34 Thus, Colgan
endeavours
to show by various authorities, compu- tations and inferences, that a.
O'Hanlon - Lives of the Irish Saints - v2
16, 20), Life of St.
Hibernicarum Scriptores," tomus ii.
9 See "The Life of St. Brigid," by an
Irish Priest, chap, x. , p. 134.
^° See Abbate D. Giacomo Certani's " La
Santitk Prodigiosa. " Vita di S. Brigida Ibernese. Libro Sesto, pp. 559 to 561.
Maidoc (cap. 62), Life of St, Moling (cap. 22), Life of St. Kieran, of Saigir (cap. 30), Life of St. Kieran, of Clonmacnoise (cap. i. , 47), Life of St. Columba (cap. 4, 5, 66, 241), Life of St. Moelruan (cap. 42), Life of St. Corbmac (cap. 9), Life of St. Fintan,
^* See Colgan's "Acta Sanctorum Hi- hermit (15th Nov. ) See " Trias Thauma-
bemiae," Februarii I. Vita S. Derlugdachse, p. 230. Also, the Acts of St. Derlugdacha hereafter subjoined, and on the Ist of Febru-
in his
"
turga, sees. i. to xxii. , pp. 602 to 606.
'3 See "The Life of St. Brigid," by an
Irish Priest, chap, x. , pp, 133, 134,
'* In Professor Irish Life of O'Looney's
ary.
" These are introduced
St.
nitroet) IaitH
" Nin-
byColgan Appendix Secunda, seu Supplementum Actorum S. Brigidae, ex aliorum Sanctorum vitis & aliis hystoriis. " He quotes the Fourth
Life of St. Patrick, by St. Eleran, the sup- posed author (cap. 94), the Sixth, by Jocelin (cap. 94, 95, 188, 189). The Tripartite
Brigid
i-oaii, i. e. ,
"
didh of the undefiled hand," is said to have
come from Rome of Letha, pp. 47, 48.
^s See Abbate D. Giacomo Certani's "La
Santitk Prodigiosa. " Vita di S. Brigida Ibernese. Libro Sesto, pp. 584 to 566.
^° St. also Bridget
February i. ] LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. 179
Afterwards a large fish was caught, and brought to him. When it had been
cut up into parts, according to the legend of his life, that key belonging to the lock of his manacled hand was found within its body. Finding all these events to have happened by Divine appointment, with sorrow of heart, the
"
pious Ninnidius said :
It is not meet, that a mortal should any longer
oppose designs of the living God, and of Omnipotent power. " Hearing about St. Brigid's infirmity, he went to visit her ; and, at the hour of her
departure, as she had already predicted, the Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the Eternal God, she received from the undefiled hand
of holy Ninnidius. '^
There are many different opinions of writers, as to St. Brigid's exact age, at the time of her demise. Henry of Marlborough'7 tells us, that she was born A. D. 468, and that she died on the ist of February, a. d. 523. Conse- quently, she could only have been fifty-five years old, at her decease. But, no other writer sets her age down at less than seventy years, when she died. ''^ This latter seems to be the most generally received opinion. Our Martyro- logies'9 and Annals^° concur. The seventy-first^^ and the seventy-fourth year
"
Martyrology of Donegal"^'' has noticed, that she yielded her spirit, after having completed seventy-four years, a. d. 525. ^3 The author of St. Brigid's Fourth Life has regarded her
death, as occurring, thirty years after that of St. Patrick,^^ and in the eightieth year of her age. ^s Colgan, too, thinks this probable, on account of the latt—er
for her death-period have been stated. Thus, the
—nt and so
authority being so ancie respectable.
She is even eighty-seventh year. ^^
but without correctness
to have attained her
'^ " See Colgan's "Trias Thaumaturga.
