Rupert,
as
by John Colgan,
old tract relates, that when Theodon, Duke of the Boii, with many of his
nobles and a great number of people, had been baptised by St.
as
by John Colgan,
old tract relates, that when Theodon, Duke of the Boii, with many of his
nobles and a great number of people, had been baptised by St.
O'Hanlon - Lives of the Irish Saints - v9
Comnat or Coimnatain.
At the 23rd of September,
we find entered, in the published Martyrology of
Tallagh,
1 a festival in
honour of Coimnatain. A similar is in the Book of Leinster entry
2
copy. His place in history we cannot find. Also on this day, Marianus O'GormanS
commemoratesCo[e]mnat,orComnat. SimplythenameComnat,without
any further designation, appears in the Martyrology of Donegal,-* at this same date. There can hardly be a doubt, this latter person is identical with Coimnatain.
Article IV. —St. Saran. In the of published Martyrology
1
Tallagh, there is a Ciaran at this day ; but we think, this must have been introduced
for Saran, as we find it in the Book of Leinster copy. ' In the Martyrology ot
Marianus O'Gorman,3 Saran is entered at the 23rd of September. According 4
totheMartyrologyofDonegal, Saranwasveneratedatthe23rdofSeptember.
Article V. —St. Tecla, Virgin and Martyr. The swan is said
noiselessly to float over the silver lake, or to rest tranquilly in the brakes
around it, until the time of death approaches, when enchanting notes are
heard before it expires. So do the holy Virgins conceal until the final hour
those latent harmonies of the soul, which break into hymns sempiternal
among the choirs of the Blessed. In the ancient Irish Church, the festival
of St, Thecla, Virgin and Martyr, was celebrated on this day. Although her
memory has been preserved with great veneration from the earliest ages of
the Christian as a who suffered at Seleucia in Isauria, 1 and Church, Martyr,
although mentioned in nearly all the ancient Martyrologies and Calendars j yet her Acts as coming down to us are interspersed with fables, which the
Jesuit Father John Stilting has shown in a learned disquisition in the Bollandist Collection of Saints' Acts. 2 The Martyrology of Marianus O'Gorman3 celebrates the feast of St. Thecla, at the 23rd of September, and invokes her intercession. This holy Virgin is reputed to have been well- versed in profane philosophy and in various branches of polite literature, when she was converted to the Christian faith by the Apostle St. Paul at Iconium,4 about the year 45. She became his disciple, and renounced the worldly prospects of marriage with a young and rich nobleman, who, incensed at her refusal, accused her to the magistrates with' being a Christian. She
Article ill. —' Edited Kelly, p. xxxv.
2
by
the Rev. Dr.
3 See "Acta Sanctorum," tomus vi. , Septembris xxiii. De S. Thecla Virg. Mart. Seleuciae in Isauria. Commentarius Critico-IIistoricus. This is comprised in seven sections, having one hundred and five paragraphs. —
Thus : Coimndcan.
3 See Dr. Whitley Stokes' "Felire Hui
Gormain," pp. 182, 183.
4 Edited by Drs. Todd and Reeves, pp.
356, 357. — Article iv.
Kelly, p. xxxv.
2
In the following Irish verses
:
'
Edited by the Rev.
Dr.
Tecla
for oebnemh co hebhinn.
Thus: SAj\4ni.
3 See Dr. Whitley Stokes' "Felire Hui
Gormain," pp. 182, 183.
4 Edited by Drs. Todd and Reeves, pp.
"Felire Hui Gormain,"
of a Lycaonia, province
and Pliny describe it as a very populous
inhabited Greeks and See city by Jews.
"
Dr. William Smith's Dictionary of Greek
and Roman Geography," vol. ii. , p. 12.
256, 257. — Article v.
of a wild, mountainous character, and but little known to the Romans. See Dr.
William Smith's "
65, 66.
beautiful heaven. " pp. 182, 183.
•4 A district in Asia Minor,
Dictionary
and Roman Geography," vol. ii. , pp.
of Greek
3
Thus translated into English by Dr. Whitley Stokes: "White Tecla whom I entreat (and who—dwells) delightfully in
The chief of Asia Minor.
city
The Acts of the Apostles
oengel alimm,
September 23. ] LIVES OF THE IRISh SAINTS. 535
was condemned to be torn in pieces by wild beasts, and exposed in the
amphitheatre, but she was miraculously preserved. 5 Afterwards, she attended
St. Paul during several of his apostolical missions ; but she is said to have
passed the latter years of her life in devout retirement. The Maityrology of
6
Donegal records a festival in honor of Tecla, Virgin, at the 23rd of Septem-
ber. The Calendarist expresses his opinion that she is the Greek virgin and martyr whose festival on this day is celebrated by the Church. 7 She was buried in Seleucia, one of the chief towns of Isauria, and over her tomb a magnificent church was erected, under the first Christian Emperors. Although preserved from the violent death intended for her by persecutors; yet, by St. Isidore of Pelusium and the Greek writers St. Thecla has been called the protomartyr of her sex, and as such venerated from the earliest times. At this her name is noted in the Roman 8
Article VI. —Reputed Festival of St. Lolan, Scottish Bishop.
date, Martyrology.
At the of the Bollandists 1 refer to a 23rd September,
which gives a festival to Lolan, a Scottish Bishop ;
Manuscript Kalendar, but, he seems to have
been no other than the Lolan, Bishop and Confessor, of Kincardine, whose feast is generally assigned to the Z2nd of this month, where notices of him have been inserted. 2
ArticleVII. —ReputedFestivalofSt. Hildulph. Atthe23rdof September, the Bollandists notice a festival found in a Manuscript Kalendar
to the Church of St. Saviour
regarding hi—m, the reader is referred —to his Acts, which are given at the nth
belonging
day of July which is his chief feast
at*Antwerp.
particulars
2
Article VIIL—Reputed Festival of St. Kynnera or Canera'
Virgin, at Inis Cathaigh. We know not on what authority, Bishop
1
Challenor has a feast of commemoration for St. Kynnera at Inis Cathaigh.
