No More Learning

'S This, too, is a local denomination.
" See <*»</.
'' The cemetery is still greatly resorted to,
forintermentsofthedeceasedCatholics. It hasaverycommandingsite, andabeautiful valley extends beneath it, to a range of hills, bordering on Strangford Lough.
'' See what is stated, by St. Fiach, in
'^ See Rev. William Reeves' " Ecclesias-
tical Antiquities of i>own, Connor and Dro-
more," p. 39, n. (h).
"*
At the 14th of April, ibid. Appendix A, p. 142, and Calendar LL, p. 377.
°5 These are 33 feet, 4 inches long, by 21 feet, 4 inches, wide. The east and west walls are about 12 feet, in height ; but, the south wall no longer stands. These wails are built with yellow clay. The eastern window is 4 feet, 6 inches, high, and 10 inches wide, on the outside ; it is splayed inwardly, to the width of 3 feet, 2 inches ; and, it ends, not in an arch, but in a large flag.
ruin there was formerly a wel—l, which was
probably the holy well. " Rev. James O'Laverty's "Historical Account of the Diocese ofDownand Connor,"vol. i. , p. 220.
^ See the Tripartite Life of St. Patrick, ]ib. |iii. , cap. xcviii. , and c, p. 167, in Colgan's
" Trias Prima Vita Thamaturga,"
" " In the field to the north-east of the
Colgan's
S. Patricii, stanza 27, p. 3.
'' See a very interesting notice of it, in Rev. James O'Laverty's "Historical Ac- count of the Diocese of Down and Connor, AncientandModem,"vol. i. . pp. 221,222.
"" This lies, within the barony of Lower "
Lecale, and it is described, on the Ord- edition.
nance Survey Townland Maps for the
County of Down," Sheets, 31, 32, 38, 39. " Tiiese denominations do not appear, on
the Ordnance Survey Maps.
" The denomination does not appear, on
the Ordnance Survey Maps.
"* "
See Trias Thaumaturga," Prima Vita
S. Patricii, stanza 27, p. 3, and n. 27 dd. p. 6.
"» Seethe account, as already given, in vol. iii. of this work, and in our Life of St. Patrick, chap. xxvi.
Ordnance
142 LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. [April 14.
Saul, as the Life of Patrick states. 3° Besides, various Acts of our Apostle
allude to him, as having administered the Holy Communion to St. Patrick,3'
when be had been admonished by the Angel of his approaching end, and dur-
ing the holy man's last ilhiess. 3' At Kill-Chlopta,33 near Down, his Natalis was
celebrated Out, we have no account of when he died, only that we may ;
safely infer, St. Tassach survived his illustrious master, in the government of
his particular See. 3* From an early date, this holy Bishop seems to have been venerated in the Irish Church ; and, we find him commemorated . by St. . ^ngus, in his Feilire, at the 14th of April. At the same date, he is noticed, in the Martyrology of Marianus O'Gorman. 35 Likewise, on this day, we find mentioned in the Martyrology of Donegal,36 the name of Tassach, Bishop, of Rath Colptha, or Raholp, in Ulster, i. e. , in Leth-Cathail, now known as Lecale. Under the local heading, Duald Mac Firbis enters. Bishop
—
munion to Patrick, before his death ;37 at April the 4th is the date for his feast.
Tassach—in Rath-Colpa—
Patrick's artist
it was he that the com- gave
In Scotland, St. Tassagh was commemorated, likewise, on this day, as we find it, in the Kalendar of Drummond. 3* This commemoration was due, doubt- less, to the circumstance of his close'connection during life with St. Patrick, whose glorious and holy departure he helped to sooth and lighten, by the body and blood of our Divine Lord.
Article II. —St. Cillen, or Killian, Son of Lubnen, or Lubney, SAID TO HAVE BEEN Abbot OF BiRR, King's County. [Seveiilh Ce/ltUfJ. ] It seems probable, that the present holy man was born, early in the seventh century, but where, we cannot ascertain. In the Martyrology of Tallagh,' the name of Cillin mac Lubnain occurs, at the 14th of April. Colgan notes his feast, for the same date, calling him St. Killian, son of Lubney. " The proper names, Cillin, Cillen,3 Cillean, Cellin, Cellen, bearing the same origin andsignification,areoftenconfoundedwitheachother; onaccountofverbal affinity, likewise, they have been classed with the names, Coelan, Coelin,*
3° See the Tripartite Life of St. Patrick, lib. iii. , cap. ciii. , p. i68, of Colgan's edi-
"
tion, in the "Trias Thaumaturga.
3" The Third Life of St. Patrick has it
"sicut illi Victor Angelus dixit," &c. , cap.
