3 The register and records of the island,
all written on parchment, and probably other more antique and valuable remains, were all destroyed by that worse than Gothic synod, who at the Reformation declared war against all science.
all written on parchment, and probably other more antique and valuable remains, were all destroyed by that worse than Gothic synod, who at the Reformation declared war against all science.
O'Hanlon - Lives of the Irish Saints - v9
" " Lolani
epi ix 1. ," Kalendarium Breviarii Aber-
donensis, p. 121.
'The Martyrology of Aberdeen says at
reperio; neeullumvidipraeterrecentiores, inter se satis bene Concordes. "
4See Bishop Forbes' "Kalendars of
Scottish Saints," pp. 378, 379.
s See "Breviarium Aberdonense," Pars
Estiva, fol. cxiii.
6 See "Acta Sanctorum," tomus vi. ,
the x. Kl\ Octobris. "In Scocia Sancti
Lolani episcopi et confessoris de Kyncardin Septembris xxii. De S. Lolano Episcopo
prope Stirling. " See
of
Society Antiquaries
p. 268.
"
of Scotland, vol.
3
Father Soller applied to Father Nicholas probria deuitare ita celestis glorie signorum
very
ancient
authority
for the cultus
" In Scotia Lolani
print.
Proceedings of the Conf. in Scotia, num. 6, p. 534.
"
? It "ibidem sicut ii. , states, sepultus, qui
presentis vite virtutum tramite studuit ob-
Wemyss, a Scottish Father of the Society magnitudine participem se probatcelebrari. "
of Jesus, to revise and correct what Demp- —"Proceedings
ster and Camerarius had introduced quanes of Scotland," vol. ii. , p. 268. regarding the saints of his country. Accord- 8 See"De Pietate Scotorum, lib. iii. , p. ingly he wrote a little book at Douay, and 177.
this manuscript was intituled " De indubi-
tatis Scoriae Sanctis," and passing over the
narratives of Dempster and Camerarius, he
only took the Kalendar of Adam King for
illustration and revision, appending to it his
observations. In this libellus, he was unable
to find
of Lolan, and in his comment on King's
ot the of Anti- Society
"'Kalendars ofScottish
9 Bishop Forbes adds : '"This must be a traditional picture of—Duncan's contest with
Thorfin Sigurdson. " Saints," p. 379.
I0 See Bishop Forbes' "Kalendars of Scottish Saints," p. 162. —
"Thus —
episcopi. " " Menologium Scoticum," p. 212. Ibid.
:
474
LIVESOFTHEIRISHSAINTS. [September21.
of this month. " Lolan is said to have been bishop of Whitem, by Bishop
Challoner, who places his festival at this day,*3 but without citing any
authority for that statement. According to Bishop Challoner, St. Lolan is
said to have to the Lord anno departed
T034
at Whitern. 1 *
According to
his usual custom, Thomas Dempster attributes to Lolan not only many pious
traits and miracles, but also the authorship of Commentaries on the Bible,
Sacred Hymns, and other tracts. 1 * Besides Kincardine, near Stirling, where
he is honoured according to the Martyrology of Aberdeen, St. Lolan has a fair
at in Stobo. 16 In the Retours of the Earl of 1? in the
Broughton Perth, and Register of Combuskenneth,18 are allusions to objects supposed to commemorate him. Such statements as the Bollandists were able to collect from Scottish authorities are included in their " Acta Sanctorum " at the
22nd of 1 ? His feast is noticed at the same date in September.
80 Bollandistes,
the
Petits
Article VIII. —The Sons of Ernin, of Imis-mac-n-Ernin, of Loch Ce, now Lough Key, County of Roscommon. The island homes of our early religious were happily chosen, to direct their thoughts amid the
beauties of nature surrounding them, to those more exquisite images of heavenly foreshadowings, excited by their removal from the distractions of worldly society. At the 22nd of September, Marianus O'Gorman comme-
1
morates the sons of Ernin, without giving their proper names ; and a
commentator on his work states, that they were from Inis Mac n-Ernin on
"At the 24th day of September he compana Sti. Lolani et baculum sti.
writes
" :
Sanctus Lolanus Episcopus et Lolani. "
Ibid. Scottish Entries in the Kalendar of David
Sylloge de cultu et tempore, quo vixerit, in seven
"
Camerarius," p. Z40.
13 See "A Memorial of British
Piety," p.
paragraphs, pp. 533, 534.
20 See " Vies des tome Saints,"
Jour de Septembre—, p. 305.
xi. ,
xxiie
133-
14 See " A Memorial of British Piety," p.
133-
Article viii. meic Ernin. "
He calls them simply See Dr. Whitley Stokes'
182.
'5 Thus "
Commentaries in
" Felire Hui
Gormain," p.