She led a solitary life of great sanctity, in the South of Ireland. A further
account her be seen at the 28th of 2 the regarding may January,
assigned as that of her chief festival.
day generally
5 This happened during the reign of tomus vi, Septembris xxiii. Among the
Nero, according to the Roman Martyr- ology.
pretermitted feasts, p. 537.
2
See at that date, in the present volume, Art. viii.
6
Edited by Drs. Todd and Reeves, pp.
2 6 2
5 > 57-
7 In a note, Dr. Reeves says at the fore-
going passage, which is within brackets, that it has been entered in the more recent hand.
8"
See Martyrologium Romanum," editio
Article vii. — • See " Acta
tomus vi,, Septembris xxiri.
pretermitted feasts, p. 537.
2
Sanctorum," Among the
novissima. NonoKalendas
British Piety," p. 134.
2 In the First Volume of this
Art.
work.
Octobris, p. 142. Article vi. — See "Acta Sanctorum,"
*
x For further
in the Seventh Volume of this work.
Art. i.
Article viii. —' See " A Memorial of
536 LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. [September 24.
CtuentiK-fouvtl) JBap of September.
ARTICLE I. —SAINTS CHUNIBALDUS OR CUNIALUUS AND GISLAR1US, PRIESTS AND MISSIONARIES IN BAVARIA.
[SEVENTH AND EIGHTH CENTURIES. }
veneration had been entertained for Saints Chuniald and Gisilar
THAT
in from their own Bavaria,
down to the
is an
acknowledged
age
Various writers have assigned different days for festivals referring to the
present holy companions of St. Rupert, Apostle of Bavaria. In some cases
they are noticed singly, and in others their names are together united. Nor
is it to be understood, that the present day represents the anniversary of their respective deaths.
Acts of Saints Chuniald and Gislar appear to have been prepared by
Colgan, for the 24th of September, as we find from the posthumous list of his
12 MSS. The Bollandists have notices at this date of those Saints, in a
historic Sylloge,3 having pretermitted their Festival, at the 8th of February. * To adopt such a course they were impelled ; because, at the latter date, they had promised to defer their remarks on both to the 24th of September. The Manuscript Florarium Sanctorums in their possession, and Hermann Greuen,6
8
placed their Festivals at the 8th of February. 7 The Petits Bollandistes have notices of St. Chuniald, Cunibald, Chunibald or Kuniald, and of St.
Gisilaire, Gislaire, or Gisibaire, priests and confessors, at the 24th of Septem- ber, which is generally received as the anniversary for the Translation of
"
fact ; yet, no special record of their Acts—if any such existed—now remains.
their relics. In the
Dictionary of Christian Biography,"9 there are b—rief
10 11
of St. Gisilarius or Gizolarius as
Acts of St. Chunialdus, and— Gislarius,
his name is variedly written their periods being assigned to about the
middle of the eighth century.
These holy men are constantly referred to by ecclesiastical writers, as
and fellow-labourers with St. 12 his compatriots Rupert, during missionary
career in Germany ; and hence, accepting the very general tradition there
prevalent regarding the country of their birth, we may suppose it took place in Ireland, at some time about the middle of the seventh century. Among
writers, however, the country of their birth has been questioned. Some have thought—and among these the Bollandist Father Constantine Suyskens—
Article I. —* See •* Actuum Catalogus
erroneously placed Chunibaldi confes- sons. Mengokli militis. Gislarii presbyteri. " 7 See notices of them, at that date, in the Second Volume of the present work, Art. xi. 8 See " Vies des Saints," tome xi. , xxivc
Jour de Septembre, p. 346.
3 Written by Father Constantine 9 Edited by William Smith, D. C. L. ,
soldier,
Sanctorum quae MS. habentur, ordine between them, thus :
"
"
Suyskens, S. J. , in twenty-five paragraphs.
ii. , p. 152.
s At the 8th of February it enters " Cuni-
baldi confessoris et Gislarii episcopi. "
Mensium et Dierum ! 2"
See Acta Sanctorum," tomus vi. , Septembris xxiv. De SS. Chunialdo et Gisilario Presbyteris Salisburgi in Ger- mania, pp. 708 to 713.
* See tomus ibid. ,
,0 See vol.
" See vol. ii. , p. 673.
M See his Acts at the 27th of March, in
*
In his Additions to Usuard, Mengold, a
the Third Volume of this work, Art. ii.
present,
is and
strangely
LL. D. , and Henry Wace, M. A.
i. , p. 535.
September 24. ] LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. 537 that Saints Rupert, with his companions Chuniald and Gisilar, were natives
16 CarolusCointius,1? MatthewRader,18 andothers. That
x 3
St. Rupert a native of Ireland, 15 and this tradition has been chiefly followed,
of Gaul;
yet, the
ancient Life of St.
Rupert,
as
by John Colgan,
old tract relates, that when Theodon, Duke of the Boii, with many of his
nobles and a great number of people, had been baptised by St. Rupert, and
when the of or 20 had been erected, after
bishopric Juvavensis,^ Juvavum,
the death of Theodon, his successor Theodebert entertained a great respect
for the Apostle. Accordingly, having brought many of the Bavarians to the true faith, finding the errors of paganism still prevailing in the kingdom of
21
Noricum, Rupert then sought his country,
to accompany him. Among these are specially named Chunialdus and
22
Gisilar. Withthem,andhisnieceErendrude, RupertreturnedtoSaltzburg.
