Lanigans
seems to adhere to his opinion, that there were two Riochs, the one being a nephew of St.
O'Hanlon - Lives of the Irish Saints - v8
153.
"""
bernian," xxviii. Februarii. Vita S. Aidi Epis. et Confessoris, n. 24, p. 423.
'3 See Sir Ware's "De
James Hibernia,
et Antiquitatibus ejus," cap. xxvi. , p. 1 7 1.
"
on this
Hogan remarks: "Dr. Petric assures us,
version of the
Martyrology of Tallagh,"
at p. 69. 71
Mr.
Treating
subject,
John
name of the in which tract,
city,
August r. ] LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS.
there is no saint named Maul or Maula, in any Irish or other Calendar, or
Martyrology, yet published. He also notices, that it was always contrary to ecclesiastical law and usage to dedicate churches to others than saints. 2^
It seems, that an old tradition connected the present Kilkenny city, with a St. Rioch, who is held to have built a cell there, within the shelter of a secluded vale, and in a very primitive neighbourhood. There, he is said to have lived for a time, in solitude and prayer. Afterwards, he was joined by
a numerous
2
and it was the head of a parish, * lying on the west side of th—e River Nore. 'S
It has been —
stated, moreover,
that St. Rock's as it is now churchyard
and locality to suit the altered circumstances of the times, but still retaining in the sites of the primitive churches the names of the respective founders, and the evidence that from the beginning the ecclesiastical districts or parishes of what we now call Kilkenny
were — the same as at the numerically present
Anglo-Norman Invasion,
the ancient church
"
Southern andWestern Suburbs of Kilkenny,"
belonging to it having been demolished in
the destruction of the city by Donald
O'Brien of Limerick, in 1 1 75. Immediately
afterwards, the English colonists erected the
Hightown, English part Kilkenny, which St. Mary's Church became the centre and nucleus. This settlement they enclosed with the town wall, outside of which that church lay in ruins, and, so far as can be ascertained, it was never. rebuilt. See ibid. t part, iv. , p. 232.
27 Removed since 1820.
28 In the alluded to and paper already
written by Mr. Hogan, interesting local
day. "
Topographical Illustrations of the
"
Papers of the Kilkenny and South- East —of
Ireland Archaeological Society," vol. ii. New Series, November, 1859, No. 24, pp. 474, 475.
23 The Rev. Dr. Lanigan plainly asserts,
on the authority of Ware's "Irish Writers,"
by Mr. John Hogan, in
Proceedings and
that the name of Kenny's mother was "''
Melda," and that neither she nor Laidec," his father, had been recognised as saints. See " Ecclesiastical of vol.
History Ireland," ii. , chap, xii. , sect, vi. , p. 200.
whom his —attracted to this disciples, great sanctity place
of
of retirement. A—s we only find a single St. Rioch or as more generally calledMo-Riocc intheIrishCalendar,soithasbeenconjecturallysupposed, that the Kilkenny saint was not different from the holy man venerated on this day. The former cell is thought to have occupied the centre of a piece of ground, known as the Walking Green to the citizens. Afterwards, Tempul-na-Rioc or Kill-Rioc, Anglicized St. Rock's church, was built there,
body
commonly called indicates the site of that establishment. The burial-
ground lies at the south-west angle of an open space or common, formerly
called the and the Green. 26 A of Walkings, subsequently Walking's range
cabins 37 formerly separated it from the road. In front of these huts, a cess- pool had been sunk for the manufacture of manure; and, it is said, from the ends and sides of these pools, human remains projected. This tends to show, that at one period the churchyard there lay under the present ro—ad
—to have extended down under the
line. It is thought likewise Lough
which has now disappeared and tending towards the centre of Walkin's
28
Green.
that the primitive ecclesiastical establish-
ments in Ireland were founded by the Saints
whose names they still respectively rulai:-.
Hence the relationship claimed for Rioch
with Patrick and Mel, taken in connexion
with the interesting topographical coinci-
dence just noticed, reflects a new ray of light
on our primitive ecclesiology, and exhibits
the National Apostle and his two nephews
founding here three missionary stations,
which with a fourth subsequently opened by
St. Kenny, ultimately grew up into so many
parochial establishments, modified in name 3. mural entablature has been inserted and
24 The reader may find an interesting Map of the Ancient Parish of Saint Rioch, reduced from the scale of the Irish Ordnance Survey Maps, and prepared by Mr. John
"
and South-East of Ireland Archaeological
Hogan, in
The Journal of the Kilkenny
Society. " New Series, 1858-1859, vol. ii. , part ii. , p. 475.
2
26
thus inscribed: "St. Rock's Churchyard, 1828. " Thiswasthedatewhenthegraveyard was separated from the Green, and enclosed by its present boundary wall. This cemetery was the site of one of the four parish churches of Kilkenny, at the period of the
5See John Hogan's "Kilkenny. " &c, part ii. , p. 156.
It has been modernized into Walkin-st. In the pier of the gate entering the cemetery,
or of of
30
covery, are thus narrated by Mr. Hogan :
I eye- witness who is still living, and was standing
LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS.
[August i.
