See " De Proba- tis
Sanctorum
Vitis," vol.
O'Hanlon - Lives of the Irish Saints - v1
239 to 246.
S. Fursei" has been preserved in the follow- ^ It is classed MSS. vol.
iv. , prart ii. ,' —r
"MS. Bodl. ff. 336,
p
ing copies
veil,folio,dble. cols. ;xiv. cent. MS. Bodl,
:
235b-236b. 50.
—"MS.
Many
Regin.
224 LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. [January i6.
The chief reliable particulars for his Life must have been found in an
ancient biography of this saint, ^v-ritten by an anonymous author, and referred tobytheVenerableBede. 3 TheRev. AlbanButlerstatesthataMS. lifeof
our saint, written by Bede, is to be found in the King's Library, at the British Museum ; but this is evidently a mistake made by the learned English hagio- logist. It is by no means certain that the book mentioned by Bede had been written by himself, although he seems to have used it in compiling the nine- teenth chapter of his Ecclesiastical History.
Among those more modem wTiters, who treat about St. Fursey, may be mentioned Vincentius Bellonacensis,s St. Antoninus,^ Almoin,? Andreas Du Chesne,^ Sigebert,^ David Camerarius,^° Autbertus Miraeus," Molanus," Nicholas Harpsfeld,^3 Harseus, Lippeloo,'^ Hieronymus Flatus,'s Petrus de Natalibus, Baronius,'^ Matthew of Westminster,'7 and Ralph of Chester. '^ Besides these, John Capgrave,'9 Hanmer,^" Surius,^' the Benedictines,^" Adrien Baillet,"3 Messingham,"* Rev. Alban Butler. ^s Dempster,'^ Camerarius,"? Guido, Abbot of St. Denis f^ Belefortius,^9 the German and Belgian writers, Valentinus Leuctius, Rosweyde, and Henry Adrian, as also James Desmay,3o Doctor of the Sorbonne, who wrote in French, the Bollandists and Colgan,3^ with nearly all the other writers, who have dwelt at any length on hagiology, have not neglected to record the acts and visions of this illustrious missionary.
The Bollandists have published the Acts of St. Fursey. 3" After a preli- minary notice in three sections,33 the first published Life is contained in seven chapters, consisting of thirty-nine paragraphs, with the miracles of St. Fursey
3 See " Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis An- glorum," lib. iii. , cap. xix.
* See " Lives of the Fathers, Martyrs, and other Principal Saints," voL i. , Jan. xvi.
5 Lib. xxiii. , cap. Ixxx.
*
Par, 2, tit. 13, c. 6, sec. 23. 7 Lib. i. , cap. xviii.
" "Acta Sanctorum Ordinis S. Benedict! ,"
tomus ii. Here the Life of St. Fursey ap-
pears, with some previous observations, in 1 5 paragraphs. The Life itself is written in
36 paragraphs, the virtues of St. Fursey in 21 paragraphs. See pp. 229 to 315.
' Tomus " i. ,
*3 " Les Vies des Saints," at January xv! . , pp. 203 to 206.
Scriptorum Franciorum. "
9" '*"
Chronicon," A. D. 648.
'° "De Scotorum Pietate," lib. iii.
See
and other Principal Saints," vol. ! . , January xvi.
^ In " Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis Sco- torum. "
^ See " De Pietate Scotorum,"
"In " Fasti Belgici et Burgundici," xvi. Januarii, pp. 34, 35,
PP- 393
"In " Natalibus Sanctorum Belgii," p.
13, in two paragraphs.
'3 " Historia Anglise," saec. vii. , cap. xvii.
^ " Vitae Sanctorum," at January xvi. , pp.
=* " De lib. i. Sanctis,"
to
289 295.
'5 A Jesuit writer, in his work, " De Bono Status lib. xxvi.
^ " In Supplemento. " 3° A Canon of Peronne.
'* "
Religiosi," ii. , cap.
Aimales Ecclesiastic! ," tomus viiL
His Life of St. Fursey appeared in Paris, A. D. 1607, and ! t
was reprinted A. D. 1623.
3' This array of writers shows how greatly
'® "
Lib. v. , cap. xiii. See Acta Sanc- the fame of St. Fursey extended among the
learned. See " Acta Sanctorum Colgan's
A. D. 644.
'7 "Flores Historianun," A. D. 647.
torum tomus Januarii,"
xvi.
Acta S. Fursaei. Praeviae Annotationes, sec. Hibemiae," xvi. Januarii. Appendix ad
ii. , p. 36.
'9 See " Nova Legenda Angliae," Septimo
decimo Kal. Februarii, fol. cliv. , civ. , clvi. ='°See "Chronicle of Ireland," pp. 151,
152.
""DeProbatisSanctorumVitis. " Surius
published the Acts of our saint, at the i6th of January, and these he supposed to have been identical with that Life referred to by Bede.
Acta S. Furssei, cap. ! . , p. 92.
3* See "Acta Sanctorum," tomus ii. , xvi.
Januarii. Vita S. Fursaei, pp. 35 to 55.
