But too many crowded round his cell in the great city, and then he betook

himself to Marmoutier. It was at that time a lonely valley, less than two

miles from Tours, on the right or north bank of the Loire, shut in on one

side by a line of steep cliffs, and enclosed on the other by a sweep of

the river, which at either extremity of the valley rushed close under the

rocks and thus completely isolated the valley on both sides. Here Martin

built himself a wooden cell, and was soon surrounded by a crowd of monks

anxious to place themselves under his guidance. They lived for the most

part in the damp caverns between the cliffs that overhung the stream. At

one period he had eighty monks under his control in this desert valley.

They had no property of their own, says S. Severus, but lived in common,

neither buying nor selling anything. The younger members spent most of

their time in writing and sacred study; the older gave themselves up to

prayer. They seldom left their cells except to go to the Church, or to

take their solitary meal in the evening, it would seem--_post horam

jejunii_--and they never tasted wine except in sickness. They were clad in

hair cloth--anything else they regarded as a criminal indulgence. Yet many

of them were amongst the noblest in the land, and several of them

afterwards became bishops of various cities.

Such was the society at Marmoutier of which our St. Patrick became a

member. There is no doubt, that as one of the juniors, he gave himself up

to prayer, penance, and sacred study in order to prepare himself for that

high mission of which God as yet had only given him a dim vision. Many

writers say that Martin must have been dead before Patrick's arrival in

Gaul, and that our saint did not come to Tours until several years later,

probably about the year A.D. 409 or 410. It matters little for our

argument whether Martin was himself alive or not--his spirit reigned in

Marmoutier, his rule and his disciples were there:--

"Dead was the lion; but his lair was warm;

In it I laid me and a conquering glow

Rushed up into my heart. Discourse I heard

Of Martin still--his valour in the Lord,

His rugged warrior zeal, his passionate love

For Hilary, his vigils and his fasts,

And all his pitiless warfare on the Powers

Of Darkness."[63]

When Patrick had learned the discipline and divine wisdom of Marmoutier he

seems to have spent some years with his friends in Britain,[64] and then

in order to perfect himself in sacred studies, he put himself under the

guidance of the great St. Germanus of Auxerre, who at that time

enlightened all the Gauls.

Germanus was of noble birth, and completed his studies in Rome, where he

adopted the profession of the law and practised for some time in the

Courts with great applause. He was eagerly sought after by the first

society in the capital, and having married a rich and noble lady he

settled at Auxerre, where he was made governor of the province. He was

passionately devoted to the chase, and used to hang the spoils of his

hunting expeditions on a stately pear tree that grew in the centre of the

city, where they were eagerly scanned by an admiring crowd. The Bishop,

St. Amator, not relishing this vain display, had the tree cut down in the

absence of Germanus, who, hearing of this outrage on the chief magistrate

of the city, sought out the prelate, breathing vengeance. But the Bishop

seems to have disarmed his resentment, and shortly after, sensible of his

own approaching end, and finding Germanus in the church, he ordered the

doors to be closed, and the people crowding round the magistrate took off

his fine clothes, while Amator tonsured him on the spot, cutting clean

away all his flowing hair. The event proved that it was done by a divine

inspiration.

After the death of Amator, Germanus became Bishop of Auxerre, and led a

life of extraordinary virtue and austerity, as we know from his biography

written by an almost contemporary author, Constantius.

From the moment he was tonsured, his wife became to him as a sister; he

sold his property which was considerable, and gave the proceeds to the

poor and to the Church. His food was the coarsest and scantiest; he never

ate wheaten bread, nor used any wine, or oil, or even vinegar, or

vegetables. Barley bread and water, or a little milk, was his only

refection. Twice a year, at Christmas and Easter, he took a little wine

with water. He tasted ashes before his food; and threshed and ground with

his own hands the barley of which his bread was made. A tunic and hood

over a hair shirt were his only clothing in winter and summer; his bed was

made of planks strewn with ashes, which soon became as hard as the board

itself. He slept in his clothes, seldom removing anything but his belt and

sandals, and his only covering at night was a piece of coarse cloth. He

had no pillow for his head, and spent a great part of the night in tears

and prayers for the sins of his life. Such was the episcopal life of the

brilliant Germanus, the statesman and orator, the delight of Roman

society, the keen huntsman in the field, the accomplished magistrate in

the court; and such was the second teacher of St. Patrick. The _Irish

Lives_ call him the 'tutor' of our apostle, and all our ancient

authorities are agreed that Patrick spent several years under the guidance

of this holy and learned man. Some think he spent thirty years under

Germanus; this, however, is an impossibility, for Germanus became bishop

in A.D. 418, and went to Britain with St. Lupus of Troyes to extirpate the

Pelagian heresy in A.D. 429--three years before the date of St. Patrick's

own mission. Others say he spent fourteen years with Germanus, and this is

more like the truth. One thing is certain, that our apostle owes to

Germanus most of his sacred learning, which was very considerable as we

shall see; and he learned not only "Queenly Science, and the forest huge

of Doctrine," but what is more, he learned the wisdom that rules, the

prudence that moderates, the patience that spares, and above all and

beyond all the life hidden with Christ in God.

Germanus had built a monastery beyond the river in view of his episcopal

city, but completely cut off from its noise and bustle. Every day he was

wont to cross the stream in his little skiff to visit and instruct his

beloved monks, of whom St. Patrick was one for many years. Thus slowly and

surely, under the guidance of the holiest and most learned men in the

West, did God prepare His servant Patrick for the work before him.

The Scholiast on _St. Fiacc's Life of St. Patrick_, which was written in

the early part of the sixth century, tells us that Patrick accompanied

Germanus on his journey to Britain in A.D. 429. If so, and the statement

is highly probable, Patrick must have learned much during that memorable

journey, and witnessed the famous 'Alleluia Victory' over the Saxons and

Picts. These barbarians were just then making one of their usual

incursions on the helpless Christians of Wales, when Germanus hearing of

the approaching tumult, and learning the cause, led out on Easter Sunday

his newly baptized catechumens, and having posted the mighty multitude

amongst the steep hills that overlooked the valley through which the enemy

had to pass, he calmly waited their approach. When they entered the

valley, suddenly the mighty shout of the 'Alleluia' re-echoed through the

mountains, and the affrighted barbarians thinking themselves surrounded by

an immense army, fled in confusion without striking a blow. Germanus seems

to have returned to France in A.D. 430 or 431.

It is said by most of our ancient authorities that it was Germanus who

sent St. Patrick to Celestine to receive episcopacy and authority for the

Irish mission.[65] Celestine at first refused, as he had already in A.D.

431 sent Palladius with authority to preach to the Scots, who believed in

Christ--"Ad Scotos in Christum credentes." But when news was brought to

Rome by his disciples, Augustine and Benedict, of the failure of that

mission and the death of Palladius, Germanus sent Patrick again to Rome

accompanied by a priest called Segetius, who gave testimony of his merits

and desires. Perhaps it was in the interval between these two journeys

that St. Patrick went to the Island of Lerins, near Cannes, on the coast

of the department, now called the Alpes Maritimes.

Very many of our ancient authorities mention this visit to Lerins, or some

other of the rocky islets that abound in that part of the Mediterranean,

and several of which were then inhabited by holy men. It is said expressly

in the Hymn of St. Fiacc, the oldest of St. Patrick's lives, that he

studied the canons with Germanus, that the angel sent him across the Alps,

and that he stayed in the islands of the Tyrrhene Sea. It is not easy to

fix the date of this visit nor its duration; it is, however, in itself

extremely probable, independently of the high authority of Fiacc's

Metrical Life as well as of the Third Life, and Probus' Fifth Life. The

Third Life represents our saint as spending several years in an island

called Tamerencis, or, as Probus puts it, with the barefooted hermits in a

certain island of the sea. This island in all probability was Lerins, and

the barefooted hermits were the monks of St. Honoratus, who was thus the

third teacher of St. Patrick.

When Honoratus, flying fame and friends, came to Lerins in A.D. 410, it

was covered with dense shrubberies, through whose tangled masses

innumerable serpents glided and scared away the fishermen, who chanced to

land on the barren and inhospitable rock. But Honoratus was not to be

daunted. With a few faithful companions he set to work, and soon cleared a

space for their cells, and for such patches of agriculture, as would

supply their scanty needs. The monks were patient and laborious; the soil

was naturally not ungrateful. The serpents were banished, the brakes were

all cut down, and fruit trees planted in their stead. There was a bright

sky above, and glittering seas around; snow-capped mountains arose in the

blue distance; orange groves wafted their delicious fragrance over the

waters so that Lerins became an Eden, where the sights of nature were as

fair, and the hearts of the men as pure, as they were in Paradise. There,

too, St. Honoratus, afterwards raised in A.D. 429 to the See of Arles,

founded a famous school which was long celebrated in the south of Europe,

and produced some of the most distinguished scholars of the fifth century.

Such were their piety and learning that all the cities round about strove

emulously to have monks from Lerins for their bishops.

This was the last school in which St. Patrick made his final preparation

before presenting himself to St. Celestine, and receiving his commission

to preach the Gospel in Ireland. Not rashly surely, nor without due

preparation in the greatest and holiest schools of the Continent, did

Patrick undertake the work of God. Letters, borne by angels containing the

voice of the Irish, had long been calling him; the wailings of the

children from the wood of Focluth, by the shore of the western sea, whence

he had escaped to France, were ringing in his ears night and day imploring

Patrick to come and walk once more amongst them. He had prepared himself

most carefully for his great mission; he was duly commissioned by St.

Celestine, as both the _Tripartite_ and the Scholiast on Fiacc's hymn

expressly inform us; he received the blessing of the beloved teachers

under whose guidance he had lived so long; and thus full of courage and

trust in God, he set out for the difficult and dangerous task of

converting the Irish nation to the faith of Christ.

II.--ST. PATRICK'S LITERARY LABOUR IN IRELAND.

St. Patrick not only converted the Irish, but purified their laws, gave

new inspiration to their Bards, and laid the foundations of that system of

education which for the next three centuries made Ireland the light and

glory of all western Europe. We propose briefly to sketch his labours in

these respects.

When Patrick arrived in Ireland in A.D. 432, after a fruitless attempt to

convert his old master Milcho, he went straight to Tara, where King

Laeghaire was then holding his court, and as might be expected, he at once

came into collision with the Druids. They had already, according to the

_Tripartite_, foretold his advent, for they were mighty magicians, and the

two chief Druids of Erin, Lochru and Luchat the Bald, were then at Tara,

as it was the time of the great Feast, and Tara was "the head of the

idolatry and druidism of Erin."[66] Patrick lit his paschal fire at Slane

on Holy Saturday, and when the two Druids beheld from the green slopes of

Tara the strange fire, they at once told the king that the flame must be

extinguished before morning, or it could never be extinguished in Erin.

The angry monarch ordered his horses to be yoked, and set out to meet the

bold stranger, who had dared to kindle the forbidden flame in sight of the

royal palace. The Druid Lochru fiercely and enviously assailed Patrick in

presence of the king at Slane, but at Patrick's prayer the impious man was

first raised high in the air, and falling down his brains were dashed out

on the ground before the king. Now although the monarch and his attendants

feared much, and in their fear dared not touch the Apostle, yet we find

that next day when Patrick suddenly appeared at Tara, the second Druid,

Luchat the Bald, tried to poison him, but that attempt failing, he

challenged the Saint to contend with him in miracles before all the

people. Patrick readily accepted the challenge, and of course defeated the

Druid, who was consumed to ashes in an attempt to save himself from the

flames, while the youthful Benignus escaped the fiery ordeal unhurt.

These miraculous stories at least express one undoubted truth, that the

conflict between Christianity and druidism was a conflict to the death.

One or the other must be utterly routed; there could be no league between

light and darkness, between Christ and Belial. The victory gained over

druidism at Tara was conclusive; all the nation felt and recognised the

might of the man who had conquered the royal Druids; for it was their

proud boast that they held dominion over the elements and could make them

work their will. But now there appeared a mightier man than they, who

utterly vanquished them, and bound in strong bonds the Princes of

Darkness, the real authors of their wondrous deeds. Elsewhere indeed they

strove to renew the conflict, as when Patrick crossed the Shannon, the

Druids of Cruachan, Moel and Caplait, brought a thick darkness over all

the plain of Magh Aei. But, again, the power of Patrick's God vanquished

them--the darkness was miraculously dissipated by Patrick, and they

themselves were converted to the faith of Christ.

Yet when Patrick had proved the might of the God whom he adored, although

he burnt the idolatrous books at Tara, and overturned the idols of Magh

Slecht in Leitrim, and gave no toleration to heathen rites, still, in

other respects he dealt tenderly with the failings and even with the

superstitions of the people. Their sacred places were, in many cases,

consecrated and utilized for Christian worship; the Druids themselves,

when truly converted, were not deemed unworthy of a place in the Christian

ministry; the wells and streams where pagan rites had been often

celebrated, were blessed by the Apostle, and the ancient festivals of the

Druids were now made to do honour to the Christian saints. Thus it came to

pass that the mid-summer festival of paganism became henceforward a

festival in honour of John the Baptist, and November Eve of the Druids was

made the Vigil of All Saints.

III.--ST. PATRICK REFORMS THE BREHON LAWS.

