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		-

LIVES

OF

THE IRISH SAINTS,

WITH

^\)tt\nl ^t»i^vi^\^f m& iht (tommmoxniiowfi of itoltj ^txmxfi,

COMPILED FROM

fslphp, iBijigpiDjip. Bnii |apns %m^ii%,

RELATING TO

C!)e Ancient €i)xm\) JSi^torp of Jrelantr,

BY THE

REV. JOHN O'HANLON, M.R.I.A.

Vol. I.

Dublin : James Duffy and Sons, 15 Wellington -quay, and la Paternoster-row, London.

London: Burns, Oates, and Co., 17 & 18 Portman-street, and 63 Paternoster-row, E.G.

New York : The Catholic Publishing Society, 9 Warren-street.

[all rights reserved.'\

6X

r.. (

JOSEPH DOLLARD, PRINTER, I3 & I4 DAMK-STREET, DUBLIN.

INTRODUCTION.

THROUGH all ages, the saints and servants of God furnish the brightest examples of faith and morals reduced to practice. Christian doctrine and the rule of life it enjoins are best promoted and most attractively shown to those, who study, with great care and pious reflection, the motives, words, and actions of religious persons. The applause of mankind, notwithstanding, is seldom lavished on objects really worthy of attention or deserving admi- ration. True virtue is ever unobtrusive. It avoids not only the public gaze and admiration of men, but even it seeks withdrawal from that interior consciousness, which — however natural and unpretending — may prove, it fears, false and exaggerated. The maxims of religion and of the world are often opposed in spirit and tendency. Hence, it so frequently happens, that the conquerors of earth are exalted in History above the benefactors of their race ; that incentives to ambition, dazzling achievement, and material great- ness are considered indications of superior genius ; while true wisdom, that disregards the rewards, the applause, the vanity of this world, in consi- deration of heavenly enjoyments, is too frequently unheeded, because its nature and merits are not sufficiently appreciated. Fame is usually but the echo of prevailing opinion, subject to various changes, or modified according to accidents of thought and expression. When it celebrates the actions of individuals, who have been distinguished in the present, or during a former age, and whose lives are worth recording on the page of History — not for the mere satisfaction of idle curiosity, but for the edification and improvement of posterity ; truth becomes served, through its means, and lessons of virtue are more easily inculcated. Thus, are the lives of really great men brought under observation, and proposed as examples for imitation to the human race.

The History of our Holy Church presents subjects, whence sublime in- struction may be drawn, for the guidance of her faithful children. From earliest years, we have been taught to admire and venerate those sanctified persons, who have passed before us to the tomb, and who have attained the full possession of eternal rewards. Their lives and actions — their trials and sufferings — their virtues and merits — their temporal sacrifices and enduring recompense — their calm exit from this life to never-ending joys in Heaven ; — these, and similar considerations, have oftentimes reproduced miracles of Divine Grace, and have procured beatification for countless multitudes,

iv INTRODUCTION.

among the faithful, through succeeding ages. The ApostoHc labours and preaching — the Martyrs' torments ?ind death — the mortification and peni- tential exercises of Recluses — the constancy and heroism of Confessors — the stainless purity and tender devotion of Virgins — the Contemplatives' sublime aspirations — even the humble trust and final perseverance of Christians, more exposed to assaults of the world, the devil, and the flesh ; — all such examples, reverently presented to the view of a devout Catholic, can scarcely fail to excite in his mind those pious desires and that holy emulation, which, in every age, have peopled Heaven with saints. While those heroic souls constituted a happy portion of the Church on earth, their lively faith, their persevering zeal, their ardent charity, their extraordinary miracles and ordi- nary actions, were hidden from the generality of men. But, to the great Searcher of hearts, the noble motives that actuated His servants were fully known. As here they had lived the life of true Christians, so it followed, that in the Lord's sight the death of His saints was precious. When trans- lated to the choirs of the Church Triumphant in Heaven, those blessed spirits, who had achieved a victory over the world and its allurements, left bright examples and memorials for all succeeding generations to the Church Militant on earth.

Hagiologists and ecclesiastical writers have been careful to preserve for us interesting incidents of Saints' Lives, with records of their merits and miracles, so far as these could be discovered. Biographical notices and references to their Acts mainly constitute sources, whence Church History is derived. Among the Greeks and Orientals, collections of such biographies were known as Menologias, and among the Latins they were styled Acta Sanctorum. Calendars and Martyrologies, compiled by various individuals or communities, have preserved for us more concise outlines of Saint History, with the commemorations and festivals of numerous holy servants of God, belonging to many different nations.

For an Introduction, explaining the scope and design of this work, the writer deems it superfluous specially to descant on the general utility of Hagiography, or to dwell in detail on the labours of illustrious and learned men, who have devoted their lives to its culture and exposition. Not to men- tion the names of various ancient writers, who flourished before the invention of printing in the fifteenth century, and who have left behind them manu- script memorials of saints ; printed biographies, since pubhshed by a host of mediaeval and modern authors, have taken an extensive range through this interesting department of Church History. It must prove an almost impos- sible task to enumerate the various general, national, provincial, and local collections of Saints' Lives, which have been already published ; to particu- larize different languages or idioms wherein those acts have been written ; and to name all the individuals or congregations, who have been en- gaged, at stated periods, and at several places, in bringing them to light. While the writer of this present work has restricted his researches and con- fined his object to recording Lives of the Irish Saints, he has always felt

tNTR OD uctiOn:

regret that this fertile and wide domain of Ecclesiastical and National History should have been hitherto so imperfectly cultivated.

However limited might appear, at first sight, that particular section of biography which comprises the Hagiology of so small a country as Ireland ; yet, it is scarcely to be hoped, in the ordinary course of nature, that any single person will be found to exhaust — even remotely — those rich treasures that remain after the wTeck of ages, and which contain materials for extended memoirs of distinguished saints, connected with our Island. Such records are now accessible to the generality of capable scholars and students. For- tunately and opportunely, for the proximate accomplishment of his object, the Lives of many Irish Saints, printed and in manuscript, have become available for the writer's purpose. Rare and voluminous archives chiefly grace the shelves of large public libraries, or are found among the private collections of men, possessing ample means and a taste for procuring scarce and valuable literary treasures. Several manuscript biographies of our national saints are yet to be found in the Irish, Latin, and other tongues, and many of these have not yet been published. From records that remain, we have been enabled to discover titles and occasional fragments, referring to numerous ancient and valuable Acts or Lives, that have been irreparably lost, or not hitherto recovered. How many more manuscripts have perished, during the changing fortunes of their former possessors, or through lapse of time, cannot be known to the present, or perhaps to any future generation.

Within the limits of this Introduction it might be expedient-^were it possible — to present an abbreviated account of unpublished and published documents, that furnish the principal materials for compiling Irish Hagiology. Those manuscripts and printed works of chief importance must be noticed, however, in connexion with this subject, and especially according to the order of their first composition or publication. While several manuscript memorials of Irish saints are contained in the public libraries of Dublin city, and of other places throughout Ireland, a very considerable portion has been removed from this country. Some are to be found in private collections, belonging to gentlemen at present or lately in Ireland. Manuscripts have been undoubtedly lost, yet many are still preserved in the libraries of Great Britain and of various other countries on the Continent of Europe. The cities and towns, where those documents are kept, shall here be briefly noticed, and authorities are cited, that best serve to corroborate the several statements. It should require a separate and large volume to characterize the value and authenticity of those various records, regarded as sources for the illustration and development of our Saint History.

From earliest ages of the Church, writers were accustomed to register Acts of the Martyrs and Lives of the principal Saints. This usage was adopted in Ireland, likewise, and from the first dawn of Christianity in our Island. Many of those writers even deserve to rank among the Beatified. Abundant sources for Hagiography formerly existed, but, at present, many fail the research of modern Irish archaeologists and historians. Besides

vJ JNIR OD UCTIOM.

treating topics purely moral and doctrinal in poems and prose writings, various ancient authors have compiled Acts and Lives of our Saints. Calendars and Martyrologies, Festilogies and Litanies, Canonical Decrees and Epistles, the Rules and Exercises of Monastic observance, Penitentials, Visions and Revelations, H)nTins and Panegyrics, Dialogues, Prophecies and Legends, Psalters, sacred Genealogies and local Traditions, as also our generally accurate Annals and Chronicles, have respectively their relative and authentic value to evolve the facts of past Ecclesiastical History from much obscurity. To those old writers and their tracts, we can only allude in a very cursory manner. For a more suitable place and distribution of topics, in succeeding pages, further literary details and biographical infor- mation are reserved.

Although we may be arrested occasionally by the introduction of some remarkable writer or work, in the chronological order of this recapitulation ; yet, it will only be done to furnish the studious reader with some necessary previous knowledge for better understanding the period, character, and impor- tance of authorities, frequently cited throughout these volumes. Not to speak of some Irish persons, who flourished, it is thought, before the time of St. Patrick, and who are said to have written as Christians, it will suffice to state, that, in the fifth and sixth centuries, some of our earliest and best kno\vTi saint authors lived and wrote. Their literary labours, when well authen- ticated, best serve to illustrate their personal history ; or, when treating about the peculiar topics and authors hereafter enumerated, it must appear that the respective writers, without concerted action, have wTought a chain of evidence, every link of which, making all due allowance for defective parts, will bear the strain of opposing force, and lift our early Irish Church and her sanctified ones to the highest level and brightest position yet attained by other Chris- tian nations.

Section I. — Irish Hagiologists of the Fifth, Sixth, and Seventh

Centuries.

The great Apostle of Ireland, St. Patrick,^ has left us, as genuine tracts,* a short Confession, Epistles, and Canonical Decrees ; but other treatises ascribed to him are not regarded as quite authentic.^ His successor in the see of Armagh, St. Binen, or Benignus,* is said to have written a book, partly in Irish, and partly in Latin, on the Virtues and Miracles of St.

Section I. — ' See his Life at the 17th of learned Spanish Priest, at Dublin, a.d.

March. 1835, in an octavo volume, having for its

' In the opinion of good critics. title, " Sancti Patricii, Ibemorum Apostoli,

3 Sir James Ware published at London, Sjmodi, Canones, Opuscula, et Scriptorum

A.D. 1656, an octavo volume, "Opuscula quae supersunt, Fragmenta ; scholiis illus-

Sancto Patricio, qui Hibemos ad fidem trata," a Joachimo Laurentio Villanueva,

Christi convertit, adscripta." But by far Presbytero. It is already a very scarce

the most correct and erudite edition of our work.

Apostle's compositions is that issued by a * Sec his Life at the 9th of November.

INTRODUCTION.

Vll

Patrick, as also a tract, called the Leabhar na g-Ceart, or the Book of Rights.s Dubthach Ua Lugair,^ Arch-Poet to King Laogaire, became an early convert to Christianity, and thenceforward his gifts of intellect were employed in composing elegant verses, praising the Omnipotent Creator, and extolling His holy preachers.7

The disciple of this Dubthach, St. Fiec or Fiach,^ afterwards Bishop of Sletty, wrote an Irish Hymn of Thirty-four Distichs or Ranns, on the Acts of St. Patrick.9 Sedulius, an accompHshed Poet, Orator, and Divine,'° has left behind him many works in prose and verse." To St. Cathaldus, Bishop of Tarentum," some prophecies have been ascribed. '^ St. Kianan or Cienan, Bishop of Duleek,'+ is said to have written a Life of St. Patrick, by whom he had been baptized.^s gt. Fridolin,^'^ the son of an Irish king, flou- rished towards the close of the fifth and the beginning of the sixth century. He wrote some pious Exhortations and Treatises, now supposed to be lost.'7

5 This work has been most ably edited for the Celtic Society, by the late John O' Donovan, LL.D., who has added a valu- able Introduction, a Translation from the Irish, and notes. It was published at Dub- lin, A.D. 1847, in an octavo volume.

* See a valuable series of erudite Disqui- sitions by the Rev. John Francis Shearman, intituled, "LocaPatriciana,"inthe "Journal of the Royal Historical and Archaeological Association of Ireland," vol. ii.. Fourth Series, No. iii., pp. 486 to 498, and No. iv. pp. 544 to 560. Also vol. iii. No. v. pp. 24 to 59, and No. vi. pp. 183 to 196.

7 Colgan maintains, he possessed different little compositions of this celebrated poet. See ' ' Trias Thaumaturga, " n. 5, p. 8.

^ See his Life at the 12th of October,

9 This, with a Latin translation and notes, has been published by Colgan, as the first of St. Patrick's Lives, in the "Trias Thauma- turga." See pp. I to 10. It was originally extracted from the " Liber Hymnorum," a MS. now preserved in the Franciscan Con- ventual Library, Dublin. Another Irish version, with an English translation, intro- ductory observations and notes, will be found in " The Irish Ecclesiastical Record," vol. iv., pp. 269 to 293. March, 1868. The Rev. Dr. Todd was about to introduce this Hymn, in his edition of the "Liber Hymno- rum ;" but he has left the Preface even in- complete, at part ii., p. 304. This is all we have as yet published, and it issued soon after the death of the lamented Dr. Todd, in 1869.

" See his Life at the 12th of February. " John of Trittenhem enumerates some of

these works, in his * ' Catalogus Scriptorum Ecclesiasticorum, sive illustrium virorum, cum Appendice eorum, qui nostro etiam seculo doctissimi claruere," fol. xxxiiii. a. This work was published at Cologne, A.D. 1531, in quarto shape. Bale has added to John of Trittenhem's List, in his " Scripto- rum Illustrium Majoris Brytannije, quam nunc Angliam et Scotiam vocant, Catalogus: a Japheto per 3618 annos, usque ad annum hunc Domini 1557." Cent. xiv. p. 187. Owing to the author's peculiar bias and temperament, this work is not very reliable, except in passages, chiefly extracted from Leland's collection. See also Bellarmin, "De Scriptoribus Ecclesiasticis," pp. 149 to 152.

" See his Life at the 8th of May.

'3 See Bartholomew Moroni, "Vita S. Cathaldi." This was published at Rome, A.D. 1614. See also Wills' "Lives of Illus- trious and Distinguished Irishmen," vol. i., part i. First Period, p. 77.

'* See his Life at the 29th of November.

■5 See Harris' Ware, vol. iii. " The Writers of Ireland," book i., chap. ii. p. Ii.

'^ See his Life at 6th of March.

*7 Such is the statement of Bale, in his work already mentioned. Cent. xiv. No. x. p. 188. In his " Historia Ecclesiatica Gen- tis Scotorum," tomus i., lib. vi., No. 515, pp. 280, 281, Dempster adds the titles of other works, but he cites no authority for his statement. See Edinburgh edition, a.d. 1829. This writer's great partiality for Scotland induces him improperly to claim the present saint, as also many other saints and writers, although unquestionably these were Irishmen.

vm

INTROD UCTION.

St. Ailbe, Bishop of Emly,^^ is believed to have compiled a Rule for Monks, ^9 which had been preserved in manuscript.^"

The illustrious St. Brigid,^^ justly regarded as the great luminary in our Irish Church, about the close of the fifth and beginning of the sixth centu- ries, is stated to have composed a Rule for her Nuns, and to have written some devout poems and epistles.^^ Her chaplain, St. Nemid or Ninnidh Lainidan,=^3 is said to have produced some Hymns, in one of which there is a Panegyric of St. Brigid.^-^ St. Brogan Cloen,*s Abbot of Rostuirck in Ossory, also wrote an Irish Hymn in her praise.^*^ Cogitosus compiled a Life of St. Brigid.^7

St. Diarmuid, the Just, was Abbot of Inis-Clothran,'^ and to him is attri- buted a work in the form of a Psalter, wherein fifty-two Irish saints are com- memorated."9 St. Finen or Finian, Bishop of Clonard, is enumerated among our writers. 3° A certain Geman wrote a hymn in praise of this holy Bishop.3^ St. Kieran, Abbot of Clonmacnoise,^" is also said to have written a Rule for his Monks, and it is known under a title, The Law of Ciaran, the Artificer. 33 Some Prophecies are rather doubtfully ascribed to St. Jarlath,34 Bishop of Tuam.35 Amergin Mac Auley, Poet Laureate to Dermod Mac Carroll,3'5 is supposed to be author of the Dinnsenchus, or the Etymology of Remarkable Places in Ireland. 37 Again, the Canons of

'^ See his Life at the I2th of September.

'' This seems to have been the Law of St. Albe, embraced in Munster, according to the "Ulster Annals," at a.d. 792. See Dr. O'Conor's " Rerum Hibemicarum Scrip- tores, "tomus iv. Annales Ultonienses, p. 1 16.

=~ See Harris' Ware. Vol. iii. "The Writers of Ireland," book i. chap. ii. p. 6.

'' See her Life at the ist of February.

"^ Other writings are likewise ascribed to her. See Colgan's " Trias Thaumaturga,"' Appendix Tertia ad Acta S. Brigidae, cap. ii., p. 610. The life of St. Brigid is more fully treated, at the ist of February, the day of her chief festival. The work attributed to her by Bale, " Suarum Revelationum, lib. i.," on the authority of some older writers, Sir James Ware believes should rather be ascribed to St. Brigid of Sweden. See "De Scriptoribus Hiberniie," lib. i. cap. ii., p. 9.

"3 See his Life at the 2nd of April.

"* His acts occur at the i8th of January, according to Colgan. See "Acta Sancto- rum Hibemise," xviii. Januarii. Vita S. Nennidhii, pp. iii to 115.

'S See his Life at the 17th of September,

=«See Colgan's "Trias Thaumaturga." Appendix Tertia ad Acta S. Brigidae, cap. i., p. 609. His feast occurs at the 17th of

September.

'7 See Gerard Vossius, " De Scriptoribus Latinis," lib. iii., p. 624. Canisius, "An- tiquje Lectiones," tomus v.

=** See his Life at the loth of January.

'9 Colgan says,' he had a copy of this Poem, but he thinks that interpolations have been inserted there by a more recent hand. See "Acta Sanctorum Hibernifc," X. Januarii, Vita S. Diermitii, n.9, pp. 51,52.

30 His Life is given at the 1 2th of Decem- ber. For his imputed writings, see Sir James Ware's " De Scriptoribus Hiberniae," lib. i., p. 10.

3' See Colgan's "Acta Sanctorum Hiber- niae," xxiii. Februarii, Vita S. Finiaui, cap. xxiii., p. 395.

^ See his Life at the 9th of September.

33 See Sir James Ware's " De Scripto- ribus Hiberniae," lib. i., p. 10.

3* See his Life at the 6th of June.

35 Colgan had a copy of those reputed prophecies. See "Acta Sanctorum Hiber- niae, "xi. Februarii, VitaS. Hierlathi, p. 309.

3* See Dr. Kelly's edition of Gratianus Lucius, or Lynch's "Cambrensis Eversus," vol. i., cap. vii., pp. 376 to 379.

3' Copies of this ancient tract are pre- served in the Libraries of Trinity College, and of the Royal Irish Academy, Dublin.

INTR on UCTION.

IX

the Blessed Frigidian^^ are attributed to a celebrated Irish Bishop of Lucca, who bore that name, and there founded a monastery.39

St. Ruadan''° flourished in the sixth century, and it is said he wrote three different tracts.'*' Much about the same time, St. Brendan,'*^ Bishop of Clonfert, — some maintain, however, that he ruled over the see of Ardfert — wrote a Rule for his Monks, and other treatises have been ascribed to him.43 His namesake and contemporary, St. Brendan, 44 Abbot of Birr, has ascribed to him some enco- miastic verses on St. Columkille.45 This latter great Apostle of Caledonia*^ is the reputed author of Saints' Acts, Prophecies, Monastic Rules, Poems, and Religious Tracts.^? St. Comgall, or Congall,4S Abbot of Bangor, is said to have Wtten a Rule for Monks and some Epistles.49 St. Eochaid Dalian, the Blind, 5° wrote some Irish poems in praise of St. Columkille, of St. Senan, Iniscathay, and of St. Conald Coel, Abbot of Inis-Coel.s' St. Colgius or Colchuo,52 is said to have been author of a Treatisess on the Miracles of his Master, St. Columkille. 54 St. Baithen, Abbot of Iona,5s is also said to have written in Irish verse, The Life of St. Columba.s'^ To St. Canice, Abbot of Aghaboe,57 has been attributed a Biography and Hymns, eulogistic of the same saint, s^ The foregoing enumeration, however, by no means exhausts the list of Hagiograpers,S9 who lived in the fifth and sixth centuries.

They are contained in the Books of Lecan, Leinster, and Ballymote. Also in the MS., classed H. 2. 15, and H. 3. 3, T.C.D. See Eugene O'Curry's " Lectures on the Manu- script Materials of Ancient Irish History," Lect. i., pp. 9, 10. Lect. ii., n. 28, p. 49. Lect. iii., p. 53. Lect. ix., pp. 188, 193. Lect. xii., p. 257. Lect. xiv., p. 302. Lect. xxi. p. 449.

3^ See his Life at the iSth of November.

39 His Acts, with notes and appendices, are published by Colgan. See "Acta Sanc- torum Hibemiae," xviii. Martii. Vita S. Fridiani, sive Findiani, pp. 633 to 651.

*° See his Life at the 15th of April,

4' See Harris' Ware, vol. iii. "Writers of Ireland," book i., chap, iii., pp. 16, 17.

*" See his Life at the 1 6th of May.

^3 See Bale's "Scriptorum Illustrium Ma- joris Brytanniae, &c. Catalogus." Cent, xiv., No. 78, p. 236, and Arnold Wion's ' ' Lig- num Vita;," lib. ii.

4* See his Life at the 29th of November.

45 See Colgan's "Trias Thaumaturga. " Quinta Vita S. Columbse, cap. xli. and Appendix Tertia, pars, i., p. 469.

** See his Life at the 9th of June.

47 The reader is referred for very complete particulars regarding him to Colgan's " Trias Thaumaturga," pp. 31910514. See Tertia Appendix ad Acta S. ColumbiE, pars. ii.,pp. 471 to 473. Also, to the Rev. William

Reeves' edition of Adamnan's " Life of St. Columba," published in a large quarto volume, with learned Introduction, notes, and Appendices, for the Irish Archaeological Society, Dublin.

'■^ See his Life at the loth of May. Also, Sir James Ware, "De Scriptoribus Hiber- nire," lib. i., p. 14.

^9 See Dempster's " Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis Scotomm," tomus i., lib. iii.. No. 254, p. 152.

s" See his Life at the 29th of January.

5' See Colgan's " Acta Sanctorum Hiber- nias," xxix. Januarii. Vita S. Dallani, pp. 203 to 205.

s« See his Life at the 20th of February.

S3 See Dr. Reeves' Adamnan's "Life of St. Columba," lib. i., cap, 17, 35, pp. 45, 46, 65, 66, and accompanying notes.

S'* In Dempster's " Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis Scotonim," tomus i., lib. vii., num. 578, he is called " St. Golgus."

55 See his Life at the 9th of June.

5* See O'Donnell's "Vita S. Columbae," lib. i., cap. xxvi., p. 393. Colgan's "Trias Thaumaturga." Also, Appendix Tertia ad Acta S. Columbae, Pars Prima, p. 470.

57 See his Life at the nth of October.

5* See Sir James Ware, " De Scriptoribus Hiberniae," lib. i., cap. iii., p. 34.

59 Many of these are unknown by name, while it is uncertain if the tracts ascribed to

INTRODUCTION.

In the sixth, and early in the seventh century, St. Colman,^ Bishop of Cloyne, is said to have written a Life of St. Senan,^' in Metre.^^ St. Kevin or Coemgen, Abbot of Glendalough,^3 is thought to have written a Rule for his Monks, while other Tracts have been ascribed "to him.*^* St. Ethernan or Ernan,^3 and St. Eoglod or Eochod,^^ both disciples of St. Columkille, are stated, likewise, to have written his Acts.^7 St. Molua, otherwise called Lugid, Abbot of Clonfert Molua,^^ wrote a most admirable Rule for Monks, which is said to have obtained the highest approbation from Pope St. Gregory the Great.^9

St. Evin,7° Abbot of Ros-Glas, or Monasterevin, is said to have wTitten the Lives of St. Patrick and of St. Congall.7' St. Fintan Munnu,7=» Abbot of Tagh- mun, is classed, likewise, with the sacred Avriters of the seventh century. 73 St. Baithen, Abbot of Tech-Baithen,74 St. Virgnous,7S St. Gallanus or Grellanus,76 St. Ereneus or Ernenenus of Rathnew,77 St. Murus, Abbot of Fahan,78 g^^ Failbe, Abbot of Iona,79 St. Cumene the Fair,^" and probably many other holy men of this age,^* ^vrote Acts or Panegyrics of the illustrious St. Colum- kille.^^ Besides these authors, St. Colman, Bishop of Dromore,^3 compiled a Rule for his Monks during this century.^* But, by far the most distin- guished Irish ecclesiastical writers of this period were St. Columbanus,^^ the renowned Abbot of Luxeuil,^^ and St. Gall,^7 the Apostle of Switzerland.^^ St. Carthage or Mochudu,^? Abbot, prepared a Rule for Monks, written in the Irish language.9° An accomplished hagiographist^^ was St. Jonas, Abbot

others are authentic or referable to this bishop, at the 1 7th of September, of a St.

period, or to their reputed authors. Grellan at the 1 8th of September, of a St.

