His other
writings
are hardly less valuable, for their historic, national, and religious interest.
O'Hanlon - Lives of the Irish Saints - v3
He Iselonged to Clon- fert-Molua, and died in 858 or 859.
See Dr.
Lanigan's "Ecclesiastical Hisiory of Ireland," vol.
iii.
, chap, xx.
, sect, x.
, nn.
98, 99, pp.
248, 249.
5 See Dr. O'Donovan's "Annals of the Four Masters," vol. i. , pp. 370, 371.
^ It is not probable, however, that our saint was the immediate successor of Malath- f^enius.
^ By his namesake, . iEngus Ceile De is called abbot. In the Martyrologies cited. in a succeeding note, it will be seen, that he was also styled Bishop.
^Inanote,Dr. Laniganremarks: "Con- sideling the Irish practice of promoting
^lanuscripts, to denote a hermitage, or an asylum for pilgrims or penitents. It occurs in this latter sense in the Z^aMcr ^r^ar, fol.
eminent abbots to the episcopacy, we need not look for any other See for him than one of the above-mentioned monasteries. "— "Ecclesiastical History of Ireland," vol. iii. , chap, xx. , sect, x. , n. 99, p. 249.
'See Bishop Challoner's "Britannia Sacra," part i. , p. 168.
'°
Mr. O'Donovan, in the Tenth Article
of his edited "Miscellany of the Irish
Archaeological Society," vol. i. , note g. , comments on the term Disert, a common to-
pographical prefix to Irish localities. He
says: "This word, which is translated ^^- '
sertus locus in Cormac's Glossary,' and desertum by Colgan {Acta Sanctorum, p.
loo, a. a. , and in the Book of Leinster, in the MS. Library of Trinity College, Dublin,
— H. 2, 12, fol. 113, b. a. " "
Irish Charters
in the Book of Kells," n. (g), p. 112. "
" See Lines by Charles J. Kickham, This parish, in the barony of West
OfTaly, is defined on the
"
Ordnance Survey
Townland Maps for the County Kildare," Sheets 21, 22, 26, 27. The town is shown on Sheets 21, 26.
'^ See Professor
the Manuscript Materials of Ancient Irish History," lect. xvii. , p. 364.
O'Curry's
" Lectures on
March ii. ] LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS.
an incorrect topographical description of the locality, -^ngus, while he re- sided at Dysartbeagh, had finished his Festilogy. A friendship was here formed between our saint and Fothadh the Canonist, who showed the poem he had composed for Aedh's decision. Before presenting it to the king, he desired and received the warm approval of his brother poet, St. ^ngus.
The penitential and most useful earthly career of this holy ascetic was
destined, at last, for one of immortal glory. Professor Eugene O'Curry thinks St. ^ngus Ceile De must have died, about the year 815. '+ But, he breathed his last prayers with his last breath, about the year 824, according tothemostprobableconjecture,onFriday,thenthdayofMarch. '5 How- ever, one or other of the years 819, 824, or 830, is named conjecturally, as referring to our saint's death, from the circumstance of the nth March falling on the feria sexta, or Friday, at each of these dates. Still, the question re- mains unsolved. Did he die on the nth of March ? We know not how many years ^ngus the Culdee lived ; but, probably this holy man had not
attained a very advanced age, when his death occurred.
^ngus was buried at Clonenagh, according to his Acts, as given by Col- gan. ^^ But, whether he died there or at Disert Bethech, or at Dysartenos, has been contested. '? If he built a monastery at the latter place, no trace of
'^ and
by the present or some other St. . ^ngus, for his sole accommodation and re- tirement. Again, such remarks may apply to Disert Bethech ; but, here, we think, the celebrated Culdee really founded a house of some sort, for his particular order of monks. Here, also, he lived, and most probably for several years ; here, perhaps, some of his works were composed ; here, possibly he had a hermitage, while guiding a community of religious ; here, too, according to one account, he died ,; and, we are inclined to think, he mustberegarded,asspecialpatronofDysartbeagh. Theevidenceforthese surmiseswenowsubmit. ProfessorO'CurryalludestoanIrishPoem,which he thinks was written soon after our saint's death. He deems it a fine com- position, and while giving the original of the first stanza, he adds a literal
^*See i^id. , p. 362. Scholiast says, that our saint was both
'5 "There being good reason to think, educated and buried at Disert-^ngus. It that _^ngus survived the year 806. Colgan is certain, however, that . ^ngus had been conjectures that the year of his death was educated at Clonenagh. Colgan remarks,
itsruinscanbe
discovered,
at
it beasafecon- might
hence,
jecture to suppose, Dysartenos liad been only a cell or hermitage, constructed
either 819, 824, or S30 ; whereas in each —of them the nth of March fell on a Friday. "
that the Disert named, either is not different
Dr. Lanigan's
"
Ecclesiastical History of
probably died, and had been buried, at the fust place, his body having been afterwards translated
Ireland," vol. iii. , chap, xx. , sect, x. , n. "
present ;
100, p. 249. Ita eodem die Martyrologium and deposited at Clonenagh. But, he
Tamlact. ^ngussii Episcopi Hoblenii ne- potis. Marian. Magmis JEngtcssius Hob-
lenii nepos Episcopus. Mart. Dungnll. ^in^ssius nepos Hoblenii, Episcopus, est qid compostnt festilogiiim. In ipso etiam ^n- gussii Festilogio in quibusdam exemplaribus ponitur nata hac die : sed ilia insula additio est : quae idcirco in vetustioribus exemplar bus non
acknowledges that our Annals make a dis-
tinction, between both places, as in reality they were bound to do. A distance of some
miles intervenes, between Dysartenos and Clonenagh. A lesser distance separates Dysartbeagh and Clonenagh. The present writer is fully cognizant of those facts, and he has long been conversant with the bearing
reperitur. " Colgan's
" Acta Sane
and local
of all those
torum liibernias," xi.
'^ to this Alluding
n.