ThereheappointedherAbbessoveracommunityofreligiouswomen. The others were destined for missionary labour. It is stated, that St. Gisilarius
Thomas sent Gisibar the name he bestows on Gisilar—to Britain, whence he returned with a contingent of holy men to labourintheLord'svineyard. Accordingtoanancienttradition,St. Kuniald
was also a priest and chaplain25 to St. Rupert.
St. Rupert, with his priests, resolved on entering the Noricum territory.
13 The Petits Bollandi^tes, assigning those 20 Juvavum or Juvavium was the residence Saints to the eighth century, and generally of the Roman Governor of the province, following the statements of the great ^and the head-quarters of the fifth cohort of
was
Dempster states,
first — of
Rupert, bishop Saltzburg.
and to St. priest chaplain/3
2* that St.
Rupert
" On les a crus etaient d' origine franque ou germaine. "
Bollandist collection, write
a tort ecossais ou irlandais, tandis qu' —ils
the first legion. Notitia Impcr. 21 "
:
Vies des Saints," tome xi. , xxive Jour de Septembre, p. 346.
14 See "Antiquae Lectiones," tomus vi. , p. 1 107.
15 No doubt, there are fables in that life,
S. Gisilarius, ambo praesbyteri, ambo viri had been baptised by St. Patrick. This sancti) et secum virginum Christi Erndru-
"
videns vir Dei
(S. Rupertus)
Bavaricae
such as the parachronism, that St. Rupert
caused Father Daniel Papebroch, at the 27th of March, when editing the Acts of St. Rupert, to regard that tract as being un- authentic, and therefore he conjectures merely, that those Saints were natives of Gaul or Germany.
16
dam, neptem suam adducens, quasi cum tot luminaribus ad urbem Juvaviensem
regreditur. "
2-
Also, her name is written Krentrudis and Erentrude. Her festival occurs, at the 30th June, at which date her Acts are to be
See "Acta Sanctorum Hiberniae," found in the Sixth Volume of this work, xxvii. Martii, Appendix ad Acta S. Ruperti, Art. i.
23
cap. hi. , pp. 767, 768.
17 See Annales, tomus ii. , at A. C 582, Lectiones," tomus vi. , p. 1171.
num. 16. 24 As authorities, he quotes the Martyr- 18 "
Although in Bavaria Sancta," tomus ologium Carthusianum or Canisius, and i. , at p. 40, St. Rupert is said to have been Adam Walasser, However, Father Con-
fromGaul; however,inhisanimadversionsto that passage, in tomus iii. , Rader states, that although Saints Chuniald and Gisilar were sent from eastern France to convert the Norici, yet that all were born in ancient ScotiaorHibernia. Seep. 32.
19 The ancient name of
Juvavia or Juvavum on the left bank of the Ivarus, a town in the interior of Noricum. At an
residence of the native kings of Noricum. See Dr. William Smith's "Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography," vol. ii. , p. 103.
stantine Suyskens was unable to verify
such quotations, as he found no similar
entry in the two editions of the German
Martyrology, edited in the name of Canisius,
and to which he had access. Probably,
however, Dempster intended a reference to
the " of Henricus Antiquae Lectiones,"
Canisius, where a Vita S. Ruperti was to be found.
early period,
it seems to have been the
25 See " Canisius,
tomus vi. , p. 1 171.
Antiquae Lectiones,"
Saltzburg
was
edited 1 * makes by Canisius,
where he selected twelve disciples
The passage reads
:
His ita
gestis, digni- tatis culmen jugo Christi se subdidisse, sed
gentilitatis errore plures involutos superesse, ad patriam suam repedavit, et inde cum duodecim ad prsedicandum sibi sociis electis (inter quos erant eximii Kunialdus et
According to Canisius, "Antiquae
26
nian laboured among the Bavarians. See
At a subsequent period, Bishop Corbi-
538 LIVESOFTHEIRISHSAINTS. [September24.
Setting out from Juvavum or Saltzburg, they began to preach among the Gentiles, with great zeal and with a success corresponding. After much
labour and long journeyings, the people of that province renounced their errors. A new order of things began to prevail, with a change of heart. Having thus far accomplished the task he had undertaken, Rupert returned to Saltzburg, leaving his missioners to glean the harvest of souls, and giving them to understand, that the time for his own death was then rapidly approaching. Hence we may infer, that Saints Chuniald and Gisilar, among the other labourers in the vineyard, most effectively prosecuted their mission the Norici, who were over to Christ. 26 We have to
regret,
According to Dempster, St. Chunialdus flourished in the year 620,=? while his Gisibarius—the form in which he writes the name of Gisilarius— flourished
28
;
eighth century. Much less is it allowable to state, that St. Gisilar was buried
at Saltzburg, on the 24th of September, about the year 628,29 since the exact date for his death and interment cannot be known with any degree of cer-
tainty.
When St. Virgil3° presided over the See of Saltzburgh he had it in con-
templation to honour our Saints, together with their father in Christ, St. Rupert, by erecting a church of wonderful size, in that city, and this work he commenced in the year 767. It took five years to have it completed, and ready for dedication to St. Rupert, his fellow-countryman. The reason why the festival of our Saints is kept on the 24th of September seems to have arisen from the fact of their 1 when St.
among
that no further record remains to present their Acts more in detail.
that church in—
honour of St. or
gained
However, it seems much more probable,
in the year 630 or thereabouts.
that neither of our Saints were born in the years thus mentioned, while they flourished a century later. No account of the year when they departed this life has been found but it seems to have been towards the middle of the
translation^
Virgilius
32 dedicat—ed
in the
as it is stated and in the twenty-sixth year of the reign of Duke Thassilo. On the day mentioned, and in the same year, the relics of St. Rupert and of his two companions were translated to a new shrine. This translation of
Mabillon's "Annales Ordinis S. Bene- mate laudat. "—Mabillon's "Annales Or- dicti," tomus ii. , lib. xx. , sect. , Hi. , dinis S. Benedicti," tomus ii. , lib. xxiv. ,
Rupert
Rudpert,
the
Patron,
year 773
their relics is at the 33
placed by Mabillon, year 774, relying
on certain old Annals of Ratisbon. 34 Thenceforward, the episcopal seat was transferred from the monastery of St. Peter, to the church newly built and dedicated to
p. 65.
