:
"Acta Sanctorum Ili-
September 4.
"Acta Sanctorum Ili-
September 4.
O'Hanlon - Lives of the Irish Saints - v9
527, Prologus, and n.
I, p.
542 ; Sexta Vita S.
Brigida?
Prologus, p.
582, and nn.
3, 5, pp.
597, 598.
9 See " Britannia Sancta," part ii. , p. 119.
10 See " Acta Sanctorum
See "Lives of the Fathers, Martyrs and other principal Saints," vol. ix. Sep- tember iv.
12 "
See the Martyrology of Donegal,"
edited by Rev, Drs. Todd and Reeves, pp.
234, 235.
13 See her Life, at the 1st of February,
in the Second Volume of this work, Art. i. 14 According to the old Scholiast, on the
Brigid.
September 4. ] LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS.
«5
be an anachronism, and Ultan has probably been confounded with that holy man, his namesake, who is called the son of Erc. x 9 No connected biogra- phical account remains of St. Ultan. Colgan is of opinion, however, that he was bishop over the ancient See of Ardbraccan,20 in the County of Meath. Yet, in the Kalendar of Drummond. this saint is only distinguished as a Priest and Confessor, remarkable for his exemplary life and for holiness*.
21
one of his usages was to feed, with his own hands, every child who had no support in Erin. 22 Another account states, that he he had a most charitable care for the infants of those women,
According to very ancient legend,
who died of the Buidhe Chonaill or yellow plague. The first mention of the 2
Bolgach or Small Pox, 3 appears in the Annals of lnnisfallen, at a. d. 569 ; 2
but, this is supposed * to have been a mistake for the leprosy, which was an
epidemic
about that time
; whereas, only
about a. d.
675,
2s or 26 did the 67a,
Bolgach first prevail in Ireland. However, the first outbreak of another
pestilence, known as the Buidhe-Chonnaill is said to have taken place in
2 28
Magh-Itha, ? in Fotherta of Leinster, in 663 ; while it seems to have
culminated in a still greater mortality the following year. A remarkable
eclipse of the sun preceded this public calamity in the month of May, a. d. 2
664. 9 According to Venerable Bede, it happened on the 3rd of May, the same year, and about ten o'clock in the morning ; while, besides the ravages
produced throughout Ireland, that pestilence depopulated the southern coasts of Britain, and afterwards extending into the province of Northumbria,
26
He —
J9
ceeded St. Declan, as Abbot, at Ardmore. in Hibernia que vocatur Bolgach. "
22
The curious mode, by which he fed the
is said to have suc- Atthis weread
immediately year "Lepra gravissima
See notices of him, in the Third Volume of this work, at the 14th of March, Art. hi.
Rev. Dr. O'Conor's " Rerum Hibernicarum Scrip-
tores," tomus iv. , Annales Ultonienses.
27 A plain in the Barony of Forth, and
20 See " Trias Thaumaturga," Quarta Ap-
pendix ad Acta S. Patricii, pars iii. De County of Wexford.
Scriptoribus Actorum Sancti Patricii, p. 217.
38
According to the Annals of Clonmac-
21
See the Book of Obits and Martyrology
noise, this plague happened A. D. 660, but this account is incorrect. The Annals of Ulster state at a. d. 633 "Tenebre in
:
Kalendis Mair in ix hora, et in eadem estate celum ardescere visum est. Mortalitas in Hibernia pervenit in Kalendis Augusti . . . In campo Ito in Fothart exarsit mortalitas primo in Hibernia. A—morte Patricii cciii. Prima mortalitas cxii. " Rev. Dr. O'Conor's "Rerum Hibernicarum Scriptores," tomus iv. , Annales Ultonienses.
29 Dr. William Robert Wilde writes " The second outbreak of the Buidhe Chon-
nail, or yellow plague, commenced about the middle of the seventh century. Tigher-
nach, whose annals are more chronologically correct than most others, dates its com- mencement at a. d. 664, but the Annals of lnnisfallen, and the Obits of Christ's Church, Dublin, have assigned a date so early as 656. Allowing for the chronological discrepancy among early annalists, there appears every reason to believe that this great pestilential period was also affected by the same law which has so frequently appeared to influence the progress of epidemic constitutions, and lasted ten years ; Tighernach himself gives two entries relating to it, with an interval of three years between. The Welsh annaals would make it twenty. "
of the Cathedral Church of the Holy
Trinity. " Edited by John Clarke Crosth-
waite and Rev. Dr. Todd. Introduction,
pp. xxv. , xxvi.
children playing around him, is to be found
in a note appended to the Leabhar Breac
copy of the Feilire, and there too are some
Irish verses quoted in his praise, although
their is not meaning
wholly intelligible. See "Transactions of the Royal Irish
:
Academy," Irish Manuscript Series, vol. i. , part i. On the Calendar of Oengus, by
Whitly Stokes, LL. D. , pp. cxlii. , cxliii.
23 This loathsome and dangerous form of disease had prevailed in China and Hindos- tan from remote antiquity, and it is supposed
to have originated at Mecca, about a. d. 569, before the birth of Mahomet. Afterwards, it extended over Africa, and reached Europe.
See Moore's p. no.
"
History of the Small Pox,"
2 *By William Robert Wilde, M. D. , in his historical Report on the Diseases of Ire- land, to be found in the volumes of the Census Commissioners of Ireland for a. d. 1851.
