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Title: The Latin & Irish Lives of Ciaran
Translations Of Christian Literature. Series V. Lives Of
The Celtic Saints
Author: Anonymous
Translator: R.A. Stewart MacAlister
Release Date: August 8, 2005 [EBook #16479]
Language: English
*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE LATIN & IRISH LIVES OF CIARAN ***
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TRANSLATIONS OF CHRISTIAN
LITERATURE. SERIES V
LIVES OF THE CELTIC SAINTS
THE LATIN & IRISH
LIVES OF CIARAN
By R.A. STEWART-MACALISTER
* * * * *
SOCIETY FOR PROMOTING
CHRISTIAN KNOWLEDGE. London
The Macmillan Company. New York
1921
CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION
A HARMONY OF THE FOUR LIVES OF ST CIARAN
THE FIRST LATIN LIFE OF ST CIARAN
THE SECOND LATIN LIFE OF ST CIARAN
THE THIRD LATIN LIFE OF ST CIARAN
THE IRISH LIFE OF ST CIARAN
ANNOTATIONS TO THE FOREGOING LIVES
THE LATIN TEXT OF THE SECOND LIFE
INDEX
THE LATIN AND IRISH LIVES
OF CIARAN
INTRODUCTION
Of all the saints of Ireland, whose names are recorded in the native
Martyrologies, probably there were none who made so deep an impression
upon the minds of their fellow-countrymen as did Ciaran[1] of
Clonmacnois. He stands, perhaps, second only to Brigit of Kildare
in this respect; for Patrick was a foreigner, and Colum Cille
accomplished his work and exercised his influence outside the shores
of Ireland.
Doubtless much of the importance of Ciaran is reflected back from
the outstanding importance of his great foundation--the monastic
university, as it is fair to call it, of _Cluain maccu Nois_ (in an
English setting spelt "Clonmacnois"), on the shore of the Shannon. But
this cannot be the whole explanation of the esteem in which he
was held; it must be at least partly due to the memory of his own
character and personality.
Such a conclusion is indicated if we examine critically the _Lives_ of
this saint, translations of which are given in the present volume, and
compare them with the lives of other Irish saints. In studying all
these documents we must bear in mind that none of them are, in any
modern sense of the word, biographies. A biography, in the proper
definition of the term, gives an ordered account of the life of its
subject, with dates, and endeavours to trace the influences which
shaped his character and his career, and the manner in which he
himself influenced his surroundings. The so-called lives of saints are
properly to be regarded as _homilies_. They were composed to be read
to assemblies of the Faithful, as sermons for the festivals of the
saints with whom they deal; and their purpose was to edify the hearers
by presenting catalogues of the virtues of their subjects, and,
especially, of their thaumaturgic powers. Thus they do not possess
the unity of ordered and well-designed biographies; they consist
of disconnected anecdotes, describing how this event or that gave
occasion for a miraculous display.
It follows that to the historian in search of unvarnished records
of actual fact these documents are useless, without most drastic
criticism. They were compiled long after the time of their subjects,
from tales, doubtless at first, and probably for a considerable time,
transmitted by oral tradition. It would be natural that there should
be much cross-borrowing, tales told about one saint being adapted to
others as well, until they became stock incidents. It would also be
nothing more than natural that many elements in the Lives should
be survivals from more ancient mythologies, having their roots in
pre-Christian beliefs. Nevertheless, none of these writings are devoid
of value as pictures of life and manners; and even in descriptions of
incredible and pointless miracles precious scraps of folk-lore are
often embedded. In most, if not in all, cases, the incidents recorded
in the Lives are to be criticised as genuine traditions, whatever
their literal historicity may be; few, if any, are conscious
inventions or impostures.[2]
In the Lives of Ciaran there are many conventional incidents of this
kind, which reappear in the lives of other saints. In the Annotations
in the present edition a few such parallels are quoted; though no
attempt is made to give an exhaustive list, the compilation of which
would occupy more time and space than its scientific value would
warrant. But there are certain other incidents of a more individual
type, and it is these which make the Lives of Ciaran especially
remarkable. They may well be genuine reminiscences of the real life,
or at least of the real character of the man himself. Thus, there are
a number of coincidences, clearly undesigned (noted below, p. 104)
consistently pointing to a pre-Celtic parentage for the saint. Again,
the saint's mother is represented as a strong personality, with a
decided strain of "thrawnness" in her composition; while the saint
himself is shown to us as distinguished by a beautiful unselfishness.
This, it must be confessed, is very far from being a common character
of the Irish saints, as they are represented to us by the native
hagiologists; and in any case the character-drawing of the average
Irish saint's life is so rudimentary, that when we are thus enabled to
detect well-defined traits, we are quite justified in accepting them
as based on the tradition of the actual personality of the saint. In
other words, so deep was the impression which the man made upon his
contemporaries during his short life, that his _memorabilia_ seem to
be, on the whole, of a more definitely historic nature than are those
of other Irish saints.
There is, however, a disturbing element which must be kept in mind in
criticising the Lives of Ciaran. He was the son of a carpenter, and he
was said to have died at the age of thirty-three. It is quite clear
that these coincidences with the facts of the earthly parentage and
death of Christ were observed by the homilists--indeed the author of
the Irish Life says as much, at the end of his work. They provoked a
natural and perhaps wholly unconscious desire to draw other parallels;
and if we may use a convenient German technical term, there is
a traceable _Tendenz_ in this direction, as is indicated in the
Annotations on later pages. It is not to be supposed that even these
apparently imitative incidents are (not to mince matters) mere
pious frauds; they may well have come into existence in the
folk-consciousness automatically, before they received their present
literary form. But such a development could hardly have centred in an
unworthy subject; there must have been a well-established tradition
of a _Christ-likeness_ of character in the man, for such parallels in
detail to have taken shape.[3]
The homiletic purpose of these documents is most clearly shown in the
Irish Life. This was written to be preached as a sermon on the saint's
festival ["this day _to-day_," § 1], at Clonmacnois ["he came _to this
town_," § 34: "a fragment of the cask remained _here_ till recently,"
§ 36: "_here_ are the relics of Ciaran," § 41. Similarly the First
Latin Life, § 35, calls the saint "_Our_ most holy patron"]. The
actual date of the Irish sermon is less easy to fix; the language
has been modernised step by step in the process of transmission from
manuscript to manuscript, but originally it may have been written
about the eleventh century, though incorporating fragments of earlier
material. The passage just quoted, saying that a certain relic had
remained _till recently_, may possibly indicate that the homily had
been delivered shortly after one of the many burnings and plunderings
which the monastery suffered; in such a calamity the relic might have
perished. The prophecy put into Ciaran's mouth, that "there would be
great persecution of his city from evil men in the end of the world"
[Irish Life, § 38] seems to relate to such an event: it is very
suggestive that exactly the same exprestion "great persecution from
evil men" (_ingrem mór ó droch-daoinibh_) is used in the _Chronicon
Scotorum_ of certain raids on the monastery which took place in the
year A.D. 1091; and that on the strength of an old prophecy there was
a belief in Ireland that the world was destined to come to an end in
the year 1096, as we learn from the _Annals of the Four Masters_ under
that date.[4] It must, however, be remembered that a date determined
for a single incident does not necessarily date the whole compilation
containing it.
The text of the First Latin Life (here called for convenience of
reference LA) is found in an early fifteenth-century MS. in Marsh's
Library, Dublin. It has been edited, without translation, by the Rev.
C. Plummer in his most valuable _Vitae Sanctorum Hiberniae_ (Oxford,
1910) vol. i, pp. 200-216. The translation given in this volume has
been made from Plummer's edition, which I have collated with the
original MS.[5]
The text of the Second Latin Life (LB) is contained in two MSS. in the
Bodleian Library (Rawl. B 485 and Rawl. B 505, here called R1 and R2).
Of these R2 is a direct copy of R1, as has been proved by Plummer, in
his description of these manuscripts.[6] As to their date, there is
no agreement; the estimate for R1 ranges from the first half of the
thirteenth to the fourteenth century, R2 being necessarily somewhat
later. The Life of Ciaran contained in these MSS. has been used
by Plummer in editing LA, and extracts from it are printed in his
footnotes. It has not, however, been previously printed in its
entirety, and a transcript made by myself is therefore added here, in
an Appendix.
The text of the Third Latin Life (LC) is contained in the well-known
Brussels MS., called _Codex Salmaticensis_ from its former sojourn
at Salamanca. It is of the fourteenth century. This was the only
continuous authority at the disposal of the compiler of the Bollandist
life of our saint; he speaks of it in the most contemptuous terms. The
life of Ciaran in this manuscript is a mere fragment, evidently copied
from an imperfect exemplar; there seems to have been a chasm in
the middle, and there is a lacuna at the end, which the scribe
has endeavoured to conceal by adding the words "Finit, Amen." The
translation here given has been prepared from the edition of the
Salamanca MS. by de Smedt and de Backer, cols. 155-160.
The Irish Life (here denoted VG, i.e. _Vita Goedelica_) was edited by
Whitley Stokes from the late fifteenth-century MS. called the _Book of
Lismore._[7] The numerous errors in the Lismore text may be to some
extent corrected by collation with another Brussels MS., written in
the seventeenth century by Micheál ó Cléirigh. Stokes has indicated
the more important readings of the Brussels MS. in his edition. The
scribe of the Lismore Text was conscious of the defects of his copy:
for in a note appended to the Life of our saint, he says, "It is not I
who am responsible for the meaningless words in this _Life_, but the
bad manuscript"--_i.e._ the imperfect exemplar of which he was making
a transcript.
There were other Lives of the saint in existence, apparently no longer
extant. Of these, one was in the hands of the hagiographer Sollerius:
for in his edition of the _Martyrologium_ of Usuardus (Antwerp, 1714,
p. 523) he says, _Querani, Kirani, uel Kiriani uitam MS. habemus.
uariaque ad eam annotata, quae suo tempore digerentur_. This promise
he does not appear to have fulfilled; the Bollandist compiler, as we
have just noticed, had no materials but the imperfect Salamanca Life,
and was forced to fill its many gaps as best he could, by diligently
collecting references to Ciaran in the lives of other saints. Another
Life of the saint seems to be referred to in the _Martyrology of
Donegal_; under the 10th May that compilation quotes a certain "Life
of Ciaran of Cluain" (_i.e._ Clonmacnois) as the authority for a
statement to the effect that "the order of Comgall [of Bangor, Co.
Down] was one of the eight orders that were in Ireland." It would
be irrelevant to discuss here the meaning of this statement; its
importance for us lies in the fact that the sentence is not found in
any of the extant Lives, so that some other text, now unknown, must be
in question.
Ciaran of Clonmacnois was not the only saint of that name. Besides his
well-known namesake of Saighir (Seir-Kieran, King's Co.), there were
a few lesser stars called Ciaran, and there is danger of confusion
between them. The name reappears in Cornwall, with the regular
Brythonic change of Q to P, in the form Pieran or Pirran. This Pieran
is wrongly identified by Skene[8] with our saint; a single glance at
the abstract of the Life of St. Pieran given by Sir T.D. Hardy[9]
will show how mistaken this identification is. A similar confusion is
probably at the base of the curious statement in Adam King's _Scottish
Kalendar of Saints_, that Queranus was an "abot in Scotl[=a]d under
king Ethus, [anno] 876" and of Camerarius' description of him as
"abbas Foilensis in Scotia."[10]
The four documents of which translations are printed in this book
relate almost, though not quite, the same series of incidents. There
is a sufficient divergence between them, both in selection and in
order, as well as in the minor details, to make the determination of
their mutual relationship a difficult problem. We must regard all
four as independent compositions, though based on a common group of
sources, which, in the first instance, were doubtless disjointed
_memorabilia_, preserved by oral tradition in Clonmacnois. These would
in time gradually become fitted into the four obvious phases of the
saint's actual life--his boyhood, his schooldays, his wanderings, and
his final settlement at Clonmacnois. It is not difficult to form a
plausible theory as to how the systematisation took place, and also
as to how the slight variants between different versions of the same
story arose. The composition of hymns to the founder and patron would
surely be a favourite literary exercise in Clonmacnois. In such hymns
the different incidents would be told and re-told, the details varying
with the knowledge and the metrical skill of the versifiers. There are
excerpts from such hymns, in Irish, scattered through VG: and LB ends
with a _pasticcio_ of similar fragments in Latin. As a number of
different metres are employed, both in the Irish and in the Latin
extracts, there must have been at least as many independent
compositions drawn upon by the compilers of the prose Lives: and it is
noteworthy that there are occasionally discrepancies in detail between
the verse fragments and their present prose setting. Most probably the
prose Lives were based directly on the hymns; one preacher would use
one hymn as his chief authority, another would use another, and
thus the petty differences between them would become fixed, perhaps
exaggerated as the prose writer filled in details for which the
exigencies of verse allowed no scope. It is probably impossible to
carry the history of the tradition further.
In order to facilitate comparison between the four documents, I have
divided them into _incidents_, and have provided titles to each. These
titles are so chosen that they may be used for every presentation of
the incident, however the details may vary. The titles are numbered
with _Roman_ numerals, whilst the successive incidents within each
of the Lives are numbered consecutively with _Arabic_ numerals. The
_Harmony of the Four Lives_, which follows this Introduction, will
make cross-reference easy.
No modern biography, no edition of the ancient homiletic Lives, of
Ciaran could be considered complete without a history of Clonmacnois,
through which being dead he yet spake to his countrymen for a thousand
years. It was the editor's intention to include such a history in the
present volume; and this part of the projected work was drafted. But
as it progressed, and as the indispensable material increased in bulk,
it became evident that it would be impossible to do justice to the
subject within the narrow limits of a volume of the present series. A
slight or superficial history of Clonmacnois would be worse than none,
as it would block the way for the fuller treatment which the subject
well deserves. The materials collected for this part of the work
have therefore been reserved for the present: it is hoped that their
publication will not be long delayed.
[Footnote 1: The name is pronounced as a dissyllable, something like
_Kyee-raun_, with a stress on the second syllable.]
[Footnote 2: The Bollandists long ago remarked as the special
characteristics of Irish Saints' Lives, their doubtful historicity,
their late date, and their continual repetition of stock incidents.
(_At priusquam id agam, lectorem duo uniuersim monitum uelim; primum
est, quod Hibernorum sanctorum acta passim dubia sint fidei, et
a scriptoribus minime accuratis ac aetate longe posterioribus
conscripta; alterum est, quod in iisdem frequens occurrat rerum
simillimarum narratio, quas uariis sanctis adscribunt, ita ut nescias
cui tuto adscribi possint._--Acta Sanctorum, September, vol. iii, p.
372).]
[Footnote 3: Even the date of Ciaran's death may have been
manipulated, in order to make his age conform to the age of Christ.
As we shall see below, traditions vary.]
[Footnote 4: The end of the
world is not actually mentioned in the Annals, but the expected plague
referred to was undoubtedly the apparition of the mysterious _Roth
Ramhach_, or "oar-wheel," an instrument of vengeance that was to
herald the end of all things. For the references to this prophecy see
O'Curry's _Manuscript Materials of Ancient Irish History_ (index, _sub
voce_ "Roth Ramhach"), and the present writer's _Study of the Remains
and Traditions of Tara_ (Proceedings Royal Irish Academy, vol. xxxiv,
sect. C, p. 231 ff.).]
[Footnote 5: The following corrections may be noticed. Page 201 of
printed text, line 7, _for_ Et cum _read_ Cumque. Same page, line 24,
_for_ factum _read_ factam (_sic_). Page 202, line 6, _after_ vitulum
_add_ ilico canis famelicus iruit (_sic_) in uitulum. Same page, line
25, _after_ fregit _add_ et fracto capite effussoque cerebro canis
periit. Same page, line 33, _after_ narrabant _add_ hoc. Same page,
lines 35, 38, _for_ vaccam _read_ vacam. Page 203, line 35, _for_
Angeli _read_ Angli. Same page, line 39, _insert_ et _after_ generis.
Page 204, line 7, Innsythe appears to be written in the MS. as one
word. Same line, _insert_ uidit _before_ zabulum. Same page, line 18,
_after_ flumen _add_ et ibi mersum est. Page 205, line 32, _read_ est
ostensum. Page 206, line 18, _after_ libri _add_ ad locum. Same page,
line 32, _after_ manducans _add_ in illa die. Same page, line 38,
_read_ Kyaranus. Same page, line 40, _read_ Maelgharbh. Page 207, line
13, _after_ recepit _add_ ipse. Page 208, line 16, _for_ complebit
_read_ implebit. Page 209, line 23, _delete_ et _after_ clamor; and
in the next line _for_ impediebant _read_ -bat. Page 211, line 14,
_insert_ in _before_ istis. Same page, line 16, _read_ loco isto.
Same page, line 40, _read_ edifficio. Page 212, line 2, _read_
edifficiorum. Page 213, line 10, _after_ ignem _insert_ nostrum. Same
page, line 21, _for_ ipsi _read_ ipsum. Same page, line 37, _after_
paciencie _insert_ nostre. Page 214, footnote 3, note that the first
"uas" is struck out. Same page, footnote 7, the first "sanctus" is
expuncted.]
[Footnote 6: _Zeitschrift für Celtische Philologie_, vol. v, p. 429.]
[Footnote 7: _Lives of Saints from the Book of Lismore_, Oxford, 1890,
pp. 117-134.]
[Footnote 8: _Four Ancient Books of Wales_, i, 124.]
[Footnote 9: _Descriptive Catalogue of Materials for the History of
Great Britain,_ vol. i, p. 102.]
[Footnote 10: Forbes. _Kalendars_, s. v. Queranus; Bollandist _Acta_.]
* * * * *
A HARMONY OF THE FOUR LIVES OF SAINT CIARAN
To the incidents of Ciaran's life VG prefixes--
I. _The Homiletic Introduction_ (VG I)
not found in any of the Latin Lives.
=A.= Ciaran was born A.D. 515. The first section of his life, his
Childhood and Boyhood, may have covered the first ten or twelve years
of his life--say in round numbers 515-530. Fifteen incidents of this
period are recorded, which are found in the Lives as under--
LA LB LC VG
II. _The origin and birth of Ciaran; the
wizard's prophecies_ 1 1 1 2
III. _How Ciaran raised the steed of Oengus
from death_ 2 2 2 3
IV. _How Ciaran turned water into honey_ 3 3 3 4
V. _How Ciaran was delivered from a
hound_ 6 9 4 5
VI. _How Ciaran and his instructor conversed,
though distant from one another_ 4 - - 6
VII. _Ciaran and the fox_ - - - 7
VIII. _How Ciaran spoiled his mother's
dye-stuff_ - - - 8
IX. _How Ciaran restored a calf which a
wolf had devoured_ 5 8 5 9
X. _How Ciaran was delivered from
robbers_ 7 - 6 10
XI. _How Ciaran gave a gift of cattle_ 8 - - -
XII. _How Ciaran gave a gift of a
plough-coulter_ 9 - - -
XIII. _How Ciaran gave a gift of an ox_ 10 - - -
XIV. _How Ciaran gave the king's cauldron
to beggars and was enslaved_ 11 - 7 11
XV. _How Ciaran reproved his mother_ 13 - 9 -
XVI. _The breaking of the carriage-axle_ 14 - 10 -
The boyhood legend probably consisted originally of the five incidents
common to all, II-V, IX. It is noteworthy, however, that LB transfers
V, IX, to a position after the second phase of the Life. This is
possibly due to a misplaced leaf in the exemplar from which our copies
of LB are derived. X-XIII, variants on the theme of XIV, are probably
interpolations in LA, and VIII, a valuable fragment of folk-lore, is
an interpolation in VG. VI and VII are conflations of two varieties of
one incident, as is pointed out in the Annotations. These observations
will show how complex is the criticism of the Ciaran tradition.
=B.= The second phase of the life is the Schooling of Ciaran at
Clonard; perhaps about 530-535, still using round numbers. This part
of the life is most fully told in VG; it is very fragmentary in all
the Latin Lives. There are thirteen incidents--
LA LB LC VG
XVII. _How Ciaran went with his cow to
the school of Findian_ 15 4 11 12
XVIII. _The angels grind for Ciaran_ 16 - 12 13
XIX. _Ciaran and the king's daughter_ 17 - - 14
XX. _How Ciaran healed the lepers_ - - - 15
XXI. _Ciaran and the stag_ - - - 16
XXII. _The story of Ciaran's gospel_ 18 - - 17
XXIII. _The blessing of Ciaran's food_ 19 - 8 -
XXIV. _The story of the mill and the
bailiff's daughter_ - 6 - 18
XXV. _The story of Cluain_ - - - 19
XXVI. _How Ciaran freed a woman from
servitude_ 20 5 - 21
XXVII. _How Ciaran freed another woman
from servitude_ 21 - - 22
XXVIII. _Anecdotes of Clonard_ - - - 20
XXIX. _The parting of Ciaran and Findian_ - - - 23
=C.= The third phase may be called the Wanderings of Ciaran. From
Clonard he made his way to the monastery of Ninnedh on the island in
Loch Erne now called Inismacsaint (it is to be noted that VG knows
nothing of this visit). From Loch Erne he went to Aran, thence (after
a visit to Saint Senan on Scattery Island) to his brother's monastery
at Isel, a place not certainly identified. After this he removes
to Inis Aingin, now Hare Island in Loch Ree, which is his last
halting-place before reaching his goal at Clonmacnois. There are
twelve incidents. The first forms incident 13 of LC, which then breaks
off; this text therefore no longer requires a special column. The
wander-years end with 548, the year of the saint's arrival at
Clonmacnois.
LA LB VG
XXX. _The adventure of the robbers of Loch
Erne_ -- 7 --
XXXI. _How Ciaran floated a firebrand on the
lake_ -- 10 --
XXXII. _Ciaran in Aran_ 22 11 24
XXXIII. _How a prophecy was fulfilled_ 12 -- 25
XXXIV. _How Ciaran visited Senan_ 23 12 26
XXXV. _Ciaran in Isel_ 24 13 28
XXXVI. _The removal of the lake_ 25 14 29
XXXVII. _Ciaran departs from Isel_ 26 -- 30
XXXVIII. _Ciaran in Inis Aingin_ 27 15 31
XXXIX. _The coming of Oenna_ 28 16 32
XL. _How Ciaran recovered his gospel_ 29 -- 33
XLI. _How Ciaran went from Inis Aingin
to Clonmacnois_ 30 17 34
The difference of opinion as to the setting of incident XXXIII is to
be noted. Also noteworthy is the absence of any reference to a second
visit to Senan, though such is postulated in the lives of the latter
saint.
=D.= The fourth phase covers the time--according to all our texts
a few months, according to other authorities some years--intervening
between the foundation of Clonmacnois and the death of Ciaran. The
traditions of LA and VG here run along the same lines; LB is curiously
diverse. There are in all twelve incidents, namely--
LA LB VG
XLII. _The foundation of the church_ 31 -- 35
XLIII. _How Ciaran sent a cloak to Senan_ 32 -- 27
XLIV. _Ciaran and the wine_ 34 18 36
XLV. _The story of Crithir_ 33 -- 37
XLVI. _How an insult to Ciaran was averted_ -- 19 --
XLVII. _How Ciaran was saved from shame_ -- 20 --
XLVIII. _How a man was saved from robbers_ -- 21 --
XLIX. _The death of Ciaran_ 35 22 38
L. _The visit of Coemgen_ 36 -- 39
LI. _The earth of Ciaran's tomb delivers
Colum Cille from a whirlpool_ 37 23 --
LII. _The envy of the saints_ -- -- 40
LIII. _Panegyrics of Ciaran_ 38 24 41
* * * * *
THE FIRST LATIN LIFE OF SAINT CIARAN
_Here beginneth the Life of Saint Kiaranus,[1] Abbot and Confessor._
II. THE ORIGIN AND BIRTH OF CIARAN: THE WIZARD'S PROPHECIES
1. The holy abbot Kyaranus sprang from the people of the Latronenses,
which are in the region of Midhe, that is, in the middle of Ireland.
His father, who was a cart-wright, was called Beonnadus; now the same
was a rich man; and he took him a wife by name Derercha, of whom he
begat five sons and three daughters. Of these there were four priests
and one deacon, who were born in this order, with these names--the
first Lucennus, the second Donanus, the third that holy abbot
Kyaranus, the fourth Odranus, the fifth Cronanus, who was the deacon.
Also the three daughters were named Lugbeg, and Raichbe, and Pata.
Lugbeg and Raichbe were two holy virgins; Pata, however, was at first
married, but afterwards she was a holy widow. Now inasmuch as the
wright Beonedus himself was grievously burdened by the imposts of
Ainmireach King of Temoria, he, eluding the pressure of the impost,
departed from his own region, that is from the coasts of Midhe, into
the territories of the Conactha. There he dwelt in the plain of Aei,
with the king Crimthanus; and there he begat Saint Kyaranus, whose
Life this is.
Now his birth was prophesied by a wizard of the aforesaid king, who
said, before all the folk, "The son who is in the womb of the wife of
Beoedus the wright shall be had in honour before God and before men;
as the sun shineth in heaven so shall he himself by his holiness shine
in Ireland." Afterwards Saint Kyaranus was born in the province of the
Connachta, namely in the plain of Aei, in the stronghold called Raith
Crimthain; and he was baptized by a certain holy deacon who was called
Diarmaid in the Scotic [= Irish] tongue; but afterwards he was named
Iustus, for it was fitting that a "just one" should be baptized by
a "Iustus." And Saint Ciaran was reared with his parents in the
aforesaid place, and by all things the grace of God was manifested
within him.
III. HOW CIARAN RAISED THE STEED OF OENGUS FROM DEATH
2. One day the best horse of Aengussius, son of the aforesaid King
Crimhthanus, died suddenly, and he was greatly distressed at the death
of his best horse. Now when in sorrow he had fallen asleep, in his
dreams a shining man appeared to him, saying to him, "Sorrow not
concerning thy horse, for among you there is a boykin [_puerulus_],
Saint Kiaranus son of Beoedus the wright, who by God's grace can
quicken thy horse. Let him pour water into the mouth of the horse,
with prayer, and upon its face, and forthwith it shall arise sound.
And do thou bestow a gift on the boy for the quickening of thy horse."
Now when Aengus son of the king was awakened out of sleep, he told
these words to his friends; and he himself came to Saint Kyaranus
and led him up to the place where the horse was lying dead. When the
dutiful boy Kyaranus poured water into the mouth and on the face of
the horse, it forthwith rose from death and stood whole before them
all. The son of the king bestowed that field, which was great and the
best, upon Saint Kiaranus in perpetuity.
IV. HOW CIARAN TURNED WATER INTO HONEY
3. On another day the mother of Saint Kyaranus upbraided him, saying,
"The sensible other boys bring honey to their parents every day, from
the fields and the places where honey is found. But this our son,
weak and soft as he is, bringeth us no honey." The holy boy Kyaranus,
hearing this saying of his mother chiding him, made his way to a
spring hard by, and thence filled a vessel with water. When he blessed
it, honey of the best was made from the water, and he gave it to his
mother. But his parents, astonished at the miracle, sent that honey to
the deacon Iustus, who had baptized him, that he might himself see the
miracle wrought by God through the boy whom he baptized. When he had
heard and seen it, he gave thanks to Christ, and prayed for the boy.
VI. HOW CIARAN AND HIS INSTRUCTOR CONVERSED, THOUGH DISTANT FROM ONE
ANOTHER
4. The holy boy Kyaranus, as he kept the flocks of his parents, was
wont to read the Psalms with Saint Diarmatus. But that teaching was
imparted in a manner to us most wondrous. For Saint Kiaranus was
keeping the flocks in the southern part of the plain of Aei, and Saint
Diarmatus was dwelling in the northern part of the same plain, and the
plain was of great extent between them. And thus, from afar off, they
would salute each the other at ease, with words, across the spaces of
the plain; and the elder would teach the boy from his cell across the
plain, and the boy would read, sitting upon a rock in the field. The
which rock is reverenced unto this day, as the Cross of Christ, called
by the name of Kyaranus, is placed upon it. Now thus by divine favour
were the holy ones wont to hear each the other, while others heard
them not.
IX. HOW CIARAN RESTORED A CALF WHICH A WOLF HAD DEVOURED
5. On a day when Saint Kyaranus was keeping the herds, a cow gave
birth to a calf in his presence. Now in that hour the dutiful boy saw
a wretched wasted hungry wolf a-coming towards him, and God's servant
said to him, "Go, poor wretch, and devour that calf." Forthwith the
famished hound fell upon the calf and devoured it. But when the holy
herd-boy had come home with his herds, the cow, seeking her calf, was
making a loud outcry; and when Derercha, mother of Saint Kyaranus, saw
it, she said unto him, "Kyaranus, where is the calf of yonder cow?
Restore it, although it be from sea or from land. For thou has lost
it, and its mother's heart is sore vexed." When Saint Kyaranus heard
these words, he returned to the place where the calf was devoured,
and collected its bones into his breast; then returning, he laid them
before the cow as she lamented. Straightway, by divine mercy, by
reason of the holiness of the boy, the calf arose before them all, and
stood whole upon its feet, sporting with its mother. Then those who
stood by lifted up their voices in praise to God, blessing the boy.
V. HOW CIARAN WAS DELIVERED FROM A HOUND
6. As the dutiful boy Kyaranus was going out to a homestead hard by,
certain worldly men, cruel and malignant, let loose a most savage
hound at him, so that it should devour him. When Saint Kyaranus saw
the fierce hound coming towards him, he appropriated a verse of the
Psalmist, saying, "Lord, deliver not the soul that trusteth in Thee
unto beasts." Now as the hound was rushing vehemently, by divine
favour it thrust its head into the ring-fastening of a calf; and tied
by the ring-fastening, it struck its head against the timber to which
the fastening was hanging, and thus it broke its head. Its head being
broken and the brains scattered, the dog expired. When they saw this
they feared greatly.
X. HOW CIARAN WAS DELIVERED FROM ROBBERS
7. On another day certain robbers, coming from a foreign region, found
Saint Kiaranus alone, reading beside his herds; and they thought to
slay him and to reave his herds. But as they came toward him with that
intent, they were smitten with blindness, and could move neither hand
nor foot till they had wrought repentance, praying him for their
sight. Then the dutiful shepherd, seeing them turned from their
wickedness, prayed for them, and forthwith they were loosed and their
sight restored (_soluti sunt in lumine suo_). And they returned and
offered thanks, and told this to many.
XI. HOW CIARAN GAVE A GIFT OF CATTLE
8. One day a certain poor man came to Saint Kyeranus, and begged of
him a cow. Then Saint Kieranus asked of his mother that a cow should
be given to the poor man; but his mother would not hearken unto him.
When Saint Kieranus saw this, he made the poor man accompany him out
of doors with the herds, and there he gave unto him a good cow with
her calf. Now the calf itself was between two kine, and both of them
had a care for it; and as the dutiful boy knew that the second cow
would be of no service without the calf, he gave them both, with their
calf, to the poor man. For these, on the following day, four kine were
gifted to Saint Kiaranus by other folk as an alms, and these he gave
to his mother as she was chiding him. Then he exhorted his mother in
reasonable manner, and she was thereafter in awe of him.
XII. HOW CIARAN GAVE A GIFT OF A PLOUGH-COULTER
9. Saint Kiaranus on another day gave the coulter of his uncle Beoanus
to a certain poor man, for which likewise on another day he received
four coulters. For four smiths came from the steading called Cluain
Cruim, with four coulters, which they delivered for an alms to Saint
Kyaranus; and these the holy boy restored to him for his coulter.
XIII. HOW CIARAN GAVE A GIFT OF AN OX
10. On another day Saint Kyaranus gave the ox of the same uncle to a
man who begged for it. And he said unto him, "Son, how shall I be able
to plough to-day, seeing that thou hast given mine ox to another?" To
him responded the holy boy, "Set thou to-day thy horse with the oxen
in the plough, and to-morrow thou shalt have oxen enough." Forthwith
the horse, set under the yoke with the oxen, in place of the ox that
had been given, became tame; and the whole day it ploughed properly
under the yoke, like an ox. On the following day four oxen were gifted
for an alms to Saint Kiaranus, and these he delivered to his uncle
instead of his ox. For men who heard and saw the great signs wrought
by Saint Kyaranus were wont to beg for his prayers, and to offer
oblations unto him.
XIV. HOW CIARAN GAVE THE KING'S CAULDRON TO BEGGARS, AND WAS ENSLAVED
11. One day the father of Saint Kiaranus bore a royal vessel from
the house of King Furbithus, to keep it for some days. Now the king
treasured that vessel. But Saint Kiaranus delivered that vessel of the
king to certain poor men who asked an alms in Christ's name, as he
had nothing else. When the king heard this, his anger was kindled
mightily, and he commanded that Saint Kiaranus should be enslaved
to his service. And so for this cause was blessed Kiaranus led into
captivity, and was a slave in the house of King Furbithus. A task
chosen for its severity was laid upon him, namely, to turn the
quern-stone daily for making flour. But in wondrous wise Saint
Kiaranus used to sit and read beside the quern-stone, and the
quern-stone used to turn swiftly of itself, without the hand of man,
and to grind corn before all the folk. For the angels of God were
grinding for Saint Kyaranus, unseen of men. And after no long time a
certain man of the province of Mumenia, that is, of the people of the
Desi, who was called Hiernanus, stirred up by divine favour, came with
two most excellent vessels, like unto the vessel of that king, of the
same sort and the same use, and gifted them in alms to Saint Kiaranus.
When the king heard the miracle of the quern-stone, he accepted those
two vessels, and gave his liberty to Saint Kiaranus; for beforetime he
would not for anger accept a ransom for him. Thus was Saint Kiaranus
freed from the servitude of the king; and Saint Kiaranus blessed that
man with his tribe, by whom he himself obtained his liberty.
XXXIII. HOW A PROPHECY WAS FULFILLED
12. On a certain day when Saint Kieranus was in the place called
Cluain Innsythe, he saw a ship floating on the river, and he saw a
hut on the bank of the river. Now there was a platter woven of twigs
within it, full of ears of corn, with fire underneath so that they
should be dried for grinding, as was the custom of the western people,
that is, of Britain and of Ireland. Saint Kyaranus said in prophecy,
secretly, to his companions, "Yonder ship which is on the waters shall
be burned to-day, and the hut which is on land shall be submerged."
As they disputed and wondered, he said, "Wait a little space, and ye
shall see it with your eyes." Forthwith that shiplet was raised from
the water on to the land, and placed in a shed that its leaks and
cracks might there be caulked. But a bonfire having been lit, the shed
was consumed, and the ship in its midst was likewise consumed. But
strong men, wrenching the hut out of the ground, cast it from the bank
into the river, and there it was submerged, as the servant of the
Lord prophesied. When they heard and saw such a prophecy of things
contrary, they gave glory to Christ who giveth such a gift unto his
servants.
XV. HOW CIARAN REPROVED HIS MOTHER
13. On another day when Saint Kiaranus had come from the fields to
his home, men came meeting him. To them he said, "Whence have ye now
come?" They said, "We come now from the house of Beoedus the wright."
Said he to them, "Have ye gotten there fitting refreshment for
Christ's sake?" They said, "Nay; but we found there a hard woman who
would not for hospitality give us so much as a drink." When Saint
Kyaranus heard this, he blessed them, and came swiftly to his house,
and entering the house he found no one therein, for its inmates were
busied with their work out of doors. Then blessed Kyaranus, moved with
zeal for God, scattered all the food which he found in the house of
his parents; for[2] the milk he poured on the ground, the butter he
mixed with the sheep's dung, the bread he cast to the dogs, so that it
should be of service to no man. For he was showing that whatsoever was
not given to guests for Christ's name should rightly be devoted by
men to loss, lest such food should be eaten. After a little space his
mother came, and seeing her house thus turned upside-down, she felt
moved to raise an outcry; for she marvelled greatly at what had
befallen her house. When Saint Kiaranus had set forth the reason, she
became calm, and promised amendment; and many of those who heard were
rendered charitable.
XVI. THE BREAKING OF THE CARRIAGE-AXLE
14. On another day when Saint Kyaranus was sitting in a carriage with
his father, the axle of the carriage broke in two in the middle of
the plain; and the father of the saint, with his attendants, was
distressed. Then Saint Kyeranus blessed the axle, and it was forthwith
made whole again as it had been before; and afterwards for the entire
day they travelled in the carriage safely.
XVII. HOW CIARAN WENT WITH HIS COW TO THE SCHOOL OF FINDIAN
15. After this Saint Kyaranus wished to leave his parents and to go
forth to the school of Saint Finnianus, who was a wise man abounding
in all holiness; so that he might there read the Scriptures, with the
other saints of Ireland who were there. He asked of his parents that a
cow might be led with him to the school, for the sake of her milk to
sustain him; but his mother denied it, saying, "Others who are in that
school have no kine." Then having received the licence and blessing of
his parents--though his mother was grieved, for she wished to have him
always with herself--Saint Kyaranus went on his way.
Coming to the cattle of his parents, he blessed a cow, and commanded
her in the name of the Lord to follow him. Forthwith that cow followed
him with her new-born calf; and wheresoever he would go the cow walked
after him, to the city of Cluayn Irayrd, which is in the boundary of
the Laginenses and Ui Neill. But the city itself lies in the territory
of Ui Neill.
