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28 The Life and Works of
Mr. O'Curry appears to attribute this preface to the pen of Father Michael O'Clery. The Martyroiogy of Tallagh is ge nerally believed to be the oldest Martyroiogy of our Irish saints known to be extant; and with their festival days it often records the immediate fathers and churches of our national
saints. The Martyroiogy of Tallagh has been published by the late Rev. Professor Matthew Kelly, D. D. , of Maynooth
College. In the year 1847, he procured a copy, partially de fective, from the Burgundian Library at Brussels, and this he published in 1857, just before his lamented death. Its defects
have been supplied, in parts, from other Irish Martyrologies. It contains valuable historic notes and additions. 1 However, it is to be regretted, that the learned editor had not been able to obtain a more complete --yet still deficient --copy for publica tion, which Colgan had once procured. Indeed, a number of similar copies, had they been available, must have greatly en hanced the value and accuracy of such an interesting work.
VI. --St. ^Engus was probably ordained Priest at TallagJd. -- Treatise of St. JEngus " De Sanctis Hiberniae". -- The " Sal- tair-na-ranri'. -- Pedigrees of Jrith Saints attributed to his authorship.
Although Aengus is said to have become a professed monk in Clonenagh Monastery, and to have concealed the fact of his en rolment in the ecclesiastical order, when he sought admission to Maelruan's Monastery at Tallagh,2 it is probable, our saint had only received clerical tonsure, or at most minor orders, when he first left Dysartenos. Were Aengus advanced to the priesthood at this period of life, a necessity for celebrating the holy sacrifice of Mass very frequently,3 with the performance of other peculiar sacerdotal functions, must soon have revealed his rank to Abbot Maelruan, and to the members of his community. Even were those solitary or strictly private Masses, formerly permitted to be
1 In 1849, the Rev. Dr. Todd likewise procured from the Belgian govern ment the loan of a MS. containing this, as well as O'Gorman's and Aengus' Martyrologies, all in Father Michael O'Clery's handwriting. Professor O'Curry made accurate transcripts from it, for Dr. Todd's private library. See Lec tures on the Manuscript Materials of Ancient Irish History, Lect. xvii. pp. 362, 363.
2 Regarding the first statement, Colgan says of him, " Monnchum professus in nobili monasterio de Cluain-edhneach", and in the second instance, " cleri- c. ile institulum occultans". See Acta Sanctorum Hiberniae, xi. Marlii. Vita S. Aengussii, cap. ii. v. , pp. 579, 580.
3 See that very learned treatise of Cardinal Bona, Rerum Lilurgicarum de his quae ad Missam generatim speclant, Lib. i. cap. iv. pp. 203, 204, for proofs of frequently offering the Holy Victim of propitiation, and from the earliest ages of the Christian Church. Opera Omnia Emin. Dom. D. Joannis Bona, & R. E. Card. Pres. Ord. Cis. Antwerp edition, a. >>. 1723, folio.
St. ^Engusius Eagiographus. 29
celebrated in many ancient churches,1 allowed as a practice in our early religious houses, the secret of our saint's priestly ordi nation could not long be concealed. It is more difficult to com prehend how, as a monk, he had not been questioned on the subject of his having already received the peculiar and noticeable ecclesiastical tonsure. However, there can hardly be any doubt, after Abbot Maelruan discovered the real name, virtues, and learn ing of his highly-gifted disciple, with his dispositions for the office, Aengns must soon have been raised to the sacerdotal dignity. For want of more complete records, referring to our saint's biography, not having seen many early copies of his works, and with little serving for autobiography in his own writings, our present imperfect lights, regarding his private acts, occasionally require us to launch upon a sea of conjecture.
