No More Learning

Ireland," vol. vi. "A treatise conteining a plaine and perfect Description of Ireland, with an Introduction to the better Vnder-
standing of the Histories apperteining to that Hand :" compiled by Richard Stani- hurst. The first chapter, p. 45.
56 See Sir James Ware, "De Praesulibus
Lageni8e,"p. 42.
57 See Harris' Ware, vol. i. Bishops of
Kildare," pp. 380, 381.
5' Dr. O'Donovan supposes this to be the
Appendix T. , p. 239.
53 St. Moninnia, with her disciples,
1st of February, 29th of January, and 2nd "
of December, See Trias Thaumaturga. " Appendix Quarta ad Acta S. Brigidae, cap. xiii. , p. 623.
i64 LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS [February i.
his retreat. Yet, his missionary duties occasionally called him to mingle with the world. The holy Conleth or Conlaedh, Bishop of Kildare, who had been appointed to fill that office, at the instance of St. Brigid, departed this life on the 3rd of May,58 a. d. 519. 59 His fate must have proved peculiarly distressing to the sensitive soul of £he illustrious abbess ; for, after he had directed the ecclesiastical affairs of his see and her own religious institute for several years, with great judgment and piety, probably during one of his episcopal journeys, he was torn asunder by ferocious wolves. Yet, his remains were in part recovered, and afterwards placed in a rich shrine. ^** It seems likely, that veneration, entertained for him by the tender virgin, induced her to have that reliquary prepared, in course of the very few years she survived. Those friends, parted on earth, were yet destined soon to meet, and to enjoy the eternal rewards of Heaven. St. Buite Mac Bronaigh of Monasterboice died on the 7th of December,^' a. d. 521. ^" St. Beoadh, Bishop of Ardcarne, departed this Hfe on the 8th of March,^3 a. d. 523. ^4 St. Brigid may have known most—if not all—the foregoing saintly persons, who were her contemporaries, and who, it seems likely, departed to a better world, before she was called to her hg^py home beyond the grave.
Among those many miracles, wrought by St. Brigid, this following account is deemed^s not unworthy of being recorded. A certain simple nistic^^ saw
a fox, belonging to a king. ^7 This animal was straying one day, near the royal residence. ^^ The countryman supposed it, at first, to have been a wild denizen of the woods ; whereas, in reality, it had been domesticated and trained to a variety of tricks, in order to amuse at his castle the king, with his chiefs and attendants. Ignorant about its being a tame creature, the
rustic killed it,^9 in the presence of many witnesses. Immediately appre- hended and brought into the king's presence, a serious charge was preferred
againsthim. Thekingfeltveryindignant,onlearningwhathadoccurred. He declared, in a passion, that man must be put to death, while his wife and children should be reduced to a state of bondage, and, moreover, that his small property should be forfeited. The pious and venerable Brigid heardaboutthistransaction. Shefeltgreatlygrievedfortheconditionofthat unfortunate man, thus unjustly condemned to death ; but, her active charity and natural benevolence of disposition urged her to make an appeal to the monarch for mercy. Ordering her chariot to be yoked, and offering prayers to God, she journeyed over the adjoining plain, on her way to the king's castle. 7° Her importunate and fervent prayers were heard by the Almighty,
58 Sec his Life, given at that date.
59 See Dr. O'Donovan's "Annals of the
Four Masters," vol. i. , pp. 170, 171. ^Thishasbeenveryparticularlydescribed
by Cogitosus. See Colgan's "Trias Thau- maturga. " Secunda Vita S. Brigidse, cap. XXXV. , p. 523.
** See his Life at this date.
''See Dr. O'Donovan's "Annals of the
Four Masters," vol. i. , pp. 170, 171. '3 See notices of him at this date.
•* See
St. Brigid, this rustic is called a clown of Brigid's people, and he is said to have been engaged cutting firewood. See pp.
39, 40.
^^ In the Fifth Life of our saint, he is
called the King of Leinster.