*° See his Life at the 24th of November. Grellan, of Lann, at the loth of November,

'' See his Life at the 8th of March. and of a St. Grealloc Oeblach, of Tamlacht,

** See Harris' Ware, vol. iii. " Writers at the 13th of July. Among these, it is dif-

of Ireland," book i., chap, iii., p. 21. ficult to find the author.

*3 See his Life at the 3rd of June. 77 His feast was held on the i8th of August.

** See Dr. Hanmer's " Chronicle of Ire- 78 gee his Life at the 12th of March,

land," pp. 120, 121. 79 He is venerated on the 22nd of March.

*5 See his Life at the 23rd of December. ^o ggg j,js Ljfg ^x. the 24th of February.

** See his Life at the 25th 'of January. ^i gee Venerable Bede's " Historia lic-

'7 See Colgan's "Trias Thaumaturga." clesiastica Gentis Anglomm," lib. iii., cap.

Tertia Appendix ad Acta S. Columbze, iv., pp. 168, 169. Cambridge edition, A. ».

pars, i., p. 470. 1644, fol.

*8 See his Life at the 4th of August. Also, ^2 ggg Colgan's "Trias Thaumaturga."

Sir James Ware, "De Scriptoribus Hiber- Tertia Appendix ad Acta S. Columbae, pars

nise," lib. i., cap. iii., p. 17. i., p. 470.

^ See Dr. Hanmer's " Chronicle of Ire- 83 gee his Life at the 7th of June,

land," pp. 121, 122. 84 gee Harris' Ware, voL iii. " Writers

7° See his Life at the 22nd of December. of Ireland," book i., chap, iv., p. 26.

7' See Harris' Ware, vol. iii. " Writers 85 ggg i^jg Life at the 21st of November,

of Ireland," book i., chap, iv., p. 23. 8« ggg Fleming's " Collectanea Sacra."

7" See his Life at the 21st of October. 87 ggg ^jg Life at the i6th of October.

"gee Harris' Ware, vol. iii. "Writers 88 ggg Henricus Canisius, " Antiquse Lec-

of Ireland," book i., chap, iv., pp. 23, 24. tiones," tomus v.

T- See his Life at the 22nd of May. *' See his Life at the 14th of May.

75 See his Life at the 2nd of March. 9° See Harris' Ware, vol. iii. " Writers

?' The feast of a St. Grellan, sonof Rotan, of Ireland," book i., chap, iv., p. 29.

occurs at the 15th of April.of a St. Grellan, «' See Ibid.

INTRODUCTION.

XI

of Luxeuil.52 St. Moling, Archbishop of Ferns,93 is accounted a writer of Prophecies. s-^ St. Dagan, Abbot of Achad-Dagain,95 St. Segene, Abbot of Iona,96 St. Aidan, Apostle of Northumbria,97 St. Finan, Bishop of Lindis- fame,98 St. Camin, Abbot of Iniscaltra,99 St. Fursey, Abbot of Lagny/°° St. Manchen, supposed to be the Wise,'°' St. Colman, Bishop of Lindisfarne,'°" and St. Disibod,'°3 styled Bishop of Dublin/"* as ecclesiastical writers, also belong to this century. ^°s In addition to the foregoing list, St. Ultan, Bishop of Ardbraccan,'°* St. Tirechan, Bishop'°7 St. Aileran, the Wise,'°^ Mac- cuthen,'°9 and Ainmire or Animosus, are said to have written, in prose or verse. Acts of St. Patrick and of St. Brigid."° St. Cumin of Connor'" wrote in Irish verse a Poem, which has been published,"^ on the Singular Virtues of the Principal Irish Saints."^ St. Livinus, the Martyr,"-* wrote some elegant Latin verses."5

With some few additional names must we close this section. St. Braccan, Abbot of Ardbraccan,"^ Colman 0'Cluasaigh,"7 St. Fiacre, the Hermit,"^ Maildulph, the Monk,"9 of Malmsbury,"" St. Carnech, surnamed Moel,"^ St. Cuthbert,"^ Bishop of Lindisfarne, and St. Kilian,"^ Apostle of Fran-

'*See Sir James Ware, "De Scriptoribus Hibemise," lib. i., cap. iii., p. 21.

93 See his Life at the 17th of June.

9* See Wills' " Lives of Illustrious and Distinguished Irishmen," vol. i., part i. First Period, pp. 109, no.

95 See his Life at the 13th of September.

9* See his Life at the 1 2th of August.

9'' See his Life at the 31st of August.

9** See his Life at the 9th of January.

99 See his Life at the 25th of March.

'°* See his Life at the i6th of January.

"' Some doubts are entertained regarding the identity of the holy man thus distin- guished among the many saints called Man- chen.

"=" See his Life at the 8th of August.

"3 See his Life at the 8th of July.

"^ His feast is assigned to the 8th of July in John Wilson's " Martyrologium Anglica- num." See John D' Alton's "Memoirs of the Archbishops of Dublin," pp. 20, 21.

"SSee Harris' Ware, vol. iii. " Writers of Ireland," book i., chap. iv. Also Bishop Nicholson's " Irish Historical Library," chap. iv.

»°* See his Life at the 4th of September.

'°7 See his Life at the 3rd of July.

"■^ See his Life at the 29th of Decem- ber.

"^See Wills' "Lives of Illustrious and Distinguished Irishmen," vol. i., part i. First Period, p. 151.

"° See Harris' Ware, vol. iii. " Writers of Ireland," book i., chap, iv., p. 37.

"' He is said to have flourished about the year 656.

'" He devotes a stanza of four lines to eulogize some remarkable virtue or heroic action of each saint. This poem has been translated into English by Professor Eugene O'Curry, and published with the original Irish, by the Rev. Matthew Kelly, D.D., in his " Calendar of Irish Saints," pp. 160 to 171.

"3 See Wills' " Lives of Illustrious and Distinguished Irishmen," vol. i., part i. First Period, p. 142.

"•♦ See his Life at the 12th of November.

"5 See John D'Alton's " Memoirs of the Archbishops of Dublin," pp. 16 to 18.

"* See his Life at the 6th of December.

"7 See Colgan's "Acta Sanctorum Hiber- niae," xx. Januarii. Vita S. Molaggse, n. 7, p. 149.

"* See his Life at the 30th of August.

"9 See Bale's " Illustrium Majoris Brytan- niae Scrip torum Catalogus," Cent, xiv.. No. 26.

''° See, also, William of Malmsbury, " De Gestibus Regum Angliae," lib. i., cap. ii.

"' See Harris' Ware, vol. iii. " Writers of Ireland," book i., chap, iv., p. 47.

"' See his Life at the 20th of March.

"3 See his Life at the 8th of July.

XI!

INTRODUCTION.

conia,^^* are enumerated among the Irish writers who adorned the seventh century."s Many other anonymous authors, whose works have not been subjected to very critical tests, or whose writings have been lost, lived during this flourishing period of Irish ecclesiastical literature.

Section 1 1. — Irish Hagiologists of the Eighth, Ninth, Tenth, and Eleventh Centuries.

To the eighth century — within which immediately succeeding writers de- parted this life — more properly are ascribed, Sedulius the Younger,^ ^engus Mac Tiprait,^ Colman Vamach or Huamacensis, a scribe of Armagh,3 Albuin or Witta,* and St. Colchuo or Colga,s the Wise.^ The illustrious St. Virgil,? Bishop of Saltzburgh, belonged to this age,^ remarkable for its learned men. St. Adamnan, Abbot of lona, was a very distinguished writer ;9 Choelian or Coelan, a Monk of Iniscaltra,'° St. Ciaran or Kiaran the Devout," Abbot of Belaigduin," Ermedus, Hermetius, or Airmedach,'3 sup- posed to have been Bishop of Clogher, as also Cruimthir CoUait or CoJlon,'* and especially St. Maelruan, Abbot of Tallagh,'s with various other authors.

'-•*See Wills' " Lives of Illustrious and Distinguished Irishmen," vol. i. , part i. First Period, p. 150.

»*s See Harris' Ware, vol. iii. " Writers of Ireland," booki., chap. iv. Also Bishop Nicholson's " Irish Historical Library," chap. iv.

Section ii. — ' See Harris' Ware, vol. iii. *' Writers of Ireland," book i., chap, v., pp. 47, 48.

^See Sir James Ware, " De Scriptoribus Hibemioe," lib. i., cap. iii., p. 35.

3 See Harris' Ware, vol. iii. " Writers of Ireland," book i., chap, v., p. 48. Also, Colgan's "Trias Thaumaturga. " Septima Vita S. Patricii, n. 50, p. 172, and Quarta Appendix ad Acta S. Patricii, pars, iii., p. 218.

* See Trithemius, "DeViris Illustribus Ordinis Benedictini," lib. iii., cap. 367, and lib. iv., cap. 190. The festival of this holy man is observed on the 26th of October, where some notices regarding him will be found.

5 See his Life at the 20th of February.

'See Colgan's " Acta Sanctorum Hiber- nise," XX. Februarii. Vita S. Colchonis sive ColgiE, pp. 378, 379.

' See his Life at the 27th of November.

"See Wills' "Lives of Illustrious and Distinguished Irishmen," vol. i., part i. Second Period, pp. 233, 234.

' See his admirable Memoir, written by the Rev. Dr. Reeves, and prefixed to an edition of Adamnan's "Lifeof St Columba." The biography of St. Adamnan occurs at the 23rd of September.

'° See Dr. John Lanigan's " Ecclesiastical History of Ireland," vol. i., chap, viii., sec. ii., n. 18, p. 381. The feast of this saint is kept on the 29th of July.

" His feast occurs on the 14th of June.

" See Sir James Ware, ' ' De Scriptoribus Hibemiae," lib. i., cap. iv., p. 37.

'3 His feast is kept on the 2nd of Feb- ruary, according to Colgan's "Trias Thau- maturga." Quarta Appendix ad Acta S. Patricii, pars, iii., p. 218. Yet, it seems more likely, his feast should be referred to a different day.

'♦ See ibid. He is said to have been of Druim-reilgeach.

'5 See his Life at the 7th of July, the date for his festival. The Frontispiece to this volume represents the chief scene of his labours, and an object associated in popular tradition with his name. " St. Maelruan's Tree" — of the walnut species — yet grows, and it covers an immense extent of ground, in a garden attached to the modern Domi- nican Convent of Tallagh, eight miles from Dublin city. On this spot most probably stood the ancient monastic establishment of St. Maelruan. At a later period, appa-

IN7R0DUCTJ0K

XI u

are said to have compiled Acts of Saints or Treatises, which furnish sources to illustrate Irish hagiography, during the eighth century. ^^

But by far the most valuable collection of records on Irish biographical lore, that have come down to our time, is that left us by the celebrated St. ^n- gus, the Culdee, who wrote towards the latter part of the eighth, and the be- ginning of the ninth century.'? It is said, that while this holy and learned man lived in the Monastery of Tallagh, under the Abbot, St. Melruain, both were engaged in compiling from earlier records that very complete Calendar of Irish Saints, known and generally quoted as " Martyrologium Tamlach- tense," or " The Martyrology of Tallagh."'^ Sometimes, from the compilers' names, it is designated, "The Martyrology of ^ngus, the son of Ua-Oblein, and of Moelruain."'9 Very few copies of this work have come down to our time, in manuscript ; and these hitherto discovered are found to be imper- fect, while faultily transcribed or interpolated by scribes, who assume to have copied from the original work.

rently after its dissolution, the place passed into the hands of the Archbishop of Dublin, and here, in 1324, Alexander de Bicknor built a fine mediaeval castle or palace for his country residence. Here, too, several of his successors dwelt. In 1 771, Gabriel Beran- ger made a drawing of it, which is extant. Until 1803, the Protestant Archbishops of Dublin resided in this palace. In 181 8, W. Monck Mason had a beautiful copperplate engraving, by S. Lacey, prepared by C. V. Fielding from a sketch by P. Byrne, and this view he dedicated to His Grace Euseby, Lord Archbishop of Dublin, &c. , &c. This has been reproduced in the new and en- larged edition of Archdall's " Monasticon Hibemicum," edited, with extensive notes, by the Right Rev. Patrick F. Moran, D.D., Lord Bishop of Ossory, and other distin- guished Antiquarians. In vol. i., at p. 201, there is an elegant view of the Ancient Ar- chiepiscopal Palace, Tallaght, in the County of Dublin. In 1825, this Palace was taken down, with the exception of its ancient square belfry tower, now incorporated with the new Dominican Convent, as shown in the background of our Frontispiece. On the 6th of January, 1839, during a night of fear- ful storm, "St. Maelruan's tree," which had for centuries grown upright — yet parted near the roots — from two large trunks ; these were blown down in opposite direc- tions, and several of their branches were firmly bedded in the earth. Each autumn, this fine tree is loaded with a vast number of walnuts. The people believe it had

been planted originally by St. Maelruan, and that it has continued to grow there since his time.

'*See Harris' Ware, vol. iii. "Writers of Ireland," book i., chap. v. Also, Bishop Nicholson's "Irish Historical Library," chap. iv.

'7 See the "Life and Works of St. .^n- gussius Hagiographus or St. ^ngus the Culdee," by the author. Dublin, 1868, 8vo. See, also, the Life of this saint, which occurs at the nth of March, the date for his festi- val.

'* John Boland, who had possibly seen an old copy belonging to John Colgan and the Franciscans, at Louvain, confesses, that he was unable to decide what degree of autho- rity should be attached to it. When quoting it, for his purpose at the latter days of January, he calls it " Hibemicum Mar- tyrologium." See "Acta Sanctorum," , Januarii, tomus i. Prsfatio Generalis ad Vitas Sanctorum, cap. iv., sec. 4.

'9 The title prefixed to this Martyrology is couched in these terms : " Incipit Martyro- logium i^ngussii, filii Hua-oblenii et Mel- ruanii." But in the copy, preserved at St. Isidore's convent, Rome, Dr. Todd says, at the beginning, the following title is in ru- bric : "Incipit martira oenghusa mc oiblean et maolruain ie \i. e. hie.]" " Here begins the Martyrology of Oengus Mac Oiblean and Maolruain." This, however, can only mean, that the work had been compiled from the collections of Aengus and Mael- ruain, as its basis, for it exhibits internal

xiv INTRODUCTION.

Oi that celebrated Martyrology, attributed to the authorship of St. Maelruan, as also to his renowned disciple St. ^ngus, the Culdee, Colgan appears to have possessed two defective copies. The names of saints are simply set down in this work, which, for stated reasons, he preferred calling the Martyrology of Tallagh, or Tamlacht. In the first place, it had been composed by joint labour, on^^the part of -^ngus and Maelruan, at Tallagh ; secondly, it could not be cited as the work of both saints, without tediousness and confusion — the more so, because he had been obliged frequently to quote another Martyrology, the sole production of ^ngus ; and thirdly, h&cdiwse. it is reasonably conjectured, that ancient writers called it the Martyrology of Tamlacht.=^° This latter work, therefore, was supposed to differ in no respect from the Martyrology of .^ngus and Maelruan, which had been composed at Tallagh. There was no other Martyrology known to be extant in Colgan's time, and that could better deserve such a title, or which, in fact, was distinguished by such an appellation. Fourthly, that work entitled, " Martyrology of yEngus and Maelruan," contains the names of its reputed authors'^ and of some other saints, who were their contemporaries, but who departed this life after their time. Nor does it follow, because Blathmac, who had been martyred for the faith at lona, a.d. 823,=^ and Feidhlimidh Mac Crimhthainn, King of Mun- ster, who died on the i8th of August,=3 a.d. 845, have been entered in it, that their names had not been introduced for copies, transcribed after the death of .^ngus. Among other insertions, we find recorded therein the name, St. Corpre, Bishop of Clonmacnoise, who died a.d. 899 ; but we do not find the name of St. Cormac Mac Cuileannan, king and bishop, who departed this life, in the earlier part of the tenth century, nor, in fact, of any saint, who died after a.d. 900.^4 Hence, it is thought, that certain subsequent additions were made to the joint work of ^ngus and Maelruan, by some monk, belonging to the monastery of Tallagh, or to some other place, and who lived towards the close of the ninth, or who died in the beginning of the tenth century. ^^s

evidence of comprising more recent entries March nth, and July 7th.

of saints living long after their death. See *^ According to Professor O'Curry, on the

Drs. Todd's and Reeves' " Martyrology of 19th of July. This appears, however, to be

Donegal." Introduction, p. xv. It shows, a mistake for the 24th of that month. See

however, that both saints must have been the life of this holy martyr at the 19th of

joint labourers at the work, previous to the January. Art. i., and n. 32.

death of Maelruan, in the year 792. Some *3 His festival, however, is placed on the

additions were undoubtedly made in the Calendar at the 28th of August,

succeeding centuries. ^■* From circumstances already alluded to,

*°Thus, Marianus Gorman, who lived Eugene O'Curry seems to doubt if Aengus

more than five hundred years before Col- had anything to do with its authorship. See

gan's time, in the preface to his Martyrology, "Lectures on the Manuscript Materials of

rightly remarks in Colgan's opinion, that St. Ancient Irish History," Lect. xvii., p, 362.

.(Engus composed his metrical Festilogy, '^ See Colgan's " Acta Sanctorum Hiber-

from the Martyrology of Tamlacht, which niae," xi. Martii. Vita S. iEngussii, cap.

had previously been written. See "Acta xii., p. 581. In Harris' Ware, a similar

Sanctorum Hibernige," xi. Martii. Vita S. opinion has been adopted. See vol. iii.

^ngussii, cap. xiii. p. 581. " Writers of Ireland," book i., chap, v., p.

" At the date of their respective festivals, 52.

tmk on ucTioN: itv

The Martyrology of Tallagh is generally believed to be the oldest con- taining our Irish saints' festivals known to be extant ; and with the days, it often records their immediate fathers and their particular churches.^^ Still criticism must remain greatly at fault, in reference to its real author or authors ; especially, as we are not likely ever to recover the original copy, which most probably has been destroyed. A version of the Martyrology of Tallagh has been published by the late Rev. Professor Matthew Kelly, D.D., of Maynooth College.^? In the year 1847, ^^ procured^^ a copy, partially de- fective, and transcribed from the Burgimdian Library one, at Brussels. ^9 This version he published in 1857, shortly before his lamented death.3° Its defects have been supplied, in parts, from other Irish Martyrologies. Corrections were carefully made by Professor O'Curry from his Transcript for Rev. Dr. Todd.3' When this distinguished scholar visited Rome in 1862, he collated the Irish portion of Dr. Kell/s work with the original manuscript. Nume- rous errors and omissions were thus corrected.s^ However, the edition published by Rev. Dr. Kelly still contains valuable historic notes and addi- tions. 33 It is to be regretted, that the learned editor had not been able to obtain a more complete — yet still deficient — copy for publication, which Colgan had once procured.34 Indeed, a number of different copies, had they been available, must have greatly enhanced the value and accuracy of such an interesting work.

Long before the composition of this valuable national Calendar of holy per- sons by St. .^ngus and St. Maelruan, an older Martyrology of Saints had been

^* It has been described by Professor Tamlactense et Genealogias SS"™ et plura

O'Curry, in his "Lectures on the Manu- alia opuscula." We may add that the bind-

script Materials of Ancient Irish History," ing of this valuable volume is of vellum,

Lect. xvii., pp. 362, 363. Also, by Rev. with a piece of calf-skin, rudely stitched

James Henthom Todd, in his Introduction upon its back. See Mr. Bindon's Paper,

to the " Martyrology of Donegal." read May 24th, 1847. " Proceedings of the

^7 The editor used two mutilated copies of Royal Irish Academy," vol. iii., pp. 489,

this work. See Rev. Dr. Kelly's "Disser- 490.

tations chiefly on Irish Church History." ^i See Rev. Dr. Kelly's ** Calendar of

Edited by Rev. Daniel Mac Carthy, D.D., Irish Saints," Preface, p. iii.

p. 214. 32 See "The Martyrology of Donegal,"

^^ Through the kindness of Rev. Father edited by Drs. Todd and Reeves. Intro-

Tinbroeck, S.J. duction, n. 3, p. xvi.

*9 As the original is in the Irish character, 33 in 1849, the Rev. Dr. Todd likewise

with some peculiar Irish contractions, and procured from the Belgian Government the

many strange Irish names, certain inaccu- loan of a MS. containing this, as well as

racies were unavoidable when making the O'Gorman's and iEngus' Martyrologies,

first transcript. all in Father Michael O'Clery's handwriting.

3° This MS. occupies about twenty-seven Professor O'Curry made accurate transcripts

pages, and it has various testimonials ap- from it, for Dr. Todd's private library,

pended. It is found among the MSS., as See "Lectures on the Manuscript Materials

vol. xvii., No. 5104. Upon the outside of of Ancient Irish History," Lect xvii., pp.

this volume will be found the following 362, 363.

note, in a hand apparently as old as that of 34 The edition of the Martyrology of Tal-

the text or testimonials: " Continens Mar- laght, published by the Rev. Dr. Kelly,

tyrologia CEngussei, Mariani Gormani et must have been prepared from a copy, diffc-

XVI

Wtroduction.

in use among ecclesiastics. 35 This seems to have been originally compiled at, or even before, the time of St. Jerome.3^ Although not wholly written by him, yet it bears for title, " The Martyrology of St. Jerome.'"^? By many learned men, it is considered to be the oldest work of its kind extant ;3S

ing from that older one,described by Colgan. Dr. Kelly's edition only contains the names of Irish, and omits the list of foreign saints. 35 Father Heribert Roswede, a man deeply versed in ecclesiastical antiquities, had re- ceived frem the Canhusians at Treves, or Triers, in Germany, a certain very ancient codex, belonging to St. Willebrord's Monas- tery at Eptemac, in Triers diocese, duchy of Luxemburg. It contained an exceedingly old and most complete Martyrology. This included names of many saints for each day, not found in the " Martyrologium Roma- num," or in any other Martyrology hitherto edited. He thought this was the Martyr- ology of St. Jerome, and that it should have been thus designated, owing to the prefixed title: " Christe fave votis. Codex S. Wil- lebrordi continet Martyrologium Hiero- nymi." Whether this had been the Mar- tyrology ascribed to St. Jerome, or to St. Eusebius, or to St. Willebrord, in most particulars, Colgan says, it agreed with the Martyrology of St. .<^ngus, and with the Maryrology of Tallagh. Only those places where the Martyrs suffered were more accu- rately noted, and it had the advantage of being more copious. Tlie Martyrology of Tallagh has also added at each day certain Irish saints, and frequentlysome other saints, wanting in the Eptemac copy. Two reasons incline Colgan to believe that St. Willebrord brought that Martyrology — which is known as "Codex S. Willebrordi" or "Epterna- censi" — with him, when he left Ireland on his way to Eptemac. First, two copies had been preserved in Colgan's time, although dif- fering somewhat in certain passages. Those belonged to Ireland. One of them had been transmitted to Louvain. Itwaswrittenon old vellum, but it was not found in a perfect state. Each day, that other copy had been expect- ed, and from which excerpts of Irish saints had been already obtained. No other copy of this work was known to be extant in any of the European libraries, that only excepted which belonged to the collection of Eptemac MSS. Secondly, one of these copies seems to have its authenticity proved correlativelywith the other. For St. Willebrord, whose Codex

has his name inscribed, and whose very handwriting can be traced in part, with every appearance of certain proof, did not come from Anglia — as some writers say — but he came from Hibemia immediately to Friesland or Frisia, and thence to Eptemac. * Willebrord had previously lived in Ireland, from the twentieth to the thirty-third year of his age, engaged in scholastic studies and in practices of piety, as Alovinus Flaccus states in his " Life," and as Venerable Bede has it in his " Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis Anglo- rum," lib. v., cap. lo, II, and 12. For the trath of these statements, Colgan cites other authorities, in the Life of St. Suithbert, at the first day of March.

3* Launoy says that the Martyrology called of St. Jerovie cannot be proved to have been written by that very learned saint, on any authority prior to the reign of Charle- magne.

37 It must be remarked, that D'Achery, in his " Spicilegium, sive Collectio Veterum aliquot Scriptomm," has published "Mar- tyrologium vetustissimum Sancti Hieronymi Presbyteri nomine insignitum," tomus iv. This is even imperfect, since he appends the following remarks : " Cetera legi non potu- erant in MS utpote a tineis corrosa ; silicet ab hac die ad viii. Kal. Jan. a quo incipit hocce Martyrologium." It must be con- fessed, if this Martyrology, for the most part, were written by St. Jerome, it has been interpolated by some one, who lived since his time, as the names of many among the more recent saints are contained in it. .See the remarks of Henry Valois in his Ap- pendix to the edition of ' ' Eusebius's Eccle- siastical History,'" on this subject. St. Je- rome's Martyrology had been used by Pope St. Gregory the Great, and it existed many years earlier. Since those times, some names have been added to it, such as that of Gre- gory himself. These D'Achery has marked in Italics. Among such reputed additions, is the name of St. Patrick. See Dr. Lani- gan's "Ecclesiastical History of Ireland," vol. iii., chap, xx., § x., n. 102, pp. 249, 250.

