Brandani
Episcopi et Confessoris Translatio ;" and afterwards, they refer us to the i6th of this month, for his chief feast.
O'Hanlon - Lives of the Irish Saints - v5
36 Atthisplace,onthe9thofMay,ineachyear,asermonis preached by one of the Capuchin friars of Sarnen, when great crowds, who still honour the memory of their Apostle, visit there each year.
37
Article IX. Reputed Festival of St. Nicholas, Bishop and Martyr, Scotland. {Third Century. '] According to Dempster,^ there was one Nicholas, a Culdee, among the early bishops of Scotland, and it is said, that he suffered martyrdom, a. d. 296, during the persecution of the Emperor Maximianus. His body is said, to have been cut into pieces, and to have been deposited in a stone sepulchre, which was buried in the earth. On it, " S. Nocolai Episcopi," is stated to have been inscribed. ^ His sacred
remains are related to have been found,3 on the vii. of the May Ides—corres- ponding with this date a. d. 1262. 4 At the instance of the Bishop of Glas- gow, Alexander III. ,s King of Scotland,*' raised a magnificent church, at Peebles, in honour of St. Nicholas, and which was formerly much frequented by the faithful. In Dempster's "Menologium Scoticum,"? this feast is entered, as the Finding and Elevation of Nicholas, Bishop and Culdee, at the 9th of
Scotorum," tomus i. , lib. ii. , num. 159,
P- 90-
3' See"MenologiumScoticum.
3^ See BishopForbes' " Kalendars of Scot-
tish Saints, " p. 199.
33 This town is romantically situated,
between two Lakes, " with high mountains all around, and the snowy masses of the Ber- nese Alps full in front. "—J. S. Buckingham's " Belgium, the Rhine, Switzerland and Hoi- land," vol. ii. , chap, v. , p. 79.
3-* See Rev. S. Baring-Gould's " Lives of the Saints," vol. v. . May the Ninth, p. 137. 35 " In Castro V—indecino depositio sancti Beaticonfessoris. " " Martyrologium Roma-
num," Maii 9, p. 208.
3* Obwalden and Nidwalden are two divi-
sions of the present Canton of Unterwalden.
In 1870, Obwalden had a population of
14,415 souls. See Elisee Reclus' " Nou- ploits, in James Taylor's "Pictorial History velle Geographic Universelle," tome iii. ,
liv. iii. , chap, i. , sect, x. , p. 127.
* According to " Respublica sive Status Regni Scotas et HiberniK, Uiversorum Au- torum : " ipse ab equo lapso excussus fractis cervicibusinteriit,annoChristi1285,vixit annos 45, regnavit 37. "—Scotise Descriptio, p. 131. Lugd. Bat. Elzivir edition, a. d. 1627, 24mo.
' See Bishop Forbes' "Kalendars of Scot- tish Saints," p. 199.
,
an account of him in Rev. Alban Butler's " Lives of the Fathers, Martyrs and other principal Saints," vol. v. , Maii ix. It seems to us, however, that the feast of St. Nicholas of Myra had been observed, on this day, in Scotland, where some of his relics were pro- bably received and preserved,
3 Yox an account of the Finding of St. Nicholas' relics, and of a certain " magnifica crux et venerabilis apud Pebles," and the subsequent foundation of the conventual Church of the Holy Cross, by King Alex- andcr IH,, a. d. 1261, the reader is referred to Goodall's edition of Fordun's "Scotichro- nicon," tomus ii. , lib. x. , cap. xiv. , p. 96.
t Said to have been the thirteenth year of Alexander Ill's reign over Scotland,
37 See Rev. S. Baring-Gould's "Lives of the Saints," vol, v. . May the Ninth, p, 137-
Articleix. —• See"HistoriaEccle- siastica Gentis Scotorum," tomus ii. , lib. xiii. , num. 952, p. 501.
° A St. Nicholas, Bishop and Confessor, of Lincopen, in Sweden, was venerated, on the 9th of May. He died, a. d. 1391. See
Having violently forced
At Lungern,
s He ascended the throne in 1249, and he died A. D. 1286. See an account of his ex-
of Scotland," vol. i. , chap, vi. , pp. 75 to 82.
149
p. 358.