27 See " Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis
Scotorum," tomus i. , lib, iii. , num. 265, p. 158.
28
See ibid. , lib. vii. , num. 574, p. 309.
29 See Father Stephen White's "Apologia
pro Hibernia," cap. iv. , p. 44.
30 His festival is kept on the 27th day of
November, where his Life may be found in the Eleventh Volume of this work.
31 "Translatio hsec facta est vm idus Octobris, sed ejus celebritas in sequentem diem a posteris delata, ob officium dedi- cationis, quse pridie ejus diei, id est, vm idus, ita Celebris est, ut totam ejus diei reverentiam exigat. Translati pariter cum sancto Rudberto sancti Kunialdus et Gisila-
rius, ejus presbyteri seu capellani, quorum posteriorem Alcuinus in quodum epigram-
sect, xiv, p. 213.
3Z See his Life, at the 27th of November,
in the Eleventh Volume of this work. He was the eighth bishop in succession at
"'
Dictionary of Christian Biography," by Dr. William Smith and
Henry Wace, M. A. , vol. i, p. 535.
Saltzburg. See
33 At that year he writes
:
" Eodem anno
facta est translatio corporis sancti Rudberti
episcopi Saltzburgensis, ejusque sociorum in
novam ecclesiam, quam Virgilius antistes in ejus honorem extruxerat. Id factum vm Kalendas Octobris, et quidem Tassilonis ducis anno vicessimo sexto, quod veteres annales Ratisponenses puesenti anno con- signant. "—" Annales Ordinis S. Benedicti," tomus ii. , lib. xxiv. , sect. Iv. , p. 23a
* Reference is also made to the " Ana- lecta," tomus iv. , p. 476.
September 24. ] LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. 539
St. Rupert. Besides that translation of relics already mentioned, another took place on the same day, in the year 993, when St. Hartwic, said to have
been the twenty-second bishop and twelfth archbishop of Saltzburg, had restored and consecrated the ruined cathedral, having changed the site or furnished new altars. Then the remains of Saints Chuniald and Gisilar
were in the shrine of St. deposited
35
in the
Rupert.
another Archbishop of Saltzburg, named Weichard, is stated to have opened
the tomb of St. Rupert, where lie found the holy Patron's head and relics,
36 togetherwithagreatquantityofthoseoftheBlessedMartin, ofVincentius
Hermetus, martyr, of Chrysanthius and Daria, and of Gislarius. On the feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, he exposed those relics to
the people, reserving to the proximate feast of St. Rupert's translation the dedication of a new altar to him. In it the archbishop deposited and enclosed the relics already mentioned. 37 Here it may be observed, there is no mention of St. Chuniald, which opens a suspicion, that his remains had not been found or identified in the tomb of St. Rupert on the occasion of this opening. Most likely, during the period which elapsed between a. d. 993 and a. d. 131 5, the relics of Chuniald had been confounded with those of the other
Saints,
Another misfortune befel the great church in Saltzburg, which was acci-
dentally destroyed by fire, in the year 1598, while Wolfgang Theodoric was
archbishop. Atfirst,thecathedralwastemporarilyrestored,butitwasfound necessary afterwards to demolish it and build one anew. What chiefly concerns the scope of our work is to trace the relics of our Saints Chuniald and Gislarius, so far as information serves, and this was furnished by Joannes Stainhauserus, who was an interested eye-witness of what occurred on the occasion of removing the Saints' relics from those altars that had suffered from the fire. 39 Wherefore, in 1601 or 1602, the reliquary containing the seven shrines found under the high altar were removed to the elegant Chapel of St. Mary Magdalene in the parochial church, which adjoins the
or had been removed on some occasion not now known. 38
35 The following is the account of St. Hartwic's action, as found in the work of
fixed on the right-hand side of St. Rupert's altar, and recounting the names of saints whose relics were inclosed, by Gregory, who, towards the close of the fourteenth and beginning of the fifteenth century, had been
"
pora Sanctorum Chunialdi et Gislarii, de-
posuitque ad corpus eorum quandam
Marcus Hansizius :
Transtulit etiam cor-
compatriotae, sancti patris Rudberti die archbishop of Saltzburg. Such is the ac-
o—ctavoKalendasOctobrisannoDCCCCXCiii. " count given by Joannes Stainhauserus, a
"
Germanise Sacrae," tomus ii. , p. 164.
36 Father Suyskens is of opinion, that if the Blessed Martin of Tours be here meant,
his relics could not have been "in magna
"
in St. Rupert's tomb.
37 Such is the narrative of Marcus Han-
sizius in "Germanise Sacrae," tomus ii. , p.
Headds " banc 445- : Lapis impositus
inscriptionem accepit: Anno mcccxv:
viii Calend. Octob. recondite sunt Martin, Vincent, Crisantus, Hermes, Daria Hie hal reliquiae A D. Wichardo and Gisilar. Again, there were six other Archiepiscopo Salzburg. In piano small vessels, not exceeding the size of ink- lapidis incisa erant nomina Sanctorum, bottles : one of these was gold, two were
quantitate
merchant, as related by Hansizius.
39 The substance of this is to be found in the work of Hansizius, who tells us, that within the altar of St. Rupert was found a hollow, formed of square stones, with a flag on which was inscribed, Septem INVENIAS. This being removed, seven square compart- ments of lead were which contained as
seen,
quorum reliquiae subtus cubabant : in medio S. Rupertus et S. Martinus. In primo angulo S. Vincentius, in secundo S.
