On the
Calendar
of Oengus, p.
O'Hanlon - Lives of the Irish Saints - v8
; and vol.
iii.
, lib.
iv.
, cap.
xxiii.
, xxvii.
To this edi- tion is reference made, in notes to the pre- sent Life.
2
The ancient kingdom of Northumbria lay north of the River Humber, and extended to the southern limits of that country inha- bited by the Picts and Scots.
3 The feast of this holy man, an Anglo-
Saxon by birth and origin, is kept on the
12th of January. Having visited Rome, he afterwards took the religious habit, in the celebratedmonasteryofLerins, in France. There he remained for two years, when he returned to Rome, a. d. 668. He afterwards accompanied St. Theodore, Archbishop of Canterbury, to England, and had charge of the monastery of St. Peter and St. Paul, near thatcity; butheresolvedonreturningagain to Rome, where he wished to acquire new experiences and lights regarding matters of Church discipline, and on divers monastic institutions. Whereupon he visited many places in Italy. He afterwards set out for England, and having been there favourably received by Egfrid, King of Northumbria, Benedict built two monasteries, those of Wearmouth and of Jarrow, formerly called Girwy. As these lay near to each other, he was appointed superior over both monas- teries. However, he took care to select two persons of eminent piety, Esterwinand Ceol- fridor Ceolfroid,to serve under him, and these
Churchveneratesassaints. St. Benedict taught his religious all those prac- tices of devotion, which he had observed in the Roman convents, and which he had learned in other houses visited by him. He wished especially to introduce the monastic life, as he saw it practised in France and Italy. In his monastery, he established a
college, in which he taught publicly, and soon he had six hundred monks who attended his lectures.
4 It is now known as Monk-Wearmouth,
owing to the foundation of a Benedictine
monastery, about A. D. 674, by Biscop, a Saxon noble, who obtained from Egfrid a grant of land near the River Wear, for the erection of an Abbey, dedicated to St. Peter. It was situated also at the mouth of that river, in Durham, and on the north bank. In the reign of Ethelred, that monastery was destroyed by the Danes.
s He is venerated as a saint, on the 25th
of September.
6 This place, in Durham, is of great anti-
quity, and it appears to have been formerly a Roman station, as numerous remains and
inscriptions discovered attest. Afterwards, the Saxons occupied that site. Egfrid granted forty hides of land to St. Benedict, for the purpose of building a church, which was com- pleted in 685, and dedicated to St. Paul.
This monastery was frequently plundered and burned by the Danes, but it was again restored. According to an inscription, still preserved in the church, it is supposed to have been refounded by the Normans. In 1083, both St. Peter's at Wearmouth and St. Paul's at Jarrow, were made cellsto the con- vent of Durham, by Bishop Carilepho. Some remains of the monastery are still to be seen near the parish church. See Samuel Lewis' "Topographical Dictionary of England," vol. ii. , pp. 631, 632,
English
452 LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. [August 31.
The Acts of this saint have been often written, since the time of Venerable Bede. Moreover,severalManuscriptLives1ofthesaintareextant,bothin Great Britain and on the Continent. 8 So early as the ninth century, the veneration of St. Aidan had been established in Ireland, as we find him re- cordedatthe31stofAugust,inthe"Feilire"9ofSt. Aengus. Alatercom- mentary is found attached, 10 and professingto give his pedigree ; yet to this re- puted family descent, little credence should be attached. Among those writers, who have left memoirs of or who have commemorated St. Aidan, we may mention John Capgrave," and the compiler of the Breviary of Aberdeen. The
12
"Hystorieplurimorum Sanctorum" has notices of Aydanus, Confessor.
In the
collection of x3 his Acts are Edward Maihew1* has the Lippeloo, registered.
Life of St. Aidan written at the 31st of August. The acts of this apostolic
man have been published at the 21st of August, by Surius, in eleven para- graphs,^ and Archbishop Ussher has allusion to him in his great historical work. 10 Dr. Meredith Hanmer gives a curious account of Aedanus, which
confuses the Patron Saint of
1 ? with the man. 18 Ferns, so-called, present holy
Stephen
He
1 20
is also noticed
by
Father
White, ' Rev. Collier, Rev. Jeremy
Dean 21 L'Abbe' Cressy,
and Adrien Baillet. 23 The Bollandists24 Fleury," by
have given the Acts of St. Aidan, at the 31st of August, the editor being Father John Stilting. These Acts are mainly compiled from the History of
1 Among these we find : "Vita S. Aidani Pridie Kalendas Septembris.
Lindisfarnensis, MS. Bodl. Digby, 175, ff.