Quarta Vita S. Brigidse, lib. li. , cap. Ixiii. , p. 559. Also, Quinta Vita S. Brigidse, cap. Iviii. , p. 582.
fecit quinariam literam transcriptoris error ;' i. e. , the transcriber mistook dxxii. for dxxu. "
^4 This story, about such a term of years '7 In his Annals. This, however, is not intervening between the deaths of the two
"
Chronicle of Ireland," saints, has been taken from that spurious published in 1809 at Dublin, by the Hiber- tract, called St. Patrick's Testament, in
to be found in his
nia Press Company.
'^
which we find the favourite division of our Apostle's years into thirties. To these was added another thirty, at the end of which
This is the opinion of Ussher in his
"Primordia Ecclesiarum Britannicarum,"
cap. xvii. , p, 884, and in his "Index St. Brigid was to bless Ireland. Hence, it
Clironologicus," A. D, 523, as also of Sir James Ware, "De Scriptoribus Hibernise,"
lib. i. , cap. ii,, p, 9.
'9 The "Martyrology of Tallagh," com-
piled by St. ^ngus and St. Maelruan, in
"
got into he Fourth Life of St. Brigid, and it became popular. Marianus Scotus, hav- ing assigned St. Patrick's death to a. d. 491, placed, agreeably to this supposition, that of St. Brigid in 521 ; while, the sticklers for A. D, 493, following the same principle, fixed
the ninth century, has this record :
Ca-
lendis Februarii. Dormitio S. Brigidse, it at A. D, 523. One of these was Bollandus,
Ixx. , anno setatis suie. " See Rev. Dr. when commenting on the Acts of St. Brigid ; Kelly's edition, p. xiv. but, his successors, Henschennius and Pape-
^°
The Annals of Ulster, or of Senat Mac brochius, rejected these thirty years, and
Mognus, cited by Ussher, agree, where at
madeoutanothercalculation. This,however,
cannot be admitted in their observations ; for,
A. D. we read 523,
:
" S. Quies
p. 3. Dr. O'Conor's " Rerum Hiberni- carum Scriptores," tomus iv.
Lanigan's "Ecclesiastical History of Ire-
land," vol. i. , chap, ix. , sec. vi. , n. 87, p.
457-
^s For this statement, there appears to be
little probability. Yet, an Irish Life of St. Brigid concurs in the previous calculations.
^^
At the year 523. we find entered in William M. Hennessy's "Chronicum Sco- torum," the Dormition of St. Brigid in the 87th year of her age, or 77th as some assert, pp. 40, 41.
^^
According to the computation of Friar
Clyn, that she was born a. d. 439, and of
Hanmer, that she died a. d. 510, she must
have departed in her seventy-first year.
^'^
tion, pp. 36, 37.
=^3 In a comment, Dr. Todd adds at this
Brigidge This is also Colgan's
anno Ixx. aetatis suae. "
own opinion. See Annales Ultonienses, departure to a. d, 506 or 517, See Dr.
See Rev, Drs. Todd's and Reeves' edi-
date, A. D, 525 :
"
The more recent hand has
corrected this date to 522, adding in the
margin, this note :
*
ex ii. binario numero
on St. Patrick's Acts, they assign St. Brigid's
conjectured
i8o LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS.
i.
[February
The year or epoch of St. Brigid's death has been variedly calculated or
recorded. Thus the "Annals of Boyle" have it so early as a. d. ^o\. '^^ Dr.
Meredith Hanmer says her death occurred, a. d. 510. =^ The rest of St. Brigid
is noted at 514, in the Annals of Innisfallen. ^? Other authorities place it, at
A. D. 518. 3° From a calculation which he makes, as to the year of St. Patrick's
death, being 458, and St. Brigid's decease taking place sixty years afterwards,
Nenniuswouldconsequentlyassignherdeparture,totheyear518. 3^ Again, the year 520 has been mentioned. 32 The year 521 is set down by certain
writers. 33 The year 523, however, is a very generally accepted date for her demise.
