The bed-death of Simeon the monk: a great sun was he to the earth : with the passion of a
—loveable
host in Antioch high (and) vast.
O'Hanlon - Lives of the Irish Saints - v7
3r.
3p.
, and it is shown, on sheets 22, 23, 28, 29, ibid.
3 See "Lives of the Fathers, Martyrs and other principal Saints," vol. vii. , July xxvii.
"
cient and Modern," vol. iii. , chap. Ixxiv. ,
4 See p. 209. Article v. —1
Edited by Drs. Todd and
and Reeves, pp. 204, 205.
2 The Rev. Dr. Todd states at this word
Bishop: "The note within brackets is added by the second hand ; it is evidently from the gloss in Mar. O'Gorman. "
Reeves, pp. 202, 203. 2"
See Rev. Anthony Cogan's Diocese of Meath, Ancient and Modern," vol. iii. ,
Anthony Cogan's
Diocese of Meath, An-
pp. 566 to 568. — Article vi.
'
Edited
Drs. Todd
by
JULY 27. ] LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. 401
Eadardruim, son to the King of Britain, i. e. , Brecan, son of Bracha [meoc3], brother to Dabheog,4 of Tearmonn. Dina, daughter to the King of—Saxon- land, was his mother. To—the latter opinion, the compiler of a table post- fixed to this Martyrology would seem to incline, at an entry of the name Diraid, of Eadardruim, for he remarks, the King of Britain, i. e. , Brachan, son
Abbey of Ferns, County of Wexford.
Martyrology of Tal- lagh, there is no entry of Diraidh, either at the 27th of July, or as mistakenly supposed, at the 27th of August. In Scotland, St. Dirad was also commemo-
rated, at the 27th of July.
10
3 Brachameoc. "This name is Bracha in the Manuscript. The last syllable has been supplied by Mr. Curry, as having been evi- dently intended. "—Note by Rev. Dr. Todd.
7 See Dr. O'Donovan's "Annals of the Four Masters," vol. i. , pp. 294, 295, and n. (h), ibid. In the note, Dr. O'Donovan states,
this saint at 4 There are two saints this the of — rather it should be at
entered in the Martyrology of Donegal one ;
is venerated at the 1st day of January, and the other at the 22nd of July. To the former allusion is made in the foregoing passage.
;
for I find there is no entry of Diraidh's fes-
tival in the Martyrology of Donegal, at the
27th of August.
8 Thus anno 'ootn. : "Oiajvai'o epr\ Ve-^wiA
690. See Common Place Book F, p. 66. 9 See Rev. Dr. Kelly's "Calendar of Irish
Saints," pp. xxx. , xxxiii.
10 Thus is the feast entered in one of the
5 See ibid. , 402, pp.
403.
6 The accompanying illustration of Ferns
abbey, in its present ruined state, was drawn on the spot, by William F. Wakeman, and
him transferred to the Mrs. Millard.
by
wood, engraved by
" ;
bearing name, 27th August
that O'Clery's Calendar enters
the
27th July
Kalendars
vi. Kal. Aug. Apud Hiber- IC
of Brachameog, was his father. s There
had been a religious establishment and a See at Ferns, in the county of Wexford, from an early period. Even still, there are some interestingruins
6
seems to be known,
however, regarding the Bishop of Ferns, called Diraith, except that his death is re- corded at a. d. 688, intheAnnalso(CIon- macnoise at a. d.
;
690, in the Annals of
the Four Masters; and
at 692, according to the Ulster Annals. 7 In the Irish Calendar belonging to the Ord- nance Survey, and now preserved in the Royai Irish Academy, thereisarecordofDia-
8
raidh, at the sixth of
the August Kalends,
corresponding with the27thofJuly. Inthe
to be found.
Little
vi. of the Kalends— August
402 LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. [July 27.
Article VII. —St. Guarian. The simple entry, Guarian, occurs in the 1
Martyrology of Donegal, at the 27th of July. There was a certain holy
peison, called Genereus, or Guerius, or Guerenus—possibly identical with
the saint. HewasamonkinIona,anda ofSt. Columkille. 3 present disciple
In Scotland, likewise, he seems to have been commemorated as Guaire. 3
Article VIII. —Reputed Feast of St. Congall, Abbot of Jabhnal-
livin. At the 27th of July, the name of St. Congall, Abbot of Jabhnallivin,
in Rev. Alban Butler's 1 as also in the Circle of the Seasons. 2 appears work,
His place is said to have been on the upper part of Lake Erne, and to have been the name for a parish of which he was patron. Before death, he com-
mitted the government of his monastery to his beloved disciple St. Fegnar- nach. His festival was kept as a holyday of precept, in that part of the
country. For the foregoing statement, the Rev. Alban Butler cites Father
Colgan, at the 27th of July. 3 Among the present parish names in Ireland, we do not find one called Jabhnallivin.
