, 
 called Ailill, who sent an. armed force to oppose their landing. 
 This was in all probability Ailill, or, Oilioll, son of Dunchadh 
 of Murrisk, prince of the Hy-Fiachrach, and ancestor of the 
 O'Dowds. Dunchadh himself was slain in A.D. 681 ; but his 
 son, Oilioll, might well be of age and a ruler of a separate 
 territory in A.D. 664 or 665. He was prince of Tirawley ; 
 and hence it is highly probable that it was either at Killala 
 or in the Bay of Westport that the Saxon pilgrims landed. 
 By a wondrous miracle Gerald disarmed the hostility of 
 Ailill, and even induced him to grant them the site of a 
 
 , Eccles. Hist., Book iii., c. 27.
 
 536 LATER SCHOOLS OF THE WEST. 
 
 monastery which, in the Life, is called Elitheria, or the Field 
 of the Stag, from the Irish ElitJi, a stag. Colgan, however, 
 thinks it more probable that the place received its name 
 from elitheir, a pilgrim. This locality has not been identified. 
 It is evident, however, that it was not far from the banks of 
 the Moy, for prince Ailill, seeing the wonders wrought by 
 St. Gerald, asked him to remove a rock from the bed of that 
 river which was a great impediment to navigation, and tore 
 the fishermen's nets when they were draughting the river 
 for salmon. In this, also, Gerald gratified the prince, and 
 caused the rock to be broken in fragments. No doubt this 
 occurred somewhere between Killala and Ballina. 
 
 Here the writer of Gerald's Life is guilty of a great 
 anachronism, for he says that Raghallach (Ragallus), the 
 celebrated King of Connaught, hearing of the fame of 
 St. Gerald, invited the latter to come to his court, and 
 promised also to give him land for founding a monastery ; it 
 adds that afterwards he fulfilled this promise, and gave him 
 the ground on which the monastery of Mayo was built. 
 Now Raghallach, or Reilly, King of Connaught, was slain 
 in A.D. 645, as the Four Masters say, or in A.D. 648, accord- 
 ing to the Annals of Ulster, that is, nearly twenty years 
 before Gerald came to Ireland. The King of Connaught, 
 when Mayo was founded, was Cennfaeladh, son of Colgu, 
 whose death is notified by the Four Masters, A.D. 680. 
 Besides, Bede expressly says that it was Colman himself who 
 procured the site of the Mayo monastery, partly for money 
 and partly for the prayers of the community. 
 
 We are then told that Gerald divided this community 
 into three sections. One party he sent back to England in 
 order to procure all things necessary for the new monastery. 
 A second division was told off to build the dun or cashel 
 mums it is called in the Latin Life around the monastery. 
 The third division was, meantime, employed in the celebra- 
 tion of the Divine Offices for themselves and for the people 
 around them. 
 
 We are then told that Gerald of Mayo, and all the other 
 heads of religious houses in Ireland, went to Tara in obedience 
 to an edict of the joint kings, Diarmaid and Blathmac, who 
 reigned from A.D. 658 to 664 or 666. The purpose of the 
 kings in summoning this meeting seems to have been to 
 devise some means of staying the dreadful plague and its 
 attendant famine which were then ravaging the country. 
 St. Fechin and St. Gerald are represented as divided in 
 opinion ; the former said the plague was sent by God to pre-
 
 ST. GERALD OF MAYO. 
 
 vent the people from starving, and that they must have 
 perished either way, seeing that the country was over 
 populated. But St. Gerald, like many other well-meaning 
 people, put his trust in God, and said that all the clergy 
 should pray to God to stop the plague, and also to supply 
 food for the starving people. Divine Providence, he said, 
 could do both one and the other ; but it seems there was no 
 human help to save them. The plague, however, soon solved 
 the problem; it spared none saints, kings, and people alike 
 perished, so that half the population of the land disappeared 
 in two years. St. Gerald himself escaped, and saved many 
 others by his gift of healing ; but his sister, Segresia, and one 
 hundred of her nuns, who, it seems, had a convent close to 
 Elitheria, with fifty of the monks of that establishment, all 
 perished. 
 
 It is certain that St. Gerald was alive until A.D. 697, for 
 we are told that about that time St. Adamnan, the celebrated 
 Abbot of lona, paid him a visit at the convent of Mayo. We 
 know that Adamnan in that year went to Ireland, and pro- 
 mulged the celebrated ' Lex Innocentiae,' by which women 
 were forbidden to share the dangers of the battlefield. We 
 know, too, that he founded the Church of Skreen in Hy- 
 Fiachrach, probably about the same time, and if he were in 
 that neighbourhood nothing is more natural than that he 
 should visit the foundation of Colman, whom he must have 
 known in his youth, and try to ascertain how the Saxon 
 monastery, which he had planted, was progressing in the 
 land of the Scots. He seems to have remained, too, a 
 considerable time in Ireland, or very soon returned thither, 
 for in A.D. 703 he celebrated the Roman Easter (Canonicum 
 Pascha) ' in Hibernia.' 1 It is even stated that he ruled the 
 monastery of Mayo for seven years after the death of Gerald 
 himself, and during that time was engaged in writing books, 
 casting bells, and teaching the monks, until he returned to 
 die in his own monastery of lona. This is not 'manifestly a 
 figment/ as has been said by some writers ; there is nothing 
 at all improbable in it, especially if St. Gerald did not live 
 after A.D. 697, as Colgan thinks. 
 
 The chief difficulty arises from the fact that the death of 
 St. Gerald seems to be recorded at a much later date. The 
 Four Masters record it, A.D. 726, " Gerald of Magh Eo died 
 on the 13th of March." The Annals of Ulster record the 
 same event, A.D. 731. "The Pontiff of Magh Eo of the 
 
 1 See Keeveu' Adamnan, page 378.
 
 538 LATER SCHOOLS OF THE WEST. 
 
 Saxons, Gerald, died." It is alleged, however, that the 
 words ' Pontifex Magh Eo of the Saxons ' should be con- 
 nected with the previous entry, which would then read 
 thus : " Bellum Connacht in quo cecidit Muredach Mac 
 Indrechtaigh pontifex Maighe Eo Saxonura." The critics 
 say, however, that the mistake was made by the Four 
 Masters, who connect it in this way, and that Gerald, not 
 Muredach Mac Indrechtaigh, was the Pontiff referred to. 
 If Gerald really lived to this date, he must have been at 
 least ninety years of age when he died in. his monastery of 
 Mayo. It is, at all events, certain that he died there, and 
 his fame as a saint and scholar both during his life, and long 
 afterwards, was the means of attracting crowds of students 
 both from Erin and Saxonland, to the gre.at monastic school, 
 which he founded in the plains of Mayo. 
 
 There is a local tradition that King Alfred .the Great 
 visited Mayo, and that he sent his son to be. trained up in 
 that monastery ; but that the young prince -died there, and 
 some of the natives even undertake to .point out the place 
 where he was buried. It is very likely .this tradition had its 
 origin in the undoubted visit to Ireland, and most probably 
 to Mayo also, of King Aldfrid of Northumbria. He was aa 
 intimate friend of Adanman, and very likely accompanied 
 that saint to Ireland. William of Malmeshury states 
 expressly that he spent his .youth in Ireland, and it was 
 most probably at Mayo. 
 
 III. SUBSEQUENT HISTORY OF THE SCHOOL OF MAYO. 
 
 Of the subsequent history .of this great monastic school 
 we know very little. 
 
 Aedhan, Bishop of Magh Eo, died A.D. 768 (F.M. ) ; and the 
 monastery was burned in A.D. 778 (recte 783) by lightning, 
 " on Saturday night, precisely on the 4th of the Nones of 
 August. That night was terrible with thunder and light- 
 ning, and wind-storms," which destroyed Armagh and Clon- 
 broney, as well as the monastery of Mayo. Probably all these 
 edifices were then built of wood. It is said that Turgesius, 
 the Dane, attacked and plundered the monastery in A.D. 818 ; 
 but of this pillage I can find no record, except in the Life of 
 St. Gerald, which is no authority for dates. In A.D. 805 
 (but really in A.D. 808), the Four Masters say the oratory of 
 Mayo was again burned. 
 
 During the twelfth and thirteenth centuries frequent men- 
 tion is made of Mayo ; and it seems that during this period
 
 SUBSEQUENT HISTORY OF THE SCHOOL OF MAYO. 539 
 
 a bishop usually dwelt in the monastery, who exercised juris- 
 diction over the surrounding parishes. 
 
 It appears to have been regarded as a holy place to be 
 buried in, for we are told that Domhnall, son of Tuiiough 
 O'Conor, Lord of North Connaught, " the glory, and the 
 moderator, and the good adviser of the Irish people," died in 
 A.I>. 1176, and was interred at Mayo of the Saxons (F.M.) 
 
 In A.D. 1209 is recorded the death of " Cele O'Duffy, Bishop 
 of Magh Eo of the Saxons," which shows that at this period 
 it was recognised as a diocese long after the Synod of Kells, 
 in A.D. 1152. O'Donovan, in a note to this entry, observes 
 that although Colgan translates Magh Eo, the plain of the 
 " Oaks," it more probably means the plain of the 
 " Yews." 
 
 This O'Duffy was a member of the celebrated family of 
 that name, which during the twelfth century produced the 
 most distinguished ecclesiastics in the province of Connaught. 
 They were not merely prelates and scholars, but liberal 
 patrons of the fine arts as they were known at the time. To 
 them we owe the beautiful processional cross of Cong, the gem 
 of Irish metal-work. . From a very early period they were con- 
 nected with the School of Clonmacnoise, and afterwards with 
 the School of Tuam; but the monastery of Cong seems to 
 have been their favourite dwelling-place when living, and 
 resting-place when dead. Cong was made a diocese at the 
 Synod of fiathbreasil in A.D. 1110. The monastery was burned 
 A.D. 1114 ; it,was then probably that the beautiful building 
 was erected, whose picturesque ruins have charmed every 
 visitor to thai remote district. In the base of the market 
 cross of Cong we find an inscription, probably of the 13th 
 century, asking a prayer for "Nichol and for Gilleberd 
 O'Dufty, who was in the Abbacy of Cong," and who doubtless 
 caused this cross, the, " symbol of their faith and hope," to 
 be erected in the square of their monastic city. In A.D. 1150 
 Muiredeach O'Duffy, Archbishop of Connaught, '' the chief 
 senior of all Ireland in wisdom, in chastity, and in the 
 bestowal of jewels and food, died at Cong." In A.D. 1168, 
 Flanagan O'Duffy, Bishop and chief doctor of the Irish in 
 literature, history, and poetry, and in every kind of science 
 known to man in his time, died at Cong, in the bed of 
 Muireadhach O'Duffy." Catholicus O'Duffy, Archbishop of 
 Tuam, was the most distinguished man of his time. Pie was 
 present at the Council of Lateran in A.D. 1179, and died in 
 A.D. 1120. 
 
 In A.D. 1236 MacWilliam (Burke) went to Mayo of the
 
 540 
 
 LATER SCHOOLS OF THE WKsi . 
 
 Saxons, then, it seems, under the protection of ' King ' Fulira 
 O'Conor, "and he left neither rick nor basket of corn in the 
 large church- enclosure of Mayo, or in the yard of the church 
 of St. Michael the Archangel, and he carried away eighty 
 baskets out of the churches themselves." These yards ad-- 
 joining the churches seem to have been used as haggards by 
 the monks for storing their corn, and were completely pillaged 
 by MaeWilliam. Yet the monks still continued to live in the 
 midst of the perpetual strife which desolated the Province of 
 Connaught during the next century ; for in A.D. 1478 a 
 comparatively recent period the death of Bishop Higgins, 
 of Mayo of the Saxons, is recorded. 
 
 It is difficult to ascertain exactly when the See of Mayo 
 was annexed to Tuam. Christopher Bodkin was Archbishop 
 of Tuam, " although he took the oath of allegiance to the 
 Queen," l from A.D. 1555 to A.D. 1572. Daviol Wolf, in a 
 letter to the Holy See from Limerick, October 12th, 1561, 
 says that Bodkin held besides Tuam the Sees of " Duacensis 
 Enachdunensis, et Mayonensis ; " but he (Bodkin) says 
 " the two last were united to Tuam long ago." There is, 
 however, every reason to believe that Bodkin was a time- 
 server, and a See-grabber, for not content with the four Sees 
 mentioned, he also claimed the Diocese of Clonfert. Bodkin 
 might, however, with some show of reason say that " Mayo 
 was annexed to Tuam long ago." So early as the year A.D. 
 1217, there was a letter addressed on this subject by Pope 
 Honorius III. delegating the Bishop of Clogher, the Abbot 
 of Kells, and the Archdeacon of Ardagh, to report on this 
 very question. The then Archbishop of Tuam, Felix O'Ruadan, 
 asserted that Mayo was not a cathedral, but a parochial 
 church. The Archdeacon of Mayo appealed against a decision 
 to that effect given by Innocent III., on the ground that it 
 was surreptitiously obtained, and the decision was withdrawn. 
 Afterwards, it seems, the Archdeacon in a collusive suit 
 allowed judgment to go against him and his church. This 
 being discovered at Rome, the Pope orders the aforesaid 
 judges to summons all the parties before them, and having 
 heard all the witnesses, to send a full report of the entire case 
 to the Apostolic See. 2 Unfortunately we do not know the 
 issue; but it is evident that the Archbishops of Tuam during 
 the troubles of subsequent centuries were able to assert their 
 own jurisdiction ; and so the Canons of Mayo lost their status 
 as Canons of a Cathedral Church. About this period, too, 
 
 1 See Brady, Vol. ii., p. 134. 2 See Theiner, ret. 3/(/n.,page 4.
 
 THE SCHOOL OF TUAM. 541 
 
 many of the parishes belonging to the ancient See of Mayo 
 around Clew Bay were claimed by the Archbishop of Armagh 
 on the ground, that they were founded by St. Patrick. 1 The 
 claim was to some extent allowed by Innocent III. ; but 
 afterwards it fell into abeyance, and the jurisdiction of Tuam 
 was recognised over all these Patrician churches of the ancient 
 diocese of Mayo. 
 
 There are still considerable ruins of the ancient monastery 
 at Mayo, but the buildings do not appear to have dated back 
 to the original foundation by St. Colman, who, doubtless, 
 built his monastery in the old Irish style. 
 
 IV. THE SCHOOL OF TUAM. 
 
 The School of Tuam belongs to the earliest period of Irish 
 ecclesiastical history ; and the School of Tuam belongs also 
 to the latest, and best period of Celtic art. We shall consider 
 it in both respects first as a school of Sacred Science under 
 St. Jarlath, and then, along with Clonmacnoise, as a school 
 Sacred Art in the eleventh century, just before the advent of 
 of the Anglo-Normans to Ireland. 
 
 Of St. Jarlath himself unfortunately we know very little, 
 for no Life of the saint has been discovered. His name is not 
 mentioned in our Annals, and hence we are dependent for 
 such information as we possess on isolated passages having 
 reference to him in the Lives of other saints. Colgan has 
 collected these meagre notices together ; and was tbus en- 
 abled to furnish us with a brief sketch of the life of this 
 eminent saint. 2 
 
 Jarlath belonged to the race known as the Conmaicne. 
 They are so called because their common ancestor was Conmac, 
 son of the celebrated Fergus Mac Roy, so famous during the 
 heroic period of Irish history. The descendants of Conmac 
 were lords of a considerable territory in the province of 
 Connaught, and gave their name to several well known 
 districts. In North Connaught they were known as the 
 Conmaicne of Hoy rein in Leitrim and Cavan, with Fenagh 
 as their ecclesiastical city, and St. Caillin as their patron 
 saint. In West Connaught they were divided into three 
 families or branches the Conmaicne Mara, of the Sea, who 
 have given their name to the modern Connemara; the Con- 
 maicne Cuil-Tola, who occupied the present barony of 
 
 1 See Theiner, Vet. Man., p. 2. z See Ada Sanctorum, p. 308-310.
 
 542 LATER SCHOOLS OF THE WEST. 
 
 Kilmaine in the County Mayo, and the Conmaicne Chineal- 
 Dubhain, who dwelt around Dunmore in the County Galway. 
 Tuam is in the barony of Dunmore, or at least on its borders, 
 and so we may assume that Jarlath belonged to the Con- 
 maicne of Dunmore, for the Irish saints generally founded 
 their churches in their own tribe-land. His father's name 
 was Loga (or Lugha), " of the race of Conmac, son of Fergu, 
 son of Ross, son of Rudhraighe from whom the Clanna 
 Rudhraighe are called, and Mongfinn, daughter of Ciardubhan, 
 of the Cinel Cinnenn was his mother." 1 
 
 St. Benen, or Benignus, as we have already seen , was, 
 before he became Coadjutor to St. Patrick in Armagh, 
 assigned by that saint to be in an especial manner the apostle 
 of Conmaicne. Hence he founded the Church of Kilbannon, 
 which still bears his name, a little to the north-west of Tuam 
 in the very heart of their territory. But he did more. He 
 undertook himself to train up two young clerics to be future 
 bishops of the Conmaicne, when he should be called away by 
 death or by other duties. These two young men were 
 Jarlath of the Western Conmaicne, and Caillin of the Con 
 maicne of Moyrein. We are told in his Life that he not 
 only educated these young men in all knowledge human and 
 divine, but also promoted them to Holy Orders, and founded 
 and consecrated churches for them, so that they might con- 
 tinue his work without interruption. 
 
 St. Benignus died in A.D. 468, 2 and hence we must assume 
 that Jarlath was then at least twenty-five years of age, and 
 was probably something more. The first church of St. Jarlath 
 was founded at Cluainfois (Cloonfush), about two miles to the 
 west of Tuam. There is still, as I myself can testify, a vivid 
 tradition at Cluainfois of conferences held there between the 
 three saints Beuen, Jarlath, and Caillin. The old round 
 tower of Kilbannon can be distinctly seen from Cluainfois, a 
 little to the north, and whether the conferences were held 
 there or at Cluainfois, there could be no difficulty of the saints 
 frequently meeting, and holding converse on those weighty 
 questions in Scripture and theology, which they loved to 
 discuss together The tradition is that they were generally 
 held at Cluainfois, and the name itself implies as much it is 
 according to Colgan the ' Meadow of Retreat,' as we should 
 say, or ' Locus commorationis/ as Colgan calls it. This is 
 still more probable, if with some writers we place the death 
 
 1 Martyr, of Donegal, page 349. 2 Annals of Ulster, page 467.
 
 THE SCHOOL OF TUAM. 543 
 
 of Benen in A.D. 476, ten years later than the date assigned 
 in the Annals of Ulster}- 
 
 The place still deserves its ancient name. It is indeed a 
 Meadow of Retreat. The old churchyard, which alone marks 
 at present the site of the ancient College of Cluainfois, stands 
 on the southern slope of a rich and wide grazing farm, now 
 tenanted by sheep and heifers alone. The old causeway to 
 the church can still be traced, though much overgrown with 
 grass. A solitary ash-tree rises over the narrow homes of 
 the dead ; but there is no trace of the ancient church, except 
 a portion of its foundations, now remaining. Like most of 
 the sites of our ancient monasteries, the spot was admirably 
 chosen on the southern slope of these swelling fields, over- 
 looking a wide prospect to the south and west, with the Clare 
 river quietly stealing through the low- lying meadows to the 
 south, and showing here and there reaches of its waters 
 gleaming in the sunlight. One thing at least our monks of 
 old greatly loved, and that was water. They loved it in all 
 its various forms whether it was the great sea, or the quiet 
 lake, or the murmuring stream they never built a monastery 
 except close to water in one way or another. This love 
 for natural beauty seems to have disappeared in modern 
 times. It must be said, however, that in old times the 
 monks had sites of their own choice; but incur times we 
 must be thankful if we can get any site at all to build upon. 
 We venture to think, however, it would be almost better to 
 wait, than to erect a noble building in some unsightly hole, 
 or swampy flat, where noisome vapours too often infect the 
 atmosphere, and the glorious vision of nature's beauties is as 
 completely cut off as if the inmates dwelt in a jail. 
 
 Jarlath's College of Cluainfois soon became very cele- 
 brated, and attracted, especially towards the close of the fifth 
 century, scholars from the most distant parts of Ireland. 
 Two especially, as Colgan remarks, became even more eminent 
 than their master. One was St. Brendan of Ardfert and 
 Clonfert, the other was St. Colman of Cloyne. 
 
 We are told that Brendan, burning with a love of the 
 Holy Scriptures, and ardently desiring to see with his own 
 eyes the virtuous example of the sainted fathers of the young 
 churches of Ireland, asked permission of his master St. Ere, 
 and of his foster-mother St. Ita, to leave his native mountains 
 in Kerry and travel through Ireland. First of all he came 
 to St. Jarlath's School at Ciuainfois, for he had heard much 
 
 1 See L-ca Patritiana, page 474.
 
 544 LATER SCHOOLS OF THE WEST. 
 
 of the fame of that great and holy master. On his way it 
 seems he met Colman, son of Senin, and induced him to give 
 up his worldly life, and devote himself to the service of God. 
 With this view the latter accompanied Brendan on his 
 journey to Western Connaught. St. Jarlath received them 
 kindly, and we are told that they remained with him a con- 
 siderable time drinking in deep draughts at this fountain of 
 sacred knowledge. But Brendan, though still very young, 
 probably not more than twenty years of age, had already 
 made great progress in virtue, and was highly favoured by 
 God. In the spirit of prophecy which he possessed, he told 
 St. Jarlath that Cluainfois was not destined by God to be 
 the place of his resurrection. He was to move a little further 
 eastward, and he was to remain at the place where the wheel 
 of his car would break on the journey. " Remain there," 
 said Brendan, " and build your oratory, for God wills that 
 there shall be the place of your resurrection, and many shall 
 arise in glory in the same place along with you." The holy 
 old man obeyed this manifestation of the Divine will ; the 
 chariot wheel was broken at the place now called Tuam da gual- 
 lan, and there the saint built his church on the site of the old 
 Cathedral of Tuam, which has for so many centuries become 
 the metropolitan Church of Connaught. At the same time 
 St. Jarlath said to Brendan, " O holy youth, it is you should 
 be master, and I the pupil but go now with God's blessing 
 elsewhere." And so Brendan with the blessing of God and 
 St. Jarlath left Cluainfois, and shortly after, having returned 
 to his native Kerry, was ordained a priest by his first master, 
 the holy Bishop Ere, before he died. If this was St. Ere of 
 Slaine, who died in A.D. 512, St. Brendan was at the School of 
 Cluainfois sometime between A.D. 504 and that date. 
 
 It is difficult to ascertain the exact date of St. Jarlath's 
 death. As he was a disciple of St. Benignus he cannot have 
 been born after A.D. 450. He seems to have been an a-ed 
 man when Brendan was at Cluainfois certainly not less than 
 sixty years of age. He is ranked, however, amongst the 
 saints of the Second Order ; and hence it is assumed that he 
 must have lived until A.D. 540, when he would be about ninety 
 years of age. It is well known, however, that in those days 
 these holy men, leading active and abstemious lives, frequently 
 lived on in the enjoyment of all their faculties to a very great 
 age even beyond a hundred years. It is eating and drink- 
 ing too much that shortens life, rather than eating and 
 drinking too little. St. Jarlath especially was remarkable for 
 the extreme asceticism of his life. Prayer and sacred study
 
 THE SCHOOL OF TUAM. 545 
 
 were his chief food ; his diet was so meagre that he seemed 
 to have no body. He was fond of meditation and watching ; 
 and the scholiast in the Feilire of -ZEngus tells us that he 
 made three hundred genuflexions by day and three hundred 
 every night, so that his whole life was one continued prayer. 
 
 A. Prophecy concerning his successors in the See of Tuam, 
 written in Irish, has been attributed to St. Jarlath. Nothing 
 is known of its existence at present ; but it seems to have 
 been extant when Colgan wrote. Its authenticity, however, 
 is very doubtful ; and it seems to belong to a class of docu- 
 ments composed many centuries later than the alleged time, 
 but which, to lend them authority, are falsely attributed to 
 the famous saints of the early Irish Church. 
 
 The relics of St. Jarlath were for a long time preserved in 
 Tuam with great reverence. A special church, close to the 
 Cathedral, was built for the scrinium, or shrine, containing 
 the precious treasures, hence called Tempull na Serin ; but at 
 present there is, I believe, no trace of the church, or of the 
 shrine itself to be found anywhere. Both the Church of the 
 Shrine and St. Jarlath's ancient Cathedral were built on the 
 site of the present Protestant Cathedral of Tuam. The new 
 and beautiful Catholic Cathedral occupies a fine site at some 
 distance on the other side of the highway. 
 
 After the death of St. Jarlath we hear scarcely anything 
 of Tuam for nearly five hundred years. For the first two 
 hundred and fifty years no reference whatsoever is made to 
 the City of St. Jarlath ; but in A.D. 776 the Four Masters 
 record the death of " Nuada O'Bolcan, abbot of Tuaim 
 Daolann." 1 The true date is, however, A.D. 781 : and it is 
 strange that the Annals of Ulster record in the same year the 
 death of Ferdomnach of Tuaim da Ghualann, without any 
 epithet designating his office. No reference, however, is 
 made to either as bishop. 
 
 In A.D. 969, Eoghan O'Cleirigh, ' Bishop of Connaught/ 
 died. The reference here is probably to a prelate resident at 
 Tuam, for in A.D. 1085 Aedh O'Hoisin, whose death is entered 
 under that year, is described by the Four Masters as comarb 
 of Jarlath, and High-bishop (ard-epscoip) of Tuam. This is 
 the first distinct reference to a Bishop of Tuam since tLe 
 decease of St. Jarlath. 
 
 From this period, however, the prelates of Tuam appear 
 prominently in the history of the western province. Just at 
 this time the O'Conor family reached a high degree of power, 
 
 1 0'Donovan says it is another form of " Tuaim da ghualann." 
 
 2M
 
 546 LATER SCHOOLS OF THE WEST. 
 
 and retained it for three generations over the entire province. 
 There was a long and bitter struggle between that family and 
 the O'Brians of Kincora for the pre-eminence, which continued 
 for nearly a hundred years. After the death of Turlough 
 O'Brian, King of Ireland, ' with opposition,' inA.D. 1085, the 
 O'Conors gained the ascendancy. Turlough Mor O'Conor 
 was the most powerful prince in Ireland for fifty years, from 
 A.D. 1106 to his death in A.D. 1156. He is described by the 
 Four Masters as King of all Ireland, but 'with opposition.' 
 They add that " Turlough Mor O'Conor was the flood of the 
 glory and splendour of Ireland, the Augustus of the West of 
 Europe, a man full 'of charity and mercy, hospitality and 
 chivalry ; and he died after the sixty-eighth year of his age, 
 and was interred at Clonmafcnoise, beside the altar of Ciaran, 
 after having made his will, and distributed gold and silver, 
 cows and horses, amongst the clergy and churches of Ireland 
 in general." We shall see presently, when treating of Celtic 
 art in Clonmacnoise and the West of Ireland, that if Turlough 
 was not the Augustus of the West of Europe, he was certainly 
 the Augustus of the West of Ireland. He was succeeded with- 
 out opposition by his degenerate son, : Rory O'Conor, the last 
 monarch of Ireland.
 
 CHAPTER XXII (continued). 
 
 CELTIC ART IN THE WESTERN MONASTERIES 
 DURING THE REIGN OF TURLOUGH O'CONOR. 
 
 " He stepped a man out of the ways of men, 
 
 And no one knew his sept, or rank, or name 
 Like a strong stream issuing from a glen, 
 
 From some source unexplored, the Master came." 
 
 M' Gee's Gobban SaerS 
 
 WE have said that Turlough Mor O'Conor was, if not the 
 Augustus of Western Europe, certainly the Augustus of the 
 West of Ireland. During his long reign of fifty years Celtic 
 art reached its highest degree of perfection, at least iu three 
 great branches architecture, sculpture, and metal work. He 
 was inaugurated as king of the Siol Muireadhaighintheyear 
 A.D. 110(5 ; and he went to his rest, beside the altar of Ciaran 
 in Clonmacnoise in A.D. 1156, in the sixty-eighth year of his 
 age. With his own right hand he fought his way through 
 more than fifty battles to the kingship of all Erin an honour 
 to which no prince of his line had ever before attained since 
 the time of Ni ill the Great. He had a clear head, too, as 
 well as a strong arm ; and thoroughly appreciated the force 
 of the royal maxim divide et impera. Neither did he ne- 
 glect, so far as he could, the arts of peace. He made many 
 roads and causeways through woods and morasses that were 
 hitherto impenetrable ; he built bridges over the Shannon 
 and Suck, and fortified them with strong castles. He caused 
 money to be regularly coined at Clonmacnoise for the con- 
 venience of commercial transactions. He had a great fleet 
 of boats on the Shannon for trading, as well as for warlike 
 purposes. He founded a Chair of Divinity in the great School 
 of Armagh, to which we have already referred. He erected 
 a hospital at Tuam for the aged and infirm, and was most 
 munificent in rebuilding and adorning the churches of his 
 own hereditary dominions with all those beautiful monuments 
 of Celtic art to which I now propose to direct special attention. 
 
 I. THE O'DUFFYS. 
 
 Augustus always finds a Maecenas ; and it was doubtless 
 owing to the powerful patronage of Turlough that in all his 
 cathedral cities members of a great and talented ecclesiastical
 
 548 CELTIC ART IX THE WESTERN MONASTERIES. 
 
 family held the crozier, to whom quite as much as to himself 
 we owe many of the most beautiful specimens of Celtic art 
 still extant in Ireland. This was the family of the O'Duffys 
 (Ua Dubhthaig), which flourished throughout the whole of 
 the twelfth century, and gave bishops or abbots to Clonmac- 
 noise, to Roscommon, to Tuam, to Clonfert, to Cong, to Mayo, 
 and to Boyle. The O'Duffys originally belonged to the Pro- 
 vince of-Leinster, for they were sprung from the race of 
 Cathair Mor, who divided that province amongst his twenty- 
 four sons. But later on some members of the family settled 
 both in Galway and Roscommon, and appear to have risen 
 to a good position ; although they are not mentioned by 
 O'Dugan, who doubtless regarded them as more or less 
 strangers in the West. They seem at this period to have 
 been located in Roscommon, for the earliest reference I find 
 to any member of the family is to Flanagan Ruadh O'Duffy, 
 successor of St. Coman of Roscommon, and also it appears a 
 ferlegind, or professor, of the School of Tuam. His death is 
 recorded in A.D. 1097. Domhnall O'Duffy, who died in A.D. 
 1136, is called in the Annals of Loch Ce, Bishop of Elphin, 
 and comarb or successor of Ciaran in Clonmacnoise. The 
 Four Masters call him High-bishop of Connaught, 1 because 
 he was doubtless the most distinguished prelate of his time, 
 for as yet there was no metropolitan See of Tuam. 
 DomhnaH's death took place in the monastery of Clonfert 
 ' after Mass and Celebration ; ' and he appears to have been 
 much regretted, for he is described as the head of the wisdom 
 and hospitality of the entire province. He was buried on 
 St. Patrick's Day in Clonfert ; the true year seems to be 
 A.D. 1137 (Annals of Lough Ce). 
 
 Muireadhach O'Duffy, who, if not a brother of Domhnall, 
 was doubtless a member of the same family, appears to have 
 succeeded him as High-bishop of Connaught. Reference is 
 made to this prelate by the Four Masters the very year of 
 DomhnalPs death, and he is distinguished from the comarb 
 of Jarlath in Tuam. He is referred to again in A.D. 1143 
 as one of the sureties for Rory O'Conor ; but in spite of 
 his sureties that prince was seized and imprisoned by his own 
 father Turlough. At his death in A.D. 1150 he is described 
 by the Four Masters as "High-bishop of Connaught, and 
 chief Senior of all Ireland in wisdom, in chastity, in the 
 bestowal of jewels and food." He died at Cong in the new 
 
 1 In like manner Bishop O'Cattan is described in the previous year as 
 High-bishop of Ferns, as there was as yet no Archbishop of Dublin.- -See 
 four Marten, A.D. 1135.
 
 THE O'DUFFYS. 549 
 
 abbey which he helped to found, on the sixteenth of May, 
 that is the festival of Brendan, in the seventy-fifth year of 
 his age. It will be observed that these two prelates flourished 
 during the reign of Turlough O'Conor, and no doubt cor- 
 dially co-operated with that prince in his projects for the 
 diffusion of knowledge and the development of art. 
 