33 The first notice refers to various festivals of our saint ; the second to different writers, whohavetreatedconcerninghim; whilethe third section contains two hymns in his honour, which latter are also pubUshed by
Colgan.
ii. ,
Januarii.
Florilegium Insulae Sanctorum," 399.
to
=5 See "Lives of the Fathers, Martyrs,
January 1 6. ] LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. 225
in four chapters and twenty-five paragraphs. 24 Another imperfect life, by an anonymous author, is given in twelve chapters, containing sixty-five para- graphs ; while a second book contains the miracles of St. Fursey in six
chapters and thirty-one paragraphs. 35 The editor remarks, that in the time of Venerable Bede, a little tract on St. Fursey's life had been written, from the
reading of which much spiritual profit might be derived. It appears to have been the treatise edited by Surius. s^ This, the Bollandists collated with a
manuscript of Corbie, an Irish Life of St. Fursey, two acts belonging to the Church of St. Audomar, a Bertinian, one of St. Mary de Ripatoris, one of St. Maximin, and one of D. Preudhomme, Canon of Cambray, besides several others. 37 To what Surius had published, the Bollandists added the Book of Miracles. They thought the life, which Bede stated to be sufficiently full of
Fursey's acts and those of his companions, had only been given by him in an abridged state. Andrew De Chesne had sent them another life, the first parts of which had been taken word for word from a Life of St. Foillan, it was intended should be published at the 31st of October, while the latter parts were drawn from the Book of St. Fursey's Miracles, to which some short notices had been added. In "
Sanctorum and in Thomas Anglias,"
'* Insulae Sanc- Messingham's Florilegium
torum," other particulars were found abbreviated from previous compilations. The Bollandists describe a more prolix life, taken from an old codex of the Mo- nasteryofSt. MaryBonifontis. It,however,aboundedincontractions. They omittedthosemiddleparts,whichhadbeencompiledfromtheformeracts. In his Prologue and Epilogue, the author asserts that his acts had been compiled from ancient records found in many places. James Desmay's biography agreed in most particulars with the Bollandists' Codex, especially in reference to the wonders accompanying St. Fursey's birth, and which are related in the Life of St. Foillan. To these, the Bollandists added what Venerable Bede has written. 3^
The Bollandist Fathers have published a life, which has appeared, like-
"
wise, in Colgan's
Acta Sanctorum Hiberni9e. "39 But there are some verbal
differences between versions of this latter life, as found in the Bollandist
collections, and in those of Colgan. Bollandus has adopted an opinion of
Surius, regarding the tract he has published having been the life Bede referred .
to ; but he has issued a more correct version than that of Surius, and at the
same monthly date, observing that even these "Acta" seem to be im-
perfect. Bede speaks of only one book relating to St. Fursey ; yet Bollandus has added a second treatise on miracles attributed to this holy man. From
its style and other circumstances, it was supposed this latter tract had been written by a different author. 4° Mabillon doubts of its being a part of our saint's original acts, while he coincides in opinion with Surius and Bollandus, regarding the first book being that identical treatise referred to by Venerable
Bede. 4' Different acts of St. Fursey have been compiled.
Those best known
of the
3* These foregoing acts have not been pub-
ap-
tomus ii. , p. 287.
lished
peared previous to the issue of his work.
by Colgan, although they
History
English Nation,"
35 Editorial notes are annexed throughout.
3* Surius has published the Acts of St. Fursey in 21 paragraphs.
See " De Proba- tis Sanctorum Vitis," vol. i. , xvi. Januarii,
pp. 259 to 263.
37 Mabillon reprinted the ancient Life
already issued by Surius and Bollandus, as
39 There it is intituled, "VitaS. Furssei, Confessoris ex Membranis Monasterii Cygnia- censis in Gallia. "
"
'•° See Dr. Lanigan's Ecclesiastical His-
also by Colgan, from a MS. Cygniacensis. ''"
*' See " Acta Sanctorum Ordinis S. Bene- dicti," tomus ii. , praefatio, p. 299.
See ActaSanctorumOrdinisS. Benedicti, Vol. I.
Q
had
3^ In his "
book iii. , chap. xix.
John Capgrave's
Legenda
tory of Ireland," vol. ii. , chap, xvi. , § vii. , n. 52, p. 450.
2 26 LIVES OF THE IRISH SAIN2S, [January i6.
