Although
divisions
prevailed among the German nations contending for supremacy, and although the Romans took care to foment and avail of those dissensions ; yet, were they unable to effect more thananoccasionalandaprecarioussupremacy.
O'Hanlon - Lives of the Irish Saints - v7
The Very Rev.
Matthew McQuaid, P.
P.
and V.
F.
, delegated by the Right Rev.
Dr.
Browne, Bishop of the diocese, officiated on the occa- sion.
8* This church was afterwards completed, in an excellent architectural style, and it was opened in honour of Franconia's and Ireland's illustrious Apostolic Bishop and Martyr.
The Catholic church in the beautiful vale of Clara, near Glendalough, county ofWicklow, was authorized to be dedicated to SS.
Patrick and Kilian.
85 Its situation is in a secluded spot, beside the rushing Avonmore River, a few miles above where it unites with the Avonbeg, at the celebrated " Meeting of the Waters/' In the United States of America, we find churches and schools dedicated to St.
Kilian, at Fond du Lac County, at Hartford, Washington County, and at Hudson, Walworth County, State of Wisconsin, in the Archdiocese of Milwaukee ; as also, in the Diocese of Green Bay, and at New Franklin, Brown County.
From an early period, the Martyrologies and Calendars have recorded the FeastofthoseholyMartyrs. Thus,intheHieronymiancopyofUsuard,belong-
86
ing to Lucca, there is an insertion ;
to St. Martin, at Treves. 8? The Martyrologists, Wandalbert,88 Raban,89 and Ado, or his interpolator, placed it, on the 8th of the Ides of July ; while the principal festival of those Martyrs has been assigned to this date, the pre- sumed anniversary of their Martyrdom. Notkerhas rather lengthened notices
of those saints, and evidently drawn from ancient Acts, closely corresponding with those referred to, in the earlier paragraphs of the present biography.
Trithemius, Ghinnius, Bucelin, Maurolycus, Felicius, Galesinius, Dorgan, and Menard, have a record of their Festival, and of the saints' names, more or less
wrought by Herr Arnold Fussenging, an emi- nent Bavarian artist, and now mounted over the
high altar of the church, was a personal gift of the Dean, to whom the credit of erecting the whole of this handsome church is due.
84 The foregoing account has been taken
from a contemporaneous newspaper, the
Catholic Telegraph of July 18th, 1857. It had
been sent by a local correspondent.
85 By His Eminence Paul Cardinal Cullen,
:
89Hewrites "InpagoAustrioe,etcastro,
nomine Wirziburg, juxta Moiii fluvium, sanctorum natale Chiliani martyris et duo- rum sociorum ejus, qui ab Hibernia Scoto- rum insula venientes, nomen Christi in dictis locis pnedicaverum ibique ob veritatis confessionem, a quodam judice iniquo, no- mine Gosberto, trucidati sunt, etposteamul- tis signis veri Christi Martyres esse clarue- runt. "
on November at of 14th, 1864, request
Very
9° Thus " in Germania : Herbipoli
Rev. Richard Galvin, P. P. , Rathdrum.
8° " In Austria, passio S. Kiliani. " The Bollandist Soller deems this to have been an
sancti Chiliani Episcopi, qui a Romano Pontifice ad praedicandum Evangelium missus, cum
as also, in an old Martyrology, belonging
multis ad Christum perduxisset, una cum addition to the sociis Colomano — et Totnano
original. ""
*7 Thus entered
Ermipolis nuncupatur, Kyliani episcopi et
martyris. "
88 He states :
"
S. Kiliane bishop of h*er-
In
Octavo ante Idus Cilianum Procopi- umque. "
et cono trucidatus est. "
Editio novissima, Romae, 1878, fol.
9I Thus, in Bishop Forbes' " Kalendars of
"
Scottish Saints:''
bipolis Scotismon vnder heraclius. 630. " Seep. 157.
:
Vuirceburg, quae
Maityrologium Romanum Gregorii XIII. ," &c, p. 98.
Presbytero Dia-
prse-
i 4 2 LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. [July 8.
exactly rendered. The Roman Martyrology has a succinct and an accurate entry regarding them, and likewise at this date. 9° In nearly ail the more recent Acts, Martyrologies and Calendars of Saints, in like manner are to be foundplacedthenamesofSaintsKilian,ColmanandTotnan. IntheScot- tish Kalendars, St. Kilian and his companions are entered, at the 8th of July, viz. : in Adam King's Kalendar^1 and in Dempster's Menologium Scoticum. 92 Also, their feast is set down in R. Chambers' " Book of Days. "93 In reference—evidently to these Martyrs—there is a curious entry 94 placed in the Martyrology of Tallagh,^ at this day, the 8th of July, in honour of St. Celian, a Scottish Martyr, with his holy brethren, Aedh and Tadg, with Anurma,wifetotheKingoftheGoths. Weareinformed,thattheywere massacred by the prefect of the Royal Palace, and in the Hippodrome of the king's residence. On Convceus' List of Irish Saints, St. Chilianus, St. Colo- natus or Colomanus, and Totnanus, Martyrs, are set down at the 8th of
6 Father Fitz-simon has also Totnanus, at this same date, and Henry
July. 9
as he states, by universal assent. 97 Father Stephen White 98 commemorates
these three holy companions, Kilianus, Colonatus and Totnanus, martyrs, at the present date. The martyrdom of these three saints is noted in Vene- rable Bede's Martyrology,99 according to the statement of Father Stephen White. 100 For this introduction, the Roman Martyrology is quoted. At the 8th of July, veneration was given to Kilianus, Colmanus et Colonatus,
Totnanus, Diaconus, according to the Martyrology of Donegal.
101
There is
a Cillian, son of Dodhnan, adds the calendarist, at the 23rd of October. Then
he " inde error 102 but the writer of this note intended says : ;" probably only
it for a memorandum, to guide himself or his readers to a better intelligence, regarding the present Kilian or the Cillian, son of Dodnan, entered by him at the 23rd of October. At the same date, in the Martyrology of Donegal, 103 we
find the names of Cele-clerech, Bishop, Aedh, and Tadhg. 10* These three 10
suffered Martyrdom, in Uairseburg, s in Almania.