9 They add regardmg him, "multa ex sue
Scotorum," tomus ii. , lib. xiii. , num. 952, P- SOI.
Article x. — 'Thus: " Constantmopoli Translatio Sanctorum Andrew Apostoli, et Lucse Evangelistse de Achaia, et Timothei discipuli beati Pauli Apostoli ab Epheso :
liquor ad languores curandosjugiiur manat. " —" INIartyrologium Ronianum," at Maii 9, p. 208.
urbem. "
' See an account of him, at this date, in
Rev. Alban Butler's " Lives of the Fathers, Martyrs and other principal Saints," vol. xii. , December vi.
® A city of Lysia.
5Its situation,ontheAdriaticSea,inthe province Terra di Bari, and former kingdom of Naples, is shown on the fine Map of Italy,
' His chief feast is held, however, on the 30th of November. See an account of this holy Apf)Sile and Martyr, in Rev. Alban Butler's "Lives of the Fathers, Martyrs and other principal Saints," vol. xi. , November XXX.
. ^,"
Martyrologium Romanum," Maii 9, p. 208. * We are told, by Cardinal Baronius, that Bede, Usuard, and more recent writers, have the feast of St. Nicholas, at this date. How- ever, it is not to be found in the Rev. J. A. Giles' "Complete Works of Venerable Bede, in the original Latin, collected with the Manuscripts, and various printed editions, &c. , at iSIay 9, in " Martyrologium de Natali- corpus autem sancti Andreae longo post tem- tiis Sanctorum ; cum Auctuario Flori et pore Amalphim delatum, ibi pio fidelium Aliorum," &c. , tomus iv. , p. 65. But, at the concursu honoratur : ex cujus sepulchre 7th of this month, we read, " Eodem die translatio S. Nicholai in Barrensem
cerebro confinxisse convictus. "
'" See " Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis
3 See Les Petits Bollandists, " Les Vies
des Saints," tome v. ix« jour de Mai, engraved from the original of G. A. Rizzi-
p. 406.
Nearly the whole First Volume of Rev.
F. S. Gordon's learned work " Scoti- chronicon," besides this account of St. Andrew's relics, gives the History of St.
Zannoni, and prefixed to the Rev. J. C. Eustace's " Classical Tour through Italy. An MDCCCII. "
'" This church was of an early foundation in Dublin, as appears from the charter of
J.
—
15° LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. [May 9.
May. Ferrarius, too, takes his notice, on the authority of Dempster, as the Bollandists observe,^ at this day, while they remark, the latter has been a faithless guide. 9 It is amusing to read Dempster's truthful avowal—at least in the present instance—that he could not find whether or not this early bishop and martyr in Scotland left any writings. '°
Article X. — Feasts of the Translation of St. Andrew, Apostle OF Scotland, and of the Translation of St. Nicholas, Bishop and Confessor. IntheBreviaryofAberdeen,onthisday,asalsointheRoman Martyrology,^ there is the festival of the Translation of St. Andrew, Apostle, and the Patron of Scotland. ' His remains were removed from Achaia to Constantinople; and, a long time afterwards, they were brought to Amalfi. 3 It is said, a certain St. Regulus carried portions of his relics to Scotland from Patra, a. d. 369, and that they were deposited in a church, where St. Andrew's ^ now stands. In Ireland, St. Andrew is venerated as patron in a parish and church, dedicated to him in Dublin. There is a com- memoration of the Translation of St. Nicholas, Bishop and Confessor, in the Roman Martyrology,5 and in other Festilogies. ^ He was a native of Patara, in Lycia. From being an Abbot, he was chosen to be Archbishop of ]\Iyra. He died there a. d. 342, and was buried in his own cathedral. His Life was written by Methodius, Patriarch of Constantinople. His chief feast is on the 6th of December. 7 The feast of this day refers to the removal of St. Nicholas' relics from Myra,^ to the city of Bari,9 in the year 1087. John, Archdeacon of Bari, wrote an account of this transfer, which was intended to removehisremainsfromthepoweroftheMahomedans. BothintheGreek and Latin Churches, his memory was held in great veneration ; while, in Ire-
* See " Acta Sanctorum," tomus ii. , Andrew's See, with the Lives of its Bishops. Maii ix. Among the pretermitted saints, s Thus : " In Apulia Translatio sancti
Nicholai episcopi ex Myra civitate Lycise. "
Article XI. —'
:
— 3
May 9. ] LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS.
land, he is the Patron of Gahvay town and diocese, as also of St. Nicholas parish and church,'° in the city of Dublin.