25 According to the Annals of Clonmac- noise.
:
36 LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS.
[September 4.
it wasted the country far and near, destroying a great multitude of persons. 30 Among those who died of the Buidhe Chonnaill this year in Ireland is mentioned St. Ultan Mac h Ui-Cunga, Abbot of Cluain-Iraird or Clonard 31
;
and, it is not improbable, he may have been confounded with the St. Ultan, who wrote St. Brigid's Acts. For the exercise of his great charity, when Fursa32 had been removed from the abbacy of old Mochta of Louth, Ultan was elected. It is stated, he often had fifty, and thrice fifty children, with him together, although it was difficult for him to feed them all. To St. Bracan or Brecain33 has been attributed the foundation of Ardbraccan Monastery, and from him the place has been named. 34 It seems probable, that Ultan was for some time under his rule in that place. 35
We find it stated, that after St. Bracan36 had departed for the Arran Islands, our saint became Abbot of Ardbraccan Monastery, in the County of Meath. Ussher supposes Ultan to have been a Bishop at Ardbraccan. 3? He belonged to the Third Class of Irish Saints. 38 In the parish of Burry,3? in the Deanery of Kells, County of Meath, there was a well,40 dedicated to
a St. Ultan—probably the present saint. That spring was called Tobar- Ultan, but it no longer exists. 41 This holy man is said to have lived on terms of great intimacy with St. Fechin of Fore. 43 From the latter, it is stated he asked a request. 43 His habit of penitence was accompanied by great austerity. Cuimin of Coindeire remarked, that St. Ultan had a prison of stone, or of boards against his side ; and that he used to bathe in cold water, during the prevalence of a sharp wind. 44
Among the Irish writers, St. Ultan of Ardbraccan has been classed. To
him is attributed an Irish Hymn, in praise of St. Brigid. 45 It has been
published of late in the u Liber Hymnorum. " We are informed, moreover, that it was he, who made the Latin verse at the end of it. The Latin poem
30 See " Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis Britannicavum Ecclesiarum," cap. xvii. , p.
Anglorum," lib. iii. , cap. xxvii.
31 See Dr. O'Donovan's "Annals of the
Four Masters," vol. i. , and nn. (p,q, x), pp. 274 to 277.
32 As we have said in the Life of St. Fursey, in the First Volume of this work, Art. i. , at the 1 6th of January, another saint of the name seems to have been commemo- rated in our Calendars. But, this is inferred
from a difference in
965.
38 See Ussher's "Britannicarum Ecclesia-
rum Antiquitates," chap, xvii. , p. 474.
39 Described on the "Ordnance Survey Townland Maps for the County of Meath,"
sheets 16, 17, 23.
*° It is noticed in the Ordnance Survey
rather than
papers relating to the County of Meath, and now preserved in the Royal Irish Academy, * l See Rev. A. " Diocese of Meath,
proved, genealogical accounts.
Cogan's
Ancient and Modern," vol. ii. , chap, xvi. , p.
33 His feast was held on the 16th of July,
at which date some accounts of him may be
found in the Seventh Volume of this work,
Art. i. 43
34 "
See Archdall's Monasticon Hiberni-
cum," p. 511.
35 From him Ardbreccan was sometimes
called Tobar Ultain or Ultan's Well. See Edward O'Reilly's M Chronological Account
Four Hundred Irish Writers," &c,
3<5 His death has been assigned to about
See Colgan's
bernise," xx. Januarii. Secunda Vita S. Fechini, cap. xxix. , p. 136.
** Thus runs the English translation of
his quatrain : —
". ,, . . . . . .
Ullanloves 1Schildren; r *!
of
p' xiv#
nearly
A prison for his lean side, And a bath in cold water In the sharp wind he loved.
AD 650.
3? Ussher writes
" Unde colligimus eun- dem hunc Episcopum Ultanum ratione quidem origims Conchubarensem fuisse die- tum ; Ardbrechanensem vero, respectu ad sedem habito, quod hodiernum Miden. sis Prsesulis est domicilium. "— " De Primordiis
« xR^ey -
:
311, n.
42 See his Life at the 20th of January, in
the First Volume of this work," Art. ii.
J^ " "j
2
Martyrology of Donegal," "D•r*s«/TodJ and Reeves, prpr.
C
C"
U,L
$f'? $$'. . ,~
II begins Wllh
Dpigic be bio c maic.
:
"Acta Sanctorum Ili-
September 4. ] LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. «7 which comes after the Life of St. Brigid 46 by Cogitosus, was written by
me Fratres. " Its is similar to that in style
when the two sons of Aodh Slaine were
posed the Life, as also the Latin and Gaedhlic Poems. '*8 Others think St. Columba4? was the author of the Hymn.
The Third Life of St. Brigid, as published by Colgan,s° is assigned to theauthorshipofSt. Ultan,BishopofArdbraccan. ThisManuscriptLife
him. It with " begins
Cogitis
the Book of Kilkenny ; yet, it is not the same production. In the time
wasreceivedfromthelearnedFather
Stephen White,*
1 anIrish whowas Jesuit,
The author does not
well versed in the antiquities of his native country.
publishhisname,saysWhite; henevertheless,revealshimself,asbeingfrom
the Island of Hibernia,*2 and as being of Irish origin. 53 After the last words, in a life of the sainted Virgin, the author first places her proper Latin
46 The author of the above memorandum seems to allude to the Latin verses at the
named by him ; since no writer or authority,
had heretofore stated their having compiled
St. Brigid's biography.
