St. Cuanna of Kilcooney was born near the eastern shore of that lake, for

he is described as founding a church in his native district.[335] His

mother, Findmaith, was a near relation of St. Brendan, and appears to have

been also the mother of St. Fursey, and of St. Eany, who also founded

churches on the Corrib shore. In that case Findmaith was the second wife

of Fintan of Ard-fintan, near Headfort, who is said to have been a nephew

of St. Brendan. We know that both St. Brendan and St. Carthach belonged

originally to the same district in the west of Kerry, and that both were

sprung from Fergus Mac Roy. We know also that many of the tribesmen both

of Carthach and Brendan migrated to West Connaught about this period, and

that the father of Fursey was amongst them. It may be that his wife

afterwards got married to another Kerry chieftain, and this would explain

how Carthach and Cuanna were uterine brothers, although one was born at

Tralee and the other near Lough Corrib.

About A.D. 590 Cuanna went to the school of St. Carthach, at Rahan, where

he remained many years. Then he was sent about A.D. 620 to found a

monastery "in the delightful land of the Ui-Eachach, in the south of the

woody Inisfail." Afterwards, however, he returned home to Lough Corrib and

founded Kilcooney. The "Fragment of his Life," in the _Salamanca MS._ then

tells how he was carried off into Connemara, but God's angels took charge

of him, and brought him over the lake in safety, floating on a flat stone,

to his own side of the lake. Then it was he resolved to found his Church

of Kilcooney, or Kilcoonagh, of which the remains are still to be seen in

the old churchyard not far from Headfort. There is also the stump of a

round tower close at hand, which shows the ancient importance of the

place.

Great numbers of saints and monks from all parts of Ireland were soon

attracted to Kilcooney by the fame of its learned and holy founder. In

fact we are told that on one occasion no less than 1,746 of these holy men

assembled in conference in a beautiful meadow near the church, and there

entered into a league of holy friendship with each other--surely a

beautiful spectacle before angels and men in that rude and barbarous age.

It seems that it was after the death of his brother, St. Carthach, in A.D.

636 or 637, that Cuanna was called to preside at Lismore. The kin of the

founders always got a preference when rulers were elected for these

ancient monasteries, and his near kinship with Carthach was, together

with his virtues and merits, the main reason of this election. It is

certain, however, that he was Abbot of Lismore, for two of our ancient

calendars describe him as such, and in the notes to the _Felire_ of Ængus

he is similarly described. He died about the year A.D. 650.

The School of Lismore continued to flourish under him and his successors,

attaining, it seems, the zenith of its celebrity towards the opening years

of the eighth century under St. Colman O'Leathain.

St. Colman O'Leathain flourished as Abbot and Bishop of Lismore from A.D.

698, or A.D. 699 to 702; and during this brief period he became very

celebrated. He was the son of Finbarr, of the race of Hy-Beogna, the

hereditary princes of Ibh Liathain--a district extending from Cork to

Youghal, and nearly corresponding with the modern barony of Imokelly. He

was a pupil of Lismore during the incumbency of St. Hierlog, or Jarnlach,

as we find it in the _Ulster Annals_, the same as the Hierologus of

Colgan.[336] Lismore had now become so celebrated that the Irish princes,

tired of the world, began to seek peace and penance in its sacred shades.

The first of these princes, of whom we read, was Theodoric, or Turlogh,

King of Thomond, of the celebrated Dalcassian line. His father Cathal died

in A.D. 624, so that this prince must have ruled over his native territory

for many years. He is celebrated, too, as the father of St. Flannan, the

founder of the See of Killaloe. Theodoric came secretly to St. Colman, and

flinging off his royal robes, and renouncing his crown, placed himself

amongst the humblest disciples of that saint. Though now an old man, he

would not consent to be idle, but insisted on earning his bread with the

labour of his hands, like the monks around him. The road to the monastery

from the low ground was steep and uneven, so Theodoric, whose strong arms

so often wielded the sword of Thomond in battle, got his sledge and

hammer, and spent his time breaking stones to repair the road. With such

zeal did he work that the streams of perspiration poured down from his

body to the ground, and it is said a sick man was healed by washing in

these waters of holy and penitential toil. With Colman's permission he

returned to his kingdom to protect it from its enemies, whom he seems to

have crushed as easily as he did the stones, and he then returned again to

die in Lismore.

St. Colman O'Leathain is sometimes called Mocholmoc, but as Colgan points

out, it is really the same name--Colman and Colmoc being both diminutives

of Colum, with the term of endearment prefixed in one case--mo-Cholmoc,

which is the same as 'my dear little Colman.' This great saint died on the

22nd of January, A.D. 702, and was interred at Lismore.

It has been said that Aldfrid, King of Northumbria, was a student at

Lismore before he was called to the throne after the death of his brother,

Ecgfrid, in A.D. 685. This statement is, however, merely a conjecture. We

know, indeed, from the express statement of William of Malmesbury that

Aldfrid spent his youth in Ireland, that he was trained in all the

learning of our Irish schools, and that when he was called to the throne

of Northumbria, he gave both sympathy and effective assistance to the

Irish prelates and monks of the North in opposition to Wilfrid and his

associates. It is unlikely, however, that he remained at any one monastic

school during all the years of his enforced sojourn in Ireland. Armagh

would be one of the nearest to a Northumbrian exile; and being the seat of

the primacy, as well as a celebrated school, it would naturally attract

him first. If he then came south he certainty would visit Clonmacnoise,

and remain some time in its halls. The great fame of Lismore in the middle

of the seventh century would doubtless attract him also; and he certainly

would not leave unvisited the new monastery founded about this very time

by his own countrymen in the plains of Mayo. And if we are to accept the

authenticity of the old Irish poem attributed to Aldfrid, this is

precisely what did happen. He went throughout the entire country from

school to school, spending some time in each of them; and he testifies

that he was treated everywhere with generous hospitality, and experienced

at the hands of all his teachers and entertainers a kindly Irish welcome.

This poem has been translated by Clarence Mangan, and the spirit of the

original has been admirably preserved in the translation.

"I found in Innisfail the fair,

In Ireland while in exile there,

Women of worth, both grave and gay men,

Many clerics and many laymen.

I travelled its fruitful provinces round,

And in every one of the five I found,

Alike in church and in palace hall,

Abundant apparel and food for all."

Then he tells how he found 'in Armagh the splendid meekness, wisdom, and

prudence blended'; how he found kings and queens and poets in Munster; in

Connaught he found riches, hospitality, vigour and fame; in Ulster, 'from

hill to glen, he met hardy warriors and resolute men'; and so on

throughout all the land.

During his residence in Ireland Aldfrid acquired much knowledge, and a

great love of learning and learned men. He was an intimate friend of

Adamnan, the celebrated Abbot of Iona, and probably spent some time in

that monastery also. Another distinguished scholar, Aldhelm, Abbot of

Malmesbury, dedicated to Aldfrid a poetical epistle in Latin on Metres and

the Rules of Prosody, which shows that the king must have been competent

to appreciate such a work. Aldhelm, in this Epistle, congratulates the

king on his good fortune in having been educated in Ireland; and he knew

well what the Irish scholars were, for his own master, Maildulf, was an

Irishman. Aldhelm afterwards studied in Canterbury under Theodore and

Adrian; and though trained by an Irishman, in one of his letters he shows

himself a little jealous[337] of the greater fame and popularity which the

Irish schools at this period enjoyed both at home and abroad.

Maildulf[338] taught a school at Malmesbury, and from him it takes its

name; but after his death it was placed in the hands of Englishmen.

IV.--SUBSEQUENT HISTORY OF LISMORE.

We cannot narrate at length the subsequent history of the monastery and

School of Lismore. We find a regular succession of Bishop-abbots down to

the advent of the Danes. But the position of Lismore on a great river not

far from the sea rendered it especially exposed to their ravages; and

hence, like our other great monastic schools, we find that it was

repeatedly pillaged and burned during the ninth and tenth centuries. Nor

was the plundering and burning altogether the work of the Danes.

As usual the native princes followed their example; and so we are told

that in A.D. 978 the Ossorians plundered and burned both the town and

abbey. Yet the school and monastery survived the ravages both of the Danes

and natives, and were held in great veneration by the wisest and best men

in Erin. Cormac Mac Cullinan, the King-bishop, loved Lismore, although he

was not educated there, and in his will left a bequest of a gold and

silver chalice, and a suit of silk vestments to the monastery.

We read in Archdall that there was at Lismore, as at Armagh and many other

principal churches, a hermitage, where one or more anchorites dwelt

enclosed in their cells, after the fashion of the primitive Egyptian

saints in the Desert. St. Carthach himself had set the example at Lismore;

and it seems it was regularly followed, for a small endowment in land was

provided for the maintenance of these anchorites at Lismore. The death of

one of the most celebrated is noticed A.D. 1040:--"Corcran Cleireach,

anchorite, the head of the West of Europe for piety and wisdom, died at

Lis-mor." (F.M.). Another authority tells us that such was his learning

and integrity that every dispute throughout the kingdom was confidently

referred to his arbitration. It was for this reason also that during the

interregnum that succeeded the death of Maelsechlainn II. in A.D. 1022,

he, with Cuan O'Lochain, were chosen to guide the provisional government

then established, as it would seem, with the consent of both the North and

the South.

During the subsequent century--a period of much turmoil and bloodshed,

when there was no recognised High King of Tara, who was able to keep the

provincial kings in check, many of the southern princes retired to Lismore

to end their days in peace and penance. Amongst these was the brave and

generous Murtogh (Muircheartach) O'Brien, the grandson of Brian Boru, whom

the Four Masters themselves describe "as King of Ireland, and the prop of

the glory and magnificence of the West of the world." He died after the

victory of penance at Lismore, but was buried at Killaloe. In A.D. 1127

Turlough O'Conor, the bravest and most capable of his name, forced Cormac

Mac Carthy, King of Desmond, to go on pilgrimage to Lismore, and put on

the habit of a monk. But Cormac soon flung it off again, and once more met

Turlough in the field, but unsuccessfully; for we are told that there was

a great fight at 'sea' (on Lough Derg) between the fleets of the

Connaughtmen and of the men of Munster, and that the former gained the

victory and harried the territory of Munster.

Another noteworthy event in connection with Lismore is recorded in A.D.

1129. It is the death and burial at Lismore in this year of the good St.

Celsus, after St. Malachy, the greatest man of his age. He laboured with

the most constant and self-denying zeal to reform the gross abuses

prevalent in the Irish Church, and to stay the fratricidal hands of the

native princes, whose whole career was at this time one sad record of

violence and slaughter. His life, say the _Annals_, was "a life of

fasting, prayer, and mass-celebration; and after unction and good penance

he resigned his spirit to heaven at Ard Patrick," in the co. Limerick. He

was buried at Lismore, by his own desire, and was waked, as was fitting,

with psalms, hymns, and canticles, and buried with all honour in the tomb

of the bishops, on Thursday, the 4th of April, having died on the previous

Monday.

So Lismore was still held in great honour, and owned large possessions for

the education of the clergy and the maintenance of the poor down to the

advent of the Anglo-Normans. Then in A.D. 1173 we have the significant

entry that Strongbow, after wasting the territory of the Desii, "extorted

a large sum from the bishop to prevent the church from being burnt," but

in the following year his son completed his father's work, "and plundered

Lismore;" and four years later, in A.D. 1178, we are told that the town

was again plundered, and set on fire by the English forces. Whatever still

remained was wholly destroyed a few years after, in A.D. 1207, when the

town and all its churches were entirely consumed. Shortly afterwards, this

ancient See was united to the Danish bishopric of Waterford, and the lamp

of learning in its schools was extinguished for ever.

Lismore is beautifully situated on the steep southern bank of the

Blackwater, overlooking the picturesque valley of this noble river, which

here teems with natural beauties. In this respect Innes declares that

Lismore cannot be surpassed. "The Blackwater, both above and below the

bridge, which leads into the town, flows through one of the most verdant

of valleys. The banks bounding this valley are in some places thickly, in

other places lightly, shaded with wood. Nothing can surpass in richness

and beauty the view from the bridge, when at evening the deep woods, and

the grey castle, and the still river are left in the shade, while the sun

streaming up the valley gilds all the softer slopes and swells that lie

opposite." (_Journey_, 1834.)

Nothing, in truth, is wanting that can lend beauty and interest to this

scene, which nature has so richly dowered with all her charms. And then

the grand old castle, towering over the river, recalls to the mind of the

beholder all those associations that cling like the ivy to its grey

historic walls.

Of the twenty churches once in Lismore not a vestige remains. The existing

Protestant cathedral was rebuilt by the Earl of Cork in A.D. 1663; but his

workmen destroyed every trace of the ancient church, which is alluded to

as the cathedral, or great stone church of Lismore, so early as A.D. 1052.

Five inscribed stones are preserved in the present cathedral. They are

fragments of ancient tombstones, with the peculiar Celtic crosses, and

lettered in very ancient types of the Celtic alphabet.[339] One asks a

blessing for the soul of Colgen, who, according to the _Annals of

Inisfallen_, was an eminent ecclesiastic, who died in Lismore in A.D. 850.

The words are--BENDACHT FOR ANMAIN COLGEN. Another is simply

inscribed--SUIBNE M CONHUIDIR--Suibne, son of Conhuidir, an anchorite and

abbot of Lismore, who went to his rest in A.D. 854. Another still more

interesting inscription asks a prayer for Cormac, a priest--OR DO CORMAC

P. The letter P stands apparently for the Latin word _presbyter_, _i.e._,

_priest_. He seems to have been "Cormac, son of Cuilcanan, Bishop of

Lismore, and Lord of the Desii of Mumhan, who was killed by his own

family, A.D. 918"--a different person from the King-bishop of Cashel, who

was slain in A.D. 907. The other two merely ask a blessing for the soul of

MARTAN, and a prayer for DONNCHAD, who seems to have been the person

bearing that name who was assassinated within the very walls of the old

cathedral in A.D. 1034.