^ It is somewhat to read all the amusing
imaginative circumstances, with which Abbate D. Giacomo Certani contrives to invest the relation of this incident, which he found less complexly inserted in his original Latin authorities. See " La Santiti Prodi-
" Acta Sanctorum Hiber-
Colgan's
niae/' viii. Martii. Vita S. Beoadi sive giosa. Vita di S. Brigida Ibernese. " Libro
"
Beati, pp. 562, 563. In the Annals of Quarto, pp. 287 to 295.
Boyle," the death of the two foregoing ^ See the account of this transaction in saints is placed so early as A. D. 499. See Rev. S. Baring-Gould's "Lives of the Saints," John D'Alton's "History of Ireland, and vol. ii. , February ist, pp. 19, 20. There,
Annals of Boyle," vol. ii. , p. 75.
•^5 ByCogitosus.
^ In Professor O'Looney's Irish Life of
however, the animal in question is said to havebeenatamedwolf.
7° From the description given, it is pro*
February i. ] LIVES OP THE IRISH SAINTS. 165
who directed one of the wild foxes, in the wood to approach her chariot, at
a swift pace. 71 This animal immediately entered the vehicle, and quietly lay down there, nestling in the folds of our saint's garments. 7=* When the
pious woman arrived at the king's palace, she earnestly entreated, the captive might be liberated from his chains, as he was not morally accountable for thatactcommitted. But,thekingrefusedhispardon,anddeclared,more- over, that the criminal should not be liberated, unless a fox, equal in cunning andperformancestothatonehehadlost,wererestoredtohim. Then,our saint set before the king and his courtiers the fox, which had accompanied her in the chariot, and which appeared to rival the former one in domesticity, tricks, and devices. Seeing this, the king was greatly pleased, and he imme- diately ordered the captive's restoration to liberty, while the chiefs and multi- tudepresentcouldnotbutapplaudwhattheyhadwitnessed. Yet,soonafter the poor man's liberation and pardon,'when St. Brigid returned to her home, that presented fox, astutely mingling with the multitude, contrived to escape once more to his den, in the woods, notwithstanding the pursuit of horsemen and of dogs, over the open country, through which he fled. 73 All the people, living in that part of the province, admired what had occurred, while greatly venerating Brigid's sanctity and miraculous gifts. Her fame was daily on the increase, and she was regarded as the special favourite of Heaven. 74
At one time, a certain rich man, living in a distant province, came to our saint. Among other gifts, he offered her a present of some fat swine. 75 This man requested, also, that some of Brigid's servants might be sent back with him, to drive those animals from his village, which lay "at a considerable distance from her church. 7^ It was situated, according to one account, in the plain of Femhin,77 in the Nandesii territory,? ^ and in the province of
bable, this monarch resided at Naas—some ten miles from Kildare. It is sometimes
O'Donovan, LL. D. Appendix, n. (b), p. 357.
7^ See Colgan's "Trias Thaumaturga. " Vita Secunda S. Brigidae, cap. xxi. , p. 521. T^ The Rev. S. Baring-Gould, who relates
LivesoftheSaints,"vol. ii. ,
520, 521.
76 In the Third Life of our saint, published
"
trium vel quatuor die- rum. " Thelatterreadingismoreinaccor- dance with all other authorities, and with
the probable facts.
77 Otherwise called Magh-Feimhin, now
the of Iffa and Offa East, in the barony
south-east of Tipperary County. It was the seat of the O'Donoghues, known as the EoghanachtofCashel; but,soonafterthe English invasion, these were driven from
called See " Nas-Laighean.
we read, itineris, 14 "spatio
of
the Celtic Society. " Edited by John dierum ;" but, in a Carthusian MS. of
this
over the bog racing towards her, and it leaped into the chariot, and allowed her to
occurrence, states,
caressit. "
"
February 1st, p. 20.
73 In the First
thus, in the Latin version
**
Tradidit vulpem sylvestrem Cuidam rustico egenti ;
Qui ab sylvam postea evasit
Quamvis eum persequebantur turmse. "
Life,
—Vita Prima S. Brigidae, sec. xxxi,, pp. 516, 517. See, also. Vita Tertia S. Brigidae, cap. cxxviii. , p. 541. Vita QuartaS. Brigidse, lib. ii. , cap. xciii. , p. 562.