When Saint Kyeranus had come thither, he used to make a barrier in the
pastures between the cow and her calf with his rod; and by no means
did they ever dare to cross the tracks of the holy rod, nor used they
cross it; but the cow would lick her calf across the track of the rod,
and at the proper time they would come to their stall, with full store
of milk.
That cow was of a dun colour, and was called _Odar Ciarain_, "Ciaran's
Dun." Her fame endures for ever in Ireland, for she used to have the
greatest store of milk, such as at this time could not be believed.
Her milk was daily divided among the school, and sufficed for many.
Her hide in like manner remains to this day honourably in the city
of Saint Kiaranus; for through it, by the grace of God, miracles are
wrought. This grace greater than all it has, as the holy ancients,
the disciples of Saint Kiaranus, have delivered unto us; that it is
revealed by divine inspiration that every man who shall have died upon
it shall possess eternal life with Christ.
XVIII. THE ANGELS GRIND FOR CIARAN
16. Now in the school of the most holy master Finnianus there were
many saints of Ireland; to wit, two Saints Kiaranus, and two Saints
Brendanus, Columba, and many others; and each of them on his day would
grind with his own hands on the quern. But the angels of God used to
grind for Saint Kiaranus, as they did for him in his captivity.
XIX. CIARAN AND THE KING'S DAUGHTER
17. The daughter of the King of Temoria was conducted to Saint
Finnianus that she might read the Psalms and the other Scriptures with
the saint of God, and should dedicate her virginity. And when she
promised of her own free will to preserve her virginity for Christ,
Father Finnianus said to Saint Kiaranus, "Son, let this virgin,
Christ's handmaid, daughter of an earthly king, read with thee in the
meanwhile, till such time as a cell of virgins shall be built for
her." Which duty Saint Kiaranus obediently accepted, and the virgin
read with him the Psalms and other lections. Now when holy Father
Finnianus was establishing that virgin and other holy virgins in a
cell, the blessed fathers questioned Saint Kiaranus as to her manners
and her virtue. To them Kiaranus said; "Verily, I know naught of her
virtues, of manners or of body; for God hath known that never have I
seen her face, nor aught of her save the lower part of her vesture,
when she was coming from her parents; nor have I held any converse
with her save only her reading." For she was wont to take her
refection, and to sleep, with a certain holy widow. And the virgin
spake the like testimony of Saint Kiaranus, and many were confirmed in
the true faith by other testimonies of them.
XXII. THE STORY OF CIARAN'S GOSPEL
18. Saint Kiaranus was reading the gospel of Matthew with holy Father
Finnianus, along with others. And when he had come to the place where,
in the middle of the book, it is written "All things whatsoever ye
would that men should do unto you, so do ye unto them," Saint Kiaranus
said to Saint Finnianus, "Father, enough for me is this half of this
book which I have read, that I may fulfil it in deed; verily this one
sentence is enough for me to learn." Then one of the school said to
them all, "Henceforth a fitting name for Kiaranus is '_Leth-Matha_'
(Half-Matthew)." To him the holy elder Finnianus said, "Nay; a fitting
name for him is '_Leth n-Eirenn_' (Half-Ireland); for his parish shall
be extended through the middle of Ireland." This prophecy excited much
envy against Saint Kiaranus.
XXIII. THE BLESSING OF CIARAN'S FOOD
19. On another day, when Saint Kiaranus was alone in his cell, he came
to table to take food; and wishing to partake after a blessing, he
said, "_Benedicite._" When he saw that no one answered "_Dominus_," he
rose from the table, tasting nothing that day. He did the like on the
following day, still rising from the table without food. On the third
day, after having thus fasted for three days, he came to table and
said, "_Benedicite_"; and lo, a voice from Heaven said unto him, "The
Lord bless thee, weary Kiaranus; now is thy prayer full-ripe. For it
is enough for a man, whenever he is alone, to bless his food in the
name of the Most High God, and then to partake." So Saint Kyaranus,
giving thanks, ate his bread on the third day.
XXVI. HOW CIARAN FREED A WOMAN FROM SERVITUDE
20. One time he went to the King of Temoria, who was called Tuathal
Mael-gharbh, in that he was harsh, so that he should set free a woman
unjustly held in servitude with that king. The king released not the
woman to him. Then Saint Kiaranus blessed her, and bade her go with
him to her own people. So she forthwith rose out of the house of the
king, and made her way between crowds of men, and none of them saw her
till she came safe to her friends. Regarding this matter the king and
the others marvelled greatly at the wondrous acts of God.
XXVII. HOW CIARAN FREED ANOTHER WOMAN FROM SERVITUDE
21. On another occasion Saint Kyaranus entered the region of a certain
lord of the Connachta, that in like manner he should demand from him a
certain woman who was in unjust servitude to him. As holy Ciaran was
sitting there, lo, three men came with three gifts as an alms to
him; namely, one gifted to him a cow, another a robe, and a third a
frying-pan; and these three gifts did Ciaran straightway give to the
poor who were begging of him in the presence of the lord. Now in that
hour in lieu of these gifts he received others yet greater in the
presence of the lord; to wit, for the frying-pan a cooking-pot of
three measures, and for the one robe twelve robes, and for the one cow
twelve kine, were gifted to him by others. Which things Saint Kiaranus
sent to other holy men living hard by. Seeing all these things, that
lord graciously gave the woman free to Saint Kiaranus, and she went
forth to her own people, rejoicing and giving thanks.
XXXII. CIARAN IN ARAN
22. After these things Saint Kiaranus made his way to an island by
name Ara, which is in the ocean westward beyond Ireland a certain
space. And that same island is ever peopled from Ireland,[3] and in it
dwell a multitude of holy men, and countless saints lie there unknown
to all save only to God Omnipotent. Now for many days did Saint
Kyranus dwell in hard service, under the most holy Abbot Henna, and
great miracles were manifested by him, and works of holiness are
still there related. Now when Saint Kiaranus was there, he saw this
marvellous vision--a like vision Saint Enna also saw--to wit, a great
and fruitful tree on the bank of the river Synna in the middle of
Ireland, whose shadow was protecting Ireland on every side; and its
branches were flowing beyond Ireland into the sea. On the following
day Saint Kiaranus related that vision to Saint Enna, which holy
Father Enna forthwith interpreted, saying; "That fruitful tree which
thou hast seen, and which I likewise have seen, thou art it, my
son, who shalt be great before God and man. Thine honour shall fill
Ireland, and the helpful shade[4] of thy dutifulness and grace shall
protect her from demons, plagues, and perils, and thy fruit shall be
for a profit to many far and wide. Therefore at the decree of God go
thou without delay to the place wherein thy resurrection shall be,
which shall be shown thee of God, so that thou mayest be for a profit
to many." And there Saint Kiaranus was consecrated priest; and
afterwards, at the command of holy Father Enna, and with the prayer
and benediction of him and of all the saints that were in the island
of Ara, Saint Kiaranus came to Ireland.
XXXIV. HOW CIARAN VISITED SENAN
23. One day when Saint Ciaran was making a journey, there met him a
poor man in the way, who begged of him something in alms; and holy
Ciaran gave him his cloak, and he himself went on afterwards in his
under-garment only. His journey led him to the island of Cathi which
is in the entrance of the ocean to the west, in the estuary of
Luimnech between the territories of Kiarraighe and of Corco Baiscind:
wherein was the most holy senior Senanus, who first dwelt in that
island. For a venomous and most hurtful monster had alone possessed
that island from ancient times, which holy Senanus, by the power of
God, had driven far from thence unto a certain lake; and to-day there
is a shining and holy settlement in that island, in honour of Saint
Senanus. Now when Saint Kiaranus was approaching that island of Cathi,
Saint Senanus foresaw in the spirit his coming and his nakedness: and
he sent a ship to bear him to the island, while he himself, taking
a cloak secretly in his hands, went out to meet him at the island's
harbour. Now when most blessed Senanus saw Saint Kyaranus coming to
him, in an under-garment, he chid him sportively, saying, "Is it not
shame that a presbyter should walk in a sole under-garment, without a
cowl?" To him, Saint Kiaranus, smiling, said, "This my nakedness shall
soon receive its alleviation, for there is a cloak for me under the
vesture of mine elder Senanus." And Saint Kiaranus remained for
some days with Saint Senanus, they passing the time in the divine
mysteries; and they made a pact and a brotherhood between them, and
thereafter Saint Kiaranus with the kiss of peace went his way.
XXXV. CIARAN IN ISEL
24. Now when blessed Kiaranus came from Saint Senanus, he went out to
his brethren Luchennus and Odranus, who were living in a _cella_ which
is called Yseal, that is "the lowest place"; and he lived with them
for a time. And his brethren made Saint Kiaranus their almoner and
guest-master: but Luchennus, who was the eldest, was the abbot of
that place, and Odranus was the prior. Once, when Saint Kiaranus was
reading out of doors in a field facing the sun, he suddenly espied
weary guests entering the guest-house; and rising quickly, he forgot
his book, and left it out of doors open till the following day. As he
himself was settling the guests in the house, washing their feet and
diligently ministering to them, the night fell. In that very night
there was a great rain, but by the favour of God the open book was
found perfectly dry; for not a drop of rain had touched it, although
the whole ground was wet around it. For this did Saint Kiaranus with
his brethren render praises to Christ.
XXXVI. THE REMOVAL OF THE LAKE
25. Near that place of Saint Kiaranus there was an island in a
lake, on which a certain lord was dwelling in his fortress with his
followers; and the noise of their uproar was hindering the prayers of
the holy men in their _cella_. When Saint Kyeranus saw this, he went
out to the shore of the lake, and prayed there to the Lord, that He
would give them somewhat of relief from that island. On the following
night that island, with its lake, was removed by the divine power, far
away to another place, where the noise of the mob of that island could
not reach the saints of God. And unto this day there is to be seen the
place of the lake, where it had been before, some of it sandy, some of
it marshy, as a sign of the act of power.
XXXVII. CIARAN DEPARTS FROM ISEL
26. On a certain day when Ciaran was busied out of doors in a field, a
poor man came to him, asking that an alms should be given him. In
that hour a chariot with two horses was gifted to Saint Kiaranus by
a certain lord, namely the son of Crimthannus; which horses with the
chariot Saint Kiaranus gave to that poor man.
Then, since the brethren of Saint Kiaranus could not endure the
greatness of his charity, for every day he was dividing their
substance among the poor, they said unto him, "Brother, depart from
us; we cannot now be along with thee in one place, and preserve and
nourish our brethren for God, for thine excess of charity." To whom
holy Kiaranus answered: "If therefore I had remained in this place, it
would not have been 'Ysseal,' that is, 'lowest,' that is, not small;
but high, that is, great and honourable."[5] With these words, holy
Kiaranus gave a blessing to his brethren, and taking his book-satchels
with his books on his shoulders, he went thence on his way.
When he had gone some little distance from the place, there met him
in the way a stag awaiting him with utmost gentleness. Saint Kiaranus
placed his book-satchels upon him, and wheresoever the stag would go,
Saint Kieranus followed him. The stag came to Loch Rii which is in the
east of Connachta; he stood over against Inis Angin, which is in that
lake. Thereby Saint Kyaranus understood that the Lord had called him
to that island, and dismissing the stag with a blessing he entered
that island and dwelt there.
XXXVIII. CIARAN IN INIS AINGHIN
27. Now when the fame of his holiness was noised abroad, from far and
wide and from every quarter good men came together to him, and Saint
Kiaranus made them his monks. And many alms, in respect of various
matters, would be given to Saint Kiaranus and to his people by the
Faithful. But a certain presbyter, by name Daniel, who owned Inis
Angin, inspired by the devil's envy, set about expelling Saint
Kyaranus with his followers by force from the island. But Saint
Kiaranus, wishing to benefit his persecutor, sent him by faithful
messengers a royal gift which had been given him in alms, namely a
golden _antilum_, well adorned. When the presbyter saw it, at first he
refused to accept it; but afterwards, on the persuasion of trustworthy
men, he received it gratefully. And presbyter Daniel, filled with the
grace of God, came and gifted Inis Angin which was in his possession,
to God and to Saint Kiaranus for ever.
XXXIX. THE COMING OF OENNA
28. On another day when Saint Kiaranus was in that island Angin, he
heard the voice of a man in the port wishing to enter the island; and
he said to his brethren, "Go ye, my brethren, and lead me hither him
who is to be your abbot after me." So the brethren, voyaging quickly,
found an unconsecrated youth in the port, whom despising they left
there. Coming back, they said unto Saint Kiaranus, "We found no man
there save an unconsecrated youth, who wandered as a fugitive in the
woods; he it is who calleth in the port. Far removed from abbotship
is _his_ rudeness!" To these Saint Kiaranus said: "Voyage ye without
delay and bring him with speed; for the Lord having revealed it to me,
by his voice I have recognised that he shall be your abbot after me."
When the brethren heard this, they forthwith led him in, and Saint
Kiaranus tonsured him, and he read diligently with him, and was filled
from day to day with the grace of God; and after the most blessed
Kiaranus, he was the holy abbot. For he is the blessed Aengus, son of
Luigse.
XL. HOW CIARAN RECOVERED HIS GOSPEL
29. The gospel-book of Saint Kieranus fell into the lake from the hand
of one of the brethren, who held it carelessly when voyaging. For a
long time it was therein, under the water, and was not found. But on
a certain day, in summer, the kine entered the lake to refresh
themselves in the waters, for the greatness of the heat; and when the
kine had returned from the lake, the binding of the leather satchel
containing the gospel-book caught about the hoof of a cow, and so the
cow dragged the book-satchel on her hoof as she came to land. And the
gospel-book was found in the rotten leather satchel, perfectly dry
and clean, without any moisture, as though it had been preserved in a
book-case. Saint Kiaranus with his followers were rejoiced thereat.
XLI. HOW CIARAN WENT FROM INIS AINGIN TO CLONMACNOIS
30. After this a certain man of Mumonia, to wit of the people of Corco
Baiscind, by name Donnanus, came to Saint Ciaran as he sojourned in
Inis Angin. To him one day Saint Kiaranus said, "What seekest thou,
father, in these coasts?" Saint Donnanus answered, "Lord, I seek a
place wherein to sojourn, where I may serve Christ in pilgrimage."
Saint Kiaranus said to him, "Sojourn, father, in this place; for
I shall go to some other place, for I know that here is not my
resurrection."
Then Saint Kyaranus granted Inis Angin with its furniture to Saint
Donnanus, and came to a place which is called Ard Mantain, near the
river Sinna; but being unwilling to remain in that place, he said: "I
will not live in this place: for here shall be great abundance of the
things of this life, and earthly joy; and hardly could the souls of my
disciples attain to heaven, were I to have dwelt here, for this place
belongs to the men of this world."
Thereafter Saint Kiaranus left that place, and came to a place which
once was called Typrait, but now is called Cluain meic Nois. And
coming to this place he said: "Here will I live: for many souls shall
go forth in this place to the kingdom of God, and in this place shall
be my resurrection."
Then most blessed Kiaranus with his followers dwelt, and began to
found a great monastery there. And many from all sides used to come to
him, and his parish was extended over a great circuit; and the name of
Saint Kiaranus was much renowned over all Ireland. And a shining and
holy settlement, the name of which is Cluain meic Nois, grew up in
that place in honour of Saint Kiaranus; it is in the western border
of the land of Ui Neill, on the eastern bank of the river Synna, over
against the province of the Connachta. Therein are the kings or the
lords of Ui Neill and of the Connachta buried, along with Saint
Kiaranus. For the river Synna, which is very rich in various fish,
divides the regions of Niall, that is, of Midhe, and the province of
the Connachta.
XLII. THE FOUNDATION OF THE CHURCH
31. And when Saint Kiaranus would place with his own hands a
corner-post in the first building of that settlement, a certain wizard
said to him: "This hour is not good for beginning; for the sign of
this hour is contrary to beginnings of building." Then Saint Kiaranus
himself set the post in the corner of the house, saying, "Thou wizard,
against thy sign I fix this post in the ground; for I care naught for
the art of wizards, but in the name of my Lord, Jesus Christ, do I all
my works." For this the wizard and his followers uttered commendation,
marvelling at the faith of Saint Ciaran in his God.
XLIII. HOW CIARAN SENT A CLOAK TO SENAN
32. Now when Saint Kiaranus had been in his settlement of Cluain meic
Nois, an excellent cloak was gifted to him in alms by a certain man.
Saint Kyaranus was minded to send it to the aforesaid holy elder
Senanus, who dwelt in the island of Cathi; but he was not able
immediately to find a messenger, because the way from the settlement
of Saint Kiaranus of Cluain meic Nois, which is in the middle of
Ireland, to the island of Cathi, situate at the entrance of the ocean,
was long and rough and difficult, and crossed borders of different
kingdoms. Then at the command of Saint Kiaranus, the cloak was placed
on the river Synna, and was sent alone with the river, and it came dry
over the waters to the island of Cathi; and no one saw it while it
travelled thither. The Synna flows from the settlement of Cluain meic
Nois to the estuary of Luimnech, in which the island of Cathi stands.
And Saint Senanus, filled with the spirit of prophecy, said to his
brethren, "Go ye to the shore of the sea, and bring to us with honour
the guest there seated, the gift of a man of God." And the brethren,
asking no questions, made their way to the sea, and found there the
cloak, perfectly dry, for it was untouched by the waters. And the holy
elder Senanus accepting it, gave thanks to God; and the cloak was in
honourable keeping with Saint Senanus, as though it were a sacred
diadem.
XLV. THE STORY OF CRITHIR
33. A certain boy of the company of holy Kiaranus, called Crithir of
Cluain (a boy of great wit, but hurtful and wanton) fled from Saint
Kiaranus to the settlement of Saigyr, in the northern border of
Mumonia, that is, the land of Hele, to the other Kiaranus, the most
holy aged bishop. And that boy, sojourning for some days with the holy
bishop, after his devilish manner took the drink of the brethren, and
poured it over the fire; extinguishing thus the consecrated fire. Now
Saint Kiaranus the elder would have no other fire in his monastery
save the consecrated fire, maintained without being extinguished from
Easter to Easter. When Saint Kiaranus the elder heard what the boy
Crithir did, it greatly displeased him, and he said, "Let him be
chastened for this of God in this life." When he heard that Saint
Kiaranus the elder was angry with him, he went out from the settlement
of Saigyr, and when he was gone a short space from the settlement,
wolves met him and killed him; yet they did not touch his body after
he was dead, after the likeness of that prophet who was killed by the
lion.
Now when Saint Kiaranus the younger heard that his boy had been with
Kiaranus the elder, he went to him; and on the day when the aforesaid
things took place, he came to the settlement of Saigyr and was
received with fitting honour by the holy bishop Kiaranus the elder.
And the holy abbot Kiaranus the younger said to the holy bishop
Kiaranus, "Restore to me, holy father, my disciple alive, who hath
been slain while with thee." To him Saint Keranus the elder said,
"First needs must your feet be washed, but we have no fire in the
monastery, to warm the water for you; and ye know that it is because
your disciple quenched our sacred fire. Wherefore beseech for us
consecrated fire from God." Then the holy abbot Kieranus the younger,
son of the wright, stretched his hands in prayer to God, and
straightway fire from heaven came into his breast, and thence was the
hearth kindled in the monastery.
But the holy bishop Kiaranus the elder prayed to God for that youth
slain by wolves, and straightway he arose sound from a cruel death,
with the scars of the wolf-bites visible upon him. And blessing them
all, he took food and drink with the saints, and afterwards he lived
many days.
Then the two Saints Kiaranus made a compact and brotherhood in heaven
and in earth between their successors; and they said that should any
wish to name or to beg aught for one of them, he should name them both
and ask, for they would hear him.
After this the holy abbot Kiaranus the younger said to the bishop,
Kiaranus the elder, "In thy place, father, shall remain honour and
abundance of riches." To him said the holy bishop, Kiaranus the elder,
"Also in thy place, dearest son, shall last the strength of religion
and of wisdom, unto the end of the world." When these things were
said, having received the kiss of peace and blessing of the most holy
bishop, Kiaranus the elder, Saint Kiaranus the younger with his own
people and with the aforesaid youth Crithir returned to his settlement
of Cluain meic Nois.
XLIV. CIARAN AND THE WINE
34. On a certain day when the brethren of Saint Kiaranus were at work
in the harvest, enduring thirst from the heat of the sun, they sent
word that cold water should be brought to them. Saint Kiaranus
answered them by a messenger, "Choose ye, my brethren, whether ye will
drink to quench your thirst for necessity, or will endure in thirst
till the evening, that through your labour to-day in thirst and in
sweat there may be abundance for the brethren who are to be in this
place hereafter; and you yourselves will not fail of reward from
God in heaven." The brethren answered, "We choose that there be a
sufficiency for our successors, and we to have the reward of our
patience and of our thirst in heaven." So the brethren worked that day
athirst, rejoicing, though the sun was hot.
But when evening was come, the brethren returned home, and Saint
Kiaranus wished to satisfy them, and to refresh them charitably. And
trusting in the Lord, he blessed a great vessel full of water; and
immediately under his hands wine of most excellent quality appeared in
the vessel. And bringing drinking-cups, he commanded the brethren to
refresh their bodies well, with sobriety, rendering thanks to Christ
for his gifts.
This is the Last Supper of Saint Ciaran with his brethren in his life,
he himself ministering unto them; for he lived thereafter but few
days. And that supper was most generous, excelling all the suppers
that were made in the monastery of Saint Kiaranus, as is proved thus--
For after a long time, when Saint Columba with his followers had come
to Ireland from the island of Hia, a great feast was prepared for them
in the monastery of Saint Kiaranus in his settlement of Cluain; and
when they had come to the religious house of Saint Kiaranus, they were
received with great joy and love, and were refreshed most bounteously
with that repast; and the fame of that supper went over the whole
settlement and its suburbs, far and wide.
When, in the house of the holy elders, who had a little cell apart in
the monastery of Saint Kiaranus, certain persons said in ignorance
that never in that place had such a feast been made, nor would be in
the future, one, who had been a boy when Saint Kiaranus lived there,
answered: "Ye know not whereat ye wonder: for the feast which Saint
Kiaranus our patron made, of water turned to wine, for his brethren
athirst after harvesting, was far better than this feast. And that ye
may know this, and may believe that it is true, come and perceive the
odour of my finger with which I drew of that wine for the brethren.
For my thumb touched the liquor through the mouth of the cup in which
the wine was drawn; and lo, even yet its odour remains thereupon."
Then they all drew near, and being sated with the pleasant and sweet
odour of that holy elder, they cried aloud saying, "Truly much better
was that feast whose odour remains on a finger most sweet for so long
a time." And they blessed Saint Kiaranus, giving praises to God.
And in those days, in which the brethren of Saint Kiaranus were sowing
their crops, there came merchants with wine of the Gauls to Saint
Kiaranus, and they filled a huge vessel, the _solitana_ of the
brethren, from that wine, which Saint Kiaranus gave to his brethren
with his benediction.
XLIX. THE DEATH OF CIARAN
35. Our most holy patron Kiaranus lived but for one year in his
settlement of Cluain. When he knew that the day of his death was
approaching, he prophesied, deploring the subsequent evils that would
come to pass in his place after him; and he said that their life would
be short. Then the brethren said unto him, "What then shall we do in
the time of those evils? Shall we abide here beside thy relics, or
shall we go to other places?" To them Saint Kiaranus said, "Haste ye
to other quiet places, and leave my relics here like the dry bones of
a stag on a mountain. For it is better for you to be with my spirit in
heaven than beside my bones on earth, and stumbling withal."
Saint Kiaranus used greatly to crucify his body, and we write here an
example of this. He ever had a stone pillow beneath his head, which
till to-day remains in the monastery of Saint Kiaranus, and is
reverenced by every one. Moreover, when he was growing weak, he would
not have the stone removed from him, but commanded it to be placed to
his shoulders, that he should have affliction even to the end, for the
sake of an everlasting reward in heaven.
Now when the hour of his departure was approaching, he commanded that
he should be carried outside, out of the house; and looking up into
heaven, he said, "Hard is that way,[6] and this needs must be." To
him the brethren said, "We know that nothing is difficult for thee,
father; but we unhappy ones must greatly fear this hour."
And being carried back into the house, he raised his hand and blessed
his people and clerks; and having received the Lord's Sacrifice,
on the fifth of the ides of September he gave up the ghost, in the
thirty-third year of his age. And lo, angels filled the way between
heaven and earth, rejoicing to meet Saint Kiaranus.
L. THE VISIT OF COEMGEN
36. And on the third night after the death of Saint Kiaranus, the most
holy abbot Coemhgenus came from the province of the Lagenians to
the burial of Saint Kiaranus; and Saint Kiaranus spake with Saint
Coemhgenus and they exchanged their vesture, and they made a perpetual
brotherhood between themselves and their followers. This is related
faithfully and at length in the Life of Coemhgenus himself.
LI. THE EARTH OF CIARAN'S TOMB DELIVERS COLUM CILLE FROM A WHIRLPOOL
37. Saint Columba, on hearing of the death of Saint Kiaranus, said,
"Blessed be God, Who hath called to Himself most holy Kiaranus from
this life in his youth. For had he lived to old age, there would have
been envy of many against him, for he would have had a firm hold on
the parish of all Ireland."
Saint Columba made a hymn to Saint Kiaranus; and when he set it forth
in the settlement of Cluain, the successor of Saint Kiaranus said unto
him, "Shining and worthy of praise is this hymn; what reward then,
father, shall be rendered unto thee?" Saint Columba answered: "Give me
my hands full of the earth of the grave of your holy father Kiaranus;
for I wish for and desire that, more than for pure gold and precious
gems." And Saint Columba receiving earth from the grave of Saint
Kiaranus, made his way to his own island of Hya.
When Saint Columba was voyaging on the sea, there arose a storm in the
sea, and the ship was thrust towards the whirlpool which is in the
Scotic tongue called Cori Bracayn, in which is a sea-whirlpool most
dangerous, wherein if ships enter they come not out. And the whirlpool
beginning to draw the ship towards itself, blessed Columba cast part
of the earth of Saint Kiaranus into the sea. Most wondrous to relate,
immediately the storm of the air, the movement of the waves, and the
swirl of the whirlpool all ceased, till the ship had long escaped from
it. Then Saint Columba, giving thanks to God, said to his followers,
"Ye see, brethren, how much favour hath the earth of most blessed
Kiaranus brought us."
LIII. A PANEGYRIC OF CIARAN
38. Most blessed Kiaranus living among men passed a life as of an
angel, for the grace of the Holy Spirit burned in his face before the
eyes of men. Who could expound his earthly converse? For he was young
in age and in body, yet a most holy senior in mind and in manners,
in humility, in gentleness, in charity, in daily labours, in nightly
vigils, and in other divine works.
For now liveth he in rest without labour, in age without senility, in
health without sorrow, in joy without grief, in peace without a foe,
in wealth without poverty, in endless day without night, in the
eternal kingdom without end, before the throne of Christ, Who with
the Father and the Holy Spirit liveth and reigneth unto ages of ages.
Amen.
_Here endeth the life of Saint Ciaran, Abbot of Cluain meic Nois._
[Footnote 1: The inconsistencies in the spelling of the various proper
names in this translation follow those in the original documents.]
[Footnote 2: The MS. reads _lac iam... effudit_. For _iam_ we should
probably read _enim_. A similar correction is made in § 38.]
[Footnote 3: _Ipsa insula semper ab Hybernia habitatur._ The sense of
this passage is not clear: it may be corrupt.]
[Footnote 4: Lit.: "the shadow of the aid of thy dutifulness."]
[Footnote 5: This sentence reads very awkwardly, owing to the
incorporation of two originally interlined glosses. Reference to the
MS. enables us to isolate these. The sentence there runs thus: "Si
ergo in isto loco mansissem non Ysseal .i. imus esset id est non
paruus sed altus .i. magnus et honorabilis." Here _id est_ occurs
three times, once in full, and twice represented by the common
contraction .i., which is universally used in MSS. of Irish origin for
the introduction of a gloss. If we write the sentence as below,
we shall see the significance of the different ways in which the
expression is written, and by expunging the glosses can make the
sentence less clumsy and more intelligible
_.i. imus_
--"Si ... mansissem, non Ysseal esset, id est non paruus; sed
_.i. magnus et honorabilis_ altus."]
[Footnote 6: Correcting the _vita_ of the MS. to _via_, in conformity
with VG.]
* * * * *
THE SECOND LATIN LIFE OF SAINT CIARAN
II. THE ORIGIN AND BIRTH OF CIARAN
1. A glorious man; and an abbot in life most holy, Queranus, was born
of a father Boecius, of a mother Darercha. This man drew his origin
from the northern part of Ireland, that is, he was of the Aradenses by
race. Now he was so illuminated by divine grace from his boyhood, that
it was clearly apparent of what manner he was destined to be. For he
was as a burning lamp in extraordinary charity, so as to show not only
the warmth of a pious heart and devotion in relieving the necessity
of men, but also an unwearied sympathy for the needs of irrational
animals. And because such a lamp should not be hidden under a bushel,
so from his boyhood he began to sparkle with the marvels of miracles.
III. HOW CIARAN RAISED THE STEED OF OENGUS FROM DEATH
2. For when the horse of the son of the king of that territory
perished with a sudden death, and the young man was much grieved at
its fall, there appeared to him in dreams a man of venerable and
shining countenance, who forbade him to be grieved for the death of
the horse, saying unto him, "Call," said he, "the holy boy Keranus,
and let him pour water into the mouth of thy horse, and sprinkle its
forehead, and it shall revive. And thou shalt endow him with due
reward for its resurrection."
When the king's son had wakened from sleep, he sent for the boy
Keranus that he should come to him; who, when he made his presence
known, and heard the dream throughout, according to what the angel
taught him, sprinkled the horse with holy water and raised it from
death. When this great miracle was seen, the king of that territory
made over to Saint Keranus a fertile and spacious field in honour of
Omnipotent God, in Whose Name his horse was resurrected.
IV. HOW CIARAN TURNED WATER INTO HONEY
3. Moreover it fell out on a certain day that the mother of Keranus
himself found fault with him, for that he did not bring wild honey
such as the other boys were wont to carry to their parents. When the
beloved of God and men heard this, he raised his thoughts to the Boy
who was subject to His parents, and blessed water, brought from a
neighbouring spring, in His Name who is able to draw honey from the
rock, and oil from the hardest stone; and presently that water is
changed, with the help of God, into the sweetest honey, and so it is
brought to his mother. This honey his parents sent to Saint Dermicius
the deacon, surnamed Iustus, who baptized him.
XVII. HOW CIARAN WENT WITH HIS COW TO THE SCHOOL OF FINDIAN
4. Now when the rudiments of letters had been read [with him] by the
saint aforesaid, he proposed to go to the blessed abbey of Cluayn
Hirard for instruction. And as he wished to fulfil in deed what he had
begun to conceive of in his mind, he asked a cow of his parents for
his sustenance. But when his mother would not grant his petition, the
Heavenly Father, Who loveth those whom He regardeth as a mother her
son, did not tarry to fulfil the desire of his beloved. For a milch
cow, together with her calf, followed him as though she had been
driven after him by her herdsman.
When he had come to the sacred college of Saint Fynnianus, they all
had no small joy at his arrival. But the cow, which had followed him,
was pastured along with her calf, nor did it [the calf] attempt
to touch the udders of its mother without permission. Keranus so
separated and divided its pastures, that the mother would only lick
the calf, and would not offer to suckle it. Now the milk of that cow
was rich in such abundance that, divided daily, it would supply a
sufficiency of provision for twelve men.
But the holy youth Keranus, deeply occupied with the sacred Scripture,
shone in holiness and wisdom among his fellow-students as a brilliant
star among the other stars. For he was filled with the fragrance of
perfect charity, with moral worth, with holiness of life, and with
sweetness of humility, gracious, honourable, and admirable to present
and to absent.
XXVI. HOW CIARAN FREED A WOMAN FROM SERVITUDE
5. One day he made his way to a king, Tuathlus by name, to intercede
for the liberation of a certain bond-maid. When he besought the king
fervently for her, and _he_ rejected the prayers of the servant of God
as though they were ravings, he thought out a new method of liberating
her, and determined that he himself should serve the king in her
place. Now when he was coming to the house in which the girl was
grinding, the doors which were shut opened to him. Entering, he showed
himself a second Bishop Paulinus to her. Without delay the king
freed her, and further presented his vesture to the servant of God.
Receiving this, he forthwith distributed it to the poor.
XXIV. THE STORY OF THE MILL AND THE BAILIFF'S DAUGHTER _(abstract
only)_
6. It fell out one night that the eminent doctor Finnianus sent him
with grain of wheat to the mill. Now a certain kingling who lived
near, learning that one of the disciples of the man of God had come
thither, sent him flesh and ale by a servant. When they had presented
the gift of such a man, he answered, "That it may be common," said he,
"to the brethren, cast it all on the surface of the mill." When the
messenger had done this, it was all turned into wheat. When he heard
this, the king gave him the steading in which he was dwelling, with
all his goods, in perpetuity: but Keranus made it over to his master,
for a monastery was afterwards erected there. But the bread made
of that grain tasted to the brethren like flesh and ale, and so it
refreshed them.
XXX. THE ADVENTURE OF THE ROBBERS OF LOCH ERNE
7. Now when a space of time had passed, the licence and benediction of
his master having been obtained, he made his way to Saint Nynnidus who
was dwelling in a wood _(sic)_ of Loch Erny. Now when he had arrived
he was received with great joy and unfeigned love. As he was daily
becoming perfect in the discipline of manners and of virtue, on a
certain day, as one truly obedient, he went forth to the groves hard
by with brethren to cut timber. For it was a custom in that sacred
college, that three monks, with an elder, always went out in
prescribed order to transport timber. As the others were cutting wood,
he by himself, as was his wont, was intent on prayer to God. Meanwhile
certain wicked robbers, ferried over in a boat to that island, fell
upon the aforesaid brethren and slew them, and bore away their heads.
But Keranus, not hearing the sound of his companions hacking, was
surprised, and in wonder he hurried to the place where he had left
them labouring. When he saw what had been done to the brethren he
heaved heavy sighs and was deeply grieved; and he followed the
murderers by their track, and found them in the harbour, sweating to
carry their boat in the harbour to the water, but unable to do so. For
God so fastened their skiff to the land that by no means could they
remove it. So being unable to resist the will of the All-Powerful,
they beseech as suppliants pardon of the man of God, then present.
Mindful of his Master as He prayed for the Jews who were crucifying
Him, he, a holy one, poured forth prayers for them, unworthy as they
were, to the Fount of Piety; and strengthened by the virtue of his
prayer, they were able to convey their boat quite easily to the water.
In payment for this benefit he obtained from the robbers the heads of
his brethren. When he had received these, he made his way back to the
place where their bodies had been lying, and fervently asked of God
to show forth His omnipotence in the resuscitation of His servants in
this life. Wondrous is what I relate, but in the truth of fact most
manifest. He fitted the heads to the bodies, and recalled them to life
by the virtue of the holy prayer--nay, rather, what is more correct,
he obtained their recall. These, thus marvellously resuscitated, bore
timber back to the monastery. But so long as they lived they bore the
scars of the wounds on their necks.
IX. HOW CIARAN RESTORED A CALF WHICH A WOLF HAD DEVOURED
8. At another time when he was keeping the herds of his parents in
a certain place, a cow gave birth to a calf in his presence. But a
[hound], altogether wasted with leanness, came, desiring to fill [his
belly] with whatso falleth from the body of the mother with the calf,
and stood before the dutiful shepherd. To which he said, "Eat,
poor wretch, yonder calf, for great is thy need of it." The hound,
fulfilling the commands of Queranus, devoured the calf down to the
bones. But as Queranus returned with the kine to the house, that one,
recalling her calf to memory, was running hither and thither, lowing;
and the mother of Queranus, recognising the cause of the lowing, said
with indignation to the boy, "Quiranus, restore the calf, though it be
burnt with fire or drowned with water." But he, obeying his mother's
commands, making his way to the place where the calf had been
devoured, collected its bones and resuscitated the calf.
V. HOW CIARAN WAS DELIVERED FROM A HOUND
9. At a certain time, when he was passing along a road, certain men
spurred by a malignant spirit incited a most savage dog to do him a
hurt. But Queranus, trusting in his Lord, fortified himself with the
shield of devout prayer, and said, "Deliver not to beasts the souls of
them that trust in Thee, O Lord": and soon that dog died.
XXXI. HOW CIARAN FLOATED A FIREBRAND ON THE LAKE
10. At another time when he was left alone in that island, he heard a
poor man in the harbour asking that fire be given to him. For it
was now the time of cold: but he had no boat whereby to satisfy the
petition of the poor man, though much he desired to do so. And because
charity suffereth all things, he cast a burning firebrand into the
lake, and the heat of love that sent it prevailing over the waters, it
came to the poor man.
XXXII. CIARAN IN ARAN
11. Now when the man of God had spent a certain time there, with the
licence of Nynnidus he hastened to Saint Endeus, abbot in Ara; who
was filled with no small joy at his coming. Now on a certain night he
dreamed that he had seen beside the bank of the great river Synan a
great leafy and fruitful tree which over-shadowed all Ireland. Which
dream he related to blessed Endeus on the following day. But Endeus
himself bore witness that he had seen the same vision that night,
which vision Endeus interpreted: "The tree," he said, "thou art it,
who shalt be great before God and men, and honourable throughout all
Ireland; because she is protected from demons and from other perils
by the shadow of thy help and grace, as under the shadow of a
health-giving tree. Many near and far shall the fruit of thy works
advantage. Wherefore according to the decree of God who revealeth
secrets, depart to the place that hath been shown thee before, and
there abide, according to the grace given thee of God." Comforted by
the interpretation of this vision, in true obedience he obeyed the
command of Saint Endeus his spiritual father.