Ixxxix. , p. 28. See Colgan's "Trias Thau-
quote—when making this entry.
3' See "Proceedings of the Royal Irish
Academy," Irish MSS. series, vol. i. . Part
i. , pp. 124, 125.
3" Thus at xviii. Kl. Mali. , "Apud Hiber-
niam Sanctus episcopus et confessor Tassach hoc die ad Christum migravit. "—Bishop
maturga. "
3= See Hid. Joceline's or Sexta Vita S. Forbes'
Patricii, cap. cxc, p. 107. Also, Septima p. 10.
"
Kalendars of Scottish Saints,"
VitaS. Patricii, lib. i. , cap. Ixxi. , p. 128. 33 This is only another name for Raholp.
Article ii.
—• Dr. Edited by Rev
3*
" Leabhar Breac " we have In the copy,
:
Kelly, p. xxi. The Franciscan copy has
Ciltiiie rtlAC tubriAi.
: the English translation after- original —
'
See "Acta Sanctorum Hibernise," xiv.
the
wards follows
Februarii. Vita S. KiUani et
Sociorum,
n.
Oobepc OT3ori«nic
Coi\p CjMfc iiifi 5 PY^^'^® lAcomAvnn 00 pAcpAic.
" The royal bishop Tassach gave, when he came, (the) body of Christ the truly strong
with communion, to Patrick. "
35 See Colgan's "Trias Thaumaturga,"
Prima Vita S. Patricii, n. 19, p. 6.
3* Edited by Drs. Todd and Reeves, p. 103. In a note, Dr. Todd states, that the O'Clerys most probably intended to insert
3'P-33l-
3 The words Cillin and Cillen, are dimi-
nutives, deduced from Cill, or Cell. Hence,
in Latin, they are interpreted by the expres- sion, Cellanus.
* The words, Coelan, Coelen, and Coelin, are derived from the monosyllables, Coel, or Cail, or, according to modern scholars, Caol, which will signify slender, or attenuated. As there is no letter K in the Irish language, its place is supplied by the consonant C, whicli, before and after slender vowels, receives tlie same pronunciation, as in other languages should be accorded to the former
king,
the quatrain of St. Fiach—whom they letter.
April 14. ] LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. »43
andCoelen,which,however,haveadifferentderivation. Theforegoingnames
are variously applied to our Irish Saints. ^ The aforesaid names, when
Latinized, are variously expressed, by these words, Cillinus, Killinus, Cel- lenus, Kellenus, Kilianus, Kilienus, Cliilianus, and Chilienus ; as also, by Coelanus, Caolanus, Coelinus, Coelenus, and Caelanus. * The Bollandists,' who quote the Martyrology of Tallagh, as their authority, have Killinus filius Lubriaani,' for this day. By the local writer, likewise, are we told, that St. Kiilian, Abbot of Birr, and successor to St. Brendan, or Brenainn,' was com-
'° Various derivations have been According to Dr. O'Donovan, it was thus called, from the site having been a callow," or field, occasionally overflowed by a river. The local historian " was informed,'3 that Birr took its name, from the Irish word Bior, which is said to have meant, " a spring well," or " the brink of a
on the of memorated, 14th
April.
sought
for Biorra, or Birr.
St. Brendan's Catholic Chareb, in the Town of Birr, King's County.
river ;" and, as the ancient town was situate upon the river, it might from that circumstance have been denominated Birr. '* Another conjecture is, that it came from Bir, " a spit,"'' in consequence of the river there taking its de- nomination,fromacrookedweir,whichmighthaveresembledaspit. '* For.
» See Sexta Vita 5.
"Trias
Thaumaturga. " 3, p. 597.
that Part Town," &c. ,
Colgan's Brigidac,
i. , pp. i6, 17. n^at.
n.
' In these words, also, ot, at, and ac, are
" In Irish called
'' By an noble member of the Royal Irish
diphthongs.
' See "Acta Sanctorum," tomus ii. , Ap-
" Cooke, who wrote the History of Par- sonstown.
rilis xir. Among the pretermitted saints, Academy.
p. 200.
'
This is evidently a misprint.
* His feast occurs, at the 2Qth of Novem-
" It is remarked, that Birr, in Hebrew, means "a well. "
'5 See Cooke's " Picture of Parsonstown,"
ber.
•" "i. ,p.
Sea The Picture of
the King's County, containing the History of
on the — re- foregoing
:
Parsonftown,
commenting
marks, Mr. O'Donovan observes
Part in In
16.