2 The beautiful
Loch Ce in
common, is the Loch here indicated.
now known as Church Island^ near the western shore of the lake, and north of Trinity Island. * It contains upwards of four acres, and a ruin of what was moreancientlycalledthechurchofInchmacnerin. Manydistinctrecords
Connaught.
in the of Ros- County
Confessor apud Duncanum Scotorum Rcgem 19 See tomus vi. Septembris xxii.
De S.
magna in auctoritate et gratia. "
Lolano Conf. in Scotia. Episcopo
Scripsit
Biblia, lib. i. , Des Republica Christiana, lib.
i. , Hymnos Sacros, lib. i. , De insestimabili
Dilectionis divinoe Effectu, lib. i. , Passionis
Christi Typum, lib. i. , De Incarnationis
Mysterio, lib. i. Quse in bibliotheca Sconana
extraxit furor hsereticorum, et igne con-
sumpsit ; vir tamen pius memorias apicum
saltern vindicavit. Vixit anno MXXXIX. eighth century, and that A. u. 1215, a
:
Colitur, templis ei variis regni locis erectis, die xxii. Septembris. " — " Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis Scotorum," tomus ii. ,
monastery had been refounded by Clarus
Mac Moylin O'Moillclionry, Archdeacon of Elphin, for Premonstre Canons. It was dedicatedtotheMostHolyTrinity. Inthe
lib. xi. , num. 790, p. 429.
16" ""
See Origines Parochiales Scotiae," IrishPennyMagazine forNovember9th, pars i. , p 201. 1833, there is a beautiful description of '7 In 1662 and 1675, we find "Sacra Lough Kee or Rockingham Lake, with an
"
—campana S. Olavi (vel Solani) i. e. Lolani. illustration of the Shrine of the Holy
Retours, Perth, pp. 708, 880. Trinity, drawn by D. C. Grose, Esq. See
18 There we read
;
" unum toftum et vol. i. , No. 45. PP- 357. 358.
"
Lough Key,
The island of Inis-mac-n-Ernin is
—(
Loch Ce i cConnactaibh. "
'
3Hiswordsare "OInismacn-Erninfor ;
3 It is marked on the
Townland Maps for the County of Roscom- mon," Sheet 6.
4 It has been staged, that a church had been erected on this island so early as the
"
Ordnance Survey
September 22. ] LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. 475
of this place remain. That church also had its annalists, whose historic compilations are said to have commenced in 1013, the year before the battle of Clontarf, and to have ended in 1571. 5 Nothing can exceed the natural and artificial beauties of the extensive demesne spreading around the shores of this noble sheet of water, over which Rockingham House rises with fine effect. 5 The ancient castle of the MacDermotts, the chiefs of Coolavin, is
Lough Kee, County Roscommon.
yet to be seen in ruins, on one of the islands. The scenery around the lake is most varied and magnificent. The remains of Inchmacnernan church only exhibit at present lofty and extensive walls, amid an intricate mass of rocks, trees, dwarf-ash, and thorns, closely wound together with ivy tendrils. 1
Veneration was given, at the 22nd of September, as we read in the Martyr- 8
ology of Donegal, to the sons of Ernin, of Inis-mac-n-Ernin, in Loch C£, in Connacht.
Article IX. —Festival of St. Ladelin, a Scot, Diocese of Fribourg. This holy man flourished in the seventh century, and he is held to have
were
been born in the Continental writers. 1 His Scotland, by
persons of distinguished rank. However, the presumption is rather that he had been an Irish Scot. His festival has been assigned to the 22nd of September, by some writers ; others, as we have seen, place his feast at the day previous.
5 This was a folio vellum MS. belonging to i See D'Alton's "History of Ireland and
Mr. John Conry, and which Bishop Annals of Boyle," vol. i. , pp. 43 44.
Nicholson, of Derry, had seen in the last 8 Edited by Drs. Todd and Reeves, pp. "
century. See Irish Historical Library," 254,255. —
part Hi. , appendix, number iv. , p. 89.
Article ix.
'
See an account of him, in
6 The illustration is accompanying
Les Petits " Vies des Bollandistes,
copied from an approved engraving, and drawn on
Saints,' tome ix. , xxiie Jour de Septembre, pp. 323,
the wood, engraved by Gregor Grey. 324.
parents
476 LIVESOFTHEIRISHSAINTS. [September23.
Ctoftttp-tbirn IBap of September.
ARTICLE I. —ST. ADAMNAN, ABBOT OF IONA.