34 Thus, Colgan endeavours to show by various authorities, compu- tations and inferences, that a. d. 523, was the true date for her death. 3S These dates, a. d. 506 and 517, appear to have been given, from a supposition, that St. Brigid survived St. Patrick exactly thirty years ;36 and, as the year of the Irish Apostle's death has been disputed, in like manner, differences as to com- puted dates for St. Brigid's have consequently occurred. 37 The year 523 or 524
is entered in the " Annals of Ulster. "3^ the These, also, go by
" Annals
title, of Senat-mac-Magnus," and are cited by Ussher. 39 Moreover, the
"
Annals
**
**
*7 See
of Boyle. "
nicarum Scriptores," tomus ii. , p. 3.
=^See "Chronicle of Ireland," p. 91.
Still Colgan thinks, the year 518 should have been inserted in Hanmer's work, but for a casual error.
'9 See Dr. O'Conor's " Rerum Hibemi- carum Scriptores," tomus ii. , p. 5.
3° Thus, Sigbert in his "Chronology,"
Annals Dr. O'Conor's " Rerum Hiber-
Annales Buelliani," or
523. Secondly, According to different au- thorities, St. Columkille was born four years before St. Brigid's death. As the former is said to have died on the 9th of June, A. D. 596, in the seventy-seventh year of his age, and as he i» related to have been bom on the 7th of December, St. Columba's nativity must have been cast about the end of A. D. 519. The fourth year after such a date would be A. D. 523, and consequently that assigned for St. Brigid's death. Thirdly, According to certain Irish tracts, St. Brigid was veiled and died on Wednesday ; while, all autho-
"
John Capgrave in his "Vita S. Brigidse," cap.
Felix in his
Martyrology," at 1st February,
"
Hibemica," dist. iii,, cap. 17, "Annales rities agree, she departed this life on the ist
ult. , Giraldus Cambrensis, in
Topographia
Vawerliensis,"&c. , date her demise.
3' Yet, Dr. Lanigan does not consider 458 to have been the true date for St. Patrick's
of Februar}'. Now, if we admit her being contemporaneous with the Emperor Justin, Pope Hormisdas and Murchertach, King of
death ; and, as the antecedent is false, so Ireland, the 1st of February fell on Wednes-
must be the consequent, viz. , that St. Brigid day, in the year 523. The hymn in praise "
Cloen, must have been written in this case soon after her death ; for, Alild, son of
Dunlang, reigned in Leinster, when it was written. This prince died A. D. 526. See
"Trias Thaumaturga. " Appendix Qu. irta ad Acta S. Brigidre, cap. vii. , p. 619. The learned Dr. O'Conor also agrees in this opinion with Colgan, in his edition of the
died A. D. 518. See Ecclesiastical History of St^ Brigid, composed by St. Brogan
of Ireland," vol, i. , chap, ix. , sec. vi. , and n. 84, pp. 455, 457.
3^ The " Chronicon Rudimentum Novi- tiorum," at A. D. 520, has noted St. Brigid's death. It states, during the second year of the Emperor Justin, that our saint died in Scotia, being bom there, and of noble pa- rents.
33
Thus, Marianus Scotus, Florence of Worcester, Baronius, Masseus, Spondanus, Gordon, Rosweyde, Mirseus, Ware. The "Annales Cambriae," edited by Rev. John Williams ab Ithel, concur, p. 3.
34 Ussher, Colgan and Bollandus prefer it. See, also. Rev. Thomas Innes* "Civil and Ecclesiastical of book
p. 128.
35 He prefers this, for various reasons.
First, Henry of Marlborough, Ussher, Ware, &c. , are of accord regarding it. And, St. Brigid lived thirty years after St. Patrick's deat—h ; accordingly, St. Patrick, dying in
" Rerum Hibemicarum Scriptores," tomus iv.
History Scotland," ii. ,
3* Thus, Tillemont justly remarks, that Henschennius and Papebrochius have not adduced any weighty proof for these dates. See "Memoires P9ur servir a I'Histoire Ecclesiastique," tome xvi. , p. 470.
