"Sancti veniteChristi corpus sumite,Sanctum bibentesQuo redempti sanguinem.Salvati ChristiCorpore et sanguine,A quo refectiLaudes dicamus Deo.Hoc SacramentoCorporis et sanguinisOmnes exutiAb inferni faucibus," etc.
The legend in the Leabhar Breac has it that this hymn was first chanted during the holy communion by the angels in his church, on the reconciliation between himself and Saint Patrick, whence the origin of chanting it during the communion service.
The Book of Armagh contains the two earliest lives of the national saint that we have, probably the two earliestbiographies of any size ever composed in Ireland. They are written in rude Latin, with a good deal of Irish place-names and Irish words intermixed, the first by one Muirchu Maccu Machteni,[28]who tells us that he wrote at the instigation of Aed, bishop of Sletty, who, as we know from the "Four Masters," died about 698, and the second by Tirechan, who says he received his knowledge of the saint from the lips and writings of Bishop Ultan,[29]his tutor, who died in 656, and who, supposing him to have been seventy or eighty years old at the time of his death, must have been born only eighty or ninety years after the death of St. Patrick himself. Both of these writers appear to have had older memoirs to draw on, for Muirchu says that many had before them endeavoured to write the history of St. Patrick from what their fathers and those who were ministers of the Word from the beginning had told them, though none had ever succeeded in producing a proper biography,[30]and in Tirechan's life of him in the Book of Armagh—an evident patchwork—we read that all his godly doings had been brought together[31]and collected by themost skilful of the ancients. The first of these lives consists of two books containing twenty-eight and thirteen short chapters, respectively, the second, Tirechan's, of one book containing fifty-seven chapters, in addition to which there are a number of minor notes referring to St. Patrick in Latin and in Irish, which Ferdomnach, who transcribed the book in 807, appears to have taken from other old lives or memoirs of the saint. The Irish portions of these notes are of peculiar interest, as showing what the Irish language was, as written about the year 800.[32]
If it is genuine the earliest life of Patrick ever written would probably be the brief metrical life ascribed to Fiacc of Sletty, the sixth or seventh in descent from Cáthaoir [Cauheer] Mór, who was king of Leinster at the close of the second century.[33]His mother was a sister of Dubhthach's [Duv-hach], the chief poet and Brehon of Ireland, who, we are told, helped St. Patrick to review and revise the Brehon Laws. Fiacc was a youthful poet in Dubhthach's train at Tara. Afterwards he was tonsured by St. Patrick, became Bishop of Sletty, and on Patrick's death is said to have written his life, and not forgetful of his former training, to have written it in elaborate verse.[34]So famous a critic as Zimmer believed half the poem to be genuine, but Thurneysen rejectsit because it does not fall in with his theories of Irish metre.[35]
But the longest and most important life of St. Patrick is that known as the Tripartite, or Triply-divided Life, which is really a series of three semi-historical homilies, or discourses, which were probably delivered in honour of the saint on the three festival days devoted to his memory, that is, the Vigil, the Feast itself, on March 17th, and the day after, or else the Octave. This Tripartite life, which is a fairly complete one, is written in ancient Irish, with many passages of Latin interspersed. The monk Jocelin, who wrote a life of the saint in the twelfth century, tells us that St. Evin[36]—from whom Monasterevin, in Queen's County, is called, a saint of the early sixth century—wrote a life of Patrick partly in Latin and partly in Gaelic, and Colgan, the learned Franciscan who translated the Tripartite in his "Trias Thaumaturga,"[37]believed that this was the very life which St. Evin wrote. Colgan found the Tripartite life in three very ancient Gaelic MSS., procured for him, no doubt, by the unwearied research of Brother Michael O'Clery in the early part of the seventeenth century, which he collated one with the other, and of which he gives the following noteworthy account:—
"The first thing to be observed is that it has been written by its first author and in the aforesaid manuscript, partly in Latin, partlyin Gaelic, and this in very ancient language, almost impenetrable by reason of its very great antiquity, exhibiting not only in the same chapter, but also in the same line, alternate phrases now in the Latin, now in the Gaelic tongue. In the second place, it is to be noticed that this life, on account of the very great antiquity of its style, which was held in much regard, used to be read in the schools of our antiquarians in the presence of their pupils, being elucidated and expounded by the glosses of the masters, and by interpretations of and observations on the more abstruse words; so that hence it is not to be wondered at that some words—which certainly did happen—gradually crept from these glosses into the texts, and thus brought a certain colour of newness into this most ancient and faithful author, some things being turned from Latin into Gaelic, some abbreviated by the scribes, and some altogether omitted."
"The first thing to be observed is that it has been written by its first author and in the aforesaid manuscript, partly in Latin, partlyin Gaelic, and this in very ancient language, almost impenetrable by reason of its very great antiquity, exhibiting not only in the same chapter, but also in the same line, alternate phrases now in the Latin, now in the Gaelic tongue. In the second place, it is to be noticed that this life, on account of the very great antiquity of its style, which was held in much regard, used to be read in the schools of our antiquarians in the presence of their pupils, being elucidated and expounded by the glosses of the masters, and by interpretations of and observations on the more abstruse words; so that hence it is not to be wondered at that some words—which certainly did happen—gradually crept from these glosses into the texts, and thus brought a certain colour of newness into this most ancient and faithful author, some things being turned from Latin into Gaelic, some abbreviated by the scribes, and some altogether omitted."
Colgan further tells us that, "of the three MSS. above mentioned, the first and chief is from very ancient vellums of the O'Clerys, antiquarians in Ulster; the second from the O'Deorans, of Leinster; the third taken from I know not what codex; and they differ from each other in some respects; one relating more diffusely what is more close in the others, and one relating in Latin what in the others was told in Gaelic; but we have followed the authority of that which relates the occurrences more diffusely and in Latin." O'Curry discovered in the British Museum a copy of this life, made in the fifteenth century, and it has since been admirably edited by Dr. Whitley Stokes, who, however, does not believe for philological and other reasons, that it could have been written before the middle of the tenth century. If so it is no doubt a compilation of all the pre-existing lives of the saint, and it mentions distinctly that six different writers, not counting Fiacc the poet, had collected the events of St. Patrick's life and his miracles, amongst whom were St. Columcille, who died in 592, and St. Ultan, who died in 656.[38]It is hardlynecessary, however, to say that in the matter of all anonymous Gaelic writings like the present, it is difficult to decide with any certainty as to age or date. The occurrence, indeed, of very old forms, shows that the sentences containing those old forms were first written at an early period; the occurrence of more modern forms, however, is no proof that the passages containing them were first written in modern times, for the words may have been altered by later transcribers into the language they spoke themselves; nor are allusions to events which we know were later than the date of an alleged writer,alwaysconclusive proofs that the work which contains them cannot be his work, for such allusions constantly creep into the margin of books at the hands of copyists, especially if those books were—as Colgan says the Tripartite life was—annotated and explained in schools. In cases of this kind there is always considerable latitude to be allowed to destructive and constructive criticism, and at the end matters must still remain doubtful.[39]
So much for the more important lives of St. Patrick, the first knownlittérateurof Ireland.
[1]"Contemporary Review."
[1]"Contemporary Review."
[2]So Tirechan, in Book of Armagh, fol. 9. "Et secum fuit multitudo episcoporum sanctorum et presbiterorum, et diaconorum, ac exorcistarum, hostiarium, lectorumque, necnon filiorum quos ordinavit."
[2]So Tirechan, in Book of Armagh, fol. 9. "Et secum fuit multitudo episcoporum sanctorum et presbiterorum, et diaconorum, ac exorcistarum, hostiarium, lectorumque, necnon filiorum quos ordinavit."
[3]So many English were attracted to Armagh in the seventh century that the city was divided into three wards, or thirds, one of which was called the Saxon Third.
