The learned Professor O'Curry devotes the sixteenth and following
lectures of his work on the _Manuscript Materials of Irish History_ to
the early ecclesiastical MSS. In the eighteenth lecture (page 378, and
foll.) he says:--
"The fifth class of these religious remains consists of the prayers,
invocations, and litanies which have come down to us: these I shall set
down in chronological order, as far as my authorities will allow me,
and, when authority fails, guided by my own judgment and experience in
the investigation of these ancient writings".
Of the first piece of this class mentioned by O'Curry, the Prayer of
Saint Aireran, or Aileran the Wise, we hope to treat in a future number
of this RECORD.
"The second piece of this class", he continues, "is the Prayer
or Invocation of _Colgu Na Duinechda_, a classical professor of
Clonmacnoise, who died in the year 789".
In the Martyrology of Donegal, just published by the Irish
Archæological and Celtic Society, we find the following notice of the
Author of this prayer on the 20th of February, the 10th of the Kalends
of March:
"COLGA, Mac Ua Duinechda,[1] _i.e._ Lector of Cluan-mac-nois. It was
he that composed the kind of prayer, called the #Surab Crabhaidh#.[2]
It was to him Paul the Apostle came to converse with him, and to help
him on his road, and he took his satchel of books at Moin-tire-an-áis,
and it was he that pleaded for him to the school of Cluain-mac-Nois,
and the prologue or preface which is before that prayer states that
this Colga was a saint, was a priest, and was a scribe of the saints
of Erin, etc. And there is a Saint Colga, with his pedigree, among the
race of Dathi, son of Fiachra, son of Eochaidh Muidhmhedhoin, and he
may perhaps be this Colga".
[1] Dr. Todd, one of the learned editors, here adds a note:
"_Duinechda._ The later hand inserts here: Marian. vocat. #Caolcu#,
Marianus O'Gorman calls him #Caolchu#". But in the Brussels MS. of M.
O'Gorman, as copied by Mr. O'Curry, the name is written #Colchu#.
[2] That is the Besom or Broom of Devotion. See Colgan, Acta SS. p. 378.
Through the gracious permission of their Lordships the Board of the
Catholic University, who have placed at our disposal the manuscripts
belonging to the late lamented Mr. O'Curry, now in possession of the
University, we are enabled to give our readers this interesting and
valuable document. In doing so we do not pretend to enter on a critical
or philological examination of it. We shall confine ourselves to some
remarks on those points which seem most interesting to ecclesiastics.
Speaking of this document, the learned Professor says: "This prayer is
divided into two parts. The first consists of twenty-eight petitions
or paragraphs, each paragraph beseeching the mercy and forgiveness of
Jesus through the intercession of some class of the holy men of the Old
and New Testament, who are referred to in the paragraph, or represented
by the names of one or more of the most distinguished of them. The
first part begins thus:--'I beseech the intercession with Thee, O Holy
Jesus! of thy four Evangelists who wrote thy Gospel, Matthew, Mark,
Luke, and John'. The second part consists of seventeen petitions to the
Lord Jesus, apparently offered at Mass time, beseeching Him to accept
the sacrifice then made for all Christian Churches, for the sake of the
Merciful Father, from whom He descended upon the Earth, for the sake of
His Divinity, which the Father had overshadowed, in order that it might
unite with His humanity, for the sake of the Immaculate body from which
He was formed in the womb of the Virgin. The second prayer begins thus:
'O Holy Jesus! O Beautiful Friend!' etc., etc."
The prayer is found in the _Leabhar Buidhe Lecain_ (or Yellow Book of
Lecain), in the library of Trinity College, Dublin, (MS. H. 2. 16,
T.C.D., col. 336).
_The Yellow Book of Lecain_ is a volume consisting at present
(notwithstanding many losses) of 500 pages of large quarto vellum; and
with the exception of a few small tracts in somewhat later hands, is
all finely written by Donnoch and _Gilla Isa_ Mac Firbis, in the year
1390. It would appear to have been, in its original form, a collection
of ancient historical pieces, civil and ecclesiastical, in prose and
verse. O'Curry enumerates these pieces at page 191 of his work on the
_MS. Materials of Irish history_.
ORATIO COLGANI sancti[3] (Ua Duinechda, ob. A.D. 789). Sapientis et
Prespiteri et Scripæ omnium Sanctorum incipit qui cunque hanc orationem
cantaverit veram penitentiam et indulgentiam peccatorum habebit et
alias multa gratias, id est, Ateoch fuit a Isa naemh do cheithre
suiscela, etc.
[3] This title is from Michael O'Cleary's copy, made in 1627.--The
Prayer is from a vellum MS. written in 1390.
[PART I.]
1. I beseech the intercession with thee, O holy Jesus, of thy Four
Evangelists, who wrote thy Divine Gospel, viz., Matthew, Mark, Luke,
and John.
2. I beseech the intercession with thee of thy four chief Prophets,
who foretold thy Incarnation, Daniel, and Jeremiah, and Isaiah, and
Ezechiel.