52 This is indicated in the first line. Col-
gan says, the Hymn which he published was
found in the Irish MS. , commonly called
end of St. Brigid's Third Life, in
"
Trias
Thaumathurga. " Colgan endeavours to show it had been written by St. Ultan. See n. I,
p. 542.
47 These were named Diarmaid and Blath- the Leabhar Iomaun in Latin, Liber
Kings,
-*? Ultan is said to have com-
—;
mac, who reigned jointly for seven years from a. d, 657 to A. D. 664—and who died of the great plague, known as the Bruidhe Connail in the year 664. See Dr. O'Dono- van's "Annals of the Four Masters," vol. i.
Vet, as St. Ultan Mac-Ui-Conchobhair,
according to the same authority, died A. D.
656, the statement in the text seems to be
inaccurate as to the date. See pp. 268 to Laimhoidhain, id est, Mundimanus, com-
277. posuit hunc Hymnum in laudem S. Brigida? 48 See Introduction to the " Calendar of vel sanctus Fiegus Sleptensis, Audite
the Saints of Ireland," edited by Drs. Todd
and Reeves, p. xxv.
49 His Life is given at the 9th of June, in
the Sixth Volume of this work, Art i.
so From an old codex, belonging to the
monastery of St. Magnus, at Ratisbonn, in Bavaria. This was accompanied with
various marginal annotations, partly taken from a MS. belonging to the monastery of
St. Autbertus, at Cambray, and partly from a MS. preserved at the Island of All Saints, in Ireland. The Cambray MS. had been furnished by Dr. Georgius Colvenerius, who was distinguished for his research and love of antiquities. Besides the All Saints MS. , received from Longford County, Colgan obtained another MS. from the Carthusian Collection at Cologne. The Ratisbonn MS. , we are told, had been written in Irish characters, and, as supposed, six or seven hundred years, before Colgan's time, that is to say, in the tenth or eleventh century. A fifth MS. was in Colgan's possession, and he received it from Dunensis monastery, in Flanders.
st He thought that the author of this third life must have been, either St. Virgil or St. Erard, Irishmen, who flourished in Bavaria in the eighth century. However, Colgan could not agree with White, that its author- ship was attributable, to either of those saints
Virginis laudes, est ejus initium : vel S. Ultanus de Ardbrecain composuit in S.
Brigidse laudem : ipse enim comprehendit miracula S. Brigidse in uno libro : Ordo alphebeticus in eo servatur et ad imita- tionem rithmi Noscarii compositus est. Quatuor sunt in eo capitula et quator lineae in singulis capitulis et sedecim syllabae in qualibet linea. " Three points must here be noted, as Colgan remarks. I. In the Hymn, published by him, the number of sixteen syllables, in each line, is not preserved, as he says may be instanced in the fourth and fifth lines. But, the Latin reader may find, on investigation, that there are sixteen syllables in the lines mentioned, as in most of the other stanzas. There are, however, five lines that either fall short, or exceed that number of syllables. 2. As published, by Colgan, the Hymn consists of five in- stead of four strophes. 3. If what the scholiast states be true, that the words, Audite Virginis laudes, commenced the hymn, and that there were four divisions or parts in it, two of the last must be wanting, and three other strophes, which are placed before these lines, must have been intended as a preface. Or, if we can be sure, that absolutely speaking, there were only four cantos in it, the fifth, which is not found in the St. Magnus MS. , must be an addition to
Hymnorum, by our national antiquaries. In this MS. were contained, also, many hymns, composed by different Irish saints. From it, Colgan obtained the last line, which
was wanting in the St Magnus MS.
53 In the Leabhar Iomaun, an old scholiast
prefixed the following proemium, or argu- ment, to this Hymn : " Sanctus Nemidius
88 LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS.
[September 4.
Hymn, and then, having completed the Latin lines, he pours forth prayers to St. Brigid, piously invoking her intercession, in the Irish idiom and
character—a circumstance somewhat remarkable.
54
There are two various
readings appended to the Hymnus de Brigida Virgine. 55 That St. Ultan was the author of this Hymn, and consequently of the Third Life, would seem to be established, in Colgan's opinion, from certain remarks of an old Scholiast, on the same Hymn. Those comments are given in a note. Even, although the Scholiast doubts, whether St. Nennidius, St. Fiech, or St. Ultan be its author, his very words are thought to be conclusive, in showing this latter, to have been the writer, both of the Life and Hymn j since he is said to have composed both one and the other, in praise of St. Brigid, and both were contained in one book. The Scholiast even cites a portion of a line, from this Hymn, which agrees -with what has been published, by Colgan. Now, it is not known, that St. Nennidius or St. Fiech wrote a Life of St. Brigid, whether in one tract, or in more than one
part.