XXXIV. HOW CIARAN VISITED SENAN
12. And having set forth on the way he found in his journey a poor
man, to whom, as he asked an alms of him, he made over his cloak. And
when he had arrived at the island of Cathacus, blessed Senanus learnt
of his arrival, the Spirit revealing it to him, and coming to meet him
he said as though smiling, "Is it not shame for a presbyter to journey
without a cloak?" For Senanus in the spirit knew how he had given it
to a poor man. And so he came to meet him with a cloak. And Keranus
said, "My elder," said he, "beareth a cloak for me under his vesture."
XXXV. CIARAN IN ISEL
13. When he had received it and returned thanks to the giver, he came
for sacred converse to the cell of his brother Luctigernnus, where
also was his other brother, Odranus by name. There for some time he
prolonged his sojourn, and was guest-master. Now one day when he was
reading in the open air in the cemetery, guests came unexpectedly,
whom he led to the guest-house, having left his book open in
forgetfulness: and he washed their feet with devotion, and did the
other services necessary for them, for the sake of Christ. Meanwhile,
when the night darkness had fallen, there was a great rain. But He Who
bedewed the fleece of Gideon, but afterwards kept it untouched by the
dew, so preserved the book of holy Keranus, open though it was, from
the rushing waters, that not a drop fell upon it.
XXXVI. THE REMOVAL OF THE LAKE
14. Near to the monastery in which the man of God was then staying,
there was an island, which certain worldly men inhabited, whose uproar
used greatly to disturb the men of God. Whence it happened that
blessed Keranus, compelled by their disquietude, made his way to the
lake, and giving himself up wholly to prayer, succeeded in obtaining
the removal of those who were distressing the servants of God. For
when he ceased from prayer, behold, suddenly the island with the lake
and the inhabitants withdrew to a remote place, so that by no means
could its inhabitants disturb the friends of the Most High. For this
miracle was done in His Name Who overturned Sodom on account of the
sin of its inhabitants, and consumed it with fire. The traces of that
lake, where it formerly was, still exist.
XXXVIII. CIARAN IN INIS AINGIN
15. As the man of God was distributing the goods of the monastery for
the use of the poor, his brethren complaining of this and coming to
him inconsiderately, said, "Depart," said they, "from us, for we
cannot live together." To whom agreeing, and bidding farewell in the
Lord, he transferred himself to an island by name Angina. A monastery
having been founded in this island, many hastening from all sides,
attracted by the fame of his holiness, submitted to the service of
God. Ordering them under strict rules, by face and by habit, by speech
and by life, he showed himself as an example to them. For he was as
an eagle inciting its young to fly, in respect to sublimity of
contemplation; but he lived as the least of them in brotherly
humility. For he was in spiritual meditations attached to the highest
things; yet so much did he stoop to feeble weakness that he seemed as
though he tended towards the lowliest things. He was also perfect
in faith, fervent in charity, rejoicing in hope, gentle of heart,
courteous of speech, patient and long-suffering, kindly in
hospitality, ever diligent in works of piety, benign, gentle,
peaceful, sober, and quiet. To summarise many things in one short
sentence, he was garnished with the ornament of all the virtues.
Expending a care zealous for these and the like matters--the care of
Mary for contemplation, and of Martha for the dispensing of things
temporal--he fulfilled his duty in ordered succession. Nor could the
light of such and so great a lantern be hidden under a bushel: but
it glittered with light, all around, wheresoever it abundantly
illuminated the world with the outpoured glory of its grace.
XXXIX. THE COMING OF OENNA
16. He was nevertheless inspired with a spirit of prophecy, which
appears from the preceding and the following examples. For on a
certain day the voice of one asking for ferrying had struck on his
ears. Then he said to the brethren, "I hear," said he, "the voice of
him whom God will set over you as abbot. Go, therefore, and fetch
him." So they hastened; and coming to the harbour, they found an
unlettered youth. Not caring to lead him to the holy man, they
returned and declared that they had found no one, save an unlettered
youth who was wandering as a vagabond in the woods. But Saint Queranus
said, "Lead him hither," said he, "and despise not your future
pastor." Who being led in, by the inspiration of God and by the
instruction of the holy man, took on him the habit of religion, and
duly learned his letters. For he is Saint Oenius, a man of venerable
life; and, as the saint prophesied beforehand, he was duly set over
the brethren.
XLI. HOW CIARAN WENT FROM INIS AINGHIN TO CLONMACNOIS
17. At length, when some time had passed, a holy man by name
Dompnanus, of Mumonia by race, came to visit the man of God. When
Saint Keranus enquired of him the cause of his coming, he replied
that he wished to have a place in which he could serve the Lord in
security. But Saint Keranus, seeking not his own, but the things of
Jesus Christ, said, "Here," said he, "dwell thou, and I with God's
guidance shall seek a place of habitation elsewhere." Finally, the
sacred community accompanying him, he made his way to the place
foreshown him of God, in which, when the famous and renowned monastery
which is to-day called the city of Cluayn was built, he himself
illuminated the world, like the sun, with the light of famous
miracles.
XLIV. CIARAN AND THE WINE
18. Of the multitude of these miracles we add some here. One time,
when the brethren, labouring in the harvest, were oppressed with
peril of thirst, they sent to holy Father Queranus that they might be
refreshed by the blessing of water. To these, through the servants, he
said: "Choose ye," said he, "one of two things; either that ye be now
revived with water, or that those who are to inhabit this place after
you be blessed with the things of this world." But they answering
said: "We choose," said they, "that those who come after us may abound
in temporal goods, and that we may have the reward of long-suffering
in heaven." And so, rejoicing in the hope of the things to come, they
abstained from drinking, though they were in great need of it.
But in the evening when they were returning home, the tender father,
having compassion on the weariness of the labourers, blessed a vessel
filled with water: and now renewing the holy miracle in Cana of
Galilee, he changed the water into the best wine. By this wine they,
fainting from thirst, were revived; and revived in faith by the
manifestation of an unwonted miracle, they gave praises to God
Almighty. For the taste of this miraculous wine was more grateful than
was wont, and its odour scented the thumb of the wine-drawer so long
as he survived.
XLVI. HOW AN INSULT TO CIARAN WAS AVERTED
19. One day when he was going on a way, most infamous robbers,
seizing him, began to shave the head of the blessed man. But what the
frowardness of man wished to efface, the divine benevolence changed to
the manifestation of a mighty miracle. For in the place of the
shaved hairs other hairs grew forthwith. The robbers, thrown into
consternation by this miracle, were changed to the way of truth, and
at length, serving in the divine army under so great a leader, they
finished their life in holy conversation.
XLVII. HOW CIARAN WAS SAVED FROM SHAME
20. At another time when the good shepherd was feeding his flocks,
three poor men met him. To the first of these he made over his cape,
to the second his cloak, to the third his tunic. But when they were
going away there arrived certain men, leaders of a worldly life. As he
was ashamed to be seen of these without raiment, the Lord Who helpeth
in need so surrounded him with water that except his head no part of
him could they see. But after these men had passed by the water soon
disappeared.
XLVIII. HOW A MAN WAS SAVED FROM ROBBERS
21. After this when some time had passed, certain companions of the
devil were trying to slay a man who dwelt near his monastery: whom,
when the blessed man prayed for him, God marvellously rescued. For
when they were slaughtering the man, they were striking on a stone
statue. The robbers, when at last they perceived this, being pricked
in the heart, hasten to the shepherd of souls, Queranus: they humbly
acknowledge their crime; and, amending their way of life, they served
faithfully under the yoke of Christ until death.
XLIX. THE DEATH OF CIARAN
22. The most glorious soldier of Christ, shining with these and many
other [miracles], like the luminary which presides over the day, as he
reached the setting of his natural course, approached it, seized with
grievous sickness. But because he who shall have endured unto the end
shall be saved, so the champion of Christ, not only strengthening
himself in the battle of this conflict, but also calling on souls to
conquer, caused the stone, on which, supporting his head, he was wont
until then to concede a little sleep to his body, to be placed even
under his shoulders; then raising his holy hand he blessed the
brethren, and, fortified by reception of the viaticum of salvation,
gave back his soul to heaven. For as that blessed soul departed from
the body, the choirs of angels with hymns and songs received it into
the glory of God.
LI. THE EARTH OF CIARAN'S TOMB DELIVERS COLUM CILLE FROM A WHIRLPOOL
23. Also, when the most blessed abbot of Christ, Columba, heard of the
death of Saint Keranus, he composed a notable hymn about him: and he
brought it down with him to the monastery of Cluayn, where, as was
fitting, he was received with hospitality in honour. Now as for the
hymn, the abbot who was then presiding, and the others who had heard
it, lauded it with many lofty praises. But when Saint Columba was
departing thence, he took away with him earth from the sacred grave of
Saint Keranus, knowing in the spirit how useful this would be against
future perils of the sea. For in the part of the sea which bears
towards the monastery of Í, there is a very great danger to those who
cross, partly because of the vehemence of the currents, and partly
because of the narrowness of the sea; so that ships are whirled round
and driven in a circle, and thus are often sunk. For it is rightly
compared to Scylla and Charybdis; I mean that by its grave and
unmitigated dangerousness, evil is there the lot of sailors. When they
were coming to this strait, they suddenly began to glide into it in
their course: and when they looked for nothing but death, and because
they were as though apt to be devoured by the horrible jaws of the
abyss, then Saint Columba taking some of the aforesaid dust that had
been taken from the tomb of blessed Keranus, cast it into that sea.
Then there befell a thing marvellous and worthy of great wonder; for
sooner than it is told, that cruel storm ceased, and accorded them a
quiet passage. Truly do the just live for ever; among whom blessed
Queranus reigneth, the earth or dust of whose sepulchre stilled the
sea, established in the Faith the hearts of those who feared, and
strengthened them to good works. Wherefore blessed Keranus liveth not
only for God, to whom he is inseparably bound, but also for men, on
whom in time of need he bestoweth benefits.
A RIME ABOUT HIM
1. As the mother of Quiaranus sat in a noisy carriage, a wizard heard
the sound and said out to his attendant lads, "See ye who is in the
carriage, for it soundeth under a king." "The wife," say they, "of
Beodus the wright sitteth here." The wizard says: "She shall bear a
king acceptable to all, whose works shall shine like Phoebus in the
sky." The soldier of Christ, Keranus, a temple of the Holy Spirit,
flourished in the virtue of spiritual piety.
2. He bestowed the sucking calf of a cow on a hound; then his mother
severely upbraided Queranus. He asked the devoured calf from the hound
itself, and presently bearing back its bones he restored it.
3. The bald head of a royal woman had been made bare by the envy of an
evil concubine; when it was signed in the name of Queranus it shone
adorned with golden hair.
4. When Queranus was occupied with sacred studies, and asked time that
he might engage himself therein, then the mill is moved for him by
angels.
5. The gospel text had fallen into a lake, but when time passed, by
the merits of Queranus, a cow brought it back sound from the abyss.
6. When as a boy he was praying the Lord, and was spending his time in
prayer, fire came from above in the citadel of the pole. The dead boy
descried the lights of life, and the saints glorify the mighty Lord.
Sparkling fire falling from heaven is kindled and forthwith he
completes his especial duty.
7. To the high and ineffable company of apostles of the heavenly
Jerusalem, the lofty watch-tower, sitting on thrones shining like the
sun, Queranus the holy priest, the eminent messenger of Christ, is
exalted by the heavenly hands of angels, with the happy clans of holy
ones made perfect; whom Thou, Christ, hast sent as a man, an apostle
to the world, glorious in all the latest times.
* * * * *
THE THIRD LATIN LIFE OF SAINT CIARAN
II. THE ORIGIN AND BIRTH OF CIARAN: THE WIZARD'S PROPHECIES
1. The blessed and venerable abbot Queranus was born of a noble and
religious stock of the Scots, of a father Beoid, that is Boeus, by
name, who was a cartwright, and of a mother Darerca; of these many
saints were born. This man of God was prophesied of by Saint Patrick,
fifty years before his birth. Moreover when his mother, sitting in
a carriage one day, passed near the house of a certain wizard, the
wizard, hearing the noise of the carriage said in prophecy, "The
carriage soundeth under a king." And when his folk went in surprise to
see the truth of the matter, and beheld no one but the wife of Boeus
in the carriage, they said in mockery, "Lo, the wife of Beoit sitteth
in the carriage." To whom the wizard said, "Not of her do I speak, but
of the son whom she hath in her womb, who shall be a mighty king; and
as the sun blazeth in mid-day, so shall he with miracles shine and
illumine this island." After this, as his father was being burdened
under the taxes of Anmereus, that is Anmirech, leaving his native
region he departed into the territory of the Conactei; and there in
the plain of Ay he begat his blessed son Queranus, who was baptized
and instructed by a certain holy man, Dermicius by name. And the holy
boy, in manners beyond his years, worked many wonders.
III. HOW CIARAN RAISED THE STEED OF OENGUS FROM DEATH
2. So when the horse of the son of the king of that territory died by
accident, he saw in a vision a shining man saying to him, "The holy
boy Quieranus who liveth among you, can quicken thy horse. Present him
with a reward for the health of thy horse, and he shall resuscitate
him." The royal youth, awakened from sleep, went to Queranus, and
prayed him on behalf of the horse. The holy boy, without delay,
blessed water, and when he poured it into the mouth of the horse it
was restored to its former health. And when the king saw what was
done, he made over an excellent field as a reward to Saint Quieranus.
IV. HOW CIARAN TURNED WATER INTO HONEY
3. At another time his mother upbraided him because, though the other
boys collected honey for their mothers, he used to bring her no honey.
But hearkening humbly to his mother, he went to a neighbouring spring,
and carrying thence a vessel full of water, he blessed it, and it was
changed into excellent honey.
V. HOW CIARAN WAS DELIVERED FROM A HOUND
4. On a certain other day some men, spurred by a malignant spirit,
incited a most savage dog to devour the holy man. But Keranus trusting
in the Lord, and fortifying himself with the buckler of prayer, said,
"Deliver not the soul that trusteth in Thee unto beasts"; and soon the
dog died.
IX. HOW CIARAN RESTORED A CALF WHICH A WOLF HAD DEVOURED
5. When at another time he was feeding the herds of his parents, as
men are wont to do,[1] a cow brought forth a calf in his presence. But
there came a hound consumed with leanness, seeking to fill his belly
with what fell from the body of the mother along with the calf; and
moved with compassion he said unto him, "Eat, poor wretch, yonder
calf, for great is thy need of it." The hound fulfilled the commands
of Keranus, and ate the calf to the bones. As Keranus returned home to
the house of his parents with the herds, the cow, recalling the
calf to memory, went running about lowing. The mother of Keranus,
recognising the cause of its lowing, said with indignation to the
boy, "Restore the calf, Keranus, even though it be burnt with fire or
drowned in the sea." But he, obeying his mother, returned to the place
where the calf had been devoured, collected the bones, and carried
them with him and placed them before the mother [_father_,
MS.], asking his God with diligence to hear his prayers for the
resuscitation of the calf. And God hearkened to the holy one, and
resuscitated the calf in the presence of his parents.
X. HOW CIARAN WAS DELIVERED FROM ROBBERS
6. At another time there came robbers to him when he was feeding the
herds of his parents, wishing to slay him, so that they might the more
easily reave what they would. But God had regard to their attempt from
on high, and so multiplied infirmities upon them that they turned in
haste to God. For they were smitten with blindness, nor could they
move hand or foot, till they wrought repentance, and were loosed by
the merit of Saint Keranus: recovering the light of their eyes and the
vigour of their other members.
XIV. HOW CIARAN GAVE THE KING'S CAULDRON TO BEGGARS AND WAS ENSLAVED
7. It happened after this that he gave a cauldron belonging to the
king, as he had nothing else to give to poor folk asking of him an
alms. When the king heard what had been done, he was greatly enraged,
and commanded his people to bring Saint Keranus to him in bonds. When
he was led to the king, he gave sentence that he should be reduced to
servitude, and be set apart for grinding at the quern. But God, having
regard to the humiliation of His servant, caused the mill to be moved
of itself without human hand, and left Ciaran free to chant his
Psalms. After a few days coppersmiths from the land of the Mumunienses
brought three cooking-pots with them, and offered them to Saint
Keranus. Giving thanks for these to God, he was delivered from the
yoke of servitude.
XXIII. THE BLESSING OF CIARAN'S FOOD
8. When on a certain day he was journeying alone, and the time of
partaking of food had come, seeking one to bless for him he said
"_Benedic._" And as no one answered, he departed, fasting. On the
following day, seeking one to bless and finding him not, he went on
fasting in like manner. On the third day he went forth fasting,
and being weary with the journey he lay down; and when he asked a
benediction as was customary, a voice came from heaven and blessed his
meal, and so, eating and giving thanks, he completed his journey.
XV. HOW CIARAN REPROVED HIS MOTHER
9. One time when he was coming from the fields to the house certain
strangers met him; and when he had asked them whence they had come,
they said, "From the house of Boetius the wright." And when he had
again asked them how they had been refreshed there, they answered,
"Not only got we no food, but the woman of the house heaped insults
and abuse upon us." But he, fired with the flames of charity, went to
his father's house, and cast whatsoever of food he found there into
the mud, thinking that what was not offered to Christ, and that in
which the pleasure of the devil was wrought, was corrupt and unclean
and should not be eaten of any.
XVI. THE BREAKING OF THE CARRIAGE-AXLE
10. At another time when with his father he was sitting in a carriage,
the axle of the carriage broke in two; but yet for the whole day they
continued their journey safely, without any mishap.
XVII. HOW CIARAN WENT WITH HIS COW TO THE SCHOOL OF FINDIAN
11. After these things, having heard the renown of the holiness and
sound doctrine of Saint Finnianus of Cluayn Hyrart, he desired to
hasten to him as to a living fountain, and asked of his mother a cow,
to yield him the food necessary to sustain life. When his mother
refused his request, he went to the kine of his mother, trusting in
his God, and blessed one of them in the name of God; and the cow, by
the favour of God, mindful of the blessing of the man of God, followed
him with her calf till he had arrived at the church of the man of God
Fynnianus. When the man of God arrived at the place of his desire, he
drew a dividing-line with his rod between the cow and the calf, in
the name of Him who set a boundary to the waters that they should not
transgress their limit, and this they did not cross till they were
permitted. The milk of that cow was sufficient for twelve men every
day.
XVIII. THE ANGELS GRIND FOR CIARAN
12. At that time there were twelve very holy and reverend men reading
in that school, and each of them on his day ground at the quern with
his own hand, as was customary. But in the day of Saint Keranus the
angels of God used to turn the quern for him.
XXX. THE ADVENTURE OF THE ROBBERS OF LOCH ERNE
13. At another time, when blessed Keranus had been in an island
situated in Loch Eirne, in the school of a holy man; and it was a
custom with the saints that three men should go out with an elder to
bring in timber; it was the lot of Saint Keranus to go to the forest
with three monks to cut timber. And when he was praying apart and the
others were cutting wood, robbers came and slew those three monks, and
cut off and carried away their heads with them. Saint Keranus, not
hearing the sound of those who were hacking and hewing timber,
returned from the place of prayer and found his three companions slain
and decapitated. But the man of God, though first he grieved sorely
over this deed, yet, recovering his power from Him Who deserteth not
His own in their necessity, hastened after the murderers, and found
them sweating to drag a little boat down to the water. But it was
wondrously contrived that the skiff should weigh most heavily, like
a ship, and with this their bodily strength wholly failed them. Then
they turned themselves to the holy man, and begging pardon of him,
they obtained it in mercy. And when as a price for their restored
strength he obtained the heads of his companions from the robbers, he
ran with them to the place where the bodies of the martyrs were lying,
placed each of them respectively at the junction with its body, and
restored them to life from death in the Name of the Holy Trinity.
And as a sign of this unwonted miracle, so long as they lived there
remained a blood-marked circle round their necks, that thereby
the Faithful should be strengthened in the Faith and the infidels
confuted. It endeth; Amen.
[Footnote 1: _More humano_: but is this an error for _in quodam
loco_?]
* * * * *
THE IRISH LIFE OF SAINT CIARAN
I. THE HOMILETIC INTRODUCTION
1. _Omnia quaecumque uultis ut faciant homines uobis, ita et uos
faciatis illis, haec est enim lex et prophetae:_ "Every good thing
that ye wish to be done unto you by men, let it be likewise that ye do
to them, for that is Law and Prophecy."
Now He Who prohibiteth every evil, Who proclaimeth every good, Who
reconcileth God and man, Jesus Christ Son of the Living God, the
Saviour of the whole world, He it is Who spake these words; to teach
His apostles and His disciples and the whole Church concerning the
covenant[1] of charity; that men should do of good and of charity to
their neighbour as much as they would do unto themselves. To that end
saith Jesus, _Omnia quaecumque uultis_. Now Matthew son of Alphaeus,
the eminent sage of the Hebrews, one of the four who expounded the
Gospel of the Lord, he it is who wrote these words in the heart of his
Gospel, saying after his Master Jesus, _Omnia quaecumque_.
_Si ergo uos, cum sitis mali, nostis bona data dare filiis uestris,
quanto magis Pater uester celestis dabit bona petentibus Se:_[2] That
is, "If ye being men _[sic]_ give good gifts to your children, much
more shall the Heavenly Father give good to His children who ask
Him." It is after these words that Jesus spake this counsel, _Omnia
quaecumque,_ etc. For Law and Prophecy command us to give love to God
and to the neighbour. _Finis enim precepti caritas est, quia caritas
propria et specialis uirtus est Christianorum. Nam caeterae uirtutes
bonis et malis possunt esse communes; caritatem autem habere nisi
perfecti non possunt. Vnde Iesus ait, "In hoc cognoscent omnes quod
discipuli Mei estis, si dilexeritis inuicem."_ "For the roof and
summit of divine doctrine is charity, because charity is the especial
virtue of the Christians. For the other virtues may belong to good and
to evil men alike; but none hath charity save good men only. Wherefore
Jesus saith, 'Hereby shall all men recognise that ye are of My folk,
if each of you loveth his fellow as I have loved you.'"[3] _Et iterum
dixit Iesus: Hoc est preceptum meum ut diligatis inuicem sicut dilexi
uos._ "And thus said Jesus further: 'This is my counsel to you, that
each of you love his fellow as I have loved you.'"
Many of the children of life, apostles and disciples of the Lord, have
thenceforward fulfilled with zeal and with piety the counsel that
Jesus gave them as to fulfilling charity; as _he_ fulfilled and loved
charity especially beyond all virtues, to wit the noble glorious
apostle, the father confessor, the spark-flashing, the man through
whom the west of the world shone with signs and wonders, with virtues
and with good deeds, _Sanctus Ciaranus sacerdos et apostolus Dei_, the
archpresbyter and apostle Saint Ciaran, son of the wright. Now he was
son of the Wright Who formed heaven and earth with all that in them
is, according to his heavenly genealogy; and son of the wright who
used to frame carriages and all other handiworks beside, according to
his earthly genealogy.
The date which the Faithful honour as the feast-day of this noble one
is the fifth of the ides of September according to the day of the
solar month, and this day to-day according to the day of the week.
Accordingly I shall relate a short memoir of the signs and wonders of
that devout one, for a delight of soul to the Faithful; and of his
earthly generation, and of his mode of life,[4] and of the perfection
which he gave to his victorious course in the earth. A man held
greatly in honour of the Lord was this man. A man for whom God
reserved his monastery, fifty years before his birth; a man whom
Christ accounteth in the order of apostles in this world, as Colum
Cille said--
_Quem Tu Christe apostolum mundo misisti hominem._
A lamp was he, shining with the light of wisdom and doctrine, as Colum
Cille said--
_Lucerna huius insulae lucens luce mirabili._
A man who established a cathedral from which was drawn the
effectiveness of rule, and wisdom, and doctrine, for all the churches
of Ireland, as the same man of learning said--
_Custodiantur regmina adcessione edita Diuulgata per omnia
sanctorum monasteria_[5]--
that is, "Let the rules and doctrines and customs which have been
received from the master, from Ciaran, be kept by the elders of these
monasteries; thus, these are the rules and customs that have been
distributed and received of all the monasteries of saints of Ireland."
For it is from her [Clonmacnois] that are carried rules and precepts
throughout Ireland.
He is a man whom the Lord accounteth of the order of chief prophets in
this world, as the same prophet said--
_Propheta qui nouissimus fuerit praesagminibus,_[6]
for it was by reason of his nobility and his reverence before the Lord
that he was foretold of prophets long before his birth, as Isaac was
foretold, and John the Baptist, and Jesus, which is something yet
nobler.[7] First Patrick son of Calpurn prophesied of him in Cruachan
Aigli, after the tree had closed around his relics in the place where
that settlement is now. Brigit prophesied of him when she saw the
fire and the angel, fifty years before Ciaran, in the place where the
Crosses of Brigit are to-day. Becc mac De prophesied, saying there--
Son of the wright
with choruses, with choirs,
In comely cloak,
with chariots, with chants.
Colum Cille prophesied in Ard Abla to Aed son of Brandub (or of
Brenainn).
II. THE ORIGIN AND BIRTH OF CIARAN: THE WIZARD'S PROPHECIES
2. Now this is the genealogy of Ciaran--
Ciaran, son of Lairne, son of Bresal, son of
Beoit " Cuiltre " Dega "
Olchan " Gluinech " Reo-soirche, son of
Dichu " Coirpre " Reo-doirche "
Corc " Lug " Tigernmas "
Cuindiu " Meidle " Follach "
Cuinnid " Dub " Eithrial "
Fiac " Lugna " Irel the prophet, son of
Mael-Catrach, son of Feidlimid " Eremon "
Laire " Echu " Mil of Spain.
Beoit son of Olchan of the Latharna of Mag Molt of the Ulaid was
earthly father of Ciaran. Darerca daughter of Ercan son of Buachall
was his mother, as Ciaran said--
Mother mine, a woman good,
she Darerca hight;
Father, of Molt's Latharna
he was Beoit the wright.
Of the Ciarraige of Irluachra was his mother, that is, more
especially, of the Glasraige. Glas the Poet was her grandfather. Now
this was the cause of the coming together of those twain. When
Beoit went to visit his brethren who were in the territory of Cenel
Fiachrach, and when he saw the maiden Darerca before him, he asked for
her of her [friends and her][8] parents, so that she was given him to
wife. Thereafter she bore five sons to him, and this is the order in
which they were born: Lucoll her firstborn, Donnan the second, Ciaran
the third, Odran the fourth, Cronan the fifth--he was a deacon, but
the other four sons were archpresbyters. Furthermore she bore three
daughters to him; two of them were virgins, to wit Lugbec and Rathbeo;
Pata was the third daughter, and she was a pious widow. These are the
graveyards wherein are the relics of those saints; Lucholl and Odran
in Isel Chiarain, Donnan and Ciaran in Cluain maccu Nois, Cronan the
deacon and Beoit and the three daughters in _Tech meic in tSaeir_.
Now there was an impious king in the land of Ui Neill at that time,
Ainmire son of Colgan his name. He impressed the tribelands and the
septs under a grievous tax. So Beoit went, a-fleeing from that king,
into the land of the Connachta, to Cremthann son of Lugaid son of
Dallan King of Ireland, to Raith Cremthainn in Mag Ai. The day on
which Ciaran was conceived was the sixth of the calends of June, and
he was born on the sixth of the calends of March.
The birth of Ciaran was prophesied by Lugbrann the wizard of the
aforesaid king. The wizard _dixit_--
Oengus' steed he made alive,
while he yet in cradle rested;
God this marvel did contrive,
by Ciaran, in swathing vested.
One day when the wizard heard the sound of the carriage [he spake
thus: "See, lads," said he, "who is in the carriage][9]--for here is
the sound of a carriage that bears a king." When the lads went out
they saw no one save Beoit and Darerca in the carriage. When the lads
mocked the wizard, thus spake he: "The child who is in the womb of
the woman," said he, "shall be a great king: as the sun shineth among
the stars of heaven, so shall he shine, in signs and wonders that
cannot be related, upon the earth."
Thereafter was Saint Ciaran born, in Mag Ai at Raith Cremthainn. He
was baptized by deacon Iustus, for it was fitting that the true one
should be baptized by a True One.
III. HOW CIARAN RAISED THE STEED OF OENGUS FROM DEATH
3. A certain day the horse of Oengus son of Cremthann died, and he
had great sadness because of the death of his horse. Now when Oengus
slumbered, an angel of God appeared to him in a dream, and thus he
spake with him: "Ciaran son of the wright shall come, and shall raise
thy horse for thee." And this was fulfilled, for Ciaran came at the
word of the angel, and blessed water, and it was put over the horse,
and the horse arose from death forthwith. Then Oengus gifted a great
land to God and to Ciaran in return for the raising of the horse;
Tir-na Gabrai is the name of the land.
IV. HOW CIARAN TURNED WATER INTO HONEY
4. A certain day his mother upbraided him. "The little village lads,"
said she, "bring with them honey out from the combs to their folks,
but thou bringest it never to us." When Ciaran heard that, he went to
a certain spring, and he fills his vessel from it, and blesses it: so
that it became choice honey, and he gives that honey to his mother; so
she was thankful. That is the honey which was given to deacon Uis (=
Iustus) as a fee for baptizing him.
V. HOW CIARAN WAS DELIVERED FROM A HOUND
5. A certain day evil men incited a savage hound against Ciaran, to
tear him. When Ciaran saw the hound, he sang this verse: _Ne tradas
bestiis animam confitentem tibi._ And when he said this the hound fell
forthwith and did not rise again.
VI. HOW CIARAN AND HIS INSTRUCTOR CONVERSED THOUGH DISTANT FROM ONE
ANOTHER
6. This was the labour that his parents used to lay upon him, namely,
herding, after the likeness of David son of Jesse, and of Jacob,
and of the elders thenceforth, for God knew that he would be a wise
shepherd of great flocks, that is, the flocks of the Faithful.
Thereafter a marvellous thing took place at Raith Cremthainn in Mag
Ai: he was keeping the flocks of [his parents at Raith Cremthainn, and
there was dwelling][10] his tutor, deacon Uis, at Fidharta, and there
was a long space between them: yet he used to hear what his tutor was
saying as though they were side by side.
VII. CIARAN AND THE FOX
7. Then there came a fox to Ciaran from out the wood, and behaved
tamely with him. It would often visit him, so that he bade it do him
a service, namely, to carry his book of Psalms between him and his
teacher, deacon Uis. For when he would say in Fidharta, "Say this
in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit,"
Ciaran would hear in Raith Cremthainn, from that on to the end of the
lesson; and the fox would be awaiting the lesson obediently till its
writing on wax was completed, and thereafter he would carry it with
him to Ciaran.[11]
Once on a time his natural treacherousness broke forth in the fox, and
he began to eat the book: for he was greedy for the leather that was
bound around the book outside. While he was eating the book, there
came Oengus son of Cremthann with kernes and with hounds, so that they
chased him, and he found no sanctuary till he came under the cloak of
Ciaran. The name of God and Ciaran's were magnified by the rescue of
the book from the fox and by the rescue of the fox from the hounds.
The book is what is now called the "Tablet of Ciaran."
Most consonant with these things is it for evil men who are near to
the Church, and who profit by the advantages of the Church--communion,
and baptism, and food, and teaching--and withal stay not from
persecuting the Church, until there come upon themselves the
persecution of some king, or mortality, or a disease unknown: and then
they needs must flee under the protection of the Church, as the fox
went under the cloak of Ciaran![12]
VIII. HOW CIARAN SPOILED HIS MOTHER'S DYE
8. A certain day the mother of Ciaran was making blue dye, and she
had reached the point of putting the garments therein. Then said his
mother to him, "Get thee out, Ciaran." For they thought it unbecoming
that males should be in the house when garments were being dyed. "May
there be a dun stripe upon them!" said Ciaran. Of all the garments
that were put into the dye, there was not one that had not a dun
stripe upon it. The dye is prepared again, and his mother said, "Go
out, Ciaran, this time, and now, Ciaran, let there be no dun stripe."
Then he said--
Alleluia Domine!
White my mother's dye let be!
When in my hand it's gone,
Be it white as bone!
When boiling it is stirred,
Be it white as curd!
Accordingly every garment that was placed therein was of a uniform
whiteness. For the third time is the dye made. "Ciaran," said his
mother, "hurt me not the dye now, but let it receive a blessing from
thee." When Ciaran blessed the dye, never was dye made so good, before
or since; for though all the garments of Cenel Fiachrach (_sic_) were
placed in its _iarcain_, it would turn them blue; and at the last it
turned blue the dogs and the cats and the trees that came in contact
with it.
IX. HOW CIARAN RESTORED A CALF WHICH A WOLF HAD DEVOURED
9. Once he was tending kine. A miserable wolf came to him. Now this
was a habitual expression with him, "Mercy on us." [He said to the
wolf in compassion][13] "Rise and devour the calf and break or eat not
its bones." The wolf went and did so. When the cow lowed a-seeking the
calf, his mother spake thus to him: "Tell me, Ciaran, where is the
calf of this cow? Let the calf be restored by thee, whatsoever death
it has died." Ciaran went to the place where the wolf had devoured the
calf, and collected the bones of the calf, and brought them before the
cow, and the calf arose and stood up. _Ut dixit_--
One day when, assiduously
Ciaran the kine was havening,
He a calf for charity
Gave to a wolf ravening.[14]
X. HOW CIARAN WAS DELIVERED FROM ROBBERS
10. A certain day there came robbers from Ui Failge to slay people [in
the land][15] of Cenel Fiachach, and they found Saint Ciaran a-reading
with his herds; and they went forward to slay him. But they were
smitten with blindness, and could stir neither foot nor hand, till
they wrought repentance, and were loosed by the word of God and of
Ciaran.
XIV. HOW CIARAN GAVE THE KING'S CAULDRON TO BEGGARS AND WAS ENSLAVED
11. Another time his father sent him to present a cauldron to
the king, even to Furban. There met him poor men on the way, and
[Ciaran][16] gifts the king's cauldron to them. So he was put in bonds
then, and slavery was imposed on him at the king's hands; and this was
the labour put upon him, to grind at the quern. Then great marvels
came to pass, for when he went to grind at the quern, it would turn of
itself, and did so continually. They were the angels of the Lord who
used to grind for his sake. Not long thereafter there came smiths from
the lands of Muma, with three cauldrons for Ciaran as an alms, and
thus was Ciaran delivered from servitude to the king.
XVII. HOW CIARAN WENT WITH HIS COW TO THE SCHOOL OF FINDIAN
12. Now after those things Ciaran thought it time to go a-schooling
to Findian of Cluain Iraird, to learn wisdom. He begged a cow of his
mother and of his father, to take it with him to serve him.[17] His
mother said that she would not give it him. He blessed one of the
kine, to wit the Dun Cow of Ciaran, as she was called thenceforward,
and she went with her calf after Ciaran thence to Cluain Iraird.
Afterwards he drew a line with his staff between them, for between
them there was no fence, and the cow used to lick the calf and neither
of them transgressed the mark. Now the milk of that cow used to be
divided between the twelve bishops with their folk and their guests,
and it was sufficient for them; _ut dixit_,
Ciaran's Dun was wont to feed,
three times fifty men in all;
Guests and sick folk in their need,
in soller and in dining-hall.
The hide of the Dun is in Clonmacnois, and whatsoever soul parteth
from its body from that hide [hath no portion in hell, and][18]
dwelleth in eternal life.
XVIII. THE ANGELS GRIND FOR CIARAN
13. Now there were the twelve bishops[19] of Ireland in the school of
Findian in Cluain Iraird, _ut dixit_,
Two Findians, holy Colums two,
Ciaran, Cainnech, Comgall fair;
Two Brenainns, Ruadan bright of hue,
Ninned, Mo-Bi, Mac Natfraeich there.
This was their rule, that every bishop[19] should grind at the quern
on his day. But angels used to grind at the quern for Ciaran's sake on
the day that was his.
XIX. CIARAN AND THE KING'S DAUGHTER
14. The daughter of the King of Cualu was brought once upon a time
to Findian to read her Psalms, after offering her virginity to God.
Findian committed the maiden to Ciaran, so that it was with him that
she used to read her Psalms. Now Ciaran saw naught of the body of
the maiden, so long as they were together, save her feet only. As is
verified in the stanza--
A maid, rich in stateliness
with Ciaran there was reading;
Of her form or shapeliness,
he was all unheeding.[20]
XX. HOW CIARAN HEALED THE LEPERS
15. There came then twelve lepers to Findian for their healing.
Findian sent them to Ciaran. Ciaran welcomed them, and went with them
westward from the cell, and tears a sod from the ground, so that a
stream of pure water breaks forth from thence. He poured three waves
of the water over each of them, so that they were healed forthwith.
