In the beginning of this present century, a work was intended for issue,
" The Lives of the Saints of Ireland, com* piled from the works of the Venerated Father Colgan, of the Franciscan Order; asalsofromthelearnedDr.
" The Lives of the Saints of Ireland, com* piled from the works of the Venerated Father Colgan, of the Franciscan Order; asalsofromthelearnedDr.
O'Hanlon - Lives of the Irish Saints - v1
vi.
, pp.
120 to 130.
See, likewise,
added, " Rerum Hibernicarum Regnante
lucem editi. "
'*• Issued in London, 8vo. See Thomas
D'Arcy M'Gee's" Gallery of Irish Writers,"
Thomas
D'Arcy
M'Gee's " of Irish Gallery
Writers," pp. 103 to iii.
'« "
See Harris' Ware. Vol. iii. , Wri-
ters of Ireland," book i. , chap, xiv. , pp. 145 to 157.
'*' It is much to be that Harris regretted,
had not more completely and judiciously
translated and edited his works in the suc- introduced again in this volume ; and in ceeding century. The additional and im- X662, he had printed in a separate 8vo the portant matter, often introduced by the editor,
pp. 731082.
'« This appeared at Dublin.
•4* This folio work was
in Dub-
published
lin. Previously, he had published the Annals of Henry Seventh's reign, which he
title,
Patricio,
fessor O'Curry's
Opuscula
in " Venerabilis Bedae 1664,
INTR OD UCTION. Ixi
for their efforts, many precious fragments and records must undoubtedly have been lost. Only a small portion of some documents, then existing, have been preserved. Both writers had access to the most important public and
private records, while their patient, laborious research and literary zeal urged them to arrange and publish important historic materials. In Father John
Colgan's frequent references to their published works, and as representing the great degree of credit attaching to them, our national hagiographer im.
plied,morefrequentlythanexpressed,hisobligations. Heoftenquotesthose writers as standard authorities for many of his statements. After the middle
of this century, a discussion and two learned Treatises appeared, regarding the precedency of their respective sees, on the part of Dr. Oliver Plunkett,
Archbishop of Armagh'^" and of Dr. Peter Talbot, Archbishop of Dublin. 's^ Indeed, notwithstanding the civil disturbances of this period, the people of
Ireland, during the seventeenth century, arc praised for the prevalence among them of learning and morals by a contemporary writer. '5» This was certainly
an age of national scholarship.
Section V. —Irish Hagiologists of the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries.
The eighteenth century—a depressing period—was rather barren in the production of Irish historical works, both at home and abroad. Besides
wrote "
dium Annalium Ecclesiasticorum Regni Hiberniae,"' in which he treats of
'*
Opus-
hardly compensates for his defective arrange- Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of all ment and many incongruous observations. Ireland. " Dublin, i86r. 8vo.
some controversial Father PYancis pieces.
Porter, O. S. F. ,'
Compen-
Irish saints, churches, and monasteries. Another work of his was,
culum Contra Vulgares quasdam Prophetias de Electionibus Summorum Pontificum S. Malachiae, Archiepiscopo Armachano, Hiberniae Primati, Legato Apostolico, hactenus falso attributas j Gallice primum editum, nunc novis Supplementis auctum, et in Latinum Idioma translatum : Adjunctis celebrium Authorum refiectionibus et judiciis de Abbatis Joachimi Vaticiniis, ejusqueSpirituProphetico. "3 ThiswriterwasaProfessorofDivinityand
Without the requisite marks of division, Harris frequently leaves the reader in doubt, as to whether he is perusing the editor's statements, or the opinions of his original author, Sir James Ware.
'SO The reader is referred to Very Rev.
"
Laurence F. Renehan's Collections on
Irish Church History," vol. i. , pp. 63 to 79, for a further account of this celebrated
'5« See an account ol this prelate and of his
writings, in John JJ' Alton's "Memoirs of
the Archbishops of Dublin," pp. 430 to 446.
»S3 See " Itinerarium" R. D. Thomze Carve
Tipperariensis, &c. , Pars, i. , cap. iv. , p. 34.
SECTION v. —' He was bom in the county of Meath.
and The most martyred prelate.
* This was at published
in a quarto volume.
Rome, A. t>. 1690,
complete and learned biography published, however, is the Rt. Rev. Patrick Francis Moran's
^ This was published at Rome, A. D. 1698, in au octavo volume.
"
Memoirs of the Most Rev. Oliver Plunket,
ixii introduction:
President of St. Isidore's College, Rome, where he Hved a long time. He died there, on the 7th of April, 1 702. * The Rev. Cornelius Nary, bom in
the county of Kildare, about the year 1658, was distinguished as a contro- versialwriter; buthealsowrote"ABriefHistoryofSt. Patrick'sPurgatory,"^
besides a " New History of the World, according to the Computation of the Septuagint. "^ He died the Parish Priest of St. Michan, Dublin, on the 3rd of March, 1738. Towards the close of the seventeenth century, the learned Roderick O'Flaherty produced some most elaborate treatises, in rela- tion to Irish history and topography. Born about the year 1629, at Galway, where he had been educated, fiora an early age he became a distinguished cultivator of antiquarian studies. His first literary production was a " Letter on the Chronology of Irish History," addressed to Dr. John Lynch. This was afterwards revised and to his " seu Rerum Hiberni-
these were his " De- Chorographical
prefixed Ogygia,
carum Chronologia," published at London, a. d. , 1685. 7 He left other
works in and manuscript,
notably among
scription of West or H-Iar Connaught, written a. d. , 1684," and also " Observa-
tions on Dr. Borlace's Reduction of Ireland. ^ He collected many Irish
manuscripts, but these he appears to have parted with, long before his death, as he felt the pressure of great poverty, consequent on the confiscation of his paternal estate. He died at Park, in the western part of Galway county, about the year 17 17. Long after his death, under the editorship of the
"
Venerable Charles O'Conor, a work of his,
Objections of Sir George Mackenzie,"? appeared in 1775. Nor can we omit the names of Thomas De Burgo, Bishop of Ossory,'° of Walter Harris," of the Venerable Charles O'Conor," of Ballenagare, of Dr. Thomas Le-
* See Rev. J. M. Brenan's " Ecclesiasti- cal History of Ireland, from the Introduc- tion of Christianity into that country to the year M. DCCCXXix. " Eighteenth Century, chap, iii. , pp. 580, 581. New edition :
Dublin, 1864, 8vo.
