11 * The
Martyrology
of Donegal II6 at this date has a more than usually long notice of our saint.
O'Hanlon - Lives of the Irish Saints - v9
82 The Life of St.
Gerald of Mayo, although full of anachronisms, nevertheless contains a curious coinci- dence with the statement just made, since it allows Adamnan a seven years' residenceinIreland.
Foranypersonacquaintedwiththeusagesofmonastic communities in the Catholic Church, there is no force in the objection, that Adamnan would not be likely, as the professed advocate of disciplinary innovation, to receive entertainment in a monastery, founded twenty years previously as an asylum for adherents to the old Easter usage.
*3 These circumstances appear sufficiently established from Bede; namely, that Adamnan crossed over from Ireland to Hy, during the summer of that year, in which he died, and that for a considerable time previously, our Saint had lived in Ireland.
84 Admitting this foregoing supposition to be correct,
that interval between 697 and 704, which latter was the year of Adamnan's death, is exactly commensurate with such a period. 85
Adamnan remained in Ireland, where he celebrated Easter at a time
the Roman 86 in the 8? In those of the
prescribed by
79 The date of St. Gerald is very uncertain.
"
The Annals of Ulster at 731, have
Maigi heu Saxonum Garralt obiit. "—Dr. O'Conoi's " Rerum Hibernicarum Scrip- tores," tomus iv. , Annales Ultonienses,
year 704. parts
differences in question only referred to a matter of discipline, and did not affect the communion of faith. Although, no doubt, serious disturbances may have arisen on occasions, and even between holy men, con-
it as equivalent to Gerailt, pontifex," &c. See "Annals of the Four Masters," vol. i. ,
p. 324, Such an interpretation would stand, if there were an . i. or i. e. before Gerailt.
"
The passage plainly states that
of Mayo—Saxonum of Gerald died," and this addition of Gerald's na/ne is a pro-
Thus : Poniifex niuighe heo Saxonum 5aj\<mIc obit. "—Dr. O'Conor's " Rerum Hibernicarum Sctiptores," tomus ii. , Tiger-
lepsis.
80 "
nachi Annates, p. 238. 81 "
See Colgan's Acta Sanctorum Hiber-
Anglorum," lib. v. , cap. xv.
85 Archbishop Ussher states ;
"
nioe," xiii, Martii. Vita S. Geraldi Abbatis,
cap. xvi. , p. 602.
82
Ussher says, at the year DCXCVII. , " Adamnanum, vel Adomnanum potiushunc Hyensem abbatem, septem ante mortem suam annis in Hiberniam iterum perexisse, Ultonienses docent Annales. "—Index Chro-
"
nologicus, Britannicarum Ecclesiarum
Antiquitates," p. 540.
83 This objection is urged by the Rev. Dr.
Reeves ; but, it must be considered, that the
In Maio- nensi vero urbecula, ut Geraldi nomine Deo dicata ad hunc usque diem superest Eccle- sia : ita Adamnani et S. Cormaci tempore centum Saxonicorum Sanctorum habitaculum
cycle,
Pontifex
p. 82. The Four Masters at A. n. 726 cerning merely disciplinary rites and observ-
"
represent this entry by Gerald of Magh-eo
ances ; yet, in the present instance, the well-known prudence and moderation of Adamnan, in his effort to introduce the Roman and English custom, would naturally have tended to make him a welcome guest, amongst a community, many of whose members were of English birth. Conse- quently, these religious would be less dis- posed to present obstacles preventing a custom sanctioned by their fellow-country- men in Britain, and especially, as conformity thereto was becoming very general in the land Gf their adoption.
8< "
See Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis
died. " And their learned editor understands "
the Bishop
ibidem extitisse, libri Ballimotensis collec-
"
tor confirmat. "— Britannicarum Ecclesi-
arum Antiquitates," cap. xvii. , p. 499. 86 "
See Rev. Dr. Lanigan's Ecclesiastical
History of Ireland," vol. iii. , chap, xix. , sect, iii. , p. 150.
It is also related,
522 LIVESOFTHEIRISHSAINTS. [September13.
country and places exempt from the jurisdiction of Hy, his success was very considerable in bringing over the Irish to adopt the Roman Paschal
88 Afterwards he returned to his own island of Iona. 89 endeavoured to persuade his monks there to adopt the Catholic observance ot Easter-tide in their monastery. But he could not succeed in this effort,9°
1
neither there, nor in the houses dependent on its jurisdiction. 9
Before the termination of a. d, 704, he departed from earth to heaven. 9* It is remarked, by Venerable Bede, how it had been wisely ordained by Divine Providence, that a man, so desirous of peace and unity, had been removed to the bliss of eternal life, rather than be compelled to have any difference with those, who would not be convinced by his reasoning, about a necessity for changing their old customs, on the return of the ensuing Easter. 93 Adamnan was the ninth abbot that took the Government of lae
monastery after Columkille, the first founder, and during his administration,
system.
