Lanigan's opinion ; and, he throws out a conjec- ture, that this saint may have been identical with Assanus, whose feast
is assigned to the 27th of April.
is assigned to the 27th of April.
O'Hanlon - Lives of the Irish Saints - v4
Patrick, chap, cviii.
, p.
90.
"3 This name must have been originally,
in the opinion of Mr. O'Donovan, that of a Bade Biatach, or one thirtieth part of a Trio- cha clicad, or B. irony, and it must have com-
.
April 27. ] LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. 509
quently, it became the seat of a bishop. 's Over this church, Ascicus was placed, most probably as a priest, at first, and subsequently, he became its
One account has it, that a falsehood had been told by Ascicus, and that it caused his retirement from the See. '? Citing a passage from some ancient author, the Tripartite Life of St. Patrick only states, that St. Patrick placed Ascicus, at Elphin. '' Nothing is recorded, however, to indi- cate, that he was then its bishop. Ascicus was summoned from Elphin, it is conjectured, to assist in making utensils, for the use of St.
of Priest. Being called in the Tripartite Life, the faber aeris of St. Patrick, the Rev. Dr. Lanigan supposes, that after the foundation of Armagh, and when St. Patrick had acquired a permanent residence, he had occasion for our saint's services, as a worker in brass. He then infers, tliat Ascicus was not made a bishop over Elphin, until after he had ceased to work at Armagh. He must necessarily have resided in his diocese, it is argued, to discharge well the episcopal functions. According to some accounts,'? he was conse- crated bishop, by St. Patrick, although we cannot find, at what particular time.
Tradition has it, that St. Ascicus was the first Bishop of Elphin, and
he is now venerated as the Patron of that diocese. He is thought to have
flourished, at a very early period ; but, whether his elevation to that See
occurred, during the lifetime of St. Patrick, 3° or after his death, cannot be dis-
tinctly ascertained. The present parish of Elphin is situated in Roscommon
barony,andinthecountybearingthatsamename. '" Notavestigeofany ancient building can now be traced in Elphin. Even the Ailfitin, or " stone
of the clear fountain," has disappeared ; yet, it is curious, that when it was bro- ken, the Ail stood several perches from the present St. Patrick's well at Elphin.
This spring is now directly opposite the cathedral. It is enclosed, and it sup- plies the town with fine water ; but, its original purity has suffered considera- bly from sewers, which pass very close to it under the street. Mr. O'Donovan inclines rather to believe, that this clear fountain, called lionn, and the pillar
and Cartrons. There is no lownland at pre-
sent I. Trger than a quarter of an original
Baile Bi. iiach, and the number of greater
them are only Lecariows and Cartrons. tory of Ireland," vol. i. , chap, v. , sect, ix. ,
Bishop. ''
Patrick's church at Armagh, and when he had not passed the grade ""
If the topographer does not bear this in mind, he will often fall into mistake. See
pp. 240 to 244, with nn. 75 to 86.
'^ Such is the statement contained in the
"
Letters containing Information relative to
Sexta Vita S. Patricii, cap. cvii. , p. 89. '* "
the Antiquities ol the County of Roscom- mon, collected during the Progress of the Ordnance Survey in 1837-S," vol. ii. , p. 41. Mr. O'Donovan's Letter, dated Alfin, August 8th, 1837.
** The antiquities in the parish of Elphin,
besides the —cathedral church, and
See Dr. Lanigan's Ecclesiastical His- tory of Ireland," vol. i. , chap, vii. , sect, v. , n. 50, pp. 342, 343.
Killoy-
nagher were 1. Cloonroughan, a chapel or and at the 17th of March. It is however,
cell belonging to friars of the third order of St. Francis. 2. Templemoyle, in the town- land of Kilnanooan, which is the ruin of a small chapel, called an abbey in the Name Bookofthe Irish OrdnanceSurvey and
doubtful whethe—r he was one during the
common,
^ All that remains therefore of the vingnA
;3- Laghtcausk, another ruin of a chapel. See
north, by theparishesofShanl<ill, Killmacumsy,Creeve, Aughrim, ClooncnfT, and part of Creeve ; on the east, by the parish of Kiltrustan ; on the south, by the parishes of Ogulla, Kilcooley, and part of Ogulla ; and, on the west, by the parish of Kilcorkey. See Index Map to the Ordnance Survey of the County of Ros-
ibid. , p. 40.
'5 In his time, Colgan remarks, that
Alfinn to his day was an Episcopal See of ample exient in Connaughi, and that Boetius Egan, belonging to our order of Friars minor of the strict observance, was a man venerable for his merits, and at that day, he was there as bishop. See " Trias Thauma-
turga," Septima Vita S. Patricii, pars, ii. , cap. xxxviii. , n. 75, p. 176.