See, likewise, the prefatory notice, given by
of
however, a writer well knowing its folk-lore
the BoUandists, in their " Acta Sanctorum,' edeo Abbate et Episcopo, in Hibernia, p. 85
'^
See "Acta Sanctorum Hiberniae," xi Martii. De S. ^ngussio Hagiographo Episcopo et Confessore, cap. xvi. , p. 582,
*7 In a note, already given, the anonymous
Martii,
15, p. 583
locality
observes: "Not many years ago, the re- tomus ii. , Martii xi. De B. ^ngussio Kel mains of the foundation of St. Angus's
from or our saint most Clonenagh,
peculiarities
places. Dysartenos,
sacred edifice were discovered by a farmer, who professed the doctrines of the Church of England. This farmer, much to his
credit, reverentially would not suffer the re- mains to be disturbed. He re-covered with
3i6 LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS: [March ii.
translation of the whole. '9 We present a few of the first stanzas, and the closing stanza, as of historical value, in elucidating some phases of his life. ^°
From the foregoing, and especially from the last lines, it ought to be inferred, that Disert Bethech, and not Disert Aengusa, was the ancient name for his
church. At Dysartbeagh, too, the Poem states, he departed this life, and
that there he was buried. ^^ We find this on St. in the elegy yEngus quoted
learned lectures, delivered by Professor Matthew Arnold, at Oxford, and published as contributions to a widely-circulating English periodical. ^^ The
Professor proves, that there is a complete want of style,^3 in the compositions of the Teutonic nations, while the contrary characteristic distinguishes the Celtic effusions. Professor Arnold remarks, in reference to this beautiful and pathetic elegy, that it was composed by no eminent bard ; and, yet, a Greek epitaph could not show a finer perception of what constitutes propriety and felicityofstyle,incompositionsofthisnature. Wecouldhardlyresistgiving this testimony of the Oxford Professor, so honourable to his own taste, and to the genius of our native poetry. A difficulty exists, about the exact date for the festival of this St. ^ngus. The Martyrology of Tallagh^* enters ^nghus Eps. h. Aibleni, at the present day. Marianus O'Gorman, and the Martyrology of Donegal concur, in this arrangement. ^5 St. ^ngus has his feast at the nth of March, according to Rev. Alban Butler,^^ the " Circle of the Seasons," ^i and Rev. S. Baring-Gould. '^^ However, there are very good
grounds for supposing, that the festival of Aengus Mac Oengobann oj O'Oiblen was on the i8th of February, in the opinion of Professor Eugene
earth the stone steps, that rested at the foot of the once altar, on which the holy ancho- ret offered the Sacrifice of the Mass. The field in which this discovery was made is
" When ^ngus was in the narrow cell con-
fined.
By permission of the Son of God at Tamh-
lachta, (Tallaght,)
It was not a condition meet for devotion, To be in the kiln "
Then follow other stanzas, relating to his
ipanner of life, at Tallagh.
" The poem conclude—s with this stanza, as
n—ear to the dwelling of Mr. James Lawler.
''
A religious city, by crosses enclosed. In which resided Mac Oiblen, Aengus.
Aengus of the host of Heaven,
Here is his Leacht, (monument,) and
death-bed. Itwasfromthisplaceheascended Upon the Friday up into Heaven.
to a wonderful measure. Style is the most
striking quality of their poetry ; Celtic
poetry seems to make up to itself for being
unable to master the world and give an
adequate interpretation of it, by throwing all its force into style, by bending language at any rate to its will, and expressing the ideas
it has with unsurpassable intensity, eleva- tion, and effect. "
="* Edited by Rev. Dr. Kelly, p. xviii.
O'Byme's History
constantly drying.
County," chap, xxi. , p. 57. "
of
" the
'9 See his Catalogue of Irish Manu- scripts of the Royal Irish Academy," First Series, vol. ii. , pp. 624 to 626.
'° If we are to rely on this poem, as refer-
ring to an early date ; we may possibly glean
some facts of our saint's — from the biography,
translated by O'Curry
writer's account. It runs thus
:
" Delightful to sit here, himself, (or by himself),
By the side of the cold, clear Nore, Although populous, it was not the path of
plunder,
In sacred Disert Bethech.
" Disert Bethech where dwelt the man, Whom legions of Angels visited,
over verses.
The Sun of the Western World,
" It was at Cluain Eidnech he was reared, At Cluain Eidnech he was interred.
At Cluain Eidnech of He first read, his Psalms.
=^ See "Lives of the vol. Saints,"
March xL, pp. 217, 218.
many crosses,
iii. ,
" Queen's
" From this
:
is a man who place departed
presided
The place where he took his disease of
the head,
The place which is said to be delightful.
=- "The Cornhill of 1866. Magazine,"
^3 He
says :
" The Celts
certainly
'' ActaSanctorumHiber-
n.
^* See " Lives of the Fathers, Martyrs and
other principal Saints," vol. iii. , March xi. '^ See p. 71.
^5See
Colgan's
nise,"
Martii
xi. ,
15, p. 583.
"
have it
March ii. ] LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. 317 0'Curry. =9 TheO'Clerysseemtoconjecture,inlikemanner,andbecause,
"
also, there is no notice of an ^ngus, in the
there is notice of some different Aengus, in it, at the present day. Professor
Feilire," at that date, whereas O'Curry thinks, that Colgan and those who follow him are deceived, in
making the nth of March the festival for St. ^ngus the Culdee. It
— —is,
in- deed very certain as a distinguished Irish Scholar3° well observes that St. Aengus Ceile De cannot be set down, for an ignorant nor a superstitious
monk ; but, on the contrary, he must ever be regarded as a gifted writer, deeply read in the Holy Scriptures, and in the civil and ecclesiastical history of the world. He was especially versed in that historic lore, contained in
what he calls
" The Host of the Books of Erinn. "
Taking
pean country which possesses so earlyandsoauthenticanational document, and onehavingacharactersoimportant. AgreatnumberoftheprimitiveChristian inhabitants and strangers, in our island, have been introduced by name, into this valuable treatise. Their festival days, with copious references to the early denominations and exact situations of our old churches and monas- teries, severally founded by many of them, are accurately given ; and, already, by means of this tract, if not all, at least nearly all, of these foundations may be or have been identified, by competent archaeologists.