He
and to about the close of the seventh century is left undetermined by Dean Cressy. 94 The Annals of Clon-
thosehouses tohis — wereinthe subject jurisdiction
stateof
highest efficiency
renown. The da—
te for his death
assigned, however,
macnoise place it at a. d. 700 : this is also the date given in the
'*
Chronicum
Scotorum,"95 where he is said to have departed in the seventy-eighth year of his age, and on the ninth of the Kalends of October. Smith was wrong in marking Adamnan's death at 702. 96 He reckoned only one year from that in which he supposed Adamnan was on his last embassy to Aelfrid ; but it is plain from Bede's account of his subsequent proceedings, that a longer time must have elapsed between the said embassy and the death of our saint. 97 The Annals of the Four
8 with those ofUlster,99 record his death, at a. d. 703. WiththisdateagreeFatherThomasInnes,IO°andtheRev. Robert
101
Masters,^
However, the true year for Adamnan's death is a. d. 704.
102
This is It has been followed by most of our modern writers. '°s According to the Chronicon Hyensae, Adamnan, abbot of Iona, died during that year, in the seventy-
106
Keating
lxxvii. anno etatis sue Abbas lae pausat. " — Dr. O'Conor's " Rerum Hibernicarum
King.
the
seventh of his age, and in the twenty-fifth year of his incumbency,
year, according
to
Tighernach
I03 and Ussher. 10* Archbishop
87 The reformed Easter fell on the 30th of March, during that year.
88 See Thomas Moore's "
land," vol. i. , chap, xiii. , pp. 285, 286.
tomus iv. , Annales Ultonienses,
89 According to Venerable Bede.
Majora," edited by Henry Richards Luard, M. A. , vol. i. , p. 318.
of Ire-
p. 300.
91 See Thomas Moore's "
Holy
book ii. , chap, xi. , p. 341.
History land," vol. i. , chap, xiii. , p. 286,
92 See Thomas "
,02 See Dr. O'Donovan's " Annals of the
Four Masters," vol. i. , p. 305, n.
,03 " Adamnanus anno 77 aetatis s—uae in
ix. kl. Octobris, Abbas lae obiit. " Dr. O'Conor's "Rerum Hibernicarum Scrip- tores," tomus ii. , Tigernachi Annales, pp. 221,222.
,0* "
See BritannicarumEcclesiarumAnti-
Wright's Biographia Britannica Literaria," &c, p. 206.
93 See " Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis Anglorum," lib. v. , cap. xv.
94 See his " Church-History of Brittany," book xx. , chap, xv. , p. 509.
95 See William M. Hennessy's edition, pp. 114, 115.
96 See the comment on his edition of Bede's History, at lib. v. , cap. 15.
Edition,
" Adomnanus
quitates," Index Chronologicus, p. 541.
105 of
97 See Rev. Dr.
History of Ireland," vol. iii. , chap, xix. ,
National vol. i. , Art. Adamnan Biography,"
or Adomnan, by John T. Gilbert, p. 92.
,o6 See Rev. Mr. Reeves' Adamnan's "LifeofSt. Columba. " AdditionalNotes, n. (O), pp. 376 to 378. As the Rev Mr. Reeves allows him to have been born in 624,
sect, iii. , n. ^SeeDr. O'Donovan's
PP* 3°4» 305.
99 write at a. d. They
703.
30, p. 152.
Lanigan's
History
of Ire-
Scriptores," p. 69.
I0° See the " Civil and Ecclesiastical His- 90 See Matthew of Paris, "Chronica tory of Scotland," Chronological Memoirs,
" Ecclesiastical
See Leslie Stephen's "Dictionary
vol.
i. ,
,01
See "Primer of the History of the Catholic Church in Ireland," vol. i. ,
September 23. ] LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS.
523
says,
10? that Adamnan died
It is seventy-seventh year.
that this is a mis-translation instead of the
fourth or as others year,
aged seventy-seven years.
very probable ! o8 The
Annals of Mac Firbis state, that he died a. d. 704, in the eighty-third year of
I0
his age, 9 while Sir James Ware records his death at a. d. 704, in his seventy-
in his 110 The Rev. Alban Butler eightieth.
statement.
