No More Learning

of May, in the Fifth Volume of this work, Article xiil—« This is stated to have Art. ii.
2
Edited
Rev. Dr.
by Kelly,
taken in the place,
2
See "Acta Sanctorum Septembris. " tomus ii. Die Quarta Septembris. Among thepretermittedFeasts,p. 2.
3 See the Third—Volume of this work, Art. ii.
l
Article xiv. See his Life, at the 8th
Also in that copy contained in the Book of Leinster is the entry of polbe niAc Konin, at this date.
3 Edited by Drs. Todd and Reeves, pp. 236» 237-
236, 237.
Westphalia, day sect. 7, 8.
year
803
;
Pope
III.
ioo LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS.
to preach the Gospel in France. He was buried at a village called Matusgum,
2
and there his relics were greatly venerated.
had a Feast, on the 4th of September, as the Bollandists observe, at this same day. * However, his festival is placed, at the 3rd of December, by Ferrarius and Saussay.
Article XV. —Reputed Festival of St. Anatolius, Bishop of 1
Salins,France. AccordingtoFerrarius, thememoryofSt. Anatoliuswas
2
observed in the Diocese of Besangon, in France, on the 4th of September. We have already treated about him, at the 3rd of February, the day for his chief Feast. 3
jftftf) 2Bap of September.
ARTICLE I. —ST. ALTO, FOUNDER AND ABBOT OF ALTMUNSTER. IN BAVARIA.
[EIGHTH CENTURY. ]
the sun, which sends forth many bright and burning rays to light
and warm the land and water of his most distant and LIKE
subjective planets, so as there to spread and spend their force ; so has Ireland, as a
centre of spiritual effulgence and vitality, despatched her missionaries through the early Christian ages, to kindle and inflame the cold and unregenerate souls of benighted heathens and sinful men, in countries far removed from her own shores ; while that spirit has been preserved and extended in after times, and even to our own day, in the multitude of holy men and women, who have parted from their country and family ties, to diffuse glad tidings and blessings in other climes, where their bodies now repose, and whence they shall arise glorified on the Day of General Judgment.
Already, at the 9th day of February, a Feast of St. Alto, Bishop and Founder of Altmunster, in Bavaria, has been commemorated in the Second
1
Volume of this work, and there a reference for fuller particulars regarding
himhasbeendeferredtothe5thdayofSeptember. Again,werecordatthe 5th of August, some notices of festivals, referred by Thomas Dempster 2 to the 7th of February, as also to the 5th of August, together with a fabled account of writings attributed to him. 3 Nearly all the later accounts regarding St. Alto have been taken from a Life, written in the tenth century by an anonymous author. The Acts of St. Alto, said to have existed in
2Aremarkablemiracle,as
took place at his tomb, and it is likewise
"Acta Sanctorum tomus Septembris,"
ii.
vecorded in Flodoard's sis," lib. iv. , cap. ix.
"
Die Quarta Septembris. Among the preter- mitted Saints, p. 2.
3 See the Second Volume of this work,
Scotorum Pietate," lib. iii.
4 See "Acta Sanctorum
See Article xiii.
the pretermitted—Saints, p. 3. "3
Article xv. In Catalogus Generalis
Sanctorum. "
See Colgan's "Acta Sanctorum Hiber- nia? ," Februarii ix. De S. Altone Abbate. n. 6, p. 302.
2
The Bollandists notice this entry in
related, Historia Rhemen-
already
3 See at this date, in his work, "De Art. i. — '
Article
tomus ii. Die Quarta Septembris. Among Scotorum," tomus i. , lib. i. , num. ii. , pp. n,
Septembris,"
i.
2 See "Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis
. 12.
According to Camerarius,3 he
[September 5.