are published at the i6th of January, by Bollandus, and Colgan, as already noticed. The author of these was Amulphus, Abbot of Lagny, who lived in
the eleventh century. *^ They are comprised in two books. Yet Colgan has added a third, in which he merely reproduces that portion of Venerable
"
Ecclesiastical History of England," especially referring to Fursey. 43 Besides the life of this saint already mentioned, as published by Colgan, at the 1 6th of January, our Irish hagiologist has given us another life of him, at the 9th of February, one of those days likewise dedicated to his memory. 4* This latter Hfe is in Latin, having been translated by the Rev. Father Eugene O'Gallagher, of the Irish Franciscan Convent at Louvain, from the French
language. In this it had been originally written by James Desmay, Doctor of Theology at Sorbonne, and canon attached to the collegiate church of
St. Fursey, at Perrone. +s This life is comprised in twenty-one chapters, and it has been annotated by Colgan, yet only to a certain extent, because he had already illustrated at greater length those older acts of our saint published at the 1 6th of January. The chief portion of Desmay's Life of St. Fursey is taken from his more ancient acts. Yet many particulars not contained in the latter have been published by the French biographer. 4^ To the acts and notes which are given by Colgan, at the i6th of January, he has subjoined anAppendix,inelevendifferentchapters•,''^ andthisisalsofollowedbythree Latin hymns,4S in praise of our saint. +9 The chapters of this Appendix were added, by Colgan, to our saint's acts ; because, as stated, he found it a difficult matter to introduce their subjects into preceding notes, and because whilst they served to elucidate certain points connected with our saint's history, God's greater glory might be more revealed to man, through labour
bestowed in authenticating transactions of His favoured servant's career. Twelve or more manuscript lives relating to St. Fursey, differing rather in
Bede's
words and
style
than
from each —were in
substantially other, Colgan's posses-
to those of
sion. These codices belonged to various libraries viz. Fossey,
:
of Trudonensis, of St. Hubert, of Arras, of the Carthusian library at Cologne, of Gemnicensis, of Longipontensis, &c. , and they were all productions of
anonymous writers. In every particular they agreed with what was found in the Lagny Breviary lessons, distributed through the octave of o\ir saint's festival. This Colgan observed after a careful collation. In the Bollandist edition of St. Fursey's Acts, which had been pubHshed two years previously
*^ Nothing is known of Arnulf 's early life, beyond the fact, that on the death of Raoul, Abbot of Lagny, in 1066, he succeeded. Arnulf also became Abbot of St. Colombe. He died a. d. 1106. See "Gallia Chris- tiana," tomus vii. , p. 494.
*3 See "Acta Sanctorum Hibemise," xvi.
Januarii, pp. 87, 88.
^ See "Acta Sanctorum Hiberniae," ix.
Februarii, pp. 282 to 300.
45 Dr. Lanigan remarks, that its publica-
following heads ; I. The authors who have
written St. Fursey's Acts. II. Different
eulogies and testimonies regarding St.
Fursey. III. On the country of St. Fursey.
IV. The family and genealogy of St. Fursey. V. His rank and dignity. VI. The disciples
and companions of St. Fursey. VII. The time when he flourished in Ireland. VIII. The time when he went into England, and thence into Gaul. IX. The year of his death. X. The day of St. Fursey's death, and his festivals. XI. An epilogue of the
tion by Colgan, at the 9th of February, was
scarcely worth his editorial trouble. In preceding chapters.
general reference to St. Fursey's Acts, Dr. Lanigan also wishes to remind his readers,
that he regularly means those placed by "
^8 fhe authors of the " Histoire Litteraire de la France," vol. ix. , p. 292, attribute the two hymns on St. Fursey, as published by
Colgan, under 1 6th of January. See Ec- the Bollandists and Colgan, to Arnulfus,
clesiastical History of Ireland," vol. ii. , chap, xvi. , § vii. , n. 52, p. 450.
Abbot of Lagny. It is supposed that they were intended for a chaunt in that abbey.
'The first of these is extracted hymns
"ex Missali Ghempen," while the other two hymns are taken from Arnold Wion's " Lignum Vitae," lib. iii.
^ See
nia:," ix. Februarii. Vita S. Furscei, n. i. , p. 299.
" Acta Sanctorum Hiber- 4' These chapters are classed under the
Colgan's
January i6. ]
LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS.
to Colgan's issue, we are furnished with some previous editorial notices re- lating to the materials used, with individual labours employed during the process of preparing them for publication. The editor also alludes to writers thathadpreviouslytreatedrespectingoursaint'stransactions. Inlikemanner, the Irish hagiologist devotes a special chapter of the appendix to our saint's acts, in which he brings together various eulogies and testimonials, selected fromdifferentwriters,withparticularallusionstoSt. Fursey. 5° Inaccordance with our general plan, such references will be found more conveniently in- corporated in succeeding notes. affixed to the text of this present biography.
On account of its clearer arrangement and more ample details, I have generally preferred Desmay's as a basis for the following narrative of St. Fursey's life, even although posterior in point of time, and therefore less valuable as an authentic document, than those more antique acts from which it has been admittedly drawn. Although many details are undoubtedly fabulous, yet the more material incidents given are of a reliable character. Those visions recorded in connexion with our saint are worth attention, like- wise, on account of their mystic sense, and those great moral lessons conveyed by them to the mind of every true Christian. The narrative of Desmay will be accompanied by referential notes, which may enable a studious reader to ascertain how far it is in accordance with more ancient acts, or in what respect it differs from them. The writer, however, has reserved to himself an occa- sional introduction of independent remarks or statements, both in the text and notes of this present life. While serving to bestow upon it some trifling degree of originality, or at least of re-arrangement, these observations will be found, notwithstanding, to present no interpolation of an unauthorized character. "J'he motive for these alterations was necessitated by that con- tinuity and conciseness of narrative, essential to the better understanding of an extended biography.
