No More Learning

55 The narrative continues : viz. , Bail neach
s* We are informed, that after the Refor- mation, certain enemies of the Catholic Faith threw crosses of St. Finbar's stations into the lake. In the year 1700, Father Denis O'Mahony took up his residence on the Island, where he fitted up a chapel, and
more in Musgry Mitain, after getting a
banner there, and Nathi and Brogan they
offered their church to Bairri, namely, there led a very mortified life. It is said he Bairneachmoie, and Bairri left with them a
chalice for lay Communion, and four Books
of the Gospels. Lughadh, son of Findtan,
who desired him to go to the country of
Cliach, it was he the same who got control
of a community at Cam Tighearna, in the arched recess like those in the enclo-
sure and facing the island. He wrote his
own " Hoc sibi et successoribus epitaph :
suis in eadem locatione monumentum lay Communion. Baetan, son of Eoghan, imposuit Reverendus Dominus Doctor who got Glen Cain in the country of Lein- Dyonisius O'Mahony Presbyter licet indig- ster Ely, and Mo Diomog, were disciples of nus, a. d. 1700. " The letters having been
Bairri, and both were bishops, the two effaced— time, the
by Very
country of Fer Muigh Feine, or Fermoy, he
offered his church to and Bairri,
Lughadh took from Bairri a chalice of white metal for
offered their churches to Bairri in
fidelity, namely, Glen Cain Druimeidhneach
in the country of Leinster Ely. Saran got
it, and he offered his church to Bairri, and
he got from Bairri a copper lay chalice for
the Sacrament. Goban Corr, who took
Fan Lobus, offered his church to Bairri,
and Bairri gave him a lay chalice of silver
and an altar chalice of gold. Findtan and
Domhangein, likewise, who took Cluain the late Mr. Townsend, with a view of Fotai and Tulach Meen, offered their
churches to Bairri, and Bairri gave them a
lay chalice and an altar chalice of glass.
There Barri performed miracles, namely,
the healing of a son who was deaf and
dumb, as also the healing of lepers. In
fine, we learn, that Brogan, son of Senan, coming to Gougane Barra, the site was a foster-son to Bairee, acted as guide for
him daily until his ordination, and lastly
offered his church of Cluain Cairne in per-
petual fidelity to Bairre. Chap. x.
built the causeway leading to the spot, and that he planted the trees which are now on the Island. There he lived for twenty-eight years, and erected his tomb on the southern mainland in an
pure Hurley appointed
had a new stone placed over the former one, and the inscription was renewed ; with the
addition anno 85 .
:
" Obiit anno 1728. a;tatis sute
Praesbyteratus 54 . R. I. P. "
57 It may be well to state, that the Very Rev. Patrick Hurley, P. P. , succeeded in getting a lease for 999 years of the Island, and at a nominal rent, from the landlord,
having the Carthusian monks to found a branch of their Order at the spot, as in the year 187 1 the Rt. Rev. Dr. Delaney visited the Grand Chartreuse, and obtained a pro- mise from the Abbot, that a colony should be sent to his diocese. However, on
objected to by the monks, who afterwards settled down in Sussex, England, at Park-
minster, where at present they have a magnificent establishment. The Rev.
Rev. Patrick
P. P. in the 1888— year
September 25. ] LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. S63
reasons may happen to prevent their attendance, the people assemble at
Gougane Barra and offer the prayers prescribed on its Holy Island.
We are told an Angel conducted Bairre to his own country, where the Church of Achaidh Durbchon s 8 was built. There was a cavern known as Barry's Cave, and there was a pool of water, out of which a salmon was taken every night in a one-meshed net for him. However, the Angel told him, that was not to be the place of hi—s resurrection. Accordingly he crossed the river
5*
and '. vent to Cill na Cluaine said to have been the present Cloyne, in the
County of Cork. Here St. Colman founded a see so early as a. d. 580, and
60 61 he died on the 24th of November, a. d. 604.