 Hugh O'Hessian (Aedh Ua h Oissen) appears to have 
 succeeded O'Duffy as High-bishop of Connaught in A.D. 1150. 
 He seems to have lived at Tuam, and he is correctly described 
 as Archbishop of Tuain; for in A.D. 1152 he was one of the 
 prelates who received the Pall from Cardinal Paparo in the 
 Synod of Kells. He died in A.D. 1161. Mention is made of 
 a Bishop Flanagan O'Duffy, who died in A.D. 1168; bub no 
 See is mentioned in connection with his name. He was, 
 however, a most learned man, for he is described as " Bishop 
 and chief .Doctor of the Irish in literature, history, and 
 poetry, and in every kind of science known to man in his 
 time." He died ' in the bed of Bishop Muireadhach O'Duffy 
 at Cong/ and was doubtless a near relative of that prelate. 
 Catholicus O'Duffy is generally represented as succeeding to 
 the See of Tuam after the death of O'Hessian in A.D. 1161. 
 He ruled in Tuam for forty years; and was through gool 
 and ill the faithful friend and counsellor of the unhappy 
 Rory 0' Conor during all the years of his stormy and disas- 
 trous reign. He was present with five other Irish bishops 
 at the General Council of Lateranin A.D. 1179. In A.D. 1198 
 he saw his discrowned monarch die in his old age amongst 
 the canons of Cong ' after exemplary penance.' Doubtless 
 he accompanied the king's body to Clonmacnoise, and saw it 
 laid near the grave of his great father, Turlough, beside the 
 altar of Ciaran. Then stricken by the weight of years and 
 sorrows, the archbishop, too, retired to Cong, and three years 
 later died amongst the same holy canons, victorious, like his 
 unhappy master, ' over the world and the devil.' 
 
 The O'Duflys, therefore, were the real ministers and 
 counsellors both of Turlough and Rory O'Conor throughout 
 the twelfth century ; and to them, as much as to those 
 princes themselves, must be attributed the many works of 
 art which were produced during that period. They had 
 almost all the ecclesiastical power of the province in their 
 own hands ; for we find that besides those already mentioned, 
 Maurice O'Duffy, who died in A.D. 1174, was abbot of the great 
 Cistercian monastery of Boyle, and another, Kele or Catho- 
 licus O'Duffy, who died in A.D. 1209, was Bishop of Mayo of 
 the Saxons. We find also that one of them held the See of
 
 550 CELTIC ART IN THE WESTERN MONASTERIES. 
 
 Clonfert towards the close of the thirteenth century William 
 O'Duffy whose death is marked under A.D. 1297. It will 
 be seen, however, that this great family used their power for 
 God's glory, and the good of the Church. Whatever they 
 touched they adorned, as the existing monuments of their 
 artistic taste and skill so conclusively prove. 
 
 II. CELTIC ART AT CLONMACNOISE. 
 
 Clonmacnoise was founded by a saint, who was born and 
 baptized at Fuerty, within three miles of the town of Ros- 
 common. It is quite true, as we have already observed, that 
 Clonmacnoise was more catholic' in the selection of its abbots 
 than any other great monastery in Ireland ; and this was un- 
 doubtedly one of the causes which raised Clonmacnoise to its 
 proud pre-eminence amongst the monastic schools of Erin. 
 Still the City of Ciaran could not forget the rock from whence 
 it was hewn ; and, as our Annals tell, the men of Roscommon 
 always occupied positions of commanding influence in Clon- 
 macnoise. This connection will also help to explain why 
 Doinhnall O'Dufly, Bishop of Elphin, and Abbot of Ros- 
 common, was also chosen to be comarb of Ciaran, at Clon- 
 macnoise. This connection also gave countenance to the 
 ambitious designs of Turlough O'Conor, who was resolved to 
 annex the abbacy of Clonmacnoise, with all its rich termon 
 lands to his own hereditary dominions. 1 In the Synod of 
 Rathbreasil, Cluain appears to be included in the diocese of. 
 Clonard, 2 and rightfully, as it was a portion of the ancient 
 kingdom of Meath. But in the Synod of Kells-(A.D. 1152), 
 Cluain, or Clonmacnoise, is explicitly assigned as a suffragan 
 See to Tuam. This was doubtless owing in great measure to 
 the influence of Turlough O'Conor ; and naturally enough 
 the influence of the O'Duffys would favour the designs of the 
 king. In A.D. 1152, however, it was ; O'JV1 alone, and not an 
 O'DufFy, who was Comarb of Ciaran; but the O'Malones 
 themselves were a branch of the great O'Conor family, whc 
 had settled in Tefna 3 (County Longford). 
 
 Clonmacnoise, during the twelfth century especially, was 
 the great school of Celtic Art. This statement will need no 
 proof for anyone who even at this day wanders through the 
 ruined City, and carefully observes its churches, its crosses, 
 
 1 The ancient poem ascribed to JEngus Cele De, and quoted by Colgan 
 from the Saltair na Rann, describes the Siol Briuin of Roecommon as under 
 the patronage of Ciaran of Clonmacnoise. 
 
 2 See Cambrensis Eversus, Vol. ii., p. 786. 
 8 See O'Hart's I'eaigrees, page 556.
 
 CELTIC ART AT CLONMACNOISE. 551 
 
 its round towers, and its sculptured tombstones. But we 
 propose to put in more formal evidence, and to show that it 
 was the artists of Clonmacnoise who executed many other 
 of our choicest works, which at first sight appear to have 
 no connection with the City of St. Ciaran. 
 
 ARCHITECTURE was certainly one of the fine arts taught 
 in our monastic schools, and with very considerable success, 
 as existing ruins, and especially our round towers, clearly 
 prove. The architect, or ollamh-builder, was at the head of 
 the profession, and had his remuneration fixed by law. 
 Besides a kind of per-centage on the work which he superin- 
 tended, he had a fixed annual salary rated at twenty-one 
 cows, from the king-in-chief, in whose service he was 
 engaged. But he was required to be a perfect master of his 
 art in the widest sense of the word. He was not only 
 required to build stone churches (damhliags) and oratories, 
 whether of wood or stone, but also farm steadings, containing 
 the usual five buildings, namely, dwelling-house, cow-house, 
 calf -house, pig-sty, and sheep-fold. He. was required to be a 
 millwright, a boat-maker, a cooper, a cart-maker, and a road- 
 maker, He should be skilful, in yew, carving and plough- 
 making, and was even expected to weave wicker shields and 
 build wjcker houses.. He was,. in fact, a jack-of-all-tradea, 
 and must have, well earned his salary^of twenty-one cows in 
 the yeari 
 
 The most distinguished of this fraternity was the re- 
 nowned. Gobban .Saer, or.. Gobban, the builder, whose fame is 
 still traditionally preserved in various pajts of the country. 
 He was, undoubtedly, a historical personage, and seems to 
 have flourished during the first half of the sixth century. 
 His father is said to have been Turvey (Tuirbhi), who gave 
 his name to the strand of Turvey, on the northern coast of 
 the County Dublin Kilgobbin, in the same county, is said 
 to derive its name from the renowned builder himself. At 
 this early date the Gaels knew little of church building, and 
 hence the services of the Gobban were in great request with 
 the saints for building these churches and oratories. As he 
 had no rivals he could make his own terms, and is said to 
 have charged exhorbitant prices, and, moreover, being feeble, 
 took his own time at his work. He agreed to build a wooden 
 oratory for St. Moling of Carlow, but he spent a whole year 
 in idleness before he began, and when he had finished his 
 task, at the instigation of his wife, he asked from the saint 
 the full of the oratory of rye as his wage. The saint had 
 agreed to give him his own demand, but not having nearly
 
 552 CELTIC ART IN THE WESTERN MONASTERIES. 
 
 this quantity of rye, he was forced to appeal to his tribes-men 
 to help him. " Bring me," he said, " whatever you have 
 corn, nuts, apples, even green rushes." They did so, and 
 filled the oratory, which the Gobban turned upside down to 
 receive the offerings without starting a plank. It was nil 
 changed into rye at the prayer of the saint, but next morning, 
 when the Gobban came to take away the grain, he found that 
 it had turned into maggots ! 
 
 We also find this famous architect mentioned in the Life 
 of St. Abban, for whom he built a church. It was, says this 
 Life, his constant occupation to work for the saints wherever 
 he was, but he charged them so dear that he lost his sight 
 through the displeasure of the saints at the greatness of his 
 charges. The Gobban was probably of foreign descent, and 
 tried to make the Scots pay well for their buildings. 
 
 It is certain that Clonmacnoise reached a high degree of 
 perfection in architecture, and the Nuns' Church, Relig na 
 Cailleach, was certainly one of the most beautiful types of 
 the Celtic Romanesque in Ireland. It was situated to the 
 north-east of the monastic buildings, and was approached by 
 a causeway that was built along the river, which frequently 
 overflowed the surrounding meadows. 
 
 This church was erected at the expense of the celebrated 
 Dervorgilla, wife of Tiernan O'Rorke, King of North 
 Connaught. It appears to have been completed in A.D. 1167, 
 and probably occupied the site of an older church belonging 
 to the nuns of Clonmacnoise, for, as we have seen, we find 
 reference made to the garden of the abbess so early as 
 A,D. 1026, when the causeway was constructed from her 
 garden to the Three Crosses, near the great Church of Clon- 
 macnoise. A.D. 1082, we are told that the " cemetery of 
 the nuns of Clonmacnoise was burned with its stone church, 
 and with the eastern third of the entire establishment." 
 The cemetery here means the enclosure surrounded by the 
 cashel, portions of which still remain ; it contained not only 
 the church, but also the cells in which the nuns dwelt, and 
 the other buildings necessary for their accommodation. The 
 causeway, too, can still be traced from the nunnery to the 
 Cam of the Three Crosses, which was surmounted by a stone 
 bearing the following Irish inscription : 
 
 OROIT AR THURCAIN LASAN DERNAD IN 
 CHROSSA. 
 
 (Pray for Turcan, by whom this Cross was made.) 
 The striking features of the Nuns' Church are the
 
 CELTIC ART AT CLONMACNOISE. 553 
 
 western doorway and the chancel arch. This doorway is the 
 principal entrance to the nave, which is 36 ft. in length, and 
 nearly 20 ft. in breadth ; the walls are 3 ft. thick. The 
 chancel, like that of Tuarn, is nearly a square 14 ft. 6 in. 
 by 13 ft. in breadth ; the walls are 3 ft. 3 in. thick, and built 
 of hard limestone, hammer-dressed. 
 
 Lord Dunraven thus describes the doorway and chancel 
 arch : 
 
 " The doorway at the west end is 7 ft. in height, to the 
 springing of the arch ; 2 ft. 10 in. wide at the base, and 
 2 ft. 8|- in. at the top of the jambs. It is deeply recessed, 
 and of four orders; the two inner jambs are rectangular 
 shafts, the outer are rounded into pillars, with shallow bases 
 and imposts. The external shafts had a plain chamfered 
 abacus, and the hood moulding, or outer arch, terminates 
 with heads of the same character as those in the small church 
 at Rahan. The jambs were richly ornamented with incised 
 chevrons and other designs. The outer arch was enriched 
 with pellets, the inner with chevron blocks, incised with bold 
 lines ; the third with heads with rolls in their mouths, or 
 with beak-head, or cat's-head moulding, deeply undercut, 
 and the front face enriched with incised traceries and chev- 
 rons, and pellets upon the soffit of the arch. The doorway 
 had eel-heads terminating the zig-zags, but they are not so 
 distinct as those on McCarthy's Church close by, where they 
 had been covered with accumulated earth until lately. 
 
 " The chancel arch, which was of sandstone, was 9 ft. 2 in. 
 wide at the base, and 7 ft. 6 in. in height, to the top of the 
 impost, making the arch about 12 ft. high. It was 15 ft, 6 in. 
 wide from one outer pier to the other." The ornamentation, 
 mainly consisting of zig-zag and chevron, with a pear- 
 shaped ornament in the inner order, is very striking, and 
 " the capitals and ornaments of the piers," says Lord 
 Dunraven, " are totally unlike anything in England, and, if 
 taken by themselves, would appear to be of much earlier 
 character than the arch." 
 
 This church was built, as the Four Masters tells us, by 
 Dervorgilla in A.D. 1167. The abduction or flight of that 
 false fair lady took place in A.D. 1152, when MacMurrough 
 caused her to be carried to his own castle of Ferns. But next 
 year Turlough O'Connor led an army against MacMurrough, 
 when Dervorgilla was given up, and restored by that prince 
 to her own friends in Meath, and shortly afterwards was 
 taken back again by her injured husband. It is highly 
 probable that the erring dame built the Church of the Nuns
 
 CELTIC ART IN THE WESTERN MONASTERIES. 
 
 at Clonmacnoise, the foundation of her own royal ancestors, 
 as a penance for her sins ; and it may be she found grace 
 and pardon within that holy shrine. She survived her 
 husband several years, and died at the advanced age of 85 in 
 the monastery of Mellif ont, to which she had presented many 
 valuable offerings during her long and eventful career. 
 
 We have already referred to the sculptured crosses in the 
 graveyard, which are some of the finest specimens of ancient 
 art in this country. But besides these there were numerous 
 other objects of the highest antiquarian interest, which were 
 produced or preserved at Clonmacnoise, to which we shall 
 presently refer 
 
 Under the head of SCULPTURE we include sculptured 
 gravestones, high crosses, and architectural ornamentation, 
 in relief. Clonmacnoise exhibits in its churchyard more 
 sculptured stones, and in greater variety, than all the rest of 
 Ireland together. The first volume of T/i$ Christian, 
 Inscriptions in the Irish Language^ deals exclusively, and> 
 very fully, with those found at CJojimacnoise ; but as we, 
 have already referred to this part of our subject, we shall _, 
 pass on to give an account of the crosses and architectural 
 ornaments in sculpture at Tuam and Cong, which, belong to, 
 the artistic School of Clonmacnoise. 
 
 The first is the celebrated high Cross of Tuam, now\ 
 standing in the market place. Of , this Dr. Petrie . remarks 1 
 that " it is of far greater magnificence and interest (than the 
 Cross of Cashel) ; and may justly rank as the finest monu- 
 ments of its class and age remaining in Ireland." It is made 
 of sandstone, and measures in its pedestal five feet three 
 inches in breadth, and three feet eight inches in height ; but 
 including the shaft, which is ten feet long, the entire cross is 
 thirteen feet eight inches high. 
 
 On the base, or pedestal, of this cross there are two highly 
 interesting inscriptions in the Irish language, now partly 
 defaced, but still decipherable. One is : 
 OR DO U OSSIN; DON DABBAID LASAN DERNAD 
 " A prayer for O'Hossin (Hessian) for the abbot by whom it 
 was made." On the opposite side is the following inscrip- 
 tion : 
 OR DO THOIRDELBIJCH U CONCHUBUIR DON . . . 
 
 IARLATH LAS IN DERNAD INSAE. . . . 
 That is " A prayer for Torlough O' Conor; for the (combarb) 
 of Jarlath by whom was made this. . . ." 
 
 1 Round Towtrs, page 317.
 
 CELTIC ART AT CLONMACNOISE. 555 
 
 O'Hoisin, or O'Hessian, referred to in the first inscription, 
 was, as we have said, the first regular Archbishop of Tuam. 
 He succeeded Muireadheach O'Duffy, who died in A.D. 1150, 
 and received the pallium from Cardinal Paparo at the Synod 
 of Kells in A.D. 1152. It is singular, however, that he is 
 not described on the Cross as either bishop or archbishop, 
 but simply as abbot in the one, and as comarb of Jarlath in 
 the other. Hence Petrie conjectures that this Cross was 
 sculptured before O'Hessian became archbishop, and whilst 
 he was yet merely abbot of the monastery of Tuam. There 
 is evidence that he was abbot so early as A.D. 1134, for, 
 according to the Annals of Innisfallen, he was sent on an 
 embassy in that year by King Turlough, to make peace 
 between Connaught and Munster. Therefore Petrie thinks it 
 probable that he became abbot in A.D. 1128, on the death 
 of Muirges O'Nioc, who filled that office before him ; and 
 he held the abbacy during the entire period of O'Duffy's 
 rule as High-bishop of Connaught. . We have already 
 teen that Muireadhagh succeeded Domhnall 'Duffy in 
 A.D. 1136. or 1137, and ruled over Elphin, Roscommon, 
 Clonmacnoise, and probably Tuam also until A.D. 1150. It 
 appears to be quite clear, therefore, that this beautiful Cross 
 of Tuam was made whilst Q'Duffy was High-bishop, and 
 O'Hessian abbot of Tuam. The prayer for Turlough O'Conor 
 seems to imply that the work was constructed at his expense. 
 Petrie thinks that the Cross was erected to commemorate the 
 re-building of the ancient cathedral of Tuam, which was also 
 accomplished at the expense of King Turlough. A slab of 
 sandstone was found within the present cathedral, near the 
 Communion Table, which is. .supposed to have been designed 
 to commemorate the re-building of the cathedral. It may, 
 however, have been a portion of a second Cross, and, like the 
 other, it contains .two inscriptions one asking a prayer for 
 the Comarb of Jarlath, that is, " for Aed O'Hossin, by whom 
 this Cross was made," and the other on the obverse of the 
 slab asking a prayer for King Turlough O'Conor, and a 
 prayer for Gillachrist O'Toole, by whom the work was 
 wrought. There were no O'Tooles at this time in Connaught, 
 although, later on, a branch of that tribe settled in Oiney 
 Island, on the coast of Connemara, Hence, I am inclined to 
 think that this eminent artist came from Clonmacnoise, if he 
 were not one of the itinerant craftsmen who at this period 
 migrated from place to place, as they do still, for a job. One 
 thing is clear he was a native Celt, and a skilful workman 
 in his craft, which was that of master sculptor or stone-
 
 556 CELTIC AE.T IX THE WESTERN MONASTERIES. 
 
 cutter. The addition of his name shows that the memory of 
 such an artist was deemed worthy of being preserved. And 
 so, in truth, it was, if he executed both these crosses, and the 
 beautiful chancel arch of the cathedral, which fortunately 
 still survives the effect of time's effacing fingers. The 
 Crucifixion is sculptured on one face of the shaft of the 
 Tuam Cross. The figure of the Saviour is archiac, but very 
 t-triking. The figure of a bishop is on the other, and what 
 seems to be a funeral procession is on the reverse. There 
 are two figures standing close together, above the inscription 
 on the pedestal of this Cross. One holds in his left hand a 
 pastoral staff which, however, might designate that the 
 holder was either a bishop or an abbot. Perhaps they are 
 intended to represent Turlough O'Conor and the comarb of 
 Jarlath, whose names were inscribed beneath. 
 
 There was a somewhat similar high Cross in the market 
 place of Cong. The original pedestal is there still, with an 
 inscription, recording the names of the artist and patron 
 who caused the Cross to be sculptured. The ancient shaft 
 has disappeared, but its place is supplied by a modern one 
 inserted in the original plinth by a member of the Elwood 
 family, in the year 1822. The inscription is in Irish, but 
 the lettering is of a later type, rather resembling the black 
 letter than that of the Cross of Tuam. It asks " a prayer 
 for Nichol, and for Gilliberd O' Duffy, who was abbot of 
 Cong." So far as I know there is no mention in our Annals 
 either of Nichol, the artist, or of Gillibert O'Duffy, the 
 abbot, but it is highly probable that the latter was a member 
 of the same illustrious family that produced so many dis- 
 tinguished ecclesiastics during the twelfth and the early part 
 of the thirteenth century. 
 
 Of Cong itself we know nothing from the time of 
 St. Fechin to the year A.D. 1114, when we are told that, 
 like many other religious houses, it was burned in that year. 
 It was then probably rebuilt, for mention is made of the 
 death of Gillaciarain O'Hoda, or O'Roddy, erenach of Cunga, 
 in that year. It was then was probably erected by Turlough 
 O'Conor and the O'Duffy s, that noble monastery of Cong, 
 whose ruins, so picturesquely situated at the head of Lough 
 Corrib, lend one of its many features of beauty to that, 
 enchanting scene. 
 
 There are still to be seen some very interesting archi- 
 tectural remains of the buildings erected during the reign of 
 Turlough in the west of Connaught. Turlough's reign was 
 red with the blood of many battles, and not altogether free
 
 CELTIC ART AT CLOXMACXOISE. 557 
 
 from deeds of revolting cruelty, yet he seems to have been a 
 prince of lofty aims and generous aspirations. He built a 
 bridge over the Shannon at Athlone, apparently for the first 
 time, and another over the same river at a place called Ath 
 Crioch, near Shannon Harbour. He also built a bridge over 
 the river Suck at Ballinasloe ; it was then, called the Bridge 
 of Dunloe, and was opposite Dunloe Street, in the modern 
 town of Hallinasloe. 
 
 But he also did much for ecclesiastical architecture. 
 Cormac M'Carthy had just built a very beautiful church on 
 the Rock of Cashel, which still bears his name ; and it seems 
 that Turloughevenin this did not wish to be excelled by his rival 
 and hereditary foe, the Prince of Munster. His first work 
 was probably the re-building of the Cathedral of Tuam, 
 where he had fixed his principal residence. Only a portion 
 of the chancel and chancel arch of that beautiful church now 
 remains ; but it is quite enough to give us an idea of 
 what the Irish Romanesque would ultimately become in 
 capable hands. " This chancel," says Petrie, 1 " is sufficient to 
 make us acquainted with its general style of architecture, and 
 to show that it was not only a larger, but a more splendid 
 structure than Cormac's Chapel at Cashel, and not unworthy 
 of the powerful monarch to whom it chiefl}' owed its erection. 
 The chancel is a square of twenty-six feet in external measure- 
 ment, and the walls are four feet in thickness. Its east end 
 is perforated by three circular headed windows, each five feet 
 in height, and eighteen inches in width externally, but 
 splaying on the inside to the width of five feet." These 
 windows are richly ornamented with zig-zag and other 
 mouldings, and are connected together by strong course- 
 mouldings, of which the external one is quaintly enriched 
 with pateral, or cup-shaped disks. 
 
 The most striking feature, however, of this chancel was 
 the arch opening on the nave, " which is perhaps the most 
 magnificent specimen of its kind remaining in Ireland." It 
 is composed of no less than six semicircular, concentric, 
 recessed arches of which the innermost is sixteen feet wide 
 and fifteen feet high. The rectangular capitals are richly 
 sculptured in a variety of interlaced traceries, and those sur- 
 mounting the two jambs are adorned with curious grotesque 
 heads with broad flat faces. The imposts too are richly sculp- 
 tured in scrolls and other striking designs, and are carried along 
 the face of the wall as tablets. The bases consist of a double 
 plimh and torus moulding, but are otherwise unornamented 
 
 1 Round Towtrs, page 317.
 
 558 CELTIC ART IN THE WESTERN MONASTERIES. 
 
 as befits the solid and majestic character of the building. 
 The arch mouldings display many varieties of ornament the 
 nebule, diamond, frette, and chevron and show how the 
 Celtic imagination loved to revel in a great variety of orna- 
 mental forms. All the ornamental parts of this peerless 
 chancel arch are executed in red sandstone, which has with- 
 stood wonderfully well the wear and tear of time and moisture 
 in that damp atmosphere. 
 
 Where did Turlough get the workmen whose teeming 
 brains devised, and whose cunning hands executed this 
 beautiful arch ? It has been said that the workmen who 
 built the grand Cistercian monasteries during the latter part 
 of this twelfth century were imported from France and 
 England. Well, be it so. But no one can deny that it was 
 Celtic artists who built and adorned Cormac's Chapel and 
 Tuam Cathedral ; and there has been nothing finer executed 
 in any Cistercian monastery in Ireland or England either. 
 These great monasteries were larger and grander if you will, 
 but certainly not more artistic nor more beautiful. 
 
 The ruins of the abbey of Cong are still to be seen and 
 speak for themselves. The ' neck ' of land on which it was 
 built between the two lakes, Lough Mask and Lough Corrib, 
 gave its name to the abbey. It was rebuilt by the Augus- 
 tinians under the patronage of Turlough 0' Conor, in all 
 probability between the years A.D. 1120 and 1130. The 
 Cistercians about the same period, A.D. 1128, were introduced 
 into England, but had not yet come to Ireland ; so that Cong 
 is the connecting link between the indigenous monasteries of 
 the past that grew up with the growth of the Irish Church, 
 and the houses of the foreign orders introduced during the 
 twelfth and thirteenth centuries. Imar of Armagh formally 
 adopted the Rule of St. Augustine, about the year A D. 1126, 
 and hence these ancient Irish monasteries came to be called 
 Augustinian houses ; but as a matter of fact they were in all 
 respects as purely Celtic and as racy of the soil as the Irish 
 race and the Irish tongue. The Cistercians who came to 
 Mellifont about the year A.D. 1142, were realty the first 
 ' foreign ' order that came to Ireland, and were followed about 
 a century later by the Dominicans and Franciscans. The 
 abbey of Cong was not designed, or executed, or tenanted by 
 any foreigners. It was a purely Celtic house. It was 
 designed most probably by some member of that talented 
 family the O'Duffys that afterwards ruled over it for 
 many generations. It was built and adorned under their 
 superintendence by native workmen ; and Turlough O'Conor
 
 CELTIC ART AT CLONMACNOISE. 559 
 
 and his unhappy son Roderick, both of whom, especially the 
 latter, loved Cong much, seem to have contributed the greater 
 part of the expense necessary for its erection. 
 
 It was built on a scale of great magnificence. The abbey 
 church was 140 feet in length. The east window consisted 
 of thres long narrow lights, not lancet-headed, but semi- 
 circular, for the Romanesque, had no lancets, and where they 
 appear in the Romanesque they were always later insertions. 
 
 It has been alleged that pointed door-arches of Cong 
 show a departure from the Irish Romanesque and indicate 
 foreign origin and a later date than the first quarter of the 
 twelfth century. Even supposing that these arches are coeval 
 with the monastery, a glance at Sir W. Wilde's illustration 
 will show that they are not lancet-headed like the pure Gothic, 
 but rather indicate the first step of the transition from the 
 Romanesque to the Gothic, which was just beginning at this 
 time to take place in Ireland. The most characteristic 
 features of the existing group of ruins are to be found in the 
 western facade, which appears to have opened on the cloister 
 of the abbey. " It is 80 feet in length and contains a door- 
 way, and two windows with circular arches ; also two large 
 and most elaborately ornamented lancet-headed doors, with 
 undercut chevrons along the deep mouldings of the arches, 
 that spring from clustered pillars, the floral capitals of which 
 all of ctifierent patterns present us with ono of the finest 
 specimens of twelfth century stone work in Ireland." 1 
 
 With this beautiful abbey are associated many interesting 
 historic memories. It was to this lonely but sweet retreat 
 that Ireland's last High-king retired to die. He had drawn 
 a sword that could not save his country and his race from the 
 hated dominion of the stranger; he had seen his own children 
 rise up in rebellion against him, and engage in the very face 
 of their country's enemies in fratricidal strife ; he had seen 
 his best-beloved son, O'Conor of Moenmoy, whose bold heart 
 and strong arm were his country's only hope, slain by " a 
 party of his own people, and of his own tribe ;" and now 
 there was nothing left for him but to end an inglorious life 
 by a pious and penitential death. He retired to Cong in 
 A.D. 1183. After the death of his eldest and bravest son, he 
 sought once more to regain his authority in Connaught. 
 But he soon found that 
 
 " Authority forgets a dying king, 
 Laid widow'd of the power in his eye 
 That bow'd the will." 
 
 1 Wilde's Lough Corrib, pages 179, 180.
 
 560 CELTIC ART IN THE WESTERN MONASTKRIE8. 
 
 He returned once more to his monastic retreat, and there, 
 in the year A.L>. 1198, " he died amongst the Canons of Cong, 
 after exemplary penance, victorious over the world and the 
 devil. His body was conveyed to Clonmacnoise, and interred 
 at the north side of the altar of the great church." 
 
 In METAL-WORK the O'Duffys of Tuam and Cong have 
 left us, at least, one memorial that will never perish. The 
 Processional Cross of Cong, the Chalice of Ardagh, and 
 the Tara Brooch, are regarded by all competent judges as the 
 highest effort, each in its own way, of the Celtic art in metal- 
 work. No one knows anything of the Tara Brooch except 
 that it was found in the year 1850 on the sea shore near 
 Drogheda. Neither does the Ardagh Chalice bear the name of 
 the king or workman by whom it was made, nor ask a prayer 
 for his soul's welfare. We can, however, with tolerable 
 certainty, trace its history ; and we shall tirid that it is the 
 product of the same school of art which produced the 
 remarkable Cross of Cong, to which we now invite the 
 reader's attention. 
 
 It appears that this beautiful Cross of Cong was made 
 originally for the Church of Tuam. It is very probable that 
 some western prelate was present at the first General 
 Council of Lateran, held in A.D. 1123, and that he brought 
 home with him a relic of the true Cross, which, as we are 
 informed in the Annals of Innisf alien, was enshrined in that 
 year by Turlough O'Conor. " A portion of the true Cross 
 came into Ireland and was enshrined at Roscommon by 
 Turlough O'Conor." The following inscriptions are found on 
 the Cross itself, and corroborate the statement in the Annals 
 of Innisf alien : 
 
 + HAG CRUCE TEGITUR QUA PASUS CONDITOR 
 ORBIS. OR DO MUREDUCH U DUBTHAIG DO 
 SENIOR EREND. OR DO THERRDEL U CHONCHO 
 DO RIG EREND LAS AN DERNAD IN GRESSA. 
 
 OR DO DOMNULL McFLANNACAN U DUBD 
 EPSKUP CONNACHT DO CHOMARBA CHOMMAN 
 ACUS CHIARAN ICAN ERRNAD IN GRESSA. 
 
 OR DO MAELISU McBRATDAN UECHAN DO 
 RIGNI IN GRESSA. 
 
 We gather from these inscriptions that the Cross was 
 made to enshrine a particle of the true Cross, on which the 
 Creator of the world suffered. Mureadhach O'Duffv, to 
 whom we have already referred, is here described as senior of 
 Erin, and one of those who co-operated in this work. He 
 has been described by the Four Masters as " chief senior of
 
 CELTIC ART AT CLOXMACXOISE. 501 
 
 Ireland in wisdom and chastity, and the bestowal of jewels 
 and food." He was afterwards promoted to the position of 
 High-bishop of Connaught, but at this period we cannot say 
 what office he held, if he were not abbot of the monastery 
 and head of the School of Tuam. Of King Turlough, " for 
 whom this shrine was made," we have already spoken. 
 Domhnall MacFlanagan O'Duffy, " under whose superinten- 
 dence this shrine was made " at Roscommon, is described as 
 successor of Coman and Ciaran, and Bishop of Connaught. 
 We know from the Annals of Lough Ce that he was then 
 Bishop of Elphin. Perhaps he was afterwards translated to 
 Tuam, and then took the title of Bishop of Connaught. It 
 is highly probable, too, that he brought this shrine along 
 with him from. Elphin to Tuam. Of this translation, how- 
 ever, there is no record. Lastly, a prayer is asked for 
 Maelisu Mac Bratdan O'Echan (or Egan), the artist who 
 made this shrine. He was comarb of St. Finnen of Cloon- 
 raff, County Roscommon. 
 
 It will hardly be contended that O'Echan was anything 
 but a pure Roscommon Celt. The Mac Egans were from 
 time immemorial Brehons in various parts of Connaught, and 
 afterwards in Ormond, in the County Tipperary. It is not 
 unlikely that the artist who made the " Cross of Cong " was 
 a member of this most distinguished literary family. 
 
 The shaft of the cross is 2 ft. 6 in. high ; the breadth 
 across the arms is 1 ft. 6| in. It was made of oak, covered 
 with eight copper plates, and one plate of brass, all adorned 
 with a richly interwoven tracery. " On the central plate on 
 the face, at the junction of the arms, is a boss surmounted by 
 a convex crystal. Thirteen jewels remain of the eighteen 
 which were disposed at regular intervals along the edges, 
 and on the face of the shaft and arms, the spaces are visible 
 for nine others, which were placed at intervals down ti.e 
 centre. Two beads remain of four settings which surrounded 
 the central boss. The shaft terminates below in the grotesque 
 head of an animal, beneath which it is attached to a spheri- 
 cally ornamented ball, surmounting the socket, in which was 
 inserted the pole or shaft for carrying the cross." 1 
 
 Such is the description given by Miss Stokes of the Cross 
 of Cong. But no description can convey an adequate idea 
 of the rare beauty of this peerless cross. It must be seen to 
 be appreciated. It is conjectured that this Cross was taken 
 from Tuam to Cong either by Archbishop Muireadhach 
 
 1 Early Christian Art, by Miss Stokes, page 109. 
 
 2N
 
 5G2 CELTIC ART IN THE WESTERN MONASTERIES. 
 
