No More Learning

" Dr. Whitley Stokes'
l
in the Roman
pressed Martyrology
day
Nicomedis Presbyter] et Martyris ; qui diceret compellentibus se sacrificare : Ego non sacrifico nisi Deo omnipotenti, qui regnat in coelis ; plumbatis diutissime ciesus migravit ad Dominum. "—"Mar-
Who
September i6. ] LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. 385
MfUtwW) IBaj) of September.
ARTICLE T. —ST. MONENN OR MAOINEANN, BISHOP, OF CLONCURRY, COUNTY OF KILDARE, AND SUPPOSED TO HAVE BEEN IDENTICAL WITH ST. NINIAN, APOSTLE OF THE SOUTHERN PICTS.
[FOURTH AND FIFTH CENTURIES. ]
CHAPTER I.
INTRODUCTION—WRITERS OF ST. NINIAN's ACTS—SUPPOSED IDENTITY OF NINIAN WITH MONEEN OR MAOINEAN—BIRTH AND EARLY YEARS OF NINIAN—HIS JOURNEYS TO GAUL, ON HIS WAY TO ROME—HIS STUDIES THERE—HIS ORDINATION AS PRIEST AND HIS CONSECRATION AS BISHOP—HIS VISIT TO ST. MARTIN, BISHOP OF TOURS— HIS RETURN TO SCOTLAND.
time; probable,
chiefly the record of local and popular traditions. We cannot be sure, that such narratives are to be trusted in all particulars. It should be a great honour conferred on our Island, to have had the celebrated Apostle of the Southern Picts spend the closing years of his grand career among us, as has been asserted in an old Irish Life. It is thought to be not improbable, that St. Ninian of Candida Casa may have been identical with St. Monean or
early writers, who have treated about the present Saint, lived long after his and it seems their notices of him have been
THE
Maioneann of Cluain Conaire in Ireland, and whose feast falls on this
• day.
We must only lay before our readers, the combined statements of other
writers, in reference to such matters ; our own opinions not lining been
conclusively matured on the subject. Again, it is said, the Irish called him
9 Ringan.
Already have we treated about St. Ninian at considerable length, on the 25th ot Julys —supposed by some writers to have been one of his festivals. Yet, certain omissions of narrative there to be detected are here inserted. In the order of Scottish Episcopal succession, St. Ninian is placed first,* among the eminent prelates. The earliest authentic record of Ninian, the Pictish Apostle, is to be found in the History of Venerable Bede. 5 In our Irish Martyrologies, which are supposed to supply the next conjectural
notices regarding the Saint, his name is to be found under the forms of
"
Moinenn or Moinend, whic—h have been rendered into the English of Nenn" or " Nennius" the of " "
My endearing epithet my being placed before his name, a practice peculiar to the Irish, in reference to their holy men so greatly venerated. Thus, the festival of St. Moinenn or Moinend is
My
commemorated on the 16th of September, in the "Felire" of St. ^Engus.
Article l—Chapter 1. —1 See Bishop
6
« See Rev. Dr. J. F. S. Gordon's " Scoti-
chronicon," vol. i. , p. 25.
5 See " Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis
Anglorum," lib. iii. , cap. iv.
6 In the " Leabhar Breac" copy is the
" 421.
2
Kalendars of Scottish Saints," p. Under such form, likewise, it is applied
Forbes'
to the St. Ninian's church,
parish
and
— :
village in Stirlingshire. See William "
following stanza, at this day
1rl terpen ronA1 uLA1f„en m0n men*.
Thus translated by Whitley Stokes, 1b
Nimmo's HistoryofStirlingshire,"vol. i. , chap, xxi. , p. 376. Third Edition. Re- vised, enlarged, and brought down to the Present Time, by R. Gillespie.
3 See at that date, the Seventh Volume of this work, Art. i.
Vol. IX. -No. 7.
m
^chenghat) oon* mom^ent) nuAll cechgetiAi
386 LIVESOFTHEIRISHSAINTS. [September16.
In a comment, his place in Ireland is particularised. 7 The published
of 8 records a festival to honour Monenn of Cluana Martyrology Tallagh
Conaire, at the 16th of September, but incorrectly under the heading Idus, instead of the xvi Kalends. The same error appears in the Book of Leinster Copy,9 for this day. An Irish Life of St. Ninian was extant, and it has been
quoted by Archbishop Ussher.