Hermes, in tertio S. Chrysantus, in quarto S.
we find entered, in the published Martyrology of
Tallagh,
1 a festival in
honour of Coimnatain. A similar is in the Book of Leinster entry
2
copy. His place in history we cannot find. Also on this day, Marianus O'GormanS
commemoratesCo[e]mnat,orComnat. SimplythenameComnat,without
any further designation, appears in the Martyrology of Donegal,-* at this same date. There can hardly be a doubt, this latter person is identical with Coimnatain.
Article IV. —St. Saran. In the of published Martyrology
1
Tallagh, there is a Ciaran at this day ; but we think, this must have been introduced
for Saran, as we find it in the Book of Leinster copy. ' In the Martyrology ot
Marianus O'Gorman,3 Saran is entered at the 23rd of September. According 4
totheMartyrologyofDonegal, Saranwasveneratedatthe23rdofSeptember.
Article V. —St. Tecla, Virgin and Martyr. The swan is said
noiselessly to float over the silver lake, or to rest tranquilly in the brakes
around it, until the time of death approaches, when enchanting notes are
heard before it expires. So do the holy Virgins conceal until the final hour
those latent harmonies of the soul, which break into hymns sempiternal
among the choirs of the Blessed. In the ancient Irish Church, the festival
of St, Thecla, Virgin and Martyr, was celebrated on this day. Although her
memory has been preserved with great veneration from the earliest ages of
the Christian as a who suffered at Seleucia in Isauria, 1 and Church, Martyr,
although mentioned in nearly all the ancient Martyrologies and Calendars j yet her Acts as coming down to us are interspersed with fables, which the
Jesuit Father John Stilting has shown in a learned disquisition in the Bollandist Collection of Saints' Acts. 2 The Martyrology of Marianus O'Gorman3 celebrates the feast of St. Thecla, at the 23rd of September, and invokes her intercession. This holy Virgin is reputed to have been well- versed in profane philosophy and in various branches of polite literature, when she was converted to the Christian faith by the Apostle St. Paul at Iconium,4 about the year 45. She became his disciple, and renounced the worldly prospects of marriage with a young and rich nobleman, who, incensed at her refusal, accused her to the magistrates with' being a Christian. She
Article ill. —' Edited Kelly, p. xxxv.
2
by
the Rev. Dr.
3 See "Acta Sanctorum," tomus vi. , Septembris xxiii. De S. Thecla Virg. Mart. Seleuciae in Isauria. Commentarius Critico-IIistoricus. This is comprised in seven sections, having one hundred and five paragraphs. —
Thus : Coimndcan.
3 See Dr. Whitley Stokes' "Felire Hui
Gormain," pp. 182, 183.
4 Edited by Drs. Todd and Reeves, pp.
356, 357. — Article iv.
Kelly, p. xxxv.
2
In the following Irish verses
:
'
Edited by the Rev.
Dr.
Tecla
for oebnemh co hebhinn.
Thus: SAj\4ni.
3 See Dr. Whitley Stokes' "Felire Hui
Gormain," pp. 182, 183.
4 Edited by Drs. Todd and Reeves, pp.
"Felire Hui Gormain,"
of a Lycaonia, province
and Pliny describe it as a very populous
inhabited Greeks and See city by Jews.
"
Dr. William Smith's Dictionary of Greek
and Roman Geography," vol. ii. , p. 12.
256, 257. — Article v.
of a wild, mountainous character, and but little known to the Romans. See Dr.
William Smith's "
65, 66.
beautiful heaven. " pp. 182, 183.
•4 A district in Asia Minor,
Dictionary
and Roman Geography," vol. ii. , pp.
of Greek
3
Thus translated into English by Dr. Whitley Stokes: "White Tecla whom I entreat (and who—dwells) delightfully in
The chief of Asia Minor.
city
The Acts of the Apostles
oengel alimm,
September 23. ] LIVES OF THE IRISh SAINTS. 535
was condemned to be torn in pieces by wild beasts, and exposed in the
amphitheatre, but she was miraculously preserved. 5 Afterwards, she attended
St. Paul during several of his apostolical missions ; but she is said to have
passed the latter years of her life in devout retirement. The Maityrology of
6
Donegal records a festival in honor of Tecla, Virgin, at the 23rd of Septem-
ber. The Calendarist expresses his opinion that she is the Greek virgin and martyr whose festival on this day is celebrated by the Church. 7 She was buried in Seleucia, one of the chief towns of Isauria, and over her tomb a magnificent church was erected, under the first Christian Emperors. Although preserved from the violent death intended for her by persecutors; yet, by St. Isidore of Pelusium and the Greek writers St. Thecla has been called the protomartyr of her sex, and as such venerated from the earliest times. At this her name is noted in the Roman 8
Article VI. —Reputed Festival of St. Lolan, Scottish Bishop.
date, Martyrology.
At the of the Bollandists 1 refer to a 23rd September,
which gives a festival to Lolan, a Scottish Bishop ;
Manuscript Kalendar, but, he seems to have
been no other than the Lolan, Bishop and Confessor, of Kincardine, whose feast is generally assigned to the Z2nd of this month, where notices of him have been inserted. 2
ArticleVII. —ReputedFestivalofSt. Hildulph. Atthe23rdof September, the Bollandists notice a festival found in a Manuscript Kalendar
to the Church of St. Saviour
regarding hi—m, the reader is referred —to his Acts, which are given at the nth
belonging
day of July which is his chief feast
at*Antwerp.
particulars
2
Article VIIL—Reputed Festival of St. Kynnera or Canera'
Virgin, at Inis Cathaigh. We know not on what authority, Bishop
1
Challenor has a feast of commemoration for St. Kynnera at Inis Cathaigh.