 O'Duffy, who died in Cong A.D. 1150, as we have already 
 seen, or, perhaps, by King Roderick O'Conor, who also ended 
 his chequered life in the same holy retreat, nearly forty years 
 later. It was found by Father Prendergast, P.P., and last 
 Abbot of Cong, in an old oaken chest in Cong, and was pur- 
 chased from his successor by Professor M'Cullagh, who 
 presented it to the Royal Irish Academy in 1839. 
 
 The Chalice of Ardagh, which has been pronounced to be 
 " the most beautiful example of Celtic art ever yet found," 
 also appears to have been a product of the School of Clon- 
 macnoise 1 during the abbacy of the O'Duffys. 
 
 It is a two-handed chalice, probably used for the 
 Communion of the laity at a time when the Eucharist was 
 still administered under both species of bread and wine. It 
 is seven inches high, and nine one-half inches in diameter 
 across the mouth ; the bowl is four inches deep, and was 
 capable of containing about three pints. The cup is com- 
 posed of gold, silver, brass, bronze, copper, and lead. The 
 upper rim is of brass, much decayed and split from some local 
 action on that particular alloy ; but the bowl itself is of 
 silver, the standard value -of which is four shillings per 
 ounce. There is a beautiful band running round the bowl, 
 which contains the names of the Twelve Apostles engraved 
 in uncial letters of the eleventh century. No description 
 can convey an adequate idea of the exquisite beauty of this 
 chalice. It comprised no less than 354 different pieces, put 
 together with the nicest ingenuity, and exhibiting almost 
 every variety of Celtic ornamentation. Yet the leading 
 impression produced by the view of this beautiful cup is 
 chaste and classic elegance of design, combined with admir- 
 able beauty of form, and simplicity of execution. 
 
 The history of this wonderful chalice, now preserved in 
 the Royal Irish Academy, is very curious, and points to 
 Roscommon or Clonmacnoise as the place where it was 
 wrought. 
 
 We are informed in the Chronicon Scotorum that 
 " Turlough O'Conor presented three precious things to Ciaran 
 at Cluain, viz., a drinking horn inlaid with gold, a silver cup 
 with gold, and a patena of copper with gold and silver." 
 This cup, with its mullocc or patena, was, of course, a chalice ; 
 and it was kept for use on the high altar of Clonmacnoise 
 until A.D. 1125; "when the altar of the great stone church 
 of Clonmacnoise was opened, and precious things were taken 
 
 x See Christian Inscriptions, Vol. ii., page 129.
 
 CELTIC ART AT CLONMACXOISE. 563 
 
 out of it, that is the carrachan, or model of Solomon's 
 Temple it was probably a tabernacle which was given by 
 Maelsechlainn, son of Domhnall, and the cuidin of Doun- 
 chadh, son of Flann, and the three articles which Turlough 
 0' Conor gave, that is a silver goblet and a silver cup, 
 with a golden cross over it, and a drinking horn with gold 
 and the drinking horn of Ua Riata, King of Aradh, and a 
 silver chalice with a burnishing of gold, and an engraving, 
 and the silver cup of Ceallach, Comarb of Patrick." 
 
 But shortly after all these precious articles were ' revealed 
 against the Foreigners of Luimnech,' after having been stolen 
 by Gillacomghain, and he was hanged for stealing them, at 
 Dun Cluana Ithair, having been given up for that purpose 
 by Conor O'Brian, King of Munster. The thief thought to 
 make his escape from Cork, Lismore, and Waterford ; but 
 Ciaran always stopped the vessel in which he embarked to 
 cross the sea, so that she could get no wind to fill her sails ; 
 and the wretch made a dying declaration at the gallows that 
 he had seen Ciaran with his crozier stopping every ship in 
 which he attempted to escape. 
 
 Now it is a curious fact that the Chalice of Ardagh was 
 dug up from the edge of a rath called Reerasta, close to the 
 village of Ardagh, in the County Limerick, and other smaller 
 golden cups, with five fibulae, were found on the same 
 occasion. Were they secreted there by Gillacomghain, or 
 some of his accomplices, the Danes of Limerick, for we are 
 not told that the family of Clonmacnoise recovered all the 
 plunder ? There is a local tradition that Reerasta was 
 occupied by the Danes of Luimnech ; and also that in latter 
 times Mass was often celebrated there. It may be then, if 
 not secreted by the Danes, that the chalice was given by the 
 family of Cluain to some of the clergy in the neighbourhood 
 when the thieves were discovered, and that they used it for 
 celebrating Mass in this place during the times of persecu- 
 tion, and secreted the chalice on one occasion when forced 
 to fly for their lives. 
 
 It is highly probable, therefore, that this beautiful cup 
 was stolen from Clonmacnoise, was secreted at Reerasta, 
 and was accidentally found, as already described by a young 
 man, who was digging a portion of the old fort which had 
 been levelled for the purpose of tillage. 1 The artist who 
 made the Cross of Cong for King Turlough, was equally 
 well qualified to make the Ardagh chalice. He was, as we 
 
 1 See Christian Inscriptions, Vol. ii., page 129.
 
 564 CELTIC ART IN THE WESTERN MONASTERIES. 
 
 have seen, a native of the County Roscommon, he wrought 
 the Cross for King Turlough O'Conor, under the superin- 
 tendence of Domhnall Mac Flanagan O'Duffy, Bishop of 
 Connaught or Elphin, and Abbot of Roscommon and Clon- 
 macnoise. It is clear that the chalice was made before Mac 
 Kuan made the Cross of Cong, yet in all probability it would 
 be difficult to find in all Ireland a second artist who would 
 be capable of executing metal- work with such marvellous 
 fertility of design and delicacy of execution. We think that, 
 on the whole, the evidence justifies us in concluding that 
 it was owing to the munificence of Turlough O'Conor, and 
 the intelligent patronage of the O'Duffys, that this great 
 Western School of Art was created and fostered, which has 
 left so many memorials of its artistic genius at Clonmacnoise, 
 Tuam, Boyle, and Cong. 
 
 Another most interesting piece of metal- work is the shrine 
 of St. Manchan of Lemanagban, which seems to have been also 
 a product of the Clonmacnoise School of Art. St. Manchan 
 himself died of the plague in A.D. 664, most likely at his own 
 cell in Lemanaghan which takes its name from the saint 
 " the grey land of Manchan." Not inappropriately either, 
 for it was built on a gravelly ridge surrounded by a waste of 
 brown bog, so that the contrast between the colouring of the 
 ridge and the bog is v<ry striking. It is situated about 
 three miles north-east of Ferbane, in the King's County, on 
 the right of the road to Clara. The remains of Manchan' s 
 cell are still to be seen, and three blessed wells are also close 
 at hand. 
 
 In O'Reilly's Irish Writers, Manchan is set down as the 
 author of a Latin Treatise, De Mirabilibus Sacrae Scripturae, 
 which has been printed amongst the works of St. Augustine. 
 But Dr. Reeves has shown 1 that this treatise on the Wonders 
 of Holy Scriptme must rather be assigned to an Irish monk 
 of the seventh century named Augustine, of whom hardly 
 anything else is known. 
 
 St. Manchan is much better known to moderns on account 
 of the famous shrine or reliquary, which appears to contain 
 some fragments of the bones of the saint, and is, undoubtedly, 
 one of the most beautiful productions of Celtic art, as it has 
 always been considered opus pulcherrimum quod fecit opifex 
 in Hibernia. 2 The Four Masters bear emphatic testimony 
 to the same effect. A.D. 1166. " The shrine of Manchan of 
 
 1 See Pro. R,y. I. Ac., vii., p. 514. 
 
 2 See Dr. Monaghan's Records, p. 354.
 
 CELTIC ART AT CLOXMACNOISE. 565 
 
 Maothail (Mohill) was covered by Rory O'Conor, and an 
 embroidering of gold was carried over it by him, in as good 
 a style as a relic was ever covered in Ireland." St. Manchan 
 had another oratory at Mohill, County Leitrim. 
 
 This shrine is at present preserved in the Catholic Church 
 of Boher, near the Prospect Railway Station, on the Athlone 
 and Portarlington line ; and a fac-simile may be seen in the 
 Royal Irish Academy. We need not describe it at length 
 here. It is in the usual form of such Celtic shrines, some- 
 what like the roof of a house 24 inches long, 15 broad, and 
 19 inches high. .On each side there is a large and beautiful 
 cross composed of five bosses, at the extremities elaborately 
 ornamented, and united by the arms of the cross which 
 were covered with plates of enamel, fixed in a yellow ground 
 with red border lines. Above and below the crosses there 
 must have been originally as many as fifty human figures, 
 but at present only ten remain.. The metal work throughout 
 was richly gilt, and ornamented with the usual interlaced 
 figures, characteristic of our Celtic ornamentation. 
 
 When the shrine was opened it was found to contain a 
 few small fragments of bones, and some pieces of the original 
 box of yew in which they were enclosed, with a few of the 
 silver plates which adorned the original reliquary. As 
 Lemanaghan was originally given to Clonmacnoise as an 
 "Altar-sod," about the year A.D. 645, there can hardly be 
 any doubt that St. Manchan was sent from Clonmacnoise to 
 occupy it, and that it always continued to be a daughter of 
 Clonmacnoise. Hence we are justified in concluding that 
 Rory O'Conor had this beautiful work of art executed by some 
 of the cerds of that famous monastery.
 
 CHAPTER XXIII. 
 IRISH SCHOLARS ABROAD. 
 
 " O, pilgrim, if you bring me from some far-off land a sign, 
 Let it be some token still of the green Old Land once mine ; 
 A shell from the shores of Ireland would be dearer far to me, 
 Than all the wines of the Rhine-land, or the art of Italic." 
 
 M'Gee. 
 
 WE do not, by any means, propose at present to give an 
 account of the Irish Saints and Scholars, who founded so 
 many monasteries and schools in foreign countries, from the 
 seventh to the eleventh century. The subject is too wide 
 and too important to be discussed in this volume. It will be 
 necessary, however, to give a brief account of a few of those 
 celebrated men, in order to show the character of the scientific 
 and theological training which they received in, the Schools 
 of their native land. 
 
 I. ST. YIRGILIUS, S A RCHBI SHOP OF SALZBURG. 
 
 St. Yirgilius, Archbishop of Salzburg, is one of the most 
 celebrated of those learned men, whom our Irish schools sent 
 forth in swarms during the eighth and ninth centuries. And 
 he was not merely a learned prelate, and a successful 
 champion of . orthodox doctrine; he was ... also a great 
 astronomer, far in advance, of . his. own. age, for he, taught 
 the sphericity of the earth, and the existence of antipodes, 
 long before Copernicus or his system was known to the 
 scholars of Europe. 
 
 The exact place and date of his birth cannot be ascer- 
 tained, but that he was^an Irishman may not for a moment 
 be questioned. In the first place we* have the express 
 testimony of the celebrated Alcuin, an, almost contemporary 
 writer, who declares that Yirgilius was born, reared, and 
 educated in Ireland. 1 Then the author of the poetical 
 epitaph over Yirgilius, in his own church of Salzburg, bears 
 the same testimony, 2 affirming that it was the 'Hibernian 
 
 1 "Protulit in lucem quern mater Uibernia primum, instituit, docuit, 
 EUtrivit . . . amavit." JPocmata. 
 
 2 "Hie pater et pastor, humilis doctusque sacerdos corpore Virgilius 
 pausat, quern Hibernia tellus, Disponente Deo, partes direxit in ietas," etc.
 
 ST. VIRGILIUS, ARCHBISHOP OF SALZBURG. 567 
 
 land ' that sent him, under God's guidance, to Salzburg. 
 His Life, too, written about the year A.D. 1190, by a disciple 
 of Ebenhard, Archbishop of Salzburg, expressly affirms the 
 Irish birth of Virgilius ; and such, we may add, has been 
 the unvarying tradition of the church and city of Salzburg. 
 
 In our domestic Annals we have first the testimony of 
 the Four Masters, who, A.D. 784, .record that " Ferghil, i.e., 
 the Geometer, abbot of Achadh-bo, died in Germany in the 
 thirteenth year of his bishopric ; " and as we shall presently 
 see, this was the date of the death of Virgil, the Archbishop 
 of Salzburg, and thirteen years was the duration of his 
 episcopacy. In the Annals of Ulster, under date of A.D. 788, 
 we find that.: "JFergil, abbot of Achadh-bo, died" the 
 year corresponds to A.D. 785 of the- Four Masters, and that 
 appears to be the true date. 
 
 There can be no reasonable doubt, therefore, that 
 Virgilius of the Latin is equivalent to Feargil of the Irish, 
 as the root- words sufficiently imply/; and that Ferghil the 
 Geometer, who died in Germany as a bishop, having been 
 previously abbot of Aghaboe, is the celebrated. Virgilius, 
 Archbishop of Salzburg, so widely known to fame as an 
 astronomer and .theologian. 
 
 Virgil, : with a few companions from Ireland, one of 
 whom was a priest Sidonius or Sedna arrived in France 
 about the year A.D. 741 the year in which Charles Martel 
 died, and was succeeded in his office. of mayor of the palace 
 by the,famous Pepin le Bref, father of the still more renowcec? 
 Charlemagne. Virgil spent some two. or -three years in th* 
 Court of., Pepin, wJio sent him, about A.D. 743, with strong 
 letters of recommendation to the Court of Ottilo, Duke of 
 Bavaria. At this period Bavaria had been partially con- 
 verted to the faith, by the zealous labours of St Boniface, 
 the apostle of Germany, afterwards Archbishop of Mentz 
 and Legate of the Apostolic. See. Much, however, still 
 remained to be done ; and it was th,e wish of Pepin that 
 Duke Ottilo should avail himself of the services of the two 
 Irish priests, of whose zeal and learning he had ample proofs 
 in the conversion of his own half-Christian - subjects. The 
 duke received the friends of Pepin. with much consideration ; 
 for he seems to have kept them near himself, and entrusted 
 them with his confidence, as we may fairly infer ^from sub- 
 sequent events. 
 
 The zeal of the Irishmen, however, soon got them into 
 trouble ; but what was a source of trouble to them has since 
 proved a useful lesson to all theologians of the Church.
 
 568 IRISH SCHOLARS ABROAD. 
 
 Many of the priests of the period in Germany were by 
 no means learned ; so it happened that one of them when 
 baptizing a catechumen made use of this form : " Ego te 
 baptizo in nomine Patria et Filia et Spiritua Sancta " which 
 even a boy learning the Latin Grammar can perceive is very 
 different from the orthodox form. The case was referred to 
 Boniface, who declared that the baptism was invalid, and 
 ordered those so baptized to be baptized again. Virgil and 
 his friend, Sidonius, afterwards Archbishop of Bavaria, knew 
 how jealous the Church has always been about re-baptizing 
 those once validly baptized ; and they declared that in their 
 opinion the baptism in question was valid. Boniface, 
 however, persisted in his opinion. He was, as he himself 
 says, an Englisman from Saxonia transmarina and though 
 it is highly probable that he was of Irish origin, he did not 
 wish to accept the teaching of the Irish theologians on this 
 occasion. So the matter was referred to Rome ; and it so 
 happened that Pope Zachary, a Calabrian Greek, and a man r 
 too, of great learning and holiness, then filled the Chair of 
 St. Peter. His decision, sent by letter to Boniface, declares 
 explicitly that if the minister of the sacrament, through 
 ignorance of Latin, and not from any heretical purpose of 
 introducing a new form, pronounced the words as given 
 above, the baptism must be held to be valid. 1 
 
 This cl^ar and emphatic expression of Catholic doctrine, 
 as every theological student knows, we owe to Virgil and 
 Sidonius. They rightly deemed that this error in the form 
 was not substantial but accidental ; it was not introduced 
 from malice, with a view to pervert the form of the sacra- 
 ment ; but from ignorance ; the priest evidently had the 
 intention of doing what the Church does ; he corrupted the 
 integrity of the form, but it remained perfectly intelligible 
 to any bystander acquainted with the Latin language, and 
 hence the baptism itself was valid. 
 
 Boniface yielded prompt obedience to the Apostolic See, 
 but, although a saint and martyr, he felt'sore at the victory 
 gained over him by the Irish strangers, 2 who intruded into 
 
 1 Virgilius et Sidonius religiosi viri apud l Bojoarium provinciam 
 degentes, suis apud nos litteris usi sunt r per quas intimaverunt quod tua 
 reverenda paternitas eis injungeret Christianos denuo baptizare. Sanctissme 
 frater, si is qui baptizavit, non errorem intreducens aut heresim Bed pro 
 sola ignorantia Romanae locutionis inf ringendo linguam baptizans dixisset 
 nt supra fati sumus, non possumus consentire ut denuo baptizentur. 
 
 2 There is very good reason to believe that Boniface though born in 
 Ensrland, was himself of Irish origin. See Irish Eccles. Record for 1884, paeres 
 115, 190.
 
 ST. VIRGILIUS, ARCHBISHOP OF SALZBURG. 569 
 
 his spiritual domain, and seemed to supplant him in favour 
 with the Duke Otillo. And, no doubt, there were not want- 
 ing interested parties who strove to foment dissensions 
 between these two saints and servants of God. No one, 
 indeed, who knows the history of Boniface, will endorse the 
 spiteful remark of Basnage that he was " Vir si quis unquam 
 superbus sive zelotes." But he was human like others, and 
 his own letters clearly showed that he felt keenly the victory 
 of Virgil. He waited, however, for a while, and then sent a 
 friend of his, Buchardus of Wirseburg, to Rome with letters 
 for the Pope, in which he brought four serious charges 
 against Virgil. He accuses him, as we know from the Pope's 
 answer, first, that this Virgil was making malicious accusations 
 against him, Boniface, because he had been convicted by 
 Boniface of teaching erroneous doctrine j 1 secondly, Boniface 
 charged him with whispering false things to the Duke, with 
 a view of sowing dissension between him, Boniface, and the 
 Duke; 2 thirdly, he accuses Virgil of giving out that he was dis- 
 missed by the Pope from Rome, 3 in order to get one of the four 
 bisoprics of Bavaria just then vacant. Lastly, he brings 
 against him the most formidable charge of all, that Virgil 
 taught that there was another world, and other men under 
 the earth, and another sun and moon. 4 And, in the same 
 letter, Boniface complains that a certain Samson, an Irishman 
 " genere Scottus "erred from the way of truth, teaching 
 that a man could become a Christian merely by the imposition 
 of hands, without baptism. Clearly Boniface was hard on 
 the Irishmen then in Bavaria ; and the whole tone of the 
 letter shows that he had not forgotten his previous contest 
 with Virgil and Sidonius, 
 
 The Pope in hi answer deals with these charges with the 
 greatest prudence. He had very great respect for Boniface, 
 but it is clear he is not prepared to accept all his statements 
 without proof. He makes no special remark on the two first 
 charges, for they could be easily explained. But, as to the 
 third, he declares that the allegedjstatement of Virgil is false, 
 that he was not (absolutus) dismissed, or sent home by the 
 Pope in order to get a bishopric in Bavaria. Indeed, as to 
 
 1 " Malignatur adversura te pro eo quod confundebatur a te, erroneum se 
 esse a Catholica doctrina." 
 
 2 " Immissiones faciens Ottiloni duci Bojoariorum ut odium inter te et 
 ilium eemniaret." 
 
 * " Quod a nobis esset absolutus." 
 
 4 " Quod alius mundus et alii homines sub terra pint et sol et lima." See 
 Epistola xi. Zachariae ad Bonifacium, Migne's edition, page 943.
 
 570 IRISH SCHOLARS ABROAD. 
 
 this charge, there is no evidence that Virgil was ever in Rome 
 at all ; but it is highly probable that both Pepin and Ottilo 
 were anxious for his advancement to a See in Bavaria, and 
 that their zeal was attributed to the time-serving ambition of 
 Virgil himself. The charge is entirely inconsistent with his 
 character ; and it is hardly necessary to observe that it is no 
 proof of its truth that it was made in these letters sent to 
 Rome by Boniface. Too many unfounded charges of the 
 kind have been made in Rome both since and before. 
 
 As regards the fourth charge, that of teaching that there 
 was another world, and other men, . and another sun and 
 moon, it deserves fuller notice at our hands. 
 
 It is clear that Virgil held the doctrine of the Antipodes,, 
 and that Boniface, not unwilling to- find him erring in 
 doctrine, formulated his teaching as above. The words of the 
 Pope thereupon are noteworthy. 1 Concerning this charge of 
 false doctrine, if it shall be established, says the Pope, that 
 Virgil taught this perverse and wicked doctrine against Grod 
 and his own soul, let Boniface then convoke a council, degrada 
 him from the priesthood, and drive hina from the Church. 
 But what is this doctrine, as represented to the Pope ?.: 
 Certainly not that taught by Virgil, and which he learned in 
 the schools of his native land. The. doctrine censured by, the, 
 Pope, was that there is another world, and another race of, 
 men quite different from us, not children- of, Adam, and hence 
 not redeemed by the blood of Jesus Christ. This was the 
 sense in which the Pope understood the doctrine of the 
 Antipodes, this was the sense in which it was understood by 
 St. Augustine, and for that reason reprobated by him as well 
 as by the Pope. And the very words, in which the accusa- 
 tion against Virgilius is formulated, clearly point to this 
 " perverse and wicked " teaching. The truth of the matter 
 was, that neither Boniface nor the Pope knew astronomy as 
 well as Virgil, and hence they imagined he taught doctrines 
 which were quite different from his real opinions. 
 
 It is well to observe that great diversity of opinion 
 prevailed concerning the existence of Antipodes, both amongst 
 the ancient philosophers and the Fathers of the Church. 
 
 Plato is said to have been the first who held the existence 
 of Antipodes, and used the word in its present signification. 
 
 " De perversa antem et iniqua doctrina ejus, qui contra Deum et 
 animam suam locutus est ; at darificatum fuerit ita eum confiteri quod alius 
 rnundus et alii homines sub terra sint, seu solet luna, hunc, habito concilio, 
 ab ecclesia pelle sacerdotii honore privatum."* 
 * See Zachary's letter to Boniface loco citato.
 
 ST. VIRGILIUS, ARCHBISHOP OF SALZBURG. 571 
 
 But there is no evidence that he himself believed in their 
 actual existence, even though he invented the term which so 
 accurately describes them. 
 
 Lactantius, however, in his treatise " De falsa Sapientia 
 Philosophorum," ridicules the notion of Antipodes, and, as 
 he clearly regards it as a philosophical error, we may fairly 
 conclude that some of the ancient philosophers taught their 
 existence. 
 
 It would be easy enough to show how unpalatable the 
 doctrine of the Antipodes was to the ecclesiastical authorities 
 of the eighth century ; and in what sense the Pope must have 
 understood the alleged teaching of St. Virgilius. What the 
 Pope declared to be perverse and wicked doctrine not 
 heretical was that there is another world, and another race 
 ofmena\i\ homines and therefore not Sons of Adam, and 
 another sun and moon to shine upon them. But this certainly 
 was not the teaching of Virgilius, for according to him it was 
 the same world, and the same sun and moon, and the same 
 race of men who dwelt in the opposite regions of the world. 
 
 Virgil must have, in his own defence, explained the real 
 meaning of his words to the satisfaction of the Pope, for we 
 find no further mention of the controversy ; and we know, 
 too, that in a short time afterwards he was promoted to the 
 See of Salzburg, which, would certainly not be sanctioned in 
 Rome if they had any suspicion of his doctrine. 
 
 Pagi, indeed, holds that there must have been two different 
 Virgils, one who had the dispute with St. Boniface, and 
 another who was Bishop of Salzburg; and yet he admits 
 that both were in Bavaria in A.D. 746. This hypothesis is 
 intrinsically improbable, .and altogether unsupported by evi- 
 dence. Indeed, the only reason given by Pagi is the silence 
 of the writer of Virgil's Life, published by Canisius, regard- 
 ing the disputes with Boniface. But the answer is quite 
 simple : the writer of the Life gives very few facts, although 
 he narrates many miracles ; and hence we can infer nothing 
 from his silence against the generally-received opinion. 
 
 Pagi also alleges that he was the fifth Bishop of Salzburg; 
 here again, however, he is mistaken, at least if we are to 
 credit the author of the second Life given by Canisius, who 
 makes him the eighth bishop after St. Rudbert. Other 
 writers, however, make him fifth after the founder of the 
 See, following the anonymous author of an old poem on the 
 Bishops of Salzburg, who describes them as : 
 
 " Advena Virgilius statuens quam plurima qutntus, 
 Multo plura quaerens Arno super omnia sextus."
 
 572 IRISH SCHOLARS ABROAD. 
 
 It is almost impossible to fix the exact year in which 
 Virgilius became Bishop of Salzburg. The metrical epitaph 
 on his tomb declares that for nearly forty years he ruled the 
 Church of Salzburg ; and as the latest year assigned for bis 
 death is A.n. 785, this would bring the beginning of his 
 episcopacy before A.D. 750. Another account represents him 
 as consecrated by St. Stephen, successor of Zachary ; and as 
 the former did not begin his reign until A.D. 752, we must 
 place the beginning of Virgil's episcopacy after that event. 
 As he spent some years abbot of St. Peter's Monastery in 
 Salzburg before he became bishop, the date given in his Life, 
 written by the disciple of St. Ebenhard, towards the end of 
 the twelfth century, is much more probable that he was 
 consecrated bishop in succession to John in, A.D. 766 or 767. 
 The same writer tells us that for two years after his nomina- 
 tion to the See, he continued to refuse the appointment ; and 
 that during this time the duties of the episcopal office were 
 performed by a bishop called Dowd, Dobda, a countryman of 
 the saint's, who seems to have come with him from Ireland. 
 At last he was prevailed upon to allow himself to be conse- 
 crated, but he only yielded, to the earnest entreaties of all 
 the neighbouring prelates. 
 
 His life was spent in unceasing labour,, not only for his 
 own flock, but for the conversion of the neighbouring pro- 
 vinces, especially Carinthia, which was still pagan. He not 
 only sent missionaries to preach the Gospel amongst these 
 half-civilized people, but towards the close of his life he him- 
 self paid frequent visits to the newly- established churches, 
 and did much to confirm them in the faith. Hence Virgilius 
 is venerated to this day as the Apostle of Carinthia. 
 
 He rebuilt the monastery of St. Peter in a style of great 
 magnificence, for he always loved the good monks of St. 
 Benedict, who had chosen the Irish stranger to be their 
 abbot and father ; and when he died, he left his bones 
 amongst them. He also built a stately church in honour of 
 St. Stephen, and a splendid basilica dedicated to St. Rudbert, 
 which he made the cathedral of the diocese, and to which he 
 translated the relics of that saint, the founder and first bishop 
 of the Church of Salzburg. 1 When he had these great works 
 completed, he set out on a missionary journey amongst the 
 neighbouring tribes ; but finding his end approaching, " he 
 quickly returned," says the writer of his life : 
 
 1 It was while building this church that the saint so paid his men that 
 none of them could take out of the money-bag (pelle) more than his labours 
 entitled him to. See the Lessons on the saint's Feast.
 
 ST. V1RGILIUS, ARCHBISHOP OF SALZBURG. 573 
 
 " And when he came in view of his beloved Salzburg, and 
 its encircling hills, he began to weep copious tears, and he 
 cried out Haec requies mea, hie habitabo quoniam elegi earn 
 and having celebrated the Holy Sacrifice, he died without 
 pain leni correptus morbo on the fifth day before the 
 Kalends of December, A.D. 784 ; or according to another, 
 but less probable account, in A.D. 780. His body was buried 
 in the southern wing of the monastery which he himself had 
 spent twelve years in building. There he was honourably 
 buried as became a great High Priest, and his soul went up 
 to enjoy the fellowship of heavenly citizens for endless ages." 
 
 We hear no more of St. Virgil for four hundred years, 
 until near the end of the twelfth century, when his Life was 
 written by one who was himself a witness of many of the 
 facts which he relates. " In the year of our Lord's Incarna- 
 tion, A.D. 1171," he says in the opening paragraph : 
 
 " On the fourteenth day before the Kalends of March, in 
 the twenty- first year of the Pontificate of our Lord Pope 
 Alexander III., the most Serene Prince Frederic being 
 august Emperor of the Romans, and Otto of Witelenspach, 
 most renowned Duke of Bavaria; when the edifice of the 
 aforesaid monastery of St. Peter, which had some years be- 
 fore been destroyed by fire, was being rebuilt at the expense 
 and by the command of the illustrious Pastor Chunrad, 
 Archbishop of Salzburg, Legate of the Apostolic See in 
 Germany, and Cardinal Priest of St. Marcellus, through the 
 co-operating grace of the Holy Spirit, and the suffragant 
 clemency of the Divine Majesty, it came to pass that the body 
 of the blessed Virgilius, which had been hidden from all per- 
 sons for many centuries, was wonderfully brought to light." 
 
 " It happened on a certain day that some stones having 
 fallen from the wall, gave an opportunity to the passers-by 
 to look into the opening, in which they noticed signs of a 
 hollow space, and the outlines of an ancient picture were 
 observed drawn in gold. Thereupon the canons of the church 
 made an investigation ; and upon further opening the wall, 
 the tomb and image (depicta imago) of St. Virgilius, eighth 
 Bishop of Salzburg after St. Rudbert, was discovered, with 
 the following inscription : ' Virgilius templum construxit 
 schemate pulchro.' And moreover the day of his death was 
 marked, the fifth before the Kalends of December (27th Nov.) 
 Anno 781." 
 
 Then the writer goes on to narrate how the archbishop 
 and the clergy, and all citizens, crowded to the tomb to 
 venerate the sacred relics ; and he gives a long list of most
 
 574 IRISH SCHOLARS ABROAD. 
 
 extraordinary miracles which were daily performed at the 
 tomb, but which we cannot stay to transcribe. 
 
 The name of St. Virgilius is not found in the Roman 
 Marty rology, says Basnage, but he is always spoken of as a 
 saint in the Annals of the Benedictines ; and in the Canons 
 of a Council of Salzburg, held in A.D. 1274, the assembled 
 prelates declare that they recognise Rudbert, Virgil, and 
 Augustine, as the patrons of that church, and command, 
 under penalty of excommunication, their feast days to be kept 
 as holidays. It is hardly necessary to add that the festival of 
 Virgilius, Bishop and Confessor, is celebrated by the Irish 
 Church on the 27th November. 1 
 
 II. SEDULIUS, COMMENTATOR ox SCRIPTURE. 
 
 Another eminent Irish scholar of the Dispersion was 
 Sedulius, the Commentator on Scripture. Sedulius the Elder, 
 of whom we have already spoken at length, is known as the 
 Poet ; the present Sedulius is, for the sake of distinction, 
 commonly called Sedulius the Younger, or the Commentator. 
 
 Of his personal history unfortunately we know only two 
 'facts first, that he was an Irishman ; and secondly, that he 
 was, as his writings abundantly prove, a most distinguished 
 scholar. We cannot even identify him for certain amongst 
 the many Irish scholars, who are known to have borne this 
 name during the eighth and ninth centuries. 
 
 There was a Sedulius, who is supposed to have been 
 Bishop of Strathclyde in Scotland, and who was certainly 
 present at a Council held in Rome, A.D. 721. 2 He describes 
 himself under his own hand as a British Bishop of Irish 
 birth ; 3 and he was accompanied by another prelate who calls 
 himself Fergustus Episcopus Scotiae Pictus that is a Pictish 
 Bishop of Scotia, which at that time must mean a Bishop of 
 
 1 The epitaph on the saint's tomb in St. Peter's Abbey is worth tran- 
 scribing : 
 
 " Hie pater et pastor humilis doctusque sacerdos 
 Corpore Virgilius pausat, quern Hibernia tellus 
 Disponente Deo partes direxit in istas, 
 Quique regebat ovans praesentis culmina sedis 
 Ferine quater denos, c-aris cum fratribus annos 
 A quibus ille et amatus erat, pie quos et amavit. 
 Interim et extruxit pulchro molimine multa 
 Templa, loco quaedam nunc cernuntur in isto 
 Insuper et miseris largus, simul omnibus aptus, 
 Pro quo, quisquis legis versus orare memento." 
 
 3 See Haddan and Stubbs, Vol. ii. ( parti., page 7. 
 
 8 " Sedulius Epi^copus Britanniae de genere Scotorum, huic constitute a 
 nobis promulgate subscripsi." Labb, vi., 1458.
 
 SEDULIUS, COMMENTATOR ON SCRIPTURE. 575 
 
 the Irish Picts. Both happened to be in Rome together, 
 and were invited to assist at this Council and subscribe their 
 names. It is another of the many proofs that indicate the 
 close union between Rome and the Celtic Churches at this 
 period. 
 