At the 23rd of September, in the Leabhar Breac copy of the Festilogy of
state,
says, that his death happened in 705 ; but he cites no authority for such a
iEngus,
there is a
high
encomium 112 for passed upon Adamnan, especially
111
the lasting services he rendered to religion and civilization, in liberating the
women from military service. "3 That is generally allowed, both in the Irish
and Scottish Calendars, to have been the day of his departure from this life.
date, Martyrology Tallagh. commemorating him, at the same day, Marianus O'Gorman alludes to his reform of the old Irish practice regarding the celebration of Easter.
11 * The Martyrology of Donegal II6 at this date has a more than usually long notice of our saint. 11 ? The Irish annalists are all agreed in assigning the
At the same his feast occurs in the of 11 * In
and to have died in 704, our Saint conse-
quently should have attained the eightieth
mother, saw a woman with an iron sickle in her hand, dragging another woman from the opposing battalion, and the sickle fastened to her breast. For at that time men and women alike used to be giving
year of his age.
107 See his " of
History Ireland,"
p. 25, edition of 1723.
Bookii. ,
108
"According to these statements, battle. Then Ronait sat down and said,
Adamnan must have been born not in
(see Note 5 to chap, xviii), but in 627 or
628. "—Dr. Lanigan's "Ecclesiastical His-
tory of Ireland,'' vol. iii. , chap, xix. , sect, and hosting. ' Then Adamnan promised
iii. , n. 31, pp. 152, 153.
169 See "Three Fragments of Irish An-
nals, copied by Dubhaltach Mac Firbisgh," edited by John O'Donovan, LL. D. , pp. 114, "5-
that. Now a great Convention chanced (to beheld in Ireland, and Adamnan with the choice of Ireland's clerics went to that Con- vention, and therein he freed the women.
"Now— these are the four laws of
Ibid, cxlvii. pp. cxlvi. ,
<VoomnAni <Ab lAe.
"3 These are his lines in Irish metre
Adamnan la ardabb, Cia crabad nar caemfuill, i nAlbain, i nllerind?
Thus translated into English :—
110 See " De Scriptoribus lib. i. , cap. iii. , p. 35.
Patrick's not to kill clerics. law,
111
:
"
Hibernian,"
See "Lives of the Fathers, Martyrs,
Ireland
Dari the Nun's law, not to kill kine. Adamnan's law, not to kill the women. The law—of Sunday, not to transgress
and other principal Saints," vol. ix. , at the
23rd of September. 112
—
thereon. " 114 See
Thus run the lines
Rev. Dr.
Tjo <Voonin4n lAe
-Apacoi-otech co-men
HoViip ih-u UAraL
SAer*<vo buAti ban ngoeoel.
Thus rendered in English by Dr. Whitley Stokes: "To Adamnan of Iona whose troop is radiant, noble Jesus granted the lasting—liberation of the women of the Gael. " "Transactions of the Royal Irish Academy," Irish Manuscript Series, vol. i. , part i. On the Calendar of Oengus, p. cxxxix.
1,3 To explain this passage, the foolish and ignorant Commentator has annexed in Irish, what has been thus translated by the editor: "Adamnan chanced on a certain day to be journeying through Mag Breg. with his mother on his back, and they saw two battalions smiting each other. It hap- pened; moreover, that Ronait, Adamnan's
:
:
edition Adomnani, Ab. Iae et S. ," p. xxxiv. In the Book of Leinster copy we read,
624
' thou shalt not bear me with thee out of this place until women are freed for ever from (things of) that kind, and from fighting
The lofty Abbot Adamnan of Iona ; what devout practice did he not lovingly increase in Alba, in Erin ?
—Dr. Whitley Stokes' " Felire Hui Gor-
main,"pp. 182, 183.
116 Edited by Rev. Drs. Todd and
Reeves, pp. 254 to 257.
117 In the table postfixed to the Martyr-
ology of Donegal, we find introduced between brackets [Adhomair, i. e. , Audo- mara], at the 23rd of September. See pp
Kelly's
:
—
5*4 LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS.
[September 23.
feast of Adamnan, Abbot of Hi or Iona, to the ninth of the kalends of
October, although they may differ, as to the year for his death. Thus, the " Chronicum Scotorum," " 8 the " Annals of the Four Masters," lI 9 Rev. Dr.