She led a solitary life of great sanctity, in the South of Ireland. A further
account her be seen at the 28th of 2 the regarding may January,
assigned as that of her chief festival.
day generally
5 This happened during the reign of tomus vi, Septembris xxiii. Among the
Nero, according to the Roman Martyr- ology.
pretermitted feasts, p. 537.
2
See at that date, in the present volume, Art. viii.
6
Edited by Drs. Todd and Reeves, pp.
2 6 2
5 > 57-
7 In a note, Dr. Reeves says at the fore-
going passage, which is within brackets, that it has been entered in the more recent hand.
8"
See Martyrologium Romanum," editio
Article vii. — • See " Acta
tomus vi,, Septembris xxiri.
pretermitted feasts, p. 537.
2
Sanctorum," Among the
novissima. NonoKalendas
British Piety," p. 134.
2 In the First Volume of this
Art.
work.
Octobris, p. 142. Article vi. — See "Acta Sanctorum,"
*
x For further
in the Seventh Volume of this work.
Art. i.
Article viii. —' See " A Memorial of
536 LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. [September 24.
CtuentiK-fouvtl) JBap of September.
ARTICLE I. —SAINTS CHUNIBALDUS OR CUNIALUUS AND GISLAR1US, PRIESTS AND MISSIONARIES IN BAVARIA.
[SEVENTH AND EIGHTH CENTURIES. }
veneration had been entertained for Saints Chuniald and Gisilar
THAT
in from their own Bavaria,
down to the
is an
acknowledged
age
Various writers have assigned different days for festivals referring to the
present holy companions of St. Rupert, Apostle of Bavaria. In some cases
they are noticed singly, and in others their names are together united. Nor
is it to be understood, that the present day represents the anniversary of their respective deaths.
Acts of Saints Chuniald and Gislar appear to have been prepared by
Colgan, for the 24th of September, as we find from the posthumous list of his
12 MSS. The Bollandists have notices at this date of those Saints, in a
historic Sylloge,3 having pretermitted their Festival, at the 8th of February. * To adopt such a course they were impelled ; because, at the latter date, they had promised to defer their remarks on both to the 24th of September. The Manuscript Florarium Sanctorums in their possession, and Hermann Greuen,6
8
placed their Festivals at the 8th of February. 7 The Petits Bollandistes have notices of St. Chuniald, Cunibald, Chunibald or Kuniald, and of St.
Gisilaire, Gislaire, or Gisibaire, priests and confessors, at the 24th of Septem- ber, which is generally received as the anniversary for the Translation of
"
fact ; yet, no special record of their Acts—if any such existed—now remains.
their relics. In the
Dictionary of Christian Biography,"9 there are b—rief
10 11
of St. Gisilarius or Gizolarius as
Acts of St. Chunialdus, and— Gislarius,
his name is variedly written their periods being assigned to about the
middle of the eighth century.
These holy men are constantly referred to by ecclesiastical writers, as
and fellow-labourers with St. 12 his compatriots Rupert, during missionary
career in Germany ; and hence, accepting the very general tradition there
prevalent regarding the country of their birth, we may suppose it took place in Ireland, at some time about the middle of the seventh century. Among
writers, however, the country of their birth has been questioned. Some have thought—and among these the Bollandist Father Constantine Suyskens—
Article I. —* See •* Actuum Catalogus
erroneously placed Chunibaldi confes- sons. Mengokli militis. Gislarii presbyteri. " 7 See notices of them, at that date, in the Second Volume of the present work, Art. xi. 8 See " Vies des Saints," tome xi. , xxivc
Jour de Septembre, p. 346.
3 Written by Father Constantine 9 Edited by William Smith, D. C. L. ,
soldier,
Sanctorum quae MS. habentur, ordine between them, thus :
"
"
Suyskens, S. J. , in twenty-five paragraphs.
ii. , p. 152.
s At the 8th of February it enters " Cuni-
baldi confessoris et Gislarii episcopi. "
Mensium et Dierum ! 2"
See Acta Sanctorum," tomus vi. , Septembris xxiv. De SS. Chunialdo et Gisilario Presbyteris Salisburgi in Ger- mania, pp. 708 to 713.
* See tomus ibid. ,
,0 See vol.
" See vol. ii. , p. 673.
M See his Acts at the 27th of March, in
*
In his Additions to Usuard, Mengold, a
the Third Volume of this work, Art. ii.
present,
is and
strangely
LL. D. , and Henry Wace, M. A.
i. , p. 535.
September 24. ] LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. 537 that Saints Rupert, with his companions Chuniald and Gisilar, were natives
16 CarolusCointius,1? MatthewRader,18 andothers. That
x 3
St. Rupert a native of Ireland, 15 and this tradition has been chiefly followed,
of Gaul;
yet, the
ancient Life of St.
Rupert,
as
by John Colgan,
old tract relates, that when Theodon, Duke of the Boii, with many of his
nobles and a great number of people, had been baptised by St. Rupert, and
when the of or 20 had been erected, after
bishopric Juvavensis,^ Juvavum,
the death of Theodon, his successor Theodebert entertained a great respect
for the Apostle. Accordingly, having brought many of the Bavarians to the true faith, finding the errors of paganism still prevailing in the kingdom of
21
Noricum, Rupert then sought his country,
to accompany him. Among these are specially named Chunialdus and
22
Gisilar. Withthem,andhisnieceErendrude, RupertreturnedtoSaltzburg.
ThereheappointedherAbbessoveracommunityofreligiouswomen. The others were destined for missionary labour. It is stated, that St. Gisilarius
Thomas sent Gisibar the name he bestows on Gisilar—to Britain, whence he returned with a contingent of holy men to labourintheLord'svineyard. Accordingtoanancienttradition,St. Kuniald
was also a priest and chaplain25 to St. Rupert.