THE CROZIER OF LISMORE was discovered in 1814 in a tower of Lismore

Castle, belonging now to the Duke of Devonshire--hence it is sometimes

improperly called the Devonshire Crozier. It was made, as the inscription

on it records, for Niall Mac Mic Aeducan, who was Bishop of Lismore from

A.D. 1090 to 1113. The artist was Nectan--also a Celtic name--and the

Crozier itself is one of the most beautiful specimens of Celtic art of

this character that have been yet discovered. "It measures three feet four

inches in length, and consists of a case of bronze of a pale colour, which

enshrines an old oak stick--perhaps the original staff of the founder of

Lismore. Most of the ornaments are richly gilt, interspersed with others

of silver and niello, and bosses of coloured enamels. The crook of the

staff is bordered with a row of grotesque animals like lizards or

dragons, one of which has eyes of lapis lazuli."[340] The staff seems to

have been divided into compartments, which were filled in with filigree

work. It is most likely this beautiful work of art was made at the

monastery, and that Nectan, the artificer, was a member of the brotherhood

of Lismore. The inscription is as usual in Irish, and runs thus:--OR DO

NIAL MAC MEICC AEDUCAN LASAN DERNAD IN GRESSA + OR DO NECTAIN CERD DORIGNE

IN GRESSA--Pray for Niall, son of MacAeducan, for whom this work was made;

pray for Nectan, who made this work of art.

THE BOOK OF LISMORE was found in 1814, together with the Crozier of

Lismore, in a wooden box, which was enclosed within the wall of a built-up

doorway in the Castle of Lismore. Both evidently belonged to the bishops

of Lismore, for the castle was the ancient episcopal palace, and the box

was built into the doorway for security on some occasion when the castle

was being besieged by enemies, who might be disposed to appropriate these

venerable relics. This castle was originally built by Prince John, in A.D.

1185; and at first was garrisoned for the Crown. It was, however, soon

destroyed by the natives; but was rebuilt by the king, and became the

residence of the bishops of Lismore down to the time of Miler MacGrath,

who added the see of Lismore to his other ecclesiastical preferments.

Afterwards, the castle sustained several sieges during the troubles that

followed A.D. 1641, when it was held at different times for the Crown or

for the Parliament: and it was, doubtless, during one of these sieges that

both the Crozier and Book of Lismore were concealed. When discovered it

had suffered much from damp, and the edges, O'Curry tells us, seem to have

been partially gnawed by rats or mice. It was, however, still tolerably

legible, but was, unfortunately, lent by the Duke of Devonshire's agent to

a Cork _sheanachie_, named O'Flynn, that it might be transcribed; and

O'Curry alleges that several folios, and in some places entire sections of

the MS., were deliberately cut out by those who had the temporary custody

of the book. In 1839 O'Curry made a copy on paper of all that remained for

the Royal Irish Academy; but that institution vainly sought to obtain the

missing portions.

It is said that these excised parts were purchased, no doubt, in good

faith, by a Mr. Hewitt, who lived near Cork, and they may, perhaps, be

still secured and re-bound with the original MS.

This original was a vellum MS. said to be 900 years old. It consists

principally of copies of the lives of certain Irish saints--of Patrick,

Brigid, Columcille, Senan, Finnian of Clonard, and Finnchu of Brigobhan,

near Cork--"all," says O'Curry, "written in Gaelic of great purity and

antiquity."[341] There are also several historical and romantic tracts,

and bardic accounts of several ancient battles. One treatise--a dialogue

between St. Patrick and the Fenian warriors, Caoilte MacRonan and

Oisin--is, says the same learned authority, especially valuable for the

topographical information it contains.[342]

CHAPTER XX.

THE SCHOOLS OF DESMOND.

"I found in Munster, unfettered of any,

Kings and queens, and poets a-many;

Poets well skilled in music and measure,

Prosperous doings, mirth and pleasure."

--_King Aldfrid's Poem._

I.--THE SCHOOL OF CORK--ST. FINBARR.

Munster was always celebrated for classical studies. Even within the

memory of living men it attracted 'poor scholars' from every part of

Ireland; and they were received, as they were in the days of Bede and King

Aldfrid, with kindly welcome and generous hospitality. In spite of the

confiscations and penal laws of three hundred years, the old Celtic love

of learning was still cherished in Munster, and the doors were never

closed against the homeless scholar, or bard, or sheanachie. As in the

days of Bede, "they willingly received them all, and took care to supply

them with food, and also to furnish them with books to read, and their

teaching gratis."[343] Of the Desmond schools the most celebrated, though

not, perhaps, the earliest, was the School of Cork founded by St. Finbarr.

The name of the city itself is derived from _Corcagh_, which signifies a

marshy place; and at the time St. Finbarr founded his church there, and

for centuries afterwards, it certainly well deserved the name. Especially

when the mountain floods came down the valley of the river Lee the whole

right bank of the stream was converted into a vast lake called Loch Eirce

or Loch Irce.[344] This valley extends from west to east, and is enclosed

on either side by bold and fertile hills, now crowned with groves and

villas which render Cork one of the most picturesque cities of the

empire. The river Lee itself rises in the wild and barren mountain range

which separates Cork from Kerry, and after a course of more than fifty

miles, flows into the sea below the city. The river before reaching the

city, divides itself into two main branches, which afterwards re-unite,

thus forming an island of considerable extent, on which the city proper

was originally built, and strongly fortified by walls and towers.

The Lee may be said to take its rise in the mountain lake of Gougane

Barra, which is merely a natural reservoir that collects the streams

flowing down the sides of these wild mountains. The name simply means

'Barra's Lone Retreat,'[345] because, as we shall presently see, the saint

dwelt for some time on an island in the lake.

The facts of St. Finbarr's history are narrated in two Latin Lives which

have been published by Mr. Caulfield of Cork College.[346] His baptismal

name was Lochan; but as the boy grew up with beautiful fair hair he was

called Find-barr; and sometimes Barra, Barre, Bairre, or Barry. He was

sprung from the Hy-Briuin Ratha, who dwelt about Lough Corrib in the

County Galway. His father, Amergin, being the fruit of unlawful love, left

his native territory and came to the territory of Hy-Liathain in the

County Cork, where his skill as an artificer secured him the patronage of

the local dynast, who appears to have dwelt at Achad Duirbchon in

Muskerry. This dynast is described also as _righ_ of Rathend.

A beautiful young maiden was staying at the house of this kinglet, who

would not allow her marry; and all unbecoming intimacy was also strictly

forbidden between her and any member of the king's household. But the

smith, not knowing or ignoring this prohibition, won the affections of the

lady, and married her in secret. The result was the conception of Barry.

When this became visible, the king was so wrathful at this contempt of his

authority, that he ordered the parents to be burned to death. But the

great lime-kiln, lighted to carry out this sentence, was extinguished by a

violent storm of rain, accompanied with fiery flashes of lightning.

This was, of course, attributed to the fact that the child, which the lady

bore in her womb, was destined by God for great things, as in truth,

subsequent events proved to be the fact. Indeed, the _Martyrology of

Donegal_ makes a still more incredible statement, that "Barre spoke in his

mother's womb, and also immediately after his birth, in order to justify

his father and mother, as his Life states in the first chapter."[347] This

speaking in the womb may, perhaps, be understood in the metaphorical sense

already explained.

St. Barry had for his teacher a holy man called in the _Irish Life_ Mac

Cuirp, or Curporius in the Latin Lives. Mac Cuirp is stated to have spent

some time in Rome, and to have been whilst there a disciple of St. Gregory

the Great. St. Gregory was Pope from A.D. 590 to 604, but for some years

previous to A.D. 590 he had held various offices in the church; and it was

probably between A.D. 575 and 590 that the Irish monk had an opportunity

of becoming his disciple in the great monastery of St. Andrew, which was

once the private mansion of St. Gregory.

From a master so trained for some time in Rome itself, young Barry had an

opportunity of acquiring a fuller knowledge of ecclesiastical discipline,

as well as sounder and wider theological views than the ordinary Irish

schools could at the time afford. How long he remained under the care of

this holy man is unknown; but from the active life which St. Barry led, we

must infer that he began to preach and found churches whilst he was still

a young man. We are told that even before he came to Cork he had founded

twelve churches in various parts of the country. Amongst these we find

special reference to the Church of Achadh Duirbchon near Cuas Barra, which

was somewhere in the neighbourhood of the river Blackwater, and probably

not far from Fermoy. For it is said that after he founded this church, he

crossed the river and came to Cill Cluana, and built a church there also.

Cill Cluana is supposed to be the place since known as Cloyne; this,

however, we venture to think is improbable, for St. Colman, the founder of

Cloyne, was a contemporary of St. Brendan, and must have flourished and

founded the Church of Cloyne many years before Barry could have arrived at

man's estate. There is a Kilclooney in the barony of Condons and

Clangibbon, County Cork, which is much more likely to have been the Church

of Cill Cluana erected at this period by St. Barry.

We are told that two disciples of St. Ruadhan of Lorrha, Cormac and

Baoithen by name, travelled thither. They were directed by their own

master, St. Ruadhan, to remain where the tongues of their bells would

sound. To their surprise the silent bells rang out, when they had come to

Barry's Church at Cill-Cluana, and they were much grieved when they found

it occupied, without, as they thought, any chance of their being allowed

to remain in the place. But Barry, knowing the divine will, at once gave

them his own church, and they remained there, whilst he himself went

elsewhere to found new churches for the honour of God and the advantage of

the people.

It is probable that Gougane Barra, so celebrated for its wild romantic

beauty, was the earliest foundation of St. Barry, and that it was there

during the years of his retirement that he prepared himself for that great

spiritual work, which he afterwards accomplished.

This lovely lake is situated amongst the mountains on the western border

of Cork, and in that very territory of Muskerry where St. Barry is said to

have been born, so that he was probably familiar with it from his

childhood. The savage grandeur of this mountain valley has been celebrated

both in poetry and in prose by many writers; and, no doubt, Callanan's

stanzas are familiar to all our readers. The lake is surrounded on all

sides by an amphitheatre of lofty and rugged mountains, rising up in naked

grandeur from its lonely shores. Only at one place towards the south-east

is there an opening, where the infant Lee bursts through the rocky barrier

of loose stones and dashes down in foaming leaps to the lower lake of

Inchigheela. The lake itself covers about 90 acres. Its waters flowing

down from the heathery slopes of the hills are rather dark in colour, and

abound in fish; although, it is said, that trout were more numerous

heretofore in these waters. Towards the south-east of the lake, which is

oval in form, is the island that formed the retreat of St. Finbarr. It is

deeply and beautifully green, where the broken walls do not cover the

turf, and contrasts strikingly with the dark waters of the lake, and the

bluish gray of the rugged precipices that frown down on the gloomy

landscape. Its shores too are beautifully fringed with hoary ash trees,

and a few willows that stoop to kiss the wavelets:--

"There grows the wild ash, and a time stricken willow

Looks chidingly down on the mirth of the billow;

As like some gay child that sad monitor scorning,

It lightly laughs back to the laugh of the morning."

The works of man are in ruins, but the face of nature is changeless and

grand as it ever was. There is still the "zone of dark hills" that

brighten in the lightning's flash, when the rocks give back the thunder's

voice in a thousand echoes. There are still the "thousand wild

fountains"--in summer tiny rivulets, but in rainy weather angry cataracts

leaping from rock to rock. It is true the glory of the woods that once

belted these mountains is gone, and nothing now remains but the island

grove, which is all the more attractive because no foliage elsewhere

relieves the eye, weary with the hungry grey of the rocks and the dark

brown of the heather.

But the ancient church with its solitary cells and courtyard are all in

ruins--ruins, too, even in this wild retreat, that have apparently been

wrought by the hand of man. The little island on which these ruins stand

is near the southern shore of the lake. It is approached by a low narrow

causeway, which connects it with the shore. From the causeway the pilgrim

walks through an avenue of ash trees towards a terrace, which is elevated

four or five steps before him. On this terrace there is an ancient

quadrangular _caiseal_, which had two monastic cells built into each side

of the quadrangle. These cells arched overhead were about four feet wide,

ten feet deep, and eight feet high. The masonry is of a primitive

character, and may be of the age of Barry himself, for we find the

circular arch as early as the first quarter of the seventh century. In the

centre of this courtyard there is a mound having stone steps around, and

surmounted by an ancient wooden cross. This cross marks the principal

penitential station, and closely resembles some of the mission crosses

seen in the churchyards of our country churches. The church and monastery

proper were outside this enclosure, and are now quite ruinous. They were

probably coeval with the cells in the enclosure; but it is quite unusual

to find them outside the enclosing wall. The quadrangular cashel, too, is

quite a peculiar feature, and shows that it is of a later and undoubtedly

Christian origin.

About the year A.D. 1700, a priest named Father Denis O'Mahony took up his

residence in this lonely retreat, and, it is said, caused its "seven

chapels" to be restored. These so called chapels were the cells already

referred to, which surround the cloister. He was buried in the little

graveyard on the mainland close to the causeway, where the rude

forefathers of the hamlet sleep. And Smith tells us that the following

inscription was placed over his tomb--"Hoc sibi et successoribus in eadem

vocatione monumentum imposuit Dominus Doctor Dionysius O'Mahony, presbyter

licet indignus, A.D. 1700." There is, we believe, no trace of a stone

bearing this inscription to be seen at present on this spot. The tendency

of the Church in our days seems to be altogether in favour of the

cenobitic life; this was one of the few cases in which the ancient love

for the eremitic life has again appeared in our Irish Church. At present

we have neither hermits, nor recluses, as of old. Is it that the spirit of

ancient asceticism has departed? Or is it that charity has grown cold? To

be quite alone with God is a dangerous and difficult state of life; but it

is after all the state of the very highest perfection known to theology.