St. Finbar visited the cell of Cluain,
62
It is stated, also, that and that he founded a church in the
place. However, quite a different locality has been assigned for Cill na Cluain,63 We are told, that Finbarr remained at Cluain, until two of St. Ruadan's6* alumni came to him, seeking a place where they might dwell. These are respectively named Corbmac 6s and Bachin. 66 St. Ruadhan said to them, " Go, with a blessing, to the place where its tongue shall touch your bell, and where the cause of religion shall be in your good books, it is there your resurrection shall be. " Afterwards they travelled to Ciil na Cluaine, where they found Bairre, to whom they related the object they had in view. Then St. Barr left them his habitation, with all he possessed there, saying : " Remain you here, and I will go to seek another dwelling, because myresur-
Father Hurley deserves the greatest credit, for the expense and labour he has under- taken to restore and preserve the ancient remains on the Holy Island. He has erected, likewise, a cenotaph for J. J. Callanan, who wrote the beautiful lines on Gougane Barra, with an inscription on the cross, that he was born in Cork, 1795, and that he died in Lisbon, where he was buried in 1823, with a harp and pen sculptured as emblems. The cross is pro- tected by an ash and a willow, not far from Father O'Mahony's tomb.
ancient Irish Litany, it is stated, that as many saints as there are leaves on the trees repose at " Loch Irce in finibus Muscragiae
''
or CloyneoftheCave; anotherisCluain
mac nois (Clonmacnoisj ; another Cluain Tibret (Clontibret), and so on. But the chroniclers of those places in describing
their own churches seldom use the addition,
simply referring to them as Cloyne. In the present instance that the place meant cannot
be Cloyne in County Cork appears from Colgan's note (p. 15 in Dr. Caulfield's edition of the Life), from which it appears that it was between the Galtees (Slieve Grot) and the Slieve Margy hills in the Queen's County. The Cloyne there was Cluain-
be the case appears also from the Irish Life (p. 68 of Staunton's Translation, chap, xii. ), where we read that St. Fin Barre came over the river (or the Avon, as the word is, for it may be intended for the name of the Black- water, which is the Avon-mor) to Cloyne. The way to Cloyne in Cork would be down the
river Lee, but if he, when leaving Gougane Barra, went across a river it must have been the Blackwater, w—hich he should cross to
"
reach the Galtees Rev. Andrew C. Robin-
son's "St. Fin Barre's Cathedral, Cork,
Historical and descriptive," Appendix A. ,
5* to some According
eidnech afterwards the (Clonenagh),
this
was identical with Gougane Barra, In an monastery of St. Finbarr. That this must
et nepotum Eochodii Cruodhae," &c. See "
Ward's Vita Sancti Rumoldi, Martyris inclyti," &c, Dissertatio Historica dePatria S. Rumoldi, sect. 10, par. 24 p. 204.
59 The parish of Cloyne, in the barony of Imokilly, is noted on the "Ordnance Survey
Townland Maps for the County of Cork,"
Sheets 76, 77, 88, 89, 100. The town of
Cloyne is found on Sheet 88.
60
At that date his Acts are contained in the Eleventh Volume of this work.
61 See Rev. M. A. Brenan's " Ecclesias-
p.
80.
64The Life of St. Ruadan has been
accounts,
place
tical of sixth —at the of the History Ireland," century, alreadygiven 15th April— day
chap, ii. , p. 77.
62 " Ad cellam Cluain," is to be found in
the Codex Kilkenniensis Life.
63 The Rev. T. Olden, has the following
note, under the heading of The Cloyne in St. Fin Barre's Life : "All the places called Cloyne have an addition to identify them ; thus Cloyne in County Cork is Cluain uamha,
for his feast in the Fourth Volume of this work, Art. i.
6s There are several saints so named in the Irish Calendar, but the present Corbmac cannot be identified.
66 There are several saints called Becan or Beccan in the Irish Calendar, but the present Bachin has not been identified.
564 LIVESOFTHEIRISHSAINTS. [September25.
rection shall not be here. " The strangers felt sorrowful, as they did not expect such a sacrifice to be made by our saint as to abandon his church and habitation, until assured by him that such was the will of God. 6? According
68 and
Cork,
1
disciples, from the aforesaid locality to Corchaid,? otherwise called Corcagh-
Mor. ? a This was a marshy spot, near the mouth of the River Lee. Afterwards,
it became his own City of Cork. 73 There, the angel told him, should be the
place of his resurrection. Before coming to Cork, however, it is related, that
he had constructed twelve churches ; and yet through his spirit of charity and
humility, he bestowed all of these on other persons. ? 4 A certain plebeian,
named s sonof 6ofUibhMcIar,77camewherethemanof Aed,? Congall,?