St. Rupert, with his priests, resolved on entering the Noricum territory.
13 The Petits Bollandi^tes, assigning those 20 Juvavum or Juvavium was the residence Saints to the eighth century, and generally of the Roman Governor of the province, following the statements of the great ^and the head-quarters of the fifth cohort of
was
Dempster states,
first — of
Rupert, bishop Saltzburg.
and to St. priest chaplain/3
2* that St.
Rupert
" On les a crus etaient d' origine franque ou germaine. "
Bollandist collection, write
a tort ecossais ou irlandais, tandis qu' —ils
the first legion. Notitia Impcr. 21 "
:
Vies des Saints," tome xi. , xxive Jour de Septembre, p. 346.
14 See "Antiquae Lectiones," tomus vi. , p. 1 107.
15 No doubt, there are fables in that life,
S. Gisilarius, ambo praesbyteri, ambo viri had been baptised by St. Patrick. This sancti) et secum virginum Christi Erndru-
"
videns vir Dei
(S. Rupertus)
Bavaricae
such as the parachronism, that St. Rupert
caused Father Daniel Papebroch, at the 27th of March, when editing the Acts of St. Rupert, to regard that tract as being un- authentic, and therefore he conjectures merely, that those Saints were natives of Gaul or Germany.
16
dam, neptem suam adducens, quasi cum tot luminaribus ad urbem Juvaviensem
regreditur. "
2-
Also, her name is written Krentrudis and Erentrude. Her festival occurs, at the 30th June, at which date her Acts are to be
See "Acta Sanctorum Hiberniae," found in the Sixth Volume of this work, xxvii. Martii, Appendix ad Acta S. Ruperti, Art. i.
23
cap. hi. , pp. 767, 768.
17 See Annales, tomus ii. , at A. C 582, Lectiones," tomus vi. , p. 1171.
num. 16. 24 As authorities, he quotes the Martyr- 18 "
Although in Bavaria Sancta," tomus ologium Carthusianum or Canisius, and i. , at p. 40, St. Rupert is said to have been Adam Walasser, However, Father Con-
fromGaul; however,inhisanimadversionsto that passage, in tomus iii. , Rader states, that although Saints Chuniald and Gisilar were sent from eastern France to convert the Norici, yet that all were born in ancient ScotiaorHibernia. Seep. 32.
19 The ancient name of
Juvavia or Juvavum on the left bank of the Ivarus, a town in the interior of Noricum. At an
residence of the native kings of Noricum. See Dr. William Smith's "Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography," vol. ii. , p. 103.
stantine Suyskens was unable to verify
such quotations, as he found no similar
entry in the two editions of the German
Martyrology, edited in the name of Canisius,
and to which he had access. Probably,
however, Dempster intended a reference to
the " of Henricus Antiquae Lectiones,"
Canisius, where a Vita S. Ruperti was to be found.
early period,
it seems to have been the
25 See " Canisius,
tomus vi. , p. 1 171.
Antiquae Lectiones,"
Saltzburg
was
edited 1 * makes by Canisius,
where he selected twelve disciples
The passage reads
:
His ita
gestis, digni- tatis culmen jugo Christi se subdidisse, sed
gentilitatis errore plures involutos superesse, ad patriam suam repedavit, et inde cum duodecim ad prsedicandum sibi sociis electis (inter quos erant eximii Kunialdus et
According to Canisius, "Antiquae
26
nian laboured among the Bavarians. See
At a subsequent period, Bishop Corbi-
538 LIVESOFTHEIRISHSAINTS. [September24.
Setting out from Juvavum or Saltzburg, they began to preach among the Gentiles, with great zeal and with a success corresponding. After much
labour and long journeyings, the people of that province renounced their errors. A new order of things began to prevail, with a change of heart. Having thus far accomplished the task he had undertaken, Rupert returned to Saltzburg, leaving his missioners to glean the harvest of souls, and giving them to understand, that the time for his own death was then rapidly approaching. Hence we may infer, that Saints Chuniald and Gisilar, among the other labourers in the vineyard, most effectively prosecuted their mission the Norici, who were over to Christ. 26 We have to
regret,
According to Dempster, St. Chunialdus flourished in the year 620,=? while his Gisibarius—the form in which he writes the name of Gisilarius— flourished
28
;
eighth century. Much less is it allowable to state, that St. Gisilar was buried
at Saltzburg, on the 24th of September, about the year 628,29 since the exact date for his death and interment cannot be known with any degree of cer-
tainty.
When St. Virgil3° presided over the See of Saltzburgh he had it in con-
templation to honour our Saints, together with their father in Christ, St. Rupert, by erecting a church of wonderful size, in that city, and this work he commenced in the year 767. It took five years to have it completed, and ready for dedication to St. Rupert, his fellow-countryman. The reason why the festival of our Saints is kept on the 24th of September seems to have arisen from the fact of their 1 when St.
among
that no further record remains to present their Acts more in detail.
that church in—
honour of St. or
gained
However, it seems much more probable,
in the year 630 or thereabouts.
that neither of our Saints were born in the years thus mentioned, while they flourished a century later. No account of the year when they departed this life has been found but it seems to have been towards the middle of the
translation^
Virgilius
32 dedicat—ed
in the
as it is stated and in the twenty-sixth year of the reign of Duke Thassilo. On the day mentioned, and in the same year, the relics of St. Rupert and of his two companions were translated to a new shrine. This translation of
Mabillon's "Annales Ordinis S. Bene- mate laudat. "—Mabillon's "Annales Or- dicti," tomus ii. , lib. xx. , sect. , Hi. , dinis S. Benedicti," tomus ii. , lib. xxiv. ,
Rupert
Rudpert,
the
Patron,
year 773
their relics is at the 33
placed by Mabillon, year 774, relying
on certain old Annals of Ratisbon. 34 Thenceforward, the episcopal seat was transferred from the monastery of St. Peter, to the church newly built and dedicated to
p. 65.