91 Thus : "In Franconia Kiliani, Totnani, Martyris et sociorum (Colonati et Totnani) Colmani et Ervvaldi monachorum, gentis ejus, qui de Ibernia Scotorum insula,
Apostolor—um, qui a Geilana martyris affici jussi, M. " Ibid. , p. 205.
venientes, nomen Christi in prasdictis locis
praedicaverunt, ibique ob confessionem veri-
93 See vol. ii. , July 8, col. 555.
martyris cum Sanctis fratribus Aedh ocus
tatis sub quodam judice Dosberto trucidati 94 It runs thus: " S. Celiani Scotti sunt, et multis postea signis veri Christi
ocus Amarma Gotho- conjuge Regis
martyres esse claruerunt. "
pp. 22, 23.
MI Edited by Drs. Todd and Reeves, pp.
Tadg
rum truncati a prepositodomus regiaein ippo-
dromia Palatii regis. " These words are
from a gloss to Marianus O'Gorman's 190, 191.
I02 A note Dr. Todd at Inde error: Martyrology. by says
95 Edited by Rev. Dr. Kelly, p. xxviii. u It is not very clear what the error was to 96 Thus: " S. Chilianus Epis. Hiperbo- which our author here alludes. He probably
lensis genere et martyris nobilissimus.
meant the error in the name. He does not, however, quote the Mart. Rom. correctly; perhaps for " Colmanus et Colonatus," we should read Colmanus vel Colonatus. "
103 Edited by Drs. Todd and Reeves, pp.
190, 191.
I04 There can be no doubt, that the
Chilianus of the Rom—an Martyrology, and
"
Colomanus, et Totnanus martyres et socii
Wiziburgi. 8 Julii. "
S. Colonatus, seu
beati Chiliani Albiniaci. 8 Julii. "
See ibid. ,
cap. x. , p. 48.
97 See O'Sullevan Beare's Historic
" Catholicae Iberniae Compendium," tomus i. ,
lib. iv. , cap. xii. , pp. 55, 57.
98 This writer remarks
tres martyres, Gyralde. " See "Apologia
pro Hibernia," cap. ii. , p. 15, cap. iii. , p. 23.
99 In these terms
pago Austria et Castro nomine Wurtzbourg, juxta Maenum fluvium, natale S. Kiliani
:
:
martyrs notwithstanding
"en tibi novos
his fellow
the are the same as
" Octavo idus Julii in
variation in the names—
Cele-clerech, Aedh, and Tadg.
ios A note by Dr. Todd says at Uairse-
burg : "i. e. , Wirtzburg in Franconia. " The more recent hand adds here in Roman letters, u Vide aliter apud. M. Taml. "
I0° See iii. , "Apologia pro Hibernia," cap.
July 8. ] LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. 143
With regard to the great Apostles of Gentile nations, we may safely assert, that the person, who imparts Christian knowledge to those who have it not, islikeonewhogivessighttoablindman. Heisatrueenlightenerofmen. Although, indeed, the words of a preacher may contain little that is very striking or remarkable, and although intellectually, the holy man may be below mediocrity ; yet, the true preacher knows how to teach old and young, the doctrines and precepts of Jesus, with a startling and an awakening freshness, which present them as with a voice of power, thrilled and inspired by an eloquence from on high. When this is felt by his hearers to be earnest, and when it is known his own life is one of self-sacrifice, the mustard seed soon begins to take root and to grow into a large tree. The labours and zeal of those Apostles of Franconia, as on this day celebrated, flourished and faded, for a brief time ; but, their blood sealed and watered that soil, where they preached words of efficacy. In after time, the withered plant revived, and it became that seed, which gave many Christians to the Church.
ARTICLE II. —ST. DISIBOD, BISHOP AND CONFESSOR. [SEVENTH AND EIGHTH CENTURIES. ] CHAPTER I.
INTRODUCTION—STATE OF GERMANY IN PAGAN AND EARLY CHRISTIAN TIMES—BIOGRA- PHIES OF ST. DISEN OR ST. DYSIBOD—HIS IRISH BIRTH—HIS YOUTHFUL DISPOSI- TIONS AND EDUCATION—ADVANCED TO THE PRIESTHOOD—ELECTED AS BISHOP— TRIALS AND DIFFICULTIES IN HIS NEW POSITION—HE RESOLVES TO LEAVE IRELAND FOR A DISTANT COUNTRY.
not wholly reliable in all statements, the most valuable and
authentic account of we is that furnished ALTHOUGH Pagan Germany 1 possess by
the celebrated Roman historian, Caius Cornelius Tacitus. 2 We are, however, more concerned with the subsequent state and condition of that most impor- tant country, which extended from the Rhine to the Vistula, and from the Danube to the German Ocean and the Baltic Sea. 3 According to Rhineland tradition, the first teacher of Christianity, Crescens or Clemens, came with the twenty-second Roman Legion, which had been with Titus in Palestine. Afterwards, it was quartered at Mainz, about a. d. 78. In Mainz, he began to announce the truths of the Gospel. A teacher, named Eucharius, in Trier or Treves, also aided his efforts, to preach and propagate the Christian Reli- gion throughout that wild tract of country, lying between the Main, the Rhine, the Moselle, and the Saar. In the year from the foundation of Rome 651, or before the birth of Christ, 102, Marius delivered Rome from the
:
Situ, Moribus et Populis Germaniae, pp. 415 to 430. Edinburgi, 1826, 8vo.
3 He was born about the year 810, after the building of Rome, or the year 57, after the birth of Christ. He wrote this Treatise, a. d. 98, M. Cocceius Nerva, Aug. iv. , and M. Ulpius Trajanus Caesar II. being then
—l
1. See A. R. consuls.
Article 11. —Chapter
Carson's edition " C. Cornelii Taciti Opera
ad Fidem optimorum Exemplarium. " De extent. See Rev. Fathers Catrou and
3 Some ancient writers give it even a larger
Rouille's "Roman History; with Notes Historical. Geographical and Critical," done into English from the original French, vol. vi. , book lxii. , sect, xxx. , n. 105, p. 90.
* See Jules Zeller's " Hisioire d'Alle-
magne," tome i. , liv. i. , chap, ii,, sect, ii. , pp. 53 to 62.
