No More Learning

Parochiales Scotia,"
Origines
75 See "New Statistical Account of Scot- land " vol viii" pp 3' 128'
76See Rt- Rev- Patrick F-
"In* Saints in Great Britain," chap v. ,
160.
Jl ?
of John Wllson
'
S5.
f
79 See the verses headed " Saint Bees," m the admirably edited Poems of Thomas D'Arcy M'Gee, with copious notes. Also an Introduction and Biographical Sketch,
4°-
the Menologium Benedictinum. "
i24 LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. [September 6.
be no end to his narrative, states the compiler of her Acts, were all such
signs of her sanctity and miracles to be written, regarding the Virgin Bega, who now reigns in endless glory, and with Him, who is infinite and eternal.
ARTICLE II. —ST. MAGNUS, MAGOBALDUS, MAGNOALD, OR MAGNOBALDUS, APOSTLE OF SUABIA.
[SIXTH AND SEVENTH CENTURIES. } CHAPTER I.
INTRODUCTION—WRITERS OF THE ACTS OF ST. MAGNOALDUS OR MAGNUS—IRELAND THE COUNTRY OF HIS BIRTH—PERIOD OF HIS NATIVITY—HE BECOMES A DISCIPLE OF ST. COLUMBAN—SAINTS MAGNOALD AND GALL REMAIN IN SWITZERLAND— ADMONITION TO MAGNOALD OF ST. COLUMBAN AND PROPHECY BEFORE SETTING OUT FOR ITALY.
While abundant light has been thrown on the incidents of modern history, as also on the life and actions of celebrated characters who have lived in our own times, owing to the issue of printed works, and the recorded memoranda or correspondence of contemporaneous writers ; far different are the old manuscript memorials of doubtful authenticity, or whose authors and sources for information are not sufficiently accredited, when we seek to establish facts relating to many of our old-world saints. Such, it must be admitted, is often the case, with regard to acts, conveying to us the most remote traditions,inreferencetothepresentholyman. Theonlyancientauthority for his life is, unfortunately, not altogether trustworthy. This is a memoir, which it is stated had been written by his companion and disciple Theodore,1 and who laid it under the abbot's head, when he had been buried. Then the account runs, that when the body was disinterred, and on the stone coffin being opened, in the ninth century, the book had been taken out, and when
2 to to have been a forgery of the tenth or twelfth century. 3 This Life is made up of long extracts from Jonas, the monk of Bobbio, who wrote the Acts of St. Columban, and from Walafridus Strabo,* who wrote the Acts of St. Gall. EventsrelatedofothersaretransferredtoMagnoald. s Wherethecomposer of this Life had genuine lives to manipulate, and convert to a memoir of St. Magnoald, his book is interesting ; but, when he brings the abbot to that ground where his abbey had been founded, and for which the lives of St.
it wa—s delivered to —of
greatly decayed by age, Ermenric, Elwangen,
re-edit. However, it is supposed
at least in
great part
Columban and St. Gall furnished no data, frequently he lapses into foolish
Article ii. —Chapter i. —' Called by cujusdam impostoris. "
Latin writers, Theodorus Campedonensis,
from the place where he passed a part of his
life as an abbot. He was a monk of St.
Gall and of St. Magnus. It is stated, that
by command of Bishop Tozzo, he wrote the siastici Francorum," tomus ii. , at A. D. lifeofhismaster,St. Magnus. Heflourished
A. D. 680. See Rev. Dr. William Cave's
"
Scriptorum Ecclesiasticorum Historia Literaria," volumen i. Sseculum Monothe- leticum, p. 595.
2 He died a. d. 866.
3 Thus Basnage states
nee Ermenrici illud est opusculum, sed
:
" Nee Theodori
Bishop of Laon, who flourished in the seventh century, are related verbatim of Magnoald, the writer only changing the letter C into M. See Benkert's " Athanasia," vol. xi. Kritische Priifung d, Lebensgesch der Heil. Magnus, p. 414. Wurzburg, 1832.