His other writings are hardly less valuable, for their historic, national, and religious interest.
The truly learned are ever truly humble. But, to raise this latter qualifi- cation to the degree of heroic virtue, requires the special intervention of the Spirit of wisdom. Towards our saint, God's choicest graces appear to have been vouchsafed. From his early years, he was gifted with a docile mind, an
ardent love of true perfection, humility of disposition, an understanding capable of comprehending a wide circle of science, human and divine, with an imagination, fervid, brilliant, chaste, and correct, as ever gifted a poet. Our Church and country have received no inconsiderable services, from the literary labours and learning of this saint, while his life had been beautifully and edifyingly consistent with his 'teaching and acquirements. Some men possess dazzling qualities and acquire renown, in this world, while their minds and dispositions are cold, vitiated, and corrupt ; they may shine among their fellow-mortals, as the skin of the venomous snake or crawling reptile appears radiant with variegated colours, under the rays of a bright sun. On the contrary, in solitude and retirement, wishing to avoid the applause or re- wards of the world, under a rude garb and exterior, our saint, like the glow- worm, luminous even through the darkness of night, has diffused a steady and an undiminished light, over the obscurity of our scattered ecclesiastical re- cords and traditions, in his own time and for preceding ages. He has like- wise transmitted to us some of the most venerable remains of our ancient and holy Uterature, so long and so providentially preserved in Ireland, and in more distant countries. Let us hope, that under the careful editorship of a competent Irish scholar, these fragments will be gathered, ere they perish, that they will be committed to type, published, and thus rendered accessible, to the generality of readers. While such documents serve to excite and sustain our rehgious feelings, they also fan the spirit of patriotism, and serve to extend still more the real fame of our beloved country. The holy Aengus Ceild De laboured wisely and well in his generation. He has left to this day,
enthusiastically,
the Festilogy of St. ^ngus as a purely historic tract, largely interwoven with the early civil and ecclesiastical history of Ireland, there is probably no Euro-
'^ In his " of Irish Catalogue
3° See Professor
"Lectures on the Manuscript Materials of Ancient Irish History," lect. xvii,, p. 370.
Manuscripts of the Royal Irish Academy," First Series,
Eugene O'Curry's
vol. ii,, p. 623.
3i8 LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. [March ii.
and to all succeeding generations, the heritage of his zeal, his learning, his genius, his virtues, and his noble example.
Article II. —St. Constantine, King and Martyr, in Scotland, AND A Monk at Rahen, King's County. \^Sixth Century. '] Among the saints of Ireland and of Scotland, Constantine deserves to be numbered. No ancient or reliable memoir of this royal penitent has been handed down tous; yet,weareenabled,fromthemanyscatterednoticesofhim,foundin Irish, Welsh, and Scottish Hagiologies, to construct the following brief out- line of his life. In our country, he studied as a sedulous disciple, while he
to have laboured in as a strenuous — and as a true appears Scotland, teacher,
promoter of piety. T—he illustrious subject of this memoir so far as we can discriminate his Acts despising the fleeting vanities of this life, abandoned his golden crown on this tearful earth, to become an humble disciple of the heavenly king. ^ Moreover, he desired to become an ambassador of glorious tidings to a barbarous people, where his true crown was obtained. The Acts of this royal penitent and martyr have been published by Colgan^ and by the Bollandists. 3 Those accounts are not critically reconcilable with chronology, and they have been extracted from various authors. Other Avriters have treated about him, such as Bishop Challenor,'^ Rev. Alban Butler,5 Rev. S. Baring-Gould,^ and Bishop Forbes. 7 He is noticed, in the " Annals of the Cis- tercian Monks. " ^ A Life of St. Constantine has been Rev.
given, by
" Chronicles of Cornish Saints. " '° Much confusion has crept into his Acts, because he has sometimes been confounded, with another King Constantine III. of the Scots, who has been numbered among the saints, and who, leaving his royalty," entered among the Culdees of St. Andrew's," in the tenth century. Again the Martyrology of Tallagh'3 states, at this day, that either a Constantine, the Briton, Welsh or Cornish, or a Constantine, son of Fergus, '•• who was of the Picts, had been venerated. '5 The former, however, was the royal monk at Rathain, now Rahan, King's County, who flourished, a. d. 588,'^ and whose feast is properly commemo-
Adams,9
in his
series,
rated, at the nth of March. The Martyrology of Donegal'? confuses the times and parentage of two Constantines ; for, at this date, we find inserted, by the later hand, and within brackets, Constaintin, royal-monk at Rathain, with Mochuda,'^ son of Fergus. The Rev. Dr. Lanigan supposes,'9 that the
—'" '°
Article ii. See Proceedings of the No. iii. It has been reprinted from
Society of Antiquaries of Scotland," vol. ii. "Journal of the Royal Institution of Corn- Martyrology for the use of the Church of wall, 1869. " No. x. Read at the Spring
Aberdeen, from a MS. of the sixteenth cen- tury, communicated by David Laing, Esq. , F. S. A. , Scotland, p. 262.
'See "Acta Sanctorum Hibemiae," xi. Martii. De S. Constantino Rege, Monacho
Meeting, May 22, 1868.
"
A. D. 943.
"See Bishop Challoner's "Britannia
Sancta," p. 170.
'3 Edited by Rev. Dr. Kelly, p. xviii.
''• He died, A. D. 820, according to a
computation found in the Annals of Tigher- nach and of Ulster.
'= In Irish : ConfCAncin "bpico, no niAc tTepgufA t)o C|\uicneeAib.
et
pp. 577 to 579.
3 See "Acta Sanctorum," tomus ii. ,
Martyre,
Martii xi. De S. Constantino Rege Mo- nacho et Martyre in Scotia, pp. 64, 65.
* See "Britannia Sancta," part i. , pp.
169, 170. sSee"LivesoftheFathers,Martyrsand
other principal Saints," vol. iii. , March xi.