144 LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. [July 8.
incursions of the Cimbri and Teutones—who were Germans—for the first time;* afterwards,Caesarmadesomeattemptstorestrainthemfrominvad- ingGaul;5 Drusus,TiberiusandVarusconductedvariousRomanexpeditions against them, and with varying success or reverse f Germanicus in the year of Christ, a. d. 13, made a final attempt to subdue Germany, but notwith- standing his valour and military skill, he did not succeed in re-establishing the Roman dominion there. ?
Although divisions prevailed among the German nations contending for supremacy, and although the Romans took care to foment and avail of those dissensions ; yet, were they unable to effect more thananoccasionalandaprecarioussupremacy. Galbasucceeded,however, in causing the Catti to abandon that district of Germany between the Lahn, the Maine and the Rhine, and it was distributed among the Roman veterans,
8
during the time of the Emperor Caligula.
began to spread ;9 although the vast extent of Germany north and east was notsubjecttoRomandominion. Itseemsprettywellestablished,thatlong before Constantine made Christianity a state religion, it obtained a firm foot-
very interesting glimpse depicting
when the " Mosella w" Idyll
1
the Belgse. ? Long before the age of Disibod and his companions, however,
the Nahegau, and even the wooded country between the Nahe and the
holdIO withinthat
particular territory. "
A the state of that district, about
371,
was written, has been left us by the poet Ausonius. ^ In it, we have a descrip-
graphically
tion of his journey from Mainz to the sources of the Moselle. 14 He crossed
theNaheat 1* andhe Bingen,
the roadovertheHuns- military
passed by
rucken to Neumagen,16 on the Moselle, below Treves, and at the frontiers of
5 See his work " Commentariorum de
Bello Gallico," lib. i. , cap. xxxi. to liv.
6"
See Carlo Denina's Rivoluzioni della
Germania," tomo primo libro i. , capo ii. ,
13 He was a native of Bourdeaux in France, 7 See Histoire des Allemands, traduite and he lived from about the year 320 to
pp. 12 to 21. Fizenze, 1804, 8vo. "
de l'Allemand de Schmidt, par J. C. de la
Profcsseur a tome Veaux, Royal Berlin, i. ,
liv. L, chap, vi. , pp. 66 to 93. A Liege, 1784, et seq. 8vo.
8
These various incidents of early German history are very lucidly set forth, in Jules
"
Histoire d'Allemagne," tome i. , liv. ii. , chap, iv. , pp. 129 to 183.
9 We do not know exactly, what amount
of actual facts underlines the rhetorical
statements of St. Justin Martyn, of St.
Irenaeus, and of Tertullian, when they tell
us, that in the second century of our era, the
Christian religion had not only spread on the Naua or Nahe. There is a common
Zeller's
Transieram celerem nebuloso flumine
Nauam,
Addita miratus veteri nova moenia
Vico,
^Equavit Latias ubi quondam Gallia
throughout the Roman Empire, but among the tribes and peoples beyond, and expressly among the Germans.
10 There Roman remains have from time
readingof Vicum for Vincum, but theltenera- rium Antonini gives the name as Vincum. The modern name could hardly come from Vicum or Vicus.
16 where Constantine estab- Noiomagum,
lished an enormous military settlement, is
easily recognised as Neumagen on the Moselle.
1 The two points at the beginning and end
to time been in considerable found,
quanti- ties. Numerous graves were in and near Kreuznach, in which coins and human re- mains have been found. There are no traces proving the pagan custom of cremation upon
any of the latter. They were uniformly east of the poet's journey being fixed, the old and west in position, which also marks Roman road from Bingen to Treves over the
Christian burial from the earliest times.
"
Herr Heep has some interesting obser- vations regarding the castra stativa, at this northern end of the Ilunsrucken, and in the
Hunsrucken, appears to have been that direc- tion in which the writer pursued his solitary way. Trackless forests spread on either side
of the route.
400. 14
"
The
following
are the
opening
lines
:
—
There, likewise, Christianity
villa rustics around.
12
See "Corpus Poetarum Latinorum," Ausonii Burdigalensis Idyllia, x. , pp. 1091 to 1095.
Cannas,
Infietseque jacent inopes super arva catervae. "
,s The former name of Bingen was Vin- cum. It is easily recognised, by its situation
July 8. ] LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. 14$
Moselle—the Hunsrucken district—bad become Christianized. Mainz and
l8
Treves were the chief cities, from which Christianity flowed out over the
surrounding districts. The scene of Constantine's vision of the cross,T 9 was at Mainz,20 in a. d. 311, when he set out with his legions against Maxentius. The best proof of the extent to which Christianity had spread, during that period, is found in the fact, that from political as well as from religious mo- tives, Constantine found it convenient to recognise its influences. 21 Never- theless, the Christianity of that district seems to have relapsed into heathen- ism, in the age of Disibod. This fact could be easily accounted for, owing to the irruptions of the wild hordes of Alemanni,22 at first, and afterwards of the Franks,23 who overturned the Roman power in Gaul, by their great victory
2
obtained at Soissons, in the year 486. + Under the Romans, colonies of bar-
barian captives had been settled on the Hunsrucken, by Constantine II. ,
statecraft of that 2* who desired people,
about a. d. to the 360, owing
wily
those slaves of their Empire to become interested in holding other conquered
lands than their own. and who expected, in the case of outbreak by their bar- barian neighbours, that the chief victims should be those who had yielded to them in war as enemies, and in whose fate the heartless conquerors felt little direct interest. Perhaps the tenacity, with which the colonists clung to their ancient practices in those districts, which became afterwards the scene of missionary labours for Disibod and for his companions, owed something to
the fact, that the population of those wild-wooded tracts had not benefited by the examples of heroism and self-devotion manifested by the early martyrs and
pastors, whose doctrines began to spread through the better organized and more civilizedprovincesoftheRomanEmpire. TheleaderoftheFranks,KingClovis orChlodoveus certainly did not—in the wilder settlements of his tribe—bring about an entire abandonment of their old paganism, after his conversion to Christianity. So late as the end of the eighth century, we find here in the forests, and under the great oaks, a rustic worship of the old gods, and main- tained by the Frankish settlers, within the episcopal diocese of Worms and Mainz.