5 Published in Dublin, 1718, l2mo.
'
Published in Dublin, 1 720, fol.
1 In quarto shape, and in Latin. It was translated into English, by the Rev. Mr. Hely. See Thomas D'Arcy M 'Gee's "Gal-
^
edited for the Irish Archaeological Society, in 1846, with valuable notes and illustra-
tions by James Hardiman, Esq. , M. R. I. A.
'° See an account of this learned man and his works in the Rev. M. J. Brenan's " Ec- clesiastical History of Ireland. " Eigh- teenth Century, chap, iii. , pp. 585 to 587. He was bom in Dublin about a. d. 1709, and he died at Kilkenny a. d. 1786.
of Irish Writers," 200 to lery pp.
his are noticed in W. B. S.
" His-
209,
Both of these have been published and
Taylor's
9 In his Preface to
it,
Charles O'Conor
to a highly respectable and ancient family
in He " Disserta- Connaught. published,
tions on the History of Ireland. " To which
"
The second edi- tion is dated Dublin, 1766, 8vo, and a,
gives some interesting particulars of the author, an account of whom, still more ex-
tended, from the pen of Mr. Hardiman, will
A Dissertation on the Irish Colonies established in Britain. With some Remarks on Mr. Mac Pherson's Translation
"
be found in his edition of the "
phical Description of West or H-IarCon- naught. " Appendix iii. , pp. 419 to 430.
Chorogra-
Ogygia Vindicated against the
" He was a native of Dublin, and a ne- phew to Sir James Ware, whose works he translated and edited in three large folio volumes, published in Dublin, before the middle of the last century.
tory of the University of Dublin," chap. vL,
§ iii. , pp. 427, 428.
'*
This excellent Irish scholar belonged
is subjoined
ofFingal and Temora.
Other works of
publication
third edition in like shape was there issued,
A. D. 1812. The author died 1st, 1791, July
in his eighty-second year. See Richard Ryan's "Biographical Dictionary of the Worthies of Ireland," vol, ii. , pp. 453, 454.
Century. " London : 1778. 2 vols. , 4to. He died in June, 1807. See Ryan's *' Bio- graphical Dictionary of the Worthies of Ire- land," vol. ii. , pp. 456, 457.
'* He was bom in Dublin, A. D. and 1723,
hediedA. D. 1791. See W. B. S. Taylor's
"History of the University of Dublin," chap, vi. , § iii. , pp. 422, 423. After his death was published an enlarged edition of Lodge's Peerage, in seven octavo volumes, Forty years he was engaged on the " Mo- nasticum Hibeinicum; or an History of the Abbies, Priories, and other Religious Houses in Ireland. " It was published at London,
a. d. 1786,inathick4tovolume. Seealso '•
Ryan's Biographical Dictionary of the Worthies of Ireland," vol i. , pp. 17 to 19.
'^ Editor of " The Irish Magazine. " See
volume for a. d. 1814, p. 528. The office
of his periodical was at No. 1 50 Abbey- street, iJublin. A very singular account of
613; vol. iv. , pp. 259 et seq. Dublin, i860, 8vo.
'3 Among his other works a
"
History of
INTRODUCTION. Ixiil
land,'3 of the Abbe Ma-Geoghegan,'* of Dr. Sylvester 0'Halloran,'s and of Rev. Mervyn Archdall,'^ with a few other writers. These have rendered some special services to our history.
In the beginning of this present century, a work was intended for issue,
" The Lives of the Saints of Ireland, com* piled from the works of the Venerated Father Colgan, of the Franciscan Order; asalsofromthelearnedDr. DeBurgo,BishopofOssor/sHistory of the Irish Dominicans, and from other Catholic Hagiographers, and authors of equal estimation for orthodoxy and erudition. By a Catholic Divine. " It was announced, that this work was to be dedicated to the Catholics of Ireland, and to be published by the notorious and eccentric Walter Cox'7 The
and bearing the following title
:
:
werethusannounced "I. TheLivesoftheIrish
conditionsof
Saints will be printed in the octavo size. II. The history of each will be apportioned in extent to the rank and estimation of the Saint in the Catholic Church. III. Each life will be accompanied with notes, chiefly from Col- gan's works, for illustrating the saints' birth-place, nomenclature, festival day religious foundations, &c. IV. No Saint's Life shall be recorded or admitted in the work, but that of a native of Ireland. V. In arranging and publishing the work, each Saint's Life will be placed in succession, according to the order of its festival day in the Calendar, from the first of January to the year's end. VI. For the accommodation of pious Catholics, whose pecuniary resources are so limited, as to preclude the possibility of their purchasing
Ireland," with a Preliminary discourse, ap-
peared simultaneously in Dublin and Lon-
don, in three volumes, 4to, a. d. 1773. See
an account of this writer in W. B. S. Tay-
"
"
History of the University of Dublin,"
lor's
chap, vi. , § iii. , p. 422.
'^ His " Histoire de I'lrknde," appeared at Paris in 1758 and 1762, in two thick 4to volumes. The author was chaplain to the Irish troops in the service of France, and his work, written in the French Ian- guage, was found v. ry serviceable in fami- liarizing the people of that country with a knowledge of Irish History.