One of St. Patrick's greatest works was his reform and ratification of the

ancient Brehon Laws as embodied in the great compilation known as the

_Senchus Mor_, or Great Antiquity. His labours in this respect claim

special attention, for the Brehon Code prevailed in the greater part of

Ireland down to the year A.D. 1600, and even still its influence is felt

in the feelings and habits of the people. The laws of a nation necessarily

exercise a great and permanent influence in forming the mind and character

of the people; nor can the provisions of the Brehon Code be safely ignored

by those whose duty it is even now to legislate for Ireland.

As explained before, the Brehon Code, which St. Patrick found in Ireland,

owed its existence mainly to three sources, first to decisions of the

ancient judges (of whom the most distinguished was Sen, son of Aighe),

given in accordance with the principles of natural justice, and handed

down by tradition; secondly, to the enactments of the Triennial

Parliaments, known as the Great Feis of Tara; thirdly, to the customary

laws, which grew up in the course of ages and regulated the social

relations of the people, according to the principles of a patriarchal

society, of which the hereditary chief was the head. This great Code

naturally contained many provisions that regulated the druidical rights,

privileges, and worship, all of which had to be expunged. The Irish, too,

were a passionate and warlike race, who rarely forgave injuries or

insults, until they were atoned for according to a strict law of

retaliation, which was by no means in accordance with the mild and

forgiving spirit of the Gospel. In so far as the Brehon Code was founded

on this principle, it was necessary for St. Patrick to abolish or amend

its provisions. Moreover, the new Church claimed its own rights and

privileges, for which it was important to secure formal legal sanction,

and to have embodied in the great Code of the Nation. This was of itself a

difficult and important task.

The _Senchus Mor_ explains the motives that prompted the revision of the

Brehon Code with great clearness. Dubhthach Mac Ua Lugair, the Chief Poet

and Brehon of Erin, was one of the first to believe in Patrick's Gospel at

Tara; and it happened to be his duty to pronounce judgment on the man who

slew Odhran, Patrick's Charioteer. Thereupon Patrick and Dubhthach

convoked the men of Erin to a conference at Tara, as it would seem, and

Dubhthach explained all that Patrick had achieved since his arrival in

Erin, and how he had overcome Laeghaire and his Druids, by the great signs

and wonders which he had wrought. "Then all the men of Erin bowed down in

obedience to the will of God and St. Patrick. It was then that all the

professors of the sciences in Erin were assembled, and each of them

exhibited his art before Patrick in the presence of every chief in Erin.

It was then too that Dubhthach was ordered to exhibit the judgments, and

all the poetry of Erin, and every law which prevailed amongst the men of

Erin, through the law of nature, and the law of the seers, and in the

judgments of the island of Erin, and in the poets," who were at first the

judges.

"Now the judgments of true nature which the Holy Ghost[67] had spoken

through the mouths of the Brehons and just poets of the men of Erin from

the first occupation of this island down to the reception of the faith,

were all exhibited by Dubhthach to Patrick. Whatever did not clash with

the Word of God, in the written Law, and in the New Testament, and with

the consciences of the believers, was confirmed in the laws of the Brehons

by Patrick, and by the ecclesiastics and chieftains of Erin, for the law

of nature had been quite right except the faith and its obligations, and

the harmony of the Church and the people. _And this is the Senchus._"

This great conference took place in the year A.D. 438. Of course the work

thus briefly summarised was not done in a day. A regular Commission was

appointed consisting of nine learned men representing the various classes

and interests of the entire nation.

This Commission of Nine--from whom the _Senchus_ was called the _Nofis_,

or Knowledge of Nine--consisted of three Kings, three Bishops, and three

men of Science. The Kings were Laeghaire, Corc, and Daire; the Bishops

were Patrick, Benignus, and Cairnech; the men of Science, or antiquaries

as they are called by the Four Masters, were Dubhthach himself, Chief Poet

and Brehon of all Erin, Rossa, a Doctor of the Berla Feini, or legal

dialect, which was very abstruse, and Fergus, a Poet, who represented the

most learned and influential class in the country. Evidently Patrick had

studied under Germanus to some purpose; no one can help admiring the skill

which he displayed in organizing and selecting this great Commission.

It has been said that some members of this Commission, especially Corc and

Cairnech, could not have been present from A.D. 438 to 441, that the

former was dead, and the latter not yet born, seeing that he died,

according to Colgan, in A.D. 534--nearly a hundred years later. This is

not the place to enter into details; the answer, however, is very simple.

King Corc was, it is true, grandfather of Aenghus Mac Nadfraich, who when

a youth was baptized by Patrick at Cashel, in A.D. 445. But the latter had

not then commenced his reign, and his grandfather may have been alive in

A.D. 441, and for several years later, for we know, both from the _Book of

Rights_, and the poems of Dubhthach, that he was a contemporary of St.

Patrick.

As to the alleged death of Cairnech in A.D. 530, that Cairnech, whose

festival day is set down on the 28th of May, was quite different from St.

Cairnech of Tuilen (now Tulane in Meath), whose festival is the 16th of

May, and who is said to have been one of the British saints, probably from

Cornwall, that accompanied St. Patrick to Ireland. He it was who was

chosen to act on the Commission which produced the _Senchus Mor_.

Benignus was a mere boy of some sixteen years of age when Patrick stayed

for a night at the mouth of the Nanny River near Duleek, and being weary

from his journey the Saint fell asleep on the green sward. Then the boy

gathered sweet-smelling flowers and tenderly laid them in the Saint's

bosom as he slept. "Stop doing that lest thou awake Patrick," said the

others; and thereupon Patrick awoke, and blessed the boy, and foretold

that he was to be the heir of his kingdom. So the boy was baptized and

ever afterwards followed the Saint, who appointed him his Coadjutor Bishop

in the See of Armagh, so early as A.D. 450. Benignus being young and

carefully trained by St. Patrick, and also learned in the Irish tongue,

in all probability acted as Secretary to the Commission, and drafted with

his own hands the laws that were sanctioned by the Seniors. According to

O'Donovan he was also the original author of the famous Chronicle called

the _Psalter of Cashel_, which gives a full account of the laws, rights

and prerogatives of the Monarchs of Ireland, and especially of the Kings

of Cashel. He seems also to have been the original author of the _Book of

Rights_, although in its present form it gives manifest proof of

considerable changes, and much later emendations.

Daire, the only remaining member of whom it is necessary to make any

remark, seems to have been the same who granted Armagh to St. Patrick as a

site for his Cathedral, and whose daughter was one of the first, if not

the very first of the Irish maidens, who took the veil from the hands of

St. Patrick, and with her companions, some the daughters of kings, spent

her life of utter purity in working vestments for the priests, and

altar-cloths for the service of the Cathedral. Yet romance was mingled

with her name, for she:--

"The best and fairest,

King Daire's daughter, Erenait by name,

Had loved Benignus in her Pagan years.

He knew it not; full sweet to her his voice,

Chanting in choir. One day through grief of love

The maiden lay as dead; Benignus shook

Dews from the font above her, and she woke,

With heart emancipate that out-soared the lark,

Lost in the blue heavens. She loved the Spouse of Souls."[68]

Such was the Commission of Nine selected by St. Patrick to purify the

ancient pagan Code. We have still in existence the fruit of their labours

substantially unchanged, although as we might expect, a vast mass of

accretions, in the shape of commentaries and glosses, has gathered round

the original text. The Nine were, however, the real authors of the

_Senchus Mor_, which still furnishes the most abundant and authentic

materials for the study of our national history. It is a very large work,

and the archaic text was so obscure that even O'Donovan and O'Curry were

sometimes unable to explain its meaning. It is certainly the greatest

monument in existence of the learning and civilization of the ancient

Gaedhlic race in Erin.

St. Patrick not only reformed the State Organization, he also established

a Church Organization in Ireland. He knew well that it was not enough to

preach, and baptize, and build churches; it was necessary, if his work

was to endure, to train a native ministry, and organize the native Church

in harmony with the institutions and character of the Celtic tribes in

Ireland. It was a very difficult task; for the tribes were still very

simple and primitive in their habits, and were moreover devotedly attached

to the tribal institutions, which had come down to them from a remote

antiquity.

In accomplishing this task, which he did with perfect success, Patrick

displayed singular firmness and prudence. Whenever there was question of

principle, that is, of the truths of the Gospel and the teaching of the

Church, he was, as might be expected, unyielding as the rock. But, on the

other hand, he was no root-and-branch reformer; he dealt most tenderly

with the usages and with the prejudices of the people. He utilized

whatever was good in their existing habits and institutions, reformed what

was imperfect, and lopped off what was evil. With druidism, for instance,

he could make no terms. There could be no alliance between Christ and

Belial; it must be utterly rooted out of the land. Not so with the

Brehons, and the Brehon Code. He made no attempt to introduce the Roman

Civil Law into Ireland; it would have been utterly unsuited to the tribal

system. But he reformed the Brehon Code, and retained "all the judgments

of a true nature, which the Holy Ghost had spoken through the mouths of

the Brehons, and the just Poets of the men of Erin," thus winning over to

his side that influential Order, who might otherwise have been arrayed

against the propagation of the Gospel.

In like manner he dealt with the Bards. In a spirit of consummate

prudence, he sought to secure the aid of that powerful corporation for his

infant Church, and succeeded in establishing a friendly alliance with the

Arch-Poet of Erin. Dubthach Mac Ua Lugair held the twofold office of Chief

Poet and Chief Brehon of Ireland, and St. Patrick utilized his influence

and his services in both capacities. He was the working head of the

Commission for the reformation of the Brehon Laws; but St. Patrick seems

also to have secured his influence as Chief Poet in procuring eligible

candidates for the sacred ministry from the schools of the Bards--the most

lettered class in the community. It was thus the young poet, Fiacc of

Sletty, was ordained by Patrick on the advice and at the suggestion of

Dubthach. St. Patrick indeed had every reason to be grateful to the

Arch-Poet; he was the first to believe in the Saint's teaching at Tara,

and rose up to do him honour even against the king's command; he aided in

reforming the laws; he gave his most promising young pupils for the

service of the altar, including several of his own sons, who otherwise

would doubtless have followed the profession of their father.

This friendly alliance between St. Patrick and the Bardic Order is

personified in the story of Ossian's relations with the Saint. According

to the legend the venerable old man had long survived the fall of his

house, and the destruction of the Fenian chivalry on the fatal field of

Gabhra, yet lived on to find himself friendless and helpless under a new

and strange order of things in Christian Erin. But Patrick in the true

spirit of the Gospel took the homeless old man under his own protection,

and, treating him with the greatest generosity and forbearance, sought to

console him for the vanished glories of the heroic past, and fill his mind

with brighter visions of a more glorious and immortal future beyond the

grave:--

"Patrick, this other boon I crave,[69]

That I to thee in heaven may sing

Full loud the glories of the brave,

And Fionn, my sire and king."

"Oisin, in heaven the praises swell

To God alone from soul and saint;"

"Then Patrick, I their deeds will tell

In little whisper faint."

"Prince of thy country's tuneful choir,

Thou wert her golden tongue.

Sing thou the new strain, 'I believe,'

Give thou to God her song."

It was in this spirit Patrick dealt with the Bards of Erin. They might

keep their harps, and sing the songs of Erin's heroic youth, as in the

days of old. But the great Saint taught them how to tune their harps to

loftier strains than those of the banquet-hall or the battle-march. He

sought to drive out from their songs the evil spirit of undying hate and

rancorous vengeance, to impress the poet's mind with something of the

divine spirit of Christian charity, and to soften the fierce melody of his

war-songs with cadences of pity for a fallen foe. He taught the sons of

the Bards how to chant the psalms of David, and sing together the sweet

music of the Church's hymns. Thus by slow degrees their wild ways were

tamed, their fierce hearts were softened, and the evil spirit of Discord

gave place to the heavenly spirit of brotherly Love.

The Irish people[70] have been always passionately fond of music, and this

was especially so in those early times when other strong attractions were

entirely wanting. There can be no doubt that the Church music exercised a

great influence in attracting the new converts to the services of the

clergy both in the monastic and secular Churches--a fact of which St.

Patrick was fully sensible. Hence we find that from the very beginning he

made provision to have his new converts trained in psalmody.

St. Benignus, of whom we have already spoken, the sweet and gentle boy,

who strewed the flowers in Patrick's bosom, and would not be taken from

his side, is called "Patrick's Psalm-Singer" in the _Lives of the Saint_,

as well as in the _Annals of the Four Masters_.

This plainly signifies that Patrick selected Benignus, doubtless on

account of his sweet voice and skill in music, to be what should be now

called his choir-master. Whenever a new Church and new congregation was

founded, it would be the duty of Benignus from such materials as were at

hand, to try and organize a Church choir, and conduct the musical service.

He seems to have accompanied St. Patrick in all his earlier missionary

journeys, and doubtless this would be the principal duty of the gentle

youth who so well deserved his name.

This brings us to consider what provision St. Patrick made for training up

a native ministry in the Irish Church, which would be competent to

continue and perfect his work. The question is a very interesting one, and

intimately connected with our subject; but the means of furnishing an

answer are exceedingly scanty, and can only be gleaned with difficulty

from isolated passages recorded in the _Acts of the Apostle of Ireland_.