According to a local tradition, the bed of the Lough in Kilkenny originally had been an isolated valley, surrounded by woods, whilst a spring- well rippled from one of its slopes, and meandered as a rivulet at its bottom. The channel through which the water escaped became choked up, and thenceforth the beautiful valley of St. Rioch had been converted into a receptacle for water, which flowed from the surrounding elevations. 2? About
the commencement of this present century, the old inhabitants of Kilkenny ""
were persuaded, that a holy well had formerly existed in this place ; and since that time, its actual site was believed to have been accidentally discovered. 3°
Assuming St. Rioch to have been among the most eminent founders of abbeys and monasteries in various parts of Ireland, in the fifth century ; it is too laxly inferred, that he provided some such institute for each one of his earlycompanions. But,withgreaterprobability,aKilkennywriterconsiders it as not an unwarrantable intrusion on the province of conjecture to assume, that the which had been
regarded
spot,
his fair city, and which has perpetuated St. Rioch's name, through various vicissitudes and many generations, may have been selected, as the site for an institute. Over this, possibly he placed one of those pilgrim companions, who, out of veneration for his master, might have dedicated the locality to his memory. The same writer supposes, that he has an illustration of this
opinion here advanced, in the name of another ancient parish, situated in a
particulars of Walkin's Gate, of Walkin's Lough and of Walkin's Green may be found. See "The Journal of the Kilkenny and South-East of Ireland Archaeological Society," 1858-1859. New Series, vol. ii. , part ii. , pp. 470 to 473.
'9 Mr. John Hogan, who is our authority
for the foregoing particulars, adds in a note
"
With the above tradition, I am familiar from my childhood, and the direct medium through which it reached me was a very old and much esteemed, though humble, in- habitant of this part of the town, who died in St. Canice's parish about ten years since, Mr. James Dowling. He lived to the age of 105 years ; he was a great adept in anti- quarian lore, and fully conversant with t—he local traditions of the past generation. " Ibid. , p. 472.
years. In the course of this operation, a man named Michael Murphy, a native of this district, came on a range of stones rudely placed so as to form so many steps, about midway between the graveyard and the centre of the green, or somewhere very close to the present Gaol road, when he exclaimed
here intercepted by the lord of the soil, Mr. Mulhallin (father of Edward Mulhallin, Esq. ,
Circumstances connected with this dis-
in the graveyard as a spectator ; he heard Murphy cry out he had found the well, and he was able to recognise the stone steps at the bottom of the pit ; they were not so deep as the height of a man under the level of the road. Much interest, but no surprise, was evinced on the occasion, as then and
"
In the summer season, when the waters had evaporated, the custom had long pre- vailed amongst the people of the locality to excavate the deposits of the lough, and re- move them for manure. About the year
:
triumph
1812, one Timothy Kelly, by trade a previously no doubt was entertained that breeches-maker, but at the time of this " St. Rock's Well " was covered over by the narrative a retailer of punch and porter in waters of the lough. The next fall of rain the house in High-street lately taken down restored the place to its usual appearance, to erect the new grocery establishment of and the whole transaction was soon out of Mr. John Coyne, determined to carry on mind. At that period the graveyard was this operation on a monster scale. On a not enclosed by walls; it was inundated by July morning, he employed forty labourers water in the winter, and a desecrated to extract the mud from the bed of the basin ;
they ranged themselves in a line north from the graveyard, and speedily opened a ravine in the accumulated debris carried down by the streams for probably -some- hundreds oi
a of annual —which theless, place pilgrimage,
as " in the suburbs of holy ground,"
—
He continued to remove the stony material, and found the stones to lead to an enclosure of irregularly-shaped stones, apparently placedbydesign; furtherinvestigationswere
in a tone of
"
I have the well. "
of Seville Lodge), who prohibited the re- moval of the manure by Kelly, but permitted the excavators to carry it off for their own use. have this narative from an
common in the summer ; it was, never-
continued down to our own times.
'
pp. 172, 173.
31 In a note, he remarks j "-We are told,
Ibid. ,
LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS.
southern part of Kilkenny county. ** This is now called Aghavillar,3* the
"
Field of the Pilgrim," 33 where formerly stood a Round Tower, the lower part of which now only remains, and above the foundation it measured fifty feet around. 34 That parish appears to have been dedicated to St. Brendan, specially honoured as Patron of the Dioceses of Ardfert and of Clonfert. There, too,
August i . ]
true orthography of which is said to be Agha-oiller, interpreted
well, in the form of a " 1 6th of May, and down to a very recent periods
CHAPTER III.
his feast was observed, at the
holy
patron,"
on the
DOUBTS EXPRESSED REGARDING THE IDENTITY OF ST. RIOCH, NEPHEW OF ST. PATRICK, BEING THE ST. RIOCH OF INIS-BOFINDE—THE LATTER VISITED BY ST. AID—ANTI- QUITIES ON LOUGH REE—DEATH OF ST. RIOCH—FESTIVALS—VENERATION IN THE CITY OF KILKENNY—CONCLUSION.
Although most usually styled Abbot, Rioch was also a Bishop, according to received accounts. Notwithstanding, as applying to the holy personage
so named, who lived on Lough Ree, the question concerning his discharge of episcopal functions has been contested. It has been stated, moreover,
by Archbishop Ussher, that St. Rioch, Abbot of Inis-Bofinde, was a distinct person from the nephew of St. Patrick, and that the former flourished at
but, this he had opinion
2 The chief
called the nephew of St. Patrick, could not have been a St. Rioch who lived
to the time of St. Aid,3 whom he entertained in his monastery. However, this did not seem a convincing reason with Colgan* to draw a distinction ;
since St. Rioch, the nephew of St. Patrick, was a youth many years after the birth of St. Brigid, about a. d. , 454, and he might have lived on to about the year, 530 or 540, when St. Aid of Slieve Liag flourished, while the latter died a. d. 588. Then, he is called an old man, at the time of his decease.
a later
period,
in one of his portion
1 work;
corrected,
in another
place.
argument
he uses is, that St. Rioch,
that fifty Roman pilgrims arrived in Ireland in quest of retirement and study, and that they were divided into five equal parties, ten each to SS. Finbar, Kiaran, Finnian, Sennan, and Brendan, and from the subsequent mission of some one or more of these pil- grims, the parish of Aughavillar apparently derives its name. "—Ibid. , p. 474.
in the
parish
barony of Knocktopher, shown on the " Ordnance Survey Townland Maps for the
County of Kilkenny," Sheet 31.