[SEVENTH AND EIGHTH CENTURIES. ]
INTRODUCTION. —WRITERS OF ST. ADAMNAN'S ACTS—CHANGES OF HIS NAME—HIS PARENTAGE AND DESCENT—PLACE OF HIS BIRTH—EARLY LIFE SPENT IN IRELAND—BECOMES A MONK AT IONA—OCCUPATIONS IN THAT CAPACITY—REIGN OF FINNACHTA FLIADHACH OR THE FESTIVE OVER IRELAND—FOUNDATIONS ATTRIBUTED TO ADAMNAN IN IRELAND—ADAMNAN ELECTED ABBOT OF IONA—
ALFRID'S EXILE IN IRELAND AND SUBSEQUENT RETURN TO NORTHUMBRIA— INVASION OF IRELAND BY THE SAXONS—ADAMNAN AT THE REQUKST OF HIS COUNTRYMEN UNDERTAKES AN EMBASSY TO THE COURT OF KING ALDFRID—HE PROCURES THE RELEASE OF THE CAPTIVES.
celebrity of this holy Abbot, both as a Saint and as a writer, has
THE
caused the introduction of his name in the of most
pages
Ecclesiastical Histories, Calendars, and Martyrologies. Fortunate for us, his writings have survived to the present time, and have preserved some of the most precious memorials of centuries long elapsed. Moreover, they evince sufficient proof, not alone of individual scholarship, but of classical attainments and proficiency in the schools where he studied, and under the masters, who moulded his moral character and directed his intellectual
pursuits. And long through the middle ages were literary treasures preserved in Iona, although many must have perished in the various raids, to which its monastery had been exposed in earlier times. It was the repository of most ancient Scottish records ; it is said to have possessed books obtained from Rome ; and it had the reputation of containing the
13
Book of Livy, now supposed to be lost, together with other classical
works, which have since perished. 3 As they may with justifiable pride revert to the virtues, the wisdom and the learning of past ages, so may our countrymen well point to the saints and sages and scholars, whose names are linked for ever with their best traditions at home and abroad.
The earliest authentic record of St. Adamnan's Acts is that given by
Venerable Bede. 4 An Irish Life, said to be preserved in one of the O'Clery
Manuscripts at Brussels, furnished those legends relating to St. Adamnan, which are contained in the Breviary of Aberdeen,* Trithemius has an
Article i. —' It is said that /Eneas Sylvius— afterwards Pope Pius II. — intended when he was in Scotland to have visited the
at Iona in search of the lost Books of Livy, but he was prevented by the death of King James I. See Rev. Dr. J. F. S. Gordon's " Iona," p. 19.
2 In
Paulus Jovius, as quoted by Ussher, in
library
p. 597.
3 The register and records of the island,
all written on parchment, and probably other more antique and valuable remains, were all destroyed by that worse than Gothic synod, who at the Reformation declared war against all science. See Pennant's visit to Iona in 1772.
Anglorum," lib. v. , cap. xv. , xvi. , xvii. , and xxi.
it has been stated, that a small parcel of books had been brought to Aher- deen from Iona, and great pains were taken to unfold them, but owing to age and rotten- ness of the parchment little could be read. From what the learned could make out, by
1525,
s "It is a sort of historical discourse on have been a fragment of Sallust than of Job xxxviii. , 3, intended for the saint's Livy. See Boethius, lib. vii. , p. 114. Also festival ; but, it is a miserable production,
the
style
of one work, it seemed rather to
"
Britannicarum Ecclesiarum Antiquitates,"
4 See " Historia Ef:clesiastica Gentis
general
September 23. ] LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. 477
account of Adamnan, as observed by John Bale, who also enters him in the
work intituled, "Scriptorum illustrium Majoris Brytannise, quam nunc Angliam et Scotiam vocant. "' Lives or notices of Adamnan are to be
8 found in the works of Gerrard John Vossius,? of Archbishop Ussher, of
Sir James Ware,' and of Father Hugh Ward. 10 Dean Cressy incidentally alludes to Adamnan, whose gests he leaves to the Scottish writers. " In
Mabillon's and D'Achery's Acts of Saints belonging to the Benedictine Order,someshortnoticesregardingAdamnanhavebeenpublished," Also is he alluded to by Mabillon, in his Annals of the Benedictine Order. '3
1* 15 16 NatalisAlexander, Dr,WilliamCave, andBishopTanner, havereference
to him in their respective works. Adamnan's Life is contained in the
voluminous MActa Sanctorum" of the Bollandists, at the 23rd of
1
September. ? It was compiled by Father Constantine Suyskens, in a
Commentarius Historicus. 18
from Ancient Sources "
In the "Three Fragments of Annals copied
Dubhaltach Mac 1 * there are entries, Firbisigh,
by
which profess to give data for the life of St. Adamnan ; yet some of those
manifestly belong to the class of legends. The Rev. Dr. Lanigan has some
critical remarks about Adamnan. 20 The most complete, elaborate and
21
interesting biography of St. Adamnan, that has yet appeared, is the
Memoir the Rev. Dr. William Reeves. 22 celebrated for compiled by Justly
his antiquarian research, and extensive learning, especially on all subjects connected with the early ecclesiastical history of Ireland, his biography has been prefixed to our saint's own " Vita S. Columbae. " This Memoir has been most ably and critically edited for the Irish Archaeological and Celtic Society. In this same work, which, as the learned editor well observes, has
immortalized both the subject and the author, a great deal of interesting matter has been introduced, which tends to render a task imposed on any subsequent biographer of St. Adamnan less laborious and more satisfactory,
full of absurdities and anachronisms. " The Rev. Dr. Reeves has declared, that any-
thing worthy of notice in this production, had been translated to his own memoir of the saint. See his Adamnan's "Life of St. Columba," Appendix to Preface, sect. I. , Memoir of St. Adamnan, p. xl. , n (a).
