No More Learning

Reeves.
145 See " Civil and Ecclesiastical History
of Scotland," p. 300.
146 See "Chronology of History," pp. 132,
tion, the same individual is called
"
147, 173.
,47See Rev. Mr. Reeves' Adamnan's 488. (Ind. Chron. /'—Rev. Dr. Reeves'
" Life of St. Columba," Additional Notes, c, p2 57.
Adamnan's " Life of St. Columba," Appen- dix to Preface, sect. I. Memoir of St.
14" " The Calendars have none our except
Adamnan,
I49 See the Acts of this Saint, at the 31st
Jgj
author. The Annals have, besides St,
n. xl. (c), p.
Eunan, Bishop
of at the Raphoe,
T*x and x*3 com- Dempster
tVib,
' Donnan of Inis- priest,
pop
Aingin on Loch Ribh (Cal. , Jan. 7). The Adamnanus of Inchkethe whom Forduu
makes a contemporary of S. Servanus (i. 6), is by a violent anachronism, intended for our Adamnan ; but Abp. Ussher was too desirous to swell the history of North Britain, when on such authority he repre- sented Odomnanus as an abbot anterior to St. Columba, and fixed his date at the year
'
LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS.
Bede. 1* This latter writer, however, more particularly distinguishes our
saint, in the pages ot his Ecclesiastical
In addition to the places already mentioned, in which Adamnan had
been specially venerated, the following are also associated with his name and memory in the northern province :—The Parish of Bovevagh, in the Diocese of Derry, barony of Keenaght, and county of Londonderry, had St. Eugenius —a Latin form of Eunan***—for patron. Local belief makes St. Ringan, i. e. Ninian, the patron ; but as Colgan lived at a time when local traditions were better preserved than at present, his authority is to be more respected. ^ The old church which there remains measures 51 feet, by 17 feet, 6 inches. ^
5*6
[September 23.
Bovevagh Old Church, Co. Londonderry.
It is surrounded by a grave-yard, which contains no very ancient tombs. 1** Theformandstyleprovethechurchtobemedieval. Theparishliesonthe western side of the river Roe. 1 *6 The parish of Errigal, in the diocese of Derry, barony of Coleraine and County of Londonderry, was formerly called,
Airecal Adhamhnain, or " the habitation of Adamnan. "x 57 Itisnowbestknownthroughitsvillage,Garvagh. ThepresentProtestant parish church stands on a modern site.
" ofJanuaryintheFirstVolumeofthiswork, IS4SeeRev. Dr. Reeves'Adamnan's Life
Art. iii. of St. Columba. " Appendix to Preface, p. 150 See " Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis Ixiv.
from its
patron,
xxv.
151 See ibid. , lib. v. , cap. xv. , xvi. , xvii. ,
'ss The illustration is copied accompanying
from a Sketch of George Du Noyer by Gregor Gray, who hns engraved it.
'5* See the "Parliamentary Gazetteer of
Anglorum," lib. iv. , cap.
xxi.
157 See Primate Colton's "
Metropolitan Visitation of the Diocese of Derry, a-d.
Ireland," vol. i, p. 270.
'57 See Primate Colton's
"
M. cccxcvn. ," edited by Rev. Dr. Reeves,
Metropolitan Visitation, of the Diocese of Derry, A. D. M. cccxcvn. ," edited by Rev. Dr. Reeves,
n. (o), p. 85.
,5, See his "Acta Sanctorum Hibernise,
"
Februarii xxii. De S. Malhrigido sive Brigidano, Abbate Derensi et Primate Ardmachano, n. 7, p. 387.
n. (y), pp. 80, 81.
ss It is the one connected with his name
History. '*
1
in the Breviary of Aberdeen :
"
S. Adamp
September 23. ] LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. 527 Several churches and places in Scotland, bore the name of Adamnan.
