Adamnan's Vision,
friendship for the men of Ireland, for the Transcribed and Translated from the Book of correction of their bodies and souls, for ex- the Dun Cow.
friendship for the men of Ireland, for the Transcribed and Translated from the Book of correction of their bodies and souls, for ex- the Dun Cow.
O'Hanlon - Lives of the Irish Saints - v9
53, p.
98.
* Formerly called the Sele.
Many spoils and several hostages were
September 23. ] LIVES OP THE IRISH SAINTS. 491
went to demand the prisoners, and put in at a place called Tracht-Romra. '? 3 The strand is said to have been long, and the flood rolling at this place. The current was so rapid, that if the best steed in Saxon-land were ridden by the best horseman, and started from the tidal water's edge when it begins to flow, so extensive is the strand and so impetuous was the tide, that he might only bring his rider to the shore by swimming. The Saxons, as related, were willing to allow Adamnan's landing upon their shore. u Push
your
currachs on the land," said Adamnan to his " for both land and people,
sea are obedient to God, and nothing can be done without His permission. "
The clerics did as they had been told, when Adamnan drew a circle with his
crozier around the currachs. Providence rendered the strand firm under
their vessels, and a high wall of sea-waves was formed about them ; so that
the place where they were became an island. The sea even went to its
limits past it, but did them no injury. When the Saxons had observed this
great miracle, they trembled for fear of Adamnan, and granted his full
demand. It was to this effect ; that a complete restoration of the captives
should be made to him, and that no Saxon should ever again go upon a
predatory excursion to Erin. Our saint is then said to have brought back
all the I? 3 It is captives.
supposed, by
a learned and acute writer^* of our
saint's life, that Adamnan possibly undertook this mission, at the instance of
King Finnachta, on whose patrimonial territory this descent had been
made by the Saxons, and perhaps also at the request of the Leinstermen.
The secret of Adamnan's success probably rests on the fact of his previous
friendship with Aldfrid, which time had rather strengthened, together with
theobvious of toareasonabledemand. 1" Theresultofhis justice acceding
embassy is reported by our Annalists. These state, that Adamnan conducted 16
sixty captives to Ireland in 686. ? It is sufficiently probable, our Saint had formed an acquaintance with the great Saint Cuthbert, Bishop of Lindisfame, then or sometime previous to this period. The latter Bishop died
l
on the 20th of March, ? 7 687 ; and, it would appear, that the mutual good
offices of Cuthbert and Adamnan had been vainly employed in endeavouring to effect a reconciliation between the Picts and {Scots of Britain. These nations were almost constantly at variance. 1? 8 It is possible, that Cuthbert and Adamnan had met together at the court of King Aldfrid, and on the occasion of our saint's first visit thereto. Perhaps, Adamnan had turned out of his direct way while going to or from the court of this prince, for the purpose of seeing the Lindisfame abbot and community. However, there is no positive testimony to establish a suspicion, that Adamnan and Cuthbert were personally acquainted ; although from their mutual agency in the same
172 " The name is now unknown, but the
graphic description is very applicable to Solway Firth. Fordun speaks of the
1'
sive Sulwath. "—"
cap. 2, and lib. iii. , cap. 7, 41. Ptolemy calls the Solway', Irotiva etsxwts.
'73 This is attested by Venerable Bede, in his Ecclesiastical History.
174 The Rev. William Reeves, D,D.
'75 The Annals of Clonmacnoise refer this event to A. D. 682. At the year 684, those of the Four Masters relate, that "Adamnan went to Saxon land, to request [a restora- tion] of the prisoners which the North Saxons had carried off from Magh-Breagh
theyearbeforementioned. Heobtaineda restoration of them, after having performed wonders and miracles before the hosts ; and they afterwards gave him great honour and
carum Scriptores, tomus iv.
'^See his Acts, at the same day, in the
Third Volume of this Work, Art. i.
1? 8 See Buchanan's "Rerum Scoticarum
Historia," lib. v. , p. 147.
flumen Eske, quod dicitur Scotiswath,
lib. Sco^chronicon," ii. ,
respect, together
tion of
with a full restora— everything he asked of them. "
Dr. O'Donovan's edition, vol. i. , pp. 290 to 293. '? 6 This is attested by the Annals of Ulster, "a. d. 686. Ada—mnamus captivos reduxit ad Hiberniam lx. " " Annales Ultonienses," p. 64, in Dr. O'Conor's " Rerum Hiberni-
49* LIVESOFTHEIRISHSAINTS. [September23.
negotiation,thewriterwouldfeelinclinedtoformsuchaconclusion. When
our saint paid his first visit to King Aldfrid's court, a great mortality
prevailed in several countries of Europe. However, the Picts and Scots in
North Britain were providentially exempted from the ravages of this plague.
Such isattributedtothe andmeritsofSt. Columba. 1? ? exemption patronage
While on his legation to Aldfrid, it is stated, that Adamnan conceived a desire to celebrate Easter according to the Roman manner. 180 It is most probable, however, that this celebration took place on the occasion of a
,Sl
was then King of the Scots, and a contemporary with Aldfrid, King over the Northumbrians. A firm alliance had been established between both of these monarchs, who were bound
together in friendship, originating from a mutual cultivation of studies, to which they had both been addicted.
CHAPTER II.
THE VISION OF ADAMNAN—HIS SOJOURN IN IRELAND—RAPHOE AND ITS CHURCH DEDICATED TO THE PATRON SAINT—THE SHRINE OF ADAMNAN—VIRTUES AND ACCOMPLISHMENTS OF THE SAINT—BISHOP ARCULF'S VISIT TO IONA—ADAMNAN WRITES THE TRACT DE LOCIS SANCTIS—HIS LIFE OF ST. COLUMBA—ADAMNAN'S GENUINE WRITINGS AND THOSE ATTRIBUTED TO HIM.
There seems to be ground for believing, that the public mind for some time
subsequent visit. Eugenius VI.
had been in kept
and alarm
by prevailing
diseases and
1
expectation
observed or imagined. It was advantageously impressed and seriously dis- posed in fine, by the relation of a certain vision, attributed to Adamnan.
Not only in the Books of Erinn were extraordinary phenomena recorded as occurring towards the close of the seventh century, but also in those of the neighbouring island of Britain. 3 The joys of Heaven and the pains of Hell
'"See Adamnan's ''Vita S. Colurabse," lib. ii. , cap. 46.
x
^°See Matthew of Paris' "Chronica Majora," edited by Henry Richards Luard, M. A. , vol. i. , p. 318.