'5 He was a native of Limerick
born December 31st, 1728. Besides his
city,
Introduction to the Study of the History
extraordinary
and Antiquities of Ireland," he published "A General History of Ireland, from the earliest accounts to the Close of the Twelfth
and
character will be found in
this
Dr. Richard R. Madden's "United Irish- men, their Lives and Times," vol. i. , p. 385 ; vol. ii. , pp. 234 to 449 ; vol. iii. , pp. 481 to
Ixlv INTRODUCTION,
the work together, it will be printed in Numbers of Three sheets, or Forty-eight pages each, at the moderate price of One and Three Pence. VII. The first Number will be published God willing, on the ist of January next. "*^ I have not been able to find any further account of this projected publication : but, most probably, ^it fell still-born through the hands both of author and publisher.
In the beginning of the present century, likewise, the Rev. Charles O'Conor, D. D. ,'9 and Rev. John Lanigan, D. D. ,='«' produced most important and valuable works, containing disquisitions, which are masterpieces of criticism and extensive research. The " Rerum Hibernicanmi Scriptores," Four Quarto volumes, is a truly valuable collection of Annals. Dr. Charles O'Conor's First Volume of the " Rerum Hibernicarum Scriptores," con- taining his invaluable Epistola Nuncupatoria, and Prologomena ad Annales, fully exhibits the variety and extent of his erudition, with his critical abilitj-.
The Second Volume comprises his elaborate editions of the "Annales Tigemachi,''"' the "Annales Inisfalenses,"" and the "Annales Buelliani ;"'3 the Third Volume contains the " Quatuor Magistrorum Annales Hibernici;"'* which, however, are only brought down to a. d. 1172; the Fourth Volume embraces the "Annales Ultonienses,"*s to the year 1 131. Translations of the original Irish into Latin, with suitable Dissertations, Annotations, and Critices, characterize those Tomes throughout; while they must ever remain as monuments of patient industry and of genuine scholarship, indispensable for consultation to all writers who may happen to deal exhaustively with the varied subjects of early Irish history. *^ The " Stowe Catalogue,"^? of materials for Irish History, was published with the former work, mainly owing to the muni-
'^ To the foregoing we find this notice a very interesting account of this distin* appended: "The public are requested to guished scholar in W. J. Fitzpatrick's
observe, that the publication is a distinct work, from the Rev. Alban Butler's Lives
of Saints, and owes nothing to the same, as Mr. Butler's general work could not afford space enough for the insertion of Irish Bio- graphy, which, indeed, is very briefly no- ticed by him ; and, therefore, the pubiica- tion now about to appear will be found to be the best and most authentic, that has yet been offered to the patronage of Catho- lie Ireland, and equally interesting, also, for local antiquities and family histories. "
'» The reader will find an interesting ac- count of his life and writings in S. Austin
*'
Irish Wits and Worthies ; including Dr. Lanigan,hisLifeandTimes,"&c. Dublin: 1873, cr. 8vo.
" They extend from A. M. 305 to A. D.
lo88, and are executed with great learning
and chronological knowledge,
"These commence with A. D. 428, and
continue to a. d. 1196, following the Bod- leian Codex, and from A. D. 250 to A. D. 1088, following the Dublin Codex,
=^3 These extend from A. D. 420 to 1245. *< These begin A. M. 2242.
'S These begin at A. D. 431.
"
Literature, and British and American Au-
thors, Living and Deceased," vol. ii. , p. 1448.
Allibone's
Critical Dictionary of English
inghamije, A. D. \%\6fetseq.
"' This very instructive and rare book is
"
Bibliotheca, MSS. Stowensis: A Descriptive Catalogue of the Manuscripts in the Stowe Library, with Appendix. "
Two volumes in tlirec, 4to. Buttkinghami* iSlS-igL
''°
ThislearnedDivinewasborainthecity
of Cashel, A. D. 1758, and he died at Finglas, near Dublin, on the 7th of July, 1288. See
**
These volumes were published. Buck-
intituled,
**SeeW. "Dr. J. Fitzpatrick's
INTRODUCTION. Ixv
ficent patronage of an English nobleman, the Duke of Buckingham. These pre- ceded in time of publication Dr. Lanigan's remarkable "Ecclesiastical History of Ireland. " Considering accessible materials which formed this author's chief resources, no writer in any age or country has brought a more discriminating judgment, patience, industry, and candour, to the investigation of abstruse historic points, than this wonderfully learned and laborious enquirer. '^ We can hardly over-estimate the difficult task on which Dr. Lanigan entered,
or the innumerable obstacles that were presented at almost every step. To consult so many original authorities, and to compare or analyse their varying
statements, to unravel specious theories, and to subject wild speculations to the crucial test of searching and legitimate criticism, were accomplished with an amount of care and exactness worthy of a true scholar. Nothing
was received on trust. Even the superior authority of Ussher, Colgan, Ware, and other celebrated writers, had been minutely scrutinized. In
many instances, when the statements of early annalists and hagiographers had been found obscure and incomprehensible. Dr. Lanigan has reconciled
apparently conflicting accounts ; he has suggested many important explana- tions, which, if not always found perfectly satisfactory, are at least most
ingenious and suggestive ; while, he has detected and thoroughly refuted various inaccuracies and mistakes of previous writers. In the Lives of our
early Saints, attempts to reconcile recorded incidents and personal acts, with dates to which they had been ascribed, and even to determine the
authorship or periods of such compositions, were very difficult subjects for examination. '? Yet, with all his varied erudition and sagacious induction, occasionally was Dr. Lanigan led astray by the very acuteness of a critical spirit, and by his conscientious discrimination, in attempts to synchronize events, which might accord with some preconceived ideas. He had, also, a dread of being charged with credulity, and with accepting romantic or supernatural accounts, on uncertain evidence. He became almost hypercri- tical, while his power of analysing statements rendered his great work too realistic for popular reading. It also showed his want of sympathy with the legendary aspects and poetic colouring uf our saints' biographies.