33 For an account of the Roman and
dan's connection with this ancient locality was akin to that of Rioch with Kilkenny, namely, he opened here an ecclesiastical mission, placed it under the guidance of one or more of his ten pilgrims, and thus the place
""
was called Aughaviller," or the Field of
32 Now a townland and
Lough
Ree, he applies
foreign pilgrims in Ireland, the reader is referred to Dr. George Petrie's "Ecclesi- astical Architecture and Round Towers of Ireland," part ii. , sect, ii. , pp. 137 to 139, and sect, iii. , subs,
Ecclesiarum Antiquitates," cap. xvii. , p.
430.
i. , p. 192.
34 See William Tighe's " Statistical Ob-
509.
3 Said to have been Bishop of Killare, in
Meath, and also a recluse on. Slieve League, in Donegal. His festival occurs, on the 10th of November.
4 See "Acta Sanctorum Hibernioe," yi.
servations relative to the County of Kil- kenny, made in the year 1800 and 1801," part iii. , sect. 19, p. 632.
35 According to Mr. Hogan's conjecture it shears- highly, probable, that St. Br«n»
Februarii. De S. Riocho Abbate d—c Inis-
Bofinde, n. 7, p. 268.
the Pilgrim. " — Chapter III.
of Inis-Bofinde, in
to it the account found in Venerable Bede's " Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis Anglorum,"
Alluding to the Island
relating to the Inis-be-finde off the West "
coast of Ireland. See Britannicarum
2
See Addenda quaedam omissa, ibid. , p-.
-
xo LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. [August i.
Dr.
Lanigans seems to adhere to his opinion, that there were two Riochs, the one being a nephew of St. Patrick, and the other a St. Rioch, Abbot of Inis-Bofinde,°who flourished at a later period, and in the sixth century; whereas he remarked, that in all the stories about Rioch, St. Patrick's assumed nephew, and the founder of Innis-bofinde, they are spoken of as one and the
6 OnInis-bofinde—alsowrittenInch-boffin—therearesomevery ancient tombstones, with Celtic crosses engraved on them. ' Also, a Celtic inscription, Oroit do Cormacan, " Pray for Cormacan/f was found on this
same
person.
Reverse View of Old Church on Inishboffin, Lough Ree.
Island, by the Rev. James Graves, B. A. , in 1869. It seems to be well established, however, that a St. Rioch lived here to the time of Bishop Aidus,° son of Brec, who visited him on his Island of Inis-Bofinde. There Aerius was received with great hospitality and reverence, by that saint. 10 Having served up meat, at a great banquet prepared by the Abbot for his guest ; the latter was unwilling to use flesh meat, but on blessing it, bread, fish, and
honey supplied its place, on the table.
s He appears to have used the earlier
edition of Ussher's work.
6"
See Rev. Dr. Lanigan'i Ecclesiastical
History of Ireland," vol. i. , chap, viii. , sect, xiii. , n. 177, p. 421.
for
by
The Westmeath Independent, of June 25th,
1887, who has also furnished the writer with some interesting pencil sketches, re- presenting two outside views of St. Rioch's church on the Island of Inch-a-bofinn, the first being a view of the window on the north side, and the second view exhibiting the walls and a gable capped with ivy. . Besides, he has furnished two inside views,
All who were present partook of the
gable and window, on the top of a cellar, and the second being a finely-arched choir- window, the choir itself being recessed within a chancel arch. Thick masses of ivy seem to surmount both.
8 A this name flourished poet bearing
about A. D. 942. lie wrote a Poem on the Circuit of Ireland, which was edited by John O'Donovan, and it was published by the Irish Archaeological Society, among
"Tracts relating to Ireland," vol. i.
» See his Life, at the 10th of November.
10
In the account of this visit, the author of the Life of St. Aidussays : "Monasterium enim clarum in ilia i—nsula est quod ex nomine
7 Article written
Mr. M.
Donegan,
the first giving a view oi the interior of a . insul* nominatur. " Colgan's "Acta Sane-
August i. ] LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. zz
food thus furnished, admiring His power, and giving thanks to God, with their sainted guest. " It has been conjectured, that St. Rioch might have
presided over his monastery at Inis-Bofinde, in or about the year 540 ;
although Aidus was Abbot, at that time he visited our saint. " As it seems
to us, the present church of Inishboffin cannot pretend to a very remote
antiquity ; but, it is probable enough, it stands on or near the site of
St. Rioch's former religious establishment. The mullioned window in the
gable is clearly mediaeval ; and, for so small a structure, it is very elegantly
designed. '3 On the outside and at the top of a Gothic pointed window,
there is a mitred head carved, and it is traditionally said to represent St.
1 Rioc,
Island,intheParish'sandBaronyofRathcline,countyofLongford. This Island contains about 291 acres, being still inhabited and cultivated. 16 There,inancienttimes,wasalsoamonastery. Theecclesiasticalruinsare
1 ? Some authorities are of that opinion,
*
About one mile from Inisbofinn and towards the east lies All Saints'
still in a state of good
preservation.
the Island was originally called Inis-Aenghin, and that St. Kieran founded
his first church here, before he removed to Clonmacnoise ;'
8
while others
state, that Inis-Aenghin was always identical with the present Hare Island,
lower down on the Lough. '9 Again, while some are of opinion, that a
convent of Poor Clares was on All Saints' Island ; others maintain, that they
lived at a place called Bethlehem, on the Westmeath side of the lake shore,
and about one mile off from that Island. There is a little and a very old
church in ruins, on All Saints' Island, and it seems old enough to be of the
sixth or seventh 20 We are told, that a descendant of Sir century.