120 Rev. S.
T. Gilbert,"3 and Rt. Rev. Patrick F. Moran, D. D. , Bishop of Ossory, 124 have the date. At the 23rd of September, the Bollandists I25 enter a festival for Thenanus or Thennanus, Abbot in Scotia, and a preceptor of King Eugene VI. , on the authority of the Breviary of Aberdeen, of Dempster and of Camerarius, as distinguished from Adamnan, whose acts are separately given on the same day. The Rev. Alban Butler has copied Sir James Ware,"6 in his account respecting our saint. He refers to the latter writer, to Suyskens, and to Colgan's MSS. , at the 23rd of September for his previous state- ments. 1 ^ At the 23rd of September, St. Adamnan is commemorated by Robert Chambers. 128 In Castellan's Universal Martyrology, lie classes St. Eunan among the Aphemeri or those Holy Persons, whose festivals are not
assigned to any fixed day. According to Dean Cressy, the English Martyr-
Lanigan,
Baring-Gould,'
21 Le Comte de
Montalembert,'" John
ology assigns
Adamnan's feast to the 2nd of
September.
12* at the Already
7th of September,^ allusion has been made to the ascribed festival of St.
Adamnan or Eunan, called Bishop of Raphoe ; while the Bollandists , 3' and
Rev. Alban 2 his commemoration at the same
Butler,'3 place
a mistake made by Ussher,^ Sir James Ware/34 and Casimir Oudin,135
have his death at the 23rd of October,
354. 355- This entry seems referable solely to our saint, and under a new form of name.
118
See William M. Hennessy's edition, pp. 114, 115.
119 See Dr. O'Donovan's edition, vol. i. ,
day. Following Also Dr. William Cave^6 has com-
bears this title: "In festo Sancti Eunani episcopi et Confessoris, ecclesiae et dioecesis
Rappotensis patroni generalis. " However, as this Mass contained none of the Saint's
Acts, they pass him over with the remark, that as the Gospel in it is taken from the
tenth chapter of St. Luke, alluding to the mission of the seventy-two disciples of Christ, it may be inferred, St. Eunan had been an apostolic man, who propagated the faith among his people.
132 He has a "St. Eunan, first Bishop of
Raphoe in Ireland," under September 7. The monastery founded there by St. Columb, and restored by St. Adamnan, being converted into an episcopal see,—St. Eunan was to it. lb.
pp. 304, 305. 130 "
See Ecclesiastical History of Ire-
land, vol. iii. , chap, xix. , sect, iii. , p. 150. 121 "
See Lives of the Saints," vol. ix. ,
September 23, p. 358.
122 " See
Les Moines d'Occident," tome
v. , liv. xv. , chap, iii. , p. 15. 123 "
124
See Irish Saints in Great Britain," chap, iv. , p. 112.
See Leslie Stephens' National Biography," vol. i. , p. 92.
,2S See "Acta Sanctorum," tomus
Dictionary of
appointed govern
The error about St. Eunan is repeated under St. Adamnan at September 23. In the Irish Calendar appended to the Dublin edition (R. Coyne, 1833) of his valuable book, the same supposed patron intrudes on from S. Eunanus qui primus existimatur another Saint's day. St. Adamnan's bed
vi. ,
Saints, p. 538.
126
li
Septembris xxiii. Among the pretermitted
As we have already seen, Sir James Ware incorrectly distinguishes Adamnanus, "Celebris ille ccenobii Hiensis Abbas,"
hujus sedis Episcopus. "—" De Pnesulibus used to be shown at Raphoe. See Harris
Hibernia Commentarius. " De Episcopus Ware, vol. " i. ,
Bishops
of
Raphoe,'
Rapotensibus, p. 73. p. 270. ""
127 See Lives of the Fathers, Martyrs and
other principal Saints,'' vol. ix. , September xxiii.
"8 See *' Book of Days," vol. ii. , p. 372.
"' See his " Church of
History Brittany,"
133 See Britannicarum Ecclesiarum An-
tiqukates," Index Chronologicus, p. 541.
134 See " De Scriptoribus Hibemise,"
book xx. , chap, xv. , p. 509. 130 See at that date in the
Scriptoribus Ecclesiasticis," col. 1666, Lips. , 1722.
Art. xi.
131 In the "Acta Sanctorum," tomus iii. ,
23 Octob. an 704, aetatis suae 74, vel, ut alii, 80. "—" Scriptorum Ecclesiasticorum His- toria Literaria," vol. i. Saeculum Monothe-
present
volume,
136 He writes: "e vita die migravit
Septembris, p. 128, they remark, that the
Mass of St. Eunan, Bishop of Raphoe, leticorum, p. 594.
lib. i. , cap. iii. , p. 35.