10
This, however, contains matter not always
reconcilable with that
Ailred. Of the Irish 11 Life,
written
the Bollandists had a translation made by Father Henry Fitzsimon, but they
biography
think it of little value, and to abound in false statements.
12
T3
who 1 * in Lincolnshire, and who died a. d. 1166, wrote the Life of St. Ninian,1' while in the composition of that 16 Ailred's Life of our Saint was first printed by John Pinkerton, ? from a beautiful
became the Cistercian Abbot of
Revesby, Memoir he had the assistance of a " Liber barbaris
(sic) scriptus. " 1
18
manuscript in the Bodleian Library, at Oxford. Moreover, this Latin Life
1
of Ailred has been translated into English. ? Various manuscript Lives of
St. Ninian have been preserved. In the Bodleian Library, Oxford, there is
20 21
a Vita S. Niniani. Also, in the Cottonian collection, there are copies of
Vita S. Niniani. In the Burgundian Library at Bruxelles, there is a volume of Lives of the Saints, in which St. Ninian's Life appears in an abridged form. 22
A metrical Life of St. Ninian, by Barbour, has been found, in the University Library of Cambridge, by Mr. Henry Bradshaw. The Bollandists have
2
inserted Acts of St. Nennius, at this day. 3 These consist of a Commentarius
2 Historico-Criticus, in four sections, containing forty-nine paragraphs. *
L. L. D. : — "A great triad-of-champions that are not wretched. Moinenn the cry of every mouth ; in Iona Laisren the happy, with Laisr£n* the great of Men. " —" Trans- actions of the Royal Irish Academy," Irish Manuscript Series, vol. i. , part i. On the Calendar of Oengus, p. cxxxviii.
14 This happened in 1 142, and the next year he was Abbot of Rievaux.
15 See Pinkerton's " Vita? Antiquae Sanc- torum in Scotia. " Vita S. Niniani, per Ailredum Abbatem Rievall.
16 In the " Relationvm Historicarvm de Rebus Anglicis," of John Pitts, there is a list of the works written by Ealred Rieual-
7 There he is said to have been Moinend
of Cluain Conaire-Tomain, in the north of lensis, in tomus i. —all published—Aetas
Ui-Foelain. See ibid. , p. cxlvi.
8 Edited by Rev. Dr. Kelly, p. xxxiv.
9 There, too, at this date we have a feast
for monenn Cluain Confine.
duodecima, num. 227, pp. 229 230.
17 See "Vita; Antiquae Sanctorum," qui habitaverunt in ea parte Britannia? nunc vocata Scotia vel in ejus insulis. Quasdam
edidit ex MSS. , quasdam collegit J. Pinker- ton, qui et variantes lectiones et notas
10
Rev. Dr. Elrington's edition.
See his works, vol. vi. , pp. 209, and 565.
11
This was procured from Ireland, to serve the purposes of the early Bollandists.
12
See "Acta Sanctorum," tomus v. , Sep- tembris xvi. De S. Niniano Episcopo, Pic- torum Australium Apostolo. Commentarius Historico-Criticus, sect, ii. , num. 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, pp, 321, 322.
13 His name has been softened from the SaxonEthelred. HeisalsoknownasAilre- dus, Alredus, ^Elredus, Elredus, Adelre- dus, Hetheldredus. Altredus, Atheldredus,
Ealredus, Hailredus, Baldredus, Aluredus, Ealfredus, and Valredus. This Holy Abbot was the son of Eilef Lawreu, who held the revenues and had charge of the church at Hexham, which he afterwards surrendered, and became a Benedictine monk at Dur- ham. See Prior Richard's " of the
pauculas adjecit. Londini. 1789.
18
Noted as Laud. F. xv. ,cent. xii. ; Laud. Misc. 668, ff. 78-89.