"
'*
See Rev. Dr. Reeves' Adamnan's LifeofSt. Columba. " AdditionalNotes
^" '? See Lives of the Saints," vol. iii. ,
March xi. , pp. 214, 215.
See Rev. Drs. Todd's and Reeves' edition, pp. 74, 75.
" Kalendars of Scottish
to
311 314.
'* See his at the Life,
of
^
See
Saints," pp.
14th
May.
* At the nth of March, p. 332. 9 Vicar of Stockcross, Berks.
land," vol. ii. , chapxi,, sect, xiv. , n. 161, p. 166.
(O), p. 371.
^' See "Ecclesiastical
History
of Ire-
John
March ii. ] LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. 319
account of this ex king and martyr is but a garbled alteration of the history of a British King, Constantine, of the fifth century, and who is incorrectly
styledScottish,byBuchanan,^"andbyotherScotchwriters. He,however,was killed,notthroughreligioushatred,butforaverydifferentcause. Nordoes the present holy king appear to have lived under St. Mochuda, at Rahen. There is an Irish Poem, by Rumann Mac Colman, which enables us to identify the Constantine, King and Martyr, who is entered in the Carthusian Auctarium, to the great work of Usuard,^' and to whom several important Scottishchurcheshavebeendedicated. Thelegendiswildandstrange,and not without some confusion, as to date. ^^ From a careful examination of what Rumann Mac Colman states,^3 it is evident, that Constantine, the British King, settled at Rahen, long before the time of St. Mochuda.
According to Bishop Forbes, there seem to have been two distinct saints, bearing this name : one was King of the Britons, who resigned his crown and came to Scotland, where he converted Kintyre, and who died, a. d. 588 ; while another was Constantine, son of Fergus, of the Picts, who succeeded Mochuda, at Rathin, somewhat later than the year 630. ^'* Born about the beginning of the sixth century, our Constantine was the son of Cador, Duke of Cornwall,^5 according to one account. ^^ The Breviary of Aberdeen^^ calls him, the son of Paternus, King of Cornubia, and it states, that he married the daughter of the King of Lesser Britannia. He is said, by some writers, to have ruled over the Britons, and by others, it is related, that he was King over the Picts. The former account accords best with historic truth. He
was a nephew of the renowned King Arthm", and during his early life, he was a soldier, remarkable, too, for his fiery valour. He has been classed among those famous Knights of the Round Table. ^^ At all events, he figures promi- nently in ancient British history. ^9 When his valiant uncle had obtained a glorious victory, and yet had received his death wound, on the field of Cam- Ian, A. D, 542,3° Arthur is said to have nominated Constantine as his successor ; and, the British forces continued for several years afterwards, to fight under his banner, against the Saxon inva'ders. Nevertheless, if we may credit the fierce invective against him which Gildas wrote, his early life was stained with
gross iniquity. Some writers tell us that, to secure his supremacy, he cruelly murdered the two sons of Mordred, King of the Britons, and who, from their
father's position and their relationship to King Arthur, might, he feared, lay claim to the throne. 3^ Other writers, however, intimate, that those young
"^ See " Rerum Scoticarum Historia," lib.
""^At'die uth'ofMaSi,'^''In Scotia S. Constantiniregisetmartyris. "
-See Bishop Forbes' -Kalendars of Scottish Saints," pp. 311, 312.
*3 See Dr. Petrie's " Ecclesiastical Archi-
^9 As one of '"^
""'
lecture of
subsect. 2, pp. 353 to 356.
3° gge Matthew of "
'*
That of the Rev, John Adams.
Quhen he saw the greit calamitie
And seruitude tha Britis war in brocht, He traistit weill the greit falsheid tha
wrocht
In the defrauding of the King Modreid,
Quhilk richteous was till Uter to succeid j
Into his mynd thairfoir he dred so soir, That was tlie caus that tha war puneist foir, Within himself richt havelie he buir,
Ireland," &c. , part ii. ,
sect,
iii. ,
Westminster, "Floras Historiarmn, a. d, dxlii. , p. 192.
=* See Bishop Forbes' " Kalendars of the ScottishSaints,"p,312.
3i The " Bulk of the Chronicles of Scot* "
=s See Matthew of Historiarum," A. D. dxlii. , p, 192,
' ' Flores
=7 See Pars Hyemalis, fol. Ixvii,
"* " In Harding's
are told, that
Metrical Chronicle," we
"
Duke Cador's sone of Cornwall bounteous Afore had been one of the table rounde In Arthure's time,"
Westminster,
"
land says:—
fellowship of famous
Kni^h^s^^'"'^
-. tt, "r. v
Whereof the world holds record. "
"
See John Speed's
taine," book vii. , chap. 12, pp. 335, 336.
uv u
, »,
Historie of Great Bri-
320 LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. [March ii.
men stirred up rebellion against him, making common cause with the Saxon foe,32 and thus bringing down just retribution upon themselves. 33 However, thosewhohadrebelledagainsthimweresubdued. Oneofhisopponents fled to the Church of St. Amphibalus, at Winchester, where he thought to take sanctuary. Notwithstanding, he was murdered by Constantine himself, before the altar. His other adversary became a refugee in London. Yet, he too was taken prisoner, in a monastery, and put to a cruel death. 34 These sacrilegious and wicked proceedings caused Gildas^s to pen that celebrated Epistle, in which he so vehemently inveighs against the king. Constantine is called, in it, the tyrannical whelp of the unclean lioness of Damnonia ; while, he is also accused of being a murderer, a perjurer and an adulterer. This was written in or soon after a. d. 543. Constantine, King of Cornwall, became the chief sovereign of the league, formed by the lesser British Kings, after the death of King Arthur. 3^ We may fairly infer, that in consequence of Gildas' invective, Constantine was filled with remorse, and reflecting on hispreviouswickedness,heresolvedtobecomeatruepenitent. Theperiod assigned for this change of heart is referred to a. d. 588. 37 According to the Breviary of Aberdeen, the untimely death of his wife,32 daughter to the King of lesser Britain, caused Constantine to abandon his kingdom and to resolve on leading a religious life. 39 Both causes probably combined to induce him to leave his country and friends. So completely did he sever himself from the world, that he was supposed by some to have been killed in battle. '*" Somewritersaffirm,thathewasmurderedbyConan,hissuccessor.