veneration, in which his
was held— his memory throughout
:
The
the Ythan Mouth, seems to have been the place for Adamnan's chief com- memoration in Scotland. On the estate of Leask, there is another remnant
of a religious house, evidently an old Catholic chapel, as the place where the
altar stood is plainly discernible. It is small, but must be considered a fine
old ruin. 16? It stands in the middle of a small plantation of stunted firs and
alder, on a little eminence gently rising from a swampy bottom, with a rivulet
half it on the south side. It is called Adamnan's 16 ' A enclosing chapel.
parish named Forglen in the north-east angle of Banff, and separated from Aberdeenshire by the Doveran, was formerly called Teunan-Kirk, from a peculiar form of the patron's name. l6a The name of this parish in olden times was St. Eunan, or St. Eunein, after the saint of that name to whom the church had been dedicated. l63 The ruins of the chapel still remain,164 at themouthofarivuletwhichfallsintotheDoveran. Innestakeshimtobe the very same Saint Adamnan, who in Irish is called Ainan, and the day is
l6s Teunan formedfromSaint being
peculiar
adopted country, is evidenced in the following enumeration chapelry Furvie,158 in the parisli of Slains,^ on the east coast of Aberdeen, north of
thesame, the September
twenty-third ;
Ainan, as Trowel and Tantan from Saint Rule and Saint Antony. 166 A
parish called Aboyn, in the South of Aberdeenshire, on the north side of the Dee, had for its tutelar a Saint named Theunan. 16 ? About half-way between Aboyn Castle and the ruins of the ancient parish church, is a large old tree, now called the Skeulan 168 or St. l69 with a well at the foot of it
Tree, Eunan's,
called the Skeulan Well, or St. Eunan's, as known in the eighteenth
—— 1 ? A rock not less than 800 feet above the sea-level on
century. large
one of the braes of Angus, in the parish of Tannadice, ? is called St. Arnold's
Seat. 1 ? 2 Though apparently so far removed, this name has been formed from Adamnan. '73 In the parish of Kinneff, in Kincardineshire, there was
nani abbatis patroni apud Furui Aberdon. l63 See " Old Statistical Account of dyoces. " Propr. S. S. Part. Estiv. , fol 114 Scotland," vol. xiv. , p. 530.
b, a (Reprint), where the name is incor-
rectly given Furni. "
159 In the View of the Diocese of Aber-
deen, it is stated under the parish of Slaines
11
l64 See the " New Statistical Account of Scotland," vol. xiii. , Banff, part I, pp. 83, 87.
l6s In this parish was formerly kept St. Columba's sacred banner, called the Breac- banach ; and he too was regarded as a
of the
See "Collections on Aberdeen and
Here stood of old the parish church of Furvie (dedicated to St. Fidannan, Abbo—t
of I colmkill), overblown by the sands. "
"
Collections," &c, p. 388.
patron l6°
place.
160
still nearly entire, and the walls are over-
:
One gable and gothic window are Banff," vol. i. , p. 509. Spalding Club, Aberbeen, 1843.
with See "New Statistical ivy.
l6? See "Collections of
grown
Account of Scotland," vol. xii.
p. 593.
161 A similar name is
Aberdeen,
Aberdeen," p. l68 See "New Statistical Account of
given
Old Statistical Account, vol v,, p. 276.
Scotland,"
l69 This tree is still held in reverence.
'7° Thomas Innes tells us that he was
to in the it,
vol. 1060. xii, Aberdeen, p.
162 St. Eunan is called Thewnan by Adam
King, in his Calendar, at the 23rd of Septem-
ber. Dempster also calls him Thewnanus,
but disassociates him, at the same date of
festival, from St. Eunan; while his sup- See Civil and Ecclesiastical History of posed St. Thewanus Abbas is called the
preceptor of King Eugenius VI. , and the author of a book, " Quorundam SS. Vitas. " —" Histoiia Ecclesiastica Gentis Scoto- rum," tomus ii. , lib. xviii. , num. 1122, p. 613.
Scotland," Chronological Memoirs, p. 301. I? I In Forfarshire.
I? 2 See " New Statistical Account of Scot-
633.
