"
Adamnani
Abbatis
p.
p.
O'Hanlon - Lives of the Irish Saints - v9
'*'
It is related, that the illustrious Adamnan collected the Martra or Relics of the Saints into one Shrine. An ancient Codex«3 enumerates the twenty-six articles which were enclosed in it, consisting of manuscripts of
furnished to the writer by the Very Rev. 43 Contained in a Bruxelles Manuscript of Patrick Kelly, P. P. , in communications the Burgundian Library, classed No. dated March, 1899, with a photograph of 2324=40, p. 26. This was copied by the interior, from which the accompanying Michael O'Clery, ir. 1629, from " an old illustration has been reproduced and en- and difficult blackish manuscript of parch-
graved on the wood by Gregor Grey. ment. "
September 23. ] LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. 499
the Gospels, hymns, and poems ; articles of apparel belonging to the Saints of Ireland ; and a few relics of St. Paul and the Virgin Mary ; the aggregateofwhichmusthavefilledalargebox. ThisReliquaryseemsto have been deposited in a place, originally called Cnoc-na-maoile,*4 but afterwards known from the foregoing circumstances as Serin Adamhnain, or Adamnan's Shrine. At present, the place is denominated Skreen, a parish church^ in the diocese of Killala, county of Sligo, barony of Tireragh. It is bounded on the north by Sligo Bay. There he is locally called Awnaun, and his well is situated a little to the east of the old church, at the other side of the road. From this well, the townland Toberawnaun46 derives its name. Between it and the townlaud Soodry runs the Dunmoran Stream. Over this rivulet, in connexion with a boreen, is the Drehid or "
Awnawn, Bridge of Adamnan," formed of a flag nine feet long, nine inches broad and two feet high, resting on two stones in the bed of the stream. It does not fill the whole breadth of the rivulet, so that at either end there is a vacant space between it and the bank. The natives say it was formed by the Saint, for
his convenience in going from his church to the strand. *? That shrine of
8 for it was afterwards removed to Iona. There it was regarded as a very sacred object. ** It seems probable, however, that there were two shrines called after Adamnan, the later, con-
1 taininghisownremains;5°theother,* containingthemiscellaneousobjects
mentioned in the catalogue. This latter was in after time coupled with his name, and preserved in his church of Skreen.
In the contemporary statements of Venerable Bede S2 and Ceolfrid, we
have the highest testimony borne to our Saint's character, for his proficiency in ecclesiastical and secular learning," and for all those virtues, which
Adamnan seems to have been
portable/
nani, cap. viii. , p. 337.
satchels in which the early ecclesiastics used to carry about their books. In the present
46
Resolvable into CobAft . <V6. Arrm. Ain.
notes on this name de Tir Fhiachrach, de
44 See the
in O'Donovan's " John
pp. 267, 268. Also, Addenda J. , pp. 416, S. Farannani, n. 42, p. 340. He pro-
interesting
vide — in qua, plura
Genealogies,
and Customs of Hy-Fiachrach," nn. (s. t. ), Sanctorum Hiberniae.
"
Februarii xv. Vita
417.
45 The site of the church is an old grant .
The Life of Farannan relates, that Tibraide, son of Maelduin, Lord of Hy-Fiachrach, bestowed upon St. Columba and his frater-
nity three pleasant portions of ground, one
"
nani dictus. "— "Acta Sanctorum Colgan's
mised to give a Catalogue of the relics contained in this shrine, when he should deal with the Life of St. Adamnan ; but needless to state, he did not live to fulfil that promise.
s° Referred to in the Annals at A. d. 727 and 730. This would allow but twenty- three years' interval between his death and the enshrinement of his remains,
of which
dicebatur, postea a S. Adamnano Abbate, Serin Adhamhnain, i. e. , Scrinium S. Adam-
locus isto sevo Cnoc-na-maoile
Tribes notis ad vitam S. Adamnani. " "Acta
calls it a Hibernise," Februarii xv. Vita S. Faran- which is the term used for the leathern
4? Some additions were
it, inordertocompletethecontinuityofthe path, but they were speedily removed, as foreign to the original design. The church derives its name from Adamnan's shrine, which was preserved there.
the words m instance, ciAij
48 That was the shrine which Cilline Droicthech, the fourteenth Abbot of Hy, son of Dicolla, brought to Erin to make peace and friendship between the Cinel Conaill and Cinel
:
commences thus " O fair youth, noble is
the theca thou hast taken upon thy back. " 52 See " Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis
Anglorum," lib. v. , cap. xv. , xxi.
S3 Mr. Pinkerton declares, he considers
49
age ; again,
most complete piece of such biography that
Eoghain.
Colgan couples this shrine with the
Adamnan's Life of St. Columkille, as " one of the most curious monuments of the literature of that " and as " the
formerly
made to
have the interlineal gloss . i. m fejiine, "the Shrine. " It was probably of leather, for the recital
Church of Skreen, and observes: "Est all Europe can boast of. "
ecclesia multorum reliquiis nobilis et into the History of Scotland," vol. i. veneranda, Dicecesis Kill-aladen, in regione Preface, p. xlviii.