12
Published at Louvain, a. d. 1485. See 44, 46, b. veil, small folio, xi. cent. MS. fol. cxx. , cxxi. , cxxii.
Bodl. Sanct. Misc. 491 (1093), ff. 164-173, 13 See the Third Volume of Lippeloo's veil. 4 to xii. , cent. MS. , Bodl. Fairfax, 6 "Vitse Sanctorum. " Vita S. Aidani, at
(3886), ff. 160-162, b. veil, folio, xiv. cent. MS. Harl. , 4843, ff. 180-184, paper folio, xv. cent. De S. Aidano MS. Cott. Tiber. E. I,
ff. 231, b. 233, MS. Bodl. Tanner, 15, veil. folio, dble. col. , xv. cent. De S. Aidano,
August 31st, pp. 656 to 660.
14 See " In Trophseis Ordinis Benedic-
tini," tomus ii.
'5 See "De Probatis Sanctorum Vitis,"
vol. iv. , Augusti xxxi. , pp. 338, 339.
16 See "Britannicarum Ecclesiarum An-
tiquitates," cap. xv. , p. 365, cap. xvii. , pp. 463, 476, 494.
x? SeetheFirstVolumeofthisWork,at the 31st of January, for the Life of St. Maidoc or Aidus, Bishop of Ferns, Art. i.
et MS. Lansd. Episcopo Confessore,
ff. 19b, 21b, veil, folio, xiv. cent.
436,
8
»
Among these are found : Vita S. Aidani, Episcop. Lindisfarnensis,MS. Ccenob. Cam- beronensis in Hannoniae. MS. Bibl. de la Ville de Laon, veil, folio, xii. cent. MS.
Christina? Vatic. 1088.
» In —that copy found in the " Leabhar
Breac" a manuscript in the Royal Irish Academy—is the following stanza. Its English translation has been furnished by
Whitley Stokes, LL. D. :—
18 He writes: absurdly
Kegin.
"Capgravemaketh two of one Aidanus, the one an Abbot, the other a Bishop, and to reconcile the disso- nance, he was first an Abbot, afterwards a bishop, so writeth Bale. Beda delivereth
Semite echm
avoid prolixitie I omit. " Chronicle of Ireland," p. 127.
ti-^uginfc ingjuan jjeboAi
Aodah
1nt>p meocoic molinai
x
9 See"ApologiaproHibernia,"cap. ii. , p. 15, cap. iv. , p. 37, cap. v. , p. 66.
20
See his "Ecclesiastical History of Great Britain," &c, vol. i. , book ii. , cent, vii. , pp. 203 to 215.
21 See "Church History of Brittany," book xv. , chap, iii. , pp. 347 to 350.
32 See " Ilistoirc tome Ecclesiastique,"
viii. , liv. xxxviii. , sect. xviii. ,xix. , pp. 345 to 348, and liv. xxxix. , sect, iii. , p. 430,
3i In Baillet's " Les Vies des Saints,"
la
'•They overspread the end of August, Aedan the pure sun of praised Inis Medcoit (Lindisfame), with Paulinus of the widow. " —"Transactions of the Royal Irish Aca-
demy," Irish Manuscript Series, vol. part i.
On the Calendar of Oengus, p. cxxvi.
,0
See ibid. , p. cxxxv. The scholiast ap- pears to doubt whether Inis Medcoit was Inis
paulin napeoboai.
i. ,
tome iii. , at the 31st of August is entered, Cathaig, or the Island in the north-west of St. Aidan, first bishop of Lindisfame, in
the Little Saxons.
"
England, pp. 503 to 505.
24 See "Acta Sanctorum," tomus vi. , Augusti
xxxi. De S. Aidano Episcopo Lindisfarnensi, pp. 688 to 694.
See Anglia.