 The Four Masters, A.D. 785 (recte 789), make mention of 
 the death of Siadhal, or Sedulius, ' Abbot of Dublin.' The 
 same entry (A.D. 789) is in the Annals of Ulster, but in the 
 Martyrology of Donegal 'he is described as Bishop of Dublin, 
 and in the Tallaght Martyrology on the game day (12th 
 Feb.) he is simply called ' Siadal Bishop ;' but nothing more 
 is known about him. If there was a Bishop in Dublin, there 
 certainly was no See of Dublin at this period ; for the See 
 was purely of Danish origin. 
 
 There was also a Siadhail, abbot and Bishop of Roscommon, 
 who died in A.D. 813. 1 Another Siadhail, or Sedulius, who 
 died in A.D. 828, was abbot of Kildare ; and according to 
 Lanigan he was 'unquestionably' the author of the 
 Commentaries, which are ascribed by all the learned to some 
 Irishman of that name, who flourished about this period. 
 Lanigan, however, has given no satisfactory evidence of this 
 ' unquestionable' fact ; and although it is quite possible that 
 Sedulius of Kildare may have been the author of the 
 Commentaries on St. Paul's Epistles, it is just quite as 
 possible that he was Sedulius, the Bishop-abbot of Roscommon, 
 or some Hibernian exile of the same period, who nourished 
 in the Schools of France or Italy. 
 
 Whoever he was, he was certainly a learned man. 
 Montfaucon has preserved a Greek psalter, 2 written by this 
 Sedulius, which is of itself quite satisfactory evidence of his 
 Greek scholarship. He was besides an accomplished Latin 
 poet, and his patristic lore is simply marvellous. No doubt 
 his work as a commentator consists, to a very large extent, of 
 extracts from the Fathers of the Church, both Greek and 
 Latin ; but so does every Commentary of the kind worth 
 reading. Where commentators begin to be original, they 
 generally cease to be orthodox. At best their learning can 
 only succeed in putting the old truths in a new way. It has 
 been insinuated 3 that Sedulius in his Commentaries on 
 St. Paul adopted what are called Calvinistic views about 
 grace and predestination. There is not a shadow of founda- 
 tion for the charge, except that Sedulius quotes and approves 
 
 1 Four Masters. 2 Paheogrnphia Graeca, iii . 
 
 3 See Professor Stokes' Celtic Church, page 2'2Q.
 
 576 IRISH SCHOLARS ABROAD. 
 
 of the teaching of St. Augustine. But how far St. Augustine 
 was from holding such views, it is quite unnecessary to show 
 in this place. These Commentaries on St. Paul are really very 
 valuable, and even at this day are worthy of careful study. 
 
 Besides the Commentaries on St. Paul, Sedulius also 
 wrote a Commentary on St. Matthew, the proper title of 
 which is Collectaneum Sedulii in Mat/teum ex diver sis 
 Patribus excerptum. He is also said to have written a 
 grammatical commentary en Priscian, and on the Secunda 
 Editio of Donatus, works which were both in common use in 
 the ancient schools of Ireland. He was somewhat of a 
 politician also, and wrote a treatise on Politics in Aristotle's 
 sense, not referred to by Lanigan, for it was only discovered 
 in comparatively recent times by Cardinal Mai in the 
 Vatican, and has been published by him in the ninth tome of 
 his Nova Collectio Scriptorum. Everything goes to show 
 that he was a man of the very widest culture attainable in 
 that age, and that he, like Yirgilius and John Scotus Erigena, 
 of whom we are now about to speak, acquired that culture in 
 the schools of his native land. 
 
 III. JOHN SCOTUS ERIGENA. 
 
 John Scotus Erigena, a man of Irish birth and education, 
 was by far the most distinguished scholar of the ninth 
 century in Western Europe. He was at once theologian, 
 philosopher, and poet ; he could write Greek verses and ex- 
 pound the Scriptures in the Hebrew and the Septuagint : he 
 was familiar with Aristotle and Plato, as well as with St. 
 Basil and St. Augustine, and was not only rector of the Royal 
 School of Paris, but is also said to have been professor of 
 dialectics and mathematics. He was known as the "Master" 
 by excellence, and was spoken of as a "miracle of knowledge." 
 Even in our own time critics of great name have ranked 
 Scotus with Chrysostom, Dante, and Thomas of Aquin, partly 
 from the beauty and sublimity of his thoughts, partly from 
 the originality, depth, and subtlety of his philosophical spe- 
 culations. No doubt he erred seriously, and was censured 
 justly. He erred, however, not in the spirit of Luther and 
 Calvin, but of Origen and St. Cyprian ; for one who ought to 
 know, and was no great friend to the Irish stranger, has 
 attested that he was in all things a holy and humble man, 
 filled with the Spirit of God. But he sailed through unknown 
 seas where there was no chart to guide him. His daring 
 spirit, soaring on strong pinions, essayed untravelled realms 
 of thought, and in the quest of truth he often followed wan-
 
 JOHN SCOTUS ERIGENA. 577 
 
 doring fires ; yet, as lie himself tells us, in the light of (rod's 
 revelation and the strength of His grace, the wearied spirit 
 always found its homeward way again. He was in reality 
 the first of the schoolmen, and his very errors, like the wan- 
 derings of every explorer of a new country, served to guide 
 those who came after him. Moreover, he has been censured 
 not only for his real errors, but for doctrines which he never 
 held, although condemned under his name ; and so it came 
 to pass that he was unduly blamed by those who knew little 
 of his history and less of his teaching, and unduly praised, 
 we think, by those who are much more ready to eulogise him 
 for his errors than for his virtues. 
 
 Like many other good things which Ireland has produced, 
 both England and Scotland have striven to make Scotus their 
 own. Thomas Dempster, the saint-stealer, in his Menologium 
 Scotorum, published in A.D. 1621, and dedicated to Cardinal 
 Barberini, has endeavoured to prove that Scotus Erigena was 
 a native of North Britain ; as, however, his arguments are 
 iounded on the similarity in sound between Ayr and Erigena 
 and between Scotus and Scot, we need not now refute them 
 at length. Thomas Gale, an Englishman, who was the first 
 to publish at Oxford, in A.D. 1681, Scotus's treatise, De 
 Divisione Naturae, maintains that he was of English birth, 
 and was born at a place called Eringen or Ergerne, in Here- 
 fordshire, as that name is very like Erigena for he gives no 
 other shadow of positive proof ! It is now superfluous 
 to prove at length, what all modern scholars admit, that 
 " Scotus," in the ninth century, and even down to the 
 eleventh century, was exactly equivalent to " Irishman" now, 
 although of course even then they sometimes spoke of the 
 " Scoti of Alba" as we speak of the " Irish of Glasgow" at 
 present. But when used alone in those early centuries the 
 terms "Scoti" and "Scotia" were applied exclusively to the 
 primitive race and their dwelling-place the Milesian Scots 
 of Ireland, of whom the Albanian Scots were a colony. In 
 A.D. 81'^, before the birth of Scotus, Eginhard, the secretary 
 of Charlemagne, says that a fleet of Normans invaded Ireland, 
 "the island of the Scots;" and, after the death of Scotus, 
 Alfred the Great, in his translation of Orosius, speaks of 
 Ireland as " Hibernia, which we call Scotland." So the very 
 name John Scotus is the same as John the Irishman, and this 
 name was given to him by all his contemporaries. Pope 
 Nicholas I. calls him, in a letter to King Charles, " Joannes 
 genere Scotus," and Hincmar, Archbishop of Rheims, who 
 knew him intimately, calls him "Scotus" and "Suotigena," 
 
 2o
 
 578 IRISH SCHOLARS ABROAD. 
 
 or Irish-born. But what settles the question is the way in 
 which Prudentius, in his treatise on Predestination, speaks of 
 Scotus, for Prudentius says he was himself the friend of 
 Scotus quasi frater he lived some time with him in the 
 palace of the king, and no one could know better whence 
 Scotus came. " Te Solum," says Prudentius, " omnium acu- 
 tissimum Galliae transmissit Hibernia." So it was Ireland, 
 then, and not England or Scotland, sent him over to France. 
 Later on in the eleventh century when, after the fusion of 
 the Picts and Scots into one nation, Scotia came to signify 
 Scotland, the cognomen Erigena was given to Scotus to sig- 
 nify that he was not an Albanian but an Irish Scot. "We do 
 not find, however, that any of his contemporaries gave him 
 that name, and the form Erigena, from which Dempster 
 infers his Caledonian origin, is not found in any existing 
 MS. copy of his works. In most of them it is written 
 lerugena, which Dr. Floss, the learned editor of the works 
 of Scotus, published in Migne's Patrology, thinks is derived 
 from the Greek, and signifies "native of the sacred isle" 
 insula sanctorum. But although Scotus himself was certainly 
 fond of Greek compounds, very few scholars of the tenth and 
 eleventh centuries were able to make them. For our own 
 part we should prefer to adopt the reading Eirugena, which 
 is found in the Florentine and Darmstad manuscripts as being 
 a far simpler and more natural form. Eriu is the older 
 nominative, and its vowel termination would render it better 
 adapted to form a compound than the genitive form Erin, 
 and thus we get Eriugena, which no doubt would very soon 
 be contracted into Erigena. 
 
 Unfortunately we neither know the exact date of 
 Erigena's birth, nor where he was born and educated. "We 
 find him an inmate of the palace of Charles the Bald in 
 A.D. 851, when he published his book on Predestination. He 
 must have been at that time some years in France, for he 
 was then well known as a distinguished scholar, so that if we 
 assume that he was born about A.D. 820, and came to France 
 about A.D. 850, we cannot be very far astray. We know 
 from a letter of Eric of Auxerre to Charles the Bald, that a 
 crowd of Hibernian philosophers came to France, attracted 
 by the liberality of that prince, and driven out of their own 
 country by the invasion of the Danes. 1 All the Iiish 
 
 1 " Quid Hiberniam memorem, contempto pelagi discrimine, pene toto 
 cum greg-e philosophorum ad littera nostramigrantem,'' " concrepantibus," 
 says William of Malmesbury, " undique belli fragoribus."
 
 JOHN SCOTUS ERIGENA. 579 
 
 annalists tell us that from A.D. 815 to 845 the Danes under 
 Turgesius plundered, desolated, and burned the whole 
 country, but especially the churches, monasteries, and 
 schools. In A.D. 843 " Turgesius plundered Connaught, 
 Meath, and Clonmacnoise with its oratories ;" in the same 
 year " Forannen, the Primate of Armagh, was taken prisoner, 
 with his relics and people" (to the number of 3,000), 
 " and they were carried by the Danes to their ships at 
 Limerick." It is easy to see how young Scotus might be 
 captured by the foreigners, and succeed in making his escape 
 to France, or seek an asylum there, most probably either in 
 this or the next year. 
 
 Charles the Bald, son of Louis le Debonaire, and grandson 
 of Charlemagne, was at this time king of Northern France 
 and Burgundy. He had lew of the kingly virtues of his 
 great grandsire, but he was a zealous patron of literature, 
 very fond of theological discussions, was present at many 
 French Councils, and on the whole, was far better fitted by 
 nature to be a monk than a monarch. He received the 
 young Irish scholar with great kindness, and treated him 
 with marked distinction. Scotus had apartments in the 
 palace, was made Capital, or head, of- the iScholae Palatinae, 
 and frequently admitted to the royal table. He was a great 
 Greek scholar, and the king wanted him to translate into 
 Latin the works of Dionysius the Areopagite, a task which 
 none of his subjects was able to accomplish. Moreover, the 
 Irishman was witty as well as wise, and the king loved a 
 joke quite as much as he loved learning. William of 
 Malmesbury, has preserved two of the witticisms of Scotus 
 On one occasion, when the wine was going round the table, 
 the Irishman by some word or act offended against the 
 etiquette due to royalty. The king, who was sitting opposite 
 to Scotus, good humouredly rebuked him by asking " Quid 
 interest inter Scottum et Sottum ?" " Tabula tantum," says 
 the witty Hibernian, and the monarch greatly enjoyed this 
 turning of the tables against himself. On another occasion, 
 Scotus was dining at the table of the king with two other 
 clerics. We cannot, indeed, ascertain for certain whether 
 Scotus himself was a cleric or not ; he certainly does not 
 appear to have been a priest. These two clerics were very 
 big men, and Scotus was, like some other great men, very 
 small. Three fishes were brought in by an attendant one 
 small and two large ones. The king beckoned Scotus to 
 divide the fish with his companions. Scotus did so, giving 
 them the small one, and keeping for himself the two big
 
 530 IRISH SCHOLARS ABROAD. 
 
 ones. The king protested against the unfair division. " It 
 is perfectly fair, my Lord the King," said Scotus, " for 
 here," pointing to himself and his plate, "we have one 
 small and two bi<r, and there/' pointing to his companions, 
 " they have two big and one small." The king laughed, and 
 probably a fairer division was afterwards made by Scotus. 
 
 He might have long enjoyed his honours and emoluments 
 in the palace in peace if he were prudent. But just at this 
 period two fierce theological disputes arose in France, and 
 either his friends at court, or his Irish blood, prompted him 
 to mingle in the melee. 
 
 Just about the time when Erigena arrived in France, 
 began the first and the warmest controversy of the ninth 
 century concerning the abstruse question of Predestination. 
 Most of the French bishops and theologians took part in this 
 discussion, which was hotly debated for twelve years. Its 
 author was a Benedictine monk, of the famous abbey of 
 Fulda, who was called Gotteschalk, or Servant of God. 
 Habaii Maur, one of the most learned men of his own time, 
 and for many years head of the great School of Fulda, who 
 was now Archbishop of Mayence, cited Gotteschalk to appear 
 before a Synod and account for his doctrinal novelties. The 
 Council was held on the 1st of October, A.D. 848. Gotteschalk 
 did appear in person, and handed in a profession of faith, 
 which, according to Hincmar, was undoubtedly erroneous. 
 
 He was accordingly condemned by the Council, and 
 Raban wrote a letter to Hincmar to inform him that a vaga- 
 bond monk (gyrovagus), of the diocese of Soissons, held 
 heretical doctrine, and was condemned by the Synod with the 
 approbation of King Louis. He also requests Hincmar to 
 convene a Synod in his own diocese, and condemn his 
 doctrines in like manner. Hincmar was not slow in following 
 this advice. That great bishop, for more than thirty years 
 the central figure of the French Church, was in every way 
 qualified to fill the high place which he occupied as the first 
 prelate and peer in France. He was learned, eloquent, and 
 nsolute, a lasting friend, and, to those whom he considered 
 in the wrong, an unrelenting foe. In his youth he had been 
 a monk of the great Abbey of St. Denis, so that between 
 I'aban Maur, a Benedictine monk of Fulda, and Hincmar, a 
 Benedictine of St. Denis, the former now the most powerful 
 prince-bishop in Germany, and the latter the first prelate in 
 France, the unfortunate Gotteschalk, a runaway monk of 
 their order, could hope for little mercy. A great Synod of 
 his province was convoked by Hincmar in the palace of
 
 JOHX SCOTUS ERIGENA. 581 
 
 Quiercy. The king was there, and a great number of his 
 bishops and abbots. Grotteschalk was introduced and inter- 
 rogated, but persisted in his opinions, and, if we may credit 
 Hincmar, was very insolent in his demeanour. So the 
 bishops ordered him to be degraded, and the abbots ordered 
 him to be flogged according to the rule of St. Benedict, and 
 after that to be imprisoned in an ergastulum. A great fire 
 was kindled, Gotteschalk was ordered to take his MS. on 
 Predestination in his hand, and the lash was then applied 
 until he should himself fling the book into the flames, which 
 he was glad to do very soon. He was afterwards imprisoned 
 in the Convent of Hautvilliers, where he remained contuma- 
 cious for nine years, and died, it is said, in the same spirit. 
 
 But the severity of Hincmar defeated his purpose. He 
 was so severely attacked by several French theologians that 
 he found it necessary to ask his friend, Scotus, to come to his 
 assistance, and the " Master " promptly responded to the 
 call. In A.D. 851 he published his Liber de Prtzdestinatione, 
 a short treatise in nineteen chapters, on a very burning 
 question. This book at once raised a tremendous storm on 
 all sides. He adopted a new system of discussion, arguing 
 rather from reason than authority, and dealing his blows 
 indiscriminately on friend and foe. He ranged through all 
 metaphysics, discusses the nature of sin, the origin of evil, 
 the eternal punishment of the wicked, and the qualities of the 
 bodies that will be hereafter united to the glorified and con- 
 demned souls. He somewhat contemptuously speaks of his 
 opponents, and acts on those independent principles which he 
 elsewhere so eloquently proclaims in a sentence that has 
 something of the sonorous ring of a Ciceronian period. 1 
 "VVenilo, Archbishop of Sens, at once sent this treatise of 
 Scotus to Prudentius, and he was not very long in pronounc- 
 ing what he thought of it. The next year he published his 
 great treatise De Prcedestinatione contra Joannem Scotum, 
 with an introduction addressed to Archbishop VVenilo. We 
 have no hesitation in saying that this introduction is written 
 in language rather vulgar, and by no means charitable. He 
 heaps all manner of abusive epithets on the head of the 
 redoubtable Scotus, and althougn he declares that he is 
 
 1 "Non ita sum. territus auctoritate, aut minus capacium animorum 
 expavesco impetum, ut ea quse vera ratio clare colligit indubitanterque 
 definit aperta fronte pronuntiare confundar, praesertim cum de talibus noii 
 nisi inter sapientes tractandum sit, quibus nil suavis est ad audiendum vera 
 ratione, nil delectabilius ad investigandum, quaudo quseritur, nil pulchrius 
 ad coatemplanduin quando inveuitur. 1 '
 
 582 IRISH SCHOLARS ABROAD. 
 
 animated only by zeal for the Catholic faith, and the affec- 
 tion of true charity, we think he would have given better 
 proof of both by greater moderation in his language. He 
 declares that he found in the book of Scotus the poison of 
 Pelagianism, the madness of Origen, and the wild fury 
 (furiositatem) of the Collyrian heretics. He speaks of the 
 impudence of Scotus in barking at (oblatrantem) the orthodox 
 faith and the Catholic Fathers, and he hints pretty clearly 
 that it was the devil himself who vomited so many blas- 
 phemies by the mouth of John and Julian, and so on to the 
 end of the chapter. In the same spirit, but in more moderate 
 language, Florus attacked the book of Scotus, whom he calls 
 a " vaniloquus et garrulus homo," and speaks of his writings 
 as " plena mendacii et erroris." For the present we shall 
 not discuss in what or how far Scotus erred in his book, but 
 he was certainly on the right side in supporting Hincmar, 
 and although neither Florus or Prudentius held all the 
 opinions of Gotteschalk, it would not be difficult to extract 
 from their writings many- propositions, which would need to 
 be interpreted in a very charitable spirit, indeed, before they 
 could be reconciled with the commonly received doctrines of 
 our Catholic theologians- 
 
 But Hincmar was not the man to yield to the noisy 
 declamation of the theologians of the South. In A.D. 853 lie 
 convened another Synod at Quiercy, in which he formulated 
 with great accuracy his own doctrine on grace and predesti- 
 nation. They are. well known as the Capitula Carisiaea. 1 
 
 It is said that Prudentius signed them, but he certainly 
 in a short time afterwards formulated four counter-proposi 8 - 
 tions, which it is not easy to reconcile with Catholic doctrine, 
 and in this proceeding he. was countenanced by Remigius of 
 Lyons. Later on, in the Council of Valence in A.D. 855, and 
 in that of Langres in A.D. 859, the southern theologians and 
 bishops attacked the capitula of Hincmar, at least by impli- 
 cation, and denounced the book written by Scotus as a devil's 
 commentary rather than an argument of faith, and said it 
 contained nothing but old women's stories, and Irish porridge 
 nauseous to the purity of faith. They did not expressly 
 mention his name, but there can be no doubt about the 
 
 1 We can only quote the headings : 
 
 1. Quod una tan turn sit prsedestinatio Dei. 
 
 2. Quod liberum hominis arbitrium per gratiam sanatur. 
 
 3. Quod Deus omnes homines velit salvos fieri. 
 
 4. Quod Christus pro omnibus hominibus passus sit. 
 The opponents of these propositions could not be orthodox.
 
 JOITX SCOTUS ERIG^NA. 583 
 
 reference in the words " Scotorurnque pultes puritati fidei 
 nauseam inferentes." But in the end Hincmar prevailed, 
 and his doctrine was sanctioned in the Synod of Tousi, in the 
 year A.D. 860, where a great many prelates of both parties 
 were assembled from fourteen provinces, with twelve metro- 
 politans, and the three kings at their head Charles the 
 Bald, Lothaire of Lorraine, and Charles of Provence. So 
 the censures of Florus and Prudentius, and the condemnation 
 of Valence and Langres cannot have much weight in 
 blackening the theological character of Scotus Erigena. 
 
 The next discussion in which Scotus is said to have taken 
 part occurred shortly afterwards. It has been stated by 
 many writers that he was the first who denied the doctrine 
 of the Real Presence in the Western Church Certainly, 
 Berengarius, in the eleventh century, claimed Scotus as his 
 teacher on the new doctrine which he introduced ; and the 
 S.acramentarians regarded him as . a great apostle of what 
 they called the truth. A book.on the Eucharist, attributed 
 tp Seotus by Berengarius, was condemned in three synods, 
 and committed to the flames as impious and heretical. 
 
 But there is no contemporary evidence to show that- 
 Sc,otus wrote a treatise on the Eucharist, and, on the other 
 hand, therQ is positive evidence which goes to show the 
 identity of the work attributed to Scotus with the treatise 
 that has certainly been, written by Ratramnus. The very 
 words, on account of which Berengarius says the book was 
 ordered to be burnt at the Council of Rome in A.D. 1059, 
 namely "ea quae in altare consecrantur esse figuram, pignus, 
 et signum Corporis et Sanguinis Christi," and which were used 
 in a heretical sense by Berengarius but not by their author, 
 are found in the Book of Ratramnus, the MS. of which still 
 bears his name in uncial letters of the tenth century. 
 Another expression attributed by Ascelinus to the unfortu- 
 nate Irishman " specie geruntur ista, non veritate " are 
 nowhere to be found in the existing writings of Scotus, but 
 are found exactly in the same MS. of Ratramnus. There 
 can be no doubt that Scotus, in his commentary on St. John, 
 did use inaccurate language, but certainly not in a heretical 
 sense. 1 Yet, his language displeased some of his best friends, 
 so that Hincmar in his second book on Predestination seems 
 
 1 As, for instance, when he says "Spiritualiter enira Christum immola- 
 mus, et intellectualiter eum mente, non dente, comedimus." Scotus meant 
 Spiritualiter et realiter in the same sense precisely as St. Augustin used 
 similar words to the exclusion of the carnal revolting meaning of the 
 Capharnaites.
 
 584 IRISH SCHOLARS ABROAD. 
 
 to attribute to Scotus for he does not mention his name 
 the error of teaching that the Sacrament of the Altar was 
 not the real body and blood, but only a memorial of them, 
 whereas Scotus taught in reality, or certainly meant to teach, 
 that it was both namely, a memorial, and at the same time 
 a reality. Adrevaldus, too, wrote a treatise "De Corp'ire 
 et Sanguine Domini contra ineptias J. Scoti." This is the 
 only contemporary evidence we have concerning the alleged 
 errors of Scotus on the Eucharist. Just 200 years later, 
 however, in consequence of the fame of Scotus, and ihe 
 similarity of their style, the Book of Ratramnus was attributed 
 to Scotus both by Berengarius and most of his contemporaries. 
 So it shared the fate of Berengarius himself, it was con- 
 demned by the Council of Paris in A.D. 1050, and in the 
 same year it was anathematised by the Councils of Rome and 
 Vercelli. Nine years later Pope Nicholas IT. made Beren- 
 garius himself throw the book into the fire in presence of an 
 immense crowd of people at Rome. And so it came to pass 
 that Scotus was censured for opinions which he never held, 
 and for a book which he never wrote. 
 
 Almost since his first arrival in France, Scotus had been 
 engaged in translating from the Greek into Latin the 
 writings of Pseudo-Dionysius. In the year A.D. 828 the 
 Greek Emperor, Michael Balbus the stammerer had sent, 
 as a present to Louis le Debonaire, a copy in Greek of the 
 writings attributed to Dionysius, the Areopagite. Dionysius, 
 mentioned in the 17th chapter of the Acts of the Apostles, 
 was said to have been at first bishop of Athens, and to have 
 been afterwards sent into France by St. Clement, where he 
 preached the Gospel for many years, and died a martyr's 
 death. The works attributed to St. Dionysius, althojgh 
 really written by some forger of the end of the fifth or 
 beginning of the sixth century, were at this time regarded 
 as genuine. Hence, the Greek Emperor's gift was very 
 highly prized in France, and preserved with the greate.-t 
 care and veneration as the undoubted work of the apostle of 
 the French people, and especially of Paris, where the great 
 Abbey of St. Denis, for many ages the cemetery of the kings 
 of France, was built in his honour. But these writings in 
 Greek were a sealed fountain to most of the French scholars 
 at the time. Hilduin, a monk of St. Denis, was charged 
 with their custody, and commissioned to translate them, but 
 failed in the attempt. When, however, the exiled Irish 
 scholar came to Paris, the king, to his great joy, soon dis- 
 covered that he was a perfect master of the Greek tongue, and
 
 JOHN SCOTUS ERIGEXA. 585 
 
 asked him to undertake the translation of the writings of the 
 Areopagite. Scotus gladly undertook the task imposed upon 
 him by his royal patron, and executed it in such a way as to 
 please the man of all others best qualified to pronounce a 
 critical opinion Anastasiu?, the Roman Librarian. In a 
 letter written to the king, in A,D. 875, he declares it to be 
 a wonderful thing that a man like Scotus, a barbnrian, living 
 at the end of the world vir ille barbarus in finibus mundi 
 positus could understand and translate into another tongue 
 the writings of the Areopagite. But the Holy Spirit, he 
 says, was the chief agent who filled him at once with fire and 
 eloquence qui hunc ardentem et loquentem fecit and 
 charity was the mistress who taught him for the instruction 
 and edification of many. He adds that his only fault was to 
 translate too literally, and the cause of that was his great 
 humility, which did n6t permit him to change the exact 
 order and meaning of the words of so great a writer. 
 
 We cannot ascrtain for certain the year of its appearance; 
 it was probably about A.D. 855, but in this case, too, Scotus 
 was unfortunate. "Whether it was that the French theolo- 
 gians had given him a bad character in Rome on account of 
 the book on Predestination, or, as others think, that the 
 Greek scholar was considered to be a supporter of Greek 
 influences in the Court of Charles during the Photian in- 
 trigues, it is certain that at this time he was no favourite at 
 Home. Accordingly, when his work appeared, Pope ISicholas 
 wrote a letter to Charles the Bald, in which he complains of 
 the publication of this translation without the usual apostolic 
 sanction quod juxta morem ecclesiae nobts mitti debet 
 especially as John the Scot, who translated it, although said 
 to be a man of much learning, was by many persons regarded 
 as not altogether sound in his doctrine non sapere in qui- 
 busdam frequenti rumore dicitur. Therefore the Pope orders 
 Charles either to send the aforesaid John to Rome to give an 
 account of himself, or at least not to permit him to remain any 
 longer at Paris as the head of the University aut certo 
 Parisiis in studio, cujus capital jam olim fuisse perhibetur, 
 morari non sinatis. This letter was written in the third year 
 of .Nicholas's pontificate, either A.D. 861 or 862. We do not 
 know what effect the letter produced, whether the king dis- 
 missed Scotus from his high position or not. It is very 
 improbable that he did dismiss him, seeing the way in which 
 Anastasius, himself a Roman, spoke of Scotus twelve years 
 later as a holy, learned, and humble man. Most probably 
 by that time they got better information concerning Scotus
 
 IRISH SCHOLAKS ABROAD. 
 
 in Rome, and found out that he was neither so unsound in 
 doctrine, nor so Photian in his tendencies as his enemies 
 made him out to be. At this time, however, when the Pope 
 wrote to Charles, Scotus took very good care not to go to 
 Rome, where he might have met the fate of Gotteschalk ; 
 nor does it appear that Charles dismissed his favourite from 
 the palace, although requested to do so by the Pope himself. 
 Scotus not only translated and wrote extensive commen- 
 taries on the writings of the Pseudo-Dionysius, but about the 
 same period composed a profound, original, and eloquent 
 work in five books, which he entitles Hep! $v<ro>s Mcpwr/Aov, 
 eeu De Divisione Naturae. This work has been greatly 
 praised, and greatly and. justly censured. We shall, however, 
 for the present reserve our judgment on^its undoubted merits, 
 as well as on its demerits, and confine ourselves to sketching 
 its eventful history. It is a dialogue between a master and 
 his pupil after the Platonic fashipn, not indeed with Plato's 
 unrivalled beauty of form, but with mu,ch of the eloquence 
 and subtlety of the Greek mind. No other scholar of the 
 Western Church in any age was, so filled with the spirit of the 
 philosophy and theology of the Greeks, and whose mind was 
 so closely akin to the mind of Greece. The Irish, like the 
 Greek mind, has a natural love for speculation, is quick, 
 subtle, and far-seeing, has greater powep.of abstraction and 
 generalization that is to say, greater metaphysical power 
 than the phlegmatic Anglo-Saxon. Scotus was a typical 
 Celt, strongly developing all the intellectual peculiarities of 
 the race. Moreover, he was familiar with Plato, and Aristotle, 
 and the Greek Fathers, far more than with the Latin Fathers. 
 He had, by close study, imbibed the spirit of Neo-Platonic 
 philosophy from the writings of Dionysius, whom he not 
 unnaturally regarded with the reverence due to an apostle, 
 and so his whole soul was made by nature, study, and duty, 
 intensely Greek. No doubt this was in itself one great source 
 of his errors, both real and imaginary, because his critics 
 seeing how he erred in some things where they could fathom 
 his philosophy, imagined he erred in many more where they 
 could scarcely guess at the meaning of his words. Hence 
 William of Malmesbury very justly says of this work of 
 Scotus, " De Divisione Naturae," that it was very useful for 
 the solution of some difficult questions, " Si tamen ignoscatur 
 ei in quibusdum, quibus a Latinorum tramite deviavit dum 
 in Grsecos acriter oculos intendit." His eyes were on the 
 Greeks, and his spirit was with the Greeks, and EO his teach- 
 ing- and his language in many respects seemed strange and
 
 JOHN SCOTUS ER1GENA. 587 
 
 erroneous to the Latins. It has been said that this book of 
 Scotus was corrupted by his enemies the more easily to refute 
 him, and by heretics the more easily to defend their own 
 errors. But the supposition is quite gratuitous, unsupported 
 by evidence, and unnecessary as an explanation of facts. His 
 doctrine in many points was attacked in his own time, his 
 errors were palliated by friends and amplified by enemies. In 
 later ages erratic sectaries, who vexed the Church of France 
 in the beginning of the thirteenth century, appealed to the 
 writings of Scotus in defence of their errors, and thus he was 
 made a third time a scape-goat to carry the sins of others. 
 We learn from the Chronicon of the monk Alberic, but from 
 no other source, that in the year A.D. 1225, Honcrius III. 
 sent a Brief to the archbishops and bishops of France, in 
 which he passed a severe judgment on the book of Scotus, 
 entitled " Periphysis," for so the monk writes it. The Bishop 
 of Paris had informed the Pope that this work was full of 
 heretical depravity, and had been condemned by the Arch- 
 bishop of Sens and his suffragans, that it was hid in many 
 monasteries, where cloistered and scholastic men, thinking it 
 a great thing to propound new opinions, spent much time in 
 the study of the book. So the Pope ordered it to be carefully 
 sought after, whenever it was found, to be solemnly burned, 
 and inflicts excommunication, ipso facto, on those who shall 
 knowingly presume to keep it in their possession. This 
 severe prohibition was effective. The MS. copies were every- 
 where sought out, and nearly all destroyed, and no Catholic 
 dared to publish it. But in the year A.D. 1681, Thomas Gale, 
 of Oxford, printed it at that city. A few years later, in A.D. 
 1685, the old prohibition was renewed, and the work placed 
 on the Index, where it still remains, although reprinted in 
 Migne's Patrology. 
 
 Scotus also wrote several Greek and Latin poems on 
 various subjects, thirteen of which, mostly Latin, are printed 
 in Migne's edition of his works. Like most poems in foreign, 
 and especially in dead languages, they are merely artificial 
 flowers of poesy stiff, scentless, and lifeless but they serve 
 to show the familiarity of the writer even in that rude age 
 with the languages of Greece and Rome. 
 