^ See Dr. " Ecclesiastical His- Lanigan's
"' This is stated by Jocelyn. See Colgan's "Trias Thaumattirga," Sexta Vita S. Patiicii, cap. cvii. , p. 89.
in vol. iii. of this
Life, work, "
*> gee his
^' is bounded on the Elphin parish
Rev. Dr. "Ec- Lanigan's
saint's lifetime. "
clesinstical History of Ireland," vol. i. , chap, vii. , sect, vi. , p. 340.
510 LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. [April 27.
stone, called Ail, had been long venerated by the gentiles in Ireland, before St. Patrick built his cathedral opposite to llieni. The arx or fort of the noble Druid Ono is also levelled to the ground, altliough the spot it occupied was remembered in local traditions. 3= The castle 33 of Elpliin stood where the pound was afterwards built, and its site is shown in Castle-street. The Dominican Abbey stood not far to the north, in the land now called Abbey Cartron. 34 In 1683,35 the town of Elphin is stated to have been such another as Roscommon : and, an idle legend is given, to account for the origin of its name,3* said to have been derived from a remarkable stone,37 which has been long since broken and removed. There was a tradition, that if it were dis-
placed, water siiould issue from that spot it occupied and inundate the town. ''
It is suggested,39 our saint could not have been bishop of Elphin, about a. d.
437,accordingtotheTripartitechronology; but,thatanepiscopalseminaryor a monastic college had been early established here, is an oiiinion entertained. Over this commimity, Ascicus is said to have presided,•° but when, or for what period, has not been stated. Through the desire of leading a more penitential life, the saint withdrew from his Bishopric, and retired to Siiebhliag mountain, now Slieve-league,'*' inTir-Boghaine,*^ which is within the county of Donegal. There he lived on an island,<3 called Rathlin O'Birne, for seven years. His monks sought him, for a long time, and they found him, alter much trouble, hiding in the mountain glens. Because of the evil sayings circulated, and to which allusion •'• has been already made, his disciples could not prevail on him to remain in his See. Yet, he went with them into a solitary and desert place, where his death afterwards occurred. The year of his demise, how- ever, has not come down to us. He was buried at Rathcunga, in Seirthe. ^* Tyrhugh barony,<* in the county of Donegal,'7 contained Magh-Seiridh, the plain to which allusion has been made. '*' There, St. Piitrick is said to have erectedachurch. « Itssitemaystillbetraced,andwhereitseemsprobable,
of Elfin is the well Fionn, now called after St. Patrick. See Mr. O'Donovan's l. euer,
«°See Archdall's "Monasticon Hiberni- cum," p. 609.
" This is a precipitous mountain, rising over the Atlantic Ocean, in the parish of
d. Tted Elphin, August 1st, 1S37, in "Letters
containing InTormiition relative to the Anti-
quities of the County of Roscommon, Gleiicolumkille. It commands in cleat
weather a view of Croagh Patrick, on the south-west.
'' It is now the barony of Banagh, and it lies in the west of the county of Donegal.
found, that there was no evidence to point fifty acres. Although lying adjacent to the out the very spot on which it stood. See parish ol Glencolitmkille, it has been eccle-
collected duringthe progress of the Ordnance
Survey in 1837-8,' vol. ii. , pp. 2 to 9. 3^Tlie field, lying to the east of it, wascalled the castle garden, in all leases granted by the
Bishops, to the f. irmers who lioM it.
3* Af'er caieful enquiry, Mr. O' Donovan ca Is that island Rochuil. It cont-tins about
ibid. John O'Dunovan's Letter, dnted Alfin,
August Sih, 1837, vol. li. , pp. 40 to 42.
3= Mr. John Keogh wrote an account of
siastically placed in the parish of Kilbarron, upwards of twenty miles distant, owing to some old connection of all the religious houses in Kilbarron, where St. Columba
Elphin for this year.
3' According to John Keogh: "The fotindedthischuicli,andneartoBally. -hannon.
name is said to be drawn from a stone said to be remaining there as a monument which hath the form of the letter /, and is reported to have been cast in that place, by the great Irish champion Phuon M. ic Coole. Where- upon from L anil Piiuon the place took its
*" According to Jocelyn's Vita S. Patricii, cap. cvi. , p. 8g.
•5 This IS the "Rath-Cunga, in Campo- Sereth," mentioned by Tirechan, in his Life of St Patrick.
" Formerly Tir-Aodha territory.
*' See Rev. Dr. Lan ' ' Ecclesiastical gan's
History of Ireland," vol. i. , chap, vii. , sect,
first and then cor- 3' it stood in the very middle of the tnwn.
denomination ruptly Elphin. "
Elphuon
3'
stone fell in his own time, and that it stood O'Dugain and of Giolla na Naoimh over the well of Elphin. O'Huidhrin," edited by Dr. O'Donovan,
Roderick O'Flaherty states, that this
" By Rev. Dr. Lanigan. p. zxx.