Capgrave's "Nova Legenda This work records St. Aidanus, Bishop and Confessor, at fob v. , vi. , vii.
singular commendations of h—im, the which to "
August 31. ] LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. 453
Venerable Bede ; and they are contained in a historic commentary of four
sections, comprising thirty-two paragraphs. The reader may find, by Walter Harrises notices of this holy bishop. The Rt. Rev. Bishop Challoner26 has also given the Acts of this Saint. They are chiefly extracted from the works cf
2 28 Venerable Bede. In the writings of Rev. Alban Butler, 7 Rev. Dr. Lanigan,
Dean Henry Hart Milman,29 Bishop Forbes,30 Rev. Hubert McLaughlin,31 Le Comte de Montalembert,32 Michaud,33 Rev. S. Baring-Gould,34 Les Petits Bollandistes,3* and Alfred Webb,36 are biographical memoranda. It was
Colgan's design to have published the Acts of St. Aidan, Bishop, at the 31st August, as would appear from the posthumous list of his Manuscripts. 3?
Notwithstanding the great celebrity acquired by this saint, the, early part of his life is involved in much obscurity. On the ground of his being styled a Scot, some of the North-British writers38 place his nativity in Scotland. Such statements have led several of the French30 and Continental writers astray, in giving the place for his nativity. He was, however, undoubtedly a native of Ireland. This appears to be sufficiently established, from the recorded circumstance of his having belonged to the Irish monastic establish- ment in Iona ; from the fact of his using Irish as his vernacular speech, even on his missions. As being an Irish saint, the Martyrologies of Tallagh, Cashel, and Donegal, the Annals of Roscrea, his Life, as written by Edward Mahew, and nearly all other mediaeval documents, sufficiently attest. It is also clearly to be inferred, from the narrative of Venerable Bede. The learned William Camden makes St. Aidan a native of Ireland. That Ireland had been the country of St, Aidan's nativity is likewise confirmed by the Life of St. Oswald,40 at the 5th of August. 41 If we were inclined to accept the statement of the Scholiast on the "Feilire" of St. ^Engus,the present Aedan was son of Lugar, son to Ernin, son of Cael, son to Aed, son of Art- chorp son of Niacorp. 42 However, this pedigree is short in two of the lineal degrees, from another somewhat similar. 43 That he sprung from the race of Eochaidh Finn Fuath nairt, from whom Brighit descends, has been stated bytheO'Clerys. 44 Ontheauthorityofthe "SanctilogiumGenealogicum,"4*
25 See Harris' Ware, vol. ii. , "Writers of 36 See "Compendium of Irish History,"
Ireland," Book i. , chap, iv. , pp. 30 to 32. p. 3. 26" 37
See Britannia Sancta," part ii. ,' pp. 103 to 108. Also, in a "Memorial of British
Piety," by the same writer, pp. 122, 123.
27 In"LivesoftheFathers,Martyrs,and
other principal Saints," we find set down, St. Aidan, Bishop of Lindisfarne, in vol. viii. ,
28
See ** Catalogue Actuum Sanctorum quae Ms. habentur, ordine Mensium et Dierum. "
38SuchasAdamKing,ThomasDempster, &c.
39 Thus in Michaud, a writer states un.
at the August
"Aidan neau7e eveque Anglais,
31st.
See Ecclesiastical History of Ireland,"
warrantably
siecle, dans une —des iles Hebrides, a l'ouest de
vol. ii. , chap, xv. , sect, xii. , xiii. , xiv. , pp. 416 to 427.
29 See "History of Latin Christianity," vol. ii. , book iv. , chap, iii. , pp. 241, 242.
30 See " Kalendars of Scottish Saints," p.
269.
31 See "Biographical Sketches of Ancient
IrishSaints,"sect,vi. ,pp. 91to103.
32 See "Les Moines d'Occident," tome
iv. , liv. xiii. , chap, i. , ii.
"
PEccosse," &c. Biographie Universelle,
ancienne et moderne," tome i. , p. 263.
4° See Colgan's "Acta Sanctorum
Hiberniae," ix. Januarii, Appendix, cap. ii. , pp. 46, 47.
4I See an account of him, at the same date, in the present volume, Art. ii.