It was probably after spending some time in his hermitage at Gougane Barra

that St. Finbarr came, as is stated in his Life, to the lake, which in

Irish is called Loch Eirce. Close to the shore of this lake he built a

monastery, to which as to the home of wisdom, and the nursery of all

Christian virtues, crowds of zealous disciples flocked together from all

quarters in such numbers and inspired with such zeal for holiness, that

the solitude around became filled with cells of monks, and thus grew into

a great city. From the school which Finbarr established there, a vast

number of men, conspicuous for sanctity and learning, went forth, amongst

whom especially worthy of note were St. Eulangius or Eulogius--who it

seems had some share in training Finbarr himself--St. Colman of Doire

Dhunchon, St. Baithin, St. Nessan, St. Garbhan, St. Talmach, St. Finchad

of Ross Ailithir, St. Lucerus, St. Cumanus, St. Lochin of Achadh Airaird,

St. Carinus, St. Fintan of Ros-Coerach, and several other saints, whose

names and churches are mentioned in the _Irish Life of Finbarr_.

The site of Finbarr's primitive church and monastery was that now occupied

by the Protestant Cathedral of St. Finbarr on the south-west of the city,

but all traces of the primitive buildings have entirely disappeared. An

ancient round tower stood in the south-west corner of the churchyard,

which has also completely disappeared. But as the round towers were

generally built some ten or twelve paces from the great western entrance

of the church, which they protected, the site of the ancient cathedral can

be ascertained with sufficient accuracy.

In the _Pacata Hibernia_ there is a very interesting map of Cork, which

shows the city and its environs, as they were about the year A.D. 1600. It

has been reproduced by Mr. John George M'Carthy, in a pamphlet of great

value, which he published in 1869, and which gives a lively sketch of the

history of Cork, both ancient and modern. The city proper is shown on the

island with its walls and towers, and its two principal streets--the Main

Street and Castle Street--intersecting each other at right angles. Outside

the city walls, it is all a marsh, and in the south-west corner, close to

the southern bank of the stream, is shown "ye Cathedrale Church of Old

Corcke," which marks the site of St. Finbarr's primitive abbey.

It is stated in the ancient Life of Finbarr that, like many others of the

Irish saints of his time, he went on a pilgrimage to Rome--to the

threshold of the Apostles. On his way back from Rome he paid a visit to

St. David, the celebrated Bishop of Menevia, and thence we are told he

returned to Cork. This would seem to imply that the monastery of Cork was

founded before St. Barry's departure from Rome. Gerald Barry in his _Life

of St. David_ refers to this visit paid to that saint by his namesake of

Cork, whom, however, he calls 'Barrocus,' and as usual he indulges largely

in the supernatural, in his account of the visit.

It was, he says, the custom in those times for the Irish to go on

pilgrimage to Rome in order to venerate the shrines of the Apostles.

Amongst others a certain Barry (Barrocus) from the territory of Cork went

to Rome; and returning from his pilgrimage he called to see St. David,

which was also customary with those good men from Ireland, when going to

or returning from Rome. Barry having paid his respects to the Welsh saint,

was anxious to return home to his own country and flock; but the winds

were contrary, and he could not cross the Channel. Now the Bishop, St.

David, had a horse for his own use, and Barry, full of faith, asked and

obtained the use of this horse to carry him home to Cork; and he rode the

animal straight over the sea to the west. On his way St. Barry met Brendan

mounted on a whale, and going to see St. David also. They saluted each

other, and with mutual good wishes went each his own way, and arrived

safe--one in Cork and the other at St. David's. Barry then told his monks

all that had happened; so they praised God, and made a small metal statue

of horse and man, adorned with gold and silver, "which is preserved to

this day," says Giraldus, "in the Church of St. Finbarr at Cork, and is

held in great reverence on account of the signs and miracles which have

been wrought through its instrumentality."[348]

The Bollandists reject this story as an interpolation in the Life of St.

David; but Gerald Barry dearly loved a story of this kind, no matter how

extravagant. We may add that St. Brendan of Clonfert, to whom the

reference is made, was dead before Finbarr could have been more than

twelve years of age.

St. Finbarr ruled the monastery and church of Cork for a period of

seventeen years before he died. Hence the monastic school had time to grow

up under his own holy and prudent management; and thus, as his Life says,

Cork from a solitude became a city. We are not to understand a city in the

modern sense, with stone houses, bridges, and regular streets. There was

no city of this kind in those days in Ireland. The 'city' consisted of the

cathedral church, probably of stone, and afterwards protected by its round

tower, the monastery with its group of buildings, the scattered cells or

bothies of such students as crowded to hear the lectures in the schools,

or in the green meadows by the river's side, and doubtless also the

dwellings of the tradesmen and other work-people connected with the

monastery. The Danes afterwards seem to have established a permanent

colony at Cork, as they did in Dublin, and raised buildings of a more

enduring and imposing character, but the monastic city was there before

them, and was the real nucleus of the present beautiful city by the

pleasant waters of the River Lee.

St. Finbarr died, not in his own monastery of Lough Eirce, but at Cloyne,

some fifteen miles distant on the other side of the bay. It seems he went

there on a pilgrimage, doubtless preparing for the end, which he felt was

close at hand, for we are told that he died at the Cross of Cloyne, which

was in the church of that monastery. But his loving disciples would not

let his remains repose there--holy ground though it was always believed to

be. They were enclosed in a silver shrine, and carried to his own

monastery, on the banks of the beautiful river, where he dwelt so long.

According to another account the holy remains were at once carried to

Cork, and buried in his own cathedral church, beneath a monumental cross,

which marked the spot. Afterwards the tomb was opened, and the sacred

relics enclosed in a silver shrine, which was preserved with great

veneration near the high altar; and this is the more probable account. But

in later days nothing in Ireland was safe from sacrilegious hands, and we

are informed in the _Annals of Innisfallen_ that A.D. 1089, a fleet, with

Dermot O'Brien, devastated Cork, and carried away the relics of Barre from

the church of Cill-na-Clerich.

The character of this great saint is thus given in one of the Irish Lives,

published by Mr. Caulfield in 1864: "His humility, his piety, his charity,

his abstinence, his prayers by day and night, won for him many great

privileges; for he was god-like, and pure of heart and mind like Abraham,

mild and well-doing like Moses; a psalmist like David; wise like Solomon;

firm in the faith like Peter; devoted to the truth like Paul the Apostle;

full of the Holy Spirit like John the Baptist. He was a lion in

(spiritual) strength, and an orchard full of apples of sweetness. When the

time of his death arrived, after erecting churches and monasteries to God,

and appointing over them bishops, priests, and other grades, and baptizing

and blessing districts and people, Barre went to Cill-na-Cluana (Cloyne),

and with him went Fiana, at the desire of Cormac and Baoithen, where they

consecrated two churches. Then he said, 'It is time for me to quit this

prison of my body, and go to the Heavenly King, who is now calling me to

Himself.' And then Barre was confessed, and received the Holy Sacrament

from the hand of Fiana, and his soul went to heaven at the Cross which is

in the middle of the church of Cloyne; and there came bishops, priests,

monks, and other disciples, when his death was announced, to honour him.

And they took his body to Cork, the place of his resurrection, honouring

him with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs; and the Angels bore his

soul with great joy to heaven to the company of the patriarchs, prophets,

apostles, and disciples of Jesus Christ, and of the Holy Trinity, the

Father, Son, and Holy Ghost."

This seems to be an accurate and truthful narrative of what really

happened, and shows that the enshrining took place afterwards in his own

church of Cork. It appears to show, too, that the church already referred

to as Cill-Cluana was really the famous church of Cloyne; but St. Colman,

its founder, had been dead for some time, and St. Barry, who, according to

other accounts, was educated there by Mac Cuirp, or Curporius, as he is

called in Latin, always retained a great predilection for that holy

ground. St. Barry's death is generally recorded as having taken place

about the year A.D. 630; but the exact date cannot be ascertained.

Both during the life of St. Finbarr, and after his death, great crowds of

holy and learned men continued to come to his monastery of Cork; and many

of them, it seems, elected to make it the place of their resurrection.

Ængus invokes "seventeen holy bishops, and seven hundred favoured servants

of God, who rest in Cork with Barre and Nessan, whose names are written

in heaven." Elsewhere he invokes three hundred and fifty holy bishops,

three hundred and fifty priests, three hundred and fifty deacons, and as

many lectors, and ostiarii, with other saints, who, with God's blessing,

rest in Lough Eirce,[349] in the territory of Muskerry. Numerous, says the

annexed quatrain, as the leaves on the trees are the saints who dwell

around it. "Them all I invoke to my aid through our Lord Jesus Christ."

There is no reference made to any writings left by St. Finbarr, except a

copy of the Gospels, written by his own hand, which was afterwards

encased, like other precious relics of our great saints, in a shrine

richly adorned with gems and gold. One of the most tragic events recorded

in our annals took place in connection with this shrine. It is told with

many graphic details in the _Wars of the Gaedhill with the Gaill_, p. 89.

Mahoun, the elder brother of Brian Boru, by combined skill and valour had

raised himself to supremacy over all Munster about the year A.D. 970. He

defeated the Danes in seven successive battles, and succeeded in driving

Imar, their leader, for a time from Limerick. He also took hostages from

all the chiefs of Desmond, and became undisputed sovereign of Munster.

Then the heads of the rival Eoghanacht clans grew jealous; and Donovan,

son of Cathal, chief of the Hy-Fidhgente in the South and West of

Limerick, together with Molloy, the chief of Desmond, and Imar the Dane,

entered into a conspiracy to destroy the gallant leader of the Dalcassians

of Thomond. Pretending friendship, Donovan invited Mahoun to his house at

Bruree, and Mahoun foolishly accepted the invitation; but he safeguarded

himself, as he thought, by putting himself under the protection of the

clergy, and the Gospel of Barry, which was brought from Cork for the

purpose by Columb, son of Ciaragan, comarb of Barry. However, when Donovan

got the king in his power, he made him a prisoner; and then sent him on to

Molloy, who had undertaken to have him assassinated. Molloy was waiting

with the Bishop of Cork, who had no suspicion of his purpose, at Sliabh

Caein, near Fermoy. It is supposed that they were standing on the eastern

ridge overlooking the gap through which the road now passes from

Kilmallock to Cork, a little south of the church of Kilflin. When Mahoun's

escort reached the spot agreed upon, the assassin drew his sword to slay

the king at the place called Redchair, on the side of the pass opposite to

where Molloy was waiting. Mahoun had on his person, for his own

protection, the Gospel of Barry; but when he saw the fatal blow

descending, he flung the holy shrine from him to a priest standing at some

distance, that it might not be stained with his blood. At the same moment

Molloy saw the gleam of the sword from the place where he was with the

Bishop of Cork on the opposite side of the hill, and called for his horse,

which stood ready saddled to carry him off. "What am I to do?" said the

Bishop, not understanding Molloy's movements. "Cure yonder man," said

Molloy, ironically, "if he is able to come to you." The horrified priest,

who accompanied Mahoun, caught up the Gospel shrine, which Mahoun had

flung towards him, and found it stained with the blood of the murdered

man. Then in sorrow they buried the noble-souled Mahoun on the southern

slope of the hill where he had fallen, and sent word to Brian Boru of the

assassination of his brother. Then Brian Boru resolved on stern vengeance,

and soon accomplished his purpose. The murderous conspirators were banned

by the Church, and deserted by their allies. Imar and his son were slain

by Brian; Donovan fell in battle; and Molloy, the actual assassin, was

tracked for two years, and at length taken prisoner and slain close to

that very pass where he had planned and witnessed the murder of the

chivalrous Mahoun. He was buried like a dog on the northern side of that

same hill where Mahoun was buried; but "the sun," says the Annalist,

"never shines on his grave," and the infamy of his dark deed will hover

round his resting-place for ever. There is nothing known at present of

this Gospel of St. Barry, nor for some hundred years has anything been

heard of it.

Nessan, a disciple of St. Barry, succeeded him in the See of Cork, and in

the government of the monastery and monastic school. He, too, was

remarkable for his learning and holiness, but of his personal history

nothing is known. His festival day is the seventeenth of March--the feast

day of our national apostle, and his death is supposed to have taken place

about A.D. 651.

It is manifest that Cork continued to be a flourishing monastic school, at

least down to the time of St. Ængus (A.D. 800), who speaks of it as if it

were still a flourishing institution, filled with monks and scholars. In

spite of the repeated devastations of the Danes, who plundered it four

times between A.D. 822 and 840, we find the death of Domhnall, a scribe of

Cork recorded in A.D. 874, and of Soirbreathach, son of Connadh, "scribe,

wise man, bishop, and abbot of Cork," in A.D. 891. It is evident,

therefore, that even during the stormy period of the ninth century the

succession of prelates was maintained in Cork, and the monastic school

still continued to flourish. The proper business of the scribe was, as we

have seen, to transcribe books in the scriptorium of the monastery for the

use of the monks and students. The term _egnaidh_, or wise man, shows that

this prelate was especially skilled as a moral teacher and adviser.

During the subsequent centuries, down to the Anglo-Norman invasion, a

regular succession of bishop-abbots was preserved, and recorded in the

church of Cork. But beyond the list of their names we know nothing of

interest concerning them. We do not find that any amongst these later

comarbs of Barry were specially distinguished either as scholars or as

writers; and hence it is unnecessary to make any special reference to them

here.

