No More Learning

saints,
Article xil—'See his Menoh><num
Whitley "Feilire HuiGormain,"pp. 186, 187.
pretermitted
p. 3. 2""
See Acta Sanctorum," tomus viii. , Septembris xxix. De SS. Eutico vel Eutichio, Plauto. et forte Heraclea, Placido. Ambuto, Tracia, Donata, Martyribus, in
Thracia, pp. 125—, 126. In three paragraphs. Article x. 'See Scottish Entries in
Scoticum, in Bishop Forbes' Kalendars of Scottish Saints," p. 213.
2
See "Acta Sanctorum. " tomus viii. , Septembris xxix. Among the pretermitted feasts, p. 2.
3
At that date, his life has been written the Kalendar of David Camerarius, in in the Seventh Volume of this work.
Bishop Forbes* Saints," p. 240.
2
"
Kalendars of Scottish
Art. i.
Article xiil—' See" Acta Sanctorum/'
In the present volume. Art i.
3 See "Acta Sanctorum," tomus viii. , Septembris xxix. Among the pretermitted
tomus viii. ,
pretermitted
2
Septembris xxix.
feasts, 2. p.
Among the
See Art. x.
of 1 St. September.
"
Septembris xxix. Among the
25th
September 30. ] LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. 639
Cbirtirtb 2Bay of September
ARTICLE I. —ST. MOCHONNA, OF CLUAIN-AIRDNE. [SEVENTH AND EIGHTH CENTURIES. ]
OF most saints recorded in the Irish Calendars, we have barely their
names, or when their ancient places are mentioned in connection
with them, only conjecture can be hazarded to fix localities, which serve to
identify these with denominations preserved in modern topography. According
to the of 1 we find that veneration was published Martyrology Tallagh, given
to Mochonna of Cluain-Airdne, at the 30th of September. For such deno-
mination, however, this version of the Martyrology substitutes Cuairne,
evidently through mistake.
correct 2 at this date. entry,
That copy of it in the Book of Leinster has the
The of Marianus O'Gorman has Martyrology
Mo Chonna entered at this day in his Feilire 3 while his scholiast notes, ;
that he was of Cluain Airdne. 4 In the Trip rtite Life of St. Patrick. s it is
stated, that when the Irish Apostle came to the territory of K. ierragia Airtigh, and to a place called Dromat, in the west of Ireland, he received a grant of land, whereon to build a church. Over this he set Cona, the smith, and a
6
Colgan conjectures, that Cluain- Airdne may be the Church of Cluain-aird, in the territory of Airteach, and diocese of Elphin. ? Colgan was inclined to think, that Cona was the same as Mochonna, which means " my Cona" of Cluain-airdne church, and who is mentioned in the Irish Calendars, at September 30th. His only reason for doubting of their identity was, that this St Mochonna's death is assigned by
8
Consequently, either he was not the same as Cona, or the Tripartite, amid its numberless anachronisms, has placed Cona in times long prior to his real period. 9 The truer identification, however, is that of Mochonna, who was born about or sometime after the middle of the seventh, and who died in the earlier part of the eighth, century, Jiis exact position in the church has not been ascertained. According to the O'Clerys, the 30th of September was the day of his death, and the year
brother to Bishop Sacellus, or Sechnall.
the Four Masters to a,d. 713.
was *9 The Annals of 713.
it at a. d. 1 ' 714.
have
Later still, at a. d. 715, Tighernach has recorded the death of Mocondha
Ulster, however,
placed
2 for which we should read Moconna Airne. Dr. O' Donovan has remarked, that although there are countless places in Ireland, known as
Cnerne,'
Article i. —« Edited by Rev. Dr. Kelly, p. xxxv.
2
8 See Dr. O'Donovan's edition, vol. i. ,
pp. 312, 313.
9 See Dr. Lanigan's "Ecclesiastical
Thus niochonnA Cluam Airtne.