Godandhisdisciplesresided. Thisplebeianwasinquestofacow,whichhad strayed from his herd. It so happened, that this cow had brought forth a calf, at the time she was found. This was a matter of surprise to Aed, who asked the holy men what they were doing there. St. Barry answered, " We are here seeking a locality, in which we may pray to God for ourselves and for him, and who would give it to us for God's honour. " This very land having belonged to the man, who came to seek his cow, he felt inspired to
address St. Barr in the following words " O Saint of God, I offer this place
:
to you in God's honour, and take also that cow, which the Lord has sent to
you. " The man and his posterity then received our saint's blessing.
Rejoicing, he returned home. St. Barrus fasted and prayed incessantly for
8
three whole days,? thus wishing to sanctify the spot he had selected for his
habitation. There he afterwards dwelt, and filled the first episcopal see. ? 9 It is related, that Hugh, son of Miandach, came and offered the saint nine wooded tracts of open country, with his own service and that of his children, and Hugh, the son of Comgall, came also to offer himself and children in perpetuity for his service. However, his Guardian Angel again visited Bairre, and asked if he desired thereto remain, when the saint replied if it pleased God it was his wish. Then said the Angel u If you stay here,
:
few pure souls shall pass from it to Heaven. But move aside rather to the
to some accounts, St. Barr sat for seventeen
to others about fifteen miles. 7° We are told, that the Angel of God came to conduct our saint, with his
for seven 6? at years,
Cloyne,
67 The Codex Kilkenniensis Life of St. Fin Barre and the Bodleian have respectively inversions of the narrative; this renders it the more difficult to attempt a chronological order for those incidents recorded in both
versions.
68 "
and even that shortened to one in
years, which is distant from
according
the present name of Cork. "
— syllable Dr. P. W.
Joyce's "Origin and History of Irish Names of Places," part iv. , chap, vi. , p. 446.
73 It is universally called Corcach by those who speak Irish ; and the memory of the old swamp is still preserved in a portion of
The Codex Kilkenniensis, however, has
Spatium enim 17 annorum erat a the city, and at present called the Marsh,
it,
tempore quo beatus Barrus ecclesiam Corcae aedificavit usque ad obitum suum. "—"The Life of St Fin Barre," by Richard Caulfield, p- SI.
69 See Sir James Ware, " De Praesulibus
7<s " De nepotibus in hyer" is added, in the Codex Kilkenniensis. In seeming allu- dium Annalium Ecclesiasticorum Regni sion to this incident, Hanmer calls him, "one Edo, a noble man. "—"Chronicle of
Hiberniae Commentarius," p. 206.
70 See Father Francis Porter's "Compen-
Hiberniae. " Sectiov. , cap. vii. , p. 197.
71 Thus is the name old documents.
"
spelled
in various
Ireland," p.
108.
The swampy place was known for
many hundred years afterwards by the name
of Corcach-mor or Corcach-mor-Mumhan sanctus Barri triduo
[Mooan], the great marsh of Munster ; of Dominum, ut suum locum benedicere dig- which only the first part has been retained, naretur. "
72
See ibid.
74 to the Manu- According Burgundian
script Life of St. Bairre, chap. xii.
75 Other accounts have it, that he was a
chief or nobleman.
77 According to the Bruxelles Manuscript Life of Fin Bairre, chap. xiii.
78 The Bodleian copy states: "Tunc
jejunans,
oravit ad
September 25. ] LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. 565
waters which are near, with a sufficiency of fertile land, and with the Lord's recommendation it shall be your abode, and many pure lives and learned menshallgofromittoHeaven. " AccordinglytheAngelconductedhimto the place destined for his resurrection, and marked out the site for a church with a
blessing.
We are told, that Bairre erected a monastery and school80 near Loch Erie,
on the south bank of the Lee, having obtained that site from a nobleman
named PM0. 81
stands on
part
According to a local tradition, the Queen's College now
Ratha,°3 Bishop Libheadhan,
Ia,°s Bishop
of that
ground,
83 and it is said83 that the former Gill
Abbey
which was there had been the oldest ecclesiastical foundation in Cork.