<3 The Book oT Armagh, in narrating this,
vi. , pp. 340, 341. *" •'
. "iee The topographical Poems of John
April 27. ] LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. 511
his monks resolved to spend their days with St. Ascicus, so long as he con- tinued in this life. Here, also, tiiere is a conical hill, locally known by the name of Racoon, the apex of which is entrenciied like a rath, and it contains an ancient cemeterv. This is now used, but only for the interment of unbap- tized children. It lies within tlie townland Ballymagroarty, in the parish of Drumhome. 5° The king of that country gave to St. Ascicus, and to his monks after his death, the pasture of one hundred cows, with their calves, and also twenty oxen, as a perpetual offering. After their master's death, the monks built a monastery at Rath Cunga, wherein they served Almighty God, in jus- tice and in sanctity. '' The church built there was regarded as belonging to St. Patrick, the master and patron of Ascicus. s' It lay within the diocese of
Raphoe, and within the territory of Tyrconnell. 'J
The present holy Bishop must have died, before the close of the
fifth century, in Dr.
Lanigan's opinion ; and, he throws out a conjec- ture, that this saint may have been identical with Assanus, whose feast
is assigned to the 27th of April. 5« His disciples buried St. Assicus, in Rath-Cunga,55 and there, too, his remains were honourably pre-
served. On this day, also, our saint is honoured, as patron of Elphin dio- cese, and there his festival is celebrated as a Double of the first-class, with an octave. It is a Duplex Major, for the rest of Ireland. The remains of St. Ascicus were preserved in Rath-Cunga, when the Tripartite Life of St. Patrick had been written. To the Irish Apostle, also, belongs that church, upon which thepeopleofColum-CilleandofArd-Srathas*hadthenencroached. Itissome- what strange, that there is no mention of a festival in honour of St. Ascicus, in
the published edition of Tallagh Martyrology, at the 27th of April. " This elicits the observation,'' that we can hardly help suspecting, that Assicus and ThassachusS' of Rathcolpa,*° now Raholp. county of Down, were one and the same. '' It is remarked, by Colgan,*' that the Natalis of Ascicus cannot be found in the Irish Martyrologies, although the name be thus written in the ActsofSt. Patrick. But,heconjectures,thatasoursaintwasamanofgreat sanctity, his name ought not be omitted from the calendars, and it is most pro- bably found under some different spelling. He supposes, that our saint was identical with that Assanus, whose feast occurs, at the 27th of April, according to Marianus O'Gorman and to the Martyrology of Donegal ; or perhaps, he was the Ossin venerated, at the istof May, or at the iQth of July. Father Henry
"
5° See Rev. Dr. Keeves' Adamnan's Life of . St. Columba," n. (e). p 38.
''See Co'gan's "Trias Thaumaturga,"
" See " Tiias Colgan's
&c. , where are the names p. xxii. ,
Thaumaturga," Septima Vita S. Patricii, pars, ii. , cap. xl. ,
Saints,"
of the four saints, wliose festivais are set down at this day, and no one of these names can he resoived intothat of St. Ascius. On the d. iy preiious, there is an"Asaoch"or "Isaac,' li/V/. , pp. xxii. 2. It may be aslted, if there be any affinity or identity discover- able in it.
=' From Rev. Dr. Todd,
59 See a notice of him, at the 14th of this montli.
** Both were workers in metals for St. Patrick.
' See "The Hook of Obits and Martyr- olo^yofthe Cathedral Church of the Holy Trinity, commonly called Christ Church, Dublin," &c. . Edited by John Clarke Crosihwaite, A. M. , and Rev. Dr. James
llenthorn Todd, D. D. , Introduction, p. xiii , and n (p).
" See "Tnas Thaumaturga," Vita Sexta S. Patricii, n. 122, p. 114.
p. 135.
Sexta Vita S. Patricii, cap. cvi. , cvii. , pp. 89, 90.
V See Uid. , Septima V^ita S. Patricii, pars. ii. , cap. xl. , p. 135.
SJ See /*;</, n. 79, p. 176.
'* See Rev. Dr.
History of Ireland," vol. i. , chap, viii. , sect. xiii. , p. 418.
's See Colgan's "Trias Thaumaturga," Septim. ! Vita S. Patricii, pars, ii. , cap. xl. , p. 135. St. Bite was also burie<l there, with five other B;shops. See n. 79, p. 176.
* Now a parish church, but formerly, it was a cathedral, at Ardstraw, near Strabane, in the county of Tv rone.
" See Rev. Dr. Kelly's "Calendar of Irish
Lanigan's
" Ecclesiastical
'^ See Catalogus aliquorum Sanctorum
S" LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. [April 27.
Fitzsimon includes St. Ascitis, Bishop, in his Catalogue,*3 but he gives not a dayfortliefeast. IntheparishofBandon,thereisanolddisusedgraveyard, called Killhassan. A conjecture is offered, that it may have been called after St. Hassan, or Hassa, St. Patrick's artificer. The low wall of an old church, in the centre, measures about 42 feet, by 14, in the clear. The remains are ofrudematerial,andcoveredwithanet-workofbrambles. Thisspotlies three miles west from Bandon. *'* Further particulars for record we cannot find, to illustrate the acts of the primitive and venerable Bishop, who is
special patron of Elphin diocese.