Such a supposition of St. Ultan having been the author of St. Brigid's
Third Life, however, has been contravened by various judicious critics. The Rev. Dr. Lanigan will not allow St. Ultan, or any other writer of the seventh century, to have written the many strange fables, with which the Third Life of St. Brigid has been crammed. *6 It differs from the two first Lives, in many material points. Comparing this biography, with the First, Second, Fourth and Fifth Lives of St. Brigid, in Colgan's work, it will be found, that many particulars, there related concerning her, are not contained in those tracts alluded to; while, the number of divisions it contains is said
the original number. Colgan then con- cludes, that as no authority states St. Nennidius or St. Fiech to have written St. Brigid's Acts in a book, and as it could be shown from this writer, and from other sources, that St. Ultan wrote her Acts, in one book, and also a Hymn in her praise; it would seem, this latter must have been the author of St. Brigid's third life, published by Colgan, with the metrical lines post- fixed, and that he was composer, both of the prose life and of the Hymn. See Colgan's "Trias Thaumaturga," Tertia Vita S. Brigidae, n. 80, p. 545.
5+ This metrical composition is headed, Hymnus de Brigida Virgine. The lines run as follow :
Christus in nostra Insula, qua; vocatur Hibernia
Ostensus est hominibus, maximis mirabi-
libus
Quie perfecit per felicem ccelestis vitse vir-
ginem.
Praecellentem pro merito magno in mundi
circulo.
Hymnus iste, angelica summaeque Sanctae
Brigidae
Fari non valet omnia virtutum mirabilia,
Quae nostris nunquam auribus, si suit facta, audivimus,
Nisi per istam Viiginem, Maria; Sanche similem.
Zona sanctre militae sanctos lumbos pre-
cingere
Consuevit diurno, noclurno quoque studio : Consummato certamine sumpsit palman
victoria;
Refulgens magno splendore, ut sol in cceli culmine.
Andite Virginis laudes, sancta quoque merita. Perfectionem, quam promisit, viri liter adim-
plevit.
Christi Matrem se spopondit, diclo atque
factis fecit.
Brigida automata veri Dei Regina.
Brigida Sancta sedulo sit nostro in auxilio, Ut mereamur coronam habere, ac lauitiam. In conspectu Angelorum in saecula ssecn-
lorum,
Christe Jesu author bonorum miserere,
obsecro omnium.
55 In a note, attaching to these words in
the Hymn, Brigida automata, Colgan re- marks, that in the Irish MS. Automata was found, which should be changed for his emendation. The Greek word avro^arov signifies self-moving, or a mechanical in- strument, so curiously and ingeniously constructed, that it seems to act of its own accord, and without any apparent cause or motor. See ibid, p. 542, and n. 81, p. 545-
56 See " Ecclesiastical History of Ireland," vol. i. , chap, viii. , sect, ii. , n. 18, p. 380.
;
September 4. ] LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. 89
to exceed those in the Fourth Life, by about twenty-three chapters. 57 That St. Ultan wrote the Acts of St. Brigid, is asserted by an author of her Life
in Irish, by a certain Scholiast, as also by Archbishop Ussher58 and by Sir James Ware. 59 From the probability of some metrical lines appended
having been composed, by the same author, in the opinion of White, Colvenerius and Ward, Colgan maintains, that the Life written was identical with that published by him. This conclusion is supposed to be
"
further warranted, by the usual clause,
to the life of a Saint, coming after, and not before, that Hymn, as found in the St. Magnus MS. , and written many ages before Colgan's time. In the
to
St. Autbert MS. , it comes after a Carmen, which follows the Hymn.
61
To St. Ultan has been attributed the spirit of prophecy. It is said his
remain in metre, and in the Irish language. 62 A prophetic Poem63 extant is ascribed to St. Ultan of Ardbraccan. He is said to have foretold the arrival of the English in Ireland, and that they should annex it to the Kingdom of England. He is stated also to have been the teacher of Tirechan, who wrote from the dictation of Ultan,6* two Books, on the Acts of St. Patrick. These Books are yet in manuscript, and Archbishop Usher frequently quotes passages from them, so that we may conclude, he had
prophecies
them in his
possession.
6s These Annotations are in the Book of Armagh.
Ultan is said to have written a Life of St. Patrick,66 but this is uncertain. 6?
It was as we are 68 that collected the miracles of St. Brigid, into one
E superis resonat intus cum sedibus Echo Tubarum sublimis e superis resonat.
Mitte beata preces pro nobis Virgo benigna : Ad Dominum semper mitte beata preces.
61 Colgan remarks, that he found some words, appended to this Carmen. These showed it had been composed by the author of St. Brigid's Life, and of the Hymn, which preceded it. He also thinks, that the words " cum tuba sublimis," should be substituted for "Tubarum . Sublimis. " The writer's meaning appears to be, that he had a hope of obtaining Holy Brigid's intercession, when the trumpet should sound, on the day ofGeneralJudgment. SeeColgan's"Trias Thaumaturga," Tertia Vita S. Brigidae, p. 542, and nn. 82, 83, p. 545, ibid.
62 Edward O'Reilly possessed copies of these ascribed prophecies. See "Chrono- logical Account of nearly Four Hundred Writers," &c, p. xlv.
63 It is found in Messrs. Hodges and Smith's collection, and in the R. I. A. marked
he, told,
s? This is Colgan's statement. Yet, it must refer, not to the relative numerical divisions of Chapters, but to additional matter, in the Third Life. Colgan's di- visions of the six lives are as follows : viz. First, metrical Life, 53 stanzas of four lines each, Irish with Latin translation ; Second Life, 36 chapters, with prologue ; Third Life, 131 chapters prose, with supple- mentary metrical lines ; Fourth Liie, divided into two books, the first book containing 52 chapters, while the last, having 100, is prefaced by a prologue ; the Fifth Life comprises 58 chapters ; while the Sixth metrical Life contains 68 sections, more or less imperfect, with prefatory and supple- mental lines. To these several biographies are appended learned notes by the editor.