 How Scotus ended his life we know not. William of 
 Malmesbury, whom many other authorities blindly follow, 
 states that it was a common report ut fertur that he was 
 invited to England by King Alfred, that he lectured at 
 Oxford, and afterwards retired to Malmesbury, where he was 
 stabbed to death by his pupils with their pens, or perhaps
 
 /)' S 'S IRISH SCHOLARS ABROAD. 
 
 penknives (graphiis). His body was at first secretly buried 
 in the Church of St. Laurence, where the crime was com- 
 mitted, but a bright light shining nightly on the spot warned 
 the monks to transfer the holy remains of the martyred 
 scholar to the left corner of the high altar in the great Church 
 of Malmesbury, where they reposed in peace and honour until 
 another abbot, Warinus de Lira, exhumed the bodies of 
 Scotus and other saints, and buried them without honour or 
 ceremony in an obscure corner of the Church of St. Michael. 
 But his memory was long venerated as a holy martyr, and 
 his feast celebrated on the 10th of November, on which day 
 his name was inserted in the Antwerp edition of the Roman 
 M artyrology , until Cardinal Baronius had it expunged. The 
 story of William of Malmesbury is altogether improbable, 
 and we have no contemporary evidence in its support. It arose 
 in the beginning from confounding Scotus Erigena, or, as he 
 was sometimes called, Joannes, with another John, abbot of 
 Etheling, who was invited to England by Alfred, about the 
 year A.D. 880. In the letter written by Anastasius in A.D. 875, 
 he not obscurely speaks of John Scotus as already dead, at 
 least he uses the past tense throughout. It is not improbable, 
 therefore, that shortly after the Pope's letter in A.D. 862, 
 Scotus may have deemed it prudent to retire from Paris, and, 
 with an Irishman's love of home, returned to his native 
 country, where he is said to have died in peace and holiness 
 in the year A.D. 874. 
 
 It has been said, too, that he travelled to Athens, and 
 visited various parts of the East, and that he was skilled in 
 most of the Oriental languages. But these statements appear 
 unfounded ; they are certainly destitute of any reliable 
 authority. What we know for certain is that Scotus was 
 an Irishman, that he was the first scholar of his time, that he 
 acquired his knowledge even of the Greek language, in the 
 schools of his native country. He was loved and honoured 
 by friends who knew him, and misjudged both during his life 
 and after his death by many who knew neither the man him- 
 self nor his writings. His career was short and brilliant ; 
 comet-like he blazed for a while in the sunshine of royal 
 favour; he appeared and disappeared in a strangely eccentric 
 orbit. For ages he was lost to view, but in our own time is 
 seen again shining in the literary heavens with even more 
 than his ancient splendour. We are not inclined to extol 
 him undulj r , neither does it become us to judge him harshly ; 
 but whatever may be said of his errors, all must admit that 
 John Scotus Erigena was a man of saintly Hie, a prodigy of
 
 FOREIGN SCHOLARS IN IRELAND. 589 
 
 learning, and an honour to the country which gave him his 
 name and his knowledge. 
 
 IV. FOREIGN SCHOLARS IN IRELAND. 
 
 We have already spoken of several foreign scholars, who 
 came to our Irish Schools ; but there are a few others to 
 whom it is necessary to make more explicit reference. 
 
 The hill of Slane, on the banks of the Boyne, near 
 Drogheda, is one of the historic sites of Ireland. It com- 
 mands a noble prospect of all the swelling plains of Meath 
 and Louth, bounded on the north by the distant Mourne 
 Mountains rising from the sea, and on the south beyond the 
 smoky pall of Dublin, by the many topped summits of the 
 Wicklow Hills. There, close at hand on this same left bank 
 of the river towards Drogheda are Brugh and Dowth and 
 New Grange, the cemeteries of pre-historic kings; while just 
 in front beyond the river is Rosnaree, where the great King 
 Cormac sleeps with his face to the rising sun, the daily herald 
 of his immortal hopes. Further off in the distance to the 
 south and west, may be seen Royal Tara, and Skreen of 
 Columcille, and Kells of the Crosses, and the towers of Trim 
 and all the other storied ruins that once guarded the passes 
 of the Boyne from Newtown of the Normans, by Bective, 
 Navan, and Donore, whence fled the chicken-hearted James, 
 down to the obelisk by yonder bridge that marks the spot 
 where the gallant Schomberg fell. 
 
 It was on this hill of Slane that St. Patrick lit his Paschal 
 fire for the first time in Erin, within view of King Laeghaire 
 and his Druids from Tara. And it was here too that Ere, 
 " the sweet spoken judge of Patrick," built his oratory and 
 little cell, which in after ages grew to be a great monastery 
 and a great college. There is now no trace of the oratory of 
 St. Ere at Slane. The ivy-clad ruins that still remain on the 
 hill f=eem to be of Norman origin, dating probably from the 
 twelfth century. The history of the ancient monasterv has 
 likewise disappeared, almost as completely as its buildings. 
 One interesting fact, however, is still preserved by local 
 tradition, 1 and that tradition has been amply confirmed by the 
 researches of scholars in our times. It is said that a king of 
 France was educated long ago at the great College of Slane, 
 but his name and date are forgotten. We are, however, 
 enabled to supply these particulars. St. Sigebert III. was 
 
 1 See Dean Cogan's Diocese of Meath, Vol. i., page 58.
 
 5UO IRISH SCHOLARS ABROAD. 
 
 king of the Austrasian Franks from A.D. 632 to 656. This 
 pious king was more given to prayer than to warlike enter- 
 prise ; and so Grimoald, Mayor of the Palace, became virtually 
 ruler of Austrasia. When Sigebert died in A.D. 656, Grim- 
 oald, wishing to have the name as well as the power of a king, 
 caused the late king's son, Dagobert, to be tonsured, and then 
 sent Dido, Bishop of Poitiers, to carry off the boy secretely to 
 Ireland, to be educated there as a monk in one of its famous 
 monastic schools. Tradition tells us that the school was 
 Slane, and that Dagobert spent eighteen or twenty years in 
 its halls, and acquired during that long period all the learn- 
 ing of the Scots. Meanwhile Grimoald received the fitting 
 reward of his treason. He was captured by Clovis of 
 Neustria, and put to death with torture, not long after he had 
 sent the young prince to Ireland. When Dagobert was 
 grown to man's estate he returned home to Austrasia, and 
 mounted his father's throne as Dagobert II., by which name 
 the student of Slane College is known in French history. 1 It 
 is obvious that Slane was selected, not because it was the most 
 celebrated school at the time, but because it was in Meath, 
 where the High-kings mostly dwelt ; and it was only natural 
 to bring the royal boy to some college near the royal court. 
 It was through the agency of Wilfrid, Archbishop of York, 
 that Dagobert was restored to his friends and his kingdom 
 about the year A.D. 674, after the deposition and death of 
 King Childeric II. 
 
 Another eminent saint and scholar of foreign origin, 
 contemporary with Dagobert in Ireland, was Egbert of 
 Northumbria. Bede gives a very interesting account of 
 this eminent man. 2 He was sprung from the nobility of 
 Northumbria, and appears to have been born in A.D. 639. 
 
 With another young noble named Ethelun, Egbert went 
 oyer to Ireland, like the crowds of his countrymen, ' to pur- 
 sue divine studies, and lead a continent life.' They sojourned 
 in the monastery, called in Irish Rathmelsigi, which Bede's 
 editor and translator 3 foolishly calls ' Melfont.' He meant 
 Mellifont, near Drogheda ; but there was no monastery at 
 Mellifont for nearly five hundred years afterwards. As the 
 same learned editor makes Columba's noble monastery of 
 Dair-magh to be Derry, instead of Durrow, we need not 
 
 1 See Dictionary of Christian Biography, Art. 'Sigebert ' and 'Dagober',' 
 and the authorities there cited. 
 
 2 Book iii. , chapters iv. and xxvii. 
 
 3 See Bohris Edition, page 163.
 
 FOREIGN SCHOLARS IN IRELAND. 591 
 
 attach much importance to his notes on Bede concerning 
 Irish matters. Colgan says that this monastery of Rath- 
 melsigi was in Connaught ; but he does not specify, and 
 probably did not know, the exact locality. In the Martyr- 
 ology of Donegal, we find reference to " Colman 1 Huth- 
 Maoilsidhe " (at Dec. 14th), which is in all probability the 
 monastery referred to by Colgan. This Colman is different 
 from Colman of Innisboflm, whose festival day is the 8th of 
 August. It is not improbable that his monastery was 
 situated at the place called Rath-maoil, or Rath-Maoilcath, 
 both of which were situated near Ballina, on the right bank 
 of the Hoy. Everything points to the fact that most of the 
 young Northumbrian nobles and ceorls, who came to the 
 West of Ireland in crowds at this period, landed in the 
 estuary of the Moy, and then going southward, took up their 
 abode, or founded their religious houses wherever they coukl 
 obtain suitable accommodation. St. Gerald's Abbey of Mayo 
 was not then established (in A.D. 664) ; and so Egbert and 
 his companions put themselves under the guidance of ISt. 
 Colman, or some of his successors, in this monastery of Rath- 
 Maoilsidhe. 
 
 Just then the terrible Yellow Plague made its appearance 
 in Ireland, and carried off one-half of its population. All the 
 companions of Egbert and Ethelun were cut off by the 
 plague ; and now they themselves were attacked, and became 
 grievously ill. Then Egbert, whilst he had yet a little 
 strength remaining, rose up in the morning, and going out 
 of the chamber of the sick, he sat down alone, and began to 
 think of his past sins ; and he asked God's pardon for them 
 with many tears. He prayed, too, earnestly that God would 
 not yet take him out of the world, but would give him time 
 to atone by his good works for the sins of his youth. And 
 if God deigned to hear his prayer, he vowed never to 
 return again to his native Britain, but to live as a pilgrim in 
 some strange land ; and, moreover, to recite the Psalter daily, 
 and to fast continuously for twenty-four hours once a week. 
 When he returned to the sick chamber, Ethelun, his com- 
 panion, was asleep ; but presently awaking, he told Egbert 
 that his prayer was heard by God ; then he gently rebuked 
 him, for he had hoped that together they would go into 
 life everlasting. Next day Ethelun died ; but Egbert re- 
 covered from his sore sickness, and lived to be ninety years 
 of age, when he departed from this life. 
 
 1 Was this the " Colman of the Britons " mentioned in the Additions to 
 Tireihan? Sie Stokt's Tripartite, Vol. ii., page 341.
 
 592 IRISH SCHOLARS ABROAD. 
 
 Tie was ordained a priest; "and bis life," says Bede, 
 "adorned the priesthood, for he lived in the practice of 
 humility, meekness, continence, justice, and all other vir- 
 tues. He loved the Irish greatly, and lived amongst them 
 for fifty years (A.D. 664-715), preaching the Gospel, teaching 
 in his monastery, reproving the bad, and encouraging tbe 
 good by the bright example of his blameless life. He not 
 only kept his vow, but he added to it, says Bede ; for during 
 the whole Lent he took but one meal in the day, and that 
 was nothing but bread in limited quantity, and thin milk 
 from which the cream had been skimmed otf. Whatever he 
 got from others and he got much he gave to the poor. 
 
 For many years he had been resolving in his mind to sail 
 round Britain, and go to Germany to preach the Gospel to 
 ihe pagan tribes who dwelt there, and who were kindred to 
 his own nation of the Angles. But God had willed other- 
 wise. There was in Egbert's monastery an old monk who 
 had many years before been minister to Boisil, Abbot of 
 Melrose, an Irish foundation in Scotland. Now one morning 
 after matins, Boisil appeared to this aged monk, who at once 
 recognised his old master, and commanded him to tell Egbert 
 that it was God's will that he should give up his proposed 
 journey to Germany, and go rather to instruct the Columbian 
 monasteries in the right method of keeping Easter, and of 
 tonsuring the head. 
 
 Egbert fearing that this vision might be a delusion, still 
 continued his preparations for Germany, and did not obey 
 the direction given by Boisil. Then that saint appeared a 
 second time to his minister, and commanded him to make 
 known to Egbert, in a more imperative way, what it was God 
 willed him to do. " Let him go at once," he said, " to 
 Columba's monastery of Hy, because tJieir plougJis do not go 
 straight, and he will bring them into the right way." More- 
 over, the ship in which he was preparing to set out for 
 Germany was wrecked in a storm, and thrown upon the 
 shore, leaving, however, his effects intact. Egbert, taking 
 this as a further manifestation of the Divine will, gave up 
 his project of going to Germany, and set sail for lona. 
 Wictbert, however, one of his associates in religion in Ire- 
 land, went in his stead, and for two years preached the Gospel 
 in Friesland, but reaped no harvest of success amongst the 
 pagans. 80 he returned once again to Ireland, and gave 
 himself up to serve God during the rest of his life, as he was 
 wont to do before his departure, in great purity and austerity; 
 so that if he could not be profitable to others by teaching
 
 FOREIGN SCHOLARS IN IRELAND. 593 
 
 them the faith, he took care to be useful to his own beloved 
 (Irish) people by the example of his virtues." 
 
 Now when this holy father and priest, Egbert, beloved 
 of God, and worthy to be named with all honour, came to the 
 monastery of lona, he was honourably and joyfully received 
 by the community. He was also , a diligent teacher, and 
 carried out his precepts .by -his example, so that he was wil- 
 lingly listened to by all the members of the community. The 
 effect of his frequent instructions and pious exhortations, 
 was that at length the community of Hy consented to give 
 up the inveterate tradition of their ancestors in religion, and 
 adopt the new discipline, which by this time had been re- 
 ceived everywhere else throughout the Irish Church. Now 
 this was, surely, as Bede observes, a wonderful dispensation 
 of Providence, that these very monks of lona, who were the 
 first to preach the Gospel in Northumfyria, should afterwards 
 be persuaded by this Northumbrian priest to accept the correct 
 discipline and true rule of spiritual life. And stranger still, it 
 was on Easter Day, the 24th of April, A.D. 729, that this man 
 of God went to his eternal rest ; whereas, but for his exer- 
 tions, that Easter festival would not be duly celebrated on 
 that day, but in accordance with the unreformed system, 
 would have been celebrated in that year towards the end of 
 March, whilst the rest of the Church was observing the fast of 
 Lent. 
 
 "With Egbert also dwelt in the same monastery the cele- 
 celebrated St. Chad, or Cedd, Bishop of Lichfield. Chad is justly 
 regarded, on account of his learning and holiness, as one of 
 the Fathers of the Anglo-Saxon Church. He was one of 
 four brothers, like Egbert himself, of Northumbrian origin, 
 two of whom became bishops, and two were holy priests. 
 Chad was one of that crowd of Northumbrian nobles, who, 
 in the days of Bishops Finan and Colman, nocked to Ireland 
 for instruction in theology and religious discipline. Bede says 
 expressly that he with the most reverend Father Egbert, when 
 both were youths, led for a long time a monastic life together 
 in Ireland praying, observing continency, and meditating 
 on the Holy Scriptures. Chad, however, returned after a time 
 to his own country ; but Egbert continued in Ireland until he 
 set sail for lona. 
 
 Chad was, as we have already seen, present at the Con- 
 ference of Whitby in A.D. 664, and having been educated in 
 Ireland, he naturally sympathised with Bishop Colman and 
 the Irish party. He was subsequently appointed to the See 
 of York, but still sympathising with the Irish party, he 
 
 2p
 
 594 IRISH SCOHLARS ABROAD. 
 
 was deposed through the influence of Wilfrid. Yet he was 
 sometime after appointed to the See of Lichfield. He was 
 a man of great holiness of life ; but his episcopacy at Lich- 
 field only continued for two years and a half. He died 
 probably in A.D. 671 or 672, and was buried in St. Mary's 
 Church, but his bones were afterwards translated to the 
 present Cathedral of Lichfield. 
 
 A little later^in the same seventh century, the celebrated 
 St. Willibrord, afterwards Archbishop of Utrecht, was a 
 student in our Irish schools, and most probably I should say, 
 at Mayo of the Saxons. His father Wilgils, was also of the 
 English nobility, but after the birth of his sen he retired 
 from the world, and built himself a cell at the mouth of the 
 Humber, where he led a life of the most austere virtue. 
 Willibrord in his youth was trained in the great school of 
 St. Wilfrid at York ; but about the age of twenty, in order 
 to finish his education, like most of his countrymen at the 
 time, he passed over to Ireland. This much we know from 
 Bede, who also adds that whilst yet only a priest in Ireland, 
 he led therein the life of a pilgrim forsaking his earthly 
 country through love of his heavenly country. Willibrord 
 also testified to Bishop Acca and Bishop Wilfrid, that once 
 on a time, when he was in Ireland, the plague overtook a 
 certain student of the Scottish, that is the Irish, race. 'This 
 young man, though well skilled in literature, had been rather 
 heedless about the welfare of his soul. When he fell sick he 
 at once sent for Willibrord, and telling him how much he 
 feared to die on account of his sins, he besought him, if he 
 had any relics>of the good 'King Oswald, to apply them for 
 his benefit. 
 
 Then Willibrord. said that he had a portion of the stake on 
 which the pagans fixed the head of the martyred king; and 
 "blessing some water he put into it a chip of the aforesaid 
 oaken stake, and gave it to the sick man to drink. He pre- 
 sently found ease, and recovering from his sickness he lived 
 a long time after ; and being entirely converted to God 
 in heart and actions, wherever he came, he spoke of the 
 goodness of his merciful Creator, and the honour of his faithful 
 servant." 1 
 
 It was the holy Egbert, who sent Willibrord with twelve 
 companions to preach the gospel to the Frisians. And 
 shortly after two other priests of the English nation, who 
 had long lived as pilgrims in Ireland, following their example, 
 
 1 Bede, Book iii., c. 13.
 
 FOREIGN SCHOLARS IN IRELAND. 595 
 
 went to preach in Saxony, where they gained the crown of 
 martyrdom within a few years. This is not the place to 
 narrate at length the apostolic labours of Willibrord and his 
 associates how he was consecrated by Pope Sergius in 
 Home, and was commissioned to preach to the Frisians ; how 
 completely he succeeded where others had failed ; how he 
 laboured there for fifty years in all during thirty-six of 
 which he was Archbishop of Utrecht. These things are 
 told at length by Alcuin in his beautiful Life of St. 
 Willibrord, which also describes the saintly end of the long 
 and laborious career of this venerable servant of God. 
 
 It is surely a credit to our Irish schools to have trained 
 up so many learned and apostolic men, like Egbert and 
 Willibrord. It was in Ireland they were trained in divine 
 studies, as Bede testifies ; it was in Ireland they learned the 
 continent and self-denying life 'of all 'true apostles'; and it 
 was from Ireland they went forth to preach the Gospel to 
 the fierce pagan tribes of Germany, where so many of them 
 were privileged to meet a' martyr's death. 
 
 Another Irish student at this period' wa-s Agilbert, after- 
 wards Bishop of Paris. He was a Frank by birth, says 
 Bede, who came from that country to Ireland, " and lived a 
 long time there for the purpose of studying the Scriptures." 
 Bede seems to imply that he was a bishop before he came to 
 Ireland, 1 for he describes him as 'a ' Pontifex natione Gallus/ 
 This shows in what high esteem our Irish schools must have 
 been held at this period, when even bishops came from 
 France to study divinity in their halls. Agilbert afterwards 
 passed over to England, and for a time held the See of 
 Dorchefeter or Winchester. He was present at the Confer- 
 ence of Whitby, and took the side of Wilfrid, but finally 
 returning to his native country he was made Bishop of Paris. 
 The vear of his death is not known. It was probably about 
 A.D. 680. 
 
 1 Agilbert may have been consecrated bishop in Ireland. The following 
 are the words of Bede : 
 
 " Venit in provinciam de- Hibernia- pontifex quidam nomine Agilberctuc, 
 natione quidem Gallus, sed tuno legendarum gratia Scripturarum in 
 Hibernia non parvo tempore demoratus ... cujus eruditionem atque indus- 
 triam videns rex rogavit eum, accepta ibi (in Wessex) sede episcopali, suae 
 genti manere pontificem. Haddan and Stubbs, Vol. iii., p. 91.
 
 CHAPTER XXIY. 
 
 GAEDHLIC SCHOOLS AND SCHOLARS OF ANCIENT 
 
 ERIN. 
 
 " The Gaedhlic tongue ! the Gaedhlic tongue! why should its voice 
 
 be still, 
 
 When all its magic tones with old and golden glories thrill 
 When, like an aged bard, it sings departed warriors' might 
 When it was heard in kingly halls, where thronged the brave and 
 
 bright ; 
 
 When oft its glowing tales of war made dauntless hearts beat high 
 When oft its tales of hapless love drew tears from beauty's eye ?" 
 
 Anonymous. 
 
 HITHERTO we have spoken chiefly of the monastic schools, and 
 the clerical scholars of ancient Erin. We are not to assume, 
 however, that the Gaedhlic tongue was not cultivated in those 
 schools, and that those eminent saints of ancient Erin were 
 not excellent Gaedhlic scholars. We know for certain that 
 the contrary was the fact. Several of them, like Columcille, 
 were eminent Gaedhlic poets ; many of them, like St. 
 Carthach of Lismore, even wrote their monastic Rules in 
 Gaedhlic ; and, of course, even scholars, like Adamnari, who 
 wrote learned treatises in the Latin tongue, must have 
 preached the Gospel, and taught the people in the vernacular 
 language. St. Patrick himself, who was a Briton, found it 
 necessary to do so, and, as far as we can judge, he must 
 have been an accomplished speaker in the ancient Gaedhlic 
 tongue. 
 
 Still the monastic schools were more given to the cultiva- 
 tion of the classical languages than to the study of theGaedhlic ; 
 and when their great scholars wished to deal with theological 
 or scientific subjects, they wrote in the Latin language. 
 Even some of our Annalists, when they wished to give special 
 prominence to their entries, wrote in the Latin rather than 
 in the Gaedhlic. 
 
 At the same time, we are not to suppose that during this 
 period there were no Gaedhlic schools in the sense in which 
 we now speak of English as opposed to Classical schools 
 that is, academies in which the Gaedhlic language, and 
 literature, and history were the subjects chiefly, if not
 
 ORGANIZATION OF THE GAEDHLIC PROFESSIONAL SCHOOLS. 597 
 
 exclusively, taught. On the contrary, we have abundant 
 evidence that there were several schools of this character, in 
 which the vernacular language was cultivated with great 
 success, and not merely the language, but also the history, 
 the antiquities, the laws, and the literature of the nation. 
 
 We are even inclined to think that in Celtic Ireland the 
 vernacular language was more carefully cultivated during 
 this period, and that laymen generally had better oppor- 
 tunities of obtaining what would now be called a university 
 education, than they had in any other country of western 
 Europe. This statement is, in our opinion, capable of clear 
 proof from existing monuments ; but for the present we need 
 not go beyond the admitted facts that both clerics and lay- 
 men from the Continent came to the schools of Erin in large 
 numbers, to acquire the culture of our Celtic schools ; whilst 
 on the other hand, when our Irish scholars went abroad 
 during the ninth and tenth centuries, they were at once 
 entrusted with the highest offices in the Continental schools, 
 and proved themselves to be, not only amongst the ablest 
 theologians of the time, but also the first men of that age in 
 Greek and Latin Literature. The history of men like 
 Yirgilius, and Dungal, and John Scotus Erigena, proves the 
 truth of this statement beyond denial or controversy. 
 
 The Lives of the Saints furnish materials for the history 
 of our monastic schools ; but our lay scholars, having no such 
 records of their lives and learning, are forgotten, except in 
 so far as some treatise, or fragment of a treatise, of their 
 composition may have survived the wreck of time. 
 
 We find, however, from references in the Brehon Laws, 
 that lay Schools and lay Professors occupied a recognised 
 and honourable position in the social polity of the time. 
 
 I. ORGANIZATION OF THE GAEDHLIC PROFESSIONAL SCHOOLS. 
 
 In the Sequel, or Second Part, of the Crith Gabhlach the 
 legal rights and social position of the Professors of the 
 Liberal Arts are set down with a considerable degree of 
 fulness and accuracy. We are aware that it has been said 1 
 that these, and some other portions of the Crith Gabhlach "are 
 the fantastic production of an antiquarian lawyer of a strong 
 ecclesiastical bias." It is hardly necessary to question the 
 competency of this writer to pronounce such an opinion. He 
 appears to have been wholly unacquainted with the Irish 
 
 1 By A. G. Richey in the Introduction, for which he alone declares him- 
 self responsible. Vol. iy., c. vii.
 
 598 GAEDHL1C SCHOOLS AND SCHOLARS OF ANCIENT ERIN. 
 
 language, and obviously has only a lawyer's knowledge of 
 our ancient Annals. For those very things, regarding the 
 orders, rights, and privileges of the Church, which he so 
 cooly describes as the fantastic production of a lawyer with 
 an ecclesiastical bias, are shown in every page of cur Annals 
 to be amongst the recognised institutions of the Celtic tribes' 
 in Erin. It is, in fact, quite clear that he admits only as 
 authentic laws those which seem to harmonize with his own 
 pre-conceived notions of ecclesiastical polity ; but those which 
 do not fit in with these pre-conceived views, he rejects as 
 fantastic ! Such is the critical faculty of some of those to 
 whom the publication of the Brehon Laws has been en- 
 trusted. 
 
 In this Sequel to the Crith GabhlacJi?- ' profession ' is set 
 down as one of the things which give social status in Erin. 
 And, as in the Church, and amongst the land-owning classes, 
 there were several grades, so there were also amongst the pro- 
 fessional classes. These grades are set down as seven ; but 
 it is not easy for us to realize the degrees of gradation 
 between them, since that state of society has totally passed 
 away ; as surely it would be difficult in similar circumstances 
 to discriminate between the various grades in the learned 
 professions that exist amongst ourselves to-day. It would 
 not be easy for us to explain for the Maoris how those entitled 
 to write after their names A.B., or M.A., or LL.D. differ 
 amongst themselves ; or in what the Q.C. is superior to the 
 Stuff Gown ; and the same difficulty will be found to exist in 
 all the degrees, whether academical or professional, on which 
 men set so much value at present. 
 
 In like manner, in ancient Erin, the * seven grades of 
 wisdom ' are carefully distinguished by law, although it is 
 not easy for us in every case to perceive the point of the dis- 
 tinction. 
 
 There was a High-professor (rosai\ and a simple Pro- 
 fessor (sat) ; there was an anruth and a srutk, that is, a 
 ' noble stream ' and a ' stream,' which, in our opinion, have 
 not been at all explained ; there was an ' illustrator/ and an 
 ' interrogator,' and a ' pupil ' or, as we should now call 
 them, a grinder, and a tutor, and an undergraduate. The 
 High-professor was also called an ollamh and a sat litre, that 
 is in modern parlance a LL.D. (speaking of laymen), and a 
 Doctor of Literature. The most important point is that the 
 Ollave was entitled to sit at the king's table as an honoured 
 
 1 Vol. iv., page 355.
 
 ORGANIZATION OF THE GAEDHLIC PROFESSIONAL SCHOOLS. 599 
 
 guest. In point of knowledge he was qualified to answer all 
 questions in the four great departments of learning that is, 
 in poetry, literature, history, and, like a LL.D., in canon 
 and civil law. 
 
 He was entitled to bring four- and- twenty persons in his 
 retinue, or peripatetic school; and neither he nor they 
 could be denied food without incurring a severe penalty 
 one-seventh of his death-eric. One of his functions and 
 rights was to be 'in the bosom of his disciples,' always 
 imparting knowledge to them on all suitable occasions. 
 
 The anruth, or ' noble stream,' was only entitled to half 
 this company, but in other respects he was supposed to be a 
 junior Ollave or Fellow in the number of his intellectual 
 gifts, in the eloquence of his language, the greatness of his 
 knowledge, and the nobility of his teaching but he had not 
 yet reached the ' pinnacle ' of knowledge, like the full-blown 
 Ollave. 
 
 We cannot now discuss at greater length the various other 
 sub-divisions, both amongst masters and pupils, which 
 were almost as numerous as. in the Intermediate Schools and 
 Royal University all put together, including the Senators, 
 Fellows, Teaching-Examiners, and Graduates. 
 
 The learned professions were, in like manner, carefully 
 discriminated and sub-divided. Leaving out the Church, it 
 seems that there were at this, period three great lay- profes- 
 sions Poetry, Law, and History. Poetry (filidechf), gene- 
 rally gets precedence ; and the Ollave-poet seems to have 
 been at the very top of the learned professions. The ' bard ' 
 at this period is distinguished from the 'poet.' The former 
 is described as a man " without lawful learning but. his own 
 intellect ; ' n that is a man who. had from nature, the gift of 
 music and of song, but who- was never regularly trained, and 
 never graduated in the School of Poetry. Not so ihefile or 
 poet. He was trained in all the mysteries of the various 
 kinds of Gaedhlic verse ; he. could compose extempore -or in 
 writing ; he knew the legal number of recognised poems and 
 tales, and was pronounced qualified to .recite them, before 
 kings and chieftains, whether in the banquet hall, or on the 
 battle-march. He could eulogize, too, and sa.tizire. ; and 
 he and all his company were entitled both to fees and 
 refection. 
 
 The course in poetry extended over ' twelve years of hard 
 work ; >2 and besides the knowledge of the seven kinds of 
 
 1 Vol. iv., page^361. J See O'Curry. Lectures, page 240.
 
 600 GAEDHLIC SCHOOLS AND SCHOLARS OF ANCIENT ERIN. 
 
 verse, in each of which the Ollave-poet was supposed to be 
 able to compose extemporaneously, he was also required to 
 know seven times fifty tales by heart for public recitation. 
 These tales were of a wild and romantic character, but for 
 that very reason were highly popular with all classes in 
 ancient Erin. They included tales of Battles, Voyages, 
 Cattle-spoils, Sieges, Sorrows, Slaughters, and so on, through 
 the lost list of the legendary poems of Erin. Fortunately 
 many of them still survive in manuscript, and a few have 
 been published ; which even in faulty translations are found to 
 be exceedingly interesting and amusing. It was, doubtless, 
 the popular and entertaining character of these romantic 
 stories that placed the Ollave-poet at the head of the learned 
 professions, even on an equality with kings and bishops in 
 point of social dignity. There were seven grades or degrees 
 in this great fraternity, from the fochloc, or scholar-poet, up 
 to the great Ollave himself, who was the head of the school, 
 or band of twenty-four who formed his train. 
 
 In like manner with the Brehons, there was an Ollave- 
 Brehon who corresponded with a judge of the High Court in 
 our own times ; and then there were seven grades of inferior 
 brehonship, descending from this high official to the raw law 
 student, who was just beginning to take out his lectures and 
 eat his dinners for, in ancient, as in modern Erin, the 
 lawyers made eating an essential part of their professional 
 career. The fees of the Brehon were fixed by law, and to 
 withhold them was a grave offence, for which a distress might 
 be levied after an interval of three days. 1 
 
 Whoever looks over, even in a cursory way, the four 
 large volumes of the ancient Brehon code already published, 
 will readily admit that to be 'an accomplished lawyer in 
 ancient Erin required long and careful study under com- 
 petent masters. At length the system grey? so intricate and 
 complicated that the Brehonship was confined to a few 
 families, who transmitted from generation to generation the 
 key to the interpretation both of the written and customary 
 law. Every righ was entitled to have his own Brehon, who 
 sat on stated days, generally in the open air, for the adjudica- 
 tion of all the causes arising in the tribe. The litigants 
 might, of course, have their own advocates, but they were 
 generally young Brehons of inferior degree belonging to the 
 school of the chief Brehon. Amongst these legal families 
 the M'Egans of Duniry in Galway, and Ormond in Tipperary, 
 
 1 See Senchus Hor, p. 231.
 
 ORGANIZATION OF THE GAEDHLIC PROFESSIONAL SCHOOLS. 601 
 
 became the most celebrated, so that members of that family 
 were employed as judges by most of the kinglets beyond the 
 Shannon. 
 
 The Historical Poets or Chroniclers seem to have consti- 
 tuted a separate professional class in Ireland during this 
 period. O'Donneil, in a passage from the Irish Life of 
 St. Columba, clearly defines their duties, and he must have 
 known them well, for the O'Clerys, his own hereditary 
 Chroniclers, were the most illustrious members of that pro- 
 fession that ever appeared in Erin. It was their duty to 
 record (a) the achievements, wars, and triumphs of the 
 kings, princes, and chiefs ; (b] to preserve the genealogies 
 and define the rights of noble families ; (c] to ascertain and 
 set forth the limits and extent of the sub-kingdoms and 
 territories ruled over by the princes and chiefs. There is no 
 statement in the Brehon Code as to the duties of the 
 Chronicler so definite as this, because the code supposes that 
 these things were perfectly well known to all the Feni, from 
 their own daily experience. 
 