42 See"TransactionsoftheRoyalIrish
Academy," Irish Manuscript Series, vol. i. ,
33 See "
part, i. ; Whitley
On the Calendar of Oengus, by
Universelle, ancienne et moderne," tome i. , pp. 263, 264.
Stokes, LL. D. , It is given in Bishop
cxxxv.
Forbes' Kalen-
Biographie
p.
"
34 See "Lives of the Saints," vol. viii. , August xxxi. , pp. 391 to 399.
43
dars of Scottish Saints," p. 269.
35 See " Vies des tome Saints," x. ,
jour d'Aout, pp. 347, 348.
44 See the 233, 261.
Martyrology of Donegal,'
xxxie
. ,
"
edited by Rev. Drs. Todd and Reeves, pp,
454
LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. [August 31.
Colgan thus draws a line of ancestry :«6 St. Aidanus Alius Lugarii, filii Ernini, filii Coelii, f. Aidi, f. Sanii, filii Arturi Coirb, f. Carbrei Niadh, f. Cor- maci, f. ^ngussii Menn, f. Eochadii Finn, f. Fethlemidii Reachtmar Hiberniae
Regis. Although it has been assumed, that such a genealogy refers to the
present St. Aidan ; yet, Colgan only conjecturally assigns it to a St. Aidan,
venerated on the 27th of this month,*? or to another so named whose feast
occurs on the of 8 St. Aidan has been called the son of 4th September. * Again,
Liber,*9andin realitythere was a religious of good dispositions so named in the monastery of Iona, apparently not long after St. Columba50 had settled there, a. d. ,563. Yet,itisnotatalllikely,thatAidan,*1 whowasthenanadult,could have undertaken the active duties of a missionary sixty or seventy years after- wards. Having laid it down, that Aedan was a native of Ireland, Maihew thought that he was the Aidan,52 son of Libir, who was a monk of Hy, in
Columkille's time, and a religious man of good disposition. Colgan53 was inclined to be of the same opinion, for which however, there is no foundation, except the mere name of Aedan, which was exceedingly common in Ireland. Moreover, it is hard to believe, that a person, who was a monk, and for aught we know, several years before the death of Columkille, would have been able in 635 to undertake the arduous mission of Northumberland. 54 The matter of Aidan being an Irishman by birth is further confirmed, from the circumstance, that the great majority of the Iona monks, with whom he lived, were Irish- men. The Annals of Iona, as they have been preserved for us with great minuteness of detail,55 and especially in the entry of names of persons, furnish conclusive evidence of that fact. He was a bishop at Inis Cathaigh,56
according to the O'Clerys ; but, they do not furnish us witli any authority for such a statement, or better than what has been set down by the unknown and unreliable commentator on the " Feilire " of yEngus, and a reference to Marianus O'Gorman, by Colgan, who mentions St. Aidan, Bishop of Inis- Cathuigh, whose period is not denned, but whose feast has been set down at the 31st of August,5? which coincides with that of St. Aidan, Bishop of Lindisfarne.
;
We learn little more, with certainty, regarding the early part of our saint's life, than the fact, that he was a monk, in the monastery of Iona. 58 He is ranked St. Columba's 59 this can be understood in
among disciples
but, only
the sense, that he belonged to the religious institute of that celebrated
45 Cap. xiv. may be sure that, if Aidan, son of Liber, 46 See "Trias Thaumaturga," Appendix were the same as the bishop, Adamnan
Quarta ad Acta S. Brigidae, cap. 3, p. 613. 47 See the notices already given at that
date, in the present volume, Art. iii.
48 See the Ninth Volume of this work, for
cap. x. , p. 487.
s° See his Life at the 9th of June, in the
Sixth Volume of this work, Art. i.
—would not have omitted this circumstance. "
Dr. Lanigan's "Ecclesiastical History of
Ireland," vol. ii. , chap, xv. , sect, xii. , n. 102.
5S See especially Rev. Dr. Reeves' edition 49 See Colgan's "Trias Thaumaturga," of Adamnan's "Life of St. Columba. " Appendix Quarta ad Acta S. Columbae, Additional Notes, O, Chronicon Hyense,
Aedhan Amlonn, at that date.
s' Neitherisit to necessary consider,
pp. 369 to 413.
s6 Now Scattery Island, in the mouth of
the River Shannon.
