No More Learning

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. According to Mabillon, this celebrated Saint was variously called Adamnanus, Adomnanus, Adamanus and Adamandus. 39 The Breviary of Aberdeen calls our Saint
93 A few salvos to the
particular foregoing
textual statement will be alluded to else-
where, in the pages of this work. An
exception referred to may be fou»d in the
Additional Notes to Mr. Reeves' Adamnan's
"
saint at 201 to 206, under the occurs, pp.
head of the Anglo-Saxon Period,
a8 See " Les Moines d' Occident," tome v. ,
liv. xv. , chap, hi. , pp. 10 to 15.
29 See " Celtic Scotland," vol. ii. , book ii. ,
chap, iv. , pp. 170 to 176.
30 See "Lives of the Saints," vol. ix. ,
September 23, pp. 358 to 360.
3 * See "Manual of Universal Church
History. " Translated by Rev. F. J. Fabisch and Rev. Thomas S. Byrne, vol. ii. , period 2, epoch i. , part i. , chap, i. , sect. 156, pp. 69, 70.
32 See "Compendium of Irish Biography," pp. I. 2.
3 ' Edited by William Smith, D. C. L. ,
LL. D. , and Henry Wace, M. A. , vol. i. , pp.
41 to 43.
34 See vol. i. , p. 27.
3s See " Kalendars of Scottish Saints,"
pp. 264 to 266.
36 See "Irish Saints in Great Britain,"
Life of St. Columba," &c, N. (N) p. 344. It is one which has given just occasion for regret, and has tended to wound the reli- gious feelings of many Catholic Members and Associates belonging to the society for which the work in question had been edited. Yet, the writer feels fully satisfied, the Rev. Dr. Reeves did not
such a result, as a consequence of his re- corded opinions. These are the more to be regretted, as they are not sustained by any amount of evidence or argument, sufficient to satisfy a rational inquirer into historic facts.
24 See " Lives of the Fathers, Martyrs, and
other principal Saints," vol. ix. , September xxiii.
25 See "
et Moderne," tome i. , p. 151.
26 See " Nouvelle tomei. , col. 232, 233.
Ancienne
108 to 1 12. 37 See " Iona," p. 61.
38 See " Writers," vol. i. , book i. , English
chap, ix. , pp. 340, 341.
3*See " Acta Sanctorum Ordinis S. Bene-
dicti," tomus iv. , sec. hi. , pars ii. , p. 499-
Biographie Universale,
chap, iv. , pp.
wilfully contemplate
Biographie Generate,"
37 See "
&c, where an interesting biography of our
Biographia
Britannica
Literaria,"
an the appreciative Article, by
September 23. ] LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. 479
Adampnanus. At Forvey, in the parish of Slains,40 on the east coast of Aberdeenshire,inScotland,AdamnaniscalledFidamnan. Adamnanusand Adomnanus are the usual forms of our saint's name in earlier records and Latin Lives. Amongst our Annalists, Adamnan is the name uniformly bestowed on our Saint, in the Annals of Inisfallen41 and Boyle 42 while
; Adomnan always occurs in the Annals of Ulster43 and in those of Cambria. 44
45 Adamnanus occurs ihree and times,
have Adamnan twelve times, whilst Adomnan is found in a single instance in their pages. At St. Adamnan's festival day, September 23rd, the Irish Calendars and Martyrologies differ in their orthography ; the Felire of Oengus, Marianus O'Gorman and O'Clery read Adamnan, whilst the Martyrology of Tamlacht
has Adomnan. The Vision of Adamnan admits the former spelling four
times and the latter once/7 A of Tara in the Dinnseanchus prose description
introduces Adomnan, the metrical Adamnan. 48 The Venerable Bede reads Adamnanus six times49 while Alcuin has Adomnanus. 50 Fordun51 and the Breviary of Aberdeen write the name Adamnanus. This orthography has also been adopted in the old Lives of St. Fechin of Fore, and of St. Gerald
of as contained in the work of Mayo,
the chief variation of our Saint's name consists in the difference of Adamnan and Adomnan. In various Codices of St. Columba's Life, used by the Rev. Mr. Reeves in his modern edition, the same variety of spelling occurs. For instance, his Codex a. reads Adomnanus, in the four places where this word occurs 54 Codex b.
reads Adamnanus once,55 and
In the Annals of
Tighernach,
Adomnan six the Annals of the Four Masters46 :
again
Colgan.
Locis Sanctis," has Adamnanus. 53 Thus, it may be seen, that in early records
;
Adomnanus twice 5° the Codices c, f. s. vary in like manner ; while Codex ;
d. always reads Adamnanus. From these several instances, it may be inferred, that there is no fixed practice for the spelling of our Saint's name ; but as the etymology of this denomination favours the use of 0, and as the substitution of was probably intended to exhibit a phonetic value attaching to the original vowel, the Rev. Mr. Reeves deemed it advisable to adopt Adamnanus, where the word occurs, in his edition of St. Columba's Life.
40 This parish is situated at Ythan Mouth.
Forvey is called Furni in the reprint of
Anglorum," lib. iv. , cap. 25, lib. v. , cap. 15, 21.
5° See "
Breviary
coupled with St. Adampnanus's name. "— cxlv. , p. 219, See "Collections of Aberdeen and Banff," 5I See Fordun's
"
the of Aberdeen. There it is also
tomus ii. , vol. i.
Epigram, Quercetani. Scotichronicon," lib. i. , p. 388. The collections here alluded to were cap. 6, lib. iii. , cap. 27,29, 38, 42, 49.
published by the Spaulding Club.