* 3S See "Commentarius de
September 23. ] LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. 525
mitted a similar obvious mistake, in recording the day assigned for his
death. In the Benedictine Calendar, the festival of St. Adamnan is marked
"
at the 23rd of September. " While Camerarius m—entions a Sanctus
M
Adamnus Episcopus, Northumbrorum Apostolus a man who never
existed—at September, 25th he notices u Sanctus Thevuanus Abbas et Con-
"
that he was Abbot of
1 *8
T 37
Martyrology of Aberdeen at the 23rd of September has set down the festival
of our saint. T 39 The Breviary of Aberdeen places the feast of St.
that interval between 697 and 704, which latter was the year of Adamnan's death, is exactly commensurate with such a period. 85
Adamnan remained in Ireland, where he celebrated Easter at a time
the Roman 86 in the 8? In those of the
prescribed by
79 The date of St. Gerald is very uncertain.
"
The Annals of Ulster at 731, have
Maigi heu Saxonum Garralt obiit. "—Dr. O'Conoi's " Rerum Hibernicarum Scrip- tores," tomus iv. , Annales Ultonienses,
year 704. parts
differences in question only referred to a matter of discipline, and did not affect the communion of faith. Although, no doubt, serious disturbances may have arisen on occasions, and even between holy men, con-
it as equivalent to Gerailt, pontifex," &c. See "Annals of the Four Masters," vol. i. ,
p. 324, Such an interpretation would stand, if there were an . i. or i. e. before Gerailt.
"
The passage plainly states that
of Mayo—Saxonum of Gerald died," and this addition of Gerald's na/ne is a pro-
Thus : Poniifex niuighe heo Saxonum 5aj\<mIc obit. "—Dr. O'Conor's " Rerum Hibernicarum Sctiptores," tomus ii. , Tiger-
lepsis.
80 "
nachi Annates, p. 238. 81 "
See Colgan's Acta Sanctorum Hiber-
Anglorum," lib. v. , cap. xv.
85 Archbishop Ussher states ;
"
nioe," xiii, Martii. Vita S. Geraldi Abbatis,
cap. xvi. , p. 602.
82
Ussher says, at the year DCXCVII. , " Adamnanum, vel Adomnanum potiushunc Hyensem abbatem, septem ante mortem suam annis in Hiberniam iterum perexisse, Ultonienses docent Annales. "—Index Chro-
"
nologicus, Britannicarum Ecclesiarum
Antiquitates," p. 540.
83 This objection is urged by the Rev. Dr.
Reeves ; but, it must be considered, that the
In Maio- nensi vero urbecula, ut Geraldi nomine Deo dicata ad hunc usque diem superest Eccle- sia : ita Adamnani et S. Cormaci tempore centum Saxonicorum Sanctorum habitaculum
cycle,
Pontifex
p. 82. The Four Masters at A. n. 726 cerning merely disciplinary rites and observ-
"
represent this entry by Gerald of Magh-eo
ances ; yet, in the present instance, the well-known prudence and moderation of Adamnan, in his effort to introduce the Roman and English custom, would naturally have tended to make him a welcome guest, amongst a community, many of whose members were of English birth. Conse- quently, these religious would be less dis- posed to present obstacles preventing a custom sanctioned by their fellow-country- men in Britain, and especially, as conformity thereto was becoming very general in the land Gf their adoption.
8< "
See Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis
died. " And their learned editor understands "
the Bishop
ibidem extitisse, libri Ballimotensis collec-
"
tor confirmat. "— Britannicarum Ecclesi-
arum Antiquitates," cap. xvii. , p. 499. 86 "
See Rev. Dr. Lanigan's Ecclesiastical
History of Ireland," vol. iii. , chap, xix. , sect, iii. , p. 150.
It is also related,
522 LIVESOFTHEIRISHSAINTS. [September13.
country and places exempt from the jurisdiction of Hy, his success was very considerable in bringing over the Irish to adopt the Roman Paschal
88 Afterwards he returned to his own island of Iona. 89 endeavoured to persuade his monks there to adopt the Catholic observance ot Easter-tide in their monastery. But he could not succeed in this effort,9°
1
neither there, nor in the houses dependent on its jurisdiction. 9
Before the termination of a. d, 704, he departed from earth to heaven. 9* It is remarked, by Venerable Bede, how it had been wisely ordained by Divine Providence, that a man, so desirous of peace and unity, had been removed to the bliss of eternal life, rather than be compelled to have any difference with those, who would not be convinced by his reasoning, about a necessity for changing their old customs, on the return of the ensuing Easter. 93 Adamnan was the ninth abbot that took the Government of lae
monastery after Columkille, the first founder, and during his administration,
system.