Article IX. —Reputed Festival of St. Maelrtjbius, at Marne
orMearns,Scotland. The27thdayofJulyisassignedbyDempsterfor thefeastofSt. Maelrubius,ahermitandmartyr,puttodeathbytheDanes
at Mama, in Scotland. 1 The Bollandists follow this
date, but they refer their readers for further notice to the 27th of August.
Article X. —Reputed Feast for the Translation of St. Pantaleon's
Relics, Cologne. At the 27th of July, Thomas Dempster, in his Menolo-
gium Scotorum, has inserted a feast for the Translation of St. Pantaleon's
at
1
He is to have been of the Scottish monas- stated, patron
Relics,
tery, in that city.
Dempster undertakes the writing of history, it is quite evident, that he desires to make St. Pantaleon of Cologne identical with the still more cele- brated St. Pantaleon, who was a medical practitioner of Nicomedia, in Bithy- nia ; the son of a pagan father and of a Christian mother. He became a
Cologne.
Saints," Kalenda—r of Drum mond, p. 19. 1
Marnae Malrubi Krcmitae et martyris a
However, according to the reckless manner in which
niam Sancti Confessores Guari et Dirad. "— Article ix—" See " Menologium Sco- "
Bishop Forbes' Kalendar of Scottish torum," at Julius xxvii. There he enters :
"
Article vii. Edited by Drs. Todd Danis interfecti. K. "—Bishop Forbes'
and Reeves, pp. 202, 203. 22
See Colgan's "Trias Thaumaturga," Quarta Appendix ad Acta S. Columbie, cap. x. , p. 490.
3 See the entry, in the Kalendar of Drum-
See "Acta Sanctorum," toinus vi. , Julii xxvii. Among the pretermitted feasts, p. 352.
inthe— Article. rum
mond, given previous patroni
*
Article viii. See "Lives of the
Fathers, Martyrs and other principal Saints," vol. vii. , July xxvii.
2 See
3 As we do not meet with such notices Saints," tome ix. , xxviie Jour de Juillet,
among Colgan's preserved papers, might it not be possible, that the Rev. Alban Butler had borrowed some of his Manuscripts from the Franciscans at Louvain, and that these had not been returned ?
p.
209.
.
LL. D. ;—
"
Kalendars of Scottish Saints," p. 207.
Article x.
— x " Colonise Scoto- Thus :
account,
at the same 2
Pantaleonistranslatio, monasterium Sanctorum ferax est. ML. B. " —Bishop Forbes' "Kalendars of Scottish
Saints," p. 207. 2
^ic Lea Petite Bollandisles, "Vicsdes
pp. 53 to 63. — Article XI.
The text from the "Leabhax Breac" copy is as follows, with an English translation by Whitley Stokes,
'
cujus
July 27. ] LIVES OF THE IRISH SAIN1S. 403
fervent Christian, under the direction of a priest, named Hermolaus. Panta- leon became also the happy instrument of his father's conversion. However, he was apprehended, and brought before the tribunal of the wicked tyrant Maximian ; when, after the most inhuman tortures had been inflicted on him, the intrepid soldier of Christ at last was beheaded on the 27th of July, about the beginning of the third century. The relics of this holy Martyr were after- wards brought to Constantinople, while some of them were obtained by the
3 Emperor Charlemagne.
Article XT. —Festival of St. Simeon, the Monk. In the ancient
Irish Church, a festival was celebrated on the 27th of July to honour St.
"1
Simeon, as we find it recorded in the Feilire" of St. ^ngus. There is a
comment added to his name. 2 The Bollandists have a commemoration of St. Simeon Monachus, venerated at Treves, but referring to what they had noticed concerning him, at the 1st day of June; while they have entries regarding St. Simeon the stylite, of whom they had treated at the 26th of July ; besides, they notice another Symeon, at the 27th of July, but without throwing much light on their personal history. 3
Article XII. —Reputed Feast of Blessed Marianus, a Recluse at Ratisbon,Bavaria. ThemeritsofBlessedMarianus,anIrishRecluseat
Ratisbon,
noticed,
by
Again,
but in an obscure
manner
Rader. 1
are
Bucelin quotes this writer, for his allusion to the Blessed Marianus. He seems not to have been different from that Blessed Marianus Scotus or St. Muiredhac Mac Roburtach, the Benedictine Abbot of Ratisbon, in Bavaria, and whose Acts have at the
appeared
of 2 The Bollandists February.