[3]So many English were attracted to Armagh in the seventh century that the city was divided into three wards, or thirds, one of which was called the Saxon Third.
[4]See Dr. Healy's "Ireland's Ancient Schools and Scholars," p. 64.
[4]See Dr. Healy's "Ireland's Ancient Schools and Scholars," p. 64.
[5]There is a curious poem on St. Patrick's family of artificers quoted in the "Four Masters" under A.D. 278.
[5]There is a curious poem on St. Patrick's family of artificers quoted in the "Four Masters" under A.D. 278.
[6]There were no less than twenty-two saints of the name of Colum, yet that does not detract one iota from the genuineness of the life of the great Colum, called Columcille. There were fourteen St. Brendans, there were twenty-five St. Ciarans, and fifteen St. Brigits.How Ledwich—who, however, as O'Donovan remarks, looks at everything Irish with a jaundiced eye—could have written down St. Patrick as a myth is inconceivable, in the face of the fact that he was already recognised in the sixth century as a great saint. The earliest mention of him is probably St. Columba's subscription to the Book of Durrow, in the sixth century, which runs: "Rogo beatitudinem tuam Sancte Presbyter Patrici, ut quicumque hunc libellum manu tenuerit Columbæ Scriptoris, qui hoc scripsi ... met evangelium per xii. dierum spatium." Here we see a prayer already addressed to him as a national saint.
[6]There were no less than twenty-two saints of the name of Colum, yet that does not detract one iota from the genuineness of the life of the great Colum, called Columcille. There were fourteen St. Brendans, there were twenty-five St. Ciarans, and fifteen St. Brigits.
How Ledwich—who, however, as O'Donovan remarks, looks at everything Irish with a jaundiced eye—could have written down St. Patrick as a myth is inconceivable, in the face of the fact that he was already recognised in the sixth century as a great saint. The earliest mention of him is probably St. Columba's subscription to the Book of Durrow, in the sixth century, which runs: "Rogo beatitudinem tuam Sancte Presbyter Patrici, ut quicumque hunc libellum manu tenuerit Columbæ Scriptoris, qui hoc scripsi ... met evangelium per xii. dierum spatium." Here we see a prayer already addressed to him as a national saint.
[7]This is clearly shown by the 56th chap. of Tirechan's life fol. 16aa of the Book of Armagh, where he makes the following statement: "XIII. Anno Teothosii imperatoris a Celestino episcopo papa Romæ Patricius episcopus ad doctrinam Scottorum mittitur. Qui Celestinus XLVII episcopus fuit a Petro apostolo in urbe Roma. Paladius episcopus primus mittitur [in the year 430, according to Bede] qui Patricius alio nomine appellabatur, qui martirium passus est apud Scottos, ut tradunt sancti antiqui. Deinde Patricius secundus ab anguelo Dei, Victor nomine, et a Celestino papa mittitur, cui Hibernia tota credidit, qui eam pene totam bab[titzavit]." Also it is to be observed that St. Patrick's life according to the usual computations, covers 120 years, which seems an improbably long period. According to the Brussels Codex of Muirchu Maccu Machteni's life, he dieda passione Domini nostri436; the author, no doubt, imagined the passion to have taken place in A.D. 34; this would fix Patrick's death as in 470. See p. 20 of Father Hogan's "Documenta ex Libro Armachano," and with this Tirechan also agrees, saying "A passione autem christi colleguntur anni ccccxxxvi. usque ad mortem Patricii." Tirechan curiously contradicts himself in saying, "Duobus autem vel v annis regnavit Loiguire post mortem Patricii, omnis autem regni illius tempus xxxvi. ut putamus," in chap. ii., and in chap. liii. he says that Patrick taught (i.e., in Ireland) for 72 years! He evidently compiled badly from two different documents.The only cogent reason for doubting about the reality of St. Patrick is that he is not mentioned in the Chronicon of Prosper, which comes down to the year 455, and which ascribes the conversion of Ireland to Palladius, as does Bede afterwards. It is the silence of Prosper and Bede about any one of the name of Patrick which has cast doubt upon his existence. A most ingenious theory has been propounded by Father E. O'Brien in the "Irish Ecclesiastical Record" to explain this. According to him Patrickisthe Palladius of Prosper and Bede. The earliest lives, and the scholiast on Fiacc's hymn, tell us that Patrick had four names; one of these was Succat "qui est deus belli," but Palladius is the Latin of Patrick's name (succat). TheDeus bellicould only be rendered into Latin by the words Arius Martius or Palladius, these being the only names drawn from war-gods, and of these Palladius was the commonest. It seems not unlikely that the Patrick who wrote the "Confession" and converted Ireland is the Palladius of Bede and Prosper, who also converted Ireland. The Paladius of Tirechan who failed to convert Ireland is evidently another person altogether.It is to be remarked that although Bede never mentions Patrick in his "Ecclesiastical History," nevertheless in the "Martyrology"—found by Mabillon at Rheims, and attributed to Bede, Patrick is distinctly commemorated—"Patricius Domini servus conscendit ad aulam,Cuthbertus ternas tenuit denasque Kalendas."
[7]This is clearly shown by the 56th chap. of Tirechan's life fol. 16aa of the Book of Armagh, where he makes the following statement: "XIII. Anno Teothosii imperatoris a Celestino episcopo papa Romæ Patricius episcopus ad doctrinam Scottorum mittitur. Qui Celestinus XLVII episcopus fuit a Petro apostolo in urbe Roma. Paladius episcopus primus mittitur [in the year 430, according to Bede] qui Patricius alio nomine appellabatur, qui martirium passus est apud Scottos, ut tradunt sancti antiqui. Deinde Patricius secundus ab anguelo Dei, Victor nomine, et a Celestino papa mittitur, cui Hibernia tota credidit, qui eam pene totam bab[titzavit]." Also it is to be observed that St. Patrick's life according to the usual computations, covers 120 years, which seems an improbably long period. According to the Brussels Codex of Muirchu Maccu Machteni's life, he dieda passione Domini nostri436; the author, no doubt, imagined the passion to have taken place in A.D. 34; this would fix Patrick's death as in 470. See p. 20 of Father Hogan's "Documenta ex Libro Armachano," and with this Tirechan also agrees, saying "A passione autem christi colleguntur anni ccccxxxvi. usque ad mortem Patricii." Tirechan curiously contradicts himself in saying, "Duobus autem vel v annis regnavit Loiguire post mortem Patricii, omnis autem regni illius tempus xxxvi. ut putamus," in chap. ii., and in chap. liii. he says that Patrick taught (i.e., in Ireland) for 72 years! He evidently compiled badly from two different documents.
The only cogent reason for doubting about the reality of St. Patrick is that he is not mentioned in the Chronicon of Prosper, which comes down to the year 455, and which ascribes the conversion of Ireland to Palladius, as does Bede afterwards. It is the silence of Prosper and Bede about any one of the name of Patrick which has cast doubt upon his existence. A most ingenious theory has been propounded by Father E. O'Brien in the "Irish Ecclesiastical Record" to explain this. According to him Patrickisthe Palladius of Prosper and Bede. The earliest lives, and the scholiast on Fiacc's hymn, tell us that Patrick had four names; one of these was Succat "qui est deus belli," but Palladius is the Latin of Patrick's name (succat). TheDeus bellicould only be rendered into Latin by the words Arius Martius or Palladius, these being the only names drawn from war-gods, and of these Palladius was the commonest. It seems not unlikely that the Patrick who wrote the "Confession" and converted Ireland is the Palladius of Bede and Prosper, who also converted Ireland. The Paladius of Tirechan who failed to convert Ireland is evidently another person altogether.