1,1 We are told, the during
Chapter 11. —' Among these may be
mentioned the moon turned into the colour
of blood, on the feast of St. Martin, A. D. ,
688; bloody rain falling in Lagenia, a. D.
689; famine and pestilence prevailing tor
three in so that man years Hibernia, great
ate man ; a great frost, so that the lakes and rivers in Erinn were frozen over, while the sea between Erinn and Alba was frozen to such an extent, that people used to travel to andfroontheice; besidesamortalitybroke out among cows in Hibernia on the Kalends of February in Magh Treagha, in Teathbha, A. D. 696. See William M. Hennessy's " Chronicum Scotorum," pp. no to 113.
3
During the reign of Rhodri Molvynog in Wales, at A. D. 685, is related a mortality in Ireland lasting for two years ; at A. D. 687, in Armorica an earthquake ; at A. D. 688, it rained blood in the island of Britain and in Ireland ; at a. d. 690, the milk and butter turned to blood ; and, at a. d. 692, the moon
of this King, that for seven days it rained blood
"
converso etiam lacte, caseo, et butiro in sanguinem. " This account appears to have been taken from the Saxon Chronicle, which refers such phenomenon to A. D. 685. Caradoc states, that in the fifth year of the reign of Ivor, King over the Britons, and who began his rule A. D. 689, showers of blood fell in Britain and Ireland. Those showers caused milk and butter to be converted into a sanguineous colour. The Annals of Clon- macnoise assign this portent in Ireland to a. d. 688 ; the Annals of the Four Masters to A. D. 690 ; and the Annals Tighernach to a. d. 693. The latter Annals state, that
throughout the whole of Britain,
reign
"
the blood flowed in streams for three days turned of a bloody colour. See Brut y
and three nights. See Rev. Dr. O'Conor's
Twysogion ; or the Chronicle of the Princes," edited by Rev. John Williams ab Ithel, M. A. , pp. 2 to 5. With some
"
Tigernachi Annales, p. 217.
Rerum Hibernicarum Scriptores," tomusii.
portents,
September 23. ] LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. 493
Adamnan is said to have witnessed, previous to the date for holding a very celebrated synod. The account is contained in a Tract styled the Fis Adamnain, or the Vision of Adamnan, an Irish composition of considerable antiquity,3 as proved by its style. Copies of it are yet extant. Like the visions of St. Fursey,4 it embodies a narrative, which passed current in conver- sation, as the realities of our saint's experience. This so-called Vision of Adamnan was written prosaically, partly in Latin, and partly in Irish. s This tract is a religious discourse on the text of the cxlvi. Psalm,6 verses 5 and 6,7 as taken from the Vulgate Version. Of these it opens with a paraphrase. A copy is to be found 8 in the Leabhar Breach a manuscript belonging to the Royal Irish Academy. 10 Another is stated to be in the Bibliotheque
Nationale, Paris. " There is also a copy of it—a quarto vellum "—among #
the Royal Irish Academy s MSS. *3 An imperfect copy was also in the hands of John McNamara, Esq. , Assistant Secretary to the Iberno-Celtic Society.
In the year 1870, appeared the first published original Irish text and literal English translation of Adamnan's vision,I4 furnished by Whitley
1*
and transcribed from Mr. Joseph O'Longan's lithographic 16
Stokes, Esq. ,
facsimile of the Lebor na Huidre, a manuscript of the eleventh
century. In the tract, published by Dr. Stokes, the Irish text is given, but in English characters on one page, with a literal English version on the opposite. The
prose tract itself is highly poetical in style of composition ; it has much literary merit ; and besides, it is one of the strangest among the medieval visions, which begin with that of the Irish St. Fursey, and culminate in that well-knownandsublimepoem,theDivinaComediaofDante. Dr. Stokesis
of opinion, however, that this piece is not the genuine production of Adamnan. That it cannot be older than the eleventh century, he thinks deducible from various reasons assigned. * After some introductory
variations of date, these prodigies are recorded in the "Annales Cambrise," by the same editor, at p. 8.
"
Suscipiens mansuetos Dominus : hu- milians autem peccatores usque ad terram. "
"There
no reason to question the antiquity of the
3 O'Donovan John
says,
8 The xVoArhnAm consists of two appears pp
parts, the Vision, and the Application. It occupies
eight double-columned folio pages.
9 At fol. 127 . a.
I0 This manuscript was written in the
fifteenth century, and extracts of it are to be found in John O'Donovan's •' Irish Gram- mar," at pp. 119, 341, 349, 350, 370, 381, 382, 440-442.
"Classed,AncienFond. No. 8175.
"Classed, No. 226.
I3 It is to be found in the Hodges and foitlfiijeA-o "oo A-OAmnAn . h. Chine, a Smith Collection.
vision. "—" Irish Grammar," p. 440.
4 See, this account in his Acts, which are
already given, and will be found, at the 16th of January, in the First Volume of this work, Art. i.
"
"
s The Irish part begins,
1f eAt) in po cpA pojuif ACAf -otijeA-o AinmcAi|i-oeAfa peAp n epm-o ffn& tepuJA-6 a ccopp ACAf a nAtitriAtro, FfUA hm-oApbA-o ptAij ACAf jemce acap ofinibA-6 -01b, AmtnL po
comtti "Oe ACAp pAcrpuicc. "
M " Fis Adamnain. " Slicht It is intituled ;
Here is
set down laws and regulations of spiritual Libair na Huidre.
Adamnan's Vision,
friendship for the men of Ireland, for the Transcribed and Translated from the Book of correction of their bodies and souls, for ex- the Dun Cow. With notes. Fifty copies
pelling from them plagues and infidels, and privately printed ; Simla, printed at the manslaughter, as it was revealed to Adam- station press by J. Elston, mdccclxx.
nan, the descendant of Tine, in the counsel of God and Patrick. "— Edward O'Reilly's
Small 4to, 40 pages.
,s He has extended the contractions of the
"
Account of Hundred Irish Writers," p. 1.
Four
Irish and printed them in Italics.
Chronological
nearly
original
,6 The original is preserved in the Royal
6 The subject of this Psalm is an exhorta-
tion to praise God for his benefits.
i
Irish Academy's Library. The scribe of this MS. was murdered in the year 1 106.