In the twelfth century the ancient monastery, which had fallen into decay,

was refounded about the year A.D. 1134 by Cormac Mac Carthy, the

celebrated King of Munster, from whom Cormac's Chapel at Cashel takes its

name. Imhar O'Hagan, who died at Armagh in that very year, a most holy and

learned man, had some years previously introduced a much needed reform in

the monastery of Armagh by placing the monks and clergy under the rule of

St. Augustine. This reform was very generally adopted throughout Ireland

by such of the ancient monasteries as had survived the ravages of the

Danes. It was thus introduced at Cork by King Cormac, who also in

refounding the monastery required that it should always afford hospitality

and refuge to strangers from Connaught, because its original founder, St.

Barry, came himself from that province. In A.D. 1172, according to the

Four Masters, died Giolla Aedha O'Muidhin, of the family (or community) of

Errew of Lough Conn, in Connaught. He was, according to Ware, Bishop and

Abbot of Cork, from A.D. 1152, when he was present at the Synod of Kells,

to A.D. 1172. It was from this prelate's name Giolla or Gille, that Gill

Abbey came to be so called. It was previously known as the Abbey of the

Cave, or the Abbey of St. Finbarr's Cave, which was the saint's place of

retirement on the south side of the river, near to which St. Finbarr's

Abbey was built. This prelate was regarded as a man of great piety, and

more than any of his predecessors sought to renew the ancient spirit as

well as the ancient walls of his monastery. The fact that he came all the

way from Lough Conn, near Ballina, in the County Mayo, and though a

stranger, was chosen to rule over this great diocese and monastery, shows

that he was a man of great fame for holiness and learning. It is most

likely that this Giolla Aedha O'Muidhin was that prelate of whom St.

Bernard speaks in his Life of St. Malachy. Cork was, he says, then without

a bishop, and there was much discord amongst the supporters of the rival

candidates. St. Malachy begged them all to leave the choice to him; and

they agreed to do so. Then St. Malachy chose for bishop not anyone of the

nobly born of the land, but a poor man and a stranger, who happened to be

on his sick bed in the city, and was a man remarkable for sanctity and

learning. Malachy bade him arise in the Lord's name, and said that

obedience would make him strong again. He did so, and ruled the see with

much vigour until his death in A.D. 1172. The Four Masters described him

as "Gilla Aedh O'Muidhin (of the family of Errew of Lough Conn) Bishop of

Cork. He was a man full of the grace of God, the tower of the virginity

and wisdom of his time."

II.--SCHOOL OF CORK--ST. COLMAN MAC UA CLUASAIGH.

It was during the abbotship of St. Nessan in Cork, or shortly afterwards,

that St. Colman Mac Ui Clusaigh, as he is called in the _Liber Hymnorum_,

flourished in the school of that monastery. He is the only scholar of that

ancient school, whose writings have in any shape come down to us. What we

have written by St. Colman is not indeed much, but it is highly

interesting, and was published for the first time by Dr. Todd in the

second volume of the _Liber Hymnorum_, page 121.

Of his personal history we know nothing. His name implies that he was the

grandson, or great grandson, of Cluasach; but of his history nothing else

can be ascertained. It is clear, however, both from the Scholiast's

preface, and from intrinsic evidence that this St. Colman was a Ferlegind,

or Professor, in the School of Cork in the year A.D. 664. At that period,

as is well known, a terrible pestilence devastated Ireland; it likewise

extended to England, and probably to many parts of the Continent also. It

carried off nearly half the population of Ireland--kings, saints, and

people--without distinction. A panic spread through all the land, and all

classes, who could do so, sought to fly from the plague: but their flight

was vain for go where they would the plague overtook them, and claimed

its victims. An idea, however, had gone abroad that the pestilence could

not extend nine waves beyond the shore of Erin, and hence we find that

there was a rush to such of the islands on the coast as were supposed to

be outside the infected area.

Colman and his scholars took the very prudent resolution of leaving their

monastery by the marshes of Cork, and making their way to one of the

islands on the coast, the name of which unfortunately is not given. But

like a good and holy man, he put more faith in God's protection and

blessing than in mere sanitary precautions. So he invited the school to

help him in composing this hymn as a lorica or coat of mail against the

pestilence, and all other dangers temporal and spiritual. It seems, too,

that it was recited during the voyage, and no doubt filled the fugitives

with hope and confidence in God's fatherly love.

The Scholiast in his preface tells us that Colman composed the hymn to

protect himself against the yellow plague (_buidhechair_) that was

prevalent in the reign of the sons of Aedh Slaine (A.D. 656-664[350]), and

of which they themselves died in A.D. 664. The cause of the plague was, he

alleges, the over-population of the country at the time, for so great was

the number of the people, that the land could afford but thrice nine

ridges to each man in Erin--nine of bog, nine of arable, and nine of

wood--"and, therefore, the noblemen of Erin fasted along with the sons of

Aedh Slaine, and with Fechin of Fore, and with Aileran (the Wise), and

with Manchan of Liath, and with very many besides, for the reduction of

the population, because of the scarcity of food in consequence of the

great population." In fact, there seemed to be no alternative but famine

or pestilence; and these holy men appear to have preferred the latter

alternative; which was granted to their prayers, and by which they

themselves also were sent to heaven.

Some say, adds the Scholiast, that St. Colman composed the whole of it;

but others say he composed only the first two stanzas, and that his

scholars composed the rest--that is, each man of them made a half stanza.

As the original poem consisted of forty-six lines, this would give the

number of scholars belonging to the school at something more than eighty;

or, if the stanza be taken to mean a distich of two rhyming lines, which

seems more probable, they would number about forty-four.

"It was composed," adds the Scholiast, "in Cork in the time of Blathmac

and Diarmaid, on the occasion of this great plague, which left only one

out of every three persons alive in Erin. And the place where they

happened to compose it was in the course of their voyage to a certain

island in the sea of Erin, flying from this pestilence; because the plague

did not extend further than nine waves from the land, as the learned

relate."

In its present form the hymn consists of fifty-two lines, with an added

prayer; but it is quite evident that it originally consisted of forty-six

stanzas, and the remaining six, asking the blessing and protection of the

patron saints of Erin--Patrick, Brigid, Columcille, and Adamnan, were

subsequently added. The language is the very oldest form of the Gaedhlic,

which has come down to us, and, as Dr. Todd remarks, "it fully confirms

the early date assigned to it by the Scholiast." The metre is in rhyming

distichs with fourteen syllables in each line--when we say rhyming, we

mean that there is a rhyme, or at least an assonance, between the final

syllables of each two lines. Here and there Latin phrases, taken from the

Scripture, are introduced in the Gaedhlic lines, and made to rhyme, as the

Gaedhlic lines themselves do. The author was evidently familiar as well

with the Latin as with his native Gaedhlic, both of which he manipulates

with considerable dexterity. The subject matter mainly consists of an

invocation addressed in appropriate language to God, and to the Son of

Mary, as well as to the Saints of the Old and New Testament, to protect

the writer and his school from the pestilence, and from all assaults of

their foes, both spiritual and temporal. The following stanza may be taken

as a specimen:--

Maire, Joseph don ringnat et spiritus Stephani,

As cach ing don forslaice taithmet anma Ignati.

"Mary, Joseph, guard us with the spirit of Stephen;

May it deliver us from every difficulty to invoke the name of Ingatius."

This poem is an exceedingly interesting monument of the time in which it

was written; and moreover, shows what a deep spirit of piety and filial

confidence in God and His saints inspired the mind of the writer. We have

finer poetry in our own days; but we have nothing that breathes a deeper

and more fervent spirit of earnest devotion.

III.--THE SCHOOL OF ROSS.

The monastic School of Ross, more commonly called Ross Ailithir, was one

of the most celebrated in the South of Ireland. Its founder was St.

Fachtna, the patron of the diocese of Ross, who is commonly identified

with St. Fachtna, the founder and patron of the diocese of Kilmore. This

is, indeed, highly probable, seeing that both dioceses celebrate the

feasts of their respective patrons on the same day, the 14th of August,

and besides, both saints belonged to the same princely race of the Corca

Laighde.

The territory of Corca Laighde, which takes its name from the ruling

tribe, was conterminous with the diocese of Ross, of which, as we said,

St. Fachtna, was founder and first bishop. It extended in ancient times

along the south-western coast of Cork from Courtmacsherry Bay to Dursey

Head, and included besides East and West Carberry, the modern baronies of

Beare and Bantry towards the western margin, as well as the baronies of

Ibane and Barryroe on its eastern borders. Afterwards, however, this

territory was greatly contracted by hostile incursions, especially by the

inroads of the O'Sullivans on the west, of the O'Mahonys on the east, and

thus the territory of Corca Laighde was reduced so as to include only West

and a small portion of East Carberry. The race called the Corca Laighde

derived their name from Lugaidh Laighe of the line of Ith, uncle of

Milesius, who flourished in the second century of the Christian era. The

mother of the celebrated St. Ciaran of Saigher belonged to this family.

Her name was Liaghain, latinized Liadania, and she was married to an

Ossorian prince called Luighneadh, of which marriage St. Ciaran was born

at the residence of his mother's family, called Fintraigh, in Cape Clear

Island, but the date is very uncertain. St. Fachtna was born also in the

same territory at a place called Tulachteann,[351] in sight of the

southern sea, but as he died young--about forty-six years of age--late in

the sixth century, he cannot have been born for many years after St.

Ciaran. He is sometimes called Mac Mongach, either from the name of his

father, or because he was born with much hair on his head--_mongach_,

_i.e._, hairy.

Like Brendan and Cummian of Clonfert, he was nurtured under the care of

St. Ita, the Brigid of Munster, and received from that wise and gentle

virgin those lessons of piety that afterwards produced such abundant

fruit. The whole of his family, however, must have been trained in virtue

at home, for we are told that no less than seven of his brothers were

enrolled in the catalogue of the Irish saints. After leaving Ita's care he

went to the famous seminary at Lough Eirce, near Cork, where so many of

the holy men of the sixth century received their early training.[352] The

name of Fachtna (_i.e._ _facundus_, the eloquent), is expressly mentioned

in the _Life of St. Garvan_ (26th March) amongst those who crowded that

domicile of all virtue and of all wisdom.

Leaving St. Barry's academy, Fachtna founded for himself the monastery of

Molana, in the little island of Dririnis, near Youghal, at the mouth of

the Blackwater. Shortly afterwards, however, he returned to his native

territory, and founded on a promontory between two pleasant bays of the

southern sea the celebrated establishment now called Ross Carberry, but

anciently known as Ross-ailithir, from the number of pilgrim students who

crowded its halls, not only from all parts of Ireland but from all parts

of Europe. It was admirably situated as a retreat for the holy and the

wise, on a gentle eminence rising from the sea, in the midst of green

fields, looking down on the glancing waters of the rushing tides, and

smiling under the light of ever-genial skies. Here Fachtna "the good and

wise," though still young in years, founded what is called in the _Life of

St. Mochoemoc_, "_magnum studium scholarium_," a great college not only

for the study of Sacred Scripture, but also for the cultivation of all the

liberal arts.

Amongst other distinguished teachers who helped to make the School of Ross

famous was St. Brendan, the Navigator, who later on founded the sees both

of Ardfert and Clonfert. Usher tells us, quoting from an old document,

that about the year A.D. 540, Brendan was engaged for some time in

teaching the liberal arts at Ross-ailithir during the lifetime too of its

holy founder. Fachtna and Brendan were intimate friends, for both were

nurtured by the holy virgin Ita of Killeedy, and no doubt loved each other

with the deep and abiding affection of foster brothers. It is only

natural, therefore, that Brendan should go to visit St. Fachtna at Ross,

and aid him with the influence of his name and character in starting and

organising the new school.

It was at this period that an unforeseen misfortune happened to Fachtna,

which to one engaged, as he was, would become a double misfortune. By some

accident he became entirely blind, so that he could neither read nor see

anything. In this affliction the saint had recourse to God, and was

directed by an angel to apply to Nessa, the sister of St. Ita, and then

about to become the mother of that child of promise, St. Mochoemoc,

through whom he would obtain his eyesight. Fachtna did so, and

miraculously recovered his eyesight.

It seems St. Fachtna must have acquired great fame as a preacher, and no

doubt too as a teacher of eloquence, for the surname of "Facundus," which

is sometimes used instead of his own name, was given to him. He was, it

appears, clothed with the episcopal dignity, and thus became founder of

the diocese of Ross, which, not however without mutations, has continued

down to our own times, and still ranks amongst the independent Sees of

Ireland. The saint died at the early age of forty-six, and was buried in

his own Cathedral Church of Ross. The holy work, however, in which he was

engaged, was continued by his successors, and for many centuries Ross

continued to be a great school whose halls were crowded by students from

every land. St. Cuimin of Connor, describes Fachtna as the "generous and

steadfast, who loved to address assembled crowds, and never spoke aught

that was base and displeasing to God," in allusion to his sanctity and

eloquence.

His immediate successor was Conall, whose succession to Fachtna in the

monastery and See of Ross was foretold by St. Ciaran of Saigher.[353]

Mention is also made of St. Finchad of Ross-ailithir, who seems to have

been a fellow pupil[354] of the founder at the great School of Finnbarr at

Cork. These two saints were probably tribesmen of St. Fachtna, for we are

told that he was succeeded in his see by twenty-seven bishops of his own

tribe, whose jurisdiction was conterminous with the chief of the clan over

the territory of Corca Laighde.

"Seven and twenty bishops nobly

Occupied Ross of the fertile fields,

From Fachtna the eloquent, the renowned,

To the well-ordered Episcopate of Dongalach."