19 See Rev. Dr. W. M. Medcalfe's
ho lie,
"
History
Church of Hexham," p. 50. St. Ailred was Pictorum Australian! Apostolo Candida?
born, in the year 1 109, and began his life at the Court of David I. , King of Scotland, whose Life he afterwards wrote, in two Books.
Casae in Scotia, pp. 318 to 328.
24 The editor was Father Urban Sticker,
P. M.
by
cient Lives of Scottish Saints," Paisley,
1895, 8vo.
20
Classed, Laud. Misc. 668, ff. 78-89. "Classed, Tib. D. cent, xiii. , hi. , fob 186-
192 ; and Tib. E. i.
22
It seems to have been that from which
Capgrave produced his Vita S. Niniani.
See " Nova Legenda Anglie," impressa
Londonias in domo Winandi de Worde, commorantis ad Signum Solis, in vico nun- cupate (the flete strete) A. D. Mcccccxvi. , xxvii. die Februarii.
23 See "Acta Sancforum," tomus v. ,
xvi. De S. Niniano Septembris Episcopo,
St. Ailred,
An-
September 16. ] LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. 387
Although using the Life by John Capgrave, and commenting on it, the Bollandists have not reproduced it.
They mention two other manuscripts of the Life, as being known to themes One of these belonged to the Monas- terium Rubeae Vallis, and the other to the Carthusian Convent*6 at Cologne.
An account of St. Ninian will be found in the works of many medieval
as in John of Fordun, 2 7 Andrew of
29 in
Also his Memoirs may be found in the Works of Archbishop Ussher, Dean
2 34
Cressy,3 Bishop Challenor,33 Bishop Tanner, Rev. Alban Butler,35 George
6 Rev. Dr. 38 Rev. Cun- Chalmers,3 John Pinkerton,37 Lanigan, Grub,39 John
1 42
ningham,4° Darras,* Le Comte de Montalembert, Les Petits Bollandistes,*'
the Encyclopaedia Britannica,44 Chambers's Encyclopaedia's Rev. S. Baring- Gould'6 William F. Skene,47 and William Nimmo. 48 Of late, a most
interesting andL learned Church History of Scotland has been written in
German49 by the Very Rev. Alphons Bellesheim, D. D. , Canon of Aix-la- Chapelle, and it contains an account of our Saint in the opening chapter^
°1
Among the Lives of the English Saints,"* there is a Life of St. Ninian,
36 See ' 'Caledonia," vol. i. , book ii. , chap, ii. , pp. 315 to 317, and vol. iii. , chap. iv. , sect, viii. , pp. 410 to 414.
37See ' into the of Enquiry History
'
Scottish and English Chroniclers ;
Wyntoun,
28 in
John Capgrave,
John Leland,3°
and in
Johi\
Pitts. 31
has been made for these, but Such of the Manuscripts of this convent,
25
they cannot be found.
Enquiry 26
as were not sent to the National
Paris, by Decree of Napoleon I. , in 1809 or 1810, had been assigned, with those belonging to the other convents, to the Ecole Central at Cologne. These are at present in the Library of the Marzellen Gymnasium there, but the Vita S. Niniani
does not appear among them.
27 See Joannis de Fordun "Chronica
Gentis Scotorum," edited by William F.
Skene, lib. iii. , cap. ix. , p. 95. Edinburgh, 1871, 8vo. And a translation into English of
the same work, by his brother, Felix J. H. Skene, lib. iii. , cap. ix. , pp. 86, 87. Edinburgh, 1872, 8vo.
2* See "The Orygynale Cronykil of Scotland," by Androw of Wyntoun, edited by David Laing, vol. i. ,book v. , chap, x. , p. 385, and vol. ii. , book viii. , chap, xvi. , p. 357. Edinburgh, 1872, 8vo.
29 See Nova Legenda Anglie," fol. ccxli. , ccxliii.
30 See " Commentarii de Scriptoribus Britannicis," chap, xxxiii. , pp. 56, 57.
31 See Joannis Pitsei Angli, S. Theologiae
Doctoris, Liverduni in Lotharingia Decani,
" Relationvm Historicarvm de Rebus pp. 2 to 6. Anglicis," tomus i. , Aetas Quinta, num. 30.