The earliest instance on record is that of St. Benignus himself, which

shows that from the very beginning of his missionary career, St. Patrick

had this purpose of training up a native ministry to continue his work

strongly before his mind. When the Saint was on the point of starting on

his journey from the house of the father of Benignus, he had one foot on

the ground and the other in his chariot, when the boy rushed up, and

caught hold of Patrick's foot with his two hands, crying out, "Oh, let me

go with Patrick, my father."[71] And when they were going to take him away

Patrick said--"Baptize him, and put him with me in my car, for he will yet

be the heir of my kingdom." This was done, and Benignus never afterwards

left Patrick. He accompanied him on his missionary journeys; he conducted

the musical services of the Church for Patrick, and he died the heir of

his kingdom, that is, Coadjutor Archbishop of Armagh, about the year A.D.

468--long before St. Patrick himself went to his rest. It is evident,

therefore, that St. Benignus was trained for the sacred ministry under the

personal care of St. Patrick. And, as we shall presently see, this was the

usual course before the monastic schools were yet established in Erin, to

train the young levites under the personal care of some other

ecclesiastic, priest or bishop, as the case might be. In nearly the same

way Patrick happened about the same time to meet Mochae of Noendrum, while

he was yet a boy, herding swine, and "Patrick preached to him, and

baptized him, and tonsured him," thus selecting him as a candidate for the

ecclesiastical state. Of this Mochae, one of the earliest disciples of St.

Patrick, we shall see more hereafter, when we come to speak of the school

of Noendrum.

Yet it must not be supposed that St. Patrick came single-handed to preach

the Gospel in Erin, and that he had no assistance until these boys were

old enough to become themselves priests and bishops. We know that the

contrary was the fact.

We are told by a very ancient authority[72] that the Saint was accompanied

to Ireland by a great number of holy bishops and priests and deacons, and

other youths in minor orders whom he had himself ordained for the Irish

Mission. They were Britons, Franks, and Romans, the latter term simply

meaning that some amongst them enjoyed the rights of Roman citizenship.

Many of them were his own blood relations, like Sechnall or Secundinus,

the son of Patrick's sister, Darerca. Others, like Auxilius and Iserninus,

are said to have been sent by Germanus of Auxerre to aid St. Patrick in

preaching to the Irish. These two prelates, however, though ordained with

St. Patrick, did not come to Ireland for some time after the arrival of

St. Patrick. Iserninus founded his church at Kilcullen in the co.

Kildare, and Auxilius founded Killossy, in the barony of Naas, which takes

its name Cill-Usailli (Gen. of Ausaille) from that Saint.

The names of these two bishops are chiefly memorable in connection with a

celebrated Synod--the first held in Ireland--which is commonly called the

Synod of Patrick, Auxilius, and Iserninus. Having been ordained Priests,

if not Bishops, on the same day with St. Patrick himself, these two

prelates seem to have enjoyed a certain kind of co-ordinate authority with

Patrick, but still in subjection to his primatial jurisdiction. The name

of Secundinus is not mentioned in connection with this Synod, which was

held A.D. 447 or 448, either because he was already dead, or did not

possess independent jurisdiction as one of the original episcopal founders

of the Irish Church. We cannot now enter into the question how far all the

Canons attributed to St. Patrick in the great collections published by

several writers are genuine, or merely circulated under his name with a

view to lend them greater authority.[73] Those attributed, however, to the

Synod of Patrick, Auxilius, and Iserninus are commonly regarded as

authentic,[74] and indeed bear intrinsic evidence that they were framed at

a time when paganism was yet common in Ireland.

The most celebrated of these Canons is that which formally recognises the

supremacy of the Holy See as the Supreme Judge of Controversies--Si quae

quaestiones (difficiles) in hac insula oriantur ad Sedem Apostolicam

referantur.[75] A Canon to the same purport is contained in the _Book of

Armagh_ (fol. 21, b. 2) and is there expressly recorded as the decree of

Auxilius, Patrick, Secundinus, and Benignus. After reciting that if any

difficult case arose in the nations of the Scots it should be referred to

the See of Patrick, the Archbishop of the Scots, for decision, it is

added: "But if the aforesaid cause cannot easily be decided in it

(Armagh), we decree that it be transmitted to the Apostolic See, that is,

to the See of the Apostle Peter, which has authority over the city of

Rome."[76] Another Canon (Lib. xxxiv. c. 2) orders that if a cleric go

security for a gentile--that is, a pagan--and that the gentile fail to

keep his engagement, the cleric must make good the loss from his own

goods, and not contend with the adversary in armed strife. This Canon

shows that a portion of the population was still unconverted, though

living on terms of familiar intercourse with the Christians, both clergy

and people.

This ecclesiastical legislation of Patrick and his assistant prelates must

have exercised a most beneficial influence in restraining crime and

superstition amongst all classes. The first element of civilization is the

recognition of the reign of law instead of brute force; and that was a

lesson which it was especially necessary to inculcate on the Irish tribes.

Hence the Apostle inculcates at some length, and in very beautiful

language, the duties of the ecclesiastical judges and of good kings, while

he does not spare to draw the sword of excommunication against the crimes

and excesses of all, both rulers and subjects.

The judges of the Church, he says, must have the fear of God, not of man;

and the wisdom of God, not the wisdom of the world, which is folly in His

sight. They must not accept any gifts, for gifts blind the judgment; they

must have before their minds, not secular cunning, but the precedents of

the divine law (exempla divina). They should be sparing in their words,

and slow to pronounce sentence, and above all never utter a falsehood,

judging in all things justly, because as they judge others, by the same

standard shall they themselves be judged. Principles like these thus

solemnly enunciated must have exercised a very great influence in teaching

all classes that respect for law and the rights of others, which is the

foundation of all civilization.

Then the kings--a numerous class in Erin--were also taught their duties,

and by one who was able to give a sanction to his teaching. The duty of

the king is to judge no one unjustly; to be the protector of the stranger,

the widow, and the orphan; to punish thefts and adulteries; not to

encourage unchaste buffoons, nor exalt the wicked, but root them out of

the land; to put to death parricides and perjurers; to defend the Church

and give alms to the poor; to select just and wise ministers, and prudent

counsellors; to give no countenance to druids, or pythonesses, or

augurers; to defend his country in strength and in justice; to put his

confidence in God, not being elated by prosperity nor cast down by

adversity; to profess the Catholic faith and restrain his sons from evil

deeds; to give time to prayer, and not to spend it unduly in unseasonable

banquets. This, he says, is the justice of a king, which secures the peace

of the people, the defence of the country, the rights of the poor, and all

other blessings spiritual and temporal, including fruitful trees, abundant

crops, genial weather, and universal happiness. Such were the noble

principles inculcated by St. Patrick in his preaching, formulated in his

laws, and enforced by all the power of his authority.[77]

Although St. Patrick was accompanied to Ireland by a very considerable

number of clerics of every order to aid him in his great task of the

conversion of Ireland, still he must have found it difficult, as new

churches were founded and the foreign clergy died out, to supply labourers

for the ripening vineyard. As yet there were no Christian Schools in Erin.

Armagh was probably the first, but Armagh was not founded until A.D. 445,

when the site of a cathedral was granted by Daire to Patrick on Macha's

Height. The school could not be organized for some years later, perhaps

about the year A.D. 450.

But meantime Patrick had organized a kind of peripatetic school, which

accompanied the Saint in his frequent missionary journeys through the

various parts of the country. He himself spent his time in preaching,

baptizing, founding churches, and making such provision, as he could, for

the administration of the sacraments and the celebration of Mass. The

clerical students, his disciples, accompanied him, and in this way were

able to obtain both theoretical and practical instruction in the work of

missionary life. The instruction which the Bards, Brehons, and Druids

communicated to their disciples was mainly, if not exclusively, of an oral

character. The memory was highly trained by exercise, and the art of

recitation was carried to a wonderful degree of perfection. The disciples

too accompanied the master on his rounds from one chieftain's dun to

another, and were sharers in the hospitality and rewards, which were

freely bestowed on all.

Oral instruction of a similar character was doubtless also communicated by

St. Patrick to his disciples during their missionary journeys, as well as

in those places where he and his household remained for any considerable

time. Books were scarce, but were not unknown. The British and French

clergy no doubt brought with them to Ireland such books as were

indispensable for a missionary priest or bishop. These would be a

Mass-book, a ritual, and a copy of the psalms, and of the Gospels. They

were carried in leathern wallets slung from the girdle, and sometimes in

covers, or cases of wood, strengthened and adorned with metallic rims and

clasps. Such were the book-covers (_leborchometa_), which St. Asicus of

Elphin used to make for Patrick.[78] Once also when Patrick was journeying

from Rome he met six young clerics with 'their books at their girdles,'

who were going to the holy city on their pilgrimage. And Patrick gave them

a hide of seal-skin, or cow skin--it is doubtful which, says the

narrator--to make a wallet, as it would seem, for their books, for they

had it adorned with gold and white bronze.[79] Palladius left books

(_libru_) after him in Leinster, and both Patrick and the Druids had books

at Tara, and Patrick's books (_libair_) once fell into one of the streams

that flow into the Suir and were 'drowned.' Probably these were some of

the books which Celestine gave to Patrick, 'in plenty,' when he was about

to come to Ireland.[80] Patrick gave Deacon Justus of Fuerty in the co.

Roscommon, his own book of ritual and of baptism (_lebar nuird ocus

baptismi_.)[81] He also carried across the Shannon the books of the Law

and of the Gospel, and left them in the new Churches which he founded.[82]

_Lebar n-uird_ is the same as _Liber ordinis_, and means a missal, or Ordo

Missae, and the _Liber baptismi_ would be what we now call a 'ritual,'

containing the forms for the administration of the sacraments. In Tyrawley

the Saint gave Bishop Mucknoi, whom he there ordained, "seven Books of the

Law," in order that Mucknoi himself might ordain other bishops and

priests, and deacons in that country, and as it would seem, have copies of

the Books of the Law to give them. (_Book of Armagh_, f. 14.)

These books St. Patrick and his companions in all probability carried with

them from the Continent. But there was one kind of smaller book

corresponding to our smallest and simplest form of catechism, which the

Saint usually wrote for his favourite disciples with his own hand. It is

sometimes described as the 'Elements,' and sometimes as an 'Alphabet,' or

brief outline of the essential truths of Christianity. It was the first

book put into the hands of the educated converts, who knew how to read and

write, which was always an indispensable qualification for admission into

the ranks of the clergy. Of course the common people could be duly taught

the essential truths of religion by oral instruction. It was for those

whom he destined to be themselves teachers that he wrote the 'Elements' or

'Alphabets' of the Christian Doctrine. The phrase in Latin is _scripsit

elementa_, corresponding to the Irish _scribais aipgiter_, and sometimes

_scripsit abigitorium_ (as in the _Book of Armagh_, f. 13).

The word _aipgiter_ or _abgitir_ has been frequently used in this sense in

ancient Irish manuscripts, not to express the letters of the alphabet, but

a simple compendium of the art or other subject in question. Thus _abgitir

crabaith_ means the alphabet of faith, that is, the simple and fundamental

truths of faith; _abigiter in crabaid_ is the 'alphabet of piety,' and so

in similar cases. Patrick had no suitable work for this purpose, and,

hence, he himself frequently wrote a catechism or outline of these

elementary truths of the Christian doctrine suited to the capacity of the

learners.

So we find that the equipment of a young priest beginning his missionary

work was very simple. He got in the way of books his abigitorium, or

catechism, his Mass-book (or _Liber ordinis_), his ritual, his psaltery,

and when it could be spared a copy of the Gospels; and then if he were a

bishop Patrick gave him also, as he did to Fiaac of Sletty, a case

(_cumtach_[83]) containing a bell, a chalice, a crozier, and book-satchel

with the necessary books. We have distinct evidence too, from the Epistle

to Coroticus, that he himself taught these students. He describes the

messenger who carried that letter to the tyrant as a holy priest, whom he

(Patrick) had taught from his childhood (infantia). The reference can

scarcely be to St. Benignus, his coadjutor in Armagh, for Benignus died

A.D. 457 or 458, many years in all probability before the Epistle to

Coroticus was written. It is more likely the apostle refers to Mochae of

Noendrum, who was a tender youth when the Saint first met him in A.D. 432,

when he baptized the boy and gave him a gospel and a _menistir_, which

means a chalice and paten. Dr. Whitley Stokes translates it

'credence-table,' which is unlikely, as it was sometimes made of _creduma_

or bronze,[84] and in low Latin _ministerium_[85] was frequently used to

designate the utensils for the Holy Sacrifice.

St. Patrick, coming as he did, into a pagan country altogether outside the

pale of Roman civilization, had many difficulties to overcome, and

exercised great ingenuity in overcoming them. He sought to procure

everything required for public worship of native manufacture, and indeed

he had no other means for the most part of procuring them. Whatever was

necessary in the public worship of God, with the exception of some books

and the relics of the saints, was made in Ireland, and by artificers, who

though otherwise well skilled in their various crafts, were quite new to

this kind of work. But the apostle met this difficulty by having

artificers, who gave their exclusive attention to the manufacture of these

necessaries of divine worship, and he promoted them as a reward for their

labours even to the highest offices in the Church. His family or household

included persons so trained in every branch of technical knowledge

necessary for the due equipment of a Church, and they were all in holy

orders.

