Eusebius
ha* stated among
stantly chosen from among the Irish.
stantly chosen from among the Irish.
O'Hanlon - Lives of the Irish Saints - v8
This appears to be sufficiently established, from the recorded circumstance of his having belonged to the Irish monastic establish- ment in Iona ; from the fact of his using Irish as his vernacular speech, even on his missions.
As being an Irish saint, the Martyrologies of Tallagh, Cashel, and Donegal, the Annals of Roscrea, his Life, as written by Edward Mahew, and nearly all other mediaeval documents, sufficiently attest.
It is also clearly to be inferred, from the narrative of Venerable Bede.
The learned William Camden makes St.
Aidan a native of Ireland.
That Ireland had been the country of St, Aidan's nativity is likewise confirmed by the Life of St.
Oswald,40 at the 5th of August.
41 If we were inclined to accept the statement of the Scholiast on the "Feilire" of St.
^Engus,the present Aedan was son of Lugar, son to Ernin, son of Cael, son to Aed, son of Art- chorp son of Niacorp.
42 However, this pedigree is short in two of the lineal degrees, from another somewhat similar.
43 That he sprung from the race of Eochaidh Finn Fuath nairt, from whom Brighit descends, has been stated bytheO'Clerys.
44 Ontheauthorityofthe "SanctilogiumGenealogicum,"4*
25 See Harris' Ware, vol. ii. , "Writers of 36 See "Compendium of Irish History,"
Ireland," Book i. , chap, iv. , pp. 30 to 32. p. 3. 26" 37
See Britannia Sancta," part ii. ,' pp. 103 to 108. Also, in a "Memorial of British
Piety," by the same writer, pp. 122, 123.
27 In"LivesoftheFathers,Martyrs,and
other principal Saints," we find set down, St. Aidan, Bishop of Lindisfarne, in vol. viii. ,
28
See ** Catalogue Actuum Sanctorum quae Ms. habentur, ordine Mensium et Dierum. "
38SuchasAdamKing,ThomasDempster, &c.
39 Thus in Michaud, a writer states un.
at the August
"Aidan neau7e eveque Anglais,
31st.
See Ecclesiastical History of Ireland,"
warrantably
siecle, dans une —des iles Hebrides, a l'ouest de
vol. ii. , chap, xv. , sect, xii. , xiii. , xiv. , pp. 416 to 427.
29 See "History of Latin Christianity," vol. ii. , book iv. , chap, iii. , pp. 241, 242.
30 See " Kalendars of Scottish Saints," p.
269.
31 See "Biographical Sketches of Ancient
IrishSaints,"sect,vi. ,pp. 91to103.
32 See "Les Moines d'Occident," tome
iv. , liv. xiii. , chap, i. , ii.
"
PEccosse," &c. Biographie Universelle,
ancienne et moderne," tome i. , p. 263.
4° See Colgan's "Acta Sanctorum
Hiberniae," ix. Januarii, Appendix, cap. ii. , pp. 46, 47.
4I See an account of him, at the same date, in the present volume, Art. ii.
42 See"TransactionsoftheRoyalIrish
Academy," Irish Manuscript Series, vol. i. ,
33 See "
part, i. ; Whitley
On the Calendar of Oengus, by
Universelle, ancienne et moderne," tome i. , pp. 263, 264.
Stokes, LL. D. , It is given in Bishop
cxxxv.
Forbes' Kalen-
Biographie
p.
"
34 See "Lives of the Saints," vol. viii. , August xxxi. , pp. 391 to 399.
43
dars of Scottish Saints," p. 269.
35 See " Vies des tome Saints," x. ,
jour d'Aout, pp. 347, 348.
44 See the 233, 261.
Martyrology of Donegal,'
xxxie
. ,
"
edited by Rev. Drs. Todd and Reeves, pp,
454
LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. [August 31.
Colgan thus draws a line of ancestry :«6 St. Aidanus Alius Lugarii, filii Ernini, filii Coelii, f. Aidi, f. Sanii, filii Arturi Coirb, f. Carbrei Niadh, f. Cor- maci, f. ^ngussii Menn, f. Eochadii Finn, f. Fethlemidii Reachtmar Hiberniae
Regis. Although it has been assumed, that such a genealogy refers to the
present St. Aidan ; yet, Colgan only conjecturally assigns it to a St. Aidan,
venerated on the 27th of this month,*? or to another so named whose feast
occurs on the of 8 St. Aidan has been called the son of 4th September. * Again,
Liber,*9andin realitythere was a religious of good dispositions so named in the monastery of Iona, apparently not long after St. Columba50 had settled there, a. d. ,563. Yet,itisnotatalllikely,thatAidan,*1 whowasthenanadult,could have undertaken the active duties of a missionary sixty or seventy years after- wards. Having laid it down, that Aedan was a native of Ireland, Maihew thought that he was the Aidan,52 son of Libir, who was a monk of Hy, in
Columkille's time, and a religious man of good disposition. Colgan53 was inclined to be of the same opinion, for which however, there is no foundation, except the mere name of Aedan, which was exceedingly common in Ireland. Moreover, it is hard to believe, that a person, who was a monk, and for aught we know, several years before the death of Columkille, would have been able in 635 to undertake the arduous mission of Northumberland. 54 The matter of Aidan being an Irishman by birth is further confirmed, from the circumstance, that the great majority of the Iona monks, with whom he lived, were Irish- men. The Annals of Iona, as they have been preserved for us with great minuteness of detail,55 and especially in the entry of names of persons, furnish conclusive evidence of that fact. He was a bishop at Inis Cathaigh,56
according to the O'Clerys ; but, they do not furnish us witli any authority for such a statement, or better than what has been set down by the unknown and unreliable commentator on the " Feilire " of yEngus, and a reference to Marianus O'Gorman, by Colgan, who mentions St. Aidan, Bishop of Inis- Cathuigh, whose period is not denned, but whose feast has been set down at the 31st of August,5? which coincides with that of St. Aidan, Bishop of Lindisfarne.