Article II. —St. Assan, Patron of Raheny Church, County of Dublin. Several Irish saints are only recollected by name, in various locali- ties, and where, not even the time when they flourished is now known, nor the vestige of an ancient church can be found, and associated with their memory. The BoUandists,' quoting the Martyrologies of Tallagh and of Marianus O'Gorman, notice a feast for St. Assanus, at the 27th of April. This may be theLatinizedformforOissin—averycommonIrishname. Whetherhebe identical or not with Assicus, bishop and patron of Elphin diocese, may be questioned ; although Colgan hazards a conjecture to this effect, and the BoUandists have a nearly similar remark. = We learn from Arch-
bishop Alan's3 Register,4 that a church at Raheny, which formerly belonged to the Prior and Convent of the Holy Trinity at Dublin, was after-
wards exchanged, and that it went under the jurisdiction of St. Mary's Con- vent,nearDublin. s Yet,wefindtherenonoticeofapatronsaint,forthe church ; nor is this much to be wondered at, since the original sacred build- ing at Raheny perished,* when that district passed under the domination of the Northmen rule, in and near Dublin. It must be observed, likewise, that after the Anglo-Norman invasion,' several new religious establishments, in the Diocese of Dublin, displaced more ancient ones. Then, also, new patrons were substituted for the old Irish ones, so as completely to obliterate even the traces of our early Christian history. Thetownland of Ratheny, no doubt, takes its name from a conspicuous rath,^ which has been curtailed of its former dimensions ; and, through Raheny passes a stream, anciently called, as we are told, Skillings Glas. Between the Protestant Church and the Railway Station
Hibernioe, in O'SuUivan Scare's " Historise Catholica; Ibt-rniae Compendium," tomiis i. , lib. iv. , cap. xii. , p. 52.
'* The foregoing information was given, in a letter to the author, from Rev. John Lyons, C. C. , and headed, Bandon, November loth, 1882.
AuTiCLE n. — ' See "Acta Sanctorum, tonius iii. , Aprilis xxvii. Among the pre-
termitted saints, p. 475.
= See ''Trias Thaumaturga, Vita Sexta
S. Patricii, n. 122, p. 114.
5 An account of John Alan, or Allen, who
ruled as Catholic Archbishop of Dublin, from A. D. 152810 1534. will be found in Harris Wave, vol. i. , Archbishops of Dublin, pp. 346 to 348. Besides the " Repertorium Viride," he compiled the "Liber Niger seu Registrum Johaunis Alani," to which some additions seem to have been made, A fur- ther account of these Records will be seen, in the Introduclion to this work, sect, vii. , nn. 215, 216.
* There is a folio paper Manuscript, in the Royal Irish Academy, which is a copy of Repertorium Viride Johannis Septimi Archi- episcopi Duljliniensis agnomine Alanus. This transcript is traced, it is said, in Gene- ral Vallancey's handwriting.
5 See ibid. p. ig,
'We are informed, that Gilcolm was the owner of Ratheny, previously to the Anglo- Norman invasion, and that, probably, he be- longed to the Irish family 01 Mac Gilla Col- mac. See Right Rev. Patrick F. Moran's new edition of Archdall's " Monasticon Hibernicum," vol. i. , p. 307, n. 15.
' By a grant from the Earl of Strongbow, Vivian De Cursun acquired the lands of
Ratheny, and in I2I0, John De Coursun, Lord of Ratheny and Kilbarrack, was slain by the sons of Hugh De Lasci and Walter, LordofMeath. ' Seeibid.
"
*
See John D'Alton's "History of Dro-
gheda," &c. , vol. i. Introductory Memoir, p. Ixxv.
April 27. ] LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. S13
was St. Ossan's well, reputed holy, but it is now covered up in the field; how- ever, an ash tree and a depression there mark its site. The writer of a note, in Right Rev. Patrick F. Moran's edition of Archdall's work,9 states, that a Bishop Ossan, connected witli the monastery of St. Fintan Munnu, son of Tulcan,wasthePatronSaintofRatheny. '° Hediedintheyear683,"but we have great doubt, that he had been the Ossen associated with Ratheny. In the year 1859, the first movement took place for the erection of a new CatholicChurchatRaheny,inthecountyofDublin. Sincethetimesofreli- gious persecution commenced, no building to supply a local want, which had been long felt, was in existence. Within a i^^ years, however, a convenient and handsome rural church was erected, to the honour of St. Assan, for that
St. . Asian's Catholic Church, Raheny.
suburbanvillage,withintheCatholicunionofClontarfParish. " ThePro- testant church there stands on a rising ground,'3 and it had been rebuilt in I722. '* ItwasoriginallydedicatedtoSt. Assan. 's Alocaltraditionhaspre- vailed, and the origin for which cannot now be traced, that he had been a saint, venerated in the neighbourhood ; and, to preserve his memory, it was resolved to place the new Catholic church under his patronage. The Very Rev. Canon Rooney, V. F. , and P.