Like many other saints, whose nativities were undoubtedly cast in Ireland, a question had been raised by some Scottish writers, whether they might not be able to claim Fursey, as a native of Scotland. Because it is said by Bede, Trithemius, Wion, and other writers, that our saint was a Scot, or of Scottish descent, it is falsely inferred by Dempster,s' and CamerariuSjS^ that his family and country must be identified with that part of Britain formerly called Albania, and at present known as Scotland. By a like process of reasoning, to the same country have been assigned St. Columkille, St. Columbanus, St. Gallus, St. Magnus, St. Kilian, St. Foillan, St. Eloquius, St. Adalgisius, St. Etto, and a host of other saints, who are claimed as Hibernians, even though called Scots. Such writers appear to have forgotten circumstances recorded in the acts of those saints, and in accounts given by respectable authors, that they have been expressly mentioned as Scots from Hibernia, or as having been born in Ireland. It is even said, there was a certain district called Hibernia, in that part of Britain, now denominated Scotland. These statements, or arguments, if they may be called so, appeared unworthy of Colgan's serious refutation, were it not that in his time many persons, little versed in Irish or Scotch antiquarian researches, had been seduced into a belief, that several of our saints could not be claimed as natives of Ireland, or at least that a doubt might reasonably be entertained on that particular ques- tion. 53 Our national hagiologist, in allusion most probably to an unpublished
s° See " Acta Sanctorum Hibemise," xvi. Januarii. Appendix ad Acta S. Furssei, cap. ii. , pp. 92, 93.
sz See " De Pietate Scotonim," lib. iii.
^3 Had Colgan lived in our own day, he
should have been greatly gratified to learn, 5' In " Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis Sco- that the opinions, or statements of their torum. " earlier writers, founded on the name of
2 28 - LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. [January i6.
treatise, says he has proved at length in another place by most indubitable testimonies of authors belonging to every age and nation, that not only were the Irish or natives of Hibemia called Scots, by all ancient writers, but no part of Britain, or of any other country or district in Europe, had ever been calledScotiaorHibemia,thisIrelandaloneexcepted. Inhistimeithadbeen thus designated, and at a former period, it had been variously denomi—nated
Scotia, Hibernia, Ivernia, lema, &c. In consequence, all writers who flourished before the year of our Lord looo—when they speak of any saint having been from Scotia or Hibemia, understand thereby, not that he was from British Scotia, or from any other country, but Ireland.
So much being premised, it is quite certain that St. Fursey was an Irish- man by birth. This appears to have been the almost unanimous opinion of writers belonging to every age and country, who have wTitten his acts, or who considered it necessary to mention at all his birth-place. s* Even the very ancient anonymous writer of St. Furse/s Acts, who flourished as a cotem- porary, and from whose account Venerable Bede had been furnished with those particulars, which are incorporated in his history, declared that our saint was a native of Ireland,ss But a still stronger argument is furnished in the Acts of St. Fursey, where it is stated, that he was born in Munster, in which province his father was king. Magh Murthemne, the district over which his uncle Brendan was ruler ; Cluainferta, where he is said by Colgan to have been born ; Esbren or Erbsen, where he was educated ; and Rath- magh, where he founded a monastery ; all these were situated \\athin Ireland.
to St. — written there were four According Fursey's life, by James Desmay, pro-
Fursey as a countryman. And the testimony of a Scotch writer, Hector Boetius,s'5 is adduced to confute the statements of Dempster and Camerarius.
near the close of the same ; St. century
Hiber-
Mirseus, and Baronius all agree on this point,
Ultonia, and within Conacia, Momonia, Lagenia,
vinces or districts viz.
the Hibernia or Scotia, in which the subject of his biography had been bom. Colgan concludes his dissertation on this matter by saying, that until the British Scots can show towns, monasteries, and provinces, bearing the fore- going names in modem Scotland, her people must waive all claim to St.
Scotia, have been altogether exploded by a more learned and critical school of Scottish
archaeologists.
s^Thus Venerable Bede, who flourished
in the year 720, in his " Historia Ecclesi-
astica Gentis Anglorum," lib. iii. , cap. xix. , says, Furseus "supervenit de Hibemia. " St. Cumineus, an Irishman, who lived to
Again Arnold Wion, in "Lignum Vitas," lib. iii. , and at the i6th day of January, makes this saint the son of an Irish king, where he has the following statement : "In Monasterio Peronas S. Furssei Abbatis & Confessoris : qui cum Philtani Regis Hiber- niJB filius esset, omnibus relictis, nobile in Anglia Monasterium construxit. " And
:
"S. Fursaeus Philtani
iEngus the Culdee, an Irishman ; St. Raban, niae filius," lib. iv. , cap. xxiv. Harpsfeld,
a German ; and Almoin, a Frenchman ; all of whom flourished towards the middle of the
ninth century ; Saint Notger, a German, who
lived at the commencement of the tenth;
Sigebert, a Belgian, who flourished towards
the close of the eleventh, and Florence of rum," lib. iii.