;
We learn little more, with certainty, regarding the early part of our saint's life, than the fact, that he was a monk, in the monastery of Iona. 58 He is ranked St. Columba's 59 this can be understood in
among disciples
but, only
the sense, that he belonged to the religious institute of that celebrated
45 Cap. xiv. may be sure that, if Aidan, son of Liber, 46 See "Trias Thaumaturga," Appendix were the same as the bishop, Adamnan
Quarta ad Acta S. Brigidae, cap. 3, p. 613. 47 See the notices already given at that
date, in the present volume, Art. iii.
48 See the Ninth Volume of this work, for
cap. x. , p. 487.
s° See his Life at the 9th of June, in the
Sixth Volume of this work, Art. i.
—would not have omitted this circumstance. "
Dr. Lanigan's "Ecclesiastical History of
Ireland," vol. ii. , chap, xv. , sect, xii. , n. 102.
5S See especially Rev. Dr. Reeves' edition 49 See Colgan's "Trias Thaumaturga," of Adamnan's "Life of St. Columba. " Appendix Quarta ad Acta S. Columbae, Additional Notes, O, Chronicon Hyense,
Aedhan Amlonn, at that date.
s' Neitherisit to necessary consider,
pp. 369 to 413.
s6 Now Scattery Island, in the mouth of
the River Shannon.
S7See "ActaSanctorumHiber- Colgan's
nise," Martii viii. , Appendix ad Vitam S. Senani, cap. iv. , p. 542, rede 538.
s« See Venerable Bede's " Historia Eccle- siastica Gentis Anglorum," lib. iii. , cap. v. , pp. 274, 275.
that among the twenty-seven Aidans inscribed on the Irish Calendars, he had been one of the
number.
53 He is mentioned in Rev. Dr. Reeves'
Adamnan's Vita S. Columbae, lib. iii. , cap. vi. , p. 203, and n. (b), ibid.
59 See Colgan's "Trias Thaumaturga," 53 See " Trias Thaumaturga," Quarta Appendix Quarta ad Acta S. Columbce,
Vita S. Columbae, n. 10, p. 386.
54 On this " subject, Dr. Lanigan adds,
We
cap. x. , p. 487.
*°
Hence we find the names and deaths of
"
Trias Thaumaturga," p. 498, et seq.
61
August 31. ] LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. 455
founder, who, perhaps, had died some years before Aidan was born. It is well known, that the great majority of the Iona monks in those days were from Ireland, and that the abbots and other superiors of that monastery, at least for five or six centuries after the death of St. Columkille, were con-
60
Seghine, government
munity lasted from a. d. 623 to 652. He thus survived his distinguished
disciple one year. In due course of time, Aedan undoubtedly, although not an abbot, was regarded as one of the superiors in the monastery of Hy. This appears, from his having had a place in the council among the elders.
According to the accounts of some of the most ancient and respectable Church Historians, Christianity had been introduced into Britain, during the
some themselves.
Eusebius ha* stated among
stantly chosen from among the Irish.
lived for a considerable time in Iona Island, where many of his countrymen were monks, since the time of its foundation. It is certain he was under the rule of the Abbot 61 whose term of over that com-
time of the 62 and Apostles,
by
this as a narrative, which he may have received from the Emperor Constan-
tine63 himself, a part of whose life was spent as Roman Governor in Britain. 6* That the Emperor Tiberias6^ tolerated and even protected the Christians is
66
and, in consequence, Christianity began to spread rapidly and widely in all the Roman Provinces. 6? . Among other
68
people, it is asserted, that the Britons early obtained the gift of Divine
Faith. 60 There appear, also, to be some grounds for believing, that St.
Paul,? after he had visited Spain, brought salvation to the Islands? 1 that lie
2
in the Ocean,? and among these are supposed to be included the. British
related by ancient historians ;
Islands. 73
the abbots and other distinguished men of
Hy as regularly marked in the Irish Annals, as those of the members of any religious
Marco, the Pretorian prefect, caused him to
be suffocated with pillows, A. D. 37, in the
seventy-eighth year of his age. See the
establishment existing in Ireland.
Popular Encyclopedia, or Conversations
See notices of him, a—t the 12th of
62 "
August— the day for his feast in the present
Volume, Art. iv.