"Magnus virtus ejus : numerus,
et
et sapientia ejus non est philological
he
states,
Dominus
are: first from the evidence adduced in its characteristics of Middle Irish ; next from
noster,
'7
magna These,
494 LIVESOFTHEIRISHSAINTS. [September23.
observations regarding certain visions vouchsafed to the Apostles and Disciples of Jesus Christ, and in which they were shown mysteries and hidden things of Heaven's kingdom, the vision relates what was manifested to Adamnan Ua Tinne, the high sage of the western world, when his soul
passed
body
22
onthefestivalof the 18andwhenit was John Baptist,
fromhis
carried to Heaven by his guardian angel to behold the angels there, and towards Hell, to behold its wretched hosts. At first are described his intro- duction to the brilliancy and radiance of the celestial courts, their economy and order ; as also the glorious presence of the mighty Lord, with the Patriarchs, Prophets, Apostles, the Pure Virgin Mary, the Disciples of Christ, the Virgins and bright hosts of souls around the throne. Six gates of pro- tection, each under the charge of special angels, have to be passed, before the soul is admitted to the presence of God. Having related all that was witnessed, in either place of abode, he especially noticed in that of torment
1
those Aircinnechs, who, in presence of the saints' relics, * administered
God's gifts and tithes, but who turned the profits from the strangers and poor of our Lord to their own private ends. Elsewhere, he brands those as " Sensual Aircinnechs. " This narrative proceeds to state, that Adamnan's soul desired to remain in the happy region. There it heard from behind
him, through a veil, the voice of his guardian angel, commanding it to be replaced in the same body from which it had passed ; and that it should relate in ecclesiastical and lay assemblies and conventions, Heaven's rewards andHell'spains,suchastheconductingangelhadrevealedtohim. Where- fore it was the precept, which Adamnan preached while he was alive. It was this precept, too, which had been preached in the great Convention of the men of Erin, when Adamnan's Rule was imposed on the Gaedhil ; and when women were made free by Adamnan and Finachta Fledach,20 son to Dunchadh, son to Aedh Slaine, the King of Erin, and likewise by the men of Erin. For it happened, that men and women went into battles and into conflicts indiscriminately, until Adamnan's regulations were imposed. In this descriptive tract, we find the glory of the Most High and the felicity of the Saints in Heaven portrayed ; the middle state of Purgation is delineated ; the dreadful pains and the inhabitants of Hell are also exhibited to us in all their hideous deformity. A considerable portion of the compo- sition must be regarded as purely the product of the writer's imagination, and drawn in a great measure from the description of the Heavenly Jerusalem,
in the Book of the 21 In its Apocalypse.
as St. given by
the
present form, it possesses internal evidence sufficient to prove, that it is
John
Evangelist
the author's mention of tithes, which Domus-martirum by Tirechan in Liber according to Dr. Reeves were unknown in Armacanus, fob 15, ba.
20
—reference to the imperial edict of Domitian vention was held under his successor,
Ireland until after 703; thirdly, from his
This is an anachronism; for the con-
Loingsech, son of Aengus. Finachta was slain in 693, according to Dr. O'Donovan's "Annals of the Four Masters. " He was immediately succeeded by Loingsech. See vol. i. , pp. 296, 297.
2I
See chap. xxi. ,xxii.
"It mentions oechmA-o. A, "tithes,"
which were not known in Ireland, until
was the technical term among the Irish for
a saint's relics. From reliquice comes the contains an anachronism regarding the
a forgery according to Muratori of the period between 755 and 766—and, fourthly, from his anachronism about the Convention, at which Irish women were freed from liability to fight in battles. See p. I.
18
29th of August.
19 The word in the original is mAjtcfiA. It
His Decollation is celebrated on the
M
sepulchretum," and from Martyres, the tttAficAfire-Ach ot the Annals of Ulster at A. D. 721, 754, 1055, latinized
Convention at which Irishwomen were freed from liability to engage in battle, by Fin- nachta the Festive. Moreover, it fails in
Irish |ieiti5,
longafterthetimeofAdamnan. Again,it
September 23. ] LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. 495
u""" the Gorta, or Famine ; the Nuno or Scarcity ;
of Fruit " ;
23 A second vision, or rather a to supplement
not Adamnan's
the first vision follows. In it, the wickedness of Ireland's inhabitants, and also those mortalities with which they were visited, and must yet be visited, are
composition.
recounted. It mentions such visitations, as the Scamhach, or "
the Bo-ar, or M Cow " the toraid, or " mortality j Digbail Blight
"
" Human Mortality. " It announces, that prayer and fasting are the only sure preservatives against an infliction of those various evils. 2* The second part of Adamnan's vision contains instructions for the 35 that
was on the feast of the Decollation of the 26 apprehended, John Baptist.
How far St. Adamnan extended his missionary labours and travels
throughout Ireland has not been clearly ascertained, but some traces may be inferredfromtraditionsthatremain. WhenonavisittoIreland,Adamnan
2
is said to have preached to his relatives, ? the descendants of Fiacha, son to
and on a hill in the townland of 28 which ever since has borne Niall, Syonan,
his name. 29 The place is in the parish of Ardnurcher, diocese and county of Meath. 3°
The church of Raphoe, originally founded by St. Columkille, seems afterwards to have been presided over by St. Adamnan—also called Eunan— who is regarded as the Patron Saint. Local tradition states, that Adamnan
passed some time at this place, and memorials of him exist in that "
neighbourhood. AtRathbothorRaphoe, thefortofboothsorcottages," it has been thought, Adamnan or Eunan spent some of his closing years in
Ireland, not uninfluenced, perhaps, by the opposition of the island
monastery to its abbot's unremitting efforts to secure uniformity in the time
for celebrating Easter with the rest of the Christian Church. There above
every other place were his relatives powerful, and an episcopal See might
have been established in his time; the silence of early writers on this
matter not leaving it improbable, that he was then in episcopal orders. The
bishop of Raphoe—as our ancient annalists state—was Coarb of Adamnan,
or Coarb of Columba and Adamnan, the latter name being the distinctive one
in that place. 3
1
In like manner, at Raphoe was shown an object called Eunan's
authenticity, as is sufficiently manifested, prophesied by Columbcille, Moling and
from a reference to the Imperial Edict of Constantine of a donation to Sylvester, AbbotofRome.