S7See "ActaSanctorumHiber- Colgan's
nise," Martii viii. , Appendix ad Vitam S. Senani, cap.
2
The ancient kingdom of Northumbria lay north of the River Humber, and extended to the southern limits of that country inha- bited by the Picts and Scots.
3 The feast of this holy man, an Anglo-
Saxon by birth and origin, is kept on the
12th of January. Having visited Rome, he afterwards took the religious habit, in the celebratedmonasteryofLerins, in France. There he remained for two years, when he returned to Rome, a. d. 668. He afterwards accompanied St. Theodore, Archbishop of Canterbury, to England, and had charge of the monastery of St. Peter and St. Paul, near thatcity; butheresolvedonreturningagain to Rome, where he wished to acquire new experiences and lights regarding matters of Church discipline, and on divers monastic institutions. Whereupon he visited many places in Italy. He afterwards set out for England, and having been there favourably received by Egfrid, King of Northumbria, Benedict built two monasteries, those of Wearmouth and of Jarrow, formerly called Girwy. As these lay near to each other, he was appointed superior over both monas- teries. However, he took care to select two persons of eminent piety, Esterwinand Ceol- fridor Ceolfroid,to serve under him, and these
Churchveneratesassaints. St. Benedict taught his religious all those prac- tices of devotion, which he had observed in the Roman convents, and which he had learned in other houses visited by him. He wished especially to introduce the monastic life, as he saw it practised in France and Italy. In his monastery, he established a
college, in which he taught publicly, and soon he had six hundred monks who attended his lectures.
4 It is now known as Monk-Wearmouth,
owing to the foundation of a Benedictine
monastery, about A. D. 674, by Biscop, a Saxon noble, who obtained from Egfrid a grant of land near the River Wear, for the erection of an Abbey, dedicated to St. Peter. It was situated also at the mouth of that river, in Durham, and on the north bank. In the reign of Ethelred, that monastery was destroyed by the Danes.
s He is venerated as a saint, on the 25th
of September.
6 This place, in Durham, is of great anti-
quity, and it appears to have been formerly a Roman station, as numerous remains and
inscriptions discovered attest. Afterwards, the Saxons occupied that site. Egfrid granted forty hides of land to St. Benedict, for the purpose of building a church, which was com- pleted in 685, and dedicated to St. Paul.
This monastery was frequently plundered and burned by the Danes, but it was again restored. According to an inscription, still preserved in the church, it is supposed to have been refounded by the Normans. In 1083, both St. Peter's at Wearmouth and St. Paul's at Jarrow, were made cellsto the con- vent of Durham, by Bishop Carilepho. Some remains of the monastery are still to be seen near the parish church. See Samuel Lewis' "Topographical Dictionary of England," vol. ii. , pp. 631, 632,
English
452 LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. [August 31.
The Acts of this saint have been often written, since the time of Venerable Bede. Moreover,severalManuscriptLives1ofthesaintareextant,bothin Great Britain and on the Continent. 8 So early as the ninth century, the veneration of St. Aidan had been established in Ireland, as we find him re- cordedatthe31stofAugust,inthe"Feilire"9ofSt. Aengus. Alatercom- mentary is found attached, 10 and professingto give his pedigree ; yet to this re- puted family descent, little credence should be attached. Among those writers, who have left memoirs of or who have commemorated St. Aidan, we may mention John Capgrave," and the compiler of the Breviary of Aberdeen. The
12
"Hystorieplurimorum Sanctorum" has notices of Aydanus, Confessor.
In the
collection of x3 his Acts are Edward Maihew1* has the Lippeloo, registered.
Life of St. Aidan written at the 31st of August. The acts of this apostolic
man have been published at the 21st of August, by Surius, in eleven para- graphs,^ and Archbishop Ussher has allusion to him in his great historical work. 10 Dr. Meredith Hanmer gives a curious account of Aedanus, which
confuses the Patron Saint of
1 ? with the man. 18 Ferns, so-called, present holy
Stephen
He
1 20
is also noticed
by
Father
White, ' Rev. Collier, Rev. Jeremy
Dean 21 L'Abbe' Cressy,
and Adrien Baillet. 23 The Bollandists24 Fleury," by
have given the Acts of St. Aidan, at the 31st of August, the editor being Father John Stilting. These Acts are mainly compiled from the History of
1 Among these we find : "Vita S. Aidani Pridie Kalendas Septembris.
Lindisfarnensis, MS. Bodl. Digby, 175, ff.