From some earlier — as seems most
accounts, probable,
St. Raban M—aur 2(S
28 andMarianusScotus2? orratherhisinterpolatorAbbotDodechinus have
18 With these stations, the Nahegau and 23 These poured across the Rhine, when even the Hunsrucken stood connected by they harried and wasted the country, and
military roads, which remain to this day.
finally settled in the modern provinces of Alsace and Lorraine. See Edward Gibbon's
"
History
man Empire," vol. iv. , chap, xxxviii. , p. 349. Rev. Dr. William Smith's edition.
"* The Franks defeated the Alemanni, A. D.
496, in the decisive battle of Tolbiacum, or
19 This is described in his own Eusebius.
Epistle
to
20
This is the oldest Christian See in Ger-
many.
21 The various convulsions to which Ger-
many had been subjected from the third to
the fifth century are set forth in Jules Albiacum. This is held to be Tulpich, on the
"
liv. ii. , chap, v. , pp. 184 to 264.
Lower Rhine ; or, if we read Albiacum, then
Albich, near Alzir, in the neighbourhood of Kreuznach.
"
p. 125.
" 26 Rivoluzioni della Germania," di Carlo
Zeiller's
Histoire d'Allemagne," tome i. ,
22
The Alemanni for a time were dominant
people, until their superiority was disputed. " La Germania Mendionale e Mediterranea
era tuttaviadaTuringi, da Sassoni, dagli Ale-
manni posseduta. Questi ultnni occupavano
la maggior parte della Svevia, perche gli
Alemanni erano per la piu parte di quelli
Svevi che abitavannoanticamente nella Ger—- Royal a Berlin, tome i. , liv. i. , chap, viii. , mania Settentrionale tra l'Elba e 1 Oder. "
Denina, tomo primo, libro ii. , capo ii. , p. 95.
His Life has been treated of already, in the Secon—d Volume of this work, at Feb-
of the Decline and Fall of the Ro-
2S The Emperor Julian reproached Con- stantine with having been the fiist to elevate the Barbarians to offices of importance in
Histoire des Alemands," traduke de l'Allemand de Schmidt, par J. C. de la Veaux, Professeur
civil and military affairs. See
his
ruary 4th the date for festival. Abou
.
146 LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. [JulyJS. taken their notices of the holy man Dysibod. The Life of this saint was written,
thenincirculation,andwhichwerebutamplifiedinparticularpassages,3* withthe pious reflections of St. Hildegarde. It is very certain, that the narrative is in- volved and intricate, nor can we depend much on its general historical accuracy. The present saint's virtues and labours are commemorated by Molanus, Canisius,andArnoldus. 3* TheAbbotJohnofTrittenheim3<5hasanaccountof St. Disibodus ; as also the Abbot Dodechinus, who was Abbot of Dissenburg, and John Wilson,3? commemorate him. The Acts of this holy missionary and bishop have been included in the collections of Lippeloo, 38 of Surius, 3 ? of the
1
Father John Mabillon has an account of St. Disibodus, in his " Annales Ordinis S. Benedicti. " 42 He is
according
to the direction of Abbot 2^ St. 30 in the Helinger, by Hildegardis,
year 1 1 70. This distinguished woman received her education, at Disibodenberg, from the Abbess Jutta. 31 St. Hildegarde was subsequently the last Abbess over that convent. 32 She tells us, in the beginning of her biography, that she had revelations or some sort of internal monitions to undertake this work. 33 However, it seems probable, that earlier Lives of St. Dysibod were
Bollandists,4° and of the Benedictines. *
his Martyrology, more has been stated in the First Volume. Introduction.
sanctity and austerity, while her revelations have made her celebrated, not alone during her own age, but through all succeeding cen-
27 In G. Waitz's edition of Mariani Scotti
" Chronicon," there is no entry regarding turies. Her feast is celebrated on the 17th
our saint, as may be noticed by referring
to the " Monumental Germania Historica,"
tomus v.
38
This Codex version, of what professes to be the Chronicle of Marianus, has been so filled with local historic incidents, that it
"
might better deserve the title Annales S.
Dysibodi. "—Ibid. , pp. 483, 484.
29 He was the fifth Abbot over the Abbey,
built on Disibodenberg Mount.
30 For nearly one hundred years, after
of September.
33 See the Bollandists' " Acta Sanctorum,"
tomus ii. , Julii viii. De S. Disibodo Episc, et Confess, in Dysenberg, Territorii Mogun- tini, in Germania. Vita auctore S. Hilde- garde moniali. Ex M. S. Maximini Trevi- rensis, in Four chapters and Fifty-four para- graphs, pp. 588 to 597. A previous Com- mentary in Three sections and Thirty-three paragraphs, by the Editor, Father John Baptist Soller, precedes, and notes are added.
34 Such is the opinion of Mabillon, when treating on this subject, in the "Acta Sanc- torum Ordinis S. Benedicti. "
35 See Father Stephen White's "Apologia
pro Hibernia," cap. iv. , pp. 26, 44.
36 In his "Chronicon llirsaugiensis," ad annum Christi 1108. Likewise, in his work " De Viris Illustribus Ordinis S. Benedicti,
lib. eclviii. iii. , cap.
37 "
In his Martyrologium Anglicanum,"
at Julii viii.
The "Vita Sanctorum. " The Third
Volume contains Acts of St. Disibod, Bishop, at July the 8th. See pp. 113 to 119.
39 See Vita St. Disibodi, Confessoris, in
a cloister for nuns of noble families existed at Disibodenberg, as well as the cloisters for the monks. And
" Die Nonnen sangen ; O Christe du bariitigam suss und traut !
Die Monche seufz'ten : Maria, O Komm, du susse Braut I"
31TheAbbess of — — Jutta Disibodenberg
one of the old Sponheim race went through the Glan with dry feet, and she turned water into wine, according to the Legend of her Life.
32 Having found the community of goods between monks and nuns there not quite to her severer taste, she insisted on a separa- tion. With the help of the Counts of . spon- heim and others, after great resistance on the part of the abbot and monks, she accom- plished her object, and founded a new reli- gious Parthenon for herself andhernuns, about 1 1 50, on the Rubertsberg, and on the left bank of the Nahe near Kreuznach. The only male inmate of their house, in that place, was the holy Rupert, a saint who was buried there many hundred years before, in the times of King Pippin. The abbess Hilde- garde has been renowned for extraordinary
1005,
Gcrmannia, in thirty-seven paragraphs of "
Surius, tomus iv. of "Acta Sanctorum, pp. 141 to 148, at Julii viii.