It is to be remarked that although Bede never mentions Patrick in his "Ecclesiastical History," nevertheless in the "Martyrology"—found by Mabillon at Rheims, and attributed to Bede, Patrick is distinctly commemorated—
"Patricius Domini servus conscendit ad aulam,Cuthbertus ternas tenuit denasque Kalendas."
[8]For the full particulars of this acute discovery, which sets the date of the codex beyond doubt or cavil, see Dr. Graves' paper read before the Royal Irish Academy, vol. iii. pp. 316-324, and a supplementary paper giving other cogent reasons, vol. iii. p. 358. According to O'Donovan, the "Four Masters" antedate here by five years. It is worth remarking that Torbach, who caused this copy to be made, was himself a noted scribe. His death in 807 is recorded in the "Four Masters" and in the "Annals of Ulster," we read "Torbach, son of Gorman, scribe, lector, and Abbot of Armagh, died."
[8]For the full particulars of this acute discovery, which sets the date of the codex beyond doubt or cavil, see Dr. Graves' paper read before the Royal Irish Academy, vol. iii. pp. 316-324, and a supplementary paper giving other cogent reasons, vol. iii. p. 358. According to O'Donovan, the "Four Masters" antedate here by five years. It is worth remarking that Torbach, who caused this copy to be made, was himself a noted scribe. His death in 807 is recorded in the "Four Masters" and in the "Annals of Ulster," we read "Torbach, son of Gorman, scribe, lector, and Abbot of Armagh, died."
[9]There are several passages omitted in the Book of Armagh, which are found in an ancient Brussels MS. of the eleventh century. These were probably omitted from the Book of Armagh because they were undecipherable. The Brussels MS. and others contain nearly as much again as it, and there are many proofs that this extra matter is not of later or spurious origin; thus Tirechan refers to Patrick's own records, "ut in scriptione sua affirmat," for evidence of a fact not mentioned in the "Confession" as given in the Book of Armagh, but which is supplied by the other MSS., namely, that Patrick paid the price of fifteen "souls of men," or slaves, for protection on his missionary journey across Ireland. The frequent occurrence ofdeest, et cetera, et reliqua, show that the Armagh copy of the "Confession" is nothing like a full one. The Brussels MS. formerly belonged to the Irish monastery of Würzburg.
[9]There are several passages omitted in the Book of Armagh, which are found in an ancient Brussels MS. of the eleventh century. These were probably omitted from the Book of Armagh because they were undecipherable. The Brussels MS. and others contain nearly as much again as it, and there are many proofs that this extra matter is not of later or spurious origin; thus Tirechan refers to Patrick's own records, "ut in scriptione sua affirmat," for evidence of a fact not mentioned in the "Confession" as given in the Book of Armagh, but which is supplied by the other MSS., namely, that Patrick paid the price of fifteen "souls of men," or slaves, for protection on his missionary journey across Ireland. The frequent occurrence ofdeest, et cetera, et reliqua, show that the Armagh copy of the "Confession" is nothing like a full one. The Brussels MS. formerly belonged to the Irish monastery of Würzburg.
[10]Seech. III, note31.
[10]Seech. III, note31.
[11]The other contents of the Book of Armagh, besides the Patrician documents, are a copy of the New Testament, enriched with concordance tables and illustrative matter from Jerome, Hilary, and Pelagius. It includes the Epistle to the Laodiceans attributed to St. Paul, but it is mentioned that Jerome denied its authenticity. There are some pieces relating to St. Martin of Tours, and the Patrician pieces—the Life, the Collectanea, the Book of the Angel, and the "Confession."
[11]The other contents of the Book of Armagh, besides the Patrician documents, are a copy of the New Testament, enriched with concordance tables and illustrative matter from Jerome, Hilary, and Pelagius. It includes the Epistle to the Laodiceans attributed to St. Paul, but it is mentioned that Jerome denied its authenticity. There are some pieces relating to St. Martin of Tours, and the Patrician pieces—the Life, the Collectanea, the Book of the Angel, and the "Confession."
[12]"Sanctus Patricus iens ad cœlum mandavit totum fructum laboris sui tam baptismi tam causarum quam elemoisinarum deferendum esse apostolicæ urbi quae scotice nominatur ardd-macha. Sic reperi in Bibliothics Scotorum. Ego scripsi, id est Caluus Perennis, in conspectu Briain imperatoris Scotorum, et quod scripsi finituit pro omnibus regibus Maceriae [i.e., Cashel]." "Calvus Perennis" is the Latin translation of Mael-suthain, Brian's scribe and secretary. For a curious story about this Mael-suthain,seep. 779 O'Curry's MS. Materials.
[12]"Sanctus Patricus iens ad cœlum mandavit totum fructum laboris sui tam baptismi tam causarum quam elemoisinarum deferendum esse apostolicæ urbi quae scotice nominatur ardd-macha. Sic reperi in Bibliothics Scotorum. Ego scripsi, id est Caluus Perennis, in conspectu Briain imperatoris Scotorum, et quod scripsi finituit pro omnibus regibus Maceriae [i.e., Cashel]." "Calvus Perennis" is the Latin translation of Mael-suthain, Brian's scribe and secretary. For a curious story about this Mael-suthain,seep. 779 O'Curry's MS. Materials.
[13]See above Ch. XI, note13. It has been printed in Haddan and Stubb's, "Councils," etc., vol. ii. p. 296, and also admirably in Gilbert's facsimiles of National MSS.
[13]See above Ch. XI, note13. It has been printed in Haddan and Stubb's, "Councils," etc., vol. ii. p. 296, and also admirably in Gilbert's facsimiles of National MSS.
[14]It has often been said that the life of the saint in the Book of Armagh ignores the Roman Mission. But while the life of Muirchu Maccu Machteni does ignore it, Tirechan's his contemporary's, life, in the same book, distinctly acknowledges it, in these words, "deinde Patricius secundus ab anguelo dei, Victor nomine,et a Celestino papamittitur cui Hibernia tota credidit, qui eam pene totam bap[titzavit]." (Seechap. 56 of Tirechan's life.)
[14]It has often been said that the life of the saint in the Book of Armagh ignores the Roman Mission. But while the life of Muirchu Maccu Machteni does ignore it, Tirechan's his contemporary's, life, in the same book, distinctly acknowledges it, in these words, "deinde Patricius secundus ab anguelo dei, Victor nomine,et a Celestino papamittitur cui Hibernia tota credidit, qui eam pene totam bap[titzavit]." (Seechap. 56 of Tirechan's life.)
[15]In Irish he is usually called Son of Alprann or Alplann, the C of Calpornus being evidently taken as belonging to the Mac, thus Mac Calprainn became Mac Alprainn. In the Brussels Codex of Muirchu Maccu Machteni's life, however, he is calledAlforni filius, and the place of his birth is calledBan navem thabur indecha, supposed to be Killpatrick, near Dumbarton, in Scotland, which is evidently a corruption of his own Bannaven Taberniæ, which seems to mean River-head Tavern; it may be from the two wordsnavem thaburthat St. Fiacc's hymn says that he was born innemthur. Patrick himself only gives us two generations of his ancestry, and it is very significant of Irish ways to find Flann of Monasterboice, running it up to fourteen!
[15]In Irish he is usually called Son of Alprann or Alplann, the C of Calpornus being evidently taken as belonging to the Mac, thus Mac Calprainn became Mac Alprainn. In the Brussels Codex of Muirchu Maccu Machteni's life, however, he is calledAlforni filius, and the place of his birth is calledBan navem thabur indecha, supposed to be Killpatrick, near Dumbarton, in Scotland, which is evidently a corruption of his own Bannaven Taberniæ, which seems to mean River-head Tavern; it may be from the two wordsnavem thaburthat St. Fiacc's hymn says that he was born innemthur. Patrick himself only gives us two generations of his ancestry, and it is very significant of Irish ways to find Flann of Monasterboice, running it up to fourteen!