Henry Dillon of Drumrany—who came into Ireland with John, Earl of Morton—
erected an abbey on this Island, and probably on the site of the ancient
21 22 In the year 1272, the Prior Airectac y Fin died.
Abbey of St. Kieran.
There, too, the Annals of All Saints were written, and these were continued
torum Hibernisc," xxviii. Februarii. Vita in the Frontispiece prefixed to the present
S. Aidi Epis. et Confessoris, cap. xxxv. , Volume. They are drawn and engraved
p. 421. by Alfred Oldham from a photograph of J.
11
See Colgan's "Acta Sanctorum Hi- T. Hoban, Athlone, and procured through bernise," xxviii. Februarii. Vita S. Aidi the kindness of Very Rev. Thomas Langan,
Epis. et Confessoris, cap. xxxv. , p. 421.
" See Rev. Dr. Lanigan's "Ecclesiastical
History of Ireland," vol. ii. , chap, x. , sect. iii. , p. II.
13 In a former part of this Life, we have
presented an engraving of this church, but this second illustration represents the reverse
view, including the window, and ivy-covered gable. It is also furnished from a photograph
of J. T. Hoban, Athlone, and procured for
the writer, by Very Rev. Thomas Langan,
D. D. It has been drawn by William F. maintains it. Leiter from Very Rev. Thomas Wakeman on the wood, engraved by Mrs.
Millard.
14 Such information was communicated to the writer, by Mr. Michael Donegan.
'5 It is shown, as containing 12,8830. *'• 7A ~ and Very Rev. Dr. Stokes, T. C. D.
" *° on the Ordnance Survey Townland Maps
for the County of Longford," Sheets, 12, 17, 18, 21, 22.
Such
his letter by Very Rev. Thomas Langan, D. D.
16 See "
land," vol. i. , p. 29.
Gazetteer of Ire-
2I See "Peerage of Ireland," Lodge's
vol. i. , p. 146.
" This is noted in the Annals of All
Saints.
Parliamentary
*» They have been lately repaired by the Board of Public Works, and are represented
D. D.
l8 Among those who maintain this opinion
are the Very Rev. John Canon Monaghan, D. D. , P. P. of Banagher, in his "Records relating to the Dioceses of Ardagh and Clon- macnoise," pp. 41, 42; as also, the Very Rev. Father Gilligan, P. P. of Newtown Cashel, within whose parish Inishboffin, All Saints' Island, and Inis—Cleraunn or
Rev.
,9 Such is the opinion of Rt. Rev. John Healy, D. D. , Assistant Bishop of Clonfert,
Quaker's Island are situated while
Father Geoghegan, of Kenagh, likewise
Langan, D. D. , Athlone, to the writer, and dated July 25th, 1890.
is the opinion expressed in
LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS.
[August i,
by Augustine MacGraidin, a Canon of that house, and who was also Abbot. In the commencement of the fifteenth century, a. d. 1405, he died. 23 An abstract of those Annals is still to be found, among the manuscripts belonging
to Trinity College, Dublin,2* and we are informed, that the work itself is still 2
preserved in the Bodleian Library, Oxford. * After the suppression of religious houses, the Abbey and its possessions were granted to Sir Patrick
Barnwall. 26 The very old church ruins,
remaining
on All Saints' 2 ? show Island,
^^^2
Old Church on Island of All Saints, Lough Ree.
that Cyclopean masonry was used, and a square-headed door is yet to be
of a
28 In the Island is called Irish,
in that
Oilean na Naomh, 29 and it lies within the Parish of Cashel.
seen,
portion
gable remaining.
How long St. Rioch lived on that Island on which he had erected his
monastery is not known. It is generally presumed, however, that his mortal career closed in that house of his foundation. It is stated,30 likewise, that St. Rioch died and was buried in Kilkenny. Over the grave his disciples
23 On the Wednesday next after the Feast of All Saints in that year. He was buried
Townland Maps for the County of Long-
in that
" Writers of Ireland. "
illustration
from a
Abbey.
present
photo-
See Harris' vol. Ware, iii. ,
28 The
graph taken by J. T. Hoban, Atldone, and procured for the writer—through Very Rev. ThomasLangan,D. D. representsthestate of this ruined building as it now appears. The photograph has been copied and drawn by William F. Wakeman on the wood, en- graved by Mrs. Millard.
p. 87.
34 Sir James Ware had a part of those
Annals in manuscript, with some additions made after the death of Augustine Ma- graidain . See " De Scriptoribus Hiberniae,"
lib. i. , cap. xi. , p. 75.
25 Such is the statement of Archdall ; but,
I do not find his cited authority of Ware's "
Writers, p. 87, authenticated. See Mo- nasticon Hibernicum, p. 442 and n. (w. )
26
See Harris' Ware, vol. ii, "Anti-
quities of Ireland," chap, xxxviii. , p. 265. ''It is shown on the " Ordnance Survey
Book i. , chap, xii. ,
ford," Sheet 26.
—
29 See "Letters and Extracts containing
Information relative to the Antiquities of
the County of Longford, collected dining the Progress of the Ordnance Survey in
1837. " Letter of John O'Donovan, dated Longford, May 22nd, 1837, p. 53.