Such is the statement of Eusebius, Bishop of Cesarea, who flourished in the third and fourth centuries, and who wrote in Greek, besides his valuable Ecclesiastical History, the well-known work, Ei}<x77e\t/C77 Airddetgis, Latinized " Demonstratio Evan- gelica. " In it, he states, that besides evan- gelizing other countries which he names, in Asia and Europe, that some of the Apostles passed over the Ocean and visited the British Islands. See lib. iii. , cap. vii. ,p. 113. Nor can we believe that such a judicious and learned Church Historian could be deceived in his information; since, from the first cen- tury of the Christian era, the affairs of Britain were noticed by the Roman writers, and traditions regarding them were placed upon record both by Pagans and Christians.
63 Known as Constantine the Great, first
in his Historia Britonum. "
67 See Eusebius, "Historia Ecclesiastica,"
lib. ii. , cap. iii.
68
See what has been already written about the origin of these people in the Third Volume of this work, at the 17th day of March, Art i. The Life of St. Patrick, Apostle and Chief Patron of Ireland, chap. ii.
69 This is stated by Arnobius, in his Commentaries on the Psalms, 147, and by Theodoret.
70 The chief feast for St. Paul is on the 29thofJune. Hesufferedmartyjrdomunder the Emperor Nero, a. d. 63.
71 However,Dr. WilliamCavecautiously observes, "n—onnulla forsan Occidentis loca
"
peragravit. " Scriptorum Ecclesiasticorum
Historia Literaria," vol. i. , p. 12.
72 In his Commentaries on the Psalms, by
Theodoret, of who lived in Bishop Cyrrhus,
Christian Emperor of Rome.
64 See
Britannicse, or, the Antiquities of the British Churches," chap, i. , pp. 36, 37.
65 Claudius Nero Tiberias, the third Roman Emperor, was born before Christ 42, and, on the death of Augustus, a. d. 14, he suc- ceeded. Having reigned thirty-eight years,
Bishop Stillingfleet's
"
Origines
See
"
Lexicon," vol. vi. , pp. 611, 612.
It is very probable, also, that Aidan
66
treating the events of his reign. Also Ter- tullian, in "Apologia," cap. v. , and Gildas
See the Chronicle of Eusebius, when
the fourth and fifth centuries, this is stated, in the collected edition of his works by Pere Sirmond and Gamier, and in
J. published five folio volumes at Paris, from 1642 to
1684. See tomus i. , In Psalmos, 116, p. 870.
456
LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. [August 31. Several modern writers, with the aid of legends, traditions and conjectures,
6
have discovered, that St. Peter,74 Prince of the Apostles,75 St. Paul,? 8
Apostle of the Nations, St. Simon Zelotes,77 and St. James,? the son of
Zebedee, severally preached in Britain. 79 After their departure, the pious undertaking is said to have been continued, owing to the labours of
£o and
ofArimathea. 81
the adduced testimony
However,
to support these statements is altogether unreliable. 82 The early British
8 8* ecclesiastical writer, St. Gildas, 3 is silent on the subject, in those treatises
he wrote referring to the ancient state of Britain.
73 Bishop Stillingfleet presents very cogent "Liber de Patribus Utiiusque Testa-
Aristobulus,
Joseph
reasons for advancing such a proposition ;
by citing several ancient authorities in proof,
and by showing, that the circumstances of
his life permitted St. Paul to have visited
Britain, that there was encouragement and invitation enough for him to go there, and,
owing to the circumstances of the other
Apostles, he was the most likely of all to
have been in Britain. The argument is an ingenious one as drawn from probabilities. names.
"
Rediens
Apostolis diversa Cosmi climata adeuntibus, nutu Dei Jacobus Hibernice oris appulsus, Verbum Dei prajdicavit intrepidus, ubi septem discipulos elegisse fertur : scilicet, Torquatum, Secundum, Indalecium, Tisephontem, Eufrasium, Ceci- ject, Baronius quotes in his Annales lium, Isichium, quorum collogio lolium Ecclesiastici," at a. d. 58. He states, that, extirparet, ac telluri aridoe et diu sterili
See "Antiquities of the British Churches," chap, i. , pp. 37 to 48.
74 According to the comments on St. Peter
and Paul, at the 29th of June, Metaphrastes, who is rather a poor authority on the sub-
"
about this period St. Peter was employed in
the West, and the particularly among
semina verbi Dei committeret. Cumque
dies — immineret, supremus, Hierosolymam
'
cum eis
Vincentius Bellovacensis, "Speculum Histo- riale," lib. viii. , cap. vii.
Britons. See tomus i. , num "
subiit.
li.
s His chief feast is on the 29th June, the
perrexit, ibique Martyrium
date for his Martyrdom.
7« St. states, that St. Although Jerome
Paul preached the Gospel in the Western
parts, no sufficient evidence remains to prove
positively that he visited Britain. See "
Catalogus Scriptorum Ecclesiasticorum," written about A. D. 392. However,Venantius
Fortunatus, when treating of St. Paul, in
79 See on this Ussher's subject Archbishop
" lines :—
80
In the Greek Menologies, his feast is placed at the 15th of March, and he is said to have been one of the seventy disciples. He followed St. Paul as an assistant, and by him was ordained Bishop, as is stated, to
bring the Gospel among the Britons.