[16]It is worth while to transcribe this passage as a fair specimen of St. Patrick's style and latinity. "Et ibi scilicet in sinu noctis virum venientem quasi de Hiberione cui nomen Victoricus, cum æpistulis innumerabilibus vidi; et dedit mihi unam ex his et legi principium æpistolæ continentem 'Uox Hiberionacum.' Et dum recitabam principium æpistolæ, putabam enim ipse in mente audire vocem ipsorum qui erant juxta silvam Focluti [in the county Mayo] quæ est prope mare occidentale. Et sic exclamaverunt: 'Rogamus te sancte puer ut venias et adhuc ambulas inter nos.' Et valde compunctus sum corde, et amplius non potui legere. Et sic expertus [i.e.experrectus] sum. Deo gratias quia post plurimos annos præstitit illis Dominus secundum clamorum illorum" (Folio 23, 66, Book of Armagh, p. 126 of Father Hogan's Bollandist edition).
[16]It is worth while to transcribe this passage as a fair specimen of St. Patrick's style and latinity. "Et ibi scilicet in sinu noctis virum venientem quasi de Hiberione cui nomen Victoricus, cum æpistulis innumerabilibus vidi; et dedit mihi unam ex his et legi principium æpistolæ continentem 'Uox Hiberionacum.' Et dum recitabam principium æpistolæ, putabam enim ipse in mente audire vocem ipsorum qui erant juxta silvam Focluti [in the county Mayo] quæ est prope mare occidentale. Et sic exclamaverunt: 'Rogamus te sancte puer ut venias et adhuc ambulas inter nos.' Et valde compunctus sum corde, et amplius non potui legere. Et sic expertus [i.e.experrectus] sum. Deo gratias quia post plurimos annos præstitit illis Dominus secundum clamorum illorum" (Folio 23, 66, Book of Armagh, p. 126 of Father Hogan's Bollandist edition).
[17]The "Confession" ends with a certain rough eloquence: "Christus Dominus pauper fuit pro nobis; ego vero miser et infelix, et si opes voluero jam non habeo; neque me ipsum judico quia quotidie spero aut internicionem aut circumveniri, aut redigi in servitatem, sive occassio cujus-libet.... Et hæc est confessio mea antequam moriar."
[17]The "Confession" ends with a certain rough eloquence: "Christus Dominus pauper fuit pro nobis; ego vero miser et infelix, et si opes voluero jam non habeo; neque me ipsum judico quia quotidie spero aut internicionem aut circumveniri, aut redigi in servitatem, sive occassio cujus-libet.... Et hæc est confessio mea antequam moriar."
[18]Dr. Healy's "Ireland's Ancient Schools and Scholars," p. 68.
[18]Dr. Healy's "Ireland's Ancient Schools and Scholars," p. 68.
[19]It is printed by Haddan and Stubbs, "Councils," etc., vol. ii. p. 314.
[19]It is printed by Haddan and Stubbs, "Councils," etc., vol. ii. p. 314.
[20]This is certainly the first time on record that this question—so often repeated since in so many different forms—was asked.
[20]This is certainly the first time on record that this question—so often repeated since in so many different forms—was asked.
[21]See the original in Windsch's "Irische Texte," 1. p. 53, and Todd's "Liber Hymnorum"—"Atomrigh indiu niurt Dé dom luamarachtCumachta Dé dom chumgabailCiall Dé domm imthúsRose Dé dom reimcíse,Cluas Dé dom éstechtBriathar Dé dom erlabrai,Lám De domm imdegailIntech Dé dom remthechtas.Sciath Dé dom dítinSochraite Dé domm anuculAr intledaib demnaAr aslaigthib dualcheAr cech nduine míduthrastar dam,ícéinocusi n-ocusi n-uathedocushi sochaide," etc.
[21]See the original in Windsch's "Irische Texte," 1. p. 53, and Todd's "Liber Hymnorum"—
"Atomrigh indiu niurt Dé dom luamarachtCumachta Dé dom chumgabailCiall Dé domm imthúsRose Dé dom reimcíse,Cluas Dé dom éstechtBriathar Dé dom erlabrai,Lám De domm imdegailIntech Dé dom remthechtas.Sciath Dé dom dítinSochraite Dé domm anuculAr intledaib demnaAr aslaigthib dualcheAr cech nduine míduthrastar dam,ícéinocusi n-ocusi n-uathedocushi sochaide," etc.
[22]Thus translated almost literally by Dr. Sigerson, "Bards of the Gael and Gall," p. 138. This is not the only poem attributed to St. Patrick, several others are ascribed to him in the "Tripartite Life," and a MS. in the Bibliothèque Royale contains three others. Eight lines of one of them is found in the Vatican Codex of Marianus Scotus and are given by Zeuss in his "Grammatica Celtica," p. 961, second edition. The lines there given refer to St. Brigit. There is also a rann attributed to St. Patrick quoted by the "Four Masters," and the "Chronicon Scotorum" attributes to him a rann on Bishop Erc.
[22]Thus translated almost literally by Dr. Sigerson, "Bards of the Gael and Gall," p. 138. This is not the only poem attributed to St. Patrick, several others are ascribed to him in the "Tripartite Life," and a MS. in the Bibliothèque Royale contains three others. Eight lines of one of them is found in the Vatican Codex of Marianus Scotus and are given by Zeuss in his "Grammatica Celtica," p. 961, second edition. The lines there given refer to St. Brigit. There is also a rann attributed to St. Patrick quoted by the "Four Masters," and the "Chronicon Scotorum" attributes to him a rann on Bishop Erc.
[23]"Canticum ejus scotticum semper canere," which a marginal note in the book explains asYmnus Comanulo, which Father Hogan interprets asprotectio Clamoris, adding "ac proinde synonyma voci Faith Fiada," which has been interpretedclamor custodisor "The Guardsman's Cry" by Stokes. The poem, then, was extant in the seventh century, was attributed to St. Patrick, and was sung in the churches—a strong argument for its authenticity.
[23]"Canticum ejus scotticum semper canere," which a marginal note in the book explains asYmnus Comanulo, which Father Hogan interprets asprotectio Clamoris, adding "ac proinde synonyma voci Faith Fiada," which has been interpretedclamor custodisor "The Guardsman's Cry" by Stokes. The poem, then, was extant in the seventh century, was attributed to St. Patrick, and was sung in the churches—a strong argument for its authenticity.
[24]"Even to this day," says Dr. Healy, in "Ireland's Ancient Schools and Scholars," p. 77, "the original is chanted by the peasantry of the south and west in the ancestral tongue, and it is regarded as a strong shield against all dangers natural or supernatural." I, myself, however, in collecting the "Religious Songs of Connacht," have found no trace of this, and I am not sure that the learned Bishop of Clonfert, led astray by Petrie, is not here confounding it with the "Marainn Phadraig," which mysterious piece is implicitly believed to be the work of St. Patrick, and is still recited all over the west, with the belief that there is a peculiar virtue attached to it. I have even known money to have been paid for its recital in the west of Galway, as a preventive of evil. For this curious piece, which is to me at least more than half unintelligible, see my "Religious Songs of Connacht." It appears to have been founded upon an incident similar to that recorded by Muirchu Maccu Machteni, book i. chap. 26.