De Niniano, pp. 86, 87. Parisiis, 1619, 4to.
Library
at
48 See "History of Stirlingshire," vol. i. , chap, xxi. , pp. 375 to 377.
49 It has since been translated into English, book viii. , chap, xii. , pp. 154, 155, and with notes and additions, by D. Oswald- chap, xxi. , p. 161, also book ix. , chap, xi. , Hunter Blair, O. S. B. , Monk of Fort pp. 184, 185. Augustus. This translation in Four 8vo. 33 See "Britannia Sancta," part ii. , pp. volumes has appeared under the title
32 See " The Church History of Brittany,"
130 to 133.
34 See " Bibliotheca
History of the Catholic Church of Scot-
nica," pp. 548, 549.
85 See " Lives of the Fathers, Martyrs and
other Principal Saints," vol. ix. , September
the present Day. Edinburgh, 1877 to 1890, 8vo.
50 See ibid. , vol. i. , chap, i. , pp. 1 to 17. Published by T. Toovey, in 1845, 12m*
Britannico-Hiber-
Scotland,' vol. ii. , part vi. , chap, i. , pp. 162 et seq.
38 See " Ecclesiastical History of Ireland," vol. i. , chap, i. , n. 149, p. 45, and chap, ix. , sect, ii. , and n. 17, pp. 434, 437, 438.
39 See "Ecclesiastical History of Scot- land," vol. i. , chap. ii.
40 See "Church History of Scotland," vol. i. , chap, iii. , pp. 50 to 53.
41 See " Histoire Generate de l'Eglise,"
tome iii. , p. 165.
42 See "Les Moines d'Occident," tome
iii. , liv. x. , chap, i. , pp. 19 to 24.
43 See " Vies des Saints," tome xi. ,
xvie Tour de Septembre, pp. 127, 128, and n.
44 See vol. xvii. , p. 513. Ninth edition.
1875, et seq. Edinburgh, 4to.
45 See vol. vii. , p. 506. New edition.
Edinburgh, 1888, etseq. Imp. 8vo.
46 See "Lives of the Saints," vol. ix. ,
September xvi. , pp. , 262 to 265.
47 See "Celtic Scotland : a History of
Ancient Alban," vol. ii. , book ii. , chap. i.
"
land from the introduction of Christianity to
3 88 LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. [September 16. Bishop of Candida Casa, and attributed to the Rev. John Barrow, D. D. ,
Oxford. In the " of Dictionary
of St. Edmund
Hall,
Christian Biography,"5 there is an interesting account of this saint, written
formerly Principal
2
bytheRev. JamesGammack. 53 However,mostcompleteandsatisfactory of all other Memoirs to the historical student are the researches of a prelate, who has rendered inestimable services to the elucidation of Scottish ecclesias- tical history. The Lives of St. Ninian and of St. Kentigern, have been edited by the Right Rev. Alexander Penrose Forbes, D. C. L. , Bishop of Brechin. 54 Not alone has he given an English translation of St. Ailrid's Latin Life of St. Ninian but in his learned General Introduction, and in
;
the appended Notes, which illustrate the allusions contained i-n it, hardly
anything seems wanting to furnish material for additional investigation. We
acknowledge with grateful obligation our indebtedness to this scholarly
monograph, for such intelligence as we may be able to convey, regarding the difficulties and obscurities that surround a biography and a period of history
so remote, and yet so interesting, as dating back to the very primordia of Christianity in Scoiland.
The present saint, Monenn or Maoinean, supposed to have been
identical with St. Ninian, is the earliest recorded Apostle of the Picts or
Caledonians. In this connection, the honorific Irish word mo, which signifies
""
my has been prefixed to Nenn or Nean, which are forms of St. Ninian's
name. The coincidence of the festival day, both in the Irish and British
Martyrologies, serves to favour such conjecture.
The great apostle of the S uthem Picts has been variedly named.