" In lib. ii. ,
cap. 10, we find Sanda spoken
41 At the a. d. years
ubi cella sancti Adam-
of as * Insula 42 "
Awyn,
617, 685, 693. Only at the year a. d. 657.
nani. '
5a See " Acta Sanctorum Hiberniae," xx.
Januarii. Vita S. Fechini, cap. xlvii. , p. 139,
and xiii. Martii. Vita S. Geraldi, cap. xv. ,
xvi. , p. 602.
53 See Mabillon's ° Acta Sanctorum
Ordinis S. Benedicti," sec. iii. , pars ii. , p.
456.
s4 See " Var. Lect. i. I. (p. 16),—49 (p. 95),
iii. , 19 (p. 225), 23 (p. 238). " Rev. Mr.
"
Life of St Columba. " Additional Notes. C, n. (v. ), p. 257.
55 See " Lib. i. , c. 49, —fol. 21, a. The text of i. I. is wanting in B. '' Ibid, Additional Notes. C, n. (w. ), p. 257.
56 "Lib. iii. , 19, 23, fol. 616, 676. "— Ibid. , n. (x. ), p. 257.
43 At the years a. d. 623, 686,691, 696, 703, 726, 729, 730, 835, 953, 1 105.
44 At the year 704, p. 8.
45 These Annals have Adamnanus at the years a. d. 704, 727, 730, and Adamnan at the years A. d. 624, 687, 689, 692, 695, 697.
46 These Annals have Adamnan at the years, a. d. 684, 703, 725, 742, 830, 925, 927, 988, 1010, 1040, 1057, 1 105, Adamnan only occurs at A. D. 936.
4? "The title is pf A-oomnAin mcipic, but elsewhere in the tract there is the other reading. Leabhar Breac, fol. 127, a. "
48 See Petrie's "History and Antiquities
of Tara Hill," pp. 112, 115.
4'See " Historiae Ecclesiastics Gentis
Reeves' Adamnan's
52 The title of his '• De tract,
Opera," a.
Editio Andr "
480 LIVESOFTHEIRISHSAINTS. [September23.
Adamnan is an Irish diminutive for Adam. 57 Under the effect of
Adam loses the force of its consonants, and assumes the various sounds of Au, Eu, O and Ou. Thus, when the diminutive termination is added, it produces the respective words, Aunan,58 Eunan,59 Onan,60 and Ounan 6t and
;
these are the forms of pronunciation which Adamnan's name has generally
62
assumed in Ireland. Another Irish form of the name is said to be Syonan. In the north-east of Scotland,63 as in Aberdeen and Banff, there exists a tendency to prefix certain consonants to our Saint's names, either as an
64
In the parish of Aloyne, towards the south of Aberdeenshire, Eunan becomes Theunan. 65 A fresh change takes place ; for St. Adamnan's Well is called Skeulan Well, and his Tree is named Skeulan Tree. At Forvey in Aberdeenshire, Adamnan
66
is called Fidamnan, and in Forglen, in the north of Banff, Adamnan's
Church is Teunan Kirk. At Dull, in Athol, and in the northern part of Perthshire, the form Eonan is preserved ; as also at Kilcherran in Cantyre, wherewefindthecompoundKillewnaneorKillownane. 67 Asaconsequence of this great diversity, both in the written and spoken forms of Adamnan's name, many respectable writers have created one or more additional Saints. Thus Sir James Ware even distinguishes between the individuality of Adamnan and Eunan. After stating St. Columbkille founded a monastery at Raphoe, he informs us, this structure was afterwards repaired by Adamnan, the celebrated abbot of Iona. It is then said, that St. Eunan erected the
6a
church of the Abbey into a Cathedral, and that he was considered to have
been the first Bishop of Raphoe. 69 The compiler of the " Fasti Ecclesiae
"°
Hibernicae 7 adopts a similar opinion, by stating, that St. Eunan is
commonly reported to have erected Raphoe Abbey Church into a Cathedral,
and to have become its first bishop, although nothing certain appears to be
known him, nor the at which he lived. 71 regarding period
The name of the Saint's father was Ronan or Ronat of the Cinel Enna. HewasasonofTinne,fromwhomarederivedtheUaTinne. Thegrand-
equivalent for saint, or to facilitate the pronunciation.
"
57 It is thus interpreted, in Cormac's Trowel, and St. Anthony, Tantan. See
" . <yootnnAn . 1. oifbecA-6 Anma -Ax>Airh.
" Collections on the Shrines of Aberdeen
homutijcutup,
Adomnan, i. e. and Banff," p. 509.
Glossary" :
homungculus. — It is a diminutive for the 6s See ibid. , p. 663.
name Adam. See p.
O'Donovan, LL. D. , and Whitley Stokes, LL. D. Calcutta, 1868, 4to.
58 The name is thus pronounced at Skreen, in Sligo, where we have Toberawnaun and Drehid-aunan.
59 This is the pronunciation of Raphoe.
60 On the " Ordnance Survey Townland Map of Londonderry," St. Onan's Rock is noted in the parish of Errigal, in that county. See Sheet 18. See "Acts of Archbishop
"
Colton" in his
the Diocese of Derry, A. D. mcccxcvii. ," edited by Rev. William Reeves, D. D. , p.
81, n. (y. )
61 In the district of Glenuller, the name is
thus used in the spoken language.
62 On the "Ordnance Survey Townland
It is Aberdeenshire by the Doveran River.
6
from
i. ,
John p.
separated
66 See
Edition of ibid. , 508.
Metropolitan Visitation of
Raphoe," pp. 269, 270.
'•See vol. iii. , p. 347.
'* Such an error, remarks the Rev. Dr.
Reeves, should not have been committed in the century, one of the ornaments of which had said : "I strongly suspect that St.