Udalrici
et Affrse, Augustse, folio ; paper; xvii.
O'Hanlon - Lives of the Irish Saints - v1
ff.
74-84b, veil.
4to ; xii.
cent.
MS.
S.
Martial Lemovic, veil.
; x.
or xi.
cent.
Bodl. Rawl. B. 505,ff. 171-186,veil,folio; MS. Bibl. duRoi,2,993a,olimColbert,veil.
;
xiv. cent. MS. Bodl. Rawl. B. 485, ff. loi- xiii. cent. MS. Bibl. du Roi, 3,788, 28, 109, veil, folio ;. xiv. cent. MS. Lambeth olim Colbert, veil. ; xii. cent. MS. Bibl. du 94, ff. 113-119, veil, folio ; xiv. cent. MS. Roi, 5,269, 12, olim Faurian, veil. xiv.
;
Reg. 8, G. vi. f. 201, veil, folio, dble. cols. ; cent. MS. Bibl. du Roi, 5,280, 11, olim XV. cent. MS. Moutis Cassinensis. 140, veil, Bigot, veil. ; xiii. cent. MS. Bibl. du Roi, folio ; xi. cent. MS. Monast. S. Vedasti 5,291, 18, olim, Colbert, veil. ; xiii. cent. apud Atrebat. MS. Eccl, Atrebat. A. 13. MS. Bibl. du Roi, 5,300, 4, olim Faurian, MS. Insul. apud Claudium Doresmiculx. veil. MS. Bibl. du Roi, 5,314, 8, olim S.
xi. cent. MS. Lambeth, 173, ff. 180-188, with classification veil, folio ; xi. cent. MS. Harl. 2,800, ff.
:
MS. S. Marise Bonifantis. MS. Belfort. " Martial Lemovic, veil. ; xi. cent. MS. Bibl. "
Again under the heading Vita Sancti Fu—r- du Roi, 5,318, 24, olim Bigot, veil. ; xiii.
:
sei, Abbatis Hibemi," we find recorded Roi, 5,319, 33, olim
cent. MS. Bibl. du
MS. Bibl. Vatican Regin. Christin. 573 ; xii. Colbert, veil. ; xii: cent. MS. Bibl. du Roi, cent. MS. Bibl. Sessorianse No. 39, veil. 5,341, 29, olim Colbert, veil. xii. cent.
;
ix. cent. MS. Cygniacens. in Gallia. MS. MS. Bibl. du Roi, 5,568, 15, olim Le Tel- S. Marise Bonifantis. MS. Belfort. " Under lier, veil. ; xi. cent. MS. Bibl. du Roi,
the head of "Vita Beati Fursei, Presbyteri
tero," " Ixi. 8 folio, veil. ; xiii. or xiv. cent.
5,604, I, olim Colbert, veil. ; x. cent. MS.
Bibl. de I'Ecole de Medecine,
22. MS. Montpellier,
Augsburg. MS. Hamburg. MS.
atque Abbatis, edita a Sancto Beda, Presby- we find a " MS. Coll. Univers. Oxon.
MS. at Stuttgart. Colgan mentions an Irish Life of St. Fursey in MS. , and divided into chapters, which differs from one described in
"
tinae Vatican, 594. MS. Regin. Christinse Vatican, 108. MS. Regin. Christinje Va- tican, 1,279. MS. Bibl. Laurentian£e-Me- diceae Florentise, xvii. , 34. MS.
Heiligen-
Catalogue of the Stowe MSS," "
There "
Regin. Christinte Vatican, 5. MS.
is also another "Vita S. Fursei Abbatis, in Christinse Vatican, 568. MS. Regin. Chris-
O'Connor's
i. 161, as here named Beatha Naoimh kreutz in Austria. MS. Molk. MS. Re- Furse,"orthe "Life of St. Fursey. " This gensbourg, xi. cent. MS. Elnonens, 199. is classed "MS. Stowe," xxxvi. , p. 165, 4to MS. S.
Udalrici et Affrse, Augustse, folio ; paper; xvii. cent. Besides, we have "De XV. cent. MS. Ecclesiae S. Audomari. "
S. Furseo," the same texts as printed in Cap-
"
grave and Messingham,
E. 1. ff. 22b-25. MS. Bodl. Tanner, 15, veil,
See Sir Thomas Duffus
MS. Cott. Tiber.
Hardy's "Descrip- tive Catalogue of Materials relating to the History of Great Britain and Ireland," vol.