Towards the saints of his country, iEngus seems to have en tertained an extraordinary veneration. According to Colgan'a account, he wrote five distinct books, " De Sanctis Hiberniae", which treat, in a particular manner, about their several lives, or on matters pertaining to them. In the first book, he gives the different distinctions of these saints in classes; he enumerates three hundred and forty-five bishops, two hundred and ninety- nine abbots and priests, and seventy-eight deacons. These he has comprised within"the limits of three chapters. The second book is known as the Homonymi", or the enumeration of saints bearing similar names, but distinguished by various other titles. It mentions eight hundred and fifty-five distinct persons, under sixty-two different names, and it is divided into two parts ; the first part containing fifty chapters, on holy men of the same name, and the second twelve chapters on holy women. The third book, known as the " Book of Sons", divides the saints into another classification. It names saints who are descended from the same father, and afterwards only sons, each cited by the father's name. Lastly, are enumerated female saints, in their descent from the same father. The names of ninety-four
fathers,8 who had one saint, or more saints than one as children, are here preserved, although the number of saints cannot be
1 Cardinal Bona, Eerum Lkurgicarum de his quae ad Mtssam generatim spec- tant. Having described different rites for celebrating the Holy Sacrifice, he remarks : " actas aliquondo in Monasteriis Missas a solo sacerdote nemine praesente et respondente, quae idcirco solitariae dictae Bint" . . . Verum Missas privatas non a Monachis, sed a primae Ecclesiae Patribus originem traxisse capite sequenti ostendam : Missas autem solitarias in coenobiis actas ex indulgentia, ut loquitur Kduensis, sive ex privilegio ; canonicae sanctiones de monstrate, quae sublatis omnibus privileges, ne quis solus Missas agerat, dis- tricte prohibuerunt". Lib. i. cap. xiii. p. 230.
2 Colgan adds, " omissis aliquot ahis, quae prae nimia exesi codicis vetustate legi non possunt". Acta Sanctorum Hiberniae, xi. Martii. Vila S. JSngussii, cap. xiv. p. 581.
30 Tlie Life and Works of
discovered. The fourth book comprises the names of two hundred and ten saints, with their maternal genealogy. It would appear from this title, that the paternal genealogy of those saints had been previously written, either by another hand, or by that of jEngus. The fifth " Book of Litanies" enumerates, in form of an invocation, a long list of saints. In several of its invocations, the principal name, with associated disciples, is generally found. This name usually pertains to the saint who presided over a particular monastery, with the
number of holy disciples under his rule; or a saint who was buried at some particular church, with his companions, who " slept in the Lord" ; or perchance some apostle, who, with his numerous band of missionaries, went forth to preach the Gospel to benighted nations. 1 The names, or native places of many foreigners, who flocked to the hives of learning and sanctity in Ireland, are noted in an especial manner. Here are found in
voked the names of Italian, Egyptian, British, and Gallic saints, who had been buried in Ireland. 2
Dr. Lanigan incorrectly asserts, that the foregoing work is sometimes called Saltair-na-rann, which means, the Metrical or Multipartite Psalter. 3 But it would appear from Colgan's
1 See also Harris' Ware, vol. iii. Writers of Ireland, book i. chap. v. pp. 62, 53.
8 The portion of this work, known as the Litany, has been translated and published for the first time in the Irish Ecclesiastical Record, vol. iii. Nos. xxxii. and xxxiii. , for May and June, 1867. The original Irish occupies one side of the page, in the Irish characters ; while on the opposite side, there is a correct English translation, by a competent scholar, writing under the initials B. M. C. Explanatory notes are found at the foot of nearly all those pages. A learned dissertation precedes this Litany, taken from the Archives of St. Isidore's Franciscan Convent, at Rome. Some years ago. Dr. Todd examined this MS. , containing ten folia, which he found to have constituted a part of the Boole of Leinster. This fact would seem to identify it with the MS. seen at Louvain, and described by Father Soller, the Bollandist, as we have al ready stated. In point of antiquity, therefore, this version dates back to the first half of the twelfth century. These folia contain the Martyrology of Tallaght --to which allusion has been already made --together with five of seven works attributed to iEngus. Ward and Colgan consulted this MS. ; for their readings seem to bave been marked, and these are very useful in assisting the Irish scholar to decipher certain words. However legible in their time, these are nearly altogether defaced at present. In Ward's and Sirin's Acts of St. Eumold, published at Louvain in 1662, this Litany is quoted at great length, p. 206. With the exception of the . groups of seven bishops, nearly all the saints, whose intercession is invoked, are given.