9th
have notices of the Blessed Marianus at the 27th of July, —and stating, that he
was a distinct personage from Marianus Chronographus 3
otherwise known
About him, we have already treated, at the 30th of
as Marianus Scotus. 4
January. s The present Marianus Beatus is said to have died a. d. 1070 f but, it seems more probable, that he lived to a later period, and that he died a. d. 1088. 7
"
£JAitnc1iiu Semeoin mAiiAig
OAtriorxSiMAn •ooucAlmxvm l-acefa-o fUiAig inniAin
1n ^ncuAig arvo AT>b<Ml.
tomus ii. , p. 117.
The bed-death of Simeon the monk: a great sun was he to the earth : with the passion of a —loveable host in Antioch high (and) vast. " "Transactions of the Royal Irish Academy," Irish Manuscript Series,
PP- 35°» 35 l - — Article xii.
•
See "Bavaria Sancta,"
:
"Semeoin,
the Benedictine Annals have been brought down to a. d. 1116, yet there does not appear to have been any mention
in that work of this holy man.
7 According to Rader's "Bavaria Sancta,"
tomus ii. , p. 117.
On the Calendar of Oengus,
vol. i. , part i. p. cxii.
a T—hus
est. " Ibid. , p. exxi.
3 See "Acta Sanctorum," tomus vi. , Julii xxvii. Among the pretermitted feasts,
*
3 See " Acta Sanctorum," tomus vi. , Julii xxvii. Among the pretermitted feasts, p. 351.
4 He was born A. D. 1028, and he died at Mayence, A. D. 1086. See Michaud's " Bio- graphie Universelle Ancienne et Moderne," tome xxvi. , pp. 576, 577.
s See the First Volume of this work, at that date, Art. xi.
in antiochia 6
passus Although
2
at that date, Art. i.
See the Second Volume of this work,
4o4 LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. [July 28.
Ctoentg*etff6tB Sag of 3ulj>.
ARTICLE I. —ST. SAMSON OR SAMPSON, BISHOP OF DOL, OR DOLA, IN ARMORICA, FRANCE.
{FIFTH AND SIXTH CENTURIES. ]
CHAPTER I.
INTRODUCTION—SOURCES FOR ST. SAMSON'S BIOGRAPHY—HIS PARENTAGE AND BIRTH —HIS EARLY TRAINING—HE STUDIES AT THE SCHOOL OF ST. ILTUT—HIS LIFE WHILE THERE—HE IS ORDAINED DEACON AND AFTERWARDS HE IS RAISED TO THE PRIESTHOOD—HIS MIRACULOUS PRESERVATION FROM A MALICIOUS ATTEMPT ON HIS LIFE—HIS FASTS AND AUSTERITIES.
OUR
Island justly classes among her saints many holy men, who were not born within her when their education had been
shores, religious
received in our country. We have good reason for adopting them, as their
residence here and their culture reflect credit and character on the places where they dwelt. Nearly all hagiographers have treated in some shape or manner about St. Samson, who was greatly celebrated among the Celtic races. Some writers have pretended, indeed, that there were two British saints bearingthisname,andwhosucceededeachotherintheSeeofDole. Ithas been asserted, likewise, that the former had been Archbishop of York, while the latter had ruled over the See of Menevia. These assertions, however, have
1
no sufficient grounds to support them.
by most modern critics as untenable, and as not deserving the attention of those engaged in the study of ecclesiastical history.
The most ancient Life of this holy man was one written at the request of
a certain named 2 The author is supposed to have Bishop, Tigerinomalus.
been a Gallicanmonk, and who lived in a generation immediately succeeding that of the saint. There are reasonable grounds for supposing this narrative
to contain authentic facts j although undoubtedly they are mingled with a mass of traditional fictions. 3 From the statements found in it, we are left to infer, that this biography had been written at the beginning of the seventh century, and within a few years of Samson's death, embodying too an older
Article 1. —J See Bishop Challenor's " Britannia Sancta," part ii. , pp. 43, 44.
2
It has been thought, by Mabillon, that he differed not from Tirnomalus, whom St. Paul after Jehovius had placed in the See of Laon, not as his successor, but rather as his coadjutor, and which may be seen in Vita S. Pauli, cap. xvii.