"3 This name must have been originally,
in the opinion of Mr. O'Donovan, that of a Bade Biatach, or one thirtieth part of a Trio- cha clicad, or B. irony, and it must have com-
.
April 27. ] LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. 509
quently, it became the seat of a bishop. 's Over this church, Ascicus was placed, most probably as a priest, at first, and subsequently, he became its
One account has it, that a falsehood had been told by Ascicus, and that it caused his retirement from the See. '? Citing a passage from some ancient author, the Tripartite Life of St. Patrick only states, that St. Patrick placed Ascicus, at Elphin. '' Nothing is recorded, however, to indi- cate, that he was then its bishop. Ascicus was summoned from Elphin, it is conjectured, to assist in making utensils, for the use of St.
of Priest. Being called in the Tripartite Life, the faber aeris of St. Patrick, the Rev. Dr. Lanigan supposes, that after the foundation of Armagh, and when St. Patrick had acquired a permanent residence, he had occasion for our saint's services, as a worker in brass. He then infers, tliat Ascicus was not made a bishop over Elphin, until after he had ceased to work at Armagh. He must necessarily have resided in his diocese, it is argued, to discharge well the episcopal functions. According to some accounts,'? he was conse- crated bishop, by St. Patrick, although we cannot find, at what particular time.
Tradition has it, that St. Ascicus was the first Bishop of Elphin, and
he is now venerated as the Patron of that diocese. He is thought to have
flourished, at a very early period ; but, whether his elevation to that See
occurred, during the lifetime of St. Patrick, 3° or after his death, cannot be dis-
tinctly ascertained. The present parish of Elphin is situated in Roscommon
barony,andinthecountybearingthatsamename. '" Notavestigeofany ancient building can now be traced in Elphin. Even the Ailfitin, or " stone
of the clear fountain," has disappeared ; yet, it is curious, that when it was bro- ken, the Ail stood several perches from the present St. Patrick's well at Elphin.
This spring is now directly opposite the cathedral. It is enclosed, and it sup- plies the town with fine water ; but, its original purity has suffered considera- bly from sewers, which pass very close to it under the street. Mr. O'Donovan inclines rather to believe, that this clear fountain, called lionn, and the pillar
and Cartrons. There is no lownland at pre-
sent I. Trger than a quarter of an original
Baile Bi. iiach, and the number of greater
them are only Lecariows and Cartrons. tory of Ireland," vol. i. , chap, v. , sect, ix. ,
Bishop. ''
Patrick's church at Armagh, and when he had not passed the grade ""
If the topographer does not bear this in mind, he will often fall into mistake. See
pp. 240 to 244, with nn. 75 to 86.
'^ Such is the statement contained in the
"
Letters containing Information relative to
Sexta Vita S. Patricii, cap. cvii. , p. 89. '* "
the Antiquities ol the County of Roscom- mon, collected during the Progress of the Ordnance Survey in 1837-S," vol. ii. , p. 41. Mr. O'Donovan's Letter, dated Alfin, August 8th, 1837.
** The antiquities in the parish of Elphin,
besides the —cathedral church, and
See Dr. Lanigan's Ecclesiastical His- tory of Ireland," vol. i. , chap, vii. , sect, v. , n. 50, pp. 342, 343.
Killoy-
nagher were 1. Cloonroughan, a chapel or and at the 17th of March. It is however,
cell belonging to friars of the third order of St. Francis. 2. Templemoyle, in the town- land of Kilnanooan, which is the ruin of a small chapel, called an abbey in the Name Bookofthe Irish OrdnanceSurvey and
doubtful whethe—r he was one during the
common,
^ All that remains therefore of the vingnA
;3- Laghtcausk, another ruin of a chapel. See
north, by theparishesofShanl<ill, Killmacumsy,Creeve, Aughrim, ClooncnfT, and part of Creeve ; on the east, by the parish of Kiltrustan ; on the south, by the parishes of Ogulla, Kilcooley, and part of Ogulla ; and, on the west, by the parish of Kilcorkey. See Index Map to the Ordnance Survey of the County of Ros-
ibid. , p. 40.
'5 In his time, Colgan remarks, that
Alfinn to his day was an Episcopal See of ample exient in Connaughi, and that Boetius Egan, belonging to our order of Friars minor of the strict observance, was a man venerable for his merits, and at that day, he was there as bishop. See " Trias Thauma-
turga," Septima Vita S. Patricii, pars, ii. , cap. xxxviii. , n. 75, p. 176.
^ See Dr. " Ecclesiastical His- Lanigan's
"' This is stated by Jocelyn. See Colgan's "Trias Thaumattirga," Sexta Vita S. Patiicii, cap. cvii. , p. 89.
in vol. iii. of this
Life, work, "
*> gee his
^' is bounded on the Elphin parish
Rev. Dr. "Ec- Lanigan's
saint's lifetime. "
clesinstical History of Ireland," vol. i. , chap, vii. , sect, vi. , p. 340.