37 See Dr. "Ecclesiastical His- Lanigan's
tory of Ireland," vol. i. , chap, viii. , sec. ii. , n. 25, pp. 382, 383, chap, ix. , sec. vi. , n. 87, P- 457-
38 See Dr. O'Conor's "Rerum Hibemi- camm Scriptores," tomus iv. , p. 3. At A. D. 523 is noted, likewise, the "Bellum Cainri ^\\\Neili:'
butas —
thinks vi^as the true
591 Colgan 593
"
clesiarum," cap. xvii. , p. 884.
year of his decease
should place the death of St. Brigid at A. D.
39 See
De Primordia Britannicamm Ec-
this latter conclusion
"Annals of Ulster," n. 3, p. 13.
February i. ] LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. I8l
of the Four Masters," quoting some other old chronicles, and the " Annals of Ulster," referring to more ancient authorities, have a. d. 525. 4° Ussher observes, that some books referred to in the Ulster Annals mark St. Brigid's death, as occurring at 525, which date has been followed by the Four Masters. This latter year seems to agree best, with what Nennius relates, regarding St. Columkille's birth, which took place four years before St. Brigid's departure. *^ The "Annals of Ulster," citing the book of Mochod, again give a. d. 527. This latest mentioned date is omitted in Colgan, but instead of it, he pro-
"
duces the same authority, noticing
monachorum,"a. d. 528. Theoriginalauthorityseemstohavebeenidentical, in both the latter instances, with the difference of a date, in distinct copies.
The English Martyrology, at the ist of February, has a. d. 540. The author of St. Brigid's Fourth Life enters a. d. 548, as Colgan thinks, through a copyisfs error, and from the mention of contemporaneous persons. With the angels, present at her couch, and waiting to bear her soul to Paradise, the holy abbess was prepared for her final summons. 4^ She earnestly desired to receive the sacraments for the dying. Finding her final hour fast approaching, Holy Viaticum-^s was administered to her by an attendant priest, named Nennidh,44 whoappearstohavebeenattachedtotheserviceofhernunnery. 45 Hebe-
longed probably to the clergy residing at Kildare. ^^ Muriertach Mac Erc,47 KingofIreland,thenlivedatTara,astheFourthLifestates. Irishhistorians state this monarch to have died in the year 527, after a reign of twenty-four years. 48 He was succeeded in the sovereignity of Ir—eland by Tuathal Mael- garbh, who was slain—after a reign of eleven years in the year 538. St. Brigid's death took place, it is noted, during the first year of the Emperor Justinian's reign. 49 Hormisdas is said to have been Pope at the time, and he sat in the chair of St. Peter, from a. d. 514 to a. d. 523,5° when he died. s^
4° See Dr. O'Donovan's
*'
Annals of the
ii. , No. 30, p. 70 *'
Swiftly, swiftly '
:
now the soul is
flying,
Dying, dying,'
Are the words the watchers speak,
While the shade of death is shading
All the patient face, and fading All the rose-tints from the cheek. Yet, there comes no sound of wailing,
No blinding burst of hopeless grief ; The soul is calm, if strength be failing,
Dormitio S. Brigidae secundum codicum
582. Quarta Vita S. Brigidce, lib. ii. , cap.
Ixiii. , p. 559.
4° See Dr. Lanigan's "Ecclesiastical His-
tory of Ireland," vol. i. , chap, ix. , sec. vi. , n. 82, p. 456.
47 Dr. O'Donovan's "Annals of the Four
Masters," vol. to 180, 181. i. , pp. 174 177,
4^ A very curious account, regarding this
will monarch and his family connexions, be
found in " The Irish Version of the Historia Britonum of Nennius," edited by Rev. Dr. James Henthorn Todd, and the Hon. Alger- non Herbert, pp. 178 to 193, with accom-
panying notes.