81
The disciple of our Divine Savour, and whose festival is held on the 17th of March. According to the traditions of the Church at Glastonbury, he came into Britain, A. D. 63, andtherepreachedtheGospel. According to many unreliable legends, he founded the church and monastery of Glastonbury. See the citations in Archbishop Ussher's " Britannicarum Ecclesiarum Antiquitates," cap. ii. , pp. 7 to 17.
his
Vita S. Martini," lib. iii. , has these
M
77
Transit et Oceanum, vel qua facit Insula Portum,
Quasque Britannus habet terras, quasqueultimaThule. "
According to Nicephorus Callistus, he brought the Gospel doctrine to the Western Ocean and to the Britannic Islands. See
ria Ecclesiastic*," lib. ii. , cap. xi.
in some of the Greek
t is set down at the 10th of May ; yet,
the Martyrologies of Bede, Ado and Usuard
relate, that he suffered Martyrdom in Persia,
on the 28th of October. It is also the date for
his feast in the Roman Martyrology and writings, Art i. Life of St. Gildas Badonicus, Breviary.
Although
Menologies,
82 " Anti- See Rev. Dr. John Lingard's
I Si chief feast is on the 25th of July.
84 The chief of these is known as the "
Historia Britonum," various editions of which have been published. Other works have been attributed to him, and among
Isidorus states that this
the Gospel to the people of Spain and in
Apostle preached
other Western places, and brought its li^ht
to the extreme Western World. See these are his treatise, "De Excidio Bry-,
menti," cap. lxii. A Pseudo-Chronicle, at- tributed to Flavins Lucius Dexter, treating
about St. James at a. d. 41, has it :
Jacobus Gallias invisit, ac Britannias, ac
Venetiarum oppida, u? >i prsedicat ; ac Hie-
rosolymanrevertitur,"etc. St. Jamesiseven
brought to Ireland, by another writer, who
asserts, that he selected seven disciples—
these notwithstanding do not bear Irish
"
" Britannicarum Ecclesiarum Antiquitates," cap. i. , pp. I to 6.
quities of the Anglo-Saxon Church," chap. i. pp. 1, 2.
8i See the First Volume of this Work, at January 29, for an account of him and his
or St. Gildas the Wise.
August 31. ] LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. 457
Such accounts seem to have been unknown, as they are not related by
Venerable Bede, the father of English Ecclesiastical History, who even treats
8
of Britain's condition under the Early Roman Emperors. * But, he tells us,
86
together
religious request. ^ Then the Britons were converted through the ministry of Fugatius and Damianus, who were most successful in bringing them under the mild yoke of the Gospel. Hence these missionaries have been regarded as the Apostles of Britain. The people of that province are said to have preserved the Faith, which they had received, entire and uncorrupted, as also they practised religion in peace and tranquillity, until the time of the
1
Emperor Diocletian,9° who began his reign, a. d. 284. 9
That the Christian doctrine was publicly professed in Britain before the
close of the second century is clear, from the testimony of Tertullian92 and of Origen. 93 That conquered and half-civilized country, like the rest of the Roman Empire, gradually received the Christian religion during the second and third centuries. 94 Even then it had spread in the ranks of the Roman legions. Nor is there any good reason for doubting the general assertion of British writers, that Lucius was the person to whom the people owed such advantage. 95 He wrote, it is stated, to Elutherius, a holy Pontiff, who then presided over the Church, entreating that through the Pope's command he
whilst Eleutherus or Elutherius8? a holy man, presided over the Roman Church, and while Marcus Anonius Verus, the fourteenth from Augustus, was made Emperor, with his brother, Aurelius Commodus 88 of the
that in the the year of our Lord's Incarnation, 156,
; Lucius, King Britons, wrote to Elutherius a request, that through his command, he might become a Christian. Soon afterwards, the King obtained the object of his
mightbecomeaChristian andheobtainedthe
; object
ofhis
6
Although the old British traditions have accounts of King Lucius, who must
have been subject to the Romans, yet various conjectures have been proposed
regarding the part of Britain in which he reigned. 97 The Welsh Triads
tannise, lib. i. , commencing with "Inhac
Lucifero prselucidior : nam lucct
in ejus
Tempore vera fides, errorum nube
fugata. "
g9 The hist of Ki Luci and the
earl> ecclesiastical affair? of Britain about his lod have been investigated in a most
lear£ed ma by Archbishop Ussher, in „ Britannicarum Ecclesiarum AutiqHuitates,"
cap> m<} iv>> v#j vij pp> IJr tQ
9° See "Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis
"" Epistola quicquid;
In sui Temporis
. clerum," lib. i. , commencing with " Bry-
" tannia habet sacerdotes
"Condones Mordentes," lib. i. , commencing with "Esaias propheta dicit, uaeuob;/ "His- oriam quandam lib. i. , commencing with "Alboinus Longobardorum rex ab ; "De Immortahtate Amm* lib. i. Also, some other writings are said to have been pro-
;
cap. 11 111. , pp. 36 to 41.