"All
thit
144 LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. [April 14.
merly, the place had great historic importance, and from the time St. Bren- dan '7 had there founded his monastery, in the sixth century. '* Upon the
grant of Birr town and the surrounding lands to the family of Parsons,'? the name had been changed by many to Parsonstown; however, the inhabitants of this place and neighbourhood prefer to call it, by the old historic denomi- nation. At present, a fine Catholic church,'° and some religious establish- ments, are dedicated there to St. Brendan. It seems a doubtful matter, if the present holy man had been distinct from St. Killene, the son of Lubney, who was Abbot of Saigher, in this same part of the country. The feast of this latter saint was kept on the 12th of April ; and, he lived, it is stated, until after the
year 695,''' or later, when he, with forty other prelates, assisted at a synod,''" presided over by Flann,='3 Archbishop of Armagh,"'• and the Acts of which
were in Colgan's possession. ^s 'I'he Calendarist O'Clery thinks, the present saint is that Cille'n, son to Lubndn, and Abbot of Biorra, or Birr, whom the Cain Adamnain "* mentions, as one of those saints, whom Adamnan ^^ re- ceived as security, for liberating women from every bond-work, and from every slavery, to which they had heretofore been liable.
^' When Cillen assumed that position is not known. The present saint is said, however, to have been Abbot, over the monastery of Birr,°5 in the King's County, and to
is very fine, and shows how hard it is to have
regarding Birr. See ibid. , pp. 73, 74.
the I have the right knowledge !
'' He
"
filius Luaigni. "
following objections to make to his text and note. I. 'Mr. . O'Reilly testifies in his Irish Dic- tionary that Birra means standing water or marshy field. ' What does Mr. Cooke mean
is called, also,
" His death is assigned to A. D. 571. See
knew
about the localities of Birr, or of the mean- ing of the word except what he copied from celery's Glossary. How then is the word testifies applicable ? 2. Bir does not mean a spring well, but water in general. 3. Bior does not mean the brink of a river. 4. Bir or Bior means a spit, but the village or town oiBirr, was never called Bir ox Bior in Irish. It was Anglicised to that. 5. It was not caUe<l Biorra to give it a Latin termination, for all the most ancient and modern Irish
°°The ofit, accompanying engraving
by testifies
? M.
O'Reilly
nothing
by Mrs. Millard, is after drawing on the wood, by William F. Wakeman, and from a photo- graph, furnished by the Very Rev. Michael Bugler, P. P. , of Birr, and V. G. of Killaloe Diocese. The venerable Pastor has erected
writers have written it biopfVA in the no- Columba. " Memoir of St. Adamnan, pp.
minative form. What then is the meaning ofthename? Ifwedon'tagreewithO'Clery and the more ancient Glossographers from whom he copied, that t)ippA or Oioi\pA was
'
an ancient Irish word to express
field," we must reduce it to 'horns,' like
xlvi. to li.
" Said to have been held at Tara.
'3 He is known as Flan-Febla, and his in-
cumbency lasted from A. D. 688 to April 24th, A. D. 715, when he died. See Harris' Ware,
Banagher,
Colgan's
and we shall then find ourselves
" Acta Sanctorum Hiber- niae. " V. Martii, Vita S. Kierani. Appendix,
between the horns of a difficulty. But it
would be audacious to reject the testimony
of the old Glossographers in exjilaining an
old word in their own language, for that of
Mr. Cooke. How does he know whether
there was any standing water near the town
in the time of St. Brendan, or how does he
know what feature was originally called
bii\j\<i? How does heknow but his Cam chor
Letters Information containing
relative to the Antiquities of the King's
cap. v. , p. 473.
'5 These were copied, by Michael O'Clery,
from the Book of Raphoe ; and, at present, they are preserved, in the Burgundian Lib-
rary, at Brussels, classed No. 2324. See Rev. Dr. Reeves' Adamnan's "Life of St. Columba. "Memoir of St. Adamnan,"
p. 1.
°* "
river has —constant running deepened its
Anglicised, the Tribute ofAdamnan. "
by channel? "
°' The Life of St. Adamnan will be at the 23rd of September.
'"
given,
watery
"
The Irish Annals state, that he gave the law of the innocents to the people, in pp. 70, 71, 72. Mr. O'Donovan's Letter, 6g6. See Dr. O'Conor's " Rerum Hiber- dated Birr, January 29th, 1838. Mr. Dono- nicarum Scriptores," tomus iv. Annales Ul- van afterwards gives some historical notices tonienses, p. 66. This event is placed, at the
County, collected during tlie progress of the Ordnance Survey in 1837-8," vol. ii. ,
Colgan's "Acta Sanctorum Hiberniae. " xxix. Januarii, Vita S. Gildje Badonici, n. 1 3, p. 193.