[24]"Even to this day," says Dr. Healy, in "Ireland's Ancient Schools and Scholars," p. 77, "the original is chanted by the peasantry of the south and west in the ancestral tongue, and it is regarded as a strong shield against all dangers natural or supernatural." I, myself, however, in collecting the "Religious Songs of Connacht," have found no trace of this, and I am not sure that the learned Bishop of Clonfert, led astray by Petrie, is not here confounding it with the "Marainn Phadraig," which mysterious piece is implicitly believed to be the work of St. Patrick, and is still recited all over the west, with the belief that there is a peculiar virtue attached to it. I have even known money to have been paid for its recital in the west of Galway, as a preventive of evil. For this curious piece, which is to me at least more than half unintelligible, see my "Religious Songs of Connacht." It appears to have been founded upon an incident similar to that recorded by Muirchu Maccu Machteni, book i. chap. 26.
[25]Of DunshaughlinrectéDunsaughnil (Domhnach Seachnaill) in Meath.
[25]Of DunshaughlinrectéDunsaughnil (Domhnach Seachnaill) in Meath.
[26]As this was probably the first poem in Latin ever composed in Ireland, it deserves some consideration. It is a sort of trochaic tetrameter catalectic, of the very rudest type. Theictus, or stress of the voice, which is supposed to fall on the first syllable of the first, third, fifth, and seventh feet, seldom corresponds with the accent. The elision of "m" before a vowel is disregarded, no quantities are observed, and the solitary rule of prosody kept is that the second syllable of the seventh foot is always short, with the exception of one word,indutus, which the poet probably pronounced asindŭtus. The third verse runs thus, with an evident effort at vowel rhyme ("Liber Hymnorum," vol. i. p. 11)."Beati Christi custodit mandata in omnibusCujus opera refulgent clara inter homines."Muratori printed this hymn, from the so-called Antiphonary of Bangor, a MS. of the eight century preserved in the Ambrosian Library. The rude metre is that employed by Hilary in his hymn beginning—"Ymnum dicat turba fratrum, ymnum cantus personet,"which, as Stokes points out, is the same as that of the Roman soldiers, preserved in Suetonius,"Cæsar Gallias subégit, Nicomedes Cæsarem."The internal evidence of the antiquity of this hymn is "strong," says Stokes, "first, the use of the present tense in describing the saint's actions; secondly, the absence of all reference to the miracles with which the Tripartite and other lives are crowded; and, thirdly, the absence of all allusion to the Roman mission on which many later writers from Tirechan downwards insist with much persistency." We may then, I think, receive this hymn as authentic.
[26]As this was probably the first poem in Latin ever composed in Ireland, it deserves some consideration. It is a sort of trochaic tetrameter catalectic, of the very rudest type. Theictus, or stress of the voice, which is supposed to fall on the first syllable of the first, third, fifth, and seventh feet, seldom corresponds with the accent. The elision of "m" before a vowel is disregarded, no quantities are observed, and the solitary rule of prosody kept is that the second syllable of the seventh foot is always short, with the exception of one word,indutus, which the poet probably pronounced asindŭtus. The third verse runs thus, with an evident effort at vowel rhyme ("Liber Hymnorum," vol. i. p. 11).
"Beati Christi custodit mandata in omnibusCujus opera refulgent clara inter homines."
Muratori printed this hymn, from the so-called Antiphonary of Bangor, a MS. of the eight century preserved in the Ambrosian Library. The rude metre is that employed by Hilary in his hymn beginning—
"Ymnum dicat turba fratrum, ymnum cantus personet,"
which, as Stokes points out, is the same as that of the Roman soldiers, preserved in Suetonius,
"Cæsar Gallias subégit, Nicomedes Cæsarem."
The internal evidence of the antiquity of this hymn is "strong," says Stokes, "first, the use of the present tense in describing the saint's actions; secondly, the absence of all reference to the miracles with which the Tripartite and other lives are crowded; and, thirdly, the absence of all allusion to the Roman mission on which many later writers from Tirechan downwards insist with much persistency." We may then, I think, receive this hymn as authentic.
[27]"Maximus namque in regno cælorum vocabitur,Qui quod verbis docet sacris factis adimplet bonis;Bono procedit exemplo formamque fideliumMundoque in corde habet ad Deum fiduciam."
[27]"Maximus namque in regno cælorum vocabitur,Qui quod verbis docet sacris factis adimplet bonis;Bono procedit exemplo formamque fideliumMundoque in corde habet ad Deum fiduciam."
[28]In the "Martyrology of Tallaght" this curious name is written Mac hui Machteni,i.e., the son of the grandson of Machtenus, or Muirchu,i.e., Murrough, descendant of Machtenus, and the Leabhar Breac has this note at the name of Muirchu: "civitas ejus in uib Foelan, i.e., mac hui Mathcene," thereby giving us to understand that he was a native of what is the present county of Waterford. Maccumachteni is not a surname, for these were not introduced into Ireland for three centuries later.
[28]In the "Martyrology of Tallaght" this curious name is written Mac hui Machteni,i.e., the son of the grandson of Machtenus, or Muirchu,i.e., Murrough, descendant of Machtenus, and the Leabhar Breac has this note at the name of Muirchu: "civitas ejus in uib Foelan, i.e., mac hui Mathcene," thereby giving us to understand that he was a native of what is the present county of Waterford. Maccumachteni is not a surname, for these were not introduced into Ireland for three centuries later.
[29]"Omnia quæ scripsi a principio libri hujus scitis quia in vestris regionibus gesta sunt, nizi de eis pauca inveni in utilitatem laboris mei a senioribus multis, ac ab illo Ultano episcopo Conchubernensi qui nutrivit me, retulit sermo!"
[29]"Omnia quæ scripsi a principio libri hujus scitis quia in vestris regionibus gesta sunt, nizi de eis pauca inveni in utilitatem laboris mei a senioribus multis, ac ab illo Ultano episcopo Conchubernensi qui nutrivit me, retulit sermo!"
[30]"Multos jam conatos esse ordinare narrationem istam secundum quod patres eorum et qui ministri ab initio fuerunt sermonis tradiderunt illis; sed propter difficillimum narrationis opus diversasque opiniones et plurimorum plurimas suspiciones nunquam ad unum certumque historiae tramitem pervenisse."
[30]"Multos jam conatos esse ordinare narrationem istam secundum quod patres eorum et qui ministri ab initio fuerunt sermonis tradiderunt illis; sed propter difficillimum narrationis opus diversasque opiniones et plurimorum plurimas suspiciones nunquam ad unum certumque historiae tramitem pervenisse."
[31]"Omnia in Deo gesta ab antiquis peritissimis adunata atque collecta sunt;" and again: "Post exitum Patricii alumpni sui valde ejusdem libros conscripserunt;" but this may mean that they made copies of the books left behind him.
[31]"Omnia in Deo gesta ab antiquis peritissimis adunata atque collecta sunt;" and again: "Post exitum Patricii alumpni sui valde ejusdem libros conscripserunt;" but this may mean that they made copies of the books left behind him.
[32]Here is a specimen: "Dulluid pâtricc othemuir hicrîch Laigen conrâncatar ocus dubthach mucculugir uccdomnuch mâr criathar la auu censelich. Áliss pâtricc dubthach imdamnae .n. epscuip diadesciplib dilaignib idôn fer soêr socheniûil cenon cenainim nadip ru becc nadipromar bedasommae, toisclimm fer ôinsêtche dunarructhae actoentuistiu," which would run some way thus in the modern language: "Do luid (i.e., Chuaidh) Pádraic ó Theamhair i gcrích Laighean go râncadar [fein] agus Dubhthach Mac Lugair ag Domhnach Mór Criathair le uibh Ceinnsealaigh. Ailis (i.e., fiafruighis) Pádraic Dubhthach um damhna (i.e., ádhbhar) easboig d' á dheiscioblaibh, eadhoin fear saor sói-chineáil, gan on gan ainimh (i.e., truailiughadh), nâr 'bh ro bheag [agus] nár 'bh rómhór, a shaidhbhreas (?). Toisg [riachtanus] liom fear aon seitche [mná] d'á nach rugadh acht aon tuistui (gein)," etc.