27 See " Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis
Scotorum," tomus i. , lib, iii. , num. 265, p. 158.
28
See ibid. , lib. vii. , num. 574, p. 309.
29 See Father Stephen White's "Apologia
pro Hibernia," cap. iv. , p. 44.
30 His festival is kept on the 27th day of
November, where his Life may be found in the Eleventh Volume of this work.
31 "Translatio hsec facta est vm idus Octobris, sed ejus celebritas in sequentem diem a posteris delata, ob officium dedi- cationis, quse pridie ejus diei, id est, vm idus, ita Celebris est, ut totam ejus diei reverentiam exigat. Translati pariter cum sancto Rudberto sancti Kunialdus et Gisila-
rius, ejus presbyteri seu capellani, quorum posteriorem Alcuinus in quodum epigram-
sect, xiv, p. 213.
3Z See his Life, at the 27th of November,
in the Eleventh Volume of this work. He was the eighth bishop in succession at
"'
Dictionary of Christian Biography," by Dr. William Smith and
Henry Wace, M. A. , vol. i, p. 535.
Saltzburg. See
33 At that year he writes
:
" Eodem anno
facta est translatio corporis sancti Rudberti
episcopi Saltzburgensis, ejusque sociorum in
novam ecclesiam, quam Virgilius antistes in ejus honorem extruxerat. Id factum vm Kalendas Octobris, et quidem Tassilonis ducis anno vicessimo sexto, quod veteres annales Ratisponenses puesenti anno con- signant. "—" Annales Ordinis S. Benedicti," tomus ii. , lib. xxiv. , sect. Iv. , p. 23a
* Reference is also made to the " Ana- lecta," tomus iv. , p. 476.
September 24. ] LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. 539
St. Rupert. Besides that translation of relics already mentioned, another took place on the same day, in the year 993, when St. Hartwic, said to have
been the twenty-second bishop and twelfth archbishop of Saltzburg, had restored and consecrated the ruined cathedral, having changed the site or furnished new altars. Then the remains of Saints Chuniald and Gisilar
were in the shrine of St. deposited
35
in the
Rupert.
another Archbishop of Saltzburg, named Weichard, is stated to have opened
the tomb of St. Rupert, where lie found the holy Patron's head and relics,
36 togetherwithagreatquantityofthoseoftheBlessedMartin, ofVincentius
Hermetus, martyr, of Chrysanthius and Daria, and of Gislarius. On the feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, he exposed those relics to
the people, reserving to the proximate feast of St. Rupert's translation the dedication of a new altar to him. In it the archbishop deposited and enclosed the relics already mentioned. 37 Here it may be observed, there is no mention of St. Chuniald, which opens a suspicion, that his remains had not been found or identified in the tomb of St. Rupert on the occasion of this opening. Most likely, during the period which elapsed between a. d. 993 and a. d. 131 5, the relics of Chuniald had been confounded with those of the other
Saints,
Another misfortune befel the great church in Saltzburg, which was acci-
dentally destroyed by fire, in the year 1598, while Wolfgang Theodoric was
archbishop. Atfirst,thecathedralwastemporarilyrestored,butitwasfound necessary afterwards to demolish it and build one anew. What chiefly concerns the scope of our work is to trace the relics of our Saints Chuniald and Gislarius, so far as information serves, and this was furnished by Joannes Stainhauserus, who was an interested eye-witness of what occurred on the occasion of removing the Saints' relics from those altars that had suffered from the fire. 39 Wherefore, in 1601 or 1602, the reliquary containing the seven shrines found under the high altar were removed to the elegant Chapel of St. Mary Magdalene in the parochial church, which adjoins the
or had been removed on some occasion not now known. 38
35 The following is the account of St. Hartwic's action, as found in the work of
fixed on the right-hand side of St. Rupert's altar, and recounting the names of saints whose relics were inclosed, by Gregory, who, towards the close of the fourteenth and beginning of the fifteenth century, had been
"
pora Sanctorum Chunialdi et Gislarii, de-
posuitque ad corpus eorum quandam
Marcus Hansizius :
Transtulit etiam cor-
compatriotae, sancti patris Rudberti die archbishop of Saltzburg. Such is the ac-
o—ctavoKalendasOctobrisannoDCCCCXCiii. " count given by Joannes Stainhauserus, a
"
Germanise Sacrae," tomus ii. , p. 164.
36 Father Suyskens is of opinion, that if the Blessed Martin of Tours be here meant,
his relics could not have been "in magna
"
in St. Rupert's tomb.
37 Such is the narrative of Marcus Han-
sizius in "Germanise Sacrae," tomus ii. , p.
Headds " banc 445- : Lapis impositus
inscriptionem accepit: Anno mcccxv:
viii Calend. Octob. recondite sunt Martin, Vincent, Crisantus, Hermes, Daria Hie hal reliquiae A D. Wichardo and Gisilar. Again, there were six other Archiepiscopo Salzburg. In piano small vessels, not exceeding the size of ink- lapidis incisa erant nomina Sanctorum, bottles : one of these was gold, two were
quantitate
merchant, as related by Hansizius.
39 The substance of this is to be found in the work of Hansizius, who tells us, that within the altar of St. Rupert was found a hollow, formed of square stones, with a flag on which was inscribed, Septem INVENIAS. This being removed, seven square compart- ments of lead were which contained as
seen,
quorum reliquiae subtus cubabant : in medio S. Rupertus et S. Martinus. In primo angulo S. Vincentius, in secundo S.
Hermes, in tertio S. Chrysantus, in quarto S.