23 The language of the Vision is marked by many characteristics of Middle-age Irish ; such as the confusion of e and i in desinence;
Aireran. The Annals of Clonmacnoise, at
550, attribute the prediction concerning the
ScuabFanaitto BeeMaDe,KingDermot
mac Cerbhail's poet. See Dr. O'Donovan's
"
Annals of the Four Masters," vol. i. , n. (z. ), p. 196.
ae for and // for la, In ;
ndfor nn, ur for
2fi The of 29th day
putting
August.
2? This was the local tradition.
air, er, prosthesis of /; metathesis of cs and is ; final a for ae, at, e ; in the
Preface, p. liii.
2
3I After a lapse of 1,300 years, since the death of St. Columkille, a great Festival was inaugurated and celebrated at Gartan, in the County of Donegal, the place of his
oe,
28
It is Suix>e A-oArhnAm in Irish, that is, article disuse of the neuter forms of the " Seat of Adamnain. " The ruins oi a nom. and ace. singular, and use of na castle exist here, but Macgeoghegan says
for the nom. plural m. , the dual, and the that it was not church land.
dat. plural; in adjectives, use of the fem. *9 See Dr. O'Donovan's "Annals of the form in the nom. plural masc. ; and in the Four Masters," at a. d. 703, vol. i. , n. (u), case of verbs compounded with prepositions, p. 305.
use of absolute instead of subjoined forms. 3° See Rev. A. Cogan's "Diocese of
24 See Rev. Dr. Reeves' Adamnan's Meath, ancient and modern," vol. ii. , "Life of St. Columba. " Appendix to chap, xix. , p. 497.
5The note on the Feilire of Aengus at
this day states, that the Scuab a Fanait or
Besom of Fanad was a plague which was to
visit Ireland in the latter times, in revenge birth. The observations contained in the for the beheading of John the Baptist, as text are arguments advanced by a djs-
averting mortality
Leprosy ;
aud the Dunibadh, or
496 LIVESOFTHEIRISHSAINTS. [Septembera3.
Bed, in the seventeenth century ; and a Round Tower, which the Bishops of
a
Raphoe had converted into a Museum,3 was there a short time previous.
Before Adamnan had been promoted as Abbot of Iona, Colgan expressly calls him Abbot at Raphoe. 33 Whether he filled the latter position or not has been questioned ; but, he was the person, by whose name the succession at Raphoe used to be distinguished. 34 He was particularly revered as the patron Saint of its monastery and church. It is considered as certain, that he had been closely connected with that place ; and if not absolutely the founder of its church, he was, at least, an abbot there over its monastery. 35 It is strongly suspected, by the learned Dr. Lanigan, that St. Eunan,36 who is usually called the first bishop of Raphoe, was no other than Adamnan ;37 not that he would allow Adamnan had ever been a bishop, for, were it so, he could not have become abbot of Hy, but that he was the ancient patron Saint of the place before it became an episcopal See, the period for such erection not being known. An object of veneration, called the Holy Cross ofRaphoe,stoodthereformerlyj perhapsithadsomerelationtothepatron saint. 38 The cross in question was afterwards removed from Raphoe to Armagh, by John Prene, Archbishop of this latter See, about the year 1441. 39 An opinion has been entertained, likewise, that Adamnan was abbot at Raphoe, which perhaps had been founded by himself, before he was appointed to govern the whole Columban order. Whether or not he repaired the monastery, said to have been erected by St. Columkille at Raphoe, may be doubted, as we find no sufficient warrant for this statement. *
In the present century, a suitable memorial of religious zeal and devotion has been raised to commemorate St. Adamnan or Eunan at Raphoe.
tinguished prelate, to show that Adamnan of
Iona was the same as Eunan, first bishop
of Raphoe. See an interesting illustrated
publication of the proceedings, intituled :
" Cuimne Coluimcitte," or the Gartan
Festival, being a Record of the Celebration very remarkable circumstance, that the
held at Gartan on the 9th June, 1897, the Thirteenth Centennial of St. Columba," Second Introduction, pp. 10 to 12. Dublin 1898, 8vo.
32 " Ostendebatur Raphoe, non ita pri-
dem, lectus ejus. Ibi porro turris erat
rotunda, colli imposita, in qua Episcopi Rapotenses Musseum olim habebant. "—Sir James Ware, " I)e Praesulibus Hibernise Commentarius. " Episcopi Rapotenses, p. 73.
festival of the saint called Eunan, is kept on the 23rd of September. Now this was the very day, on which Adamnan died, and on which his memory was revered, not only at Raphoe, but in many other churches. The name Eunan, is, I allow, not favour- able to the conjecture of his identity with
person better versed in the Irish language 33 See "Trias Thaumaturga," Quinta than I am might perhaps find some analogy
between them. " — " Ecclesiastical History of Ireland," vol. iii. , chap, xiii. , sect, v. , n. 59, p. 100.
38 In Dr. ODonovan's "Annals of the wise of Adamnan, insomuch as he had been Four Masters," vol. iv. , pp. 750, 751, we
Appendix ad Acta S. Columbae, cap. iii.
34 Thus Malbrigid, who died Archbishop of Armagh in 926, is called comorban or
successor, not only of St. Patrick, but like-
abbot and not bishop at Raphoe as Harris states, before he was raised to the See of
See Harris' Ware, vol. i. ,
read, under the year 1397, a certain Hugh
MacMahon recovered his sight by fasting
in honour of the Holy Cross of Raphoe,
and the image of the blessed regarding
Armagh.
" of Bishops
Raphoe," p.
270.
35 See Rev. Dr. Lanigan's " Ecclesiastical Virgin Mary at Ath-Trim. In Harris'
History of Ireland," vol. iii. , chap, xviii. , sect, v. , n. 59, p. 99.
—supposed to be first bishop at Raphoe— nor could Ware discover any account of him. The first bishop of Raphoe, that we meet
Bishops of Raphoe," p.
36 Colgan never mentions this St. Eunan
with on Colgan's List, was Malduin Mac
Kinfalaid, who died about 930. See
"Trias Thaumaturga," Quinta Appendix
ad Acta S. Columbae, cap. vi. ( p. 509.
3? TheRev. Dr. Laniganadds "
: Itisa
Adamnan
have been might some
but there
reason for this variation of names, and a
;
"
Ware, vol. i. ,
270, this Hugh MacMahon is incorrectly styled Hugh Matthew.