The names are unfortunately not given in our annals in this as well as in

many other instances, where a succession of bishops with well-defined

jurisdiction was undoubtedly preserved. O'Flaherty puts the same

statement in hexameters--

"Dongalus a Fachtna ter nonus episcopus extat

Lugadia de gente, dedit cui Rossia mitram."

Which another poet translates in this fashion:--

"Hail happy Ross, who could produce thrice nine

All mitred sages of Lugadia's line,

From Fachtna crowned with everlasting praise

Down to the date of Dongal's pious days."

During the ninth century we find frequent mention of the "abbots" of

Ross-ailithir in the _Four Masters_, and we are told that it was ravaged

by the Danes in A.D. 840, along with the greater part of Munster. In the

tenth and eleventh centuries we find reference is made, not to the

"bishops" or "abbots," but to the "airchinnech" of Ross-ailithir; and it

is quite possible that during this disturbed period laymen took possession

of the abbacy with this title, having ecclesiastics under them to perform

the spiritual functions. Once only we find reference to a "bishop," in

A.D. 1085, when the death of Neachtain Mac Neachtain, the distinguished

Bishop of Ross-ailithir is recorded.

But whether it was bishop, abbot, or airchinnech, who held the spiritual

sway of the monastery, and its adjacent territory, the school continued to

flourish even during those centuries most unpropitious to the cultivation

of learning. In A.D. 866, or according to the _Chronicon Scotorum_, in

A.D. 868, we are told of the death of Feargus, scribe and anchorite of

Ross-ailithir, showing that the work of copying manuscripts was still

continued in its schools. But we have still more striking evidence during

the tenth century of the literary work done at Ross-ailithir, for a manual

of Ancient Geography, written by one of these lectors in the Irish

language, is happily still preserved in the _Book of Leinster_.

The author of this most interesting treatise, as we know from the same

authority, was Mac Cosse, who was _Ferlegind_, that is a reader or

lecturer of Ross-ailithir. A passage in the _Annals of Innisfallen_

enables us to identify him, and his history furnishes a striking example

of the vicissitudes of those disturbed times:--

"The son of Imar left Waterford and [there followed] the destruction

of Ross of the Pilgrims by the foreigners, and the taking prisoner of

the Ferlegind, _i.e._ Mac Cossa-de-brain, and his ransoming by Brian

at Scattery Island."[355]

This entry enables us to fix the probable date of this geographical poem

of Mac Cosse, which seems to have been the manual of Classical Geography

made use of in Ross-ailithir, and hence so full of interest for the

student of the history of our ancient schools. The Imar, referred to in

the above entry, was king of the Danes of Limerick, but in A.D. 968 the

Danes of Limerick were completely defeated by Mahoun and his younger

brother Brian Boru. Imar made his escape to Wales, but after a year or two

returned again, first, it would seem, to Waterford; issuing thence he

harried all the coasts and islands of the South, and finally returned to

Limerick with a large fleet and army. But he deemed Scattery Island a more

secure stronghold, and having fortified it he made that island his

head-quarters, and no doubt kept his prisoners there also. Scattery itself

was captured from the Danes by Brian, a little later on in A.D. 976, and

there Imar was slain; so that it was the interval between A.D. 970-976

that Mac Cosse was kept a prisoner at Scattery Island, and ransomed by the

generosity of Brian, who always loved learning and learned men.

This poem consists of one hundred and thirty-six lines, giving a general

account of the geography of the ancient world, and was, no doubt, first

got by rote by the students, and then more fully explained by the lecturer

to his pupils. This tenth century is generally regarded as the darkest of

the dark ages; yet, we have no doubt, whoever reads over this poem will be

surprised at the extent and variety of the geographical knowledge

communicated to the pupils of Ross-ailithir in that darkened age, when the

Danish ships, too, were roaming round the coasts of Ireland. It is not

merely that the position of the various countries is stated with much

accuracy, but we have, as we should now say, an account of their _fauna_

and _flora_--their natural productions, as well as their physical

features. The writer, too, seems to be acquainted not merely with the

principal Latin authors, but also with the writings of at least some of

the Grecian authorities.

In the opening stanza he describes the five zones: "two frigid of bright

aspect,"--alluding, no doubt, to their snowy wastes and wintry skies, lit

up by the aurora borealis--and then two temperate around the fiery zone,

which stretches about the middle of the world. There are three continents,

Europe, Africa, and Asia; the latter founded by the Asian Queen, and much

the larger, because she unduly trespassed on the territories of her

neighbours. Adam's paradise is in the far East, beyond the Indus,

surrounded by a wall of fire. India "great and proud," is bounded on the

west by the Indus, on the north by the hills of Hindoo Coosh. That country

is famous "for its magnets, and its diamonds, its pearls, its gold dust,

and its carbuncles." There are to be found the fierce one-horned beast,

and the mighty elephant--it is a land where "soft and balmy breezes blow,"

and two harvests ripen within the year. In like manner he describes the

other countries of Asia; the _mare rubrum_ "swift and strong," and Egypt,

by the banks of the Nile, the most fertile of all lands. He even tells us

of the burning fires of the Alaunian land, alluding to the petroleum

springs around the Caspian. He names all the provinces of Asia

Minor--"little Asia," he calls it--and says most accurately, that it was

bounded on the west by the Propontus and the Ægean sea. In like manner he

describes Africa, and derives its name from Apher, a son of Abraham and

Keturah, showing that he was familiar with the Greek of the Antiquities of

Josephus.[356] He then goes through the various countries of Europe,

giving their names, and chief cities. The principal rivers, too, are

named, and their courses fixed, as when he says that--

"Three streams issue from the Alps westward, and across Europe they

appear

The Rhine in the north-west, the Loire, and the River Rhone."

Finally, he comes to Ireland, which, in loving language, he proclaims to

be

"A pleasant and joyous land, wealth-abounding; the land of the sons of

Milesius; a land of branching stems; the most fertile land that is

under the sun."

So ends this most interesting manual of geography written by an Irish

scholar, in the Irish tongue, and taught to the students of Ross-ailithir,

whilst the Danish pirates were roaming round our seas, and ruling with

strong hand in Dublin, Waterford, and Limerick.

Of the subsequent fortune of Ross-ailithir we know little. In A.D. 1127

the fleet of Toirdhealbach O'Conor sailed to Ross-ailithir, and despoiled

Desmond, as the _Chronicon Scotorum_ informs us--for it was not the Dane

alone that our schools and churches had to fear--often, far too often, the

spoiler was some rival chieftain, whose churches and monasteries were sure

to be spoiled very soon in their turn. Then came the greatest of all the

devastators--the Anglo-Normans, who laid waste Corca Laighde under

FitzStephen, a few years after Bishop O'Cearbhail went to his rest in A.D.

1168. Since that period the school has disappeared, but the See of Ross

still holds its ground, after having gone through some strange

vicissitudes of union with and separation from the neighbouring dioceses

of Cloyne and Cork.

IV.--THE SCHOOL OF INNISFALLEN--ST. FINAN.

The island of Innisfallen in the Lower Lake of Killarney has been long

celebrated both in song and story for its wonderful scenic beauty. It is

commonly regarded as the Queen of Irish Islands, and one enthusiastic

admirer has declared that it is the most beautiful spot in Europe. The

monks of old were great lovers of nature, and hence, as might be expected,

we find that at a very early period a monastery was founded on the island

of Innisfallen. It offered many advantages to saintly men, who wished to

give themselves up entirely to a life of holiness and learning. It was not

merely its own sweet beauty and the glory of the lake and mountains round

about, that made it a desirable place of seclusion; it had more prosaic

advantages to commend it. It was near enough for convenience to the

promontory of Ross, yet far enough for security; for it was surrounded by

deep water and was within sight of that noble keep whose friendly owners

were always the protectors and benefactors of the monks of Innisfallen. It

is true, indeed, the monks had been there long before the present

picturesque ruin was built, but then there was always some dun or fort on

Ross Island, as it is now called, for it is a spot not only of singular

beauty but also admirably situated for defensive purposes.

All our authorities agree that the monastery of Innisfallen was founded by

St. Finan; but to which St. Finan it owes its origin is another question.

There were many saints who bore that name, of whom two were particularly

distinguished, St. Finan the Leper, and St. Finan Cam, or the Crooked. It

is commonly said that St. Finan the Leper was the founder of Innisfallen.

After a careful examination of his Acts as given by the Bollandists on his

feast day, which is believed to be the 16th of March, we can find no

evidence to support this statement, which in itself also is sufficiently

improbable. It is true, indeed, that St. Finan the Leper came of the old

Desmond race, for his father, Conal was fourth in descent from Ollioll

Olum, the common ancestor of all the great Munster families. But Finan

belonged to that branch of the race of Cian, son of Ollioll Olum, which

was settled in the portion of Bregia, called from him Keenaght, extending

from Dromiskin to Dublin; and it is highly probable that Finan himself was

a native, not of Ely O'Carroll, as Colgan says, but of Sord, now called

Swords, where his family seems to have resided. He was called the Leper,

because on one occasion when a poor woman brought to the saint her son,

who was blind, deaf, and leprous from his birth, the saint prayed to God

to cure the child and offered himself to bear its leprosy. His prayer was

heard--the child was made whole, but the saint was stricken with the dread

disease, which he endured for thirty years. St. Finan the Leper is said to

have been a disciple of St. Columba, and to have been placed by that saint

over his own foundation at Swords; but at what time it is difficult to

determine. The saint is also said to have founded Ardfinnan on the Suir in

Tipperary, which took its name from him. He is also mentioned in

connection with Clonmore in the co. Carlow, founded by St. Maedhog,[357]

and according to the writer of his Life, he was buried there. His

connection, however, with Innisfallen in Lough Lein is very doubtful, and

unsupported by any satisfactory evidence that we have seen. It is much

more likely that the Inisfaithlen referred to by his biographers was the

island off the Coast of Dublin, now called by its Danish name of Ireland's

Eye, but which in ancient times was known as Inisfaithlen--a fact of which

Colgan does not seem to have been aware. The same name was also given to

the island of Beg Erin, or Begery, in the Bay of Wexford.

On the other hand, St. Finan Cam was a Kerry man by race and birth, and

moreover spent most of his life in the West of Kerry, which has many

places connected with his name and memory. He was born in that wild

promontory of Corkaguiny (Corca-Duibhne) which is swept bare by the wild

Atlantic blasts. His father Mac Airde[358] is mentioned in the Life of St.

Brendan--for it seems to be the same person--as a man of considerable

wealth, who made a present of thirty cows with their calves to that saint

shortly after he was born. Indeed it seems highly probable from the

narrative that the family of St. Brendan and St. Finan were connected by

ties of consanguinity. We are told too in the Life of Finan in the

_Salamanca MS._ that St. Brendan was the first tutor of the boy, and that

the latter spent seven years in Brendan's corner--contra fornacem--whilst

he was learning to read and study monastic discipline under the guidance

of that great master. This was probably in the early part of the sixth

century, whilst Brendan was still living in his native Kerry, before he

went on his Atlantic voyages, or founded any of his monasteries in the

province of Connaught.

It was by the direction of the same saint that young Finan, who was

already far advanced in holiness, left his father's territory, and went to

Slieve Bloom, the utmost boundary of his native Munster towards the north,

and there, about A.D. 560, founded the monastery of Kinnity, near Birr, at

the roots of Slieve Bloom, with which his name has been ever since

associated. It is a singular fact that so late as the year A.D. 907, we

find that Colman, Abbot of Kinnity, _and King of Corca-Duibhne_, was slain

in the fatal field of Ballaghmoon, where Cormac Mac Cullinan, and so many

of his Munster nobles lost their lives.

Finan, however, returned after a brief sojourn at Kinnity to his native

territory; and thenceforward we find that almost all the events recorded

in his life took place in Kerry.

There is one incident mentioned, which goes far to show that this St.

Finan Cam was the founder of the monastery on Innisfallen. For we are told

that a boat was built on 'St. Finan's Island,'[359] and that a message was

sent to Fedelmith, the King of Lough Lein, to carry away the boat. The

king came with thirty men to bring the boat to the water, but they could

not carry it. Then the angels of God, with Finan, carried the boat down to

the Lake Lugdech. It is true this seems to refer to Finan's Island on

Lough Currane, but the incident certainly shows that Finan had friendly

relations with the King of Lough Lein, who in return would very naturally

grant the holy man one of the islands on his own lake for a religious

house.

On another occasion we find that when Finan's horse died, another steed

came out of Lough Lein, and for three years drew the saint's waggon; and

then at the bidding of Finan once more returned to his stable beneath the

waves of Lough Lein. So the saint then probably had his own 'home' on the

shore, or in an island of the lake. Once again, on a particular occasion,

when Finan was living on a certain island, and his horses were on the

mainland grazing, having, it seems, their feet tied, they swam to the

saint's house, without loosening the bonds, and at his bidding swam back

again to the shore. We find him also protecting his tribesmen of

Corkaguiny against the attacks of Nechtan, King of the Hy-Fidhgente, who

dwelt beyond Slieve Lougher, in the west of the County Limerick. This

prince, refusing to listen to the prayers of Finan, was conquered in

battle, and forced to fly from his kingdom. We are then told that he

betook himself to Diarmaid, King of the Hy-Niall, which fixes the date of

these events at some time between A.D. 544 and 565, the limits of the

duration of King Diarmaid's reign. He returned, however, more than once to

his monastery of Kinnity, where many monks lived under his rule and

guidance. We find him also, towards the close of the sixth century, at an

assembly of the Munster chiefs, probably at Cashel, in the time of Failbhe

Flann. Failbhe succeeded his brother as King of Munster in A.D. 619; but

he was, no doubt, for many years previously a prince of much influence and

power. On this occasion Finan wrought some wondrous miracles before the

king, and Failbhe did penance, and granted all the requests of Finan--one

being to allow him 'to take a census of the population,'--it means rather

to remit a tax that pressed on the people. We also find the saint nigh to

Lough Lugdech, which seems to be the lake now called 'Lough Currane,' in

the south-eastern extremity of Iveragh, near the Bay of Ballinskelligs. It

seems to have been a favourite haunt of the saint; and the remains of his

oratory are still to be seen on an island in the lake. On this occasion

Finan wanted to get his horse shod; but the smith had broken his tongs,

and could not hold the glowing iron. "Take it in your hands," said the

saint. The smith did so, and held it without inconvenience, whilst he

fashioned the shoe with his hammer! This is a fair specimen of some of the

extravagant miracles attributed to Finan by the writer of his Life.