Pope St. Pius I. was Sovereign Pontiff that year, having sat in the chair of St. Peter
7 Cf
Regalt.
£y
c „-T'- tt gee
• r
5
rum hb.
1
4- a
1
» lib
•
Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis Anglo-
1^
Popular Encyclopaedia,
fr 4
TJ^A ^
i
St. Elutherius only began his term of presi-
dencyA. D. WandhediedAD. 192 See
% 93 In HomiHa vi> in Lucam> Also ill
vi>> in Ezechchial.
25 See Harris' Ware, vol. ii. , "Writers of 36 See "Compendium of Irish History,"
Ireland," Book i. , chap, iv. , pp. 30 to 32. p. 3. 26" 37
See Britannia Sancta," part ii. ,' pp. 103 to 108. Also, in a "Memorial of British
Piety," by the same writer, pp. 122, 123.
27 In"LivesoftheFathers,Martyrs,and
other principal Saints," we find set down, St. Aidan, Bishop of Lindisfarne, in vol. viii. ,
28
See ** Catalogue Actuum Sanctorum quae Ms. habentur, ordine Mensium et Dierum. "
38SuchasAdamKing,ThomasDempster, &c.
39 Thus in Michaud, a writer states un.
at the August
"Aidan neau7e eveque Anglais,
31st.
See Ecclesiastical History of Ireland,"
warrantably
siecle, dans une —des iles Hebrides, a l'ouest de
vol. ii. , chap, xv. , sect, xii. , xiii. , xiv. , pp. 416 to 427.
29 See "History of Latin Christianity," vol. ii. , book iv. , chap, iii. , pp. 241, 242.
30 See " Kalendars of Scottish Saints," p.
269.
31 See "Biographical Sketches of Ancient
IrishSaints,"sect,vi. ,pp. 91to103.
32 See "Les Moines d'Occident," tome
iv. , liv. xiii. , chap, i. , ii.
"
PEccosse," &c. Biographie Universelle,
ancienne et moderne," tome i. , p. 263.
4° See Colgan's "Acta Sanctorum
Hiberniae," ix. Januarii, Appendix, cap. ii. , pp. 46, 47.
4I See an account of him, at the same date, in the present volume, Art. ii.
42 See"TransactionsoftheRoyalIrish
Academy," Irish Manuscript Series, vol. i. ,
33 See "
part, i. ; Whitley
On the Calendar of Oengus, by
Universelle, ancienne et moderne," tome i. , pp. 263, 264.
Stokes, LL. D. , It is given in Bishop
cxxxv.
Forbes' Kalen-
Biographie
p.
"
34 See "Lives of the Saints," vol. viii. , August xxxi. , pp. 391 to 399.
43
dars of Scottish Saints," p. 269.
35 See " Vies des tome Saints," x. ,
jour d'Aout, pp. 347, 348.
44 See the 233, 261.
Martyrology of Donegal,'
xxxie
. ,
"
edited by Rev. Drs. Todd and Reeves, pp,
454
LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. [August 31.
Colgan thus draws a line of ancestry :«6 St. Aidanus Alius Lugarii, filii Ernini, filii Coelii, f. Aidi, f. Sanii, filii Arturi Coirb, f. Carbrei Niadh, f. Cor- maci, f. ^ngussii Menn, f. Eochadii Finn, f. Fethlemidii Reachtmar Hiberniae
Regis. Although it has been assumed, that such a genealogy refers to the
present St. Aidan ; yet, Colgan only conjecturally assigns it to a St. Aidan,
venerated on the 27th of this month,*? or to another so named whose feast
occurs on the of 8 St. Aidan has been called the son of 4th September. * Again,
Liber,*9andin realitythere was a religious of good dispositions so named in the monastery of Iona, apparently not long after St. Columba50 had settled there, a. d. ,563. Yet,itisnotatalllikely,thatAidan,*1 whowasthenanadult,could have undertaken the active duties of a missionary sixty or seventy years after- wards. Having laid it down, that Aedan was a native of Ireland, Maihew thought that he was the Aidan,52 son of Libir, who was a monk of Hy, in
Columkille's time, and a religious man of good disposition. Colgan53 was inclined to be of the same opinion, for which however, there is no foundation, except the mere name of Aedan, which was exceedingly common in Ireland. Moreover, it is hard to believe, that a person, who was a monk, and for aught we know, several years before the death of Columkille, would have been able in 635 to undertake the arduous mission of Northumberland. 54 The matter of Aidan being an Irishman by birth is further confirmed, from the circumstance, that the great majority of the Iona monks, with whom he lived, were Irish- men. The Annals of Iona, as they have been preserved for us with great minuteness of detail,55 and especially in the entry of names of persons, furnish conclusive evidence of that fact. He was a bishop at Inis Cathaigh,56
according to the O'Clerys ; but, they do not furnish us witli any authority for such a statement, or better than what has been set down by the unknown and unreliable commentator on the " Feilire " of yEngus, and a reference to Marianus O'Gorman, by Colgan, who mentions St. Aidan, Bishop of Inis- Cathuigh, whose period is not denned, but whose feast has been set down at the 31st of August,5? which coincides with that of St. Aidan, Bishop of Lindisfarne.