40 See "Acta Sanctorum," tomus ii. , Julii viii. , pp. 581 to 599.
41 In the Appendix to the Fourth Volume
of the "Acta Sanctorum Ordinis S. Bene-
dicti," sax iii. , pars ii. , A. D. 700 to A. D. 800,
is written the Life of St. Disibod, Confessor,
in 8 paragraphs, pp. 496 to 498.
From an early period, the Martyrologies and Calendars have recorded the FeastofthoseholyMartyrs. Thus,intheHieronymiancopyofUsuard,belong-
86
ing to Lucca, there is an insertion ;
to St. Martin, at Treves. 8? The Martyrologists, Wandalbert,88 Raban,89 and Ado, or his interpolator, placed it, on the 8th of the Ides of July ; while the principal festival of those Martyrs has been assigned to this date, the pre- sumed anniversary of their Martyrdom. Notkerhas rather lengthened notices
of those saints, and evidently drawn from ancient Acts, closely corresponding with those referred to, in the earlier paragraphs of the present biography.
Trithemius, Ghinnius, Bucelin, Maurolycus, Felicius, Galesinius, Dorgan, and Menard, have a record of their Festival, and of the saints' names, more or less
wrought by Herr Arnold Fussenging, an emi- nent Bavarian artist, and now mounted over the
high altar of the church, was a personal gift of the Dean, to whom the credit of erecting the whole of this handsome church is due.
84 The foregoing account has been taken
from a contemporaneous newspaper, the
Catholic Telegraph of July 18th, 1857. It had
been sent by a local correspondent.
85 By His Eminence Paul Cardinal Cullen,
:
89Hewrites "InpagoAustrioe,etcastro,
nomine Wirziburg, juxta Moiii fluvium, sanctorum natale Chiliani martyris et duo- rum sociorum ejus, qui ab Hibernia Scoto- rum insula venientes, nomen Christi in dictis locis pnedicaverum ibique ob veritatis confessionem, a quodam judice iniquo, no- mine Gosberto, trucidati sunt, etposteamul- tis signis veri Christi Martyres esse clarue- runt. "
on November at of 14th, 1864, request
Very
9° Thus " in Germania : Herbipoli
Rev. Richard Galvin, P. P. , Rathdrum.
8° " In Austria, passio S. Kiliani. " The Bollandist Soller deems this to have been an
sancti Chiliani Episcopi, qui a Romano Pontifice ad praedicandum Evangelium missus, cum
as also, in an old Martyrology, belonging
multis ad Christum perduxisset, una cum addition to the sociis Colomano — et Totnano
original. ""
*7 Thus entered
Ermipolis nuncupatur, Kyliani episcopi et
martyris. "
88 He states :
"
S. Kiliane bishop of h*er-
In
Octavo ante Idus Cilianum Procopi- umque. "
et cono trucidatus est. "
Editio novissima, Romae, 1878, fol.
9I Thus, in Bishop Forbes' " Kalendars of
"
Scottish Saints:''
bipolis Scotismon vnder heraclius. 630. " Seep. 157.
:
Vuirceburg, quae
Maityrologium Romanum Gregorii XIII. ," &c, p. 98.
Presbytero Dia-
prse-
i 4 2 LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. [July 8.
exactly rendered. The Roman Martyrology has a succinct and an accurate entry regarding them, and likewise at this date. 9° In nearly ail the more recent Acts, Martyrologies and Calendars of Saints, in like manner are to be foundplacedthenamesofSaintsKilian,ColmanandTotnan. IntheScot- tish Kalendars, St. Kilian and his companions are entered, at the 8th of July, viz. : in Adam King's Kalendar^1 and in Dempster's Menologium Scoticum. 92 Also, their feast is set down in R. Chambers' " Book of Days. "93 In reference—evidently to these Martyrs—there is a curious entry 94 placed in the Martyrology of Tallagh,^ at this day, the 8th of July, in honour of St. Celian, a Scottish Martyr, with his holy brethren, Aedh and Tadg, with Anurma,wifetotheKingoftheGoths. Weareinformed,thattheywere massacred by the prefect of the Royal Palace, and in the Hippodrome of the king's residence. On Convceus' List of Irish Saints, St. Chilianus, St. Colo- natus or Colomanus, and Totnanus, Martyrs, are set down at the 8th of
6 Father Fitz-simon has also Totnanus, at this same date, and Henry
July. 9
as he states, by universal assent. 97 Father Stephen White 98 commemorates
these three holy companions, Kilianus, Colonatus and Totnanus, martyrs, at the present date. The martyrdom of these three saints is noted in Vene- rable Bede's Martyrology,99 according to the statement of Father Stephen White. 100 For this introduction, the Roman Martyrology is quoted. At the 8th of July, veneration was given to Kilianus, Colmanus et Colonatus,
Totnanus, Diaconus, according to the Martyrology of Donegal.
101
There is
a Cillian, son of Dodhnan, adds the calendarist, at the 23rd of October. Then
he " inde error 102 but the writer of this note intended says : ;" probably only
it for a memorandum, to guide himself or his readers to a better intelligence, regarding the present Kilian or the Cillian, son of Dodnan, entered by him at the 23rd of October. At the same date, in the Martyrology of Donegal, 103 we
find the names of Cele-clerech, Bishop, Aedh, and Tadhg. 10* These three 10
suffered Martyrdom, in Uairseburg, s in Almania.
91 Thus : "In Franconia Kiliani, Totnani, Martyris et sociorum (Colonati et Totnani) Colmani et Ervvaldi monachorum, gentis ejus, qui de Ibernia Scotorum insula,
Apostolor—um, qui a Geilana martyris affici jussi, M. " Ibid. , p. 205.
venientes, nomen Christi in prasdictis locis
praedicaverunt, ibique ob confessionem veri-
93 See vol. ii. , July 8, col. 555.
martyris cum Sanctis fratribus Aedh ocus
tatis sub quodam judice Dosberto trucidati 94 It runs thus: " S. Celiani Scotti sunt, et multis postea signis veri Christi
ocus Amarma Gotho- conjuge Regis
martyres esse claruerunt. "
pp. 22, 23.