3^ See on this subject the " Acta Sane*

INTRODUCTION.

while others are of opinion, that Eusebius39 drew up some sort of an earher Martyrology. It has even been asserted, this latter was the original author of that work ascribed to St. Jerome,^" who was only its translator into Latin.^^ However, this may be, St. ^ngus appears to have used a certain Codex, and he styles it the Martyrology of Eusebius and Jerome. ■♦^

The Martyrology of St. ^Engus and of St. Moelruan was well arranged, and very comprehensive in its plan. A list of foreign saints was first set down, for every day, and then followed the names of our Irish saints. Colgan considers this work the most copious of all the Martyrologies he had ever seen.*3 Yet, it would seem to have been extremely defective, in parts. The names of many saints, omitted in the Roman and other Martyrologies, are to be found first in the Martyrology attributed to ^ngus and Maelruan.44 However, a learned authority supposes, that ^ngus composed a still more ancient work, which deserves to bear his name, and that this is the oldest Irish Mar- tyrology known.4s It is thought, St. ^ngus wrote this work about or before A.D. ygS.-*^

We find a more detailed — yet still a very imperfect — description of what has

torain Januarii," of the great Bollandist Collection. Tomus i., Prefacio, cap. iv. sec. 4. Also, Tillemont's "HistoireEcclesi- astique," tome xii., § 144, Art. St. Jerome.

3' This prelate flourished in the early part of the fourth century.

*° This learned and illustrious saint's fes- tival occurs at the 30th of September, on which day he departed to bliss, in the year 420. See an admirable account of his life and writings in Rev. Alban Butler's ' ' Lives of the Fathers, Martyrs, and other Prin- cipal Saints," vol. ix., xxx. September.

*' The learned Bollandists, Henschenius and Papebrochius, were inclined to think that Eusebius was not only translated, but likewise augmented by St. Jerome. See their " Pro- logomina" to the Martyrology of Bede in "Acta Sanctorum," Martii, tomus ii., pp. V. toviii.

*' The Martyrology ascribed to St. Jerome, or rather to Eusebius and St. Jerome, as quoted by Aengus, is mentioned more than once by Bede, who lived many years before Charlemagne. Thus, he cites ' ' Martyrolo- gium Eusebii et Hieronymi vocabulis insig- nitum." He states, that Eusebius is said to have been the author, and Jerome the trans- lator. See lib. ii. " in Marcum," cap. xxvi., and "Retract, in Acta Apostolorum," cap. i.

*3 This opinion he must have entertained — at least so far as Irish saiijts are concerned —

before the O'Clerys had prepared the cele- brated one, now popularly known as " The Martyrology of Donegal." See *' Acta Sanctorum Hibernise," xi. Martii. Vita S. .^ngussii, cap. xii., p. 58 1.

^'' It is not at all probable, that Wille- brord found the Martyrology of St. Jerome in the territory of Frisia, or in other adjoin- ing districts, inhabited only by unbelievers. Nor has any similar copy been there dis- covered. On thecontrary, Colgan asserts, that many such copies were to be found in Ireland when he wrote. As here mentioned, in the Life of St. .^ngus, the Martyrologies, ascribed both to Eusebius and to St. Jerome, were extant in his time, or before A.D. 787» when such testimony is supposed to have been recorded. These Martyrologies are considered to be the oldest compilations of the kind.

4S See Professor Eugene O'Curry's " Lec- tures on the Manuscript Materials of Ancient Irish History," Lect. xvii., pp. 362, 363, 364. Yet in Father Michael O'Clery's pre- face to a poem of Marianus Gorman, he states, that the Martyrology — otherwise the Festilogy — of ^ngusCeile De had been com- posed from the Martyrology of Tamlacht.

^* So far as Mr. O'Curry ascertained, "no saint is found in it who died after that year." Wherefore, it would appear, that St. ^Engus composed a Martyrology, distinct from that known as the Tallagh Martyrolog}'. How-

iNTRODUCTldN.

been called the HieronymianTallaghMartyrology, than that furnished either by Colgan or Bollandus.*^ It comes from the pen of Father John Baptist SoUer.*^ It seems almost certain that Bollandus and his fellow-labourers had seen Colgan's copy. ^9 SoUer inspected and describes it, as containing ten vellum folia of large size, with nearly half a leaf, and covered with another leaf of similar material and appearance.^" In the commencement of this Codex, some modem hand has inscribed it, Martyrologium Tamlactense, et Opuscula S. Aengusst Keledei.^^ In two different places it is noted as having belonged to the convent of Donegal. Those leaves were not clearly traced nor well arranged.^^ Many names in this Codex were almost illegible. 53 Soller says it was defective from the iv. of the February Kalends to the iv. of the March Ides : so that the months of January and March were not per- fect. S4 The whole of February was missing. ss The April month was alone complete. May ran on to the 20th day,^^ or the xiii. of the Kalends of June. June and July were wanting. August began from the iv. Nones,S7 but its remaining days were preserved. In September were missing the xii., xi., and x. days of the October Kalends.s^ October continued to the iii. of the Kalends of November. The whole of November was missing. Decem- ber commenced only at the xv.ss of the Kalends of January.^ Soller de-

ever, the peculiar Martyrology of St. ^Engus must be regarded as identical with his Fes- tilogy.

*' Bollandus has published some extracts from Colgan's copy, ^^ sub nomine Martyro- logia Hieronymiani Tamlactensis,'^ at the last days of the January month.

*^ See "Acta Sanctorum," Junii, tomus vii., in his learned preface to a new edition of ancient Martyrologies. In this, he treats regarding various copies of the Martyrology ascribed to St. Jerome.

*9 The Bollandists appear to bad frequent recourse to the Franciscans of Louvain for the names and festivals of saints mentioned in their copy of the Martyrology of Tallagh. See "Acta Sanctorum Januarii," tomus ii., xxiv. Januarii. Praetermissi et in alios dies rejecti, p. 561.

5° Dr. Todd, when at Rome, in 1S61 and 1862, first ascertained beyond question, that these yi^/Zfl had been extracted from the Book of Leihster, a manuscript written in the twelfth century, and now preserved in the Library of Trinity College, Dublin.

S' On an average, there are from six to seven columns across each page. The folia are loosely placed within a parchment cover. William M. Hennessy, M.R.I.A., has greatly obliged the author by lending his Catalogue Raisonni oi this MS., and from it the con- tents are described hereafter in a detailed

form. Only a brief account of it is con- tained in J. T. Gilbert's description, as found in the " Fourth Report of the Royal Com- mission on Historical Manuscripts," part i., Report and Appendix, p. 601.

5^ From an inspection of the manuscript here alluded to, and now preserved in the Franciscan Convent, Dublin, the writer would be inclined to hold a very opposite opinion.

S3 The first folio of this MS., and the first entry in this Martyrology, owing probably to some ancient ecclesiastical arrangement, commence with the 25th day of December, and foremost in order is noted the feast of our Lord's Nativity. The Martyrology does not merely record the obits of Irish saints. Under each day, it gives a chief place to foreign saints, adding Irish saints, at the end, and distinguishing the first of these by a peculiar mark.

5* This statement is not quite correct.

ss This is likewise an incorrect statement.

s*To the 19th day, he should have said.

57 But it contains Irish names ol the pre- ceding day.

^ It contains, however, Irish names be- longing to the loth of the Kalends.

59 It contains, however, Irish names of the previous day.

" All this account is exceedingly inaccu*

INTR OD UCTION. xix

clares, after a diligent examination, he could easily observe that this Codex had been over-rated by the members of his society.^' Papebroke had fre- quently mentioned to Soller, that Colgan or the Irish Minorite Fathers at Louvain had merely sent extracts of this copy to BoUandus. After this Martyrology, Soller found a list of what he conjectures to be Irish names, running through three leaves.^' In fine, there were opuscula or fragments of Tracts in the Irish language, of which he was entirely ignorant. Soller in- correctly declares his account to be a complete description of the Codex.^3

During Dr. Todd's visit to Rome in 1862, he found the eleven missing leaves of the Book of Leinster in the Franciscan ^Convent of St. Isidore, among the documents shown him by the superior. Those leaves contain some of the curious Tracts, attributed to St. ^ngus the Culdee, together with the copy of that Calendar or Martyrology of Tallaght, referred to by Colgan. However, owing to the loss of a leaf, this is unfortunately imperfect. The defect includes the whole ot November, and the first sixteen days of December. This Calendar is a transcript of a very ancient Martyrology, which contained a' list of saints and martyrs belonging to the Universal Church, under each day of the year ; Irish saints were added at the end of each day. ^4 Might it not be most probable, that the first diurnal entries of the old Tallagh Martyrology are, at least to some extent, transcripts from that ascribed to Eusebius or to Jerome P'^s if so, what delight and interest should not lovers of ecclesiastical history take in the discovery of such a literary and patristic treasure ! If a conjecture of this kind be well founded, those writings so much regretted by the learned as lost, because not hitherto discovered, might in part — if not altogether — be found among unpublished MSS., attributed to an Irish saint, and yet mouldering on the shelves of our Dublin Franciscan Library. We feel inclined to believe, that the prose Martyrology of Tallagh had been written — but perhaps not in its completed state — before ^ngus had composed his metrical Felij-e.^^ An opinion was entertained by some ancient writers, that the Martyrology and the Feilire

rate. Owing to the loss of a leaf, pp. 6, 7, All Saints, and many other solemnities of a

there is a defect in the text, extending from like description.

19th of May to the 2nd of August. The *3 gee "Acta Sanctorum," in his preface

Martyrology closes at the 26th day of De- to a new edition of Usuard's Martyrologyj

cember. It runs along each page, in 71 cap. i., art. i., sees, i, 2.

closely written columns in the Irish character, '■♦ See Drs. Todd's and Reeves' " Martyr*

with coloured initial letters of various names ology of Donegal." Introduction, pp. xiv.,

introduced. xv.

*' This, however, was owing probably to *s Ledwich very incorrectly states, that

his inability to i-ead Irish ; or to appreciate the Martyrology called of St. Jerome was

the value of such a rare Codex or fragment. not known until about the ninth century,

*^ Besides the insertion of Irish proper and that Launoy had proved — while he had

names in this Martyrology, there were found not — its fabrication about that time, other festivals, added by a comparatively ** This word, properly speaking, signifies

modern hand. Among these, he notices a Festilo^ium or Festivale, which means a

the feast of St. Joseph, the Revelation of list of Feasts or Festivals, placed in their

St. Michael the Archangel, the festival of natm"al sequence.

■m I,

XX

INTR on UCTION.

had been written by him at Tallaght, while engaged in following the humbler duties of a farm servant. Sufficient evidence can be adduced, however, to prove, that the Feilire could not have been issued, until some years after St- Melruan's death. As -^ngus, in this metrical work, cites the Martyrologies attributed to Jerome and Eusebius, it is highly probable, that he must have used these works, while engaged at the compilation of his own writings. ^7 Of the Metrical Irish "Felire" or Festology — sometimes called the Martyr- ology of Aengus Ceile De — six copies, at least, are known to be extant, and four of these are on vellum. Two copies are preserved in the Bodleian Library, Oxford ; one copy is kept in the Franciscan Library, Dublin ; one in the Burgundian Library, Brussels f^ one, a transcript, made for Dr. Todd, by Professor O'Curry ; and one, found in the celebrated Leabhar Mbr Di^na Doighr'e^ — commonly called the Leabhar Breacp° and now in posses- sion of the Royal Irish Academy, Dublin. 7^ We are indebted to the late distinguished Irish scholar. Professor Eugene O'Curry, for a particular de- scription and analysis of Angus' metrical Festology or Fdire.T^ This com- position, considered to be one of the first in date and importance among our Kalendars, consists of three distinct parts. IYiq first part, knoAvn as the In- vocation, contains five quatrains,73 which ask grace and sanctification from Christ on the poet's work.74 It is \vritten in the ancient Conachlann, as

*7 Dr. Ledwich strives to show, that this Martyrology was first written in the ninth century, because it has the names of Moel- ruan, Aengus, and other later saints. See "Antiquities of Ireland," p. 365. "It is true that, considered in its present state," says Dr. Lanigan, "it was not completed until even the end of that century ; but does it follow that Aengus and Moelruan had no share in drawing it up ? He adds, that in its second preface, it cites the Martyrology of St. Jerome. Here the doctor is wrong ; for this Martyrology is quoted, not in any preface to the Mart)rrology of Tallagh, alias that of Aengus and Moelruan, but in the second preface to ih&Festilogium of Aengus." "Ecclesiastical History of Ireland," vol. iii., chap, xx., § x., n, 102, p. 249.

^ This is a copy of " Festilogium S. Engusii Keledei," in Irish, and beautifully written by Michael O'Clery. The accom- panying gloss and notes are very full, and the " Festilogium" occupies fifty-one pages. Vol. xvii.. No. 5102 of the " Inventaire." See " Proceedings of the Royal Irish Aca- demy," vol. iii., p. 489.

*9 It was compiled about A.D. 1400.

7° " A copy of his poem, called ' Felire,^ is preserved in the Leabhar Breac, in the

Library of the Royal Irish Academy." — " Tracts Relating to Ireland." Muirchear- tach MacNeill's Circuit of Ireland, page 32, Mr. O'Donovan's Note 36, I.A.S.'s Publi- cations. Copies of the Leabhar Breac have been lately multiplied by the lithographic process.

7' " There is a short history of the author, and the tract prefixed to this copy, which commenced, as such Gaedhlic documents usually do, with giving the name of the author, the time, the place, and the object of the composition. There is, then, a short disquisition on this arrangement, in which the usages of the philosophers and the order of the creation are referred to as precedents." See * ' Lectures on the Manuscript Materials of Ancient Irish History," Lect. xvii., p.

363.

72 In O'Reilly's "Chronological Account of nearly Four Hundred Irish Writers," p. liii., it receives the designation of a Hier- ology.

73 A quatrain means four rhymed lines.

T" We are informed, that General Val* lancey and Theophilus O'Flanagan, having met with this poem- — which is rather a con- spicuous one — in the leabhar Breac, and finding the name of Christ contractedly

INTRODUCTION.

modem Gaelic scholars call " chain-verse."7s By such metrical arrangement, the last words of each quatrain are identical, or nearly so, with the first words of that succeeding. 7^ The second part, ^o. are told, is a poem, by way of preface, and it consists of 220 quatrains. But of these, only eighty are found prefixed to the main poem, or chief subject matter. The remaining 140 quatrains are postfixed to the main poem, and these are called the post or second preface. We may rather, perhaps, consider them in the light of those verses, which many of our mediaeval and modern poets designate the " L'Envoy," as the conclusion of a poem. Those stanzas are of a similar character, and follow in a like measure, as they are indeed a continuation of the Invocation. Eighty stanzas, prefixed to the main poem in very beauti- ful and forcible language, give us a glo%ving account regarding the sufferings and tortures of the early Christian martyrs ; how their persecutors' names have been forgotten, while those of their victims were remembered with honour, veneration, and affection ; how Pilate's wife sinks into oblivion, while the Blessed Virgin Mary has been remembered and venerated from earth's uttermost bounds to its centre. Even in Ireland, the enduring supre- macy of Christ's Church had been manifested. Tara had been abandoned and had become a desert, because its kings were vain-glorious, while Armagh remained the populous seat of dignity, piety, and learning. Cruachain, a former royal residence of the Connaught kings, is deserted, while Clonmac- nois resounds with the dashing of chariots and the tramp of multitudes to honour St. Ciaran's shrine. Aillinn's royal palace had passed away, while

written CR, with a horizontal dash over "Sanctify, O Christ ! my words : —

these two letters, considered they had found O Lord of the seven heavens !

an address to the sun. This was a supposed Grant me the gift of wisdom,

proof of the former worship of that luminary O Sovereign of the bright sun ! by the ancient Irish. The letters C R were

presumed to have been a contraction for " O bright sun, who dost illumine

Creas, which, from the books of Indian The heavens with all thy holiness !

Brahmins and the Sanscrit, Vallancey con- O King who governest the angels !

jectured to be a name for the sun, common O Lord of all the people !

both to Ireland and India. These views of *■

General Vallancey, with a highly poetical ' ' O Lord of the people !

translation of Aengus' poem, were embodied O King all righteous and good !

in a small printed pamphlet. This was ad- May I receive the full benefit

dressed " To the President and Members of Of praising Thy Royal hosts, the Royal Irish Academy, as a Proof of the

Ancient Histoiy of Ireland," by General " Thy royal hosts I praise,

Vallancey. Because Thou art my Sovereign ;

75 Such is the English equivalent. I have disposed my mind

7* An illustration, in the Irish language To be constantly beseeching Thee, and character, will be found in "Lectures

on the Manuscript Materials of Ancient " I beseech a favour from Thee,

Irish History," Appendix No. cxiii., p. 6io,' That I be purified from my sins

and which has been published from the ori- Through the peaceful bright -shining

ginal, contained in the Leabhar Breac. The flock,

five Irish stanzas have been thus rendered The royal host whom I celebrate."

into English, by Mr. O'Curry : — — Ibid., Lect. xvii., pp. 365, 366.

INTR on UCTION,

St. Brigid's church at Kildare retained its dazzling splendour. Ulster's royal palace at Emania had disappeared, while the holy Coemghen's church at Gleann-da-locha remains in full glory. The monarch Leaghaire's pomp and pride Avere extinguished, while St. Patrick's name continues to shine with undiminished lustre. Thus, the poet contrasts fleeting and forgotten names and reputations of great men and establishments, belonging to the pagan and secular world, with the stability, freshness, and splendour of Christian Churches, and with the ever-flourishing names of their illustrious, although often humble founders. The third pai't is properly the Felire or Festological Poem itself, and it is comprised within 365 quatrains, which, the reader will observe, form a stanza for each day in the year. The author has imposed on himself the task of introducing into each stanza some saints' names or festivals commemorated on that particular day to which they refer.77 The Circum- cision of our Lord is placed at the head of the Festivals, and with it the Felire begins. 7^ This poem is not wholly confined to notices of the Irish saints, as the festivals of many foreign ones are generally first introduced. The whole of this, which is the chief poem, as also the first preface, is thickly interlined with an ancient gloss and commentary. These explain difficult or obsolete words and passages. Sometimes, notes may be found on the sites of ancient churches, connected with Irish saints, who lived to the time of our author. Occasional passages from their Lives and Miracles will be seen. Those notes are interspersed over the margin, and they require close and accurate study to connect them with their appropriate textual passages. The three parts, or cantos, into which the entire poem has been divided, may be treated, indeed, as one continuous composition. The last words of the In- vocation are the first words to the first preface of eighty stanzas ; while the last words of this preface are the first words of the main poem ; and again, the last words of this chief poem are the first words of the post or second preface, which consists of 140 stanzas. This latter division concludes the work, and in it yEngus recapitulates the subject of his Felire,Ti teaching the faithful how to read and use it, and explaining its arrangement. He declares, though great the number, he has only been able there to enumerate the princes of the saints. He recommends it for pious meditation to the faithful, and indicates spiritual benefits to be gained by reading or reciting it. He says he had travelled far and near to collect the names and history of subjects for his praise and invocation. For the foreign saints, he consulted St. Ambrose, St. Jerome, and Eusebius. He collected the festivals of our Irish saints,

"See "The Martyrology of Donegal," from the original found in the "Leab/tar

edited by Drs. Todd and Reeves. Intro- Brmc."

duction, p. xiv. 79 The Felire or Festology is closely con •

78 In the "Lectures on the Manuscript nected with lives of the saints. That of

Materials of Ancient Irish History," Ap- Aengus especially receives the praise of M.

pendix No. cxiv., p. 611, may be seen the de la Villemarque in the November number

first stanza of this part of the poem in the of the French periodical, " Le Correspon-

Irish language and character, as extracted dant," for 1863.

INTROD UCTION.

XXlU

from " the countless hosts of the illuminated books of Erinn." ^ He then says, having already mentioned and invoked the saints at their respective festival days, he will now invoke them in classes or bands, under certain heads or leaders.^'

Towards the saints of his country, .^ngus seems to have entertained an extraordinary veneration. According to Colgan's account, he wrote five distinct Tracts,^^' " De Sanctis Hiberniae," which treat, in a particular manner, about their several lives, or on matters pertaining to them.^s in the first

*> See " Manuscript Materials of Ancient Irish History," Lect. xvii., pp. 365 to

370.

*' This is done in the following order : — The elders or ancients under Noah ; the prophets under Isaiah ; the patriarchs under Abraham ; the apostles and disciples under Peter ; the wise or learned men under Paul ; the martyrs under Stephen ; the spiritual directors under old Paul ; the virgins of the world under the Blessed Virgin Mary ; the holy bishops of Rome under Peter ; the bishops of Jerusalem under Jacob or James ; the bishops of Antioch also under Peter ; the bishops of Alexandria under Mark ; a division of them under Honoratus ; a division of learned men under the gifted Benedict ; all the innocents who suffered at Bethlehem under Georgius ; the priests under Aaron ; the monks under Anthony ; a division of the world's saints under Martin ; the noble saints of Erinn under St. Patrick ; the saints of Scotland under St. Colum Cille ; while the last great division of Erinn's saintly virgins has been placed under holy St. Brigid of Kildare. In an eloquent strain, Aengus then continues to beseech our Saviour's mercy for himself and for all man- kind, through the merits and sufferings of those saints he has named and enumerated. He asks through the merits of their dis- membered bodies ; through their bodies pierced with lances ; through their wounds ; through their groans ; through their relics ; through their blanched countenances ; through their bitter tears ; through all the sacrifices offered of the Saviour's own Body and Blood, as it is in heaven, upon the holy altars ; through the blood that flowed from the Saviour's own side ; through His sacred Humanity ; and through His Divinity in union with the Holy Spirit and the Hea- venly Father. After this long invocation, Aengus says the brethren of his order deemed all his prayers and petitions too little ;

whereupon, he resolves to change his course, that no one may have cause for complaint. Then, he commences another moving appeal to our Lord for himself and all men. He beseeches mercy according to the merciful worldly interposition of Divine clemency in times past. Thus Enoch and Elias had been saved from dangers in this world ; Noah had been saved from the deluge ; Abraham had been saved from plagues and from the Chaldeans ; Lot had been saved from the burning city ; Jonas had escaped from the whale ; Isaac had been delivered from his father's hands. He entreats Jesus, through intercession of His Holy Mother, to save him, as Jacob was saved from the hands of his brother, and as John [Paul] was saved from the viper's venom. He again recurs to examples found in the Old Testament. He mentions the saving of David from Goliath's sword ; the saving of Susanna from her dangers ; of Nineveh from destruction ; of the Israelites from Mount Gilba [Gilboa] ; of Daniel from the lion's den ; of Moses from the hands of Faro [Pharaoh] ; of the three youths from the fiery furnace ; of Tobias from his blindness ; of Peter and Paul from the dungeon ; of Job from demoniac tribulations ; of David from Saul ; of Joseph from his brothers' hands ; of the Israelites from Egyptian bondage ; of Peter from the sea-waves ; of John from the fiery caldron ; of Martin from the priest of the idol. Again, he beseeches Jesus, through intercession of the heavenly household, to be saved, as St. Patrick had been, from the poisoned drink at Teamhar [Tara], and as St. Coemhghin [Kevin] had been at Gleann da locha [Glendalough], from perils of the mountain.

*^ See likewise Rev. Matthew Kelly's " Dissertations chiefly on Irish Church His- tory." Edited by Rev. D. M'Carthy, D.D., pp. 215, 216. ^3 It may be observed, that these tracts

INTROD UCTION.

Treatise, he gives the different distinctions of those saints in classes ; he enu- merates 345 bishopSj^-^ 299 abbots and priests,^^ and seventy-eight deacons.^^ These he has comprised within the hmits of three chapters. The second Tract is known as the " Homonymi," or the enumeration of saints bearing similar names, but distinguished by various other titles.^7 It mentions 855 distinct persons, under sixty-two different names, and it is divided into two parts ; the first part containing fifty chapters, on holy men of the same name,^^ and the second, twelve chapters on holy women. ^9 The third Treatise, known as the " Book of Sons," divides the saints into another classification.9° It names saints, who are descended from the same father, and afterwards only sons, each cited by the father's name.9' Lastly, are enumerated female saints, in their descent from the same father.?^ The names of ninety-four fathers,93 who had one saint, or more saints than one, as children, are here preserved, although the number of saints cannot always be discovered.^* The fourth Tract comprises the names of 210 saints, with their maternal genealogy.9s It would appear from this title, that the paternal genealogy of these saints had been previously written, either by another hand, or by that of yEngus. The fifth " Book of Litanies" enumerates, in form of an invocation, a long list of saints.9^ In several of its invocations, the principal name, with associated disciples, is generally found.97 This name usually pertains to the saint who

seem to be comprised in the ten folia, ex- tracted from the Book of Leinster.

^* In the itn folia, these names begin with Patrick, and end with Cobthach, fol. II, col. 4-

^s At the end of col. 4, this list begins, and it occupies nearly four columns.

^ These begin at fol. 12, col. 4.

^^ Half-way down col. 5, this commences. Copies of this list are contained in the " Book of Ballymote," as also, in the "Book of Lecain."

^ Thus all those named Aedan are given first : all those named Aed, Brenain, Coluim, &C, , are regularly tabulated, in alphabetical order.

^ Their names follow on a plan similar to the foregoing.

9° At fol. 15, col. 3. This list extends over three columns.

9' As the brothers, who were sons to Aed, to Nessan, &c. , or a son of — .

9^ As the daughters of — or the daughter of — fol. 16, col. I.

93 Colgan adds, that he omitted other names, which he could not read, owing to the worn state of this old Codex. See "Acta Sanctorum Hibernise," xi. Martii. Vita S. ^ngussii, cap. xiv., p. 581.