11
born in Aboyn parish, and he mentions
these objects alluded to as called in his day
St. Eunan's Well, and St. Eunan's Tree. "
land," vol. xi. Forfar, part i. , p. 198.
173 This appears by the following extract
"
from a record of 1527: Et sic eundo
A at
5«8 LIVESOFTHEIRISHSAINTS. [September23.
1
formerly a ruin called St. Arnty's Hill, which is mentioned ? * as St. Arnold's
16
Cell. *? 5 It is stated, ? that St. Adamnan was Abbot in an Island called
Inchkeith, in the Firth of Forth, and lying E. N. E.
from Inch Colm, and that
there he received St. Servanus and his companions, when they first came to
Scotland. T 77 The Island of Sanda in the Mull of Cantyre, is said to have
been called Insula 1 ? 8 where Adamnan's cell and that it had been Awyn, was,
1
regarded as a place of refuge for transgressors. i9 According to Father
MacCana, the whole of this island was sacred to St. Ninian, to whose monas- tery in Galloway it belonged, and there was a small building which bore his name. Near it was a repository or sepulchre of fourteen sons of an Irishman, named Senchan, renowned for sanctity. That chapel is now locally called
l8° A stone wall was round that
seven very large and polished stones that covered their venerated remains, and in the centre of those stones, there was an obelisk higher than the human form. lSl There was a denomination of land in the parish of Kilkerran, in
Kilmashenaghan.
in which were
Cantyre, variously
enclosure,
written Killewnane182 and l83 There is a Kilyownane.
called in Dalmeny
l8« near
Here was a chantry of St. Adamnan. 18* At
Linlithgow,
Campsie, in Perthshire, there was a croft of land called St. Adamnan's
186
Acre.
In Ireland, as in Scotland, it is observable, that the dedications of St.
Columba and of St. Adamnan keep very close together. In Ireland, the
churches of Raphoe, Skreen, and Drumhome are said to be founded by the
former, yet under the patronage of the latter. In Scotland, Forglen is St. Adamnan's, but in it were St. Columba's lands of the Banner ; St. Columba's Church of Tannadice has St. Eunan's seat; St. Columba's Church of Belhelvy neighbours to Furvy ; Inis Colm's nearest land is Inch Keith ; and St. Columba's Cramond has Dalmeny next adjoining on the west. 18? The great veneration, in which our Saint was held, both in Ireland and Scotland, is fully proved from the circumstance, that Adamnan was assumed as a Christian and surname, under various forms. Giolla-Adhamhnain, or
versus austrum usque ad caput montis, vocate thecae argentese inclusum, ante hoc bellum Sanct Eunendi's Seit. "—Record of 1527 — religiose servabatur a viro genereso ex Liber Respons, in Scacar. Reg. Scot. 1527- inclyta Mac Donellorum familia. " Could
parish
old Romanesque church.
1539, General Register House, Edinburgh.
174 In the Macfarlane Manuscripts.
175 The Rev. Dr. Reeves puts the query :
this be the reliquary now commonly called St. Patrick's Arm ? Nothing is knewn of its history, and as to the Saint's name it has
"" Can this be a perversion of Adamnan ?
Adamnan's M Life of St. Columba,"
Ap-
pendix to Preface, p. lxvi. , n. (s. ).
176 By John Fordun, in his ** Scotichroni-
con," lib. i. , cap. 6.
177 This statement, however, is quite un-
chronological, as Servanus flourished long before the time of Adamnan.
178 See John Fordun's " Scotichronicon," lib. ii. , cap. 10.
" Ulster of vol. ii. , Journal Archaeology,"
p.
Queen's Ferry, having
a fine
—— probably originated in a vulgar guess. "
,7» According to a manuscript account of Adamania infra ecciesiam parochialem de
this island
by
Father
MacCana,
and con-
it would — 1 have been dedicated to St. Adamnan. " New Statis- tical Account of . Scotland," vol. ii.
tained in the Burgundian Library, Bruxelles.
It is classed No. 5307. It is called in Irish
Abhuin, and Latinized Avonia.