74 This account is also contained in our
saint's Fifth Life, and in the usual diffuse
style, with adjunct circumstances, not found in her other Lives. Vita Quinta S. Brigidae,
cap. xxxix. , pp. 576, 577.
7SSee Colgan's "Trias Thaumaturga. "
Vita Secunda S. Brigidse, cap. xx. , pp.
brother to Conn of the Hundred Battles. Having been ex- pelled from Meath by Cormac Mac Airt, they possessed that part of Munster, extend- ing from the River Suir to the sea, and from Lismore to Credanhead. They occupied the eastern extremity of the present Waterford county. See Dr. O'Donovan's "Leabhar na g-Ceart, or, Book of Rights," n. (k), pp.
49, 50-
Miscellany
by Colgan,
" there came a wolf
Cologne, we find,
this — when settled in incident is related that territory, they Eogha-
:
Magunihy
nacht Ui Donnchadha, now
barony, in the county of Kerry. See Topographical Poems of John O'Dubhagain and GiollanaNaomhO'Huidhrin. " Edited by John O'Donovan, LL. D. , n. 523, p. Ixii.
78 The Deise or Nan-desi, descended from
Fiacha Luighdhe, the elder
"
The
i66 LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. [February i
Momonia. The place is called Magh Fea,79 by St. Brogan Cloen. ^^ Our saint allowed her drovers to proceed with* the man, and after a day's journey, they all came to a mountain district, called Grabor. ^' Here, the man found his swine straying, and at once he knew them to have been driven away by wolves,^^ from his own far distant lands. But, when the servants of St. Brigid went thither, by some wonderful instinct, and as it were, through a reverence for the holy woman, the wolves departed, leaving those swine un- harmed. Thedrovers,receivingtheircharge,conductedthemsafelythrough vast woods and extensive plains, to the farm of their mistress.
Here they
arrived, it is stated, on that day succeeding their departure, and the herdsmen related all those wonderful facts which had occurred during their absence. ^3
St. Brigid's great example drew other pious ladies to a cloistered life. The daughter of a certain prince had devoted herself to God, by a vow of chastity. But her father desired her to marry a husband of his choice. On the night appointed for her nuptials, however, even when the marriage feast had been prepared, this maiden fled from her parents, and took refuge with Brigid. ^* The following morning, the trembling fugitive's father pursued her, with some horsemen. Seeingthiscavalcadeatadistance,thegloriousabbessmadea sign of the cross. Then, all were fixed to the earth, until they had repented of their evil intention. Afterwards, these horsemen were liberated from theirstrangeposition. Thuswastheprotectedladydeliveredfromaworldly spouse, and united to a heavenly one, according to her own most earnest
^5
It so happened, on a certain occasion, a person needing it, applied to Brigidforameasure^^ofhoney. Whilstoursaintfeltacutely,thatshehad
desires.
79 Magh-Fea is identified with the present barony of Forth, in the county of Carlow.
"
County and City of Kilkenny," by John Hogan. See "Journal of the Kilkenny and South-East of Ireland Archaeological
History of Ire-
land," book ii. , part i. , chap, i. , p. 421 and Society," vol. v. New series, pp. 234 to
See O'Mahony's Keating's
n. 60. However, the real plain is probably Magh-Feimhin.
^0 According to the Latin version, an ac- count is thus given, in the First Life :—
** Porcum pinguem ipsi datum,
Per campum Magefea dictum (res prse-
clara)
Insecuti sunt lupi,
Usque dum effugiens veniret ad Hu-
achter Gabhra. "
—Colgan's "Trias Thaumaturga. " Vita Prima S. Brigidae, § xxx. , p. 516.
^' Abbate D. Giacomo Certani, who re- lates these miraculous occurrences, states, that this mountain separated the ancient
*' provinces of Meath and Leinster. See La
251. ^*
In those early days, such animals in- fested our woods and wastes, and to them might well apply the poet's lines :—
" Cruel as death, and hungry as the grave, Burning for blood, bony, and gaunt, and
gi-im.