* Pere Charles le Cointe holds the writer
to have been a synchronus of St. Magnus,
and to have thus flourished
to Walafridus Strabo. See "Annates Eccle-
614.
s Thus, the incidents told of St. Cagnoald,
prior
September 6. ]
LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. 25
6 This
about the bona fides of Theodore's Acts has been drawn in a great measure from an opinion of the learned Father Mabillon, that they were composed by some impostor i under such a shadowy title.
legend.
scepticism
This, however, is too sweeping a charge, and it seems far more probable that the writer's errors are owing to ignorance rather than to deliberate forgery. The Bollandists have very fully treated about St. Magnoaldus, or Magnus, andthen attributed to the monk Theodore, of Kempten, as taken from a manuscript " of St. Maximinus of Treves.
12
attributed to the saint's inter- cession. ^ This holy abbot's Acts have been edited by Father Constantine Suysken, S. J. , who has laboured much to investigate or unravel the obscure and often contradictory materials that are left for enquiry. In the first place the original life, as stated, if written by Theodorus,14 and buried with the saint, was almost defaced and scarcely legible, when discovered in the ninth century, and at present it is not known to exist. Again, by four
1 persons, that copy is said to have been given to a certain Ermenric, ^ a
monk and levite of Elewanga, to revise and restore. Neither is that particular manuscript to be found, and we know not if the task committed to him had been reliably executed. But, in the third place, that same work
l6 ;
at the 6thof
follows the unauthentic life of the saint,
previous commentary,9
September.
Afterwards succeeds an account of miracles,
8 Thereis a
to have fallen into other hands
whether through ignorance or fraud remains to be solved. When and where
while in the
the Acts of St. Magnus have become vitiated, in point of historic accuracy
appears
process
6"
See Rev. S. Baring-Gould's Lives of
the Saints," vol. ix. , September 6, p. 94.
disciple, of St. Magnus in his apostolic labours, to have been witness of nearly all the miracles he relates, and to have been a friend, at the hour of his death.
15 By some, he is also named Ermenold, who lived in the time of the Blessed Raban Maur, whose life may be found in the second volume of this work, at the 4th of February, Art. iv. Ermenric became the seventh Abbot of the monastery of Elewan- gen, in the diocese of Augustana, a. d. 845, according to Mabillon. In his epistles to Gundramnus and Ruodolfus, he speaks very modestly of his abilities. " An vero S. Magni Vitam, qualis typis edita est exara- verit, certo pronunciare non licet. " "Acta Sanctorum Ordinis S. Benedicti," ssec. ii.
16 The third revisor or in interpolator,
reference to Ermenric, states, that the latter, compelled by obedience, and not willing to contemn the order of a pontiff, undertook
the patch-work, according to the best of his ability, although little learned to amend and insert what should be proper. However, he accomplished the task, through Divine assistance, renewing the writing and correct- ing what he found in a confused state, and making the text clearer by means of chapters. To his emendations or possibly corruptions of the original text, Father Suysken justly objects, and naturally preferred he had assumed only the role of amanuensis, and not that of interpolator. The Bollandist editor
:
" Qui Magnum appellat
7 He adds
Magnoaldum, ut Chagnoaldi sancti Colum- bani discipuli facta personato suo Magnoaldo affingat. Non immoror fabulis illius impos- toris observandis, quas in actis sanctorum nostrorum manifeste detexi. Nihil itaque certi sive de Magno, sive de Theodoro nobis succurrit, nisi quod eos non Columbani, sed Galli discipulos, non Scotto-Hibernos, sed Alamanos fuisse constat ex Walafiido Strabone, qui eos Willimari presbyteri clericos extitisse ait, — in sancti
antequam
Galli disciplinam cooptarentur. " Annales Ordinis S. Benedicti," tomus i. , lib. xiii. ,
sect, xxxiii. , p. 393.