9* Here in the 10 folia, other tracts occur, which as they are not attributed to the authorship of St. ^ngus, Colgan passes over.

95 At fol. 18, and on the first column of fol. 19, these matrons are numbered from I

93, by Colgan for purposes of reference ; while the numbers thus given correspond with the figures quoted in his " Acta Sanc- torum Hibemire," and "Trias Thau- maturga. "

9^ This begins near the top of col. 2, fol. 19.

97 In Colgan's "Acta Sanctorum Hiber- nige," Martii viii. Vita S. Senani, n. 11, p. 535, a part of this Litany is quoted. Dr. Petrie also introduces this extract into his " Ecclesiastical Architecture of Ireland an- terior to the Anglo-Norman Invasion," part ii», sect, ii., pp. 137, 138. He was wrong in stating, that a copy of this was in that part of the Book of Leinster, kept in Trinity College, Dublin. He alluded to yEngus' Book of " Pedigrees of Irish Saints," and not to his "Litany." This is to be found in the ' ' Leabhar-Mor Duna Doighre." See Professor O'Curry's "Lectures on the Manuscript Materials of Ancient Irish His- tory," Lect. xviii., n. 47, p. 381.

INTR OD UCTION.

XXV

presided over a particular monastery,?^ with the number of holy disciples under his nile ;99 or to a saint who was buried at some particular church, with his companions, who " slept in the Lord /' '°° or perchance to some apostle, who, with his numerous band of missionaries, went forth to preach the Gospel to benighted nations. ^°^ The names, or native places of many foreigners, who flocked to the hives of learning and sanctity in Ireland, are noted in an especial manner/"^ Here are found invoked the names of Italian, Egyptian? British, and Gallic saints, who had been buried in Ireland. ^°3

It has been incorrectly asserted, that the foregoing work is sometimes called " Saltair-na-rann," which means, the Metrical or Multipartite Psalter. ^°4 Yet, it would appear from Colgan's statement, that the " Saltair-na-rann" was altogether a distinct treatise. '°5 After describing " De Sanctis Hibemiae,"

'-" Some years ag;o, Dr. Todd examined this MS., containing ten folia, which he foimd to have constituted a part of the "Book of Leinster." This fact would seem to iden- tify it with the MS. seen at Louvain, and described by Father Soller, the BoUandist, as we have already stated. In point of an- tiquity, this version dates back to the first half of the twelfth century. These folia contain the Martyrology of Tallaght — to which allusion has been already made — to- gether with five of seven works attributed to ^ngus. Ward and Colgan consulted this MS. ; for their readings seem to have been marked, and these are very useful in assisting the Irish scholar to decipher certain words. However legible in their time, these are nearly altogether defaced at present. In Ward's and O'Sheerin's Acts of St. Rumold, published at Louvain in 1662, this Litany is quoted at great length, p. 206. With the exception of the groups of seven bishops, nearly all the saints, whose intercession is invoked, are given.

99 The 8vo paper MSS., No. 40, 4, in the R.I. A., contains the "Litany of St. yEngus."

'°° At the end of the Litany, in the ten folia, there is some memorandum in Irish.

"" See also Harris' Ware, vol. iii., " Writers of Ireland," book i., chap, v., pp.

52, 53-

"^ There is an incomplete copy of this

Litany in the Leabhar Breac, R.I. A. copy.

^=^3 The portion of this work, known as

the Litany, has been translated and published

for the first time in the " Irish Ecclesiastical

Record," vol. iii. Nos. xxxii. and xxxiii.,

for May and June, 1867. The original Irish

occupies one side of the page, in the Irish

characters ; while on the opposite side, there is a correct English translation, by a competent scholar, writing under the initials B. M. C. Explanatory notes are found at the foot of nearly all those pages. A learned dissertation precedes this Litany, taken from the Archives of St. Isidore's Franciscan Convent, at Rome.

'°^ See Dr. Lanigan's" Ecclesiastical His- tory of Ireland," vol. iii., chap, xx., § x., p. 247. In note 106, p. 251, he remarks on this passage : " Under this title, Colgan says {ib. , p . 582) that it appears in some old Irish MSS., and that he got a part of it, with the inscription, from Saltair-na-rann composed by Aengus Cele-De. He observes that the latest saint mentioned in it is St. Tigeniach, son of St. Mella, and founder of Doire-melle (see chap, xix., sec. 13), who died abbot of Kill-achad, in the now county of Cavan, on the 4th of November, A.D. 805 (806). See A A. SS. p. 796, and Arch- dall at Kilachad. This is a strong proof of the assertion that Aengus was the author of this work." He seems also to have written — at least a great part of it — after the ninth century commenced.

'°5 There is a MS. Martyrology, entitled, " Saltair-na-Rann," preserved in the British Museum [Egerton, 185]. It is a thin, small quarto-sized volume in verse, and with the exception of a few pages, it has been written in the bold and accurate hand of Dubhal- tach Mac Firbisigh, about the year 1650. It consists of sixty-seven pages, containing five quatrains, or twenty lines, on each page. The title is in accordance with the second quatrain, which, as Anglicized, thus begins : "The Saltair of the verses shall be the name

Of my poem : it is not an unwise title."

xxvi INTRODUCTION.

he mentions the " Saltair-na-rann" as having been composed in the Irish language ; and, of course, as being distinct from the first named treatise, which had been written mostly in Latin. '°^ Yet, it must be confessed, that the sentences employed by Colgan in his account are rather ambiguous. ^°7 The work entitled, " De Sanctis Hibemiae,'' does not appear to have been a metrical composition, as may be seen in extracts taken from it, and found in many of Colgan's notes. The " Saltair-na-rann" comprises a History of the Old Testament, ^°^ written in verse,'°3 and which is attributed to ^ngus as its author. We are informed, that the Chronicle of ^ngus Ceile De, known as " Saltair-na-rann," /. e. " Saltair of the Poems" or " Verses," has been so called, because " sailm" means a " psalm.""° It contains one hundred and fifty poems, composed in the finest style of the Gaelic language, as under- stood in the eighth century.'" This work, attributed to ^ngus Ceile De, has been called " Saltair-na-rann,"" and it is distributed into parts."3 Written in the form of prayers, it tends to raise the reader's mind to the love of God, and to the celebration of His praise, for all the Creator's works are referred to His greater glory, and rest upon His power, as their final cause.

This "Saltair-na-Rann," however, is en- tirely distinct from that of Aengus Ceile De.

'°* Dr. Geoffrey Keating attributes to the authorship of St. iEngus a " Saltair-na- Rann." See '* History of Ireland." Pre- face. O'Mahony's edition, p. Ixii.

»o7 " Opus ex jam memoratis opusculis conflatura in quibusdam antiquis patriae membranis patrio sermone intitulatur Sal- tuir-na-rann : quae vol Latine reddita Psal- terium metricum, nunc Psalterium multipar- titum denotat. Et in utroque sensu, diversa S. Aengussii opera recte sic inscribi pote- rant.V — "Acta Sanctorum Hibemiae," xi. MartiL Vita S. Aengussii, cap. xv., pp. 581, 582.

«* The other " Saltair-na-Rann," to which allusion has been made in a preceding note, contains three hundred and twelve quatrains, written in the inferior Gaelic of the sixteenth, if not of a later century. Yet, it is not, strictly speaking, a Gaelic Martyr- o'ogy J for all the Irish saints Professor O'Curry could discover in it were , St. Pat- rick, St. Brigid of Kildare, St. Ciaran of Saighir, and St. Ciaran of Clonmacnois. According to the poet's arrangement, every quatrain commenced with a saint's name, but sometimes there are three or even four quatrains devoted to one day, as the number of festivals happened to fall within it. Every saint, however, has a separate quatrain de-

voted to him. The modem writer, who supplied Mac Firbis's omissions, has ad- mitted some incorrections. See "Lectures on the Manuscript Materials of Ancient Irish History," Lect. xvii., pp. 360, 361, and Appendix, No. cix., p. 609.

'"s Harris says, this work had been written in elegant metre, but he seems to regard it as a distinct work from the " Psaltar-na- Rann."

"" Dr. Jeoffrey Keating adds, that "sal- tair" means a " a psaltery," or a book con- taining many "duans," or "verses." See "History of Ireland." Preface. O'Mahony's edition, p. Ixxi.

'"The VIII. vol. of O'Longan MSS., in the R.I. A., contains Poems of Aengus the Culdee, pp. 52 to 54.

'" This is most probably the work de- scribed by O'Reilly, where he says : " Aen- gus also wrote the ' Psalter-na-rann,' which is an abridged history of the descendants of Abraham, from the birth of Isaac until after the death of Moses The Psal- ter-na-rann is preserved in a large MS., the property of Sir William Betham. It is written in a fine strong hand, and occupies upwards of six folio pages, closely written on the largest size vellum." — "Chronolo- gical Account of nearly Four Hundred Irish Writers," p. liv.

"3 In Harris' Ware, vol. iii., " Writersof Ireland, " book i., chap, v., p. 33, it is said,

INTR OD UCTION.

xxvu

The foregoing reasons are assigned for this work deserving the title of " Sal- tair-na-rann,""< or the " multipartite psalter.""S Colgan adds, both authority testifies and evidence persuades us, that it had been thus inscribed and com- posed by St. -^ngus. The authority assigned is that of an old parchment MS., from which the treatise, " Homonymi," already described, has been ex- tracted. It was sent from Ireland"^ to Colgan. It bore the following title : *' Homonymi Hiberniae Sancti ex Saltair-na-rann, quod composuit .^ngus- sius Keledeus." We are the more induced to believe, that this had been a work of St. ^ngus, since there is no saint found in any portion of it, who had not departed life before his time, or who had not been, at least, his con- temporary."7 For, although our annals relate the death of St. Melditribius in the year 840, yet, it is doubtful, if he be the saint bearing that name, and mentioned in the fortieth chapter of the second tract, as already described."^

There are some Pedigrees of Irish saints yet existing, and these have been generally ascribed to Aengus Ceile De. Several copies of this Treatise are preserved in our ancient MSS. ; but it is doubtful, if any such copies date back in their present, state, to the time of Aengus. In those copies we po ssess, there may be defections or additions, as compared with the original

that some ascribed to Aengus a Psalter-na- Rann, being a miscellany on Irish affairs, in prose and verse, Latin and Irish. ' ' Aengus wrote no such work," says Dr. Lanigan, "and his ovily Psalter, ox Saltair-na-rann, were those above mentioned. Harris got his information either from Toland, or from some one who took it from him." — Dr. Lanigan's " Ecclesiastical History of Ireland," vol. iii., chap, xx., sec. x., n. 107, p. 251.

"* See Colgan's "Acta Sanctorum Hiber- ni?e," xi. Martii. Vita S. Aengussii, cap. XV., p. 582.

"5 The late Professor Eugene O'Curry told me, he had examined a magnificent copy of the " Psalter-na-Rann" at Oxford. At that time, he informed the writer, no perfect copy of it was known to be extant in Ireland.

"*The person who brought this book with him from Ireland was the Very Rev. Father Francis Mathew, at one time guar- dian of the Convent at Louvain, and Francis- can Provincial over the Irish province. He was a man of much erudition, austerity of life, and very zealous in the cause of religion. He presented this work, already mentioned, to Colgan, in the year 1633. By his preach- ing, exhortations, and pious labours, he had

greatly contributed for many years to the advancement and preservation of Ireland's orthodox and persecuted faith. At length, having endured various trials and tortures, with the greatest patience and constancy, this pious sufferer was put to death by the Protestants, A.D. 1642.

"7 This matter had been discovered, by a careful collation of this treatise with our annals and native records. According to these later authentic sources, no saint men- tioned in the work alluded to, is found to have lived after A. D. 800, except St. Tiger- nach, founder of Doire-melle monastery. He is said to have departed A.D. 805, at which time there can be no doubt that iEn- gus was still living,

"^ See Colgan's " Acta Sanctorum Hiber- ni?e," xi. Martii. Vita S. .(Engussii, cap. XV. , p. 582. Colgan observes, that he was induced to treat, at some length, on the valuable works of this venerable saint, that his readers might know what great antiquity and authority attached to the aforesaid Mar- tyrologies and other works, and which he had so frequently taken occasion to quote in his own volumes. It would also appear, Colgan intended to publish the works of St. ^ngus, had his own life been prolonged. Ibid., cap. xiv., p. 581.

xxviii INTR OD UCTION.

composition. The oldest copy known is also the best and most copious,"? and its genuineness has been generally admitted by most of our antiquarians. It is the more valuable, because it almost invariably gives references to the sites of churches, in connection with the holy persons whose pedigrees are found recorded. It often enumerates and traces the lineage of groups of persons or associates, who occupied such churches at one time, and occa- sionally their successors for a few generations. In the form of anno- tations, an immense amount of ecclesiastical and topographical information is conveyed. These historic comments establish with satisfactory exactness a date for the foundation of nearly all our primitive churches. It is an almost invariable rule with the venerable genealogist, to trace the pedigree of each saint to some remarkable personage, whose name and period can be ascertained from our national records . and books of secular genealogy."" This is thought to be the oldest known collection of our national saints' pedigrees in existence. Its exact time of composition cannot be determined ; but, if genuinely attributed, it was probably one of Aengus's latest and most matured literary efforts.

Fothadius, the Canonist, so called from his knowledge of the Church Canons, on which he is said to have written ;"^ Dicul or Dicuil, called the Geographer;"^ Dungal, the Recluse ;"3 Albin,"4 Clement,"5 and Claude;"^ St. Donatus,"7 Bishop of Fiesole, and St. Andrew,"^ his Archdeacon ; all these were Irish writers, whose learning served to render the ninth century somewhat remarkable. St. Boniface, also, first Bishop of Mentz,"9 is said to have been a Scot by birth, and to have been the author of a Life of certain

"9 This is found in the Book of Leinster, the year 520. He was actually bom, as we

which was compiled within the years 1120 know from other sources, in 515."

and 1 1 60. A copy is contained in the Book "'He is said likewise to have written

of Ballymote, composed in 1391 ; and ano- some poetic precepts. See Edward O'Reilly's

ther in the Book of Lecain, written a.d. "Chronological Account of nearly Four

1416. A later still is found in the great Hundred Irish Writers," pp. Iv. Ivi.

Book of Genealogies, compiled by Dudley '"The work attributed to him, "Liber

Mac Firbis, in 1650. de Mensura Orbis Terrae," was first pub-

"° See Professor Eugene O'Curry's " Lee- lished at Paris in 1807 by Walckenaer.

lures on the Manuscript Materials of Ancient Another edition, edited by Letronne, was

Irish History," Lect. xvii., pp. 359, 360. published in 181 1. A more complete edi-

This learned writer adds : " By referring to tion still is that published at Berlin, A.D.

these pedigrees, you may easily find the 1870, and edited by Gust. Parthey.

time at which any of the early saints of "3 See "Irish Folk Lore," by Lagenien-

Erinn flourished. As, for instance, St. Co- sis. Chap, xxx., pp. 253 to 284.

lum Cille is recorded to have been the son '^'' See Henricus Canisius, " Antiqute

of /i'/^//wzd%, son of Fergus, son of Conall, Lectiones,"tomus i., and Polydore Virgil,

sonofNiall, " of the Nine Hostages," mo- "Anglicse Historioe Libri Vigintiseptem,"

narch of Erinn, who was killed in the year lib. v.

405. Now, by allowing the usual average '^^ See his Life at the 20th of March,

of thirty years to each of the four genera- '^^ See Sir James Ware, " De Scriptoribus

tions from Niall to Colum, making 120 Hibernias," lib. i., cap. v., pp. 38 to 41.

years, and adding them to 405, we shall "? See his Life at the 22nd of October,

find that Colum (who is known to have died '-^ See his Life at the 22nd of August,

in the year 592) must have been bom about '^ See his Life at the 5th of June.

INTRODUCTION. xxix

saints.'3o Besides these, Maolmura of Fahan, a poet and historian j^3i St. Patrick, Abbot of Armagh ;'32 ^ngus,'33 who wrote the praises of his more celebrated namesake in elegant verse ;'34 Moengal or Marcellus, Master over the Schools of St. Gall j'35 and St. Buo,'36 Apostle of Iceland, with many others : all are classed among the theological, philosophical and historical writers of this age. '3?

Towards the close of the ninth, and- the commencement of the tenth century, flourished the celebrated and accomplished St. Cormac Mac Cuoil- linan,^38 King of Munster, and Bishop of Cashel. In our Irish annals and records, he has been called the most learned among the Scots. ^39 He was skilled in philology, antiquities, poetry, and history. He is said to have composed a book, " De Genealogia Sanctorum Hiberniae ;" another famous collection of records, in prose and verse, known as the " Psalterium Cassel- ensi," or " Psalter of Cashel ;"'4° as also a book, " Sanas Chormaic," that is, Cormac's Glossary or Etymological Dictionary.^'*' Contemporaneously, and in the tenth century, flourished Selbach, secretary to King Cormac, already mentioned, and like him a man of great piety and learning. He is said to have written a book, with the Latinized title, *' Genealogiai Sanctorum Hibemiae.""*^ This is supposed to be identical with an ancient Genealogical and Metrical Menology in Irish verse, commencing with the words, *' Naoimh Sheanchus Naomh Innsefail," or " Poetical History of the Irish Saints.^'^^a Although Colgan could not pronounce the authors real name with certainty, yet he generally quotes it as the " Menologium Genealo-

'3° According to John of Trittenhem in Ireland," book i., chaps, v. vi. Also Ed-

" Catalogus Scriptoram Ecclesiasticomm, ward O'Reilly's " Chronological Account

sive illustrium Viroruun, cum Appendice of nearly Four Hundred Irish Writers," pp.

coram, qui nostro etiam seculo doctissimi liii. to Ix. claruere," fol. li. b. and Hi. a. '38 See his Life at the 14th of September.

'3' See Dr. Todd's and Hon. Algernon '39 See Colgan's " Acta Sanctorum Hiber- Herbert's edition and translation of " The niae," i. Januarii. Vita S. Fancheae. Sup- Irish version of the Historia Britoram of plementum, sec. ix., p. 5. Nennius," n. (q), p. 222. "k* See O'Mahony's Keating's " History

'32 See his Life at the 24th of August. of Ireland," Preface, pp. Ixi., Ixii., Ixxi.

'33 See further notices of him at the l8th '^' This work, called Zmi.\ ChoT\mAic,

of Febniary. " Cormac's Glossary," translated and anno-

'34 A question may here be raised— and tated by the late John O'Donovan, LL.D.,

one rather difficult to be solved— if some of edited, with Notes and Indices, by Whitley

the tracts attributed to St. yEngus the Culdee Stokes, LL D., was printed at Calcutta, A.D.

may not have been the composition of this 1868, and published as one of the Irish

^ngus. Both were addicted to literary Archjeological and Celtic Society's books, pursuits, both were accomplished poets, "»^ This Colgan states, on the authority of

while the identity of name, of time, and pro- an ancient Irish poem, which he quotes in

bably of place, might easily induce mistakes two lines.

in assigning to each one his respective pro- "t3 It is comprised in twenty-two chap-

ductions. ters. There is a copy of this poem in the

'35 See Goldast, " Rerum Almanicaram Burgundian Library, Brassels, and an excel-

Scriptores," and Eckenhard's " De Casibus lent one in the Book of Lecan, fol. 58, b. a.

Monasterii S. Galli," tomus ii., pars. i. See Drs. Todd's and Reeves' edition of the

'36 See his Life at the 5th of February. " Martyrology of Donegal," Introduction,

'37 See Harris' Ware, vol. iii. " Writers of p. xix.

XXX INTR OD UCTION.

gicum," and attributes it to Sealbhach, or Seluacius,^** as the name is Latin- ized. This writer lived some time after King Cormac's death. Regarding this deplorable event and the monarch's virtues, he is reputed to have penned an admirable description. '4s in this century, likewise, Probus wrote the Life of St. Patrick and flourished j'^e as also the Poets, Corbmacan Eigeas, Finnsneachta O'Cuill, chief Poet of Munster, Cinaeth O'Hartigan, Eochaidh O'Floinn, and Urard Mac Coise were known. The latter, however, seem to have written chiefly on ancient topography and romantic traditions. '47

In the eleventh century lived an anonymous author of the " Calenda- rium Casselense," or " Calendar of Cashel," which Colgan preferred calling it, rather than a Martyrology ; because it seemed a compilation intended to serve as a Calendar for Cashel Church or Diocese — many of the most cele- brated Irish saints, not having been recorded in its pages. It has but a very small number of saints, who have not been found in St. ^Engus's Martyrology ; but these are treated about at greater length in the former than in the latter work. The latest saint, mentioned in the Calendar of Cashel, is St. Gormgal, Abbot of Ard-oilen, who died a.d. 1017. The writer is sup- posed to have flourished about a.d. io3o.''>^ Although this Calendar of Cashel is not known to exist at present ; doubtless, it was accessible to Brother Michael O'Clery. In order of antiquity and importance, for the special illustration of Irish Hagiology, it ranks next to the works of St. Mael- ruain and of St. ^ngus.'+s Besides these writers, we may name Flann of the Monastery, a Poet and Historian ; Dubdalethy, Lecturer of Divinity and afterwards Archbishop at Armagh, said to have written Annals of Ireland,*5o and an account of the Archbishops of Armagh, carried down to his own time; Blessed Marianus Scotus,'5' the Chronicler ;'5' Gilda Coemhain, or Caevan, who wrote Genealogical Sonnets on the Affairs of Ireland; and Erard Mac Coisi, of Clonmacnoise, Chief Chronicler of the Gaels ; all lived in this century. '53 In this age also lived St. Moelisa 0'Brolcain,'54 who

144 Yet this poem, called the Naoimh plementum, sec. iv., p. 5.

Seanchus, has been attributed to St. ^ngus '^9 See Drs. Todd's and Reeves' " Mar-

the Cele De, in the preface to O'Clery's tyrology of Donegal," Introduction, p. xvi.

transcript of Reim Rioghraidhe. See Pro- »5o ggg Sir James Ware, *' De Scriptoribus

fessor O'Curry's "Lectures on the Manu- Hibernise," lib. i., cap. viii., pp. 49, 50.

script Materials of Ancient Irish History," »5' See his Life at the 30th of January.

Lect. viii., p. 163. 'saxhe finest edition of Marianus Scottus'

'« See Colgan's " Acta Sanctorum Hiber- " Chronicon" is that edited by Professor

nias," i, Januarii. Vita S. Fanchese. Sup- George Waitz, and published in "Monu-

plementum, sec. x., p. 5. menta Germanije Historica," under the su-

'4* See Sir James Ware, " De Scriptoribus pervision of Georgius Heinricus Pertz. See

Hibernire," lib. i., cap. vi., p. 49. "Scriptorum," Tomus v., pp. 481 to 568.

'47 See Edward O'Reilly's " Chronolo- '53 See Edward O'Reilly's "Chronological

gical Account of nearly Four Hundred Irish Account of nearly Four Hundred Irish

Writers, ",pp. Ix. to Ixix. Also Harris' Ware, Writers," pp. Ixxii, to Ixxxi. Erard Mac

vol. iii. "Writers of Ireland," book i., Coisi is distinguishable from Urard. Also

chap, vii., pp. 64, 65. Harris' Ware, vol. iii. "Writers of Ireland,"

'4^ See Colgan's "Acta Sanctorum Hiber- book i., chap, viii., pp. 65 to 67.

nise," i. Januarii. Vita S. FancheK. Sup- '54 See his Life at the i6th of Januaiy.

INTR OD UCTION.

XXXI

wrote many works ; while Tigernach O'Braoin, Abbot of Clonmacnoise,^ss an excellent and a judicious antiquary, ^ss collected the Annals of Ireland, which were brought down by him to the very year of his death. 'S7 Various copies of his work are still in existence. 'ss These are generally called in in Latin " Annales Cluanenses," and in English " The Annals of Clonmac- noise."'S9 His Annals have been ably edited by Rev. Charles O'Conor, D.D.^^ The foregoing digest presents only a brief and a very imperfect enumeration of ecclesiastical writers and their works, as serving to illustrate the hagiology and Church history of four consecutive centuries.

Section III. — Irish Hagiologists of the Twelfth, Thirteenth, Fourteenth, Fifteenth, and Sixteenth Centuries.

In the twelfth century, the best known ecclesiastical, biographical, and historical writers were Gilda Modhude O'Cassidy,^ Gille or Gillebert,' Bishop of Limerick and the Pope's Legate in Ireland, Giolla na Naomh 0'Dunn,3 St. Celsus, or Cellach Mac ^d Mac Mcelisa,'' and St. Malachy 0'Morgair,s Archbishop of Armagh, Abbot Congan,^ Concubrann,' Tundal or Tungal,^

•55 At the year 1088, we read, that " Ti- ghemach Ua Braein, chief successor of Ciaran and Coman, died at Imdhaidh Chia- rain ; he was a paragon of learning and history."