3 See Dr. Whitley Stokes' "Feilire Hui History of Ireland," vol. i. , chap, v. , sect.
Gormain," pp. 186, 187. •
4 Thus : CliiAttA -Airvone.
s See the Life of St. Patrick Apostle of
Ireland, at the 17th of March, in the Third
Volume of this work, chap, xii. , and nn.
27, 28.
6 He is not identified in our Calendars.
"
7 See
Vita S. Patricii, lib. ii. , cap. Ivi. , p. 137, and n. 115, p. 178.
x. , n. 98, p. 248.
,0 See Dr. O'Donovan's " Annals of the
Four Masters," vol. i. , pp. 312, 313.
Trias Thaumaturga," Septima
"
Chuerni," a mistake for Mochonna Cluana-
"There we find written,
Mocomno-
airne. See Dr. O'Conor's
Hibernicarum Scriptores," Annates Ultonienses, p. 74.
I2
See ibid. , tomus ii. , Annales, pp. 227, 228.
Rerum
""
tomus iv. ,
Tigernachi
64o LIVESOFTHEIRISHSAINTS. [September30.
1
Cluain-airdne, * he could discover nothing to prove among these that one,
to which allusion is made. 1 * The festival of Mochonna, of Cluain Airdne, is
entered likewise, in the
of j s at this same date. Martyrology Donegal,
Article II. —Reputed Feast of a St. Conna. According to the pub-
1
lished Martyrology of Tallagh, veneration was given to Conna, at this date.
The contraction, Sae, is found postfixed. A similar entry is to be found in
the Book of Leinster 2 Conna does not differ from the former copy. Perhaps
saint.
Article III. —St. Brigid, of Cluainfidhe, or perhaps of Kil-
1
entry.
any further designation, Brigit is entered in the Feilire of Marianus O'Gorman,
at this day. 3 In the Martyrology of Charles Maguire, as in the Martyrologies of Tallagh and of Marianus O'Gorman, the feast of a St. Brigid is entered at
the 30th of September/ Among the holy women, who are recorded as having flourished in the Irish church, there is a St. Brigid, who was daughter
to Conchraid, and she belonged to the family of Mactail. Colgan says, this family seems to have been derived, from the Kings of Munster, having issued from the race of ^Engus, King over that province. From this line, St. Mactail the Bishop was descended. 5 Or perhaps, the family of Mactail was derived from the O'Brien sept. Cassius, surnamed Tallins, had several sons, among whom were Blodius, Cassius, Sedneus, and D—elbatius. Hence it
breedy, Queen's County. In the published Martyrology of Tallagh, feast of St. Brigitta is thus simply recorded, at the 30th of September.
the Book of Leinster at this copy,
day,
the In there is a similar 2 Without
that some one of or of—
their Blodius' happens, these, posterity especially
children, who inherited the chieftainship" might be considered as belonging to the family of Mactail. The word itself signifies son of Tallius. 6 If Colgan's conjecture be correct, those circumstances connected with the family and place of her residence point out St. Brigid, who is venerated on the 30th of September, as the one mentioned in St. Senan's Second Life. From it we are able to procure the following account of her. We are told there, how St. Brigid, a holy virgin, had established herself in a cell, on the banks of the river Shannon, and at a place, called Clain in fidi, or Cluainfidhe,? Whilst there, she had prepared a cloak or chasuble for St. Senan, which she desiredsenttohim,buthadnotthenecessarymeansfortransport. However, she covered the vestment with hay, and having placed it, with some letters, in an osier basket, which floated out on the river, the result was committed to a providential issue. The letters were directed to St. Senan, and contained a request, that he would send the Most Holy Sacrament to her. By a miracle of Divine Providence, and without any human direction, the basket
*3 Usually Anglicised Clonarny.
14 See, -'Annals of the Four Masters,"
vol. i. , n. (g), pp. 312, 313.
15 Edited by Drs. Todd and Reeves, pp.
Appendix Quarta ad Acta S. Brigidw, cap.