SI The ancient
Catalogue
ciaj,
—"An
Enquiry
5oo LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. [September 23.
become truly ornamental to the Christian priest. Alcuin, who flourished at a later period in the same century, ranks Adamnan with the most celebrated
among his country's saints. 5* In the Vision, he is styled the noble sage of
the Western World 55 and his life ascribes the combined virtues of Patriarch ;
andApostletohim. Fordunsays,thatoursaintwasdistinguishedbothfor his virtues and miracles, and that he was scrupulously exact in citing authority for every statement he made, in writing on matters pertaining to history. 56 The Four Masters add, that he was a good man, according to
the testimony of Bede, for he was tearful, penitent, given to prayer, diligent, ascetic, temperate ; that he never used to eat except on Sundays and Thurs- days; thathemadeaslaveofhimselftothesevirtues; moreover,thathewas
wise and learned in clearly understanding the Holy Scriptures of God. 57
A holy bishop called Arculf, who was an intelligent native of Gaul,58 and who was a highly credible witness for what he had seen in distant countries,
spent nine months in the city of Jerusalem. During that time, he daily visited all the Holy Places in and around the city. It appears, that Arculf had travelled to Jerusalem, for the purpose of visiting its sacred localities. He traversed all Judea, besides visiting Damascus, Constantinople, Alex- andria, and many islands in the adjacent seas. Returning to his own country in a vessel, and owing to the violence of a tempest, he was carried towards the western shores of Britain. ^ That prelate, was a learned Scripturian, and he had a full knowledge concerning those places, rendered sovenerablebecauseoftheirconnectionwiththeworld'sRedeemer. After many adventures, he came to Adamnan, by whom he was most joyfully received as a guest. The abbot, also, became a willing listener to accounts given by the bishop, regarding the Holy Land, and which he deemed worthy of being recorded. 60 Arculf related all he had seen, and delineated on waxedtablets6lcertaindiagramstoillustratehisdescriptions. Thisaccount was faithfully checked and revised, before it was committed to parchment for
the
it to writing. ^
Adamnan
After the publication
The body of this edition contains 388 pages, and it was published at
Perigueux, in France, A. D. 1870.
59 This incident, mentioned by Bede,
proves that Arculf visited Adamnan in Hy,
andnotinIreland. Nomentionofitoccurs, "
purposes
Immediately afterwards,
consigned
of readers. 62
This treatise lay long in manuscript.
s* " Patricius, Cheranus, Scotorum gloria gentis,
the sixth century.
Atque Columbanus, Adomnanusatque
Congallus,
Prseclari patres, morum vitaeque magistri,
His precibus pietas horum nos however, in the tract, De Locis Sanctis," adjuvat omnes. " subsequently written.
—Alcuini
ii. , p. 219, Ed. Ratisbon, 1777, fol. 55 Thus: ** xVOAmnAn Ua
"
^ M. Martial " Essai sur les opera. " Epigrammata, tomus In Delpit's
anciens P6lerinages a Jerusalem" may be Chm-oe found, towards the close of the First Volume, the text of three Books of Adamnan, on St. s6 See " Scotichronicon," lib. iii. , 49, CI, Arculph's Pilgrimage to Jerusalem, with the
AjroecnAi-o iajicaiji -DomAin. "
57 See Dr. O'Donovan's "Annals of the various readings of MSS. 6l
Four Masters," vol. i. , pp. 304 10307. This interesting record is an important s8 M. Martial Delpit has published an item in the history of writing, as showing octavo volume intituled; "Essai sur les the collateral and respective uses among the anciens P61erinages a Jerusalem" in xxx Irish of waxed tablets and membranes for
pages, prefixed to the text of Arculphe's literary purposes, towards the close of the Pilgrimage. This was taken from a Manu- seventh century.
script of the thirteenth century, which
6a Thus Adamnan writes in this tract :
to a collection of the ancient " abbey at Cadouin, in the Diocese of Peri- gueux. Besides this, he found another tract
on a similar subject and an earlier account,
by St. Anthony de Plaisanci, belonging to
belonged
Cujus
mihi formam in tabula cerata Arculfus ipse depinxit ;" and again, "juxta exemplar quod mihi Arculfus in paginola
figuravit cerata depinximus. "
63 The venerable Bede adds;
"
Fecitque
September 23. ] LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. 501
of Cardinal Baronius' great historical work,6* in which the author accepted implicitly the statements by Arculfus, he was severely criticised by Isaac Casaubon ; when, in order to vindicate Baronius, the laborious Jesuit Jacob Gretser undertook to publish the entire treatise,65 and in his Prologomina to it, he vigourously assails Casaubon for having impugned the authenticity of
66
This treatise M De Locis Sanctis " 6? is mentioned by Venerable Bede, as
Adamnan's genuine work. In the Vatican Library and at Corbey, manuscript copies of it are preserved, both of which have been used by Mabillon, who has published it. There are other copies at St. Germanus a Pratis,68 of the
at Berne, of the ninth and tenth centuries 69 at of eighth century ; ; Saltzburg,
the ninth or tenth century 7° and at Rheinau, of the eleventh centuryJ1 ;
There is another in the British Museum,? 3 of the fourteenth century. 73 The
tractopenswithaprologue 74invokingfirstthethreepersonsoftheMost ;
HolyTrinity,beforestatingthetitleandoriginalinceptionofthework. In this tract, Adamnan mentions the tombs of St. Simeon and of St. Joseph at Jerusalem, many relics of the Passion of Christ, the impression of the feet of our Saviour on Mount Olivet, covered with a round church having a hole open on the top, and over the place where the impression of the footsteps was to be seen. He also mentions grasshoppers in the deserts of the Jordan, and which the common people eat, boiled with oil ; as also a portion of the cross in the Rotunda Church of Constantinople, and which was exposed on a golden altar during the three last days of Holy Week, when the emperor, court, army, clergy, and others went there to kiss the sacred wood. 75
The two chief literary works associated with the name of Adamnan are the Tract intituled " De Locis Sanctis," and the " Vita St. Columbae. " Already have we briefly described and criticised the latter work, when
Arculfus' statements on insufficient information.
recording the Life of the great Archimandrite. ?
6
In his account of Adamnan,
John of Trittenham,77 altogether omits his having been the author of St. Columba's Acts, while some of his less celebrated writings are noted. Cave
opus ut dixi, multum utile, et maxime illis, qui longius ab eis locis, in quibus patriarchse
et apostoli erant, secreti, ea tan—tum de his, quse lectione didicerint, norunt. " "Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis Anglorum," lib. v. , cap. xv.