5 See Dr. O'Donovan's "Annals of the Four Masters," vol. i. , pp. 370, 371.
^ It is not probable, however, that our saint was the immediate successor of Malath- f^enius.
^ By his namesake, . iEngus Ceile De is called abbot. In the Martyrologies cited. in a succeeding note, it will be seen, that he was also styled Bishop.
^Inanote,Dr. Laniganremarks: "Con- sideling the Irish practice of promoting
^lanuscripts, to denote a hermitage, or an asylum for pilgrims or penitents. It occurs in this latter sense in the Z^aMcr ^r^ar, fol.
eminent abbots to the episcopacy, we need not look for any other See for him than one of the above-mentioned monasteries. "— "Ecclesiastical History of Ireland," vol. iii. , chap, xx. , sect, x. , n. 99, p. 249.
'See Bishop Challoner's "Britannia Sacra," part i. , p. 168.
'°
Mr. O'Donovan, in the Tenth Article
of his edited "Miscellany of the Irish
Archaeological Society," vol. i. , note g. , comments on the term Disert, a common to-
pographical prefix to Irish localities. He
says: "This word, which is translated ^^- '
sertus locus in Cormac's Glossary,' and desertum by Colgan {Acta Sanctorum, p.
loo, a. a. , and in the Book of Leinster, in the MS. Library of Trinity College, Dublin,
— H. 2, 12, fol. 113, b. a. " "
Irish Charters
in the Book of Kells," n. (g), p. 112. "
" See Lines by Charles J. Kickham, This parish, in the barony of West
OfTaly, is defined on the
"
Ordnance Survey
Townland Maps for the County Kildare," Sheets 21, 22, 26, 27. The town is shown on Sheets 21, 26.
'^ See Professor
the Manuscript Materials of Ancient Irish History," lect. xvii. , p. 364.
O'Curry's
" Lectures on
March ii. ] LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS.
an incorrect topographical description of the locality, -^ngus, while he re- sided at Dysartbeagh, had finished his Festilogy. A friendship was here formed between our saint and Fothadh the Canonist, who showed the poem he had composed for Aedh's decision. Before presenting it to the king, he desired and received the warm approval of his brother poet, St. ^ngus.
The penitential and most useful earthly career of this holy ascetic was
destined, at last, for one of immortal glory. Professor Eugene O'Curry thinks St. ^ngus Ceile De must have died, about the year 815. '+ But, he breathed his last prayers with his last breath, about the year 824, according tothemostprobableconjecture,onFriday,thenthdayofMarch. '5 How- ever, one or other of the years 819, 824, or 830, is named conjecturally, as referring to our saint's death, from the circumstance of the nth March falling on the feria sexta, or Friday, at each of these dates. Still, the question re- mains unsolved. Did he die on the nth of March ? We know not how many years ^ngus the Culdee lived ; but, probably this holy man had not
attained a very advanced age, when his death occurred.
^ngus was buried at Clonenagh, according to his Acts, as given by Col- gan. ^^ But, whether he died there or at Disert Bethech, or at Dysartenos, has been contested. '? If he built a monastery at the latter place, no trace of
'^ and
by the present or some other St. . ^ngus, for his sole accommodation and re- tirement. Again, such remarks may apply to Disert Bethech ; but, here, we think, the celebrated Culdee really founded a house of some sort, for his particular order of monks. Here, also, he lived, and most probably for several years ; here, perhaps, some of his works were composed ; here, possibly he had a hermitage, while guiding a community of religious ; here, too, according to one account, he died ,; and, we are inclined to think, he mustberegarded,asspecialpatronofDysartbeagh. Theevidenceforthese surmiseswenowsubmit. ProfessorO'CurryalludestoanIrishPoem,which he thinks was written soon after our saint's death. He deems it a fine com- position, and while giving the original of the first stanza, he adds a literal
^*See i^id. , p. 362. Scholiast says, that our saint was both
'5 "There being good reason to think, educated and buried at Disert-^ngus. It that _^ngus survived the year 806. Colgan is certain, however, that . ^ngus had been conjectures that the year of his death was educated at Clonenagh. Colgan remarks,
itsruinscanbe
discovered,
at
it beasafecon- might
hence,
jecture to suppose, Dysartenos liad been only a cell or hermitage, constructed
either 819, 824, or S30 ; whereas in each —of them the nth of March fell on a Friday. "
that the Disert named, either is not different
Dr. Lanigan's
"
Ecclesiastical History of
probably died, and had been buried, at the fust place, his body having been afterwards translated
Ireland," vol. iii. , chap, xx. , sect, x. , n. "
present ;
100, p. 249. Ita eodem die Martyrologium and deposited at Clonenagh. But, he
Tamlact. ^ngussii Episcopi Hoblenii ne- potis. Marian. Magmis JEngtcssius Hob-
lenii nepos Episcopus. Mart. Dungnll. ^in^ssius nepos Hoblenii, Episcopus, est qid compostnt festilogiiim. In ipso etiam ^n- gussii Festilogio in quibusdam exemplaribus ponitur nata hac die : sed ilia insula additio est : quae idcirco in vetustioribus exemplar bus non
acknowledges that our Annals make a dis-
tinction, between both places, as in reality they were bound to do. A distance of some
miles intervenes, between Dysartenos and Clonenagh. A lesser distance separates Dysartbeagh and Clonenagh. The present writer is fully cognizant of those facts, and he has long been conversant with the bearing
reperitur. " Colgan's
" Acta Sane
and local
of all those
torum liibernias," xi.
'^ to this Alluding
n.