Since the time of Dr. Lanigan, much has been published, that should have tended to lighten his labours, had such materials been accessible to him. Only to a limited extent could manuscripts or works published, in Irish, and without a translation, have been available ; for he does not appear to have had a sufficient knowledge of that language, in which the most valuable materials for historic purposes had been clothed. In some instance? , it is true, he professes to derive the meaning of proper names, places and pre-
10235. M. J. Brenan's
mortalwork,andin1822it wasfirst
his Life and Times," chap, xxxii. , pp. 224 lished in four octavo volumes. See Rev,
"
Lanigan,
pub-
Ecclesiastical History of
^ About the year 1813, he commenced Ireland," Nineteenth Century, chap, iii. , the arraugemeat of materials for this im- pp. 650, 651.
Ixvi INTRODUCTICN,
fixes, from our national tongue. 3° Yet, in such cases, he often had recourse to glossaries, or to the kind assistance of persons, more accurately versed than he was in a knowledge of Irish etymologies and structural peculiarities.
So much as could have been reasonably expected has been accomplished by Dr. Lanigan, in the publication of his learned, well-arranged, and valuable Ecclesiastical History. Had he given us a complete and connected series of Irish Saints' Lives, somewhat on the plan now adopted, and with the necessary materials within his reach, he should have found it a much less
laborious task, although forming a more comprehensive design, than that he attempted, when engaging upon his very celebrated historical work. But
the duration of an ordinary lifetime, even with possession of the highest abilities, and the utmost desirable leisure, could hardly have sufficed for
including complete Lives, or even extended notices, regarding all the Saints to be found in our Calendars, with adequate notes or critical disquisitions.
As it Dr. stands.
" Ecclesiastical
of be Ireland," may
Lanigan's
considered a chronological arrangement of our principal saints' biographies,
with their Acts necessarily abridged, while, for the most part, their recorded miracles have been suppressed. To arrange incidents, and to produce a
continuous, really important narrative of ecclesiastical affairs, without running into personal and obscure details, become tasks of extreme difficulty.
Subsequent to Christianity being established in this country, and previous to the English invasion, for many centuries our National Church was singularly free, not only from inroads of heresy and schism, but even from very radical changes in her governmental rites and general discipline. From the time Faith had been first securely established in Ireland, and to the period last named, our Church met with little opposition from native dynasts or kings. Even Danish and Norwegian spoliations were of too sporadic a character permanently to affect her material or spiritual interests. With such diffi- culties to encounter, and precluding the possibility of framing a luminous and connected narrative, Dr. Lanigan has contrived to present a clear, con- secutive and recondite history. 31 After a careful examination of this historio- grapher's work, the present writer is greatly under an impression, that the author was only careful to correct and improve his style, throughout the text of his history, and that he allowed the original draft of his notes to stand without much alteration as to mere phraseology. Perhaps, he shrank from the additional and very considerable time and labour that must have
3° In one passage, Dr. Lanigan leaves his readers to infer, that he had some general acquaintance with the Irish language. See "Ecclesiastical History of Ireland," vol. iii. , chap, xviii. , § v. , n. 59, p. loo.
3« It is to be regretted that in many in- stances his notes have been disfigured by writing in a careless style, while occasional
acrimonious remarks —however justly me- rited by writers to whom they apply— de- tract much from the literary merits of his
work. They partake more of the pamphle- teer's or the polemic's questionable temper, than the dignified tone and calm judgment
of an accomplished historian, conscious of his own intellectual superiority.
History
3* Although not observing minor graces of composition throughout his notes ; yet, in a critical and historical point of view,
their value is unquestionable to the student of this island's ecclesiastical history and anti-
quities.
33 About the year 1830, this work com-
menced. The very complete materials for county and parish histories, which were the
result, had been originally preserved in the Ordnance Survey Office, at Moun joy Bar-
hour has he passed in the Ordnance Survey Library, with the privilege, a:corJel by
Major-General Sir H. Jam^s, Chief Super- intendent of the Depariment, Colonel Georg* A. Leach, R. E. , and Lieutenant-Colonel Berdoe Wilkinson, R. E. , Local Directors, to take transcripts or copies, and otherwise consult ancient and modern records or maps, illustrating the past and present history or topography of Ireland. Especially, to the obliging and talented chief clerks, Messrs.
INTRODUCTION. Ixvii
devolved upcn him, by instituting a more careful revision and exami- nation. 3*
Prizing greatly the researches of previous investigators, many additional facts have been ascertained since their time, and many errors of those laborious, critical, and learned writers having been detected, are more easily corrected or refuted. Systematic efforts have been made, by eminently gifted histo- rians and archaeologists, to overturn visionary speculations, and to place our archaic studies on the firm basis of scientific research. Periodical litera- ture and able contributors served to elicit and record many local traditions and facts of importance. These were popularized, and even the sympathy and enquiries of distant scholars were directed to Ireland. It was then known, almost for the first time, that our country was yet covered with the ruins of churches and monasteries, capable of being identified with numerous saints, clerics, and students. The Irish Ordnance Survey staff of Antiqua- ries was organized, and foremost among these able directors were the late John O'Donovan, LL. D. , George Petrie, LL. D. , Sir Thomas Larcom, and ProfessorEugeneO'Curry. Sofarasavailablemanuscriptsandpublished works, in various languages, had reference to local history, tradition, and topo- graphy, suitable and requisite extracts were furnished by competent scribes. 33 Those afforded a vast amount of special information for purposes of local investigators, fully conversant with the subject, when sometimes set apart, or frequently in communication, visiting and examining on the spot ancient buildings and remains, by the additional light of documents supplied to them. 3* Observations and accurate measurements were usually taken down
racks, Phcenix Park, Dublin. Afterwards, Joseph Mooney and John O'Lalor, the the most important of those manuscripts, in writer feels most grateful. For their solici- a historical sense, were transferred to the tude and unremitting attention to afford Library of the Royal Irish Academy. every facility during his researches, he is Owing to the kindness of his learned and truly indebted.
lamented friend, the late John O'Donovan, 3^ At the request of Rev. James Graves, LL. D. , the writer was introduced to the A. 15. , M. R.
added, " Rerum Hibernicarum Regnante
lucem editi. "
'*• Issued in London, 8vo. See Thomas
D'Arcy M'Gee's" Gallery of Irish Writers,"
Thomas
D'Arcy
M'Gee's " of Irish Gallery
Writers," pp. 103 to iii.