XXI. CIARAN AND THE STAG
16. Further, into that school there used to come a stag to Ciaran, and
he would place his book on the horns of the stag. One day there Ciaran
heard the bell. He arose suddenly at the sound of the bell, but still
swifter was the arising of the stag, and it went off, with his book
on its horns. Though that day and the following night were wet, and
though the book was open, not a letter in it was moistened. The cleric
arose on the morrow, and the stag came to him with his book uninjured.
XVII. THE STORY OF CIARAN'S GOSPEL
17. Now into that school there came Ninned the Squinting, from the
lochs of Erne, to read with Findian; and he had no book. "Seek a
book," said Findian. Ninned went a-searching round the school, and
did not obtain a book from any of them. "Hast thou gone to the gentle
youth on the north side of the lawn?" said Findian. "I shall go now,"
said Ninned. Now when Ninned reached him, Ciaran was going over the
central text of the book of Matthew: _Omnia quaecumque uultis ut
faciant homines uobis, ita et uos faciatis illis._ "I have come for
the loan of a book," said Ninned. "Mercy on us," said Ciaran, "for
that do I read this, and this is what the text saith to me, that
everything that I would that men should do to me, I should do to all.
Take thou the book," said Ciaran. On the morrow his companions asked
of him, at the time of the lesson, where his book was. "He gave it to
me," said Ninned. "Let 'Ciaran Half-Matthew' be his name," said one
of the school. "Nay," said Findian, "but Ciaran Half-Ireland; for his
shall be half of Ireland, and ours the other half."[21] As Findian
said--
Holy Ciaran zealously
under Findian studying pored;
Half his book he left unread,
half of Ireland his reward.
From this was the well-known saying _Non legam Marcum quousque
compleueram Mattheum_ carried to Rome, to Alexander.
XXIV. THE STORY OF THE MILL AND THE BAILIFF'S DAUGHTER
18. Now it came to pass that there was scarcity of corn and sustenance
in that school, so that it was necessary for a strong man of them in
turn to protect the sack of grain that was being carried to the mill.
It happened that Ciaran, in his turn, was carrying a sack of oats to
the mill. As he was opening the sack, he said, "O Lord," said he, "I
would that this were fine wheat, so that it were a great and a kindly
and a pleasant satisfaction to the elders." And so it came to pass:
the angel of God took the mill in his hands, and he [Ciaran] was
rendering his Psalms in purity of heart and mind, and the oats which
were being put in were choice wheat as they were coming out.
Now the daughter of the bailiff of the mill came, amorous for Ciaran;
and she gave her love to him, for fairer was he in form than any other
of his time. "Most hard for thee is that,"[22] said Ciaran. "Is it not
these things to which thou shouldest give heed--the passing of the
world, and the Day of Judgment, and the pains of Hell to shun them,
and the rewards of Heaven to earn them?" When the maiden went home,
she tells that tale to her father and her mother. They came and
offered the maiden to Ciaran. "If she sacrifice her virginity to God,"
said Ciaran, "and if she serve Him, I will be in union with her." Then
the maiden offered her virginity to God and to Ciaran, and her folk
offered their perpetual service and perpetual subjecthood to Ciaran
from that onward.
When they went to their house, a portion was sent to Ciaran by them,
to wit, three wheaten cakes, with their meed of suet and flesh, and
a vessel full of ale. When the servants left it, and received a
blessing, he said, "Mercy on us," said he, "it is not right for us to
eat of this, with exclusion of the other brethren." Thereafter he cast
all the food, after shredding it fine, upon the mill, and he cast the
ale likewise, so that all was turned to fine flour.
When Ciaran perceived the servant spying on him at the roof-ridge,
he spake a word against him, saying, "May the crane," said he, "take
thine eye out of thy head!"[23] And so it came to pass; for a pet
crane plucked his eye out of his head, so that it was on his cheek as
he was going home. The bailiff came straightway with the servant, and
they did obeisance to Ciaran, and he offered the mill with all its
land to Ciaran for the healing of the lad. Ciaran laid his palm on the
eye and put it in its place, and he made the sign of the cross upon it
so that it became sound.
When he finished the grinding of the corn, four full sacks of
consecrated wheat were there, by the grace of God and of Ciaran. When
he reached his house with the wheat he made cakes for the elders. Now
these cakes were the best ever given to them; for from the time when
the mystic manna was received yonder by the sons of Israel, there was
not received the like of that food. For in this wise was it, with the
taste of every food of excellence, [both bread and flesh, and of every
excellent drink][24] both wine and mead; so that it filled and healed
all of them. For every man in sickness who was in the whole city,
whosoever ate any of it was whole forthwith.
The elders did not observe the nocturn that night until prime on the
morrow.
When Findian asked of Ciaran regarding the miracle that had taken
place, Ciaran related from beginning to [end][24] how the mill and the
land with its implements, or its men, had been offered to him as a
gift; "and there for thee, Findian, is all that land," said Ciaran.
Then did Findian give his blessing fervently to Ciaran; _ut dixit_
Findian--
Ciaran my little heart,
whom for holiness I love,
Princely lands shall be thy part,
favour, dearest, from above.
Ciaran, famous all around!
wealth and wisdom on thee pour!
So may, in thy Church renowned,
knowledge grow yet more and more.
Now this blessing was given fervently to Ciaran through his great
love and spiritual exaltation.[25] So that there he left half of the
charity, and the nobility, and the wisdom, among the men of Ireland to
Ciaran and his monastery. Moreover Ciaran left wealth to him and to
his monastery, so that thence is the wealth of Findian.
That corn sufficed for the congregation of Findian for forty days with
their nights; and a third part of it was stored up for sick folk,
for it would heal every malady, and neither mouse nor worm dared to
destroy it. [It endured a long time][26] until it turned at last to
clay. And every disease for which it was given would be healed.
XXV. THE STORY OF CLUAIN
19. One day when Ciaran was collecting a band of reapers, there met
him a youth named Cluain. "Help us at the reaping to-morrow," said
Ciaran. "I will," said Cluain. But when Cluain went home he said to
his folk, "Should one come from Ciaran for me," said he, "say that I
am sick." When this was told to the lad who went to summon Cluain,
he reported it to Ciaran. When Ciaran heard it he laughed, and he
understood that Cluain was practising deception, for he was a prophet
of God in truth. Now when the folk of Cluain went to awake him, thus
they found him, without life. Sorely did his folk bewail him, and
there came the people of the neighbourhood to ask them the cause of
their weeping. "Cluain," said they, "went to his bed in health, and
now he is dead; and Ciaran hath slain him with his word, for that he
went not to reap for him." All those people go to Ciaran to intercede
with him for the raising again of the dead: "we shall all," said they,
"reap for thee, and we shall give our labour and our service to thee
and to God for ever, if thou raise the dead for us." Then said Ciaran
to his servant: "Rise," said he, "and take my staff with thee to the
dead, and make the sign of the cross with the staff on his breast, and
speak this quatrain--
Cluain did say
He would reap with me today;
Living, by a dread disease,
Dead within his house he lay."
Then Cluain arose forthwith and went with speed to Ciaran. "A blessing
on thee, holy Ciaran," said he, "good is what thou hast done for me;
for I am grateful to have come from the many pains of hell. Now know
we the profit of obedience, and the unprofit of disobedience, and we
know in what great honour the Lord and the folk of Heaven hold thee."
Then he did obeisance to Ciaran, and gave him labour.
XXVIII. ANECDOTES OF CLUAIN IRAIRD
20. (_a_) Certain of the clerks asked of Findian which of them would
lead the prayer when Findian should be no longer here. "Yonder youth
[Ciaran] is he," said Findian. "Thou givest the abbacy to him above
us all," said Brenainn. "It hath been given, it is given, it shall be
given," said Findian. All the saints except Colum Cille were envious
because of this.
(_b_) Then certain of them asked which of the saints should have the
greatest reward in heaven. "Mercy on us," said Ciaran, "that will be
made known in our habitations on earth." Then Brenainn of Birra made a
prophecy of him: "We shall take two habitations," said Brenainn, "on
two streams between chief cities, and the difference that shall be
between the two streams shall be the difference between the size of
the cities."
(_c_) When it was time for Ciaran to depart from Cluain Iraird, after
learning letters and wisdom, he left the Dun Cow with Saint Ninned;
but he said that her hide should come to him afterwards, and Ciaran
said further, "Though many be succoured by her milk, yet there shall
be more to whom her hide will give succour." And he said, "Every soul
that parteth from its body from the hide of the Dun Cow shall not be
pained in hell."
(_d_) Findian saw a vision of him [Ciaran] and of Colum Cille, namely,
two moons in the air with the colour of gold upon them. One of them
went north-east over the sea, [and the other][27] over the middle of
Ireland. That was Colum Cille, with the glory of his nobility and his
good birth, and Ciaran with the glory of his charity and his mercy.
XXVI. HOW CIARAN FREED A WOMAN FROM SERVITUDE
21. Thereafter Ciaran went to parley with the King of Ireland, Tuathal
Moel-garb, to ask him for a slave-girl that he had. Ciaran put his
hand on the quern for charity, and he promised that he would serve
in the place of the girl. Then Tuathal gifted the girl to God and to
Ciaran, and further he gave him his kingly apparel, and Ciaran gave it
forthwith to poor folk.
XXVII. HOW CIARAN FREED ANOTHER WOMAN FROM SERVITUDE
22. One time Ciaran went to ask another slave-girl of King Furbaide.
Then one man gifted him a cow as an alms, another gifted him a cloak,
and another a kettle. Forthwith on the same day he gave them all to
poor folk; and God gifted to Ciaran three gifts yet better, a cauldron
instead of the kettle, twelve robes instead of the one robe, twelve
kine instead of the one cow. When the king saw that, he gave him the
slave-girl.
XXIX. THE PARTING OF FINDIAN AND CIARAN
23. When the time came for Ciaran to bid farewell to his teacher, he
offers to put his monastery at his service. "Nay," said Ciaran,[28]
"sever not thy monastery for any save for God alone, Who hath given
thee favour beyond us all." ["The monastery I give thee," said
Findian.][29] Ciaran weeps, for he thought it noble of his teacher to
offer him his monastery. "Well, then, let there be unity between us
henceforth," said Findian, "and let him who breaketh that unity have
no part in earth or in heaven." "Be it so," said Ciaran. Then Ciaran
went his way; and Colum Cille uttered this testimony of him--
A wondrous youth from us departs,
Ciaran, craftsman's son;
Of greed, of pride, reviling, lust,
satire, he hath none.
XXXII. CIARAN IN ARAN
24. Thereafter Ciaran went to Aran to hold converse with Enda, and
Enda and Ciaran saw one and the same vision--a great fruitful tree
beside a river in the middle of Ireland, a-sheltering the island of
Ireland, and its fruit was going over the sea that was around the
island outside, and the birds of the air were coming and taking of the
fruit. Ciaran went and told the vision to Enda. Said Enda, "That great
tree which thou hast seen is thyself; for thou art great before God
and man, and Ireland shall be full of thine honour. This island
shall be protected under the shadow of thy grace, and many shall
be satisfied by the grace of thy fasting and of thy prayer. Rise
therefore at the word of God, and go to the shore of the stream, and
found a church there."[30]
XXXIII. HOW A PROPHECY WAS FULFILLED
25. Once when he was in Aran a-drying corn in the kiln, and Lonan the
Left-handed with him (one who ever was contradictious of Ciaran) they
saw a ship foundering in their sight. "Methinks," said Lonan, "yonder
ship shall be drowned to-day and this kiln shall be burned with the
greatness of the draught." "Nay," said Ciaran, "yonder ship shall be
burned, and this kiln with its corn shall be drowned."[31] And this
was fulfilled; for the crew of the ship escaped, and the ship was cast
on shore close to the kiln. The fire seized the kiln, and the ship is
burned. A blast of wind struck the kiln and its corn into the sea, so
that it was drowned, according to the word of Ciaran.
XXXIV. HOW CIARAN VISITED SENAN
26. When Ciaran left Aran a poor man met him on the way. Ciaran gives
him his linen cloak, and goes to Inis Cathaig to salute Senan. That he
was in one mantle only was revealed to Senan, and he went to meet him,
with a linen cloak under his armpit. And he said to Ciaran, "Is it not
shame," said he, "for a priest to travel without a cowl?" "Mercy on
us," said Ciaran, "God will have pity [on my nakedness];[32] there is
a cloak for me under the covering of mine elder."
XLIII. HOW CIARAN SENT A CLOAK TO SENAN
27. When Ciaran arrived at Cluain maccu Nois he wished to send another
cloak to Senan. The cloak was laid upon the stream of the Shannon, and
it travelled without being wetted to the harbour of Inis Cathaig. Said
Senan to his monks, "Rise and go to the sea, and ye shall find there a
guest, which bring with you, with honour and dignity." When the monks
went out they found the cloak on the sea, dry, and they brought it
with them to Senan, and offered an offering of thanks to the Lord.
That is now called "Senan's cloak."
XXXV. CIARAN IN ISEL
28. Thereafter he went to his brethren to Isel, and Cobthach son of
Brecan gave Isel to God and to Ciaran; and he lived there with his
brethren. One day when he was doing his lesson outside in the field,
he went to attend upon his guests, and left his book open till morning
under the rain; and not a damp drop fell upon the book.
Once Ciaran was sowing seed in Isel. A poor man came to him. Ciaran
gives him a handful of the grain into his breast, and the grain was
forthwith turned into gold. A chariot with its horses was gifted to
Ciaran by Oengus son of Cremthann. Ciaran gave it to the poor man in
exchange for the gold, and the gold turned into grain, and the field
was sown with it.
XXXVI. THE REMOVAL OF THE LAKE
29. Moreover there was a lake near Isel, and country-folk and
despicable people used to occupy the island that was upon it. The
noise and uproar of those worthless people used to cause disturbance
for the clerics. Ciaran prayed to the Lord that the island should be
removed from its place, and that was done. The place where it was in
the lake is still to be seen as a memorial of that miracle.
XXXVII. CIARAN DEPARTS FROM ISEL
30. As the brethren could not suffer the almsgiving of Ciaran, so
great was it, and as they were envious of him, they said unto him,
"Rise and depart from us," said they, "for we cannot be in the same
place." Said Ciaran, "Had I been here," said he, "though this spot be
lowly (_Ísel_) in situation, it would have been high in glory and in
honour." Then he said--
Although lowly, it were high,
Had not censure come me nigh;
Had I not been censured so,
It were high though it be low.
Then Ciaran put his books upon a wild stag; afterwards he accompanied
the wild stag wheresoever it would go. The deer went forward to Inis
Aingin. He went into the island and dwelt there.
XXXVIII. CIARAN IN INIS AINGIN
31. Then his brethren came to him from every side. There was a certain
archpresbyter in the island, Daniel his name. Of the British was he,
and the devil incited him to be jealous of Ciaran. A royal cup with
three birds of gold was given him by Ciaran as a token of forgiveness.
The presbyter marvelled thereat, and repented, and did obeisance to
Ciaran, and gave the island to him.
XXXIX. THE COMING OF OENNA
32. Once Ciaran was in Inis Aingin and he heard a cry in the port. He
said to the brethren, "Rise and go for your future abbot." When they
reached the harbour they found no man save a weak unconsecrated youth.
They tell that to Ciaran. "For all that, go again for him; it is clear
to me from his voice that it is he who shall be abbot after me."
Thereafter the youth was brought into the island to Ciaran, and Ciaran
tonsured him, and he read with him. That was Enna maccu Laigsi, a holy
man, held in honour of the Lord; and it is he who was abbot after
Ciaran.
XL. HOW CIARAN RECOVERED HIS GOSPEL
33. It happened that the gospel of Ciaran fell into the lake from the
hand of a heedless brother, and it was a long time in the lake. Upon
a day in the time of summer the kine went into the water, so that the
strap of the gospel attached itself to the hoof of one of the kine,
and she brought it dry [from below][33] to haven. Thence is "Port of
the Gospel" in Inis Aingin. When the gospel was opened it was in this
wise--white and clean, dry, without the loss of a letter, through the
grace of Ciaran.
XLI. HOW CIARAN WENT FROM INIS AINGIN TO CLONMACNOIS
34. A certain man of Corco Baiscind came to Ciaran, Donnan his name,
brother's son of Senan mac Gerginn; and he had the same mother as
Senan. "What wouldest thou, or wherefore comest thou?" said Ciaran.
"Seeking a place wherein to abide and to serve God." Ciaran left Inis
Aingin to Donnan. Donnan said, "Since thou hast a charity towards me,
leave me somewhat of thy tokens and of thy treasures." Ciaran leaves
him his gospel--that which was recovered from the lake--and his bell,
and his bearer Mael Odran. Three years and three months was Ciaran in
Inis Aingin.
He came thereafter to Ard Manntain, close to the Shannon. When he saw
the beauty of that place, thus he spake: "If we dwell here," said he,
"we shall have much of the wealth of the world, and there shall be few
souls going to heaven from hence."
Then he came to this town; Ard Tiprat was its name at that time. "Here
will we stay, for there shall be many souls going to heaven from
hence, and God and man shall visit this place for ever."
On the eighth of the calends of February Ciaran settled in Cluain, the
tenth day of the moon, a Saturday. Eight men went with him--Ciaran,
Oengus, Mac Nisse, Cael-Cholum, Mo-Beoc,[34] Mo-Lioc, Lugna maccu Moga
Laim, Colman mac Nuin. Wondrous was that monastery, set up by Ciaran
in Cluain with his eight men after coming from the waves of the water,
as Noah son of Lamech took the world with his eight after coming from
the waves of the Flood.
XLII. THE FOUNDATION OF THE CHURCH
35. Then Ciaran set up the first post in Cluain, and Diarmait mac
Cerrbheil along with him. Said Ciaran to Diarmait when they were
planting the post, "Warrior, suffer my hand to be over thy hand, and
thou shalt be over the men of Ireland in high-kingship." "I permit
it," said Diarmait, "only give me a token thereof." "I will," said
Ciaran; "though thou art solitary to-day, thou shalt be King of
Ireland this time to-morrow." That was verified; for Tuathal Moel-garb
King of Ireland was slain that night, and Diarmait took the kingship
of Ireland on the morrow, and he bestowed a hundred churches on
Ciaran. Wherefore to prove that, it was said--
I'll speak both choice and truly,
although thou now art lonely,
Thou shalt rule Ireland duly,
after one's day's space only.
The chosen Tuathal's slaughter,
a crying without glory.
Thence is it said thereafter,
"That deed was of Mael-Moire."
Without a court or slaughter,
great Diarmait Uisnech lifted;
A hundred fanes thereafter,
to God and Ciaran gifted.
Then was the post made fast; and Ciaran said in fixing it, "Be this,"
said he, "in the eye of Tren." Tren was a youth who was in the
fortress of Cluain Ichtar, and who had adventured arrogance against
him. Forthwith his one eye burst in his head, at the word of Ciaran.
XLIV. CIARAN AND THE WINE
36. One day the brethren were sore athirst, while they were reaping in
Cluain. They send a messenger to the cleric, that water be brought
to them in the field. Then Ciaran said, "If to-day they would endure
thirst, it would procure great riches of the world for the brethren
who would come after them." "Truly," said the brethren, "we prefer to
exercise patience, whereby profit will be secured for ourselves,
and advantage to the brethren who follow us; rather than to have
satisfaction of our thirst to-day."
A cask full of wine was brought from the land of the Franks to the
steading, to Ciaran, in reward for their patience; and a fragment of
that cask remained here till recently.
When the evening was come, Ciaran blessed a vessel full of water, and
it was changed to choice wine, and was divided among the monks; so
that there was no feast that excelled that feast. For the folk of
Colum Cille came from Í, after a long time, to this city. A feast was
prepared for them, and it was noised abroad through the whole city
that never before or since was there a feast its equal. Then an aged
man who was in the house of the elders said, "I know," said he, "a
feast that was better than this feast. Better was the feast that
Ciaran made for his monks when they were sore athirst,[35] so that he
changed water into wine for them. That it be no story without proof
for you," said the elder, "it was myself who divided that wine, and
my thumb would go over the edge of the cup into the wine. Come and
perceive now the savour of my thumb, which then was dipped into the
wine." They came and were all satisfied with the savour of that
finger. And they said, "Better," said they, "than any feast was that
feast of which the savour remains after a long time on a finger.
A blessing," said they, "on Ciaran and a blessing on the Lord Who
allotted every good thing to him."
XLV. THE STORY OF CRITHIR
37. Crichid [_sic_] of Cluain, a servant of Ciaran, went to Saigir and
stayed there a long time. The devil tempted him to quench the sacred
fire which the monks had in the kitchen. Said Ciaran of Saigir, that
he would not eat food till there should come guests who would bring
him fire. Crichid then went from them a short distance outside the
city, and wolves slew him, but did not injure his body. When Ciaran
the wright's son heard of the death of his attendant, he went to
Ciaran of Saigir to seek for him. When he arrived, Ciaran of Saigir
said, "First of all ye need water for your feet; but we have no fire
to heat water for you. Let you as guests give us fire, for God hath
decreed this for you." Then Ciaran the wright's son raised his hands
to heaven, and made fervent prayer. When the prayer was finished,
there came fire from heaven, and rested on his breast. He protected
his breast from the fire, and carried it with him to the monastery. He
cast from him the fire on to the floor, and it did not hurt so much as
the fur of the robe of white linen which he was wearing.
Then he revived his servant who had died before that, and he ate food
with them. The two Ciarans then made a covenant together. "The wealth
of the world," said Ciaran son of the wright, "be in great Saigir."
"Knowledge and dignity incorruptible be in Cluain maccu Nois," said
Ciaran of Saigir.
XLIX. THE DEATH OF CIARAN
38. The soul of Ciaran was not more than seven months in this town
before he went to heaven, on the ninth day of September. When Ciaran
knew that the day of his death was drawing nigh, he made a prophecy
with great sorrow. He said that great would be the persecution of his
city from evil men towards the end of the world. "What then shall we
do in the time of that crime?" said the monks; "is it by thy relics we
shall stay, or shall we go elsewhere?" "Rise," said Ciaran, "and leave
my relics as the bones of a deer are left in the sun. For it is better
for you to live with me in heaven than to stay here with my relics."
When the time of his death was near to Saint Ciaran in the Little
Church, in the thirty-third year of his age, on the fifth of the ides
of September as regards the solar month, on Saturday as regards the
day of the week, on the eighteenth day as regards the moon, he said,
"Let me be carried out to the Little Height," said he. And when he
looked at heaven, and the height of air above his head, he said,
"Awful is this road upward." "Not for thee is it awful," said the
monks. "Truly, I know not," said he, "any of the commandments of God
which I have transgressed: yet even David son of Jesse, and Paul the
apostle, dreaded this way."
Then the stone pillow was taken from him, to ease him. "Nay," said he,
"put it under my shoulder. _Qui enim perseuerauerit usque in finem,
hic saluus erit._" Then angels filled the space between heaven and
earth to receive his soul.
He was brought afterward into the Little Church, and he raised his
hand and blessed his folk, and said to the brethren to shut the church
upon him till Coemgen should come from Glenn da Locha.
L. THE VISIT OF COEMGEN
39. When Coemgen came after three days, he received no full courtesy
at first from the clerics, as they were in great sadness after their
head. Said Coemgen to them, "Let a doleful countenance be upon you
continually!" said he. Then fear took hold of the elders, and they did
the will of Coemgen, and opened the Little Church to him. The spirit
of Ciaran went at once to heaven,[36] and he returned again into his
body to converse with Coemgen, and welcomed him. From one canonical
hour to the next they were there in converse, and making a covenant.
Thereafter Ciaran blessed Coemgen, and Coemgen blessed water and made
a communion with Ciaran. And Ciaran gave his bell to Coemgen as a sign
of their league and as a fee for their communion. That is what is now
called the _Boban_ of Coemgen.
LII. THE ENVY OF THE SAINTS
40. The saints of Ireland were envious of Ciaran for his excellence,
and they put their trust in the King of Heaven that his life might be
shortened. So great was their envy against him that even his comrade
Colum Cille said, "Blessed be God," said he, "Who hath taken Saint
Ciaran. For had he lived to old age, there would not have been the
place of two chariot-horses found in Ireland that would not have been
his."
LIII. A PANEGYRIC ON CIARAN
41. Here then is Ciaran with the eight men whom I have mentioned, and
many thousands of saints besides. Here are the relics of Paul and
Peter, which Benen and Cumlach left in the hollow tree here. Here are
the relics of the blind boy, the disciple of Peca. Here is the shrine
of the guest Peca, whom a certain devout man saw borne by angels to
the burial of Ciaran. There were three wonders here that night: the
guest-house being without fire, without guest, without prayer, for
Peca was sufficient of fire, and guest, and prayer.
There is not one to relate completely what God wrought of signs and
wonders for this holy Ciaran; for they are more than can be told or
mentioned. For after the coming of Christ in the flesh there was
not one born greater in almsgiving and mercy, greater in labour and
fasting and prayer, greater in humility and fervour of good-will,
greater in courtesy and mildness, greater in care for the Church of
God, greater in daily labour and in nightly vigil.
He it is who never put tasty food or heady drink into his body, from
the time when he embraced the religious life. He it is who never drank
milk or ale, till a third of it was water. He it is who never ate
bread, till a third part of sand was mixed with it. He it is who never
slept save with his side on the bare ground. Beneath his head was
never aught save a stone for a pillow. Next his skin never came flaxen
or woollen stuff.
A man with choice voluntary full offerings to the Lord, like Abel
son of Adam. A man with zealous entreaties to God, like Enoch son of
Jared. A steersman full-sufficient for the ark of the Church among
the waves of the world, like Noah son of Lamech. A true pilgrim with
strength of faith and belief, like Abraham son of Terah. A man loving,
gentle, forgiving of heart, like Moses son of Amram. A man patient and
steadfast in enduring suffering and trouble, like suffering Job. A
psalmist full-tuneful, full-delightful to God, like David son of
Jesse. A dwelling of true wisdom and knowledge like Solomon son of
David. A rock immovable whereon is founded the Church, like Peter the
apostle. A chief universal teacher and a chosen vessel for proclaiming
truth, like Paul the apostle. A man full of the grace of the Holy
Spirit and of chastity, like John the breast-fosterling.
A man full of likeness in many ways to Jesus Christ the Head of all
things. For this man made wine of water for his folk and his guests in
this city, as Jesus made choice wine of water at the feast of Cana of
Galilee. This man is called "son of the wright," as Christ is called
"Son of the wright" in the Gospel (_hic est Filius fabri_, that is,
of Joseph). Thirty-three years in the age of this man, as there are
thirty-three years in the age of Christ. This man arose after three
days in his bed in Cluain to converse with and to comfort Coemgen, as
Christ arose after three days from the grave in Jerusalem, to comfort
and strengthen His mother and His disciples.
So for these good things, and for many others, is his soul among
the folk of heaven. His remains and relics are here with honour and
renown, with daily wonders and miracles. And though great is his
honour just now in this manner, greater shall be his honour in the
holy incorruptible union of his body and his soul in the great
assembly of Judgment, when Saint Ciaran shall be judge of the fruit
of his labour along with Christ Whom he served. So shall he be in the
great assembly, in the unity of holy fathers and prophets, in the
unity of apostles and disciples of the Saviour Jesus Christ, in the
unity of the nine grades of angels that have transgressed not, in
the unity of the Godhead and Manhood of the Son of God, in the unity
nobler than every other unity, the Unity of the Holy Trinity, Father,
Son, and Holy Spirit.
I beseech the mercy of the Lofty Omnipotent God, by the intercession
of Saint Ciaran, that we may reach that unity. May we dwell there, _in
saecula saeculorum!_
[Footnote 1: Following the reading _córdus_ in the _Leabhar Breac_
text of the Homily from which this section is an extract, instead of
the unintelligible _comhlud_ of the MSS. of the _Life_.]
[Footnote 2: This Latin extract in the Brussels MS. only.]
[Footnote 3: In this paragraph the less corrupt Brussels text
is followed. In the original the Latin passages, here printed
consecutively, are interspersed sentence by sentence with the Irish
translation here rendered into English.]
[Footnote 4: This is the apparent sense of the passage: the MSS. are
here corrupt.]
[Footnote 5: Only the first two words of this extract in the
Lismore MS. The Brussels MS. erroneously repeats _reg[i]mina_ after
_Diuulgata_.]
[Footnote 6: The last two words in the Brussels MS. only, which also
adds "of the Elements" after "Lord," two lines further down.]
[Footnote 7: Following the Brussels MS.: the Lismore text is here
again corrupt.]
[Footnote 8: The bracketed words in the Brussels MS. only.]
[Footnote 9: The bracketed words in the Brussels MS. only.]
[Footnote 10: The bracketed words represent the sense of a passage
that has evidently dropped out of the MSS.]
[Footnote 11: _Sic_ MSS.: we should read "Iustus."]
[Footnote 12: The Lismore text is slightly imperfect in this
paragraph: it is completed with the aid of the Brussels MS.]
[Footnote 13: This represents the sense of a passage that must have
dropped out.]
[Footnote 14: _Ut dixit_ and the stanza following in the Brussels MS.
only.]
[Footnote 15: Bracketed words in the Brussels MS. only.]
[Footnote 16: In Brussels MS. only.]
[Footnote 17: Emending the _dia fhoglaim_ of the text ("as he was
learning") to _dia fhognam_.]
[Footnote 18: These words in the Brussels MS. only.]
[Footnote 19: "Apostle" in the Brussels MS.]
[Footnote 20: From "as is verified" to the end of the stanza in the
Brussels MS. only.]
[Footnote 21: The Lismore MS. is here illegible: the rendering follows
the Brussels MS.]
[Footnote 22: The Lismore MS. is here illegible: the translation
follows the Brussels MS.]
[Footnote 23: The Brussels MS. adds "and may it be on thy cheek as
thou goest to thy house."]
[Footnote 24: Bracketed words represent the sense of a passage
evidently lost from the MSS.]
[Footnote 25: Literally "intoxication."]
[Footnote 26: In Brussels MS. only.]
[Footnote 27: The bracketed words in the Brussels MS. only.]
[Footnote 28: The MSS. read "Findian."]
[Footnote 29: These words in the Brussels MS. only.]
[Footnote 30: In this incident again it is necessary to follow
the Brussels MS. in places, as the Lismore MS. is corrupt and
unintelligible.]
[Footnote 31: Literally "'tis a drowning that shall drown this kiln."]
[Footnote 32: These words in the Brussels MS. only.]
[Footnote 33: In Brussels MS. only.]
[Footnote 34: This name in the Brussels MS. only.]
[Footnote 35: Here the Brussels MS. is corrupt.]
[Footnote 36: _Sic_ MSS. We should read "came from heaven,"]
* * * * *
ANNOTATIONS TO THE FOREGOING LIVES
I. THE HOMILETIC INTRODUCTION (VG)
The three Latin lives plunge _in medias res_ at the beginning; but
VG prefixes an introduction borrowed from a Homily on _Charity_. The
Irish text of this homily, with the original Latin, will be found
printed from the fifteenth-century MS. called _Leabhar Breac_ ("The
speckled book") in Atkinson's _Passions and Homilies_ (Dublin 1887).
The text announced by the preacher is clearly suggested by incident
XXII. It has already been shown in the Introduction, that this Life,
with its homiletic preface, was a sermon written to be preached or
read on the festival of the saint (9th September) at Clonmacnois.
The keynote of the Irish homily is struck in this first section. It is
the work of some scholar of Clonmacnois, with a warm enthusiasm for
the dignity of his _alma mater_. The sermon is as much a eulogy of
Clonmacnois as of Ciaran. In the preacher's view, Clonmacnois is
the chief and central church of Ireland, and the source of all
ecclesiastical discipline in the country. Its founder excelled his
fellow-saints as the sun excels the stars (§ 2). His pre-eminence was
recognised by angels, who relieved him of labour when his turn came (§
13): and on several occasions Findian showed a like favouritism (§§
18, 20, _a_, _d_, 23). Clonmacnois was superior to the rival house
at Birr (§ 20 _b_); and possessed in the hide of the Dun Cow an
infallible passport to heaven (§ 20 _c_). The vision of the tree seen
by Enda and by Ciaran prophesied the pre-eminence of Clonmacnois (§
24). The other saints were envious of his renown and of the glory of
his monastery (§ 40).
_The Hymn of Colum Cille._--Following the usual practice of Irish
prose literary composition, the homilist intersperses his work
throughout with verse extracts, appealed to as the authority for the
various statements which he has occasion to make. In the present
section he draws upon a hymn made by Colum Cille in honour of Ciaran.
To this hymn, and to its surviving fragments, we shall return in
commenting upon incident LI, where the composition of the hymn is
alluded to.
_The Ante-natal Prophecies._--Patrick is said also to have prophesied
the advent of Senan (LL, 1845)[1] and of Alban (CS, 505); and Becc mac
De that of Brenainn (LL, 3343). But the parallels drawn between the
Life of Ciaran and that of Christ have made such prophecies especially
appropriate in the present case.
The prophecy of Saint Patrick took place under the following
circumstances (VTP, p. 84 ff.).[2] The leper whom, in accordance with
a custom frequent in early Irish monasticism, Patrick is said to have
maintained--partly for charity and partly for self-abasement--departed
from Patrick when the latter was on the holy mountain of Cruachan
Aigli (Croagh Patrick, Co. Mayo). He made his way to the then empty
site of Clonmacnois, and sat in the split trunk of a hollow elm tree.
A stranger made his appearance, and the leper, having assured himself
that he was a Christian, requested him to uproot a bundle of rushes
and to give him in a clean vessel of the water that would burst forth.
Then the leper begged of the stranger to bring tools for digging,
and to bury him there; and he was the first dead man to be buried in
Clonmacnois. Now after this had taken place, the nephew of Patrick,
Bishop Muinis, chanced to be benighted on the same spot, when
returning from a mission to Rome on which the apostle had sent him.
There were angels hovering over the leper's grave, and thus Muinis
recognised it as the burial-place of a man of God. He deposited the
relics which he was bearing back from Rome, for the night, in the
hollow elm; but he found in the morning that the tree had closed upon
them, and that they could not be recovered. In sorrow for their loss,
he related the event to Patrick, and for his comfort he was told that
a Son of Life--to wit Ciaran, son of the wright--was destined to come
thither, and that he would need the relics. These relics are mentioned
in VG 41, though "Benen and Cumlach" [the leper] are there said to
have left them, not Muinis. From this reference we learn that they
were attributed to Saints Peter and Paul.
It is quite clear that this curious story has reached us in a
fragmentary and expurgated form, and that if we had the whole
narrative before us it would afford us an indication that Clonmacnois
was the site of an earlier, Pagan, sanctuary. It will most probably be
found to be an invariable rule that the early Christian establishments
in Ireland occupy the sites of Pagan sanctuaries; the monastery having
been founded to re-consecrate the holy place to the True Faith. The
hollow elm was doubtless a sacred tree; the well which miraculously
burst forth was a sacred well: the buried leper may have been a
foundation sacrifice, like Oran on Iona. The old pre-Christian name of
the site is suggestive--_Ard Tiprat_, "the high place of the [holy]
well." By no stretch of language can the site of Clonmacnois be called
physically high; as in the stanza quoted in VG 30, the word _Ard_ must
be used in the sense of distinguished, eminent, or sacred.
Of the prophecy attributed to Brigit there appears to be no record in
any of her numerous _Lives_: nor can I identify with certainty the
story of "the fire and the angel." There were "Crosses of Brigit" at
Armagh;[3] but as there were probably many other crosses throughout
the country dedicated to this popular saint we cannot infer that
Armagh was the scene of the prophecy.
Becc mac De was chief soothsayer to King Diarmait mac Cerrbeil. Very
little is certainly known of him; most of the traditions relating
to him consist of tales of his remarkable gift of foretelling the
future--tales similar to those related of the Covenanter Alexander
Peden in Scotland, or of the seventeenth-century Mayo peasant Red
Brian Carabine.[4] He died in or about the year A.D. 555 (the
annalists waver between 552 and 557); and the _Annals of Clonmacnois_
tell us that he began to prophesy in 550. As Ciaran is said to have
died in 548, the statement that Becc mac De foretold his coming is
anachronistic. The prophecy here attributed to him does not appear
in the list of prognostications attributed to him (given in the MS.
Harleian 5280, British Museum, edited in _Zeitschrift für Celtische
Philologie_, ix, 169), or in _Leabhar Breac_, p. 260, where some
further particulars about him are given.
I have ventured to emend the passage regarding Becc mac De slightly,
restoring the verse form which the prophecy seems to have had
originally. As it appears in the _Lismore Lives_ printed text it is
given in prose; an insignificant transposition of the words, and the
taking of the word _andsin_ out of the inverted commas is all that
is necessary.[5] In the rendering in the text an attempt is made to
reproduce to some extent the elaboration of alliteration, but the
end-rhymes and the vowel-assonances cannot be imitated without
sacrificing the sense. The metre resembles that known as _mibhasc_
(four-syllable and six-syllable lines alternating, but with
trisyllabic rhyme in the short lines).
The person to whom Colum Cille uttered his prophecy was Aed mac
Brenainn, Prince of Tethba (Teffia), the region comprising various
baronies in the modern Co. Westmeath and part of Co. Longford. This
Aed gave Dermag (Durrow) to Colum Cille a few years before the
latter's departure for Scotland. There is, however, no record of
the prophecy in the lives of Colum Cille; probably his visit to
Clonmacnois from Durrow is in the writer's mind. Ard Abla, identified
by O'Donovan with Lissardowlin, Co. Longford, was in the territory
of Tethba. The Lismore scribe has written the name of Aed's father
incorrectly (Brandub); the correction ("or Brenainn") is a marginal
note.