"Lough Lugdech, now," says O'Donovan, "called Lough Luigeach (Lee), or

Currane Lough," is of oval form, about three miles long by two broad. It

abounds with salmon and white trout, which, no doubt, often furnished a

luxurious meal to the abstemious saint. On the south it is surrounded by a

range of bold mountains, partly covered with woods in Smith's time,[360]

but now quite bare of timber. The remains of Finan's Church and cell were

to be seen on the largest of three small islands in the lake,[361] when

Smith wrote about 140 years ago; and he says that they keep his (Finan's)

festival on the 16th of March. This is the day generally assigned to Finan

the Leper in our Martyrologies--the 7th of April being the festival of

Finan Cam, according to the Martyrology of Tallaght--the change may have

taken place from the confusion of names, for no one says that the Leper

saint ever penetrated as far to the south-west as Lough Currane. The

obliquity which gave Finan the surname of 'Cam,' was in his eyes, not in

his body, adds the same eminent authority.

Derrynane also takes its name from our saint; it means the oak-grove of

Finan--_Daire Fionain_--the letter 'f' being aspirated, and not sounded in

the compound. The old abbey, however, situated on the shore, is of

mediæval origin, as its ruins tell. St. Finan's Bay, north of Bolus Head,

also speaks of the saint. It is quite open and exposed to all the fury of

the Atlantic billows.

St. Finan was in all probability the first founder of the oratory on the

Greater Skelligs, which is directly opposite the bay to the south-west.

When the Danes swarmed round our coasts, the monastery was removed from

the island to the mainland, and its dilapidated walls may still be seen in

the only sheltered corner at the head of St. Finan's Bay. Several holy

wells also bear the saint's name, and his memory is still vivid in various

parts of Kerry. In our opinion this St. Finan Cam, not St. Finan the

Leper, was the founder of the monastery of Innisfallen.

V.--THE ANNALS OF INNISFALLEN.

There are only two entries referring to Innisfallen in the _Four Masters_;

one A.D. 1144, merely records the death of Flanagan of Innisfallen, a

distinguished _anmchara_, or soul's friend--that is counsellor and

confessor--or as we now say, spiritual director. The other entry, however,

is an earlier and far more important one. It records the death in A.D.

1009 (_recte_ 1010) of Maelsuthain O'Cearbhail (Carroll) of the community

or family of Innisfallen, "chief doctor of the western world in his time,

and lord of the Eoghanacht of Lough Lein," who died 'after a good life.'

This Maelsuthain was a very celebrated man, and in all probability the

original compiler from older authorities of the _Annals of Innisfallen_.

Hence he deserves special notice at our hands. The Eoghanacht of Lough

Lein, of whom he was chief, was that branch of the great Eugenian race of

Desmond, whose territory surrounded the beautiful Lakes of Killarney, and

included the greater part of the Barony of Magunihy. O'Donoghue of Lough

Lein, whose principal stronghold was on Ross Island, was the chief of this

wide territory. He derived his descent from Cas, son of Corc, King of

Munster, whose elder brother, Nadfraich, was the ancestor of the great

MacCarthy family. In A.D. 1015 was slain Domhnall, who commanded the

forces of Desmond at Clontarf, and he was father of Donchadh, from whom

the family name has been derived. The O'Carrolls of Lough Lein were

sub-chieftains under the O'Donoghues, and derived their descent from a

younger brother of that Nadfraich above referred to as ancestor of the

MacCarthy Mor.

Maelsuthain O'Carroll was in the beginning of the eleventh century head of

this sub-tribe, and hence is called lord of Lough Lein. The School of

Innisfallen was one of those which appear to have suffered least from the

ravages of the Danes. This, no doubt, was mainly due to its remote insular

situation amongst the mountains of Kerry. It is highly probable that Brian

Boru, the hero of Clontarf, was educated at Innisfallen; at least we find

that Maelsuthain, the head of the island school, was his intimate friend

and counsellor during many years of his victorious career. When Brian

marched in triumph to Armagh, he laid an offering of twenty ounces of gold

on the High Altar of the cathedral; and our Maelsuthain O'Carroll, of

Lough Lein, who accompanied him, made the following entry in the name of

the king, in the _Book of Armagh_:--"St. Patrick, when going to heaven,

ordained that all the fruit of his labour, as well of baptisms, as of

causes and other alms, should be carried to the apostolic city, which in

Irish is called Ardd-Macha. So I have found it in the libraries of the

Scots. This I have written, that is, _Calvus Perennis_, 'the ever bald,'

(which is equivalent to the Irish Mael-suthain), in the sight of Brian,

Emperor of the Scots, and what I have written he determined for all the

kings of Maceria,"[362] that being the Latin equivalent of Cashel.

Maelsuthain is sometimes called the Anmchara[363] of Brian; but as it

seems that he was a layman, the word must mean rather counsellor than

ghostly adviser. That Maelsuthain was a renowned professor of the

Innisfallen school is apparent not only from the eulogy of the Four

Masters and the Ulster Annals, which call him 'chief sage of Ireland,' but

also from the curious tale about Maelsuthain that has been translated by

O'Curry. It is in substance as follows. Maelsuthain was so renowned a

professor that three students came all the way from Connor, in the County

Antrim, to his school at Innisfallen, in which they spent three years.

Then they resolved to go on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, but their professor

told them that it was now high time to pay him something for their

education. They had no money, however, which is always a scarce commodity

with students, but offered to spend three years in service with their

teacher as a recompense for their education. "No," said he, "go to

Palestine, and all I ask is that when you die, as you will in the Holy

Land, you shall come to me, and let me know whether I also shall die in

the peace of the Lord." They agreed to this, and went to Palestine, where

they died in grace; but they asked permission from St. Michael to return

to their old professor, and tell him his fate before going to heaven

themselves. St. Michael granted this request, and bade them tell

Maelsuthain that he had only three years and a-half to live, and then he

was to be condemned to hell for all eternity. So they came to Maelsuthain,

in the shape of three white doves. He bade them welcome, and asked what

was to be his future lot. They told him. "And why am I to be sent to

hell?" said he. They told him the reasons also, as St. Michael had

directed them: first, because he interpolated the canons; secondly,

because of unchastity; and, thirdly, because he had given up the Altus. "I

shall not go to hell all the same," replied the professor, "for God has

promised that 'the impiety of the wicked shall not hurt him in whatsoever

hour he shall turn himself away from it.' I will turn away from my sins; I

will put no sense of my own in the canons; I will perform a hundred

genuflections every day; I will recite the Altus seven times every night

to make up for my past neglect; and I will keep a three days' fast every

week." On the day of his death the three white doves returned, and told

him that his penance was accepted by God, and that they saw his place in

heaven, and would now accompany him into eternal glory. So he was anointed

by the clergy around his bed; and his three pupils parted not with him

until they all went to heaven together. "And," adds the tale, "it is this

good man's writings (or manuscripts--_screptra_), that are in Innisfallen

in the church there still."

This reference seems to designate some well-known writings connected with

Innisfallen, of which Maelsuthain was the author or compiler, and which

can hardly be any other than the well known _Annals of Innisfallen_.

Eugene O'Curry tells us that it has been a constant tradition in the South

of Ireland that the _Annals of Innisfallen_ were compiled by Maelsuthain,

and he adds that he himself had no doubt the O'Carroll was either 'the

original projector of the compilation,' or that he enlarged the previous

meagre outlines kept in the monastery of Innisfallen into this more

regular and extensive historical work.

The principal copy of these _Annals_ is at present preserved in the

Bodleian Library at Oxford. "It contains," says Dr. O'Conor, "fifty-seven

leaves (of parchment), of which the first three are considerably damaged,

and the fourth partly obliterated. Some leaves at the beginning are also

missing." The missing leaves seem to have begun with a short account of

the creation and the history of the early patriarchs extracted from the

Book of Genesis. At the sixth begins the history of the Kingdom of the

Greeks; then it treats of the general history of the great empires of the

world down to the year A.D. 430 (at folio 9), where their real interest

begins. Thenceforward there is a brief chronicle of Ireland in different

hands, down to the year A.D. 1319. The first scribe has written down to

the year A.D. 1130 (at folio 30). The writing of this portion is free and

elegant; the initial letters are coloured and adorned; and everything

seems to point to the fact that the original scribe of this manuscript

wrote no further. But afterwards the work becomes more rude and careless;

there is no attempt at ornamentation; in fact, the appearance of the

manuscript is a faithful picture of the state of the country--daily going

from bad to worse. It is fruitless now to speculate how this venerable

monument of Irish learning came into the Bodleian Library of Oxford.

The work known as the _Dublin Annals of Innisfallen_ is a translation in

Trinity College Library, which Theophilus O'Flanagan testifies[364] that

he made into English "about nineteen years ago, from a copy perfected

under the direction of Dr. O'Brien, Bishop of Cloyne and Ross, from the

original in the Bodleian Library." Dr. O'Brien's scribe was, according to

O'Flanagan, a priest of the name of Conroy, who was well versed in the

Irish language.

There is another copy in the Royal Irish Academy in Irish and English,

beginning with A.D. 250, and coming down to A.D. 1320. It is on paper, and

contains 320 folios. During the later years it deals chiefly with the

affairs of Munster. At A.D. 1010 we find the following

entry:--"Maelsuthain, son of O'Carroll, King of the Eoghanacht of Locha

Lein, and _the Primate of Ireland_, died in Aghadoe." In the Irish it is

'Priomfaidh Eirion,' which appears to mean, 'chief sage of Ireland.' More

than half this volume deals with the period from A.D. 1170 to 1320, and it

contains many interesting entries during that time. The chronology is,

however, very defective.

Poetry, it seems, was cultivated in Innisfallen as well as history--for we

are told that in A.D. 1197 Gilla Patrick O'Huihair went to his rest. He

was archdeacon of the island--which shows that there was a considerable

community there at the time--and superior of the convent. He also founded

many religious houses, to which he gave books, vestments, and other

necessaries. He was, moreover, the Annalist tells us, 'a celebrated poet;'

and was held in the highest estimation for his chastity, piety, wisdom,

and universal charity. We have also another entry, A.D. 1208, which gives

us a beautiful picture of a reverend priest of 'Cloonuama,'[365] who died

in this abbey, where he passed the evening of a life chequered by

misfortune in penitence and prayer, and was buried in the cemetery of the

Abbey of Innisfallen.

There is one significant entry a few years earlier--"anno 1180, this abbey

of Inisfallen being ever esteemed a paradise and a secure sanctuary, the

treasure and the most valuable effects of the whole country were deposited

in the hands of its clergy; notwithstanding which we find the abbey was

plundered in this year by Maolduin, son of Daniel O'Donoghue. Many of the

clergy were slain--even in their cemetery--by the MacCarthys. But God soon

punished this act of impiety and sacrilege, by bringing many of its

authors to an untimely end."

During the eleventh century the O'Donoghoes of Lough Lein rose to great

power and influence--one of them became king of Cashel, and several of

them are described as royal heirs of Cashel. It was an O'Donoghue who

restored the cathedral church of Aghadoe in the twelfth century--he was

slain in A.D. 1166. In all probability this Maolduin, son of Daniel, was

in feud with his own family, who were always the protectors of the monks

of Innisfallen, and he called in the MacCarthys to help him in plundering

this venerable shrine. It is satisfactory to know that vengeance soon

overtook the despoilers of this paradise, as the chronicler aptly

describes it.

Yes, Innisfallen is, in truth, an earthly paradise. The island contains

about twelve acres; but this small area is dowered with every charm that

can gratify the senses. The surface, fringed with evergreen bowers, is

gently undulating, and covered with a carpet of green, so pure and so

soft, that the eye loves to linger on its hues. There are miniature

creeks, where the wavelets die in gentle ripples; there are giant elms and

hoary ash trees, that have lived for centuries; the holly and the arbutus

are not shrubs, but forest trees, and their bright green leaves, with

blossoms of purest white, or berries of deepest red, gleam through the

heavy-laden boughs. Then there are the manifold associations of religion,

and history, and poetry, and romance, called up before the mental vision

by the aspect of the ruined churches on this queen of islands. You have,

besides, the mingled melodies of whispering leaves, and singing birds, and

murmuring waters, filling the ear, and inviting the listener to

contemplation and repose. Of old, the tinkling of bells was heard from

these ruined cloisters, and the gray Franciscan habit was seen stealing

along the shores of Muckross, and the cathedral chimes of Aghadoe were

borne over the waters to the students' ears. Now they are all gone--no

lectures within these silent roofless walls; no midnight vigils of the

gray friars in Muckross; no bishop's throne in Aghadoe. Yet young

Killarney rivals these ivy-grown haunts of ancient learning and holiness

in all things save one--the unapproachable beauty of the sites chosen by

the monks of old. Their successors live nigh to scenes of beauty; but they

have so placed themselves that they can never see them. They seem to

prefer naked walls and flat fields to the glorious vision of nature's

unapproachable beauties, which she has poured out with lavish hand, by

mountain, stream, and woodland all around this peerless Lake of

Learning.[366]

CHAPTER XXI.