See, likewise, the prefatory notice, given by
of
however, a writer well knowing its folk-lore
the BoUandists, in their " Acta Sanctorum,' edeo Abbate et Episcopo, in Hibernia, p. 85
'^
See "Acta Sanctorum Hiberniae," xi Martii. De S. ^ngussio Hagiographo Episcopo et Confessore, cap. xvi. , p. 582,
*7 In a note, already given, the anonymous
Martii,
15, p. 583
locality
observes: "Not many years ago, the re- tomus ii. , Martii xi. De B. ^ngussio Kel mains of the foundation of St. Angus's
from or our saint most Clonenagh,
peculiarities
places. Dysartenos,
sacred edifice were discovered by a farmer, who professed the doctrines of the Church of England. This farmer, much to his
credit, reverentially would not suffer the re- mains to be disturbed. He re-covered with
3i6 LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS: [March ii.
translation of the whole. '9 We present a few of the first stanzas, and the closing stanza, as of historical value, in elucidating some phases of his life. ^°
From the foregoing, and especially from the last lines, it ought to be inferred, that Disert Bethech, and not Disert Aengusa, was the ancient name for his
church. At Dysartbeagh, too, the Poem states, he departed this life, and
that there he was buried. ^^ We find this on St. in the elegy yEngus quoted
learned lectures, delivered by Professor Matthew Arnold, at Oxford, and published as contributions to a widely-circulating English periodical. ^^ The
Professor proves, that there is a complete want of style,^3 in the compositions of the Teutonic nations, while the contrary characteristic distinguishes the Celtic effusions. Professor Arnold remarks, in reference to this beautiful and pathetic elegy, that it was composed by no eminent bard ; and, yet, a Greek epitaph could not show a finer perception of what constitutes propriety and felicityofstyle,incompositionsofthisnature. Wecouldhardlyresistgiving this testimony of the Oxford Professor, so honourable to his own taste, and to the genius of our native poetry. A difficulty exists, about the exact date for the festival of this St. ^ngus. The Martyrology of Tallagh^* enters ^nghus Eps. h. Aibleni, at the present day. Marianus O'Gorman, and the Martyrology of Donegal concur, in this arrangement. ^5 St. ^ngus has his feast at the nth of March, according to Rev. Alban Butler,^^ the " Circle of the Seasons," ^i and Rev. S. Baring-Gould. '^^ However, there are very good
grounds for supposing, that the festival of Aengus Mac Oengobann oj O'Oiblen was on the i8th of February, in the opinion of Professor Eugene
earth the stone steps, that rested at the foot of the once altar, on which the holy ancho- ret offered the Sacrifice of the Mass. The field in which this discovery was made is
" When ^ngus was in the narrow cell con-
fined.
By permission of the Son of God at Tamh-
lachta, (Tallaght,)
It was not a condition meet for devotion, To be in the kiln "
Then follow other stanzas, relating to his
ipanner of life, at Tallagh.
" The poem conclude—s with this stanza, as
n—ear to the dwelling of Mr. James Lawler.
''
A religious city, by crosses enclosed. In which resided Mac Oiblen, Aengus.
Aengus of the host of Heaven,
Here is his Leacht, (monument,) and
death-bed. Itwasfromthisplaceheascended Upon the Friday up into Heaven.
to a wonderful measure. Style is the most
striking quality of their poetry ; Celtic
poetry seems to make up to itself for being
unable to master the world and give an
adequate interpretation of it, by throwing all its force into style, by bending language at any rate to its will, and expressing the ideas
it has with unsurpassable intensity, eleva- tion, and effect. "
="* Edited by Rev. Dr. Kelly, p. xviii.
O'Byme's History
constantly drying.
County," chap, xxi. , p. 57. "
of
" the
'9 See his Catalogue of Irish Manu- scripts of the Royal Irish Academy," First Series, vol. ii. , pp. 624 to 626.
'° If we are to rely on this poem, as refer-
ring to an early date ; we may possibly glean
some facts of our saint's — from the biography,
translated by O'Curry
writer's account. It runs thus
:
" Delightful to sit here, himself, (or by himself),
By the side of the cold, clear Nore, Although populous, it was not the path of
plunder,
In sacred Disert Bethech.
" Disert Bethech where dwelt the man, Whom legions of Angels visited,
over verses.
The Sun of the Western World,
" It was at Cluain Eidnech he was reared, At Cluain Eidnech he was interred.
At Cluain Eidnech of He first read, his Psalms.
=^ See "Lives of the vol. Saints,"
March xL, pp. 217, 218.
many crosses,
iii. ,
" Queen's
" From this
:
is a man who place departed
presided
The place where he took his disease of
the head,
The place which is said to be delightful.
=- "The Cornhill of 1866. Magazine,"
^3 He
says :
" The Celts
certainly
'' ActaSanctorumHiber-
n.
^* See " Lives of the Fathers, Martyrs and
other principal Saints," vol. iii. , March xi. '^ See p. 71.
^5See
Colgan's
nise,"
Martii
xi. ,
15, p. 583.
"
have it
March ii. ] LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. 317 0'Curry. =9 TheO'Clerysseemtoconjecture,inlikemanner,andbecause,
"
also, there is no notice of an ^ngus, in the
there is notice of some different Aengus, in it, at the present day. Professor
Feilire," at that date, whereas O'Curry thinks, that Colgan and those who follow him are deceived, in
making the nth of March the festival for St. ^ngus the Culdee. It
— —is,
in- deed very certain as a distinguished Irish Scholar3° well observes that St. Aengus Ceile De cannot be set down, for an ignorant nor a superstitious
monk ; but, on the contrary, he must ever be regarded as a gifted writer, deeply read in the Holy Scriptures, and in the civil and ecclesiastical history of the world. He was especially versed in that historic lore, contained in
what he calls
" The Host of the Books of Erinn. "
Taking
pean country which possesses so earlyandsoauthenticanational document, and onehavingacharactersoimportant. AgreatnumberoftheprimitiveChristian inhabitants and strangers, in our island, have been introduced by name, into this valuable treatise. Their festival days, with copious references to the early denominations and exact situations of our old churches and monas- teries, severally founded by many of them, are accurately given ; and, already, by means of this tract, if not all, at least nearly all, of these foundations may be or have been identified, by competent archaeologists.
His other writings are hardly less valuable, for their historic, national, and religious interest.