September 5. ] LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS
Bavaria,* especially in Lessons of his office as Patron of Altmunster, were not accessible to Colgan, who has compiled from other authorities illustrations of his life, at the 9th of February. 5 This holy /nan is found classed among the Benedictine saints. 6 His Acts are written, with previous observation, in
8
given previous commentary, at the 9th day of February, reputed to have been his principal feast. The Petits Bollandistes I4 notice his festival, at this date, as a Scot venerated in
England ; although generally honoured in Germany, on the 9th of February. 15 He is called a Scot, by all the German Martyrologists and Chroniclers, and, therefore, reputed to have been an Irishman by birth, like many other saints thus designated, at the period when he flourished. He was born in Scotia, a little before or possibly soon after the commencement of the eighth century; and, as the English Martyrology states, he descended from a noble stock in that country. The anonymous writer of his Acts states, that his name Alto, in the German language, has been derived from the circumstance of his having been born of an ancient family so that his original Celtic name
from earliest youth, he was accustomed to observe the Law of God, and to meditate on it, both by day and night. The ancient records of Bavaria relate, that like the ancient Patriarch Abraham, a voice from heaven came to admonish him that he should leave his own country, and seek that. of the Boii,16 over which Pepin, the King of the Franks, is. said to have ruled. x? This celebrated man, having established a supremacy over Germany, began
Charlemagne.
For the scene of his future exercises, on arriving in Bavaria, 10 St. Alto
20 21
sought a wood, near the present city of Augsburg. There, without
eleven paragraphs,7 and illustrated with notes.
lived about the year 770. On the 5th of September, the Annals of the Cistercian Monks,9 and divers other chronicles, commemorate St. Alto. In the "Antiquae Lectiones," Henricus Canisius has special reference to St. Alto. 10 TheBollandists11have hisActs,13witha 1'
——;
now unknown to us may have been altogether a different one. However,
died on the
he was succeeded by his still more celebrated son, Charles, better known as
his a. d. reign,
750,
and
having
23rd
of
September,
4 The anonymous writer of St. Alto's Life lived in the tenth century. See Mabillon's "Annales Ordinis S. Benedicti," tomus ii. , lib. xxi. , num. Ixxvii. , p. 122.
s See "Acta Sanctorum Hibemiae,"
Februarii ix. De S. Altone Abbate Alto-
Monasterii in Bavaria, pp. 301, 302.
6
* 3 In two sections, and in eleven para -
graphs.
I4 See "Les Vies des Saints," tome x. ,
See "Acta Sanctorum Ordinis S. Bene-
Ibid, tome ii. , Jour ix, de Fevrier, p. 404.
l6 "
— ItacordimereNuminesemperBoii. "
"
Mattheus Rader's Bavaria Sancta," lib.
ii. , p. 115.
I? However, by some it has been supposed
that Alto arrived in Germany, before Pepin
had commenced his reign there. ,8
dicti," seculum iii. Pars ii. to 800. Tomus iv.
7 See pp. 217 to 220.
Ab. A. D. 700
8 They are headed, Vita Sancti Altonis
Abbatis in Bajoaria Superiore, Auctore Monacho Altomonasteriensi Anonymo, sse- culo ix. , ex num. 9 and II. Ex tomo 2. Metrop. Salisb. et Februario Bollandiano.
" For the particulars of his reign, see The Modern Part of an Universal History, from the earliest Accounts to the present 9 See this work, at the 5th of September, Time," vol. xix. The History of France, chap, lxviii. , sect, ii. , pp. 274 to 286, London,
p. 408.
10 See vol. i. , pp. 181 and 183.
11 See "Acta Sanctorum," tomus ii.
1782, 8vo.
I9 The anonymous writer of St. Alto's Life "
Februarii ix. De S. Altone Abbate in states, that this province was infra Austra
Bavaria Superiore, pp. 358 to 361.