30 By Mr. John Hogan.
August i. ] LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. 13
had erected a church, which was dedicated to his memory. In process of time, that church became a ruin ; but, its site is indicated, on a map of the
1
supposed ancient Parish of St.
bernian," xxviii. Februarii. Vita S. Aidi Epis. et Confessoris, n. 24, p. 423.
'3 See Sir Ware's "De
James Hibernia,
et Antiquitatibus ejus," cap. xxvi. , p. 1 7 1.
"
on this
Hogan remarks: "Dr. Petric assures us,
version of the
Martyrology of Tallagh,"
at p. 69. 71
Mr.
Treating
subject,
John
name of the in which tract,
city,
August r. ] LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS.
there is no saint named Maul or Maula, in any Irish or other Calendar, or
Martyrology, yet published. He also notices, that it was always contrary to ecclesiastical law and usage to dedicate churches to others than saints. 2^
It seems, that an old tradition connected the present Kilkenny city, with a St. Rioch, who is held to have built a cell there, within the shelter of a secluded vale, and in a very primitive neighbourhood. There, he is said to have lived for a time, in solitude and prayer. Afterwards, he was joined by
a numerous
2
and it was the head of a parish, * lying on the west side of th—e River Nore. 'S
It has been —
stated, moreover,
that St. Rock's as it is now churchyard
and locality to suit the altered circumstances of the times, but still retaining in the sites of the primitive churches the names of the respective founders, and the evidence that from the beginning the ecclesiastical districts or parishes of what we now call Kilkenny
were — the same as at the numerically present
Anglo-Norman Invasion,
the ancient church
"
Southern andWestern Suburbs of Kilkenny,"
belonging to it having been demolished in
the destruction of the city by Donald
O'Brien of Limerick, in 1 1 75. Immediately
afterwards, the English colonists erected the
Hightown, English part Kilkenny, which St. Mary's Church became the centre and nucleus. This settlement they enclosed with the town wall, outside of which that church lay in ruins, and, so far as can be ascertained, it was never. rebuilt. See ibid. t part, iv. , p. 232.
27 Removed since 1820.
28 In the alluded to and paper already
written by Mr. Hogan, interesting local
day. "
Topographical Illustrations of the
"
Papers of the Kilkenny and South- East —of
Ireland Archaeological Society," vol. ii. New Series, November, 1859, No. 24, pp. 474, 475.
23 The Rev. Dr. Lanigan plainly asserts,
on the authority of Ware's "Irish Writers,"
by Mr. John Hogan, in
Proceedings and
that the name of Kenny's mother was "''
Melda," and that neither she nor Laidec," his father, had been recognised as saints. See " Ecclesiastical of vol.
History Ireland," ii. , chap, xii. , sect, vi. , p. 200.
whom his —attracted to this disciples, great sanctity place
of
of retirement. A—s we only find a single St. Rioch or as more generally calledMo-Riocc intheIrishCalendar,soithasbeenconjecturallysupposed, that the Kilkenny saint was not different from the holy man venerated on this day. The former cell is thought to have occupied the centre of a piece of ground, known as the Walking Green to the citizens. Afterwards, Tempul-na-Rioc or Kill-Rioc, Anglicized St. Rock's church, was built there,
body
commonly called indicates the site of that establishment. The burial-
ground lies at the south-west angle of an open space or common, formerly
called the and the Green. 26 A of Walkings, subsequently Walking's range
cabins 37 formerly separated it from the road. In front of these huts, a cess- pool had been sunk for the manufacture of manure; and, it is said, from the ends and sides of these pools, human remains projected. This tends to show, that at one period the churchyard there lay under the present ro—ad
—to have extended down under the
line. It is thought likewise Lough
which has now disappeared and tending towards the centre of Walkin's
28
Green.
that the primitive ecclesiastical establish-
ments in Ireland were founded by the Saints
whose names they still respectively rulai:-.
Hence the relationship claimed for Rioch
with Patrick and Mel, taken in connexion
with the interesting topographical coinci-
dence just noticed, reflects a new ray of light
on our primitive ecclesiology, and exhibits
the National Apostle and his two nephews
founding here three missionary stations,
which with a fourth subsequently opened by
St. Kenny, ultimately grew up into so many
parochial establishments, modified in name 3. mural entablature has been inserted and
24 The reader may find an interesting Map of the Ancient Parish of Saint Rioch, reduced from the scale of the Irish Ordnance Survey Maps, and prepared by Mr. John
"
and South-East of Ireland Archaeological
Hogan, in
The Journal of the Kilkenny
Society. " New Series, 1858-1859, vol. ii. , part ii. , p. 475.
2
26
thus inscribed: "St. Rock's Churchyard, 1828. " Thiswasthedatewhenthegraveyard was separated from the Green, and enclosed by its present boundary wall. This cemetery was the site of one of the four parish churches of Kilkenny, at the period of the
5See John Hogan's "Kilkenny. " &c, part ii. , p. 156.
It has been modernized into Walkin-st. In the pier of the gate entering the cemetery,
or of of
30
covery, are thus narrated by Mr. Hogan :
I eye- witness who is still living, and was standing
LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS.
[August i.