3 Ecclesiastical History of Ireland, vol. iii. chap. xx. ? x. p. 247. And in note (106, p. 251) he remarks on this passage: "Under this title Colgan says (t? 6. ,p. 582) that it appears in some old Irish MSS. and that he got a part of it with the inscription, from Saltair-na-rann composed by Aengus Cele-De. He observes, that the latest saint mentioned in it is St. Tigernach, son of St. Mella, and founder of Doire-nielle (see chap. xix. ? 13), who died abbot of Kill-achad, in the now county of (Javan, on the 4th of November, a. d. 805 (806). See AA. SS. p. 796, and Archdall at Kitlachad). This is a strong proof of the assertion that Aengus was the author of this work".
St. ^Engusius Hagiographus. 31
statement, that the Saltair-na-rann was altogether a distinct work. 1 After describing the work, " De Sanctis Hibemiae", he mentions the Saltair-na-rann as having been composed in the Irish language ; and, of course, as being distinct from the first named treatise, which had been written mostly in Latin. Yet, I must confess, that the sentences employed by Colgan in his account are rather ambiguous. 2 The work entitled " De Sanctis
Hiberniae", does not appear to have been a metrical compo sition, as may be seen in extracts taken from and found in many of Colgan's notes. The Saltair-na-rann comprises His tory of the Old Testament,5 written in verse,4 and which attributed to ^Engus as its author. We are informed, that the Chronicle of . ^Engus Ceile De, known as Saltair-na-Rann, i. e. " Saltair of the Poems" or " Verses", has been so called, because, Salm, " Psalm", and Poem are the same. 6 It contains one hundred and fifty poems, composed in the finest style of the
Gaelic language, as understood in the eighth century.
This celebrated work of Aengus Ceile De has been called
There MS. Martyrology, entitled Saltair-na-Rann, preserved in the British Museum [Egerton, 185]. It a thin, small quarto-sized volume in verse, and, with exception of a few pages, has been written in the bold and accurate hand of Dubhaltach Mac Firbisigh, about the year 1650. It consists of sixty-seven pages, containing five quatrains, or twenty lines, on eacb page. The title in accordance with the second quatrain, which, as Angli cised, thus begins:
" The Saltair of the verses shall be the name Of my poem not an unwise title".
This Saltair-na-Rann, however, entirely distinct from that of Aengus Ceile De.
" Opus ex jam memoratis opusculis conflatum in quibusdam antiquis patriae membranis patrio sermone intitulatur Saltuir-na-rann quae vox Latiue red- dita Psalterium metricum, nunc Psalterium multipartitum denotat. Et in utroque sensu, diversa S. Aengussii opera recte sic inscribi poterant". Acta Sanctorum Hiberniae, xi. Marlii. Vita <S. Aengussii, cap. xv. pp. 681, 582. know not on what authority Harris makes the following statement with regard to iEngus, when he says, "to him ascribed by some Psalter- na-rann, being a Miscellany Collection of Irish affairs, in prose and verse, Latin and Irish". Harris' Ware, vol. ii. Writers of Ireland, book 53.
The other Saltair-na-Rann, to which allusion has been made in preceding note, contains three hundred and twelve quatrains, written in the inferior Gaelic of the sixteenth, not of later century.
Yet, not, strictly ? peaking, Gaelic Martyrology for all the Irish saints Professor O'Curry could discover in were, St. Patrick, St. Brigid of Kildare, St. Ciaran of Saighir, and St. Ciaran of Clonmacnois. According to the poet's arrangement, every quatrain commenced with a saint's name, but sometimes there are three or even four quatrains devoted to one day, as the number of festivals happened to fall within it. Every saint, however, has separate quatrain devoted to him. The modern writer, who supplied Mac Firbis's omissions, has admitted some incorrections. See Lectures on the Manuscript Materials ofAncient Irish
History, Lect. xvii. pp. 360,361, and Appendix, No. cix. p. 609.