12
Published at Louvain, a. d. 1485. See 44, 46, b. veil, small folio, xi. cent. MS. fol. cxx. , cxxi. , cxxii.
Bodl. Sanct. Misc. 491 (1093), ff. 164-173, 13 See the Third Volume of Lippeloo's veil. 4 to xii. , cent. MS. , Bodl. Fairfax, 6 "Vitse Sanctorum. " Vita S. Aidani, at
(3886), ff. 160-162, b. veil, folio, xiv. cent. MS. Harl. , 4843, ff. 180-184, paper folio, xv. cent. De S. Aidano MS. Cott. Tiber. E. I,
ff. 231, b. 233, MS. Bodl. Tanner, 15, veil. folio, dble. col. , xv. cent. De S. Aidano,
August 31st, pp. 656 to 660.
14 See " In Trophseis Ordinis Benedic-
tini," tomus ii.
'5 See "De Probatis Sanctorum Vitis,"
vol. iv. , Augusti xxxi. , pp. 338, 339.
16 See "Britannicarum Ecclesiarum An-
tiquitates," cap. xv. , p. 365, cap. xvii. , pp. 463, 476, 494.
x? SeetheFirstVolumeofthisWork,at the 31st of January, for the Life of St. Maidoc or Aidus, Bishop of Ferns, Art. i.
et MS. Lansd. Episcopo Confessore,
ff. 19b, 21b, veil, folio, xiv. cent.
436,
8
»
Among these are found : Vita S. Aidani, Episcop. Lindisfarnensis,MS. Ccenob. Cam- beronensis in Hannoniae. MS. Bibl. de la Ville de Laon, veil, folio, xii. cent. MS.
Christina? Vatic. 1088.
» In —that copy found in the " Leabhar
Breac" a manuscript in the Royal Irish Academy—is the following stanza. Its English translation has been furnished by
Whitley Stokes, LL. D. :—
18 He writes: absurdly
Kegin.
"Capgravemaketh two of one Aidanus, the one an Abbot, the other a Bishop, and to reconcile the disso- nance, he was first an Abbot, afterwards a bishop, so writeth Bale. Beda delivereth
Semite echm
avoid prolixitie I omit. " Chronicle of Ireland," p. 127.
ti-^uginfc ingjuan jjeboAi
Aodah
1nt>p meocoic molinai
x
9 See"ApologiaproHibernia,"cap. ii. , p. 15, cap. iv. , p. 37, cap. v. , p. 66.
20
See his "Ecclesiastical History of Great Britain," &c, vol. i. , book ii. , cent, vii. , pp. 203 to 215.
21 See "Church History of Brittany," book xv. , chap, iii. , pp. 347 to 350.
32 See " Ilistoirc tome Ecclesiastique,"
viii. , liv. xxxviii. , sect. xviii. ,xix. , pp. 345 to 348, and liv. xxxix. , sect, iii. , p. 430,
3i In Baillet's " Les Vies des Saints,"
la
'•They overspread the end of August, Aedan the pure sun of praised Inis Medcoit (Lindisfame), with Paulinus of the widow. " —"Transactions of the Royal Irish Aca-
demy," Irish Manuscript Series, vol. part i.
On the Calendar of Oengus, p. cxxvi.
,0
See ibid. , p. cxxxv. The scholiast ap- pears to doubt whether Inis Medcoit was Inis
paulin napeoboai.
i. ,
tome iii. , at the 31st of August is entered, Cathaig, or the Island in the north-west of St. Aidan, first bishop of Lindisfame, in
the Little Saxons.
"
England, pp. 503 to 505.
24 See "Acta Sanctorum," tomus vi. , Augusti
xxxi. De S. Aidano Episcopo Lindisfarnensi, pp. 688 to 694.
See Anglia.
