"If thou hast the right, O Erin,
to a champion of battle to aid thee
thou hast the head of a hundred
thousand, Declan of Ardmore"
(Martyrology of Oengus).
Five miles or less to the east of Youghal Harbour, on the southern
Irish coast, a short, rocky and rather elevated promontory juts, with a
south-easterly trend, into the ocean [about 51 deg. 57 min. N / 7 deg.
43 min. W]. Maps and admiralty charts call it Ram Head, but the real
name is Ceann-a-Rama and popularly it is often styled Ardmore Head. The
material of this inhospitable coast is a hard metamorphic schist which
bids defiance to time and weather. Landwards the shore curves in clay
cliffs to the north-east, leaving, between it and the iron headland
beyond, a shallow exposed bay wherein many a proud ship has met her
doom. Nestling at the north side of the headland and sheltered by the
latter from Atlantic storms stands one of the most remarkable groups of
ancient ecclesiastical remains in Ireland--all that has survived of St.
Declan's holy city of Ardmore. This embraces a beautiful and perfect
round tower, a singularly interesting ruined church commonly called the
cathedral, the ruins of a second church beside a holy well, a primitive
oratory, a couple of ogham inscribed pillar stones, &c., &c.
No Irish saint perhaps has so strong a local hold as Declan or has left
so abiding a popular memory. Nevertheless his period is one of the great
disputed questions of early Irish history. According to the express
testimony of his Life, corroborated by testimony of the Lives of SS.
Ailbhe and Ciaran, he preceded St. Patrick in the Irish mission and
was a co-temporary of the national apostle. Objection, exception or
opposition to the theory of Declan's early period is based less on any
inherent improbability in the theory itself than on contradictions and
inconsistencies in the Life. Beyond any doubt the Life does actually
contradict itself; it makes Declan a cotemporary of Patrick in the fifth
century and a cotemporary likewise of St. David a century later. In
any attempted solution of the difficulty involved it may be helpful
to remember a special motive likely to animate a tribal histrographer,
scil.:--the family relationship, if we may so call it, of the two
saints; David was bishop of the Deisi colony in Wales as Declan was
bishop of their kinsmen of southern Ireland. It was very probably part
of the writer's purpose to call attention to the links of kindred which
bound the separated Deisi; witness his allusion later to the alleged
visit of Declan to his kinsmen of Bregia. Possibly there were several
Declans, as there were scores of Colmans, Finians, &c., and hence
perhaps the confusion and some of the apparent inconsistencies. There
was certainly a second Declan, a disciple of St. Virgilius, to whom the
latter committed care of a church in Austria where he died towards
close of eighth century. Again we find mention of a St. Declan who was
a foster son of Mogue of Ferns, and so on. It is too much, as Delehaye
("Legendes Hagiographiques") remarks, to expect the populace to
distinguish between namesakes. Great men are so rare! Is it likely there
should have lived two saints of the same name in the same country!
The latest commentators on the question of St. Declan's period--and they
happen to be amongst the most weighty--argue strongly in favour of the
pre-Patrician mission (Cfr. Prof. Kuno Meyer, "Learning Ireland in the
Fifth Century"). Discussing the way in which letters first reached our
distant island of the west and the causes which led to the proficiency
of sixth-century Ireland in classical learning Zimmer and Meyer contend
that the seeds of that literary culture, which flourished in Ireland of
the sixth century, had been sown therein in the first and second decades
of the preceding century by Gaulish scholars who had fled from their own
country owing to invasion of the latter by Goths and other barbarians.
The fact that these scholars, who were mostly Christians, sought asylum
in Ireland indicates that Christianity had already penetrated thither,
or at any rate that it was known and tolerated there. Dr. Meyer answers
the objection that if so large and so important an invasion of scholars
took place we ought have some reference to the fact in the Irish annals.