;
We learn little more, with certainty, regarding the early part of our saint's life, than the fact, that he was a monk, in the monastery of Iona. 58 He is ranked St. Columba's 59 this can be understood in
among disciples
but, only
the sense, that he belonged to the religious institute of that celebrated
45 Cap. xiv. may be sure that, if Aidan, son of Liber, 46 See "Trias Thaumaturga," Appendix were the same as the bishop, Adamnan
Quarta ad Acta S. Brigidae, cap. 3, p. 613. 47 See the notices already given at that
date, in the present volume, Art. iii.
48 See the Ninth Volume of this work, for
cap. x. , p. 487.
s° See his Life at the 9th of June, in the
Sixth Volume of this work, Art. i.
—would not have omitted this circumstance. "
Dr. Lanigan's "Ecclesiastical History of
Ireland," vol. ii. , chap, xv. , sect, xii. , n. 102.
5S See especially Rev. Dr. Reeves' edition 49 See Colgan's "Trias Thaumaturga," of Adamnan's "Life of St. Columba. " Appendix Quarta ad Acta S. Columbae, Additional Notes, O, Chronicon Hyense,
Aedhan Amlonn, at that date.
s' Neitherisit to necessary consider,
pp. 369 to 413.
s6 Now Scattery Island, in the mouth of
the River Shannon.
S7See "ActaSanctorumHiber- Colgan's
nise," Martii viii. , Appendix ad Vitam S. Senani, cap. iv. , p. 542, rede 538.
s« See Venerable Bede's " Historia Eccle- siastica Gentis Anglorum," lib. iii. , cap. v. , pp. 274, 275.
that among the twenty-seven Aidans inscribed on the Irish Calendars, he had been one of the
number.
53 He is mentioned in Rev. Dr. Reeves'
Adamnan's Vita S. Columbae, lib. iii. , cap. vi. , p. 203, and n. (b), ibid.
59 See Colgan's "Trias Thaumaturga," 53 See " Trias Thaumaturga," Quarta Appendix Quarta ad Acta S. Columbce,
Vita S. Columbae, n. 10, p. 386.
54 On this " subject, Dr. Lanigan adds,
We
cap. x. , p. 487.
*°
Hence we find the names and deaths of
"
Trias Thaumaturga," p. 498, et seq.
61
August 31. ] LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. 455
founder, who, perhaps, had died some years before Aidan was born. It is well known, that the great majority of the Iona monks in those days were from Ireland, and that the abbots and other superiors of that monastery, at least for five or six centuries after the death of St. Columkille, were con-
60
Seghine, government
munity lasted from a. d. 623 to 652. He thus survived his distinguished
disciple one year. In due course of time, Aedan undoubtedly, although not an abbot, was regarded as one of the superiors in the monastery of Hy. This appears, from his having had a place in the council among the elders.
According to the accounts of some of the most ancient and respectable Church Historians, Christianity had been introduced into Britain, during the
some themselves.
Eusebius ha* stated among
stantly chosen from among the Irish.
lived for a considerable time in Iona Island, where many of his countrymen were monks, since the time of its foundation. It is certain he was under the rule of the Abbot 61 whose term of over that com-
time of the 62 and Apostles,
by
this as a narrative, which he may have received from the Emperor Constan-
tine63 himself, a part of whose life was spent as Roman Governor in Britain. 6* That the Emperor Tiberias6^ tolerated and even protected the Christians is
66
and, in consequence, Christianity began to spread rapidly and widely in all the Roman Provinces. 6? . Among other
68
people, it is asserted, that the Britons early obtained the gift of Divine
Faith. 60 There appear, also, to be some grounds for believing, that St.
Paul,? after he had visited Spain, brought salvation to the Islands? 1 that lie
2
in the Ocean,? and among these are supposed to be included the. British
related by ancient historians ;
Islands. 73
the abbots and other distinguished men of
Hy as regularly marked in the Irish Annals, as those of the members of any religious
Marco, the Pretorian prefect, caused him to
be suffocated with pillows, A. D. 37, in the
seventy-eighth year of his age. See the
establishment existing in Ireland.
Popular Encyclopedia, or Conversations
See notices of him, a—t the 12th of
62 "
August— the day for his feast in the present
Volume, Art. iv.
Such is the statement of Eusebius, Bishop of Cesarea, who flourished in the third and fourth centuries, and who wrote in Greek, besides his valuable Ecclesiastical History, the well-known work, Ei}<x77e\t/C77 Airddetgis, Latinized " Demonstratio Evan- gelica. " In it, he states, that besides evan- gelizing other countries which he names, in Asia and Europe, that some of the Apostles passed over the Ocean and visited the British Islands. See lib. iii. , cap. vii. ,p. 113. Nor can we believe that such a judicious and learned Church Historian could be deceived in his information; since, from the first cen- tury of the Christian era, the affairs of Britain were noticed by the Roman writers, and traditions regarding them were placed upon record both by Pagans and Christians.