 In the earlier periods of our history these important 
 duties were discharged by the Bards ; but by degrees it was 
 found more convenient to confine them to a separate class, 
 which afterwards, like the Brehons, came to be hereditary. 
 As the righ was entitled to have his Bard and Brehon, so 
 also he was entitled to have his Chronicler to discharge those 
 duties to which we have referred above. Up to the eleventh 
 century the Chronicles were written in verse, but after that 
 period they began to be written in prose ; and in many cases 
 they are written -both in prose and verse the verse being 
 nearly always the older form of the Chronicle. 
 
 Many of these Rhyming Chroniclers record merely the 
 local history of their own chieftains ; but in other cases the 
 poet-historian took a wider scope, and gave a narrative not 
 only of Irish history, but of universal history, in a brief way, 
 down to the time of St. Patrick. Most of these Chroniclers 
 were laymen, although several of the most distinguished 
 amongst them were monks or priests in some of the great 
 monastic schools. 
 
 It is quite clear from various references both in our 
 Annals, and in the Brehon Code, that these three professions 
 were kept quite distinct from the sixth to the twelfth 
 century, that they were taught by different professors, and in 
 different schools these professors being generally but not 
 always laymen. 
 
 Perhaps the earliest school of this character to which
 
 G02 GAEDHLIC SCHOOLS AND SCHOLARS OF ANCIENT ERIN. 
 
 we find any definite reference is the School of Tuaim 
 Drecain. It is doubtless only one of many similar institu- 
 tions that flourished in ancient Ireland, but as we have more 
 accurate information, although incidental, concerning this 
 establishment, we propose to give an account of this typical 
 seminary in a separate section. 
 
 II. THE SCHOOL OK TUAIM DRECAIN. 
 
 St. Bricin's School of Tuaim Drecain is one of those 
 mentioned in O'Curry's catalogue of celebrated schools in 
 ancient Ireland. Moreover, although its founder and rector 
 was a saint, whose festival is found marked in our 
 martyrologies, it\ seems to have been a, lay school of general 
 literature, or, ae we should say, a school . of arts rather than 
 of Scripture or Theology. It has besides produced one very 
 distinguished Irish poet, some scraps of whose writings 
 have come down- to us, and therefore deserves a special notice 
 at our hands. 
 
 Its founder is described in the Martyrology .of Donegal 
 (5th Sept.) as " Briein of Tuaim Drecain, in Breifne of 
 Connaught ; but it is. in Breifne Ui Raghallaigh it is, and 
 he was of the race of Tadhg, son of Cian, son of Ollioll 
 Olum" We find off-shoots of that race of Tadhg, son of 
 Cian, in Bregia, and in Leyney, County Sligo, and elsewhere 
 also, but to which branch of the race ha belonged we are not 
 informed. 
 
 Tuaim Drecain is now called Tomregan, which very 
 nearly represents the pronunciation of the Irish, word. It is 
 a parish situated partly in three baronies and, in the two 
 Counties of Cavan and Fermanagh, where , the Woodf ord 
 river, after draining several of the Leitrim lakes, flows on to 
 join the river Erne, near Belturbet. The name signifies the 
 tomb or grave -of Drecan, some ancient warrior of whom 
 nothing is known. It would, however, be interesting to 
 know if there is any-tumulus, or stone circle, in the parish 
 which might help to explain the origin of the name. We 
 know from the Annals of tfye Four Masters that Eochaidh 
 Faebhar-glas, King of Ireland, from A.M. 3707 to 3727, 
 fought a battle at Tuaim Drecon ; and. it- was probably from 
 the tumulus raised over Drecon on this .occasion that the place 
 got its name. 
 
 St. Briein flourished during the early years of the 
 seventh century, and, besides his other scholarly acquire- 
 ments, it seems he had also some knowledge of medicine. 
 Cennfaeladh, the ' learned,' was in his youth a distinguished
 
 THE SCHOOL OF TUAIM DRECAIN. 603 
 
 soldier, and took part in the great battle of Magh Rath 
 (now Moira, Co. Down), which was fought in the year 
 A.D. 634. On that fatal field he received a very dangerous 
 wound in the head, which was very near bringing his learned 
 career to a premature close. He was, however, carried off 
 from the battle field, and taken to Armagh, whence Senach 
 the Primate, sent him to Tomregan, that he might have the 
 benefit of the surgical skill of Bricin. The saint succeeded 
 in healing the wound in the poet's head, although he had 
 actually lost through the wound a small portion of the brain. 
 This, however, in his case only added to his powers of 
 memory and general intelligence, which goes to show that in 
 some cases the skull is really too thick, and is the better of 
 being trepanned. 
 
 At this time St. Bricin was the head of a great lay 
 college at Tuaim Drecain, which consisted of three distinct 
 schools carried on in different buildings, each having its own 
 professor one a School of the Brehon Law (Feinechas), the 
 other a School of Poetry and History, and the third a School 
 of Classical Learning. These schools were, it appears for 
 convenience sake, located at the junction of three streets, so 
 that the pupils could, when necessary, easily pass from one 
 to the other. 
 
 Now, as soon as Cennfaeladh's wound began to heal, he 
 employed his leisure in attending the lectures delivered in 
 these various schools ; and his head having been specially 
 opened, he acquired, and what is more, he- retained all the 
 lectures delivered in the different schools, so that he after- 
 wards opened a similar academy himself, and was able to 
 instruct his pupils in all these various branches of knowledge. 
 Poetry, it seems, he made the vehicle of communicating his 
 information, which was quite the usual practice in those early 
 days ; and it had this one great advantage when books were 
 so scarce it greatly helped the memory, thus rendering it 
 much easier for the master to teach, and for the pupil to 
 learn. 
 
 Some of the treatises thus composed by Cennfaeladh for 
 the use of his schools have fortunately survived the ravages 
 of time. O'Curry thinks it probable that he was the author 
 of an entire Grammatical Tract which has been preserved in 
 the Book of Leacan and the Book of Bally mote. 
 
 This Tract, O'Curry tells us, is divided into four books. 
 The authorship of the First Book is ascribed to Fenius 
 Farsaidh, or Fenius the Antiquarian, an ancester of Milesius, 
 who may be regarded as a mythical personage, his name
 
 604 GAEDHLIC SCHOOLS AND SCHOLARS OF ANCIENT ERIN. 
 
 being introduced to lend an air of antiquity to the work. 
 The Second Book is, for a similar reason, ascribed to Amergin, 
 a son of Milesius. The Third Book is attributed to Ferceirtne 
 the Poet, who flourished in the time of Conor Mac Nessa ; 
 but the Fourth Book is clearly the work of Cennfaeladh him- 
 self, who, if he did not compose, certainly revised the entire 
 treatise. Cennfaeladh died about A.D. 678 ; and O'Curry 
 thinks the work was retouched after his death by later 
 scholars most likely by Cormac Mac Cullinan, or some of 
 his pupils, towards the close of the ninth century. 
 
 This most interesting work is unfortunately hitherto un- 
 published, for few scholars are qualified to undertake the 
 task of its publication. It not only deals with the principles 
 of the Irish grammatical construction, but compares the 
 Gaedhlic forms with the Latin of Priscian, Donatus, and 
 other authors then familiar to Irish scholars ; and even to 
 some extent it compares the Irish inflections with those of 
 the Greek and Hebrew languages. 
 
 Cennfaeladh also compiled a Law Tract which has been 
 published by the Brehon Law Commissioners ; and moreover, 
 he was the author of several historical poems, fragments of 
 which are still extant. His poem on the Migrations of 
 Milesius from Scythia to Spain is complete ; but we possess 
 only a fragment of another equally interesting one on the 
 Death of the Ultonian Heroes of the Red Branch. To him 
 also O'Reilly attributes the authorship of the poem on the 
 Teach Midhchuarta, which describes all the furniture and 
 arrangements of the great Mead-Circling House of Tara. So 
 that it may be truly said that few schools in Ireland produced 
 a more distinguished scholar than Bricin's Academy at Tom- 
 regan in Breiine. 1 
 
 III. CORMAC MAC CULLINAN. 
 
 This is, perhaps, the most fitting place to give an account 
 of the life and writings of the celebrated Cormac Mac Cul- 
 linan, the Bishop-king of Cashel. It is as a Gaedhlic scholar 
 he is best known to posterity, although his high position, his 
 valour, his piety, as well as his tragical end, have all combined to 
 render his career singularly interesting to his fellow country- 
 men. 
 
 Cormac was born as early as the year A.D. 835, at the 
 very time when almost all Ireland was writhing under the 
 oppression of the Danes. He was sprung from the chief 
 
 1 See O'Curry, Lecture iii., Vol. ii., p. 53.
 
 CORMAC MAC CITLLINAX. 605 
 
 royal family of Desmond, that is, the Eoghanachts of Cash el. 
 It is well known that the entire province of Munster was 
 divided between two sons of Ollioll Olum Eoghan, the elder 
 taking Desmond, and Cormac Gas the younger getting Tho- 
 mond for his principality, with alternate right for both 
 brothers to the sovereignty of the entire province. The 
 Eugenian line, however, contrived to keep the sovereignty of 
 the province for the most part in their family ; and, as these 
 kings lived generally at Cashel, the royal family of South 
 Munster came to be called the Eoghanachts of Cashel. 
 
 No mention of Cormac is made in our Annals until he 
 was called to the throne of Cashel by his fellow tribesmen, 
 A.D. 900, when he had attained the mature age of sixty-five. 
 The Four Masters, however, tell us that Sneidgius, the wise 
 man of Disert Diarmada, was his tutor ; the latter died A.D. 
 885 (recte 888), as we find it in the more accurate Chronicon 
 Scolorum. Disert-Diarmada, now called Castle-Dermott, is 
 a place of ancient fame in the south of the County Kildare. 
 It took its old name from a hermitage founded there by St. 
 Diarmaid, otherwise called Ainle, because he was a ' fresh- 
 complexioned youngling/ as the Gloss on ^Engus tells us, 
 where he retired to the hermitage that has borne his name 
 ever since. The ancient round tower still standing, as well 
 as the old stone cross, and the broken shaft of a second cross, 
 show that the old abbey, on whose site the Protestant Church 
 now stands, was a place of great ecclesiastical importance. 
 The Crouched Friars were established there by Walter de 
 Riddlesford, and Thomas, Lord of Offaley, founded a convent 
 for Franciscans in the same place. It was called Castle- 
 Dermott from the castle erected by de Riddlesford in the 
 reign of King John. It was a place of much strength, sur- 
 rounded by walls, and defended by this strong castle ; and 
 hence we find that two Parliaments of the Pale were held 
 here one in the reign of Edward IV., and the other in 
 A.D. 1499. Its chief glory, however, will always be that it 
 was there Cormac Mac Cullinan was educated, and there 
 he was buried. It gave him knowledge, and when his 
 brief and stormy reign was over, it gave him the rest of the 
 grave. 
 
 It seems that during the ninth century at least, the 
 abbots of Disert-Diarmada enjoyed quasi-episcopal jurisdic- 
 tion. Some of them were certainly bishops ; and, no doubt, 
 had a territory which owned their spiritual sway. In A.D. 842, 
 we are told that " Cum&udh, son of Derero and Maenach, son of 
 Sadchadach, who were both bishops and anchorites, died in
 
 606 GAEDHLIC SCHOOLS AND SCHOLARS OF ANCIENT ERIN. 
 
 one night at Disert-Diarmada." A.D. 895 died Muirghaes, 
 Bishop and Abbot of Disert-Diarmada ; and again in 
 A.D. 1038, we hear of the death of a ' distinguished bishop ' 
 of Disert-Diarmada. 
 
 The learning of Corraac Mac Cullinan was, no doubt, 
 acquired within the walls- of this ancient monastic school. 
 Sneidgius, the sage (egnai} of Disert-Diarmada, was his 
 tutor, and from the acquirements of the pupil, it is not 
 difficult to infer the learning of the master. We have now 
 no means, however, of knowing how long Cormac remained 
 at Disert-Diarmada. 
 
 He was certainly a bishop before he became King of 
 Cashel, but it is difficult to say what See ho was- placed over, 
 or whether he ever had charge of any See at all. I do not 
 read in any of our Annalists that -he was Bishop of Cashel 
 before he became King of Munster ; indeed it is very doubt- 
 ful if he were ever Bishop of Cashel at all. There is no 
 reference made to a Bishop of Cashel before this period, so 
 far as I know, in any of our ancient authorities. It was the 
 seat of the temporal royalty, but it had not yet become the 
 seat of spiritual authority. The Four Masters say that 
 Cormac was King and Bishop, but they do not say he was 
 Bishop of CasheL The Annals of Ulster call him King of 
 Cashel, but do not call him. ' bishop ' at all. The Chromcon 
 Scotorum describes him as " King of Cashel, a most excel- 
 lent scribe, a bishop, and an anchorite ; " but makes no 
 reference to his See. Keating is, so far as we know, the 
 first who calls Cormac, not Bishop^ but Archbishop of Cashel. 
 In fact down to the year A.D. .1101, Cashel was simply a 
 royal dun, which gave its name to the kingdom of South 
 Munster. There was up to that time no church or monastery 
 at Cashel, of which we have any information. But in that 
 year a remarkable event took place, thus recorded by the 
 Four Masters : " A meeting of Leath Mogha was held at 
 Caiseal by Muircheartach O'Briain with the chiefs of the 
 laity, and O'Dunan, noble bishop and chief senior with the 
 chiefs of the clergy ; and on this occasion Muircheartach 
 O'Briain made a grant, such as no king had ever made before, 
 namely, he granted Caiseal of the kings to the religious, with- 
 out any claim of laymen or clergymen upon it, but the religious 
 of Ireland in general." Here we find at the beginning of 
 the twelfth century, that for the first time in its history, 
 Cashel was given up for religious purposes, and ceased to be 
 the royal residence of the southern kings. We find down 
 to that time frequent mention in our Annals of the kings
 
 CORMAC MAC CULLINAN. 607 
 
 and royal "heirs of Cashel, but of no Bishop of Cashel. 
 Thenceforward, however, we hear of the Archbishops, but not 
 of the kings or tanists of Cashel. The thing appears to have 
 been brought about in the following way. 
 
 In consequence of the temporal sovereignty of Cashel, 
 the prelates of Emly, in whose diocese it was situated, began 
 to claim metropolitan, jurisdiction over all Munster, especially 
 after the O'Brian family began to claim the sovereignty of 
 Ireland during the eleventh century. Hence we find that 
 Domhnall Ua Heni is called in the Chronicon Scotorum 
 ' Archbishop of the men of Munster' (Anno 1094). Celsus, 
 the Primate, was anxious to oblige the King of Munster, 
 and, moreover, O'Dunan, successor of O'Heni (from A.D. 1094- 
 1118), was the personal friend and admirer of Celsus. Hence 
 St. Bernard tells us that Celsus consented to establish de novo 
 a second metropolitan See in Ireland, subject, -however, to 
 the primatial See of Armagh. O'Dunan was the first who 
 de jure, if it can be so-called, enjoyed the metropolitan 
 dignity in the South of Ireland ; and we -know that St. 
 Malachy was anxious to obtain the pall for the new See of 
 Cashel, as well as for his own primatial See of Armagh. And 
 it was doubtless to provide a sufficient endowment and a 
 becoming See lor the new metropolitan that the king made 
 over his own royal fortress, and a part of his mensal estates 
 for that purpose. 
 
 King Murtogh O'Brian was succeeded in the year 
 A.D. 1119 by Cormac Mac Car thy, a pious and munificent 
 prince. He did not resident Cashel, for it was now church 
 property ; and it is highly probable the * noble senior and 
 chief bishop of Munster ' had already established his epis- 
 copal palace on the famous Rock. He was not yet, however, 
 formally recognised as archbishop, for he was present at the 
 Synod of Fiadh Mic ^Enghusa, which, according to the Four 
 Masters, was held in A.D. 1111, and he is there simply 
 described as ' noble senior of Erin,' and as Bishop of Munster, 
 or as others have it, Bishop of Cashel. He was the first 
 prelate who bore that title de jure, and he was a man who 
 in every respect seems to have been worthy of the eminent 
 dignity to which he was now elevated. He died at Clonard 
 in the year A.D. 1117, according to the Four Masters, who 
 describe him as " the head of the clergy in Ireland (in merit), 
 and lord of the alms deeds of the West of Europe." 
 
 If, as the Four Masters say, his death took place in 
 A.D. 1117, it was just two years before the death of his 
 friend Murtogh O'Brian, " King of Munster and of Ireland,"
 
 608 GAEDHLIC SCHOOLS AND SCHOLARS OF ANCIENT ERIN. 
 
 the munificent prince who gave over Cashel for religious 
 purposes. Cormac, his successor, was not to be outdone in 
 generosity, so we find that in A.D. 1127 he began to build 
 the beautiful church on the Rock of Cashel, which has ever 
 since been known as Cormac's Chapel. It is sometimes 
 ascribed to Cormac Mac Cullinan, but Petrie conclusively 
 shows that it was begun about A.D. 1127 by Cormac Mac 
 Carthy, and consecrated seven years later in A.D. 1134, as all 
 our annalists declare. 
 
 It is a singular fact, too, that Cormac Mac Carthy, shortly 
 after the chapel on the Rock was begun, was driven from his 
 throne by Turlough O'Conor, and was compelled to take refuge 
 at Lismore, and there also " took the staff-bachall " or 
 crozier 1 and was honoured with the counsels and friendship 
 of St. Malachy. Hence he is called a bishop-king by a con- 
 temporary writer, Maelbrighte, in his copy of the Grospel 
 now preserved in the British Museum. The Four Masters 
 also referring to his murder in A.D. 1138, describe him as 
 Lord of Desmond, and Bishop-king of Ireland ; and add, 
 that he was treacherously slain by Turlough, son of Diarmaid 
 O'Brian, a grandson of the previous king. Our own opinion 
 therefore is, that O'Dunan, the noble senior, was the first 
 Bishop of Cashel, that it was Murtough O'Brian gave him 
 his See-lands, and that it was Cormac Mac Carthy, himself a 
 King-bishop, who built the beautiful chapel on the Rock, 
 rather, however, as an episcopal oratory, than as a cathedral 
 properly so called. 
 
 Now to return to Cormac Mac Cullinan. He became 
 King of Munster in the year A.D. 900, when, as the Annals 
 of Ulster tell us, there was a ' change of kings ' at Cashel 
 Cormac Mac Cullinan in the place .of Cenngegain, that is 
 Finnguine the former term was, it seems, a nick-name of the 
 previous king, who became unpopular and was deposed by 
 the tribesmen. Next year he was murdered, but it was by 
 his own kinsmen. 
 
 There is no doubt that Cormac was, as we have said, a 
 bishop at this period. He was not Bishop of Emly, for the 
 See was then filled. Neither was he Bishop of Lismore, as 
 some writers have asserted, for his namesake, the Bishop of 
 Lismore, lived until A.D. 1119. It is not necessary, indeed, 
 to assume that he had any See. Hitherto he seems to have 
 been a man of studious habits, as he certainly was a man of 
 great learning. Being a member of the royal family of 
 
 1 Annals of Innisfallen, anno 1127.
 
 CORMAC MAC CULLINAX. 609 
 
 Munster, it would, so to speak, be the riglit thing to make 
 him a bishop ; but, in all probability, he spent most of his 
 time in retirement at Disert-Diarmada, and was no doubt 
 reluctantly called to the throne as next in blood by the revo- 
 lution which deposed his predecessor. 
 
 All our Annalists agree in representing Cormac as both 
 a pious and learned prince ; but we cannot call him either a 
 great king or a great saint. That he was a just man accord- 
 ing to the ordinary standard, he gave proof soon after his 
 accession to the throne of Munster. The old rule of alter- 
 nate succession between the Eugenian and Dalcassian lines 
 had, as the learned Cormac was w< 11 aware, been scandalously 
 violated. He resolved, as far as he could, that justice should 
 be done when his reign would come to an end. Calling 
 around him the chiefs both of Desmond and Thomond, he 
 reminded them of the ancient rule of alternate succession, 
 and confessing that the Eugenian line hitherto had enjoyed 
 more than they were entitled to of the sovereign power, he 
 besought the princes of his own house to consent to the succes- 
 sion of a Dalcassian prince to the throne of Munster. The 
 princes of Desmond listened in respectful silence, and pre- 
 tended to assent to the proposed arrangement, but afterwards 
 declined to carry it out. 
 
 The seven years' reign of Cormac was full of stirring 
 events. The first or second year of his reign was marked by 
 " the expulsion of the Gentiles from Ireland, i.e. y from the 
 fortress of Ath-Cliath," as the Annals of Ulster express it. 
 They had, for some years, been losing ground on the eastern 
 coasts, but at this period met with such a crushing disaster 
 from Cearbhall, King of Leinster, that all the foreigners fled 
 from Dublin, half-dead with terror, having left most of their 
 ships behind them. It was the beginning of the ' forty years' 
 rest/ which poor Ireland then enjoyed from their perpetual 
 incursions. No doubt colonies of Danes still remained in the 
 great sea-port towns, which they had built ; but they were 
 too much broken down by defeat to risk any new enterprises, 
 and gladly confined themselves within their walls, spending 
 their time rather in trade and commerce than, as hitherto, in 
 war and rapine. 
 
 No sooner, however, did the native princes once more 
 breathe freely, than they turned their arms against each 
 other. Flann Sionna, son of Maelsechnaill, was then King 
 of Ireland. He had already reigned more than twenty years 
 as Ard-righ ; and what is more wonderful still, he was des- 
 tined to reign sixteen years more, and, strangest of all, to die
 
 610 GAEDHLIC SCHOOLS AND SCHOLARS OF ANCIENT ERIX. 
 
 in his bed. He was a restless and ambitious prince, and 
 seems to have inherited all the ancestral jealousy of the South 
 of Ireland. In A.D. 904 he made a wanton raid into Ossory. 
 Next year he led a hosting against Munster, and in conjunc- 
 tion with Cearbhall, King of Leinster, he plundered all the 
 Golden Vale, from Gowran to Limerick. The men of Munster 
 were now fairly roused, and even the Bishop-king was put 
 upon his mettle. He levied a great army, and marched 
 northwards to meet the troops of Flann and his allies in a 
 fair fight. The rival hosts met on the same field of Magh 
 Lena, which had witnessed the great battle between Conn the 
 Hundred Fighter, and Eoghan Mor. Once more it was 
 North and South arrayed against each other in fratricidal 
 strife, whilst Danish colonies still held all the ports of the 
 kingdom. Of old the North was victorious at Magh Lena; 
 but now fortune favoured the men of Munster. Flann and 
 his allies were completely defeated, and driven off the field. 
 Not content with this victory, the ' King-bishop crossed the 
 Shannon, and marching 'in to the very heart of Connaught 
 he defeated and plundered the Connacians, who were allies 
 of Flann. The hostages of the western provinces were carried 
 off in triumph, and the fleets of Munster sailing up from Kil- 
 laloe plundered the islands of Lough Ree. 
 
 So far no blame can be thrown 'on the King-bishop. He 
 had merely defended his own territories, and chastised the 
 insolence of an aggressive foe. But the victors were now 
 grown wanton from success, and resolved to carry their 
 triumphant arms into Leinster, as they had already done into 
 Connaught. The pretext for this wanton invasion was the 
 recovery of the old Borrumean tribute, which, it was alleged, 
 the Leinster men had not paid for 200 years, and which the 
 chiefs of Munster were now determined to exact. Cormac 
 was himself entirely opposed to this unjust war. He felt, no 
 doubt, that this alleged non-payment of the tribute was merely 
 a pretext for a war of conquest. But his subjects were full 
 of confidence from previous success; and, moreover, he was 
 urged on to battle by his evil genius, Flaithbeartach, abbot 
 of Inniscathy, a member of the royal house of Muuster, and 
 subsequently King of Cash el. 
 
 This restless ecclesiastic was the real author of all the 
 evils that followed. He seems to have been a headstrong 
 and impetuous man, fond of strife and prodigal of blood. 
 
 Cormac's greatest fault was weakly yielding against his 
 own better judgment to the counsels of this evil adviser, who 
 urged him to prosecute a war which Cormac in his own
 
 CORMAC MAC CULLINAN. 611 
 
 conscience believed to be unjust. The Leinster King had 
 sent an embassy to Cormac offering to submit the questions 
 at issue to the decision of a friendly conference, and mean- 
 time asking a cessation from arms, and offering to give as a 
 hostage the abbot of Cormac's own monastery of Disert- 
 Diarmada. Cormac was willing to accept these terms ; but 
 the abbot of Inniscathy spurned them and declared he would 
 alone fight the Leinster men. " Then," said Cormac, " I will 
 not desert you, but I feel the issue of this battle will be fatal 
 to me and mine." Thereupon he made his will, leaving rich 
 gifts in gold and vestments to many churches, and desiring 
 that his body should be buried, if possible, at Cloyne ; if not, 
 in Disert-Diarmada, where he was educated, and had spent 
 so many quiet and happy years before he was called to bear 
 the burden of a crown. 
 
 The battle * was fought at Ballaghmoon, close to the 
 ancient Campus Albu&, where the great Synod was held in 
 A.D. 630 with reference to the Paschal question. On this 
 historic field the old quarrel of North against South was once 
 more to be fought out. Flann, the King of Erin, and 
 Cathal, son of Conor, King of Connaught, came to aid the 
 King of Leinster with all their forces. On the other side 
 were, besides Cormac and his chiefs, Ceallach, King of Ossory 
 who, like Cormac himself, had suffered much from Flann's 
 previous incursions, and other subordinate kings. From the 
 first the tide of battle turned against the South. The gallant 
 chieftains of Leath-Mogha would not desert their king, but 
 they had no stomach for the fight. Ceallach of Ossory fled 
 ingloriously from the field, and it is said that one Munster 
 prince, a friend of the king, turned his horse's head from the 
 foe, crying out bitterly, " It is a battle brought on by clerics 
 let the clerics fight it out." Cormac's horse, it is said, 
 slipped in the blood pools, and fell upon his rider, who was 
 thereupon seized and beheaded by a soldier of the North, on a 
 stone which is still shown at Ballaghmoon. The nobles of 
 the South fell thick around him, and the White Field was 
 made red with the blood of the men of Munster. Amongst 
 the slain were several abbots and other ecclesiastics who 
 had followed the King-bishop to the field ; but Flaherty, 
 abbot of Inniscathy } the author of all the mischief, succeeded 
 in effecting his escape. 
 
 The head of Cormac, after the battle, was carried by some 
 soldiers to King Flann, but he rebuked them for their 
 brutality, and ordered the body of his fallen foe to be 
 sought for on the field of battle, and buried with the
 
 612 GAEDHLTC SCHOOLS AND SCHOLARS OF ANCIENT ERIN. 
 
 head at Disert-Diarmada, which was not far from the fatal 
 field. 1 
 
 IV. WRITINGS OF CORMAC MAC CULLINAN. 
 
 Corraac 'Mac Cullinan is described by the Four Masters 
 " as a king, a bishop, an anchorite, a scribe, and profoundly 
 learned in the Scotic tongue." The Martyrology of Donegal 
 adds that although he had been married to the celebrated 
 Gormlaith, daughter of Flann, his conqueror, he had always 
 lived a perfect virgin, sleeping covered only with his thin 
 tunic, and frequently immersed in cold water whilst chanting 
 his psaltery. We, however, are more concerned with the 
 king's writings than with his penances. Enough of his works 
 still remain to prove the truth of the Masters' statement, that 
 he was profoundly versed in the Scotic tongue, and we may 
 add, not only in the language, but in the laws, the literatuie, 
 the history, and the antiquities of his native country. 
 
 Cormac's Glossary is a work that is now well known to 
 Irish scholars, thanks to the diligent labour of John O'Donovan 
 and of Dr. Whitley Stokes, by whom it was translated and 
 published in 1868, The book is now a rare and dear one, 
 but invaluable for a student of the Celtic language and litera- 
 ture. It contains quotations from Latin authors, from Irish 
 chronicles, and from the poems of our native bards and ollaves. 
 There are also numerous references to the laws, romances, 
 druidism, and mythology of ancient Erin. From another 
 point of view the work is interesting, not so much for its 
 philological learning, as because it shows the extent and 
 variety of the scholarship, cultivated in our Irish Schools 
 during the ninth century. As O'Curry says " The author 
 (of the Glossary) traces a great many of the words, either by 
 derivation from, or comparison with, the Hebrew, the Greek, 
 the Latin, the British, and (as he calls it) the Northmantic 
 language, and it contains at least one Pictish word Cartait 
 almost the only word of the Pictish language that we 
 possess." 2 There is no work in any living European language 
 that gives such evident proof of high culture in the ninth 
 century as this most interesting monument of Celtic learning. 
 
 A second great work that has been usually attributed to 
 Cormac is the Psalter of Caiseal. O'Donovan in his learned 
 Introduction to the Book of Rights explains, we think, very 
 satisfactorily the conflicting statements that have been made 
 
 1 Keating. 2 See Lectures on MS. Materials.
 
 WRITINGS OF CORMAC MAC CULL1XAN. 613 
 
 by Irish scholars with reference to this famous compilation. 
 Colgan and Keating, two eminent authorities, both ascribe to 
 Cormac Mac Cullinan the composition of that noble work, 
 " which," says Colgan, " has always been held in the highest 
 estimation." On the other hand, Connell Macgeoghegan, 
 the translator of the Annals of Clonmacnotse, ascribes it to 
 Brian Boru, and that, too, in the most formal language. 
 Stranger still, Colgan himself, in another passage attributes 
 the famous Chronicle called the Psalter of Caiseal to St. 
 Benignus, the favourite disciple of St. Patrick ; but he 
 cautiously adds that Benignus began its composition 
 inchoavit et composuit which can be well reconciled with 
 what he says of Cormac Mac Cullinan's share in the work. 
 In a word, Benignus began it, and made it suitable to his 
 own time ; Cormac enlarged and perfected it, making all the 
 necessary changes in point of language and matter, which the 
 lapse of 350 years imperatively demanded ; and finally, in 
 the time of King Brian Boru it may, as Macgeoghegan 
 asserts, have been still further corrected and enlarged to suit 
 the needs of the time, and then formally approved of by that 
 monarch, as well as by his bishops and his nobles. 
 
 St. B'enignus, though born in Meath, was of Munster 
 origin. St. Patrick sent him to preach especially in those 
 districts which he did not himself visit. Hence Benignus, 
 we are told, went through Kerry and Corcomroe in his 
 missionary labours ; but especially devoted himself to South- 
 western Connaught, and built his chief church at Kilbannon, 
 near Tuam. He also specially blessed that province, the 
 natives of which still affectionately revere the memory of 
 the gentle saint with the sweet voice and winning gracious 
 ways. 
 
 Now, when the Munstermen heard of the preference and 
 the blessings which Benignus gave to Gatway, they were 
 jealous, and complained that he slighted his own kindred. 
 So to please them, Benignus went down to Caiseal, and 
 remained there from Shrovetide to Easter, composing in his 
 own sweet numbers a learned book, which would immortalize 
 the province of his kinsmen, and be useful, moreover, both to 
 her princes and to her people. 
 
 Such was the beginning of the Psalter of Caiseal, the 
 great Domesday Book of the South, written in verse, and 
 recording the sub-divisions of the kingdom, the rights and 
 privileges of its various sub-kings, the gifts they were 
 entitled to receive from the King of Caiseal, the boundaries of 
 their territories, and soforth. A portion of this primitive
 
 614 GAEDHLIC SCHOOLS AND SCHOLARS OF ANCIENT ERIN. 
 
 Psalter of Caiseal appears to have been embodied in the 
 existing work, the authorship of which, although not in its 
 present form, has been rightly attributed to the same 
 St. Benignus. 
 
 Cormac Mac Cullinan in his own day undertook to re-edit 
 this Psalter of Caiseal, and no man was better qualified for 
 the purpose, both by his office and by his learning. In the 
 accomplishing of his task' he was assisted by his secretary, 
 Selbach, the Sage, a Munster poet, whom Colgan describes 
 as a man of singular piety and learning (Acta SS., page 5), 
 and also by .^Engus, another sage, of whom nothing else is 
 known. Several poems have been likewise attributed to 
 Cormac, but their authenticity is very doubtful. 
 
 Colgan, Keating, and Sir James Ware all speak of the 
 Psalter of Caiseal 'as extant in their own time; but it has 
 since unhappily disappeared, although a very considerable 
 fragment is contained in a MS. now in the Bodleian Library 
 of Oxford. That MS. was, O'Donovan tells us, transcribed 
 in A.D. 1453 for Mac Richard Butler, by Shane O'Cleary, 
 doubtless a member of the famous antiquarian family of that 
 name. It contains several ancient poems and other treatises 
 which undoubtedly formed part of the Psalter of Caiseal 'as 
 compiled by King Cormac. 
 