'5* He questions the veracity of all the most ancient documents relating to Ireland, while he makes the true historical epoch begin from Cimbaeth, and the founding of the palace of Eamhain Macha, about the eighteenth year of Ptolomy Lagus, before Christ 305. Thus he writes: "Omnia monumenta Scotorum usque Cinbaeth in- certa erant." His quotations from Latin and Greek authors are numerous ; and his balancing their authorities against each other manifests a degree of criticism uncom- mon in that age in which he flourished. He quotes Eusebius, Orosius, Julius Africanus, Bede, Josephus, St. Jerome, and other writers,

'57 See the remarks of Sir James Ware on this subject. " De Scriptoribus Hibemiae," lib. i., cap. vii., pp. 51, 52.

's^See "Catalogue of Irish Manuscripts in the Library at Stowe," p. 192.

'59 See Colgan's " Acta Sanctorum Hiber- nise," i. Januarii. Vita S. Fanchese. Sup- pi ementum, sec. xi., p. 5, and xvi. Januarii. Vita B. Moelisa Brolchani, p. 108.

'*° " It is stated in the Dublin copy of the Annals of Innisfallen, at A.D. 1088, that

this remarkable man was of the tribe of the Sil-Muireadhaigh ; and Dr. O'Conor boasts in a note that he was of the same race as the O'Conors of Connaught, who were the prin- cipal family of the Sil-Muireadhaigh." — Dr. O'Donovan's '* Annals of the Four Masters," vol. ii., pp. 930 to 932, andn. (o). Ibid.

Section in. — ' See Wills' " Lives of Illustrious and Distinguished Irishmen," vol. ii. , part ii. Third Period, p. 249.

^ See Sir James Ware's ' ' De Scriptoribus Hibemiae," lib. i., cap. viii., p. 53.

3 He died on the 17th of December, A.D. 1 160. He was a lector of Inis-Clothran and "a paragon in history and poetry." — Dr. O'Donovan's "Annals of the Four Masters, " vol ii., pp. 1136, 1137.

* See Sir James Ware, ' ' De Scriptoribus Hiberniae," lib. i., cap. viii., p. 53, 54.

5 See the present writer's ' ' Life of St. Malachy O'Morgair, Bishop of Down and Connor, Archbishop of Armagh, Patron of these several Dioceses, and Delegate Apos- tolic of the Holy See for the Kingdom of Ireland." Dublin : 1859. 8vo.

* See Dr. Meredith Hanmer's * * Chronicle of Ireland," pp. 209, 210.

7 See Sir James Ware, " De Scriptoribus Hibemiae," lib. i., cap. viii., p. 57.

* " The Vision of Tundal" was very cele-- brated, and several MS. copies of it are yet

INTRODUCTION.

and Eugene, Bishop of Ardmore.5 But the Martyrologist, Maolmurry or Marianus O'Gorman, who composed a Martyrology in very original and elegant Irish metre/° about the year 1 167, in the time of Gelasius, Arch- bishop of Armagh, contributed more especially to elucidate Irish hagiology, in this age. In it, Marianus includes, with those of Ireland, the principal saints of other countries." An ancient scholiast declares, that most of the Irish por- tion of this work had been compiled from the Martyrology of Tallagh. For its faithful execution and singular felicity of style, the Martyrology of Marianus was held in deserved estimation. The author was Abbot over Cnoc-na- napstol, or " Hill of the Apostles," now Knock, near Louth. He is said , by Sir James Ware, to have published a supplement to the Martyrology of ^ngus, or ^neas, a.d. 1171." The only copy of Marianus O'Gorman 's Martyrology, known to Dr. Todd, was that preserved among the Burgundian Library MSS. at Bruxelles.'3 Scholia, written in the manner of a gloss, are found in it, and add considerably to its value as historical authority. '"^

In the thirteenth century, Matthew O'Heney, Archbishop of Cashel, author of the Annals of Innisfallen, the author of the Annals of Multifernan, Gelasy or Gillisa Mac Firbissy, a historian and a poet, with the author of an Office of St. Finian, Bishop of Clonard, and Donogh Mor O'Daly, Abbot of

extant. This was written in the third per- son, so that Tundal was probably only its narrator to another writer. It is usually known as " Apparitionum Suarum," lib. i. See Harris' Ware, vol. iii. "Writers of Ireland," book i., pp. 70, 71. It was ge- nerally known in the middle ages, and it probably furnished the Italian poet Dante with hints for some of his most inspired passages and conceptions of plan. There is a copy of this vision, attributed to the close of the thirteenth century, in the Bur- gundian Library at Bruxelles. The MS. is beautifully written on vellum, in eighteen small 8vo sheets. There is no name for the scribe, no illumination, nor trace of Irish characters in it. — " Inventaire," vol. xiii., No. 4531. There is another copy described in vol. xxiv., No. 7960. It occupies, in double columns, 20 vellum folios, written upon both sides, and ascribed to the four- teenth century. There is even a third copy described in vol. ii. , No. 1161. See a fur- ther description, in Mr. Bindon's paper, read May 24th, 1847. " Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy," vol. iii., pp. 478, 479, 486, 499, 500.

9 See Edward O'Reilly's *' Chronological Account of nearly Four Hundred Irish Writers," pp. Ixxxiii. to Ixxxvi. Also Har-

ris' Ware, vol. iii. "Writers of Ireland," book i., chap, ix., pp. 68 to 72.

'° A copy is preserved in the Burgundian Library, Bruxelles, among the MSS., vol. xvii.. No. 5103. In the copy this piece is entitled " Mariani Gormani Sancti de qui- bus dubito, an sint Hibemi an alij, quid non reperiantur in aliis Martyrologiis iis quibus denotantur diebus. " It is in the Irish lan- guage, as well as a testimonial which pre- cedes it, and bearing date August i8th, 1633, signed Fearfeassa O Maoliconaire and Cu- coiccrice O Clerig. This Martyrology is in short metre, and its contains 141 pages.

" " Onecarmot doubt," says Harris, " but that this is the same treatise mentioned by Ware, under the name of a supplement, which Colgan calls a Martyrology, notwith- standing the difference in the dates, which is but small. " See Harris' Ware, vol iii. "Writers of Ireland," book i., chap, ix., p. 71.

" See " De Scriptoribus HiberaiiB," lib. i., cap. viii., p. 56.

'3 From this he procured a transcript, pre- pared by Professor Eugene O'Curry. It is now in Rev. Dr. Reeves' possession.

'^ See Drs. Todd's and Reeves' edition of the Martyrology of Donegal," Introduction, pp. xvii., xviii.

INTRODUCTION.

Boyle, called the Ovid of Ireland, for the rhythmical flow of his dulcet verses,'5 are regarded as the chief hagio graphical and reHgious writers.'^

In the fourteenth century, Malachy Mac ^da, Archbishop of Tuam, Richard Fitz Ralph, Archbishop of Armagh ,"^7 John Clyn, a Franciscan Friar of Kilkenny, and Magraith Mac Gowan,^^ John O'Dugan, chief poet of Hy Many, and Siodruadh O'Cuirnin, a poet of Breifne, were the chief literary men, whose works are very serviceable in the compilation of a na- tional Saint History/9

Augustine Magraidain, an Augustinian canon, lived in a monastery on All Saints' Island, in Lough Ree, and near the western boundary of Longford county. He wrote a book, intituled, " Vitas Sanctorum Hibernise." He also compiled a Chronicle, which other can ons of his monastery had com- menced, and which he then continued down to his o\vn time. From the secluded place in which it had been written, this Chronicle is usually titled, " Annales Insulenses" or " Annals of the Island." Magraiden died on Wednesday, following the Festival of All Saints, and in the year 1405. The original of his Lives of the Irish Saints now seems to be lost ; but under a parchment cover, a paper copy, folio size,^° has been transcribed by Fr. John Golde, a Cork religious of the order of Friars Minor, belonging to the regular observance, and Guardian of the Franciscan Convent at Cashel.^^ The manuscript from which it was compiled — said to be from an authentic transcript of the originaP'^ — was in the careful keeping of a nobleman, the initial letters of whose name, G. F., are only given. The copy made from it is the authority so frequently used and quoted by Colgan,^3 under the title, " Vitas Sanctorum ex Cod. Inisensi,"^^ or '' Insulensis." This is now pre-

'S See Edward O'Reilly's " Chronological plished in A.D. 1627, by command of Rev.

Account of nearly Four Hundred Irish Father Francis Matthew, Minister Provin-

Writers, " pp. Ixxxviii. to xcii. cial over the Irish Province, as attested on

'* See Harris' Ware, vol. iii., " Writers of the last page.

Ireland," book i., chap, x., pp. 72 to 78. ^^ Belonging to Inis na naomh, on Lough

'7 See his Life at the i6th November. Ree.

'^ Sir James Ware is said to have had this =3 He has made some divisions into chap- writer's works in manuscript. Magraith ters, on the margins of this manuscript, and Mac Gowan is the reputed author of works in his own handwriting. in the Irish language, On the Genealogies of ^'* On the cover, this title is inscribed, and the Saints of Ireland, and On the Succession immediately under, "Vide Indicem post of the Kings and Chiefs of Ireland, with Vitam Stse. Athractse, seu folio." Again, some other miscellanies. He is thought to this Index is headed : " Index Sanctorum in have been a member of the community of hoc extracto Codicis Insulse Sanctorum Con- St. Ruadan, at Lurrah, county of Tipperary. tentorum." From this, I infer that the pre- See Harris' Ware, vol iii. '* Writers of Ire- served MS. is not a complete copy of that land," book i., chap, xi., p. 87. " Book of the Island." Under an inverted

'9 See Edward O'Reilly's "Chronologi- but alphabetical order of paging, reference

cal Account of nearly Four Hundred Irish is made in the Index to the several saints'

Writers, " pp. xcvi. to cxi. lives, in Latin. There are thirty-three

^° It contains 304 pages. Acta. The Index fairly enough describes

"' This he diligently and faithfully accom- the contents of this manuscript.

INTR on UCTIO N.

served in the library of the Convent of St. Francis, Merchant's-quay, Dublin. Again, Barrett, Bishop of Ferns, wrote a catalogue of his predecessors in the see of Ferns ; Coll Deoran, a native of Leinster, wrote Annals of Ire- land f^ an Irish monk belonging to the Abbey of St. James, at Ratisbon, in Bavaria, is said to have written about the Saints of Ireland, but in a very credulous fashion ; Tatheus or Thaddeus, Abbot over the Scots, at Ratisbon, also drew up certain fragments,^^ extracted from the chronicles of this foun- dation in 1457. Many other fifteenth century writers are known to have been engaged on various historical works. It is stated, that Malachy O'Lachnayn, a secular priest of Killaloe Diocese, a.d. 1489,^7 transcribed a Missal in Latin.'^^ This contains divers prayers and lessons from Holy Scripture, a Kalendar, the Psalms of David, with many prayers and hymns intermixed. After the Psalms, several hymns, prayers and short sermons, with offices and short Lives of Saints, are written.^9 Besides the foregoing, Charles or Cathal Maguire, a canon of Armagh and Dean of Clogher, about the year 1470, composed a tract on the Irish Saints. This writer only en- larges on the Martyrology of St .^ngus, adding, from Marianus O'Gorman, and from other sources, some Irish Saints not found in the work of ^ngus . His compilation is intituled "vEugussius Auctus," and it is often quoted by Colgan, under such title. Maguire was a pious, patriotic, and > learned man, well versed in antiquarian studies.3° He was a native of Fermanagh, and he died, according to Sir James Ware,3^ on the 23rd of March, a.d. 1498, in the sixtieth year of his age. He drew up a valuable compilation of Irish Annals, which he brought down to his own period. These are frequently called " Annales Senatenses," from a place called Senadh, otherwise, Senat Mac-Magnus, in the county of Fermanagh, where they had been composed. Most modern writers, however, usually describe them as " Annales Ulton- ienses," or the " Annals of Ulster," because their contents chiefly relate to the northern province of Ireland.3'

The best known hagiographical and annalistic writers the sixteenth cen- tury produced were Nicholas Maguire, Bishop of Leighlin,33 Thomas Fitch, a canon of Christ's Church Cathedral, Dublin, Magnus or Manus Fitz-

^5 See Sir James Ware, " De Scriptoribus " Writers of Ireland," book i., chap, xii.,

Hibemiae," lib, i., cap. xi., p. 75, pp. 89, 90.

=* These are contained in Canisius, "An- ^o Scholia or Annotations on the"Re-

tiquteLectiones." gistry of Clogher" are also ascribed to him.

»7 Such a date, with the author's name and See Harris' Ware, " Writers of Ireland,"

title, written by himself, is in the beginning vol.iii., booki., chap, xii., p. 90.

of this codex. ^i See "De Scriptoribus Hiberni*," lib.

'* This 4to manuscript is written in a fine i-j cap. xi., p. 77.

Gothic character on vellum. It is likewise ^^ See Colgan's "Acta Sanctorum Hiber-

illuminated. niae," i. Januarii. Vita S. Fancheae, Sup«

""* Harris says it was classed A. 4. 8. in plementum, §§ v., xii., pp. 5, 6.

Trinity College Library, where it is pre- ^3 See Harris' Ware, vol. i. "Bishops of

served. See Harris' Ware,| vol. iii. Leighlin," p. 460.

INTRODUCTION. xxxv

Hugh O'Donnell, Prince of Tyrconnell,3'> who wrote an Irish Life of St. Columkille, Patrick Culin, Bishop of Clogher,3s and Roderick O'Cassidy, Archdeacon of Clogher, John Bale,3^ Richard Creagh, Archbishop of Ar- magh, Richard Stanihurst, Thady DowHng, Chancellor of Leighlin, John Alan or Allen, Archbishop of Dublin,37 and Dr. Meredith Hanmer.s^ He is said to have written an " Ephemeris of the Irish Saints."39 Various col- lections of Irish Saints' Lives of this or of an antecedent period were then in the possession of Irish families.'^"

We next approach an epoch when enlightened learning and criticism first began to dissolve those mists, which had so long obscured the Legends, re- lating to our former religious life.

Section IV. — Irish Hagiologists of the Seventeenth Century.

It was principally during the seventeenth centur)', that the best efforts were made to give a systematic and permanent commemoration to the Acts and Festivals of Irish Saints. Early in this century, the Most Rev. Peter Lombard, Archbishop of Armagh, composed a work, which is intituled, " De Regno Hibernige, Sanctorum Insulse, Commentarius." In it, allusion is made to the national saints, distinguished in our Island, or as missionaries in many other countries on the Continent of Europe. This was first printed and published at Louvain, a.d. 1632,' some few years after his death. The Catalogue of holy Irishmen, and an enumeration of their respective missionary labours, are well worth the Irish hagiographist's study, because this narrative, in point of issue, takes precedence of many seventeenth century Catholic works, that have seen the light on similar subjects. Those chapters, treating on the saints, have been consulted with great advantage for this special theme. About the commencement of this century, the celebrated Scottish writer,

*♦ See Colgan's " Trias Thaumaturga," as we find by referring to Michael O'Clery's

Quinta Vita S. Columbas, pp. 389 to 453. manuscript. See vol. iv., No. 2324-2340,

35 See Harris' Ware, vol. i,, "Bishops of fol. 12, of the Burgundian Library Cata-

Clogher," p. 187. logue at Bruxelles. In this same codex w^e

3^ See Wills' *' Lives of Illustrious and find noticed " Scriptores Antiqui Hib.,"

Distinguished Irishmen," vol. ii., part i., Ec- fol. loi. clesiastical Series, Period iii., pp. 218, 219. Section iv. — 'A second and a much more

37 See Harris' Ware, vol. i. * ' Archbishops accurate edition has appeared at Dublin,

of Dublin," pp. 34610348. A.D. 1868, edited by the Very Rev. Mon-

3* See Harris' Ware, vol., iii. "Writers signor Patrick F. Moran, D.D., since con -

of Ireland," book i., chap, xiii., pp. 91 to secrated Bishop of Ossory. An interesting

100. Also, book ii., chap, v., pp. 32410 Memoir of the Author is found prefixed.

328. Before its publication, the first edition had

39 See " The Irish Ecclesiastical Record," been often quoted throughout this work ;

vol. viii., p. 560. but, as being a far more valuable one, the

*° Among others, a gentleman, named second edition is that to which reference is

Simon Barnwell, had "Vitse Sanctorum," most generally made.

C

XKXvi INTRODUCTION.

Thomas Dempster, a zealous but a very unscrupulous and intemperate patriot, wrote several books, relating to Scottish history, especially referring to its ecclesiastical, hagiographical and literary aspects. He contrived, in very many instances, to extol the fame of Scotland,^ while depreciating that of Ireland. 3 David Camerarius, a Scotch priest, was a contemporary, and engaged in the like pursuits. ■♦ This naturally raised a host of literary Irish- men and controvertists, anxious to vindicate their country's fair claims to the honour of having given birth to many holy and very distinguished men. Among those champions were John Wadding, a secular priest of Wexford, who wrote " Historia Ecclesiastica Hibemise,"s D. G., the anonymous author of " Brigida Thaumaturga,"^ and Donatus Roirk,7 who published at Rouen a tract, intituled, " Hibernia Resurgens, sive Refrigerium antidotale adversus Morsum Serj)entis antiqui."^ These latter anonymous works are attributed to David Roth, Bishop of Ossory. This learned man was bom in Kilkenny A.D. 1572, became an alumnus of Douay and Salamanca, was ordained priest, and returned to Ireland in 16 10.9 Afterwards, he was promoted to the see of Ossory, and took an active part in the civil and ecclesiastical affairs of the Confederation. Besides the works to which allusion has been made, he wrote others ; and especially one on the history of the Irish saints inti- tuled, " Hierographige Sacrae Insulas Hibernise Lineamenta adumbrata (sine arrhabo) et praegustus Tripartitae Descriptionis Ecclesiae Regni et Gentis Hibernorum, ex variis Scriptoribus, tam veteribus, quam neoteris delibatus. Industria et studio Analectae et Anagnestse Catholici H. . . collectore et dygestore Philadelpho cui adjuncta est in antecessum largioris defensionis decertatio apolegetica adversus Conaeum,^" Camerarium," Dempsterum, de

' He especially took advantage of the Svo. At the end he gives a small tract, in-

tcrms, Scotia and Scoticus, as applied by tituled, " Prsecidaneum Nomenclaturre

ancient writers to Ireland and to individual Dempsteri."

Irishmen. ^ This is supposed to have been a name,

3 The versatile and learned Father Bona- assumed by David Roth, Bishop of Ossory.

venture Baron has penned a Latin Epigram See Ussher's " Primordia," p. 737. Dr.

on Dempster, in reference to his erratic Kelly's " Cambrensis Eversus," voL ii.,

flights. See " Opuscula, Prosa et Metra." chap, xiv., pp. 230, 231.

Argumento etiam Varia. Tomus i., lib. ii., 8 jt bears on the imprint, Rothomagi, A.D.

p. 27. 1 62 1. It appeared in Svo shape. See

* All that Camerarius has about the Scot- Watt's "Bibliotheca Britannica," vol. ii.,

tish Saints is comprised in his work, " De p. 813.

Statu hominis veteris simul ac Novae Eccle- 9 See an interesting account of this pre-

siae, et Sanctis Regni Scotiae," lib. i., cap. late, in Rev. C. P. Meehan's "Rise and

iii., § 2, pp. 116 to 263, following the order p"all of the Irish Franciscan Monasteries,

of days and months, as these occur in the and Memoirs of the Irish Hierarchy in the

Calendar. Seventeenth Century," chap, vi., pp. 1 76 to

5 Lynch is thought to have been in pos- 157^ and Appendix, pp. 347 to 356.

session of this Manuscript, from which he "Coneus was an Itahan theologian, sent

quotes. See "Cambrensis Eversus,'' vol. by Pope Urban VIII. to the court of Hen-

ii., cap. xiv., pp. 230 to 232. Dr. Kelly's rietta Maria, Queen of England,

edition. " This Scotsman's work was published in

*This was printed at Paris, A.D. 1620, in Catalonia, Spain

INTRODUCTION. xxxvii

ejusdem sacrse insulse originibus."" This learned Bishop of Ossory was most zealous in promoting the knowledge of Irish ecclesiastical history and hagiology, during that stormy period in which he lived. His death occurred on the 2oth of April, a.d. 1650, soon after the city of Kilkenny surrendered to Oliver Cromwell. '3

Some anonymous author,'^ under the letters G. F.,^s wrote a work, having for its title, " Hibernise sive Antiquioris Scotise Vindiciae adversus Immodes- tam Parechasim Thomse Dempsteri, modern! Scoti, nuper editam ; quibus accessit Nomenclatura Sanctorum Prsecipuorum Hibernise, per Hen. Fitz- Simons, Soc. Jesu."'^ Previous to this time, Father Henry Fitz-Simons, a celebrated Irish Jesuit, ^^ had compiled " Catalogus Aliquorum Sanctorum Hibernise." The first edition of this Catalogue was printed at Douai, a.d. 1 61 5. It appears to have been enlarged from a list of Irish saints, compiled by another Irish Jesuit, Father Richard Flaminius, or Fleming, who lived in Paris. A second edition appeared at Liege, a.d. 1619.'^ This work had been republished, likewise, at Antwerp, a.d. 1621.^9 This interesting Calendar has been re-issued — at least in part — by Philip O'SulleyaiLBeare.'" It has been inferred, by a late learned editor of his work,^' that O'SuUevan, who was composing the first part of his history in l6.i8, had not then seen the first edition of Fitz-Simon's Catalogue.^^ From the manner in which O'Sullevan alludes to it, this, indeed, is extremely probable. Father Henry Fitz-Simon has disposed the names. Latinized, and in an alphabetical form, while he quotes also those authors, who treat concerning the holy persons so distinguished. Lest the record so prepared might perish, and no previous and similar list pubhshed before that time being considered more complete, O'Sullevan resolved to include, with numeration at each alpha- betical entry, those names, in his History.^3 Besides this list, he inserts

" Some fragments of this work have been of this remarkable man will be found in the

recovered by the Rev. James Graves, A. B., "Irish Ecclesiastical Record," vol. viii,,

M. R.I. A. Nos. Ixxxix., xc, xci., xcii., xciii., xcv., xcvi.,

'3 It is said, he left in manuscript an and vol. ix., Nos. xcvii., xcviii., c, cii., cv.

"Ecclesiastical History of Ireland," and See likewise Rev. George Oliver's " CoUec-

other writings, which are probably lost. See tions towards illustrating the Biography of

Thomas D'Arcy M'Gee's " Gallery of Irish the Scotch, English, and Irish Jesuits," pp.

Writers," pp. 112 to 118. 227, 228.

'■* Who styles himself " Veredicus Hiber- '^ In 8vo, p. 117. See likewise "Acta

iius." Sanctorum Augusti," tomus i., iv. Augusti,

'5 Most likely this is the nobleman G. F., Vita S. Luani seu Moluse.

whose initials only are given, and who is '9 In 8vo shape. See Watt's " Biblio-

said to have possessed the original copy of theca Britannica," vol., i., p. 370, f. g.

" Vitffi Sanctorum" belonging to the Island '"' See " Historise Catholicse Ibernise

of All Saints, on Lough Ree. Compendium," tomus i., lib. iv., cap. xii.,

'*This book appeared at Antwerp, a.d, pp. 51 to 58.

1621, in 8vo. " Very Rev. Matthew Kelly, D.D.

'7 He was born at Dublin in 1569, and he ^"^ See ibid., p. 57, n.

died in 1644. See " Bibliotheca Scripto- ^3 The numbers represent 289 distinct

rum Societatis lesu, opus inchoatum a R. saints, connected with Ireland, and a great

P. Petro Ribadenira," &c. A Nathanaele many of these were venerated on the Conti-

Sotvello, p. 224. An interesting biography nent.

xxxviii INTRODUCTION.

another catalogue of our national saints.^* Their festivals were arranged, according to the order of months and days, yet hardly were they drawn together with sufficient elaborateness and care.^s Seldom more than the simple name of each saint is given. In addition, O'Sullevan presents another list, collected by Conveus,^^ from the works of approved authors.'^ This was especially extracted from a small book, treating on the hagiology and literary proficiency of the Irish. Only a few saints' names are included, in this list, with some brief notices referring to them. In some of the previous chapters, likewise, O'Sullevan Beare commemorates holy prelates, doctors, and saints belonging to Ireland."^ In the course of this present work, frequent references will be found, at the various festivals assigned to each saint thus recorded. Yet, there can be no doubt, that mistakes and typo- graphical errors abound in those Catalogues ; while some holy persons are noted as Irish, without any satisfactory authentication of their nationality. In the year 1629, O'Sullevan pubHshed his Life of our Irish Apostle, inti- tuled, " Decas Patriciana," or " St. Patrick's Decade." It was so called, because this work had been divided into Ten Books, while each Book con- tained Ten Chapters. The first eight Books are devoted to the Acts of the great Irish Apostle. They are generally in accord with the longer lives, afterwards published by the BoUandists and by Colgan. The ninth book treats on the history of St. Patrick's Purgatory ; while the tenth book contains much miscellaneous matter on Irish history, and especially on that period subsequent to the Reformation, together with his singular treatise, intended as a reply to Ussher, and intituled, " Archicomigeromastix."*? This work was the first in a series of Irish Saints' Lives he designed publishing ;3® for he had completed the Acts of St. Kyran of Saiger, of St. Abban, of St. Ailbe, of St. Declan, and of St. Mochudda. Excepting the Latin translation of an Irish Life of St. Mochua, which he gave to Father John Boland, no other national saint's biography issued, nor had Colgan been able to ascer- tain where his manuscripts were deposited. 3^

The interest awakened on the Continent of Europe, by the peculiar reli- gious and political state of Ireland, and the circumstance, that the works of

**The author's name was unknown to iv., cap. i. toxiv., pp. 93 to 112.

him. *9 This title has been translated "Scourge

'SOver 220 distinct entries of saints, pre- of the Arch-horned."

sumably Irish, are here inserted. 30 There is an interesting Life of Philip

"^^ Father Ricardus Convoeus was a Jesuit. O'Sullevan Beare, written by the Rev. Mat-

^7 It is headed : "Catalogus Quorundam thew Kelly, prefixed to the edition of his

Sanctorum, Virorumque illustrium Iberno- History. See, likewise, Thomas D. M 'Gee's

rum, alias Scotorum, seu Irlandorum, qui " Gallery of Irish Writers," pp. 24 to 33.

varias mundi plagas disseminandse aut con- 3' gee the Preface, written by the Rev.

servandae fidei, sacrarumque literarum desi- Matthew Kelly, D.D., and prefixed to the

derio incensi peragrarunt aut speciali bene- second edition of the "Historic Catholicac

ficio patroni habentur, ommissis innumeris Iberniae Compendium," supervised by him,

qui domi floruerunt." and published at Dublin, A. D. 1850, in 8vo.