The truly learned are ever truly humble. But, to raise this latter qualifi- cation to the degree of heroic virtue, requires the special intervention of the Spirit of wisdom. Towards our saint, God's choicest graces appear to have been vouchsafed. From his early years, he was gifted with a docile mind, an
ardent love of true perfection, humility of disposition, an understanding capable of comprehending a wide circle of science, human and divine, with an imagination, fervid, brilliant, chaste, and correct, as ever gifted a poet. Our Church and country have received no inconsiderable services, from the literary labours and learning of this saint, while his life had been beautifully and edifyingly consistent with his 'teaching and acquirements. Some men possess dazzling qualities and acquire renown, in this world, while their minds and dispositions are cold, vitiated, and corrupt ; they may shine among their fellow-mortals, as the skin of the venomous snake or crawling reptile appears radiant with variegated colours, under the rays of a bright sun. On the contrary, in solitude and retirement, wishing to avoid the applause or re- wards of the world, under a rude garb and exterior, our saint, like the glow- worm, luminous even through the darkness of night, has diffused a steady and an undiminished light, over the obscurity of our scattered ecclesiastical re- cords and traditions, in his own time and for preceding ages. He has like- wise transmitted to us some of the most venerable remains of our ancient and holy Uterature, so long and so providentially preserved in Ireland, and in more distant countries. Let us hope, that under the careful editorship of a competent Irish scholar, these fragments will be gathered, ere they perish, that they will be committed to type, published, and thus rendered accessible, to the generality of readers. While such documents serve to excite and sustain our rehgious feelings, they also fan the spirit of patriotism, and serve to extend still more the real fame of our beloved country. The holy Aengus Ceild De laboured wisely and well in his generation. He has left to this day,
enthusiastically,
the Festilogy of St. ^ngus as a purely historic tract, largely interwoven with the early civil and ecclesiastical history of Ireland, there is probably no Euro-
'^ In his " of Irish Catalogue
3° See Professor
"Lectures on the Manuscript Materials of Ancient Irish History," lect. xvii,, p. 370.
Manuscripts of the Royal Irish Academy," First Series,
Eugene O'Curry's
vol. ii,, p. 623.
3i8 LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. [March ii.
and to all succeeding generations, the heritage of his zeal, his learning, his genius, his virtues, and his noble example.
Article II. —St. Constantine, King and Martyr, in Scotland, AND A Monk at Rahen, King's County. \^Sixth Century. '] Among the saints of Ireland and of Scotland, Constantine deserves to be numbered. No ancient or reliable memoir of this royal penitent has been handed down tous; yet,weareenabled,fromthemanyscatterednoticesofhim,foundin Irish, Welsh, and Scottish Hagiologies, to construct the following brief out- line of his life. In our country, he studied as a sedulous disciple, while he
to have laboured in as a strenuous — and as a true appears Scotland, teacher,
promoter of piety. T—he illustrious subject of this memoir so far as we can discriminate his Acts despising the fleeting vanities of this life, abandoned his golden crown on this tearful earth, to become an humble disciple of the heavenly king. ^ Moreover, he desired to become an ambassador of glorious tidings to a barbarous people, where his true crown was obtained. The Acts of this royal penitent and martyr have been published by Colgan^ and by the Bollandists. 3 Those accounts are not critically reconcilable with chronology, and they have been extracted from various authors. Other Avriters have treated about him, such as Bishop Challenor,'^ Rev. Alban Butler,5 Rev. S. Baring-Gould,^ and Bishop Forbes. 7 He is noticed, in the " Annals of the Cis- tercian Monks. " ^ A Life of St. Constantine has been Rev.
given, by
" Chronicles of Cornish Saints. " '° Much confusion has crept into his Acts, because he has sometimes been confounded, with another King Constantine III. of the Scots, who has been numbered among the saints, and who, leaving his royalty," entered among the Culdees of St. Andrew's," in the tenth century. Again the Martyrology of Tallagh'3 states, at this day, that either a Constantine, the Briton, Welsh or Cornish, or a Constantine, son of Fergus, '•• who was of the Picts, had been venerated. '5 The former, however, was the royal monk at Rathain, now Rahan, King's County, who flourished, a. d. 588,'^ and whose feast is properly commemo-
Adams,9
in his
series,
rated, at the nth of March. The Martyrology of Donegal'? confuses the times and parentage of two Constantines ; for, at this date, we find inserted, by the later hand, and within brackets, Constaintin, royal-monk at Rathain, with Mochuda,'^ son of Fergus. The Rev. Dr. Lanigan supposes,'9 that the
—'" '°
Article ii. See Proceedings of the No. iii. It has been reprinted from
Society of Antiquaries of Scotland," vol. ii. "Journal of the Royal Institution of Corn- Martyrology for the use of the Church of wall, 1869. " No. x. Read at the Spring
Aberdeen, from a MS. of the sixteenth cen- tury, communicated by David Laing, Esq. , F. S. A. , Scotland, p. 262.
'See "Acta Sanctorum Hibemiae," xi. Martii. De S. Constantino Rege, Monacho
Meeting, May 22, 1868.
"
A. D. 943.
"See Bishop Challoner's "Britannia
Sancta," p. 170.
'3 Edited by Rev. Dr. Kelly, p. xviii.
''• He died, A. D. 820, according to a
computation found in the Annals of Tigher- nach and of Ulster.
'= In Irish : ConfCAncin "bpico, no niAc tTepgufA t)o C|\uicneeAib.
et
pp. 577 to 579.
3 See "Acta Sanctorum," tomus ii. ,
Martyre,
Martii xi. De S. Constantino Rege Mo- nacho et Martyre in Scotia, pp. 64, 65.
* See "Britannia Sancta," part i. , pp.
169, 170. sSee"LivesoftheFathers,Martyrsand
other principal Saints," vol. iii. , March xi.
"
'*
See Rev. Dr. Reeves' Adamnan's LifeofSt. Columba. " AdditionalNotes
^" '? See Lives of the Saints," vol. iii. ,
March xi. , pp. 214, 215.
See Rev. Drs. Todd's and Reeves' edition, pp. 74, 75.