The annals, he replies, are of local origin and they rarely refer in
their oldest parts to national events: moreover they are very meagre in
their information about the fifth century. One Irish reference to the
Gaulish scholars is, however, adduced in corroboration; it occurs in
that well known passage in St. Patrick's "Confessio" where the saint
cries out against certain "rhetoricians" in Ireland who were hostile
to him and pagan,--"You rhetoricians who do not know the Lord, hear and
search Who it was that called me up, fool though I be, from the midst
of those who think themselves wise and skilled in the law and mighty
orators and powerful in everything." Who were these "rhetorici" that
have made this passage so difficult for commentators and have caused
so various constructions to be put upon it? It is clear, the professor
maintains, that the reference is to pagan rhetors from Gaul whose
arrogant presumption, founded on their learning, made them regard with
disdain the comparatively illiterate apostle of the Scots. Everyone is
familiar with the classic passage of Tacitus wherein he alludes to the
harbours of Ireland as being more familiar to continental mariners than
those of Britain. We have references moreover to refugee Christians who
fled to Ireland from the persecutions of Diocletian more than a century
before St. Patrick's day; in addition it is abundantly evident that
many Irishmen--Christians like Celestius the lieutenant of Pelagius,
and possibly Pelagius himself, amongst them--had risen to distinction or
notoriety abroad before middle of the fifth century.
Possibly the best way to present the question of Declan's age is to put
in tabulated form the arguments of the pre-Patrician advocates against
the counter contentions of those who claim that Declan's period is later
than Patrick's:--
For the Pre-Patrician Mission. Against Theory of Early
Fifth Century period.
I.--Positive statement of Life, I.--Contradictions, anachronisms,
corroborated by Lives of SS. &c., of Life.
Ciaran and Ailbhe. II.--Lack of allusion to Declan in
II.--Patrick's apparent avoidance the Lives of St. Patrick.
of the Principality of Decies. III.--Prosper's testimony to the
III.--The peculiar Declan cult and mission of Palladius as first
the strong local hold which bishop to the believing Scots.
Declan has maintained. IV.--Alleged motives for later
invention of Pre-Patrician story.
In this matter and at this hour it is hardly worth appealing to the
authority of Lanigan and the scholars of the past. Much evidence not
available in Lanigan's day is now at the service of scholars. We are to
look rather at the reasoning of Colgan, Ussher, and Lanigan than to the
mere weight of their names.
Referring in order to our tabulated grounds of argument, pro and con,
and taking the pro arguments first, we may (I.) discard as evidence for
our purpose the Life of St. Ibar which is very fragmentary and otherwise
a rather unsatisfactory document. The Lives of Ailbhe, Ciaran, and
Declan are however mutually corroborative and consistent. The
Roman visit and the alleged tutelage under Hilarius are probably
embellishments; they look like inventions to explain something and they
may contain more than a kernel of truth. At any rate they are matters
requiring further investigation and elucidation. In this connection it
may be useful to recall that the Life (Latin) of St. Ciaran has been
attributed by Colgan to Evinus the disciple and panegyrist of St.
Patrick.
Patrick's apparent neglect of the Decies (II.) may have no special
significance. At best it is but negative evidence: taken, however, in
connection with (I.) and its consectaria it is suggestive. We can
hardly help speculating why the apostle--passing as it were by its
front door--should have given the go-bye to a region so important as the
Munster Decies. Perhaps he sent preachers into it; perhaps there was no
special necessity for a formal mission, as the faith had already
found entrance. It is a little noteworthy too that we do not find St.
Patrick's name surviving in any ecclesiastical connection with the
Decies, if we except Patrick's Well, near Clonmel, and this Well is
within a mile or so of the territorial frontier. Moreover the southern
portion of the present Tipperary County had been ceded by Aengus to the
Deisi, only just previous to Patrick's advent, and had hardly yet had
sufficient time to become absorbed. The whole story of Declan's alleged
relations with Patrick undoubtedly suggests some irregularity in
Declan's mission--an irregularity which was capable of rectification
through Patrick and which de facto was finally so rectified.