This household, which numbered twenty-four persons generally accompanied

him in his missionary journeys from place to place in order to provide all

things necessary for the young Churches which he founded. The list of

their names and functions is given in the _Tripartite_. Sechnall, his

nephew, was his 'bishop,' that is his coadjutor[86] in spirituals and

temporals, especially in his episcopal functions, in consecrations,

ordinations, and so forth. Benen was his psalm-singer to lead and teach

the Church choirs. Mochta of Louth was his priest, or as we now say, his

'assistant priest,' and attendant in the public functions of the church.

Bishop Erc, a Brehon by profession, was his judge, and no doubt a very

necessary official in dealing not only with the clergy, but also with the

frequent controversies that arose amongst the chiefs and were referred to

Patrick's arbitration. Bishop Mac Cairthinn was his champion, or rather

strong man, to bear him over the floods, and perhaps defend him against

rude assaults in an age of lawless violence. Colman of Cell Riada was his

chamberlain or personal attendant. Sinell of Cell Dareis was his

bell-ringer, an officer whose duty it was to carry with him the famous

hand-bell of the Saint, and no doubt also to ring it at appropriate times,

especially during Divine Service, for the purpose of securing due

attention to the sacred mysteries. He had also a cook, brewer, chaplain at

the table, two waiters, and other officers necessary for providing food

and accommodation for himself and his household. It must be borne in mind

that in those days there were no hotels; frequently the apostle with his

attendants had to camp out, and procure their own food--often too, in

face of an unfriendly, or even hostile population. Hence, he was sometimes

reduced to great straits for food, and more than once we find him begging

the fishermen to try and procure a fish for his refection when nothing

else was forthcoming.

We are also told that Patrick had three smiths, and three artificers, and

three embroideresses in his company. The smiths, like St. Asicus of

Elphin, made altars, and square tables, and book-covers, and bells for the

churches, which were founded by St. Patrick. His artificers were Essa,

Bite, and Tassach. They may be described as artificers both in wood and

metal, and church builders, who erected the primitive churches mostly of

wood founded by the apostle. Bite was a son of Asicus, and hence a skilled

workman like his father, both as a smith and carpenter. Tassach is spoken

of as making patens and credence-tables, and altar-chalices; he also made

a case for St. Patrick's crozier--the celebrated staff of Jesus. He was

Bishop of Raholp, not far from Downpatrick, and was privileged to

administer the Body of Christ to his dying master. The three

embroideresses, Lupait, sister of Patrick, and Erc, daughter of Daire, and

Cruimtheris, made with their own pure hands the vestments and altar linens

used during the Holy Sacrifice in the churches of Erin.

"Beneath a pine three vestals sat close veiled:

A song these childless sang of Bethlehem's Child,

Low-toned and worked their altar cloth, a Lamb

All white on golden blazon; near it bled

The bird that with her own blood feeds her young.

Red drops her holy breast affused. These three

Were daughters of three kings."--_Aubrey de Vere._

Although St. Patrick did not in the ordinary sense of the word establish

schools such as are frequently mentioned in the next century, he not only

trained candidates for the sacred ministry during the earliest years of

his mission, but also seems to have established in his own city of Armagh

a school for carrying on that work in a more regular and efficient manner.

Having the care of all the Churches of Ireland on his own shoulders, he

could not govern this school in person. But we are told that he placed

over it his best beloved disciple Benignus, who was, so far as we can

judge, eminently qualified to discharge that high office. Before, however,

we proceed to give an account of this celebrated school of Armagh, it will

be necessary to give a short account of the writings of St. Patrick

himself and of those attributed to the more eminent amongst his disciples

and contemporaries.

CHAPTER IV.

THE WRITINGS OF ST. PATRICK AND OF HIS DISCIPLES.

"And this is my confession before I die."

--_Confession of St. Patrick._

The writings of St. Patrick and his disciples are highly interesting, both

in themselves, and in the effects which they produced on the Irish Church.

Fortunately several of these monuments of our early ecclesiastical history

have come down to our own times, and no rational doubt can be raised about

their authenticity by well-informed scholars.

The principal documents attributed to St. Patrick himself are his

'Confession,' the 'Epistles to Coroticus,' and a poem called the 'Lorica,'

and sometimes the 'Deer's Cry.' Then we have in praise of Patrick a Hymn

by his nephew, St. Sechnall or Secundinus, a metrical Life or Eulogy by

St. Fiacc of Sletty, and certain sayings attributed to our national

apostle in the _Book of Armagh_. We shall have also something to say of

the _Tripartite Life of the Saint_, which is one of the earliest and most

important documents connected with the history of the Patrician Church in

Ireland.

I.--ST. PATRICK'S CONFESSION.

The _Confession_ of St. Patrick, as he himself calls it, or the _Book of

St. Patrick the Bishop_, as it is called in the MSS., is the most

important and interesting document connected with the primitive Church of

Ireland. The text itself is found in the _Book of Armagh_, and in several

ancient manuscripts, some of which belong to the tenth century.[87] It is

referred to also in Tirechan's Collections in the _Book of Armagh_ as the

'Scriptio,' or Writing of St. Patrick himself. At the end of the copy in

the _Book of Armagh_ it is described as the volume which Patrick wrote

with his own hand--"Huc usque volumen quod Patricius manu conscripsit

sua." This would seem to imply that the scribe of the _Book of Armagh_

took his copy from the autograph by St. Patrick himself.

The evidence, both intrinsic and extrinsic, in favour of its authenticity

is so strong that no competent Irish scholar has ventured to question the

genuineness of this venerable document.

Indeed, if not genuine, it is impossible to assign any motive for such a

forgery. The tone and spirit of the entire are such as could only come

from one who was filled with the apostolic spirit. Many incidental

references to Decurions, to the 'Brittaniae,' or Britains, to

slave-traffic--all point to the fifth century as the date of its

composition. The rude and barbarous Latinity, which some writers use as an

argument against its authenticity, is in reality a strong proof in its

favour, for it is exactly what we should expect from one who, like St.

Patrick, spent the six years which are generally given to the acquisition

of a liberal education, herding sheep and swine on the hills of Antrim. As

Patrick himself remarks in apologizing for the rudeness of his style, of

which he was fully sensible, he had to forego the use of his vernacular

Latin during the years of his captivity, and his speech and his language

were changed into the tongue of the stranger, "as any one may perceive

from the flavour of my style."[88] Of course we should make allowance for

the faults of copyists--especially where the original MS. itself seems to

have been illegible or obscure, still it must be confessed that the Latin

is very rude, sometimes even ungrammatical, and not always intelligible.

But the spirit of deep humility and fervent devotion, which breathes in

every line, is of itself sufficient to stamp this work as genuine. A

falsifier, or impostor, might possibly write such Latin, but he never

could forge the spirit that breathes in the language, which is the

manifest outpouring of a heart like unto the heart of St. Paul.

The _Book of Armagh_ contains the earliest copy of the Confession that we

possess, and it appears not a little strange that several important

passages are omitted from this copy, which are found in the copies

preserved in the Cottonian and Bodleian Collections. Some writers have

suggested that these passages of the later copies are interpolations. It

is far more likely, however, that the Armagh scribe left out some passages

from his own copy, that he could not decipher in the original, which as

the marginal notes show, was in some parts obscure or illegible. These

omitted passages too are manifestly written in the same style, and in the

same spirit as the body of the Confession, and may certainly be regarded

as genuine. It may be, also, that the scribe of Armagh left out certain

passages from a groundless fear that it would not be to the honour of the

great Apostle to speak so strongly of his own unworthiness. That passage,

for instance, has been omitted in which the Saint refers to certain

elders, who opposed his elevation to the episcopacy on the ground that

thirty years previously, before he became a deacon, he had committed some

sin, which he then confessed to a dear friend, and which it was now sought

to make an obstacle to his promotion.

The Saint's motive in writing this Confession in his old age, as he tells

us, was to defend himself against some vague charges of presumption in

undertaking the Irish mission, and incompetence in discharging that

onerous task, whilst acknowledging in all humility the sins and ignorance

of his youth, and the difficulties under which he laboured by reason of

his imperfect education.

Patrick points out that in all things he sought to listen to the voice of

God, and to be guided by the inspirations of His Holy Spirit. Like St.

Paul in similar circumstances, he refers to the perils by which he was

encompassed, and the many toilsome duties of his episcopacy. He then

vindicates his own disinterestedness, and challenges his accusers to show

that he ever received a single farthing for preaching the Gospel and

administering baptism to so many thousand persons, even in the remotest

parts of the country, where the Word of God was never heard before. Not

that the people were not generous, for they offered him many gifts, and

cast their ornaments upon the altar; but he returned them all lest even in

the smallest point the unbelievers might have cause to defame his

ministry, or question the purity of his motives.

Finally, he appeals to the success of his ministry in the conversion of

Ireland, as the best proof of God's approval of his work, and bears noble

testimony to the sanctity and zeal of his new converts. "The sons of the

Scots, and the daughters of their princes, became monks and virgins of

Christ ... not by compulsion, but even against the wishes of their

parents, and the number of the holy widows and continent maidens was

countless." Even the slave-girls, despising their masters' threats,

continued to persevere in the profession and practice of holy chastity.

Still in his old age he was surrounded by dangers, but it mattered not; at

any moment he was ready to die for Christ, and he solemnly calls God and

His Angels to witness that, in returning to preach the Gospel in the land

of his captivity, he came solely for the Gospel's sake, and his only

motive was to preach the glory of Christ and share in the recompense of

the Gospel. "And this"--said the Saint in beautiful and touching

words--"this is my confession before I die."

This Confession contains many interesting references to the personal

history and apostolic labours of St. Patrick, which are not always

remembered; and which ought to be separated from the more uncertain and

controverted facts of his history.

His father was Calpornus, or Calpornius, a deacon, who was the son of

Potitus, and Potitus was the son of Odissus, a priest. The text, however,

leaves it doubtful whether the word priest belongs to Potitus or to

Odissus.[89] His father dwelt in the township (vico) of Bannavem

Taberniae. He had also a small villa not far off, "where I was made

captive at the age of about sixteen years." He was in ignorance of the

knowledge of the true God,[90] which is to be understood of his defective

training as a Christian during the years of his boyhood; for he adds that

he did not keep God's Commandments, and was not obedient to the

priests--our priests--as he calls them, when they admonished him to attend

to his salvation. Therefore it was God punished him by this captivity in a

strange land, at the end of the world. But that God pitied his youth and

ignorance, and showed him mercy, consoling the captive as a father

consoles his son. For which he earnestly thanks God, and takes occasion to

profess his faith in the Holy Trinity, as Arianism was then rampant in the

Church. After much hesitation he resolved to write this Confession in

order to show the true motives of his own heart to his friends and

relations.

The reason of his delay and hesitation was the rudeness of his style and

language in consequence of his captivity when he had to make use of a

strange tongue. But he should be forgiven, for the conversion of the Irish

was the epistle of salvation, which he had written by deeds, not by words,

not in ink, but in the Spirit of God. Though he was a stone sunk in the

mire, a man of no account in the eyes of the world, yet God in His mercy

exalted him; for which he will always give earnest thanks to God. Hence he

wishes to make known God's goodness in his regard, and to leave it as a

legacy of God's mercy to his brethren, and to the thousands of spiritual

children whom he baptized.

When he came to Ireland (Hiberione), his daily employment was to feed

cattle (pecora); but then it was the love of God began to grow within him,

and he used to pray even up to a hundred times a day and as many in the

night; he used to rise before the dawn to pray in the woods and mountains

in the midst of rain, and hail, and snow.

One night he heard a voice saying to him in sleep--"your ship is

ready"--and he travelled 200 miles to the port, where he had never been

before, and where he knew no one. Thus after six years' captivity he

succeeded in reaching this port. The master of the vessel at first would

not take him on board, but afterwards he relented, when Patrick was

returning to the cottage where he had got lodging. He was called back, and

invited to go on board as one of themselves; but he declined familiar

intimacy[91] through fear of God, because they were Gentiles.

In three days they disembarked in a desert land, through which they

travelled for twenty-eight days, and were well nigh starving, until

relieved at the prayer of Patrick. Reference is then made to the great

stone that seemed to fall upon him in a dream, from the weight of which he

was relieved by invoking Elias. It seems, too, that he fell into a second

captivity, which continued for two months; but the text here is uncertain,

and can scarcely be relied on.

He succeeded, however, in reaching the home of his parents in Britain--in

Britannis--and they most earnestly besought him to remain with them, now

that he had escaped from so many dangers.

But the Angel Victor, in the guise of a man from Ireland, gave him a

letter in which the "voice of the Irish" called him away; the voices of

those who dwelt near the wood of Focluth, from which he seems to have

escaped, also called upon him to come once more and walk amongst them. The

Spirit of God, too, spoke within his soul and urged him to return to

Ireland. The same Holy Spirit encouraged him to persevere when objection

was made by certain elders to his elevation to the episcopacy. Therefore,

he was encouraged to undertake the great task, and his conscience never

blamed him for what he had done.