 Besides his share in th'e composition of the Psalter of 
 Caiseal, Selbach, Cormac' s learned secretary, is also said to 
 have been the author of a work well known to Irish scholars 
 as the Naoimh-Senchus, or poetical history of the saints of 
 Erin. It is one of the authorities which Michael O'Cleary 
 constantly quotes in the Martyrology of Donegal ; and 
 Colgan expressly attributes its authorship to Selbach, the 
 Sage, or, as he calls him in Latin, Selvacius, and he fre- 
 quently cites that work under his name. 1 The Naoimh- 
 Senchns has also, but with less probability, been attributed 
 to JEngus Ceile De, of whom we have already spoken. 
 
 There is an excellent copy of this ancient poem in the 
 Book of Leacan f there was another copy in the Burgundian 
 Library of Brussels, which is, we believe, now in the 
 Franciscan Convent, Merchants' Quay, Dublin. 
 
 1 See Acta SS., page 5, n. x. 2 Fol. 58, b. a.
 
 CHAPTER XXI ^(continued) . 
 
 OTHER DISTINGUISHED SCHOLARS OF OUR 
 GAEDHLIC SCHOOLS. 
 
 I. GAEDHLIC SCHOLARS OF THE SIXTH AND SEVENTH 
 CENTURIES. 
 
 " I'd rather turn one simple verse 
 
 True to the Gaelic ear, 
 Than classic odes I might rehearse 
 With Senates list'ning near." 
 
 M'Gee. 
 
 BESIDES Cennfaeladk and Cormac Mac Cullinan, there were 
 from the sixth to the seventh century at least twelve or 
 thirteen other Gaedhlic writers,, whose names cannot he 
 passed over without some notice in a work like this. Our 
 account of these writers, however, must necessarily be very 
 brief, for in many pases little or nothing is known of the 
 history of their lives, and to a great extent their writings are 
 still unpublished. O'Curry 1 and O'Reilly 2 are the two 
 principal authorities imthis part of our subject. 
 
 The first on O'Curry's list is Amergin Mac Awley 
 (Ainalgaidh), the author of the celebrated work known as the 
 Dinnsenckus, This ancient and highly interesting topo- 
 graphical poem was, it is said, compiled at Tara, so early as 
 the year A.D. 550, that is, during the reign of Diarmaid 
 Mac Cearbhaill, but it has certainly, received some additions 
 from later hands. 
 
 Amergin himself is described as chief poet of that 
 monarch ; but according to O'Reilly, he must not be con- 
 founded with another Amergin Mac Awley, who flourished 
 towards the end of the seventh century, and was the author 
 of some law tracts, copies of which are still extant in the 
 library of Trinity College. The Dinnsenchus has been 
 recently published in fac simile by Professor Atkinson of 
 Trinity College. The work is specially interesting and 
 valuable on account of the incidental historical references, 
 
 1 Manuscript Materials, Lecture iii., page 53, and Manners and Customt, 
 Vol. ii.,pajre 90-178. 
 
 2 Irish Writers, page xlvii. to page Lxxxv.
 
 616 OTHER DISTINGUISHED SCHOLARS. 
 
 which it contains, and the topographical information which 
 it supplies. The stories themselves, though in many instances 
 far-fetched and improbable, are not without their value in 
 illustrating the habits and thoughts of our Celtic ancestors. 
 Copies of this ancient tract are found in 'Cb&BookofLeinster, 
 the Book of Ballymote, and there is also an imperfect copy 
 in the Book of Leacan, which shows the value that was set 
 upon it by our ancient scholars. The published fac simile 
 copy is taken from the Book of Leinsler. 
 
 Of Dalian Forgaill, who flourished towards the end of 
 the sixth century, we have already spoken in connection 
 with the Columbian Schools. Besides the Amhra Cholum- 
 cJiille, which is still extant, Dalian also composed an Amhra, 
 or Elegy, on the death of St. Senan, or Senanus, of Scattery 
 Island, in the estuary of the Shannon. He was recognised 
 during his life as chief poet of all Erin, and he appears to 
 have been on terms of friendly intimacy with Columcille. 
 His death is said to have taken place in A.D. 598, shortly after 
 that of Columcille himself. 
 
 Senchan Torpeist, then a young poet of known talents, 
 was called upon to pronounce the usual bardic elegy on the 
 death of the Chief Poet of Erin, and acquitted himself so 
 creditably that he was unanimously chosen to take the vacant 
 chair of Dalian Forgaill. 1 He was not insensible to the 
 responsibilities of his high office ; and hence, according to 
 the account in the Book of Leinster, shortly after his accept- 
 ance of the post of chief poet, he called a meeting of all the 
 Files of Erin in order that they might take measures to 
 recover the lost work known as the Cuilmenn, and which, it 
 appears, contained the only complete copy of the celebrated 
 historical tale known as the Tain bo Chuailgne. How it 
 was recovered is told in prose by O'Curry, and by Ferguson 2 
 in a poem of marvellous imaginative power, which might 
 have been fitly pronounced, if written in Gaedhlic, by 
 Senchan himself. Senchan flourished during the first half 
 of the seventh century, and though his travelling school was 
 a large one, he appears to have always found a welcome in 
 the court of the King Guaire the Hospitable, who dwelt at 
 Durlus, near Gort, in the County Galway. O'Reilly says 
 that one of Senchan's poems in which he celebrates the 
 victories of Fergus Mac Roy, is still extant in the Book of 
 Leacan. 
 
 1 See O'Curry, page 29. 
 
 2 The Tain-Quest, in the Lays of the Western Gael.
 
 GAEDHLIC SCHOLARS, ETC. 617 
 
 II. GAEDHLIC SCHOLARS OF THE NINTH AND TENTH 
 CENTURIES. 
 
 The ninth, was more remarkable than the eighth century 
 for Gaedhlic scholars of distinction. Of these one of the 
 most celebrated was Maelmura of Fathan, called also 
 Maelmura of Othan, for it is the same name when the letter 
 F is aspirated and omitted as silent in the pronunciation. 
 Maelmura merely means servant of Mura, the patron saint 
 of Fathan. The parish of Fahan, which takes its name 
 from St. Mura's ancient monastery near the village, is 
 situated on the eastern shore of Lough Swilly, under the 
 shadow of Slieve Snaght, the loftiest mountain of Inishowen. 
 The death of Maelmura is noticed by the Four Masters, 
 A.D. 884, and he is described as " a truly intelligent poet, 
 and erudite historian in the Scotic language/' The Masters 
 also quote a rann, which declares that 
 
 "There trod not the charming earth, there never flourished at 
 
 affluent Tara, 
 The great and fertile Erin never produced a man like the miLi 
 
 fine Maelmura ; 
 There sipped not death without sorrow, there mixed not a nobler 
 
 face with the dead; 
 The habitable earth did not close over a historian more illustrious." 
 
 These testimonies are extracted from the LeabJiar Gabhala 
 of the O'Clerys, and sufficiently show the estimation in 
 which Maelmura was held by our ancient Celtic scholars. 
 There is a poem published in the Irish Nennius (page 221), 
 which is attributed to Maelmura, and which really appears 
 to be a composition of very considerable merit. The 
 language is very striking, and the Gaedhlic original has a 
 stately rhythm as well as much vigour both of thought and 
 language. It contains 335 lines, and purports to give 
 poetical account of the origin of the Gaedhil, " men of high 
 renown in stiff battles, whom the mighty stream of Ocean 
 wafted hither to Erin." These epithets are quite Homeric, 
 and are not lavished with the prodigality too common to our 
 Irish bards, but employed with discriminating intelligence to 
 lend a poetic vigour to the historical narration. There is 
 another poem of Maelmura quoted by O'Reilly in praise of 
 Tuathal Techtmar, whom he describes with similar vigour as 
 a flowing ocean, in strength a lion, a wily serpent, and a 
 wounding warrior. 
 
 In another poem he gives a catalogue of all the monarchs
 
 618 
 
 OTHER DISTINGUISHED SCHOLARS. 
 
 of Erin from this Tuathal to Flann Sionna, the reigning 
 king in his own time. It is highly probable that Maelmura 
 was educated at the monastic School of Fahan, which from 
 its foundation by St. Mura seems to have been a very cele- 
 brated establishment. The founder's Book and Bell were 
 long treasured as precious relics in Inishowen. 
 
 Flann Mac Lonan was another celebrated historical poet, 
 who flourished during the latter half of the ninth century. 
 He appears to have been a native of South Connaught, and 
 held the high office of Chief Poet of Erin during the earlier 
 years of the reign of Flann Sionna. He is described as 
 Flann O'Guaire in the Annals of Ulster ; and the Genealo- 
 gies of the Hy-Fiachrach represent him as ninth in descent 
 from Guaire Aidhne, the celebrated king of the Southern. 
 Hy-Fiachrach, who flourished during the first half of the 
 seventh century. It was from the same stock that the 
 O'Clerys derived their descent, so that a love of poetry- and 
 history seems to have been hereditary in that tribe. It is 
 evident also from the writings of Flann that he was patron- 
 ized by Lorcan, King of Thomond, the grandfather of Bjrian 
 Boru, and also by his son, Cinnedigh, the father of the hero 
 of Clontarf. This King-poet, as he is called, met with an 
 untimely end. He was assassinated by the Ui Fothaith at 
 Loch-Dachaech in Desmond. Loch-Dachaech, the Lake of 
 the two Blind Men, appears to be a part of the estuary of 
 Waterford Harbour j 1 but what motive can have instigated 
 the sons of Corrbuidhe to murder the harmless poet does not 
 appear. He is described by the Four Masters as the Virgil 
 of the race of Scota the Milesian Irish Chief Poet of the 
 Gaedhil, and the best poet that was in Ireland in his time. 
 The Annals of Ulster give the true date of his death at A.D. 
 895, where they record how " Flann, son of Lonan O'Guaire, 
 was slain by the Desi of Munster." 
 
 Copies of three poems written by Flann still remain in 
 manuscript. The first is a poem of eighty-eight verses, cele- 
 brating a great victory, which Lorcan of Kincora gained over 
 Flann Sionna, the King of Erin. The second also, contain- 
 ing forty-eight verses, celebrates the warlike exploits of the 
 same hero, and the third describes his royal residence of 
 Kincora so rich in wealth, and harvest stores, and so beauti- 
 fully situated on the Shannon just where Lough Derg con- 
 tracts its waters to force a passage through the hills of Ara 
 to the sea. 
 
 1 O'Donovan's Four Masters, A.D. 891 note.
 
 GAEDHL1C SCHOLARS, ETC. 619 
 
 The two most distinguished poet-historians of the tenth 
 century were Cinaeth U'Hartigan and Eochaidh O'Flinn. 
 Cineath is described by Tighernach as the chief of the learned 
 men of Leath Cuinn. He was also Chief Poet of Erin, and was 
 the son of Cernach the Haughty, 1 who was grandson of Aedh 
 Slaine, High King of Tara. Sprung from the royal race of 
 the Southern Hy-Niall,itwas only natural that Cinaeth should 
 devote his talents to celebrate the ancient glories of the then 
 deserted Tara, and of the heroes and heroines who once 
 thronged its now waste and silent halls. These poems are 
 preserved in the Dinnsenckus, and are especially valuable 
 for the information they contain with reference to Tara and 
 the reign of Cormac Mac Art. He also gives an account of 
 the origin of Aicill, and of the Book which takes its name 
 from the hill, and has been published in the third volume of 
 the Brehon Law series. 2 
 
 Eochaid O'Flinn was a still more celebrated poet-historian, 
 and it is quite evident from the care that was taken to pre- 
 serve his numerous compositions that his works were very 
 highly valued by all our ancient Celtic scholars. We find 
 copies of his poems in the collections at all our great schools, 
 and preserved by our greatest scholars. They are to be found 
 in the Dinnsenchus, the Book of Invasions, the Book of 
 Leacan, the Book of Ballymote, the Book of Glendaloch, as 
 well as in several other compilations and manuscripts. One 
 of the most important of these is a chronological poem con- 
 tained both in the Book of Leinster and the Book of Leacan, 
 in which the writer gives a list of the Ulster Kings from 
 Cimbaoth to Fergus Fogha. Tighernach recognises the 
 historical authority of this poem, which he follows in his own 
 great work, and which, so far as it goes, seems to have been 
 his chief source of information both for his facts and his 
 dates at least as regards the kings of Emania. 3 In another 
 poem he gives an interesting account of the invasion of Ire- 
 land by Partholanus, which has been copied into the Book of 
 Invasions by the O'Clerys. 
 
 Keating, too, borrows largely from the poems of O'Flinn, 
 of which a very full list may be seen in O'Reilly's Writers? 
 but which it is unnecessary for us to reproduce here. We 
 must not suppose that O'Flinn and his contemporaries drew 
 largely on their imagination for the contents of those poems. 
 
 1 Annals of Ulster, A.D. 974 and 663. 
 
 2 See page 24 of this present work. 
 
 3 See O'Curry's Lectures, p. 521. 4 See O'Reilly, page Ixiv.
 
 620 OTHER DISTINGUISHED SCHOLARS. 
 
 They did nothing of the kind. They simply put in form the 
 bardic traditions that were handed down in writing with the 
 greatest care from time immemorial. If they had dared to 
 invent anything new to their learned contemporaries, they 
 would at once have been dismissed from the office of Chroni- 
 clers of Erin, and would besides have been severely punished. 
 It is evident, too, that they had earlier documents which they 
 made use of in the composition of their own poems, but which 
 were all unfortunately lost during the Danish invasions. 
 There was, however, always a regular succession of these 
 poets whose duty it was to get by rote the historical tradi- 
 tions of his predecessors which were thus preserved for 
 posterity. 
 
 III. GAEDHLIC SCHOLARS or THE ELEVENTH CENTURY. 
 
 Mac Liag, Secretary of Brian Boru, held that office during 
 the reign of Brian in the kingdom of Thomond, and his 
 extant work The Wars of the Gaedhill with the Gaill 
 shows how thoroughly and conscientiously he discharged his 
 official duties. It was one of the very earliest compositions 
 of this character written in prose ; but when he wishes to be 
 particularly eloquent and impressive, and rise to the dignity 
 of some great theme, he has recourse to poetry. To record 
 the events of his own time in Thomond was not, however, his 
 only duty and his only task, although it was undoubtedly his 
 primary work, for the vigorous and warlike Brian kept his 
 hands as a contemporary chronicler pretty full of work. His 
 'Lament' for Brian after the battle of Clontarf is one of the 
 most beautiful and pathetic poems to be found in any lan- 
 guage. Even Clarence Mangan could not reproduce all the 
 touching pathos of the original. 
 
 " Oh, where, Kincora ! is Brian the Great ? 
 
 And where is the beauty that once was thine ? 
 Oh, where are the princes and nobles that sat 
 
 At the feast in thy halls and drank the red wine ? 
 
 " They are gone, those heroes of royal birth, 
 
 Who plundered no churches, and broke no trust, 
 'Tis weary for me to be living on earth 
 
 When they, oh, Kincora, lie low in the dust. 
 
 " I am Mac Liag, and iny home is on the lake ; 
 
 Thither often to that palace whose beauty is fled, 
 Came Brian to ask me, and I went for his sake, 
 
 Ob, my grief that I should live and Brian be dead.''
 
 GAEDHI.IC SCHOLARS OF THE ELEVENTH CENTURY. 621 
 
 Neither Colgan, Keating, nor the Four Masters expresslv 
 name Mac Liag as the author of the Wars of the Gaedhill 
 with the Gaill.^ Dr. Todd, the editor of that work in the Rolls 
 Series, declares that Dr. O'Connor had no sufficient authority 
 to justify him in attributing the work to Mac Liag, and 
 declines to do so himself, although he admits that the work 
 was originally compiled by one, who was either an eye- 
 witness of the battle of Clontarf, or who had certainly 
 derived his information from those who were eye-witnesses. 
 Our own opinion is that although there is no direct evidenca 
 to prove that the book was written by Mac Liag, the cir- 
 cumstantial evidence, to which we cannot now refer at length, 
 is entirely in favour of that supposition. 
 
 This work is exceedingly valuable as the trustworthv 
 record of a contemporary writer during one of the most 
 important periods of Irish history, and its careful perusal 
 will be found to throw much light on the history of that 
 period. The author is much too fond of indulging in high- 
 flown descriptions, and of unduly multiplying bombastic 
 compounds. But on the other hand, he frequently writes in 
 a spirit of genuine eloquence notwithstanding this wordiness, 
 as for instance when he describes the Danish oppression in 
 Ireland, and " the excess of their thirst and hunger for the 
 brave, fruitful, nobly-inhabited, cataractful rivers and bays, 
 and for the pure, smooth-plained, sweet-grassy land of Erinn." 
 He tells how, if there were but one milk-giving cow in the 
 house, she durst not be milked for an infant of one night, 
 nor for a sick person, but must be kept for the steward, or 
 bailiff, or soldier of the foreigners. And however long he 
 might be absent from the house, his share or his supply 
 durst not be lessened ; " although there was in the house but 
 one cow, it must be killed for the meal of one night, if the 
 means of a supply could not otherwise be procured." 2 
 
 But the good sword of King Brian soon changed all that. 
 " He conquered, exterminated, enslaved, and bondaged them, 
 PO that there was not a winnowing sheet from Benn Edair to 
 Tech Duinn in Western Erin, that had not a foreigner in 
 bondage on it, nor was there a quern without a foreign 
 woman. So that no son of a soldier, or of an officer of the 
 Gaedhil, deigned to put his hand to a flail, or any other 
 labour on earth ; nor did a woman deign to put her hands 
 to the grinding of a quern, or to knead a cake, or to wash her 
 
 1 Its Irish title is Cogadh Gaedhilre Gallaibh. 
 
 2 See page 51.
 
 OTHER DISTINGUISHED SCHOLARS. 
 
 clothes, but had a foreign man or a foreign woman to work 
 for them." 1 
 
 This is no doubt a highly-coloured description, but it is 
 graphic in its details, and gives us valuable information as 
 to the state of social life at that period. 
 
 Equally graphic and interesting is the sketch which 
 Mac Liag gives of the great achievements of Brian Boru. 
 He tells how after Brian's royal visitation throughout Erin, 
 all his enemies were brought into subjection, and the country 
 enjoyed a period of profound peace and much-needed repose. 
 He enforced the law with a strong hand, and repressed 
 trespass, robbery, and murder. ' He hanged, killed and 
 destroyed' all thieves, robbers, and plunderers throughout 
 Erin. He banished or enslaved the foreigners throughout 
 the length and breadth of the land their stewards and 
 collectors, their swordsmen and their mercenaries, their tall 
 and comely youths, and their fair and graceful maidens 
 became the bond-servants of the victors. It was then that 
 Erin enjoyed such peace and security that a lone woman 
 journeyed from Tory Island in the north to Cliodhna's loud- 
 voiced wave in the south of Erin, carrying a golden ring on 
 the top of the wand ; yet no man ventured to rob, or to 
 insult her. This blessed period of justice and peace, so rare 
 in Erin, has been celebrated both by ancient and by modern 
 bards. 2 
 
 Nor was Brian less enlightened and munificent in culti- 
 vating the arts of peace. He erected many noble churches 
 and church towers in Erin, as at Killaloe, Iniscaltra, and 
 Tuam Greine, where the remains of the buildings erected by 
 Brian are still to be seen. He constructed many bridges, 
 causeways, and high roads. He strengthened all the royal 
 fortresses of Munster both in the islands and on the main- 
 land. He sent professors and masters to teach wisdom and 
 knowledge, and to buy books in foreign countries and bring 
 them home from beyond the great sea. This was all the 
 more necessary as the writings and the books in every 
 church and sanctuary of Erin where they were, were all 
 burned or thrown into the lakes and rivers by the plundering 
 Danes. It was Brian himself, who from his own resources 
 gave the means of purchasing this new supply of books 
 beyond the seas. 
 
 Such was Brian Boru, a hero in peace and in war, the 
 
 1 See page 117. 
 
 2 It was this narrative that inspired Moore's beautiful lyric "Bich and 
 Rare."
 
 GAEDHLIC SCHOLARS OF THE ELEVENTH CENTURY. 623 
 
 sword and shield of his country, during whose glorious reign 
 Ireland reached the zenith of her power and prosperity. 
 Mac Liag died shortly after his royal master in A.D. 1016. 
 
 Cuan O'Lochain was another very celebrated scholar who 
 flourished during the first quarter of the eleventh century. 
 His writings, his talents as a statesman, and his tragic end 
 have all contributed to his celebrity. The family which 
 derived its descent from. Cormac Graileng, son of Tadhg, 
 grandson of Ollioll Olum, was at first settled in the | territory 
 of Ely ; but afterwards removed to Gailenga Mor, on the 
 borders of Meath and Longford. This territory took its 
 name from Cormac Gaileng, and retains it to the present day 
 in the name of the barony of Morgallion, which is merely 
 another form of Gailenga Mor. It appears that the 
 O'Lochains were chiefs of this district, and that the poet's 
 family was held in high esteem in Meath. 
 
 After the death of King Malachy II. (Maelseachlainn), 
 in the year A.D. 1022, an interregnum of twenty years inter- 
 vened, during which there was no recognised High King of 
 Erin. A joint government was established during the 
 interregnum ; and it is said the regency was administered by 
 Cuan O'Lochain, the Chief Poet of Erinn, and by Corcran 
 the Cleric; or, as it is quaintly put in Macgeoghegan's Annals 
 of Clonmacnoise " A.D. 1022 After the death of King 
 Moylesleaghlyn, this kingdom was without a king for 
 twenty years, during which time the realm was governed by 
 two learned men, the one called Cwan O'Lochan, a well- 
 learned temporall man, and chiefe poet of Ireland ; the 
 other, Corcran Cleireagh, a devout and holy man, that was 
 chief anchorite of all Ireland, whose most abiding was at 
 Lismore. The land was governed like a free state, and not 
 like a monarchic by them." It is curious that we find no 
 reference to this interregnum in any of our Annals, and hence 
 the truth of Macgeoghegan's statement has been questioned 
 by certain writers. But O'Curry shows 1 that the same state- 
 ment is made in the Book of Leinster, an almost contempora- 
 neous record, although it is there stated, probably by a mistake 
 of the scribe, that this joint government continued for forty 
 or fifty instead of for twenty years. 
 
 It was the form of government, however, not the two gover- 
 nors themselves, which continued for twenty years, for the 
 poet-regent was soon slain by the men of Teffia on the borders 
 of his native territory in the County Longford. The sword. 
 
 1 Afannert and Customs, Vol. ii., page J38.
 
 624 OTHER DISTINGUISHED SCHOLARS. 
 
 of justice, which the great Brian had wielded so well, was 
 broken at Clontarf and buried in the hero's grave. Once 
 more outrage and lawlessness with the evil spirit of discord 
 spread throughout the land. We know not the motive or 
 circumstances of this great crime perpetrated by the men of 
 Teffia, but Providence itself avenged the poet's death. Ac- 
 cording to one authority 1 God manifestly wrought a poet's 
 power upon the parties who killed him, for they were put to 
 a cruel death, and their bodies putrified until the wolves and 
 vultures devoured them a fitting end for the wretches who 
 violated the sacred person of the poet. Macgeoghegan says 
 that he was killed by one of the land of Teffia, and he most 
 probably had heard the living local tradition; "after com- 
 mitting which evil fact, there grew an evil scent and odour 
 of the party that killed him, so that he was easily known 
 amongst the rest of the land. His associate Corcran lived 
 yett, and survived him for a long time after " that is until 
 A.D. 1040. 2 
 
 O'Currv gives a very full account of six historical poems 
 of which Cuan O'Lochain was the author. One of them 
 to which we have already referred 3 gives an exceedingly 
 interesting account of Cormac Mac Art, and of his great 
 palace at Tara, which the poet describes with great fidelity 
 and minuteness. It has been printed in Petrie's Antiquities 
 of Tara Hill. Another highly interesting poem of 
 O'Lochain gives an account of the ' prohibitions ' and ' pre- 
 rogatives ' of the High King of Tara, and the provincial 
 sub-kings. They are contained also in the Book of Rights, 
 edited by O'Donovan. Some of the prohibitions certainly 
 savour of a pagan and superstitious origin, as, for instance, 
 when the High King is forbidden to alight on the plain of 
 Bregia on a Wednesday, or to traverse Cuillenn after sunset, 
 or to launch a ship on the Monday after May-day. But his 
 privileges are innocent enough to have the salmon of the 
 Boyne, which was a royal river ; to eat the fruit of Man, and 
 the deer of Luibnech ; to get the bilberries of Bri-Leith, 
 and the cresses of the river Brosnach ; to drink of the spring 
 water of Tlachtga, and hunt the hares of Naas. Cuan's 
 legendary poems on the Shannon are also highly interesting, 
 but we cannot refer to them further at present. 
 
 Errard Mac Coise was chief poet to King Malachy II., 
 who died in A.D. 1022, and hence he was a contemporary 
 
 1 The Annals of Lough Cf, A.D. 1024. 2 Annah of Ulster and Four Masters. 
 3 Chapter II., page 21.
 
 GAEDHL1C SCHOLARS OF THE ELEVENTH CENTURY. 625 
 
 both of Mac Liag and Cuan O'Lochain. Both MacLiag and 
 Mac Coise were natives of Hy-Many, in the County Galway, 
 and appear to have been rivals in genius, but intimate friends 
 and associates in social intercourse. One of Mac Coise's 
 most interesting works is a poetic dialogue between the two 
 poets, which reveals their friendship, their talents, and their 
 common love for the history and antiquities of Erin. He 
 appears to have died the year after his royal master in 
 A.D. 1023. 
 
 Flann of the Monastery, is, perhaps, the most justly 
 celebrated of all those poet-historians of ancient Erin. 
 O'Reilly calls him " Abbot of the Monastery of Bute," and 
 gives a list of fourteen considerable historical poems still 
 extant in manuscript, of which he is the reputed author. It 
 does not appear, however, that Flann was either an abbot or 
 a monk in holy orders, although he certainly sojourned and 
 taught at Monasterboice, in the County Louth, just as his 
 contemporary, Conn-na-m Bocht, did at Clonmacnoise. The 
 death of Flann is marked in the Chronicon Scotorum at 
 A.D. 1054; and he is described as Ferlegind, or professor of the 
 monastery, and " the last sage of the Gaedhilboth in reading 
 arid history." In the Annals of Ulster he is called Chief- 
 lector of Monasterboice and historical sage sai sencJiusa 
 of Erin, under date of A.D. 1056, which is the true date. 
 TheFour Mastersalso describe him as a lector of the monastery 
 of Buite, and the ' paragon ' sai egna of the Gaedhil 
 in literature, in history, in poetry and in science. There is 
 no doubt that here we have a complete list of the subjects 
 taught in what may be called the schools of general literature 
 in ancient Erin. In the Book of Aidll^ as we have already 
 seen, it is expressly stated that Cennfaeladh attended three 
 schools in Tuaim Drecain, a School of Literature (leigind\ a 
 School of Law (feinec/iais] , and a School of Poetry (flidechtd) ; 
 these schools were held in different houses, and taught by 
 three different professors. Cennfaeladh was a soldier, and, 
 therefore, a layman, and hence there is no reference here to 
 a School of Divinity, of the Canons, and of the Scriptures. In 
 the subjects taught by Flann at Monasterboice we find no 
 reference to the feinechas or Brehon Laws, because there 
 does not appear to have been a School of Law in the Monasterv 
 of Buite. But there was clearly a School of General Literature, 
 and a School of Poetry, and although Flann is described as 
 chief professor in the former school, he is also said to have 
 been and his writings prove that he was an accomplished 
 
 1 Brehon Laws, Vol. iii., p. 89. 
 
 2R
 
 626 OTHER DISTINGUISHED SCHOLARS. 
 
 poet. As Ferlegind, it is clear that his duty was to teach 
 classics, including in that term the vernacular Gaedhlic 
 tongue ; for it is described as one of the four principal 
 languages of the world. These are Gaedhlic, Latin, Greek, 
 and Hebrew. We have already furnished abundant proofs 
 of the cultivation both of Latin and Greek in our Irish 
 schools ; and they tried their hand at Hebrew also, but we 
 cannot say much for their success in studying that difficult 
 language, which was then almost entirely unknown in the 
 "Western Empire. 
 
 It is quite evident, too, that great attention was paid in 
 these schools to the careful and systematic cultivation of the 
 Gaedhlic tongue. This would be essential not only for the 
 successful study of the classical languages, but also for 
 success in the Schools of Poetry and of Law, on both of which 
 so much attention was bestowed. 
 
 We have abundant evidence on this point. Besides 
 those scholars already referred to as Ferlegind, in A.D. 937 
 is recorded by the Four Masters the death of " Finnachta, son 
 of Ceallach, Comharb of Doire, bishop and doctor in the 
 Bearla Feine." This is the second bishop of Derry referred 
 to in our Annals, and it will be observed that he is not 
 described as bishop of Derry, but as comharb of Derrv, i.e., 
 of Columcille, who happened, on account of his merit, to be 
 raised to the episcopal rank, although his official title is 
 abbot of Doire-Columcille. It is evident that he must have 
 been a man of great learning, especially in native literature, 
 as he is described as a saoi, or doctor, in the bearla-feine. 
 O'Donovan thinks that by this is understood the ancient 
 technical dialect of the Brehon Code, and Thady O'Roddy 
 translates the expression as " the law or lawyers' dialect." 
 Zeuss 1 with more probability regards it as the ancient written 
 tongue of the Men of Erin, which, in process of time, became 
 corrupted, and varied into different dialects. The ancient 
 tongue of the Men of Erin was, as the evidence of the glosses 
 in existing MSS. proves, a language which, in the words of 
 Zeuss, 2 was a language regulated by fixed rules and determi- 
 nate inflections. It was the language of the bards and 
 scholars up to the ninth century, but the ravages of the 
 Danes, and the breaking up of the ancient monarchy caused 
 various dialects to spring up, and destroyed the fixity and 
 purity of the ancient tongue of the Feine. There were, 
 
 1 Grammatica, p. xxxiv. 
 
 8 " Lingua formis suis, et regulis certis, circumscripta. "
 
 GAEDHLIC SCHOLARS OF THE ELEVENTH CENTURY. 627 
 
 however, still many scholars who gloried in cultivating the 
 pure and ancient language of Erin the language of its 
 Bards, its Brehons, and its Sages and these men came to be 
 recognised in course of time as recognised authorities on the 
 ancient tonp-ue, and hence were called saoi, or sages, in 
 language. Such was Finnachta, abbot of Derrv, and suc- 
 cessor of Columcille ; and such also was Flann, of whom we 
 have just been speaking. 
 
 It is clear, however, that Flann cultivated the study both 
 of our native and general history with marked success, so 
 that he came to be recognised as one of our highest authori- 
 ties both by his contemporaries and by his successors. 
 O'Curry 1 gives a very full and interesting account of Flann's 
 most important work the historical Synchronisms. We 
 need not discuss the subject here beyond observing that this 
 treatise by itself furnishes a clear proof of the wide range of 
 historical studies cultivated in the schools of ancient Erin. 
 The work is, in fact, as O'Curry observes, an abridgment of 
 universal history, and certainly goes to show that the author 
 was not only an accomplished Gaedhlic scholar, but also that 
 he must have been familiar with the principal Greek and 
 Latin historians, both pagan and Christian. 
 
 Of Flann's personal history little is known. He was of 
 Munster extraction, but seems to have been a native of 
 Eastern Bregia, where his great ancestor Tadhg, son 
 of Cian, son of Ollioll Olum, had established himself as 
 early as the third century of the Christian era. We need 
 not enter into any details regarding his historical poems. 2 
 Although highly interesting these subjects will never become 
 popular, until the study of our ancient Gaedhlic tongue shall 
 be more generally cultivated both in our schools and in our 
 homes. Most of these poems are preserved inthe Book of 
 Leinster, and several of them are to be found in the other 
 great Gaedhlic repositaries of our ancient literature. It would 
 be difficult, says O'Curry, to over-estimate the historical value 
 of some of those poems. They are precisely the documents 
 that supply life and the reality of details to the blank dryness 
 of our skeleton pedigrees. Many a name lying dead in out 
 genealogical tracts, and which has found its way into our 
 condensed chronicles and annals, will be found in these 
 poems, connected with the death, or associated with the 
 brilliant deeds of some hero whose story we would nor 
 willingly lose ; while, on the other hand, many an obscure 
 
 O'Curry's Lectures Manners and Customs Vol. ii., p. 154. 
 2 Lectures, Vol. i., p. 53.
 