(III.) No one in Eastern Munster requires to be told how strong is the
cult of St. Declan throughout Decies and the adjacent territory. It is
hardly too much to say that the Declan tradition in Waterford and Cork
is a spiritual actuality, extraordinary and unique, even in a land
which till recently paid special popular honour to its local saints. In
traditional popular regard Declan in the Decies has ever stood first,
foremost, and pioneer. Carthage, founder of the tribal see, has held and
holds in the imagination of the people only a secondary place. Declan,
whencesoever or whenever he came, is regarded as the spiritual father
to whom the Deisi owe the gift of faith. How far this tradition and the
implied belief in Declan's priority and independent mission are derived
from circulation of the "Life" throughout Munster in the last few
centuries it is difficult to gauge, but the tradition seems to have
flourished as vigorously in the days of Colgan as it does to-day.
Declan's "pattern" at Ardmore continues to be still the most noted
celebration of its kind in Ireland. A few years ago it was participated
in by as many as fourteen thousand people from all parts of Waterford,
Cork, and Tipperary. The scenes and ceremonies have been so frequently
described that it is not necessary to recount them here--suffice it to
say that the devotional practices and, in fact, the whole celebration
is of a purely popular character receiving no approbation, and but bare
toleration, from church or clergy. Even to the present day Declan's name
is borne as their praenomen by hundreds of Waterford men, and, before
introduction of the modern practice of christening with foolish foreign
names, its use was far more common, as the ancient baptismal registers
of Ardmore, Old Parish, and Clashmore attest. On the other hand Declan's
name is associated with comparatively few places in the Decies. Of these
the best known is Relig Deaglain, a disused graveyard and early church
site on the townland of Drumroe, near Cappoquin. There was also an
ancient church called Killdeglain, near Stradbally.
Against the theory of the pre-Patrician or citra-Patrician mission we
have first the objection, which really has no weight, and which we shall
not stop to discuss, that it is impossible for Christianity at that
early date to have found its way to this distant island, beyond the
boundary of the world. An argument on a different plane is (I.), the
undoubtedly contradictory and inconsistent character of the Life. It is
easy however to exaggerate the importance of this point. Modern critical
methods were undreamed of in the days of our hagiographer, who
wrote, moreover, for edification only in a credulous age. Most of the
historical documents of the period are in a greater or less degree
uncritical but that does not discredit their testimony however much it
may confuse their editors. It can be urged moreover that two mutually
incompatible genealogies of the saint are given. The genealogy given by
MacFirbisigh seems in fact to disagree in almost every possible detail
with the genealogy in 23 M. 50 R.I.A. That however is like an argument
that Declan never existed. It really suggests and almost postulates the
existence of a second Declan whose Acts and those of our Declan have
become mutually confused.
(II.) Absence of Declan's name from the Acts of Patrick is a negative
argument. It is explicable perhaps by the supposed irregularity of
Declan's preaching. Declan was certainly earlier than Mochuda and yet
there is no reference to him in the Life of the latter saint. Ailbhe
however is referred to in the Tripartite Life of Patrick and the
cases of Ailbhe and Declan are "a pari"; the two saints stand or fall
together.
(IV.) Motives for invention of the pre-Patrician myth are alleged,
scil.:--to rebut certain claims to jurisdiction, tribute or visitation
advanced by Armagh in after ages. It is hard to see however how
resistance to the claims in question could be better justified on the
theory of a pre-Patrician Declan, who admittedly acknowledged Patrick's
supremacy, than on the admission of a post-Patrician mission.
That in Declan we have to deal with a very early Christian teacher of
the Decies there can be no doubt. If not anterior to Patrick he must
have been the latter's cotemporary. Declan however had failed to convert
the chieftain of his race and for this--reading between the lines of the
"Life"--we seem to hear Patrick blaming him.
The monuments proper of Declan remaining at Ardmore are (a) his ORATORY
near the Cathedral and Round Tower in the graveyard, (b) his STONE on
the beach, (c) his WELL on the cliff, and (d) ANOTHER STONE said to have
been found in his tomb and preserved at Ardmore for long ages with great
reveration. The "Life" refers moreover to the saint's pastoral staff and
his bell but these have disappeared for centuries.