8
See "Acta Sanctorum," tomus ii. , Sep- tembris vi. De Sancto Magno Monasterii Faucensis, Abbate Primo Fussse in Sueria, pp. 700 to 78x.
9 In thirteen sections, and one hundred and seventy-five paragraphs.
10
In eight chapters, and seventy-eight paragraphs, with accompanying notes.
11
Collated with the editions of Henricus
Canisius and of Melchior Goldast, together
with six other manuscripts-
12
Miracula auctore P. Ludovico Babens- tuber Benedictino Ettalensi.
13 These miracles are contained in seven
chapters, and in one hundred and fifty-six paragraphs, with illustrative notes.
"
M Said to have been a monk or eremite of adds: "utinam, inquam, ipsa Theodori
Campidonum or Kempten. This Theodore verba, confusa utcumque gestorum serie, is represented as the companion, or rather integre fideliterque posteritate tradidisset. "
10
ofemendation, —
26 LIVESOFTHEIRISHSAINTS. [September6.
1 theerrorshavecreptincannotwellbedetermined ? but,asuspicionremains,
j
that many of the mis-statements occurring are attributed to a compiler of the
eleventh 8 who to have had access to the Acts of St. century,' appears
Magnus, said to have been written by the monk, Theodore, and restored by Ermenric. Under such specious mask, not a few have been deceived, who imagined that the Acts still preserved must have had their origin on a
J
respectable and trustworthy ancient authority. 9 Of the later interpolated
Acts, various manuscript copies have reached our time, and some of these have been already printed. In the Bollandist Library there were various copies. Among these were four distinct ones, 20 taken from a Manuscript Vita S. Magni, belonging to the Library of St. Maximinius of Treves. This
21
latter the Bollandist editor selected as a text for publication.
these, the Jesuit Father Gamans had formerly sent a double copy ; one
of Saints Udalric22 and 23 and the Afra, Augsburg,
2
a some differences of statement. $
From the interpolated Acts of St. Magnus, all subsequent published accounts are chiefly drawn. Those Acts have been printed by Henricus
26 228 Canisius, and by Melchior de Haiminsfeld Goldast, ? while Surius has
1 Mabillon supposed, that the Acts of St. Magnus, as manipulated by Ermenric, had been temerariously enlarged by a later writer. Father Suysken has a suspicion of another interpolation in the original of Ermenric, from a reading found in one manuscript copy, regarding a miracle related in sub- stance, but in different words, from those found in other codices. And that the evident introduction of passages, from Walafrid Strabo's Life of St. Gall, into that of St. Magnus, should not be attributed to Ermen- ric, seems sufficiently established.
taken from the
library
other from a monastery at Ratisbon. * Among all of these might be found
18 "
There exists a copy ot the interpolated Acts of St. Magnus, and written by an anony- mous monk of Ratisbon. It bears the
ment, denique ab anonymo recentiore digesta et aucta. "
21 By him and by Mabillon allusion is
made to the as the Acta or Vita Tract,
Pseudo-Theodori, a title by which it shall be subsequently designated.
"Ex
codice MS. Augustae ad SS. Udalr. et
Afram ab an. 700 conscripto, in 4 Tit. Legendae aliquot SS. lit. z. n. 36-" In his
M
Vetara Analecta," Mabillon inserts a tract, written by a certain monk, of Ratisbon, whose name is not given, and in reference to his own temptations. After returning from
Fulda to Ratisbon, alluding to his labours by "
following title :
pergam. antiquiss.
candlelight, the monk writes
vero redii Vitam S. Magni scripsi, compul-
from the time when
Romans and called Castra Regince"
sus fratrum duorum
" vol. Picturesque Europe,"
intimis et assi- duis, Wilhelmi scilicet ex congregatione nostra, et alterius qui ad nos discendi causa
ex Monasterio S. Magni \enit Adalham d ic- tus, qui nunc—in S. Alfrre ccenobio abbas est
*' Whether weight or consideration might be attributable to the earliest versions, the
precihus
v. , p. 274.