He
and to about the close of the seventh century is left undetermined by Dean Cressy. 94 The Annals of Clon-
thosehouses tohis — wereinthe subject jurisdiction
stateof
highest efficiency
renown. The da—
te for his death
assigned, however,
macnoise place it at a. d. 700 : this is also the date given in the
'*
Chronicum
Scotorum,"95 where he is said to have departed in the seventy-eighth year of his age, and on the ninth of the Kalends of October. Smith was wrong in marking Adamnan's death at 702. 96 He reckoned only one year from that in which he supposed Adamnan was on his last embassy to Aelfrid ; but it is plain from Bede's account of his subsequent proceedings, that a longer time must have elapsed between the said embassy and the death of our saint. 97 The Annals of the Four
8 with those ofUlster,99 record his death, at a. d. 703. WiththisdateagreeFatherThomasInnes,IO°andtheRev. Robert
101
Masters,^
However, the true year for Adamnan's death is a. d. 704.
102
This is It has been followed by most of our modern writers. '°s According to the Chronicon Hyensae, Adamnan, abbot of Iona, died during that year, in the seventy-
106
Keating
lxxvii. anno etatis sue Abbas lae pausat. " — Dr. O'Conor's " Rerum Hibernicarum
King.
the
seventh of his age, and in the twenty-fifth year of his incumbency,
year, according
to
Tighernach
I03 and Ussher. 10* Archbishop
87 The reformed Easter fell on the 30th of March, during that year.
88 See Thomas Moore's "
land," vol. i. , chap, xiii. , pp. 285, 286.
tomus iv. , Annales Ultonienses,
89 According to Venerable Bede.
Majora," edited by Henry Richards Luard, M. A. , vol. i. , p. 318.
of Ire-
p. 300.
91 See Thomas Moore's "
Holy
book ii. , chap, xi. , p. 341.
History land," vol. i. , chap, xiii. , p. 286,
92 See Thomas "
,02 See Dr. O'Donovan's " Annals of the
Four Masters," vol. i. , p. 305, n.
,03 " Adamnanus anno 77 aetatis s—uae in
ix. kl. Octobris, Abbas lae obiit. " Dr. O'Conor's "Rerum Hibernicarum Scrip- tores," tomus ii. , Tigernachi Annales, pp. 221,222.
,0* "
See BritannicarumEcclesiarumAnti-
Wright's Biographia Britannica Literaria," &c, p. 206.
93 See " Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis Anglorum," lib. v. , cap. xv.
94 See his " Church-History of Brittany," book xx. , chap, xv. , p. 509.
95 See William M. Hennessy's edition, pp. 114, 115.
96 See the comment on his edition of Bede's History, at lib. v. , cap. 15.
Edition,
" Adomnanus
quitates," Index Chronologicus, p. 541.
105 of
97 See Rev. Dr.
History of Ireland," vol. iii. , chap, xix. ,
National vol. i. , Art. Adamnan Biography,"
or Adomnan, by John T. Gilbert, p. 92.
,o6 See Rev. Mr. Reeves' Adamnan's "LifeofSt. Columba. " AdditionalNotes, n. (O), pp. 376 to 378. As the Rev Mr. Reeves allows him to have been born in 624,
sect, iii. , n. ^SeeDr. O'Donovan's
PP* 3°4» 305.
99 write at a. d. They
703.
30, p. 152.
Lanigan's
History
of Ire-
Scriptores," p. 69.
I0° See the " Civil and Ecclesiastical His- 90 See Matthew of Paris, "Chronica tory of Scotland," Chronological Memoirs,
" Ecclesiastical
See Leslie Stephen's "Dictionary
vol.
i. ,
,01
See "Primer of the History of the Catholic Church in Ireland," vol. i. ,
September 23. ] LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS.
523
says,
10? that Adamnan died
It is seventy-seventh year.
that this is a mis-translation instead of the
fourth or as others year,
aged seventy-seven years.
very probable ! o8 The
Annals of Mac Firbis state, that he died a. d. 704, in the eighty-third year of
I0
his age, 9 while Sir James Ware records his death at a. d. 704, in his seventy-
in his 110 The Rev. Alban Butler eightieth.
statement.
At the 23rd of September, in the Leabhar Breac copy of the Festilogy of
state,
says, that his death happened in 705 ; but he cites no authority for such a
iEngus,
there is a
high
encomium 112 for passed upon Adamnan, especially
111
the lasting services he rendered to religion and civilization, in liberating the
women from military service. "3 That is generally allowed, both in the Irish
and Scottish Calendars, to have been the day of his departure from this life.
date, Martyrology Tallagh. commemorating him, at the same day, Marianus O'Gorman alludes to his reform of the old Irish practice regarding the celebration of Easter.