'« "
See Harris' Ware. Vol. iii. , Wri-
ters of Ireland," book i. , chap, xiv. , pp. 145 to 157.
'*' It is much to be that Harris regretted,
had not more completely and judiciously
translated and edited his works in the suc- introduced again in this volume ; and in ceeding century. The additional and im- X662, he had printed in a separate 8vo the portant matter, often introduced by the editor,
pp. 731082.
'« This appeared at Dublin.
•4* This folio work was
in Dub-
published
lin. Previously, he had published the Annals of Henry Seventh's reign, which he
title,
Patricio,
fessor O'Curry's
Opuscula
in " Venerabilis Bedae 1664,
INTR OD UCTION. Ixi
for their efforts, many precious fragments and records must undoubtedly have been lost. Only a small portion of some documents, then existing, have been preserved. Both writers had access to the most important public and
private records, while their patient, laborious research and literary zeal urged them to arrange and publish important historic materials. In Father John
Colgan's frequent references to their published works, and as representing the great degree of credit attaching to them, our national hagiographer im.
plied,morefrequentlythanexpressed,hisobligations. Heoftenquotesthose writers as standard authorities for many of his statements. After the middle
of this century, a discussion and two learned Treatises appeared, regarding the precedency of their respective sees, on the part of Dr. Oliver Plunkett,
Archbishop of Armagh'^" and of Dr. Peter Talbot, Archbishop of Dublin. 's^ Indeed, notwithstanding the civil disturbances of this period, the people of
Ireland, during the seventeenth century, arc praised for the prevalence among them of learning and morals by a contemporary writer. '5» This was certainly
an age of national scholarship.
Section V. —Irish Hagiologists of the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries.
The eighteenth century—a depressing period—was rather barren in the production of Irish historical works, both at home and abroad. Besides
wrote "
dium Annalium Ecclesiasticorum Regni Hiberniae,"' in which he treats of
'*
Opus-
hardly compensates for his defective arrange- Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of all ment and many incongruous observations. Ireland. " Dublin, i86r. 8vo.
some controversial Father PYancis pieces.
Porter, O. S. F. ,'
Compen-
Irish saints, churches, and monasteries. Another work of his was,
culum Contra Vulgares quasdam Prophetias de Electionibus Summorum Pontificum S. Malachiae, Archiepiscopo Armachano, Hiberniae Primati, Legato Apostolico, hactenus falso attributas j Gallice primum editum, nunc novis Supplementis auctum, et in Latinum Idioma translatum : Adjunctis celebrium Authorum refiectionibus et judiciis de Abbatis Joachimi Vaticiniis, ejusqueSpirituProphetico. "3 ThiswriterwasaProfessorofDivinityand
Without the requisite marks of division, Harris frequently leaves the reader in doubt, as to whether he is perusing the editor's statements, or the opinions of his original author, Sir James Ware.
'SO The reader is referred to Very Rev.
"
Laurence F. Renehan's Collections on
Irish Church History," vol. i. , pp. 63 to 79, for a further account of this celebrated
'5« See an account ol this prelate and of his
writings, in John JJ' Alton's "Memoirs of
the Archbishops of Dublin," pp. 430 to 446.
»S3 See " Itinerarium" R. D. Thomze Carve
Tipperariensis, &c. , Pars, i. , cap. iv. , p. 34.
SECTION v. —' He was bom in the county of Meath.
and The most martyred prelate.
* This was at published
in a quarto volume.
Rome, A. t>. 1690,
complete and learned biography published, however, is the Rt. Rev. Patrick Francis Moran's
^ This was published at Rome, A. D. 1698, in au octavo volume.
"
Memoirs of the Most Rev. Oliver Plunket,
ixii introduction:
President of St. Isidore's College, Rome, where he Hved a long time. He died there, on the 7th of April, 1 702. * The Rev. Cornelius Nary, bom in
the county of Kildare, about the year 1658, was distinguished as a contro- versialwriter; buthealsowrote"ABriefHistoryofSt. Patrick'sPurgatory,"^
besides a " New History of the World, according to the Computation of the Septuagint. "^ He died the Parish Priest of St. Michan, Dublin, on the 3rd of March, 1738. Towards the close of the seventeenth century, the learned Roderick O'Flaherty produced some most elaborate treatises, in rela- tion to Irish history and topography. Born about the year 1629, at Galway, where he had been educated, fiora an early age he became a distinguished cultivator of antiquarian studies. His first literary production was a " Letter on the Chronology of Irish History," addressed to Dr. John Lynch. This was afterwards revised and to his " seu Rerum Hiberni-
these were his " De- Chorographical
prefixed Ogygia,
carum Chronologia," published at London, a. d. , 1685. 7 He left other
works in and manuscript,
notably among
scription of West or H-Iar Connaught, written a. d. , 1684," and also " Observa-
tions on Dr. Borlace's Reduction of Ireland. ^ He collected many Irish
manuscripts, but these he appears to have parted with, long before his death, as he felt the pressure of great poverty, consequent on the confiscation of his paternal estate. He died at Park, in the western part of Galway county, about the year 17 17. Long after his death, under the editorship of the
"
Venerable Charles O'Conor, a work of his,
Objections of Sir George Mackenzie,"? appeared in 1775. Nor can we omit the names of Thomas De Burgo, Bishop of Ossory,'° of Walter Harris," of the Venerable Charles O'Conor," of Ballenagare, of Dr. Thomas Le-
* See Rev. J. M. Brenan's " Ecclesiasti- cal History of Ireland, from the Introduc- tion of Christianity into that country to the year M. DCCCXXix. " Eighteenth Century, chap, iii. , pp. 580, 581. New edition :
Dublin, 1864, 8vo.