[32]Here is a specimen: "Dulluid pâtricc othemuir hicrîch Laigen conrâncatar ocus dubthach mucculugir uccdomnuch mâr criathar la auu censelich. Áliss pâtricc dubthach imdamnae .n. epscuip diadesciplib dilaignib idôn fer soêr socheniûil cenon cenainim nadip ru becc nadipromar bedasommae, toisclimm fer ôinsêtche dunarructhae actoentuistiu," which would run some way thus in the modern language: "Do luid (i.e., Chuaidh) Pádraic ó Theamhair i gcrích Laighean go râncadar [fein] agus Dubhthach Mac Lugair ag Domhnach Mór Criathair le uibh Ceinnsealaigh. Ailis (i.e., fiafruighis) Pádraic Dubhthach um damhna (i.e., ádhbhar) easboig d' á dheiscioblaibh, eadhoin fear saor sói-chineáil, gan on gan ainimh (i.e., truailiughadh), nâr 'bh ro bheag [agus] nár 'bh rómhór, a shaidhbhreas (?). Toisg [riachtanus] liom fear aon seitche [mná] d'á nach rugadh acht aon tuistui (gein)," etc.
[33]For Cáthaoir Mór,seep.30.
[33]For Cáthaoir Mór,seep.30.
[34]The metre was calledCetal nothi, Thurneysen's "Mittelirische Verslehren," p. 63. It scarcely differs in most parts from Little Rannaigheacht.
[34]The metre was calledCetal nothi, Thurneysen's "Mittelirische Verslehren," p. 63. It scarcely differs in most parts from Little Rannaigheacht.
[35]See"Keltische Studien," Heft ii., and the "Revue Celtique." The first verses run thus:—"Genair Patraicc in NemthurIs ed atfet hi scélaibMaccan se mbliadan déacIn tan dobreth fo deraib.Succat a ainm itubradCed a athair ba fissiMac CalpairnmaicOtideHoa deochain Odissi."
[35]See"Keltische Studien," Heft ii., and the "Revue Celtique." The first verses run thus:—
"Genair Patraicc in NemthurIs ed atfet hi scélaibMaccan se mbliadan déacIn tan dobreth fo deraib.
Succat a ainm itubradCed a athair ba fissiMac CalpairnmaicOtideHoa deochain Odissi."
[36]He was tenth in descent from that Owen Môr who wrested half the sovereignty of Ireland from Conn of the Hundred Battles.
[36]He was tenth in descent from that Owen Môr who wrested half the sovereignty of Ireland from Conn of the Hundred Battles.
[37]I.e., "The wonder-working Three," containing the lives of Patrick, Brigit, and Columcille, translated by Colgan from Irish into Latin.
[37]I.e., "The wonder-working Three," containing the lives of Patrick, Brigit, and Columcille, translated by Colgan from Irish into Latin.
[38]Also St. Aileran the Wise, whose "Fragments" are published by Migne; St. Adamnan, the author of the "Life of Columcille"; St. Ciaran of Belach-Duin; and St. Colman. Jocelyn says that Benignus, who died in 468, wrote another life of Patrick, but of it nothing is known.
[38]Also St. Aileran the Wise, whose "Fragments" are published by Migne; St. Adamnan, the author of the "Life of Columcille"; St. Ciaran of Belach-Duin; and St. Colman. Jocelyn says that Benignus, who died in 468, wrote another life of Patrick, but of it nothing is known.
[39]Here is a short passage from the Tripartite, which will show the language in which it is written: "Fecht ann occ tuidhecht do Patraic do Chlochur antuaith da fuarcaib a thren-fher dar doraid and,i.e., Epscop mac Cairthind. Issed adrubart iar turcbail Patraic: uch uch. Mu Debroth, ol Patraic ni bu gnath in foculsin do rad duitsiu. Am senoir ocus am lobur ol Epscop Mac Cairthind," which would run some way thus in the modern language: "Feacht [uair] do bhi ann, ag tigheacht do Phádraig go Clochar (i gcondae, Tir-Eóghain) ón tuaidh, d' iomchair a threán-fhear é thar sruth do bhi ann, eadhoin Easbog Mac Cairthind. Is eadh adubhairt tar éis Padraig do thogbháil "Uch, uch!" Mo Dhebhroth [focal do bhi ag Padraig, ionnann agus "dar mo láimh" no mar sin], níor ghnáth an focal sin do rádh duit-se. Táim im sheanoir agus im lobhar ar Easbog Mac Cairthind."SeeO'Curry MS. Materials, p. 598.
[39]Here is a short passage from the Tripartite, which will show the language in which it is written: "Fecht ann occ tuidhecht do Patraic do Chlochur antuaith da fuarcaib a thren-fher dar doraid and,i.e., Epscop mac Cairthind. Issed adrubart iar turcbail Patraic: uch uch. Mu Debroth, ol Patraic ni bu gnath in foculsin do rad duitsiu. Am senoir ocus am lobur ol Epscop Mac Cairthind," which would run some way thus in the modern language: "Feacht [uair] do bhi ann, ag tigheacht do Phádraig go Clochar (i gcondae, Tir-Eóghain) ón tuaidh, d' iomchair a threán-fhear é thar sruth do bhi ann, eadhoin Easbog Mac Cairthind. Is eadh adubhairt tar éis Padraig do thogbháil "Uch, uch!" Mo Dhebhroth [focal do bhi ag Padraig, ionnann agus "dar mo láimh" no mar sin], níor ghnáth an focal sin do rádh duit-se. Táim im sheanoir agus im lobhar ar Easbog Mac Cairthind."SeeO'Curry MS. Materials, p. 598.
St. Brigit was—after St. Patrick himself—probably the most noted figure amongst Irish Christians in the fifth century. She must have attained her extraordinary influence through sheer ability and intellectuality, for she appears to have been the daughter of a slave-woman,[1]employed in the mansion of a chief called Dubhthach [Duv-hach, or Duffach], who was himself tenth in descent from Felimidh, the lawgiver monarch of Ireland in the second century. The king's wife, jealous of her husband's liking for his slave, threatened him with these words, "Unless thou sellest yon bondmaid in distant lands I will exact my dowry from thee and I will leave thee," and so had her driven from the place and sold to a druid, in whose house her daughter, Dubhthach's offspring, soon afterwards saw the light. She was thus born into slavery, though not quite a slave; for Dubhthach, in selling the mother into slavery, expressly reserved for himself her offspring, whatever it might be. She must have been, at least, early inured to hardship, as St. Patrick had been. The druid, however, didnot prevent her from being baptized. She grew up to be a girl of exceeding beauty, and many suitors sought her in marriage. She returned to her father's house, but refused all offers of matrimony. She aroused the jealousy of her father's wife, as her mother had done before her, and Dubhthach, indignant at her unbounded generosity with his goods, decided upon selling her to the king of North Leinster. Her father's abortive attempt to get rid of her on this occasion is thus quaintly described in her Irish life in the Leabhar Breac.