MI Edited by Drs. Todd and Reeves, pp.
Tadg
rum truncati a prepositodomus regiaein ippo-
dromia Palatii regis. " These words are
from a gloss to Marianus O'Gorman's 190, 191.
I02 A note Dr. Todd at Inde error: Martyrology. by says
95 Edited by Rev. Dr. Kelly, p. xxviii. u It is not very clear what the error was to 96 Thus: " S. Chilianus Epis. Hiperbo- which our author here alludes. He probably
lensis genere et martyris nobilissimus.
meant the error in the name. He does not, however, quote the Mart. Rom. correctly; perhaps for " Colmanus et Colonatus," we should read Colmanus vel Colonatus. "
103 Edited by Drs. Todd and Reeves, pp.
190, 191.
I04 There can be no doubt, that the
Chilianus of the Rom—an Martyrology, and
"
Colomanus, et Totnanus martyres et socii
Wiziburgi. 8 Julii. "
S. Colonatus, seu
beati Chiliani Albiniaci. 8 Julii. "
See ibid. ,
cap. x. , p. 48.
97 See O'Sullevan Beare's Historic
" Catholicae Iberniae Compendium," tomus i. ,
lib. iv. , cap. xii. , pp. 55, 57.
98 This writer remarks
tres martyres, Gyralde. " See "Apologia
pro Hibernia," cap. ii. , p. 15, cap. iii. , p. 23.
99 In these terms
pago Austria et Castro nomine Wurtzbourg, juxta Maenum fluvium, natale S. Kiliani
:
:
martyrs notwithstanding
"en tibi novos
his fellow
the are the same as
" Octavo idus Julii in
variation in the names—
Cele-clerech, Aedh, and Tadg.
ios A note by Dr. Todd says at Uairse-
burg : "i. e. , Wirtzburg in Franconia. " The more recent hand adds here in Roman letters, u Vide aliter apud. M. Taml. "
I0° See iii. , "Apologia pro Hibernia," cap.
July 8. ] LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. 143
With regard to the great Apostles of Gentile nations, we may safely assert, that the person, who imparts Christian knowledge to those who have it not, islikeonewhogivessighttoablindman. Heisatrueenlightenerofmen. Although, indeed, the words of a preacher may contain little that is very striking or remarkable, and although intellectually, the holy man may be below mediocrity ; yet, the true preacher knows how to teach old and young, the doctrines and precepts of Jesus, with a startling and an awakening freshness, which present them as with a voice of power, thrilled and inspired by an eloquence from on high. When this is felt by his hearers to be earnest, and when it is known his own life is one of self-sacrifice, the mustard seed soon begins to take root and to grow into a large tree. The labours and zeal of those Apostles of Franconia, as on this day celebrated, flourished and faded, for a brief time ; but, their blood sealed and watered that soil, where they preached words of efficacy. In after time, the withered plant revived, and it became that seed, which gave many Christians to the Church.
ARTICLE II. —ST. DISIBOD, BISHOP AND CONFESSOR. [SEVENTH AND EIGHTH CENTURIES. ] CHAPTER I.
INTRODUCTION—STATE OF GERMANY IN PAGAN AND EARLY CHRISTIAN TIMES—BIOGRA- PHIES OF ST. DISEN OR ST. DYSIBOD—HIS IRISH BIRTH—HIS YOUTHFUL DISPOSI- TIONS AND EDUCATION—ADVANCED TO THE PRIESTHOOD—ELECTED AS BISHOP— TRIALS AND DIFFICULTIES IN HIS NEW POSITION—HE RESOLVES TO LEAVE IRELAND FOR A DISTANT COUNTRY.
not wholly reliable in all statements, the most valuable and
authentic account of we is that furnished ALTHOUGH Pagan Germany 1 possess by
the celebrated Roman historian, Caius Cornelius Tacitus. 2 We are, however, more concerned with the subsequent state and condition of that most impor- tant country, which extended from the Rhine to the Vistula, and from the Danube to the German Ocean and the Baltic Sea. 3 According to Rhineland tradition, the first teacher of Christianity, Crescens or Clemens, came with the twenty-second Roman Legion, which had been with Titus in Palestine. Afterwards, it was quartered at Mainz, about a. d. 78. In Mainz, he began to announce the truths of the Gospel. A teacher, named Eucharius, in Trier or Treves, also aided his efforts, to preach and propagate the Christian Reli- gion throughout that wild tract of country, lying between the Main, the Rhine, the Moselle, and the Saar. In the year from the foundation of Rome 651, or before the birth of Christ, 102, Marius delivered Rome from the
:
Situ, Moribus et Populis Germaniae, pp. 415 to 430. Edinburgi, 1826, 8vo.
3 He was born about the year 810, after the building of Rome, or the year 57, after the birth of Christ. He wrote this Treatise, a. d. 98, M. Cocceius Nerva, Aug. iv. , and M. Ulpius Trajanus Caesar II. being then
—l
1. See A. R. consuls.
Article 11. —Chapter
Carson's edition " C. Cornelii Taciti Opera
ad Fidem optimorum Exemplarium. " De extent. See Rev. Fathers Catrou and
3 Some ancient writers give it even a larger
Rouille's "Roman History; with Notes Historical. Geographical and Critical," done into English from the original French, vol. vi. , book lxii. , sect, xxx. , n. 105, p. 90.
* See Jules Zeller's " Hisioire d'Alle-
magne," tome i. , liv. i. , chap, ii,, sect, ii. , pp. 53 to 62.
144 LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. [July 8.
incursions of the Cimbri and Teutones—who were Germans—for the first time;* afterwards,Caesarmadesomeattemptstorestrainthemfrominvad- ingGaul;5 Drusus,TiberiusandVarusconductedvariousRomanexpeditions against them, and with varying success or reverse f Germanicus in the year of Christ, a. d. 13, made a final attempt to subdue Germany, but notwith- standing his valour and military skill, he did not succeed in re-establishing the Roman dominion there. ?