I3 See " Annales Ordinis S. Benedicti,"
tomusi. , lib. xviii. , sect, lxv. , p. 618.
I4 See "Historia Ecclesiastica Veteris
Novique Testamenti," tomus xii. Sseculum Septimum, cap. iv. , art. x. , sect, ii. , p. 82.
1S See "Scriptorum Ecclesiasticorum Historia Literaria," &c, vol. i,, Saeculum Monatheleticum, p. 594.
l6 See"BibliothecaBritannico-Hibernica," pp. 5, 6.
1See "Acta Sanctorum," tomus vi. ,
6
In the Second Part. Centuria Decima-
Num.
7 See " De Historicis Latinis," lib. ii. ,
quatta,
xxv. , p. 197.
cap. xxvii.
*See " Britannicarum Ecclesiarum An- Septembris xxiii. De S. Adamnano vel
tiquitates," cap. xv. , pp. 366, 367, cap. xvi. , p. 381, cap. xvii. , p. 499, et seq.
Adomnan Presb. et Abbate in Iona Scotia Insula, pp. 642 to 649.
9 See " De
cap, iii. , pp. 33 to 35. And also " De Praesulibus Hibernian, Commentarius," De Episcopis Rapotensibus, p. 73.
Martyris inclyti,
Acta, &c. " Dissertatio Historica de Patria
to 100, and sect, xiv. , pp. 136, 139, 140, See "Church-History of Britanny," and chap, xix. , sect, iii. , pp. 149 to 153.
Scriptoribus Hibernise,"
lib.
i. ,
l8 of two sections, and Consisting
forty-
10 See " Sancti Rumoldi
one paragraphs.
I9 Edited by John O'Donovan, LL. D. ,
M. R. I. A. See pp. 70 to 115.
*° See his " Ecclesiastical of Ire- History
land," vol. iii. , chap, xviii. , sect, v. , pp. 96
S. Rumoldi, art. iii. , sect. 4, pp. 217 to 220.
11
book x. , vii. , chap,
and Book
2I The work here is entitled: designated
p. 419, chap, xv. , pp. 509, 510.
xx. ,
"The Life of St. Columba, founder of Hy ; 12 See " Acta Sanctorum Ordinis S. written by Adamnan, ninth Abbot of that
Benedicti," vol. iv. , sec. iii. , pars ii. , a. d.
700 to 800. Appendix, pp. 499 to 522. His Life is written in seven paragraphs. His three Books on the Holy Places
follow.
Monastery," &c. By William Reeves, D. D. , M. R. I. A. , Curate of Kilconriola, in the Diocese of Connor. Dublin, 1857, 4to.
"Afterwards Protestant Bishop of the Diocese of Down and Cennor.
478 LIVESOFTHEIRISHSAINTS. [September23.
than it should have been, had not the volume in question issued from the press. Hence the present writer feels great pleasure in bearing his humble
testimony to that general impartiality, judgment and learning observable throughout the pages of this invaluable work. 23 He has culled materials for St. Adamnan's Life from this volume, for the most part ; and, on a comparison of the Saint's present biography with that already given by the Rev. Dr. Reeves, there will be found little originality as to substance or arrangement. In availing himself however of materials furnished by his former learned friend, the writer has taken the liberty of introducing modifications, suited to the plan of his work, while retaining all the substantial parts of that narrative. Biographical notices of St. Adamnan
are to be found in the works of Rev. Alban
In the " of Christian Dictionary
2* 2* M. Le Butler, Michaud,
Dr. 26 Thomas Hoefer,
28 William F.
27 Le Comte de 212
Montalembert,
Skene, * Rev. S. Baring-Gould,3° Rev. Dr. John Alzog^ and Alfred Webb. 3
Wright,
Biography,"33
Very Rev. William Reeves, D. D. , Dean of Armagh, is but an abbreviation
of the Life he had previously written, as prefatory to Adamnan's " Life of St.
Columba," and which he had edited for the Irish Archaeological Society.
Also in the " of Universal " there is a notice. 34 Imperial Dictionary Biography
There are accounts of St. Adamnan by Bishop Forbes,35 by Rt. Rev. Patrick
F. of 6 Rev. Dr. Moran, D. D. , Bishop Ossory,3 by
J.
F. S. 37 Gordon, Henry
Morley,38 and by many other writers.