49 Justinian began his reign in the year
527, according to Baronius, and most other authors.
Hibernicarum Scriptores," tomus ii.
9 See "The Life of St. Brigid," by an
Irish Priest, chap, x. , p. 134.
^° See Abbate D. Giacomo Certani's " La
Santitk Prodigiosa. " Vita di S. Brigida Ibernese. Libro Sesto, pp. 559 to 561.
Maidoc (cap. 62), Life of St, Moling (cap. 22), Life of St. Kieran, of Saigir (cap. 30), Life of St. Kieran, of Clonmacnoise (cap. i. , 47), Life of St. Columba (cap. 4, 5, 66, 241), Life of St. Moelruan (cap. 42), Life of St. Corbmac (cap. 9), Life of St. Fintan,
^* See Colgan's "Acta Sanctorum Hi- hermit (15th Nov. ) See " Trias Thauma-
bemiae," Februarii I. Vita S. Derlugdachse, p. 230. Also, the Acts of St. Derlugdacha hereafter subjoined, and on the Ist of Febru-
in his
"
turga, sees. i. to xxii. , pp. 602 to 606.
'3 See "The Life of St. Brigid," by an
Irish Priest, chap, x. , pp, 133, 134,
'* In Professor Irish Life of O'Looney's
ary.
" These are introduced
St.
nitroet) IaitH
" Nin-
byColgan Appendix Secunda, seu Supplementum Actorum S. Brigidae, ex aliorum Sanctorum vitis & aliis hystoriis. " He quotes the Fourth
Life of St. Patrick, by St. Eleran, the sup- posed author (cap. 94), the Sixth, by Jocelin (cap. 94, 95, 188, 189). The Tripartite
Brigid
i-oaii, i. e. ,
"
didh of the undefiled hand," is said to have
come from Rome of Letha, pp. 47, 48.
^s See Abbate D. Giacomo Certani's "La
Santitk Prodigiosa. " Vita di S. Brigida Ibernese. Libro Sesto, pp. 584 to 566.
^° St. also Bridget
February i. ] LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. 179
Afterwards a large fish was caught, and brought to him. When it had been
cut up into parts, according to the legend of his life, that key belonging to the lock of his manacled hand was found within its body. Finding all these events to have happened by Divine appointment, with sorrow of heart, the
"
pious Ninnidius said :
It is not meet, that a mortal should any longer
oppose designs of the living God, and of Omnipotent power. " Hearing about St. Brigid's infirmity, he went to visit her ; and, at the hour of her
departure, as she had already predicted, the Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the Eternal God, she received from the undefiled hand
of holy Ninnidius. '^
There are many different opinions of writers, as to St. Brigid's exact age, at the time of her demise. Henry of Marlborough'7 tells us, that she was born A. D. 468, and that she died on the ist of February, a. d. 523. Conse- quently, she could only have been fifty-five years old, at her decease. But, no other writer sets her age down at less than seventy years, when she died. ''^ This latter seems to be the most generally received opinion. Our Martyro- logies'9 and Annals^° concur. The seventy-first^^ and the seventy-fourth year
"
Martyrology of Donegal"^'' has noticed, that she yielded her spirit, after having completed seventy-four years, a. d. 525. ^3 The author of St. Brigid's Fourth Life has regarded her
death, as occurring, thirty years after that of St. Patrick,^^ and in the eightieth year of her age. ^s Colgan, too, thinks this probable, on account of the latt—er
for her death-period have been stated. Thus, the
—nt and so
authority being so ancie respectable.
She is even eighty-seventh year. ^^
but without correctness
to have attained her
'^ " See Colgan's "Trias Thaumaturga.