5 Published in Dublin, 1718, l2mo.
'
Published in Dublin, 1 720, fol.
1 In quarto shape, and in Latin. It was translated into English, by the Rev. Mr. Hely. See Thomas D'Arcy M 'Gee's "Gal-
^
edited for the Irish Archaeological Society, in 1846, with valuable notes and illustra-
tions by James Hardiman, Esq. , M. R. I. A.
'° See an account of this learned man and his works in the Rev. M. J. Brenan's " Ec- clesiastical History of Ireland. " Eigh- teenth Century, chap, iii. , pp. 585 to 587. He was bom in Dublin about a. d. 1709, and he died at Kilkenny a. d. 1786.
of Irish Writers," 200 to lery pp.
his are noticed in W. B. S.
" His-
209,
Both of these have been published and
Taylor's
9 In his Preface to
it,
Charles O'Conor
to a highly respectable and ancient family
in He " Disserta- Connaught. published,
tions on the History of Ireland. " To which
"
The second edi- tion is dated Dublin, 1766, 8vo, and a,
gives some interesting particulars of the author, an account of whom, still more ex-
tended, from the pen of Mr. Hardiman, will
A Dissertation on the Irish Colonies established in Britain. With some Remarks on Mr. Mac Pherson's Translation
"
be found in his edition of the "
phical Description of West or H-IarCon- naught. " Appendix iii. , pp. 419 to 430.
Chorogra-
Ogygia Vindicated against the
" He was a native of Dublin, and a ne- phew to Sir James Ware, whose works he translated and edited in three large folio volumes, published in Dublin, before the middle of the last century.
tory of the University of Dublin," chap. vL,
§ iii. , pp. 427, 428.
'*
This excellent Irish scholar belonged
is subjoined
ofFingal and Temora.
Other works of
publication
third edition in like shape was there issued,
A. D. 1812. The author died 1st, 1791, July
in his eighty-second year. See Richard Ryan's "Biographical Dictionary of the Worthies of Ireland," vol, ii. , pp. 453, 454.
Century. " London : 1778. 2 vols. , 4to. He died in June, 1807. See Ryan's *' Bio- graphical Dictionary of the Worthies of Ire- land," vol. ii. , pp. 456, 457.
'* He was bom in Dublin, A. D. and 1723,
hediedA. D. 1791. See W. B. S. Taylor's
"History of the University of Dublin," chap, vi. , § iii. , pp. 422, 423. After his death was published an enlarged edition of Lodge's Peerage, in seven octavo volumes, Forty years he was engaged on the " Mo- nasticum Hibeinicum; or an History of the Abbies, Priories, and other Religious Houses in Ireland. " It was published at London,
a. d. 1786,inathick4tovolume. Seealso '•
Ryan's Biographical Dictionary of the Worthies of Ireland," vol i. , pp. 17 to 19.
'^ Editor of " The Irish Magazine. " See
volume for a. d. 1814, p. 528. The office
of his periodical was at No. 1 50 Abbey- street, iJublin. A very singular account of
613; vol. iv. , pp. 259 et seq. Dublin, i860, 8vo.
'3 Among his other works a
"
History of
INTRODUCTION. Ixiil
land,'3 of the Abbe Ma-Geoghegan,'* of Dr. Sylvester 0'Halloran,'s and of Rev. Mervyn Archdall,'^ with a few other writers. These have rendered some special services to our history.
In the beginning of this present century, a work was intended for issue,
" The Lives of the Saints of Ireland, com* piled from the works of the Venerated Father Colgan, of the Franciscan Order; asalsofromthelearnedDr. DeBurgo,BishopofOssor/sHistory of the Irish Dominicans, and from other Catholic Hagiographers, and authors of equal estimation for orthodoxy and erudition. By a Catholic Divine. " It was announced, that this work was to be dedicated to the Catholics of Ireland, and to be published by the notorious and eccentric Walter Cox'7 The
and bearing the following title
:
:
werethusannounced "I. TheLivesoftheIrish
conditionsof
Saints will be printed in the octavo size. II. The history of each will be apportioned in extent to the rank and estimation of the Saint in the Catholic Church. III. Each life will be accompanied with notes, chiefly from Col- gan's works, for illustrating the saints' birth-place, nomenclature, festival day religious foundations, &c. IV. No Saint's Life shall be recorded or admitted in the work, but that of a native of Ireland. V. In arranging and publishing the work, each Saint's Life will be placed in succession, according to the order of its festival day in the Calendar, from the first of January to the year's end. VI. For the accommodation of pious Catholics, whose pecuniary resources are so limited, as to preclude the possibility of their purchasing
Ireland," with a Preliminary discourse, ap-
peared simultaneously in Dublin and Lon-
don, in three volumes, 4to, a. d. 1773. See
an account of this writer in W. B. S. Tay-
"
"
History of the University of Dublin,"
lor's
chap, vi. , § iii. , p. 422.
'^ His " Histoire de I'lrknde," appeared at Paris in 1758 and 1762, in two thick 4to volumes. The author was chaplain to the Irish troops in the service of France, and his work, written in the French Ian- guage, was found v. ry serviceable in fami- liarizing the people of that country with a knowledge of Irish History.