3 " I wish it to be understood," he says,
had founded beyond the sea (*. <? . , in Britain), living a Catholic and religious life, in times most approximate to those of the Saint, and which his mother had transmitted to her uncle, named Henoch, being himself a cousin of St. Samson, and a deacon. . . . That no doubt may be thrown upon the veracity of my words, I call Christ, the Saviour of us all, to witness that 1 have not under-
in the
" that these words are not
taken to hand down brief narrative to thisvery
preface,
put together thoughtlessly and rashly, or
from confused and unauthorized rumours, but
that they consist of information which I de-
rived from a certain religious and venerable
man, who resided for about eighty years
in a monastery which St. Samson himself monastery, written in a true and Catholic
Therefore, they have been rejected
posterity from any fallible or uncertain con- jecture of its truth, but from the statements
of most holy and thoroughly competent men, and also from most accurate and elabo- rate documents, which I found in the same
July 28. ] LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. 40$
document, drawn up by a kinsman and fellow-labourer of the saint. How- ever, those fictions it contains do not invalidate the genuine basis of the nar- rative. They are probably additions of a later age ; for, if one may judge from the smooth and flowing style in which they are written, those narratives could not have proceeded from the same unskilled hand, which penned the rugged Latin of the Preface and some historical parts of the biography. As the Gallican monk adopted and expanded the document which he found in
his monastery, so, in a subsequent generation, we may suppose some hagiolo- gist clothed the rude work of the old monk with such traditional or fictitious matter, as should give it a place among the current literature of the middle ages. In the Life before us, we may probably regard the supernatural stories as a mere excrescence, or as resembling those fanciful pictures which illustrate many a modern book, without detracting from the veracity of its genuine narrative/ Another Life of St. Samson had been written by his successor in the See of Dol, named Balderic, and who lived in the twelfth century. s A Life has also been published by Du Bosc. 6
From very early times, the Acts of St. Sampson appear to have been extensively circulated, since many copies yet remain, among various Manuscript collections,? in the different public libraries. Besides those copies preserved in Oxford and in the British Museum, others are to be found in Paris, Rome, as also, in several of the Continental libraries. There are different versions,
moreover, as we can glean from the headings and endings printed. a Vita Antiqua Sancti Samsonis Dolensi Episcopi lately published.
There is
8
Among those writers who have compiled Lives of St. Samson, the follow- ing is an imperfect list, so many have treated in church history as in hagic-
graphy regarding him. We may instance, however, John Capgrave,9 Arch-
10
bishopUssher, Boscius,Vincentius,Alford,
12 and Lobineau. '3 the old Gallican writer.
Father 1 * has Mabillon,
given
his
Acts,
as
spirit, by the above-mentioned deacon. "
4 See the Rev. John Adams' " Life of St.
Samson. "
5 A copy of this is in the National Library,
Paris, and classed Bibl. du Roi. 5350. No. 417. It is stated by Oudinus that Mabillon has printed it. See vol. i. , p. 1068. How- ever, that statement is erroneous. It has also been asserted, by Lelong, that it has been printed by Michel Cosnier, in the " Gesta Pontificum Dolensium. " Thisasser- tion is contradicted by the editor of his work in a note.
6 Biblioth. Floriac, 464-484.
i The following copies exist and may be
here enumerated Vita S. Samsonis,
: Epis-
copi Dolensis, in Armorica, auctore anony-
mo. This has been printed in Mabillon, and
by the Bollandists. De Sancto Sampsone
Episcopo et Confessore, MS. Cott. Tiber.
E. Ff. 210. b-212. veil, folio. Vita S. i. ,
Sampsonis MS. Bodl. Tanner, 15. Ff. 494 b- 497. Vita S. Samsonis. MS. Hengurt. 83. Vita S. Samsonis, Confessoris. MS. Bibl. du Roi. 3789, 35. veil. xii. cent, olim Col- bert. Vita S. Samsonis, Episcopi. MS. Bibl. du Roi. 5280. 69. veil. xiii. cent, olim Bigot. Vita S. Samsonis Episcopi. MS. Bibl. du Roi. 5296. 59. veil. xiii. cent, olim Colbert. Vita S. Samsonis Episcopi. MS. Bibl. du Roi. 5323. 73. veil. xiii. cent, olim Bigot.
Vita S. Samsonis. MS. Coll. Jesu Oxon cxii. paper fol. xvii. cent. Sancti Samsonis
Episcopi et Confessoris, auctore anonymo.
MS. Floriacensis. Vita S. Samsonis Epis-
copi. MS. Reginse Christinoe, Roma? , 465.