39 See ibid.
40 It is affirmed, however, in Harris' Ware,
vol. i. ,
"
Bishops of Raphoe," p. 269.
September 23. ] LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS.
Many spoils and several hostages were
September 23. ] LIVES OP THE IRISH SAINTS. 491
went to demand the prisoners, and put in at a place called Tracht-Romra. '? 3 The strand is said to have been long, and the flood rolling at this place. The current was so rapid, that if the best steed in Saxon-land were ridden by the best horseman, and started from the tidal water's edge when it begins to flow, so extensive is the strand and so impetuous was the tide, that he might only bring his rider to the shore by swimming. The Saxons, as related, were willing to allow Adamnan's landing upon their shore. u Push
your
currachs on the land," said Adamnan to his " for both land and people,
sea are obedient to God, and nothing can be done without His permission. "
The clerics did as they had been told, when Adamnan drew a circle with his
crozier around the currachs. Providence rendered the strand firm under
their vessels, and a high wall of sea-waves was formed about them ; so that
the place where they were became an island. The sea even went to its
limits past it, but did them no injury. When the Saxons had observed this
great miracle, they trembled for fear of Adamnan, and granted his full
demand. It was to this effect ; that a complete restoration of the captives
should be made to him, and that no Saxon should ever again go upon a
predatory excursion to Erin. Our saint is then said to have brought back
all the I? 3 It is captives.
supposed, by
a learned and acute writer^* of our
saint's life, that Adamnan possibly undertook this mission, at the instance of
King Finnachta, on whose patrimonial territory this descent had been
made by the Saxons, and perhaps also at the request of the Leinstermen.
The secret of Adamnan's success probably rests on the fact of his previous
friendship with Aldfrid, which time had rather strengthened, together with
theobvious of toareasonabledemand. 1" Theresultofhis justice acceding
embassy is reported by our Annalists. These state, that Adamnan conducted 16
sixty captives to Ireland in 686. ? It is sufficiently probable, our Saint had formed an acquaintance with the great Saint Cuthbert, Bishop of Lindisfame, then or sometime previous to this period. The latter Bishop died
l
on the 20th of March, ? 7 687 ; and, it would appear, that the mutual good
offices of Cuthbert and Adamnan had been vainly employed in endeavouring to effect a reconciliation between the Picts and {Scots of Britain. These nations were almost constantly at variance. 1? 8 It is possible, that Cuthbert and Adamnan had met together at the court of King Aldfrid, and on the occasion of our saint's first visit thereto. Perhaps, Adamnan had turned out of his direct way while going to or from the court of this prince, for the purpose of seeing the Lindisfame abbot and community. However, there is no positive testimony to establish a suspicion, that Adamnan and Cuthbert were personally acquainted ; although from their mutual agency in the same
172 " The name is now unknown, but the
graphic description is very applicable to Solway Firth. Fordun speaks of the
1'
sive Sulwath. "—"
cap. 2, and lib. iii. , cap. 7, 41. Ptolemy calls the Solway', Irotiva etsxwts.
'73 This is attested by Venerable Bede, in his Ecclesiastical History.
174 The Rev. William Reeves, D,D.
'75 The Annals of Clonmacnoise refer this event to A. D. 682. At the year 684, those of the Four Masters relate, that "Adamnan went to Saxon land, to request [a restora- tion] of the prisoners which the North Saxons had carried off from Magh-Breagh
theyearbeforementioned. Heobtaineda restoration of them, after having performed wonders and miracles before the hosts ; and they afterwards gave him great honour and
carum Scriptores, tomus iv.
'^See his Acts, at the same day, in the
Third Volume of this Work, Art. i.
1? 8 See Buchanan's "Rerum Scoticarum
Historia," lib. v. , p. 147.
flumen Eske, quod dicitur Scotiswath,
lib. Sco^chronicon," ii. ,
respect, together
tion of
with a full restora— everything he asked of them. "
Dr. O'Donovan's edition, vol. i. , pp. 290 to 293. '? 6 This is attested by the Annals of Ulster, "a. d. 686. Ada—mnamus captivos reduxit ad Hiberniam lx. " " Annales Ultonienses," p. 64, in Dr. O'Conor's " Rerum Hiberni-
49* LIVESOFTHEIRISHSAINTS. [September23.
negotiation,thewriterwouldfeelinclinedtoformsuchaconclusion. When
our saint paid his first visit to King Aldfrid's court, a great mortality
prevailed in several countries of Europe. However, the Picts and Scots in
North Britain were providentially exempted from the ravages of this plague.
Such isattributedtothe andmeritsofSt. Columba. 1? ? exemption patronage
While on his legation to Aldfrid, it is stated, that Adamnan conceived a desire to celebrate Easter according to the Roman manner. 180 It is most probable, however, that this celebration took place on the occasion of a
,Sl
was then King of the Scots, and a contemporary with Aldfrid, King over the Northumbrians. A firm alliance had been established between both of these monarchs, who were bound
together in friendship, originating from a mutual cultivation of studies, to which they had both been addicted.
CHAPTER II.
THE VISION OF ADAMNAN—HIS SOJOURN IN IRELAND—RAPHOE AND ITS CHURCH DEDICATED TO THE PATRON SAINT—THE SHRINE OF ADAMNAN—VIRTUES AND ACCOMPLISHMENTS OF THE SAINT—BISHOP ARCULF'S VISIT TO IONA—ADAMNAN WRITES THE TRACT DE LOCIS SANCTIS—HIS LIFE OF ST. COLUMBA—ADAMNAN'S GENUINE WRITINGS AND THOSE ATTRIBUTED TO HIM.
There seems to be ground for believing, that the public mind for some time
subsequent visit. Eugenius VI.
had been in kept
and alarm
by prevailing
diseases and
1
expectation
observed or imagined. It was advantageously impressed and seriously dis- posed in fine, by the relation of a certain vision, attributed to Adamnan.
Not only in the Books of Erinn were extraordinary phenomena recorded as occurring towards the close of the seventh century, but also in those of the neighbouring island of Britain. 3 The joys of Heaven and the pains of Hell
'"See Adamnan's ''Vita S. Colurabse," lib. ii. , cap. 46.
x
^°See Matthew of Paris' "Chronica Majora," edited by Henry Richards Luard, M. A. , vol. i. , p. 318.