Although divisions prevailed among the German nations contending for supremacy, and although the Romans took care to foment and avail of those dissensions ; yet, were they unable to effect more thananoccasionalandaprecarioussupremacy. Galbasucceeded,however, in causing the Catti to abandon that district of Germany between the Lahn, the Maine and the Rhine, and it was distributed among the Roman veterans,
8
during the time of the Emperor Caligula.
began to spread ;9 although the vast extent of Germany north and east was notsubjecttoRomandominion. Itseemsprettywellestablished,thatlong before Constantine made Christianity a state religion, it obtained a firm foot-
very interesting glimpse depicting
when the " Mosella w" Idyll
1
the Belgse. ? Long before the age of Disibod and his companions, however,
the Nahegau, and even the wooded country between the Nahe and the
holdIO withinthat
particular territory. "
A the state of that district, about
371,
was written, has been left us by the poet Ausonius. ^ In it, we have a descrip-
graphically
tion of his journey from Mainz to the sources of the Moselle. 14 He crossed
theNaheat 1* andhe Bingen,
the roadovertheHuns- military
passed by
rucken to Neumagen,16 on the Moselle, below Treves, and at the frontiers of
5 See his work " Commentariorum de
Bello Gallico," lib. i. , cap. xxxi. to liv.
6"
See Carlo Denina's Rivoluzioni della
Germania," tomo primo libro i. , capo ii. ,
13 He was a native of Bourdeaux in France, 7 See Histoire des Allemands, traduite and he lived from about the year 320 to
pp. 12 to 21. Fizenze, 1804, 8vo. "
de l'Allemand de Schmidt, par J. C. de la
Profcsseur a tome Veaux, Royal Berlin, i. ,
liv. L, chap, vi. , pp. 66 to 93. A Liege, 1784, et seq. 8vo.
8
These various incidents of early German history are very lucidly set forth, in Jules
"
Histoire d'Allemagne," tome i. , liv. ii. , chap, iv. , pp. 129 to 183.
9 We do not know exactly, what amount
of actual facts underlines the rhetorical
statements of St. Justin Martyn, of St.
Irenaeus, and of Tertullian, when they tell
us, that in the second century of our era, the
Christian religion had not only spread on the Naua or Nahe. There is a common
Zeller's
Transieram celerem nebuloso flumine
Nauam,
Addita miratus veteri nova moenia
Vico,
^Equavit Latias ubi quondam Gallia
throughout the Roman Empire, but among the tribes and peoples beyond, and expressly among the Germans.
10 There Roman remains have from time
readingof Vicum for Vincum, but theltenera- rium Antonini gives the name as Vincum. The modern name could hardly come from Vicum or Vicus.
16 where Constantine estab- Noiomagum,
lished an enormous military settlement, is
easily recognised as Neumagen on the Moselle.
1 The two points at the beginning and end
to time been in considerable found,
quanti- ties. Numerous graves were in and near Kreuznach, in which coins and human re- mains have been found. There are no traces proving the pagan custom of cremation upon
any of the latter. They were uniformly east of the poet's journey being fixed, the old and west in position, which also marks Roman road from Bingen to Treves over the
Christian burial from the earliest times.
"
Herr Heep has some interesting obser- vations regarding the castra stativa, at this northern end of the Ilunsrucken, and in the
Hunsrucken, appears to have been that direc- tion in which the writer pursued his solitary way. Trackless forests spread on either side
of the route.
400. 14
"
The
following
are the
opening
lines
:
—
There, likewise, Christianity
villa rustics around.
12
See "Corpus Poetarum Latinorum," Ausonii Burdigalensis Idyllia, x. , pp. 1091 to 1095.
Cannas,
Infietseque jacent inopes super arva catervae. "
,s The former name of Bingen was Vin- cum. It is easily recognised, by its situation
July 8. ] LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. 14$
Moselle—the Hunsrucken district—bad become Christianized. Mainz and
l8
Treves were the chief cities, from which Christianity flowed out over the
surrounding districts. The scene of Constantine's vision of the cross,T 9 was at Mainz,20 in a. d. 311, when he set out with his legions against Maxentius. The best proof of the extent to which Christianity had spread, during that period, is found in the fact, that from political as well as from religious mo- tives, Constantine found it convenient to recognise its influences. 21 Never- theless, the Christianity of that district seems to have relapsed into heathen- ism, in the age of Disibod. This fact could be easily accounted for, owing to the irruptions of the wild hordes of Alemanni,22 at first, and afterwards of the Franks,23 who overturned the Roman power in Gaul, by their great victory
2
obtained at Soissons, in the year 486. + Under the Romans, colonies of bar-
barian captives had been settled on the Hunsrucken, by Constantine II. ,
statecraft of that 2* who desired people,
about a. d. to the 360, owing
wily
those slaves of their Empire to become interested in holding other conquered
lands than their own. and who expected, in the case of outbreak by their bar- barian neighbours, that the chief victims should be those who had yielded to them in war as enemies, and in whose fate the heartless conquerors felt little direct interest. Perhaps the tenacity, with which the colonists clung to their ancient practices in those districts, which became afterwards the scene of missionary labours for Disibod and for his companions, owed something to
the fact, that the population of those wild-wooded tracts had not benefited by the examples of heroism and self-devotion manifested by the early martyrs and
pastors, whose doctrines began to spread through the better organized and more civilizedprovincesoftheRomanEmpire. TheleaderoftheFranks,KingClovis orChlodoveus certainly did not—in the wilder settlements of his tribe—bring about an entire abandonment of their old paganism, after his conversion to Christianity. So late as the end of the eighth century, we find here in the forests, and under the great oaks, a rustic worship of the old gods, and main- tained by the Frankish settlers, within the episcopal diocese of Worms and Mainz.
From some earlier — as seems most
accounts, probable,
St. Raban M—aur 2(S
28 andMarianusScotus2? orratherhisinterpolatorAbbotDodechinus have
18 With these stations, the Nahegau and 23 These poured across the Rhine, when even the Hunsrucken stood connected by they harried and wasted the country, and
military roads, which remain to this day.
finally settled in the modern provinces of Alsace and Lorraine. See Edward Gibbon's
"
History
man Empire," vol. iv. , chap, xxxviii. , p. 349. Rev. Dr. William Smith's edition.
"* The Franks defeated the Alemanni, A. D.
496, in the decisive battle of Tolbiacum, or
19 This is described in his own Eusebius.
Epistle
to
20
This is the oldest Christian See in Ger-
many.