64 See "Annales Ecclesiastici," tomus viii. ,
Ibid. , pp. 129, 132. Again we are told, "ce MS. — etoit dans la bibliotheque de
Corbie. " Ibid. , p. 355. It is probably the
Corbey manuscript which was collated by Mabillon.
^ Report of the Record Commission. Appendix A. , pp. 31, 46.
Annus
6s With the title
7°See ibid
7I See ibid. ,
7* It is classed Codex Cotton, Tiberius,
D. v. , pars ii. , pp. 156 a to 184 £.
73 Though copied by an ignorant scribe,
and imperfect, it contains some valuable various readings. It has been collated by the Rev. Dr. Reeves.
74 See Mabillon's ''Acta Sanctorum Or- dinis S. Benedicti," sec. iii. , pars ii. , p. 456. Venetiis, 1734.
" See the Rev. Alban Butler's "Lives of
J. C. 699,
sect, x. ,
201. 203.
:
xi. , p. 543.
" Adamnani Abbatis
p. p.
Hiiensis Libri tres de Locis Sanctis ex Relatione Arculfi, Episcopi Galli. "
'6 See Leslie Stephen's "Dictionary of National Biography,"—vol. i. , art. Adamnan
or Adomnan (625? 704) by John T. Gilbert, p. 93.
67 Gretser 'sedition of this work, published at Ingoldst, a. d. 1619, was printed from a manuscript sent to him by Father Rosweyd, " ex intima Holandia. " See Prolegomina, p. 22.
the Fathers, Martyrs, and other principal 68 See Rev. Dr. O'Connor's " Rerum Saints," vol. ix. , September xxiii.
Hibernicarum Scriptores," tomus i. Epistola Nuncupatoria, p. 142. It is described in the " Nouveau Traite de Diplomatique," tomus iii. , p. 66, as "de S. Germain des Pres,
76 See at the 9}h of June, in the Sixth Volume of this work, Art. i. , the Life of St. Columkille or Columba, Abbot of lona, and Apostle of Caledonia, chap. i.
and as "un
ecriture ordinaire du viii. au ix. siecle. "
e—n
77 See " ticorum," fol. 1. a.
num. 844,"
petit in-folio,
Catalogus Scriptorum Ecclesias-
502 LIVESOFTHEIRISHSAINTS. [September23.
incorrectly states, that Surius, at the 9th of June, published Adamnan's Life
of St. Columba and that Serarius was the first editor of the tract, " De ;
8
LocisTerrse Sanctse," published at Ingolstad, in 1619. 7
that the genuineness of Adamnan's Vita S. Columbae should be called in
question by Sir James Dalrymple. Defending the Presbyterian views of Church government,79 in the spirit of sectarian controversy, he found it con- venient to throw discredit on a certain anecdote,80 therein contained. The Rev. Robert King states, that the fact of Bede being silent about Adamnan having written St. Columba's Life, if it be not sufficient evidence to disprove his authorship, seems to indicate, at least, that Bede was not aware of its
his 81 the Rev. Dr. Giles considers Adamnan being composition. Again,
"
only as the reputed author of a
that he had written it. 82 However, as the Rev. Dr. Reeves observes, it is to be hoped his doubts originated in a different style of research from that which made Bede's Columcille an island,83 and Dearmach the same as
86
8? and he considered the
from what was to be found in the body of the Biography. However,
a critic and 80 who studied with a full scholar,
Adamnan,
style
of that Preface88 it to differ proved
title,
apud Hyienses floruerunt, ejusmodi nugasesseconscriptas. " —" De Ecclesiastics BritonumScotorumque
79Inananonymouspublication,bearingthe
Sage," p.
Edinburgh, 17 14.
"AVindication of the Ecclesiastical
vii. litera Seeculo, quo
Part of Sir James Dalrymple's Historical
Collections, in answer to a late Pamphlet,
intituled, The Life of The Rev. Mr. John
21.
80 Which occurs in lib. i. , cap. 44.
81 See " Primer of the Church History ef
Life of St. Columba," having strong doubts
84 APrussian 8* toa ofBritish clergyman, extending portion
Derry.
the enlightenment of German criticism, objected,
to be met with in the Life by Adamnan ; while he considered, that the Prologue title to that Life induced suspicion of its having been written by
of the remarks, that had the writer in question consulted a good edition00 of Adam-
"
nan's
Prologue and the remainder of the work. Had he gone further, he might have found the Bollandists' remarks upon this subject. As to the Apology, the matter is different from the biographical narrative ; while the style and
anguage are so similar to the rest, that only the architect of a paradox could discernanydifferenceinthematerials. Whatevermaybethoughtaboutexter- nal proofs of genuineness, there is internal evidence in the Life on many points, to satisfy all just critics. 01 Where there is any slight variation, the Life tells
Vita S. Columb»," he might have solved that difficulty regarding the
78 See "
toria Literaria, vol. i. , Saeculum Monothele- ticum, p. 594.
85 Carolus Guilielmus Schsel.
Scriptorum
Ecclesiasticorum His-
Ireland," vol. i. , book ii. , chap, xi. , p. 342. Sancti scriptoris a librario esse praeposi-
82 See Dr. Giles' edition of Bede's " Eccle- siastical History" in Bohn's Antiquarian Library, p. 264. London, 1847.
tum nemo non videt, apologiam vero, quae tam stylo ac sermone quam re aliena sit a
Vita ipsa, ficticiam esse, facile apparet. "
88 Pinkerton also takes the spurious title
"
•3 The "British Critic" noticed this error
in the translation of Bede, book v. , chap. i.
