_The Aran Islands._--The marvellous isles of Aran, still a museum of
all periods of ancient Irish history, with their immense prehistoric
forts and their strange little oratories, were from an early date
chosen as the site of Christian communities. Enda ruled over a
community at the southern end of the Great Island; the church still
survives, in ruin, and bears his name. Ciaran must have remained long
enough in Aran to make a permanent impression there, for one of the
ancient churches--much later than his time, however--is dedicated
under his invocation. The reference to saints "known to God only"
reminds us of the dedications to saints "whose names the Lord knows"
in Greek on the font of the Church of the Nativity at Bethlehem, and
in Armenian on a mosaic pavement at Jerusalem.
_Prophecy by Vision._--This is not an infrequent incident in the
saints' Lives. It often appears at the beginning of a Life, the
saint's mother having a dream interpreted by some one, whom she
consults, as indicative of the future greatness and holiness of her
unborn son. I have not hit upon another case in these documents of the
same dream appearing to two persons at once.
Ciaran's visit to Enda is described at length in the _Vita Endei_
(VSH, ii, 71-2). We are there told that he was seven years in Aran,
serving faithfully in the monastic threshing-barn, so that in the
chaff-heaps it would have been impossible to discover a single grain;
and that the walls of his threshing-barn were still standing in Aran
when the hagiographer wrote. He then saw the vision of the tree,
which, however, we are not told was seen by Enda also. Enda
interpreted the vision as in the texts before us, and bade him
go forth to fulfil the divine will. Ciaran then went to found
Clonmacnois. He besought Enda before he departed that he (Enda) should
accept him and his _parochia_ under his protection: but Enda answered,
"God hath not ordained it so for thee, that thou shouldst in this
narrow island be under my authority. But because of thy wondrous
humility and thy perfect charity, Christ thy Lord giveth thee a half
of Ireland as thine inheritance." Here there is another version of the
claim of Clonmacnois to legislate ecclesiastically for half of the
island. They then erected a cross as a token of their fraternal
bond, putting a curse upon whomsoever should make a breach in their
agreement. In a Life of Saint Enda, quoted by the Bollandists
(September, vol. iii, p. 376 C), it is further averred that Enda saw
in a vision all the angels that haunted Aran departing in the company
of Ciaran as he went on his way. Distressed at this desertion of his
heavenly ministrants, he fasted and prayed; but an angel appeared
to him and comforted him, saying that the angels were permitted to
accompany Ciaran on account of his holiness, but that they would
return again to Aran.