25 See Acta Sanctorum," tomus ii. , Sep- tembris vi. De Sancto Magno, &c, Com-
constitutus. " Pars
had already premised, that he left the Monas- tery of St. Einmeram at Ratisbon, A. D. 1062, so that he must have written the Acts of St. Magnus, after the middle of the eleventh century. This is further established, from certain passages to be found in a Prologue, attached to those Acts.
ii.
:
Postquam
it was fortified the by —
This unknown writer
26 " In
Ingolstad,
Antiquae Lectiones," tomus v. ,
a. d. This has been taken 1604.
additions made are so faulty in chronological accuracy, in several places, that even those Acts are rendered self-contradictory.
20Onehasfortitlethesewords "VitaS.
Magnoaldi, qui et Magnus, discipuli S. Columbani et Galli. " The second has this
"
aldi, ex Monacho Luxoviensi, abbatis monas- terii Faucium, in dicecesi Augustana, a Theodoro ejus socio primum conscripta,
deinde ab Hermenrico, Elewangensi mona- cho, recensita et aucta. " The other two properly add after the foregoing announce-
heading :
Vita Sancti Magni seu Magno-
22
festival occurs on the 4th ofJuly.
OrWaldric,BishopofAugsburg, His
23 Or Afre, Martyr at Augsburg. His feast is held on the 5th of August.
24 " Ratisbon is one of the oldest cities of centralEurope. Someofitsbuildingsdate
mentarius Praevius, sect, i. , pp. 700 to 702.
from a vellum manuscript belonging to the
Monastery of St. Magnus, near the bridge at
Ratisbon.
In the year 1725, this work, re-
printed and put into greater order by James
Basnage, was published in seven folio
volumes, at Amsterdam, under the title,
''
Thesaurus Monumentorum Ecclesiasti- corum. " It contains prefaces and valuable notes by the editor.
:
Besides
September 6. ] LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. 127
likewise the Life of St. Magnus. In 1621, Martin, Abbot of Fussen, edited the Acts of St. Magnus in Latin. Mathew Rader 2 9 wrote a Life of the saint, from the same compilation in "Bavaria Pia. "3° Again, Father Ludovicus Babenstuber composed the Acts of St. Magnus, in Latin, and to these he has added the particulars of many miracles wrought through the merits of the holy abbot. Father John Colgan had intended to issue the Acts of St. Magnus at the present date, as we find from the posthumous
Magnus
of St. Columbanus, as 8 who Jonas,3
Manuscripts. 3
2
Stephen
1 Notices of him are in the work of Father
list of his
White, S. J. 3
paragraphs.
In the year 1729, a Life of St. Magnus appeared in German, and by some anonymous writer belonging to the Monastery at Fussen. In this are inscribed many miracles, ascribed to the virtues of the Patron. Notices
The Benedictines 33 have the Acts of St. in sixteen Magnus,
In the Annals of his Order, Mabillon also has allusion to him. 34
of this holy abbot are to be found in Les Petits Bollandistes,35 under the *5
name of Magne or Mang, and by R«v. S. Baring-Gould. 3 —
—e old attributed to Theodorus
According to th Acts, Campodunensis
meaning Kempten St. Magnoald, or Magnus, was born in Hibemia. 37 Such account has been followed by nearly all subsequent writers who have treatedabouthim. Wemayhereobserv—ethatMagnoalduswasthenameby which he is first introduced to our notice Magnus was a title afterwards given him to designate his eminence and virtues. That statement of his having been a native of Ireland, however, has been questioned by Father Suysken, who thinks it more probable that he was born in Germany. Not believing St. to have been a
disciple
wrote a life of him, does not introduce such a person to the reader^ and
2? In ' ' Almanicarum Rerum 31 See " Actuum Sanctorum Scriptores," Catalogus
tomus i. , Francfort, 1606. This is intro- quae MS. habentur, ordine Mensium et
duced with the following epigraph, which Father Suysken had not discovered in any
Dierum. ''
32 See
emendatus et distinctus. " After chapter the 34 See " Annales Ordinis S. Benedicti,"
xiii. is another heading, which indicates a tomus i. , lib. xi. , sect, xvii. , p. 309 ; lib. xii. , "
"
mitae de Vita S. Magni Confessoris, sodalis
Apologia pro Hibernia," cap. iv. ,
other copy of the life:
S. Theodori ere-
p. 44.