II. THE ORIGIN AND BIRTH OF CIARAN: THE WIZARD'S PROPHECIES (LA, LB,
LC, VG)
_The Pedigree_ (VG).--The pedigree in VG traces Ciaran's descent from
Tigernmas, fabled to have reigned in Tara 3580-3657 _Anno Mundi_
(1620-1543 B.C.).[6] Through Tigernmas the line is traced to Mil of
Spain, the eponymous ancestor of the "Milesians," or Celtic-speaking
inhabitants of Ireland.
There is another pedigree, totally different, which connects the
saint, not with the Tara kings, but with those of the Ulaid or Ulster
folk, through the dethroned Fergus who figures so prominently in the
epic tale _Táin Bó Cualnge_. This pedigree appears in the _Book of
Leinster_ (facsimile, pp. 348, 349) and _Leabhar Breac_ (facsimile, p.
16), the Bodleian MS. Rawlinson B 506, p. 154 _d_, and in the MS. in
Marsh's Library containing LA, at the foot of the column where LA
begins; with an added note stating that Ciaran was "of the true
Ultonains of Emain": its authenticity is adopted by Keating (I.T.S.
edition, vol. iii, p. 48). Correcting one copy with another this
genealogy runs as follows--
Ciaran son of Coscrach son of Aislithe son of
Beodan " Mesinsuad " Modruad "
Bolcan " Mesinsulad " Follomain "
Linned " Erce " Deoda "
Corc " Erc (or Oscar) " Eochaid "
Daig " Mechon " Corc "
Cunneda " Nechtan " Fergus "
Cass " Aed Corb " Ros "
Froech " Aed Gnoe " Rudraige
Thus both genealogies claim a royal descent for the saint. This is an
instance of a widespread policy, of which many traces are to be found
in the old Irish Genealogies. The whole country was divided into
territories of different clans, under which were subordinate and
tributary septs. The latter bore the chief burden of taxation;
and they were for the greater part composed of descendants of the
aboriginal pre-Celtic tribes, who had been reduced to vassalage on
the coming of the Celtic-speaking invaders (about the third or fourth
century B.C.). When a tributary sept became strong enough to resist
the pressure of these imposts, exemption was claimed by a sort of
legal fiction, by which they were genealogically affiliated to the
ruling sept. This practice led to the fabrication of spurious links,
and even of whole pedigrees.
In point of fact several indications show that Ciaran belonged to a
tributary sept, and was of pre-Celtic blood. These tributary
septs were distinguished from their Celtic conquerors by social
organisation, racial character, and probably still to some extent
by religion and language. They had much the same position as the
_perioeci_ in ancient Sparta. The following are the evidences of his
pre-Celtic nationality--
(_a_) The tribal names of his parents (Latharna, Glasraige). There are
two forms of tribal names in ancient Ireland; those consisting of two
words, and those consisting of one. The first are in such formulae as
"tribe of NN," "seed of NN" or the like--NN being the name of a more
or less legendary ancestor. The second are either simple names which
cannot be analysed, or else are derived from an ancestral name by
adding the suffix _-rige_ or _-raige_. As a rule the names consisting
of one word only are fundamentally pre-Celtic, or denote pre-Celtic
septs, though in many cases they have been fitted with Celticising
genealogies.
(_b_) The names of Ciaran himself and his brothers, and of one of his
sisters. Donnan, Ciaran, Odran, Cronan are all diminutives founded
upon colours--the little brown, black, grey, and tawny one. These
indicate that the family was dark complexioned, which would also
accord with a pre-Celtic origin. The Celts were fair, their
predecessors dark. One of the sisters was called Pata, with an initial
P. This is impossible in a Gaelic name.
(_c_) The subordinate position of Ciaran's father, and his liability
to taxation. In the _Book of Leinster_ and, in part, in _Leabhar
Breac_, after the genealogy, we read "He [_i.e._ Ciaran] was of one of
the seven clans of the Latharna of Molt. His father was originally in
slavery in Britain; he went thereafter to Ireland to Cenel Conaill
[north of Co. Donegal], and after that to Connacht[7] to avoid a
heavy tax, so that Ciaran was born at Raith Cremthainn in Mag Ai." LA
describes Ciaran's father as "a rich man," and certainly the family
seems to have been comfortably provided with cattle, the chief wealth
of their time. In reference to his father's trade Ciaran is regularly
called _mac in tsáir_, "son of the wright." The Rabelaisian
extravaganza called _Imtheacht na Tromdhaimhe_ ("The Adventures of the
Burdensome Company") introduces Ciaran as himself practising smith's
craft;[8] but no importance can be attached to so irresponsible a
production. Analogous in this respect are the references to our saint
in _The Adventures of Léithin_,[9] which also introduces Ciaran and
his monks; but as Dr. Hyde points out in his edition, these are merely
a kind of framework for the legend, and the story, though in itself
extremely curious and interesting, tells us nothing about either
Ciaran or Clonmacnois.
(_d_) The fact, specially mentioned in LA, that Ciaran was reared by
his parents, not put out to fosterage as would have been done had he
been of gentle birth.
(_e_) The pre-eminent position of Ciaran's mother in the home. The
pre-Celtic tribesmen of Ireland, like their Pictish kinsmen in
Scotland, were organised on the system of mother-right, in which
property and descent and kinship are all traced through the maternal
side of the ancestry. Throughout the _Lives_, Beoit is a cypher: the
house and its contents and appurtenances are almost invariably treated
as Darerca's property. Matriarchate usually implies exogamy, a man
choosing his wife from a sept differing from his own; and the
children are related to the mother's, not the father's kin. The male
responsible for the education of the child is not so much the father
as the maternal uncle. The law of exogamy was strictly followed in the
case before us. Beoit comes from north-east Ulster; Darerca belonged
to a family which drew its origin from the south-east of the present
county Kerry, though she seems to have settled in Cenel Fiachach at
the time when Beoit met her. Incidents VIII and X of Ciaran's Life are
laid in that territory, which falls in with a tradition, presently to
be noted, that the dwelling-place of the family of the saint was not
Raith Cremthainn, but the place where the parents had first met--which
would be an instance of the husband dwelling with the wife's people,
as is frequent under the matriarchate. The Celtic authors of the
_Lives_ have transferred the kinship of the son to the father's clan,
in accordance with their own social system; but an older tradition has
left an unmistakable trace in the confusion of the relationships of
"father" and "uncle" in LA, §§ 9, 10.
It is possible that the prominence of the mother in the household,
and Ciaran's birth away from his ancestral home as the result of
a taxation, are specially emphasised because they offer obvious
parallels with the Gospel story. The character of Darerca is, however,
by no means idealised, as we might have expected it to be, had this
been the chief purpose of the narrator.
_The Parents of Ciaran, their Names and Origins._--The name of
Ciaran's father is variously Latinised in the Latin Lives. The Irish
lives call him Beoit, a name analysed in the _Book of Leinster_, p.
349, into _Beo-n-Aed_, which would mean something like "Living Fire."
The _-n-_ is inserted, according to a law of Old Irish accidence,
because _áed_, "fire," is a neuter word. Thus arises the Latin form
_Beonnadus_. By metathesis the name further becomes transformed to
_Beodan_ or _Beoan_. The _Latharna_ were the people who dwelt around
the site of the modern town of _Larne_, which preserves their name;
Mag Molt ("the plain of wethers") is probably the plain surrounding
the town. The _Aradenses_, to whom LB ascribes the origin of Beoit,
were the people known in Irish record as _Dal n-Araide_, the
pre-Celtic people of the region now called Antrim.
Dar-erca, "daughter of brightness" or "of the sky," was a common
female name in ancient Ireland. The Glasraige to whom she belonged
was a tribe with divisions scattered in various parts of Ireland.
Irluachra was south-east Kerry with adjoining parts of Cork and
Limerick. Of her poet grandfather Glas nothing is known.
It would perhaps be too far-fetched to see a hint at a mythological
element in the traditions of Ciaran in the signification of his
parents' names. Indeed, considering the _Tendenz_ of the Ciaran
_Lives_, it is remarkable that there is no supernormal element in the
account of the birth of this particular saint; supernatural births are
almost a commonplace in Irish saints' lives as a rule.
The saint's own name is regularly spelt with an initial K or Q in the
Latin texts, doubtless because Latin _c_ was pronounced as _s_ before
_e_ and _i_ in mediaeval Ireland.
The _Annals of Clonmacnois_ preserves for us a totally different
tradition of the origin and upbringing of the saint. Modernising the
haphazard spelling and punctuation of the seventeenth-century English
translation (the original Irish of this valuable book is lost), we may
note what it tells us. "His father's name was Beoit, a Connacht man
(_sic_) and a carpenter. His mother Darerca, of the issue of Corc mac
Fergusa mic Roig of the Clanna Rudraige. He in his childhood lived
with his father and mother in 'Templevickinloyhe' [wherever that may
have been] in Cenel Fiachach; until a thief of the country of Ui
Failge stole the one cow they had, which, being found, he forsook
together with his father and mother the said place of the stealth [=
theft], fearing of further inconvenience." Here note: (1) that Darerca
is given the ancestry attributed in the _Book of Leinster_ pedigree
to Beoit, thus hinting at an originally _matrilinear_ form of the
official pedigree: (2) that the settlement of the family in Cenel
Fiachach, _i.e._ the place of Darerca's dwelling, is definitely
stated; (3) that the migration of the family does not take place till
after Ciaran's birth; (4) that a totally different reason is assigned
for the migration; (5) that incident X of the _Lives_ is directly
referred to; (6) that we hear nothing in this passage about the rest
of the numerous family of Beoit; and (7) that the family is poor,
having but one cow.
Cenel Fiachach (the clan of Fiachu) occupied a territory covering
parts of the present counties of Westmeath and King's Co. VG
erroneously writes this Cenel Fiachrach, which occupied a territory of
the modern Co. Sligo. _See_ further, p. 171.
_The Princes._--Unfortunately Ainmire mac Colgain, lord of Ui Neill,
and Cremthann, a chieftain of Connacht, are not otherwise known; we
cannot therefore test the chronological truth of this part of the
story. Ainmire reappears as an oppressor in the life of Aed (VSH, ii,
295). LA anachronistically confuses this Ainmire with Ainmire mac
Setna, King of Tara, A.D. 564-566.
It is noteworthy that VG calls Cremthann "King of Ireland." This is in
accordance with the fact that the dynasty which united Ireland under
the suzerainty of the King of Tara was of Connacht origin.[10]
_The Wizard's Prophecy._--The phrase "the noise of a chariot under
a king" is a stock formula in this connexion; compare, with Stokes,
_Vita Sancti Aedui_ in Rees' _Lives of Cambro-British Saints_, p. 233
(also VSH, ii, 295). With the incident compare the story of the druid
rising to welcome the parents of Saint Senan, and when ridiculed for
thus showing honour to peasants explaining that it was to their unborn
child that he was paying honour (LL, 1875). Observe that in both tales
the druid is _mocked_. This touch doubtless belongs to the Christian
chronicler, taking the opportunity of putting the minister of the
rival creed in an invidious position.
_Deacon Iustus_, according to VTP (p. 104) and Tirechan's _Collections
regarding Saint Patrick_ (edited in VTP, see pp. 305, 318) was
consecrated by Saint Patrick, who left with him his ritual book and
his office of baptism, in Fidarta (Fuerty, Co. Roscommon). It was in
his old age that he baptized Ciaran, out of Patrick's book--he was,
indeed, according to the documents quoted, no less than 140 years of
age. The glossators of the _Martyrology of Oengus_ (Henry Bradshaw
Society edition, p. 128) confuse him with Euthymius, the deacon,
martyred at Alexandria. The play on words ("it were fitting that the
_just one_ should be baptized by a _Just One_") is lost in the Irish
version, whence Plummer (VSH, i, p. xlix) infers that this document is
a translation from a Latin original: but the fact proves nothing more
than that the author of VG borrowed _this particular incident_, as
he borrowed his preface, from a Latin writing. All these Lives are
patchworks, and their component elements are of very different origins
and dates.
_The date of Ciaran's birth_ was 25 February, A.D. 515. The _Annals of
Ulster_ says 511, or "according to another book," 516. The _Annals of
Clonmacnois_ has the correct date, 515.
_The Geographical Names in this Incident._--_Temoria_ (LA) is Tara
(Irish _Teamair_), Co. Meath, the site of the dwelling of the Kings of
Ireland. _Midhe_ (LA) means the province of Meath; LA is, however,
in error in placing the Latronenses therein. The _Connachta_ are the
people who give their name to the province of Connacht. _Mag Ai_,
variously spelt, is the central plain of Co. Roscommon; _Raith
Cremthainn_ ("the fort of Cremthann") was somewhere upon it,
presumably near the royal establishment of Rathcroghan, but the exact
site is unknown. _Isel Chiarain_ (VG), a place reappearing later in
the Life, is unknown, but doubtless it was close to Clonmacnois.
_Cluain maccu Nois_, the "Meadow of the Descendants of Nos," now
Clonmacnois, stands on the right bank of the Shannon about twelve
miles below Athlone. Extensive remains of the monastery founded by
Ciaran are still to be seen there. As for _Tech meic in tSaeir_, "the
house of the wright's son," we might have inferred that this place was
also somewhere near or in Clonmacnois; but a note among the glosses of
the _Martyrology of Oengus_ (under 9th September) says that it was "in
the house of the son of the wright" that Ciaran was _brought up_. It
is therefore to be identified with the mysterious place corruptly
spelt "Templevickinloyhe" (church of the son of the ----?) in the
extract from the _Annals of Clonmacnois_ printed above.[11]
_The Verses in this Section of VG._--The epigram on Ciaran's parents
is found in many MSS. The rendering here given expresses the sense and
reproduces the rhythm of the stanza, but does not attempt to copy the
metre in every detail. This is known as _cro cummaisc etir casbairdne
ocus lethrannaigecht_, and consists of seven-syllable lines with
trisyllabic rhymes, alternating with five-syllable lines having
monosyllabic rhymes. Literally translated the sense would run,
"Darerca my mother / she was not a bad woman // Beoit the wright my
father / of the Latharna of Molt."
The second stanza is misplaced, and should properly have been inserted
in the following paragraph. Its metre is _ae freslige_--seven-syllable
lines in a quatrain, rhyming _abab_: _a_ being trisyllabic, _b_
dissyllabic rhymes. The stanza is obscure and probably corrupt; so far
as it can be rendered at all, the literal translation is: "He healed
the steed of Oengus / when he was in a swathe, in a cradle // there
was given ... / from God this miracle to Ciaran."
III. HOW CIARAN RAISED THE STEED OF OENGUS FROM DEATH (LA, LB, LC, VG)
_The Four Versions._--This incident is told in all four lives, and it
is instructive to note the differences of detail which they display.
In LA Oengus goes to fetch Ciaran, after consulting with his friends.
In LB he sends for him. In LC he goes to him, and in VG Ciaran comes
without being fetched. The stanza interpolated in the preceding
section of VG introduces us to another variant of the tradition, in
which Ciaran was a swaddled infant when the miracle was wrought. In LB
the incident is given a homiletic turn, by being told to illustrate
the saint's care for animals.
_Parallels._--A similar but not identical miracle is attributed to
Saint Patrick (VTP, 228; LL, 565). Here the saint resuscitates horses
with holy water; but in this case the saint's own curse had originally
caused the horses' deaths, because they grazed in his churchyard.
Saint Lasrian also restored a horse to life (CS, 796).
_Tir na Gabrai_ ("the land of the horse") is unknown, though it
presumably was near Raith Cremthainn. The story was probably told to
account for the name of the field. It has been noticed that the Latin
Lives are less rich in details as to names of places and people than
the Irish Life. This is an indication of a later tradition, when the
recollection of names had become vague, or, rather, when names which
had been of interest to their contemporaries had ceased to rouse such
feelings.
IV. HOW CIARAN TURNED WATER INTO HONEY (LA, LB, LC, VG)
One of the numerous imitations of the story of the Miracle of Cana.
Compare incident XLIV. An identical story is told of Saint Patrick
(LL, 108). Note the variety of reasons given for sending the honey to
Iustus.
V. HOW CIARAN WAS DELIVERED FROM A HOUND (LA, LB, LC, VG)
_Parallels._--The same story is told of Saint Patrick, in Colgan's
_Tertia Vita_, cap. xxxi, _Septima Vita_, I, cap. xlvii. Patrick
likewise quoted the verse _Ne tradas bestiis animus confitentes tibi_
(Ps. lxiv, [Vulgate lxiii] 19).
_The Fate of the Hound._--This varies in the different versions. In
the Patrick story just quoted it was struck immovable, as a stone.
In LA it thrusts its head _in circo uituli_, which I have rendered
conjecturally as the context seems to require, but I can find
no information as to the exact nature of this adjunct to the
cattle-stall. Du Cange gives _arcus sellae equestris_ as one of the
meanings of _circus_.
LB and LC, which have many points of affinity, are in this incident
almost word for word identical. They agree in saying that the men
setting on the hound were spurred (_uexati_) by an evil spirit. The
misplacing of this incident in LB is probably due to a transposition
of the leaves of the exemplar from which it was copied.
VI. HOW CIARAN AND HIS INSTRUCTOR CONVERSED, THOUGH DISTANT FROM ONE
ANOTHER (LA, VG)
_Topography of the Story._--Assuming that Raith Cremthainn was
somewhere near Rathcroghan, the distance between this and Fuerty would
be about fourteen miles. There is no indication on the Ordnance map of
any rock that can be identified with the cross-bearing stone on which
Ciaran used to sit, though it clearly was a landmark well known to the
author of LA. (_Pacé_ LA, Rathcroghan is _north_ of Fuerty.)
_Parallels._--The closest parallel is the story of Brigit, who heard
a Mass that was being celebrated in Rome, though unable to hear a
popular tumult close by (TT, 539). Something resembling the action of
a wireless telephone is contemplated, the voices being inaudible
to persons between the speakers. Thus the tales of saints with
preternaturally loud voices are not quite in point. Colum Cille was
heard to read his Psalms a mile and half away (LL, 828); Brenainn also
was heard at a long distance (LL, 3419). The burlesque _Vision of
MacConglinne_ parodies such voices (ed. Meyer, pp. 12, 13).
VII. CIARAN AND THE FOX (VG)
_Parallels._--There are endless tales of how saints pressed wild
animals into their service; indeed the first monastic establishment of
Ciaran's elder namesake, Ciaran of Saigir, consisted of wild animals
only: a boar, a badger, a wolf, and a stag (VSH, i, 219; _Silua
Gadelica_, i, p. 1 ff.). Moling also kept a number of wild and tame
animals round his monastery--among them a fox, which, as in the tale
before us, attempted to eat a book (VSH, ii, 201); otherwise, however,
the stories differ. Aed rescued a stag from hunters, and used its
horns as a book-rest (VSH, ii, 296); Coemgen similarly rescued a boar
(VSH, i, 244). So, in Wales, Saint Brynach caused stags to draw
his carriage, and committed his cow to the charge of a wolf
(_Cambro-British Saints_, pp. 10, 296). Saint Illtyd tamed a stag
which he had rescued from hunters (_ibid._, pp. 164, 473).
_Herding of Cattle._--There is abundant evidence from the Lives of the
saints that the herding of the cattle while pasturing was an important
duty of the children of the household. There was no little risk in
this, owing to the prevalence of wolves.
_Reading the Psalms._--The Psalms seem to have been the first subject
of instruction given to young students; LB, 4, indicates that Ciaran's
lessons with Iustus did not go beyond the mere rudiments of learning.
There is in the National Museum, Dublin, a tablet-book containing six
leaves of wax-covered wood, on which are traced a number of the Psalms
in the Vulgate version; this was most likely a lesson-book such as is
here described. The story evidently grew up around an actual specimen,
that bore injuries, explained as being the tooth-marks of the fox.
_Versions of the Tale._--It would appear that this story was
originally an account of how Ciaran and his distant tutor could
communicate, quite independent of incident VI. It has become awkwardly
combined with VI into a conflate narrative, as is shown by the silence
about the fox in LA. According to the one story, they used their
supernatural "wireless telephone." According to the other, the fox
trotted back and forth with the book. In the conflate version, it
would appear that Iustus dictated Psalms to Ciaran by "telephone,"
Ciaran then wrote them on his tablets, and the fox waited till he
was finished and then carried them for correction to Iustus. (As is
observed in the footnote _in loc_, p. 73, we must read "Iustus" for
"Ciaran" in the passage describing the proceedings of the fox).
_The Homiletic Pendant._--The unexpected homiletic turn given to this
story in VG may perhaps find its explanation in facts now lost to us;
the passage reads like a side-thrust at some actual person or persons.
It may possibly refer to the act of sacrilege committed by Toirdelbach
ó Briain, in 1073, who carried away from Clonmacnois the head of
Conchobar ó Maeil-Shechlainn; but being attacked by a mysterious
disease--imparted to him, it was said, by a mouse which issued from
the head and ran up under his garment--he was obliged to return it,
with two gold rings by way of compensation. He did not recover from
the disease, however, but died in 1086 (_Annals of Four Masters_).
VIII. HOW CIARAN SPOILED HIS MOTHER'S DYE (VG)
I have found no parallel to this most remarkable story. It displays
the following noteworthy points--
1. It belongs to the Ciaran-tradition which places the home of the
family in Cenel Fiachach.
2. It preserves what has every appearance of being an authentic
tradition of a prohibition against the presence of males, even of
tender years, when dyeing was being carried on.[12]
3. Most likely the saint's curse--indeed, the whole association of
the tale with Ciaran--is a late importation into the story: it was
probably originally a [Pagan] tale, told as a warning of what would
happen if males were allowed to be present at the mystery. The
different colours which the garments assumed are perhaps not without
significance; Sullivan, in his introduction to O'Curry's _Manners
and Customs_ (i, p. 405), says "the two failures ... are simply
the failures which result from imperfect fermentation and
over-fermentation of the woad-vat."
4. There is an intentionally droll touch given to the end of the
_Märchen_.
5. The independence of parental control which the youthful Ciaran
displays will not escape notice.
_The Stanza._--This is written in a peculiar metre; two seven-syllable
lines, with trisyllabic rhymes, followed by two rhyming couplets of
five-syllable lines with monosyllabic rhymes.
_Iarcain_ is a word of uncertain meaning: it probably denotes the
waste stuff left behind in the vat.
IX. HOW CIARAN RESTORED A CALF WHICH A WOLF HAD DEVOURED (LA, LB, LC,
VG)
_Parallels._--Practically the same story is told of Abban (VSH, i, 24;
CS, 508) and of Colman (CS, 828). A similar story is told of Saint
Patrick (LL, 91), but it is not quite identical, inasmuch as here the
wolf voluntarily restored a sheep which it had carried off. Something
like this, however, is indicated in the Latin verse rendering of the
story (No. 2 of the Latin verse fragments at the end of LB). More
nearly parallel is the tale of Brigit (LL, 1250; CS, 19) who gave
bacon which she was cooking to a hungry dog; it was miraculously
replaced. A converse of this miracle is to be found in the Life
of Ailbe, who first restored two horses killed by lions, and then
miraculously provided a hundred horses for the lions to devour (CS,
239). Aed gave eight wethers to as many starving wolves, and they were
miraculously restored to save him from the indignation of his maternal
aunt (VSH, ii, 296). It is obvious, but hypercritical, to complain
that in these artless tales the kindness shown to the beasts is
illogically one-sided!
_The Process of Resuscitation._--The important point in the tale,
though the versions do not all recognise this, is the collection of
the bones of the calf. VG preserves the essential command to the wolf
not to break these. Colum Cille reconstituted an ox from its bones
(LL, 1055). Coemgen gave away to wayfarers the dinner prepared for
the monastic harvestmen, and when the latter naturally protested, he
collected the bones and re-clothed them with flesh, at the same time
turning water to wine (VSH, i, 238). Aed performed a similar miracle
in the nunnery at Clonmacnois, replacing Ciaran's dinner which he
himself had eaten (VSH, i, 39). There is here no mention of the bones,
but very likely this has become lost in the process of transmission.
By all these tales we are reminded of the boar Sæhrimnir, on whose
flesh the blessed ones in Valhalla feast daily--sodden every evening
and reconstituted from its bones every morning.[13] In a Breton
folk-tale, _La princesse Troïol_, the hero has been burnt by the wiles
of his enemy, but his sorceress fiancée seeks among the ashes till
at last she finds a tiny splinter of bone. With this she is able to
restore her betrothed; without it she would have been powerless.[14]
Very probably the practice of "secondary interment" of human bones,
which we find so far back as the later stages of the Palaeolithic age,
is based upon the same belief; that if the bones are preserved, their
owner has a chance of a fresh lease of life.
There is a curious variant of the story in the Life of Coemgen.
Here the cow is driven home, and Coemgen, called upon to soothe its
lamentations, fetches, not the bones of the eaten calf, but the
culprit wolf, which comes and plays the part of the calf to the
satisfaction of all concerned (VSH, i, 239). It is evident that
in this case there is another element of belief indicated: the
personality of the calf has passed into the wolf which has devoured
it--in fact, the wolf _is_ the calf re-incarnate.
_Resurrection of Beasts._--Calling dead animals back to life is a not
infrequent incident in the lives of Irish saints. We have already seen
Ciaran resuscitating a horse. Mo-Chua restored twelve stags (VSH, ii,
188); but perhaps the most remarkable feat was that of Moling, who,
having watched a wren eating a fly, and a kestrel eating the wren,
revived first the wren and then the fly (VSH, ii, 200). Saint
Brynach's cow having been slain by a tyrannical king, was restored to
life by the saint (_Cambro-British Saints_, pp. 11, 297).
_The Stanza in VG._--The metre is _ae freslige_. The rendering in the
text is close to the literal sense.
_The Ejaculation "Mercy on us"_--or, more literally, "mercy come to
us." The sentence recording this habitual ejaculation, in VG, breaks
so awkwardly into the sense of the passage in which it is found, that
it must be regarded as a marginal gloss which has become incorporated
with the text. It has dislodged a sentence that must have legitimately
belonged to the text, restored in the foregoing translation by
conjecture. Probably the lost sentence, like the intrusive one, ended
with the word _trocuire_, "mercy," which, indeed, may have suggested
the interpolation; this might easily have caused the scribe's eye
to wander. An habitual expletive is also attributed to St. Patrick
(_modébroth_, apparently "My God of Judgment!").
Here, again, the versions in LB and LC are very closely akin.
X. HOW CIARAN WAS DELIVERED FROM ROBBERS (LA, LC, VG)
_Parallels._--Robbers were smitten with blindness (cf. Genesis xix.
II) by Darerca (CS, 179) and restored on repentance. The same fate
befell a man who endeavoured to drive Findian from a place where he
had settled (CS, 198). Robbers who attempted to attack Cainnech (CS,
364, 389; VSH, i, 153), Colman (VSH, i, 264), and Flannan (CS, 669),
were struck motionless. The story before us is a conflation of the two
types of incident, blindness and paralysis being accumulated on the
robbers. The same accumulation befell a swineherd who attempted to
slay Saint Cadoc (_Cambro-British Saints_, pp. 31, 321).
Note that this incident, like No. VIII, belongs to the Cenel Fiachach
tradition. We have already seen that it was known to the compiler of
the _Annals of Clonmacnois_, though he ignores the miraculous element.
XI.-XIII. HOW CIARAN GAVE CERTAIN GIFTS (LA): XIV. HOW CIARAN GAVE THE
KING'S CAULDRON TO BEGGARS AND WAS ENSLAVED (LA, LC, VG)
These four incidents may be considered together: they are all variants
of one formula.
_Parallels_.--Brigit took "of her father's wealth and property,
whatsoever her hands would find, ... to give to the poor and needy"
(LL, 1308). A story is told in the Life of Aed which is evidently a
combination of our incidents XII and XIII: to the effect that when
ploughing he made a gift of one of his oxen and of the coulter, and
continued to plough without either (VSH, i, 36).
The angels grinding for Ciaran reappear in incident XVIII: this is a
frequent type of favour shown to saints. Angels ground for Colum Cille
at Clonard (LL, 850), swept out a hearth for Patrick (LL, 121), and
harvested for Ailbe (CS, 241).
_Beoit an Uncle._--This is an important link between incidents XII and
XIII in LA. Its bearing upon the question of the origin of Ciaran's
family has already been noticed.
_The Oxen ploughing._--Incident XIII would be meaningless if we did
not understand from it that at the time of the formation of the
story it was not customary to use horses in the plough. This is an
illustration of the way in which these documents, unhistorical though
they may be in the main, yet throw occasional sidelights, which may be
accepted as authentic, on ancient life.
_King Furbith._--I have not succeeded in tracing this personage, who
reappears in incident XXVII. But the story of his cauldron is found in
the Life of Ciaran of Saigir (CS, 815), in a rather different form--to
the effect that he deposited his considerable wealth for safe-keeping
with Ciaran, who was already abbot of Clonmacnois. Ciaran promptly
distributed it to the poor. Furbith was human enough to be annoyed at
this breach of trust, and ordered Ciaran to be summoned before him in
bonds. This done, he addressed him "insultingly," as the hagiographer
puts it, in these words: "Good abbot, if thou wilt be loosed from
bonds, thou must needs bring me seven white-headed red hornless
kine:[15] and if thou canst not find them, thou shalt pay a penalty
for my treasures which thou hast squandered." Ciaran undertook to
provide the required cattle, "not to escape these thy bonds, which are
a merit unto me, but to set forth the glory of my God"; and therefore
he was set free to obtain them. Another variant of these stories--a
common type, in which the saint gives away the property of other
people in alms, but has his own face miraculously saved--is
illustrated by the tale of Coemgen, who, when a boy was pasturing
sheep. He gave four of them to beggars, but when the sheep were led
home at night the number was found complete "so that the servant of
Christ should not incur trouble on account of his exceeding charity"
(VSH, i, 235).
The site of _Cluain Cruim_ (LA) is unknown (perhaps Clooncrim, Co.
Roscommon). The _Desi_ (VG), or Dessi, were a semi-nomadic pre-Celtic
people once established in the barony of Deece, Co. Meath, but
afterwards in the baronies of Decies in Waterford: both these baronies
still bear their name. A branch of them settled in Wales. Evidently
the donors of the cauldrons which purchased the freedom of the saint
were of the Decies; they are said to have been Munster folk (the name
of the province is variously spelled).
XV. HOW CIARAN REPROVED HIS MOTHER (LA, LC)
I have found no parallel to this story; it contains no miraculous
element, and may quite possibly be at least founded on fact. Its chief
importance is the prominence given to the _materfamilias_.
XVI. THE BREAKING OF THE CARRIAGE-AXLE (LA, LC)
Unlike LA, LC seems to imply that the injury to the axle was not
repaired. This would be parallel to the story of Aed, who, when his
carriage met with a similar mishap, was able to continue his journey
on one wheel only (CS, 336; VSH, i, 36).
XVII. HOW CIARAN WENT WITH HIS COW TO THE SCHOOL OF FINDIAN (LA, LB,
LC, VG)
_The blessing of the Cow._--In this story we again note the prominence
of the _materfamilias_: it is she who in most of the versions
withholds the desired boon. Note how LB endeavours to tone down the
disobedience of the saint by making the cow follow him of her own
accord, or, rather, upon a direct divine command. The _Annals of
Clonmacnois_ presents the story in a similar form: "He earnestly
entreated his parents that they would please to give him the cow
[which had been stolen and recovered; _ante_, p. 108], that he might
go to school to Clonard to Bishop Finnan, where Saint Colum Cille ...
and divers others were at school: which his parents denied: whereupon
he resolved to go thither as poor as he was, without any maintenance
in the world. The cow followed him thither with her calf; and being
more given to the cause of his learning than to the keeping of the
cows, having none to keep the calf from the cow, [he] did but draw
a strick of his bat between the calf and cow. The cow could not
thenceforth come no nearer [_sic_] the calf than to the strick, nor
the calf to the cow, so as there needed no servant to keep them one
from another but the strick." A totally different version of the story
of the cow is recorded in the glosses to the _Martyrology of Oengus_
(9th September). Here Ciaran applied to his _father_, who, so far from
refusing his request, bade him go through the herd and take whatever
beast would follow him. "The Dun Cow of Ciaran" yielded to the test.
Further, the same cow followed him when he left Clonard, instead of
remaining with Ninned as in the _Lives_ before us.
Note how the author of LA has been unable to keep a very human touch
out of his arid record: _matri displicebat, uolebat enim eum secum
semper habere_. This is our last glimpse of poor Darerca, and it does
much to soften the rather lurid limelight in which our homilists place
her.
_The Division of Kine and Calves._--This miracle is one of the most
threadbare commonplaces of Irish hagiographical literature; it is most
frequently, as here, performed by drawing a line on the ground between
the animals with the saint's wonder-working staff. It is attributed,
_inter alia_, to Senan (LL, 1958), Fintan (CS, 229), Ailbe (with
swine, CS, 240), and Finan (CS, 305).
_A miraculous abundance of milk_ was also given by kine belonging to
Brigit (CS, 44) and to Samthann (VSH, ii, 255).
_The Hide of the Cow._--Plummer quotes other illustrations of such
mechanical passports to the Land of the Blessed (VSH, i, p. xciii).
The main purpose of this whole incident is doubtless to explain the
origin of a precious relic, preserved at Clonmacnois. Its history
is involved in some doubt: it is complicated by the fact that there
exists a well-known manuscript, now preserved in the library of the
Royal Irish Academy, written at Clonmacnois about A.D. 1100, and
called the _Book of the Dun Cow_, from the animal of whose hide the
vellum is said to have been made. But whether this book has any
connexion with the Dun Cow of Ciaran may be considered doubtful. For
down to the comparatively late date at which our homilies were put
together, the hide of Ciaran's Dun was evidently preserved _as a
hide_, on or under which a dying man could lie: therefore it cannot
have been made into a book. Yet _Imtheacht na Tromdhaimhe_ (p. 124
of the printed text) tells us, for what it may be worth, that Ciaran
wrote the great epic tale called _Táin Bó Cúalnge_ upon the hide of
the Dun Cow. There is actually a copy of this tale in the existing
book; but the book was written not long after the time when our
homilists were describing the relic as an unbroken hide. Either there
were two dun cows, or the name of the Manuscript has arisen from a
misunderstanding.
_The stanza in VG_ is another example of _ae freslige_ metre. The
literal translation is "Fifty over a hundred complete / the Dun of
Ciaran used to feed, // guests and lepers / people of the refectory
and of the parlour."
_The School of Findian._--Findian was born in the fifth century. He
went to Tours for study, and afterwards to Britain; he then felt a
desire to continue his studies in Rome, but an angel bade him return
to Ireland and there continue the work begun by Patrick. After
spending some time with Brigit at Kildare, and establishing various
religious houses, he settled at Cluain Iraird, in the territory of
Ui Neill: now called Clonard, in Co. Meath. His establishment there
became the chief centre of instruction in Ireland in the early part of
the sixth century. He died in 549, at an advanced age: indeed, he is
traditionally said to have lived 140 years. Nothing now remains of the
monastery, though there were some ruins a hundred years ago.
XVIII. THE ANGELS GRIND FOR CIARAN (LA, LC, VG)
The angels grinding have already been seen in incident XIV.
_The Stanza in VG._--This is in the metre known as _rannaigecht
mór_, seven syllables with monosyllabic rhymes, usually _abab_. The
translation adequately expresses the sense and, approximately, the
metre.[16] The number of saints enumerated is thirteen, not twelve,
but the master, Findian of Clonard, is not counted in the reckoning.
The names, the principal monasteries, and the obits of these saints
are as follows--
Findian of Cluain Iraird (Clonard, Co. Meath), 12 December 548.
Findian of Mag-bile (Moville, Co. Donegal), 12 September 579.
Colum Cille of Í Choluim Cille (Iona), 9 June 592.
Colum of Inis Cealtra (Holy Island, Loch Derg), 13 December 549.
Ciaran of Cluain maccu Nois (Clonmacnois), 9 September 548.
Cainnech of Achad Bo (Aghaboe, Queen's Co.), 11 October 598.
Comgall of Beannchor (Bangor, Co. Down), 10 May 552.
Brenainn of Birra (Birr, King's Co.), 29 November 571.
Brenainn of Cluain Fearta (Clonfert, King's Co.), 16 May 576.
Ruadan of Lothra (Lorrha, Co. Tipperary), 15 April 584.
Ninned of Inis Muighe Saimh (Inismacsaint in Loch Erne),
18 January 5..(?).
Mo-Bi of Glas Naoidhean (Glasnevin, Co. Dublin) 12 October 544.
Mo-Laise mac Nad-Fraeich of Daimhinis (Devenish, Loch Erne),
12 September 563.
XIX. CIARAN AND THE KING'S DAUGHTER (LA, VG)
_Parallels._--Maignenn never would look on a woman, "lest he should
see her guardian devil" (_Silua Gadelica_, i, 37). The story has some
affinity with the curious _Märchen_ of the Mill and the Bailiff's
Daughter (incident XXIV). Cuimmin of Connor, in his poem on the
characters of the different Irish saints, spoke thus of Ciaran,
doubtless in reference to this incident: "Holy Ciaran of Clonmacnois
loved humility that he did not abandon rashly; he never spoke a word
that was untrue, he never looked at a woman from the time when he was
born."