THE SCHOOLS OF THOMOND.

"Though Garryowen has gone to wreck,

We'll win her olden glories back;

The night long, starless, cold and black,

We'll light with song and story."

I.--THE SCHOOL OF MUNGRET.

The first reference[367] we find made to Mungret is in the _Tripartite

Life of St. Patrick_. When the saint had come into the territory of

Hy-Fidhgente, which included that portion of the modern County Limerick

west of the river Maigue, with a small portion of the barony of Coshma

east of that river, Lomman, the king of the district, made a feast for

Patrick on the summit of Mullagh Cae, to the south of Carn Feradaig. This

hill still bears its ancient name, and the gifted poet[368] from whom we

have already so often borrowed beautiful thoughts, describes its

situation:--

"That pleasant hill ascends

Westward of Ara girt by rivers twain,

Maigue, lily-lighted, and the 'Morning Star'

Once Samhair named, that eastward through the woods

Winding, upon its rapids earliest meets

The morn, and flings it far o'er mead and plain."[369]

Now Lomman, son of Mac Eire, and Mantan, a deacon of Patrick's household,

had prepared a feast for the saint and his people on the summit of this

green hill, when it chanced that a band of itinerant jugglers came upon

the scene, and meeting Patrick first, asked him for some food. The laws of

hospitality were always imperative in Celtic Ireland, and accordingly

Patrick told them to go to Lomman and Mantan, and that they would supply

their wants. No one had yet tasted of the banquet, not even Patrick

himself; and hence, when the jugglers applied for food, they were rather

rudely repulsed by Lomman and the deacon, who told them in effect that

strollers like them were not the persons to bless the meat and partake of

it first.

They meant no harm, but still Patrick's request was not complied with, and

his honour was compromised, when hospitality was refused even to the

jugglers. So Patrick said:--

"To the boy who cometh from the north (Limerick)

To him the victory has been given."

And forthwith a youth named Nessan appeared coming up the hill-side with

his mother, and she being the stronger was carrying a cooked ram on her

shoulders for the king's feast. Then the saint asked the boy to give him

the wether, that he might give it to the jugglers, and thus save his

honour by complying with the laws of hospitality. The boy at once gladly

gave the ram to Patrick; but his mother grumbled a little when she saw its

destination.

Patrick, however, resolved to teach them all, that obedience and charity

are the first of Christian virtues. Therefore, he said to Lomman, his

host, that none of his race should ever be king, or crown-prince, or

bishop; and to Deacon Mantan, he said that his cloister would not be

lofty, and that it would be the dwelling of a rabble, and that sheep and

swine would tread on his remains--but to Nessan he said: "Thou wilt be

mighty of race":--

"Thou that didst the hungry feed,

The poor of Christ that know not yet His name,

And helping them that cried to me for help,

Mine honour cherish, like a palm one day,

Shall rise thy greatness."

Nessan's mother, too, was punished for her grumbling. She was not to be

buried in her son's church of Mungret, but beyond the cloister wall to the

west, where its sweet-toned bell could not be heard. Then Patrick ordained

Nessan a deacon, and founded a church for him, that is, Mungret, near

Limerick.

On one occasion Nessan went to visit St. Ailbe of Emly, that he might

inquire from that saint if it were right for a monk to receive or to

refuse the offerings of the faithful. When Nessan arrived it was the hour

of None, and the community were chanting the office in the church. Nessan,

however, declined to go into the guest-house until he should see Ailbe and

put his question. Now Ailbe continued in prayer from the hour of None

until Tierce on the following day; and no one went into him except the

guest-master.

At length he gave his answer to the patient deacon--"Go," said he, "and

tell Nessan this verse in the Scottish tongue:

"Danae Dee nis frithcoirthi,

Selba forri [forru] niscorthi;

Acht toberthar, ragabae,

Sech ni muide, ni chele."

That is:--

Gifts of God are not to be refused,

[But] possession is not to be retained of them

[Literally: possession is not to be put upon them]

If they are offered, you shall accept them,

But you shall not boast [of], you shall not conceal [them].[370]

The festival of Nessan is given in the Calendar of Ængus as the 25th of

July. "It is of him," says the _Martyrology of Donegal_, "Cuimin of

Condeire gave his testimony in showing that he never told a lie out of his

mouth." Thus he says:--

"Nessan, the holy deacon, loves

Angelic pure devotion;

Never came outside his teeth

What was untrue or guileful."

And the same authority likens him to Laurentius the Deacon in his habits

and life.[371] Colgan says that Nessan died in A.D. 551; but even granting

that he was a mere boy when St. Patrick was in Munster it is difficult to

suppose he could have lived so long.

The fame of Mungret School is, however, due much more to St. Munchin, or

Manchin, surnamed the Wise, than to Deacon Nessan, although unfortunately

little can be ascertained with certainty about his history. He was of the

Dalcassian race, being son of Sedna, and grandson of Cas, who was seventh

in descent from Cormac Cas, son of Ollioll Olum, the great father of the

race. His uncle Blod was king of the Dalgais of Thomond, during the early

years of St. Patrick's mission in Ireland. According to some writers, St.

Manchan or Munchin, of Limerick, was identical with Manchan the Master,

who is mentioned in the _Life of St. Patrick_. There were, however,

several saints who bore that name; and it seems highly improbable that

'Master' Manchan of the _Tripartite_ was the founder of St. Munchin's.

O'Curry says that this latter saint was _daltha_, or foster-son, and pupil

of St. Mac Creiche of Ennistymon in Clare, who flourished towards the end

of the fifth century; for he was the friend and contemporary of St. Ailbe

of Emly. We assume, therefore, that Manchin, the founder of Cill-Munchin,

now known as St. Munchin's, flourished in the first half of the sixth

century. It is said that he succeeded Nessan as Abbot of Mungret, and that

under him and his successors, this monastic school attained great fame

during the sixth and seventh centuries.

The fame of Mungret, however, seems to be principally founded on local

tradition, for we can find no satisfactory evidence to prove its celebrity

in any of our ancient documents. It is said that there were no less than

six churches in Mungret, and no less than 1,500 monks (not to speak of the

boys at school) within its cloisters. Of these one-third were preachers,

or as we should now say, went about giving missions; one-third were

constantly engaged in celebrating the divine office; and the remaining

third were employed in teaching in the schools, or labouring for the

community.[372] It is strange that no trace of these ancient buildings now

remains, with the exception of the walls of one not very ancient church,

which is 41 feet long, by 23 feet in breadth. The door-way in the west

gable has a flat lintel with sloping jambs--its most characteristic

feature. The round arches of the remaining opes rather show that this

church belongs to the ninth or tenth century, than to the time of St.

Munchin.[373] It is probable that St. Munchin presided for many years at

Mungret; and then in his old age retired from community life, and built

himself a cell and oratory in the neighbourhood, which was afterwards

known as Cill-Munchin, and became the nucleus of the present city of

Limerick. Thus it was that he came to be recognised as the patron of the

city and diocese of Limerick; and, as such, his church is said to have

been the cathedral church of the city down to the building of St. Mary's

by Donald O'Brien, who died in A.D. 1194.

It is very doubtful if there was any See in Limerick before the Danish

colony became Christian, and got a bishop of their own. The only scrap of

evidence in favour of a line of earlier prelates in St. Munchin's that we

could find, is the statement in the prose _Life of St. Senan_, that

"Deron, Bishop of Limerick," was present at the obsequies of St. Senan in

Scattery Island. But, as Lanigan remarks, this Life is of the post-Norman

period, and cannot be accepted as an unquestionable authority.

The subsequent history of Mungret may be briefly summed up. The death of

Ailill, Abbot of Mungret, is noticed by the Four Masters in A.D. 760,

which shows that there was a succession of abbots in that great school.

But evil days were now in store for Mungret. Situated close to the great

highway of the Shannon, it was one of the first places that felt the fury

of the Danes, and suffered most from their constant presence in the great

estuary of Luimnech. We are told that it was burned and plundered by these

'gentiles' in A.D. 834, like most of the great monasteries on the southern

coasts and estuaries. Shortly afterwards the Danes took permanent

possession of the estuary of the Shannon; and although defeated by the

native tribes at Shanid and elsewhere, still, owing to their possession of

the sea, and the constant arrival of fresh hordes, they were able to

maintain themselves at Limerick, where they established strong forts on

the King's Island, which they held against all comers down to the time of

Brian Boru. They were, indeed, the real founders of the city of Limerick,

and their choice of that site, so suitable at once for commerce and

defence, shows how keenly alive their chiefs were to the advantages to be

derived from a good natural position. Of course whilst the Danes held the

lower Shannon and all its islands, Mungret could not flourish. At best

they could only live there on sufferance, and were constantly exposed to

pillage and murder.

Still Mungret was not obliterated. Cormac Mac Cullinan by his will, which

he made before he set out for the fatal field of Ballaghmoon, bequeathed,

amongst other charitable bequests to other churches, three ounces of gold,

an embroidered vest, and his blessing to Mungret; so that it is not

improbable the great king-bishop, so learned in the Scotic tongue, as the

Four Masters tell us, had himself been a student of Mungret.[374] In A.D.

909, Maelcaisil, Abbot of Mungret, died; and although the school was

burned in A.D. 934, we read of Abbot Muirgheas, whose death is noticed in

A.D. 993, by the Four Masters. They also record the death of "Rebachan,

son of Dunchadh, Archdeacon of Mungret," or as they write it Mungarid, in

the next year; so that it was still a place of importance, having an

abbot, an archdeacon, and an airchinneach also, for Constans, who held

that office, died in A.D. 1033. It was burned in A.D. 1080; and was no

sooner rebuilt than it was once more destroyed by a native prince,

Domhnall Mac Lochlann, 'King of Ireland,' in A.D. 1088. On this occasion

the King of Ireland harried the coasts and the churches of Thomond quite

as cruelly as ever the foreigners had done.

Yet, phœnix-like, it rose once more from its ruins, for we are told

that in A.D. 1102, "Moran O'Moore (Mughron O'Morgair), chief lector of

Armagh, and of all the west of Europe, died on the third of the nones of

October at Mungret in Munster." Though the Irish princes of the North and

South were as usual at deadly feud, Mungret gave a hospitable home and an

honourable grave to the great professor from Armagh, who was the father of

St. Malachy--one of the greatest of our Celtic saints. The last entry in

the Four Masters is the shameful record that Mungret was plundered in A.D.

1107 by Mortogh O'Brian. Can it be that this Mortogh, who thus impiously

plundered the shrine of his kindred at Mungret, is the same Mortogh who

gave Cashel to the Church, and carried the arms of Thomond in triumph from

Luimnech to Lough Foyle? Thenceforward Mungret, as a school, disappears

from our Annals--almost, but not quite, up to the present hour.

'The learning of the Mungret women' is proverbial about Limerick; and the

proverb had its origin in this way.[375] A controversy arose between

Mungret and some other monastic school of the South, as to which was the

more learned community; and it was agreed by both parties that their best

scholars should meet at Mungret on a certain day, and exhibit their

learning in a public disputation. Now as the time drew nigh the Mungret

scholars feared they would be worsted in the disputation, and so they had

recourse to stratagem. A number of them dressed themselves as women, and

going to the place, where a stream crossed the highway near Mungret by

which the visitors were to approach, they began to wash clothes. The

strangers coming up put some questions to the ladies in the vernacular,

but the ladies replied in excellent Latin, and even some, it is said, in

Greek. The visitors were filled with astonishment, and asked them how they

learned the ancient languages. "Oh," they said, "every one about Mungret

speaks Latin and Greek; that is nothing at all--'mere crumbs from the

monks' table'--would you like to talk philosophy and theology with us?"

When the strangers saw that even the women were so learned they knew they

would have no chance at all if they met the monks; so they decamped right

off, leaving the victory to the 'wise women of Mungret.'

Mungret is finely situated on a gently rising sweep of fertile land, close

to Lord Emly's beautiful demesne at Tervoe, about three miles to the

south-west of Limerick. It commands a grand view of several reaches of the

Shannon, with the pine clad hills of Clare rising in the distance beyond

the river. Once more, too, bands of students roam through its meadows; and

in statelier halls than St. Nessan built the languages and philosophy of

Greece and Rome are taught to eager disciples. There is once more a great

college at Mungret; once more its students come from afar to seek sanctity

and learning under the shadow of the ancient Church of St. Nessan. The

Jesuits have there established, since 1884, a College and an Apostolic

School, both of which have achieved wonderful success during the brief

period of their existence. May St. Nessan, and all the saints of Mungret,

help them to revive the ancient glories of their own monastic school, and

to send to foreign lands missionaries of the Celtic race, as zealous and

as learned as the men who in olden days carried the faith and fame of Erin

from the Shannon's banks through so many distant lands, even to the utmost

shores of Calabria.

II.--THE SCHOOL OF INISCALTRA.

Another celebrated nursery of ancient sanctity and learning flourished in

the island of Iniscaltra, especially during the seventh and eighth

centuries. This beautiful island is situated in the south-western angle of

Lough Derg, where that great expansion of the Shannon runs in towards the

village of Scariff, between the Counties of Galway and Clare. It is

elliptical in shape, and contains 45 statute acres of exceedingly fertile

land, so that £100 per annum has been frequently paid for the grazing of

the island. It belongs to the county Galway, but ecclesiastically the

island is a portion of the parish of the same name, in the diocese of

Killaloe. The gaze of every stranger is at once arrested by the stately

round tower, which rises up in lonely grandeur from this green speck in

the placid bosom of the lake, marking the spot where the saints of old

sought communion with God, and spent their lives in prayer, and fasting,

and sacred study. No one now dwells on this lonely and beautiful island;

and indeed it would be a profanation to erect a building for the

common-place purposes of every-day life on its sacred soil. Better--far

better--to leave its tower, its graveyards, and its ruined churches to be

the lone and silent memorials of the vanished past, than to mar their holy

memories by association with anything that would be commonplace or

trivial.