"Thereafter," says the life, "Dubhthach and his consort were minded to sell the holy Brigit into bondage, for Dubhthach liked not his cattle and his wealth to be dealt out to the poor, and that is what Brigit used to do. So Dubhthach fared in his chariot and Brigit along with him."Said Dubhthach to Brigit, 'Not for honour or reverence to thee art thou carried in a chariot, but to take thee, to sell thee to grind the quern for Dunlang mac Enda, King of Leinster.'"When they came to the King's fortress Dubhthach went in to the king, and Brigit remained in her chariot at the fortress door. Dubhthach had left his sword in the chariot near Brigit. A leper came to Brigit to ask an alms. She gave him Dubhthach's sword."Said Dubhthach to the King, 'Wilt thou buy a bondmaid, namely, my daughter?' says he."Said Dunlang, 'Why sellest thou thine own daughter?'"Said Dubhthach, 'She stayeth not from selling my wealth and from giving it to the poor.'"Said the King, 'Let the maiden come into the fortress.'"Dubhthach went to Brigit, and was enraged against her because she had given his sword to the poor man."When Brigit came into the King's presence the King said to her, 'Since it is thy father's wealth that thou takest, much more wilt thou takemywealth and my cattle and give them to the poor.'"Said Brigit, 'The Son of the Virgin knoweth if I had thy might, with all Leinster, and with all thy wealth, I would give them to the Lord of the Elements.'"Said the King to Dubhthach, 'Thou art not fit on either hand to bargain about this maiden, for her merit is higher before God than before men,' and the King gave Dubhthach an ivory-hilted sword (Claideb dét), et sic liberata est sancta Virgo Brigita a captivititate.[2]"
"Thereafter," says the life, "Dubhthach and his consort were minded to sell the holy Brigit into bondage, for Dubhthach liked not his cattle and his wealth to be dealt out to the poor, and that is what Brigit used to do. So Dubhthach fared in his chariot and Brigit along with him.
"Said Dubhthach to Brigit, 'Not for honour or reverence to thee art thou carried in a chariot, but to take thee, to sell thee to grind the quern for Dunlang mac Enda, King of Leinster.'
"When they came to the King's fortress Dubhthach went in to the king, and Brigit remained in her chariot at the fortress door. Dubhthach had left his sword in the chariot near Brigit. A leper came to Brigit to ask an alms. She gave him Dubhthach's sword.
"Said Dubhthach to the King, 'Wilt thou buy a bondmaid, namely, my daughter?' says he.
"Said Dunlang, 'Why sellest thou thine own daughter?'
"Said Dubhthach, 'She stayeth not from selling my wealth and from giving it to the poor.'
"Said the King, 'Let the maiden come into the fortress.'
"Dubhthach went to Brigit, and was enraged against her because she had given his sword to the poor man.
"When Brigit came into the King's presence the King said to her, 'Since it is thy father's wealth that thou takest, much more wilt thou takemywealth and my cattle and give them to the poor.'
"Said Brigit, 'The Son of the Virgin knoweth if I had thy might, with all Leinster, and with all thy wealth, I would give them to the Lord of the Elements.'
"Said the King to Dubhthach, 'Thou art not fit on either hand to bargain about this maiden, for her merit is higher before God than before men,' and the King gave Dubhthach an ivory-hilted sword (Claideb dét), et sic liberata est sancta Virgo Brigita a captivititate.[2]"
She at length succeeded in assuming the veil of a nun at the hands of a bishop called Mucaille, along with seven virgin companions. With these she eventually retired into her father's territory and founded a church at Kildare, beside an ancient oak-tree, which existed till the tenth century, and which gives its name to the spot.[3]Even at this early period Kildare seems to have been a racecourse, and St. Brigit is described in the ancient lives as driving across it in her chariot.
It is remarkable that there is scarcely any mention of St. Brigit in the lives of St. Patrick, although, according to the usual chronology they were partly contemporaries, St. Brigit having become a nun about the year 467, and St. Patrick having lived until 492. About the only mention of her in the saint's life is that which tells how she once listened to Patrick preaching for three nights and days, and fell asleep, and as she dreamt she saw first white oxen in white corn-fields, and then darker ones took their place, and lastly black oxen. And thereafter, she beheld sheep and swine, and dogs and wolves quarrelling with each other, and upon her waking up, St. Patrick explained her dream as being symbolical of the history of the Irish Church present and future. The life of Brigit herself in the Book of Lismore tells the vision somewhat differently:
"'I beheld,' said she, to Patrick, when he asked her why she had fallen asleep, 'four ploughs in the north-east which ploughed the whole island, and before the sowing was finished the harvest was ripened, and clear well-springs and shiny streams came out of the furrows. White garments were on the sowers and ploughmen. I beheld four other ploughs in the north which ploughed the island athwart and turned the harvest again, and the oats which they had sown grew up at once and were ripe, and black streams came out of the furrows, and there were black garments on the sowers and on the ploughmen.'"
"'I beheld,' said she, to Patrick, when he asked her why she had fallen asleep, 'four ploughs in the north-east which ploughed the whole island, and before the sowing was finished the harvest was ripened, and clear well-springs and shiny streams came out of the furrows. White garments were on the sowers and ploughmen. I beheld four other ploughs in the north which ploughed the island athwart and turned the harvest again, and the oats which they had sown grew up at once and were ripe, and black streams came out of the furrows, and there were black garments on the sowers and on the ploughmen.'"
This vision Patrick explained to her, saying—
"'The first four ploughs which thou beheldest, those are I and thou, who sow the four books of the gospel with a sowing of faith and belief and piety. The harvest which thou beheldest are they who come unto that faith and belief through our teaching. The four ploughs which thou beheldest in the north are the false teachers and the liars which will overturn the teaching which we have sown.'"
"'The first four ploughs which thou beheldest, those are I and thou, who sow the four books of the gospel with a sowing of faith and belief and piety. The harvest which thou beheldest are they who come unto that faith and belief through our teaching. The four ploughs which thou beheldest in the north are the false teachers and the liars which will overturn the teaching which we have sown.'"
St. Brigit's small oratory at Kildare, under the shadow of her branching oak, soon grew into a great institution, and within her own lifetime two considerable religious establishments sprang up there, one for women and the other for men. She herself selected a bishop to assist her in governing them, and another to instruct herself and her nuns. Long before her death, which occurred about the year 525, a regular city and a great school rivalling the fame of Armagh itself, had risen round her oak-tree. Cogitosus, himself one of the Kildare monks, who wrote a Latin life of St. Brigit at the desire of the community, gives us a fine description of the great church of Kildare in his own day, which was evidently some time prior to the Danish invasion at the close of the eighth century,[4]but how long before is doubtful. He tells us that the church was both large and lofty, with many pictures and hangings, and with ornamental doorways, and that a partition ran across the breadth of the church near the chancel or sanctuary:
"At one of its extremities there was a door which admitted the bishop and his clergy to the sanctuary and to the altar; and at theother extremity on the opposite side there was a similar door by which Brigit and her virgins and widows used to enter to enjoy the banquet of the Body and Blood of Christ. Then a central partition ran down the nave, dividing the men from the women, the men being on the right and the women on the left, and each division having its own lateral entrance. These partitions did not rise to the roof of the church, but only so high as to serve their purpose. The partition at the sanctuary or chancel was formed with boards of wood decorated with pictures and covered with linen hangings which might, it seems, be drawn aside at the consecration, to give the people in the nave a better view of the holy mysteries."[5]
"At one of its extremities there was a door which admitted the bishop and his clergy to the sanctuary and to the altar; and at theother extremity on the opposite side there was a similar door by which Brigit and her virgins and widows used to enter to enjoy the banquet of the Body and Blood of Christ. Then a central partition ran down the nave, dividing the men from the women, the men being on the right and the women on the left, and each division having its own lateral entrance. These partitions did not rise to the roof of the church, but only so high as to serve their purpose. The partition at the sanctuary or chancel was formed with boards of wood decorated with pictures and covered with linen hangings which might, it seems, be drawn aside at the consecration, to give the people in the nave a better view of the holy mysteries."[5]
The two institutions—nuns and monks—planted by St. Brigit continued long to flourish side by side, and Kildare is the only religious establishment in Ireland, says Dr. Healy, which down to a comparatively recent period preserved the double line of succession, of abbot-bishops and of abbesses. The annalists always took care to record the names of the abbesses with the same accuracy as those of the abbots, and to the last the abbesses as successors of St. Brigit, were credited with, in public opinion, and probably enjoyed in fact, a certain supremacy over the bishops of Kildare themselves.