Assembling wolves in raging troops de-
scend,
And, pouring o'er the country, bear
along,
Keen as the north wind sweeps the glossy
snow.
All is their prize. "
—James Thomson's " Winter. "
83 See Colgan's "Trias Thaumaturga. " Vita Tertia S. Brigidce, cap. cxxix. and n.
Santitk Prodigiosa. Vita di S. Brigida
Ibemese. " Libro Sesto, p. 535. This 78, pp. 541, 545. Vita Quarta S. Brigidae,
—mistakes foreign writer, however, totally
the local position of Grabor or rather
Huachter Gabhra—which seems to have
been somewhere near or within the present
mountain ranges of Slievemargy, between
the county of Kilkenny and Queen's County.
For some highly interesting expositions, re-
lating to Gabhran territory, the reader is re-
ferred to a learned contribution, "Topo- tum" is called a Sextarius, which was an
graphical and Historical Illustrations of the old Roman measure, holding something
lib. ii. ,
xciv. ,
cap. p. 562.
occurs in Abbate D. Giacomo Certani's "La Santiti Prodigiosa. Vita di S. Brigida Ibemese. " Libro Sesto,
^'^
This account
pp. 529 to 532.
"sSee, Colgan's "Trias Thaumaturga. "
Vita Tertia S. Brigidae, cap. cxx. , p. 541.
^^ *'
In two of our saint's Lives, this quan-
February i. ] LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. 167
no honey as a present for the applicant, suddenly, the hum of bees was heard under the pavement of that house, in which she resided. ^7 When
that spot, from which the humming proceeded, had been examined, a sufficient amount of honey, to relieve the petitioner's wants, was there found. The man received as much as he asked from St. Brigid, and with joy returned afterwards towards his home. ^^
The following miracle, performed by St. Brigid, has been recorded. Cogitosus precedes it with an account, which is of still greater interest, to the Irish historian. The king,^9 ruling over that part of the country, in which our saint lived,9° had ordered the construction of a road, which should
be able to bear the driving of chariots, waggons and other vehicles, with a large array of horse and foot, for purposes of a social, civil or military nature. He commanded the inhabitants of all districts and territories, under his sway, to be assembled, and to take part in such labour. ? ^ That road, he intendedtoconstructinapermanentmanner. Forsuchpurpose,branches of trees were used, and stones were placed for a substructure. Certain trenches or mounds were formed through a deep and an almost impassable
bog,92 while they were brought through soft and marshy places, where a
large river93 ran. When various subject tribes and families had assembled,
the road was marked out in different sections, to be severally constructed,
by the clans or people, to whom those portions were respectively assigned.
But, when the difficult and intricate river-section fell to the lot of a certain
powerful clan, its labouring contingent sought to avoid this most onerous
part of the road-making. Compelled, by their superior force, St. Brigid's weaker gang of workmen had to undertake that labour. The more powerful
clan unfairly selected an easier section, which was apart from the river. Whereupon, Brigid's kindred94 came to her, and complained about the harsh andunjusttreatmentreceivedfromtheirstrongerrivals. Oursainttoldthem, that the river should move its course, from where they were obliged to work,
about our pint and a half. In Troy and Avoirdupois weight, it is variously estimated,
as containing from eighteen to twenty-four ounces. In Horace, allusion is made to "vini sextarius. " See lib. i. , Satirarum,
i. 1. 74.
^7 See Abbate D. Giacomo Celrtani's ** La
^5 Abbate D. Giacomo Certani, who re-
lates this incident, calls him the King of
Leinster, and localizes the road-making —or embankment in "la ProvinciadiLabraide"
but on what grounds may be questioned, See " La Santita Prodigiosa. Vita di S.
Brigida Ibernese. " Libro Quinto, pp. 404 Santitk Prodigiosa. Vita di S. Brigida to 408.
Ibernese. " LibroQuinto,pp. 438,439. ^oMostprobablyatKildare.