_The Stanza in VG._--Metre _ae freslige_. Literally thus: "With Ciaran
read / a girl who was stately with treasures // and he saw not / her
form or her shape or her make."
In LA the father of the maiden is king in Tara: in VG he is king of
Cualu, the strip of territory between the mountains and the sea from
Dublin southward to Arklow.
XX. HOW CIARAN HEALED THE LEPERS (VG)
Leprosy, or at least a severe cutaneous disease so called, was common
in ancient Ireland; and there are numerous stories, some of them
extremely disagreeable, that tell how the saints associated with its
victims as an act of self-abasement. We have already seen how Patrick
was said to have kept a leper. Brigit also healed lepers by washing
(LL, 1620), and Ruadan cleansed lepers with the water of a spring
that he opened miraculously (VSH, ii, 249). Contrariwise, Munnu never
washed except at Easter after contracting leprosy (VSH, ii, 237).
The miraculous opening of a spring is a common incident in Irish
hagiography; we have already seen an example, in the annotations to
incident I.
Whitley Stokes points out (LL, note _ad loc._) that the "three waves"
poured over the lepers are suggested by the triple immersion in
baptism.
XXI. CIARAN AND THE STAG (VG)
_Parallels._--We have already noted the use of wild animals by Irish
saints. Findian yoked stags to draw wood (LL, 2552). Patrick kept a
tame stag (TT, p. 28, cap. lxxxii, etc.). In incident XXXVII, Ciaran
is again served by a stag. Cainnech, like Ciaran, made a book-rest of
the horns of a stag (CS, 383), and books which Colum Cille had lost
were restored to him by a stag (TT, _Quinta Vita_, p. 407). In the
life of Saint Cadoc we read an incident which combines docile stags
drawing timber and a forgotten book untouched by rain (_Cambro-British
Saints_, pp. 38, 329).
For Ciaran's prompt obedience to the summoning sound of the bell,
compare what is told of Cainnech, who happened to be summoned by the
head of the monastic school when he was writing, and left the letter
O, which at the moment he was tracing, unfinished, to obey the call
(VSH, i, 153).
There is a parallel in incident XXXVI for the book unwet by rain.
Books written by Colum Cille could not be injured by water (LL, 956).
It is perhaps hardly necessary to infer with Plummer (VSH, i, p.
cxxxviii) that this was a myth of solar origin.
XXII. THE STORY OF CIARAN'S GOSPEL (LA, VG)
This striking anecdote is unique, and probably founded on an authentic
incident. The two versions before us differ in some respects, as a
comparison will show. The story is told in another form in the _Quinta
Vita Columbae_ (TT, p. 403) to the effect that "Once Saint Kieranus,
whom they call the Son of the Wright, on being asked, promised Columba
that as he was writing a book of the Holy Gospels, he would write out
the middle part of the book. Columba, in gratitude to him, said, 'And
I,' said he, 'on behalf of God, promise and foretell that the middle
regions of Ireland shall take their name from thee, and shall bring
their taxes or tribute to thy monastery.'" The same version appears in
O'Donnell's _Life of Colum Cille_ (printed text, p. 128). Yet another
version appears in the glosses to the _Martyrology of Oengus_
(9th September), according to which Colum Cille wished to write a
gospel-book, but no one except Ciaran had an exemplar from which to
make the copy. Colum Cille went to Ciaran's cell and asked for the
loan of the book; Ciaran, who was preparing his lesson, and had just
come to the words _Omnia quaecumque_, etc., presented him with it.
"Thine be half of Ireland!" said Colum Cille. It is worth passing
notice that the verse in question, here treated as the central verse
of the gospel, is not one-fifth of the way through the book. Had the
original narrator of the tale a copy with misplaced or missing leaves?
_The Stanza in VG._--This is apparently slightly corrupt, but the
metre is evidently meant to be _ae freslige_. It probably belongs to
one poem with the previous stanzas in the same metre: its first line
echoes the stanza in incident XIX. Literally, "With Findian read /
Ciaran the pious, with diligence // he had half a book without reading
/ half of Ireland his thereafter."
_The Saying of Alexander._--I regret to have to acknowledge that
I have been unable to get on the track of any explanation of this
appendix to the incident, as related in VG. It is probably a marginal
gloss taken into the text. The "Alexander" is presumably one of the
popes of that name, and if so, must be Alexander II (1061-1073), as
the first Pope Alexander is too early, and the remaining six are too
late. I have, however, searched all the writings bearing his name
without discovering anything like this saying, nor can I trace it with
the aid of the numerous indexes in Migne's _Patrologia_.
XXIII. THE BLESSING OF CIARAN'S FOOD (LA, LC)
I cannot find any authority for the ritual indicated by this curious
story, in which the blessing of a second person is necessary before
food can be consumed. There is a Jewish formula described by
Lightfoot,[17] in which, when several take their meals together, one
says _Let us bless_, and the rest answer _Amen_. But it is not clear
why a response should have been required by a person eating alone.
XXIV. THE STORY OF THE MILL AND THE BAILIFF'S DAUGHTER (LB, VG)
The full details of this narrative have evidently been offensive to
the author of LB, who has heroically bowdlerised it. It is obviously
an independent _Märchen_, which has become incorporated in the
traditions of Ciaran.
_The Famine._--Famines are frequently recorded in the Irish Annals:
and it is noteworthy that they were usually accompanied by an epidemic
of raids on monasteries. The wealth of the country was largely
concentrated in these establishments, so that they presented a strong
temptation to a starving community. The beginning of the story is thus
quite true to nature and to history, though I have found no record
of a famine at the time when we may suppose Ciaran to have been at
Clonard.
_Transformation of Oats to Wheat, and of other Food to Flour._--Such
transformations are common in the saints' Lives. We read of swine
turned to sheep (CS, 879), snow to curds (LL, 127), sweat to gold
(TT, 398) flesh to bread (CS, 368). The later peculiarities of the
food--bread or some other commonplace material having the taste of
more recondite dainties, and possessing curative properties--are not
infrequently met with in folk-lore. Saint Illtyd placed fish and water
before a king, who found therein the taste of bread and salt, wine and
mead, in addition to their proper savours (_Cambro-British Saints_,
pp. 165, 474).
_The Resistance of the Saint to amorous Advances._--The reader may be
referred to Whitley Stokes's note _ad loc._, in LL. We may recall the
well-known story of Coemgen (Kevin) at Glendaloch: though it must be
added that the version of the tale popularised by Moore, in which the
saint pushed his importunate pursuer into the lake and drowned her,
has no ancient authority. On the rather delicate subject of the
arrangement made between Ciaran and the maiden's family, consult
the article _Subintroductae_ in Smith and Cheetham's _Dictionary of
Christian Antiquities_. This feature of the story is enough to show
its unhistorical character, at least so far as Ciaran is concerned:
for Ciaran did not belong to the _Primus Ordo_ of Irish saints, who
_mulierum administrationem et consortia non respuebant, quia super
petram Christum fundati ventum temptationis non timebant_, but to
the _Secundus Ordo_, who _mulierum consortia et administrationes
fugiebant, atque a monasteriis suis eas excludebant_ (CS, 161, 162).
The description of Ciaran as transcending his contemporaries in beauty
is probably suggested by Ps. xlv, 2, and is another illustration of
the _Tendenz_ already referred to.
_The Eavesdropper and the Crane._--This incident reappears in the Life
of Flannan (CS, 647). Wonder-workers do not like to be spied upon by
unauthorised persons. This is especially true in the Fairy mythology
surviving to modern times. Compare a tale in the Life of Aed (VSH, ii,
308). A quantity of wood had been cut for building a church, but there
was no available labour. Angels undertook the work of transportation
on condition that no one should spy upon them. One man, however,
played the inevitable "Peeping Tom," and the work ceased immediately.
The reader may be referred for further instances to the essay on
"Fairy Births and Human Midwives" in E.S. Hartland's _Science of Fairy
Tales_.
There is a touch of intentional drollery at the end of the story where
the brethren are shown as having so thoroughly enjoyed the feast
miraculously provided for them that their observance of the canonical
hours was disjointed. For other instances of intoxication as resulting
from saints' miracles see VSH, i, p. ci.
_The Stanzas in VG._--These are in _ae freslige_ metre, so that they
are probably another fragment of the poem already met with. The
translation in the text reproduces the sense with sufficient
literalness.
On the whole the impression which this unusually long and very
confused incident makes on the reader is that originally it was an
_anti-Christian_ narrative concocted in a Pagan circle, which has
somehow become superficially Christianised.
XXV. THE STORY OF CLUAIN (VG)
One of the numerous tales told of the danger of crossing the will of a
saint. It is possibly suggested by Matt, xxi, 28; but it may also be
a pre-Christian folk-tale adapted to the new Faith by substituting a
saint for a druid. On the cursing propensities of Irish saints see
Plummer, VSH, i, pp. cxxxv, clxxiii. A curse said to have been
pronounced by Ciaran on one family remained effective down to the year
1151, where it is recorded by the _Annals of the Four Masters_ (vol.
ii, p. 1096). Another curse of the same saint, and its fulfilment, is
narrated in Keating's History (Irish Texts Society's edn., iii, 52
ff.), and at greater length in the life of the victim, Cellach (_Silua
Gadelica_, no. iv).
Note that Ciaran sends a messenger with his rod to revive Cluain. This
is probably imitated from Elisha sending Gehazi similarly equipped to
raise the Shunammite's son (2 Kings iv, 29).
Cluain's thanks at being delivered from the pains of hell may be
contrasted with the protest of the monk resurrected by Colman (VSH,
i, 260, 265) at being recalled from the joys of heaven--an aspect of
resurrection stories frequently overlooked by the narrators.
_The Stanza in VG._--The metre is _rannaigecht gairit dialtach_ (a
line of three syllables followed by three of seven, with monosyllabic
rhymes _aaba_). The literal rendering is "Cluain agreed to come / to
me to-day for reaping // for an oppressive disease / caused him living
in his house to be dead."
XXVI, XXVII. HOW CIARAN FREED WOMEN FROM SERVITUDE (LA, LB, VG)
Tuathal Moel-garb ("the bald-rough") was king in Tara A.D. 528-538. We
have already met with Furbith in incident XIV.
Interceding for captives, with or without miracle, was one of the most
frequent actions attributed to Irish saints: as for instance Brigit
(LL, 1520) and Fintan (CS, 300). Doors opened of their own accord to
Colum Cille (CS, 850). Paulinus of Nola gave himself as a captive in
exchange for a widow's son at the time of the invasion of Alaric in
A.D. 410 (see Smith's _Dictionary of Christian Biography_, vol. iv, p.
239, col. ii, and references there). This explains the allusion in LB.
The woman passing through her enemies is perhaps suggested by Luke iv,
30. The prisoner Fallamain, rescued by Saint Samthann, also passed
unscathed through a crowd of jailers (VSH, ii, 255; compare _ibid._,
p. 259); his chains opened of their own accord, like the doors in
incident XXVI. Compare Acts xii, 7 ff.
XXVIII. ANECDOTES OF CLUAIN IRAIRD (VG)
These four _petits conies_, found in VG only, are clearly designed
to set forth the superiority of Clonmacnois above its rival
establishments.
(_a_) This story tells how Findian ranked Ciaran above all the notable
saints and scholars of his time, and how they had to acknowledge his
pre-eminence by their very jealousy. Colum Cille is the only saint
whom the homilist will allow to approach his hero.
(_b_) This is a thrust at the monastery of Birr. It says, in effect,
"Clonmacnois is situated on the great river Shannon, Birr on the
insignificant Brosna; and the relative importance of the two
establishments is to be estimated by the size of their respective
rivers--even Brenainn, the founder of Birr, said this himself!" There
was a contest between the people of Clonmacnois and those of Birr at
a place now unknown, _Moin Coise Bla_ (the bog at the foot of Bla)
in the year 756, according to the _Annals of Clonmacnois_ and of
_Tigernach_. The circumstances which led to this event are not on
record; but it is not far-fetched to see an echo of it in the story
before us. This would give us an approximate date for the construction
of the story, though the compilation in which it is now embedded is
considerably later.
(_c_) This story further exalts Clonmacnois as the place containing
a valuable relic that ensures eternal happiness in the hereafter. Of
this relic we have already spoken.
(_d_) Again exalts Clonmacnois by relating a dream in which the
founder is put on a level with the great Colum Cille. This vision is
related also in the Lives of the latter saint (see, for instance, LL,
852). An analogous vision, not related in the Lives of Ciaran, is that
of the three heavenly chairs, seen by Saint Baithin. He saw a chair of
gold, a chair of silver, and a chair of crystal before the Lord.
As interpreted by Colum Cille, the first was the seat destined for
Ciaran, on account of the nobility and firmness of his faith;
the silver chair was for Baithin, on account of the firmness and
brightness and rigour of his faith; and the third was for Colum Cille
himself, on account of the brightness and purity--and brittleness--of
his faith.[18]
XXIX. THE PARTING OF CIARAN AND FINDIAN (VG)
Compare with this narrative the parting of Senan and Notal (LL,
2031). The metre of the stanza is _cummasc etir rannaigecht mór ocus
leth-rannaigecht_ (seven-syllable and five-syllable lines alternately,
with monosyllabic rhymes _abab_). The translation is literal.
XXX. THE ADVENTURES OF THE ROBBERS OF LOCH ERNE (LB, LC)
LA and VG know nothing of the visit to Loch Erne of which this is the
chief incident. Ninned here appears as an abbot, which is scarcely
consistent with his previous appearance as a junior fellow-student of
Ciaran. There is, however, a possible hint at this tradition in the
statement in VG that when Ciaran departed from Clonard he left the Dun
Cow with Ninned. Ninned's island, as we learn from an entry in the
_Martyrology of Donegal_ (18th January) was Inis Muighe Samh, now
spelt Inismacsaint, in Loch Erne. The reading in both MSS. of LB,
_silua_ for _insula_, evidently rests on a false interpretation of a
word or a contraction in the exemplar from which R1 was copied. This
seems to have been hard to read at the incident before us. Later on
there is a word, which the sense shows us must have been _potentes_.
The scribe of R1 could not read it, and left a blank, which
he afterwards tentatively filled in with the meaningless word
_fatentes_--a word which his copyist, the scribe of R2, emended by
guesswork into _fac(i)entes_.
_Parallels._--There are several cases of the restoration to life of
persons who had been decapitated. Coemgen restored two women who had
been thus treated (VSH, i, 239). The famous Welsh holy well of Saint
Winefred in Flintshire is associated with a similar miracle (see Rees'
_Cambro-British Saints_, pp. 17, 304). The story of the three murdered
monks is also told of Saint Aed (VSH, i, 38), but there the blood-mark
round their necks is absent. Ciaran seems to have been less expert
than some of his brethren in replacing severed heads on decapitated
bodies; for according to a tale preserved in the _Book of Lismore_,
there was a certain lord of the region of Ui Maine (the region west of
the Shannon), who was called Coirpre the Crooked, for the following
reason: he was an evil man who did great mischief to every one, in
consequence of which he was murdered and beheaded. But Ciaran had
shriven him, and in order to deliver his soul from demons he restored
him to life, replacing his head--so clumsily, however, that it was
ever afterwards crooked.
A certain man called Ambacuc, having perjured himself on the hand of
Ciaran, his head fell off. He was taken to Clonmacnois, and not only
lived there headless for seven years, but became the father of a
family![19]
XXXI. HOW CIARAN FLOATED A FIREBRAND ON THE LAKE (LB)
_The Harbour of the Island._--It must be remembered, in reading this
and other island stories, that as a rule "the harbour of the island"
is not, as might be expected, the landing-stage on the island itself,
but the port on the mainland from which ships depart to visit the
island. Thus Portraine, a place on the coast north of Dublin, is
properly _Port Rachrann_, the Port of Rachra--the port from which
voyagers sailed to Rachra, the island now called by its Norse name
Lambay.
_Parallels._--I have not found an exact parallel, but the story
belongs to the same family as that related of Coemgen, who kindled a
fire with the drops of water that fell from his fingers after washing
his hands (CS, 839).
XXXII. CIARAN IN ARAN (LA, LB, VG)
_The Aran Islands._--The marvellous isles of Aran, still a museum of
all periods of ancient Irish history, with their immense prehistoric
forts and their strange little oratories, were from an early date
chosen as the site of Christian communities. Enda ruled over a
community at the southern end of the Great Island; the church still
survives, in ruin, and bears his name. Ciaran must have remained long
enough in Aran to make a permanent impression there, for one of the
ancient churches--much later than his time, however--is dedicated
under his invocation. The reference to saints "known to God only"
reminds us of the dedications to saints "whose names the Lord knows"
in Greek on the font of the Church of the Nativity at Bethlehem, and
in Armenian on a mosaic pavement at Jerusalem.
_Prophecy by Vision._--This is not an infrequent incident in the
saints' Lives. It often appears at the beginning of a Life, the
saint's mother having a dream interpreted by some one, whom she
consults, as indicative of the future greatness and holiness of her
unborn son. I have not hit upon another case in these documents of the
same dream appearing to two persons at once.
Ciaran's visit to Enda is described at length in the _Vita Endei_
(VSH, ii, 71-2). We are there told that he was seven years in Aran,
serving faithfully in the monastic threshing-barn, so that in the
chaff-heaps it would have been impossible to discover a single grain;
and that the walls of his threshing-barn were still standing in Aran
when the hagiographer wrote. He then saw the vision of the tree,
which, however, we are not told was seen by Enda also. Enda
interpreted the vision as in the texts before us, and bade him
go forth to fulfil the divine will. Ciaran then went to found
Clonmacnois. He besought Enda before he departed that he (Enda) should
accept him and his _parochia_ under his protection: but Enda answered,
"God hath not ordained it so for thee, that thou shouldst in this
narrow island be under my authority. But because of thy wondrous
humility and thy perfect charity, Christ thy Lord giveth thee a half
of Ireland as thine inheritance." Here there is another version of the
claim of Clonmacnois to legislate ecclesiastically for half of the
island. They then erected a cross as a token of their fraternal
bond, putting a curse upon whomsoever should make a breach in their
agreement. In a Life of Saint Enda, quoted by the Bollandists
(September, vol. iii, p. 376 C), it is further averred that Enda saw
in a vision all the angels that haunted Aran departing in the company
of Ciaran as he went on his way. Distressed at this desertion of his
heavenly ministrants, he fasted and prayed; but an angel appeared
to him and comforted him, saying that the angels were permitted to
accompany Ciaran on account of his holiness, but that they would
return again to Aran.
XXXIII. HOW A PROPHECY WAS FULFILLED (LA, VG)
The versions of this incident differ considerably both in detail and
in the setting of the incident.
"_Cluain Innsythe_," where LA sets the story, is unknown. There is
no river in Aran, where VG places the incident; in this version,
therefore, the ship is placed on the sea.
_Lonan the Left-handed._--Nothing further is recorded of this person,
so far as I know. The parenthesis describing how he "was ever
contradictious of Ciaran" is probably a gloss; so far as the incident
goes, the contradictiousness is the other way.
Note the interesting sidelights upon the practice of artificially
drying grain in LA. There are some technical terms in the Latin of
this incident in the LA version. Thus, the word here translated "hut"
is _zabulum_; this I presume is another way of spelling _stabulum_,
for the meanings given in Du Cange to _zabulum_ or similar words are
here quite unsuitable. The word which I have rendered "platter" is
_rota_, and the word translated "shed" is _canaba_.
XXXIV. HOW CIARAN VISITED SENAN
_Senan._--This is an extremely interesting personality. His island,
Inis Cathaigh (now corrupted to "Scattery") is said to derive its
name from _Cathach_, a monster (mentioned in LA) which had formerly
inhabited it, and which Senan had slain or charmed away. There are
obvious pagan elements in the legends of this saint, and there can be
little doubt that the unknown hermit who founded the monastery,
of which the remains are still to be seen, has entered into the
inheritance of the legends of an ancient deity, most likely worshipped
on the island. This deity was probably the god of the Shannon river:
and the name of the saint is clearly reminiscent of the name of the
river. In their present form the two names are not philologically
compatible: the name of the saint may be explained as an arbitrary
modification, designed to _differentiate_ the Christian saint from
the pagan river-god. That pagan names should survive (modified or
otherwise) in ancient holy places re-consecrated to Christianity is
only natural.
There may be some foundation in fact for apparently supernatural
knowledge such as Senan displays in this incident of the personality
of a coming guest. In reading documents such as this, we are not
infrequently tempted to suspect that we have before us the record of
actual manifestations of the even yet imperfectly understood phenomena
of hypnotism, telepathy, "second sight," and similar psychical
abnormalities.
The story of the cloak is told again in the Life of Senan (LL, 2388).
From the version there contained, we learn that Ciaran gave his cloak
to _lepers_. There is another version of the visit of Ciaran to Senan
in the metrical Life of the latter saint (CS, 750). According to this
story, Ciaran was not travelling alone, but with his disciples; and
they had no means of transport to the island except an oarless boat
woven of osiers. Trusting themselves to this doubtful craft (as Cybi
voyaged in a skinless coracle, _Cambro-British Saints_, pp. 186, 499),
they were ferried over in safety, no water finding its way into the
boat. Then follows the episode of the cloak, omitting, however,
Senan's jest of carrying it secretly. A glossator has added in LA
the marginal note "Priests formerly wore cowls." There are slight
discrepancies between the versions as to the precise garment given by
Ciaran and restored by Senan.
Another episode connecting Ciaran and Senan is narrated in the
metrical Life of Senan (though the passage is absent from the CS copy;
it will be found in the Bollandist edition, March, vol. ii, p. 766).
Briefly, this tale is to the effect that Ciaran and Brenainn went to
Senan for confession. They were received with fitting honour, but the
steward of Inis Cathaigh told his superior that he had no provision to
set before the guests. "The Lord will provide," answered Senan; and
in point of fact, a prince for whom a feast was at the time being
prepared on the mainland was divinely inspired to send it as a gift
to the sacred island. The saints partook of the banquet thus bestowed
upon them; and while they were doing so, a small bell fell from heaven
into their midst. None of the three was willing to assert a claim to
this gift over the other two; and after discussion they agreed to
advance in different directions, and he who should continue longest to
hear the sound of the bell was to be its possessor. This test assigned
the bell to Senan. The shrine of this sacred relic (the bell itself
is lost) is now preserved in the museum of the Royal Irish Academy,
having been acquired from the last hereditary keeper by a generous
donor.[20]
_The Geographical Names._--Besides "the island of Cathi" (Inis
Cathaigh, Scattery) LA refers to "Luim-nich" (Limerick), Kiarraighi
(properly _Ciarraige_, [North] Kerry), and Corco Baiscind (the
southern barony of Co. Clare), now spelt "Corcovaskin."
XXXV. CIARAN IN ISEL (LA, LB, VG)
_Cobthach son of Brecan_.--This person, who is said in VG to have
made over Isel to Ciaran, was probably a local chieftain; but he has
escaped the notice of the Annalists. In any case the statement that he
made over Isel to Ciaran is so obviously incongruous with the sense of
the passage, that it can be safely rejected as an interpolation. Its
purpose is to claim for Clonmacnois the possession of the land called
Isel, the site of which is no longer known, though it cannot have
been far from Clonmacnois. Conn of the Poor, the great and charitable
benefactor of Clonmacnois in the early years of the eleventh century,
established an almshouse at Isel; and some fifty-six years later,
in the year 1087, his son Cormac, then abbot, purchased Isel in
perpetuity from the king of Meath.
_Parallels._--We have already (incident XXI) seen an example of the
rescue of a book from rain; compare also incident XLI. The garment of
Finan (CS, 316) and of Cainnech (CS, 371) were preserved from rain,
and snow did not injure a book belonging to Abban (CS, 530). The
forgetfulness attributed to the saint with regard to his precious
volume is a regular feature of this type of incident: it is no doubt
meant to honour him, as indicating that the fulfilment of his monastic
duties were yet more precious in his eyes. Moling forgot his book when
reading by the sea-shore, and though the tide arose and covered it, it
remained uninjured (VSH, ii, 191). There are numerous illustrations
of the paramount need of attending to guests scattered through the
saints' Lives.
The story of the grain cast into the breast of a poor man has come
down to us in confusion: it is not clear why the chariot is introduced
at all. Probably we have a conflation of two incidents. In the one
(which is the version followed by LA, for which see § 26 of that
document) Ciaran gave to a pauper a chariot and horses which the
prince Oengus son of Cremthann had given him: as that prince belongs
to the boyhood stories, it is probable that this incident should be
transferred to that section of the Life. In the other incident, which
may belong to the Isel period, Ciaran flings grain into the breast of
the poor man, where it turns into gold: and we may suppose that the
pointless re-transformation of the gold to grain did not take place. A
similar tale is told of Saint Aed (VSH, ii, 308). The weird story of
the jester who stopped the funeral of Guaire, king of Connacht, famous
for his abounding liberality, and demanded a gift of the dead man, is
of the same type; we are told that the dead king scooped up some earth
with his hand, and flung it into the jester's lap, where it became
pure gold.[21]
XXXVI. THE REMOVAL OF THE LAKE (LA, LB, VG)
The island in the lake was probably a crannog, or artificial fortified
island, such as are common on the lakes of Ireland. Fundamentally the
story is an evident aetiological myth, intended to account for the
existence of some curious swampy hollow. In its present form it is
obviously suggested by Matt, xvii, 20. Note that VG does not seem to
contemplate the wholesale removal of the lake.
_Parallels_ are not wanting. Findian dried up a lake by prayer (CS,
192); and houses were shifted from the west side to the east side of
a flood for the convenience of Colum Cille (LL, 858). Saint Cainnech,
finding the excessive singing of birds on a certain island to be an
interruption to his devotions, compelled them to keep silence (CS,
376; VSH, i, 161).
XXXVII. CIARAN DEPARTS FROM ISEL (LA, VG)
_Parallels._--The nuns of Brigit made a similar complaint against the
excessive charity of their abbess (LL, 1598). For the stag compare
incident XXI; also the tale of how Brenainn was on one occasion guided
by a hound (CS, 116). Ruadan, having given in alms his chariot-horses
to lepers, found two stags to take their place (CS, 328).
_The Stanza in VG._--The metre is one of the numerous forms of
_debide_, seven-syllable lines with echo-rhymes in which the
rhyme-syllable is stressed in the first line, unstressed in the second
(as _mén_, _táken_). The stanza before us is in _debide scáilte_,
where the two couplets of the stanza are not linked by any form of
sound assonance. The literal translation is: "Although it be low it
would have been high / had not the murmuring come // the murmuring,
had it not come / it would have been high though it be low."
_The Geographical Names in LA._--Loch Rii (properly Loch Rib) is Loch
Ree on the Shannon, above Athlone. The island called Inis Aingin has
now the name of Hare Island; it is at the south end of the lake near
the outlet of the river. There are some scanty remains of a monastic
establishment to be seen upon it.
XXXVIII. CIARAN IN INIS AINGIN (LA, LB, VG)
_The Presbyter Daniel._--For the presence here of a Welsh or British
priest, see the remarks in Plummer, VSH, i, p. cxxiv. But it is
probable that in the original form of the story the presbyter Daniel
was a fictitious ecclesiastic, perhaps the Evil One disguised. We may
compare the two false bishops that came to expel Colum Cille from Iona
(LL, 1007). Biblical names were sometimes used in the early Irish
Church, though native names were preferred. There is actually the
monument of a person called Daniel at Clonmacnois; it is a slab,
bearing an engraved cross and inscription, probably of the ninth or
tenth century.
_The Gift._--This is said in VG to have been a cup adorned with birds.
Such forms of decoration seem to have been common, and are sometimes
referred to in Irish romances, though few, if any, examples that may
be compared with the descriptions have come down to us. In LA a word
_antilum_ is used, which does not appear to occur anywhere else, and
is unknown to our lexicographers. It is possibly a corruption for
_an(n)ulum_, "a ring." Naturally this tale of the gift must be a later
accretion to the story, if it had the origin just suggested.
Note, in the long eulogy of the saint which the author of LB gives us
here, that the writer has not hesitated to introduce reminiscences of
Phil, ii, 7, 8, thus hinting at the general _Tendenz_ of the Lives of
Saint Ciaran. The rest of the eulogy is a free paraphrase of Rom. xii,
9 ff. There is extant a metrical "Monastic Rule" attributed to Saint
Ciaran, which was edited by the late Prof. Strachan in _Eriu_ (The
journal of the Dublin "School of Irish Learning") vol. ii, p. 227.
The subject-matter of this composition is a series of regulations
on morality and mortification of the flesh, but the language is so
obscure, and the text of the single MS. which alone contains it is so
corrupt, that even the pre-eminent Celtist who edited the poem would
not venture on a translation.
XXXIX. THE COMING OF OENNA (LA, LB, VG)
_Parallels._--As Ciaran recognised Oenna by his voice, so Colman
picked out by his voice one of a number of soldiers destined for a
religious life (VSH, i, 261). With the incident of the consecration,
as successor, of an unprepossessing intruder, compare the tale of
Findian consecrating for the same purpose a raider whom he caught
hiding in the furnace-chamber of his kiln (LL, 2628 ff.; CS, 198).
The version in LB conveys the impression that Oenna's learning was
imparted to him miraculously, as Oengus the Culdee inspired an idle
boy with a miraculous knowledge of his neglected lesson.[22]
The story of Oenna is told rather differently in the glosses to the
_Martyrology of Oengus_ (Bradshaw edn., pp. 48 ff.). Oenna with two
companions was going for military service to the King of Connacht.
They came to the embarking-place, not of Inis Aingin, but the larger
Inis Clothrann (now sometimes called Quaker Island), where there are
extensive ancient monastic remains. Ciaran was at the time in Inis
Clothrann. He summoned Oenna to him, and asked him whither he was
faring. "To the King of Connacht," answered Oenna. "Were it not better
rather to contract with the King of Heaven and earth?" asked Ciaran.
"It were better," said Oenna, "if it be right to do so." "It is
right," answered Ciaran. Then Oenna was tonsured and began his
studies. Here the miraculous insight which recognised in the warrior
youth the future abbot is ignored. The tract _De Arreis_[23] tells us
of the penance which Ciaran imposed upon Oenna: briefly stated it was
as follows. He was to remain three days and three nights in a darkened
room, not breaking his fast save with three sips of water each day.
Every day he was to sing the whole Psalter, standing, without a
staff to support him, making a genuflexion at the end of each Psalm,
reciting _Beati_ after each fifty, and _Hymnum dicat_ after every
_Beati_ in cross-vigil (_i.e._, standing upright with his arms
stretched out sideways horizontally). He was not to lie down but only
to sit, was to observe the canonical hours, and was to meditate on the
Passion of Christ and upon his own sins.
The author of LA betrays his Irish personality by a phrase which he
uses of Oenna. Ciaran bids his followers to fetch _materiam abbatis
uestri_--"the makings of your abbot." This is a regular idiom for
an heir-apparent, and it shows that if the writer be not actually
translating from an Irish document, he is at least thinking in Irish
as he writes in Latin.
XL. HOW CIARAN RECOVERED HIS GOSPEL (LA, VG)
There is another story of a gospel recovered from a lake, but without
any mention of a cow as the agent for its rescue (CS, 556). The tale
may be founded on fact. The "Port of the Gospel" is now forgotten.
Books preserved as relics (_e.g._ the gospels belonging to a sainted
founder) were kept in metal shrines, and valuable books which were in
use were hung in satchels of leather on the walls of the library or
scriptorium. Two specimens of such satchels still remain.
XLI. HOW CIARAN WENT FROM INIS AINGHIN TO CLONMACNOIS (LA, LB, VG)
_Parallels._--As Ciaran gave up his monastery to Donnan, in like
manner Munnu surrendered his settlement to the virgin Emer (CS, 495).
The list of equipments delivered by Ciaran to Donnan introduces us
to the "human beast of burden," Mael-Odran, a servile functionary
occasionally met with in Irish literature. A well-known incident of
St. Adamnan introduces him travelling "with his mother on his back"
(see Reeves, _Vita Columbae_, p. 179). As to the bell, it may be worth
noting that my friend Mr. Walter Campbell, formerly of Athlone, has
informed me that an ancient bronze ecclesiastical bell, found on the
lake shore opposite Hare Island, was long preserved, and used as
a domestic bell, in the cottage of a man named Quigley. The owner
believed that it was the bell of St. Ciaran, possibly that mentioned
in VG: this is not impossible, though hardly likely, as a bell of such
antiquity would most probably be of iron, and rendered useless
by corrosion. Unfortunately, the bell in question is no longer
forthcoming: it disappeared one day from Quigley's house, stolen, he
believed, by a tourist who chanced to pass by.
Note Donnan's relationship to Senan as set forth in VG. He was
brother's-son of Senan, but had the same mother as Senan. Clearly this
indicates a _ménage_ such as that indicated by Cæsar as existing among
the wilder tribes of Britain; a polyandry in which the husbands were
father and sons (_De Bello Gallico_, V, xiv). These people were
probably pre-Celtic, and this strengthens the arguments already put
forward for a pre-Celtic origin for the Protagonist of our narrative.
On the subject of the burial of the chieftains of Ui Neill and the
Connachta at Clonmacnois, see Plummer, i, p. cx. Neill is the genitive
of Niall.
_Ard Manntain_ is now unknown.
The chronological indications contained in VG are sufficiently close
to accuracy to show that they have been calculated, though the
computor has made a miscount of a year. The eighth of the calends of
February (25th January) in A.D. 548 was actually a Saturday, but it
was two days before new moon. The same day in A.D. 549 was the tenth
day of the moon, but it fell on a Monday.
Of the companions of Ciaran, Oengus (properly Oenna) succeeded him as
abbot, dying in A.D. 569; Mac Nisse, who was an Ultonian, followed
him, and died 13 June 584 (aliter 587). The others, however, do not
appear to have found a place in the martyrologies. Mo-Beoc is a
different person from the famous Mo-Beog of Loch Derg in Co. Donegal.
XLII. THE FOUNDATION OF THE CHURCH (LA, VG)
The two versions are independent. But though there are no wizards or
druids in the VG version, they appear in another story connecting
Diarmait with the foundation of Clonmacnois. This is to the effect
that Diarmait was at a place on the Shannon near Clonmacnois, called
Snam dá Én, and saw the glow of the first camp-fire lighted on the
site of the future monastery by Ciaran and his followers. The druids
who were with Diarmait told him that unless that fire were forthwith
quenched, it would never be put out. "It shall be quenched
immediately," said Diarmait; so with hostile purpose he advanced
on Clonmacnois, but instead of doing what he proposed, he suffered
himself to be pressed into the service of the builders, as the story
in VG narrates. The tale in LA is interesting, as showing (1) the
existence of a calendar of seasons lucky and unlucky for various
enterprises, and (2) a spirit of kindly tolerance on the part of the
pagan wizard.
The wiles of wizards were exposed by various saints, _e.g._ by Aed and
by Cainnech. These tales are curious; the wizard in each case
appeared to pass through a tree, but the saint opened the eyes of the
spectators, so that they saw him actually passing round it (CS, 353,
368; VSH, i, 156). This reads like the exposure of hypnotically
induced hallucinations.[24]
Diarmait mac Cerrbeil, or more properly mac Fergusa Cerrbeil, was
grandson of Conall Cremthainne, son of Niall Noi-giallach, the
ancestor of the royal line of Ui Neill. The reigning king, Tuathal
Moel-Garb, of whom we have already heard, was grandson of Coirpre,
another son of Niall. As a possible rival for the kingship, Tuathal
had driven him into banishment. Mael-Moire, or Mael-Morda, who
murdered Tuathal, was Diarmait's foster-brother. When Diarmait was
installed on the throne, he summoned the convention of Uisnech--one
of the places where from time immemorial religious Pan-Iernean
assemblies, resembling in character the Pan-Hellenic Olympic
gatherings, had been held. How Diarmait afterwards offended Ciaran,
was cursed by him, and met his death in consequence of that curse, may
be read in the tale printed in _Silua Gadelica_, No. vi, from which
we have just quoted the version of the story of setting up of the
corner-post.
There are chronological discrepancies, difficult if not impossible to
reconcile, between the annalist's dates for Diarmait and those for
Ciaran. The _Annals of Ulster_ places the death of Tuathal in 543, the
accession of Diarmait in 544, and the death of Ciaran in 548, seven
years after founding Clonmacnois. Some MSS. of these Annals, however,
omit the reference to the seven years, and place the accession of
Diarmait in 548, evidently to reconcile the stories. According to
the _Annals of the Four Masters_, Tuathal was slain in 538, Diarmait
succeeded in 539, and Ciaran died in 548. The _Annals of Clonmacnois_
is more consonant with the chronology of the Life of Ciaran. It tells
the tale so picturesquely that we transcribe it here, as before
modernising the spelling--
"535. Tuathal Moel-Garb began his reign, and reigned eleven years....
He caused Diarmait mac Cerrbeil to live in exile and in desert places,
because he claimed to have right to the crown....