'' In the reign of King James I.
most of those religious institutions, while his many services to the Church and to our country have deservedly earned for him uni- versal esteem and respect.
"'
"
Dr. Reeves' Adamnan's Life of St.
vol. i. , °* See
Archbishops of Armagh," p. 40.
This date has been contested. See Rev.
April 14. ] LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. 145
havedied,intheyear690. 3° Weknownotonwhatauthority,Archdallhas founded the foregoing date for his death ; if it be correct, this Abbot of Birr couldnothavebeenatthatsynod,towhichallusionhasbeenmade. The Martyrology of Donegal 3' states, that this day was dedicated to honour Cill^n,sonofLubn^n. InthatIrishCalendar,belongingtotheRoyalIrish Academy, and formerly kept among the Ordnance Survey Records, his feast is placed,3' at xviii. of the May Kalends, corresponding with the 14th of April. Referring to some Calendar, in Manuscript, Arclidall places his fes- tival, at this day, without stating the name of his father. 33 Litde more is known regarding this saint.
Article III. —Reputed Feast of St. Cillene Fada, Abbot of Iona,
Scotland. [Stveuth and Eighth Centuries^ This holy man was born in Ireland, and probably towards the middle of the seventh century. It seems not questionable, that the Cillene Fada, or the Tall, who succeeded Faelcu, Abbot of Iona, in the year 724,' was distinct from St. Cillen Mac Lubnen, Ab- bot of Birr. During that period, when the former governed in Hy, Nechtain, King of the Picts, abandoned his regal state, to obtain monastic rest, which he enjoyed only for a short time. The name Kellenus Longus, Abbot of Hy, occurs, in the " Trias Thaumaturga "' of Colgan, and his festival is assigned to the 14th of April. 3 His pedigree is not recorded, while his incumbency over the monastery seems to have been very brief, and little marked by events. He only exercised the rule of Abbot, about two years. * His death is referred to
A. D. 725. 5 In the Irish language, he was called Fada, or " the Tall," to dis- tinguish him from St. Cillene Droicteach,* the hermit, who died in the year 752. By the Irish Annalist Tighernach, Cillenus Longus, Abbot of lae, is said to have found rest, a. d. 726 ;? and, we are told, by the Rev. Dr. Reeves,* that his festival is uncertain.
Article IV. —St. Cellach, Abbot of Kildare, and Abbot of Iona, INScotland. \NinthCentury^ ACellach,sonofAilill,becameAbbotot Kildare, and afterwards he seems to have migrated to Scotland. Here, he succeeded Innrechtach, Abbot of Iona, who died March 12th, a. d. 854. '
Thus, he appears to have combined the presidency of a monastery, not of the
following year, A. D. 697, in the Tigemachi Annales, ibid. , tomus ii. , p. 219.
*> In Coolce's " Picture of Parsonstown,"
pp. 16, 17.
Article hi. —» See Dr. O'Conor's " Re-
rum Hibemicarum Scriptores," tomus iu
we read these following remarks, on the "'
origin and derivation of the name. It Kcuis that this place (Parsonstown) had been in remote ages called 'Tulach Brenayd,' which signifies according to Manner's 'Chron—icle,' 'Collis Brendani,' Brendan's
Hill," Part i. , p. 16.
*" See Aichdall's "Monasticon Hibemi-
cum," p. 378.
^ Edited by Drs. Todd and Reeves, pp.
Tigemaci Annales, p. 234.
See Quanta Appendix ad Acta S. Co-
lumbae, cap. iii. , sect, v. , p. 502.
^ The Rev. Dr. Reeves says, that he died
on the 14th, or on the 19th of April.
< His death occurred, A. D. 726, according to Tigernacli's Annals. " See Rerum Hiber-
nicarumScriptores,"tomusii. , p. 235.
' According to the Chronology of the Four Masters.
'His feast occurs, on the 3rd of July.
' See Dr. Reeves' Adamnan's Life of St. Columba. Additional Notes O, p. 382.
102, 103.
^ Thus is it entered, Citten ITIac tub-
niti. —Common Place Book F, p. 38.
"• '3 Likewise, in the Picture of Parsons-
town" its author, following Archdall, thus
In Dr. O'Conor's edition of the Annals of the Four the
"
Abbot and successor of St. Brendan. His date Is 852. See Rerum Hibernicanim feast is held, on the 14th of April. " Part i. , Scriptores," tomus iii. , p. 356.
remarks
:
In the 690, died St. Killian, year
Masters,
See ibid. — Article iv.
»
"
K
146 LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. [April 14.
Columbian order, with that of St.