6 See " Acta Sanctorum Hiber- 262, 263. — Colgan's
Article 11. Edited by Rev. Dr. Kelly, p. xxxv.
2
Thus: Corma—efCAe.
Article III. 'Edited by Rev. Dr.
Kelly, p. xxxv.
2
Thus b|M5iCAe.
3 See Dr. Whitley Stokes' "Feilire Hui
' n.
Gormain," pp. 186, 187.
4 See, Colgan's "Trias Thaumaturga," ibid. y n. 24, p. 540, (rede), 536.
i. ,p. 612. s"
According to the Menelogium
Genealogicum," cap. 34.
nLx," viii. Martii, 24, p. 540 (rede), 536. 1 This is rendered into English "the retreat in the wood.
" Colgan thinks it to called Inisfidhe in the Life of St. Maccretius. It is sometimes found transposed, and written Fidh-inis, "the woody island. " It lies in the River Shannon, where the Fergus enters. See
be identical with a place
September 30. ] LIVES 01 THE IRISH SAINTS. 641
floated out into the bed of the Shannon, which at this point was very wide; and, at length it landed on the Island shore, near the church of St. Senan. This circumstance, being revealed to the holy man, he called one of his disciples, who was a Deacon. He was desired to bring the basket, which lay on the shore, to the monastery. Having fulfilled such orders, Senan took the vestment and letters contained in the basket. He then placed therein, as we are told, two portions of salt and a pixis containing the Sacred Host. 8 He next ordered, in the name of God, to whom every creature owes obedience, that the basket should return by the same way it had come, and restore to St. Biigid one of the lumps of salt and the pixis it contained ; and that it should bear the other portion ot salt, to St. Diermit,9 who dwelt in the monastery of Inis-clothrand. According to St. Senan's mandate, the basket returned to St. Brigid. She took out therefrom the pixis, and one of the salt portions. Before she had time to remove the other, the basket was carried off by motion of the water; and it sailed, by a direct course, against the river's current until it arrived at Inisclothrand. Having under- stood what had occurred through a Divine revelation, St. Diermit went forth, and brought the basket to his monastery with much joy. He gave thanks to God, for the wonder wrought through his holy servant, St. Senan. 10 Of the thirteen saints bearing this name, as mentioned by our Irish Martyrologists, Colgan supposed the circumstance already related can only apply to that St. Biigid, who was venerated on the 30th of September. However, in the Third11 and Fourth12 Lives ot St. Brigid,*3 such anecdote was transferred to her, with tins variation, that the basket or box was entrusted to the ocean, and had t—o pass over a very great round and —extent of sea. Such a
in which there is
marvellous story, which has probably Helped to give rise to the opinion, * that Senan was 'established at Inniscatthy before tiie death of St. Brigid. *S A St. Brighit, or Bride, seems to have been venerated in the Parish ot Bordwell, 16 Queen's Coun y. Tnere had been a pattern at a Bride's Well, "7 not tar from
transaction
nothing improbable
related, in to St Senan. He adds, that if we
the Metrical Life of St. Senan. See St. Brigid of Kildare as having sent this Colgan's "Acta Sanctorum Hiberniae," chasuble, it must have been while she viii Martii. Vita Metrica S, Senani, cap. resided in Connaught, since other incidents xxiii. , p. 527 [recle) 523. There . St. here related could only accord with the
Diermit, and not St. -rigid, is said to have wnole narrative. See ibid. , on. 24, 25, p.
8 This miracle is
differently
regard
sent the vestment; and thai, to him, in
return, was sent, " tr^s salis petras idico,"
wbica he received. Colgan accounts tor
the discrepancy of statement in this cap. 8t.
: manner —
"
M See Ussher's " Primordia," cap. xvii. ,
of I3 St. Diermit, could have been the . sender of
See
Trias
St. at the Brigid,
instigation
Colgan's
Thaumaturga. ''
this yift to St. Senan ; while regarding the
present returned to both, the former, might be said to have been transmitted to St. Diermit alone, as in the Metiical Life, or to both saints, as in St. Sen. m's Prose Liie. See ibid, n. 25, p. 540, [recte) 536.