Capgrave's "Nova Legenda This work records St. Aidanus, Bishop and Confessor, at fob v. , vi. , vii.
singular commendations of h—im, the which to "
August 31. ] LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. 453
Venerable Bede ; and they are contained in a historic commentary of four
sections, comprising thirty-two paragraphs. The reader may find, by Walter Harrises notices of this holy bishop. The Rt. Rev. Bishop Challoner26 has also given the Acts of this Saint. They are chiefly extracted from the works cf
2 28 Venerable Bede. In the writings of Rev. Alban Butler, 7 Rev. Dr. Lanigan,
Dean Henry Hart Milman,29 Bishop Forbes,30 Rev. Hubert McLaughlin,31 Le Comte de Montalembert,32 Michaud,33 Rev. S. Baring-Gould,34 Les Petits Bollandistes,3* and Alfred Webb,36 are biographical memoranda. It was
Colgan's design to have published the Acts of St. Aidan, Bishop, at the 31st August, as would appear from the posthumous list of his Manuscripts. 3?
Notwithstanding the great celebrity acquired by this saint, the, early part of his life is involved in much obscurity. On the ground of his being styled a Scot, some of the North-British writers38 place his nativity in Scotland. Such statements have led several of the French30 and Continental writers astray, in giving the place for his nativity. He was, however, undoubtedly a native of Ireland. This appears to be sufficiently established, from the recorded circumstance of his having belonged to the Irish monastic establish- ment in Iona ; from the fact of his using Irish as his vernacular speech, even on his missions. As being an Irish saint, the Martyrologies of Tallagh, Cashel, and Donegal, the Annals of Roscrea, his Life, as written by Edward Mahew, and nearly all other mediaeval documents, sufficiently attest. It is also clearly to be inferred, from the narrative of Venerable Bede. The learned William Camden makes St. Aidan a native of Ireland. That Ireland had been the country of St, Aidan's nativity is likewise confirmed by the Life of St. Oswald,40 at the 5th of August. 41 If we were inclined to accept the statement of the Scholiast on the "Feilire" of St. ^Engus,the present Aedan was son of Lugar, son to Ernin, son of Cael, son to Aed, son of Art- chorp son of Niacorp. 42 However, this pedigree is short in two of the lineal degrees, from another somewhat similar. 43 That he sprung from the race of Eochaidh Finn Fuath nairt, from whom Brighit descends, has been stated bytheO'Clerys. 44 Ontheauthorityofthe "SanctilogiumGenealogicum,"4*
25 See Harris' Ware, vol. ii. , "Writers of 36 See "Compendium of Irish History,"
Ireland," Book i. , chap, iv. , pp. 30 to 32. p. 3. 26" 37
See Britannia Sancta," part ii. ,' pp. 103 to 108. Also, in a "Memorial of British
Piety," by the same writer, pp. 122, 123.
27 In"LivesoftheFathers,Martyrs,and
other principal Saints," we find set down, St. Aidan, Bishop of Lindisfarne, in vol. viii. ,
28
See ** Catalogue Actuum Sanctorum quae Ms. habentur, ordine Mensium et Dierum. "
38SuchasAdamKing,ThomasDempster, &c.
39 Thus in Michaud, a writer states un.
at the August
"Aidan neau7e eveque Anglais,
31st.
See Ecclesiastical History of Ireland,"
warrantably
siecle, dans une —des iles Hebrides, a l'ouest de
vol. ii. , chap, xv. , sect, xii. , xiii. , xiv. , pp. 416 to 427.
29 See "History of Latin Christianity," vol. ii. , book iv. , chap, iii. , pp. 241, 242.
30 See " Kalendars of Scottish Saints," p.
269.
31 See "Biographical Sketches of Ancient
IrishSaints,"sect,vi. ,pp. 91to103.
32 See "Les Moines d'Occident," tome
iv. , liv. xiii. , chap, i. , ii.
"
PEccosse," &c. Biographie Universelle,
ancienne et moderne," tome i. , p. 263.
4° See Colgan's "Acta Sanctorum
Hiberniae," ix. Januarii, Appendix, cap. ii. , pp. 46, 47.
4I See an account of him, at the same date, in the present volume, Art. ii.
42 See"TransactionsoftheRoyalIrish
Academy," Irish Manuscript Series, vol. i. ,
33 See "
part, i. ; Whitley
On the Calendar of Oengus, by
Universelle, ancienne et moderne," tome i. , pp. 263, 264.