9 See " Britannia Sancta," part ii. , p. 119.
10 See " Acta Sanctorum
See "Lives of the Fathers, Martyrs and other principal Saints," vol. ix. Sep- tember iv.
12 "
See the Martyrology of Donegal,"
edited by Rev, Drs. Todd and Reeves, pp.
234, 235.
13 See her Life, at the 1st of February,
in the Second Volume of this work, Art. i. 14 According to the old Scholiast, on the
Brigid.
September 4. ] LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS.
«5
be an anachronism, and Ultan has probably been confounded with that holy man, his namesake, who is called the son of Erc. x 9 No connected biogra- phical account remains of St. Ultan. Colgan is of opinion, however, that he was bishop over the ancient See of Ardbraccan,20 in the County of Meath. Yet, in the Kalendar of Drummond. this saint is only distinguished as a Priest and Confessor, remarkable for his exemplary life and for holiness*.
21
one of his usages was to feed, with his own hands, every child who had no support in Erin. 22 Another account states, that he he had a most charitable care for the infants of those women,
According to very ancient legend,
who died of the Buidhe Chonaill or yellow plague. The first mention of the 2
Bolgach or Small Pox, 3 appears in the Annals of lnnisfallen, at a. d. 569 ; 2
but, this is supposed * to have been a mistake for the leprosy, which was an
epidemic
about that time
; whereas, only
about a. d.
675,
2s or 26 did the 67a,
Bolgach first prevail in Ireland. However, the first outbreak of another
pestilence, known as the Buidhe-Chonnaill is said to have taken place in
2 28
Magh-Itha, ? in Fotherta of Leinster, in 663 ; while it seems to have
culminated in a still greater mortality the following year. A remarkable
eclipse of the sun preceded this public calamity in the month of May, a. d. 2
664. 9 According to Venerable Bede, it happened on the 3rd of May, the same year, and about ten o'clock in the morning ; while, besides the ravages
produced throughout Ireland, that pestilence depopulated the southern coasts of Britain, and afterwards extending into the province of Northumbria,
26
He —
J9
ceeded St. Declan, as Abbot, at Ardmore. in Hibernia que vocatur Bolgach. "
22
The curious mode, by which he fed the
is said to have suc- Atthis weread
immediately year "Lepra gravissima
See notices of him, in the Third Volume of this work, at the 14th of March, Art. hi.
Rev. Dr. O'Conor's " Rerum Hibernicarum Scrip-
tores," tomus iv. , Annales Ultonienses.
27 A plain in the Barony of Forth, and
20 See " Trias Thaumaturga," Quarta Ap-
pendix ad Acta S. Patricii, pars iii. De County of Wexford.
Scriptoribus Actorum Sancti Patricii, p. 217.
38
According to the Annals of Clonmac-
21
See the Book of Obits and Martyrology
noise, this plague happened A. D. 660, but this account is incorrect. The Annals of Ulster state at a. d. 633 "Tenebre in
:
Kalendis Mair in ix hora, et in eadem estate celum ardescere visum est. Mortalitas in Hibernia pervenit in Kalendis Augusti . . . In campo Ito in Fothart exarsit mortalitas primo in Hibernia. A—morte Patricii cciii. Prima mortalitas cxii. " Rev. Dr. O'Conor's "Rerum Hibernicarum Scriptores," tomus iv. , Annales Ultonienses.
29 Dr. William Robert Wilde writes " The second outbreak of the Buidhe Chon-
nail, or yellow plague, commenced about the middle of the seventh century. Tigher-
nach, whose annals are more chronologically correct than most others, dates its com- mencement at a. d. 664, but the Annals of lnnisfallen, and the Obits of Christ's Church, Dublin, have assigned a date so early as 656. Allowing for the chronological discrepancy among early annalists, there appears every reason to believe that this great pestilential period was also affected by the same law which has so frequently appeared to influence the progress of epidemic constitutions, and lasted ten years ; Tighernach himself gives two entries relating to it, with an interval of three years between. The Welsh annaals would make it twenty. "
of the Cathedral Church of the Holy
Trinity. " Edited by John Clarke Crosth-
waite and Rev. Dr. Todd. Introduction,
pp. xxv. , xxvi.
children playing around him, is to be found
in a note appended to the Leabhar Breac
copy of the Feilire, and there too are some
Irish verses quoted in his praise, although
their is not meaning
wholly intelligible. See "Transactions of the Royal Irish
:
Academy," Irish Manuscript Series, vol. i. , part i. On the Calendar of Oengus, by
Whitly Stokes, LL. D. , pp. cxlii. , cxliii.
23 This loathsome and dangerous form of disease had prevailed in China and Hindos- tan from remote antiquity, and it is supposed
to have originated at Mecca, about a. d. 569, before the birth of Mahomet. Afterwards, it extended over Africa, and reached Europe.
See Moore's p. no.
"
History of the Small Pox,"
2 *By William Robert Wilde, M. D. , in his historical Report on the Diseases of Ire- land, to be found in the volumes of the Census Commissioners of Ireland for a. d. 1851.