S. Fursei" has been preserved in the follow- ^ It is classed MSS. vol.
iv. , prart ii. ,' —r
"MS. Bodl. ff. 336,
p
ing copies
veil,folio,dble. cols. ;xiv. cent. MS. Bodl,
:
235b-236b. 50.
—"MS.
Many
Regin.
224 LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. [January i6.
The chief reliable particulars for his Life must have been found in an
ancient biography of this saint, ^v-ritten by an anonymous author, and referred tobytheVenerableBede. 3 TheRev. AlbanButlerstatesthataMS. lifeof
our saint, written by Bede, is to be found in the King's Library, at the British Museum ; but this is evidently a mistake made by the learned English hagio- logist. It is by no means certain that the book mentioned by Bede had been written by himself, although he seems to have used it in compiling the nine- teenth chapter of his Ecclesiastical History.
Among those more modem wTiters, who treat about St. Fursey, may be mentioned Vincentius Bellonacensis,s St. Antoninus,^ Almoin,? Andreas Du Chesne,^ Sigebert,^ David Camerarius,^° Autbertus Miraeus," Molanus," Nicholas Harpsfeld,^3 Harseus, Lippeloo,'^ Hieronymus Flatus,'s Petrus de Natalibus, Baronius,'^ Matthew of Westminster,'7 and Ralph of Chester. '^ Besides these, John Capgrave,'9 Hanmer,^" Surius,^' the Benedictines,^" Adrien Baillet,"3 Messingham,"* Rev. Alban Butler. ^s Dempster,'^ Camerarius,"? Guido, Abbot of St. Denis f^ Belefortius,^9 the German and Belgian writers, Valentinus Leuctius, Rosweyde, and Henry Adrian, as also James Desmay,3o Doctor of the Sorbonne, who wrote in French, the Bollandists and Colgan,3^ with nearly all the other writers, who have dwelt at any length on hagiology, have not neglected to record the acts and visions of this illustrious missionary.
The Bollandists have published the Acts of St. Fursey. 3" After a preli- minary notice in three sections,33 the first published Life is contained in seven chapters, consisting of thirty-nine paragraphs, with the miracles of St. Fursey
3 See " Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis An- glorum," lib. iii. , cap. xix.
* See " Lives of the Fathers, Martyrs, and other Principal Saints," voL i. , Jan. xvi.
5 Lib. xxiii. , cap. Ixxx.
*
Par, 2, tit. 13, c. 6, sec. 23. 7 Lib. i. , cap. xviii.
" "Acta Sanctorum Ordinis S. Benedict! ,"
tomus ii. Here the Life of St. Fursey ap-
pears, with some previous observations, in 1 5 paragraphs. The Life itself is written in
36 paragraphs, the virtues of St. Fursey in 21 paragraphs. See pp. 229 to 315.
' Tomus " i. ,
*3 " Les Vies des Saints," at January xv! . , pp. 203 to 206.
Scriptorum Franciorum. "
9" '*"
Chronicon," A. D. 648.
'° "De Scotorum Pietate," lib. iii.
See
and other Principal Saints," vol. ! . , January xvi.
^ In " Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis Sco- torum. "
^ See " De Pietate Scotorum,"
"In " Fasti Belgici et Burgundici," xvi. Januarii, pp. 34, 35,
PP- 393
"In " Natalibus Sanctorum Belgii," p.
13, in two paragraphs.
'3 " Historia Anglise," saec. vii. , cap. xvii.
^ " Vitae Sanctorum," at January xvi. , pp.
=* " De lib. i. Sanctis,"
to
289 295.
'5 A Jesuit writer, in his work, " De Bono Status lib. xxvi.
^ " In Supplemento. " 3° A Canon of Peronne.
'* "
Religiosi," ii. , cap.
Aimales Ecclesiastic! ," tomus viiL
His Life of St. Fursey appeared in Paris, A. D. 1607, and ! t
was reprinted A. D. 1623.
3' This array of writers shows how greatly
'® "
Lib. v. , cap. xiii. See Acta Sanc- the fame of St. Fursey extended among the
learned. See " Acta Sanctorum Colgan's
A. D. 644.
'7 "Flores Historianun," A. D. 647.
torum tomus Januarii,"
xvi.
Acta S. Fursaei. Praeviae Annotationes, sec. Hibemiae," xvi. Januarii. Appendix ad
ii. , p. 36.
'9 See " Nova Legenda Angliae," Septimo
decimo Kal. Februarii, fol. cliv. , civ. , clvi. ='°See "Chronicle of Ireland," pp. 151,
152.
""DeProbatisSanctorumVitis. " Surius
published the Acts of our saint, at the i6th of January, and these he supposed to have been identical with that Life referred to by Bede.
Acta S. Furssei, cap. ! . , p. 92.
3* See "Acta Sanctorum," tomus ii. , xvi.
Januarii. Vita S. Fursaei, pp. 35 to 55.