3. I beseech the intercession with thee of the nine degrees of the
Church on Earth, from the Psalm-singer to the Bishop.
4. I beseech the intercession with thee of all the elect who have taken
these degrees from the commencement of the New Testament to this day,
and who shall adopt them from this day to the day of judgment.
5. I beseech the intercession with thee of the nine degrees of the
Heavenly Church, viz., Angels and Archangels, Virtutes, Potestates,
Principatus, Dominationes, Throni, Hirophin, Sarophin.
6. I beseech the intercession with thee of the noble Patriarchs, who
foretold thee through the spiritual mysteries.
7. I beseech the intercession with thee of the twelve Minor Prophets,
who figured thee.
8. I beseech the intercession with thee of the Twelve Apostles, who
loved, and who desired, and who adhered to, and who followed, and who
chose thee before all others.
9. I beseech the intercession with thee of all thy sons of pure
virginity throughout the world, both of the Old Testament and the New
Testament, together with the youthful John, thine own bosom child.
10. I beseech the intercession with thee of all the repentant saints,
with Peter the Apostle.
11. I beseech the intercession with thee of all the perfect virgins of
the world, with the Virgin Mary, thine own Holy Mother.
12. I beseech the intercession with thee of all the repentant widows,
with Mary Magdalene.
13. I beseech the intercession with thee of all righteously tempted
persons, with afflicted Job, who was visited with tribulations.
14. I beseech the intercession with thee of all the holy martyrs of the
whole world, both of the Old Testament and of the New Testament, from
the beginning of the world to Eli and Enoch, who shall suffer the last
martyrdom on the brink of the judgment; with Stephen, with Cornelius,
with Cyprian, with Lawrence, with Georgius, with Germanus.
15. I beseech the intercession with thee of all the holy monks who made
battle for thy sake throughout the whole world, with Eliam, and with
Elisium, in the Old Testament; with John, with Paul, with Anthony, in
the New Testament.
16. I beseech the intercession with thee of all the chosen of the
Patriarchal Law, with Abel, with Seth, with Eli, with Enoch, with
Abraham, with Isaac, with Jacob.
17. I beseech the intercession with thee of all the chosen of the
written Law, with Moses, with Jesu, with Calep, with Aaron, with
Eliazar, and with Jonas.
18. I beseech the intercession with thee of all the chosen of the Law
of the Prophets, with Elias and with Elisium; with David, with Solomon.
19. I beseech the intercession with thee of all the chosen of the Law
of the New Testament, with thine own Holy Apostles, and with all the
saints to the end of the world.
20. I beseech the intercession with thee of all the holy bishops who
founded the ecclesiastical city in Jerusalem, with Jacob of the knees,
thine own holy brother.
21. I beseech the intercession with thee of all the holy bishops who
founded the ecclesiastical city in Rome, with Lin, with Cleit, with
Clement.
22. I beseech the intercession with thee of all the holy bishops who
founded the ecclesiastical city in Alexandria, with Mark the Evangelist.
23. I beseech the intercession with thee of all the holy bishops who
founded the ecclesiastical city after them, with the Apostle Peter.
24. I beseech the intercession with thee of the holy Innocents of the
whole world, who suffered crucifixion and martyrdom for thee, with the
two thousand one hundred and forty _youths_ who were murdered by Herod
in Bethlehem of Juda, with the boy Ciric.
25. I beseech the intercession with thee of all the hosts of the
perfect, righteous elders, who preached of thee in their old age, and
their perfection, and their righteousness, with Eligib in the Old
Testament, and with the noble, perfect, righteous elder Simeon, at
the beginning of the New Testament, who caught thee upon his wrists
and upon his knees and upon his arms, rejoicing over thee, when he
said: Nunc dimitte secundum tuum Domine secundum verbum tuum in pace.
Quia viderunt oculi mei salutem tuam. Quod parasti antefaciem omnium
populorum lumen adrevelationem gentium et gloriam plebis tuae Israel.
26. I beseech the intercession with thee of all the holy disciples,
who learned all the spiritual knowledge, both of the Old Testament and
the New Testament, with the seventy-two disciples.
27. I beseech the intercession with thee of all the perfect teachers,
who preached the spiritual sense (#sians#), with the seventy-two
disciples themselves, and with the Apostle Paul, that thou take me
this night, O Holy Trinity, under thy protection and shelter, and
with ardour to defend me and to protect me from the demons with
all their solicitations, and from all the creatures of the world;
from the desires, from the transgressions, from the sins, from the
disobediences, from the dangers of this world; from the pains of the
next; from the hands of enemies and all dangers; from the fire of Hell
and eternity; from disgrace before the face of God; from the pursuit of
demons, that they prevail _nought_ with us in our passage to the other
world; from the dangers of this world; from every person whom God knows
to be unfriendly to us throughout the ten points of the Earth. May God
put away from us their fury, their power, their valour, their bravery,
their cunning; may God light up meekness, and charity, gratitude, and
mercy, and forgiveness in their hearts, and in their thoughts, and in
their souls, and in their minds, and in their bowels.
[PART II.]