It is remarked, that in passing from their real to their phonetic forms, few
names have undergone such transformations as those given to Adamnan. Thus it would be difficult to suppose, that Adamnan and Eunan were intended for the same person. Nor could it be imagined, that Adampnanus and Thewnan are resolvable into a common original.
epi ix 1. ," Kalendarium Breviarii Aber-
donensis, p. 121.
'The Martyrology of Aberdeen says at
reperio; neeullumvidipraeterrecentiores, inter se satis bene Concordes. "
4See Bishop Forbes' "Kalendars of
Scottish Saints," pp. 378, 379.
s See "Breviarium Aberdonense," Pars
Estiva, fol. cxiii.
6 See "Acta Sanctorum," tomus vi. ,
the x. Kl\ Octobris. "In Scocia Sancti
Lolani episcopi et confessoris de Kyncardin Septembris xxii. De S. Lolano Episcopo
prope Stirling. " See
of
Society Antiquaries
p. 268.
"
of Scotland, vol.
3
Father Soller applied to Father Nicholas probria deuitare ita celestis glorie signorum
very
ancient
authority
for the cultus
" In Scotia Lolani
print.
Proceedings of the Conf. in Scotia, num. 6, p. 534.
"
? It "ibidem sicut ii. , states, sepultus, qui
presentis vite virtutum tramite studuit ob-
Wemyss, a Scottish Father of the Society magnitudine participem se probatcelebrari. "
of Jesus, to revise and correct what Demp- —"Proceedings
ster and Camerarius had introduced quanes of Scotland," vol. ii. , p. 268. regarding the saints of his country. Accord- 8 See"De Pietate Scotorum, lib. iii. , p. ingly he wrote a little book at Douay, and 177.
this manuscript was intituled " De indubi-
tatis Scoriae Sanctis," and passing over the
narratives of Dempster and Camerarius, he
only took the Kalendar of Adam King for
illustration and revision, appending to it his
observations. In this libellus, he was unable
to find
of Lolan, and in his comment on King's
ot the of Anti- Society
"'Kalendars ofScottish
9 Bishop Forbes adds : '"This must be a traditional picture of—Duncan's contest with
Thorfin Sigurdson. " Saints," p. 379.
I0 See Bishop Forbes' "Kalendars of Scottish Saints," p. 162. —
"Thus —
episcopi. " " Menologium Scoticum," p. 212. Ibid.
:
474
LIVESOFTHEIRISHSAINTS. [September21.
of this month. " Lolan is said to have been bishop of Whitem, by Bishop
Challoner, who places his festival at this day,*3 but without citing any
authority for that statement. According to Bishop Challoner, St. Lolan is
said to have to the Lord anno departed
T034
at Whitern. 1 *
According to
his usual custom, Thomas Dempster attributes to Lolan not only many pious
traits and miracles, but also the authorship of Commentaries on the Bible,
Sacred Hymns, and other tracts. 1 * Besides Kincardine, near Stirling, where
he is honoured according to the Martyrology of Aberdeen, St. Lolan has a fair
at in Stobo. 16 In the Retours of the Earl of 1? in the
Broughton Perth, and Register of Combuskenneth,18 are allusions to objects supposed to commemorate him. Such statements as the Bollandists were able to collect from Scottish authorities are included in their " Acta Sanctorum " at the
22nd of 1 ? His feast is noticed at the same date in September.
80 Bollandistes,
the
Petits
Article VIII. —The Sons of Ernin, of Imis-mac-n-Ernin, of Loch Ce, now Lough Key, County of Roscommon. The island homes of our early religious were happily chosen, to direct their thoughts amid the
beauties of nature surrounding them, to those more exquisite images of heavenly foreshadowings, excited by their removal from the distractions of worldly society. At the 22nd of September, Marianus O'Gorman comme-
1
morates the sons of Ernin, without giving their proper names ; and a
commentator on his work states, that they were from Inis Mac n-Ernin on
"At the 24th day of September he compana Sti. Lolani et baculum sti.
writes
" :
Sanctus Lolanus Episcopus et Lolani. "
Ibid. Scottish Entries in the Kalendar of David
Sylloge de cultu et tempore, quo vixerit, in seven
"
Camerarius," p. Z40.
13 See "A Memorial of British
Piety," p.
paragraphs, pp. 533, 534.
20 See " Vies des tome Saints,"
Jour de Septembre—, p. 305.
xi. ,
xxiie
133-
14 See " A Memorial of British Piety," p.
133-
Article viii. meic Ernin. "
He calls them simply See Dr. Whitley Stokes'
182.
'5 Thus "
Commentaries in
" Felire Hui
Gormain," p.
2 The beautiful
Loch Ce in
common, is the Loch here indicated.
now known as Church Island^ near the western shore of the lake, and north of Trinity Island. * It contains upwards of four acres, and a ruin of what was moreancientlycalledthechurchofInchmacnerin. Manydistinctrecords
Connaught.
in the of Ros- County
Confessor apud Duncanum Scotorum Rcgem 19 See tomus vi. Septembris xxii.