12
From the Life, by an anonymous writer, who lived over 600 years before their time. It is in eleven paragraphs, with notes.
lem plagam Germanise positam. "
It is there stated, that he
Jour v? de Septembre, p. 488.
l5 At this date, the Petits Bollandistes have
noted
:
"En Baviere, Saint Alton, AbbeV'—
20 "
teruallo Augusta Vindelicorum et Monachio distantem, propriorem tamen Augusts, et ad
Ubi syluam ingressus pari fere in-
a. d. 18 768,
Formerly
Augusta
LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS.
[September 5.
requiring any thing from others, he laboured to supply the necessaries of life with his own hands. 22 His spirit of disinterestedness and piety caused him to be greatly reverenced by the inhabitants. The religious, also, felt a great interest regarding the objects he had in view, and failed not often to visit and assist him. Alto had embraced an eremitical life, and lived as a pilgrim near a fountain. ^ This he is said to have miraculously produced from the earth. 2*
It is stated 2s that moved with the fame of his sanctity, King Pipin gave ,
him a great part of that forest, in which he dwelt. According to Mabillon,26 this was rather the gift of Charlemagne, and he places the coming of our saint
to Bavaria, under the year 743. Cutting down a great part of the trees, Alto founded his church and monastery, some time about the middle of the
rian circle of the Upper Danube. For a historical and descriptive account of this
excrevisset, &c. "—" Acta Sanctorum Ordinis S. Benedicti," tomus iv. , pars ii. , p. 218.
city, the reader is referred to the "
According to the English Martytology
Penny Cyclopaedia of Charles Knight, vol. iii. ,
pp. 86, 87.
22 See '* Acta Sanctorum Ordinis Sancti
Benedicti," tomus iv. , pars ii. Vita Sancti Altonis, num. 1, p. 218.
30 See his Life, at the of in the 5th June,
Sixth Volume of this work, Art. i.
3I "BasilicamdedicaturusBonifacius,earn
more solito feminis interdictam volebat : at
repugnanti Altoni, assensit ea conditione,
ut ad fontem quemdam basilicas proximum
nulli mulieri accedere liceret.
"—Mabillon's
"
23 According to Wiguleus Hundius, in Metropolis Salisburgensis,'' p. 185.
24 In Rader's " Bavaria Sancta," tomus i. ,
there is a picture of St. Alto, and the follow-
distich announces the — in which ing manner,
Annales Ordinis S. Benedicti," tomus ii. ,
the miracle had been wrought
» Cui pulsata pedo sitienti praebuit vndam Etfluxit larsgo flumine dura silex. "
3* Rendered Alto's
anft ^Ju^K! ? . GeneraHS Sanct0rum '"
the 9th of February.
34 Apostle of Germany, and whose feast is
held on the 5th of June.
3S Bishop of Saltzburgh, venerated at the
27th of November.
36 Venerated at the 27th of March, 37 Venerated at the 30th of June.
2s 26
By Rader.
See "Annales Ordinis S. Benedicti," tomus ii. , lib. xxi. , num. lxxvii. , p. 122.
27
foundation was effected between the years
To effect these works, the who neighbouring inhabitants,
28
2 ? eighth century.
spiritual director. His religious ccenobium had the honour of being
2
consecrated, and his fountain was blessed, ? by the holy and illustrious
1
It is related, that he had a Divine revelation to perform this religious ceremony. He desired, moreover, to impose an obligation on St. Alto, that women should be excluded the precincts of his church and monastery. To this our saint objected, and offered such reasons as induced St. Boniface to yield assent to his prayer ; although he interdicted women from all approach to the
This establishment took its 2 from religious name, Alt-munster,*
Ferrarius has made this saint Abbot of Salzburg,33 but this statement does not appear to be elsewhere substantiated.
The holy anchorite lived in the forest of Bavaria, and near his favourite
fountain, where now stands the monastery of Altmunster. Contemporaneous or nearly such with St. Alto were many of the illustrious Irish missionaries,
that spread the Gospel throughout Germany, and among those are enumerated, 68
admired the
aided, and
bestowed
of his
Alto soon collected around him a number of religious, and he became their
sanctity
life, generously
freely
gifts.