It would be tedious, he adds, to recount all his missionary labours, or

even a part of them. Twelve times his life (anima) was in danger, from

which God rescued him, and from many other plots and ambuscades also, and

therein God rewarded him for giving up his parents and his country, and

all their gifts, and heeding not their prayers and tears, that he might

preach the Gospel in Ireland, where he had to endure insult and

persecution even unto bonds. But he strove to do the work faithfully, and

God blessed his efforts, and those wonderful things were accomplished by

the apostle, to which we have already referred.

Hence, though anxious to visit his parents and his native country in

Britain, and even to revisit the brethren in Gaul--here referred to for

the first time--and to see the face of God's Saints there, he was bowed in

spirit, and would not leave his beloved converts, but resolved to spend

the rest of his life amongst them.

Yet he was not free from temptations against faith and chastity, but in

Christ Jesus he hoped to be faithful to God unto the end of his life, so

that he might be able to say with the apostle, "Fidem servavi." God, too,

deigned to work great signs and wonders by his hands, for which he will

always thank the Lord.

He confidently appeals also to his converts, who knew how he lived amongst

them, how he refused all gifts, and spent himself in their service. Nay,

he it was who gave the gifts to the kings and to their sons--and sometimes

they plundered him and his clerics of everything; and once bound him in

iron fetters for fourteen days, until the Lord delivered him from their

hands. When writing his Confession he was still living in poverty and

misery, expecting death, or slavery, or stratagems of evil; but he feared

not, because he left himself into the hands of God, who will protect him.

One thing only he earnestly prays for, that he may persevere in his work,

and never lose the people whom he gained for God at the very extremity of

the world.

This Confession clearly shows that St. Patrick was a native of some part

of Britain, and that he met more opposition in preaching the Gospel in

Ireland than is commonly supposed. He was put in bonds of iron on one

occasion for fourteen days, and even in his old age was living in poverty

and in daily fear of death. It shows, too, that although the Saint was an

indifferent Latinist, he was intimately acquainted both with the letter

and spirit of the Old and New Testament, which he quotes constantly, and

always from the version called the _Vetus Itala_--a strong proof of the

authenticity of the Confession. It is singular that no reference is made

to the Roman Mission, or to his ever having been at all in the City of

Rome. But neither does the Saint refer to St. Germanus, although all the

Lives agree in saying that he spent many years in Gaul with that holy and

eminent prelate, nor does he even tell us where or by whom he was

consecrated bishop. Nothing, therefore, can be deduced from his silence

regarding St. Celestine and the Roman Mission, especially in face of the

ancient and authentic testimonies which assert it.

II.--THE EPISTLE TO COROTICUS.

The Epistle to Coroticus, or more properly to "the Christian subjects of

King (Tyrannus) Coroticus," is also without doubt the genuine composition

of St. Patrick. It bears a striking resemblance to the Confession in its

style and language, sometimes even entire phrases are re-produced from the

Confession with scarcely any change of language. It is not found in the

_Book of Armagh_, but it is found in several ancient MSS. dating back to

the tenth century. From a reference made to the pagan Franks, it must have

been written before their conversion to Christianity, which took place

A.D. 496. It is evident, however, that it was written towards the close of

the Saint's missionary career--probably some time between A.D. 480-490.

This Coroticus or Cereticus, was most probably a semi-Christian King of

Dumbarton[92] or Ail-Cluade, and seems to be the same referred to in the

_Book of Armagh_ as Coirthech, King of Aloo. He is called in the Welsh

genealogies Ceretic the Guletic, which term corresponds exactly with

Tyrannus in St. Patrick's letter. Other Welsh authorities, however, have

made Coroticus a petty King of Glamorganshire and identified him with

Caredig or Ceredig, of the Welsh genealogies;[93] but the former is the

much more probable opinion, especially as we find that Coroticus was the

ally of the "apostate Picts and Scots," in their bloody raids on the

shores of Ireland. After the death of St. Ninian, who converted some of

the Scots and southern Picts to Christianity, these latter fell away from

the faith, and aided by the King of Dumbarton harried the coasts both of

England and Ireland.

It was probably towards the end of St. Patrick's laborious life that the

incursion took place, which called forth this indignant letter of the

Saint. The raiders had landed somewhere on the eastern coast of Ireland,

and carried off into slavery a number of men and women, on whose foreheads

the holy oil of confirmation, which then usually followed baptism, was

still glistening. The white garments which the neophytes wore were stained

with their own blood, or the blood of their slaughtered companions.

Thereupon the Saint wrote these letters, which he sent by one of his own

priests, whom he had taught from his infancy, to be handed to the soldiers

of the tyrant, and read for them, as it seems, in his presence. In the

first letter he asked to have the Christian captives and some of the

spoils restored; but they laughed at the demand in scorn, wherefore the

Saint wrote this second letter in which he excommunicates Coroticus and

his abettors, calling upon all Christian men not to receive their alms,

nor associate with them, nor take food or drink in their company, until

they do penance and make restitution for their crimes.

Incidental references are made by the Saint to his own personal history.

He himself for God's sake preached the Gospel to the Irish nation, which

had once made himself a captive and destroyed the men-servants, and

maid-servants of his father's house.[94] He was born a freeman, and a

noble, being the son of a decurio,[95] but he sold his nobility for the

benefit of others, and he did not regret it. It was the custom of the

Gaulish and Roman Christians to pay large sums of money to the Franks for

the ransom of Christian captives; but "you--you often slay them, or sell

them to infidels, sending the members of Christ as it were into a

brothel." "Have you," adds the Saint, "any hope in God--what Christian can

help you or abet you?"

Then Patrick in passionate grief bewails the fate of the captives. "Oh! my

most beautiful and most loving brothers and children, whom in countless

numbers I have begotten for Christ, what shall I do for you? Am I so

unworthy before God and man that I cannot help you? Is it a crime to have

been born in Ireland? And have not we the same God as they have? I sorrow

for you--yet I rejoice--for if you are taken from the world, you were

believers through me, and are gone to Paradise."

And then in the last paragraph he expresses a hope that God will inspire

those wicked men with penance, and that they will restore their captives,

and save themselves for this world and for the world to come. Like the

Confession, this letter abounds in quotations from the old version of the

Bible before it was corrected by St. Jerome.

In the Brussels MS. of the _Book of Armagh_ there is a chapter which

purports to give an account of "Patrick's conflict against the King of

Aloo," whom it calls _Coirthech_, and a little lower down the name is

given as Corictic. When Patrick failed to convert him by his letters and

admonitions, which the tyrant despised, he besought the Lord to drive this

reprobate "from this world and from the next." A very short time

afterwards, as Coroticus was sitting on his throne, he heard a certain

magic song chanted, and hearing it he came down from his seat in the hall

of justice. Thereupon all his nobles took up the same chant; whereupon

suddenly in the midst of the market place, Coroticus was changed into what

seemed a fox in the presence of them all, and running away like a stream

of water disappeared from their eyes, and was never afterwards heard of.

III.--THE LORICA, OR THE DEER'S CRY.

The Lorica, or Shield of St. Patrick, is a rhythmical prayer said to have

been composed by the Saint to implore the divine protection, when he and

his companions were approaching Tara for the first time to proclaim the

unknown God in the very stronghold of druidism, sustained as it was by all

the power of the Ard-righ of Erin. It was a bold and perilous thing to

do--thus to face the pagan king and his idol priests on the very threshold

of their citadel; and it shows how strongly armed in faith St. Patrick was

on that day, when he so dared to bid defiance to the powers of darkness.

The Saint was by no means insensible of the danger to which he exposed

himself, nor of the strength of the wily foe whom he challenged so boldly

to the combat. But he put his confidence not in man but in God, and this

poem is simply the poetic expression of the sentiments which filled and

strengthened his soul on that momentous occasion. This is the key to the

meaning of the poem--"It was to be a corslet of faith for the protection

of body and soul against devils, and human beings, and vices; and whoever

shall sing it every day with pious meditation on God, devils shall not

stay before him."[96]

It is then easy to understand why it was called the Lorica, or Corslet of

Patrick; because it was his defence against the ambushes set for him by

Laeghaire and his Druids when he was approaching Tara. But it was also

called the _Faed Fiada_, or Deer's Cry; because it was said that the

apostle and his companions escaped the ambush by seeming to their enemies

to be a Deer and her fawns in flight to the shelter of the woods.

Patrick knew that the Druids of Laeghaire possessed magical powers; they

even claimed dominion over the elements, and therefore strong in the faith

of the Holy Trinity he appeals to the Triune God of all the elements to

shield him against evil. God sometimes permits the powers of evil to use

His creatures as instruments to injure the wicked and try the good; and

therefore the Saint calls upon God to use His creatures on this occasion

for His own glory and the protection of His servant. It is in this sense

that Patrick calls to his aid not only the Holy Trinity, but all the

elements created by God, but sometimes perversely used by the Druids for

evil purposes.

"I bind unto myself to-day

The strong name of the Trinity,

By invocation of the same

Three in One and One in Three....

"I bind unto myself to-day

The virtues of the star-lit heaven,

The glorious sun's life giving ray,

The whiteness of the moon at even,

The flashing of the lightning free,

The whirling wind's tempestuous shocks,

The stable earth, the deep salt sea,

Around the old eternal rocks.

"I bind unto myself to-day

The power of God to hold and lead,

His eye to watch, His might to slay,

His ear to hearken to my need.

The wisdom of my God to teach,

His hand to guide, His shield to ward;

The word of God to give me speech,

His heavenly host to be my guard."

This is merely a specimen of the beautiful Gaedhlic hymn as

translated--and well translated--by Mrs. Alexander. Even to this day the

original is chanted by the peasantry of the South and West in the

ancestral tongue, and it is regarded as a strong shield against all evils

natural and supernatural.

We know from the _Book of Armagh_ that it has been thus recited at least

from the eighth century, so that even then its use was universal, and in a

certain sense obligatory. St. Patrick is there declared entitled to four

'honours' in all the churches and monasteries of Erin. First, his festival

was to be celebrated for three days and three nights with every kind of

good cheer except flesh--that being forbidden in Lent; secondly, a special

offertory was to be immolated in his honour, which seems to imply that

there was a special offertory, and perhaps preface for the Mass on these

days; thirdly, his Hymn--that is, the hymn in praise of Patrick written by

his nephew, St. Sechnall--was to be sung during these days; and fourthly,

"his Irish Canticle was to be always sung" in the liturgy, as it would

seem, and apparently also throughout the entire year. So it appears that

from the earliest ages this Canticle was regarded in the Irish Church as

the genuine composition of St. Patrick, and the greatest efficacy was

attributed to its pious recitation.

IV.--SECHNALL'S HYMN OF ST. PATRICK.

'The Hymn of St. Patrick'--that is, the Hymn composed in his honour by St.

Sechnall, to which reference is made in this extract from the _Book of

Armagh_--is another very singular and interesting literary monument of our

early Celtic Church. It has been published with valuable notes and scholia

by the late Dr. Todd in the first volume of the _Liber Hymnorum_.[97] This

curious Latin hymn, which is justly regarded both on internal and external

evidence, as the genuine composition of St. Sechnall, or Secundinus, owed

its origin to a singular circumstance. The following is Colgan's account

taken from the Preface to the Hymn, as given by a very old but unknown

authority:--

Secundinus (in Irish Sechnall), the son of Restitutus, a Lombard of Italy

by his wife Darerca, a sister of St. Patrick, was the author of this Hymn.

It was composed at Dunshaughlin, county Meath, which in Irish is called

Domnach-Sechnaill, from the name of its founder. It was written in the

time of Laeghaire Mac Neil, then king of Ireland; and it must have been

written before the year A.D. 447, when, according to the Four Masters,

"Secundinus, the son of Patrick's sister, yielded his spirit on the 27th

of November, in the seventy-fifth year of his age." The object of the

writer was to give due praise to Patrick, also to offer it as a kind of

apology for having offended the Saint. For, on one occasion, Sechnall was

reported to have said that Patrick would be perfect if he had insisted

more strongly in his preaching on the duty of alms-giving for works of

charity; for then more property and more land would have been devoted to

pious uses for the good of the Church. This remark was carried to the ears

of Patrick, and moreover was probably misrepresented. St. Patrick was much

displeased with his nephew, and said it was "for sake of charity he

forbore to preach charity;" that is, in order that the holy men who were

to arise after him might benefit by the oblations of the faithful, which

he left untouched for that purpose. Then Sechnall sorrowed much for the

rash judgment of which he had been guilty, and humbly asked pardon of the

Saint, who readily granted it. But in order fully to atone for his sin,

Sechnall composed this hymn in honour of Patrick.

It consists of twenty-three stanzas, the stanzas beginning with a letter

of the alphabet in regular order from the first to the last. Each stanza

consists of four strophes or lines, each line of fifteen syllables. So

that it was written in what the grammarians call trochaic tetrameter

catalectic. In Irish prosody, however, regard is had in measuring the feet

rather to the accent or beat of the verse than to the length of the

syllables.

When the hymn was composed Sechnall asked permission to read for Patrick a

hymn, which he had composed in praise of a certain holy man, who was still

alive. Patrick readily granted this request, for he said he would gladly

wish to hear the praises of any of God's household.