De S.
magna in auctoritate et gratia. "
Lolano Conf. in Scotia. Episcopo
Scripsit
Biblia, lib. i. , Des Republica Christiana, lib.
i. , Hymnos Sacros, lib. i. , De insestimabili
Dilectionis divinoe Effectu, lib. i. , Passionis
Christi Typum, lib. i. , De Incarnationis
Mysterio, lib. i. Quse in bibliotheca Sconana
extraxit furor hsereticorum, et igne con-
sumpsit ; vir tamen pius memorias apicum
saltern vindicavit. Vixit anno MXXXIX. eighth century, and that A. u. 1215, a
:
Colitur, templis ei variis regni locis erectis, die xxii. Septembris. " — " Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis Scotorum," tomus ii. ,
monastery had been refounded by Clarus
Mac Moylin O'Moillclionry, Archdeacon of Elphin, for Premonstre Canons. It was dedicatedtotheMostHolyTrinity. Inthe
lib. xi. , num. 790, p. 429.
16" ""
See Origines Parochiales Scotiae," IrishPennyMagazine forNovember9th, pars i. , p 201. 1833, there is a beautiful description of '7 In 1662 and 1675, we find "Sacra Lough Kee or Rockingham Lake, with an
"
—campana S. Olavi (vel Solani) i. e. Lolani. illustration of the Shrine of the Holy
Retours, Perth, pp. 708, 880. Trinity, drawn by D. C. Grose, Esq. See
18 There we read
;
" unum toftum et vol. i. , No. 45. PP- 357. 358.
"
Lough Key,
The island of Inis-mac-n-Ernin is
—(
Loch Ce i cConnactaibh. "
'
3Hiswordsare "OInismacn-Erninfor ;
3 It is marked on the
Townland Maps for the County of Roscom- mon," Sheet 6.
4 It has been staged, that a church had been erected on this island so early as the
"
Ordnance Survey
September 22. ] LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. 475
of this place remain. That church also had its annalists, whose historic compilations are said to have commenced in 1013, the year before the battle of Clontarf, and to have ended in 1571. 5 Nothing can exceed the natural and artificial beauties of the extensive demesne spreading around the shores of this noble sheet of water, over which Rockingham House rises with fine effect. 5 The ancient castle of the MacDermotts, the chiefs of Coolavin, is
Lough Kee, County Roscommon.
yet to be seen in ruins, on one of the islands. The scenery around the lake is most varied and magnificent. The remains of Inchmacnernan church only exhibit at present lofty and extensive walls, amid an intricate mass of rocks, trees, dwarf-ash, and thorns, closely wound together with ivy tendrils. 1
Veneration was given, at the 22nd of September, as we read in the Martyr- 8
ology of Donegal, to the sons of Ernin, of Inis-mac-n-Ernin, in Loch C£, in Connacht.
Article IX. —Festival of St. Ladelin, a Scot, Diocese of Fribourg. This holy man flourished in the seventh century, and he is held to have
were
been born in the Continental writers. 1 His Scotland, by
persons of distinguished rank. However, the presumption is rather that he had been an Irish Scot. His festival has been assigned to the 22nd of September, by some writers ; others, as we have seen, place his feast at the day previous.
5 This was a folio vellum MS. belonging to i See D'Alton's "History of Ireland and
Mr. John Conry, and which Bishop Annals of Boyle," vol. i. , pp. 43 44.
Nicholson, of Derry, had seen in the last 8 Edited by Drs. Todd and Reeves, pp. "
century. See Irish Historical Library," 254,255. —
part Hi. , appendix, number iv. , p. 89.
Article ix.
'
See an account of him, in
6 The illustration is accompanying
Les Petits " Vies des Bollandistes,
copied from an approved engraving, and drawn on
Saints,' tome ix. , xxiie Jour de Septembre, pp. 323,
the wood, engraved by Gregor Grey. 324.
parents
476 LIVESOFTHEIRISHSAINTS. [September23.
Ctoftttp-tbirn IBap of September.
ARTICLE I. —ST. ADAMNAN, ABBOT OF IONA.