Amongst other occupations the monks and scholars of Kildare seem to have given themselves up to decorative art, and a school of metal work under the supervision of Brigit's first bishop soon sprang into existence, producing all kinds of artistically decorated chalices, bells, patens, and shrines; and the impulse given thus early to artistic work and to beautiful creations seems to have long propagated itself in Kildare, as the description of the church by Cogitosus shows, and as we may still conjecture from the exquisite round tower with its unusually ornamented doorway and its great height of over 130 feet, the loftiest tower of the kind in Ireland.
No doubt several attributes of the pagan Brigit,[6]who, as we have seen, was accounted by the ancient Irish to have been the goddess of poets, passed over to her Christian namesake, who was also credited with being the patroness of men of learning. On this, her life in the Book of Lismore contains the following significant and rather obscure passage:
"Brigit was once with her sheep on the Curragh, and she saw running past her a son of reading,[7]to wit Nindid the scholar was he."'What makes thee unsedate, O son of reading?' saith Brigit, 'and what seekest thou in that wise?'"'O nun,' saith the scholar, 'I am going to heaven.'"'The Virgin's son knoweth,' said Brigit, 'happy is he that goeth that journey, and for God's sake make prayer with me that it may be easy for me to go.'"'O nun,' said the scholar, 'I have no leisure, for the gates of heaven are open now and I fear they may be shut against me. Or, if thou art hindering me pray the Lord that it may be easy for me to go to heaven, and I will pray the Lord for thee, that it may be easy for thee, and that thou mayest bring many thousands with thee, into heaven.'"Brigit recited a paternoster with him. And he was pious thenceforward, and it is he that gave her communion and sacrifice when she was dying.Wherefore thence it came to pass that the comradeship of the world's softs of reading is with Brigit, and the Lord gives them through Brigit every perfect good they ask."[8]
"Brigit was once with her sheep on the Curragh, and she saw running past her a son of reading,[7]to wit Nindid the scholar was he.
"'What makes thee unsedate, O son of reading?' saith Brigit, 'and what seekest thou in that wise?'
"'O nun,' saith the scholar, 'I am going to heaven.'
"'The Virgin's son knoweth,' said Brigit, 'happy is he that goeth that journey, and for God's sake make prayer with me that it may be easy for me to go.'
"'O nun,' said the scholar, 'I have no leisure, for the gates of heaven are open now and I fear they may be shut against me. Or, if thou art hindering me pray the Lord that it may be easy for me to go to heaven, and I will pray the Lord for thee, that it may be easy for thee, and that thou mayest bring many thousands with thee, into heaven.'
"Brigit recited a paternoster with him. And he was pious thenceforward, and it is he that gave her communion and sacrifice when she was dying.Wherefore thence it came to pass that the comradeship of the world's softs of reading is with Brigit, and the Lord gives them through Brigit every perfect good they ask."[8]
As St. Patrick is pre-eminently the patron saint of Ireland, so is Brigit its patroness, and with the Irish people no Christian name is more common for their boys than Patrick, or for their girls than Brigit.[9]She was universally known as the "Mary of the Gael," and reverenced with a certain chivalric feeling which seems to have been always present with the Gaelic nation in the case of women, for, says her Irish life, her desire "was to satisfy the poor, to expel every hardship, to spare every miserable man.... It is she that helpeth every one who is in a strait or a danger; it is she that abateth the pestilences; it is she that quelleth the anger and the storm of the sea. She is the prophetess of Christ: she is the queen of the south:She is the Mary of the Gael." The writer closes thus in a burst of eloquence:
"Her relics are on earth, with honour and dignity and primacy, with miracles and marvels. Her soul is like a sun in the heavenly kingdom, among the choir of angels and archangels. And though great be her honour here at present, greater by far will it be when she shall arise like a shining lamp, in completeness of body and soul at the great Assembly of Doomsday, in union with cherubim and seraphim, in union with the Son of Mary the Virgin, in the union that is nobler than every union, in the union of the Holy Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit."
"Her relics are on earth, with honour and dignity and primacy, with miracles and marvels. Her soul is like a sun in the heavenly kingdom, among the choir of angels and archangels. And though great be her honour here at present, greater by far will it be when she shall arise like a shining lamp, in completeness of body and soul at the great Assembly of Doomsday, in union with cherubim and seraphim, in union with the Son of Mary the Virgin, in the union that is nobler than every union, in the union of the Holy Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit."
As of St. Patrick, so of his great co-evangeliser St. Brigit, there exist quite a number of various lives; the most ancient being probably a metrical life in Irish contained in the Book of Hymns, of which there still exists an eleventh century MS. It consists of fifty-three stanzas of four lines each, and is ascribed to St. Broccan or Brogan Cloen, who seems to have lived at the beginning of the seventh century.[10]This life does little more than expatiate upon Brigit's miracles and virtues. The next life of importance is that already mentioned, by Cogitosus, the Kildare monk, whose date is uncertain, but is clearly prior to the Danish invasions. This life, which is in very creditable Latin, and four others, were printed by Colgan. The first of these four is—probably falsely—attributed to St. Ultan, who died in the middle of the seventh century; the next is by a monk who is called Animosus, but of whomnothing is known, though, as St. Donatus, who became bishop of Fiesole in 824, alludes to his works, he must have been an early author; the third is a twelfth-century work, by Laurence of Durham, an Englishman; and the last is in Latin verse, taken from a MS. which the unwearied Colgan procured from Monte Cassino, and which is attributed to Coelan, a monk of Iniscaltra, who probably lived in the eighth century, while a prologue to this life is prefixed by a later writer, the celebrated Irish bishop of Fiesole, Donatus, who, in the early part of the ninth century, worked with great success in Italy. There is something touching in the language with which this great and successful child of the Gael reverts in his prologue to the home of his childhood:—
"Far in the west they tell of a matchless land,[11]which goes in ancient books by the name of Scotia [i.e., Ireland]; rich in resources this land, having silver, precious stones, vestures and gold, well suited to earth-born creatures as regards its climate, its sun, and its arable soil; that Scotia of lovely fields that flow with milk and honey, hath skill in husbandry, and raiments, and arms, and arts, and fruits. There are no fierce bears there, nor ever has the land of Scotia brought forth savage broods of lions. No poisons hurt, no serpent creeps through the grass, nor does the babbling frog croak and complain by the lake. In this land the Scottish race are worthy to dwell, a renowned race of men in war, in peace, in fidelity."
"Far in the west they tell of a matchless land,[11]which goes in ancient books by the name of Scotia [i.e., Ireland]; rich in resources this land, having silver, precious stones, vestures and gold, well suited to earth-born creatures as regards its climate, its sun, and its arable soil; that Scotia of lovely fields that flow with milk and honey, hath skill in husbandry, and raiments, and arms, and arts, and fruits. There are no fierce bears there, nor ever has the land of Scotia brought forth savage broods of lions. No poisons hurt, no serpent creeps through the grass, nor does the babbling frog croak and complain by the lake. In this land the Scottish race are worthy to dwell, a renowned race of men in war, in peace, in fidelity."
Whitley Stokes has published the Irish lives of St. Brigit from the Leabhar Breac and the Book of Lismore, and Donatus alludes to other lives by St. Ultan[12]and St. Eleran,so that Brigit has not lacked biographers. She herself is said to have written a rule for her nuns and some other things, and O'Curry prints one Irish poem ascribed to her—in which she prays for the family of heaven to be present at her feast: "I should like the men of heaven in my own house, I should like rivers of peace to be at their disposal," etc.—which appears to be alluded to in the preface to the Litany of Angus the Culdee, as the "great feast which St. Brigit made for Jesus in her heart."[13]