The "Oratory" is simply a primitive church of the usual sixth century
type: it stands 13' 4" x 8' 9" in the clear, and has, or had, the usual
high-pitched gables and square-headed west doorway with inclining jambs.
Another characteristic feature of the early oratory is seen in the
curious antae or prolongation of the side walls. Locally the little
building is known as the "beannacan," in allusion, most likely, to
its high gables or the finials which once, no doubt, in Irish fashion,
adorned its roof. Though somewhat later than Declan's time this
primitive building is very intimately connected with the Saint.
Popularly it is supposed to be his grave and within it is a hollow space
scooped out, wherein it is said his ashes once reposed. It is highly
probable that tradition is quite correct as to the saint's grave, over
which the little church was erected in the century following Declan's
death. The oratory was furnished with a roof of slate by Bishop Mills in
1716.
"St. Declan's Stone" is a glacial boulder of very hard conglomerate
which lies on a rocky ledge of beach beneath the village of Ardmore.
It measures some 8' 6" x 4' 6" x 4' 0" and reposes upon two slightly
jutting points of the underlying metamorphic rock. Wonderful virtues are
attributed to St. Declan's Stone, which, on the occasion of the patronal
feast, is visited by hundreds of devotees who, to participate in its
healing efficacy and beneficence, crawl laboriously on face and hands
through the narrow space between the boulder and the underlying rock.
Near by, at foot of a new storm-wall, are two similar but somewhat
smaller boulders which, like their venerated and more famous neighbour,
were all wrenched originally by a glacier from their home in the
Comeragh Mountains twenty miles away.
"St. Declan's Well," beside some remains of a rather large and
apparently twelfth century church on the cliff, in the townland of
Dysert is diverted into a shallow basin in which pilgrims bathe feet
and hands. Set in some comparatively modern masonry over the well are
a carved crucifixion and other figures of apparently late mediaeval
character. Some malicious interference with this well led, nearly a
hundred years since, to much popular indignation and excitement.
The second "St. Declan's Stone" was a small, cross-inscribed jet-black
piece of slate or marble, approximately--2" or 3" x 1 1/2". Formerly
it seems to have had a small silver cross inset and was in great demand
locally as an amulet for cattle curing. It disappeared however, some
fifty years or so since, but very probably it could still be recovered
in Dungarvan.
Far the most striking of all the monuments at Ardmore is, of course, the
Round Tower which, in an excellent state of preservation, stands with
its conical cap of stone nearly a hundred feet high. Two remarkable, if
not unique, features of the tower are the series of sculptured corbels
which project between the floors on the inside, and the four projecting
belts or zones of masonry which divide the tower into storeys
externally. The tower's architectural anomalies are paralleled by its
history which is correspondingly unique: it stood a regular siege in
1642, when ordnance was brought to bear on it and it was defended
by forty confederates against the English under Lords Dungarvan and
Broghil.
A few yards to north of the Round Tower stands "The Cathedral"
illustrating almost every phase of ecclesiastical architecture which
flourished in Ireland from St. Patrick to the Reformation--Cyclopean,
Celtic-Romanesque, Transitional and Pointed. The chancel arch is
possibly the most remarkable and beautiful illustration of the
Transitional that we have. An extraordinary feature of the church is
the wonderful series of Celtic arcades and panels filled with archaic
sculptures in relief which occupy the whole external face of the west
gable.
St. Declan's foundation at Ardmore seems (teste Moran's Archdall) to
have been one of the Irish religious houses which accepted the reform of
Pope Innocent at the Lateran Council and to have transformed itself
into a Regular Canonry. It would however be possible to hold, on the
evidence, that it degenerated into a mere parochial church. We hear
indeed of two or three episcopal successors of the saint, scil.:--Ultan
who immediately followed him, Eugene who witnessed a charter to the
abbey of Cork in 1174, and Moelettrim O Duibhe-rathre who died in
1303 after he had, according to the annals of Inisfallen, "erected and
finished the Church" of Ardmore. The "Wars of the Gaedhil and Gall"
have reference, circa 824 or 825, to plunder by the Northmen of Disert
Tipraite which is almost certainly the church of Dysert by the Holy Well
at Ardmore. The same fleet, on the same expedition, plundered Dunderrow
(near Kinsale), Inisshannon (Bandon River), Lismore, and Kilmolash.