510 LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. [April 27.
stone, called Ail, had been long venerated by the gentiles in Ireland, before St. Patrick built his cathedral opposite to llieni. The arx or fort of the noble Druid Ono is also levelled to the ground, altliough the spot it occupied was remembered in local traditions. 3= The castle 33 of Elpliin stood where the pound was afterwards built, and its site is shown in Castle-street. The Dominican Abbey stood not far to the north, in the land now called Abbey Cartron. 34 In 1683,35 the town of Elphin is stated to have been such another as Roscommon : and, an idle legend is given, to account for the origin of its name,3* said to have been derived from a remarkable stone,37 which has been long since broken and removed. There was a tradition, that if it were dis-
placed, water siiould issue from that spot it occupied and inundate the town. ''
It is suggested,39 our saint could not have been bishop of Elphin, about a. d.
437,accordingtotheTripartitechronology; but,thatanepiscopalseminaryor a monastic college had been early established here, is an oiiinion entertained. Over this commimity, Ascicus is said to have presided,•° but when, or for what period, has not been stated. Through the desire of leading a more penitential life, the saint withdrew from his Bishopric, and retired to Siiebhliag mountain, now Slieve-league,'*' inTir-Boghaine,*^ which is within the county of Donegal. There he lived on an island,<3 called Rathlin O'Birne, for seven years. His monks sought him, for a long time, and they found him, alter much trouble, hiding in the mountain glens. Because of the evil sayings circulated, and to which allusion •'• has been already made, his disciples could not prevail on him to remain in his See. Yet, he went with them into a solitary and desert place, where his death afterwards occurred. The year of his demise, how- ever, has not come down to us. He was buried at Rathcunga, in Seirthe. ^* Tyrhugh barony,<* in the county of Donegal,'7 contained Magh-Seiridh, the plain to which allusion has been made. '*' There, St. Piitrick is said to have erectedachurch. « Itssitemaystillbetraced,andwhereitseemsprobable,
of Elfin is the well Fionn, now called after St. Patrick. See Mr. O'Donovan's l. euer,
«°See Archdall's "Monasticon Hiberni- cum," p. 609.
" This is a precipitous mountain, rising over the Atlantic Ocean, in the parish of
d. Tted Elphin, August 1st, 1S37, in "Letters
containing InTormiition relative to the Anti-
quities of the County of Roscommon, Gleiicolumkille. It commands in cleat
weather a view of Croagh Patrick, on the south-west.
'' It is now the barony of Banagh, and it lies in the west of the county of Donegal.
found, that there was no evidence to point fifty acres. Although lying adjacent to the out the very spot on which it stood. See parish ol Glencolitmkille, it has been eccle-
collected duringthe progress of the Ordnance
Survey in 1837-8,' vol. ii. , pp. 2 to 9. 3^Tlie field, lying to the east of it, wascalled the castle garden, in all leases granted by the
Bishops, to the f. irmers who lioM it.
3* Af'er caieful enquiry, Mr. O' Donovan ca Is that island Rochuil. It cont-tins about
ibid. John O'Dunovan's Letter, dnted Alfin,
August Sih, 1837, vol. li. , pp. 40 to 42.
3= Mr. John Keogh wrote an account of
siastically placed in the parish of Kilbarron, upwards of twenty miles distant, owing to some old connection of all the religious houses in Kilbarron, where St. Columba
Elphin for this year.
3' According to John Keogh: "The fotindedthischuicli,andneartoBally. -hannon.
name is said to be drawn from a stone said to be remaining there as a monument which hath the form of the letter /, and is reported to have been cast in that place, by the great Irish champion Phuon M. ic Coole. Where- upon from L anil Piiuon the place took its
*" According to Jocelyn's Vita S. Patricii, cap. cvi. , p. 8g.
•5 This IS the "Rath-Cunga, in Campo- Sereth," mentioned by Tirechan, in his Life of St Patrick.
" Formerly Tir-Aodha territory.
*' See Rev. Dr. Lan ' ' Ecclesiastical gan's
History of Ireland," vol. i. , chap, vii. , sect,
first and then cor- 3' it stood in the very middle of the tnwn.
denomination ruptly Elphin. "
Elphuon
3'
stone fell in his own time, and that it stood O'Dugain and of Giolla na Naoimh over the well of Elphin. O'Huidhrin," edited by Dr. O'Donovan,
Roderick O'Flaherty states, that this
" By Rev. Dr. Lanigan. p. zxx.