*^ ""
See, Colgan's "Trias Thaumaturga. Vita Secunda S. Brigidse, cap. xxx. , p. 522. Vita Tertia S. Brigidae, cap. cxxx. , p. 541. Vita Quarta S. Brigidae. , lib. ii. , cap. xcv. , p. 562. As usual, the foregoing miracle, related in Vita Quinta S. Brigidse, cap, liv. , p. 582, is amplified, with many additional details. It is possible, the follow- ing account may refer to the same incident ; but, most—probably, it relates to a different miracle
According to the ancient Irish annals, and other fragments of Irish history, the ancient Irish had many roads which were cleaned and kept in repair according to
"
Leabhar na g- Ceart, or The Book of Rights. " Intro- duction, p. Ivi. Some very curious illustra- tions and an enumeration of several old roads
follow, ibid. , pp. Ivi. to Ix.
^'^ Grunnce, Anglice, bo^s, are frequently
:
" Medo erat ei oblatus
Nee detrimenti quidquam passus est
offerens
Repertus est juxta ipsius domum
mentioned in the Lives
saints.
:
Sine defectu vel augmento.
"
Vita Prima S. Brigidse, sec. xli. , p. 517. Bid.
95 See Colgan's 522, 523.
9^
law. "—Dr. O'Donovan's
of our Irish
93 This may have been the Liffy or the
Barrow.
'* This, with other allusions in her Acts,
seems to indicate, that St. Brigid's family belonged to Leinster, at least on her father's side.
**
Trias Thaumaturga. " Vita Secunda S. Brigidse, cap. xxxi. , pp.
i68 LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. [February i
and should run through that section, chosen by their oppressors. On the morning, when all were assembled for the work, it was found, the river left its former bed, and that place, for which St. Brigid's friends had been specially drafted ; while, its course ran near to that quarter, selected by the numerous and powerful clan, who had thought to. circumvent and oppress their weaker fellow-labourers. As a proof of this miracle, attributed to the holy abbess, Cogitosus remarks, the deserted channel and empty valley, whichhadformerlybeenfilledwithwater,mightbeseen,inhistime; while, the river itself flowed at some distance from this natural channel, but then a dry and deserted hollow. 9S Long after the illustrious saint's departure,
popular tradition preserved a recollection of the supernatural occurrence, and associated it with some particular conformation of ground,96 which probably has not yet disappeared. It seems not unlikely, a river not far from Kildare and some contiguous boggy or low-lying land may afford a clue to discover that dried channel.
Among the number of our saint's miracles, Cogitosus tells us, that the
followingoccurrenceisnottheleastmemorable. Threelepers,havingasked
an alms from St. Brigid, received from her a silver vessel. 97 Fearing, how-
ever, that distributing the proceeds of this gift might prove a cause of con-
tention among them, our saint directed a certain man, accustomed to deal
in silver and gold, that he should divide the vessel into three equal parts.
One of these was to be the property of each leper. The dealer in precious
metals began to excuse himself, by saying, that he could not fairly execute
such a commission. Then, holy Brigid, taking the silver vessel, cast it
against a stone and broke it, as she intended, into three parts equally
valuable. 93 Wonderful to relate ! when these three divisions were afterwards
weighed, no single fragment was found to be lighter or heavier than another,99
even in the slightest appreciable degree. Thus, without envy or quarrel, these poor men returned joyfully to their homes. ^°°
We are ^°^ that while the abbess and her nuns were en- informed, holy
gaged in prayer, a certain rich nobleman suffered from a dangerous attack
^ See ibid. In the Third and Fourth Lives of our saint, the foregoing account is greatly abridged. Vita Tertia S . Brigidce, cap. cxxxi. ,p. 541. VitaQuartaS. Brigidos,
lib. ii. , cap. xcvi. , p. 562. In the latter lives, it is also stated, that the dry course of the river was to be seen at a time when the authors wrote.
57 See Abbate D. Giacomo Certani's " La
Santita Prodigiosa. Vita di S. Brigida Ibemese. " LibroQuinto,pp. 436to438.
9^ This miraculous occurrence seems al-
luded to, when we read, according to the Latin v—ersion of St. Brogan Cloen's original
of fever.