According to a local tradition, the bed of the Lough in Kilkenny originally had been an isolated valley, surrounded by woods, whilst a spring- well rippled from one of its slopes, and meandered as a rivulet at its bottom. The channel through which the water escaped became choked up, and thenceforth the beautiful valley of St. Rioch had been converted into a receptacle for water, which flowed from the surrounding elevations. 2? About
the commencement of this present century, the old inhabitants of Kilkenny ""
were persuaded, that a holy well had formerly existed in this place ; and since that time, its actual site was believed to have been accidentally discovered. 3°
Assuming St. Rioch to have been among the most eminent founders of abbeys and monasteries in various parts of Ireland, in the fifth century ; it is too laxly inferred, that he provided some such institute for each one of his earlycompanions. But,withgreaterprobability,aKilkennywriterconsiders it as not an unwarrantable intrusion on the province of conjecture to assume, that the which had been
regarded
spot,
his fair city, and which has perpetuated St. Rioch's name, through various vicissitudes and many generations, may have been selected, as the site for an institute. Over this, possibly he placed one of those pilgrim companions, who, out of veneration for his master, might have dedicated the locality to his memory. The same writer supposes, that he has an illustration of this
opinion here advanced, in the name of another ancient parish, situated in a
particulars of Walkin's Gate, of Walkin's Lough and of Walkin's Green may be found. See "The Journal of the Kilkenny and South-East of Ireland Archaeological Society," 1858-1859. New Series, vol. ii. , part ii. , pp. 470 to 473.
'9 Mr. John Hogan, who is our authority
for the foregoing particulars, adds in a note
"
With the above tradition, I am familiar from my childhood, and the direct medium through which it reached me was a very old and much esteemed, though humble, in- habitant of this part of the town, who died in St. Canice's parish about ten years since, Mr. James Dowling. He lived to the age of 105 years ; he was a great adept in anti- quarian lore, and fully conversant with t—he local traditions of the past generation. " Ibid. , p. 472.
years. In the course of this operation, a man named Michael Murphy, a native of this district, came on a range of stones rudely placed so as to form so many steps, about midway between the graveyard and the centre of the green, or somewhere very close to the present Gaol road, when he exclaimed
here intercepted by the lord of the soil, Mr. Mulhallin (father of Edward Mulhallin, Esq. ,
Circumstances connected with this dis-
in the graveyard as a spectator ; he heard Murphy cry out he had found the well, and he was able to recognise the stone steps at the bottom of the pit ; they were not so deep as the height of a man under the level of the road. Much interest, but no surprise, was evinced on the occasion, as then and
"
In the summer season, when the waters had evaporated, the custom had long pre- vailed amongst the people of the locality to excavate the deposits of the lough, and re- move them for manure. About the year
:
triumph
1812, one Timothy Kelly, by trade a previously no doubt was entertained that breeches-maker, but at the time of this " St. Rock's Well " was covered over by the narrative a retailer of punch and porter in waters of the lough. The next fall of rain the house in High-street lately taken down restored the place to its usual appearance, to erect the new grocery establishment of and the whole transaction was soon out of Mr. John Coyne, determined to carry on mind. At that period the graveyard was this operation on a monster scale. On a not enclosed by walls; it was inundated by July morning, he employed forty labourers water in the winter, and a desecrated to extract the mud from the bed of the basin ;
they ranged themselves in a line north from the graveyard, and speedily opened a ravine in the accumulated debris carried down by the streams for probably -some- hundreds oi
a of annual —which theless, place pilgrimage,
as " in the suburbs of holy ground,"
—
He continued to remove the stony material, and found the stones to lead to an enclosure of irregularly-shaped stones, apparently placedbydesign; furtherinvestigationswere
in a tone of
"
I have the well. "
of Seville Lodge), who prohibited the re- moval of the manure by Kelly, but permitted the excavators to carry it off for their own use. have this narative from an
common in the summer ; it was, never-
continued down to our own times.
'
pp. 172, 173.
31 In a note, he remarks j "-We are told,
Ibid. ,
LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS.
southern part of Kilkenny county. ** This is now called Aghavillar,3* the
"
Field of the Pilgrim," 33 where formerly stood a Round Tower, the lower part of which now only remains, and above the foundation it measured fifty feet around. 34 That parish appears to have been dedicated to St. Brendan, specially honoured as Patron of the Dioceses of Ardfert and of Clonfert. There, too,
August i . ]
true orthography of which is said to be Agha-oiller, interpreted
well, in the form of a " 1 6th of May, and down to a very recent periods
CHAPTER III.
his feast was observed, at the
holy
patron,"
on the
DOUBTS EXPRESSED REGARDING THE IDENTITY OF ST. RIOCH, NEPHEW OF ST. PATRICK, BEING THE ST. RIOCH OF INIS-BOFINDE—THE LATTER VISITED BY ST. AID—ANTI- QUITIES ON LOUGH REE—DEATH OF ST. RIOCH—FESTIVALS—VENERATION IN THE CITY OF KILKENNY—CONCLUSION.
Although most usually styled Abbot, Rioch was also a Bishop, according to received accounts. Notwithstanding, as applying to the holy personage
so named, who lived on Lough Ree, the question concerning his discharge of episcopal functions has been contested. It has been stated, moreover,
by Archbishop Ussher, that St. Rioch, Abbot of Inis-Bofinde, was a distinct person from the nephew of St. Patrick, and that the former flourished at
but, this he had opinion
2 The chief
called the nephew of St. Patrick, could not have been a St. Rioch who lived
to the time of St. Aid,3 whom he entertained in his monastery. However, this did not seem a convincing reason with Colgan* to draw a distinction ;
since St. Rioch, the nephew of St. Patrick, was a youth many years after the birth of St. Brigid, about a. d. , 454, and he might have lived on to about the year, 530 or 540, when St. Aid of Slieve Liag flourished, while the latter died a. d. 588. Then, he is called an old man, at the time of his decease.
a later
period,
in one of his portion
1 work;
corrected,
in another
place.
argument
he uses is, that St. Rioch,
that fifty Roman pilgrims arrived in Ireland in quest of retirement and study, and that they were divided into five equal parties, ten each to SS. Finbar, Kiaran, Finnian, Sennan, and Brendan, and from the subsequent mission of some one or more of these pil- grims, the parish of Aughavillar apparently derives its name. "—Ibid. , p. 474.
in the
parish
barony of Knocktopher, shown on the " Ordnance Survey Townland Maps for the
County of Kilkenny," Sheet 31.