Vita S. Samsonis, auctore Baldrico, Dolen. -i
Episcopo. MS. Bibl. du Roi. 5350. veil. xiv.
cent. Vita S.
3 See "Lives of the Fathers, Martyrs and other principal Saints," vol. vii. , July xxvii.
"
cient and Modern," vol. iii. , chap. Ixxiv. ,
4 See p. 209. Article v. —1
Edited by Drs. Todd and
and Reeves, pp. 204, 205.
2 The Rev. Dr. Todd states at this word
Bishop: "The note within brackets is added by the second hand ; it is evidently from the gloss in Mar. O'Gorman. "
Reeves, pp. 202, 203. 2"
See Rev. Anthony Cogan's Diocese of Meath, Ancient and Modern," vol. iii. ,
Anthony Cogan's
Diocese of Meath, An-
pp. 566 to 568. — Article vi.
'
Edited
Drs. Todd
by
JULY 27. ] LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. 401
Eadardruim, son to the King of Britain, i. e. , Brecan, son of Bracha [meoc3], brother to Dabheog,4 of Tearmonn. Dina, daughter to the King of—Saxon- land, was his mother. To—the latter opinion, the compiler of a table post- fixed to this Martyrology would seem to incline, at an entry of the name Diraid, of Eadardruim, for he remarks, the King of Britain, i. e. , Brachan, son
Abbey of Ferns, County of Wexford.
Martyrology of Tal- lagh, there is no entry of Diraidh, either at the 27th of July, or as mistakenly supposed, at the 27th of August. In Scotland, St. Dirad was also commemo-
rated, at the 27th of July.
10
3 Brachameoc. "This name is Bracha in the Manuscript. The last syllable has been supplied by Mr. Curry, as having been evi- dently intended. "—Note by Rev. Dr. Todd.
7 See Dr. O'Donovan's "Annals of the Four Masters," vol. i. , pp. 294, 295, and n. (h), ibid. In the note, Dr. O'Donovan states,
this saint at 4 There are two saints this the of — rather it should be at
entered in the Martyrology of Donegal one ;
is venerated at the 1st day of January, and the other at the 22nd of July. To the former allusion is made in the foregoing passage.
;
for I find there is no entry of Diraidh's fes-
tival in the Martyrology of Donegal, at the
27th of August.
8 Thus anno 'ootn. : "Oiajvai'o epr\ Ve-^wiA
690. See Common Place Book F, p. 66. 9 See Rev. Dr. Kelly's "Calendar of Irish
Saints," pp. xxx. , xxxiii.
10 Thus is the feast entered in one of the
5 See ibid. , 402, pp.
403.
6 The accompanying illustration of Ferns
abbey, in its present ruined state, was drawn on the spot, by William F. Wakeman, and
him transferred to the Mrs. Millard.
by
wood, engraved by
" ;
bearing name, 27th August
that O'Clery's Calendar enters
the
27th July
Kalendars
vi. Kal. Aug. Apud Hiber- IC
of Brachameog, was his father. s There
had been a religious establishment and a See at Ferns, in the county of Wexford, from an early period. Even still, there are some interestingruins
6
seems to be known,
however, regarding the Bishop of Ferns, called Diraith, except that his death is re- corded at a. d. 688, intheAnnalso(CIon- macnoise at a. d.
;
690, in the Annals of
the Four Masters; and
at 692, according to the Ulster Annals. 7 In the Irish Calendar belonging to the Ord- nance Survey, and now preserved in the Royai Irish Academy, thereisarecordofDia-
8
raidh, at the sixth of
the August Kalends,
corresponding with the27thofJuly. Inthe
to be found.
Little
vi. of the Kalends— August
402 LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. [July 27.
Article VII. —St. Guarian. The simple entry, Guarian, occurs in the 1
Martyrology of Donegal, at the 27th of July. There was a certain holy
peison, called Genereus, or Guerius, or Guerenus—possibly identical with
the saint. HewasamonkinIona,anda ofSt. Columkille. 3 present disciple
In Scotland, likewise, he seems to have been commemorated as Guaire. 3
Article VIII. —Reputed Feast of St. Congall, Abbot of Jabhnal-
livin. At the 27th of July, the name of St. Congall, Abbot of Jabhnallivin,
in Rev. Alban Butler's 1 as also in the Circle of the Seasons. 2 appears work,
His place is said to have been on the upper part of Lake Erne, and to have been the name for a parish of which he was patron. Before death, he com-
mitted the government of his monastery to his beloved disciple St. Fegnar- nach. His festival was kept as a holyday of precept, in that part of the
country. For the foregoing statement, the Rev. Alban Butler cites Father
Colgan, at the 27th of July. 3 Among the present parish names in Ireland, we do not find one called Jabhnallivin.