33 See
Acta Sanctorum Ordinis S. Bene- sui, ab Ermenrico Elewangensi monacho dicti," tomus ii. , sec. ii. , pp. 505 to 510.
continuation of the work: Ermenrici sect, xxix. , p. 355 ; lib. xiii. , sect, xxxiii. , pp.
Elewangensis monachi supplementum. " On comparing this with the edition of Canisius,
whole periods and even chapters are wanting in the latter, not to speak of many minor differences.
28 See "De Probatis Sanctorum Vitis,"
vol. v. , vi. Septembris, pp. 73 to 81. The
Life is comprised in thirty-three paragraphs. In the third edition of Surius, the Acts of
St. Magnus, as published by Canisius, are to be found.
29 Born in Inichingen in the Tyrol, A. P.
1 At the of he entered the 561. age twenty,
Jesuit Order. This learned man died at Munich, on the 22nd of December, a. d.
392, 393-
35 See "Les Vies des Saints," tome x. ,
See Michaud's " Univer- Biographie
1634.
selle, Ancienne et Moderne," tome xxxv. , P- 59.
30 The well-known
Sancta "appeared in three folio volumes,
"
1615-1624-1627. "Bavaria Pia supplementary volume published in 1628, and enriched by Sadeler's beautiful en-
gravings.
work,
Jour
de Septembre, p. 528.
"
"
vie
& See " Lives of the Saints," vol. ix. , Sep-
tember 6, pp. 94, 95.
3? See the Bollandists' " Acta Sanctorum,"
tomus ii. , Septembris vi. De Sancto Magno Monasterii Faucensis Abbate Prime Fuessse in Suevia. Vita auctore, ut fertur, Theodoro monacho Campodunensi, ab Ermenrico Elewangensi aucta," et ab alio interpolata, cap. i. , p. 735.
Hibernus," was an alumnus of St. Colum-
ban, both at Luxeu and at Bobbio. Among
other he wrote " Vita S. Columbani. " works,
He flourished about A. D. 630, and he was
living in A. D. 665. See Dr. William Cave's
38 born about A. D. " Jonas, 599, gente
"Bavaria " Ecclesiasticorum Li- Scriptorum Historia
was a
teraria," volumen i. Saeculum Monothele-
ticum, p. 580.
39 Father Suysken, referring to the Pseudo-
Theoderici Vita S. Magni, remarks, that the interpolator has plagiarized that portion of
LIVESOFTHEIRISHSAINTS. jSeptembkr6.
that Walafridus Strabo 4° is the mostreliable authority for making Magnoald and Theodore disciples of St. Gall, without allusion to the country of their birth; sucharethoughttobereasonssufficientfordoubtingMagnustohave been born in Ireland. In addition, Father Suysken remarks, that Notker Balbulus,41 in his Martyrology, at this day, only regards St. Magnus as a disciple of St. Gall. *2 The foregoing are but negative and very inconclusive arguments, nevertheless, to counteract what seems to have been an ancient and a prevalent tradition. In his list of saints, Convceus calls Magnus, Abbot and Brother of St. Gallus. *3 If so, both may be classed as nephews of St. Columban,44 according to the old Acts of our saint, attributed to Theodore and his continuators. However involved and confused may be the earliest records, which relate for us the Acts of St. Magnus, yet there appears to be a very general consensus that his birth took place in Ireland. 45 In what particular district is not known, and doubts regarding his family or early life may well be entertained. According to other accounts, he was of royal birth,46 his father being named Severus, and his mother Theoclea. 4?
it, referring to our saint having been a dis- ciple of St. Columban, from Jonas, by his
substituting the name of Magnoaldus for Autiernus, which is deemed to have been in
the original, and again by his changing the name of Chagnoaldus for Magnoaldus.