<3 The Book oT Armagh, in narrating this,
vi. , pp. 340, 341. *" •'
. "iee The topographical Poems of John
April 27. ] LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. 511
his monks resolved to spend their days with St. Ascicus, so long as he con- tinued in this life. Here, also, tiiere is a conical hill, locally known by the name of Racoon, the apex of which is entrenciied like a rath, and it contains an ancient cemeterv. This is now used, but only for the interment of unbap- tized children. It lies within tlie townland Ballymagroarty, in the parish of Drumhome. 5° The king of that country gave to St. Ascicus, and to his monks after his death, the pasture of one hundred cows, with their calves, and also twenty oxen, as a perpetual offering. After their master's death, the monks built a monastery at Rath Cunga, wherein they served Almighty God, in jus- tice and in sanctity. '' The church built there was regarded as belonging to St. Patrick, the master and patron of Ascicus. s' It lay within the diocese of
Raphoe, and within the territory of Tyrconnell. 'J
The present holy Bishop must have died, before the close of the
fifth century, in Dr.
Lanigan's opinion ; and, he throws out a conjec- ture, that this saint may have been identical with Assanus, whose feast
is assigned to the 27th of April. 5« His disciples buried St. Assicus, in Rath-Cunga,55 and there, too, his remains were honourably pre-
served. On this day, also, our saint is honoured, as patron of Elphin dio- cese, and there his festival is celebrated as a Double of the first-class, with an octave. It is a Duplex Major, for the rest of Ireland. The remains of St. Ascicus were preserved in Rath-Cunga, when the Tripartite Life of St. Patrick had been written. To the Irish Apostle, also, belongs that church, upon which thepeopleofColum-CilleandofArd-Srathas*hadthenencroached. Itissome- what strange, that there is no mention of a festival in honour of St. Ascicus, in
the published edition of Tallagh Martyrology, at the 27th of April. " This elicits the observation,'' that we can hardly help suspecting, that Assicus and ThassachusS' of Rathcolpa,*° now Raholp. county of Down, were one and the same. '' It is remarked, by Colgan,*' that the Natalis of Ascicus cannot be found in the Irish Martyrologies, although the name be thus written in the ActsofSt. Patrick. But,heconjectures,thatasoursaintwasamanofgreat sanctity, his name ought not be omitted from the calendars, and it is most pro- bably found under some different spelling. He supposes, that our saint was identical with that Assanus, whose feast occurs, at the 27th of April, according to Marianus O'Gorman and to the Martyrology of Donegal ; or perhaps, he was the Ossin venerated, at the istof May, or at the iQth of July. Father Henry
"
5° See Rev. Dr. Keeves' Adamnan's Life of . St. Columba," n. (e). p 38.
''See Co'gan's "Trias Thaumaturga,"
" See " Tiias Colgan's
&c. , where are the names p. xxii. ,
Thaumaturga," Septima Vita S. Patricii, pars, ii. , cap. xl. ,
Saints,"
of the four saints, wliose festivais are set down at this day, and no one of these names can he resoived intothat of St. Ascius. On the d. iy preiious, there is an"Asaoch"or "Isaac,' li/V/. , pp. xxii. 2. It may be aslted, if there be any affinity or identity discover- able in it.
=' From Rev. Dr. Todd,
59 See a notice of him, at the 14th of this montli.
** Both were workers in metals for St. Patrick.
' See "The Hook of Obits and Martyr- olo^yofthe Cathedral Church of the Holy Trinity, commonly called Christ Church, Dublin," &c. . Edited by John Clarke Crosihwaite, A. M. , and Rev. Dr. James
llenthorn Todd, D. D. , Introduction, p. xiii , and n (p).
" See "Tnas Thaumaturga," Vita Sexta S. Patricii, n. 122, p. 114.
p. 135.
Sexta Vita S. Patricii, cap. cvi. , cvii. , pp. 89, 90.
V See Uid. , Septima V^ita S. Patricii, pars. ii. , cap. xl. , p. 135.
SJ See /*;</, n. 79, p. 176.
'* See Rev. Dr.
History of Ireland," vol. i. , chap, viii. , sect. xiii. , p. 418.
's See Colgan's "Trias Thaumaturga," Septim. ! Vita S. Patricii, pars, ii. , cap. xl. , p. 135. St. Bite was also burie<l there, with five other B;shops. See n. 79, p. 176.
* Now a parish church, but formerly, it was a cathedral, at Ardstraw, near Strabane, in the county of Tv rone.
" See Rev. Dr. Kelly's "Calendar of Irish
Lanigan's
" Ecclesiastical
'^ See Catalogus aliquorum Sanctorum
S" LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. [April 27.
Fitzsimon includes St. Ascitis, Bishop, in his Catalogue,*3 but he gives not a dayfortliefeast. IntheparishofBandon,thereisanolddisusedgraveyard, called Killhassan. A conjecture is offered, that it may have been called after St. Hassan, or Hassa, St. Patrick's artificer. The low wall of an old church, in the centre, measures about 42 feet, by 14, in the clear. The remains are ofrudematerial,andcoveredwithanet-workofbrambles. Thisspotlies three miles west from Bandon. *'* Further particulars for record we cannot find, to illustrate the acts of the primitive and venerable Bishop, who is
special patron of Elphin diocese.