25 According to the Annals of Clonmac- noise.
:
36 LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS.
[September 4.
it wasted the country far and near, destroying a great multitude of persons. 30 Among those who died of the Buidhe Chonnaill this year in Ireland is mentioned St. Ultan Mac h Ui-Cunga, Abbot of Cluain-Iraird or Clonard 31
;
and, it is not improbable, he may have been confounded with the St. Ultan, who wrote St. Brigid's Acts. For the exercise of his great charity, when Fursa32 had been removed from the abbacy of old Mochta of Louth, Ultan was elected. It is stated, he often had fifty, and thrice fifty children, with him together, although it was difficult for him to feed them all. To St. Bracan or Brecain33 has been attributed the foundation of Ardbraccan Monastery, and from him the place has been named. 34 It seems probable, that Ultan was for some time under his rule in that place. 35
We find it stated, that after St. Bracan36 had departed for the Arran Islands, our saint became Abbot of Ardbraccan Monastery, in the County of Meath. Ussher supposes Ultan to have been a Bishop at Ardbraccan. 3? He belonged to the Third Class of Irish Saints. 38 In the parish of Burry,3? in the Deanery of Kells, County of Meath, there was a well,40 dedicated to
a St. Ultan—probably the present saint. That spring was called Tobar- Ultan, but it no longer exists. 41 This holy man is said to have lived on terms of great intimacy with St. Fechin of Fore. 43 From the latter, it is stated he asked a request. 43 His habit of penitence was accompanied by great austerity. Cuimin of Coindeire remarked, that St. Ultan had a prison of stone, or of boards against his side ; and that he used to bathe in cold water, during the prevalence of a sharp wind. 44
Among the Irish writers, St. Ultan of Ardbraccan has been classed. To
him is attributed an Irish Hymn, in praise of St. Brigid. 45 It has been
published of late in the u Liber Hymnorum. " We are informed, moreover, that it was he, who made the Latin verse at the end of it. The Latin poem
30 See " Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis Britannicavum Ecclesiarum," cap. xvii. , p.
Anglorum," lib. iii. , cap. xxvii.
31 See Dr. O'Donovan's "Annals of the
Four Masters," vol. i. , and nn. (p,q, x), pp. 274 to 277.
32 As we have said in the Life of St. Fursey, in the First Volume of this work, Art. i. , at the 1 6th of January, another saint of the name seems to have been commemo- rated in our Calendars. But, this is inferred
from a difference in
965.
38 See Ussher's "Britannicarum Ecclesia-
rum Antiquitates," chap, xvii. , p. 474.
39 Described on the "Ordnance Survey Townland Maps for the County of Meath,"
sheets 16, 17, 23.
*° It is noticed in the Ordnance Survey
rather than
papers relating to the County of Meath, and now preserved in the Royal Irish Academy, * l See Rev. A. " Diocese of Meath,
proved, genealogical accounts.
Cogan's
Ancient and Modern," vol. ii. , chap, xvi. , p.
33 His feast was held on the 16th of July,
at which date some accounts of him may be
found in the Seventh Volume of this work,
Art. i. 43
34 "
See Archdall's Monasticon Hiberni-
cum," p. 511.
35 From him Ardbreccan was sometimes
called Tobar Ultain or Ultan's Well. See Edward O'Reilly's M Chronological Account
Four Hundred Irish Writers," &c,
3<5 His death has been assigned to about
See Colgan's
bernise," xx. Januarii. Secunda Vita S. Fechini, cap. xxix. , p. 136.
** Thus runs the English translation of
his quatrain : —
". ,, . . . . . .
Ullanloves 1Schildren; r *!
of
p' xiv#
nearly
A prison for his lean side, And a bath in cold water In the sharp wind he loved.
AD 650.
3? Ussher writes
" Unde colligimus eun- dem hunc Episcopum Ultanum ratione quidem origims Conchubarensem fuisse die- tum ; Ardbrechanensem vero, respectu ad sedem habito, quod hodiernum Miden. sis Prsesulis est domicilium. "— " De Primordiis
« xR^ey -
:
311, n.
42 See his Life at the 20th of January, in
the First Volume of this work," Art. ii.
J^ " "j
2
Martyrology of Donegal," "D•r*s«/TodJ and Reeves, prpr.
C
C"
U,L
$f'? $$'. . ,~
II begins Wllh
Dpigic be bio c maic.
:
"Acta Sanctorum Ili-
September 4. ] LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. «7 which comes after the Life of St. Brigid 46 by Cogitosus, was written by
me Fratres. " Its is similar to that in style
when the two sons of Aodh Slaine were
posed the Life, as also the Latin and Gaedhlic Poems. '*8 Others think St. Columba4? was the author of the Hymn.
The Third Life of St. Brigid, as published by Colgan,s° is assigned to theauthorshipofSt. Ultan,BishopofArdbraccan. ThisManuscriptLife
him. It with " begins
Cogitis
the Book of Kilkenny ; yet, it is not the same production. In the time
wasreceivedfromthelearnedFather
Stephen White,*
1 anIrish whowas Jesuit,
The author does not
well versed in the antiquities of his native country.
publishhisname,saysWhite; henevertheless,revealshimself,asbeingfrom
the Island of Hibernia,*2 and as being of Irish origin. 53 After the last words, in a life of the sainted Virgin, the author first places her proper Latin
46 The author of the above memorandum seems to allude to the Latin verses at the
named by him ; since no writer or authority,
had heretofore stated their having compiled
St. Brigid's biography.