'5 He was a native of Limerick
born December 31st, 1728. Besides his
city,
Introduction to the Study of the History
extraordinary
and Antiquities of Ireland," he published "A General History of Ireland, from the earliest accounts to the Close of the Twelfth
and
character will be found in
this
Dr. Richard R. Madden's "United Irish- men, their Lives and Times," vol. i. , p. 385 ; vol. ii. , pp. 234 to 449 ; vol. iii. , pp. 481 to
Ixlv INTRODUCTION,
the work together, it will be printed in Numbers of Three sheets, or Forty-eight pages each, at the moderate price of One and Three Pence. VII. The first Number will be published God willing, on the ist of January next. "*^ I have not been able to find any further account of this projected publication : but, most probably, ^it fell still-born through the hands both of author and publisher.
In the beginning of the present century, likewise, the Rev. Charles O'Conor, D. D. ,'9 and Rev. John Lanigan, D. D. ,='«' produced most important and valuable works, containing disquisitions, which are masterpieces of criticism and extensive research. The " Rerum Hibernicanmi Scriptores," Four Quarto volumes, is a truly valuable collection of Annals. Dr. Charles O'Conor's First Volume of the " Rerum Hibernicarum Scriptores," con- taining his invaluable Epistola Nuncupatoria, and Prologomena ad Annales, fully exhibits the variety and extent of his erudition, with his critical abilitj-.
The Second Volume comprises his elaborate editions of the "Annales Tigemachi,''"' the "Annales Inisfalenses,"" and the "Annales Buelliani ;"'3 the Third Volume contains the " Quatuor Magistrorum Annales Hibernici;"'* which, however, are only brought down to a. d. 1172; the Fourth Volume embraces the "Annales Ultonienses,"*s to the year 1 131. Translations of the original Irish into Latin, with suitable Dissertations, Annotations, and Critices, characterize those Tomes throughout; while they must ever remain as monuments of patient industry and of genuine scholarship, indispensable for consultation to all writers who may happen to deal exhaustively with the varied subjects of early Irish history. *^ The " Stowe Catalogue,"^? of materials for Irish History, was published with the former work, mainly owing to the muni-
'^ To the foregoing we find this notice a very interesting account of this distin* appended: "The public are requested to guished scholar in W. J. Fitzpatrick's
observe, that the publication is a distinct work, from the Rev. Alban Butler's Lives
of Saints, and owes nothing to the same, as Mr. Butler's general work could not afford space enough for the insertion of Irish Bio- graphy, which, indeed, is very briefly no- ticed by him ; and, therefore, the pubiica- tion now about to appear will be found to be the best and most authentic, that has yet been offered to the patronage of Catho- lie Ireland, and equally interesting, also, for local antiquities and family histories. "
'» The reader will find an interesting ac- count of his life and writings in S. Austin
*'
Irish Wits and Worthies ; including Dr. Lanigan,hisLifeandTimes,"&c. Dublin: 1873, cr. 8vo.
" They extend from A. M. 305 to A. D.
lo88, and are executed with great learning
and chronological knowledge,
"These commence with A. D. 428, and
continue to a. d. 1196, following the Bod- leian Codex, and from A. D. 250 to A. D. 1088, following the Dublin Codex,
=^3 These extend from A. D. 420 to 1245. *< These begin A. M. 2242.
'S These begin at A. D. 431.
"
Literature, and British and American Au-
thors, Living and Deceased," vol. ii. , p. 1448.
Allibone's
Critical Dictionary of English
inghamije, A. D. \%\6fetseq.
"' This very instructive and rare book is
"
Bibliotheca, MSS. Stowensis: A Descriptive Catalogue of the Manuscripts in the Stowe Library, with Appendix. "
Two volumes in tlirec, 4to. Buttkinghami* iSlS-igL
''°
ThislearnedDivinewasborainthecity
of Cashel, A. D. 1758, and he died at Finglas, near Dublin, on the 7th of July, 1288. See
**
These volumes were published. Buck-
intituled,
**SeeW. "Dr. J. Fitzpatrick's
INTRODUCTION. Ixv
ficent patronage of an English nobleman, the Duke of Buckingham. These pre- ceded in time of publication Dr. Lanigan's remarkable "Ecclesiastical History of Ireland. " Considering accessible materials which formed this author's chief resources, no writer in any age or country has brought a more discriminating judgment, patience, industry, and candour, to the investigation of abstruse historic points, than this wonderfully learned and laborious enquirer. '^ We can hardly over-estimate the difficult task on which Dr. Lanigan entered,
or the innumerable obstacles that were presented at almost every step. To consult so many original authorities, and to compare or analyse their varying
statements, to unravel specious theories, and to subject wild speculations to the crucial test of searching and legitimate criticism, were accomplished with an amount of care and exactness worthy of a true scholar. Nothing
was received on trust. Even the superior authority of Ussher, Colgan, Ware, and other celebrated writers, had been minutely scrutinized. In
many instances, when the statements of early annalists and hagiographers had been found obscure and incomprehensible. Dr. Lanigan has reconciled
apparently conflicting accounts ; he has suggested many important explana- tions, which, if not always found perfectly satisfactory, are at least most
ingenious and suggestive ; while, he has detected and thoroughly refuted various inaccuracies and mistakes of previous writers. In the Lives of our
early Saints, attempts to reconcile recorded incidents and personal acts, with dates to which they had been ascribed, and even to determine the
authorship or periods of such compositions, were very difficult subjects for examination. '? Yet, with all his varied erudition and sagacious induction, occasionally was Dr. Lanigan led astray by the very acuteness of a critical spirit, and by his conscientious discrimination, in attempts to synchronize events, which might accord with some preconceived ideas. He had, also, a dread of being charged with credulity, and with accepting romantic or supernatural accounts, on uncertain evidence. He became almost hypercri- tical, while his power of analysing statements rendered his great work too realistic for popular reading. It also showed his want of sympathy with the legendary aspects and poetic colouring uf our saints' biographies.