Harris says, this work had been written in elegant metre, but he seems to
regard as a distinct work from the Psaltar-na-rann.
See Rev. Dr. Keating's History of Inland, Prejace. This writer adds that
Salterium and Duanaire, or " book of poems", are identical.
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32 The Life and Works of
Sodtair-na-rann. * It is distributed into parts. 8 It has been written in the form of prayers, tending to raise the reader's mind to the love of God, and to the celebration of His praise, for all the Creator's works are referred to His greater glory, and rest upon His power as their final cause. The foregoing reasons are assigned by Colgan for this work deserving the title of Saltair-na-rann? A different work, compiled from the five small treatises already mentioned, in which our saints are in voked, in the form of a prayer, might be well called Psalterium muliipartitum, as Colgan remarks, on account of the various parts into which it is distributed. He adds, that both authority testifies and evidence persuades us, that it had been thus in
scribed and composed by St JEngus. The authority assigned is that of an old parchment MS. , from which the treatise, " Homonymi", already described, has been extracted. It was sent from Ireland4 to Colgan. It bore the following title:
" 1 This is most probably the work described by O'Reilly, where he says :
Aengus also wrote the Psalter-na-rann, which is an abridged history of the
*? ***>>"
descendants of Abraham, from the birth of Isaac, until after the death of
The Psalter-na-rann is preserved in a large
Moses''.
MS. , the property of Sir William Betham. It is written in a fine strong hand, and occupies upwards of six folio pages, closely written on the largest size vellum". Chronological Account of nearly Four Hundred Irish Writers, p. liv.
2 In Harris' Ware, vol. Hi ( Writers of Ireland, book i. chap. v. p. 83), it is said that some ascribed to Aengus a Psalter-na-rann," being a miscellany on Irish affairs, in prose and verse, Latin and Irish. Aengus wrote no such work", says Dr. Lanigan, " and his only Psalter, or Saltair-na-rann, were those above mentioned. Harris got his information either from Toland, or from some one who took it from him. In his Nazarenus (Letter ii. sect. 3) Toland says that Aengus wrote a chronicle, entitled Psalter-na-rann". This is characterized as a falsehood invented by an impious writer, who did not wish it to be known, that Aengus was chiefly employed in treating about saints, and that he used to invoke them. At chap. ii. ? 8, Toland advances a still more monstrous statement, viz , that the Irish used not pray to saints. Now, nothing is more clear in our ecclesiastical history, than that our ancient Irish progenitors were in the habit of invoking them. Dungal, a most learned Irishman of the early times, defends this practice against Claudius. Brogan, who in the seventh century wrote St. Brigid's Life in Irish verse, often in vokes her in the course of it, and concludes with these words: "There are
two holy virgins in heaven, who may undertake my protection, Mary and St. Brigid, on whose patronage let each of us depend". To omit many other proofs, Adamnan, in his Vita S. Columba, lib. ii. cap. 45, bears testimony. This prac tice was so general in Ireland, and so well known to learned men, who have examined our history, that in his Discourse on the Religion oj the Ancient Irish, Ussher found it expedient not to touch on invocation of the saints. See Dr. Lanigan's Ecclesiastical History of Ireland, vol. iii. chap. xx. ? x. n. 107, p. 261.
' Colgan says : " Uti aptissime in utrogue sensu Saltair-na-rann, i. e. Psalte rium metricum, vel Psalterium multipartitum, vocari posset ; uti et de facto in alterutro, vel utroque sensu nuncupari et intitulari consuevit". Acta Sanc torum Hiberniae, xi. Martii. Vita S. Aengussii, cap. xv. p. 682. The late Pro fessor Eugene O'Curry told me, he had examined a magnificent copy of the Psalter-na-Rann, at Oxford. At that time, he informed the writer, no perfect copy of it was known to be extant in Ireland.