Article XI. The Translation of St. Brandan, Bishop and Confessor. \_Sixth Century. '] At the 9th of May, the Bollandists ' quote Greven's written additions to the Carthusian Manuscript of Bruxelles, for the festival recorded, " S.
Brandani Episcopi et Confessoris Translatio ;" and afterwards, they refer us to the i6th of this month, for his chief feast. ^ It may be questioned, however, if that former feast may not have reference, rather to St. Brandan, or Brendan, Abbot of Birr,3 who is said to have been miraculously translated to the skies in his chariot or coach,'* like Elijah, s and whose depar- ture from this world ^ was revealed to St. Columkille. ? His chief festival is kept, on the 29th of November. ^
Article XII. Feast of St. Michael, the Archangel. In the Irish Church, was celebrated, at this date, a festival of the Archangel St. Michael, as we find it noted, in the Feilire of St. ^ngus, and in the Martyr- ology of Tallagh. ' The commentator, on this line, explains, that it was Michael's great manifestation,^ in the mountain of Garganus, which had been theoccasionforestablishingthiscommemoration. IntheRomanBreviary, however, the day for this feast is set down, at the 8th of May.
Article XIII. Feast of St. Cyril, Martyr. The festival of St. Cyril, Martyr, is entered in the Feilire of St. ^ngus,' at the 9th of May. There were many martyrs in the church, bearing this name ; but, it seems to be a difficult matter to find the time, place, and manner of this saint's death, or to establish his identity with any one of them.
Article XIV. Reputed Feast of Ken-marus. Quoting from the Martyrology of Tallagh, the Bollandists ' record Ken-marus, as having a fes- tival,atthe9thofMay. However,wecannotfindsuchafeastintheFran- ciscan copy of that Martyrology.
signum manifestatus est Micahel occidenti. " —Notes from the Leabhar Breac, on the Calendar of St. Oengus. See " Transactions of the Royal Irish Academy," Irish Manu script Series, vol. i. , part i. , p. Ixxxv.
^ it is celebrated in Ireland as a Duplex Majus, with Nine Proper Lessons.
Archbishop John Comyn, in William Monck Mason's "History and Antiquities of the Collegiate and Cathedral Church of St. Patrick, near Dublin," Introduction, sect.
ii. , p. 3, and Appendix i. ,pp. i. , ii. tion
Article xii. —'
tleuelAuio micliAel ^^xchAnjLi.
^ He gives the following Latin explana-
" quando quaesiuit aliquis suum tau- rum et quando misit sagitam in taurum et tomus ii. , Mail ix. Among the pretermitted suasagita ad semet ipsum rediuit et per hoc
See " Acta Sanctorum,"
saints, p. 358.
' See also the present volume, at the same
date.
3 See his Life, at the 29th of November. ^See Thomas Lalor Cooke's " Early His-
tory of the Town of Birr," &c. , chap. Ii. , p. 13.
—
the Royal Irish Academy, " Irish Manuscript
5 See IV. Kings '
Article xiii.
"
See Transactions of
ii. , 11.
' In the ' Chronicon Scotorum, " edited by
'
William M. Hennessy, his death is twice set down, at A. D. 565, and at a. d. 573. See pp. 56to59.
' See his Life, at the 9th of June.
Series, vol. i. , part i. , p. Ixxix.
* See, also, Art. v. , at this date.
Here it is entered as
Article xiv. —'
rum,"tomusii. , Maiiix. Amongthepre- termitted saints, p. 358.
See "Acta Sancto
151
Article i. —Chapter i. —• See William Edward Hartpole Lecky's " Leaders of Pub- lic Opinion in Ireland," Daniel O'Connell, pp. 261 to 263.