1,1 We are told, the during
Chapter 11. —' Among these may be
mentioned the moon turned into the colour
of blood, on the feast of St. Martin, A. D. ,
688; bloody rain falling in Lagenia, a. D.
689; famine and pestilence prevailing tor
three in so that man years Hibernia, great
ate man ; a great frost, so that the lakes and rivers in Erinn were frozen over, while the sea between Erinn and Alba was frozen to such an extent, that people used to travel to andfroontheice; besidesamortalitybroke out among cows in Hibernia on the Kalends of February in Magh Treagha, in Teathbha, A. D. 696. See William M. Hennessy's " Chronicum Scotorum," pp. no to 113.
3
During the reign of Rhodri Molvynog in Wales, at A. D. 685, is related a mortality in Ireland lasting for two years ; at A. D. 687, in Armorica an earthquake ; at A. D. 688, it rained blood in the island of Britain and in Ireland ; at a. d. 690, the milk and butter turned to blood ; and, at a. d. 692, the moon
of this King, that for seven days it rained blood
"
converso etiam lacte, caseo, et butiro in sanguinem. " This account appears to have been taken from the Saxon Chronicle, which refers such phenomenon to A. D. 685. Caradoc states, that in the fifth year of the reign of Ivor, King over the Britons, and who began his rule A. D. 689, showers of blood fell in Britain and Ireland. Those showers caused milk and butter to be converted into a sanguineous colour. The Annals of Clon- macnoise assign this portent in Ireland to a. d. 688 ; the Annals of the Four Masters to A. D. 690 ; and the Annals Tighernach to a. d. 693. The latter Annals state, that
throughout the whole of Britain,
reign
"
the blood flowed in streams for three days turned of a bloody colour. See Brut y
and three nights. See Rev. Dr. O'Conor's
Twysogion ; or the Chronicle of the Princes," edited by Rev. John Williams ab Ithel, M. A. , pp. 2 to 5. With some
"
Tigernachi Annales, p. 217.
Rerum Hibernicarum Scriptores," tomusii.
portents,
September 23. ] LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. 493
Adamnan is said to have witnessed, previous to the date for holding a very celebrated synod. The account is contained in a Tract styled the Fis Adamnain, or the Vision of Adamnan, an Irish composition of considerable antiquity,3 as proved by its style. Copies of it are yet extant. Like the visions of St. Fursey,4 it embodies a narrative, which passed current in conver- sation, as the realities of our saint's experience. This so-called Vision of Adamnan was written prosaically, partly in Latin, and partly in Irish. s This tract is a religious discourse on the text of the cxlvi. Psalm,6 verses 5 and 6,7 as taken from the Vulgate Version. Of these it opens with a paraphrase. A copy is to be found 8 in the Leabhar Breach a manuscript belonging to the Royal Irish Academy. 10 Another is stated to be in the Bibliotheque
Nationale, Paris. " There is also a copy of it—a quarto vellum "—among #
the Royal Irish Academy s MSS. *3 An imperfect copy was also in the hands of John McNamara, Esq. , Assistant Secretary to the Iberno-Celtic Society.
In the year 1870, appeared the first published original Irish text and literal English translation of Adamnan's vision,I4 furnished by Whitley
1*
and transcribed from Mr. Joseph O'Longan's lithographic 16
Stokes, Esq. ,
facsimile of the Lebor na Huidre, a manuscript of the eleventh
century. In the tract, published by Dr. Stokes, the Irish text is given, but in English characters on one page, with a literal English version on the opposite. The
prose tract itself is highly poetical in style of composition ; it has much literary merit ; and besides, it is one of the strangest among the medieval visions, which begin with that of the Irish St. Fursey, and culminate in that well-knownandsublimepoem,theDivinaComediaofDante. Dr. Stokesis
of opinion, however, that this piece is not the genuine production of Adamnan. That it cannot be older than the eleventh century, he thinks deducible from various reasons assigned. * After some introductory
variations of date, these prodigies are recorded in the "Annales Cambrise," by the same editor, at p. 8.
"
Suscipiens mansuetos Dominus : hu- milians autem peccatores usque ad terram. "
"There
no reason to question the antiquity of the
3 O'Donovan John
says,
8 The xVoArhnAm consists of two appears pp
parts, the Vision, and the Application. It occupies
eight double-columned folio pages.
9 At fol. 127 . a.
I0 This manuscript was written in the
fifteenth century, and extracts of it are to be found in John O'Donovan's •' Irish Gram- mar," at pp. 119, 341, 349, 350, 370, 381, 382, 440-442.
"Classed,AncienFond. No. 8175.
"Classed, No. 226.
I3 It is to be found in the Hodges and foitlfiijeA-o "oo A-OAmnAn . h. Chine, a Smith Collection.
vision. "—" Irish Grammar," p. 440.
4 See, this account in his Acts, which are
already given, and will be found, at the 16th of January, in the First Volume of this work, Art. i.
"
"
s The Irish part begins,
1f eAt) in po cpA pojuif ACAf -otijeA-o AinmcAi|i-oeAfa peAp n epm-o ffn& tepuJA-6 a ccopp ACAf a nAtitriAtro, FfUA hm-oApbA-o ptAij ACAf jemce acap ofinibA-6 -01b, AmtnL po
comtti "Oe ACAp pAcrpuicc. "
M " Fis Adamnain. " Slicht It is intituled ;
Here is
set down laws and regulations of spiritual Libair na Huidre.
Adamnan's Vision,
friendship for the men of Ireland, for the Transcribed and Translated from the Book of correction of their bodies and souls, for ex- the Dun Cow. With notes. Fifty copies
pelling from them plagues and infidels, and privately printed ; Simla, printed at the manslaughter, as it was revealed to Adam- station press by J. Elston, mdccclxx.
nan, the descendant of Tine, in the counsel of God and Patrick. "— Edward O'Reilly's
Small 4to, 40 pages.
,s He has extended the contractions of the
"
Account of Hundred Irish Writers," p. 1.
Four
Irish and printed them in Italics.
Chronological
nearly
original
,6 The original is preserved in the Royal
6 The subject of this Psalm is an exhorta-
tion to praise God for his benefits.
i
Irish Academy's Library. The scribe of this MS. was murdered in the year 1 106.