180
"Origines Parochiales Scotiae," part ii. ,
p. 9. 181
Father MacCana adds : "In ilia insula fuit repertum brachium Sancti Ultani, quod
Linlithgowshire, part i. , p. 102.
186
See Inquis. Spec, vicecom. Perth, Nos. 64, 708, 880.
1,7 See Rev. Mr. Reeves' Adamnan's
"Life of St. Columba," Appendix to Pre- face, pp. lxi. to lxvii.
In Irish Cill-tnA-SeooicAin. See
209.
182 No doubt formed from Cill xVo Airman.
183
See "Origines Parochiales Scotiae," vol. ii. , pp. 15, 16, 24.
,8*
See Inquis. Spec, vicecom. Linlith-
gow, Nos. 135, 142, 155.
,8s From the crown-charter conveying the
"
patronage capallanue et altaris Sancti
'
Dummany, appear t*
September 23. ] LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. 529
"Servant of Adamnan," became a Christian name of which we find examples
in the Irish annals. About the twelfth century, there flourished a Giolla-
Adamnan Ua Coirthen, Coarb of Columcille, as may be seen in a charter of
Kells. 188 In the year 11 64, Somharlid Mac Gille-Adhamnain was killed in
battle, with his son and a great number of followers. l89 This chieftain is
calledPrinceof 1? andhewasoneoftheMacDonnell Giolla- Argyle, family.
Adhamnan subsequently became a favourite name in this family, and it passed into that branch of it called the Mac Neills of Barra. In the year
we find a Gilleownan1? 1
We are told, that it became a surname, and that it is the origin of Mac Lennan, a name given to the old inhabitants of Glenshiel in Rosshire, and which has passed into that familiar form from MacGilla-Adhamnain. This appears to be the case, from a genealogy of the clan Mac Lennen. 1 *2 This clan derives its denomination from Gilla-agamnan, son to Cormac, son to Oirbertach of
J
Ferchar Abhradhruadh's race. 93 In the year 132S, Gilla-Adamnan O'Ferghil,
1 or O'Freel, Coarb of St. Adamnan, died. **
In the diocese of Raphoe, St. Eunan is generally considered to be a different individual from Adamnan, and the error derives support from a custom which formerly prevailed of holding the commemoration of St. Eunan as patron of the diocese on the 7th of September. ^ Under its old patronage, supposing that a bishop's see must originate with a bishop, in after times, advantage was taken of Adamnan's phonetic name Eunan. Thus was Adamnan created a bishop, and Eunan became patron of the
16
diocese, in that supposed capacity. 9 However, for a long period past, St.
Eunan has been revered as a Bishop and Confessor, as also a 'patron of this diocese, in all the Catholic Church Offices ; and as a result of an applica- tion from Most Rev. Patrick O'Donnell, Bishop of P. aphoe, an Office,
consisting of Three Proper Lessons and a Mass, revised and approved by
the Sacred Congregation of Rites in Rome, has been sanctioned by Decree
of His Holiness, Pope Leo XIII. ,'97 for use of the secular and regular clergy
18 there. *
When the Most Rev. Patrick O'Donnell had been consecrated Bishop
of Raphoe, on the 3rd of April, 1888, one of the cares which chiefly engrossed his attention was the erection of a new cathedral dedicated to St. Eunan, Patron of the diocese. Measures were taken accordingly ; the clergy and laity of the diocese were appealed to ; large subscriptions were received and public meetings were held ; contributions poured in from other parts of
x * The Rev. Dr. Reeves gives the names of Irish Sees founded by Presbyters, in Adamnan's "Life of St. Columba,'' Addi- tional Notes (n. ), p. 335.
J97 Given under date Die 11 Maii, 191 See Origines Parochiales Scotise," 1896.
1495,
Makneil,
who was to Gilleownan. grandson
11
,89 See Chronicon Mannise, in Johnstone's
Antiquitates Celto Normanicse," p. 20.
188 See "
of the Irish Archae- logical Society," p. 140.
'9° See ibid. , p. 12. "
vol. ii. , p. 367.