Archbishop St. Boniface,* the Apostle of Germany. *
well. the founder.
holy
St. Boniface^ St. Virgil,3S St. Rupert^ St. Erentrude,37 St. Trudbert,3 St.
— thaeus Rader's "Bavaria Sancla," lib. ii. ,
and See "Annales
760. Boicorum,"
sinistram Monachium petcnti, sitam. "
Mat- 740
pars i. , lib. v. , num. 10.
p. 115. 21
known as
oblatione fidelium ad eum confluen- quotidie
Vindeli-
corum. It is now the Capital of the Bava- tium substantia rerum victualium feliciter
According to Andreas Brunner, this
:
'*
29
and Rader.
a8
The old writer of his Acts states, "ex
"
lib. xxi. , num. lxxvii. ,
122.
p. Monastery.
Septkmber 5. ] LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. 103
Vitalis,39 St. Cuniald,40 St. Gizilar,<n St. Marianus and St. Anianus,*2 St. Erard,« St. Albert," St. Martinus and St. Declan. *5 It is probable, that with several of the foregoing, St. Alto had been linked in bonds of Christian brotherhood/6 At Altmunster he resided, and he became illustrious for the miracles there wrought. *? Many of these were committed to writing at an early period, but they had been taken away furtively, so that the anonymous writer of his Acts in the tenth century remarks, his readers should not wonder if so few of the saint's miracles were unrecorded in his own tract. According to the English Martyrology, Alto is thought to have died, about the year of Christ, 760. In Altmunster, and in Frisingen, St. Alto is honouredwithapublicoffice,onthe9thofFebruary. Thisissupposedto have been the day of his dying upon earth/8 to be born in heaven/s One of the chief benefactors of St. Alto's foundation is said to have been Etico, Count of the Licatii,50 a tribe of the Vindelici, dwelling on the River Licias or Licus,51 from which their name has been derived. 52 There he is said to have placed a community of religious men. He flourished about one hundred years after the time of St. Alto, and he was brother to Judith, the wife of Louis the Pious, King of France.
During the lapse of time, the rapine of various dynasts brought ruin on the foundation of St. Alto, which was nearly destroyed, until Guelph,s3 Duke of Bavaria, restored it once more,5* and brought a colony of Benedictine religious to settle there. 55 Again, the buildings fell into decay, when in the year 1487, George, Duke of Bavaria, rebuilt the establishment, and introduced a community of nuns, who observed the strict rule of St. Brigid. 56 The
anonymous list of Irish Saints, published by O'Sullevan Beare records Alpho, atthe5thofSeptember. Alsointhe"MenologiumScoticum"ofThomas
Dempster, this festival is entered. 5?
38 His feast occurs on the 27th of April.
39 Venerated on the 20th or 24th of Octo- ber.
40 Venerated at Saltzburgh, on the 24th of September.
It has been conjectured, that this must
s3 Also called Welf, or Welpho, from the Teutonic word Welf, rendered into Latin by the word " Catulus," and pronounced by the
Belgians Welp, or Wulp. Various opinions have been held regarding the origin of that name. In later ages, the Guelphs sustained the rights of the Apostolic See in Italy, against the powerful faction of the Gibel lines. Weingarten has written a work, " De
"
Guelfis Principibus.
54 A curious tradition is given by the
anonymous writer of our Saint's Acts regard- ing the apparition of Alto to enforce the necessity for this restoration.
41
Venerated at Saltzburgh, on the 24th of
September.
42 Venerated on the 24th of November. 43 Venerated on the 8th of January.
44 Venerated on the 8th of January.
4s Venerated on the 1st of December.
46 See Colgan's "Acta Sanctorum Hiber-
nise," Februarii ix. De S. Altone Abbate
Alto-Monasterii in Bavaria," and nn. 3, 4,
5, pp. 301, 302.