''See " Historise CatholicaB Ibemiae Com- The first edition of this work appeared in

pendium,"tomusi., lib., i., cap. ii., p. 6, lib. l62j.

INTRODUCTION.

XXXlX

Giraldus Cambrensis,32 since the invention of printing, had been extensively circulated and read, caused some learned and patriotic Irishmen to refute the calumnies of that accomplished and effective, but vain and prejudiced writer. One of the first to enter the lists was Father Stephen White, a learned Jesuit. He wrote some very exhaustive and valuable treatises.33 One of these is entided, " Apologia pro Hibernia adversus Cambri Calum- nias : sive fabularum et famosorura Libellorum Silvestri Giraldi Cambrensis, sub vocabulis Topographise, sive de Mirabilibus Hiberniae, et Historia Vati- cinalis, sive Expugnationis ejusdem Insulae Refutatio." This tract, preserved in the Burgundian Library, at Brussels, had long lain in MS., until it was published and edited with various additions, by the Very Rev. Matthew Kelly, D.D.3+ The original treatise had been composed very early in the seventeenth century, and probably before the year 1615. With great honesty and research, but with a tone of controversial acerbity, the patriotic writer, White, proceeds to refute various errors and misrepresentations of Giraldus.35 His work is rather diffuse, however, and it abounds with unnecessary repe- titions. In this particular treatise, 3^ the sanctity and learning, for which Ireland had been famous during ages long past, have been ably vindicated, while the names and acts of various holy persons are instanced, for proof of several propositions advanced by the author. He states, also, that while

3» Especially in relation to Irish History and Topography.

33 In the Burgundian Library, at Bruxelles, there is a very large folio paper MS ., classed as vol. xxi., and containing Nos. 7658, 7659, 7660, 7661. This is bound in vel- lum, and from the class-mark, it would seem originally to have belonged to a Jesuit Li- brary. The title or heading occupies half the first page, and has the following note written across it, in an old hand differing from the text : " Authore N. P. Stephano Vito, soc'^. Jesu Hiberno, Clonmeliensi. " The title is as follows : " Vindiciae Scoto- rum veterum. Sanctorum indigenarum Iber- niae oceani magnae Insulae, quas olim ab immemorabili tempore, passim per Europam usque ad annum Christi saltem 1000 audie- bat Scotia, deinde vero per 200 et amplius annos dicebatur Scotia major sive vetus, ad discrimen Scotiae primoris et novae, quae ante per plurima secula audiebat Patria Pic- torum Britanniffi. In tres libros distributse, adversus graves crebrosque errores novorum de rebus Scoticis historicorum Hectoris Boetii, Georgii Buccanani, Georgij Tomsoni, Roberti Turneri, sub nomine Joannis Leslei, et asseclarum ipsorum qui Ibernorum natio- nem et patriam prisco nomine proprio chris- tianorum Scotorum et Scotiae, una cum in-

genti numero Sanctorum Ibemiae Scotorum veterum immerito privant et transformant in Neoscotos Britanniae Insulae posteros, priscae Pictorum ac Dalreudinorum Gentis candido Lectori memorabilium antiquitatum amanti. S." This first part contains a Pre- face, with the censurae of various ancient authors, and afterwards a table of contents, divided into eleven chapters. The body of the tract commences at p. 14, and it is con- tinued in 202 folios, written on both sides. Then a different character of hand appears, which cbntinues to p. 309, written very closely and on both sides.

3* Some notices of the author are prefixed, by the learned editor. See the Dublin edi- tion, A.D. 1849.

33 Dr. Todd called the attention of Mr. Bindon to a manuscript fragment in the Latin language, forming part of the Ussher Collection, in the Library of Trinity College, Dublin, classed E. 3. 19. Upon inspection, it was discovered, it is a part of this work of Stephen White, which is above de- scribed.

3* It is the only one of the author, as yet published. Another Tract, " De Sanctis et Antiquitate Hibemiaj," had been thought worthy of publication ; yet, it appears never to have seen the light.

xl INTRODUCTION.

compiling this work,37 he consulted, in addition to various published books, very mxny ancient manuscripts.38 Much use has been made of this learned tract, as must appear from subsequent pages of the present work. 39 Father Stephen White''" was a friend of Archbishop Ussher. The contents of the Bruxeiles MS., or of the part, fastened within the binding, amount in all to about 1,000 closely written pages. It was evidently a copy, made perhaps for the author, by four, or, at all events, by three different scribes. As for its contents, as a valuable historical document, information appears to have been drawn from many and high authorities. The immense amount of learning with which the author was gifted, and the facility of arrangement with which he has used it, are apparent.

Later still was written the celebrated, " Cambrensis Eversus, seu potius Historica Fides in Rebus Hibernicis Giraldo Cambrensi abrogata," and it was published a.d. 1662,4' by its author. Dr. John Lynch, under the anony- mous designation of Gratianus Lucius. Altogether abstracting from its im- portance, as a work of refutation, it embraces a great variety of well-digested and accurate information in reference to Irish History. The labours of various eminent ecclesiastics, his countrymen, had already supplied the author with materials to render the hagiographical portion of his work espe- cially valuable. This, however, was not the only service he rendered to Irish historical and biographical literature. 4*

One of the first efforts, to invest with the immortality of print, a separate collection of Offices and Acts of the Irish Saints, was attempted by Thomas Messingham, a secular priest of Leinster, and who was Moderator of the Irish College in Paris. There a.d. 1620, he published " Officia S.S. Patricii, Columbae, Brigidae et aliorum quorundam Hibernias Sanctorum." This was followed in 1624, by his " Florilegium Insulge Sanctorum, seu Vitse et Acta Sanctorum Hibernige, quibus accesserunt non vulgaria monumenta, hoc est Sancti Patricii Purgatorium, S. Malachise Prophetiae de Summis Pontificibus,

37 Pi-obably at Dilengen. Lynch's "Cambrensis Eversus," vol. i.,

38 The Rev. Dr. Oliver, in his "Collec- cap. i., p. 94, Dr. Kelly's edition.

tions towards illustrating the Biography of 4' The original edition appeared in folio size,

the Scotch, English, and Irish Members of and the place where it was printed is not stated,

the Society of Jesus, "has alluded with com- At the instance of the Celtic Society was

mendation to this Irish Father and his issued a new and greatly improved edition,

works. See No. cclxxxvii., p. 250. with Introduction — a Life included — trans-

39 At the end of this MS. volume will be lation into English, and notes explanatory, found a detached folio tract, entitled, upon prepared by the Rev. Matthew Kelly, D.D. the cover, "Apologia pro Sanctis Scotiae, It appeared in three 8vo volumes, at Dublin, sed Infirma videtursaltem si conferatur cum from the years 1848 to 1852.

Vindiciis P. Step. Viti, pro Scotia antiqua *=In 1669, he published at St. Malo, Seu Hibernia." This tract, unpublished, " Pii Antistitis Icon ; sive de Vita et Morte formed part of a Jesuit collection. It con- Reverendissimi Francisci Kiroveni, Alla- tains twenty folios written upon both sides. densis Episcopi." This work has been re- It has a few leaves of detached Irish MSS. published at Dublin, 1848, in small quarto upon 4to paper. size, with a translation and notes by Rev. ^ This learned man is greatly extolled in C. P. Meehan.

INTRODUCTION. xli

aliaque nonnulla quorum elenchus post Prsefatione habetur." Omnia nunc primuni partini ex MS. codicibus, partim typis editis collegit et publicabat Thomas Messinghamus, Sacerdos Hibernus, S. R. E. Protonotarius, nee non Seminarii Hibernorum Parisiis Moderator. ^^ On the whole, this work is de- ficiently edited, and defective on the score of historical or topographical notes and criticism. However, some valuable disquisitions and observations are dispersed throughout, while some important acta have been included.

Early in this century, the Rev. Dr. Jeoffry Keating wrote his popular "His- tory of the Kingdom of Ireland,"t'^ in our national language. A folio paper MS. of this work, and thought to be the original, is yet extant. ■♦s It formerly be- longed to the Franciscan Convent at Donegal.*^ It comprises 84 leaves, numbered, and representing double that number of closely-written pages.47 It has been annotated throughout by Colgan. Two pages in his handwriting are prefixed, and these contain the names of authors cited in this History. Besides, there is another folio paper copy of Keating's History, preserved in the Library of the Convent of St. Francis, Merchants'-quay, Dublin. It is very legibly written in the Irish language and character. 4^ A great number of manuscript copies of the History were multiplied by Irish scribes, and are yet preserved, in various places, before this work had been published, with its English translations. Although much condemned by incompetent critics, and having some apocryphal statements introduced, yet Keating's is a volume of exceeeding great value for the student of Irish History. 49

But the illustrious martyr, Christopher Fleming, and the never-to-be-for- gotten Father Luke Wadding, so renowned as a pious, patriotic, and learned Irishman, were the first great promoters of that noble spirit, which served in the seventeenth century to perpetuate the early hagiographical fame of Ireland. Fleming was descended from the lords of Slane,^^ and he was born on the 17th of April, 1599, at a place called Bel-atha-Lagain, in the

*3 In this work are included two pieces under vellum covers,

from the pen of David Roth, afterwards *^ It is comprised in 373 pages, under calf

Bisiiop of Ossory, viz., "De Nominibus binding. From an entry, we find, that it

Hiberiiiae Tractatus," and " Elucidatioaes belonged to a Dr. James Duffy, of the dio-

in Vitam S. Patricii a Jocelino Scriptam." cese of Limerick, and of the College of

** In the Irish, it is styled, " Foras Feasa Sorbonne, a.d. 1652. From another entry,

•irEirinn." we learn, that it was placed in St. Isidore's

45 Father Peter Mac Cormack, Guardian Lil)rary, Rome, by Father Murphy, Guar-

of St. Isidore's Convent, Rome, in the last dian, i6th July, A.D. 1739.

century, says, this MS. has been traced by ^9 ^ considerable number of editions, in

Dr. Jeolfry Keatmg, propria in.inu. Coin- Irish, and translated into English, have been

ciding with this opinion is one of the late issued during the last and the present cen-

Dr. James Henthorn Todd, expressed to the tury. One of the most valuable, probably,

Franciscan Fathers, at Roma, in 1862. is O'Mahony's translation, published at

4* It was afterwards sent to St. Anthony's New York, A.D. 1866. See the Life of Dr.

Franciscan Convent, Louvain, thence to St. Jeoffry Keating in Thomas D'Arcy M 'Gee's

Isidore's, Rome, and in 1872, it was trans- "Gallery of Iris li Writers," pp. 34 to 43.

ferrei to the Coavent of St. Francis, Mer- ^° His genealogical pedigree will be found

chants'-quay, Dublin. in the " Ulster Journal of Archjeology,"

4' The paper is of a faded colour, and vol. ii., p. 254.

xlii INTRODUCTION.

parish of Cluain-Caoin, in the county of Louth. s' He was a subject of Armagh diocese. Owing to early pious sentiments, his parents were induced to favour dispositions, which led him to embrace a religious life. At the age of thirteen, he was sent over to the Continent. His maternal uncle, Christo- pher Cusack, presided over the Colleges of Douay, Tournay and other semi- naries, founded in those parts for the Catholic education of Irish students. Having studied humanity at Douay, Fleming afterwards entered the Fran- ciscan College of St. Anthony of Padua, at Louvain.s^ In 1616, the first stone of this celebrated house was laid by Prince Albert and Isabella. 53 On the 17th of March, 161 7, he took the probationary habit of St. Francis, from Father Anthony Hickey,54 then superior over that college. On the same day, in the following year, Fleming was solemnly received into the order of St. Francis. At the same time, he relinquished the baptismal name of Chris- topher, to assume in religion that of Ireland's patron saint. He continued his Philosophical and Theological studies until the year 1623. Then, in com- pany with Hugh Mac Caghwell, Definitor General of the Franciscan order, he removed to Rome. Taking Paris on the way, he formed a close friend- ship with Father Hugh Ward. The latter was urged by him to collect and prepare for publication materials for the Lives of our Irish Saints. To Fleming, therefore, is due the first enlightened idea of starting an undertaking, which afterwards was continued by Ward and Colgan. During Fleming's travels through Italy, and while he continued at Rome, he was diligently employed in collecting all the Lives of Irish Saints to be found in Manu- scripts. By earnest and pressing letters, he urged on Father Ward the duty of prosecuting this work. After some time. Father Fleming joined him in Louvain, and there for some years he taught Philosophy and Theology. In 1630, he was appointed Superior of the Franciscans at Prague, in Bohemia. In different libraries of France, Italy and Germany, Fleming found a great variety of Irish Saints' Acts, and their writings. He had actually prepared for the press materials for a volume, which had been left in the hands of

5' The ruins of his family mansion are still bishop of Tuam, Philip III., King of Spain, pointed out close by Lagan Bridge. See founded this College for the Irish Francis- " The Irish Ecclesiastical Record," vol. vii., cans. See Very Rev. Laurence F. Rene- February, 1871, p. 193. A very interesting han's " Collections' of Irish Church His- Memoir follows. tory," edited by Very Rev. Daniel M'Carthy,

5* In the month of July, 1863, the writer D.D., vol. i., p. 398.

had an opportunity for inspecting this vene- ^ See some notices of him in Father Luke

rable house — now used by a Belgian educa- Wadding's " Scriptores Ordinis Minorum,

tional religious community. It is situated Quibus accessit Syllabus Illorum, qui ex

on the great square of Louvain, not far from eodem ordine pro Fide Christi fortiter oc-

the magnificent church of St. Peter. The cubuerunt," pp. 33, 34. In the Franciscan

College was founded A. d. 1607. See the Archives, Dublin, there is a letter from him

Bull of foundation in the Appendix to the to Father John Colgan, in reference to mate-

" Fourth Report of the Commission of His- rials for Irish Saints' Lives. It is in a very

torical Manuscripts," by J. T. Gilbert. damaged state, and very difficult to be

S3 At the solicitation of the Franciscan read ; however, as an autograph, it pos-

Father, Florence Conry, afterwards Arch- sesses great interest.

INTRODUCTION.

xliii

Moret, a printer at Antwerp. In this he intended to comprise St. Colum- ban's acts and works, with those of some other Irish saints, appending notes and essays.55 Before it could be published, however, or before its editor could arrange and mature other works on his country's sacred Antiquities,5° the devoted Franciscan was called away from this world to enjoy com- panionship with the saints.s7 His life terminated with the holy crown of martyrdom.

A civil war raged in Germany, and Lutheranism, sustained by the vic- torious arms of the Swedes and Saxons, brought a cruel persecution on Catholics, and especially on religious, at that time Father Fleming had re- moved to Prague. This city was threatened with an assault, after the battle of Leipsic.5^ In order to consult for their safety, nobles, citizens and clergy prepared to seek shelter in places more secure. Having made all necessary arrangements for flight, and having given the directions required, in case he should not survive, Father Patrick Taafe, and Brother Francis Magennisss — not then advanced to orders — had been directed to proceed towards Benes- chau village, about twenty-four miles S.S.E. of Prague. Their venerable Su- perior, Fleming, accompanied by a Deacon, Brother Matthew Hoar, set out for the same destination, on the day following ; but on approaching Benes-

55 This work did not appear until A.D. 1667, under the editorship of Father Thomas O'Sheerin. It bore the title : " R. P. F. Patricii Fleming! Hiberni Ordinis Fratrum Minorum Strictioris Observantias, olim Sa- crse Theologiffi Lectoris Collectanea Sacra, seu S. Columbani Hiberni Abbatis, Magni Monachorum Patriarchse, Monasteriorum Luxoviense in Gallia, et Bobiensis in Italia, aliorumque Fundatoris et Patroni, necnon aliorum aliquot a Veteri itidem Scotia seu Hibernia antiquorum Sanctorum Acta et Opuscula, nusquam antehuc edita, partim ab ipso brevibus notis, partem fusioribus commentariis, ac speciali de Monastica S. Columbani institutione Tractatis illustrata ; in quibus de ejusdem Sancti patria, doctrina, monachatu, Magistris, CoUegis, setate, pere- grinatione, monasteriorum ab ipso ejusque discipulis conditorum origine et progressu ; Hibemorum quoque ac Britonum differentia olim a Romanis in Paschae celebratione multa curiosa et nova, per V. A. P. F. Tho- mam Sirinum in Lovaniensi Collegio S. An- tonii de Padua ejusdem Ordinis et Provintiaa Hibemiae S. Thae. Lectorem Jubilatum re- cens castigata et aucta." This work was published at Louvain, in small folio size.

5* Father Francis Matthews, Minister Pro- vincial of the Irish Franciscan Province,

and who was mart3Ted in the year 1644, also gave help to Father Fleming in writing the Lives of the Saints.

57 In the year 1626, he had published, "Vita Reverendi Patris Hugonis Cavelli" (Mac Caghwell). He also abridged a book intituled, " Chronicon Consecrati Petri Ra- tisbonae. "

5^ See Feller's " Dictionnaire Historique," tome vii., art. Fleming (Patrice), p. 113. Paris edition, 1828, 8vo.

59 Afterwards he became Guardian, Vicar, Superior, and Instructor of Novices in the Irish College at Prague. He wrote a small tract, under the following title : '* Historia Martyrii Venerabilis Patris Fratris Patricii Fleming!, Ordinis Fratrum Minorum Stric- tioris Observantiaj Provincise Hibernife Sa- crae Theologis Lectoris, et CoUegii Imma- culatae Conceptionis Bmas Dei genetricis, Fratrum Minorum ejusdem Instituti et Pro- vinciffi Pragse primae Praesidis, ejusque Socii Fratris Matthsei Hoar, Diaconi." This tract was preserved among the College Ar- chives at Prague. In 1665, it was fitted for the press by Anthony Donnelly, and t\^u years later O'Sheerin prefixed it to the "Collectanea Sacra." See Harris' Ware, vol. iii. "Writers of Ireland," book i., chap. xiv., p. 113.

xllv INTR OD UCTION.

Ciiau,^° seven rustics armed with clubs rushed suddenly upon the religious, both of whom fell dead beneath their blows. This barbarous murder was perpetrated on the 7th of November, 1631.^' It was remarked, that although the atmosphere had been clear and bright before this butchery occurred, at the very moment this outrage was perpetrated, and afterwards to the ninth hour, dense clouds obscured the air, as if in mourning for such a foul deed. So came the end of venerable Father Fleming, renowned for his virtues and learning, but especially distinguished for great zeal in promoting the venera- tion of saints belonging to his native country. He died in the repute of sanctity. Those, who had an opportunity for viewing the body, after his tragic and most holy death, affirmed, that it possessed an almost miraculous beauty and freshness. It appeared, even for an unusual length of time, to have been preserved from the least corrupting taint. Both the bodies of Father Fleming and of the Deacon Matthew Hoar were recovered, and buried within an enclosure in the Monastery Chapel of the Reformed Brothers Minor at Voticium, about four miles distant from the place of that shocking murder. An iron grille surrounded the place of their sepulture.

Meantime, the distinguished friend of Fleming, Father Hugh Ward,^^ had proceeded to Louvain in 1623 to teach Theology in the College of St. An- thony. ^-^ A little later he was chosen Guardian of that Convent.^^ Thus a favourable opportunity was afforded him to promote more effectually the glory of the Irish saints. From various Continental libraries, he soon gathered a great number of their Acts, and he began to collect a fine histo- rical Bibliotheque. But, he knew full well, that Ireland was the great field for research in this line. While Guardian at Louvain, Michael 0'Clery,^5 a man advanced in years, and an excellent Irish scholar and antiquary, who knew no Latin, asked to be received among the lay-brothers of the Franciscan Order. ^^ His request was complied with, and Father Ward clearly compre-

'°See an account of this place in " Ga- gid, and of the Glorious Abbot St. Columb,

zetteer of the World," vol. ii., pp. 679, Patrons of Ireland." This work appeared

695. at St. Omers in quarto shape, with the

"See Father Luke Wadding's "Scrip- letters B. B. — doabtleis a typographical

tores Oriinis Minorutn, Quibui accessit Syl- error — at the end of the Dedication. It is

labus Illorum, qui ex eodem ordiiie pro chiefly a collection from Cogitosus, Jocelyn,

Fide Christi fortiter occubuerunt," p. 272. and other writers. It is a very uncritical

''^ He belonged to a celebrated bardic production, and it has little or no value for

family of Donegal, who gave name to Bally- historical purposes,

mac- Ward. *s This was his name in religion. He was

"^See a very interesting account of this bom in the year 1575, and was generally

remarkable Franciscan in the " Irish Eccle- called by his contemporaries Teige na-

siastical Record, " vol. vii., November, 1870, Sleibhe, or "Teigheof the Mountain." See

pp. 56 to 77. an interesting memoir of himself and hisco-

*'■* A Leinsterman and a Franciscan Friar, labourers in- the " Irish Ecclesiastical Re- Robert Rochiort, who was a Lecturer there, cord," vol. vii., March, 1871, pp.268 to published, a.d. 1625, in English: "The 289.

Life of the Glorious Bishop St. Patrick, ^^ See Rev. Pere Victor De Buck's "L'Ar-

Apostle and Primate of Ireland, together cheologie Irlandaise au Couvent de Saint-

with the Lives of the Holy Virgin, St. Brid- AutoLne de Padoue a Louvain," § i., p. 5.

INTR on UCTION.

hended how invaluable must be his services to Irish literature were O'Clery sent over to Ireland, commissioned to search out and transcribe Lives of the Irish Saints, and all other documents connected with the History and Anti- quities of that kingdom. The requisite permission having been obtained, Brother Michael set out from Louvain for Ireland, where he was en- gaged collecting materials for Irish History, about the long term of fifteen years. During this time, he transcribed, from ancient Irish MSS. many Lives of Saints, from a number of Genealogies, from some ancient Martyrologies, and from a vast and widely-dispersed collection of other antique documents. With the assistance of associated antiquarians he compiled arranged and en- larged three distinct Treatises on History. By collating with other MSS., he expunged various errors, which had crept into the writings of ancient authors. One of his compilations, and in his own handwriting, is now preserved in the Franciscan Convent, Dublin. This is a parchment-bound and a small quarto paper MS. of 125 leaves, traced on both sides, in Irish characters, with several pages of Testimonia prefixed. It is intituled on the cover, " Genealogia Regum, et Sanctorum Hiberniae."'^? This was transcribed by Michael O'Clery, a.d. 1630, at the Convent of Athlone, in the Bishopric of Clonmacnoise,^^ as noted in the Manuscript. These genealogies throughout are copiously annotated by Colgan ; and from this Codex, he frequently quotes in his printed hagiographical works.

Another important work engaged the labours of Michael O'Clery, and this was the " Leabhar Gabhaltas or Book of Conquests," relating the various settlements, battles and events in Ireland, from the year 278 after the Flood to A.D. 1 1 71. Greatly aided by Cucogry or Peregrine O'Clery, Conary O'Clery and Peregrine O'Duigenan, in the well-known convent of his order, O'Clery wrote his " Calendar of the Saints of Ireland," generally called the " Martyrology of Donegal," so frequently mentioned by Colgan.^9 It was begun in the Franciscan Convent of Donegal, 7° and there finished on the 19th of April, 1630.7^ Until 1847, it was considered to have been irrecover- ably lost. During that year, it was discovered in the Burgundian Library, Brus-

*? The latter of these is sometimes called, written, rather than any other merely per-

" Sanctogenesim." But most generally does sonal or descriptive, and deducible from its

Colgan — who often quotes it — term it the authorship, in which so many persons had

"Sanctilogium Genealogicum." It treats been concerned.

concerning the genealogies of Irish saints, 7° Some fathers of this house, likewise, distributed under twenty-seven classes or rendered literary assistance to the fore- chapters. Through a long series of proge- going writers, by adding saints who lived in niters, O'Clery refers each saint to the first distant countries, but who had been con- family stock or ancestor, whence he or she nected with Ireland, and about whom foreign had descended. authors treated.