However, it is not correct to quote Colgan for the statement, that eight
hundredmonkswereinBarr'smonasteryatLochEirce; asheonlygivesan extract from an old Life of St. Barr, which tells us, that so great was the number of disciples that flocked to his school, and such was the number of
8
their cells, that they turned the desert place into a considerable city. * In the
very old book, which contains the Martyrology of Tamlacht, and the History of the Female Saints, it is said there were seventeen holy bishops and seven hundred prosperous monks, together with Bairre and St. Nessan, at Corcach- Mor of Munster. 8* We find it stated, in the same book, that Bairre, bishop of Minister and of Connacht, bore a likeness, in habits and in life, to Augustin, bishop of the Saxons. 86 There can hardly be a doubt of some
exaggeration, regarding the number of St. Barr's disciples; but we are
8
informed, ? that among them was Fachtna, who took Kill Ria,
88 80 Eltin, son
01 who took Findabair of the Kings, Conner,02 son of Fontcheren, who took Tulaigh
be found at that date in the Sixth Volume ofthiswork; theotherEltinofChennsaile, venerated at the nth of December,
9° This place has not been identified.
9I There are several Saints called Fergus,
Ferghus or Ferghass in the Irish Calendar,
but none of them distinguished as Fergus the Fairspoken, or in connexion with Fin- dabhair of the Kings,
92 No saint bearing this name appears in the Irish Calendars, unless Conodhar, abbot of Fobhar, venerated November 3rd, be a substitute for it.
93 Tulaigh Ratha has not been identified ; although among the townland denominations of Ireland, Tulla, Tullo, Tullach and Tully
of Cobhthach, who took Cill na h-Indse,°° the
Fergus Fairspoken,
* who took Cill
took Cluain Bruiches, ? Fingen08 and Trean,00 who took Donoughmore ,<x>
79 See Archdeacon Cotton's " Fasti Eccle-
six Hibernicse," vol. i. , p. 215.
80 See a Paper on the "Permanent In-
fluence of the Religious Orders," by the Rev. James A. Dwyer, O. P.
, in the "Jour- nal of the Cork Historical and Archaeological
Society," vol. iii. , second series, No. 31-33, July-September, 1897, p. 292.
81
dation was made in 606.
According to some historians, this foun-
82
See Gibson's "History of the County and City of Cork," vol. ii. , p. 362.
83 See ibid. , p. 344.
84 See "Acta Sanctorum Hiberniae,'' xiv. Martii. De S. Talmacho Confessore, p. 607.
8
Litany :
Episcopos, cum septingentis servis Dei, terms.
SThus we find it stated from an old Irish
MDeinde invocat
septemdecim
aremostnumerous,
singly,
andas
compound
Corcagiae Magna—sepultos circa Barraeum et "
*4 No such name appears in the Irish Calendar.
9SThisplacehasnotbeenidentified,
^Sineall and Sincheall are mentioned often in the Irish Calendar ; but among them the present Sinnell cannot be dis- covered.
97 This place has not been identified.
98 There is a Finghin, son of Odhran, venerated at the 5th of February in the Irish Calendar.
99 No saint bearing this name is found in
Nessanum,"&c. Ward's Sancti Rumoldi Martyrisinclyti,"&c. DissertatioHistorica de Patria S. Rumoldi, sect. 10, par. 24,
p. 204.
86 His festival is celebrated May 26th.
8
? In the Burgundian Manuscript Life of St. Bairre, chap, xviii.
88 He seems to have been identical with
Fachtna Ria, already mentioned as one of
Bairre's disciples at Gougane Barra.
89 There are two Eltins in the Irish Calen-
dar : one Eltine in Senchua, venerated at the Irish Calendar.
the nth of June, where notices of him may
,89
Among the Irish townland denomina-
of 00 who Sinnel,
566 LIVES OE THE IRISH SAINTS. [September 25.
101 102 IQ3 Mitain, Mucholmoc, son of Gurlin, who took Ross Ailithir, and
Fachtna,10* son of Mongach, besides Colman,I05 Bishop, who took Ceann
Eich,
106
Muadhan.