 (28 OTHER DISTINGUISHED SCHOLARS. 
 
 hi>torical allusion will be illustrated, and many an historical 
 spot, as yet unknown to the topographer, will be identified^ 
 when a proper investigation of these and other great historical 
 poems preserved in the Book of Leinster shall be undertaken 
 as a part of the serious study of the history and antiquities 
 of our country. 1 
 
 Flann's monastery and school were founded about the 
 beginning of the sixth century by St. Buite or Boetius, who, 
 like Flann himself was sprung from the race of Ollioll Olum, 
 and is said to have died on the same day (December 7, A.D. 521) 
 on which St. Columba was born. He travelled much in Italy, 
 Germany, and Britain and then returned to found a monastery 
 which would be the place of his resurrection, in his native 
 district. Though founded so earl)' in the fertile plains of 
 Louth, I do not find that St. Buite's monastery produced any 
 distinguished scholars down to the period of Flann himself, 
 whose learning has made it so celebrated. That it was, 
 however, always a place of considerable wealth and influence 
 is sufficiently proved by the highly interesting remains which 
 still exist at Monasterboice. These include a portion of the 
 walls of two very ancient oratories, a round tower, and two 
 sculptured High Crosses, one of which, locally known as 
 St. Boyne's Cross, is considered to be one of the very finest 
 of its class in Ireland. 
 
 Of Gilla Coemhain, whose latest poem was written in 
 A.D. 1072, it is unnecessary to speak at length. Like Flann 
 and Mac Liag, he was a historical poet and a cultured 
 Gaedhlic scholar. A Chronological Poem composed by Gilla 
 Coemhain, in A.D. 1072, has recently been published with a 
 translation by Dr. "\Yhitley Stokes. 2 The reader will readily 
 perceive that the author of this poem was a writer of consider- 
 able culture and of very general information. 
 
 IV. DISCIPLINE OF THE LAY COLLEGES. 
 
 The discipline in our ancient schools was neither so 
 elaborate or so minute as in modern seminaries ; still in many 
 respects it was perhaps more satisfactory. In the monastic 
 schools the great principle of obedience was the fundamental 
 rule, the observance of which from a sense of religious duty 
 rendered the observance of all other rules easy and even 
 pleasant. 
 
 1 Lectures Manners and Customs Vol. ii., page 15". 
 
 2 Iriparti'.e, Rolls Series, Vol. ii. , page 530.
 
 DISCIPLINE OF THE LAY COLLEGES. 629 
 
 But in the lay professional schools, of which we have 
 already spoken, the law took formal cognizance of the 
 relations between the professor and his pupils. It established 
 the general principles which was to guide these relations, and 
 severely punished any grievous infraction of these principles 
 
 In the Senchus Mor^- we find the following important 
 passage : " The social connection that is considered between 
 the foster-pupil, and the literary foster-father is, that the 
 latter is to instruct him without reserve, and to prepare him 
 for his degree, and to chastise him without severity ; to feed 
 and to clothe him whilst he is learning his lawful profession, 
 unless he obtains it flood and clothing) from another person 
 and such has been the custom from the school of Fenius 
 Forsaidh onwards. On the other hand, the foster- pupil is to 
 assist his tutor in poverty, and to support him in his old age and 
 (to give him) the honour price of the degree for which he is 
 being prepared, and all the gains of his art whilst he is 
 learning it, and the first earning of his art after leaving the 
 house of his tutor ; and moreover, the literary foster-father 
 has power of judgment, and proof, and witness, upon his 
 foster-pupil, as the father has upon his son, and the Church 
 upon the tenant of the Church lands." 
 
 The principles enumerated in this passage are eminently 
 just in themselves ; they were well suited to the circumstances 
 of the times, and admirably calculated to put down a mercenary 
 spirit, and foster the growth of tender affection between the 
 pupils and their master. As we have already shown, the 
 professional schools were to a great extent peripatetic ; and 
 when actually on their rounds the pupils were to be fed, and 
 lodged, and taught by the master. He was bound to 
 communicate all bis knowledge and all his art, both theore- 
 tical and practical, to his pupils without reserve ; and thus 
 prepare them for their professional degree or formal admis- 
 sion to the ranks of the Bards, Brehons, Chroniclers, or 
 Readers, as the case might happen to be. He might chastise 
 the pupil for misconduct, but in so doing the teacher was not 
 to be unduly severe, so as to cause injury to the mind or 
 body of his scholar. He was also to supply him with food, 
 clothing, and lodging, except provision were otherwise made 
 for these purposes. The law even prescribes the quality of 
 the food to which the pupil is entitled as a matter of right. 
 No professor in ancient Erin could keep a Do-the-Boys Hall 
 with impunity. The teacher was a literary foster-father, 
 
 1 Vol. ii., page 3 19.
 
 630 OTHER DISTINGUISHED SCHOLARS. 
 
 and as such, he was bound by the laws of fosterage to supply 
 wholesome food in abundance to his pupils according to the 
 rank of their parents. " What are their victuals ? Stirabout 
 (lithe) is given to them all, but the flavouring was to be 
 different." It was salt butter for the sons of inferior grades ; 
 fresh butter for the sons of chieftains ; honey for the sons of 
 kings. The stirabout of oat-meal might be made on water, 
 or on butter milk, or on new milk, and given to the different 
 classes in like manner. 
 
 On the other hand the teacher, or professor, was amply 
 provided for. That provision of the law which compelled 
 the foster pupils to assist their tutors in poverty, and main- 
 tain them in old age, was an admirable institution, calculated 
 to preserve the most kindly feelings between both all through 
 their lives. Then the honour price of the degree, and the 
 first fees earned after obtaining it, were no doubt consider- 
 able, in order to enable the professorate maintain his pupils 
 at home, whenever thev were not at free quarters during 
 their learned excursions and other official visits. 
 
 Corporal [punishment-was certainly not unknown in the 
 monastic schools, as well'as in establishments of later date ; it 
 was sometimes found necessary to have recourse to corporal 
 punishment even when dealing with young ' saints.' We 
 are told in the Life of St. Colman Ela of Lynally in the 
 King's County, that he once punished St. Baithen, the 
 nephew of St. Columcille and his successor in the abbacy of Hy, 
 for neglecting his studies. The boy thereupon fled from the 
 church in which the school was, it seems, taught, to the 
 woods to hide, no doubt, and avoid both his lessons and the 
 chastisement of his master. There he saw a man building 
 one of the circular wicker-work houses then very common, 
 and observed that although he only worked one rod at a time, 
 the wicker-wall rose up steadily to the roof. " Ah," he 
 said, "if I only learned a little each day, I too should grow 
 learned." Then he took shelter from a shower under the 
 spreading branches of an oak tree. While standing beneath 
 the boughs he observed a drop of water dripping from a leaf 
 and falling on the ground. He made a hole with his heel 
 on the spot where the drop was falling, and soon noticed 
 that the hole was filled. Here he made a similar mental 
 reflection, and, vowing that never again would he neglect his 
 daily task, he returned to his master and grew up to be a 
 very learned and a very holy man. 1 
 
 1 0' Curry, M, $ C. Vol. ii., p. 33.
 
 DISCIPLINE OF THE LAY COLLEGES. 631 
 
 We have not in the foregoing pages by any means 
 exhausted the list of our ancient Schools and Scholars. But 
 we have sought to notice all the more frequented schools, 
 and the most celebrated scholars of ancient Erin, who flour- 
 ished in their native land. It would require a separate 
 volume to do justice to the history of the Irish monks, who 
 bore the name and fame of Scotia to so many foreign coun- 
 tries, in which the memory of their virtues and their learning 
 is still fondly cherished. In these pages, however, we have 
 said enough to vindicate the right of ancient Erin to that 
 glorious title, by which since the twelfth century she has 
 been known to the scholars of all Europe INSULA SANC- 
 TOEUM ET DOCTOKUM The Island of Saints and 
 Scholars.
 
 GENEBAL INDEX. 
 
 ACHADH ABHAIL (Aghold), church 
 
 of, 199. 
 Adamnan, abbot, descent of, 337 ; 
 
 made abbot, 339 ; visits Ireland, 
 
 341, 342 ; works of, 343-345 ; 
 
 death of, 345. 
 Dingus, Saint, descent and youth 
 
 of, 405;' -writings of, 408-412; 
 
 death of, 412. 
 Agilbert, bishop, 595. 
 Ailbe, of Emly, Saint, parentage of, 
 
 132 ; history of, 132-136. 
 Alcuin, distinguished scholar, 272, 
 
 273. 
 Aldfrid, king of Northumbria, in 
 
 Ireland, youth of, 468, 469. 
 Alphabets, 63-64. 
 Anglesey island, 2, 4. 
 Annaghdown, monastery of, 219. 
 Annals of Four Masters, quoted, 
 
 18, 26, 58, et seq. 
 
 Ulster, quoted, 129. 
 
 Clonmacnoise, quoted, 218. 
 
 Apostles, Twelve of Erin, 201. 
 Aran, Isles of : 
 
 description of, 169-172. 
 
 Pagan remains in, 172-177. 
 
 Aran, Christian : 
 
 of St. Enda, 177-181. 
 
 ancient churches in, 181-187. 
 
 Arevalus, Faustinua, cited, 31, 32. 
 Art, the Solitary, King, 16, 17. 
 Asicus, Saint, placed over church of 
 
 Elphin, 142; death of, 143. 
 Asterius, Turcius Ruffus, Consul, 34. 
 Auxilius, disciple of St. Patrick, 
 
 59, 60. 
 
 BATTHEN, abbot of lona, history 
 
 of, 331-333. 
 
 Bangor, situation of, 367, 368. 
 Bards, observations on, 6-10; St. 
 
 Patrick's alliance with, 56,57; St. 
 
 Columba protects them, 320-324. 
 Barry, Gerald, cited, 197. 
 Bede, writer : 
 Chron, Picts and Scots, quoted, 
 
 166, 167, 296, et seq. 
 
 Beg-Erin (Begery), island, monastery 
 of, 137-140. 
 
 Belisarius, 38. 
 
 Benignus, Saint, baptized by St. 
 Patrick, 95 ; death of, 96 ; writ- 
 ings attributed to, 97, 613. 
 
 Bite, bishop, 66; placed over church 
 of Elphin, 142. 
 
 Book of Armagh, quoted, 58, 59, 60, 
 et seq. ; history and contents of, 
 103-105. 
 
 Aicitt, quoted, 24. 
 
 Ballymote, quoted, 22, 23. 
 
 Burrow, history of, 304, 305. 
 
 Kells, history of, 309, 310. 
 
 Leinster, quoted, 3, 21, 27, 
 
 et seq. ; history and description 
 of, 121. 
 
 Lismore, history of, 473 ; con- 
 tents of, 474. 
 
 Rights, quoted, 54, 259; history 
 
 and contents of, 97, 98. 
 Brandon Hill, situation of, 214. 
 Brash, antiquary : 
 
 Ogham Inscribed Monuments, 
 
 13, 14. 
 
 Ecclesiastical Architecture of 
 
 Ireland, 243, 244. 
 Brehons, the, observations on, 
 
 11-13. 
 Brendan, of Clonfert, Saint, birth 
 
 and parentage of, 210 ; goes on a 
 
 voyage, 215 ; founds monastery 
 
 of Annaghdown, 219 ; founds 
 
 monastery of Clonfert, 220 ; death 
 
 of, 221. 
 Brendan of Birr, Saint, founds a 
 
 monastery, 522 ; death of, 523. 
 Brian Eoru, king, 621, 622. 
 Bricin, Saint, life of, 602,603. 
 Brigid, Saint, parentage of, 109 ; 
 
 birth of, 110 ; life of, 110-113. 
 Bronach, mother of St. Mochae, 
 
 123. 
 
 CAELESTTUS, history of, 39, 41. 
 
 Caesar : 
 
 De Bella Gallico, quoted, 2, 4.
 
 GENERAL INDEX. 
 
 Caimin, Saint, descent of, 517; life 
 of, 517-519 ; death of, 521. 
 
 Calphurnius, father of St. Patrick, 
 descent of, 70. 
 
 Candida Casa, monastery of, 166,167. 
 
 Carmen Paschale, quoted, 32, 33 ; 
 contents and description of, 36. 
 
 Carthage, Saint, birth and parentage 
 of, 447 ; founds monastery of Lis- 
 more, 453 ; death of, 454 ; Rule 
 of, 455-457. 
 
 Cassian, John, monk, life and works 
 of, 190, 191. 
 
 Cassiodorus, senator and monk, cited, 
 35. 
 
 Cathaldus of Tarentum, Saint, par- 
 entage and birth of, 459 ; becomes 
 Bishop of Tarentum, 464 ; death 
 of, 464 ; writings and prophecy 
 attributed to, 465. 
 
 Cathmael, tutor of St. Finnian, life 
 of, 197. 
 
 Cennfaeladh, life and writings of, 
 602-604. 
 
 Chad, Saint, history of, 593, 594. 
 
 Chalice of Ardagh, described, 562 ; 
 history of, 562, 563. 
 
 Charles the Bald, John Scotus Eri- 
 gena patronized by, 579. 
 
 Chilperic, 35. 
 
 Chronicler (Historic poet), duty of, 8. 
 
 Chronicon Scotorum, book, 278-280. 
 
 Church, Nuns', at Clonmacnoise, 
 description of, 552. 553. 
 
 Church organization, St. Patrick 
 establishes, 55-58. 
 
 Ciaran of Clonmacnoise, Saint, par- 
 entage and birth of, 259 : founds 
 monastery of Clonmacnoise, 262 ; 
 death of, 263. 
 
 Cin Drama Snechta, book, 29. 
 
 Claudius, bishop, his proceeding re- 
 garding image worship, 389, 390. 
 
 Clonamery (Cluain Imaire), church 
 of, 218. 
 
 Clonard, relics at, 205. 
 
 Clonfert, monastery of, 220, 221. 
 
 Clonmacnoise : 
 
 ruined churches at, 266-270. 
 
 Celtic art at, 550-565. 
 
 Colga, Saint, life and writings of 
 272-274. 
 
 Coemhain, Gilla, poet, 628. 
 
 Colleges, Lay, discipline of, 628- 
 631. 
 
 Colman, Saint, history of, 526-533 ; 
 death of, 533. 
 
 Saint, of Moville, 255. 
 
 Saint, of Dromore, life of, 124, 
 
 125. 
 
 Columba, Saint : 
 
 education of, 291-297. 
 
 founds School of Derry, 298-301. 
 
 founds School of Durrow, 301- 
 
 307 
 
 founds School of Kells, 307. 
 
 founds School of lona, 315. 
 
 protects the Bards, 320-324. 
 
 death of, 324-326. 
 
 writings of, 326-329. 
 
 Lives of, 330, 331. 
 
 Columbanus, Saint, early life of, 
 370-372 ; goes on a pilgrimage, 
 372 ; death of, 378 ; founds mon- 
 astery of Bobbio, 378 ; writings 
 of, 378-380. 
 
 Comgall, Saint, descent and early 
 life of, 364-366 ; founds School of 
 Bangor, 368; miracles of, 368, 
 369 ; death of, 370. 
 
 Commission of Nine, members of, 54. 
 
 Conall Derg, king, family of, 264. 
 
 Conchessa, mother of St. Patrick, 44 . 
 
 Cong, ruins at, 559; described, 
 Cross of, 560, 561. 
 
 Conla Cainbrethach, judge, 11, 12. 
 
 Conlaeth, Saint, selected by St. 
 Brigid to govern her churches, 
 112; accomplishments of, 118. 
 
 Conn, the Hundred Fighter, de- 
 scendants of, 16. 
 
 Coroticus, king, 73; St. Patrick's 
 conflict with, 75. 
 
 Crimthann, king, 82. 
 
 Cronan, Saint, life of, 523. 
 
 Crozier of Lismore, described, 472, 
 473. 
 
 Guana, bishop, 130. 
 
 Cuanna, Saint, history of, 465-467. 
 
 Cuilmen, book, 29. 
 
 Cummian the Tall, Saint, birth of, 
 229 ; his relations with King 
 Domhnall, 232, 233; Paschal 
 Epistle of, 237 ; death of, 241. 
 
 DAGOBEET, 590. 
 
 Daire, king, his relations with St. 
 
 Patrick, 92, 93. 
 David, Saint, descent and history of, 
 
 196, 197. 
 
 Declan, baint, life of, 134. 
 Demetrias, learned lady, written to 
 
 by Pelagius, 41. 
 Derry, See of, established, 357. 
 Diarmait, king, descent and reign of, 
 
 306, 307 ; his relations with St. 
 
 Columba, 310, 311. 
 Dicuil, the Geographer, sketch of 
 
 his history, 281-284; work of, 
 
 284-290.
 
 GENERAL INDEX. 
 
 635 
 
 Dtnnseanchus, quoted, 21. 
 l)omhnall, king, St. Cummian a 
 
 relations with, 232, 233. 
 Donogh, king, 105. 
 Druids the, observations on, 1-6 ; 
 
 St. Patrick's conflict with. 
 Dubricius, Bishop, 196. 
 Dungal, nationality of, 382 ; his 
 
 his letter to Charlemagne, 382-384; 
 
 his treatise against Claudius of 
 
 Turin, 390-391 ; death of, 392. 
 Dunlaing, king, massacre at Tara 
 
 by, 18. 
 
 EDANUS (Aedhan), disciple of St. 
 Mochta, 127. 
 
 Egbert, priest in Ireland, 590-593. 
 
 Eigas, Torna, bard, poems attributed 
 to, 28. 
 
 Elegia of Sedulius, description of, 37. 
 
 Elphin, monastery of, 141 ; etymo- 
 logy of the word, 141, 142. 
 
 Enda, of Aran, Saint, parentage of, 
 164 ; conversion of, 164 ; founds a 
 monastery, 177 ; death of, 168. 
 
 Erigena, John Scotus, birth of, 678 ; 
 writings and translations of, 
 581-587 ; death of, 588. 
 
 Esker Brenain, Church of, 199. 
 
 FACHTNA, Saint, parentage and birth 
 of, 490; founds a monastery, 491 ; 
 death of, 492. 
 
 Fanchea, conversion of her brother 
 (St. Enda) by, 164, 165. 
 
 Faughart, village, memorials of St. 
 Brigid at, 109. 
 
 Feargus, prince, descendants of, 
 226. 
 
 Feis of Tara, national parliament, 
 re-established by Cormac Mac Art, 
 19, 20 ; main object of, 20. 
 
 Fiacc of Sletty, Saint, descent of, 81; 
 founds two churches, 83 ; writings 
 of, 85 ; death of, 85. 
 
 Finan Cam, Saint, birth and parent- 
 age of, 497 ; life of, 498, 499. 
 
 Finbarr of Cork, Saint, birth of, 476; 
 founds a monastery, 480 ; death 
 of, 483. 
 
 Findlug, descent of, 210. 
 
 Finn, Cummian, 241. 
 
 Finnachta, king, his relations with 
 Adamnan, 337, 338, 341 ; death 
 of, 342. 
 
 Finnachta, abbot, 626, 627. 
 
 Finnian of Clonard, Saint, parentage 
 and birth of, 194 ; founds monas- 
 tery of Clonard, 199 ; death of, 
 204. 
 
 Finnian of Moville, Saint, early life 
 
 of, 246 ; founds monastery of Mo- 
 
 ville, 249 ; death of, 254. 
 Fintan Corach, Saint, life of, 224, 
 
 225. 
 Fintan, Saint, descent and youth of, 
 
 400,401; miracles of, 402, 403; 
 
 death of, 404. 
 Flann, mother of St. Cummian the 
 
 Tall, history of, 229. 
 Flann, poet, 625, 626, 627, 628. 
 Forgaill, Dalian, 616. 
 Fortchern, Saint, descent of, 194 ; 
 
 churches said to be founded by, 
 
 195. 
 
 Fortunatus, cited, 35. 
 Fursey, Saint, history of his birth, 
 
 22t>, 227 ; founds a monastery, 227. 
 
 GELASIUS, Primate of Armagh, des- 
 cent and birth of, 359 ; remarkable 
 for two things, reign of, 359 ; 
 synods convened by, 360-362 ; 
 death of, 363. 
 
 Gennadius, 31 ; cited, 41. 
 
 Gerald of Mayo, Saint, history of, 
 534-538. 
 
 Germanus, Saint, life of, 46-48. 
 
 Gildas the Wise, history of, 9S ; 
 writings of, 100. 
 
 Glendalough, description of, 417, 
 418; ruins at, 422-425 ; the Danes 
 at, 430. 
 
 Gobban Saer, 551, 552. 
 
 Gotteschalk, monk, condemned, doc- 
 trine of, 580, 581. 
 
 Guaire, king, at Cam Fearadhaigh 
 defeat of, 231 ; at Cam Conaile 
 defeat of, 271. 
 
 HINCMAB, bishop, 580, 581, 582. 
 Honoratus, Saint, on island of 
 
 Lerins, labours of, 49, 50 ; death 
 
 of, 191. 
 
 IBAB, Saint, life of, 136-138; death 
 
 of, 138. 
 
 Ildelfonsus, cited, 36. 
 Inchiquin, island, monastery in, 219 
 Inisboffin, island, memorials of St 
 
 Colmanin, 531, 532. 
 Inisgloria (Inis-gluair), island, 
 
 description of, 219, 220 ; Christian 
 
 remains in, 2^0. 
 
 Inniscaltra, island, existing monu- 
 ments in, 519-521. 
 lona (Hy), island, description of, 
 
 315, 316 ; remains of churches in, 
 
 317, 318.
 
 636 
 
 GENERAL INDEX 
 
 Iserninns, disciple of St. Patrick, 
 
 founds a church, 59, 60. 
 Isidore of Seville, great scholar, 
 
 cited, 35. 
 
 JARLATH, of Tuam, Saint, history of, 
 
 541-015. 
 
 John of Tritenheim, writer, cited, 30. 
 Justus of Fuerty, receives book of 
 
 ritual from St. Patrick ; St. 
 
 Ciarau baptized by, 259. 
 
 KEATING, historian, cited, 20, 21. 
 
 Kells, existing antiquities at, 3U8, 
 309. 
 
 Kevin, Saint, parentage and birth 
 of, 414, 415 ; founds monastery 
 of Glendalough, 420 ; death of, 
 421. 
 
 Kilbannon, School of, 141. 
 
 Kilcommin, remains of church, at, 
 231. 
 
 Killeanv, saints who visited monas- 
 tery of, 177-179, 
 
 Killosy, church of, 60 ; etymology 
 of the word, 60. 
 
 Kilmore, Church of, 127. 
 
 LAEGHAIRE, king, overcome with 
 his druids, by St. Patrick, 50, 51. 
 
 Lealhar Breac, quoted, 116. 
 
 Leabhar-na-h-Uidhre, work, history 
 and contents of, 280, 281. 
 
 Liber de Mensura Poenitentiarum, 
 work, 240 ; contents of, 241. 
 
 Lifeachair, Cairbre, king, 24. 
 
 Life of St. Abban, quoted, 138. 
 
 Lupait, sister of St. Patrick, 66. 
 
 MAC ART, Cormac, king, descent of, 
 16; re-establishes Feis of Tara, 
 19; literary works attributed to, 
 23-25 ; death of, 26. 
 
 Mac Awley, Amergin, poet, writings 
 of, 6lo, 616. 
 
 Mac Carthy, Cormac, king, 607 ; 
 builds a church, 608. 
 
 Mac Cerbhaill, Diarmaid, king ; 
 his palace of Tara cursed by St. 
 Kuadhan, 218 ; prophecy of St. 
 Ciaran, regarding, 262. 
 
 Mac Ua Cluasaigh, Colman, on St. 
 Cummian Fada elegy of, 241 ; 
 writings of, 487-489. 
 
 Mac Coi.se, Errard, poet, 624, 625. 
 
 Mac Criffan, Felim, king, monas- 
 teries plundered by, 275 ; retires 
 to a hermitage, 275. 
 
 Mac Con, Lughaidh, king, 17. 
 
 Mac Cosse, poem of, 494, 495. 
 
 Mac Crimthann, Columba, Saint, 
 sketch of his life, 513-515 ; death 
 of, 515. 
 
 Mac Cullinan, Cormac, birth of, 
 604 ; becomes king of Munster, 
 60S ; reign of, 60J-611 ; death of, 
 611 ; writings of, 612-614. 
 
 Mac Cumhail, Finn, 19. 
 
 Mac Gorman, bishop of Kildare, 
 121. 
 
 Mac Liag, poet, works of, 620, 621. 
 
 Mac Lonan, Flann, poet, 618. 
 
 Mac Ua Lugair, Dubhthach, exhi- 
 bits judgments and laws of Erin 
 to St. Patrick, 53 ; his alliance 
 with Patrick, 56, 57 ; his con- 
 version, 82 ; their meeting some 
 years later, 82, 83. 
 
 Mac Nadfraich, dingus, 54, 169. 
 
 Mac Nessa, Conor, king, 10. 
 
 Maelmura, poet, 617, 618. 
 
 Mahoun, king, assassination of, 484, 
 485. 
 
 Malachy, Saint, descent of, 393 ; re- 
 founds School of Bangor, 394 ; 
 made Archbishop of Armagh, 39o ; 
 death of, 397. 
 
 Mangan, Clarence, poet, quoted, 28, 
 29. 
 
 Martin, Saint, life of, 45, 46. 
 
 Maur, Raban, bishop, 580. 
 
 Meave, character of, 27, 28. 
 
 Mercator, Marius, cited, 40. 
 
 Mochae of Noendrum, Saiut, history 
 of, 121-126. 
 
 Mochta of Louth, Saint, history of, 
 126-128; death of, 129; writings 
 of, 129, 130. 
 
 Moinenn, Saint, history of, 222- 
 224. 
 
 Moling, Saint, birth and parentage 
 of, 426 ; founds a monastery, 426 ; 
 becomes Bishop of Ferns, 427 ; 
 death of, 429. 
 
 Monastery, Irish : 
 
 general view of, 144-147. 
 
 buildings connected with, 147- 
 
 150. 
 
 discipline of, 150-155. 
 
 daily labour of, 155-159. 
 
 Morah of St. Gregory the Great, 
 book, description of, y8, 99. 
 
 Morann, great j adge, 1 2. 
 
 Mucknoi, bishop, 63. 
 
 Munchin, Saint, parentage of, 509. 
 
 NESSAN, deacon, 507, 508.
 
 GENERAL INDEX. 
 
 637 
 
 O'BBOLCHAIN, Flaithbhertach, his- 
 tory of, 354-3-57. 
 O'Brolchain, Maelisa, history of, 353, 
 
 354. 
 O'Cearbhail, Maelsuthain, history 
 
 of, 501-503. 
 
 O'Curry. cited, 1, 3, 4, tt seq. 
 O'Duffys, family, history of, 547- 
 
 550. 
 
 O'Flaherty, cited, 19, 22, 23, et seq. 
 O'Flinn, Eochaid, poet, 619, 620. 
 Ogham Alphabet, history of, 13-15 ; 
 
 letters of, 15. 
 
 O'Gorman, Florence, professor, 102. 
 O'Hagan, Imar, 102. 
 O'Hanlon, hagiolo<nst : 
 
 Lives of the Iri*h Saints, quoted, 
 
 38. 
 
 Life of St. Brigid, quoted, 110. 
 
 O'Hartigan, Cineath, poet, 619. 
 Oisin (Ossian), poet, 10 ; story of his 
 
 relations with St. Patrick, 57. 
 O'Leathain, Colman, Saint, descent 
 
 of, 467 ; death of, 468. 
 O'Lochain, Cuaii, poet, history and 
 
 writings of, 623, 624. 
 Olum, OiJioll, learned poet, 10. 
 O'-Rorke, Fergal, king, tower at 
 
 Clonmacnoise, built by, 268 ; its 
 
 present dimensions, 269. 
 O'Toole, Laurence, Saint, family of, 
 433 ; becomes Archbishop of Dub- 
 lin, 437 ; made Apostolic Legate, 
 443 ; death of, at Eu, 444, 445. 
 
 PASCHAL Controversy, history of the, 
 
 233-240. 
 Paschal Epistle of St. Cummian, 
 
 contents of, 237-240. 
 Patrick, Saint : 
 
 education of, 43-50. 
 
 1'terary labours of, 50-52. 
 
 reforms Brehon Laws, 52-66. 
 
 confession of, 67-73. 
 
 epistle to Coroticus, 73-75. 
 
 Lorica, or Shield of, 75-77. 
 
 sayings of, 87. 
 
 Tripartite Life of, 88-90. 
 
 Sechnall's hymn of, 77-80. 
 
 Pelagius, writer, history of, 39 41. 
 Petrie, antiquary : 
 
 Antiquities of Tara Hal I, quoted, 
 
 19-21. 
 
 Hound Towers, quoted, 117. 
 
 Preface to St. Jerome's Commentaries 
 
 on Jeremias, quoted, 39. 
 Psaltery of St. Finnian, copy of, its 
 
 history, 2^0-253 ; its connection 
 
 with battle of Cuil-Dreimhne, 3 H), 
 
 311. 
 
 RICHABDS, Colonel Solomon, cited, 
 
 139. 
 Reeves, Bishop Adamnan's Life of 
 
 Columba, quoted, 288, 291, 292. 
 
 SAINTS, Irish, three orders of 159-162. 
 Sultair of Tara, contents of, 23. 
 Sancti Venite, hymn, 80. 81. 
 
 Schools, early, in West of Ireland, 
 140-143. 
 
 Schools, Christian, preliminary 
 sketch of, 188-193. 
 
 Schools, Gaedhlic Professional, or- 
 ganization of, 597-602. 
 
 Schools of Fifth Century : 
 
 Armagh, 91-105. 
 
 Kildare, 106-121. 
 
 Schools, Minor Monastic, of Fifth 
 Century : 
 
 Emly, 130-136. 
 
 Louth, 126-130. 
 
 Noendrum, 121-126. 
 
 Schools of Sixth Century : 
 
 Aran, 163-187. 
 
 Bangor, 364-397. 
 
 Clonard, 199-308. 
 
 Clonenagh, 3^8-413. 
 
 Confert, 209-244. 
 
 Clonmacnoise, 258-290. 
 
 Derry, 298-301. 
 
 Durrow, 301-307. 
 
 Glendalough, 414-446. 
 
 lona, 315-320. 
 
 Kells, 306-314. 
 
 Moville, 245-257. 
 
 Schools of Seventh Century : 
 
 Cork, 475-490. 
 
 Innisciiltra, 512-522. 
 
 Innisf alien, 496-505. 
 
 Lismore, 447-469. 
 
 Mayo, 526-533. 
 
 Mungret, 506-512. 
 
 Ross, 490-496. 
 
 Tuam, 541-54'J. 
 
 School of Tuaim Drecain, G02-601. 
 Scotus, Marianus, scribe, life of, 
 
 349, 350. 
 Sechnall, Saint, parentage of, 79 ; 
 
 composes a hymn on St; Patrick, 
 
 78. 
 Sedulius, poet, history of. 29-35 ; 
 
 writings of, 35-39. 
 Sedulius, the Commentator, history 
 
 of, 574, 575 ; works attributed to, 
 
 576. 
 Seghine, Abbot of lona, history of, 
 
 333, 334. 
 
 Senchus Mor, quoted, 6, 7, 8, 11, 53. 
 Sionna, Flann, king, 609. 610. 
 Slane, hill of, 589.
 
 638 
 
 GENERAL INDEX. 
 
 Suibhne, scribe, 274. 
 Synod of P.ttrick, Auxilius, and 
 Iserninus, 60. 
 
 TEACH MIODHCHUARTA, great hall at 
 
 Tara, description of, 21. 
 Teachtmar, Tuathal, king, 19. 
 Theodoric,king, retires to monastery 
 
 of Lismore, 467. 
 Tighemach, Chronicler of Clonmac- 
 
 noise, history of, 276, 277. 
 Todd, writer, his St. Patrick, quoted , 
 
 73. 
 
 Tomrar, Earl, visits Clonfert 242 ; 
 
 death of. 213. 
 
 Torpeist. Senchan, poet, 616. 
 Tuarn, Cross of, description of, 5.54 : 
 
 remains of church at, 3.1 7. 
 
 ULTAN, Saint, sketch of his life, 113. 
 
 VIBOILIUS, Saint, history of, 5GU- 
 574. 
 
 WILFRID, Abbot. 527, 52S. 
 "Willibrord, Saint, 594, 595. 
 
 DUBLIN : PBIXTED BY SEALY, BKYEBS AN U WALKKK, MifcULE ABBilY STREET. 
 

 
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