[SEVENTH AND EIGHTH CENTURIES. ]
INTRODUCTION. —WRITERS OF ST. ADAMNAN'S ACTS—CHANGES OF HIS NAME—HIS PARENTAGE AND DESCENT—PLACE OF HIS BIRTH—EARLY LIFE SPENT IN IRELAND—BECOMES A MONK AT IONA—OCCUPATIONS IN THAT CAPACITY—REIGN OF FINNACHTA FLIADHACH OR THE FESTIVE OVER IRELAND—FOUNDATIONS ATTRIBUTED TO ADAMNAN IN IRELAND—ADAMNAN ELECTED ABBOT OF IONA—
ALFRID'S EXILE IN IRELAND AND SUBSEQUENT RETURN TO NORTHUMBRIA— INVASION OF IRELAND BY THE SAXONS—ADAMNAN AT THE REQUKST OF HIS COUNTRYMEN UNDERTAKES AN EMBASSY TO THE COURT OF KING ALDFRID—HE PROCURES THE RELEASE OF THE CAPTIVES.
celebrity of this holy Abbot, both as a Saint and as a writer, has
THE
caused the introduction of his name in the of most
pages
Ecclesiastical Histories, Calendars, and Martyrologies. Fortunate for us, his writings have survived to the present time, and have preserved some of the most precious memorials of centuries long elapsed. Moreover, they evince sufficient proof, not alone of individual scholarship, but of classical attainments and proficiency in the schools where he studied, and under the masters, who moulded his moral character and directed his intellectual
pursuits. And long through the middle ages were literary treasures preserved in Iona, although many must have perished in the various raids, to which its monastery had been exposed in earlier times. It was the repository of most ancient Scottish records ; it is said to have possessed books obtained from Rome ; and it had the reputation of containing the
13
Book of Livy, now supposed to be lost, together with other classical
works, which have since perished. 3 As they may with justifiable pride revert to the virtues, the wisdom and the learning of past ages, so may our countrymen well point to the saints and sages and scholars, whose names are linked for ever with their best traditions at home and abroad.
The earliest authentic record of St. Adamnan's Acts is that given by
Venerable Bede. 4 An Irish Life, said to be preserved in one of the O'Clery
Manuscripts at Brussels, furnished those legends relating to St. Adamnan, which are contained in the Breviary of Aberdeen,* Trithemius has an
Article i. —' It is said that /Eneas Sylvius— afterwards Pope Pius II. — intended when he was in Scotland to have visited the
at Iona in search of the lost Books of Livy, but he was prevented by the death of King James I. See Rev. Dr. J. F. S. Gordon's " Iona," p. 19.
2 In
Paulus Jovius, as quoted by Ussher, in
library
p. 597.
3 The register and records of the island,
all written on parchment, and probably other more antique and valuable remains, were all destroyed by that worse than Gothic synod, who at the Reformation declared war against all science. See Pennant's visit to Iona in 1772.
Anglorum," lib. v. , cap. xv. , xvi. , xvii. , and xxi.
it has been stated, that a small parcel of books had been brought to Aher- deen from Iona, and great pains were taken to unfold them, but owing to age and rotten- ness of the parchment little could be read. From what the learned could make out, by
1525,
s "It is a sort of historical discourse on have been a fragment of Sallust than of Job xxxviii. , 3, intended for the saint's Livy. See Boethius, lib. vii. , p. 114. Also festival ; but, it is a miserable production,
the
style
of one work, it seemed rather to
"
Britannicarum Ecclesiarum Antiquitates,"
4 See " Historia Ef:clesiastica Gentis
general
September 23. ] LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. 477
account of Adamnan, as observed by John Bale, who also enters him in the
work intituled, "Scriptorum illustrium Majoris Brytannise, quam nunc Angliam et Scotiam vocant. "' Lives or notices of Adamnan are to be
8 found in the works of Gerrard John Vossius,? of Archbishop Ussher, of
Sir James Ware,' and of Father Hugh Ward. 10 Dean Cressy incidentally alludes to Adamnan, whose gests he leaves to the Scottish writers. " In
Mabillon's and D'Achery's Acts of Saints belonging to the Benedictine Order,someshortnoticesregardingAdamnanhavebeenpublished," Also is he alluded to by Mabillon, in his Annals of the Benedictine Order. '3
1* 15 16 NatalisAlexander, Dr,WilliamCave, andBishopTanner, havereference
to him in their respective works. Adamnan's Life is contained in the
voluminous MActa Sanctorum" of the Bollandists, at the 23rd of
1
September. ? It was compiled by Father Constantine Suyskens, in a
Commentarius Historicus. 18
from Ancient Sources "
In the "Three Fragments of Annals copied
Dubhaltach Mac 1 * there are entries, Firbisigh,
by
which profess to give data for the life of St. Adamnan ; yet some of those
manifestly belong to the class of legends. The Rev. Dr. Lanigan has some
critical remarks about Adamnan. 20 The most complete, elaborate and
21
interesting biography of St. Adamnan, that has yet appeared, is the
Memoir the Rev. Dr. William Reeves. 22 celebrated for compiled by Justly
his antiquarian research, and extensive learning, especially on all subjects connected with the early ecclesiastical history of Ireland, his biography has been prefixed to our saint's own " Vita S. Columbae. " This Memoir has been most ably and critically edited for the Irish Archaeological and Celtic Society. In this same work, which, as the learned editor well observes, has
immortalized both the subject and the author, a great deal of interesting matter has been introduced, which tends to render a task imposed on any subsequent biographer of St. Adamnan less laborious and more satisfactory,
full of absurdities and anachronisms. " The Rev. Dr. Reeves has declared, that any-
thing worthy of notice in this production, had been translated to his own memoir of the saint. See his Adamnan's "Life of St. Columba," Appendix to Preface, sect. I. , Memoir of St. Adamnan, p. xl. , n (a).