"547. King Tuathal having proclaimed throughout the whole kingdom the
banishment of Diarmait mac Cerrbeil, as before is specified, with a
great reward to him that would bring him his heart, the said Diarmait
for fear of his life lived in the deserts of Clonmacnois, then called
Ard Tiprat: and meeting with the abbot Saint Ciaran, in the place
where the church of Clonmacnois now stands, who was but newly come
thither to live or dwell from Inis Aingin, and having no house or
place to reside or dwell in, the said Diarmait gave him his assistance
to make a house there, and in thrusting down in the earth one of the
pieces of the timber or wattles of the house, the said Diarmait took
Saint Ciaran's hand and did put it over his own head or hand in sign
of reverence to the saint: whereupon the saint humbly besought God of
His great goodness that by that time to-morrow ensuing that [_sic_]
the hands of Diarmait might have superiority over all Ireland.
Which fell out as the saint requested, for Mael-Moire ó hArgata,
foster-brother of Diarmait, seeing in what perplexity the nobleman
was in [_sic_], besought him that he might be pleased to lend him his
black horse, and that he would make his repair to Greallach da Phuill,
where he heard King Tuathal to have a meeting with some of his nobles;
and there would present him with a whelp's heart on a spear's head,
instead of Diarmait's heart, and so by that means get access to the
king, whom he would kill out of hand and by the help and swiftness
of the horse save his own life whether they would or no. Diarmait,
listing to the words of his foster-brother was amongst two
extremities, loath to refuse him and far more loath to lend it him,
fearing he should miscarry and be killed, but between both, he granted
him his request; whereupon he prepared himself, and went as he was
resolved, mounted on the said black horse, a heart besprinkled with
blood on his spear, to the place where he heard the king to be; the
king and his people seeing him come in that manner, supposed that it
was Diarmait's heart that was to be presented by the man that rode in
post-haste; the whole multitude gave him way to that king, and when he
came within reach to the king as though to tender him the heart, he
gave the king such a deadly blow of his spear that the king instantly
fell down dead in the midst of his people, whereupon the man was beset
on all sides and at last taken and killed, so as speedy news came to
Diarmait, who incontinently went to Tara, and there was crowned king
as Saint Ciaran prayed and prophesied before.... Diarmait was not
above seven months king, when Saint Ciaran died in Clonmacnois, where
he dwelt therein but seven months before, in the thirty-third year of
his age, on the 9th of September."
_The Stanzas in VG._--The metre is _ae freslige_. Literally: "I shall
speak witness truly / though single is thy numerous train // thou
shalt be a king pleasant, dignified / of Ireland this time to-morrow
/// The slaying of chosen Tuathal / Moel-Garb, it was a crying without
glory // thence is the choice saying / 'it was the deed of Moel-Moire'
/// Without rout and without slaughter / he took Uisnech, it was not
after an assembly // Diarmait the eminent gave / a hundred churches to
God and to Ciaran."
_The Episode of Tren_ (VG).--This story illustrates a belief in
sympathetic magic. What Tren had done to deserve this punishment is
unknown, nor is the site of Cluain Iochtar identified. Possibly he had
endeavoured to prevent Ciaran from founding his church; compare the
story of Findian and Baeth (LL, 2624). Patrick had a dispute with a
certain Trian, but the details of the story are different (TT, p. 45,
ch. lxxx, etc.). It is difficult for us to put ourselves into the
position of people who thought to honour their saint by telling a
story about him which we should consider not only silly but immoral.
But such an attempt must be tried if we are to understand anything of
ancient writings, in whatever language and from whatever countries
they may come down to us. Even when we read so modern and so universal
an author as Shakspere we must for the moment imagine ourselves
sixteenth-century Elizabethans; the more we succeed in doing so, the
better do we understand what we read. So, in criticising a story like
this, we must rid ourselves of all our twentieth-century prejudices,
and accept it in the simple faith of those to whom it was intended to
be told.
On one of the great carved crosses still to be seen in
Clonmacnois--that erected in memory of Flann King of Ireland (ob.
914)--there is a panel representing an ecclesiastic and a layman
holding an upright post between them. It has been plausibly
conjectured that this represents the erection of the corner-post of
the church, as described in our text.
XLIII. HOW CIARAN SENT A CLOAK TO SENAN (LA, VG)
The "Cloak of Senan" must have been an actual relic preserved on Inis
Cathaig; tradition said that it had been floated on the river to the
saint of the island, though there were various opinions as to which
saint had done the miracle; it is attributed to Brigit daughter of Cu
Cathrach (LL, 2399) and to Diarmait (CS, 753). For parallels to the
automatic transfer of objects by water, see Plummer, VSH, i, p.
clxxxvi, note 2.
XLIV. CIARAN AND THE WINE (LA, LB, VG)
The choice laid before the monks is curious, and hardly consonant
with the usual spirit of abjuring the world; it may be aetiological,
designed to explain, and perhaps to excuse, the opulence and temporal
importance of Clonmacnois at the time when it was written. A similar
but not identical story appears in the life of Munnu (VSH, ii, 227).
It is quite obvious that the story as we have it is a conflation of
two versions of the anecdote. In the one version the wine was brought
by Frankish merchants and acquired by purchase; in the other it was
provided by miracle. The composite story appears in LA and VG; LB
knows the miraculous version only.
That Frankish merchants should have sailed up the Shannon and
delivered a cargo of wine at a settlement in the heart of Ireland in
the middle of the sixth century, is no mere extravagance. The subject
of ancient Irish trade has been very fully investigated by the late
Prof. Zimmer, and he has brought a large number of facts together
which show that such an episode is a quite credible fragment of
history.[25]
The second version, though LB calls it _miraculum insolitum_, is one
of the commonplaces of hagiography. Water was turned to wine by a host
of saints, such as Colum Cille (LL, 839), Fursa (CS, 111), Findian
(CS, 205), Lugaid (CS, 283), Aed (CS, 339), and others needless to
specify. Fintan (CS, 404), and Munnu (CS, 503), blessed a cup in such
wise that one of their followers, while appearing, in self-abnegation,
to drink nothing but water for thirty years, was in reality enjoying
the best wine! Saint Brynach drew wine from a brook and fishes from
its stones (_Cambro-British Saints_, pp. 12, 298), Brigit (LL, 1241)
and Colman Elo (CS, 441) turned water into ale; the former (LL, 1368)
as well as Lugaid (CS, 269, 280) and Fintan (CS, 404) turned water
into milk.
I have not found any exact parallel to the incident of the scented
thumb.
There is a cognate tale in the Life of Colman, in which monks, thirsty
with labour, expressed a doubt as to the reality of the heavenly
reward, whereupon their eyes were opened to see a vision of the joys
of the after-life (VSH, i, 265).
The _Tendenz_ of the biographies of Ciaran is clearly marked in the
hint at a parallel between the last supper of Ciaran and the Last
Passover of Our Lord.
XLV. THE STORY OF CRITHIR (LA, VG)
On the consecrated Paschal fire, see Frazer, _Balder the Beautiful_,
vol. i, p. 120 ff.
_Parallels._--Coemgen carried fire in his bosom (CS, 837, VSH,
i, 236). Cadoc also carried fire in his cloak without injury
(_Cambro-British Saints_, pp. 30, 319). Elsewhere we hear of flames
which do not consume, as in the burning bush of Moses, and probably
in imitation of it (Exod. iii, 2). Thus the magic fire that delivered
Samthann from a forced marriage appeared to ignite a whole town,
which, however, suffered no injury (VSH, ii, 253). The fall of fire
from heaven in answer to prayer is most likely imitated from 1 Kings
xviii, 38.
The verse extracts at the end of LB (which see) contain a form of this
story incompatible with the prose narratives.
The boy slain but not torn by wolves is, of course, imitated from the
Prophet whose story is told in 1 Kings xiii, which is directly quoted
in LA.
The mutual blessings of the two saints may be compared with the
prophecy said to have been uttered by Ciaran of Saints Cronan and
Molan who visited him at Clonmacnois (CS, 542). The one (Cronan) took
away with him the remains of his repast for distribution to the poor,
the other left them behind in the monastery; whereupon Ciaran said
that the monastery of the one should be rich in wealth and in charity,
that of the other should always maintain the rule (of poverty). Such
tales as this, of compacts between saints, are probably based on
mutual arrangements of one kind or another between the monasteries
which claimed the saints as founders; we have already seen leagues
established between Clonard and Aran on one side and Clonmacnois on
the other, expressed as leagues made by Ciaran with Findian and Enda
respectively. Contrariwise, we read of the disagreement of saints when
their monasteries were at feud with one another. Ciaran was not always
so successful in making treaties with his ecclesiastical brethren.
Thus, he is said to have made overtures to Colman mac Luachain of Lann
(now Lynn, Co. Westmeath)--a remarkable feat in itself, as Colman died
about a century after his time--but not only did Colman refuse, but he
sent a swarm of demons in the shape of wasps to repel Ciaran and his
followers, who were journeying towards him. Ciaran then made a more
moderate offer, which Colman again refused.[26] Lann was in the
territory of the Delbna, who, although friendly to Clonmacnois in
the middle of the eleventh century, plundered it towards its close
(_Chronicon Scotorum_, 1058, 1090; _Annals of Four Masters_, 1060).
The chronology of Ciaran the Elder is entirely uncertain. He is said
to have been one of the pre-Patrician saints, in which case he could
hardly have been a contemporary of Ciaran the Younger, unless we
believe in the portentous length of life with which the hagiographers
credit him (over three centuries, according to the _Martyrology of
Donegal_, though others are content with a more moderate estimate).
The story of Crithir is told again in the Lives of Ciaran the Elder
(see _Silua Gadelica_, vol. i, p. 14, and corresponding translation).
The culprit is there called Crithid, and the version adds that the
event took place in a time of snow.
_The Geographical Names in LA._--Saigyr, properly Saigir, is now
Seir-Kieran in King's Co. Hele, properly Eile, was a region comprising
the baronies of Clonlisk and Ballybrit in King's Co., and Eliogarty
and Ikerrin in Tipperary.
XLVI. HOW AN INSULT TO CIARAN WAS AVERTED (LB)
For parallels to this story see Plummer, VSH, i, p. clxxxvii, note.
Compare also the third of the metrical fragments with which LB closes.
It is clear that the purpose of the robbers was to efface the tonsure
of the saint; very likely ecclesiastics were on occasion subjected to
such rough treatment during the period of transition between Paganism
and Christianity.
XLVII. HOW CIARAN WAS SAVED FROM SHAME (LB)
Contemporary representations (_e.g._ on the sculptured crosses) show
that at this time two garments were normally worn, a _lene_ or inner
tunic, and a _bratt_ or mantle. These, with the addition of a cape,
something like a university hood, which could be thrown over the head,
made up the complete equipment, and if all these were given to beggars
the owner would be left completely destitute. So, in the story of the
Battle of Carn Conaill, as narrated in the _Book of the Dun Cow_,
Guaire, king of Connacht, of whom we have already heard, on one
occasion would, if permitted, have divested himself of all clothing
to satisfy importunate beggars. The device of the water-covering is
remarkable.
XLVIII. HOW A MAN WAS SAVED FROM ROBBERS (LB)
This story, summarily and rather obscurely told in the text before us,
is related more clearly in the Life of Brenainn (VSH, i, 101). The
saint, seeing a man hard pressed by his enemies, bade him take up his
position beside a standing stone; he then transformed the victim
into the stone, and the stone into the victim. The assailants, thus
deceived, cut off the head of the stone, and departed in triumph: the
saint then reversed the transformation, leaving the man to go his
way in peace. An analogous story is that of Cadoc, who turned raided
cattle into bundles of fern, and transformed them back to cattle when
the raiders had retired discomfited (_Cambro-British Saints_, pp. 49,
342).
XLIX. THE DEATH OF CIARAN (LA, LB, VG)
This impressive story, which is as remote as possible in style from
the ordinary stock incident, is probably authentic. The chronological
indications in VG are quite wrong: the 9th of September A.D. 548 was a
Wednesday, and was the twentieth day of the moon. They are, however,
so far accurate for the year 556, that 9th September in that year was
Saturday, and was the _nineteenth_ day of the moon. As the observation
of new moon, if not astronomically calculated, is often wrong by a
day, owing to the faint crescent not being seen at its very first
appearance, this is sufficiently close to allow us to enquire
legitimately whether 556 may not have been the true date of Ciaran's
death.
The Bollandists cite from the Life of Saint Cellach a tale to the
effect that Cellach was son of Eogan Bel King of Connacht, and was
a monk at Clonmacnois; but on the death of his father he secretly
absconded, in order to secure the kingdom for himself. Becoming
convinced of the sinfulness of this proceeding, he returned and
submitted to Ciaran once more, who received him fraternally _after he
had spent a year in penance_. As the Bollandists point out, this
story (quite independently of its historical authenticity) reveals a
tradition other than that of Ciaran spending but seven months on earth
after founding Clonmacnois. The _Annals of Ulster_ also gives him a
longer time at Clonmacnois, dating the foundation 541, and the death
of the saint 548: a space of seven years. This would make the saint
only twenty-six years old when he founded Clonmacnois, which is
perhaps improbable. We may suggest another way of reconciling the
traditions, taking the orthodox date for the foundation of Clonmacnois
(548) but postponing the death of the saint to 556, in accordance with
the astronomical indications. Some one noticed that if his life were
retrenched to the year of the foundation of the monastery, it would be
brought into conformity in length with the Life of Christ.
With Ciaran's indifference as to the fate of his relics, contrast the
dying injunction of Cuthbert to his monks, that they should dig up his
bones and transport them whithersoever they should go.[27]
The _Little Church_ intended by the author is presumably the small
chapel, of which the ruins still remain at Clonmacnois, called Saint
Ciaran's chapel. It is a century or two later than Ciaran's time, but
may very probably stand on the site of Ciaran's wooden church. Hard by
is the end of a raised causeway leading to the Nunnery; this may be
the "Little Height" referred to.
L. THE VISIT OF COEMGEN (LA, VG)
Coemgen's petulance at the preoccupation of the bereaved monks (VG)
is in keeping with other traditions of that peppery saint. The
resurrection of Ciaran after three days is another touch in imitation
of the Gospel story: it is, however, also told of Saint Darerca, who
appeared to her nuns three days after her death (CS, 185).
The story before us is thus related in the Life of Coemgen: "At
another time most blessed Coemgenus made his way to visit most holy
Kyaranus the abbot, who founded his settlement Cluayn meic Noys, which
is in the western border of the territory of Meath, on the bank of
the river Synna over against the province of the Connachta. But Saint
Cyaranus on the third day before Saint Coemgenus arrived, passed from
this world to Christ. His body was laid in a church on a bier, till
Saint Coemgenus and other saints should come to bury him. And Saint
Coemgenus coming late to the monastery of Saint Chyaranus, he entered
the church in which was the holy body and commanded all the brethren
to go forth, wishing to spend that night alone beside the sacred body.
And when all the brethren had gone out, Saint Coemgenus carefully
closed the door of the church, and remained there alone till the
following day; but some of the brethren were watching till morning
before the doors of the church. And as Saint Coemgenus prayed there,
the most blessed soul of Saint Chiaranus returned to his body, and he
rose and began to speak in health-giving words to Saint Coemgenus. The
brethren remaining outside heard the voice of each of them clearly.
Saint Kyaranus asked blessed Coemgenus that they should interchange
their vesture, as a sign of everlasting fellowship: and so they did.
On the following day when the door of the church was opened, the
brethren found Saint Coemgenus clad in the vesture of Saint Kyaranus,
and Kyaranus wrapped in the vestments of Saint Coemgenus. The body
of Saint Kyaranus was warm, having a ruddy tinge in the face. Saint
Coemgenus pointed out to the monks of Saint Kyaranus the brotherhood
and fellowship which he and Saint Kyaranus had established for ever
between themselves and their places and their monks; and the brethren
who watched that night bore testimony thereto. When the body of Saint
Kyaranus was honourably committed to the ground, Saint Coemgenus
returned to his own settlement." (VSH, i, 248).
In this story we see as before the explanation of a treaty between
Clonmacnois and Glendaloch.
The _Annals of Clonmacnois_ narrates the story of the death of Ciaran
and the visit of Coemgen, with an interesting additional miracle.
"Dying, he desired his monks that they would bury his body in the
Little Church of Clonmacnois, and stop the door thereof with stones,
and let nobody have access thereunto until his companion Coemgen
had come; which they accordingly did. But Saint Coemgen dwelling at
Glendaloch in Leinster then, it was revealed to him of the death of
his dear and loving companion Saint Ciaran, whereupon he came suddenly
to Clonmacnois: and finding the monks and servants of Saint Ciaran in
their sorrowful and sad dumps after the death of their said lord and
master, he asked them of the cause of their sadness. They were so
heartless for grief as they gave no answer; and at last, fearing he
would grow angry, they told him Saint Ciaran was dead and buried, and
ordered or ordained the place of his burial should be kept without
access until his coming. The stones being taken out of the door, Saint
Coemgen entered, to whom Saint Ciaran appeared: and [they] remained
conversing together for twenty-four hours, as is very confidently
laid down in the Life of Saint Ciaran; and afterwards Saint Coemgen
departed to the place of his own abiding, [and] left Saint Ciaran
buried in the said Little Church of Clonmacnois. But king Diarmait
most of all men grieved for his death, insomuch that he grew deaf, and
could not hear the causes of his subjects, by reason of the heaviness
and troublesomeness of his brains. Saint Colum Cille being then
banished into Scotland, king Diarmait made his repair to him, to the
end [that] he might work some means by miracles for the recovery of
his health and hearing: and withal told Saint Colum Cille how he
assembled all the physicians of Ireland, and that they could not help
him. Then said Saint Colum: 'Mine advice unto you is to make your
repair to Clonmacnois, to the place where your ghostly father and
friend Saint Ciaran is buried: and there to put a little of the earth
of his grave or of himself in your ears, which is the medicine which I
think to be most available to help you.' The king having received the
said instructions of Saint Colum, took his journey immediately to
Clonmacnois; and finding Oenna maccu Laigsi, who was abbot of the
place after Saint Ciaran, absent, he spoke to Lugaid, then parish
priest of Clonmacnois, and told him of Saint Colum's instructions unto
him. Whereupon priest Lugaid and king Diarmait fasted and watched that
night in the Little Church where Saint Ciaran was buried, and the next
morning the priest took the bell that he had, named then the White
Bell,[28] and mingled part of the clay of Saint Ciaran therein with
holy water, and put the same in the king's ears, and immediately the
king had as good hearing as any in the kingdom, and the whole sickness
and troubles of his brains ceased at that instant, which made the king
to say, _Is feartach an ní do ní an clog orainn_, which is as much as
to say in English, 'The bell did do us a miraculous turn.' Which bell
Saint Lugna conveyed with him to the church of Fore, where he remained
afterwards. King Diarmait bestowed great gifts of lands on Clonmacnois
in honour of Saint Ciaran, for the recovery of his health."
The bell, called the _bóbán_ of Coemgen, reappears much later in
history as a relic on which oaths were taken (_Annals of Clonmacnois_,
anno 1139; _Four Masters_, anno 1143). It was doubtless a relic
preserved at Glendaloch, in which the people of Clonmacnois rightly or
wrongly claimed a part-proprietorship. The name is obscure: it means,
according to O'Davoren's Glossary, a calf or little cow: and Plummer
(VSH, i, p. clxxvii) suggests that this name may be an allusion to its
small size. But why "calf"? Is it an allusion to the original use of
the type of bells used for ecclesiastical purposes in Ireland, as
cow-bells?
Angels were seen by Saint Colman to fill the space between heaven and
earth to receive the soul of Pope Gregory (VSH, i, 264).
LI. THE EARTH OF CIARAN'S TOMB DELIVERS COLUM CILLE FROM A WHIRLPOOL
(LA, LB)
This is perhaps an imitation of the tale of the Empress Helena, who,
when returning after her discovery of the True Cross, was delivered
from a storm by casting one of the Nails into the sea. Colum Cille was
saved from the whirlpool of Coire Bhreacain (Corrievreckan, between
Jura and Scarba) on another (?) occasion, by reciting a hymn to Brigit
(LL, 1706).
_The Visit of Colum Cille to Clonmacnois._--This took place during the
rule of Ailithir, the fourth abbot of Clonmacnois (A.D. 589-595). It
is described in Adamnan's _Vita Columbae_, where we read of the honour
paid to the distinguished visitor, and how he was greeted with hymns
and praises, while a canopy was borne over him on his way to the
church, to protect him from inconvenient crowding. A humble boy, a
useless servitor in the monastery, came behind Columba to touch the
hem of his garment: the saint, miraculously apprised of this, caught
him by the neck and held him, despite the protests of the brethren
that he should dismiss this "wretched and noxious boy." Then he bade
the boy stretch forth his tongue, and blessed it, prophesying his
future increase in wisdom and knowledge, and his eminence as a
preacher. The boy was Ernin or Ernoc, the patron saint of Kilmarnock;
and Adamnan had the tale from Failbe, who was standing by as Ernin
himself related the incident to Abbot Segine of Í. Colum Cille also
prophesied the Easter controversy, and told of angelic visitations
that he had had within the precincts of Clonmacnois: but Adamnan says
nothing about the hymn to Ciaran, or the wonder-working clay from his
tomb, although elsewhere in his book the terrors of Corrievreckan
are alluded to. According to a prophecy of Colum Cille narrated in
O'Donnell's Life of that saint, Patrick is to judge the men of Ireland
on the Last Day at Clonmacnois.
_The Hymn of Colum Cille._--This composition has not been preserved
in its entirety. Fragments of it are introduced into the Homiletic
Introduction of VG, which are enough to identify it with a short hymn
to be found in the Irish _Liber Hymnorum_, and published by Bernard
and Atkinson in their edition of that compilation.[29] It is as
follows--
Alto et ineffabile apostolorum coeti
celestis Hierosolimæ sublimioris speculi
sedente tribunalibus solis modo micantibus
Quiaranus sanctus sacerdos insignis nuntius
inaltatus est manibus angelorum celestibus
consummatis felicibus sanctitatum generibus
quem tu Christe apostolum mundo misisti hominem
gloriosum in omnibus nouissimis temporibus
rogamus Deum altissimum per sanctorum memoriam
sancti Patrici episcopi Ciarani prespeteri
Columbæque auxilia nos deffendat egregia
ut per illorum merita possideamus premia
Obviously the third stanza, with its reference to Colum Cille himself,
is a later addition, so that only the first two stanzas belong to the
original hymn. The sixth line, _quem tu Christe_, is quoted in the
section of VG referred to; but the three other excerpts, _lucerna_...,
_custodiantur_..., _propheta_..., do not appear in the text before us:
nor do the surviving stanzas justify the extravagant praise said to have
been heaped on the composition at Clonmacnois--though no doubt a
composition by Colum Cille, had it only the artless simplicity of a
nursery jingle, would have been sure of an appreciative audience.
However, the text seems to indicate something much more elaborate, and
probably the original composition was an acrostic, like Colum Cille's
great _Altus Prosator_.[30] The two authentic stanzas of the _Liber
Hymnorum_ are incorporated in the metrical patchwork at the end of LB.
Another version of the hymn was known to Colgan, and is given by him
in TT, p. 472. Unfortunately he quotes only one couplet--
Quantum Christe O Apostolum mundo misisti hominem
Lucerna huius insulæ lucens lucerna mirabilis
which is evidently corrupt, and (as Colgan seems to regard it as the
opening stanza) must show that the whole text had become disturbed by
the time when Colgan wrote. Indeed, it does not appear that Colgan
knew any more of the hymn than these two lines.
LIII. THE ENVY OF THE SAINTS (VG)
Note how the Latin texts soften down the saying attributed in VG to
Colum Cille. A curious incident of disagreement between Ciaran and
Colum Cille is thus related by Colgan (TT, p. 396). "Once there
arose a petty quarrel between Kieranus and Columba, in which perhaps
Kieranus, jealous for the divine honour, appeared either to prefer
himself to Columba, or not to yield him the foremost place. But a good
Spirit, descending from heaven, easily settled the quarrel, whatever
it may have been, in this wise. He held out an awl, a hatchet, and an
axe, presenting them to Kieranus: 'These things,' said he, 'and other
things of this kind, with which thy father used to practise carpentry,
hast thou abjured for the love of God. But Columba renounced the
sceptre of Ireland, for which he might have hoped from his ancestral
right and the power of his clan, before he made offering.'" The same
tale is told in Manus O'Donnell's Life (ed. O'Kelleher, p. 60).
The authorities differ as to the attitude which Colum Cille adopted
with regard to Ciaran. But as regards the other saints of Ireland
there is no ambiguity. The cutting-short of Ciaran's life was one of
the "three crooked counsels of Ireland" according to the glosses to
the _Martyrology of Oengus_ (9th September): the same authority adds
that the saints "fasted for Ciaran's death," as otherwise all Ireland
would have been his. The ancient legal process of fasting was an
inheritance from Pagan times. If A had a case against B, he might, and
under certain circumstances was obliged to, abstain from food till the
case was settled; he was then said to "fast upon B." The idea probably
was that if a litigant permitted his adversary to starve to death, the
angry ghost would ever afterwards disturb his rest. Parallels have
been found in ancient Indian practice. Sometimes B performed a
counter-fast; in such a case he who first broke his fast lost his
cause. But the process seems to have been strangely extended, even in
Christian times, to obtain boons from the supernatural Powers. We read
of a saint "fasting upon God" that a king might lose a battle; and
in _Revue celtique_, vol. xiv, p. 28, there is printed a story of a
childless couple who fasted with success upon the Devil, that he might
send them offspring. Two of the saints--Odran of Letrecha Odrain and
Mac Cuillind of Lusk--went and told Ciaran for what they were fasting:
Ciaran simply replied, "Bless ye the air before me"--the air through
which I must travel in passing heavenwards--"and what ye desire shall
be given you." The _Book of Leinster_ contains a poem attributed
to Saint Ciaran relating to the shortness of his life: as it has
apparently never been printed it is given here with a translation, so
far as the obscurity of the language permits--
An rim, a rí richid ráin corbom etal risin dáil:
co cloister cech ní atber i sanct cech sen, a Dé máir.
(Stay for me, O King of glorious heaven, till I be pure before the
assembly; till everything that I shall speak be heard in the sanctuary
of every blessing, O great God.)
A Mic Maire, miad cen ón ammochomde corric nem,
a ruiri na nangel find, innanfa frim corbom sen?
(O Son of Mary, a dignity without blemish, O my Lord as far as Heaven,
O King of the white angels, wilt Thou stay for me till I am old?)
Attchimse mo guide rutt arbaig Maire diandit Macc
menbad tacrad latt a Ri condernaind ni bud maith latt
(I make my prayer unto Thee, for the love of Mary to whom Thou are
Son, if it be not displeasing in Thy sight, O King, that I may do
somewhat pleasing to Thee.)
Maccan berair rian a ré ní fintar feib ar a mbé
asaóete lenta baeís aggáes cach aés bes nithé
(A young man who is taken before its time, the honour in which he may
be is not discovered: from his youth of following folly, to his age
every company ... (?).)
Ni horta laeg rianáes daim ár cach sen as tressiu achách,
ni horta uan na horc maith ni coilte cr ... [31] a bláth
(A calf is not slaughtered till it is of ox's age, 'tis the ploughing
(?) of every old one which waxes stronger: a lamb or a good pigling is
not slaughtered, the (saffron?) is not plucked till its flower.)
Buain guirt riasiu bas abbuig is m ... cacaid, a Rí rind?
is e in longud riana thráth blath do choll in tan bas find
(To reap a field before it is ripe, is it a right (thing), O King of
stars? It is eating before the time to violate a flower while it is
white.)
Fuiniud immedon laa ni hord baa rian ...
matan in aidche, in dedoil ria na medon cia mó col
(Sunset in midday, no order of profit before...; morning in night,
twilight before its noon, though it be greatest wrong.)
Cluinti itgi notguidiu is mo chridiu deroil dúir
a Mic mo De cianomrodba is bec mo thorba dondúir
(Hear Thou the prayer I pray Thee in the depth of my wretched hard
heart, O Son of my God, although Thou cuttest me off, small is my
profitableness ... )
Duitsi a Mic motholtu cen cope sentu dom churp,
cenambera cen taithlech no co bia maith fe[in] fort
(To Thee, O Son, ... (?), that without my body becoming aged, I be not
taken without reason till I shall myself be good in Thy sight.)
Is fort shnádud cach ambi ria ndula m' chri, a Ri slán,
ic do guide dam cen dichil, an rimm a Rí richid ran
(On Thy protection is every one whereso he is; before departure of my
body, O Perfect King, I am praying Thee without negligence, stay for
me, O King of glorious heaven.)
LIV. THE PANEGYRICS (LA, VG)
There is little that need be said about these paragraphs, which are of
conventional type. There are two references in VG which may, however,
be noted. The first is to the relics left in the hollow elm, of which
we have already heard at the beginning of these annotations: here
said to have been deposited by Benen (the pupil of Patrick, and his
successor in Armagh) and by Cumlach (the leper of Saint Patrick). The
second is an allusion, on which I am unable to throw any light, to
some evidently well-known story of a certain Peca and his blind pupil.
THE METRICAL PANEGYRIC IN LB
This is a patchwork of extracts from different sources.
1. Fifteen-syllable lines, with caesura at eighth syllable; every
line ending in a trisyllabic word, rhyming (not always) with a word
preceding the caesura. A dissyllable or trisyllable precedes the
caesura. Rhythm of Tennyson's _Locksley Hall_, proceeding by stress
only, independent of vowel-quantity or hiatus. In line seven,
'Keranus' must be pronounced in four syllables, Kiaranus. Refers to
the wizard's prophecy, incident II.
2. Four lines, in _Locksley Hall_ rhythm, with a dissyllabic rhyme
running through the quatrain. Relates incident IX.
3. Four lines, twelve syllables trochaic, caesura at seventh syllable.
Each line ends with a trisyllable or a tetrasyllable, with dissyllabic
rhyme running through the quatrain. The rhythm is that of the
following line (which is intentionally misquoted to serve the present
purpose)--
"Gather roses while you may, time is still a-flying."
The incident is not recorded in the prose lives; but it appears in the
_Book of the Dun Cow_, in the story of the Birth of Aed Slaine (son of
King Diarmait, reigned A.D. 595-600). Diarmait, it appears, had two
wives (for, notwithstanding his friendship to Ciaran, he was but a
half-converted pagan), by name Mugain and Muireann. Muireann had the
misfortune to be bald, and Mugain, who, as is usual in polygamous
households, was filled with envy of her, bribed a female buffoon to
remove her golden headgear in public at the great assembly of Tailltiu
(Telltown, Co. Meath), so as to expose the poor queen's defect to the
eyes of the mob. The messenger accomplished her purpose, but Muireann
cried out, "God and Saint Ciaran help me in this need!" and forthwith
a shower of glossy curling golden hair flowed from her head over her
shoulders, before a single eye of the assembly had rested upon her.
Compare Ciaran's own experience, incident XLVI.
4. Three lines in the same metre, but apparently with three instead of
four lines in each rhyming stanza. Refers to incident XVIII.
5. Three lines in the same rhythm as extract 1, but with a different
rhyme-scheme; apparently three lines from a quatrain rhyming _abab_.
Refers to incident XLI.
6. Six lines in elegiac couplets. This probably refers to XLVI, but
without their original context the lines must remain obscure. In any
case the versifier has the story in a rather different form from the
prose writers, and appears to regard it as an incident of the boyhood
period.
7. Eight lines from the hymn of Colum Cille, already commented upon.
ADDITIONAL NOTE ON CIARAN'S BIRTHPLACE
Some place-names in the barony of Moycashel (S. Co. Westmeath), which
lies in Cenel Fiachach, support the tradition that Ciaran's birthplace
is to be sought there, and not in Mag Ai at all. I can find nothing
in the local nomenclature to suggest Ráith Cremthainn; but
"Templemacateer" (_Teampull mhic an tsaoir_, the "Church of the
Wright's son") may be compared with, and perhaps equated to the
similarly named "house" (p. 111); "Ballynagore" (_Baile na ngabhar_,
the "town of the goats," or "horses") perhaps echoes the "Tir na
Gabrai" of VG 3. About half a mile to the west is _Tulach na crosáin_,
the "Mound of the crosslet"--possibly the missing cross of Ciaran (LA
4). At the outflow of the Brosna from Loch Ennell is "Clonsingle,"
which it is tempting to equate to the place-name corrupted to "Cluain
Innsythe," in LA 12.
An additional suggestion may here be made to the effect that the
eldest son and daughter of Beoit were twins. Their names, _Lug-oll_
"big Lug," and _Lug-beg_ "little Lug," are in correspondence, as
twins' names often are.
[Footnote 1: For brevity we shall refer to certain books, frequently
quoted in these Annotations, by the following symbols--
LL. _Lives of Saints from the Book of Lismore_, ed. Stokes.
CS. _Codex Salmaticensis_ (Acta Sanctorum Hiberniae), ed. de
Smedt and de Backer.
VTP. _Vita Tripartita Patricii_, ed. Stokes.
VSH. Plummer's _Vitae Sanctorum Hiberniae_.
TT. _Trias Thaumaturga_ (Colgan's collection of the lives of
SS. Patrick, Brigid, and Colum Cille).]
[Footnote 2: There is a different version, which need not be given
here, in the _Martyrology of Oengus_ (Henry Bradshaw Society edition,
p. 204).]
[Footnote 3: Mentioned in _Annals of Ulster_, anno 1166, _Annals of
Loch Cé_, anno 1189, _Annals of the Four Masters_, annis 1121, 1166.]
[Footnote 4: A collection (in Irish) of the traditions of this person
will be found in _Targaireacht Bhriain ruaidh uí Chearbháin_, by
Micheál ó Tiomhánaidhe (Dublin, 1906).]
[Footnote 5: The passage would then read thus--_Rothircan Bec mac De
condebairt andsin_--
"_A maic in tsaeir, cot clasaib, cot coraib,
It casair chaeim, cot cairpthib, cot ceolaib._"
The transposition has probably been caused by the error of some scribe
who copied first the parts of the two lines preceding the caesura.]
[Footnote 6: The roll of the Kings of Tara was evolved from various
sources by the Irish historians of the early Christian Period.
Tigernmas was properly a pagan culture-hero, to whom was traditionally
attributed the introduction of gold-smelting and of other arts, and
who was said to have perished, apparently as a human sacrifice, at
some great religious assembly.]
[Footnote 7: This is certainly the reading, curiously misread in LL p.
356, (Irish text), and in VSH i, p. li, note 3.]
[Footnote 8: Ossianic Society's _Transactions_, vol. v, p. 84 ff.]
[Footnote 9: Edited by Dr. Hyde in _Celtic Review_, vol. x, p. 116
ff.]
[Footnote 10: On this whole subject see Chapter IV of MacNeill's
_Phases of Irish History_, a book which may be unreservedly
recommended as giving a clear and accurate view of the early history
of the country.]
[Footnote 11: It may be noted for the benefit of the reader
unaccustomed to Irish nomenclature, that persons are named in one of
the following formulae: "A mac B" (_mac_, genitive _mic_, in syntactic
relation _mhic_ [pronounced _vic_] = son): "A ó B" (_ô_ or _ua_,
genitive _ui_ = grandson or descendant): and "A maccu B" (_maccu_ =
descendant, denoting B as the name of a remote ancestor). Of course
the name B will in every case be in the genitive.]
[Footnote 12: For division of labour between the sexes, see Frazer,
_Spirits of the Corn and of the Wild_, ii, 129. For prohibitions
of the presence of males when specifically female work was being
transacted, Plummer quotes Grimm, _Teutonic Mythology_, Eng. Trans.,
iv, 1778 ("Men shall not stay in the house while women are stuffing
feathers in the beds, otherwise the feathers will prick through
the bed-ticking"). O'Curry (_Manners and Customs_, iii, p. 121),
commenting on this story, refers to times and seasons deemed unlucky
for dyeing, at the time when he wrote; but the prohibition of the
presence of males was forgotten.]
[Footnote 13: Vafthrudnismál 41; Grimnismál 18. (_Edda_, ed. Hafn,
1787, vol. i, pp. 24, 48.)]
[Footnote 14: F.M. Luzel, _Contes populaires de Basse-Bretagne_
(Paris, 1887), vol. i, p. 219 ff. Some other parallels are quoted by
Plummer, VSH, i, p. cxliii, note 5.]
[Footnote 15: There is evidence from various literary sources that
cattle thus peculiarly coloured were accounted sacred in ancient
Ireland.]
[Footnote 16: There should be no hypermetric syllables, but I have
been unable to avoid them.]
[Footnote 17: _Horae Hebraicae_ in Evangel. Matt., xv, 36, following
the tract _Berakoth_.]
[Footnote 18: O'Donnell's _Life of St. Columba_, ed. O'Kelleher, p.
120.]
[Footnote 19: For the story of Coirpre, see _Lismore Lives_, ed.
Stokes, preface p. xvi; _Revue celtique_, xxvi, 368. For the story of
Ambacuc, see _Silua Gadelica_, no. xxxi; _Eriu_, vol. vi, p. 159.]
[Footnote 20: A fully illustrated description of this relic by
Mr. E.C.R. Armstrong will be found in _Journal_, Royal Society of
Antiquaries of Ireland, vol. xlix, p. 132.]
[Footnote 21: _Book of the Dun Cow_, printed in _Zeitschrift für
Celtische Philologie_, iii, 218.]