' Father John Colgan quotes a Life of St. Coemgell, which he attributes to the author- ship of St. Euinus, or Evin. See "Acta Sanctorum MiberniK," xxix. Januarii. Vita S. Gilda; Badonici, &c. , n. 13, p. 192.
niensis, fol. 91 to 94.
s These are contained, in the Bodleian Li-
braiy, among the Rawlinson collection. One is classed, B. 485, in a vellum 4to of the four- teenth century, at fol. 224; another is classed, B. 505, in a vellum folio, at fol. 21-24 5 'ino- ther is to be found, among the Ilarleian Manuscripts. This latter is classed, No. 6,576, and it is intituled, Vita Sancti Con- galli et Passio animx sure—it is a 4to paged
3 In the Manuscript, clissed IC. 3, li, at
fol. 57, is a Vita S. Congalli. It is marked. Manuscript of the fifteenth century, at fol.
No. 792, of the " Catalogus Manuscriptorum Anglix et Hibernix\"
* See the vellum, intituled Codex Kilken-
337-366.
" In the Manuscript, classed vol. xxii. , at
fol. 195.
s
152 LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. [May io.
Cent! ) IBap of i¥lap»
ARTICLE I. —ST. CONGALL, OR COMGALL, ABBOT OF BANGOR, COUNTY OF DOWN.
[SIXTH AND SEVENTH CENTURIES. ^
CHAPTER I .
INTRODUCTION—AUTHORITIES FOR THE LIFE OF ST. COMGALL—PREDICTIONS REGARD- ING HIM—HIS PARENTAGE AND BIRTH—HIS BAPTISM AND MIRACLES WROUGHT AT THAT TIME—HIS VOCATION TO A RELIGIOUS LIFE—HE BECOMES A DISCIPLE OF ST. FINTAN, AT CLONENAGH—HIS ORDINATION—HE LEADS A LIFE OF RETIRE- MENT, IN AN ISLAND OF LOUGH ERNE.
IN earliest times, our Irish monasteries were the chief agencies, in civiliz- ing and evangelizing the people. The inmates were instructors of the ignorant, the houses refuges for the oppressed, and the monks were almoners to the needy. The monasteries were centres of Christian life and light, like- wise, in the midst of heathen darkness. Nor could it be said of them, as in after time? , when an alien tithes' establishment had been imposed on Ireland, that not only was a tax levied by the inmates on industry, but even on the industry that feeds mankind. On the contrary, the religious maintained themselves by voluntary endowments, contributions and labour ; while they gave employment to the poor, and even ministered disinterestedly, in a charitable manner, to the classes, who most required protection and main- tenance. Sympathy through every fibre of social relations bound the monks and the people together ; not, as in our own age, when a hostile people groaned under the legal and unjustifiable exactions of a hostile clergy, with demoralization, outrage, and bloodshed resulting, as the natural consequence
of Irish misgovernment and oppression. '
That the Acts of St. Comgall ^ were well known, in the early Irish Church,
can be proved from the copies, which even yet remain in various repositories of learning. Thus, Trinity College Library,3 Dublin, contains one of these treatises. Also, Marsh's Library, Dublin, has a Life of St. Comgall, in Manu- script. * At Oxford, some, Manuscript Lives of this saint are preserved. Among the Manuscripts in the Burgundian Library, at Bruxelles, there is a Vita S. Comgalli. ^ The Franciscan Librar)-, Dublin, possesses a Latin Life
May io. ] lives OF THE IRISH SAINTS.
153
of this saint. 7 Father Fleming ^ has pubh'shed Acts of the holy Abbot Com- gall. They have been transcribed from a Codex Ardmacanus. John Bale,9 Pits,'° and other writers, treat about an imaginary St. CongeUus, who is sup- posed to have founded or ruled the ancient monastery of Bangor, in North Wales ; but, they are most certainly under a mistake, as, if better informed, their statement should have referred them to the present St. Comgall, and to liis IrishMonastery,atBangor,"inthecountyofDown. TheBoUandistshave published Acts of this holy Abbot, from two different lives :'^ the first and the shorter Acts '3 resulting from a collation of three distinct Manuscripts. '* The Acts, as furnished by Father Hugh Ward, are edited, from an Irish Manuscript, and compared with those published by Thomas Sirinus, or O'Sheeran, in his commentaries on the Life of St. Columbanus. 'S The latter Acts, praised by Archbishop Ussher,'^as deserving of credit, are given more at length ; and, they contain some statements, which appear to have been taken from those accounts first given. The Life of thib samt appears to have been prepared for publication, by Father John Colgan, at the loth of May. '? Among other writers, Bishop Challenor,'^ Rev. Alban Butler,'9 and the Rev. S. Baring-Gould,=^° have special notices of St. Comgall, Abbot of Bangor.