However, Dr. Giles corrected it in his 456. See Vita S. Columbae, p. 53.
secondedition. Seep. 248.
84 See Bede, p. 114. The derivation of
Dalrieda, namely, Dal-Ri-Eta, " the por-
•TheRev. Dr. Reeves.
90 As, for instance, that of Colgan.
91 Thus, 1. It was written by an ecclesias- tion of King Eta," in p. 7 ; and the charac- tic living in lona insula (pp. 176, 181)
ter of Hy as " one of the most fertile" of the
Scottish islands, in p. 1 1 3, are not borne out by record or fact.
styled nostra (pp. 12, 178), in which was nostrum monasterium (pp. 58, 72, 1 77) ; 2. By the superior of the Monastery (pp.
86
:
to the Life by Adamnan " Hsec ipsa adeo
fabulis est obscurata, ut vix credi possit,
Historic Fontibus," p. 61, Berolini, 1851.
8? He continues autem Vitae : Prologi
suspicionem mihi faciunt, quorum titulum
" Praefatio Apologiaque Adamnani Abbatis "
It seems strange,
antiquities that trifles and fables are
knowledge
subject,
In a dissertation, he writes in reference
from Canisius'
Varise Lectiones," pp. 3,
September 23. ] LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. 5°3
its own for it story,
to be a 2 Of Adamnan's two compilation. 9
professes
admittedly genuine Latin Works, the tract u De Locis Sanctis" is the better
written, and more flowing in style ; yet it bears a striking resemblance to the other in language and construction, as also in the use of peculiar words and
The reader will observe, remarks the Rev Dr. Reeves, a liberal employment of diminutives, so characteristic of Irish composition ; and he will find them, in many cases, used without grammatical force, and com- mutable in the same chapters with their primitives. The same tendency is observable among verbs in the use of frequentatives and intensitives. He delights in the distributive numerals, instead of cardinals, and in the adjective termination ax where admissible. He uses the pluperfect for the perfect,andthenominativeinsteadoftheablativeabsolute. Heoccasionally employsGreek,orGreco-Latinwords; andinafewinstances,heintroduces Irish and Hiberno-Latin expressions. " Proper names^ he sometimes inflects according to the rules of Irish grammar. In a Latin narrative they present an anomalous appearance. Above all, the artificial, and often unnatural, interweaving of his words, in long sentences, and the oft-recurring ablative absolute in awkward position, will strike the reader as remarkable features of Adamnan's style,
In the Tripartite Life, it is twice stated, that Adamnan wrote a Life of
Festilogy,' consisting of seven quatrains and a-half, comes under the head of spurious writings ascribed to Adamnan. The poem on the Remis-
sion of the Boromean tribute, containing fifty-two stanzas, though bearing his name, is hardly compatible with his religious character. 97 A work " Historia Hibernorum ab Origine ad sua Tempora," is mentioned by
Ward,98 as also an "Epitome metrica triginta Voluminum Legum Hibernicarum ;"99 but, like the preceding, they are probably some
phrases.
St. Patrick. 95 To him are ascribed certain
verses, attributed to him, as also the Four Masters. 97 His alleged Feilire, or
*
92Wemightaswelldenythegenuineness of Bede's " Ecclesiastical History," because
Segineus (pp. 16, 26) ; 3. By one who con-
versed with those who had heard S. and another from Constantius, without Columba's voice (p. 73); who conversed acknowledgment. withapersonwhorememberedthenight 93SuchasHi,andHininglas. Thusalso on which S. Columba died (p. 238) ; who maic, the genitive of mac.
conversed with the acquaintances of St. 94 Thus, Ferguso, (p. 8) ; Aido, (pp. n, Columba's friends (pp. 50, 85, 237) , who 36, 41, 45, 82, 125) in the genitive ; conversed with a person who had witnessed
the battle of Dun-Ceithim in 629 (p. 95) ;
who knew an early friend of the St. Fintan
who died in 635 (p. 22) ; who conversed Cellach, (p. 65);Colgion and Colgen, gen. with the nephew of his predecessor, Virg-
nous, who died in 623 (p. 225) ; who was
living when the battle of Magh-Rath took
place (p. 200) ; who witnessed the ravages (p. 220) ; Draigniche, gen. of Draignech,
16,26,223tit. ); whoseimmediateprede- cessor was Falbeus, and he a successor of
of the great Pestilence (p. 182) ; who was (PP- 45, 255).
a personal friend of King Aldfrid (p. 185) ; 95 See Colgan s " Trias Thaumaturga," who lived when the house of Gabhran was Septima Vita S. Patricii, lib. i. , cap. Ixx. , p. declining (p. 201; ; 4. By one whose name 128, and lib. hi. , cap. xcix. , p. 167.
was Adamnan (pp. 16, 95, 225, 238). Here
is an accumulation of evidence which should
satisty any mind, and the more so, as it is
for the most part undesigned and incidental,
the internal counterpart of the writer's own
declaration ; "Hujus ergo prsemissae narra- the piety of the writer, especially in one
tionis testes, non bini tantum vel terni, secundum legem, sed centenni et amplius
particular passage.
"See " Sancti Rumoldi Martyris Inclyti,
&c, Acta, &c. " Dissertatio Historica de
adhuc extant. " (pp. 17, 182).
poems. Tighernach9
an early chapter is borrowed from Gildas,
Comgill, gen. of Comgall, (p. 32) ; Domnill, gen. of Domnall, (p. 201) ; Fechureg, gen. of Fiachrach, (p. 45, 225) ; Cellaig, gen. of
of Colgu, (pp. 65, 82); Ainmurech, gen. of Ainmire (pp. 91, 201) ; Loigse, gen. of Loigis, (p. 210) ; Leathain, gen. of Liathan,
96 At the year 695.
9? See Dr. O'Donovan's "Annals of the
Four Masters," at A.