Since the time of Dr. Lanigan, much has been published, that should have tended to lighten his labours, had such materials been accessible to him. Only to a limited extent could manuscripts or works published, in Irish, and without a translation, have been available ; for he does not appear to have had a sufficient knowledge of that language, in which the most valuable materials for historic purposes had been clothed. In some instance? , it is true, he professes to derive the meaning of proper names, places and pre-
10235. M. J. Brenan's
mortalwork,andin1822it wasfirst
his Life and Times," chap, xxxii. , pp. 224 lished in four octavo volumes. See Rev,
"
Lanigan,
pub-
Ecclesiastical History of
^ About the year 1813, he commenced Ireland," Nineteenth Century, chap, iii. , the arraugemeat of materials for this im- pp. 650, 651.
Ixvi INTRODUCTICN,
fixes, from our national tongue. 3° Yet, in such cases, he often had recourse to glossaries, or to the kind assistance of persons, more accurately versed than he was in a knowledge of Irish etymologies and structural peculiarities.
So much as could have been reasonably expected has been accomplished by Dr. Lanigan, in the publication of his learned, well-arranged, and valuable Ecclesiastical History. Had he given us a complete and connected series of Irish Saints' Lives, somewhat on the plan now adopted, and with the necessary materials within his reach, he should have found it a much less
laborious task, although forming a more comprehensive design, than that he attempted, when engaging upon his very celebrated historical work. But
the duration of an ordinary lifetime, even with possession of the highest abilities, and the utmost desirable leisure, could hardly have sufficed for
including complete Lives, or even extended notices, regarding all the Saints to be found in our Calendars, with adequate notes or critical disquisitions.
As it Dr. stands.
" Ecclesiastical
of be Ireland," may
Lanigan's
considered a chronological arrangement of our principal saints' biographies,
with their Acts necessarily abridged, while, for the most part, their recorded miracles have been suppressed. To arrange incidents, and to produce a
continuous, really important narrative of ecclesiastical affairs, without running into personal and obscure details, become tasks of extreme difficulty.
Subsequent to Christianity being established in this country, and previous to the English invasion, for many centuries our National Church was singularly free, not only from inroads of heresy and schism, but even from very radical changes in her governmental rites and general discipline. From the time Faith had been first securely established in Ireland, and to the period last named, our Church met with little opposition from native dynasts or kings. Even Danish and Norwegian spoliations were of too sporadic a character permanently to affect her material or spiritual interests. With such diffi- culties to encounter, and precluding the possibility of framing a luminous and connected narrative, Dr. Lanigan has contrived to present a clear, con- secutive and recondite history. 31 After a careful examination of this historio- grapher's work, the present writer is greatly under an impression, that the author was only careful to correct and improve his style, throughout the text of his history, and that he allowed the original draft of his notes to stand without much alteration as to mere phraseology. Perhaps, he shrank from the additional and very considerable time and labour that must have
3° In one passage, Dr. Lanigan leaves his readers to infer, that he had some general acquaintance with the Irish language. See "Ecclesiastical History of Ireland," vol. iii. , chap, xviii. , § v. , n. 59, p. loo.
3« It is to be regretted that in many in- stances his notes have been disfigured by writing in a careless style, while occasional
acrimonious remarks —however justly me- rited by writers to whom they apply— de- tract much from the literary merits of his
work. They partake more of the pamphle- teer's or the polemic's questionable temper, than the dignified tone and calm judgment
of an accomplished historian, conscious of his own intellectual superiority.
History
3* Although not observing minor graces of composition throughout his notes ; yet, in a critical and historical point of view,
their value is unquestionable to the student of this island's ecclesiastical history and anti-
quities.
33 About the year 1830, this work com-
menced. The very complete materials for county and parish histories, which were the
result, had been originally preserved in the Ordnance Survey Office, at Moun joy Bar-
hour has he passed in the Ordnance Survey Library, with the privilege, a:corJel by
Major-General Sir H. Jam^s, Chief Super- intendent of the Depariment, Colonel Georg* A. Leach, R. E. , and Lieutenant-Colonel Berdoe Wilkinson, R. E. , Local Directors, to take transcripts or copies, and otherwise consult ancient and modern records or maps, illustrating the past and present history or topography of Ireland. Especially, to the obliging and talented chief clerks, Messrs.
INTRODUCTION. Ixvii
devolved upcn him, by instituting a more careful revision and exami- nation. 3*
Prizing greatly the researches of previous investigators, many additional facts have been ascertained since their time, and many errors of those laborious, critical, and learned writers having been detected, are more easily corrected or refuted. Systematic efforts have been made, by eminently gifted histo- rians and archaeologists, to overturn visionary speculations, and to place our archaic studies on the firm basis of scientific research. Periodical litera- ture and able contributors served to elicit and record many local traditions and facts of importance. These were popularized, and even the sympathy and enquiries of distant scholars were directed to Ireland. It was then known, almost for the first time, that our country was yet covered with the ruins of churches and monasteries, capable of being identified with numerous saints, clerics, and students. The Irish Ordnance Survey staff of Antiqua- ries was organized, and foremost among these able directors were the late John O'Donovan, LL. D. , George Petrie, LL. D. , Sir Thomas Larcom, and ProfessorEugeneO'Curry. Sofarasavailablemanuscriptsandpublished works, in various languages, had reference to local history, tradition, and topo- graphy, suitable and requisite extracts were furnished by competent scribes. 33 Those afforded a vast amount of special information for purposes of local investigators, fully conversant with the subject, when sometimes set apart, or frequently in communication, visiting and examining on the spot ancient buildings and remains, by the additional light of documents supplied to them. 3* Observations and accurate measurements were usually taken down
racks, Phcenix Park, Dublin. Afterwards, Joseph Mooney and John O'Lalor, the the most important of those manuscripts, in writer feels most grateful. For their solici- a historical sense, were transferred to the tude and unremitting attention to afford Library of the Royal Irish Academy. every facility during his researches, he is Owing to the kindness of his learned and truly indebted.
lamented friend, the late John O'Donovan, 3^ At the request of Rev. James Graves, LL. D. , the writer was introduced to the A. 15. , M. R.