63 Known as Constantine the Great, first
in his Historia Britonum. "
67 See Eusebius, "Historia Ecclesiastica,"
lib. ii. , cap. iii.
68
See what has been already written about the origin of these people in the Third Volume of this work, at the 17th day of March, Art i. The Life of St. Patrick, Apostle and Chief Patron of Ireland, chap. ii.
69 This is stated by Arnobius, in his Commentaries on the Psalms, 147, and by Theodoret.
70 The chief feast for St. Paul is on the 29thofJune. Hesufferedmartyjrdomunder the Emperor Nero, a. d. 63.
71 However,Dr. WilliamCavecautiously observes, "n—onnulla forsan Occidentis loca
"
peragravit. " Scriptorum Ecclesiasticorum
Historia Literaria," vol. i. , p. 12.
72 In his Commentaries on the Psalms, by
Theodoret, of who lived in Bishop Cyrrhus,
Christian Emperor of Rome.
64 See
Britannicse, or, the Antiquities of the British Churches," chap, i. , pp. 36, 37.
65 Claudius Nero Tiberias, the third Roman Emperor, was born before Christ 42, and, on the death of Augustus, a. d. 14, he suc- ceeded. Having reigned thirty-eight years,
Bishop Stillingfleet's
"
Origines
See
"
Lexicon," vol. vi. , pp. 611, 612.
It is very probable, also, that Aidan
66
treating the events of his reign. Also Ter- tullian, in "Apologia," cap. v. , and Gildas
See the Chronicle of Eusebius, when
the fourth and fifth centuries, this is stated, in the collected edition of his works by Pere Sirmond and Gamier, and in
J. published five folio volumes at Paris, from 1642 to
1684. See tomus i. , In Psalmos, 116, p. 870.
456
LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. [August 31. Several modern writers, with the aid of legends, traditions and conjectures,
6
have discovered, that St. Peter,74 Prince of the Apostles,75 St. Paul,? 8
Apostle of the Nations, St. Simon Zelotes,77 and St. James,? the son of
Zebedee, severally preached in Britain. 79 After their departure, the pious undertaking is said to have been continued, owing to the labours of
£o and
ofArimathea. 81
the adduced testimony
However,
to support these statements is altogether unreliable. 82 The early British
8 8* ecclesiastical writer, St. Gildas, 3 is silent on the subject, in those treatises
he wrote referring to the ancient state of Britain.
73 Bishop Stillingfleet presents very cogent "Liber de Patribus Utiiusque Testa-
Aristobulus,
Joseph
reasons for advancing such a proposition ;
by citing several ancient authorities in proof,
and by showing, that the circumstances of
his life permitted St. Paul to have visited
Britain, that there was encouragement and invitation enough for him to go there, and,
owing to the circumstances of the other
Apostles, he was the most likely of all to
have been in Britain. The argument is an ingenious one as drawn from probabilities. names.
"
Rediens
Apostolis diversa Cosmi climata adeuntibus, nutu Dei Jacobus Hibernice oris appulsus, Verbum Dei prajdicavit intrepidus, ubi septem discipulos elegisse fertur : scilicet, Torquatum, Secundum, Indalecium, Tisephontem, Eufrasium, Ceci- ject, Baronius quotes in his Annales lium, Isichium, quorum collogio lolium Ecclesiastici," at a. d. 58. He states, that, extirparet, ac telluri aridoe et diu sterili
See "Antiquities of the British Churches," chap, i. , pp. 37 to 48.
74 According to the comments on St. Peter
and Paul, at the 29th of June, Metaphrastes, who is rather a poor authority on the sub-
"
about this period St. Peter was employed in
the West, and the particularly among
semina verbi Dei committeret. Cumque
dies — immineret, supremus, Hierosolymam
'
cum eis
Vincentius Bellovacensis, "Speculum Histo- riale," lib. viii. , cap. vii.
Britons. See tomus i. , num "
subiit.
li.
s His chief feast is on the 29th June, the
perrexit, ibique Martyrium
date for his Martyrdom.
7« St. states, that St. Although Jerome
Paul preached the Gospel in the Western
parts, no sufficient evidence remains to prove
positively that he visited Britain. See "
Catalogus Scriptorum Ecclesiasticorum," written about A. D. 392. However,Venantius
Fortunatus, when treating of St. Paul, in
79 See on this Ussher's subject Archbishop
" lines :—
80
In the Greek Menologies, his feast is placed at the 15th of March, and he is said to have been one of the seventy disciples. He followed St. Paul as an assistant, and by him was ordained Bishop, as is stated, to
bring the Gospel among the Britons.