33 The first notice refers to various festivals of our saint ; the second to different writers, whohavetreatedconcerninghim; whilethe third section contains two hymns in his honour, which latter are also pubUshed by
Colgan.
ii. ,
Januarii.
Florilegium Insulae Sanctorum," 399.
to
=5 See "Lives of the Fathers, Martyrs,
January 1 6. ] LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. 225
in four chapters and twenty-five paragraphs. 24 Another imperfect life, by an anonymous author, is given in twelve chapters, containing sixty-five para- graphs ; while a second book contains the miracles of St. Fursey in six
chapters and thirty-one paragraphs. 35 The editor remarks, that in the time of Venerable Bede, a little tract on St. Fursey's life had been written, from the
reading of which much spiritual profit might be derived. It appears to have been the treatise edited by Surius. s^ This, the Bollandists collated with a
manuscript of Corbie, an Irish Life of St. Fursey, two acts belonging to the Church of St. Audomar, a Bertinian, one of St. Mary de Ripatoris, one of St. Maximin, and one of D. Preudhomme, Canon of Cambray, besides several others. 37 To what Surius had published, the Bollandists added the Book of Miracles. They thought the life, which Bede stated to be sufficiently full of
Fursey's acts and those of his companions, had only been given by him in an abridged state. Andrew De Chesne had sent them another life, the first parts of which had been taken word for word from a Life of St. Foillan, it was intended should be published at the 31st of October, while the latter parts were drawn from the Book of St. Fursey's Miracles, to which some short notices had been added. In "
Sanctorum and in Thomas Anglias,"
'* Insulae Sanc- Messingham's Florilegium
torum," other particulars were found abbreviated from previous compilations. The Bollandists describe a more prolix life, taken from an old codex of the Mo- nasteryofSt. MaryBonifontis. It,however,aboundedincontractions. They omittedthosemiddleparts,whichhadbeencompiledfromtheformeracts. In his Prologue and Epilogue, the author asserts that his acts had been compiled from ancient records found in many places. James Desmay's biography agreed in most particulars with the Bollandists' Codex, especially in reference to the wonders accompanying St. Fursey's birth, and which are related in the Life of St. Foillan. To these, the Bollandists added what Venerable Bede has written. 3^
The Bollandist Fathers have published a life, which has appeared, like-
"
wise, in Colgan's
Acta Sanctorum Hiberni9e. "39 But there are some verbal
differences between versions of this latter life, as found in the Bollandist
collections, and in those of Colgan. Bollandus has adopted an opinion of
Surius, regarding the tract he has published having been the life Bede referred .
to ; but he has issued a more correct version than that of Surius, and at the
same monthly date, observing that even these "Acta" seem to be im-
perfect. Bede speaks of only one book relating to St. Fursey ; yet Bollandus has added a second treatise on miracles attributed to this holy man. From
its style and other circumstances, it was supposed this latter tract had been written by a different author. 4° Mabillon doubts of its being a part of our saint's original acts, while he coincides in opinion with Surius and Bollandus, regarding the first book being that identical treatise referred to by Venerable
Bede. 4' Different acts of St. Fursey have been compiled.
Those best known
of the
3* These foregoing acts have not been pub-
ap-
tomus ii. , p. 287.
lished
peared previous to the issue of his work.
by Colgan, although they
History
English Nation,"
35 Editorial notes are annexed throughout.
3* Surius has published the Acts of St. Fursey in 21 paragraphs.
See " De Proba- tis Sanctorum Vitis," vol. i. , xvi. Januarii,
pp. 259 to 263.
37 Mabillon reprinted the ancient Life
already issued by Surius and Bollandus, as
39 There it is intituled, "VitaS. Furssei, Confessoris ex Membranis Monasterii Cygnia- censis in Gallia. "
"
'•° See Dr. Lanigan's Ecclesiastical His-
also by Colgan, from a MS. Cygniacensis. ''"
*' See " Acta Sanctorum Ordinis S. Bene- dicti," tomus ii. , praefatio, p. 299.
See ActaSanctorumOrdinisS. Benedicti, Vol. I.
Q
had
3^ In his "
book iii. , chap. xix.
John Capgrave's
Legenda
tory of Ireland," vol. ii. , chap, xvi. , § vii. , n. 52, p. 450.
2 26 LIVES OF THE IRISH SAIN2S, [January i6.