*^ See a more detailed account of this MS. ^i As published, the first title stands, in Professor O'Curry's "Lectures on the "t^eb^e riA riAoniTi ne-t\ennAcVi. Marty- Manuscript Materials of Ancient Irish Hi.s- rologium Dungallense, seu Calendarium tory," Lect. viii., pp. 162 to 16S. Sanctorum Hibernife, coUegit et digessit

*9 He preferred giving it this name for a Fr. Michael O'Clery, Ord. Fr. Min. Stric-

title, after the place in which it had been tioris Observantia;. "

INTR OD UCTION.

sels ; and the Belgian Government having lent it to Dr. Todd, a transcript was made by O'Curry, and translated into English by Dr. O'Donovan. This was published by the Irish Archaeological and Celtic Society in 1864, under the able editorship of Drs. Todd and Reeves.^^ It is a very fine and an ac- curate edition, with copious notes and appendices. 73 These have greatly enhanced the value of this work in a historical and typographical point of view. The Martyrology of O'Gorman had been used frequently by O'Clery, while compiling the Donegal Martyrology. Certain names given without any local designation are from O'Gorman, as also some which have short topographical notices .Of these, many— if not all — are taken from the scholia. The " Old " or " Very Ancient Vellum Book/'74 so often referred to in the published Martyrology of Donegal, was a Fasciculus, containing some Tracts on Irish Hagiology. In certain places, 7S this " ancient old Book " is said to have contained the Martyrology of Moelruain of Tamlacht, and saints of the same name,^^ with names of the mothers of saints. It contained, like- wise, the comparison of Irish saints^^ with those of the Universal Church, who were supposed to have been of similar habits and life.

In the beginning of 1632, under the patronage of Fergall O'Gara, lord of Magh O'Gara and Coolavin, in the county of Sligo, for which county he was member of Parliament, O'Clery and his co-labourers already named began a compilation of the Annals of Ireland, from authentic records they had col- lected. This was finished in August, 1636. The great work was carried on

i'' In the Catalogue or * ' Inventaire" of the value to all students and \vriters of Irish

Manuscripts preserved in the Duke of Bur- Hagiolog}'. Throughout the published vo-

gundy's Library at Brussels, the original of lume, many prophecies, poems and various

this has been classed as vol. xvi. , Nos. 5095, ancient lives of Irish saints are quoted.

5096. It is a small 4to volume, bound in " See an ample description, with Tes'

vellum, in the Irish characters. There is a timonia et Approbationes Superiorum in the

second, but a shorter copy of the Donegal Introduction to the published copy, pp. ix.

Martyrology— a small duodecimo volume to Iv. Also Mr. Bindon's Paper read on

bound in calf — and an autograph of Michael May 24th, 1847, in "Proceedings of the

O'Clery in the Brussels Library, and classed Royal Irish Academy," vol. iii., pp. 486 to

vol. xiv., No. 4639. On the fly-leaf, it is an- 489.

nounced to have been compiled and arranged t- This is the detached tract, containing by Michael O'Clery, at Douay, in 1629. the ttn/olia, taken from the Book of Lein- Four pages in Irish follow, and dated Done- ster, and now preserved among the Francis- gal, 1628, in the handwriting of Michael can archives, Merchants'-quay, Dublin. O'Clery. This MS. is in the Irish language, 75 As in Drs. Todd's and Reeves' edition and it can be read without much difficulty. It of the " Martyrology of Donegal," pp. 35, contains about 250 pages. This Martyrology 45 and passim.

is arranged according to the Calendar in the ?* Viz., lists of Colmans, Finians, Bren-

first instance, and then alphabetically. Testi- dans, &c.

//w«w are prefixed, dated A.D. 1636 and 1637. " See pp. 23, 27 a.nd passim. This has

See "Proceedings of the Royal Irish Aca- been published from the Brussels MS. in

demy,"vol.iii.,pp.486,487. In all probabi- the Book of Hymns, p. 69. It has been

lity, this was the first fair copy of the work printed, also, by Rev. Dr. Kelly, in his

as published. It contains also a preface by "Calendar of the Irish Saints," pp. xli.,

the author, and not yet published. Although xlii. not a very early record, this is of immense

INTRODUCTION. xlvii

in their convent. Owing to this circumstance, it has been called the '* An- nals of Donegal." It has been styled the " Annals of the Four Masters," because of the number of chief writers engaged on the work. Four copies were made, one transcript of which was sent to Louvain. Ample and valuable use was afterwards made of it by Father John Colgan. The work was in two volumes, the latter tome commencing in 1 171 and ending in 16 16. This was translated into Latin, and printed by Charles O'Conor. No English translation appeared until 1846, when Bryan Geraghty pubHshed one prepared by Owen Connellan, with notes by Dr. M'Dermott. In 1850 appeared Dr. O'Donovan's magnificent edition of the entire work. Wonderful correctness, illustration, as also identification of parties and places mentioned, with indexes, in them- selves monuments of industry, and containing 22,000 headings, arranged so as to form a chronological key to the work,?^ will for ever cause this edition to be regarded as a great treasury of national history.

The first folio volume of the original, known as " The Annals of the Four Masters," in Brother Michael O'Clery's handwriting, is now preserved in the Franciscan Library, Dublin.79 This is contained in 523 paper leaves, repre- senting double that number of written pages, and the last year entered is 1 169, There are additional leaves prefixed, containing O'Clery's Dedication to Feargal O'Gara, with the Testimonia. Colgan has introduced a few anno- tations in this copy. It differs, too, from Dr. O'Donovan's published edi- tion, in which there are omissions of many earlier specified years, under which no event has been described.^" There is likewise preserved a vellum Testimonium of the Franciscan Bishop of Dublin, Thomas Fleming, ap- proving of all Michael O'Clery's works.^'

Another volume, transcribed by this learned lay-brother, was that cele- brated tract, known as the Wars of the Danes.^' O'Clery wrote his first copy of this work, from the Book of Cuconnacht O'Daly, and in the Franciscan Convent of Multifamham, county of Westraeath, during the month of March,

7^ In the Preface to this great work, the vantia Laicus in Antiquitatibus Hybemicis

reader will find the fullest particulars regard- undequaque peritissimus opus quadri-parti-

ing the compilers and the progress of their turn, utpote de Historiis antiquis Hyberniae,

literary labours . de Annalibus ejusdem Regni, de Genealo-

"9 The second volume of the autograph giis Regum et Sanctorum Hyberniae im-

exemplar of the Annals of the Four Masters menso labore, summa fide et maxima indus-

is in the Barbarini Library, Rome : how it tria elucrubravit prout constat ex approba-

got there seems to be shrouded in mystery. tionibus nonnullorum Antistitum et testimo-

See " Proceedings of the Royal Irish Aca- niis prselatorum sui ordinis, necnon syngra-

demy," vol. vi., pp. 95, 105. ])hisgiavissimorumhistoricorumhujus regni.

^ O'Clery has entered the dates of all the Nos eorum authoritati innitentes pr^fatum years in succession, frequently observing, opus dignissimum judicamus quod publicas however, that nothing remarkable occurred. lucis fiat et typis mandetur. Actum Dub- Yet, he seems to have left spaces to fill in linii 5 Februarii Anno reparatse salutis 1636. anything that might afterwards appear suit- Fr. Thomas Fleming, Archiepiscopus Dub- able for insertion. liniensis, Hiberniae Primas.

*' It runs in the following terms : " Frater ^* This work has been edited by the Rev,

Michael Clery Ordinis Minorum de Obser- James Henthorn Todd.

xlviii

INTR OD UCTION.

A.D. 1628. From this copy he transcribed another, in the Convent of Done- gal, during the month of November, a.d. 1635. Another of O'Clery's works was his " Glossar}^ of Difficult Gaelic Words,'"' which was printed at Louvain, A.D. 1643, ^ short time previous to his lamented death. ^3 He left behind hnn, likewise, a transcript of Acts of the Irish Saints in the Irish language and character,^"* except a Life of St. Moling, which is in Latin.^s He also left a thick quarto volume, divided into two parts. The first part contains 105, and the second 246 pages, \vritten on both sides of the paper.^ It seems likely enough, he had something to do with another MS. ; although no name or date may be found in it. This is a thick quarto, composed of dififerent sized paper. It contains about 270 leaves, with short memoirs and notices of Irish saints in the Latin language ; the arrangement is alphabetical, and the volume appears to have been a note-book of some hagiographer.^7 Again, there is a thin quarto volume ; the first part is occupied with a collection of religious poems in the Irish language ; some upon St. Columbanus, and others attributed to him, and to St. Moling, also the rules of the Irish Saints, com- mencing with that of St. Columbanus. This collection was finished in 1630.^^ As we have already seen, it contains copies of the Festilogy of St. ^^ngus, and of the Martyrologies of Marian O'Gorman and of Tallagh.^? All of the foregoing are kept in the Burgundian Library of Bruxelles.

The Rev. Father Ward had been engaged in preparing materials for his work on the Irish saints, greatly assisted by others, when death surprised

^3 See Father Luke "Wadding's " Scrip- tores Ordinis Minorum," pp. 259, 260.

** This is a thick 4to vellum MS. , on coarse paper, and the penmanship is rudely executed. Judging from the writing of this volume, one would not suppose it to be a compilation of Michael O'Clery ; however, his name appears as the scribe in several places ; for instance, at folios 121, 131, and 183. The volume apjiears to have been written during the years 1628 and 1629 ; it contains 270 folios. It is classed, vol. xi. (Nos. 4190—4200.)

^2 It contains no less than twenty-one dif- ferent Acts or Treatises, nearly altogether in Irish, regarding the saints of our country.

^^This MS. is classed vol. iv (2324— 2340). At the beginning of this Codex, the contents of the first part are given in an alphabetical table. At the end of the Codex, there is a table of contents for the second part. With the exception of a list of Fran- ciscan Provincials, in Latin, the contents of this volume are altogether in the Irish lan- guage. The paper upon which this MS. is written, is very coarse, and some of the

writing is not well executed, in comparison with other MSS. written by Michael O'Clery. His name appears at folio 75, and also at the end of the first part of the volume.. There it is stated, that the MS. was finished at Donegal, upon the 7th of August, 1631, by " Brother Michael O'Clery." His name appears in several places of the second part, also, with various dates, in the year 1629. See pp. 7, 22. From these dates it seems, that the second portion of the work had b^en written before the first. From the ap- pearance of the binding, it may be con- cluded, that the collection was bound, after having been written, as the paper in the first half of this volume does not corre- spond with that which is to be seen in the remainder.

*'Vol. xii. (4241.) At page 99 is a pe- digree of " SS. Furseus, Foilanus, et Ulta- nus," the sons of Giltanus, "Rex Hiber- nise."

^ As may be seen at p. 45, where it ends.

*^ Vol. xvii., containing Nos. 5101, 5102, 5103, and 5104.

2NTR OD UCTION. xlix

him on the Sth of November, a.d. 1635.9° Yet, a posthumous work of his appeared at Louvain, in 1636. It was intituled, " Dissertatio Historica de S. Rumoldi Patria."9i Several years, afterwards, this Treatise appeared under the following more extended title : "Sancti Rumoldi Martyris Inclyti, Archie- piscopi Dubliniensis, Mechliniensium Apostoli, Advocati Sterilium Conju- gum, Agricolarum, Piscatorum, Institorum, et Navigantiura, Acta, Martyrium, Liturgia Antiqua et Patria, ex antiquissimis cum manu, turn prelo editis, harum rerum Scriptoribus, summa fide collecta, Notis illuStrata, et aucta Dis- quisitione Historica, seu Investigatione genuinse Scotiae S. Rumoldi et Con- tribulium Sanctorum. Per R. P. F. Hugonem Vardaeum, Hibernum, olim in Lovaniensi Collegio S. Antonii de Padua, F.F. Minorum Hibernorum strict, obser. Guardianum, S. T. Professorem et Hagiographum. Opus Posthumum, nunc recens a V. A. P. F. Thoma Sirino, ejusdem Ordinis et Collegii Lectore Jubilate recognitum, et in nonnuUis suppletum. In quo obiter ex Scriptoribus antiquis et novis, ac publicis instrumentis demon- stratur Hibernia ad sseculum quindecimum Christianum vocata Scotia, et Hiberni Scoti ; detegiturque ejusdem Insulse ingens olim multitudo Sanctorum et Cathedralium Ecclesiarum ; Genuina item origo et Anti- quitas Regni cum Pictorum, tum Scotorum in Albania, sive Boreali parte Magnse Britanise passim hodie dicta Scotia, aliaque scitu digna."?^ Besides this work, we are informed by Father O'Sheerin, that he had prepared the following Treatises : i. " De Nomenclatura Hibemise." 2. " De Statu et Processu Veteris in Hibernia Reipubhcae." 3. "Anagraphe Mirabilium Sancti Patricii." 4. " Investigatio Expeditionis Ursulanse." 5. " Martyro- logium ex mult is Vetustis Festilogiis Latino Hibernicum."93 In addition to his printed work, the Martyrology94 is said to have been the only treatise to which he put a finishing hand.^s

The great task of writing the Lives of the Irish Saints now devolved on the truly learned Father John Colgan.96 with the aid of O'Clery's collec- tions, and of others, gathered from some foreign monastic houses, he devoted

9° See Father I.uke Wadding's " Scrip- '+ See Harris' Ware, vol. iii., p. 115.

tores Ordinis Minorum," p. 179. 93 Y)x. Todd, when treating of the large

9' See Harris' Ware, vol. iii. " Writers Irish Martyrolog)', now missing, did not

of Ireland," book i., chap, xiv,, p. 114. seem to suspect that Father Ward might

Harris says he never saw this edition. have been its compiler. See Introduction

9^ This work appeared at Louvain, a.d. to the " Martyrology of Donegal," edited

1662, in 4to shape. by Drs. Todd and l»eeves, p. xvi., n. i.

93 This, perhaps, was a complete and 9* This illustrious historian was a native

very extensive collection, which does not of Donegal county, and he had been a

now exist among the Brussels MSS. It seems secular priest before he entered the Francis-

to be alluded to in the Rev. Dr. Kelly's can order. This fact is established from

published version of "The Martyrology of the printed statement, notifying his death to

Tallagh," under the entry of St. Donnan of the order, and which is yet preserved in the

Egha and his fifty-two companions, "quo- Franciscan Convent, Dublin. After joining

rum nomina in majore libro scripsimus." the order, he was appointed to teach theo-

See p. xxi. Also "Acta Sanctorum." logy in the Convent of St. Anthony of

Aprilis, tomus ii., p. 487. Padua, Louvain.

INTR on UCTION.

his entire energies to its accomplishment. BoUandus wished him to publish the Irish martyrologies first, especially those of Tallaght and of Marian O'Gorman, next the ancient councils and hymns, together with the annals, so that the learned of other countries might be able to appreciate the credibility of Irish history, and assist him in his labours. In deference to the opinion of his superiors, Colgan, however, fortunately determined on giving the lives first. This was a great advantage for the Hagiology of Ireland, because with information then accessible, he was able to annotate them, and glean by such induction materials for more varied research. Colgans? was well versed in the language and literature of his native country, profoundly read in the civil and ecclesiastical annals of Ireland, while his competency for writing and annotating the Acts of our Irish Saints, his learning, candour, wonderful industry and research, are fully manifested in the two magnificent folio volumes which he published, and which must remain as the imperishable monuments of his zeal, piety, and patriotism.

Colgan gratefully and honestly acknowledges the literary assistance he received from others, in compiling these works. He candidly declares, that a great portion of his labours had been forwarded by Father Hugh Ward, before the death of this latter eminent man. He had already collected and prepared for the press, nearly all those important and complete lives of saints in Colgan's published volumes. Still, Acts written in Irish, and in other languages, besides lives obtained through various sources, were translated into Latin by Colgan, and by his assistants. Many Franciscan brethren con- siderably lightened his labours, by transcribing and writing. Thus, Owen O'Gallagher, Guardian of the Franciscan Convent, Louvain, translated into Latin the French life of St. Fursey, written by Desmay. Father Brendan O'Connor procured from different Hbraries in France and Italy most useful and necessary Irish documents, serving to illustrate the Acts of our Saints.s^ These were brought to Louvain, where O'Connor laboured assiduously for some years, to aid the noble project Colgan had in view. Afterwards, he went to Ireland, and there, during the tumult of those civil wars then raging, he endeavoured to procure all the documents he could find, and which might enable him to perfect still more the " Acta Sanctorum Hibemiae," just pre- paring for publication. Father Stephen White, the J esuit, had communicated from his own collection many valuable memoirs of Irish saints, and among others may be mentioned St. Adamnan's Acts of St. Columkille, and St. Ultan's Life of St. Brigid. As Father Ward had a principal share in pre- paring the " Acta Sanctorum Hibemiae" for the press, Colgan wished to

97 There is a very interesting account of assisted. His death is thus entered in the

Father John Colgan, by Rev. William Necrology of St. Anthony, "DieagAugusti,

Reeves, in the " Ulster Journal of Archteo- l68o, obiit. V. R. Pater Bonaventura

logy," vol. i., under the heading, "Irish O'Docharty, vir religeosisimus, et qui Acta

Library," No. I, pp. 295 to 302. Sanctorum sub Patribus Colgano et Sirino

»^ Also, Father Bonaventure O'Docharty describebat indeflfesse."

INTRO DUCTTOy.

give him the credit of its authorship,?? but, contrary to arguments ad- vanced for this desire, his superiors and friends alleged other reasons, and he was induced to consent to their arrangement. Among Martyrologies quoted in his work, he reserved for a separate notice and as a complete pub- lication the calendar '"° which had been composed by Ward. Colgan com- pleted his editorial labours, by numbering the chapters and arranging the position of each saint's life ; he added marginal with subsequent notes and elucidations, to nearly all those acts, as likewise valuable appendices to many of them. He prepared, likewise, some short notices of saints, whose acts could not be discovered. These were placed at the days, when their festivals occurred, and they had been collected from various sources.'"*

Our great national hagiologist had judiciously resolved to avoid all im- provement or polish of the style, in those old acts of saints he published. This resolution he observed for two chief reasons. First, he considered those lives must be of greater historical authority, if their writers' simple narratives were solely given, than if a more pretentious style or arrangement were ap- plied to their phrases or sentences, even al hough the ancient compiler vio- lated grammatical rules, and used a faulty Latin constniction. Secondly, he thought the student of history and of Christian antiquities will always be more desirous to obtain an exact and a truthful statement of facts, than merely fanciful and ornate narratives. Hence, when Colgan commenced his work, he eschewed any meretricious style. Although this should procure more popular approval, yet it might cause, likewise, some interruption of accordant truth, and obscure historic elucidations. Sometimes, he applies to similar examples for corroboration of unusual and wonderful miracles, related in the acts, to confirm the faith of weak believers, or to disarm the animadversions of stem critics, and especially when those accounts were not opposed to Faith or deserving fair censure. Where a few particulars could only be gleaned regarding a saint, he deemed it proper to collect all authentic extracts and references from old writers, in support of what had been advanced. Thus, he intended to show, how holy individuals were not the mythical creatures of modern invention, and that he had advanced nothing on his own authority. His faithful and candid adhesion to such professions and inten- tions must be manifest to all scholars, who take any trouble in studying the substance, arrangement and execution of Colgan's two learned folio tomes. His general plan is well explained in a preface to the first of these published volumes.""

Tor these and further particulars, the "' See Thomas D'Arcy M 'Gee's "Irish

reader is referred to Colgan's " Acta Sane- Writers of the Seventeenth Century." Lives

torum Ilibernire," Prsefatio ad Lectorem. of Ward, Colgan, and O'Clery, pp. 62 to

•°° This was quite a distinct one from 72.

what we know at present, under the title of '" See, likewise, Rev. M. J. Brenan's

"The Martyrology of Donegal," or the "Ecclesiastical History of Ireland." Seven-

"Martyrology of Tallagh," or any other of teenth century, chap, iii., pp. 528 to 530.

the ancient calendars. New edition.

d

HI INTR OD UCTION.

After a circular had been issued to secure subscriptions from the Irish clergy and laity,"'^ towards the expenses of publication, in the year 1645, appeared at Louvain, and from the press of Everard de VVitte, " Acta Sanc- torum Veteris et Majoris Scotise, seu Hibemise Sanctorum Insulse, Partim ex variis per Europam MS. Codd. excripta, partim ex antiquis Monumentis et probatis Authoribus enita et congesta ; omnia Notis et Appendicibus illustrata. Per R. P. F. Joannem Colganum. In Conventu FF. Minor. Hibern. strictior obseru. Louvanii Theologise Lectorem Jubilatum, primum de eisdem Actis juxta ordinem mensium et dierum prodit Tomus Primus, Qui de Sacris An- tiquitatibus est Tertius, Januarium, Februarium et Martium complectens." This volume was dedicated to the Most Rev. Hugh Reilly, Archbishop of Armagh, and Primate of Ireland. In this Dedication, a just tribute is paid to his virtues, as also to the zeal and munificence manifested in behalf of that great work undertaken by the Franciscans. It would appear, that the Archbishop had given great encouragement to those engaged collecting documents, necessary for writing the Lives of our Irish Saints ; that, by his own example, he had stimulated his suffragan bishops to promote the object Colgan had in view ; and that, in fine, he had supplied a large sum of money towards the cost of this publication. •"♦ It had been intended to furnish a series of volumes on the Sacred Antiquities of Ireland. The "Acta Sanc- torum Hibemise" first published, because it had been the first tome prepared for press, was to be regarded as the third serial volume in order of arrange- ment. The unpublished or ideal volume, which Colgan intended to designate the first, was to have contained a synopsis, in several divisions, regarding Ireland's Ecclesiastical Antiquities, "s Although he had been urged by some, to give this precedence, he preferred a longer delay, that he might be able to bestow on it more matured study. *°*

Two years later, in 1647, from the press of Cornelius Coenesten, at Louvain, issued " Triadis Thaumaturgse, seu Divonm Patricii, Coltn-.lse et Brigidse Trium Veteris et Majoris Scotise, seu Hibetn'ae Sanctoivm Insulae, conimunium Patrononim Acta. A variis, iisque pervetustis, ac Sanctis authoribus scripta, ac studio R. P. F. Joannis Colgani in Conventu FF. Minor. Hibernor. strictior. obseru. Louvanii, S. Theologise Lectoris Jubilati,

«« A copy of thi$ appeal in English is uncertain whether he should publish it in a published by an accomplished writer, the separate tome, or include it in the volume. Rev. Charles P. Meehan, M.R.I. A., in an "Trias Thaumaturga." Not being found Appendix to his highly interesting historical in this tome, he must have subsequently en- work, "The Rise and Fall of the Irish tertained an intention of publishing it as a Franciscan Monasteries, and Memoirs of distinct one.

the Irish Hierarchy in the Seventeenth "* In another part of his preface, Colgan

Century," pp. 322, 323. This circul.nr is expresses doubt, that the natural term of

preceded by other valuable notices of the life allotted to man could enable him to

learned Father John Colgan. See Fourth undertake the laborious course of investiga-

Edition, A.D. 1872. tion, necessary to produce this preliminary

••* .See Hid., chap, v., p. 169. treatise, and unhappily his lorcbodingi

'^ In a part of his prefacej Colgan seems were too early verified.

INTRODUCTION^. lili

ex variis Bibliothecis collecta, Scholiis et Commentariis illustrata, et pluribus Appendicibus aucta ; complectitur Tomus Secundus Sacrarum ejusdem In- sulae Antiquitatum, nunc primum in lucem prodiens." This tome was dedicated to the Most Rev. Thomas Fleming, Archbishop of Dublin, and Primate of Ireland. '°7 He was a truly learned and virtuous prelate, belong- ing to the Franciscan Order. From the dedication we learn, that notwith- standing Dr. Fleming's private necessities, and the calamitous civil war then raging in Ireland, he not only presented some documents serving for its elucidation, but he likewise supplied pecuniary means, requisite for printing this national Avork. In the preface, Colgan states his reasons for including Acts of St. Patrick, of St. Columba and of St. Brigid, within a separate volume, in this particular instance. He had interrupted that regular order of arrange- ment, which he proposed to observe, according to months and days, regard- ing other saints' festivals. First, because the number and extent of acts, concerning those holy personages, were such, that he doubted, if belonging to any other nation three saints could be found, about whom more rare or even equal virtues and miracles had been recorded. Secondly, because through Divine Providence, those three saints died and were interred in dis- tricts respectively remote, although their bodies were afterwards buried in the same tomb ; thus, through God's decree it was ordained that those, united in a common grave and in Heaven, should receive a united honour and veneration on earth. Thirdly, because through the Almighty's inspiration, those same saints were assumed and adopted as common Patrons and Pro- tectors of Ireland, by the declared will of its clergy and people, sanctioned by authority of the Holy See."^ And fourthly, because if the lives of any one among those three saints had been placed in the order of months and days with other Iribh saints' acts, the notices of each distinct one muFt have occupied too greatly disproportioned a space for that volume, in which it might require to be inserted. A necessity for treating about each of those saints, at greater length, and for combining their various acts, should require a distinct volume of large size. In publishing their several lives, Colgan tells us, he had one sufficient motive, although it was not his sole reason. Amon^ the many editors of the Triad Acts, he was not able to discover any, who had not omitted various matters, orwho had not obscured passages,mcre clearlyand creditably given by other publicists. It might be objected, why he preferred issuing so many different lives of the same saint, to the publication of one life, clear, compendious and complete, embracing substantially all matters dispersed through separate Acts. Indeed, while needless iterations should

'0? The most complete account, we as yet vol. ii., still unpublished,

possess regarding tliis prelate, is that con- "^ This is proved from the Office of their

tained in the Rt. Rev. Dr. Moran's "His- Translation.insertedby Colgan in his "Trias

tory of the Catholic Archbishops of Dulihn, Thaumaturga." This Feast, with an Octave,

since the Reformation," vol. i., chap. x. to sanctioned by the Sovereign Pontiflf, was

chap, xviii., pp. 294 to 411. The continua- celebrated on the fourth of the June Ides,

tion of this biography may be expected in each year.

liv INTRODUCTION,

have been spared the fastidious reader, clearness and brevity must have been substituted, while labour, study and expense must have been lessened. Yet, to such objections, Colgan well replies, that by publishing those saints' hves, which were of very great antiquity, and full of wondrous miracles, it was re- quisite to produce concurrent and antique reliable evidence, so that their acts and miracles should not be set down as modem fictions. The united testimony of ancient authors, or even of those who wrote at comparatively recent periods, must furnish a degree of credibility, weight and correctness, beyond unauthorized brevity. He wished to discover and assert truth, espe- cially to establish credit for those wonderful actions the saints performed, and to obviate criticism in his day.*°9 Not only the habitual incredulity of persons separated from the Church, but even the comments of CathoUc critics, should be met, not with the assertions of a modern writer, but be op- posed by testimonies, drawn from ancient sources. Hardly equalled in the sacred history of other countries, those virtues and miracles, enumerated in the acts of St. Patrick, of St. Columba, and of St. Brigid, are certainly not surpassed ; and preferring olden evidence to modem style, Colgan stated nothing, save on the authority of witnesses so ancient, that some of these might have seen various wonderful actions related, while others could have derived accounts from persons who were eye-witnesses. Several of those writers were holy and learned men ; so, it cannot justly be supposed, they are chargeable with fictitious inventions or ignorance, regarding those subjects they treated. Neither, on the score of great credulity, should such authors too hastily incur the censure of carping critics.