Then Sechnall read the poem, suppressing the first line only, which

contains Patrick's own name as the subject of the eulogy. Patrick listened

attentively until Sechnall came to the line in which the subject of the

poem is described as 'greatest in the kingdom of heaven'--_maximus in

regno cælorum_. "How can that be said of any man?" said Patrick. "The

superlative is there put for the positive," replied Sechnall; "it only

means very great." Patrick appeared to be pleased with the poem, whereupon

Sechnall insinuated that Patrick himself was the subject of the poem; and,

according to the Bardic custom he asked for a reward for his poem. When

Patrick, however, learned that the poem was about himself he was not well

pleased, but knowing Sechnall meant well in writing it, he did not wish to

grieve him by a refusal. So he answered that Sechnall might expect that

our Saviour in His mercy would give the glory of heaven to all who recited

the hymn piously every day both morning and evening. "I am content," said

Sechnall, "with that reward; but as the hymn is long and difficult to be

remembered, I wish you would obtain the same reward for whomsoever recites

even a part of it." Then Patrick said that whoever faithfully recites the

last three verses of the hymn morning and evening shall obtain the same

reward, and Sechnall said, "Deo gratias," and was content.

It was only natural that this hymn, having such a promise of salvation,

though written in Latin, should become very popular, and be recited in the

monasteries and churches of Ireland as one of the four "Honours of St.

Patrick." It bears intrinsic evidence both in style and language that it

was written during the lifetime of St. Patrick. He is represented in the

hymn as still keeping all God's commandments, and as one who _will_

possess the joys of heaven, and will reign with the apostles as saint and

judge over Israel.[98]

Of Sechnall himself little is known. All the authorities agree in saying

that he was the son of Patrick's sister Darerca, whom others call Lupait,

and sometimes Liemania. It is said that she was taken captive at the same

time as St. Patrick himself, and was carried with him by the captors to

Ireland, and there sold as a slave in the district called Conailli

Muirtheimne, which is better known as the patrimony of the greatest of

Erin's ancient warriors, the heroic Cuchullin. It included the territory

around Dundalk, and stretched northward to the modern barony of Mourne,

with its unrivalled mountain scenery.

All the authorities say that Sechnall's father was Restitutus, 'a

Longobard of Leatha;' or, as some writers add, 'Armoric Leatha.' Now the

Lombards known to history did not conquer the territory, which bears their

name, until the middle of the sixth century. This difficulty is met by

assuming that 'Leatha' means Brittany in France, and although we have no

historical evidence that a colony of the Longobardi ever dwelt there,

still a Roman soldier of the Longobardic race might have been living

there, and might have been married to one of the sisters of St. Patrick.

The word Armorica, as it is in Latin, and Airmoric in Celtic, really

signifies any western land bordering on the sea; and it is quite possible

that in this sense the word should have been applied to Ayrshire or

Wigtown in Scotland. Others have suggested that the word Lungbaird, as it

is in our earliest native authorities, means nothing more than a

'long-bearded' man of Leatha, or Amorica, which is by no means improbable.

This would also help to explain why Eochaidh O'Flanagan, an old poet of

the eleventh century, calls St. Sechnall by the surname Ua Baird, or

O'Ward, as if the tribe name was really that of Bardi, whom some

authorities describe as an ancient race of Gaul or Saxony, from whom the

Longobardi derived their origin.[99] Later authorities, knowing nothing of

any Longobardi except those of Northern Italy, would readily enough fall

into the anachronism of placing them there in the time of St. Patrick.

Sechnall with Auxilius and Iserninus were disciples of St. Patrick from

the beginning, and seem to have accompanied him on his arrival in Ireland.

The _Annals of Ulster_, however, mark their arrival in Ireland as

'Bishops' to aid Patrick in the year A.D. 439. This seems to be the date

of their episcopal consecration, which they received either in France or

in Britain, for St. Patrick alone would be unwilling to consecrate them

contrary to the canons. Sechnall seems to have been placed temporarily

over the Church of Armagh, founded A.D. 445, and hence he is sometimes

called Archbishop of that See.

V.--THE HYMN "SANCTI VENITE."

It was in St. Sechnall's Church of Dunshaughlin that a beautiful

Eucharistic Hymn, 'Sancti Venite,' was first sung, and most probably

composed by that saint himself. In the Preface of the _Leabhar Breac_, it

is said that this hymn was first chanted by angels in St. Sechnall's

Church, on the occasion of his reconciliation with St. Patrick, to which

we have already referred. The choir of angels was heard singing the hymn

during the Holy Communion, and "hence arose the custom ever afterwards

observed in Erin," says the writer, "of singing this hymn at the

Communion;" and hence, too, the title which it bears in the _Antiphonary

of Bangor_--the only ancient work in which it is found--"Hymn during the

Communion of the Priests."[100] We could wish this beautiful hymn were

still used in our national liturgy. Denis Florence M'Carthy has left us an

excellent translation of this remarkable hymn, of which we give the first

and last stanzas:

"Draw nigh, ye holy ones, draw nigh,

And take the body of the Lord,

And drink the Sacred Blood outpoured,

By which redeemed ye shall not die.

* * * * *

"The Source, the Stream, the First, the Last,

Even Christ the Lord, who died for men,

Now comes--but he will come again

To judge the world, when time hath passed."

The original stanzas are as follows:--

"Sancti Venite,

Christi Corpus Sumite;

Sanctum bibentes

Quo redempti sanguinem.

"Alpha et Omega,

Ipse Christus Dominus,

Venit venturus

Judicare homines."

St. Sechnall was the first Christian poet in Erin; may his name and memory

linger long amongst the children of St. Patrick.

VI.--ST. FIACC OF SLETTY.

St. Fiacc, Bishop of Sletty, and author of what is perhaps the earliest

biography of our national Apostle, belongs also to the Patrician era, that

is the fifth century of the Irish Church. A brief account of his life and

labours will be found interesting. He was sixth or seventh in descent from

the celebrated Cathair Mor, King of Leinster towards the close of the

second century. His father is called Mac Dara, a prince of the Hy

Bairrche. His mother, the second wife of Mac Dara, was a sister of

Dubhtach Mac Ua Lugair, the Chief Poet and Brehon of Erin when St. Patrick

arrived in Ireland. Fiacc was not only a nephew of Dubhtach, but also his

pupil and foster son; and he is described as a 'young poet' in the retinue

of Dubhtach on that famous Easter Sunday morning, when St. Patrick first

stood in the royal presence on the Hill of Tara. King Laeghaire had

forbidden any of his courtiers to rise up in token of respect to St.

Patrick, and accordingly, when Patrick came before the King, all remained

seated except "Dubhtach the Royal Poet, and a tender youth of his people,

named Fiacc, the same who is commemorated in Sletty to-day."[101] Dubhtach

was the first who believed at Tara on that day, and doubtless his youthful

disciple soon after embraced the same faith as his master; although

probably he was not baptized until some years later. At this period the

boy poet was not, it seems, more than sixteen or eighteen years of age,

and must, therefore, have been born about the year A.D. 415.

Dubhtach, the arch-poet of Laeghaire, was a Leinster man, and received

from Crimthan, King of the Hy Kinnselach, a grant of a considerable

territory in North Wexford, eastward of Gorey, in the territory then

called Formael--"a wave-bound land beside the fishful sea." St. Patrick

had converted and baptized this king, Crimthan, at Rathvilly in the County

Carlow, about the year A.D. 450, during his progress through Leinster. On

this occasion he very naturally came to see his old friend Dubhtach, the

first of the believers at Tara, and found him at a place called Domnach

Mor Magh Criathar, that is Donoughmore of "the marshy plain." This marshy

plain extends along the sea shore to the north of Cahore Point, Co.

Wexford. At the northern extremity of the plain are the ruins of the old

Church of Donoughmore, half covered by the sand; and close by is a holy

well where a 'patron' was formerly held on the last Sunday of July. The

late Rev. Father Shearman has, we think, shown conclusively that this is

the Donoughmore, where St. Patrick met Dubhtach, the High Bard of Erin.

On the occasion of this meeting Patrick, anxious to provide for the

government of the young Church in Leinster, requested Dubhtach to find him

a man of good family, and good morals, the husband of one wife,[102] and

with one child only, that he might ordain him Bishop of the men of

Leinster. "Fiacc is the very man you require," said Dubhtach; "but at

present he is in Connaught"--to which province he went, it seems, at his

master's request, to make the usual bardic visitation, and bring home the

gifts which the sub-kings were wont to offer to the Chief Poet of Erin.

Just then it so happened that Fiacc came in sight of the fort of Dubhtach

on his return from his visitation in Connaught. "There is the man

himself," said the Arch-poet, "of whom we have been speaking." "But he may

not wish to receive orders," said Patrick. "Proceed as if to tonsure me,"

replied the poet, "and we shall see." Thereupon St. Patrick made

preparations as if to tonsure the aged poet--it was the first step to

orders--whereupon Fiacc said, "it would be a great loss to the Bardic

order to lose so great a poet;" and he offered himself for the service of

the Church instead of Dubhtach. The offer was gladly accepted, and so

Fiacc came to receive _grade_, or orders, and finally became Ard-espog, or

Chief Bishop, of the Leinster-men. This was a mere title of honour given

to him on account of his seniority and pre-eminent merits. In the

canonical sense the office of Archbishop did not then exist in Leinster,

nor for many centuries afterwards.

On this occasion we are told that Patrick wrote an 'Alphabet' for

Fiacc--that is, a brief exposition of the Christian doctrine; and he is

said to have learned in one night, or as others say, in fifteen days, the

'ecclesiastical ordo,' that is, the method of administering the sacraments

and celebrating the Holy Sacrifice. It must be borne in mind that

previously Fiacc was an accomplished poet, a man therefore of learning,

with a highly trained memory, well skilled in his native tongue, and

perhaps not altogether unacquainted with the rudiments of the Latin

language; at least he must have frequently heard it at Tara and elsewhere,

when the clergy were performing their functions.

Fiacc founded two Churches with which his name is intimately connected.

The first is called in old writers, Domnach Mor Fiacc, and is described as

being situated mid-way between Clonmore and Aghold; and therefore about

six miles due east of Tullow on the borders of Carlow and Wicklow. It was

also called Minbeg, that is, the Little Wood or Brake, which was probably

near the old church. It is identical with Kylebeg, the name of a townland

in the same locality. The old church itself has disappeared.

Here he led a life of great austerity until he was commanded by an angel

to remove thence to the west of the River Barrow, for there he was to find

the "place of his resurrection." He was directed to build his refectory

where he should meet with a boar, and his Church where he should see a

hind. Fiacc, however, was unwilling to go there without the sanction of

St. Patrick. So Patrick himself came and fixed the site of his Church at

Sletty (Sleibhte), and there Fiacc and his son Fiachra were afterwards

interred, the two saints in the same grave.

Sletty is about one mile and a-half north-west of Carlow, on the right

bank of the River Barrow. It takes its name "the Highlands," from the

hills of Slievemargy, in Queen's County, which have also given their name

to the entire barony. Daring the devastations of the Danes, Sletty being

so near a large river, was almost totally destroyed by the frequent

incursions of those marauders. A portion of the old church still remains,

but the See of Sletty was long ago transferred to Leighlin, which is still

the name of the diocese.

In his monastery of Sletty, Fiacc presided over many monks, his disciples,

and continued to lead the same austere life, as at Donoughmore. He was at

once abbot of the monastery at Sletty, and besides performed his episcopal

functions through all the surrounding country. Moreover, he was wont every

year, at the beginning of Lent, to retire to a lonely cave at Drum Coblai,

taking with him a few barley loaves, which were the only food he used,

with water from the spring, during all the days of Lent, until he returned

to his monastery to celebrate with his brethren the great festival of

Easter. This cave of Drum Coblai has been identified with a remarkable

cave at the base of the north-east escarpment of the hill called the Doon

of Clopook, about seven miles north-west of Sletty, and a little to the

east of the old and famous monastery of Timahoe. Near at hand there is an

ancient church and graveyard, and it is said that a dim tradition still

lingers in the neighbourhood, of a saint, who used to retire to this cave

to fast and pray alone with God. As no person could see him leave the

cave, he was supposed to return to his own church further south by a

subterranean passage, which is believed to be still in existence, although

no one can ascertain its whereabouts.

During a great portion of his episcopal life Fiacc suffered much from a

fistula, or running sore, near his hip-joint, so that he was unable to

walk except with much pain and difficulty. St. Patrick commiserating

Bishop Fiacc's infirmity, sent him all the way from Armagh a present of a

chariot and horses. But Fiacc in his great humility was unwilling to

accept the gift, until an angel appeared to him, and assured him that

Patrick sent him the chariot and horses because he was acquainted with the

sore infirmity, from which Fiacc suffered, and wished to relieve him.

Then Fiacc reluctantly consented to ride in the chariot.

Thus it was that Fiacc spent a long life in labour, and prayer, and

silence, enduring also much physical suffering, until the poet-saint had

seen 'three twenties of his own disciples' precede him to the grave. His

youth was given to poetry, when he was taught by his uncle to chant the

war-songs of Ossian, and the bold deeds of the Fenian heroes; but his

manhood and old age were given to God's service when he was wont to chant

the diviner songs of the Royal Bard of Israel. He died about the year A.D.

510. He must have been at that time over ninety years of age, and we are

told he was buried in his own Church of Sletty.