"Magnus virtus ejus : numerus,
et
et sapientia ejus non est philological
he
states,
Dominus
are: first from the evidence adduced in its characteristics of Middle Irish ; next from
noster,
'7
magna These,
494 LIVESOFTHEIRISHSAINTS. [September23.
observations regarding certain visions vouchsafed to the Apostles and Disciples of Jesus Christ, and in which they were shown mysteries and hidden things of Heaven's kingdom, the vision relates what was manifested to Adamnan Ua Tinne, the high sage of the western world, when his soul
passed
body
22
onthefestivalof the 18andwhenit was John Baptist,
fromhis
carried to Heaven by his guardian angel to behold the angels there, and towards Hell, to behold its wretched hosts. At first are described his intro- duction to the brilliancy and radiance of the celestial courts, their economy and order ; as also the glorious presence of the mighty Lord, with the Patriarchs, Prophets, Apostles, the Pure Virgin Mary, the Disciples of Christ, the Virgins and bright hosts of souls around the throne. Six gates of pro- tection, each under the charge of special angels, have to be passed, before the soul is admitted to the presence of God. Having related all that was witnessed, in either place of abode, he especially noticed in that of torment
1
those Aircinnechs, who, in presence of the saints' relics, * administered
God's gifts and tithes, but who turned the profits from the strangers and poor of our Lord to their own private ends. Elsewhere, he brands those as " Sensual Aircinnechs. " This narrative proceeds to state, that Adamnan's soul desired to remain in the happy region. There it heard from behind
him, through a veil, the voice of his guardian angel, commanding it to be replaced in the same body from which it had passed ; and that it should relate in ecclesiastical and lay assemblies and conventions, Heaven's rewards andHell'spains,suchastheconductingangelhadrevealedtohim. Where- fore it was the precept, which Adamnan preached while he was alive. It was this precept, too, which had been preached in the great Convention of the men of Erin, when Adamnan's Rule was imposed on the Gaedhil ; and when women were made free by Adamnan and Finachta Fledach,20 son to Dunchadh, son to Aedh Slaine, the King of Erin, and likewise by the men of Erin. For it happened, that men and women went into battles and into conflicts indiscriminately, until Adamnan's regulations were imposed. In this descriptive tract, we find the glory of the Most High and the felicity of the Saints in Heaven portrayed ; the middle state of Purgation is delineated ; the dreadful pains and the inhabitants of Hell are also exhibited to us in all their hideous deformity. A considerable portion of the compo- sition must be regarded as purely the product of the writer's imagination, and drawn in a great measure from the description of the Heavenly Jerusalem,
in the Book of the 21 In its Apocalypse.
as St. given by
the
present form, it possesses internal evidence sufficient to prove, that it is
John
Evangelist
the author's mention of tithes, which Domus-martirum by Tirechan in Liber according to Dr. Reeves were unknown in Armacanus, fob 15, ba.
20
—reference to the imperial edict of Domitian vention was held under his successor,
Ireland until after 703; thirdly, from his
This is an anachronism; for the con-
Loingsech, son of Aengus. Finachta was slain in 693, according to Dr. O'Donovan's "Annals of the Four Masters. " He was immediately succeeded by Loingsech. See vol. i. , pp. 296, 297.
2I
See chap. xxi. ,xxii.
"It mentions oechmA-o. A, "tithes,"
which were not known in Ireland, until
was the technical term among the Irish for
a saint's relics. From reliquice comes the contains an anachronism regarding the
a forgery according to Muratori of the period between 755 and 766—and, fourthly, from his anachronism about the Convention, at which Irish women were freed from liability to fight in battles. See p. I.
18
29th of August.
19 The word in the original is mAjtcfiA. It
His Decollation is celebrated on the
M
sepulchretum," and from Martyres, the tttAficAfire-Ach ot the Annals of Ulster at A. D. 721, 754, 1055, latinized
Convention at which Irishwomen were freed from liability to engage in battle, by Fin- nachta the Festive. Moreover, it fails in
Irish |ieiti5,
longafterthetimeofAdamnan. Again,it
September 23. ] LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. 495
u""" the Gorta, or Famine ; the Nuno or Scarcity ;
of Fruit " ;
23 A second vision, or rather a to supplement
not Adamnan's
the first vision follows. In it, the wickedness of Ireland's inhabitants, and also those mortalities with which they were visited, and must yet be visited, are
composition.
recounted. It mentions such visitations, as the Scamhach, or "
the Bo-ar, or M Cow " the toraid, or " mortality j Digbail Blight
"
" Human Mortality. " It announces, that prayer and fasting are the only sure preservatives against an infliction of those various evils. 2* The second part of Adamnan's vision contains instructions for the 35 that
was on the feast of the Decollation of the 26 apprehended, John Baptist.
How far St. Adamnan extended his missionary labours and travels
throughout Ireland has not been clearly ascertained, but some traces may be inferredfromtraditionsthatremain. WhenonavisittoIreland,Adamnan
2
is said to have preached to his relatives, ? the descendants of Fiacha, son to
and on a hill in the townland of 28 which ever since has borne Niall, Syonan,
his name. 29 The place is in the parish of Ardnurcher, diocese and county of Meath. 3°
The church of Raphoe, originally founded by St. Columkille, seems afterwards to have been presided over by St. Adamnan—also called Eunan— who is regarded as the Patron Saint. Local tradition states, that Adamnan
passed some time at this place, and memorials of him exist in that "
neighbourhood. AtRathbothorRaphoe, thefortofboothsorcottages," it has been thought, Adamnan or Eunan spent some of his closing years in
Ireland, not uninfluenced, perhaps, by the opposition of the island
monastery to its abbot's unremitting efforts to secure uniformity in the time
for celebrating Easter with the rest of the Christian Church. There above
every other place were his relatives powerful, and an episcopal See might
have been established in his time; the silence of early writers on this
matter not leaving it improbable, that he was then in episcopal orders. The
bishop of Raphoe—as our ancient annalists state—was Coarb of Adamnan,
or Coarb of Columba and Adamnan, the latter name being the distinctive one
in that place. 3
1
In like manner, at Raphoe was shown an object called Eunan's
authenticity, as is sufficiently manifested, prophesied by Columbcille, Moling and
from a reference to the Imperial Edict of Constantine of a donation to Sylvester, AbbotofRome.