33 For an account of the Roman and
dan's connection with this ancient locality was akin to that of Rioch with Kilkenny, namely, he opened here an ecclesiastical mission, placed it under the guidance of one or more of his ten pilgrims, and thus the place
""
was called Aughaviller," or the Field of
32 Now a townland and
Lough
Ree, he applies
foreign pilgrims in Ireland, the reader is referred to Dr. George Petrie's "Ecclesi- astical Architecture and Round Towers of Ireland," part ii. , sect, ii. , pp. 137 to 139, and sect, iii. , subs,
Ecclesiarum Antiquitates," cap. xvii. , p.
430.
i. , p. 192.
34 See William Tighe's " Statistical Ob-
509.
3 Said to have been Bishop of Killare, in
Meath, and also a recluse on. Slieve League, in Donegal. His festival occurs, on the 10th of November.
4 See "Acta Sanctorum Hibernioe," yi.
servations relative to the County of Kil- kenny, made in the year 1800 and 1801," part iii. , sect. 19, p. 632.
35 According to Mr. Hogan's conjecture it shears- highly, probable, that St. Br«n»
Februarii. De S. Riocho Abbate d—c Inis-
Bofinde, n. 7, p. 268.
the Pilgrim. " — Chapter III.
of Inis-Bofinde, in
to it the account found in Venerable Bede's " Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis Anglorum,"
Alluding to the Island
relating to the Inis-be-finde off the West "
coast of Ireland. See Britannicarum
2
See Addenda quaedam omissa, ibid. , p-.
-
xo LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. [August i.
Dr.
Lanigans seems to adhere to his opinion, that there were two Riochs, the one being a nephew of St. Patrick, and the other a St. Rioch, Abbot of Inis-Bofinde,°who flourished at a later period, and in the sixth century; whereas he remarked, that in all the stories about Rioch, St. Patrick's assumed nephew, and the founder of Innis-bofinde, they are spoken of as one and the
6 OnInis-bofinde—alsowrittenInch-boffin—therearesomevery ancient tombstones, with Celtic crosses engraved on them. ' Also, a Celtic inscription, Oroit do Cormacan, " Pray for Cormacan/f was found on this
same
person.
Reverse View of Old Church on Inishboffin, Lough Ree.
Island, by the Rev. James Graves, B. A. , in 1869. It seems to be well established, however, that a St. Rioch lived here to the time of Bishop Aidus,° son of Brec, who visited him on his Island of Inis-Bofinde. There Aerius was received with great hospitality and reverence, by that saint. 10 Having served up meat, at a great banquet prepared by the Abbot for his guest ; the latter was unwilling to use flesh meat, but on blessing it, bread, fish, and
honey supplied its place, on the table.
s He appears to have used the earlier
edition of Ussher's work.
6"
See Rev. Dr. Lanigan'i Ecclesiastical
History of Ireland," vol. i. , chap, viii. , sect, xiii. , n. 177, p. 421.
for
by
The Westmeath Independent, of June 25th,
1887, who has also furnished the writer with some interesting pencil sketches, re- presenting two outside views of St. Rioch's church on the Island of Inch-a-bofinn, the first being a view of the window on the north side, and the second view exhibiting the walls and a gable capped with ivy. . Besides, he has furnished two inside views,
All who were present partook of the
gable and window, on the top of a cellar, and the second being a finely-arched choir- window, the choir itself being recessed within a chancel arch. Thick masses of ivy seem to surmount both.
8 A this name flourished poet bearing
about A. D. 942. lie wrote a Poem on the Circuit of Ireland, which was edited by John O'Donovan, and it was published by the Irish Archaeological Society, among
"Tracts relating to Ireland," vol. i.
» See his Life, at the 10th of November.
10
In the account of this visit, the author of the Life of St. Aidussays : "Monasterium enim clarum in ilia i—nsula est quod ex nomine
7 Article written
Mr. M.
Donegan,
the first giving a view oi the interior of a . insul* nominatur. " Colgan's "Acta Sane-
August i. ] LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. zz
food thus furnished, admiring His power, and giving thanks to God, with their sainted guest. " It has been conjectured, that St. Rioch might have
presided over his monastery at Inis-Bofinde, in or about the year 540 ;
although Aidus was Abbot, at that time he visited our saint. " As it seems
to us, the present church of Inishboffin cannot pretend to a very remote
antiquity ; but, it is probable enough, it stands on or near the site of
St. Rioch's former religious establishment. The mullioned window in the
gable is clearly mediaeval ; and, for so small a structure, it is very elegantly
designed. '3 On the outside and at the top of a Gothic pointed window,
there is a mitred head carved, and it is traditionally said to represent St.
1 Rioc,
Island,intheParish'sandBaronyofRathcline,countyofLongford. This Island contains about 291 acres, being still inhabited and cultivated. 16 There,inancienttimes,wasalsoamonastery. Theecclesiasticalruinsare
1 ? Some authorities are of that opinion,
*
About one mile from Inisbofinn and towards the east lies All Saints'
still in a state of good
preservation.
the Island was originally called Inis-Aenghin, and that St. Kieran founded
his first church here, before he removed to Clonmacnoise ;'
8
while others
state, that Inis-Aenghin was always identical with the present Hare Island,
lower down on the Lough. '9 Again, while some are of opinion, that a
convent of Poor Clares was on All Saints' Island ; others maintain, that they
lived at a place called Bethlehem, on the Westmeath side of the lake shore,
and about one mile off from that Island. There is a little and a very old
church in ruins, on All Saints' Island, and it seems old enough to be of the
sixth or seventh 20 We are told, that a descendant of Sir century.