It is related, that the illustrious Adamnan collected the Martra or Relics of the Saints into one Shrine. An ancient Codex«3 enumerates the twenty-six articles which were enclosed in it, consisting of manuscripts of
furnished to the writer by the Very Rev. 43 Contained in a Bruxelles Manuscript of Patrick Kelly, P. P. , in communications the Burgundian Library, classed No. dated March, 1899, with a photograph of 2324=40, p. 26. This was copied by the interior, from which the accompanying Michael O'Clery, ir. 1629, from " an old illustration has been reproduced and en- and difficult blackish manuscript of parch-
graved on the wood by Gregor Grey. ment. "
September 23. ] LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. 499
the Gospels, hymns, and poems ; articles of apparel belonging to the Saints of Ireland ; and a few relics of St. Paul and the Virgin Mary ; the aggregateofwhichmusthavefilledalargebox. ThisReliquaryseemsto have been deposited in a place, originally called Cnoc-na-maoile,*4 but afterwards known from the foregoing circumstances as Serin Adamhnain, or Adamnan's Shrine. At present, the place is denominated Skreen, a parish church^ in the diocese of Killala, county of Sligo, barony of Tireragh. It is bounded on the north by Sligo Bay. There he is locally called Awnaun, and his well is situated a little to the east of the old church, at the other side of the road. From this well, the townland Toberawnaun46 derives its name. Between it and the townlaud Soodry runs the Dunmoran Stream. Over this rivulet, in connexion with a boreen, is the Drehid or "
Awnawn, Bridge of Adamnan," formed of a flag nine feet long, nine inches broad and two feet high, resting on two stones in the bed of the stream. It does not fill the whole breadth of the rivulet, so that at either end there is a vacant space between it and the bank. The natives say it was formed by the Saint, for
his convenience in going from his church to the strand. *? That shrine of
8 for it was afterwards removed to Iona. There it was regarded as a very sacred object. ** It seems probable, however, that there were two shrines called after Adamnan, the later, con-
1 taininghisownremains;5°theother,* containingthemiscellaneousobjects
mentioned in the catalogue. This latter was in after time coupled with his name, and preserved in his church of Skreen.
In the contemporary statements of Venerable Bede S2 and Ceolfrid, we
have the highest testimony borne to our Saint's character, for his proficiency in ecclesiastical and secular learning," and for all those virtues, which
Adamnan seems to have been
portable/
nani, cap. viii. , p. 337.
satchels in which the early ecclesiastics used to carry about their books. In the present
46
Resolvable into CobAft . <V6. Arrm. Ain.
notes on this name de Tir Fhiachrach, de
44 See the
in O'Donovan's " John
pp. 267, 268. Also, Addenda J. , pp. 416, S. Farannani, n. 42, p. 340. He pro-
interesting
vide — in qua, plura
Genealogies,
and Customs of Hy-Fiachrach," nn. (s. t. ), Sanctorum Hiberniae.
"
Februarii xv. Vita
417.
45 The site of the church is an old grant .
The Life of Farannan relates, that Tibraide, son of Maelduin, Lord of Hy-Fiachrach, bestowed upon St. Columba and his frater-
nity three pleasant portions of ground, one
"
nani dictus. "— "Acta Sanctorum Colgan's
mised to give a Catalogue of the relics contained in this shrine, when he should deal with the Life of St. Adamnan ; but needless to state, he did not live to fulfil that promise.
s° Referred to in the Annals at A. d. 727 and 730. This would allow but twenty- three years' interval between his death and the enshrinement of his remains,
of which
dicebatur, postea a S. Adamnano Abbate, Serin Adhamhnain, i. e. , Scrinium S. Adam-
locus isto sevo Cnoc-na-maoile
Tribes notis ad vitam S. Adamnani. " "Acta
calls it a Hibernise," Februarii xv. Vita S. Faran- which is the term used for the leathern
4? Some additions were
it, inordertocompletethecontinuityofthe path, but they were speedily removed, as foreign to the original design. The church derives its name from Adamnan's shrine, which was preserved there.
the words m instance, ciAij
48 That was the shrine which Cilline Droicthech, the fourteenth Abbot of Hy, son of Dicolla, brought to Erin to make peace and friendship between the Cinel Conaill and Cinel
:
commences thus " O fair youth, noble is
the theca thou hast taken upon thy back. " 52 See " Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis
Anglorum," lib. v. , cap. xv. , xxi.
S3 Mr. Pinkerton declares, he considers
49
age ; again,
most complete piece of such biography that
Eoghain.
Colgan couples this shrine with the
Adamnan's Life of St. Columkille, as " one of the most curious monuments of the literature of that " and as " the
formerly
made to
have the interlineal gloss . i. m fejiine, "the Shrine. " It was probably of leather, for the recital
Church of Skreen, and observes: "Est all Europe can boast of. "
ecclesia multorum reliquiis nobilis et into the History of Scotland," vol. i. veneranda, Dicecesis Kill-aladen, in regione Preface, p. xlviii.