I3 See " Annales Ordinis S. Benedicti,"
tomusi. , lib. xviii. , sect, lxv. , p. 618.
I4 See "Historia Ecclesiastica Veteris
Novique Testamenti," tomus xii. Sseculum Septimum, cap. iv. , art. x. , sect, ii. , p. 82.
1S See "Scriptorum Ecclesiasticorum Historia Literaria," &c, vol. i,, Saeculum Monatheleticum, p. 594.
l6 See"BibliothecaBritannico-Hibernica," pp. 5, 6.
1See "Acta Sanctorum," tomus vi. ,
6
In the Second Part. Centuria Decima-
Num.
7 See " De Historicis Latinis," lib. ii. ,
quatta,
xxv. , p. 197.
cap. xxvii.
*See " Britannicarum Ecclesiarum An- Septembris xxiii. De S. Adamnano vel
tiquitates," cap. xv. , pp. 366, 367, cap. xvi. , p. 381, cap. xvii. , p. 499, et seq.
Adomnan Presb. et Abbate in Iona Scotia Insula, pp. 642 to 649.
9 See " De
cap, iii. , pp. 33 to 35. And also " De Praesulibus Hibernian, Commentarius," De Episcopis Rapotensibus, p. 73.
Martyris inclyti,
Acta, &c. " Dissertatio Historica de Patria
to 100, and sect, xiv. , pp. 136, 139, 140, See "Church-History of Britanny," and chap, xix. , sect, iii. , pp. 149 to 153.
Scriptoribus Hibernise,"
lib.
i. ,
l8 of two sections, and Consisting
forty-
10 See " Sancti Rumoldi
one paragraphs.
I9 Edited by John O'Donovan, LL. D. ,
M. R. I. A. See pp. 70 to 115.
*° See his " Ecclesiastical of Ire- History
land," vol. iii. , chap, xviii. , sect, v. , pp. 96
S. Rumoldi, art. iii. , sect. 4, pp. 217 to 220.
11
book x. , vii. , chap,
and Book
2I The work here is entitled: designated
p. 419, chap, xv. , pp. 509, 510.
xx. ,
"The Life of St. Columba, founder of Hy ; 12 See " Acta Sanctorum Ordinis S. written by Adamnan, ninth Abbot of that
Benedicti," vol. iv. , sec. iii. , pars ii. , a. d.
700 to 800. Appendix, pp. 499 to 522. His Life is written in seven paragraphs. His three Books on the Holy Places
follow.
Monastery," &c. By William Reeves, D. D. , M. R. I. A. , Curate of Kilconriola, in the Diocese of Connor. Dublin, 1857, 4to.
"Afterwards Protestant Bishop of the Diocese of Down and Cennor.
478 LIVESOFTHEIRISHSAINTS. [September23.
than it should have been, had not the volume in question issued from the press. Hence the present writer feels great pleasure in bearing his humble
testimony to that general impartiality, judgment and learning observable throughout the pages of this invaluable work. 23 He has culled materials for St. Adamnan's Life from this volume, for the most part ; and, on a comparison of the Saint's present biography with that already given by the Rev. Dr. Reeves, there will be found little originality as to substance or arrangement. In availing himself however of materials furnished by his former learned friend, the writer has taken the liberty of introducing modifications, suited to the plan of his work, while retaining all the substantial parts of that narrative. Biographical notices of St. Adamnan
are to be found in the works of Rev. Alban
In the " of Christian Dictionary
2* 2* M. Le Butler, Michaud,
Dr. 26 Thomas Hoefer,
28 William F.
27 Le Comte de 212
Montalembert,
Skene, * Rev. S. Baring-Gould,3° Rev. Dr. John Alzog^ and Alfred Webb. 3
Wright,
Biography,"33
Very Rev. William Reeves, D. D. , Dean of Armagh, is but an abbreviation
of the Life he had previously written, as prefatory to Adamnan's " Life of St.
Columba," and which he had edited for the Irish Archaeological Society.
Also in the " of Universal " there is a notice. 34 Imperial Dictionary Biography
There are accounts of St. Adamnan by Bishop Forbes,35 by Rt. Rev. Patrick
F. of 6 Rev. Dr. Moran, D. D. , Bishop Ossory,3 by
J.
F. S. 37 Gordon, Henry
Morley,38 and by many other writers.
It is remarked, that in passing from their real to their phonetic forms, few
names have undergone such transformations as those given to Adamnan. Thus it would be difficult to suppose, that Adamnan and Eunan were intended for the same person. Nor could it be imagined, that Adampnanus and Thewnan are resolvable into a common original.