81
The disciple of our Divine Savour, and whose festival is held on the 17th of March. According to the traditions of the Church at Glastonbury, he came into Britain, A. D. 63, andtherepreachedtheGospel. According to many unreliable legends, he founded the church and monastery of Glastonbury. See the citations in Archbishop Ussher's " Britannicarum Ecclesiarum Antiquitates," cap. ii. , pp. 7 to 17.
his
Vita S. Martini," lib. iii. , has these
M
77
Transit et Oceanum, vel qua facit Insula Portum,
Quasque Britannus habet terras, quasqueultimaThule. "
According to Nicephorus Callistus, he brought the Gospel doctrine to the Western Ocean and to the Britannic Islands. See
ria Ecclesiastic*," lib. ii. , cap. xi.
in some of the Greek
t is set down at the 10th of May ; yet,
the Martyrologies of Bede, Ado and Usuard
relate, that he suffered Martyrdom in Persia,
on the 28th of October. It is also the date for
his feast in the Roman Martyrology and writings, Art i. Life of St. Gildas Badonicus, Breviary.
Although
Menologies,
82 " Anti- See Rev. Dr. John Lingard's
I Si chief feast is on the 25th of July.
84 The chief of these is known as the "
Historia Britonum," various editions of which have been published. Other works have been attributed to him, and among
Isidorus states that this
the Gospel to the people of Spain and in
Apostle preached
other Western places, and brought its li^ht
to the extreme Western World. See these are his treatise, "De Excidio Bry-,
menti," cap. lxii. A Pseudo-Chronicle, at- tributed to Flavins Lucius Dexter, treating
about St. James at a. d. 41, has it :
Jacobus Gallias invisit, ac Britannias, ac
Venetiarum oppida, u? >i prsedicat ; ac Hie-
rosolymanrevertitur,"etc. St. Jamesiseven
brought to Ireland, by another writer, who
asserts, that he selected seven disciples—
these notwithstanding do not bear Irish
"
" Britannicarum Ecclesiarum Antiquitates," cap. i. , pp. I to 6.
quities of the Anglo-Saxon Church," chap. i. pp. 1, 2.
8i See the First Volume of this Work, at January 29, for an account of him and his
or St. Gildas the Wise.
August 31. ] LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. 457
Such accounts seem to have been unknown, as they are not related by
Venerable Bede, the father of English Ecclesiastical History, who even treats
8
of Britain's condition under the Early Roman Emperors. * But, he tells us,
86
together
religious request. ^ Then the Britons were converted through the ministry of Fugatius and Damianus, who were most successful in bringing them under the mild yoke of the Gospel. Hence these missionaries have been regarded as the Apostles of Britain. The people of that province are said to have preserved the Faith, which they had received, entire and uncorrupted, as also they practised religion in peace and tranquillity, until the time of the
1
Emperor Diocletian,9° who began his reign, a. d. 284. 9
That the Christian doctrine was publicly professed in Britain before the
close of the second century is clear, from the testimony of Tertullian92 and of Origen. 93 That conquered and half-civilized country, like the rest of the Roman Empire, gradually received the Christian religion during the second and third centuries. 94 Even then it had spread in the ranks of the Roman legions. Nor is there any good reason for doubting the general assertion of British writers, that Lucius was the person to whom the people owed such advantage. 95 He wrote, it is stated, to Elutherius, a holy Pontiff, who then presided over the Church, entreating that through the Pope's command he
whilst Eleutherus or Elutherius8? a holy man, presided over the Roman Church, and while Marcus Anonius Verus, the fourteenth from Augustus, was made Emperor, with his brother, Aurelius Commodus 88 of the
that in the the year of our Lord's Incarnation, 156,
; Lucius, King Britons, wrote to Elutherius a request, that through his command, he might become a Christian. Soon afterwards, the King obtained the object of his
mightbecomeaChristian andheobtainedthe
; object
ofhis
6
Although the old British traditions have accounts of King Lucius, who must
have been subject to the Romans, yet various conjectures have been proposed
regarding the part of Britain in which he reigned. 97 The Welsh Triads
tannise, lib. i. , commencing with "Inhac
Lucifero prselucidior : nam lucct
in ejus
Tempore vera fides, errorum nube
fugata. "
g9 The hist of Ki Luci and the
earl> ecclesiastical affair? of Britain about his lod have been investigated in a most
lear£ed ma by Archbishop Ussher, in „ Britannicarum Ecclesiarum AutiqHuitates,"
cap> m<} iv>> v#j vij pp> IJr tQ
9° See "Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis
"" Epistola quicquid;
In sui Temporis
. clerum," lib. i. , commencing with " Bry-
" tannia habet sacerdotes
"Condones Mordentes," lib. i. , commencing with "Esaias propheta dicit, uaeuob;/ "His- oriam quandam lib. i. , commencing with "Alboinus Longobardorum rex ab ; "De Immortahtate Amm* lib. i. Also, some other writings are said to have been pro-
;
cap. 11 111. , pp. 36 to 41.
Pope St. Pius I. was Sovereign Pontiff that year, having sat in the chair of St. Peter
7 Cf
Regalt.
£y
c „-T'- tt gee
• r
5
rum hb.
1
4- a
1
» lib
•
Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis Anglo-
1^
Popular Encyclopaedia,
fr 4
TJ^A ^
i
St. Elutherius only began his term of presi-
dencyA. D. WandhediedAD. 192 See
% 93 In HomiHa vi> in Lucam> Also ill
vi>> in Ezechchial.