SI The ancient
Catalogue
ciaj,
—"An
Enquiry
5oo LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. [September 23.
become truly ornamental to the Christian priest. Alcuin, who flourished at a later period in the same century, ranks Adamnan with the most celebrated
among his country's saints. 5* In the Vision, he is styled the noble sage of
the Western World 55 and his life ascribes the combined virtues of Patriarch ;
andApostletohim. Fordunsays,thatoursaintwasdistinguishedbothfor his virtues and miracles, and that he was scrupulously exact in citing authority for every statement he made, in writing on matters pertaining to history. 56 The Four Masters add, that he was a good man, according to
the testimony of Bede, for he was tearful, penitent, given to prayer, diligent, ascetic, temperate ; that he never used to eat except on Sundays and Thurs- days; thathemadeaslaveofhimselftothesevirtues; moreover,thathewas
wise and learned in clearly understanding the Holy Scriptures of God. 57
A holy bishop called Arculf, who was an intelligent native of Gaul,58 and who was a highly credible witness for what he had seen in distant countries,
spent nine months in the city of Jerusalem. During that time, he daily visited all the Holy Places in and around the city. It appears, that Arculf had travelled to Jerusalem, for the purpose of visiting its sacred localities. He traversed all Judea, besides visiting Damascus, Constantinople, Alex- andria, and many islands in the adjacent seas. Returning to his own country in a vessel, and owing to the violence of a tempest, he was carried towards the western shores of Britain. ^ That prelate, was a learned Scripturian, and he had a full knowledge concerning those places, rendered sovenerablebecauseoftheirconnectionwiththeworld'sRedeemer. After many adventures, he came to Adamnan, by whom he was most joyfully received as a guest. The abbot, also, became a willing listener to accounts given by the bishop, regarding the Holy Land, and which he deemed worthy of being recorded. 60 Arculf related all he had seen, and delineated on waxedtablets6lcertaindiagramstoillustratehisdescriptions. Thisaccount was faithfully checked and revised, before it was committed to parchment for
the
it to writing. ^
Adamnan
After the publication
The body of this edition contains 388 pages, and it was published at
Perigueux, in France, A. D. 1870.
59 This incident, mentioned by Bede,
proves that Arculf visited Adamnan in Hy,
andnotinIreland. Nomentionofitoccurs, "
purposes
Immediately afterwards,
consigned
of readers. 62
This treatise lay long in manuscript.
s* " Patricius, Cheranus, Scotorum gloria gentis,
the sixth century.
Atque Columbanus, Adomnanusatque
Congallus,
Prseclari patres, morum vitaeque magistri,
His precibus pietas horum nos however, in the tract, De Locis Sanctis," adjuvat omnes. " subsequently written.
—Alcuini
ii. , p. 219, Ed. Ratisbon, 1777, fol. 55 Thus: ** xVOAmnAn Ua
"
^ M. Martial " Essai sur les opera. " Epigrammata, tomus In Delpit's
anciens P6lerinages a Jerusalem" may be Chm-oe found, towards the close of the First Volume, the text of three Books of Adamnan, on St. s6 See " Scotichronicon," lib. iii. , 49, CI, Arculph's Pilgrimage to Jerusalem, with the
AjroecnAi-o iajicaiji -DomAin. "
57 See Dr. O'Donovan's "Annals of the various readings of MSS. 6l
Four Masters," vol. i. , pp. 304 10307. This interesting record is an important s8 M. Martial Delpit has published an item in the history of writing, as showing octavo volume intituled; "Essai sur les the collateral and respective uses among the anciens P61erinages a Jerusalem" in xxx Irish of waxed tablets and membranes for
pages, prefixed to the text of Arculphe's literary purposes, towards the close of the Pilgrimage. This was taken from a Manu- seventh century.
script of the thirteenth century, which
6a Thus Adamnan writes in this tract :
to a collection of the ancient " abbey at Cadouin, in the Diocese of Peri- gueux. Besides this, he found another tract
on a similar subject and an earlier account,
by St. Anthony de Plaisanci, belonging to
belonged
Cujus
mihi formam in tabula cerata Arculfus ipse depinxit ;" and again, "juxta exemplar quod mihi Arculfus in paginola
figuravit cerata depinximus. "
63 The venerable Bede adds;
"
Fecitque
September 23. ] LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. 501
of Cardinal Baronius' great historical work,6* in which the author accepted implicitly the statements by Arculfus, he was severely criticised by Isaac Casaubon ; when, in order to vindicate Baronius, the laborious Jesuit Jacob Gretser undertook to publish the entire treatise,65 and in his Prologomina to it, he vigourously assails Casaubon for having impugned the authenticity of
66
This treatise M De Locis Sanctis " 6? is mentioned by Venerable Bede, as
Adamnan's genuine work. In the Vatican Library and at Corbey, manuscript copies of it are preserved, both of which have been used by Mabillon, who has published it. There are other copies at St. Germanus a Pratis,68 of the
at Berne, of the ninth and tenth centuries 69 at of eighth century ; ; Saltzburg,
the ninth or tenth century 7° and at Rheinau, of the eleventh centuryJ1 ;
There is another in the British Museum,? 3 of the fourteenth century. 73 The
tractopenswithaprologue 74invokingfirstthethreepersonsoftheMost ;
HolyTrinity,beforestatingthetitleandoriginalinceptionofthework. In this tract, Adamnan mentions the tombs of St. Simeon and of St. Joseph at Jerusalem, many relics of the Passion of Christ, the impression of the feet of our Saviour on Mount Olivet, covered with a round church having a hole open on the top, and over the place where the impression of the footsteps was to be seen. He also mentions grasshoppers in the deserts of the Jordan, and which the common people eat, boiled with oil ; as also a portion of the cross in the Rotunda Church of Constantinople, and which was exposed on a golden altar during the three last days of Holy Week, when the emperor, court, army, clergy, and others went there to kiss the sacred wood. 75
The two chief literary works associated with the name of Adamnan are the Tract intituled " De Locis Sanctis," and the " Vita St. Columbae. " Already have we briefly described and criticised the latter work, when
Arculfus' statements on insufficient information.
recording the Life of the great Archimandrite. ?
6
In his account of Adamnan,
John of Trittenham,77 altogether omits his having been the author of St. Columba's Acts, while some of his less celebrated writings are noted. Cave
opus ut dixi, multum utile, et maxime illis, qui longius ab eis locis, in quibus patriarchse
et apostoli erant, secreti, ea tan—tum de his, quse lectione didicerint, norunt. " "Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis Anglorum," lib. v. , cap. xv.