Article IX. —Reputed Festival of St. Maelrtjbius, at Marne
orMearns,Scotland. The27thdayofJulyisassignedbyDempsterfor thefeastofSt. Maelrubius,ahermitandmartyr,puttodeathbytheDanes
at Mama, in Scotland. 1 The Bollandists follow this
date, but they refer their readers for further notice to the 27th of August.
Article X. —Reputed Feast for the Translation of St. Pantaleon's
Relics, Cologne. At the 27th of July, Thomas Dempster, in his Menolo-
gium Scotorum, has inserted a feast for the Translation of St. Pantaleon's
at
1
He is to have been of the Scottish monas- stated, patron
Relics,
tery, in that city.
Dempster undertakes the writing of history, it is quite evident, that he desires to make St. Pantaleon of Cologne identical with the still more cele- brated St. Pantaleon, who was a medical practitioner of Nicomedia, in Bithy- nia ; the son of a pagan father and of a Christian mother. He became a
Cologne.
Saints," Kalenda—r of Drum mond, p. 19. 1
Marnae Malrubi Krcmitae et martyris a
However, according to the reckless manner in which
niam Sancti Confessores Guari et Dirad. "— Article ix—" See " Menologium Sco- "
Bishop Forbes' Kalendar of Scottish torum," at Julius xxvii. There he enters :
"
Article vii. Edited by Drs. Todd Danis interfecti. K. "—Bishop Forbes'
and Reeves, pp. 202, 203. 22
See Colgan's "Trias Thaumaturga," Quarta Appendix ad Acta S. Columbie, cap. x. , p. 490.
3 See the entry, in the Kalendar of Drum-
See "Acta Sanctorum," toinus vi. , Julii xxvii. Among the pretermitted feasts, p. 352.
inthe— Article. rum
mond, given previous patroni
*
Article viii. See "Lives of the
Fathers, Martyrs and other principal Saints," vol. vii. , July xxvii.
2 See
3 As we do not meet with such notices Saints," tome ix. , xxviie Jour de Juillet,
among Colgan's preserved papers, might it not be possible, that the Rev. Alban Butler had borrowed some of his Manuscripts from the Franciscans at Louvain, and that these had not been returned ?
p.
209.
.
LL. D. ;—
"
Kalendars of Scottish Saints," p. 207.
Article x.
— x " Colonise Scoto- Thus :
account,
at the same 2
Pantaleonistranslatio, monasterium Sanctorum ferax est. ML. B. " —Bishop Forbes' "Kalendars of Scottish
Saints," p. 207. 2
^ic Lea Petite Bollandisles, "Vicsdes
pp. 53 to 63. — Article XI.
The text from the "Leabhax Breac" copy is as follows, with an English translation by Whitley Stokes,
'
cujus
July 27. ] LIVES OF THE IRISH SAIN1S. 403
fervent Christian, under the direction of a priest, named Hermolaus. Panta- leon became also the happy instrument of his father's conversion. However, he was apprehended, and brought before the tribunal of the wicked tyrant Maximian ; when, after the most inhuman tortures had been inflicted on him, the intrepid soldier of Christ at last was beheaded on the 27th of July, about the beginning of the third century. The relics of this holy Martyr were after- wards brought to Constantinople, while some of them were obtained by the
3 Emperor Charlemagne.
Article XT. —Festival of St. Simeon, the Monk. In the ancient
Irish Church, a festival was celebrated on the 27th of July to honour St.
"1
Simeon, as we find it recorded in the Feilire" of St. ^ngus. There is a
comment added to his name. 2 The Bollandists have a commemoration of St. Simeon Monachus, venerated at Treves, but referring to what they had noticed concerning him, at the 1st day of June; while they have entries regarding St. Simeon the stylite, of whom they had treated at the 26th of July ; besides, they notice another Symeon, at the 27th of July, but without throwing much light on their personal history. 3
Article XII. —Reputed Feast of Blessed Marianus, a Recluse at Ratisbon,Bavaria. ThemeritsofBlessedMarianus,anIrishRecluseat
Ratisbon,
noticed,
by
Again,
but in an obscure
manner
Rader. 1
are
Bucelin quotes this writer, for his allusion to the Blessed Marianus. He seems not to have been different from that Blessed Marianus Scotus or St. Muiredhac Mac Roburtach, the Benedictine Abbot of Ratisbon, in Bavaria, and whose Acts have at the
appeared
of 2 The Bollandists February.