Then Father Suysken proceeds to show, how the Pseudo-Theoderic Life blunders in
chronology, and is contradictory to fact, in making Magnoaldus die a. d. 655, in the
seventy-fourth year of his age ; as in such case, if it be alleged, he left Ireland with
Columban, who went to France, in A. D. 568, according to Le Cointe, this latter date should reach back to thirteen or fourteen years before Magnoaldus could have been born, or if the calculation of Mabillon be adopted, that Columban parted for Gaul, a. d. 590, then St. Magnoald must have been too young to have accompanied him in a missionary enterprise. However, if we allow for very probable chronological and other mistakes, occurring in the Tract to which allusion has been made, to suppose that St. Magnus had not been an Irishman and a disciple of St. Columban, should involve Father Suysken simply in a paralogism.
40 Walafridus Strabo, or Strabus, a Ger- man by birth, and a disciple of Kaban Maur, at Fulda, was Dean over St. Gall's, a. d. 842. Me wrote many learned works,
42Thisishisnotice "NativitasS. Magni :
Confessoris, discipuli et comitis beati Galli. " « The feast of St. Gallus is held on the 16thofOctober. SeehisLifeatthatdate,
in the Tenth Volume of this work.
44 The Festival of St. Columban has been assigned to the 21st of November. His Life is given at that date, in the Eleventh
Volume of this work.
45 Henricus, Abbot of Fiissen, has left
some Manuscript Notes illustrative of monas-
"
Galli Abbatis," in two books. lie died
and among others,
Vita et Miracula Sancti
a. d. See Dr. William Cave's 849.
"Scrip- torum Ecclesiasticorum Ilistoiia Literaria,"
volamen ii. Sseculum Photianum, p. 31.
41 St. Notker, surnamed the stammerer, was born about a. d. 830, at Elgau, in
Thurgovia. At an early age he entered the Monastery of St. Gall, where he made great progress in sacred and profane litera- ture. Several elegant treatises in prose and verse were composed by him. He died on the 16th of April—the day for his feast—A. D. 912. See M. Le Dr. Hoefer's " Nouvelle BiographieGenerale,"tome xxxviii. ,col. 300.
account, in his Acts of the Saint,
lib.
i. ,
"
historicos constare, S. Magnum fuisse Sco-
tum ex provincia Hybernise oriundum : sed
quo sanguine, nobili vel ignobili, sit ortus, Legenda ejus non manifestat. Attamen ex traditione jam inolita dicitur progenitus ex regio Scotorum genere, cujus paler fuerit Severus,materTheoclea. Hocdocuitanno MDXV, tempore abbatis Benedicti, quidam orator regis Francioe, nomine Petrus Cordier, episcopus Parisiensis, decretorum doctor, qui tunc temporis ambassiator praefati regis apud imperatorum Maximilianum aliquo tempore hie in Fuessen propter quzedam negotia moram trahebat, et erat abbati Benedicto valde familiaris et homo in historiis antiquis multum versatus. Hie ergo reliquit in scriptis abbati Benedicto, quod S. Magnus de pnefatis parentibus ex regio Scotia? sanguine sit progenitus. Quod didicisse se, ajebat, in ipsa Hybernia, quam tanquam Francorum ambastator peragraverat. "
46 This is mentioned, also, in the German Life of St. Magnus, written by a monk of the Monastery of Fussen, and in confirmation of it, the writer refers to a very old picture he had seen, in which St. Magnus is represented
in the garb —of a young prince taking leave of his parents his father sitting on a royal throne, and his mother as a queen being near him. This statement is in chap, i. , sect. 2. Father Ludovicus Babenstuber has a similar
tic and local tradition.
Notandam. quoad
cap. i.