64 See "Annales Ecclesiastici," tomus viii. ,
Ibid. , pp. 129, 132. Again we are told, "ce MS. — etoit dans la bibliotheque de
Corbie. " Ibid. , p. 355. It is probably the
Corbey manuscript which was collated by Mabillon.
^ Report of the Record Commission. Appendix A. , pp. 31, 46.
Annus
6s With the title
7°See ibid
7I See ibid. ,
7* It is classed Codex Cotton, Tiberius,
D. v. , pars ii. , pp. 156 a to 184 £.
73 Though copied by an ignorant scribe,
and imperfect, it contains some valuable various readings. It has been collated by the Rev. Dr. Reeves.
74 See Mabillon's ''Acta Sanctorum Or- dinis S. Benedicti," sec. iii. , pars ii. , p. 456. Venetiis, 1734.
" See the Rev. Alban Butler's "Lives of
J. C. 699,
sect, x. ,
201. 203.
:
xi. , p. 543.
" Adamnani Abbatis
p. p.
Hiiensis Libri tres de Locis Sanctis ex Relatione Arculfi, Episcopi Galli. "
'6 See Leslie Stephen's "Dictionary of National Biography,"—vol. i. , art. Adamnan
or Adomnan (625? 704) by John T. Gilbert, p. 93.
67 Gretser 'sedition of this work, published at Ingoldst, a. d. 1619, was printed from a manuscript sent to him by Father Rosweyd, " ex intima Holandia. " See Prolegomina, p. 22.
the Fathers, Martyrs, and other principal 68 See Rev. Dr. O'Connor's " Rerum Saints," vol. ix. , September xxiii.
Hibernicarum Scriptores," tomus i. Epistola Nuncupatoria, p. 142. It is described in the " Nouveau Traite de Diplomatique," tomus iii. , p. 66, as "de S. Germain des Pres,
76 See at the 9}h of June, in the Sixth Volume of this work, Art. i. , the Life of St. Columkille or Columba, Abbot of lona, and Apostle of Caledonia, chap. i.
and as "un
ecriture ordinaire du viii. au ix. siecle. "
e—n
77 See " ticorum," fol. 1. a.
num. 844,"
petit in-folio,
Catalogus Scriptorum Ecclesias-
502 LIVESOFTHEIRISHSAINTS. [September23.
incorrectly states, that Surius, at the 9th of June, published Adamnan's Life
of St. Columba and that Serarius was the first editor of the tract, " De ;
8
LocisTerrse Sanctse," published at Ingolstad, in 1619. 7
that the genuineness of Adamnan's Vita S. Columbae should be called in
question by Sir James Dalrymple. Defending the Presbyterian views of Church government,79 in the spirit of sectarian controversy, he found it con- venient to throw discredit on a certain anecdote,80 therein contained. The Rev. Robert King states, that the fact of Bede being silent about Adamnan having written St. Columba's Life, if it be not sufficient evidence to disprove his authorship, seems to indicate, at least, that Bede was not aware of its
his 81 the Rev. Dr. Giles considers Adamnan being composition. Again,
"
only as the reputed author of a
that he had written it. 82 However, as the Rev. Dr. Reeves observes, it is to be hoped his doubts originated in a different style of research from that which made Bede's Columcille an island,83 and Dearmach the same as
86
8? and he considered the
from what was to be found in the body of the Biography. However,
a critic and 80 who studied with a full scholar,
Adamnan,
style
of that Preface88 it to differ proved
title,
apud Hyienses floruerunt, ejusmodi nugasesseconscriptas. " —" De Ecclesiastics BritonumScotorumque
79Inananonymouspublication,bearingthe
Sage," p.
Edinburgh, 17 14.
"AVindication of the Ecclesiastical
vii. litera Seeculo, quo
Part of Sir James Dalrymple's Historical
Collections, in answer to a late Pamphlet,
intituled, The Life of The Rev. Mr. John
21.
80 Which occurs in lib. i. , cap. 44.
81 See " Primer of the Church History ef
Life of St. Columba," having strong doubts
84 APrussian 8* toa ofBritish clergyman, extending portion
Derry.
the enlightenment of German criticism, objected,
to be met with in the Life by Adamnan ; while he considered, that the Prologue title to that Life induced suspicion of its having been written by
of the remarks, that had the writer in question consulted a good edition00 of Adam-
"
nan's
Prologue and the remainder of the work. Had he gone further, he might have found the Bollandists' remarks upon this subject. As to the Apology, the matter is different from the biographical narrative ; while the style and
anguage are so similar to the rest, that only the architect of a paradox could discernanydifferenceinthematerials. Whatevermaybethoughtaboutexter- nal proofs of genuineness, there is internal evidence in the Life on many points, to satisfy all just critics. 01 Where there is any slight variation, the Life tells
Vita S. Columb»," he might have solved that difficulty regarding the
78 See "
toria Literaria, vol. i. , Saeculum Monothele- ticum, p. 594.
85 Carolus Guilielmus Schsel.
Scriptorum
Ecclesiasticorum His-
Ireland," vol. i. , book ii. , chap, xi. , p. 342. Sancti scriptoris a librario esse praeposi-
82 See Dr. Giles' edition of Bede's " Eccle- siastical History" in Bohn's Antiquarian Library, p. 264. London, 1847.
tum nemo non videt, apologiam vero, quae tam stylo ac sermone quam re aliena sit a
Vita ipsa, ficticiam esse, facile apparet. "
88 Pinkerton also takes the spurious title
"
•3 The "British Critic" noticed this error
in the translation of Bede, book v. , chap. i.
However, Dr. Giles corrected it in his 456. See Vita S. Columbae, p. 53.
secondedition. Seep. 248.