11 * The Martyrology of Donegal II6 at this date has a more than usually long notice of our saint. 11 ? The Irish annalists are all agreed in assigning the
At the same his feast occurs in the of 11 * In
and to have died in 704, our Saint conse-
quently should have attained the eightieth
mother, saw a woman with an iron sickle in her hand, dragging another woman from the opposing battalion, and the sickle fastened to her breast. For at that time men and women alike used to be giving
year of his age.
107 See his " of
History Ireland,"
p. 25, edition of 1723.
Bookii. ,
108
"According to these statements, battle. Then Ronait sat down and said,
Adamnan must have been born not in
(see Note 5 to chap, xviii), but in 627 or
628. "—Dr. Lanigan's "Ecclesiastical His-
tory of Ireland,'' vol. iii. , chap, xix. , sect, and hosting. ' Then Adamnan promised
iii. , n. 31, pp. 152, 153.
169 See "Three Fragments of Irish An-
nals, copied by Dubhaltach Mac Firbisgh," edited by John O'Donovan, LL. D. , pp. 114, "5-
that. Now a great Convention chanced (to beheld in Ireland, and Adamnan with the choice of Ireland's clerics went to that Con- vention, and therein he freed the women.
"Now— these are the four laws of
Ibid, cxlvii. pp. cxlvi. ,
<VoomnAni <Ab lAe.
"3 These are his lines in Irish metre
Adamnan la ardabb, Cia crabad nar caemfuill, i nAlbain, i nllerind?
Thus translated into English :—
110 See " De Scriptoribus lib. i. , cap. iii. , p. 35.
Patrick's not to kill clerics. law,
111
:
"
Hibernian,"
See "Lives of the Fathers, Martyrs,
Ireland
Dari the Nun's law, not to kill kine. Adamnan's law, not to kill the women. The law—of Sunday, not to transgress
and other principal Saints," vol. ix. , at the
23rd of September. 112
—
thereon. " 114 See
Thus run the lines
Rev. Dr.
Tjo <Voonin4n lAe
-Apacoi-otech co-men
HoViip ih-u UAraL
SAer*<vo buAti ban ngoeoel.
Thus rendered in English by Dr. Whitley Stokes: "To Adamnan of Iona whose troop is radiant, noble Jesus granted the lasting—liberation of the women of the Gael. " "Transactions of the Royal Irish Academy," Irish Manuscript Series, vol. i. , part i. On the Calendar of Oengus, p. cxxxix.
1,3 To explain this passage, the foolish and ignorant Commentator has annexed in Irish, what has been thus translated by the editor: "Adamnan chanced on a certain day to be journeying through Mag Breg. with his mother on his back, and they saw two battalions smiting each other. It hap- pened; moreover, that Ronait, Adamnan's
:
:
edition Adomnani, Ab. Iae et S. ," p. xxxiv. In the Book of Leinster copy we read,
624
' thou shalt not bear me with thee out of this place until women are freed for ever from (things of) that kind, and from fighting
The lofty Abbot Adamnan of Iona ; what devout practice did he not lovingly increase in Alba, in Erin ?
—Dr. Whitley Stokes' " Felire Hui Gor-
main,"pp. 182, 183.
116 Edited by Rev. Drs. Todd and
Reeves, pp. 254 to 257.
117 In the table postfixed to the Martyr-
ology of Donegal, we find introduced between brackets [Adhomair, i. e. , Audo- mara], at the 23rd of September. See pp
Kelly's
:
—
5*4 LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS.
[September 23.
feast of Adamnan, Abbot of Hi or Iona, to the ninth of the kalends of
October, although they may differ, as to the year for his death. Thus, the " Chronicum Scotorum," " 8 the " Annals of the Four Masters," lI 9 Rev. Dr.
120 Rev. S.
T. Gilbert,"3 and Rt. Rev. Patrick F. Moran, D. D. , Bishop of Ossory, 124 have the date. At the 23rd of September, the Bollandists I25 enter a festival for Thenanus or Thennanus, Abbot in Scotia, and a preceptor of King Eugene VI. , on the authority of the Breviary of Aberdeen, of Dempster and of Camerarius, as distinguished from Adamnan, whose acts are separately given on the same day. The Rev. Alban Butler has copied Sir James Ware,"6 in his account respecting our saint. He refers to the latter writer, to Suyskens, and to Colgan's MSS. , at the 23rd of September for his previous state- ments. 1 ^ At the 23rd of September, St. Adamnan is commemorated by Robert Chambers. 128 In Castellan's Universal Martyrology, lie classes St. Eunan among the Aphemeri or those Holy Persons, whose festivals are not
assigned to any fixed day. According to Dean Cressy, the English Martyr-
Lanigan,
Baring-Gould,'
21 Le Comte de
Montalembert,'" John
ology assigns
Adamnan's feast to the 2nd of
September.