" Kalendars of Scottish
to
311 314.
'* See his at the Life,
of
^
See
Saints," pp.
14th
May.
* At the nth of March, p. 332. 9 Vicar of Stockcross, Berks.
land," vol. ii. , chapxi,, sect, xiv. , n. 161, p. 166.
(O), p. 371.
^' See "Ecclesiastical
History
of Ire-
John
March ii. ] LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. 319
account of this ex king and martyr is but a garbled alteration of the history of a British King, Constantine, of the fifth century, and who is incorrectly
styledScottish,byBuchanan,^"andbyotherScotchwriters. He,however,was killed,notthroughreligioushatred,butforaverydifferentcause. Nordoes the present holy king appear to have lived under St. Mochuda, at Rahen. There is an Irish Poem, by Rumann Mac Colman, which enables us to identify the Constantine, King and Martyr, who is entered in the Carthusian Auctarium, to the great work of Usuard,^' and to whom several important Scottishchurcheshavebeendedicated. Thelegendiswildandstrange,and not without some confusion, as to date. ^^ From a careful examination of what Rumann Mac Colman states,^3 it is evident, that Constantine, the British King, settled at Rahen, long before the time of St. Mochuda.
According to Bishop Forbes, there seem to have been two distinct saints, bearing this name : one was King of the Britons, who resigned his crown and came to Scotland, where he converted Kintyre, and who died, a. d. 588 ; while another was Constantine, son of Fergus, of the Picts, who succeeded Mochuda, at Rathin, somewhat later than the year 630. ^'* Born about the beginning of the sixth century, our Constantine was the son of Cador, Duke of Cornwall,^5 according to one account. ^^ The Breviary of Aberdeen^^ calls him, the son of Paternus, King of Cornubia, and it states, that he married the daughter of the King of Lesser Britannia. He is said, by some writers, to have ruled over the Britons, and by others, it is related, that he was King over the Picts. The former account accords best with historic truth. He
was a nephew of the renowned King Arthm", and during his early life, he was a soldier, remarkable, too, for his fiery valour. He has been classed among those famous Knights of the Round Table. ^^ At all events, he figures promi- nently in ancient British history. ^9 When his valiant uncle had obtained a glorious victory, and yet had received his death wound, on the field of Cam- Ian, A. D, 542,3° Arthur is said to have nominated Constantine as his successor ; and, the British forces continued for several years afterwards, to fight under his banner, against the Saxon inva'ders. Nevertheless, if we may credit the fierce invective against him which Gildas wrote, his early life was stained with
gross iniquity. Some writers tell us that, to secure his supremacy, he cruelly murdered the two sons of Mordred, King of the Britons, and who, from their
father's position and their relationship to King Arthur, might, he feared, lay claim to the throne. 3^ Other writers, however, intimate, that those young
"^ See " Rerum Scoticarum Historia," lib.
""^At'die uth'ofMaSi,'^''In Scotia S. Constantiniregisetmartyris. "
-See Bishop Forbes' -Kalendars of Scottish Saints," pp. 311, 312.
*3 See Dr. Petrie's " Ecclesiastical Archi-
^9 As one of '"^
""'
lecture of
subsect. 2, pp. 353 to 356.
3° gge Matthew of "
'*
That of the Rev, John Adams.
Quhen he saw the greit calamitie
And seruitude tha Britis war in brocht, He traistit weill the greit falsheid tha
wrocht
In the defrauding of the King Modreid,
Quhilk richteous was till Uter to succeid j
Into his mynd thairfoir he dred so soir, That was tlie caus that tha war puneist foir, Within himself richt havelie he buir,
Ireland," &c. , part ii. ,
sect,
iii. ,
Westminster, "Floras Historiarmn, a. d, dxlii. , p. 192.
=* See Bishop Forbes' " Kalendars of the ScottishSaints,"p,312.
3i The " Bulk of the Chronicles of Scot* "
=s See Matthew of Historiarum," A. D. dxlii. , p, 192,
' ' Flores
=7 See Pars Hyemalis, fol. Ixvii,
"* " In Harding's
are told, that
Metrical Chronicle," we
"
Duke Cador's sone of Cornwall bounteous Afore had been one of the table rounde In Arthure's time,"
Westminster,
"
land says:—
fellowship of famous
Kni^h^s^^'"'^
-. tt, "r. v
Whereof the world holds record. "
"
See John Speed's
taine," book vii. , chap. 12, pp. 335, 336.
uv u
, »,
Historie of Great Bri-
320 LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. [March ii.
men stirred up rebellion against him, making common cause with the Saxon foe,32 and thus bringing down just retribution upon themselves. 33 However, thosewhohadrebelledagainsthimweresubdued. Oneofhisopponents fled to the Church of St. Amphibalus, at Winchester, where he thought to take sanctuary. Notwithstanding, he was murdered by Constantine himself, before the altar. His other adversary became a refugee in London. Yet, he too was taken prisoner, in a monastery, and put to a cruel death. 34 These sacrilegious and wicked proceedings caused Gildas^s to pen that celebrated Epistle, in which he so vehemently inveighs against the king. Constantine is called, in it, the tyrannical whelp of the unclean lioness of Damnonia ; while, he is also accused of being a murderer, a perjurer and an adulterer. This was written in or soon after a. d. 543. Constantine, King of Cornwall, became the chief sovereign of the league, formed by the lesser British Kings, after the death of King Arthur. 3^ We may fairly infer, that in consequence of Gildas' invective, Constantine was filled with remorse, and reflecting on hispreviouswickedness,heresolvedtobecomeatruepenitent. Theperiod assigned for this change of heart is referred to a. d. 588. 37 According to the Breviary of Aberdeen, the untimely death of his wife,32 daughter to the King of lesser Britain, caused Constantine to abandon his kingdom and to resolve on leading a religious life. 39 Both causes probably combined to induce him to leave his country and friends. So completely did he sever himself from the world, that he was supposed by some to have been killed in battle. '*" Somewritersaffirm,thathewasmurderedbyConan,hissuccessor.