Mention is first made of this island in A.D. 548, when, as the _Four

Masters_ and the _Annals of Ulster_ record, "Colum of Inis-cealtra died"

of the Crom Chonaill, or Yellow Plague, which then for the first time, but

not for the last, depopulated these countries, and carried off amongst

others many of the most distinguished saints and scholars of ancient Erin.

The _Four Masters_ record in this same year, and probably from the same

cause, the death of St. Ciaran of Clonmacnoise, St. Tighernach of Clones,

St. Finnian of Clonard, the tutor of the saints of Ireland, St. Colum of

Inis-cealtra, and also of St. MacTail of Old Kilcullen, of Sincheall of

Druimfada, now Killeigh, in King's County, of St. Odhran of Latteragh, on

the eastern slopes of Keeper Hill, and of St. Colum, son of Ninnidh,

called also Colum Mac Hy-Crimthainn, the celebrated founder of Terryglass.

It is highly probable that the two Colums here mentioned, Colum of

Inis-cealtra, and Colum Mac Hy-Crimthainn, were really one and the same

person; but the transcriber finding Colum in one place, called 'Colum of

Iniscaltra,' and in another place 'Colum of

Terryglass'--Tir-da-glas--thought they were different persons, and

recorded them as such.

The _Life of St. Columba_ of Terryglass, recently published in the

_Salamanca MS._, shows how this error may have arisen. This St. Columba

was of Lagenian origin, for his patronymic, Mac Hy-Crimthainn, is derived

from an ancestor, who was King of Leinster five generations before. His

father, Ninnidh, seems to have been born not far from Clonenagh, in

Queen's County, for in his youth we are told that the saint learned his

psalms and hymns from a holy old man named Colman Cule, who lived in that

neighbourhood, and founded the Church of Cluain Cain. This has been

identified with great probability as Clonkeen, near Clonenagh, in the

Queen's County. Columba afterwards studied under the celebrated Finnian of

Clonard, and he, with his greater namesake, Columba of Iona, is reckoned

amongst the Twelve Apostles of Erin, who studied together at that great

school. When he was sufficiently trained in all spiritual knowledge at

Clonard, we are told that he resolved to go to Rome, and bring home with

him some of the relics of St. Peter and St. Paul. On his return he came to

St. Martin's monastery at Tours, where he was privileged to obtain the

staff and chrismal of that saint, which he carried home with him to Erin.

He also visited England during this return journey, and preached with some

success to the still unconverted Saxons. Returning home to Leinster his

brother Cairbre offered him a place called Echargabul, on which to build a

church and monastery; but he preferred to leave in that place one of his

disciples called Cronan, who was a foreigner. Afterwards, with his

disciples, he remained a year at Clonenagh,[376] and then crossing Slieve

Bloom he came to Hy-Many of the Connaughtmen, and founded a church, where

he had a flock of 700 souls, at a place called Tir Snama, which seems to

have been not far from Lough Derg; for we are told that shortly afterwards

he founded other churches near the lake, called Aurraith Tophiloc and Tuam

Bonden, where he dwelt for some time.

Then an angel appearing to him bade him go to the island Keltra--since

called Iniscaltra. At that time a certain old man dwelt on the island,

called Maccrihe; but the angel told him to leave the island to St.

Columba, which he willingly did.

Thus we find St. Columba of Terryglass established at Iniscaltra, where he

remained a 'long time,' and where he was miraculously supported for a

while by the liquor that distilled from a lime tree growing on the island.

The birds that lived on the island, too, became quite familiar with the

saint; and when Nadcumius, one of his disciples, asked him the reason, he

gave a very beautiful reply. "Am I not a bird myself," he said--"why

should they fear me, for my soul always flies to heaven, as they fly

through the sky?" It is said that on one occasion, when one of his

'family' died suddenly on the shore opposite the northern part of the

island at Mount Shannon, he ordered his monks to go and say to the dead

man--"Columba bids thee arise"--and the dead man arose and returned with

them to the island.

Whilst at Iniscaltra the saint seems to have made frequent voyages over

the lake. On one of these occasions seeing the place, 'where Terryglass

now is,' rising over the broad waters of the lake, towards the east, he

said, "Oh! that my resurrection would take place from that sweet spot"--a

wish that was destined afterwards to be fulfilled.

Crowds of people came to visit the saint and his companions at Iniscaltra,

so that he pined for some more lonely spot, where he might hide himself

far away from men. Accordingly he embarked in his curragh, as we may

suppose, then shooting the rapids, and sailing out into the estuary of the

Shannon, called Luimnech, he established himself with a few companions in

a lonely island, called 'Insula Erci' in the Latin Life, which may,

perhaps, have been corrupted into Iniscorcy, the name of an island in the

bay formed by the Fergus River, close to Kilydysart. The place, at any

rate, was west-north-west (a circio) of Mungret, not very far away; and

had, close at hand, another small island, to which the saint was sometimes

in the habit of retiring, in order, it would seem, to be still more alone

with God.

From this island he was called away to visit his master, St. Finnian of

Clonard, who had been stricken with the yellow plague, and anxiously

longed to receive the Holy Communion from his hands. The saint at once set

out for far-distant Meath, a ten days' journey, and arrived in time to

give the 'sacrifice' to his beloved master before he died of that dreadful

pestilence. It was in the year, it seems, A.D. 551 or 552 (548 with the

Four Masters).

The blessed Columba himself seems to have caught the contagion whilst

attending his dear old master; for retiring to a neighbouring place called

Cluain Hii, where one of his old fellow-students had founded a church, he

sickened and died of the same disorder towards the close of the same

year--his festival day being December 13th, as marked in all our

Calendars.

The men of Meath learning that so great a saint had died amongst them,

were unwilling to let the blessed body be carried off, so that his

companions had recourse to stratagem to convey the body secretly away. But

even this they could not effect until a year after the saint's death, so

closely were they watched by the men of Meath. At last they hid the

remains of their beloved father in a waggon, covered over with oats, and

taking several other waggons also, as if for the purpose of bringing a

supply of provisions with them, they set out for the Shannon, choosing the

road towards Clonmacnoise. There they were hospitably received; and they

told the abbot, in confidence, of the blessed burden which they bore along

with them. The abbot then greatly rejoiced, and wished to have the holy

relics kept at Clonmacnoise; but the brethren would not consent.

Terryglass, blessed by St. Patrick, on the swelling shore of the beautiful

Lough Derg, was chosen by himself to be 'the place of his resurrection;'

so the Abbot-Ængus, next successor to St. Ciaran, let them go in peace

with his blessing. But the men of Meath now began to suspect that their

treasure was taken away, and followed quickly after, headed by the prince

of the southern Hy-Niall, Colman Beg. The brethren, however, had already

embarked; and when Colman took the helm to pursue them, Nadcumius

threatened him with God's anger if he followed them further. So for the

time he turned back, and the monks with swelling sail and sturdy oar

quickly traversed the lake, and came to Iniscaltra, where they buried the

saint in secret for seven years, giving out, it seems, that his remains

reposed at Terryglass.[377] We are told that the lake was lit up with a

heavenly light of marvellous beauty during all the time that the body of

the saint was borne over its heaving bosom.

Meantime the men of Meath, for seven years, kept watch around Terryglass,

to see if they could get a chance of recovering their lost treasure; but

finding no opportunity, they returned at last to their homes. Only then

did the faithful Nadcumius transfer the holy relics from Iniscaltra to

Terryglass, and thus carry out at length the dying wish of his beloved

master. The men of Meath saw the bright beams that shone from heaven over

all the lake on the night the holy relics were transferred; and at last

reluctantly said--"Let us cease this toil. The saint chose this place for

himself; let him rest in peace there for ever."

Such is the account given in the Life; but in the _Leabhar Breac_, it is

stated that the relics of Colum, son of Crimthann, were taken by

Mochoemhe of Terryglass, and by Odhran the Master, on a wain southwards

over Esge, to Caimin of Iniscaltra. Esge is a corruption of Echtge, the

ancient and correct name of the Slieve Aughty mountains, that separate

Galway from Clare. As St. Caimin was certainly not then in Iniscaltra,

this would seem to point to a subsequent translation of the holy relics

once more to the beautiful island where Columba had spent so many years.

His successor, Caimin, had, it would seem, rendered the island once more a

celebrated home of learning and piety, and wished to possess at least a

portion of the blessed body of his illustrious predecessor.

Columba died A.D. 552; St. Caimin, the still more famous saint of

Iniscaltra, and who has always been regarded as its patron, died,

according to the _Annals of Innisfallen_, just one hundred years later, in

A.D. 653; so that Caimin cannot have been a disciple of Columba. He came,

however, of the same royal Lagenian race of Cathair Mor, for his father

Dima, or Dimma, belonged to Hy-Kinsellagh, but his mother Cumaine, who was

also, it is said, the mother of Guaire, King of Connaught, and of Cummian

Fada, Bishop of Clonfert, belonged originally to the west of the County

Kerry. We know little of the life of this great saint. He appears to have

been present at the Synod of Easdara, now Ballysadare, which was held by

St. Columba, and attended by the principal saints of Erin about the year

A.D. 580 or 585. In that case the saint must have been born about the

middle of the sixth century, and reached the age of one hundred years

before he died. It is still more difficult to explain how he could have

been a friend and contemporary of St. Senan of Scattery Island, who died

about the year A.D. 544.

It is certain, however, that Caimin has always enjoyed the reputation of

being himself a distinguished scholar, and the master of a very famous

school. Lanigan tells us that he wrote "a Commentary on the Psalms

collated with the Hebrew text," a portion of which Usher says that he

himself saw, and that both the text and notes were generally regarded as

in the handwriting of St. Caimin.

If this be the fragment of the Commentary on the 119th Psalm, now in

Merchants' Quay, Dublin, that handwriting is certainly marvellously

beautiful, but there is, we believe, no appearance of any collation with

the Hebrew text. This fragment was once in the Franciscan Convent of

Donegal; afterwards, it was in Colgan's possession, and has now fitly

returned to the representatives of the original owners.

Caimin's school at Iniscaltra attracted, we are told, great numbers of

pupils, even from foreign countries. In the _Life of St. Senan_ reference

is made to seven ships that arrived in the Shannon crowded with students

seeking this island college of St. Caimin. Some poems have been attributed

also to the saint, but without good authority. At present the remnant of

the 119th Psalm is all that can fairly be regarded as his; but when

complete, it must have been a very beautiful and most interesting specimen

of our ancient Latin MSS.

Belonging, as he did, to the ruling classes, and connected by blood with

several of the provincial kings, being, moreover, a man of great wisdom

and virtue, Caimin seems to have exercised very considerable influence

over the course of public events in his own time. Guaire, his

half-brother, much against the wish and counsel of Caimin, provoked the

King of Tara at the time, Diarmaid, son of Aedh Slaine, to a pitched

battle at a place called Carn Conall, near Gort. Guaire was defeated, and

his allies, the kings of Munster and Hy-Fidhgeinte, were slain on the

field, thus verifying Caimin's predictions of the disastrous consequences

that would certainly result to the authors of this unjust war. The Four

Masters say this great battle was fought in A.D. 645, but A.D. 648 or 649

seems to be the true date.

It would seem, from the curious story told by the Scholiast on the _Felire

of Ængus_, that Caimin was afflicted during the latter years of his life

with many painful diseases, which he bore in a spirit of perfect

resignation. On a certain occasion when Guaire, Caimin, and Cummian were

together in the great church of Iniscaltra, which Caimin had built, and

the two saints were giving spiritual counsel to Guaire, Caimin said to his

brother, "Well, Guaire, what would you wish to have this church filled

with?" "With gold and silver," replied Guaire, "that I might give it in

charity to the saints and to the poor for the good of my soul." Cummian,

in answer to the same question, said he would wish to have it filled with

books, for learned men to instruct others in the Word of God; but Caimin

himself when asked the same question, said he wished it full of all

diseases and sicknesses to afflict his body. And we are told that each of

the brothers got his wish from heaven, "so that sickness and disease came

on Caimin, and not one bone of him remained united to the other on earth,

but his flesh was dissolved, and his nerves with the excess of every

disease that fell upon him." On account, doubtless, of this penitential

spirit, Caimin has been likened, by an old author, to Pachomius the monk,

one of the great fathers of Eastern monasticism. The monastic school of

Caimin continued to flourish for many centuries after his death, and

produced several distinguished scholars, whose names are still held in

great veneration by the learned.

The ruined monuments still remaining at Iniscaltra, and now happily in

charge of the Board of Works, sufficiently attest the ancient importance

of the religious establishment on "Holy Island." The peasantry still speak

of it as the "Seven Churches," and the island is almost invariably called

'Holy Island,' which shows the reverence that still clings to its ruined

walls. The round tower which, in the distance, seems to rise from the

waters of the lake, is a strikingly beautiful and picturesque object in

the landscape. It is still 80 feet high, 46 feet in circumference, with an

internal diameter of nearly 8 feet. The stones in the lower courses are

very large, and the masonry of a massive character for the first seven or

eight feet; after that the work becomes coarser and more irregular, and

the stones are much smaller. The door-way is 10 feet 7 inches above the

present level--anciently it was much more. There is a single window for

each of the different lofts, looking towards the cardinal points, and

lighting the different storeys. The northern window is formed of finely

cut stone, and is triangular outside, but square-beaded within.