12* at the Already
7th of September,^ allusion has been made to the ascribed festival of St.
Adamnan or Eunan, called Bishop of Raphoe ; while the Bollandists , 3' and
Rev. Alban 2 his commemoration at the same
Butler,'3 place
a mistake made by Ussher,^ Sir James Ware/34 and Casimir Oudin,135
have his death at the 23rd of October,
354. 355- This entry seems referable solely to our saint, and under a new form of name.
118
See William M. Hennessy's edition, pp. 114, 115.
119 See Dr. O'Donovan's edition, vol. i. ,
day. Following Also Dr. William Cave^6 has com-
bears this title: "In festo Sancti Eunani episcopi et Confessoris, ecclesiae et dioecesis
Rappotensis patroni generalis. " However, as this Mass contained none of the Saint's
Acts, they pass him over with the remark, that as the Gospel in it is taken from the
tenth chapter of St. Luke, alluding to the mission of the seventy-two disciples of Christ, it may be inferred, St. Eunan had been an apostolic man, who propagated the faith among his people.
132 He has a "St. Eunan, first Bishop of
Raphoe in Ireland," under September 7. The monastery founded there by St. Columb, and restored by St. Adamnan, being converted into an episcopal see,—St. Eunan was to it. lb.
pp. 304, 305. 130 "
See Ecclesiastical History of Ire-
land, vol. iii. , chap, xix. , sect, iii. , p. 150. 121 "
See Lives of the Saints," vol. ix. ,
September 23, p. 358.
122 " See
Les Moines d'Occident," tome
v. , liv. xv. , chap, iii. , p. 15. 123 "
124
See Irish Saints in Great Britain," chap, iv. , p. 112.
See Leslie Stephens' National Biography," vol. i. , p. 92.
,2S See "Acta Sanctorum," tomus
Dictionary of
appointed govern
The error about St. Eunan is repeated under St. Adamnan at September 23. In the Irish Calendar appended to the Dublin edition (R. Coyne, 1833) of his valuable book, the same supposed patron intrudes on from S. Eunanus qui primus existimatur another Saint's day. St. Adamnan's bed
vi. ,
Saints, p. 538.
126
li
Septembris xxiii. Among the pretermitted
As we have already seen, Sir James Ware incorrectly distinguishes Adamnanus, "Celebris ille ccenobii Hiensis Abbas,"
hujus sedis Episcopus. "—" De Pnesulibus used to be shown at Raphoe. See Harris
Hibernia Commentarius. " De Episcopus Ware, vol. " i. ,
Bishops
of
Raphoe,'
Rapotensibus, p. 73. p. 270. ""
127 See Lives of the Fathers, Martyrs and
other principal Saints,'' vol. ix. , September xxiii.
"8 See *' Book of Days," vol. ii. , p. 372.
"' See his " Church of
History Brittany,"
133 See Britannicarum Ecclesiarum An-
tiqukates," Index Chronologicus, p. 541.
134 See " De Scriptoribus Hibemise,"
book xx. , chap, xv. , p. 509. 130 See at that date in the
Scriptoribus Ecclesiasticis," col. 1666, Lips. , 1722.
Art. xi.
131 In the "Acta Sanctorum," tomus iii. ,
23 Octob. an 704, aetatis suae 74, vel, ut alii, 80. "—" Scriptorum Ecclesiasticorum His- toria Literaria," vol. i. Saeculum Monothe-
present
volume,
136 He writes: "e vita die migravit
Septembris, p. 128, they remark, that the
Mass of St. Eunan, Bishop of Raphoe, leticorum, p. 594.
lib. i. , cap. iii. , p. 35.
* 3S See "Commentarius de
September 23. ] LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. 525
mitted a similar obvious mistake, in recording the day assigned for his
death. In the Benedictine Calendar, the festival of St. Adamnan is marked
"
at the 23rd of September. " While Camerarius m—entions a Sanctus
M
Adamnus Episcopus, Northumbrorum Apostolus a man who never
existed—at September, 25th he notices u Sanctus Thevuanus Abbas et Con-
"
that he was Abbot of
1 *8
T 37
Martyrology of Aberdeen at the 23rd of September has set down the festival
of our saint. T 39 The Breviary of Aberdeen places the feast of St.