* The person who brought this book with him from Ireland was the Very
St. ^sEngusius Hagiographus. 33
" Homonymi Hiberniae Sancti ex Saltair-na-rann, quod compo- suit . 5? ngussius Keledeus". The Saltair-na-rann is interpreted by Colgan to mean the Multipartite Psalter. Reason, he says, induces us to believe that this had been a work of St iEngus, since there is no saint found in any portion of who had not departed life before the time of St. . /Engus, or who had not been, at least, his cotemporary. This matter had been dis covered, by careful collation of this treatise with our annals and native records. According to these later authentic sources, no saint, mentioned in the work alluded to, found to have lived after a. d. 800, except St. Tigernach, founder of Doire- melle monastery. He said to have departed a. d. 805, at which time there can be no doubt that ^Engus was still living. For, although our annals relate the death of St. Melditribius in the year 840, yet, doubtful, he be the saint bearing that name, and mentioned in the fortieth chapter of the second book, as already described. 1
There are Pedigrees of Irish saints yet existing, and these have been generally ascribed to Aengus Ceile De. Several copies of this tract are preserved in our ancient MSS. but doubtful,
any of these date back, in their preseDt state, to the time of Aengus, towards the close of the eighth or beginning of the ninth century. In the copies we possess, there may be defections or additions, as compared with the original composition. The oldest copy known also the best and most copious,2 and its genuineness has been generally admitted by most of our anti quarians. It the more valuable, because almost invariably
Rev. Father Francis Mathew, at one time Guardian of the Convent at Louvain, and Franciscan Provincial over the Irish province. He was man of much erudition, austerity of life, and very zealous in the cause of religion. He presented this work, already mentioned, to Coigan, in the year 1633. By his preaching, exhortations, and pious labours, he had greatly contributed for many years to the advancement and preservation of Ireland's orthodox and persecuted faith. At length, having endured various trials and tortures, with the greatest patience and constancy, this pious sufferer was put to death by the Protestants, A D. 1642. Colgan adds, that Geoffrey Keating, also, in the second book of his History, attributes this work to St. iEngus. See Colgan's Acta Sanctorum Hiberniae, xi. Martii, n. 14, p. 583.
See Colgan's Acta Sanctorum Hiberniae, xi. Martii. Vita S. Mngussii, cap. xv. p. 582. Colgan observes, that he was induced to treat, at some length, on the valuable works of this venerable saint, that his readers might know what great antiquity and authority attached to the aforesaid Martyro- logies and other works, and which he had so frequently taken occasion to quote in his own volumes. Ibid. It would also appear, Colgan intended to publish the works of St. iEngus, had his own life been prolonged, ibid. , cap. xiv. p. 681.
This found in the Book of Leinster, which was compiled within the years 120 and 160. A copy contained in the Book of Ballymote, compiled in 1391 and another in the Book of Lecain, written a. d. 1416. A later still
found in the great Book of Genealogies, compiled by Dudley Mac Firbis, in 1650.
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34 The Life and Works of
gives references to the sites of churches, in connection with the holy persons whose pedigrees are found recorded. It often enumerates and traces the lineage of groups of persons or asso ciates, who occupied these churches at one time, and occasion ally their successors for a few generations. In the form of annotations, an immense amount of ecclesiastical and topogra phical information is conveyed. These historic comments esta blish with satisfactory exactness a date for the foundation of nearly all our primitive churches. It is an almost invariable rule with the venerable genealogist, to trace the pedigree of each saint to some remarkable personage, whose name and period can be ascertained from our national records and books of secular genealogy. 1
This is the oldest collection of our national saints' pedigrees known to be in existence. Its exact time of composition cannot be determined, but it was probably one of Aengus's latest and most matured literary efforts.
VII -- Modes of life at Tallagh until the time arrived for departure- -- St. ^Engus returns to Clonenagh, where he is chosen as Abbot. --Supposed to have been a Clwrepiscopus --
Occasional retirement to Dysart Enos His death and burial. -- Value of St. yEngus' hagiographical works. -- Conclusion.