Henry Dillon of Drumrany—who came into Ireland with John, Earl of Morton—
erected an abbey on this Island, and probably on the site of the ancient
21 22 In the year 1272, the Prior Airectac y Fin died.
Abbey of St. Kieran.
There, too, the Annals of All Saints were written, and these were continued
torum Hibernisc," xxviii. Februarii. Vita in the Frontispiece prefixed to the present
S. Aidi Epis. et Confessoris, cap. xxxv. , Volume. They are drawn and engraved
p. 421. by Alfred Oldham from a photograph of J.
11
See Colgan's "Acta Sanctorum Hi- T. Hoban, Athlone, and procured through bernise," xxviii. Februarii. Vita S. Aidi the kindness of Very Rev. Thomas Langan,
Epis. et Confessoris, cap. xxxv. , p. 421.
" See Rev. Dr. Lanigan's "Ecclesiastical
History of Ireland," vol. ii. , chap, x. , sect. iii. , p. II.
13 In a former part of this Life, we have
presented an engraving of this church, but this second illustration represents the reverse
view, including the window, and ivy-covered gable. It is also furnished from a photograph
of J. T. Hoban, Athlone, and procured for
the writer, by Very Rev. Thomas Langan,
D. D. It has been drawn by William F. maintains it. Leiter from Very Rev. Thomas Wakeman on the wood, engraved by Mrs.
Millard.
14 Such information was communicated to the writer, by Mr. Michael Donegan.
'5 It is shown, as containing 12,8830. *'• 7A ~ and Very Rev. Dr. Stokes, T. C. D.
" *° on the Ordnance Survey Townland Maps
for the County of Longford," Sheets, 12, 17, 18, 21, 22.
Such
his letter by Very Rev. Thomas Langan, D. D.
16 See "
land," vol. i. , p. 29.
Gazetteer of Ire-
2I See "Peerage of Ireland," Lodge's
vol. i. , p. 146.
" This is noted in the Annals of All
Saints.
Parliamentary
*» They have been lately repaired by the Board of Public Works, and are represented
D. D.
l8 Among those who maintain this opinion
are the Very Rev. John Canon Monaghan, D. D. , P. P. of Banagher, in his "Records relating to the Dioceses of Ardagh and Clon- macnoise," pp. 41, 42; as also, the Very Rev. Father Gilligan, P. P. of Newtown Cashel, within whose parish Inishboffin, All Saints' Island, and Inis—Cleraunn or
Rev.
,9 Such is the opinion of Rt. Rev. John Healy, D. D. , Assistant Bishop of Clonfert,
Quaker's Island are situated while
Father Geoghegan, of Kenagh, likewise
Langan, D. D. , Athlone, to the writer, and dated July 25th, 1890.
is the opinion expressed in
LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS.
[August i,
by Augustine MacGraidin, a Canon of that house, and who was also Abbot. In the commencement of the fifteenth century, a. d. 1405, he died. 23 An abstract of those Annals is still to be found, among the manuscripts belonging
to Trinity College, Dublin,2* and we are informed, that the work itself is still 2
preserved in the Bodleian Library, Oxford. * After the suppression of religious houses, the Abbey and its possessions were granted to Sir Patrick
Barnwall. 26 The very old church ruins,
remaining
on All Saints' 2 ? show Island,
^^^2
Old Church on Island of All Saints, Lough Ree.
that Cyclopean masonry was used, and a square-headed door is yet to be
of a
28 In the Island is called Irish,
in that
Oilean na Naomh, 29 and it lies within the Parish of Cashel.
seen,
portion
gable remaining.
How long St. Rioch lived on that Island on which he had erected his
monastery is not known. It is generally presumed, however, that his mortal career closed in that house of his foundation. It is stated,30 likewise, that St. Rioch died and was buried in Kilkenny. Over the grave his disciples
23 On the Wednesday next after the Feast of All Saints in that year. He was buried
Townland Maps for the County of Long-
in that
" Writers of Ireland. "
illustration
from a
Abbey.
present
photo-
See Harris' vol. Ware, iii. ,
28 The
graph taken by J. T. Hoban, Atldone, and procured for the writer—through Very Rev. ThomasLangan,D. D. representsthestate of this ruined building as it now appears. The photograph has been copied and drawn by William F. Wakeman on the wood, en- graved by Mrs. Millard.
p. 87.
34 Sir James Ware had a part of those
Annals in manuscript, with some additions made after the death of Augustine Ma- graidain . See " De Scriptoribus Hiberniae,"
lib. i. , cap. xi. , p. 75.
25 Such is the statement of Archdall ; but,
I do not find his cited authority of Ware's "
Writers, p. 87, authenticated. See Mo- nasticon Hibernicum, p. 442 and n. (w. )
26
See Harris' Ware, vol. ii, "Anti-
quities of Ireland," chap, xxxviii. , p. 265. ''It is shown on the " Ordnance Survey
Book i. , chap, xii. ,
ford," Sheet 26.
—
29 See "Letters and Extracts containing
Information relative to the Antiquities of
the County of Longford, collected dining the Progress of the Ordnance Survey in
1837. " Letter of John O'Donovan, dated Longford, May 22nd, 1837, p. 53.
30 By Mr. John Hogan.
August i. ] LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. 13
had erected a church, which was dedicated to his memory. In process of time, that church became a ruin ; but, its site is indicated, on a map of the
1
supposed ancient Parish of St.