Quarta Vita S. Brigidse, lib. li. , cap. Ixiii. , p. 559. Also, Quinta Vita S. Brigidse, cap. Iviii. , p. 582.
fecit quinariam literam transcriptoris error ;' i. e. , the transcriber mistook dxxii. for dxxu. "
^4 This story, about such a term of years '7 In his Annals. This, however, is not intervening between the deaths of the two
"
Chronicle of Ireland," saints, has been taken from that spurious published in 1809 at Dublin, by the Hiber- tract, called St. Patrick's Testament, in
to be found in his
nia Press Company.
'^
which we find the favourite division of our Apostle's years into thirties. To these was added another thirty, at the end of which
This is the opinion of Ussher in his
"Primordia Ecclesiarum Britannicarum,"
cap. xvii. , p, 884, and in his "Index St. Brigid was to bless Ireland. Hence, it
Clironologicus," A. D, 523, as also of Sir James Ware, "De Scriptoribus Hibernise,"
lib. i. , cap. ii,, p, 9.
'9 The "Martyrology of Tallagh," com-
piled by St. ^ngus and St. Maelruan, in
"
got into he Fourth Life of St. Brigid, and it became popular. Marianus Scotus, hav- ing assigned St. Patrick's death to a. d. 491, placed, agreeably to this supposition, that of St. Brigid in 521 ; while, the sticklers for A. D, 493, following the same principle, fixed
the ninth century, has this record :
Ca-
lendis Februarii. Dormitio S. Brigidse, it at A. D, 523. One of these was Bollandus,
Ixx. , anno setatis suie. " See Rev. Dr. when commenting on the Acts of St. Brigid ; Kelly's edition, p. xiv. but, his successors, Henschennius and Pape-
^°
The Annals of Ulster, or of Senat Mac brochius, rejected these thirty years, and
Mognus, cited by Ussher, agree, where at
madeoutanothercalculation. This,however,
cannot be admitted in their observations ; for,
A. D. we read 523,
:
" S. Quies
p. 3. Dr. O'Conor's " Rerum Hiberni- carum Scriptores," tomus iv.
Lanigan's "Ecclesiastical History of Ire-
land," vol. i. , chap, ix. , sec. vi. , n. 87, p.
457-
^s For this statement, there appears to be
little probability. Yet, an Irish Life of St. Brigid concurs in the previous calculations.
^^
At the year 523. we find entered in William M. Hennessy's "Chronicum Sco- torum," the Dormition of St. Brigid in the 87th year of her age, or 77th as some assert, pp. 40, 41.
^^
According to the computation of Friar
Clyn, that she was born a. d. 439, and of
Hanmer, that she died a. d. 510, she must
have departed in her seventy-first year.
^'^
tion, pp. 36, 37.
=^3 In a comment, Dr. Todd adds at this
Brigidge This is also Colgan's
anno Ixx. aetatis suae. "
own opinion. See Annales Ultonienses, departure to a. d, 506 or 517, See Dr.
See Rev, Drs. Todd's and Reeves' edi-
date, A. D, 525 :
"
The more recent hand has
corrected this date to 522, adding in the
margin, this note :
*
ex ii. binario numero
on St. Patrick's Acts, they assign St. Brigid's
conjectured
i8o LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS.
i.
[February
The year or epoch of St. Brigid's death has been variedly calculated or
recorded. Thus the "Annals of Boyle" have it so early as a. d. ^o\. '^^ Dr.
Meredith Hanmer says her death occurred, a. d. 510. =^ The rest of St. Brigid
is noted at 514, in the Annals of Innisfallen. ^? Other authorities place it, at
A. D. 518. 3° From a calculation which he makes, as to the year of St. Patrick's
death, being 458, and St. Brigid's decease taking place sixty years afterwards,
Nenniuswouldconsequentlyassignherdeparture,totheyear518. 3^ Again, the year 520 has been mentioned. 32 The year 521 is set down by certain
writers. 33 The year 523, however, is a very generally accepted date for her demise.