"
folio, dble cols. ; xv. cent. Another Vita i. , parti. , pp. 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.
Bodl. Rawl. B. 505,ff. 171-186,veil,folio; MS. Bibl. duRoi,2,993a,olimColbert,veil.
;
xiv. cent. MS. Bodl. Rawl. B. 485, ff. loi- xiii. cent. MS. Bibl. du Roi, 3,788, 28, 109, veil, folio ;. xiv. cent. MS. Lambeth olim Colbert, veil. ; xii. cent. MS. Bibl. du 94, ff. 113-119, veil, folio ; xiv. cent. MS. Roi, 5,269, 12, olim Faurian, veil. xiv.
;
Reg. 8, G. vi. f. 201, veil, folio, dble. cols. ; cent. MS. Bibl. du Roi, 5,280, 11, olim XV. cent. MS. Moutis Cassinensis. 140, veil, Bigot, veil. ; xiii. cent. MS. Bibl. du Roi, folio ; xi. cent. MS. Monast. S. Vedasti 5,291, 18, olim, Colbert, veil. ; xiii. cent. apud Atrebat. MS. Eccl, Atrebat. A. 13. MS. Bibl. du Roi, 5,300, 4, olim Faurian, MS. Insul. apud Claudium Doresmiculx. veil. MS. Bibl. du Roi, 5,314, 8, olim S.
xi. cent. MS. Lambeth, 173, ff. 180-188, with classification veil, folio ; xi. cent. MS. Harl. 2,800, ff.
:
MS. S. Marise Bonifantis. MS. Belfort. " Martial Lemovic, veil. ; xi. cent. MS. Bibl. "
Again under the heading Vita Sancti Fu—r- du Roi, 5,318, 24, olim Bigot, veil. ; xiii.
:
sei, Abbatis Hibemi," we find recorded Roi, 5,319, 33, olim
cent. MS. Bibl. du
MS. Bibl. Vatican Regin. Christin. 573 ; xii. Colbert, veil. ; xii: cent. MS. Bibl. du Roi, cent. MS. Bibl. Sessorianse No. 39, veil. 5,341, 29, olim Colbert, veil. xii. cent.
;
ix. cent. MS. Cygniacens. in Gallia. MS. MS. Bibl. du Roi, 5,568, 15, olim Le Tel- S. Marise Bonifantis. MS. Belfort. " Under lier, veil. ; xi. cent. MS. Bibl. du Roi,
the head of "Vita Beati Fursei, Presbyteri
tero," " Ixi. 8 folio, veil. ; xiii. or xiv. cent.
5,604, I, olim Colbert, veil. ; x. cent. MS.
Bibl. de I'Ecole de Medecine,
22. MS. Montpellier,
Augsburg. MS. Hamburg. MS.
atque Abbatis, edita a Sancto Beda, Presby- we find a " MS. Coll. Univers. Oxon.
MS. at Stuttgart. Colgan mentions an Irish Life of St. Fursey in MS. , and divided into chapters, which differs from one described in
"
tinae Vatican, 594. MS. Regin. Christinse Vatican, 108. MS. Regin. Christinje Va- tican, 1,279. MS. Bibl. Laurentian£e-Me- diceae Florentise, xvii. , 34. MS.
Heiligen-
Catalogue of the Stowe MSS," "
There "
Regin. Christinte Vatican, 5. MS.
is also another "Vita S. Fursei Abbatis, in Christinse Vatican, 568. MS. Regin. Chris-
O'Connor's
i. 161, as here named Beatha Naoimh kreutz in Austria. MS. Molk. MS. Re- Furse,"orthe "Life of St. Fursey. " This gensbourg, xi. cent. MS. Elnonens, 199. is classed "MS. Stowe," xxxvi. , p. 165, 4to MS. S.
Udalrici et Affrse, Augustse, folio ; paper; xvii. cent. Besides, we have "De XV. cent. MS. Ecclesiae S. Audomari. "
S. Furseo," the same texts as printed in Cap-
"
grave and Messingham,
E. 1. ff. 22b-25. MS. Bodl. Tanner, 15, veil,
See Sir Thomas Duffus
MS. Cott. Tiber.
Hardy's "Descrip- tive Catalogue of Materials relating to the History of Great Britain and Ireland," vol.
"
folio, dble cols. ; xv. cent. Another Vita i. , parti. , pp. 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.