Regarding the age of our "Life" it is difficult with the data at hand
to say anything very definite. While dogmatism however is dangerous
indefiniteness is unsatisfying. True, we cannot trace the genealogy
of the present version beyond middle of the sixteenth century, but its
references to ancient monuments existing at date of its compilation show
it to be many centuries older. Its language proves little or nothing,
for, being a popular work, it would be modernised to date by each
successive scribe. Colgan was of opinion it was a composition of the
eighth century. Ussher and Ware, who had the Life in very ancient
codices, also thought it of great antiquity. Papebrach, the Bollandist,
on the other hand, considered the Life could not be older than the
twelfth century, but this opinion of his seems to have been based on a
misapprehension. In the absence of all diocesan colour or allusion one
feels constrained to assign the production to some period previous to
Rathbreasail. We should not perhaps be far wrong in assigning the first
collection of materials to somewhere in the eighth century or in the
century succeeding. The very vigorous ecclesiastical revival of the
eleventh century, at conclusion of the Danish wars, must have led to
some revision of the country's religious literature. The introduction,
a century and-a-half later, of the great religious orders most probably
led to translation of the Life into Latin and its casting into shape for
reading in refectory or choir.
Only three surviving copies of the Irish Life are known to the writer:
one in the Royal Library at Brussels, the second in the Royal Irish
Academy Collection (M. 23, 50, pp. 109-120), and the third in possession
of Professor Hyde. As the second and third enumerated are copies of one
imperfect exemplar it has not been thought necessary to collate both
with the Brussels MS. which has furnished the text here printed. M. 23,
50 (R.I.A.) has however been so collated and the marginal references
initialled B are to that imperfect copy. The latter, by the way, is in
the handwriting of John Murphy "na Raheenach," and is dated 1740. It has
not been thought necessary to give more than the important variants.
The present text is a reproduction of the Brussels MS. plus lengthening
of contractions. As regards lengthening in question it is to be noted
that the well known contraction for "ea" or "e" has been uniformly
transliterated "e." Otherwise orthography of the MS. has been
scrupulously followed--even where inconsistent or incorrect. For the
division into paragraphs the editor is not responsible; he has merely
followed the division originated, or adopted, by the scribe. The Life
herewith presented was copied in 1629 by Brother Michael O'Clery of the
Four Masters' staff from an older MS. of Eochy O'Heffernan's dated 1582.
The MS. of O'Heffernan is referred to by our scribe as "seinleabar,"
but his reference is rather to the contents than to the copy. Apparently
O'Clery did more than transcribe; he re-edited, as was his wont, into
the literary Irish of his day. A page of the Brussels MS., reproduced in
facsimile as a frontispiece to the present volume, will give the student
a good idea of O'Clery's script and style.
Occasional notes on Declan in the martyrologies and elsewhere give some
further information about our saint. Unfortunately however the alleged
facts are not always capable of reconciliation with statements of our
"Life," and again the existence of a second, otherwise unknown, Declan
is suggested. The introduction of rye is attributed to him in the
Calendar of Oengus, as introduction of wheat is credited to St. Finan
Camm, and introduction of bees to St. Modomnoc,--"It was the full of his
shoe that Declan brought, the full of his shoe likewise Finan, but the
full of his bell Modomnoc" (Cal. Oeng., April 7th). More puzzling is the
note in the same Calendar which makes Declan a foster son of Mogue
of Ferns! This entry illustrates the way in which errors originate. A
former scribe inadvertently copied in, after Declan's name, portion of
the entry immediately following which relates to Colman Hua Liathain.
Successive scribes re-copied the error without discovering it and so it
became stereotyped.