34 Thus, Colgan endeavours to show by various authorities, compu- tations and inferences, that a. d. 523, was the true date for her death. 3S These dates, a. d. 506 and 517, appear to have been given, from a supposition, that St. Brigid survived St. Patrick exactly thirty years ;36 and, as the year of the Irish Apostle's death has been disputed, in like manner, differences as to com- puted dates for St. Brigid's have consequently occurred. 37 The year 523 or 524
is entered in the " Annals of Ulster. "3^ the These, also, go by
" Annals
title, of Senat-mac-Magnus," and are cited by Ussher. 39 Moreover, the
"
Annals
**
**
*7 See
of Boyle. "
nicarum Scriptores," tomus ii. , p. 3.
=^See "Chronicle of Ireland," p. 91.
Still Colgan thinks, the year 518 should have been inserted in Hanmer's work, but for a casual error.
'9 See Dr. O'Conor's " Rerum Hibemi- carum Scriptores," tomus ii. , p. 5.
3° Thus, Sigbert in his "Chronology,"
Annals Dr. O'Conor's " Rerum Hiber-
Annales Buelliani," or
523. Secondly, According to different au- thorities, St. Columkille was born four years before St. Brigid's death. As the former is said to have died on the 9th of June, A. D. 596, in the seventy-seventh year of his age, and as he i» related to have been bom on the 7th of December, St. Columba's nativity must have been cast about the end of A. D. 519. The fourth year after such a date would be A. D. 523, and consequently that assigned for St. Brigid's death. Thirdly, According to certain Irish tracts, St. Brigid was veiled and died on Wednesday ; while, all autho-
"
John Capgrave in his "Vita S. Brigidse," cap.
Felix in his
Martyrology," at 1st February,
"
Hibemica," dist. iii,, cap. 17, "Annales rities agree, she departed this life on the ist
ult. , Giraldus Cambrensis, in
Topographia
Vawerliensis,"&c. , date her demise.
3' Yet, Dr. Lanigan does not consider 458 to have been the true date for St. Patrick's
of Februar}'. Now, if we admit her being contemporaneous with the Emperor Justin, Pope Hormisdas and Murchertach, King of
death ; and, as the antecedent is false, so Ireland, the 1st of February fell on Wednes-
must be the consequent, viz. , that St. Brigid day, in the year 523. The hymn in praise "
Cloen, must have been written in this case soon after her death ; for, Alild, son of
Dunlang, reigned in Leinster, when it was written. This prince died A. D. 526. See
"Trias Thaumaturga. " Appendix Qu. irta ad Acta S. Brigidre, cap. vii. , p. 619. The learned Dr. O'Conor also agrees in this opinion with Colgan, in his edition of the
died A. D. 518. See Ecclesiastical History of St^ Brigid, composed by St. Brogan
of Ireland," vol, i. , chap, ix. , sec. vi. , and n. 84, pp. 455, 457.
3^ The " Chronicon Rudimentum Novi- tiorum," at A. D. 520, has noted St. Brigid's death. It states, during the second year of the Emperor Justin, that our saint died in Scotia, being bom there, and of noble pa- rents.
33
Thus, Marianus Scotus, Florence of Worcester, Baronius, Masseus, Spondanus, Gordon, Rosweyde, Mirseus, Ware. The "Annales Cambriae," edited by Rev. John Williams ab Ithel, concur, p. 3.
34 Ussher, Colgan and Bollandus prefer it. See, also. Rev. Thomas Innes* "Civil and Ecclesiastical of book
p. 128.
35 He prefers this, for various reasons.
First, Henry of Marlborough, Ussher, Ware, &c. , are of accord regarding it. And, St. Brigid lived thirty years after St. Patrick's deat—h ; accordingly, St. Patrick, dying in
" Rerum Hibemicarum Scriptores," tomus iv.
History Scotland," ii. ,
3* Thus, Tillemont justly remarks, that Henschennius and Papebrochius have not adduced any weighty proof for these dates. See "Memoires P9ur servir a I'Histoire Ecclesiastique," tome xvi. , p. 470.