are published at the i6th of January, by Bollandus, and Colgan, as already noticed. The author of these was Amulphus, Abbot of Lagny, who lived in
the eleventh century. *^ They are comprised in two books. Yet Colgan has added a third, in which he merely reproduces that portion of Venerable
"
Ecclesiastical History of England," especially referring to Fursey. 43 Besides the life of this saint already mentioned, as published by Colgan, at the 1 6th of January, our Irish hagiologist has given us another life of him, at the 9th of February, one of those days likewise dedicated to his memory. 4* This latter Hfe is in Latin, having been translated by the Rev. Father Eugene O'Gallagher, of the Irish Franciscan Convent at Louvain, from the French
language. In this it had been originally written by James Desmay, Doctor of Theology at Sorbonne, and canon attached to the collegiate church of
St. Fursey, at Perrone. +s This life is comprised in twenty-one chapters, and it has been annotated by Colgan, yet only to a certain extent, because he had already illustrated at greater length those older acts of our saint published at the 1 6th of January. The chief portion of Desmay's Life of St. Fursey is taken from his more ancient acts. Yet many particulars not contained in the latter have been published by the French biographer. 4^ To the acts and notes which are given by Colgan, at the i6th of January, he has subjoined anAppendix,inelevendifferentchapters•,''^ andthisisalsofollowedbythree Latin hymns,4S in praise of our saint. +9 The chapters of this Appendix were added, by Colgan, to our saint's acts ; because, as stated, he found it a difficult matter to introduce their subjects into preceding notes, and because whilst they served to elucidate certain points connected with our saint's history, God's greater glory might be more revealed to man, through labour
bestowed in authenticating transactions of His favoured servant's career. Twelve or more manuscript lives relating to St. Fursey, differing rather in
Bede's
words and
style
than
from each —were in
substantially other, Colgan's posses-
to those of
sion. These codices belonged to various libraries viz. Fossey,
:
of Trudonensis, of St. Hubert, of Arras, of the Carthusian library at Cologne, of Gemnicensis, of Longipontensis, &c. , and they were all productions of
anonymous writers. In every particular they agreed with what was found in the Lagny Breviary lessons, distributed through the octave of o\ir saint's festival. This Colgan observed after a careful collation. In the Bollandist edition of St. Fursey's Acts, which had been pubHshed two years previously
*^ Nothing is known of Arnulf 's early life, beyond the fact, that on the death of Raoul, Abbot of Lagny, in 1066, he succeeded. Arnulf also became Abbot of St. Colombe. He died a. d. 1106. See "Gallia Chris- tiana," tomus vii. , p. 494.
*3 See "Acta Sanctorum Hibemise," xvi.
Januarii, pp. 87, 88.
^ See "Acta Sanctorum Hiberniae," ix.
Februarii, pp. 282 to 300.
45 Dr. Lanigan remarks, that its publica-
following heads ; I. The authors who have
written St. Fursey's Acts. II. Different
eulogies and testimonies regarding St.
Fursey. III. On the country of St. Fursey.
IV. The family and genealogy of St. Fursey. V. His rank and dignity. VI. The disciples
and companions of St. Fursey. VII. The time when he flourished in Ireland. VIII. The time when he went into England, and thence into Gaul. IX. The year of his death. X. The day of St. Fursey's death, and his festivals. XI. An epilogue of the
tion by Colgan, at the 9th of February, was
scarcely worth his editorial trouble. In preceding chapters.
general reference to St. Fursey's Acts, Dr. Lanigan also wishes to remind his readers,
that he regularly means those placed by "
^8 fhe authors of the " Histoire Litteraire de la France," vol. ix. , p. 292, attribute the two hymns on St. Fursey, as published by
Colgan, under 1 6th of January. See Ec- the Bollandists and Colgan, to Arnulfus,
clesiastical History of Ireland," vol. ii. , chap, xvi. , § vii. , n. 52, p. 450.
Abbot of Lagny. It is supposed that they were intended for a chaunt in that abbey.
'The first of these is extracted hymns
"ex Missali Ghempen," while the other two hymns are taken from Arnold Wion's " Lignum Vitae," lib. iii.
^ See
nia:," ix. Februarii. Vita S. Furscei, n. i. , p. 299.
" Acta Sanctorum Hiber- 4' These chapters are classed under the
Colgan's
January i6. ]
LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS.
to Colgan's issue, we are furnished with some previous editorial notices re- lating to the materials used, with individual labours employed during the process of preparing them for publication. The editor also alludes to writers thathadpreviouslytreatedrespectingoursaint'stransactions. Inlikemanner, the Irish hagiologist devotes a special chapter of the appendix to our saint's acts, in which he brings together various eulogies and testimonials, selected fromdifferentwriters,withparticularallusionstoSt. Fursey. 5° Inaccordance with our general plan, such references will be found more conveniently in- corporated in succeeding notes. affixed to the text of this present biography.
On account of its clearer arrangement and more ample details, I have generally preferred Desmay's as a basis for the following narrative of St. Fursey's life, even although posterior in point of time, and therefore less valuable as an authentic document, than those more antique acts from which it has been admittedly drawn. Although many details are undoubtedly fabulous, yet the more material incidents given are of a reliable character. Those visions recorded in connexion with our saint are worth attention, like- wise, on account of their mystic sense, and those great moral lessons conveyed by them to the mind of every true Christian. The narrative of Desmay will be accompanied by referential notes, which may enable a studious reader to ascertain how far it is in accordance with more ancient acts, or in what respect it differs from them. The writer, however, has reserved to himself an occa- sional introduction of independent remarks or statements, both in the text and notes of this present life. While serving to bestow upon it some trifling degree of originality, or at least of re-arrangement, these observations will be found, notwithstanding, to present no interpolation of an unauthorized character. "J'he motive for these alterations was necessitated by that con- tinuity and conciseness of narrative, essential to the better understanding of an extended biography.