The different biographers of St. Patrick, of St. Columba, and of St. Brigid, with an account of various writings attributed to them, as also disser- tations on the age or period when they flourished, afford subjects for interest- ing enquiry. There are several valuable Appendices and Indices, to both the " Acta Sanctorum Hibernise," and to the " Trias Thaumaturga" — these very rare and prized works of our great national hagiographist.'"* The former of these will furnish a just idea of Colgan's contemplated design, to issue in succession the lives or acts of Irish saints, according to the order of months and days. When Father Luke Wadding had been writing a work,'" about the year 1648 or 1649, we are informed, that the Fourth Volume of the " Acta Sanctorum Hiberniae," comprising saints' lives for the months of April, May and June, was under the press, and that Colgan promised to give the public, in a short time, the fifth and sixth volumes, which were destined to embrace six remaining months of the year. To these he intended to add a prefatory volume, to be called the first, and in a great measure already prepared. In

'"'9 It seems quite unaccountable, that such "° In any other civilized country, but Ire- a critical editor should have allowed so land, these works— -so difficult to be pro- many clerical, chronological, and careless cured by scholars at present — must have typographical errors to remain, if indeed passed through repeated editions, he ever revised the proof-sheets of those two '"See *' Scriptores Ordiais Minorum," folio volumes. p. 210.

INTRODUCTIOI^. Iv

it, he purposed publishing four different Irish Martyrologies, or even a still greater number. Conjointly with these, he desired to edit the sacred and profane annals of Ireland. This indeed formed a most comprehensive design, on the part of Colgan; but, could he have seriously hoped its adequate completion within the limit of existence usually allotted to man ? If so, he appears to have inherited, with the hagiological learning and research of Rosweyde or Boland, their ingenuous hallucination and trusting confidence to accomplish work, the conclusion of which seems to lie far in the future, and after a lapse of more than two centuries from the commencement."*

Colgan lived to pubUsh another small work in 1655, "3 and he died at Louvain, January 15th, a.d. 1658. Many of his writings and compilations appear to have been ready for the press j"-* but, it is much to be regretted, that he did not live sufficiently long to issue his prepared Acts of Irish Saints, enriched with his admirable critical and topographical notes. Long after his death, however, in the convent of his order at Louvain, several volumes of his manuscript productions had been preserved. "s

It is feared, that some of these — especially the shorter notes or notices — have been lost. However a very considerable collectanea of saints' lives, now preserved in the Burgundian Library, at Bruxelles,""^ with certain MSS., afterwards transferred to St. Isidore's Convent, Rome,"7 may fairly represent those left unpublished. Among the latter, several catalogue copies of manu- scripts or printed books, found at Louvain, after the death of Colgan, are dis- tinguishable."^ There are some slight discrepancies between them ; and

'" Colgan wrote also a Theology, which "* In " Proceedings of the Royal Irish

was published at Louvain in the year 1639. Academy," vol. iii., p. 487, Mr. Bindon

It was intituled, " Theologia Scholastica, " quoting the '* Invenlaire" thus describes

and it appeared in 4to shape. probably one of these MSS. : " Vol. xv.

"3 It was intituled : " Tractatus de Vita (5057, 5058, 5059). This is a thin quarto,

Patria, Scriptis, Johannis Scoti, Doctoris rudely stitched together, and in bad condi-

Subtilis." tion. It contains, first, a fragment of a

"* See Rev. Mr. Brennan's " Ecclesias- catalogue of saints, then some poems by

tical History of Ireland," vol. ii., p. 271. 'Eogan mac an Bhaird,' and by ' Moel

"5 Owing to the favour of the Franciscan Patric,' &c., &c., and ends with a fragment Guardian of St. Anthony's Convent, Harris in prose, commencing ' Gloriosus Episcopus obtained the following titles and descrip- Carthagus qui vuigo vocatur lllochu'OA.' tions of these. Tomus i. De Apostolatu The contents are all in the Irish language, Hibernorum inter Exteras Gentes, cum and I was unable to discover the name of Indice Alphabetico de exteris Sanctis. This the scribe or date of the compilation ; how- was a folio containing 852 pages. Tomus ever, I believe it belonged to the Louvain ii. De Sanctis in Anglia, in Britannia, collection, and is justly attributed in the Aremorica, in reliqua Gallia, in Belgio. It catalogue to the seventeenth century." consisted of 1068 pages ; but a small part "' In the time of Napoleon I., the French was wanting at the end. Tomus iii. De soldiers used St. Isidore's Convent for a Sanctis in Lotharingia et Burgimdia, in Ger- barracks, and it is feared they destroyed or mania ad sinistram et dextram Rheni, in purloined books and MSS. See " Pro- Italia. This contained 920 pages, but a few ceedings of the Royal Irish Academy," vol. are wanting at the end of this volume. vi., pp. 95, 104.

See Harris' Ware, vol. iii., "Writers of "» Owing to the care of Charles Mac

Ireland," book L, pp. 140, X41. Donnell, Esq., one of these catalogues in-

Ivl INTRODUCTION.

they had been drawn up, most probably by different members of the com- munity, who were deputed perhaps to examine separately what Colgan had left behind him. "9 A catalogue of manuscript lives, prepared for printing by Colgan, states at the end, that notes to many of the acts had been placed over them in a chest."° Although he had paper and copy to a very con- siderable amount ready for the printers, it is not sufficiently clear, that any had gone to press for the projected volumes unpublished. During the pro- gress of Colgan's labours, the illustrious Father Luke Wadding took the deepest interest in their completion, as evidenced by his printed and manu- script remains. Although the latter great man intended to produce a " General History of Ireland," with other vast intellectual projects in mind, his extraordinary and interminable literary and ecclesiastical occupations left no possibility for the accomplishment of more than that wonderful amount of work achieved, and which ended only with the close of his life, on the i8th of November, a.d. 1657, in the seventieth year of his age.'"

I'he learned and criacally renowned Father Papebroke of the Jesuits* Society informs us, that Father Thomas Sirinus or O'Sheerin, the editor of St. Rumold's acts and of Fleming's " Collectanea Sacra," had been appointed by the Franciscans to resume and continue Father John Colgan's hagio- graphical labours. From the former of these works we learn, that O'Sherrin or O Sheridan had nearly finished a work, called, "Tractatus de Veteris et neotericje Scotiae nomenclatura et Sanctorum vindiciis." But, the existing disturbed and impoverished state of Ireland prevented a continuation of his editorial labours. This jubilate lector and Professor of Theology, in St. Anthony's Convent, Louvain, died on the 3rd of September, 1673 ; and the pressure on Irish ecclesiastical seminaries abroad to supply home missionary wants prevented the Franciscans from naming a successor to prosecute that interrupted labour,"' the inception of which does such immortal honour to their order. Thus ended Irish archaeological and historical studies at Lou- vain. "^ For a time, the Irish hagiological manuscripts and books were pre-

tituled, " Catalogus Actuum Sanctorum quae edition of his uncle's most learned and volu- MS. habentur ordine Mensium et Dierum," minous work, '* Annales Minorum, in qiu- has been published. See "Proceedings of bus res omnes trium Ordinum Franciscano- the Royal Irish Academy," vol. vii., pp. rum tractantur." This was issued at Rome, 37110375. It purports to be a list of Irish a.d. 1731 in sixteen folio volumes, with saints' biographies, which seem to have been additions and supplements, by Joseph ready or in preparation for publication, with Fonseca ab Ebora, an Observantin Francis- some preliminary notices. His paper was can. The first edition of this work, in read on the 14th of January, 1861. eight folio volumes, bringing the history of

"9 These do not all contain the published his Order down to A.D. 1540, was issued at

list of saints' lives at full length. Lyons r.nd Rome, between the years 1625

'** Allusions are made to the various saints and 1654.

named there, in the progress of this work, '" See " Acta Sanctorum Junii," tomus

and at the days of the months when their v. Vita S. Baboleni. Comraentarius Pnevius,

festivals occur. § 6, p. 180.

"' See Father Francis Harold's "Vita "^Sge Rev. P. Victor De Buck's

Fr. Lucae Waddingi," prefixed to the second " L'Archeologic Irlamlaise au Convent de

INTR OD UCriON. Ivii

served there, but ultimately some were removed to St. Isidore's Franciscan Convent, Rome, while others were transferred to the Bur^^undian Library, Bruxelles. It is probable, that some were sent elsewhere,"-* and many are pos- sibly lost. During the last century, the Irish Franciscans abandoned their historic convent of St. Anthony, and left Louvain.

The library of the Irish Franciscans, at St. Isidore's Convent, Rome, had been assigned as one to be specially consulted by the Congregation of Sacred Rites, in reference to the canonization of saints. The illustrious Franciscan Father Luke Wadding engaged his nephew Father Francis Harold to prepare in alphabetical order an " Index Sanctorum" of all holy men, known to have existed to that time, and from the earliest ages, in every country on the globe. "s Under their respective names, references were to be given to various writers in the Isidore Library, who treated about them. This was methodically performed. The various slips were strung on threads, and when this task had been laboriously accomplished by Harold, a com- petent scribe was ready to transfer to their proper double columns, those names and references, into two large and very thick folio paper volumes. Pope Alexander '^li., who saw this M3., was greatly pleased with the per- formance."^ These manuscripts are bound in vellum, but unfortunately some pages of the second volume have been nibbled through by mice."' The first volume contains 794 written pages, as the writer has counted them ; it commences with the letter A, and the word Aaron, while it ends with the letter H, and the word Hypatii. The second volume has 836 written pages, as counted ; it commences with the letter I, and the word lachelinse, while it ends with the letter Z, and the word Zozimi. On an average, each page, in both volumes, contains ten to twelve names. Many of these belong to Irish saints, and hence its value for purposes of reference must be apparent."^ This transcript of Harold's notes appears to have been finished in 1647."'

A Watenbrd mm, named John Hartrey , became a Cistercian Monk in the Abbey of Nucale, in Spain, where in religion he took the name of Francis. He returned to Ireland and resided in the Abbey of Holy Cross, county of

Saint- Antoine de Padoue a Louvain," § vii., Opera R. Patris Fr. Francisci Haroldi, Hi- pp. 42 to 45. berni, L mericensis. In this, Wadding's

'^ An opinion seems to prevail, that since labours are justly extolled, the foundation of the Belgian Kingdom, the "' They are now accessible in the Fran- Franciscan Convent at Wexford received ciscan Lil)rary, Merchants'-quay, Dublin, several books and par'aaps M.SS., formerly '■* A few leaves of MS. are in tiie end of belonging to the Franciscan College, Loa- the last volume, giving the titles of 132 vain. An Irish friar, it is said, removed these books, which had been lost or missing from literary treasures. See " Proceedings of the St. Isidore Library, the Royal Irish Academy," vol. vi., pp. "^ The scribe adds, on the concluding 95» 96, 106. page : " Hunc librum magno conscripsi

"S Wadding ordered a copy to be made crede labore ego loannes Thierry incola

for himself. Secanicus, patria Bisuntinus, patris Wad-

"' See Harold's "Vita Fr. Lucjb Wad- ingi scriptor." Then follows the date, as

dingi," cap. Ivi., p. 43, prefixed to his well as the note, and in a sort of eccentric

"Epitome Annalium^ Ordinis Minorum." arrangement of letters and umueriiL,

Iviii INTR OD UC2I0N.

Tipperary. In the year 1640, he commenced a work, intituled, " Triumphalia Chronologica de Csenobio S. Crucis, Sacrae Ordinis Cistertiensis in Hibernia ; in quibus plura a salutifero S. Crucis ligno patrata Miracula, aliaque memo- ratu desiderata illustrantur."'3o it ^as a small folio MS. on vellum, toler- ably well adorned and illuminated. It had a preface, dedication and com- mendatory verses prefixed, as if intended for publication. In 1649, he wrote another work, " Synopsis nonnullorum Sanctorum illustriumq ; Monachorum Hibernorum Cislertientium," the running title of which was " De Cistertien- tium viris illustribus." It was also written on vellum. In the year 1733, Walter Harris had a loan of these tracts, bound together, from the officiating parish priest of Holy Cross Parish. 's^ Richard Archdeacon, born in Kil- kenny A.D. 1619, was a learned member of the Society of Jesus, and besides his theological works '3^ he wrote " Vitse et Miraculorum S. Patricii Hibernise Apostoli Epitome," published at Louvain, a.d. 1671. '33 He died at Antwerp, about 1 690.^34

Among the most learned men of his age must ever be ranked James Ussher, who was born in Dublin, a.d. 1580, who was educated in the newly founded Trinity College, and who afterwards became successively Protestant Bishop of Meath, and Archbishop of Armagh. Passing over his other literary labours, as irrelevant to our scope, we must especially notice the valuable mass of material for the diligent investigator of earlier Irish records in his " Veterum Epistolarum Hibernicarum Sylloge,"'35 and in his " Britannicarum Ecclesiarum Antiquitates." '33 These works throw great light on the early history of the British and Irish Churches, and they have been frequently ex- amined and quoted for our purpose. Certain theories and inferences, which had their origin, rather in the peculiar bias of this celebrated writer's mind, than in a perfect conception or array of facts, must be doubted. Incidents connected with the establishment and progress of Christianity in our island, and illustrating our national saints' acts, have been confined, for the most part, to the concluding chapters of his work. They bear only a minor pro- portion of historic data to his previous chapters. The appended Chronolo- gical Index is exceedingly valuable, and it has been so arranged as to afford great assistance to the student or compiler of our earlier ecclesiastical annals. Considering the want of ready guidance and the period when Ussher was

'30 On the 2ist of July, 1752, this work »33 in 8vo shape,

was in possession of Rev. John Dorrony, '34 See some particulars regarding him

Parish Priest of Holy Cross, as stated by in Rev. George Oliver's "Collections

the Most Rev. James Butler, Archbishop, in towards illustrating the Biography of the

his Visitation Book of the Archdiocese. See Scotch, English, and Irish Members of the

Limerick Reporter of February i8th, 1873. Society of Jesus," p. 213.

'3» See Harris' Ware. Vol. iii., " Wri- '3S PubUshed at Dublin in 1653, as a thin

ters of Ireland," book i., chap, xiv., p. 125. quarto.

'3* Sec " Bibliotheca Scriptorum Socie- '3* This was first published in Dublin A.D.

tatis Jesu," &c., a Nathanaele Sotvello, 1639 in 410 shape, and afterwards as a folio

ejusdem Societatis Fresbytero, p. 71S. volume iu London A.D. 16S7.

INTRODUCTION. llx

enabled to print this volume, sound and critical judgment exercised through- out his entire work must always make it be regarded as a truly researchful ac- cession to our historical literature. It has preserved for us, likewise, many important particulars regarding this island's early state, and which might not otherwise be transmitted to our time. It may almost seem uncalled for to express an opinion, that with better care and greater revision bestowed on his great work, Ussher might have corrected many errors, digested more care- fully abundant disposable materials, and improved its style or arrangement, in a great variety of instances. When objectionable remarks must be re* futed, in subsequent pages of these volumes, special examination and obser- vations are made, in accord with the design and scope of our work. Besides his great volume, Ussher's smaller treatises, in which he has preserved a col- lection of ancient pieces, on matters connected with Ireland's ecclesiastical history, are very interesting, although of somewhat lesser importance. These relate to the condition and habits of the early Irish. '3? After an extremely chequered career, Ussher died at Rygate, Surrey, on the 21st of March, a.d. 1655, in his seventy-sixth year, and he was buried in Henry Seventh's Chapel, Westminster Abbey. '^s

Not less were those services rendered to our history and antiquities, in that century, by the learned, honest and painstaking Sir James Ware, who was bom in Castle-street, Dublin, a.d. 1594. Educated in Trinity College, he soon became a distinguished and diligent student, as also a great collector of records and manuscripts, both in Ireland and in England. In 1626, he published at Dublin, a tract,'39 intituled, " Archiepiscoporum Cassiliensium et Tuamensium Vitae, duobus expressae Commentariis." Again, in 1828, he issued, " De Praesulibus Lageniae, sive Provinciae Dubliniensis, Liber unus."'*° Under the more general title, " De Praesulibus Hibernise," he included both the foregoing treatises, in one book. In 1639, he published, "De Scriptoribus Hibernis." Libri Duo. Prior continet Scriptores in Hibernia natos; Pos- terior Scriptores alios, qui in Hibernia munera aliqua obierunt.'*^ The dis- turbed state of affairs, his official situation, in Ireland, and exile abroad, caused much interruption to his historic pursuits for some years. His work, " De Hibernia et Antiquitatibus ejus Disquisitiones," appeared at London,

'37 A very complete edition of Ussher's Bishop of Armagh, Primate and Metropoli'

works, in seventeen octavo volumes, edited tan of all Ireland." Parr wras chaplain and

by Dr. £lrington, has been issued from the literary executor for Ussher, at the time of

University Press, at Trinity College, Dublin. his death. This edition is illustrated with

A life is prefixed. This edition issued be- a collection of 300 letters between the Pri-

tween A.D. 1847 and 1864. mate and some of the most eminent of his

'3^ His life has been written by his chap- contemporaries at home and abroad. It

lain Dr. Nicholas Bernard, and by Dr. was published at London, in folio, A.D.

Thomas Smith of Oxford. The life of 1686. Archbishop Ussher, by Dr. Richard Parr, '^9 in quarto shape,

his chaplain, is the Inography best known. '*"' In quarto size.

It is intituled, "Life of the Most Reverend '^' This was published in quarto shape at

Father in God, James Usher, late Lord Dublin.

ix introduction:

A.D. 1654.'''' He published a second, or corrected, and an enlarged edition of this work, at London, a.d. 1658. '43 in the year 1656, he published the works ascribed to St. Patrick, under this title, " Opuscula Sancto Patricio, qui Hibernos ad Fidera Christi convertit Adscripta, in lucem emisit, et notis illustravit," Jacobus Waraeus, Eques auratus.'** At the Restoration of Charles II., Sir James Ware returned to Ireland. He published some pieces of the Venerable Bede, under this title, in 1664, " Venerabilis Bedae Epistolse duae; necnon Vitae Abbatum Wiremuthensium et Gerwiensiura. Accessit Egberti, Archiepiscopi Eboracensis, Dialogus de Ecclesiastica In- stitutione ; ex Antiquis MS. in lucem emisit et Notis ad Rem Historicam et Antiquariam spectandbus illustravit," Jacobus Waraeus, Eques auratus.^^s This same year, he published, "Rerum Hibernicarum Annales Regnantibus Henrico VII., Henrico VIII., Edwardo VI. et Maria, ab anno (scil.) Domini 1485 ad Annum 1558." »46 Lastly, he issued at Dublin, a.d. 1665, the folio volume intituled, " De Praesulibus Hiberniae Commentarius ; a Prima Gentis Hibernicae ad Fidem Christianara Conversione, ad nostra usque Tempora.'' Sir James Ware always kept an Irish scribe in his house to interpret and copy Irish documents. The celebrated antiquary and genealogist, Dudley Mac Firbis, served him in that office, at the time of his death. '^^ Tnis happened on the 1st of December, a.d. 1666, having just entered on his seventy-ihird year. At great expense, Sir James Ware collected several valuable Irish historical manuscripts. These fell into the hands of Earl Clarendon, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, in the reign of James II. They were brought into England afterwards, and there sold to the Duke of Chandos.'*^ Among the works al- ready enumerated, the lives of the bishops and writers of Ireland especially have afforded us no inconsiderable aid, as the Irish sainis are frequently ranked under either class. Sir James Ware's moderated judgment, impartiality, perspicuity of style and arrangement are greatly to be admired. At a time when Ireland's national literature had been consigned to manuscript, which could only be reproduced by much expense and exertion, Archbishop Ussher and Sir James Ware'*^ became Anglo-Irish historical pioneers, and but

'** In 8vo size. In this, too, he included Annals of Henry Eighth's reign, a tract, previously published, "Caeaobia '^' An account of this learned Irish scho*

Cistertientia Hibernise. " lar and his writings will be found in Pro-

'43 It was issued in 8vo size. To it he fessor O'Curry's *' Lectures on the Manu-

added, " Rerum Hibernicarum Regnante script Materials of Ancient Irish History,"

Henrico Vil. Annales nunc primum in lect. vi., pp. 120 to 130. See, likewise,

lucem editi." Thomas D'Arcy M 'Gee's " Gallery of Irish

'*• Issued in London, 8vo. See Thomas Writers," pp. 103 to iii. D'Arcy M'Gee's" Gallery of Irish Writers," '♦« See Harris' Ware. Vol. iii., " Wri-

pp. 731082. ters of Ireland," book i., chap, xiv., pp.

'« This appeared at Dublin. 145 to 157.

•4* This folio work was published in Dub- '*' It is much to be regretted, that Harris

lin. Previously, he had published the had not more completely and judiciously

Annals of Henry Seventh's reign, which he translated and edited his works in the suc-

introduced again in this volume ; and in ceeding century. The additional and im-

X662, he had printed in a separate 8vo the portant matter, often introduced by the editor,

INTR OD UCTION. Ixi

for their efforts, many precious fragments and records must undoubtedly have been lost. Only a small portion of some documents, then existing, have been preserved. Both writers had access to the most important public and private records, while their patient, laborious research and literary zeal urged them to arrange and publish important historic materials. In Father John Colgan's frequent references to their published works, and as representing the great degree of credit attaching to them, our national hagiographer im. plied, more frequently than expressed, his obligations. He often quotes those writers as standard authorities for many of his statements. After the middle of this century, a discussion and two learned Treatises appeared, regarding the precedency of their respective sees, on the part of Dr. Oliver Plunkett, Archbishop of Armagh'^" and of Dr. Peter Talbot, Archbishop of Dublin.'s^ Indeed, notwithstanding the civil disturbances of this period, the people of Ireland, during the seventeenth century, arc praised for the prevalence among them of learning and morals by a contemporary writer. '5» This was certainly an age of national scholarship.

Section V. — Irish Hagiologists of the Eighteenth and Nineteenth

Centuries.

The eighteenth century — a depressing period — was rather barren in the production of Irish historical works, both at home and abroad. Besides some controversial pieces. Father PYancis Porter, O.S.F.,' wrote " Compen- dium Annalium Ecclesiasticorum Regni Hiberniae,"' in which he treats of Irish saints, churches, and monasteries. Another work of his was, '* Opus- culum Contra Vulgares quasdam Prophetias de Electionibus Summorum Pontificum S. Malachiae, Archiepiscopo Armachano, Hiberniae Primati, Legato Apostolico, hactenus falso attributas j Gallice primum editum, nunc novis Supplementis auctum, et in Latinum Idioma translatum : Adjunctis celebrium Authorum refiectionibus et judiciis de Abbatis Joachimi Vaticiniis, ejusque Spiritu Prophetico."3 This writer was a Professor of Divinity and

hardly compensates for his defective arrange- Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of all

ment and many incongruous observations. Ireland." Dublin, i86r. 8vo.

Without the requisite marks of division, '5« See an account ol this prelate and of his

Harris frequently leaves the reader in doubt, writings, in John JJ' Alton's "Memoirs of

as to whether he is perusing the editor's the Archbishops of Dublin," pp. 430 to

statements, or the opinions of his original 446.

author, Sir James Ware. »S3 See " Itinerarium" R. D. Thomze Carve

'SO The reader is referred to Very Rev. Tipperariensis, &c., Pars, i., cap. iv., p.

Laurence F. Renehan's " Collections on 34.

Irish Church History," vol. i., pp. 63 to SECTION v.—' He was bom in the