There is hardly any document of higher importance in connection with the

early history of our Irish Church than the _Metrical Life of St. Patrick_,

written in his old age by the poet-saint of Sletty. The author having been

a Bard by profession very naturally wrote in metre, and in the ancient

language of the Bards of Erin. The cultivation of poetry was then as now

one of the fine arts most highly esteemed by an imaginative and impulsive

race. The authenticity of the poem has been questioned by some critics,

who think that there are certain expressions in the work itself, which

show that if not written, it certainly must have been retouched at a later

age.[103] We have carefully considered these arguments, and we feel bound

to say that we consider them very flimsy. Fiacc, it is said, speaks of

'history,' as telling us that St. Patrick was born at Nemptur, and studied

under Germanus--language, they say, which a friend and contemporary would

hardly use. But these are facts which he could not have known of his own

knowledge, and the statements of St. Patrick himself, and also of his

associates and companions, whether oral or written might very well be

described by the Irish words which the poet used probably because they

suited his metre.[104] Another objection is derived from two references to

Tara, where the poet says he wished not that Tara should be a '_desert_;'

and, again, where he says that the Tuatha of Erin at the advent of St.

Patrick, foretold that the land of Tara would be '_waste and silent_,'

from which these critics infer that the poem must have been written after

the cursing and desolation of Tara, about the middle of the sixth century.

But is this a just inference? Can anything be more natural than that the

Druids should declare the new faith would be fatal to the pagan royalty

of Tara, and that the poet immediately after when proudly referring to

Patrick's new spiritual sovereignty at Armagh, and the glory of his grave

at Downpatrick should add, to prevent misconception, that he himself did

not wish the destruction of the temporal sovereignty then flourishing at

Tara--'I wish not that Tara should be a desert.' As to the argument

derived from the fact that Fiacc is named Ard-espog of Leinster, we have

already stated, that this is merely, like arch-poet, an honorary title to

express pre-eminence and superiority in the spiritual office. The ablest

of our critics regard the poem as the genuine composition of Fiacc of

Sletty, the friend and contemporary of Patrick, written shortly after his

death in A.D. 493; and hence the earliest and most authentic biography of

the saint that has come down to us. It is, moreover, a document of supreme

importance, for competent judges, like O'Curry, have pronounced it to be

written in pure and perfect Gaedhlic. "It bears internal evidence," says

O'Curry, "of a high degree of perfection in the language, at the time it

was composed; it is unquestionably in all respects a genuine native

production, quite untinctured with the Latin or with any other

contemporary style or idiom." This is a most important fact, because in

our opinion it settles the question as to the use of letters and writing

in Ireland before St. Patrick. No language could by any possibility in one

or two generations be developed from being the rude unwritten jargon of an

unlettered people into a perfect written language of artistic structure

with definite grammatical form and arrangement. That the poem of Fiacc is

an elaborate composition of this character, indicating not only the

existence of settled grammatical forms, but also a great richness and

flexibility in the language, even the merest tyro in the Gaedhlic tongue

can perceive. Indeed in every respect it is much superior to the debased

Gaedhlic of the last three centuries.

This important poem was first printed by John Colgan, the father of Irish

hagiology. It has been reprinted much more accurately from the copy in the

Liber Hymnorum, T.C.D., and also in the _Irish Ecclesiastical Record_ for

March, 1868, where the philological student will find not only the text

and glosses, but also an accurate translation from the pen of one of our

most eminent Celtic scholars, Eugene O'Curry of the Catholic University of

Dublin. More recently the poem has been printed in Stokes' _Tripartite_

(Rolls Series), and in Haddan and Stubbs' _Councils_, etc.

VII.--THE SAYINGS OF ST. PATRICK.

In the _Book of Armagh_ there is a paragraph headed--Dicta Patritii--or

Sayings of St. Patrick. They appear to have been certain sayings which

were frequently on the lips of the apostle, and which came to be handed

down to posterity as expressive of his apostolic spirit. Brief and few as

they are, these spiritual maxims have been well chosen, and may be said to

govern in their application the whole life of the individual Christian, as

well as of the Irish Church.

First maxim--"I had the fear of God as the guide of my way through Gaul

and Italy, and also in the islands, which are in the Tyrhene Sea."[105]

The second maxim--"From the world ye have gone to Paradise." This saying

is taken from the Epistle to Coroticus, in which the Saint after bewailing

his slaughtered neophytes, yet rejoices that it happened after they

believed, and were baptized; for then they merely left this world to go to

Paradise. In course of time this appears to have been adopted in Ireland

as a consoling thought for the survivors that their deceased friends had

gone from this world to Paradise--"De seculo recessistis ad Paradisum."

Third maxim--"Deo Gratias"--thanks be to God. It was always on the lips of

St. Patrick--whether the news was good or bad, pleasing or displeasing,

the same word was there--"Deo Gratias." The fourth maxim--"O Church of the

Scots--nay of the Romans--as ye are Christians, be ye also Romans." That

is, as ye are Christians, and bound to obey Christ, so be ye also Romans,

obedient to the See of Rome. Maxim the fifth--"At every hour of prayer it

is fitting to sing that word of praise--'Lord have mercy on us, Christ

have mercy on us.' Let every Church which follows me sing--'Kyrie Eleison,

Christe Eleison, Deo Gratias.'" It would seem that the 'Kyrie Eleison' at

the beginning of Mass, and the 'Deo Gratias' at the end of Mass were not

at that early period universally chanted in the public liturgy. Hence the

Saint, who seems to have a special love for these two brief and fervent

expressions of pardon and thanksgiving, made it a rule that they should be

sung in the liturgy of all the Churches which he founded in Ireland. The

practice has since become obligatory throughout the universal Church.

VIII.--THE TRIPARTITE LIFE OF ST. PATRICK.

The earliest memoir of St. Patrick was perhaps the Metrical Life by St.

Fiacc of Sletty, to which we have already referred. Of the Life of St.

Patrick in the _Book of Armagh_ we shall speak in the next chapter. But

what is called the "Tripartite Life" of the Saint is, as far as we can

judge, if not the earliest, certainly the fullest and most authentic

account of our national Apostle now extant.

It took its name of the Tripartite, or Three-Divisioned Life from the fact

that the whole history of St. Patrick is divided into three homilies, one

of which was probably preached by its author on each of the three festival

days celebrated in honour of the Saint--the Vigil, or day before--the

Feast itself--and perhaps the day after, or the Octave day. The preacher,

taking for his text the verses of Isaias--_Populus qui sedebat in tenebris

vidit lucem magnam_, etc., etc., declares that Patrick was of that light a

ray, and a flame, and precious stone, and a brilliant lamp, which lighted

the western world; and that he was Bishop of the west of the earth, and

the father of the baptism and belief of the men of Ireland. Then the

writer, or speaker, undertakes to narrate "something of the carnal

genealogy, of the miracles and marvels of this holy Patrick, as set forth

in the Churches of Christians, on the sixteenth of the Calends of April

(17th of March), as regards the day of the solar month." The Life, or

homily, next states explicitly that Patrick was by origin of the Britons

of Ail-Cluade--the Rock of the Clyde--now Dumbarton, a statement in which

we entirely concur. Calphurn was his father's name, and a noble priest was

he, and his grandfather was the deacon Potitus (Fotid in the Irish MS.).

In those early days, especially in the outlying provinces of the empire,

it was not unusual to seek for the fittest candidates for Holy Orders

amongst men, who had been married, or who were even at the time of their

selection married men. They were in fact the best candidates for the

sacred ministry that could be had at the time; for most of the young men

were not only without special training, but unreliable and licentious. It

was, however, the general rule in the western but not in the eastern

Church, that the married man after his ordination, and especially after

his elevation to the Episcopate, should abstain from all conjugal

intercourse with his wife. Such, for instance, was the case with St.

Germanus, Bishop of Auxerre, the teacher and friend of St. Patrick. The

Irish Canons, too, even of the fifth century, are particularly imperative

on this point, and show clearly that although the celibacy of the clergy

was not, strictly speaking, obligatory even in the west during the

centuries of the persecutions, no sooner was the Church free to carry out

her own purposes than she strove to make this legislation compulsory

throughout all Christendom.

The second part of the _Tripartite_ begins with St. Patrick's arrival at

Tara to preach to King Laeghaire and his Druids, and is by far the most

momentous portion of the work. The third part begins with the statement

that Patrick left presbyter Conaed in Domnach Airther Maige, in the

province of the Northern Hui Briuin, and ends with an account of Patrick's

holy death and illustrious burial--"after founding churches in plenty,

after consecrating monasteries, after baptizing the men of Ireland, after

great patience and after great labour, after destroying idols and images,

and after rebuking many kings who did not do his will, and after raising

up those who did his will, after ordaining three hundred and three score

and ten[106] bishops, and after ordaining three thousand priests and

clerics of every grade in the Church besides, after fasting and prayer,

after mercy and clemency, after gentleness and mildness to the sons of

life, after the love of God and of his neighbours, he received Christ's

Body from the Bishop--from Tassach--and then he sent his spirit to

heaven"--in the hundredth and twentieth year of his age.

The most interesting question connected with this _Tripartite_ life is its

date and probable authorship. Unfortunately we have intrinsic evidence for

neither; the manuscript itself is silent both as to its date and

authorship. Hence there is much difference of opinion even amongst learned

and honest scholars. Colgan thought that St. Evin of Monasterevan, who

flourished about the middle of the sixth century, was its original author,

and O'Curry adopted the same opinion. Petrie thought it a "compilation of

the ninth or tenth century;" and Dr. Whitley Stokes, in his excellent

edition of the _Tripartite_, undertakes to show that "it could not have

been written before the middle of the tenth century, and that it was

probably compiled in the eleventh."

His arguments are two-fold--linguistic and historical. So far as the

former are concerned, we may fairly say that he is not a better authority

than O'Curry, and that if O'Curry thought this Life might have been of the

sixth century, no philological arguments of Dr. Whitley Stokes will

override his authority in that respect. But Stokes goes farther, and

quotes entries from the _Tripartite_, which he alleges must have been made

in the seventh, eighth, ninth, and tenth centuries. This, we readily

admit, is a weightier argument. He cites nine or ten instances of this

kind, which, as he alleges, were neither additions nor interpolations.

Such, for instance, is the reference to Connacan, son of Colman, and

grandson of Niall Frossach, who was killed in Ulster, A.D. 873.

It is obvious that to prove anything it must be shown conclusively that

the event was referred to in the original _Tripartite_, and is that same

event which is recorded in our Annals in the ninth or tenth century. Yet

it is exceedingly difficult to prove this essential point. Take, for

instance, one of the clearest cases mentioned by Stokes, this death of

Connacan, grandson of Niall Frossach. Whoever examines this passage, which

is at page 174 (not 173) will notice that it is just such a statement as

might be added or interpolated by a copyist. The original writer quotes a

prophecy of St. Patrick that "the land of thy place (_i.e._, of Conaed)

shall not be reddened." The copyist then adds--apparently as of

himself--"Quod probavimus, when Connacan, son of Colman, son of Niall

Frossach (the Showery) came into the land with an army." Is this statement

that of the copyist or of the original writer? Until it is clearly shown

that it is a sentence written by the original author, no argument as to

the age of the _Tripartite_ can be based on it, or on similar passages.

This _Tripartite_ Life is on the whole the most valuable document

concerning St. Patrick that has come down to our times. It was written

chiefly in Gaedhlic of the purest type of the language, interspersed here

and there with passages in Latin. And it was because Jocelin has said that

St. Evin wrote a work of this kind,[107] partly in Irish and partly in

Latin, that Colgan not unnaturally infers that the _Tripartite_ must be

the work to which Jocelin refers. We certainly know of no other work of a

similar character to which Jocelin's observation can apply, and if there

were any other similar work we certainly should have heard of it either as

a lost or an extant work. Hence, although, _ratione formæ_, Colgan's logic

may be weak, _ratione materiae_, it is unimpeachable, no matter what Dr.

Stokes may say to the contrary.[108]

CHAPTER V.

IRISH MONASTIC SCHOOLS IN GENERAL.

"Fenced early in this cloistral round

Of reverie, of shade, of prayer,

How can we grow in other ground?

How can we flower in foreign air?"

I.--GENERAL VIEW OF AN IRISH MONASTERY.

Before we can understand the nature of a monastic school, it is necessary

to get a clear idea of the general character of our Irish monasteries,

such as they were before the advent of the Danish hordes to this country.

This is all the more necessary, because a Celtic monastery of the olden

time was a very different thing from those great mediæval establishments,

whose ruins are still to be seen both in England and Ireland.

In ancient Erin they had no such structures as were built in later ages by

the Cistercians, Dominicans, and Franciscans--noble piles of buildings

with the stately church in the centre, surrounded by beautiful cloisters,

dormitories, kitchen, and all other necessary offices. These notions must

be entirely removed from the mind, if we wish to get an idea of the

primitive Celtic monastery, as it existed in the earliest and best days of

our Irish Church.

Of course monasteries in the spiritual sense--as moral entities--have

always been much the same in every country and in every age of the

Church's history. The plan of the spiritual edifice is found in the

Gospel, and has been drawn for all time by Christ Himself.

The true monk is a man, as his name implies, who whether in the city or in

the desert, should always strive to be alone with God. In this sense the

prophets Elias and Eliseus under the Old Law, like John the Baptist at the

threshold of the New Law, were monks in the most perfect sense of the

word. Then, again, the monk whether living alone in the desert, or in

community with others, must follow those counsels of perfection, which

have been set forth by the teaching and example of the Son of God Himself.