9th
have notices of the Blessed Marianus at the 27th of July, —and stating, that he
was a distinct personage from Marianus Chronographus 3
otherwise known
About him, we have already treated, at the 30th of
as Marianus Scotus. 4
January. s The present Marianus Beatus is said to have died a. d. 1070 f but, it seems more probable, that he lived to a later period, and that he died a. d. 1088. 7
"
£JAitnc1iiu Semeoin mAiiAig
OAtriorxSiMAn •ooucAlmxvm l-acefa-o fUiAig inniAin
1n ^ncuAig arvo AT>b<Ml.
tomus ii. , p. 117.
The bed-death of Simeon the monk: a great sun was he to the earth : with the passion of a —loveable host in Antioch high (and) vast. " "Transactions of the Royal Irish Academy," Irish Manuscript Series,
PP- 35°» 35 l - — Article xii.
•
See "Bavaria Sancta,"
:
"Semeoin,
the Benedictine Annals have been brought down to a. d. 1116, yet there does not appear to have been any mention
in that work of this holy man.
7 According to Rader's "Bavaria Sancta,"
tomus ii. , p. 117.
On the Calendar of Oengus,
vol. i. , part i. p. cxii.
a T—hus
est. " Ibid. , p. exxi.
3 See "Acta Sanctorum," tomus vi. , Julii xxvii. Among the pretermitted feasts,
*
3 See " Acta Sanctorum," tomus vi. , Julii xxvii. Among the pretermitted feasts, p. 351.
4 He was born A. D. 1028, and he died at Mayence, A. D. 1086. See Michaud's " Bio- graphie Universelle Ancienne et Moderne," tome xxvi. , pp. 576, 577.
s See the First Volume of this work, at that date, Art. xi.
in antiochia 6
passus Although
2
at that date, Art. i.
See the Second Volume of this work,
4o4 LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. [July 28.
Ctoentg*etff6tB Sag of 3ulj>.
ARTICLE I. —ST. SAMSON OR SAMPSON, BISHOP OF DOL, OR DOLA, IN ARMORICA, FRANCE.
{FIFTH AND SIXTH CENTURIES. ]
CHAPTER I.
INTRODUCTION—SOURCES FOR ST. SAMSON'S BIOGRAPHY—HIS PARENTAGE AND BIRTH —HIS EARLY TRAINING—HE STUDIES AT THE SCHOOL OF ST. ILTUT—HIS LIFE WHILE THERE—HE IS ORDAINED DEACON AND AFTERWARDS HE IS RAISED TO THE PRIESTHOOD—HIS MIRACULOUS PRESERVATION FROM A MALICIOUS ATTEMPT ON HIS LIFE—HIS FASTS AND AUSTERITIES.
OUR
Island justly classes among her saints many holy men, who were not born within her when their education had been
shores, religious
received in our country. We have good reason for adopting them, as their
residence here and their culture reflect credit and character on the places where they dwelt. Nearly all hagiographers have treated in some shape or manner about St. Samson, who was greatly celebrated among the Celtic races. Some writers have pretended, indeed, that there were two British saints bearingthisname,andwhosucceededeachotherintheSeeofDole. Ithas been asserted, likewise, that the former had been Archbishop of York, while the latter had ruled over the See of Menevia. These assertions, however, have
1
no sufficient grounds to support them.
by most modern critics as untenable, and as not deserving the attention of those engaged in the study of ecclesiastical history.
The most ancient Life of this holy man was one written at the request of
a certain named 2 The author is supposed to have Bishop, Tigerinomalus.
been a Gallicanmonk, and who lived in a generation immediately succeeding that of the saint. There are reasonable grounds for supposing this narrative
to contain authentic facts j although undoubtedly they are mingled with a mass of traditional fictions. 3 From the statements found in it, we are left to infer, that this biography had been written at the beginning of the seventh century, and within a few years of Samson's death, embodying too an older
Article 1. —J See Bishop Challenor's " Britannia Sancta," part ii. , pp. 43, 44.
2
It has been thought, by Mabillon, that he differed not from Tirnomalus, whom St. Paul after Jehovius had placed in the See of Laon, not as his successor, but rather as his coadjutor, and which may be seen in Vita S. Pauli, cap. xvii.