"
Barony of Clandonagh, but for the greater 9 His festival is held on ihe loth of ponion in tne Barony of Clarmallagh, is
January, at which date, his Acts are written
in the First Volume of this work. Art. 1.
'" "
See Colgan's Acta Sanctorum Hiber-
niae. " viii. Martii. Vita Secunda S. Senani,
shown on the " Ordnance Survey Town- '
land Maps for the Queen's County, sheet 28.
'? This well was near the castle, but it
cap. xxxix. , p. 536 {rectc) 532. Colgan dried up after some filthy clothing belong- atkls, in his notes to this account, that the ing to a poor family had been washed in present miraculous occurrence, or one it. Fever-stricken householders had been
similar to it, has been ascribed to St. Bri-id ot Kildare, in her Life by St. Uitan, cap. 119. There it is related, that she sent in a casket, and by sea, a vestment
removed to the interior of the old castle, where a shed had been erected for their reception, and to prevent the spreading of
contagion. Their neighbours washed the JS
was transformed into a
540 (r<? cA? ) 536.
" See Vita Tertia S. Brigidse, cap. 1 15.
,2
p. 874.
'5 See Rev. Dr. Lanigan's Ecclesiastical
History of Ireland," vol. i. , chap, ix. , sect. iv. , n. 65, pp. 449, 450.
l6
This parish, situated partly in the
See Vita Quarta S. Brigidae, lib. i. ,
642 LIVESOFTHEIRISHSAINTS. [September30.
8 and it was held between the close ofharvestandthemonthofNovember. '? Noothersaintbearingthename of Brigid seems so likely to correspond wiih her to whom allusion has been here made. The old church of Kilbreedy lies about a mile from Rath- downey. Measured outside the old walls, it is 50 feet in length, by 24 feet in breadth. The walls of limestone are nearly four feet in thickness, and
the old church and castle of
were well but built,
only
Kilbreedy,'
the lower nw remain. 20 The church and portions
Old Church of Kilbreedy, Queen's Couniy.
grave-yard are evidently very ancient ; but both have been enclosed by a modern and well-built wall, with an iron-gate set up for entrance. Many graves and magnificent hawthorn trees are within the grave-yard enclosure. The remarkable fort of Middlemount rises to a considerable elevation, at somelittledistance,andontheoppositesideofthehighroad. Concentricand diminishing circular fosses surround it, and ascend to the terminating irregular cone. The festival of Brighit is set down, without further clue for
21
identification, in the Martyrology of Donegal, at the 30th day of September.
Article IV. —St. Mobi, Nun, of Uomhnach Broc, Donnvbrook,
County of Dublin. In the of published Martyrology
Tallagh,
1 the
present
bedding and clothes, when the fever had run its course ; and soon afterwards, the water disappeared, so that the large
18 This townland is in liordwell parish, in
the barony of Clarmallagh, and it is marked on the " Ordnance Survey Townland Maps
patterns were discontinued, about the for the Queen's County," sheet 28.
beginning of the present century. Such
was the story, as related to the writer, in
May, 1870, by a very intelligent and hale old man, who was a native of tliis place,
and who had lived there
that time. Church lands were annexed to the oid church, lor which the landlord received rent ; and formerly those lands
were supposed to have constituted an ecclesiastical endowment.
'»Of this I was assured by the old man—
continuously
to
which the pattern had been kept.
30 The taken from accompanying sketch,
the interior of the graveyard by the writer, in June, 1*597, has been copied on the wood, engraved by Gregor Grey.
21 Edited by Drs. Todd and Reeves, pp. 262, 263.
— but he could not recollect the exact day on
in 1870 considerably over 80 years of age
September 30. J LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. 643
Saint is called Mobi 2 at this
Clarenech, Domnaigh Broc, particular date.