4? This account, Rader obtained from the
monastery itself. See " Bavaria Sancta," lib. ii. , p. 115.
48 It is noted in the dyptics of Altmunster,
according to Rader.
49 See Bishop Challoner's Brittania
Sancta," part ii. , pp. 1 19, 120.
s° Pliny calls them Licates, and enumerates
** Direptum a quodam
tribes.
Lib. iv.
Dr. William Smith's " of Dictionary
s2
Greek and Roman Geography," vol. ii. ,p. 182.
See
"
them among the Alpine tribes subdued by ac demum saeculo quinto-decimo Altoni—s
Augustus. See "HistoriaNaturalis,"lib. iii. , monasterium Brigittanis concessum est. "
"Annates Ordinis S. Benedicti," tomus ii. , s 1 Now the River Lech. Strabo calls their lib. xxi. , num. lxxvii. , p. 122.
cap. 24.
town Damasia, and he mentions them as being the most audacious of the Videlicean
56 At the time when Rader wrote, that
community was in a flourishing state. See "Bavaria Sancta," lib. ii. , p. 115.
57 See Forbes' "Kalendars of Bishop
Scottish Saints," p. 210.
5S Mabillon states
Alamannise seu Sueviae comite monasterium, seculo decimo instauratum est, traditumque aliquanto post tempore Altorfiensibus sancti- monialibus Benedictinis, quae coenobium suum. Alto-monasteriensibus monachis ces- serunt Altorfio deinde in paraecialem ecclesiam commutato, Altorfienses in no- vum Weingartense Monasterium translati :
:
io4 LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS.
[September 5.
have been a festival to commemorate some translation of his relics. *8 The English Martyrology and Henry Fitzsimons, at this same date, enter a feast
for St. Altho. 59 The Bollandists also notice this 60 in their festival,
great work.
Article II. —St. Faithleann, possibly of Innisfallen, County of Kerry. At the 5th of September, the name of St. Faithleann occurs in the Irish Calendars. 1 The name Faithlenn Deochoin, or Deacon, without further designation, appears in the published Martyrology of 2 at of
Tallagh, 5th September. 3 From this we can only infer, that he flourished, at an early period. It has been suggested,* that he may be Faithlenn, Deacon, son to
[nnisfallen Oratory, Lower Lake of Killarney.
Aedh Domhain, of Munster, and sprung from the race of Core, son to Lughaidh, son of Oilill Flannbeg, who was son of Fiacha Muilleathan, son to EoghanMor,sonofOilillOlum. Yet,itwouldseem,thelatercalendarists had some doubt regarding Faithleen having been correctly identified as Deacon,sonofAedhDamhain. Inis-Faithlenn,snowknownasInnisfallen, on the Lower Lake of Killarney, is thought to have been named from him. 6 There are still the remains of an ancient oratory 1 to be seen on the margin
58 See Colgan's "Acta Sanctorum Hiber- 3 In that copy contained in the Book of nise," Februarii ix. De S. Altone Abbate Leinster is found £41chlean 'Oechoin.
Alto-Monasterii in Bavaria, n. 8, p. 302. 59SeeO'SullevanBeare's"HistoricCatho- licse Ibemiae Compendium," tomus i. , lib. iv. ,
cap. xi. , xii. , pp. 50, 52.
4 By the O'Clerys.
5 PronouncedInish-Fah-len.
°° " See
tembris v. p. 486.
Acta Sanctorum," tomus ii. , Sep- Among the pretermitted feasts,
already written regarding it, at the 7th of April, in the Fourth Volume of this work, Art. i. , where the Acts of St. Finan, Patron and Abbot of Kinnety, King's County, are written, chap. ii.
7 With the Acts of St. Finan, there is an illustration of the ancient oratory of Innis- fallen given. From a different point of view,
1
Article ii. -— At this date, his feast is set
down in a MS. Calendar of Professor Eugene
O'Curry.