10?
and Carbry,
108
Bishop, who took Aill Nuaiten.
,09
All of these are said to have presented their churches to God and to Bairre. 110 In another account,111 we find added to his disciples at Cork the names of
112
Mocholmog-Cainich, Silenus, Segenus and Liber Bishop. of the time when he became distinguished. "*
It is related, moreover, that our saint built his monastery about the year 606, at Cork,"3 and this date appears to agree pretty well with the most probable accounts
tions, Donaghmore frequently occurs, but that in the Bodleian Codex ; while the
no one of them seems pointing to the locality mentioned in the text.
Trinity College Manuscript has several read-
ings different from the Codex Kilkenniensis
101 Most probably Muscraige Mitain, now
the barony of Muskerry, in the County of
Cork, is meant, and if so, Donoughmore script of St. Fin Bairre's Life. The follow-
must be sought for within it.
,0"On the Irish Calendar, I only find the
single Mocholmog, of Druim-Mor, bishop, venerated at June 7th.
103 Now Ross, in the County of Cork, and the head of a diocese.
,0 *The Rev. Dr. Lanigan says, that Fachtna flourished, probably before A. D. 570, and that he could not have been a disciple of
"
St. Barr. See Ecclesiastical History of maxima civitas crevit, quae eodem nomine
Ireland," vol. ii. , chap, xii. , sect, iv. , p. 193, and nn. 42, 43, 44, 45, as also, chap, xiv. , sect, iv. , n. 63, p. 317, ibid.
,os On the numerous list of Saints named Colman, in ihe Irish Calendar, and many of these styled bishops, we do not rind one connected with Ceann Eich. However, we may suppose this Colman to have been the
"
son of Lenin:
Colmanus Chain, (alias Mocholonog filius Gillun et Mocholmog Cainnich dicti) dis-
cipuli S. Barri episcopi Corcagiensis ; prior praesertim ; de quo, in S. Brendani filii
vocatur, i. e. Corcach. Et mnlti sancti
fuerunt ibi discipuli ejus, de quibus hiis
Findloga? vita, legimus:
' Erat hie Col-
Colmanus Lenini filius et
Fergus, et s Conaire et Sibunus, Segenus, et Trianus, et Liber episcopus et alii multi. Ipsi propter sanctitatem suam adducti sunt in aliis loci>, et sua loca et seipsos suo sancto magistro Bano obtulerunt. Et loca eorum usque hodie successoiibus sancti Barri ser- viunt. " The Trinity College Codex has the following variations from the foregoing text :
2 3 4Caum- 'Monggich, Gillem, Mocholmog,
manus filius Lenini vita — doctrina
eich, s Conair. All of these
Saints
atque
inter sanctos praecipuus. ' " Archbishop Ussher's Works, vol. vi. Britannicarum
Ecclesiarum Antiquitates," cap. xvii. , p. 535. His feast is held on the 24th of November.
10i
It has not been identified.
,0? We find only two bishops named
Muadan in the Irish Calendar : one of these venerated on the 6th of March at Carn- furbaidhe ; the other in Aireagal-Mhuaidain, at the 30th of August.
,o8
Among the four bishops named Cairpre, in the Irish Calendar, the present Carbry is not noticed.
,0» The place is not known. See the fore- going list in Archbishop Ussher's Works,
foregoing
vol. vi.
"
Britannicarum Ecclesiarum An-
tiquitates," cap. xvii. , p. 544.
1,0 to the Bruxelles
According Manuscript
Life of St. Fin Barre, chap, xviii. Although materially agreeing in substance, the texts of the Codex Kilkenniensis Manuscript Life of our Saint is quite a different version from
"*" If we as is suppose,
"
are n—ot named in the Codex Bodleiensis
copy. Ibid. , p. 20. Among the foregoing,
Mr. Caulfield has Mocholmog or Colman Cham rendered "Colman the crooktd," perhaps Colman de Caem-Achaidh, vene- rated at the 31st of March, and he adds, that Segenus is said to have been Abbot of Hy, and to have built a church at Rechrann in Dalriada, in Ultonia. If this be so, he is venerated on the 12th of August. At those respective dates notices of them are to be found respectively in the Third Volume of this work, Art. iii. , and in the Eighth
Volume, Art. iv.