Like many other saints, whose nativities were undoubtedly cast in Ireland, a question had been raised by some Scottish writers, whether they might not be able to claim Fursey, as a native of Scotland. Because it is said by Bede, Trithemius, Wion, and other writers, that our saint was a Scot, or of Scottish descent, it is falsely inferred by Dempster,s' and CamerariuSjS^ that his family and country must be identified with that part of Britain formerly called Albania, and at present known as Scotland. By a like process of reasoning, to the same country have been assigned St. Columkille, St. Columbanus, St. Gallus, St. Magnus, St. Kilian, St. Foillan, St. Eloquius, St. Adalgisius, St. Etto, and a host of other saints, who are claimed as Hibernians, even though called Scots. Such writers appear to have forgotten circumstances recorded in the acts of those saints, and in accounts given by respectable authors, that they have been expressly mentioned as Scots from Hibernia, or as having been born in Ireland. It is even said, there was a certain district called Hibernia, in that part of Britain, now denominated Scotland. These statements, or arguments, if they may be called so, appeared unworthy of Colgan's serious refutation, were it not that in his time many persons, little versed in Irish or Scotch antiquarian researches, had been seduced into a belief, that several of our saints could not be claimed as natives of Ireland, or at least that a doubt might reasonably be entertained on that particular ques- tion. 53 Our national hagiologist, in allusion most probably to an unpublished
s° See " Acta Sanctorum Hibemise," xvi. Januarii. Appendix ad Acta S. Furssei, cap. ii. , pp. 92, 93.
sz See " De Pietate Scotonim," lib. iii.
^3 Had Colgan lived in our own day, he
should have been greatly gratified to learn, 5' In " Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis Sco- that the opinions, or statements of their torum. " earlier writers, founded on the name of
2 28 - LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. [January i6.
treatise, says he has proved at length in another place by most indubitable testimonies of authors belonging to every age and nation, that not only were the Irish or natives of Hibemia called Scots, by all ancient writers, but no part of Britain, or of any other country or district in Europe, had ever been calledScotiaorHibemia,thisIrelandaloneexcepted. Inhistimeithadbeen thus designated, and at a former period, it had been variously denomi—nated
Scotia, Hibernia, Ivernia, lema, &c. In consequence, all writers who flourished before the year of our Lord looo—when they speak of any saint having been from Scotia or Hibemia, understand thereby, not that he was from British Scotia, or from any other country, but Ireland.
So much being premised, it is quite certain that St. Fursey was an Irish- man by birth. This appears to have been the almost unanimous opinion of writers belonging to every age and country, who have wTitten his acts, or who considered it necessary to mention at all his birth-place. s* Even the very ancient anonymous writer of St. Furse/s Acts, who flourished as a cotem- porary, and from whose account Venerable Bede had been furnished with those particulars, which are incorporated in his history, declared that our saint was a native of Ireland,ss But a still stronger argument is furnished in the Acts of St. Fursey, where it is stated, that he was born in Munster, in which province his father was king. Magh Murthemne, the district over which his uncle Brendan was ruler ; Cluainferta, where he is said by Colgan to have been born ; Esbren or Erbsen, where he was educated ; and Rath- magh, where he founded a monastery ; all these were situated \\athin Ireland.
to St. — written there were four According Fursey's life, by James Desmay, pro-
Fursey as a countryman. And the testimony of a Scotch writer, Hector Boetius,s'5 is adduced to confute the statements of Dempster and Camerarius.
near the close of the same ; St. century
Hiber-
Mirseus, and Baronius all agree on this point,
Ultonia, and within Conacia, Momonia, Lagenia,
vinces or districts viz.
the Hibernia or Scotia, in which the subject of his biography had been bom. Colgan concludes his dissertation on this matter by saying, that until the British Scots can show towns, monasteries, and provinces, bearing the fore- going names in modem Scotland, her people must waive all claim to St.
Scotia, have been altogether exploded by a more learned and critical school of Scottish
archaeologists.
s^Thus Venerable Bede, who flourished
in the year 720, in his " Historia Ecclesi-
astica Gentis Anglorum," lib. iii. , cap. xix. , says, Furseus "supervenit de Hibemia. " St. Cumineus, an Irishman, who lived to
Again Arnold Wion, in "Lignum Vitas," lib. iii. , and at the i6th day of January, makes this saint the son of an Irish king, where he has the following statement : "In Monasterio Peronas S. Furssei Abbatis & Confessoris : qui cum Philtani Regis Hiber- niJB filius esset, omnibus relictis, nobile in Anglia Monasterium construxit. " And
:
"S. Fursaeus Philtani
iEngus the Culdee, an Irishman ; St. Raban, niae filius," lib. iv. , cap. xxiv. Harpsfeld,
a German ; and Almoin, a Frenchman ; all of whom flourished towards the middle of the
ninth century ; Saint Notger, a German, who
lived at the commencement of the tenth;
Sigebert, a Belgian, who flourished towards
the close of the eleventh, and Florence of rum," lib. iii.