Article II. —St. Assan, Patron of Raheny Church, County of Dublin. Several Irish saints are only recollected by name, in various locali- ties, and where, not even the time when they flourished is now known, nor the vestige of an ancient church can be found, and associated with their memory. The BoUandists,' quoting the Martyrologies of Tallagh and of Marianus O'Gorman, notice a feast for St. Assanus, at the 27th of April. This may be theLatinizedformforOissin—averycommonIrishname. Whetherhebe identical or not with Assicus, bishop and patron of Elphin diocese, may be questioned ; although Colgan hazards a conjecture to this effect, and the BoUandists have a nearly similar remark. = We learn from Arch-
bishop Alan's3 Register,4 that a church at Raheny, which formerly belonged to the Prior and Convent of the Holy Trinity at Dublin, was after-
wards exchanged, and that it went under the jurisdiction of St. Mary's Con- vent,nearDublin. s Yet,wefindtherenonoticeofapatronsaint,forthe church ; nor is this much to be wondered at, since the original sacred build- ing at Raheny perished,* when that district passed under the domination of the Northmen rule, in and near Dublin. It must be observed, likewise, that after the Anglo-Norman invasion,' several new religious establishments, in the Diocese of Dublin, displaced more ancient ones. Then, also, new patrons were substituted for the old Irish ones, so as completely to obliterate even the traces of our early Christian history. Thetownland of Ratheny, no doubt, takes its name from a conspicuous rath,^ which has been curtailed of its former dimensions ; and, through Raheny passes a stream, anciently called, as we are told, Skillings Glas. Between the Protestant Church and the Railway Station
Hibernioe, in O'SuUivan Scare's " Historise Catholica; Ibt-rniae Compendium," tomiis i. , lib. iv. , cap. xii. , p. 52.
'* The foregoing information was given, in a letter to the author, from Rev. John Lyons, C. C. , and headed, Bandon, November loth, 1882.
AuTiCLE n. — ' See "Acta Sanctorum, tonius iii. , Aprilis xxvii. Among the pre-
termitted saints, p. 475.
= See ''Trias Thaumaturga, Vita Sexta
S. Patricii, n. 122, p. 114.
5 An account of John Alan, or Allen, who
ruled as Catholic Archbishop of Dublin, from A. D. 152810 1534. will be found in Harris Wave, vol. i. , Archbishops of Dublin, pp. 346 to 348. Besides the " Repertorium Viride," he compiled the "Liber Niger seu Registrum Johaunis Alani," to which some additions seem to have been made, A fur- ther account of these Records will be seen, in the Introduclion to this work, sect, vii. , nn. 215, 216.
* There is a folio paper Manuscript, in the Royal Irish Academy, which is a copy of Repertorium Viride Johannis Septimi Archi- episcopi Duljliniensis agnomine Alanus. This transcript is traced, it is said, in Gene- ral Vallancey's handwriting.
5 See ibid. p. ig,
'We are informed, that Gilcolm was the owner of Ratheny, previously to the Anglo- Norman invasion, and that, probably, he be- longed to the Irish family 01 Mac Gilla Col- mac. See Right Rev. Patrick F. Moran's new edition of Archdall's " Monasticon Hibernicum," vol. i. , p. 307, n. 15.
' By a grant from the Earl of Strongbow, Vivian De Cursun acquired the lands of
Ratheny, and in I2I0, John De Coursun, Lord of Ratheny and Kilbarrack, was slain by the sons of Hugh De Lasci and Walter, LordofMeath. ' Seeibid.
"
*
See John D'Alton's "History of Dro-
gheda," &c. , vol. i. Introductory Memoir, p. Ixxv.
April 27. ] LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. S13
was St. Ossan's well, reputed holy, but it is now covered up in the field; how- ever, an ash tree and a depression there mark its site. The writer of a note, in Right Rev. Patrick F. Moran's edition of Archdall's work,9 states, that a Bishop Ossan, connected witli the monastery of St. Fintan Munnu, son of Tulcan,wasthePatronSaintofRatheny. '° Hediedintheyear683,"but we have great doubt, that he had been the Ossen associated with Ratheny. In the year 1859, the first movement took place for the erection of a new CatholicChurchatRaheny,inthecountyofDublin. Sincethetimesofreli- gious persecution commenced, no building to supply a local want, which had been long felt, was in existence. Within a i^^ years, however, a convenient and handsome rural church was erected, to the honour of St. Assan, for that
St. . Asian's Catholic Church, Raheny.
suburbanvillage,withintheCatholicunionofClontarfParish. " ThePro- testant church there stands on a rising ground,'3 and it had been rebuilt in I722. '* ItwasoriginallydedicatedtoSt. Assan. 's Alocaltraditionhaspre- vailed, and the origin for which cannot now be traced, that he had been a saint, venerated in the neighbourhood ; and, to preserve his memory, it was resolved to place the new Catholic church under his patronage. The Very Rev. Canon Rooney, V. F. , and P.