52 This is indicated in the first line. Col-
gan says, the Hymn which he published was
found in the Irish MS. , commonly called
end of St. Brigid's Third Life, in
"
Trias
Thaumathurga. " Colgan endeavours to show it had been written by St. Ultan. See n. I,
p. 542.
47 These were named Diarmaid and Blath- the Leabhar Iomaun in Latin, Liber
Kings,
-*? Ultan is said to have com-
—;
mac, who reigned jointly for seven years from a. d, 657 to A. D. 664—and who died of the great plague, known as the Bruidhe Connail in the year 664. See Dr. O'Dono- van's "Annals of the Four Masters," vol. i.
Vet, as St. Ultan Mac-Ui-Conchobhair,
according to the same authority, died A. D.
656, the statement in the text seems to be
inaccurate as to the date. See pp. 268 to Laimhoidhain, id est, Mundimanus, com-
277. posuit hunc Hymnum in laudem S. Brigida? 48 See Introduction to the " Calendar of vel sanctus Fiegus Sleptensis, Audite
the Saints of Ireland," edited by Drs. Todd
and Reeves, p. xxv.
49 His Life is given at the 9th of June, in
the Sixth Volume of this work, Art i.
so From an old codex, belonging to the
monastery of St. Magnus, at Ratisbonn, in Bavaria. This was accompanied with
various marginal annotations, partly taken from a MS. belonging to the monastery of
St. Autbertus, at Cambray, and partly from a MS. preserved at the Island of All Saints, in Ireland. The Cambray MS. had been furnished by Dr. Georgius Colvenerius, who was distinguished for his research and love of antiquities. Besides the All Saints MS. , received from Longford County, Colgan obtained another MS. from the Carthusian Collection at Cologne. The Ratisbonn MS. , we are told, had been written in Irish characters, and, as supposed, six or seven hundred years, before Colgan's time, that is to say, in the tenth or eleventh century. A fifth MS. was in Colgan's possession, and he received it from Dunensis monastery, in Flanders.
st He thought that the author of this third life must have been, either St. Virgil or St. Erard, Irishmen, who flourished in Bavaria in the eighth century. However, Colgan could not agree with White, that its author- ship was attributable, to either of those saints
Virginis laudes, est ejus initium : vel S. Ultanus de Ardbrecain composuit in S.
Brigidse laudem : ipse enim comprehendit miracula S. Brigidse in uno libro : Ordo alphebeticus in eo servatur et ad imita- tionem rithmi Noscarii compositus est. Quatuor sunt in eo capitula et quator lineae in singulis capitulis et sedecim syllabae in qualibet linea. " Three points must here be noted, as Colgan remarks. I. In the Hymn, published by him, the number of sixteen syllables, in each line, is not preserved, as he says may be instanced in the fourth and fifth lines. But, the Latin reader may find, on investigation, that there are sixteen syllables in the lines mentioned, as in most of the other stanzas. There are, however, five lines that either fall short, or exceed that number of syllables. 2. As published, by Colgan, the Hymn consists of five in- stead of four strophes. 3. If what the scholiast states be true, that the words, Audite Virginis laudes, commenced the hymn, and that there were four divisions or parts in it, two of the last must be wanting, and three other strophes, which are placed before these lines, must have been intended as a preface. Or, if we can be sure, that absolutely speaking, there were only four cantos in it, the fifth, which is not found in the St. Magnus MS. , must be an addition to
Hymnorum, by our national antiquaries. In this MS. were contained, also, many hymns, composed by different Irish saints. From it, Colgan obtained the last line, which
was wanting in the St Magnus MS.
53 In the Leabhar Iomaun, an old scholiast
prefixed the following proemium, or argu- ment, to this Hymn : " Sanctus Nemidius
88 LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS.
[September 4.
Hymn, and then, having completed the Latin lines, he pours forth prayers to St. Brigid, piously invoking her intercession, in the Irish idiom and
character—a circumstance somewhat remarkable.
54
There are two various
readings appended to the Hymnus de Brigida Virgine. 55 That St. Ultan was the author of this Hymn, and consequently of the Third Life, would seem to be established, in Colgan's opinion, from certain remarks of an old Scholiast, on the same Hymn. Those comments are given in a note. Even, although the Scholiast doubts, whether St. Nennidius, St. Fiech, or St. Ultan be its author, his very words are thought to be conclusive, in showing this latter, to have been the writer, both of the Life and Hymn j since he is said to have composed both one and the other, in praise of St. Brigid, and both were contained in one book. The Scholiast even cites a portion of a line, from this Hymn, which agrees -with what has been published, by Colgan. Now, it is not known, that St. Nennidius or St. Fiech wrote a Life of St. Brigid, whether in one tract, or in more than one
part.
Such a supposition of St. Ultan having been the author of St. Brigid's
Third Life, however, has been contravened by various judicious critics. The Rev. Dr. Lanigan will not allow St. Ultan, or any other writer of the seventh century, to have written the many strange fables, with which the Third Life of St. Brigid has been crammed. *6 It differs from the two first Lives, in many material points. Comparing this biography, with the First, Second, Fourth and Fifth Lives of St. Brigid, in Colgan's work, it will be found, that many particulars, there related concerning her, are not contained in those tracts alluded to; while, the number of divisions it contains is said
the original number. Colgan then con- cludes, that as no authority states St. Nennidius or St. Fiech to have written St. Brigid's Acts in a book, and as it could be shown from this writer, and from other sources, that St. Ultan wrote her Acts, in one book, and also a Hymn in her praise; it would seem, this latter must have been the author of St. Brigid's third life, published by Colgan, with the metrical lines post- fixed, and that he was composer, both of the prose life and of the Hymn. See Colgan's "Trias Thaumaturga," Tertia Vita S. Brigidae, n. 80, p. 545.