[Footnote 22: _Féilire Oengusso_, Henry Bradshaw Society edition, p.
12.]
[Footnote 23: _Revue celtique_, xv, at p. 491.]
[Footnote 24: I should here have quoted as a parallel the
oft-described Indian rope-trick, which is alleged to be a hypnotic
feat, had I not been recently assured by a relative who knows India
well that no one has yet been discovered who has actually seen this
trick performed, and that it is probably nothing more than a piece of
folk-lore.]
[Footnote 25: See his important series of papers, _Ueber directe
Handelsverbindungen Westgalliens mit Irland im Altertum und früher
Mittelalter_, published in _Sitzungsberichte der königliche
preussischen Akademie der Wissenschaften_, 1909, vol. i.]
[Footnote 26: _Life of Colman mac Luachain_, Todd Lectures Series,
Royal Irish Academy, vol. xvii, p. 86.]
[Footnote 27: Bede's _Life of Cuthbert_, § xxxix.]
[Footnote 28: This is evidently a mistranslation of _bóbán_, the
translator having in mind the word _bán_, "white."]
[Footnote 29: Henry Bradshaw Society edition, vol. i, p. 157.]
[Footnote 30: Although the sense appears to run continuously from one
stanza to the next in their present collocation.]
[Footnote 31: MS. illegible.]
* * * * *
=APPENDIX=
THE LATIN TEXT OF LB
[Sidenote °1: R1 162b; R2 127d]
[Sidenote °2: R2 128a]
[Sidenote °3: R1 162c]
1.[°1] Vir gloriosus, et uita sanctissimus abbas, Queranus, ex patre
Boecio, matre Darercha [Darecha R2] ortus fuit. Hic traxit originem de
aquilonali parte Hibernie, Aradensium silicet genere. Diuina quoque
gratia a puerili etate sic ipse illustratus est, ut qualis[°2] foret
futurus luculenter appareret.[°3] Erat [Cras MSS.] enim tanquam
lucerna ardens eximia caritate, ut non solum feruorem pii cordis
et deuocionem erga hominum inopiam releuandam [reuelandam MSS.]
exhiberet; uerum et in creaturum irrationabilium necessitatibus
infatigabilem ostenderet affectum. Et quia tanta lucerna non debuit
sub modio abscondi, ideo a puerili etate cepit miraculorum prod[ig]iis
coruscare.
2. Quum enim equus fili regis terrae illius subita morte periret, ac
de eius casu iuuenis ille multum doleret, apparuit ei in sompnis uir
uultus uenerabili ac rutilentis, qui eum prohibuit tristari pro morte
equi, dicens ei, "Voca" inquit "sanctum puerum Keranum, qui aquam in
os equi tui infundat, frontemque aspergat, et reuiuiscet. Illum quoque
pro resuscitatione eius munere debito dotabis." Cumque regis filius de
sompno euigilasset, misit pro puero Kerano ut ad se ueneret; qui cum
sui presentiam ei exhiberet, atque sompnium scriatim [seruatem _or_
seritatem R1] audiret, secundum quod angelus illum docuit, equum aqua
benedicta aspergens de morte resuscitauit. Viso hoc magno miraculo,
agrum fertilem et amplum rex terrae illius in honore Dei Omnipotentis,
in cuius nomine equus suus est resuscitatus, sancto Kerano contulit.
3. Accidit autem quadam die [q.d. _omitted_, R2] quod mater ipsius
Kerani eum reprehenderet, eo quod mel siluestre, sicut ceteri pueri
suis parentibus ferebant, non portaret. Quod cum dilectus Deo et
hominibus audiret, mentem eleuans ad Puerum illum qui subditus erat
parentibus, aquam de fonte uicino allatam benedixit, in nomine Eius
qui mel potens est producere de petra, et oleum de saxo durissimo; et
mox aqua illa in mel dulcissimum, Deo cooperante, conuertitur, et
sic matri defertur. Hoc mel parentes eius sancto Dermicio diacono,
cognomento Iusto, qui eum baptizauit, transmiserunt.
[Sidenote °4: R1 162d]
[Sidenote °5: R2 128b]
4. Lectis autem a[°4] memorato sancto literarum rudimentis, beatum
Cluayn Hir[°5]ardensem abbatem, discendi causa, adire proposuit. Et
cum opere uellet complere quod animo cepit cogitare, uaccam unam a
parentibus ad uictum sibi postulauit. Sed cum eius peticionem mater
eius non acquiesceret, celestis Pater, qui intimios [_sic_ R1,
intuitos R2] suos quantum mater filium diligit, desiderium dilecti
sui adimplere non distulit. Nam uacca una lactifera, una cum uitulo,
consecuta est eum, acsi a suo pastore minaretur post eum. Qui cum ad
sacrum collegium sancti Fynniani uenisset, gaudium non modicum de eius
aduentu omnes habuerunt. Vacca uero, que secuta est eum, simul
cum uitulo pascebatur, nec ubera materna sine licencia tangere
attemptabat. Keranus eius pascua sic discriminauit atque distinxit, ut
tantum uitulum mater lambe[re]t, nec tamen ei ubera praeberet. Istius
uero uacce in tanta habundancia exubrabat lac, ut xii uiris cotidie
distributum sufficientem copiam uictus praeberet. Sanctus uero
adolescens Keranus, diuine scripture intentus, inter condiscipulos
suos sanctitate ac sapientia, uelut sidus perfulgidus inter alia
[alique R2] sidera, emicabat. Erat uero perfecte caritatis fragrantia
plenus, et moris probitate, et uite sanctimonia, ac humilitatis
dulcedine, presentibus et absentibus gratiosus, honorabilis, et
admirabilis.
[Sidenote °6: R1 163a]
5. Vna dierum ad regem quendam, Tuathlum nomine, pro cuiusdam ancille
liberacione intercessurus accessit. Cumque regem deuote pro ea rogaret
[pro ea deuote oraret R2] ac preces famuli Dei quasi deliramenta
sperneret, nouam artem liberacionis eiusdem cogitans, semet ipsum regi
seruiturum pro ipsa decreuit. Veniente autem eo domum in qua puella
molebat, clause iam fores illi patuerunt. Intransque, alterum se
illi[°6] Paulinum episcopum exhibuit. Nec mora, rex illam emancipauit,
et insuper Dei famulo suum indumentum donauit. Quod ille accipiens,
continuo pauperibus distribuit.
[Sidenote °7: R2 128c]
6. Nocte quadam[°7] contigit ut eum doctor egregius Finnianus cum
annona frumenti ad molendinum transmitteret. Regulus uero quidam prope
habitans, quendam de discipulis uiri Dei illuc aduenisse intelligens,
carnes et ceruisiam ei per ministrum destinauit. Cumque illi exenium
tanti uiri presentaret, respondit ipse, "Vt commune" inquit "sit
fratribus, totum in os molendini proice." Quod cum nuncius compleret,
in farinam totum mutatum est. Quo audito, rex uillam in qua manebat
cum omnibus bonis suis in perpetuam dedit illi; sed Keranus suo
condonauit magistro, ibidem enim monasterium postea constructum est.
Panis uero de illa farina factus, uelut caro et ceruisia fratribus
sapiebat et eos sic recreabat.
[Sidenote °8: R1 163b]
[Sidenote °9: R2 128d]
7. Transacto autem temporis spacio, accepta magistri sui licentia
et benedictione, ad sanctum Nynnidum in quadam silua stagni Erny
commorantem properauit. Et cum [cum _omitted_ R2] illuc peruenisset,
cum magno gaudio et caritate non ficta susceptus est. Cumque idem in
moris ac uirtutum disciplina cotidie proficeret, quadam die ad nemora
uicina cum fratribus ad scindenda ligna ut [ut _omitted_ R2] uerus
obediens properauit. Erat enim consuetudo in sacro illo collegio ut
iii monachi cum seniore ad ligna deportanda secundum ordinem temporis
semper irent. Cedentibus uero ceteris ligna, ipse seorsum [deorsum R2]
Deum, secundum quod moris erat sibi, attente orabat. Interea quidam
nefandi latrones, rate ad insulam illam transuecti, in prefatos
fratros irruerunt, atque eos occiderunt, et eorum capita secum
detuler[°8]unt. Keranus uero, dum strepidum soc[i]orum [_sic_]
percucientium non audiret, mirabatur; et propter admiracionem festine
peruenit ad locum ubi eos laborantes reliquit. Viso quoque eo quod de
fratribus actum est [est _omitted_ R2], alta trahit ipse suspiria, et
uehementer contristatus est. Secutus est quoque homisidas [_sic_ R1]
illos e uestigio, atque eos in portu ut suam nauiculam in portu ad
aquam [aquas R2] deducerent desudantes, sed minime hoc facere potentes
[fatentes R1, facientes R2] inuenit; sic uero [sic eis R2] Deus
scapham[°9] eorum terre conglutinauit ut nequaquam eam amouere
potuissent. Et cum uoluntati Cunctipotentis contraire non possent, a
uiro Dei tunc presente [-entem R2] ueniam suppliciter postulant. Qui
memor sui Magistri pro Iudeis eum crucifigentibus orantis, sanctus pro
illis licet indignis preces ad fortem pietatis effudit; et uirtute
orationis eius potiti, ratem suam facillime ad aquam ducere potuerunt.
Pro munere uero huius beneficii, optinuit a latronibus capita suorum
fratrum. Acceptis uero hiis, ad locum ubi corpora iacuerant deueniens,
Deum deuote rogauit ut omnipotenciam suam in seruorum suorum
resuscitatione hac uite ostenderet. Mirum quoque est quod narro, sed
ueritate facti euidentissimum; capita corporibus coaptauit, ut illos
uirtute sacre orationis ad uitam reuocauit, immo quod uerius est,
reuocari meruit. Hii quoque sic mirabiliter resuscitati, ligna secum
ad monasterium transuexerunt. Quam diu tamen uixerant [_sic_],
cicatrices uulnerium in collis suis portauerunt.
[Sidenote °10: R1 163c]
8. Alio tempore cum peccora parentum in quodam loco custodiret, uacca
una peperit coram eo uitulum. Veniens uero imacie omnino confectus
[canis][1] cupiens de hiis que cum uitulo cadunt de uentro matris
[uentrem suum][2] implere, stetit coram pio pastore. Cui ait "Commede,
miser, uitulum istum, quia multum eo indi[°10]ges." Canis uero iussa
Querani complens, usque ad ossa uitulum commedit. Redeunti uero
Querano cum uaccis ad domum, illa ad memoriam reducens uitulum
mugiendo huc illucque discurrebat. Causam uero mugitus cognoscens
mater Querani, cum indignatione puero ait "Redde uitulum, Quirane,
etsi igne sit combustus uel aqua submersus." At ille iussis maternis
parens, ad locum ubi uitulus erat commestus accedens, ossa eius
collegit et uitulum resuscitauit.
[Sidenote °11: R2 129a]
9. Quodam tempore, transeunte eo per uiam, quidam mali[°11]gno spiritu
uexati canem ferocissimum excitauerunt ut sibi[3] [_sic_] noceret. Sed
confidens in Domino suo Queranus scuto deuote orationis se muniuit,
ac dixit "Ne tradas bestis [_sic_ R1, bestiis R2] animas confitentium
tibi, Domine." Et mox canis ille mortuus est.
10. Alio tempore solo eo in insula illa relicto, pauperem quendam
audiuit in portu ignem sibi dari rogantem. Erat enim iam frigidum
tempus; sed ratem non habuit ut pauperis peticioni, licet multum
desideraret, satisfaceret. Et quia caritas omnia sustinet, ticionem
ardentem in stagnum proiecit, et feruore [-rem MSS.] dilectionis
mittentis in aquis preualente [preualens MSS.] ad pauperem usque
peruenit.
[Sidenote °12: R1 163d]
11. Aliquandiu uero ibidem moratus homo Dei, cum licencia Nynnidi ad
sanctum Endeum Arnensem abbatem properauit; qui in aduentu eius non
modica perfundebatur leticia. Nocte uero quadam sompniauit se
uidisse iuxta ripam magni fluminis Synan arborem magnam frondosam et
fructiferam que totam obumbrauit Hyberniam. Quod sompnium beato Edeo
indicauit crastina die [die _omitted_ R2]. Sed et ipse Endeus eandem
uisionem ea nocte [e.n. _omitted_ R2][°12] se uidisse attestatus est,
quam uisionem sanctus Endeus interpretatus: "Arbor" inquit "illa tu
es, qui coram Deo et hominibus magnus eris, et per totam Hiberniam
honorabilis, propter quod et tui adiutorii et gracie umbra a demoniis
et aliis periculis protegetur uelut sub umbra arboris salutifere;
plurimisque prope ac procul tuorum fructus operum subuenient. Igitur
secundum Dei imperium qui reuelat secreta, ad praeostensum accede
locum, et ibi habita secundum graciam a Deo tibi datam." Confortatus
ex huius uisionis interpretacione, paruit uerus obediens iussioni
Sancti Endei patris sui spiritualis.
[Sidenote °13: R2 129b]
12. Et profectus in uiam inuenit quendam pauperem in itinere cui ab eo
eleemosinam petenti casulam suam tribuit. Cumque ad insulam Cathaci
uenisset, beatus Senanus aduentum eius, Spiritu reuelante, didicit;
eique obuiam ueniens quasi subridendo ait, "Nonne presbitero pudor est
absque casula incedere?" Senanus enim in spiritu nouit quomodo ipse
pauperi eam dedit. Et ideo cum ca[°13]sula ei occurreret. Et ait
Keranus, "Senior" inquit "meus sub uestimento suo casulam mihi
aufert."
[Sidenote °14: R1 164a]
13. Quam cum accepisset et gracias datori egisset, pro sancta
colloquia ad cellam fratris sui Luctigernni [-gerimi R2] peruenit, ubi
et alius frater eius Odranus [Ordanus R2] nomine erat. Ibi aliquanto
tempore moram traxit ac magister hospicium fuit. Die uero quadam eo
sub diuo legente in cimitherio, hospites ex improuise uenerunt, quos,
librum oblitus apertum, ad hospicium adduxit; eorumque pedes
deuote lauit, et cetera que eis necessaria erant propter Christum
ministrauit. Interea cum nocturne adessent tenebre, grandis facta est
pluuia. Sed Ille qui uellus Gedeonis ir[°14]rorauit, at praeterea a
rore intactum custodiuit, librum sancti Kerani sic ab ingruentibus
aquis licet apertum [aquis hoc apertum R2] reserauit quod nec una
gutta super eum cecidit.
14. Monasterio in quo tunc uir Dei morabatur, erat quaedam insula
uicina, quam seculares quidam inhabitabant, quorum tumultus uiros
Dei multum molestabat. Vnde contigit ut beatus Keranus, eorum
inquietacione compulsus, ad stagnum accederet, et orationi se totum
dans, elongationem illorum uexancium seruos Dei perueniuit. Cum enim
ab oratione cessaret, ecce subito insula cum stagno et habitatoribus
in remotum locum secessit, ut ullatenus [nullatenus R2] habitatores
eius eius [_sic_ MSS.] amicos Altissimi possent turbare. In Eius
enim nomine hoc miraculum factum est qui Sodomam propter peccatum
inhabitancium subuertit ac igne succendit. Adhuc extant signa illius
stagni, ubi ante erat.
[Sidenote °15: R2 129c]
[Sidenote °16: R1 164b]
15. Vir Dei, cum in usum [usus MSS.] pauperum bona monasterii
distribueret, fratres super hoc conquirentes ad ipsum temere
accedentes, dixerunt, "Discede," inquierunt "a nobis, simul enim
cohabitare non possumus." Quibus ipse acquiesce[n]s, et uale in Domino
faciens, ad insulam quandam se transtulit [a. i. s. t. q. R2] nomine
Anginam; in qua insula fundato monasterio, multi undique properantes
fama sanctitatis eius eos attrahente[°15] seruicium Dei mancipauerunt.
Sub stricta instruens regula, uultu et habitu, sermone et uita, se eis
in exemplum exhibuit. Erat enim tanquam aquila prouocans ad uolandam
pullos suos quantum ad contemplacionis sublimitatem; sed fraterna
humilitate sicut minus [unus R2] ex eis uiuebat. Erat enim in
spiritualibus meditacionibus suspensus ad supera; infirma tum
imbecillitate sic condescendebat ut quasi uideretur se inclinare
ad infima. Ipse quoque fide erat perfectus, caritate feruidus, spe
gaude[n]s, corde mitis, ore affabilis,[°16] paciens et longanimis,
hospitalitate erat humanus, in operibus pietatis semper assiduus,
benignus, mansuetus, pacificus, sobrius, et quietus. Et ut multa
breui concludam sermone, omnium uirtutum erat ornatus decore. Hiis
et huiuscemodi sollicitum impendens studium Marie contemplacioni ac
Marthe erga temporalium dispensacionem ordinata succasione [succisione
R2] adimplebat officium. Nec potuit talis ac tante lucerne lumen sub
modio abscondi, sed circumquoque gracie sue splendore diffuso mundum
copiose illuminauerat irradiauit lumine.
16. Erat nihilominus prophecie spiritu inspiratus, quam ex
precedentibus et subsequentibus patet exemplis. Quadam namque die uox
cuiusdam nauigium postulantis aures ei[us] pulsauerat. Tunc ait
ad fratres; "Vocem," inquit "eius audio quem Deus uobis preficiet
abbatem; euntes ergo ipsum adducite." Illi itaque properauerunt, atque
ad portum peruenientes quendam adolescentulum illiteratum inuenirent.
Quem negligentes adducere ad sanctum uirum reuersi neminem nisi
adolescentulum illiteratum qui profugus in siluis errabat se inuenisse
asseruerunt. Sanctus autem Queranus ait; "Adducite" inquit "illum,
et nolite futurum pastorem uestrum despicere." Qui adductus Dei
inspiracione et sancti uiri instructione religionis habitum suscepit,
et per modum literas didicit. Ipse est enim sanctus Oenius, uir uite
uenerabilis: et, sicut sanctus ante predixit, fratribus per modum
prefuit.
[Sidenote °17: R2 129d]
[Sidenote °18: R1 164c]
17. Elapso denique tempore, quidam uir sanctus nomine Dompnanus,[°17]
Mumoniensis genere, ad uirum Dei uisitandum peruenit. Cumque ab eo
sanctus Keranus causam aduentus scicitaretur, respondit se uelle locum
habere in quo Dominum [habere in Deo R2] secure posset seruire. Sanctus
uero Keranus, non que sua[°18] [supra R2] sed que Ihesu Christi querens
ait "Hic" inquit "inhabita, et ego Deo duce locum habitandi alibi
queram." Denique sacro eum comitante [conm. MSS.] conuentu ad locum eius
a Deo premonstratum profectus est, in quo celebri ac famoso monasterio
constructo quod hodie Cluaynensis [Claynensis R2] appellatur ciuitas
insignium miraculorum luce ipse, tanquam sol mundum istum ita
illuminauit.
18. De quorum miraculorum multitudine quedam hic subnectemus. Quodam
tempore dum fratres in messe laborantes sitis periculo grauarentur,
miserunt ad sanctum patrem Queranum ut aque [aqua MSS.] beneficio
refocillarentur. Quibus per ministros ipse ait: "Vnum" inquit "de duobus
eligite; aut aqua nunc uos recreati, aut hic post uos habitaturos rebus
mundanis beneficiari." At illi respondentes dixerunt "Eligimus,"
inquiunt "ut illi qui post nos ueniunt in bonis temporalibus habundent,
et nos tollerantie mercedem in celis habeamus." Et sic futurorum spe
gaudentes, a potu abstinuerunt, licet multum indigentes. Vespero uero
illis domum redeuntibus, pius pater, laborancium lassitudinem
compaciens, uas aqua plenum benedixit, et iam sanctum miraculum in Chana
Galilee renoua[n]s, in optimum uinum transmutauit aquam. Quo uino siti
deficientes recreati sunt, et in fide insoliti miraculi ostensione
recreati laudes omnipotenti Dei dederunt. Huius enim uini miraculosi
sapor solito graciosior erat, et odor in propinatoris pollice quamdiu
suruixit redoleuit.
[Sidenote °19: R1 164d]
[Sidenote °20: R2 130a]
19. Die quadam cum in uia incederet, nephandissimi latrones eum
comprehendentes, caput beati uiri radere ceperunt. Set quod
peruersitas hominis delere uoluit, diuina pietas ad magni mirac[u]li
ostensionem conuertit. Rassorum enim capillorum loco alii statim
capilli cresceba[n]t.[°19] Quo miraculo latrones perculsi,[°20] ad
ueritatis semitam sunt conuersi, ac deinceps diuine milicie sub tanto
duce seruientes, in sancta conuersacione uitam finierunt.
20. Alio tempore bonus pastor peccora pascens, tres pauperes ei
occurrerunt. Quorum primo capam, secundo pallium, tercio tunicam
contulit [secundo tunicam, tercio pallium eius tulit, R2]. Abeuntibus
uero illis, uiri quidam, secularis uite professores, aduenierunt. A
quibus quoniam uestimentorum expertum se uideri erubuit, adiutor in
opportunitatibus Dominus aqua eum circumdedit adeo, quod preter
caput nullum membrum illi uidere potuerunt. Sed postquam hii uiri
transierunt, aqua ilia mox disparuit [desperauit MSS.].
21. Elapso post hoc tempore, quidam satellites diabuli uirum quendam
iuxta monasterium eius commorantem interficere conabantur. Quem beato
uiro pro eo orante Deus mirabiliter eripuit. Illi [illium MSS.] enim
eundem uirum iugulantes statuam quandam lapideam percuciebant. Quo
tandem percepto, latrones corde compuncti, ad pastorem animarum
Queranum properant, culpam humiliter recognoscunt, atque uite sue
emendato calle, sub iugo Christi usque ad mortem fideliter seruierunt.
[Sidenote °21: R2 165a]
22. Hiis atque aliis perplurimis gloriosissimus Christi miles tamquam
luminare quod diei presidet fulgens, ad occasum naturalis cursus
deueniens correptus infirmitate graui appropinquiuit. Sed quia qui
perseuauerit usque in finem his salus erit, ideo athleta Christi, non
solum se in bello huius certaminis confortans, uerum et animos ad
uincendum inuitans, lapidem quo capiti supposito soporis modicum
corpori hactenus indulgebat, humeris etiam fecit subponi; sanctamque
eleuans manum fratres benedixit et uiatici salutaris perceptione
munitus, spiritum celo reddidit. Exiens enim beata illa anima de
corpore, chori angelorum [angelorum _omitted_ R2] cum ympnis et
canticis[°21] illam in Dei gloriam assumpserunt.
[Sidenote °22: R2 130b]
23. Beatissimus quoque abbas Christi Columba, audito sancti Kerani
obitu, egregium de ipso composuit ympnum: eumque ad [de MSS.]
Cluaynense secum detulit monasterium, ubi prout decuit hospicio
honorifice susceptus est. Ympnum uero abbas qui tunc preerat,
ceterique qui eum audierant, multis et ma[°22]gnis laudibus
extulerunt. Discedens autem inde Sanctus Columba, de sacro sancti
Kerani sepulchro humum secum detulit, sciens in spiritu quam utile hoc
foret contra futura pelagi pericula. In parte enim maris que tendit
uersus Iense monasterium, est maximum transeuntibus periculum, tum
propter fluminum impetuositatem, tum propter maris angustiam, itaque
naues circumuoluuntur, atque in rota mouentur; ac frequenter sic
submerguntur. Scille enim atque Caribdi merito asi[mi]latur, uelim
periculositate perfecta tristique [-teque MSS.] nautis malum ibi
subministratur. Ad hoc eurippum ipsi peruenientes, repentino ceperunt
in eum delabi cursu; quumque nil preter mortem [Quumque uelut propter
mortem R2] sperantes, et quia iam quasi tetris essent abyssi faucibus
deuorandi, tunc sanctus Columba prefati pulueris de tumba beati Kerani
assumpti aliquid assumens, mare in ipsum immisit. Res mira ac nimium
stupenda tunc accidit; dicto [uicto MSS.] namque cicius tempestas illa
seua cessauit ac transitum eis tranquillum administrauit. Vere iusti
in perpetuum uiuunt; cum quibus beatus Queranus corregnat, cuius
sepulchri terra uel puluis mare sedauit [cedauit MSS.], corda
trepidancium in fide solidauit, et ad bonum operandum irrigauit.
Beatus ergo Keranus non solum uiuit Deo, cui inseperabiliter adheret,
uerum et hominibus quibus beneficia oportuno tempore impendit.
METRUM DE EO SIC
[Sidenote °23: R1 165b]
Matre Quiarani sedente in curru uolubili
[°23]Sonitum magus audiuit perdixitque seruulis
"Videte quis sit in curru, nam sub rege resonat."
"Coniunx" inquiunt "Beodi sedet his artificis."
Magus inquit "Gratum cunctis ipsa regem pariet,
Cuius opera fulgebunt ut Phebus in ethere."
Miles Christi Keranus, Sancti sedes Spiritus,
Spiritali pietatis uirtute floruerat.
Vitulum uacce lactentem iam cani concesserat,
Queranum inde grauiter mater reprehenderat;
Vitulum cane uoratum ab ipso exegerat,
Cuius ossa mox apportans ipsum restaurauerat.
[Sidenote °24: R2 130c]
Mulieris regie caput decaluatum
Seue zelo pelicis fuerat nudatum.
In Querani nomine cum esset signatum,
[°24]Aurea cessarie fulserat ornatum.
Cum Queranus studiis sacris teneretur,
Atque tempus posceret ut operaretur.
Pro ipso ab angelis tunc mola mouetur.
Textus euangelicus in stagnum ceciderat,
Sed uoluto tempore per Querani merita,
Integrum de gurgite uacca reportauerat.
Cum puer oraret Dominum, precibusque uacaret,
ignis ab excelsis uenerat arce poli.
Defunctusque puer conspexit lumina uite,
et sancti magnum glorificant Dominum [Deum MSS.].
De celis lapsus rutilans accenditur ignis,
et peragit proprium protinus officium.
Alto et ineffabili apostolorum cetui
Celestis Ierosolime, sublimioris specule,
Sedenti tribunalibus solis modo micantibus,
Queranus sacerdos sanctus, insignis Christi nuntius,
Inaltatus est manibus angelorum celestibus,
Consummatis felicibus sanctitatum generibus;
Quem Tu Christe apostolum mundo misisti hominem,
Gloriosum in omnibus nouissimis temporibus.
[Footnote 1: This word omitted in MSS.]
[Footnote 2: Omitted in MSS.]
[Footnote 3: Corrected by a note in the margin to _illi_.]
* * * * *
INDEX
(For the leading incidents in the Life, see the list, pp. 11 _ff._).
Abban, St.,
Adamnan, St.,
Aed, St.,
Aed mac Brenainn,
Aed Slaine,
Aei. _See_ Mag Ai.
Aengus maccu Luigse. _See_ Oenna.
Aengussius. _See_ Oengus.
Ailbe, St.,
Ailithir, abbot of Clonmacnois,
Ainmire mac Colgain,
Ainmire mac Setna,
Ainmireach. _See_ Ainmire mac Colgain.
Alban, St.,
Alexander,
almsgiving, _See also_ hospitality.
_Altus Prosator_,
Ambacuc,
angels,
Angina. _See_ Inis Aingin.
animals, _See also_ resuscitation, hound.
Anmereus. _See_ Ainmire mac Colgain.
_antilum_,
Ara (Aran Is.),
Aradenses. _See_ Dal nAraide.
Aran Is. _See_ Ara.
Ard Abla,
Ard Machae (Armagh),
Ard Manntain,
Ard Tiprat, _See also_ Cluain maccu Nois.
assemblies,
austerities,
Ay. _See_ Mag Ai.
Baithin, St.,
Ballynagore,
Bangor. _See_ Beannchor.
Beannchor (Bangor, Co. Down),
bearer,
Becc mac De,
bells,
benediction of food,
Benen, St.,
Beoanus, Beoedus. _See_ Beoit.
Beoit,
Beonedus, Beonnadus. _See_ Beoit.
Birra (Birr, King's Co.),
birthplace of Ciaran,
boban, _See also_ Bells.
Boecius, Boeus. _See_ Beoit.
bones,
bonfire,
books and book-satchels,
books preserved from wet,
Brenainn, St.,
Brenainn of Cluain Ferta, St.,
Brigit, St.,
Brigit of Cu Cathrach,
Brynach, St.,
Cadoc, St.,
Cael Cholum,
Cainnech, St.,
Camerarius,
Cana of Galilee,
Carabine, Red Brian,
Cathach, a monster,
Cathacus, Cathi. _See_ Inis Cathaig.
Cattle, sacred,
Cellach mac Eogain Beil,
Cenel Conaill,
Cenel Fiachach,
Cenel Fiachrach, _See also_ Cenel Fiachach.
Christ, parallels between lives of Ciaran and. _See_ Tendenz.
Ciaran, _passim_. Poem attributed to,
Ciaran of Saigir, St.,
Ciaran, other saints called,
Ciarraige,
clairvoyance,
cloak floated on water,
cloak of Senan,
Clonard. _See_ Cluain Iraird.
Clonmacnois. _See_ Cluain maccu Nois.
Clonsingle,
Cluain Cruim,
Cluain Innsythe,
Cluain Iochtar,
Cluain Iraird (Clonard, Co. Meath),
Cluain maccu Nois (Clonmacnois, King's Co.), _passim_
Cobthach mac Brecain,
Coemgen, St.,
Coire Bhreacain (Corrievreckan),
Colman, St.,
Colmán Elo, St.,
Colmán mac Luacháin, St.,
Colmán mac Nuin,
Colum Cille, St. (Columba),
Colum Cille, hymn of,
Colum of Inis Cealtra, St.,
Comgall, St.,
compacts between saints,
companions of Ciaran,
Conn of the Poor,
Connachta (people of Connacht),
Corco Baiscind,
Corpre the Crooked,
Cow, Ciaran's. _See_ Dun Cow.
crane, pet,
Cremthann,
Crichid. _See_ Crithir.
Crithir,
Croagh Patrick. _See_ Cruachan Aigli.
Cronan,
crosses,
Cruachan Aigli (Croagh Patrick),
Cualu,
Cuimmin, St.,
Cumlach,
curses,
Cuthbert, St.,
Cybi, St.,
Dal n-Araide,
Daniel,
Darerca, mother of Ciaran,
Darerca, St.,
dates of Ciaran's life,
dates of documents,
deafness cured,
decapitation,
Decies,
Deece,
Delbna,
Derercha. _See_ Darerca.
Dermag (Durrow, King's Co.),
Dermicius. _See_ Diarmait (deacon).
Desi, Dessi,
Diarmait, deacon, _See also_ Iustus.
Diarmait, St.,
Diarmait mac Cerrbeil, king,
Dompnanus. _See_ Donnan.
doors open automatically,
Donnan, brother of Ciaran,
Donnan, St.,
dreams,
drolls,
druids, _See also_ wizards.
drying corn,
Dun Cow of Ciaran,
Durrow. _See_ Dermag.
dye and dyeing,
earth of Ciaran's tomb,
eavesdroppers,
Eile,
elders, Cell of the, at Cluain maccu Nois,
Emer, St.,
end of world, beliefs regarding,
Enda, Endeus, Enna, Henna,
envy against Ciaran,
Erne, Loch,
Ernin, St.,
Euthymius,
exogamy,
expletives, saintly,
eye plucked out and restored,
Failbe,
famines,
fasting,
feasts,
Fergus,
Fidarta (Fuerty, Co. Roscommon),
Finan, St.,
Findian, St. (Finnianus),
Findian of Mag Bile, St.,
finger scented with wine,
Fintan, St.,
fire, consecrated,
from heaven,
Paschal,
firebrand,
Flannan, St.,
flesh turned to wheat, _See also_ transformations.
flocks, keeping of,
fosterage,
foundation sacrifices,
fox,
Fuerty. _See_ Fidarta.
Furban, Furbith, king,
Fursa, St.,
garments,
genealogy of Ciaran,
gifts made by Ciaran, _See also_ almsgiving.
Glas the poet,
Gleann da Locha (Glendaloch, Co. Wicklow),
glosses,
gospel, reading of,
gospels, _See also_ books.
grain turned to gold, _See also_ transformations.
Gregory, Pope,
Guaire, king,
hair restored miraculously,
harbour of island, meaning of expression,
Hare Island. _See_ Inis Aingin.
harvesting,
Helena, empress,
Henna. _See_ Enda.
historicity of Lives of Ciaran,
holy water,
homiletic purpose of Lives,
horse ploughing,
hospitality, _See also_ almsgiving.
hound miraculously killed,
Hyde, Dr. Douglas,
hymn of Colum Cille,
hymns to Ciaran,
hypnotism,
I (Iona),
Illtyd, St.,
Inis Aingin (Hare Island),
Inis Cathaig (Scattery Island),
Inis Clothrann,
Inis Muige Samh (Inismacsaint), _See also_ Ninned.
intoxication,
Iona. _See_ I.
Irluachra,
Isel Chiarain,
Iustus, _See also_ Diarmait, deacon.
Keranus, Kiaranus. _See_ Ciaran.
Kiarraighe. _See_ Ciarraige.
King, Adam, 8
kings of Ireland, 103
Kyaranus, Kyeranus. _See_ Ciaran.
Laigen (Laginensea, Lagenians, Leinstermen),
Lann,
Larne, _See also_ Latharna.
Lasrian, St.,
Latharna,
Latronenses. _See_ Latharna.
lepers and leprosy,
Lissardowlin. _See_ Ard Abla.
Little Church of Cluain maccu Nois,
Little Height of Cluain maccu Nois,
Lives of Saints, their nature,
Loch Erne. _See_ Erne, Loch.
Loch Rii. _See_ Rib, Loch.
Lonan the Left-handed,
lucky and unlucky signs,
Lucoll (Lucennus, Luchennus, Luctigernnus),
Lugaid, priest,
Lugaid, St.,
Lugbeg,
Lugbrann,
Lugna maccu Moga Laim,
Luimnech (Limerick),
Mac Cuillind of Lusk,
Mac Natfraeich,
Mac Nisse,
Mael-Odran,
Mag Ai,
Mag Molt,
Magic,
Maignenn, St.,
manuscripts of Lives,
matriarchate,
merchants of wine,
metres,
Mide (Meath),
Mil of Spain,
Milesians,
milk, miraculous supply of,
mills,
Mo-Beoc,
Mo-Bi, St.,
Mo-Chua, St.,
mockery of druids,
Moin Coise Bla,
Mo-Laise, St.,
Moling, St.,
Mo-Lioc,
Mugain,
Muinis, bishop,
Muireann,
Muma (Mumenia, Munster, Mumunienses),
Munnu, St.,
nicknames,
Ninned, St. (Nynnidus),
Nunnery, Cluain maccu Nois,
oats turned to wheat, _See also_ transformations.
Odrán, Odranus,
Odrán of Letrecha Odráin,
Oengus mac Crimthainn,
Oengus the Culdee,
Oenna maccu Laigsi (Aengus, Oenius),
Oran, St.,
oxen ploughing,
pagan sanctuaries,
panegyrics,
Pata,
Patrick, St.,
Paul and Peter, SS., relics of,
Paulinus,
Peca,
Peden, Alexander,
pedigree of Ciaran. _See_ Genealogy.
periods of Ciaran's life,
Pieran, St.,
ploughing,
Port of the Gospel, _See also_ Inis Angin.
Pre-Celthic tribes,
priest, Ciaran consecrated,
prophecies,
Psalms, use of,
Queranus. _See_ Ciaran.
quern, grinding at,
Quiaranus, Quieranus, Quiranus. _See_ Ciaran.
raids on Cluain maccu Nois,
Raithbeo (Raichbe),
Ráith Crimthainn,
relics,
resuscitation of animals,
of boy,
of Cluain,
of murdered monks,
process of,
Rib, Loch (Loch Ree),
robbers,
Ruadán, St.,
rule of St. Ciaran,
Saehrimnir,
Saigir (Seir-Kieran, King's Co.),
Samthann, St.,
Scattery Island. _See_ Inis Cathaig.
scent of wine on finger,
secondary interments,
Segine, abbot of I,
Seir-Kieran. _See_ Saigir.
Senan, St.,
separation of cows and calves,
ship
Sinann (Sinna, Synna, Shannon),
slavery,
springs, miraculous,
taboo,
Tailltiu (Telltown, Co. Meath),
Tara. _See_ Temair.
Tech meic in tSaeir,
Teffia. _See_ Tethba.
Temair (Tara, Co. Meath),
Templemacateer,
Templevickinloyhe,
_Tendenz_ of biographies of Ciaran,
Tethba,
threshing,
Tigernmas,
Tir na Gabrai,
Toirdelbach ó Briain,
tonsure, effacement of,
trade, Irish,
transformations,
tree, sacred,
Tren,
Tuathal Moel-Garb, king,
Tulach na Crosáin,
twins,
Ui Failge,
Ui Maine,
Ui Neill,
Uis. _See_ Iustus.
Uisnech,
uncle, relationship of,
voice, recognition by,
voice heard from long distance,
voice from heaven,
water turned to honey,
to wine, _See also_ transformations.
whirlpool,
wine,
Winefred, St.,
wizards,
wolves,
women, relations with,
Yseal, Ysseal. _See_ Isel.
* * * * *
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