Stokes, LL. D. , It is given in Bishop
cxxxv.
Forbes' Kalen-
Biographie
p.
"
34 See "Lives of the Saints," vol. viii. , August xxxi. , pp. 391 to 399.
43
dars of Scottish Saints," p. 269.
35 See " Vies des tome Saints," x. ,
jour d'Aout, pp. 347, 348.
44 See the 233, 261.
Martyrology of Donegal,'
xxxie
. ,
"
edited by Rev. Drs. Todd and Reeves, pp,
454
LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. [August 31.
Colgan thus draws a line of ancestry :«6 St. Aidanus Alius Lugarii, filii Ernini, filii Coelii, f. Aidi, f. Sanii, filii Arturi Coirb, f. Carbrei Niadh, f. Cor- maci, f. ^ngussii Menn, f. Eochadii Finn, f. Fethlemidii Reachtmar Hiberniae
Regis. Although it has been assumed, that such a genealogy refers to the
present St. Aidan ; yet, Colgan only conjecturally assigns it to a St. Aidan,
venerated on the 27th of this month,*? or to another so named whose feast
occurs on the of 8 St. Aidan has been called the son of 4th September. * Again,
Liber,*9andin realitythere was a religious of good dispositions so named in the monastery of Iona, apparently not long after St. Columba50 had settled there, a. d. ,563. Yet,itisnotatalllikely,thatAidan,*1 whowasthenanadult,could have undertaken the active duties of a missionary sixty or seventy years after- wards. Having laid it down, that Aedan was a native of Ireland, Maihew thought that he was the Aidan,52 son of Libir, who was a monk of Hy, in
Columkille's time, and a religious man of good disposition. Colgan53 was inclined to be of the same opinion, for which however, there is no foundation, except the mere name of Aedan, which was exceedingly common in Ireland. Moreover, it is hard to believe, that a person, who was a monk, and for aught we know, several years before the death of Columkille, would have been able in 635 to undertake the arduous mission of Northumberland. 54 The matter of Aidan being an Irishman by birth is further confirmed, from the circumstance, that the great majority of the Iona monks, with whom he lived, were Irish- men. The Annals of Iona, as they have been preserved for us with great minuteness of detail,55 and especially in the entry of names of persons, furnish conclusive evidence of that fact. He was a bishop at Inis Cathaigh,56
according to the O'Clerys ; but, they do not furnish us witli any authority for such a statement, or better than what has been set down by the unknown and unreliable commentator on the " Feilire " of yEngus, and a reference to Marianus O'Gorman, by Colgan, who mentions St. Aidan, Bishop of Inis- Cathuigh, whose period is not denned, but whose feast has been set down at the 31st of August,5? which coincides with that of St. Aidan, Bishop of Lindisfarne.
;
We learn little more, with certainty, regarding the early part of our saint's life, than the fact, that he was a monk, in the monastery of Iona. 58 He is ranked St. Columba's 59 this can be understood in
among disciples
but, only
the sense, that he belonged to the religious institute of that celebrated
45 Cap. xiv. may be sure that, if Aidan, son of Liber, 46 See "Trias Thaumaturga," Appendix were the same as the bishop, Adamnan
Quarta ad Acta S. Brigidae, cap. 3, p. 613. 47 See the notices already given at that
date, in the present volume, Art. iii.
48 See the Ninth Volume of this work, for
cap. x. , p. 487.
s° See his Life at the 9th of June, in the
Sixth Volume of this work, Art. i.
—would not have omitted this circumstance. "
Dr. Lanigan's "Ecclesiastical History of
Ireland," vol. ii. , chap, xv. , sect, xii. , n. 102.
5S See especially Rev. Dr. Reeves' edition 49 See Colgan's "Trias Thaumaturga," of Adamnan's "Life of St. Columba. " Appendix Quarta ad Acta S. Columbae, Additional Notes, O, Chronicon Hyense,
Aedhan Amlonn, at that date.
s' Neitherisit to necessary consider,
pp. 369 to 413.
s6 Now Scattery Island, in the mouth of
the River Shannon.
S7See "ActaSanctorumHiber- Colgan's
nise," Martii viii. , Appendix ad Vitam S. Senani, cap.