We may well conceive how affectionately and agreeably passed their hours of occasional relaxation, as of study, while the holy Abbot Melruan and Aengus were companions, in the coenobium at Tallagh. Their interchange of pious and cul tivated thought must have proved mutually conducive to the accuracy and unction of those hagiographical and sacred histo ric works, which seem specially to have had a literary fascina tion for them. The teaching of ecclesiastical and secular learning probably engaged a considerable part of their daily monastic routine. For we cannot doubt but native and foreign litera ture, as also the science of the period, was then taught in the school of Tallagh, with the religious training and dogma pecu liar to such establishments. It seems evident, from references made to Eusebius and St. Jerome, that Aengus was well versed
1 See Professor Eugene O'Curry's Lectures on the Manuscript Materials of Ancient Irish History, Leet, xvii. pp. 359, 360. This learned writer adds : " By referring to these pedigrees, you may easily find the time at which any of the early saints of Erinn flourished. As, for instance, St. Colum Cille is recorded to have been the son of Ftsidlimidh, son of Fergus, son of Conall, son of Niall " of the Nine Hostages", monarch of Erinn, who was killed in the year 405. Now, by allowing the usual average of thirty years to each of the four gene rations from Niall to Colum, making 120 years, and adding them to 405, we shall find that Colum (who is known to have died in the year 592) must have been born about the year 520. He was actually bora, as we know from other sources, in 515".
St. ^Engusius Hagiographus. 35
in the Greek as in the Latin language. So long as Melruan lived, peace and security reigned within the Irish monastic en closures. Had he survived a few years, the tocsin of alarm would have sounded the first approach of Northman invasions ; while many of the shrines and illuminated Books of Erinn were destined to suffer wreck and ruin from the Pagan spoilers.
When holy Melruan had been called to bliss, our saint keenly felt the loss of his society and gentle rule. The sylvan shades around Tallagh had less attraction during the noon-tide walk, and more lonely seemed the solitudes of scarped ravines and mountains. Climbing topmost heights of the latter, the eyes of Aengus were often turned towards the rich plains beneath, through which the Liffey and Barrow flowed. Peering beyond their bounds, the hills of Dysart were seen on a distant south-western horizon. Old associations were revived; nor were the monastery and monks of Clonenagh forgotten in the train of awakened recol lections. Perhaps some message from its superior and inmates urged his return. In prosecuting his archaic studies, Aengus had travelled to many places, and always with some holy and useful object in view. It now seemed the will of Heaven, that he should turn once more towards the land of Leix and Ossory ; and, accordingly, we may suppose a sympathetic tear coursed down his cheeks and those of his fellow-religious, when he took scrip and staff, bidding adieu for the last time to those blissful haunts of science and religion, where he had spent some of his life's best years. We know not the exact period when he parted from this mountain home ; but, it appears altogether likely, his renowned superior had departed this life before Aengus thought of leaving, nor had the eighth century drawn quite to its close.
. 52ngus survived his friend the holy Abbot of Tallaght for a very considerable period. The name of St. Molruan is found in his Festilogium, where he is called the " Bright Sun of Ireland". 1 This circumstance seems to prove, that his work, in its finished state, must have been composed subsequently to the year 792. After remaining some years at Tallaght, JEngus returned to Clonenagh His ascetic and literary fame must have culminated to a high degree, at . the time his thoughts reverted to the old retreat: --
" Here to return and die at home at last''. '
1 A mistake, probably a typographical one, occurs in Dalton's History of the County of Dublin,\>. 761, where the death of Saint Molruan, or Madman, is referred to the year 787, whereas the year 788 is named for the first arrival of JEngua at Tallaght. The real date for St. Molruan's death is the 7th day of July, 792. This accomplished and usually accurate historian incorrectly tells us, when giving the history of Tallaght, and speaking of vEogus, that he died " Abbot of this house in 824".