21 The various convulsions to which Ger-
many had been subjected from the third to
the fifth century are set forth in Jules Albiacum. This is held to be Tulpich, on the
"
liv. ii. , chap, v. , pp. 184 to 264.
Lower Rhine ; or, if we read Albiacum, then
Albich, near Alzir, in the neighbourhood of Kreuznach.
"
p. 125.
" 26 Rivoluzioni della Germania," di Carlo
Zeiller's
Histoire d'Allemagne," tome i. ,
22
The Alemanni for a time were dominant
people, until their superiority was disputed. " La Germania Mendionale e Mediterranea
era tuttaviadaTuringi, da Sassoni, dagli Ale-
manni posseduta. Questi ultnni occupavano
la maggior parte della Svevia, perche gli
Alemanni erano per la piu parte di quelli
Svevi che abitavannoanticamente nella Ger—- Royal a Berlin, tome i. , liv. i. , chap, viii. , mania Settentrionale tra l'Elba e 1 Oder. "
Denina, tomo primo, libro ii. , capo ii. , p. 95.
His Life has been treated of already, in the Secon—d Volume of this work, at Feb-
of the Decline and Fall of the Ro-
2S The Emperor Julian reproached Con- stantine with having been the fiist to elevate the Barbarians to offices of importance in
Histoire des Alemands," traduke de l'Allemand de Schmidt, par J. C. de la Veaux, Professeur
civil and military affairs. See
his
ruary 4th the date for festival. Abou
.
146 LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. [JulyJS. taken their notices of the holy man Dysibod. The Life of this saint was written,
thenincirculation,andwhichwerebutamplifiedinparticularpassages,3* withthe pious reflections of St. Hildegarde. It is very certain, that the narrative is in- volved and intricate, nor can we depend much on its general historical accuracy. The present saint's virtues and labours are commemorated by Molanus, Canisius,andArnoldus. 3* TheAbbotJohnofTrittenheim3<5hasanaccountof St. Disibodus ; as also the Abbot Dodechinus, who was Abbot of Dissenburg, and John Wilson,3? commemorate him. The Acts of this holy missionary and bishop have been included in the collections of Lippeloo, 38 of Surius, 3 ? of the
1
Father John Mabillon has an account of St. Disibodus, in his " Annales Ordinis S. Benedicti. " 42 He is
according
to the direction of Abbot 2^ St. 30 in the Helinger, by Hildegardis,
year 1 1 70. This distinguished woman received her education, at Disibodenberg, from the Abbess Jutta. 31 St. Hildegarde was subsequently the last Abbess over that convent. 32 She tells us, in the beginning of her biography, that she had revelations or some sort of internal monitions to undertake this work. 33 However, it seems probable, that earlier Lives of St. Dysibod were
Bollandists,4° and of the Benedictines. *
his Martyrology, more has been stated in the First Volume. Introduction.
sanctity and austerity, while her revelations have made her celebrated, not alone during her own age, but through all succeeding cen-
27 In G. Waitz's edition of Mariani Scotti
" Chronicon," there is no entry regarding turies. Her feast is celebrated on the 17th
our saint, as may be noticed by referring
to the " Monumental Germania Historica,"
tomus v.
38
This Codex version, of what professes to be the Chronicle of Marianus, has been so filled with local historic incidents, that it
"
might better deserve the title Annales S.
Dysibodi. "—Ibid. , pp. 483, 484.
29 He was the fifth Abbot over the Abbey,
built on Disibodenberg Mount.
30 For nearly one hundred years, after
of September.
33 See the Bollandists' " Acta Sanctorum,"
tomus ii. , Julii viii. De S. Disibodo Episc, et Confess, in Dysenberg, Territorii Mogun- tini, in Germania. Vita auctore S. Hilde- garde moniali. Ex M. S. Maximini Trevi- rensis, in Four chapters and Fifty-four para- graphs, pp. 588 to 597. A previous Com- mentary in Three sections and Thirty-three paragraphs, by the Editor, Father John Baptist Soller, precedes, and notes are added.
34 Such is the opinion of Mabillon, when treating on this subject, in the "Acta Sanc- torum Ordinis S. Benedicti. "
35 See Father Stephen White's "Apologia
pro Hibernia," cap. iv. , pp. 26, 44.
36 In his "Chronicon llirsaugiensis," ad annum Christi 1108. Likewise, in his work " De Viris Illustribus Ordinis S. Benedicti,
lib. eclviii. iii. , cap.
37 "
In his Martyrologium Anglicanum,"
at Julii viii.
The "Vita Sanctorum. " The Third
Volume contains Acts of St. Disibod, Bishop, at July the 8th. See pp. 113 to 119.
39 See Vita St. Disibodi, Confessoris, in
a cloister for nuns of noble families existed at Disibodenberg, as well as the cloisters for the monks. And
" Die Nonnen sangen ; O Christe du bariitigam suss und traut !
Die Monche seufz'ten : Maria, O Komm, du susse Braut I"
31TheAbbess of — — Jutta Disibodenberg
one of the old Sponheim race went through the Glan with dry feet, and she turned water into wine, according to the Legend of her Life.
32 Having found the community of goods between monks and nuns there not quite to her severer taste, she insisted on a separa- tion. With the help of the Counts of . spon- heim and others, after great resistance on the part of the abbot and monks, she accom- plished her object, and founded a new reli- gious Parthenon for herself andhernuns, about 1 1 50, on the Rubertsberg, and on the left bank of the Nahe near Kreuznach. The only male inmate of their house, in that place, was the holy Rupert, a saint who was buried there many hundred years before, in the times of King Pippin. The abbess Hilde- garde has been renowned for extraordinary
1005,
Gcrmannia, in thirty-seven paragraphs of "
Surius, tomus iv. of "Acta Sanctorum, pp. 141 to 148, at Julii viii.
40 See "Acta Sanctorum," tomus ii. , Julii viii. , pp. 581 to 599.
41 In the Appendix to the Fourth Volume
of the "Acta Sanctorum Ordinis S. Bene-
dicti," sax iii. , pars ii. , A. D. 700 to A. D. 800,
is written the Life of St. Disibod, Confessor,
in 8 paragraphs, pp. 496 to 498.