23 The language of the Vision is marked by many characteristics of Middle-age Irish ; such as the confusion of e and i in desinence;
Aireran. The Annals of Clonmacnoise, at
550, attribute the prediction concerning the
ScuabFanaitto BeeMaDe,KingDermot
mac Cerbhail's poet. See Dr. O'Donovan's
"
Annals of the Four Masters," vol. i. , n. (z. ), p. 196.
ae for and // for la, In ;
ndfor nn, ur for
2fi The of 29th day
putting
August.
2? This was the local tradition.
air, er, prosthesis of /; metathesis of cs and is ; final a for ae, at, e ; in the
Preface, p. liii.
2
3I After a lapse of 1,300 years, since the death of St. Columkille, a great Festival was inaugurated and celebrated at Gartan, in the County of Donegal, the place of his
oe,
28
It is Suix>e A-oArhnAm in Irish, that is, article disuse of the neuter forms of the " Seat of Adamnain. " The ruins oi a nom. and ace. singular, and use of na castle exist here, but Macgeoghegan says
for the nom. plural m. , the dual, and the that it was not church land.
dat. plural; in adjectives, use of the fem. *9 See Dr. O'Donovan's "Annals of the form in the nom. plural masc. ; and in the Four Masters," at a. d. 703, vol. i. , n. (u), case of verbs compounded with prepositions, p. 305.
use of absolute instead of subjoined forms. 3° See Rev. A. Cogan's "Diocese of
24 See Rev. Dr. Reeves' Adamnan's Meath, ancient and modern," vol. ii. , "Life of St. Columba. " Appendix to chap, xix. , p. 497.
5The note on the Feilire of Aengus at
this day states, that the Scuab a Fanait or
Besom of Fanad was a plague which was to
visit Ireland in the latter times, in revenge birth. The observations contained in the for the beheading of John the Baptist, as text are arguments advanced by a djs-
averting mortality
Leprosy ;
aud the Dunibadh, or
496 LIVESOFTHEIRISHSAINTS. [Septembera3.
Bed, in the seventeenth century ; and a Round Tower, which the Bishops of
a
Raphoe had converted into a Museum,3 was there a short time previous.
Before Adamnan had been promoted as Abbot of Iona, Colgan expressly calls him Abbot at Raphoe. 33 Whether he filled the latter position or not has been questioned ; but, he was the person, by whose name the succession at Raphoe used to be distinguished. 34 He was particularly revered as the patron Saint of its monastery and church. It is considered as certain, that he had been closely connected with that place ; and if not absolutely the founder of its church, he was, at least, an abbot there over its monastery. 35 It is strongly suspected, by the learned Dr. Lanigan, that St. Eunan,36 who is usually called the first bishop of Raphoe, was no other than Adamnan ;37 not that he would allow Adamnan had ever been a bishop, for, were it so, he could not have become abbot of Hy, but that he was the ancient patron Saint of the place before it became an episcopal See, the period for such erection not being known. An object of veneration, called the Holy Cross ofRaphoe,stoodthereformerlyj perhapsithadsomerelationtothepatron saint. 38 The cross in question was afterwards removed from Raphoe to Armagh, by John Prene, Archbishop of this latter See, about the year 1441. 39 An opinion has been entertained, likewise, that Adamnan was abbot at Raphoe, which perhaps had been founded by himself, before he was appointed to govern the whole Columban order. Whether or not he repaired the monastery, said to have been erected by St. Columkille at Raphoe, may be doubted, as we find no sufficient warrant for this statement. *
In the present century, a suitable memorial of religious zeal and devotion has been raised to commemorate St. Adamnan or Eunan at Raphoe.
tinguished prelate, to show that Adamnan of
Iona was the same as Eunan, first bishop
of Raphoe. See an interesting illustrated
publication of the proceedings, intituled :
" Cuimne Coluimcitte," or the Gartan
Festival, being a Record of the Celebration very remarkable circumstance, that the
held at Gartan on the 9th June, 1897, the Thirteenth Centennial of St. Columba," Second Introduction, pp. 10 to 12. Dublin 1898, 8vo.
32 " Ostendebatur Raphoe, non ita pri-
dem, lectus ejus. Ibi porro turris erat
rotunda, colli imposita, in qua Episcopi Rapotenses Musseum olim habebant. "—Sir James Ware, " I)e Praesulibus Hibernise Commentarius. " Episcopi Rapotenses, p. 73.
festival of the saint called Eunan, is kept on the 23rd of September. Now this was the very day, on which Adamnan died, and on which his memory was revered, not only at Raphoe, but in many other churches. The name Eunan, is, I allow, not favour- able to the conjecture of his identity with
person better versed in the Irish language 33 See "Trias Thaumaturga," Quinta than I am might perhaps find some analogy
between them. " — " Ecclesiastical History of Ireland," vol. iii. , chap, xiii. , sect, v. , n. 59, p. 100.
38 In Dr. ODonovan's "Annals of the wise of Adamnan, insomuch as he had been Four Masters," vol. iv. , pp. 750, 751, we
Appendix ad Acta S. Columbae, cap. iii.
34 Thus Malbrigid, who died Archbishop of Armagh in 926, is called comorban or
successor, not only of St. Patrick, but like-
abbot and not bishop at Raphoe as Harris states, before he was raised to the See of
See Harris' Ware, vol. i. ,
read, under the year 1397, a certain Hugh
MacMahon recovered his sight by fasting
in honour of the Holy Cross of Raphoe,
and the image of the blessed regarding
Armagh.
" of Bishops
Raphoe," p.
270.
35 See Rev. Dr. Lanigan's " Ecclesiastical Virgin Mary at Ath-Trim. In Harris'
History of Ireland," vol. iii. , chap, xviii. , sect, v. , n. 59, p. 99.
—supposed to be first bishop at Raphoe— nor could Ware discover any account of him. The first bishop of Raphoe, that we meet
Bishops of Raphoe," p.
36 Colgan never mentions this St. Eunan
with on Colgan's List, was Malduin Mac
Kinfalaid, who died about 930. See
"Trias Thaumaturga," Quinta Appendix
ad Acta S. Columbae, cap. vi. ( p. 509.
3? TheRev. Dr. Laniganadds "
: Itisa
Adamnan
have been might some
but there
reason for this variation of names, and a
;
"
Ware, vol. i. ,
270, this Hugh MacMahon is incorrectly styled Hugh Matthew.
39 See ibid.
40 It is affirmed, however, in Harris' Ware,
vol. i. ,
"
Bishops of Raphoe," p. 269.
September 23. ] LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS.