A. D. 1734.
Miscellany
's8 The Office is a Duplex of the First 192 The Mac Vurrich MS. , communicated Class, with an Octave throughout the by W. F. Skene, Esq. , to Rev. William Diocese of Raphoe, commencing on the 23rd Reeves, demonstrated this fact. of September. The Lessons of the First '53 See Rev. Mr. Reeves' Adamnan's Nocturn are taken from the Common of a "Life of St. Columba," Appendix to Pontiff and Confessor; those from the Third Nocturn have the Seventh Lesson commencing with "Lectio Sancti Evangelii secundum Lucam," cap. 10, and afterwards taken from the Common Lessons for an Evangelist. In the Mass taken from the
Preface, pp. lxvii. , lxviii.
'9* See Dr. O'Donovan's "Annals of the
Four Masters," vol. ill. , pp. 538, 539.
'95 Pope Clement XII. approved of a Mass for Bishop Eunan's festival, on the 7th of September. This was printed in Paris,
Common of a Confessor Pontiff, the Gospel alone is from the Common of Evangelists.
IL
53° LIVESOFTHEIRISHSAINTS. [September23.
Ireland, from the United States, and from the most distant colonies of the British Empire ; and with solemn religious ceremonial, the foundation stone was laid. Mr. Haigue was selected as the architect. The following is a
of the Cathedral J w dedicated to the Patron of
and which stands on an elevated site overlooking the town of Letterkenny, and commanding the country for miles around. The structure is one of
description
Raphoe diocese,
St. Eunan's Cathedral, Letterkenny.
are divided from
the nave, by an
arcade of five arches on each
side, supported on clustered
with beautifully carved capitals and bases. The choir is in the form of an apsidal ending, with nine sides ; in each of which is an acutely pointed arch communi- cating with the ambulatory, which is lighted by nine lancet windows, and above the chancel arcade are thirteen windows filled with stained glass. The great western door has a lofty pointed arch, amply recessed and richly moulded. Above it is a magnificent seven-lighted window, with rose tracery. Similar windows of smaller size light the transepts. The tower stands at the north- eastern angle. It is to be surmounted by a spire, and the whole shall rise to an elevation of 240 feet; or 120 feet for the tower, and 120 feet for the
'*> Taken from the Freeman's Journal of November 2ist, 1898.
200
The accompanying illustration, from an engraving of the exterior, kindly fur-
nished by the Most Rev. Patrick O'Donnell, D. D. , Bishop of Raphoe, has been drawn on the wood and engraved by Gregor Grey.
noble
tions. 200 The architecture is the
early pointed style, with lofty lancet windows, the severity of which is relieved by the introduc- tion of trefoil heads. Thebuild- ing is cruciform, and at the inter- section of nave and
transepts, there are four
arches rest- ing on massive square columns, ornamented with
panels, and carved in high relief with sub-
jects of religious history in Done-
lofty
gal.
The aisles
columns,
propor-
September i. i] LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. 531
spife. The Cathedral is 200 feet long; 100 feet wide across the transepts, and 66^2 feet across the nave and aisles. At the entrance to the transepts, there is a departure from the pointed style, the doors being in the Hiberno- Romanesque,withcharacteristicGaelicornamentation. Theviewfromthe chancel along the long line of aisles to the entrance is very fine, while by looking the other way the effect of the arcade round the chancel is beautiful and impressive. The panel figures in alto relievo, in the columnar supports of the arches at the intersection of the nave and aisles, are very interesting.
The work is excellently executed, with great attention to detail and the finest workmanship. On the column at the right hand side of the nave there is a beautiful series of panels devoted to many striking incidents in the
201 and on the left hand side is the Adamnan column,202 devoted to illustrations from the life of the founder of the church and diocese ofRaphoe. ThearchhasfiguresoftheBlessedTrinityandothersubjects. Above the spring of the arch from the Columban column is a panel repre- senting Conal Gulban asking the saint to admit him to the ministry, and the saint refusing, prophesying the glory of his race, and pointing to the motto, u in hoc signo vinces. " Above this is a panel representing St.