37 See Dr. "Ecclesiastical His- Lanigan's
tory of Ireland," vol. i. , chap, viii. , sec. ii. , n. 25, pp. 382, 383, chap, ix. , sec. vi. , n. 87, P- 457-
38 See Dr. O'Conor's "Rerum Hibemi- camm Scriptores," tomus iv. , p. 3. At A. D. 523 is noted, likewise, the "Bellum Cainri ^\\\Neili:'
butas —
thinks vi^as the true
591 Colgan 593
"
clesiarum," cap. xvii. , p. 884.
year of his decease
should place the death of St. Brigid at A. D.
39 See
De Primordia Britannicamm Ec-
this latter conclusion
"Annals of Ulster," n. 3, p. 13.
February i. ] LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. I8l
of the Four Masters," quoting some other old chronicles, and the " Annals of Ulster," referring to more ancient authorities, have a. d. 525. 4° Ussher observes, that some books referred to in the Ulster Annals mark St. Brigid's death, as occurring at 525, which date has been followed by the Four Masters. This latter year seems to agree best, with what Nennius relates, regarding St. Columkille's birth, which took place four years before St. Brigid's departure. *^ The "Annals of Ulster," citing the book of Mochod, again give a. d. 527. This latest mentioned date is omitted in Colgan, but instead of it, he pro-
"
duces the same authority, noticing
monachorum,"a. d. 528. Theoriginalauthorityseemstohavebeenidentical, in both the latter instances, with the difference of a date, in distinct copies.
The English Martyrology, at the ist of February, has a. d. 540. The author of St. Brigid's Fourth Life enters a. d. 548, as Colgan thinks, through a copyisfs error, and from the mention of contemporaneous persons. With the angels, present at her couch, and waiting to bear her soul to Paradise, the holy abbess was prepared for her final summons. 4^ She earnestly desired to receive the sacraments for the dying. Finding her final hour fast approaching, Holy Viaticum-^s was administered to her by an attendant priest, named Nennidh,44 whoappearstohavebeenattachedtotheserviceofhernunnery. 45 Hebe-
longed probably to the clergy residing at Kildare. ^^ Muriertach Mac Erc,47 KingofIreland,thenlivedatTara,astheFourthLifestates. Irishhistorians state this monarch to have died in the year 527, after a reign of twenty-four years. 48 He was succeeded in the sovereignity of Ir—eland by Tuathal Mael- garbh, who was slain—after a reign of eleven years in the year 538. St. Brigid's death took place, it is noted, during the first year of the Emperor Justinian's reign. 49 Hormisdas is said to have been Pope at the time, and he sat in the chair of St. Peter, from a. d. 514 to a. d. 523,5° when he died. s^
4° See Dr. O'Donovan's
*'
Annals of the
ii. , No. 30, p. 70 *'
Swiftly, swiftly '
:
now the soul is
flying,
Dying, dying,'
Are the words the watchers speak,
While the shade of death is shading
All the patient face, and fading All the rose-tints from the cheek. Yet, there comes no sound of wailing,
No blinding burst of hopeless grief ; The soul is calm, if strength be failing,
Dormitio S. Brigidae secundum codicum
582. Quarta Vita S. Brigidce, lib. ii. , cap.
Ixiii. , p. 559.
4° See Dr. Lanigan's "Ecclesiastical His-
tory of Ireland," vol. i. , chap, ix. , sec. vi. , n. 82, p. 456.
47 Dr. O'Donovan's "Annals of the Four
Masters," vol. to 180, 181. i. , pp. 174 177,
4^ A very curious account, regarding this
will monarch and his family connexions, be
found in " The Irish Version of the Historia Britonum of Nennius," edited by Rev. Dr. James Henthorn Todd, and the Hon. Alger- non Herbert, pp. 178 to 193, with accom-
panying notes.
49 Justinian began his reign in the year
527, according to Baronius, and most other authors.