3 " I wish it to be understood," he says,
had founded beyond the sea (*. <? . , in Britain), living a Catholic and religious life, in times most approximate to those of the Saint, and which his mother had transmitted to her uncle, named Henoch, being himself a cousin of St. Samson, and a deacon. . . . That no doubt may be thrown upon the veracity of my words, I call Christ, the Saviour of us all, to witness that 1 have not under-
in the
" that these words are not
taken to hand down brief narrative to thisvery
preface,
put together thoughtlessly and rashly, or
from confused and unauthorized rumours, but
that they consist of information which I de-
rived from a certain religious and venerable
man, who resided for about eighty years
in a monastery which St. Samson himself monastery, written in a true and Catholic
Therefore, they have been rejected
posterity from any fallible or uncertain con- jecture of its truth, but from the statements
of most holy and thoroughly competent men, and also from most accurate and elabo- rate documents, which I found in the same
July 28. ] LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. 40$
document, drawn up by a kinsman and fellow-labourer of the saint. How- ever, those fictions it contains do not invalidate the genuine basis of the nar- rative. They are probably additions of a later age ; for, if one may judge from the smooth and flowing style in which they are written, those narratives could not have proceeded from the same unskilled hand, which penned the rugged Latin of the Preface and some historical parts of the biography. As the Gallican monk adopted and expanded the document which he found in
his monastery, so, in a subsequent generation, we may suppose some hagiolo- gist clothed the rude work of the old monk with such traditional or fictitious matter, as should give it a place among the current literature of the middle ages. In the Life before us, we may probably regard the supernatural stories as a mere excrescence, or as resembling those fanciful pictures which illustrate many a modern book, without detracting from the veracity of its genuine narrative/ Another Life of St. Samson had been written by his successor in the See of Dol, named Balderic, and who lived in the twelfth century. s A Life has also been published by Du Bosc. 6
From very early times, the Acts of St. Sampson appear to have been extensively circulated, since many copies yet remain, among various Manuscript collections,? in the different public libraries. Besides those copies preserved in Oxford and in the British Museum, others are to be found in Paris, Rome, as also, in several of the Continental libraries. There are different versions,
moreover, as we can glean from the headings and endings printed. a Vita Antiqua Sancti Samsonis Dolensi Episcopi lately published.
There is
8
Among those writers who have compiled Lives of St. Samson, the follow- ing is an imperfect list, so many have treated in church history as in hagic-
graphy regarding him. We may instance, however, John Capgrave,9 Arch-
10
bishopUssher, Boscius,Vincentius,Alford,
12 and Lobineau. '3 the old Gallican writer.
Father 1 * has Mabillon,
given
his
Acts,
as
spirit, by the above-mentioned deacon. "
4 See the Rev. John Adams' " Life of St.
Samson. "
5 A copy of this is in the National Library,
Paris, and classed Bibl. du Roi. 5350. No. 417. It is stated by Oudinus that Mabillon has printed it. See vol. i. , p. 1068. How- ever, that statement is erroneous. It has also been asserted, by Lelong, that it has been printed by Michel Cosnier, in the " Gesta Pontificum Dolensium. " Thisasser- tion is contradicted by the editor of his work in a note.
6 Biblioth. Floriac, 464-484.
i The following copies exist and may be
here enumerated Vita S. Samsonis,
: Epis-
copi Dolensis, in Armorica, auctore anony-
mo. This has been printed in Mabillon, and
by the Bollandists. De Sancto Sampsone
Episcopo et Confessore, MS. Cott. Tiber.
E. Ff. 210. b-212. veil, folio. Vita S. i. ,
Sampsonis MS. Bodl. Tanner, 15. Ff. 494 b- 497. Vita S. Samsonis. MS. Hengurt. 83. Vita S. Samsonis, Confessoris. MS. Bibl. du Roi. 3789, 35. veil. xii. cent, olim Col- bert. Vita S. Samsonis, Episcopi. MS. Bibl. du Roi. 5280. 69. veil. xiii. cent, olim Bigot. Vita S. Samsonis Episcopi. MS. Bibl. du Roi. 5296. 59. veil. xiii. cent, olim Colbert. Vita S. Samsonis Episcopi. MS. Bibl. du Roi. 5323. 73. veil. xiii. cent, olim Bigot.
Vita S. Samsonis. MS. Coll. Jesu Oxon cxii. paper fol. xvii. cent. Sancti Samsonis
Episcopi et Confessoris, auctore anonymo.
MS. Floriacensis. Vita S. Samsonis Epis-
copi. MS. Reginse Christinoe, Roma? , 465.
Vita S. Samsonis, auctore Baldrico, Dolen. -i
Episcopo. MS. Bibl. du Roi. 5350. veil. xiv.
cent. Vita S.