84 See Bede, p. 114. The derivation of
Dalrieda, namely, Dal-Ri-Eta, " the por-
•TheRev. Dr. Reeves.
90 As, for instance, that of Colgan.
91 Thus, 1. It was written by an ecclesias- tion of King Eta," in p. 7 ; and the charac- tic living in lona insula (pp. 176, 181)
ter of Hy as " one of the most fertile" of the
Scottish islands, in p. 1 1 3, are not borne out by record or fact.
styled nostra (pp. 12, 178), in which was nostrum monasterium (pp. 58, 72, 1 77) ; 2. By the superior of the Monastery (pp.
86
:
to the Life by Adamnan " Hsec ipsa adeo
fabulis est obscurata, ut vix credi possit,
Historic Fontibus," p. 61, Berolini, 1851.
8? He continues autem Vitae : Prologi
suspicionem mihi faciunt, quorum titulum
" Praefatio Apologiaque Adamnani Abbatis "
It seems strange,
antiquities that trifles and fables are
knowledge
subject,
In a dissertation, he writes in reference
from Canisius'
Varise Lectiones," pp. 3,
September 23. ] LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. 5°3
its own for it story,
to be a 2 Of Adamnan's two compilation. 9
professes
admittedly genuine Latin Works, the tract u De Locis Sanctis" is the better
written, and more flowing in style ; yet it bears a striking resemblance to the other in language and construction, as also in the use of peculiar words and
The reader will observe, remarks the Rev Dr. Reeves, a liberal employment of diminutives, so characteristic of Irish composition ; and he will find them, in many cases, used without grammatical force, and com- mutable in the same chapters with their primitives. The same tendency is observable among verbs in the use of frequentatives and intensitives. He delights in the distributive numerals, instead of cardinals, and in the adjective termination ax where admissible. He uses the pluperfect for the perfect,andthenominativeinsteadoftheablativeabsolute. Heoccasionally employsGreek,orGreco-Latinwords; andinafewinstances,heintroduces Irish and Hiberno-Latin expressions. " Proper names^ he sometimes inflects according to the rules of Irish grammar. In a Latin narrative they present an anomalous appearance. Above all, the artificial, and often unnatural, interweaving of his words, in long sentences, and the oft-recurring ablative absolute in awkward position, will strike the reader as remarkable features of Adamnan's style,
In the Tripartite Life, it is twice stated, that Adamnan wrote a Life of
Festilogy,' consisting of seven quatrains and a-half, comes under the head of spurious writings ascribed to Adamnan. The poem on the Remis-
sion of the Boromean tribute, containing fifty-two stanzas, though bearing his name, is hardly compatible with his religious character. 97 A work " Historia Hibernorum ab Origine ad sua Tempora," is mentioned by
Ward,98 as also an "Epitome metrica triginta Voluminum Legum Hibernicarum ;"99 but, like the preceding, they are probably some
phrases.
St. Patrick. 95 To him are ascribed certain
verses, attributed to him, as also the Four Masters. 97 His alleged Feilire, or
*
92Wemightaswelldenythegenuineness of Bede's " Ecclesiastical History," because
Segineus (pp. 16, 26) ; 3. By one who con-
versed with those who had heard S. and another from Constantius, without Columba's voice (p. 73); who conversed acknowledgment. withapersonwhorememberedthenight 93SuchasHi,andHininglas. Thusalso on which S. Columba died (p. 238) ; who maic, the genitive of mac.
conversed with the acquaintances of St. 94 Thus, Ferguso, (p. 8) ; Aido, (pp. n, Columba's friends (pp. 50, 85, 237) , who 36, 41, 45, 82, 125) in the genitive ; conversed with a person who had witnessed
the battle of Dun-Ceithim in 629 (p. 95) ;
who knew an early friend of the St. Fintan
who died in 635 (p. 22) ; who conversed Cellach, (p. 65);Colgion and Colgen, gen. with the nephew of his predecessor, Virg-
nous, who died in 623 (p. 225) ; who was
living when the battle of Magh-Rath took
place (p. 200) ; who witnessed the ravages (p. 220) ; Draigniche, gen. of Draignech,
16,26,223tit. ); whoseimmediateprede- cessor was Falbeus, and he a successor of
of the great Pestilence (p. 182) ; who was (PP- 45, 255).
a personal friend of King Aldfrid (p. 185) ; 95 See Colgan s " Trias Thaumaturga," who lived when the house of Gabhran was Septima Vita S. Patricii, lib. i. , cap. Ixx. , p. declining (p. 201; ; 4. By one whose name 128, and lib. hi. , cap. xcix. , p. 167.
was Adamnan (pp. 16, 95, 225, 238). Here
is an accumulation of evidence which should
satisty any mind, and the more so, as it is
for the most part undesigned and incidental,
the internal counterpart of the writer's own
declaration ; "Hujus ergo prsemissae narra- the piety of the writer, especially in one
tionis testes, non bini tantum vel terni, secundum legem, sed centenni et amplius
particular passage.
"See " Sancti Rumoldi Martyris Inclyti,
&c, Acta, &c. " Dissertatio Historica de
adhuc extant. " (pp. 17, 182).
poems. Tighernach9
an early chapter is borrowed from Gildas,
Comgill, gen. of Comgall, (p. 32) ; Domnill, gen. of Domnall, (p. 201) ; Fechureg, gen. of Fiachrach, (p. 45, 225) ; Cellaig, gen. of
of Colgu, (pp. 65, 82); Ainmurech, gen. of Ainmire (pp. 91, 201) ; Loigse, gen. of Loigis, (p. 210) ; Leathain, gen. of Liathan,
96 At the year 695.
9? See Dr. O'Donovan's "Annals of the
Four Masters," at A.