"3 See Archdall's " Monasticon Hiberni-
cum," p. 62, and note (c), 16, where he cites for authority Conry's MS.
Life. 111
ing extract, with the introduction of the figures, which indicate variations of reading
as found in the Trinity College Codex, have been introduced by Mr. Richard Caulfield to illustrate his version. See " Life of Saint Fin Bane," pp. 17, 18.
1,2 The Codex Kilkenniensis states: "In illo autem loco Sanctus Barrus usque ad obitum suum mansit, et ibi in honore ejus
That in the Codex Kilkenniensis Manu-
nominibus aliqui nominantur, Factna, filius 12
Mongich, et Mocolmoc filius Gilliani et 3 Mocholmoc, 4 Caunch, et Fachtnanus, et
highly probable, that when founding it he was a bishop, and
add the 17 years of his incumbency, his
—Rev. Dr. Lanigan's " Ecclesiastical History of Ire-
death may be assigned to 623. "
September 25. ] LIVES Of THE IRISH SAINTS. 567
In the ancient acts of Senan, Abbot of Iniscathy, it is said that during the life of this saint, Barr presided over a community of monks at Cork. 115 But, as St. Senan died a. d. 544, Papebroke considers this prefecture to have been placed at too early a date Il6 for he supposes, St. Barr had not then exceeded
;
the period of early youth, even if it be allowed he was born. ? However,
it is reasonably allowed, that St. Barr flourished in the latter part of the sixth
and of the seventh 8 While St. Senanus was at Innis- beginning century. "
carra, near Lua, fifty Roman monks came to him. These he divided into five bands or companies. Ten of those monks he is said to have given to
11 Barreus. ?
Our saint is generally supposed to have become distinguished, about the commencement of the seventh century, when he was raised to the
On account of their sanctity, the disciples of St. Bairre went to other places, which with themselves were offered to their own holy master. At the time the Life of our Saint, as contained in the Codex Kilkenniensis, had been written, these places were subject to St. Barr's successors. This writer's meaning must have been, that those new monasteries were or had beensubjecttotheCorkestablishmentj but,withregardtoallofthembeing subordinate to the latter, we require better authority. Being probably a member of Cork monastery, the writer in question may have been willing to adopt rather hasty and unjustifiable conclusions. "
dreaming
Nessan, patron
of
Mungret,
tomus i. , Martii viii.
See Rev. Dr. Lanigan's
116
iv. , pp. 313, 314, Although Ware is silent, as to the time when our saint became bishop of Cork, his editor Harris has inserted in the
Fasti Ecclesise Hibernicae,"
121 This is the more if we allow him to have been probable,
episcopacy.
acquainted with St. David of Menevia in Wales, and a contemporary with St. Maidoc of Ferns. 122 UssherI23 and Harris12* state, that he was bishop in the commencement of the seventh century, and that he flourished about the year 630. Smith argues, that if St. Nessan, his disciple, died in the year 551, as the Four Masters allege,125 our saint must have lived almost a hundred years earlier than Sir James Ware allows. 126 However, Smith must have been
ofSt.
identicalwithSt. NessanofCork. Wearetold,thatwiththeaidofmany good men, St. Finnbarr built the old Church of Cork,128 to which he annexed
land," vol. ii. , chap, xiv. , sect, iv. , n. 68, p. 318.
1,5 See the Bollandists' "Acta Sanctorum,"
Vita ex MSS. Hibernicis, cap. hi. , sect. 21, p. 772.
De Sancto Senano
I22
"
Ecclesiastical Episcopo et Abbate in Hibernia. Secunda History of Ireland," vol. ii. , chap, xiv. , sect.
Archdeacon Henry Cotton places the
" "—"
episcopate of St. Barr over Cork, a. d. 606
text ot his author
to 623. See vol. i. , p. 215.
"7
Cork," p. 556.
See "Acta Sanctorum," tomus vii. ,
Septembris xxv. Vita S. Barri, sect, ii. ,
n. 22, p. 145.
1,8
on Finn Barr in Leslie Stephen's "Die-
See the Rev. Thomas Olden's article
53f.
,24 See Harris' Ware, vol. i. ,
Cork," p. 556. 5"
"
tionary of National Biography," vol.