5+ This metrical composition is headed, Hymnus de Brigida Virgine. The lines run as follow :
Christus in nostra Insula, qua; vocatur Hibernia
Ostensus est hominibus, maximis mirabi-
libus
Quie perfecit per felicem ccelestis vitse vir-
ginem.
Praecellentem pro merito magno in mundi
circulo.
Hymnus iste, angelica summaeque Sanctae
Brigidae
Fari non valet omnia virtutum mirabilia,
Quae nostris nunquam auribus, si suit facta, audivimus,
Nisi per istam Viiginem, Maria; Sanche similem.
Zona sanctre militae sanctos lumbos pre-
cingere
Consuevit diurno, noclurno quoque studio : Consummato certamine sumpsit palman
victoria;
Refulgens magno splendore, ut sol in cceli culmine.
Andite Virginis laudes, sancta quoque merita. Perfectionem, quam promisit, viri liter adim-
plevit.
Christi Matrem se spopondit, diclo atque
factis fecit.
Brigida automata veri Dei Regina.
Brigida Sancta sedulo sit nostro in auxilio, Ut mereamur coronam habere, ac lauitiam. In conspectu Angelorum in saecula ssecn-
lorum,
Christe Jesu author bonorum miserere,
obsecro omnium.
55 In a note, attaching to these words in
the Hymn, Brigida automata, Colgan re- marks, that in the Irish MS. Automata was found, which should be changed for his emendation. The Greek word avro^arov signifies self-moving, or a mechanical in- strument, so curiously and ingeniously constructed, that it seems to act of its own accord, and without any apparent cause or motor. See ibid, p. 542, and n. 81, p. 545-
56 See " Ecclesiastical History of Ireland," vol. i. , chap, viii. , sect, ii. , n. 18, p. 380.
;
September 4. ] LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. 89
to exceed those in the Fourth Life, by about twenty-three chapters. 57 That St. Ultan wrote the Acts of St. Brigid, is asserted by an author of her Life
in Irish, by a certain Scholiast, as also by Archbishop Ussher58 and by Sir James Ware. 59 From the probability of some metrical lines appended
having been composed, by the same author, in the opinion of White, Colvenerius and Ward, Colgan maintains, that the Life written was identical with that published by him. This conclusion is supposed to be
"
further warranted, by the usual clause,
to the life of a Saint, coming after, and not before, that Hymn, as found in the St. Magnus MS. , and written many ages before Colgan's time. In the
to
St. Autbert MS. , it comes after a Carmen, which follows the Hymn.
61
To St. Ultan has been attributed the spirit of prophecy. It is said his
remain in metre, and in the Irish language. 62 A prophetic Poem63 extant is ascribed to St. Ultan of Ardbraccan. He is said to have foretold the arrival of the English in Ireland, and that they should annex it to the Kingdom of England. He is stated also to have been the teacher of Tirechan, who wrote from the dictation of Ultan,6* two Books, on the Acts of St. Patrick. These Books are yet in manuscript, and Archbishop Usher frequently quotes passages from them, so that we may conclude, he had
prophecies
them in his
possession.
6s These Annotations are in the Book of Armagh.
Ultan is said to have written a Life of St. Patrick,66 but this is uncertain. 6?
It was as we are 68 that collected the miracles of St. Brigid, into one
E superis resonat intus cum sedibus Echo Tubarum sublimis e superis resonat.
Mitte beata preces pro nobis Virgo benigna : Ad Dominum semper mitte beata preces.
61 Colgan remarks, that he found some words, appended to this Carmen. These showed it had been composed by the author of St. Brigid's Life, and of the Hymn, which preceded it. He also thinks, that the words " cum tuba sublimis," should be substituted for "Tubarum . Sublimis. " The writer's meaning appears to be, that he had a hope of obtaining Holy Brigid's intercession, when the trumpet should sound, on the day ofGeneralJudgment. SeeColgan's"Trias Thaumaturga," Tertia Vita S. Brigidae, p. 542, and nn. 82, 83, p. 545, ibid.
62 Edward O'Reilly possessed copies of these ascribed prophecies. See "Chrono- logical Account of nearly Four Hundred Writers," &c, p. xlv.
63 It is found in Messrs. Hodges and Smith's collection, and in the R. I. A. marked
he, told,
s? This is Colgan's statement. Yet, it must refer, not to the relative numerical divisions of Chapters, but to additional matter, in the Third Life. Colgan's di- visions of the six lives are as follows : viz. First, metrical Life, 53 stanzas of four lines each, Irish with Latin translation ; Second Life, 36 chapters, with prologue ; Third Life, 131 chapters prose, with supple- mentary metrical lines ; Fourth Liie, divided into two books, the first book containing 52 chapters, while the last, having 100, is prefaced by a prologue ; the Fifth Life comprises 58 chapters ; while the Sixth metrical Life contains 68 sections, more or less imperfect, with prefatory and supple- mental lines. To these several biographies are appended learned notes by the editor.