The copy found in the Book of Leinster corresponds. 3 The entry of mo Bi
"
my Bf," in the Feilire of Marianus O'Gorman, at the 28th of September, is supplemented by the annotator, who explains that she was a nun of Domnach brocc. « The place of this holy woman may be identified with
6
It seems The fullest account of Donnybrook is that contained in an elegantly printed and illustrated little book, which has reached a second edition. 8 The name Mobi, Nun, of Domhnach Broc, is set down in the Martyrology of Donegal,? as
having honour paid her, at the 30th of September.
Article V. —St. Airmer or Airinne, the Pious, of Breachmhagh. 1
3
or
and within the
certain, there was a nunnery in ancient times, at this place. ?
Donnybrook,
5 east of the
city,
County,
of
Dublin.
In the published Martyrology of Tallagh, it has been thus entered, Airmer- o Craibdheach " the Pious. " in
Craibdec, Brecmaigh, signifies
Nearly like
manner do we find in the Book of Leinster it,
The name of district Breachmhagh, sometimes called Magh-Breagh, may be Anglicised as
"
the plain of Bregia," and it extended northwards, as far as the Casan, now the Annagassan stream, near Dundalk, in the county of Louth. 3 This large and level territory comprised five cantreds in East Meath. * Breaghmhagh is a transposed form of the name Magh Breagh. s In the Martyrology ot Marianus O'Gorman we find a festival for Airmir
[<5j[],
tells us she was from Br^chmag. 6 That this holy woman was a virgin is
stated within brackets. Yet the situation of her place has been assigned to
quite a different part of Ireland. Under the head of BrecmuiglV Duald Mac
8
Firbis records Aidhbche, bishop and abbot of Tir da-glais,9 Aidbhe i. e.
Aedh beo (Aedtis vivus), for he was active in prodigies and miracles. His church is said to have been southwards from Imlech, or in Brechmagh of
Cera,inthewestofConnaught. Atthe30thofSeptember,theMartyrology 10
of Donegal records a festival in honour of Airinne, the Pious, ot Breach- mhagh.
Article iv. —» Edited Kelly, p. xxxv.
by
Rev. Dr.
Annals. " the Rev. Beaver H. By
2
It appears that this word has been especially pp. 10 to 15, with corresponding
entered lor that of cai bleach, "a nun," as found in the Martyrologies of Marianus O'Gorman and of Donegal.
notes and appendices.
9 Edited by Drs. Todd and Reeves, pp.
3 Thus entered
:
mobi
262, 263. Article v.
Kelly, p. xxxv.
—
x
Edited
Rev. Dr.
"DonnaiS bnoc.
4 Thus written mo
2 Thus
: <VirmieriCroboecho
caillech. "OonriAi5 bj\oc. See Dr. Whitley Scokes'
bpechmAijg. 3 According to an old poem, quoted by
" Fedire Hui Gormain," pp. 186, 187, Keating.
and n. 4.
5 The parish of Donnybrook is situated in the three baronies of Dublin, ofRathdown
and of Upper Cross. It is described on the
" Ordnance Survey Townland Maps for the
County of Dublin," sheets 18, 19, 22, 23.
6
Various documents in reference to the old church and possessions at Donnybrook
"
occur in
Sanctorum juxta Dublin," which has been edited by Dean Butler for the Irish Archaeological Society.
7 See a historical and statistical account
* See O'Donovan's "Topographical Poems of John O'Dubhagain and Giolla na naomh O'Huidhrin," p. iii. , n. II.
5 See ibid, n. 63, p. xv.
6 Thus : 6 b|\echm<M5h. See Dr. Whit- lry Stokes' "Feilire Hui Gormain," pp. 186, 187, and n. 8.
bii,
clai^enech
by
7 Brecmuigh is said to be Breaffy, in the Registrum Prioratus Omnium barony of Carra, County of Mayo, according
of this in lohu D'Alton's " parish
to William M.