That is to say, he must renounce all worldly goods and live in poverty,

in chastity, and obedience, when he has a superior. If he has no immediate

superior, then he is a hermit, and God Himself, whom he seeks to please in

all things, becomes his Superior. These means of perfection have been

always deemed essential to the monastic character in the Church of God.

One cannot conceive a married monk, nor one in the full enjoyment of his

worldly fortune, nor one without a superior, except where he lives

altogether alone with God, following His inspirations; and even then the

bishop of the locality is always recognised by the Church as the Superior,

whom he is bound to obey.

With these essential means of perfection were also combined silence,

prayer and labour, whether manual or mental. Idleness is unknown to the

monastic state; the monk should be always doing something pleasing to God.

It may be to pray, or to read, or to work in the fields, or to take his

necessary rest, but he must be always doing the work of God.

Monasticism in one sense or another always existed, and always will exist

in the Church. It flourished amongst the first Christian communities at

Jerusalem, who had only one heart and one soul, who sold their lands and

houses, and laid the price at the feet of the Apostles to feed the poor.

It existed in the catacombs during the persecutions, and took more

definite shape in the deserts of Syria, Egypt, and Armenia.

At first the monk was, as his names implies, a hermit--eremites--one who

lived alone in the desert in the practice of evangelical perfection. Such

were St. Paul, St. Anthony, Serapion, and thousands of others who imitated

their example and lived in solitary cells or rocky caves in Syria,

Armenia, and Nitria on the western shores of the Nile some thirty miles

from Cairo. Pachomius seems to have been the first who formed these

solitaries into a community following one rule and recognising a common

superior. He founded his monastery at Tabenna, on the Nile, in Lower

Egypt. His sister is said to have been the first who founded a convent of

nuns not far from her brother's monastery, in order that she might have

the benefit of his advice and direction. The exact date cannot be

ascertained; but as he died rather young, about the year A.D. 349, it

cannot have been much earlier than A.D. 340. St. Anthony had indeed

already undertaken the guidance of certain solitaries, who had placed

themselves under his direction. But it was Pachomius who really changed

the monasteries, or rather the laura, into a 'convent,' in which all the

members of the community dwelt within the same building,[109] were subject

to the same rule, and obedient to the same Superior. This change, however,

as might be expected, was not accomplished at once; it was rather very

gradual, and grew out of the necessities of the time. The laura, which was

a group or village of monastic cells, surrounding the oratory and cell of

the abbot, under whose direction the monks assembled for their common

devotions in the church and sometimes for their common meals in the

refectory, was the intermediate stage of monastic development, and it

continued to be, both in Egypt and in Ireland, for many centuries the

prevalent form of monastic life.

From Egypt and Syria monasticism was brought to Rome about the middle of

the fourth century by Athanasius, the great champion of the Divinity of

Christ, by Honoratus, who founded the island monastery of Lerins, and by

John Cassian, whose Institutes were a kind of manual in all the earlier

monasteries of the West.

The great St. Martin of Tours, the father of monasticism in Gaul, was

inspired by the writings of Athanasius, and under the influence of that

inspiration founded his own monastery at Ligugé, and subsequently at

Marmoutier, on the banks of the Loire, which became the cradles of

monastic life in Gaul. We have already seen that St. Patrick had full

opportunity of learning the discipline of Marmoutier; and of course what

he learned there and elsewhere, he carried home with him to Ireland. But

his life was too full of missionary labours to be given to the government

or foundation of monasteries. That work was left to the rising generation;

by them it was undertaken and nobly accomplished. Enda of Aran, Finnian of

Clonard, Brendan of Clonfert, and their associates of the Second Order of

the Irish Saints, were the men who first founded regular monasteries and

monastic schools in Erin.

In trying to give a view of the general character of the monastic

institutions founded by those holy and learned men, it is well to consider

the subject in its various aspects; that is to say, the Buildings, the

Discipline and Government, and the Work of an Irish Monastery. We have

abundant materials to help us in this inquiry in the Monastic Rules, in

the lives of the founders of these houses, and in the remnants of the

ancient buildings themselves, which are still to be seen on our remotest

shores and islands. But there is one work especially valuable in this

enquiry--that is, _Adamnan's Life of St. Columba_, edited by the learned

Dr. Reeves, late Bishop of Down and Connor. No other work that we know of

is so valuable and so indispensable to the Irish ecclesiastical historian,

and none has been edited with greater learning and impartiality.

II.--THE BUILDINGS.

The various buildings connected with an Irish monastery were generally but

not always surrounded by a circular or oval rampart, which was at once a

protection against enemies, or wild beasts, and also a limit beyond which

the brethren were not allowed to wander without permission, and within

which strangers, as a rule, were not allowed to intrude. Women were in all

cases excluded from the sanctuary within this boundary. The wall or

rampart was composed sometimes of earth dug up from a fosse at its base,

when it was called a _rath_ or _lis_; sometimes of stone, when it was

called a _caiseal_, and sometimes of earth faced with stone, and then it

was known rather as a _caithir_ than a _caiseal_. The name _dun_,

according to Dr. Petrie, was indifferently applied to any of these

structures. But O'Curry quotes an ancient legal tract, which proves that

the _dun_, strictly speaking, was "an enclosure made by two walls or

mounds, with water between them." (_Manners and Customs_, vol. ii., p. 4.)

This mur or mound was sometimes very strong and very high, fenced, too,

with stakes on the top, and when necessary was double or threefold, with a

deep dyke between each rampart. There was generally only one entrance, and

when danger was apprehended from lawless foes, this entrance was strictly

guarded night and day. It was considered sufficiently effective against

the passing attacks of the native spoilers; but when the Danes began their

bloody and relentless raids, the round tower was found to afford a much

stronger and safer asylum.

The monks in surrounding the ecclesiastical village with a _rath_ or

_caiseal_, adopted no new contrivance. It was the custom of the country to

surround the home of every chieftain's family with a similar defence,

which the unsettled state of the country at the time rendered very

necessary.

The principal building within the monastic enclosure was of course the

church. If it were a cathedral church, or one of the greater abbey

churches, it was usually built of stone, and termed in Gaedhlic a

_daimhliag_, that is, the stone-house by excellence; because very many of

the churches of an inferior kind were built of more perishable materials,

composed of clay and wood, or wattles. Hence Colgan used the Latin word

'Basilica,' as equivalent to the Irish term, _daimhliag_. Churches of this

kind varied of course in dimensions, but were relatively large; generally

speaking, they were about 60 feet in length and 30 broad.[110] If the

church were merely an oratory for the abbot and his monks, along with such

casual strangers as might happen to be present at the time, it was called

a _duirtheach_, and in the southern and western parts of the country,

where stone abounded, and wood was scarce, it was frequently built of

stone as in Kerry and Galway. But far more frequently, especially in the

east and north-east, it was built of wood, which explains the frequent

reference in our annals to the burning of buildings of this

character.[111] The term itself was derived from _daire_, an oak wood.

Adjoining the church, or oratory, there was frequently another building

called an _erdamh_ or _urdumh_, which Petrie thinks was a building

adjacent to the side wall of the church, whence its name--_ear-dom_, a

side-house--serving the purpose of a sacristy and store-house for the

sacred utensils. During the Danish period especially, the round tower is

found near the west entrance of the principal church, but as we think this

was a later feature introduced into the Irish monastic buildings, we

decline to discuss that question further for the present. The abbot's

house was generally very near his oratory, with which it was sometimes

connected by a passage underground, or roofed with flags; and sometimes it

was under the same roof with the oratory as in Columcille's house at

Kells, and probably also at St. Kevin's _Cro_ or 'Kitchen,' at

Glendalough. The cells of the monks were distributed in convenient spots

over the sacred enclosure, sometimes in the form of irregular streets or

squares, according to the nature of the ground. We are inclined to think

from the small size of the existing stone cells that every monk had a

separate cell for his own use; although it would, no doubt, sometimes

happen in Ireland, as it certainly often happened in Egypt, that three or

four monks had to live in the same cell. They had no beds, in the modern

sense of the word; they either slept on the naked earth, or on a skin,

which sometimes covered a heap of straw or rushes. There was only a

single entrance, and generally speaking no windows of any kind to the

cells. In form they were nearly always circular, about ten feet in

diameter by seven in height. When built of stone they were cone-shaped and

brought to a point at the summit by a gradual inclination of each course

of flags above the other, yet the builders seemed to be ignorant of the

principle of the arch. More generally, however, the cells were constructed

of wood, or wicker work, and these, although by no means so durable, were

probably much more comfortable than the cells of stone.

One of the most necessary buildings for a laura or monastery was the

kitchen--the _cuicin_ in Irish, or _culina_ in Latin. St. Patrick's

'kitchen' at Armagh was seventeen feet long, and is spoken of as one of

the principal buildings within the lis, or monastic enclosure. The

_Tripartite Life_ of the Saint in the same place tells us that the Great

House was twenty-seven feet in length, and consequently much longer than

the 'kitchen' with which it seems to have been connected. The Great

House--if not the church--was in all probability the refectory or

dining-room, which is more generally and appropriately called in Irish,

the _proinn-teach_, or dinner-house. It is doubtful if we have any

specimens of the Refectories or Kitchens of our earliest monasteries still

surviving, because as a rule they were composed of perishable materials.

Another important building annexed to the monastery, but generally outside

the enclosure was the Hospice, or Guest-House, where strangers were

entertained with the utmost hospitality, whether they came as mere

visitors (_peregrim_), or penitents to atone for their sins, and receive

spiritual consolation. There was, however, another class of guests

(_hospites_), distinguished ecclesiastics or princes, the friends of the

abbot or community, who were treated with the greatest consideration. They

were admitted within the sacred enclosure, and if bishops or priests they

were usually invited to officiate for the community. There is no more

beautiful trait of monastic hospitality than the consideration with which

the monks treated distinguished strangers, and the care they bestowed on

the poor.

There were two other indispensable buildings connected with the

monastery--the store-house for provisions, and, wherever a stream of water

could be had, a kiln for drying, and a mill for grinding their corn. Bread

was always the main sustenance of the monks, and hence the site of the

monastery was generally so chosen that a rivulet could be artificially

dammed up, and thus supply sufficient power to turn a small water-wheel to

grind their corn. We find traces of these dams even in the most unlikely

places, where in our day no one would dream of erecting a mill. The

manifest reason is that it was a great saving of manual labour, for if the

monks did not grind their corn with water, they should grind it with the

hand-quern. For obvious reasons, too, one, or more wells were also near

the monastery; sometimes, too, they were covered over to preserve the

water from the pollution of cattle or rubbish. These wells, used and

blessed by so many generations of holy men, are very naturally now deemed

"blessed wells." Such then was the general character of the monastic

enclosure and the monastic buildings--not one imposing edifice, as in more

modern times, but rather a village of huts surrounding the church and

house of the abbot, and enclosed by a large circular rampart of earth or

stones. Within the enclosure in the larger monasteries a workshop for the

smith and carpenter was generally provided, and the lay brothers were

frequently expert in the use of their tools. When the monastery was

surrounded by marshy land, a _tochar_ or stone causeway was built to the

nearest highway, in order to facilitate communications with the outer

world.

III.--DISCIPLINE.

In monasteries we must not confound the essential discipline of every true

religious house with the accidental differences, which may be found in

different monasteries, and still more in different Orders, or under

different Rules. The essential monastic discipline is always the same, but

there are, so to speak, several varieties of the species, and these

varieties are best exhibited to us in the various Rules which the founders

of Religious Orders have left for the guidance of their spiritual

posterity. The learned Dr. Reeves[112] seems to doubt if the founders of

our Irish Religious Houses ever promulgated any systematic Rule like that

of St. Benedict. We certainly have no Irish Rule, not even that of

Columbanus, so definite or so systematic as that of St. Benedict; the

legal organizing mind of the Italian herein displays its superiority to

the untutored mind of the Celt. Moreover, Benedict is, so to speak, more

human; he is not so terribly austere in his discipline as are our Irish

Saints; and no doubt this was one great reason why it was that when his

Rule and that of St. Columbanus were brought into rivalry in France and

Northern Italy, the Rule of Benedict conquered.

We cannot, however, admit that our Irish Saints did not frame distinctive

and definite Rules, although not at all, in our opinion, so distinctive or

so definite as the great Rule of St. Benedict. Eugene O'Curry tells us

that he examined in the original Irish, eight different Monastic Rules, of

which "six are in verse, and two in prose, seven in vellum MSS., and one

on paper." These are the Rule of St. Ailby of Emly, addressed to Eugene,

son of Saran; the Rule of St. Ciaran of Clonmacnoise; the Rule of St.

Comghall of Bangor; the Rule of St. Columcille; the Rule of St. Carthach

of Lismore; St. Maelruain's Rules for the Culdees; a Rule of later date

for the Grey Monks; and lastly, the Rule written by the famous Cormac Mac

Cullinan, the King-Bishop of Cashel. The three most important of these

Rules have been published in the _Irish Ecclesiastical Record_, that is

the first, the Rule of St. Ailby, for the son of Saran; the Rule of St.

Carthach of Lismore; and the Rule of St. Maelruain of Tallaght.