It shall be our endeavour, to present a faithful record of our saint's Ufe, from those various published sources, by referring for confirmation of several state- ments given, to authorities bearing on the subject. It is stated, in St. Patrick's Life, by Jocelyn,^' that this holy Apostle had predicted St. Comgall's birth, and the foundation of his Abbey at Bangor, sixty years before accom- plishmentoftheformerevent. " Onthedaybeforeoursaint'sbirth,holy Macniseus,^3 Bishop of Connor, is said to have had a vision regarding him. For, on hearing the noise of horses and of a chariot passing, he said to his assistants, " This chariot carries a king. " They immediately went out to satisfy their curiosity, after such announcement; but, they soon returned with word to their Bishop, that the chariot contained only a man, named Sedna, and hiswifeBriga. Bothofthesehumblepersonswerewellknowntothem. The Bishop rephed, " My children, do not think I have spoken falsely to you, in this case. For that woman bears a king, who shall be born on to-morrow, at
^ In the paper Manuscript Vitse Sancto- rum ex Codice Inisensi. Vita S. Comgalli, pp. 46 to 50.
^ See " Collectanea Sacra," &c. The Vita S. Comgalli is in seventy paragraphs, pp. 303 to 316, but mispaged.
9 See "Scriptorum Illustrium Majoris Britannise," &c. , cent, i. , cap. 53, p. 452, cap. 6.
'° See " Relationum Kistoricarum de Rebus Anglicis. "
" See Bishop Challenor's "Britannia Sancta," part i. , p. 283, note.
"SeetheBollandists' " Acta Sanctorum," tomus ii. , Maiix. , pp. 579 to 58S.
'3 This is characterized, by Rev. Dr. Lani- gan, as "a trifling one. " See " Ecclesias- tical History of Ireland," vol. ii. , chap, x. , sect. xii. , n.
Article IX. Reputed Festival of St. Nicholas, Bishop and Martyr, Scotland. {Third Century. '] According to Dempster,^ there was one Nicholas, a Culdee, among the early bishops of Scotland, and it is said, that he suffered martyrdom, a. d. 296, during the persecution of the Emperor Maximianus. His body is said, to have been cut into pieces, and to have been deposited in a stone sepulchre, which was buried in the earth. On it, " S. Nocolai Episcopi," is stated to have been inscribed. ^ His sacred
remains are related to have been found,3 on the vii. of the May Ides—corres- ponding with this date a. d. 1262. 4 At the instance of the Bishop of Glas- gow, Alexander III. ,s King of Scotland,*' raised a magnificent church, at Peebles, in honour of St. Nicholas, and which was formerly much frequented by the faithful. In Dempster's "Menologium Scoticum,"? this feast is entered, as the Finding and Elevation of Nicholas, Bishop and Culdee, at the 9th of
Scotorum," tomus i. , lib. ii. , num. 159,
P- 90-
3' See"MenologiumScoticum.
3^ See BishopForbes' " Kalendars of Scot-
tish Saints, " p. 199.
33 This town is romantically situated,
between two Lakes, " with high mountains all around, and the snowy masses of the Ber- nese Alps full in front. "—J. S. Buckingham's " Belgium, the Rhine, Switzerland and Hoi- land," vol. ii. , chap, v. , p. 79.
3-* See Rev. S. Baring-Gould's " Lives of the Saints," vol. v. . May the Ninth, p. 137. 35 " In Castro V—indecino depositio sancti Beaticonfessoris. " " Martyrologium Roma-
num," Maii 9, p. 208.
3* Obwalden and Nidwalden are two divi-
sions of the present Canton of Unterwalden.
In 1870, Obwalden had a population of
14,415 souls. See Elisee Reclus' " Nou- ploits, in James Taylor's "Pictorial History velle Geographic Universelle," tome iii. ,
liv. iii. , chap, i. , sect, x. , p. 127.
* According to " Respublica sive Status Regni Scotas et HiberniK, Uiversorum Au- torum : " ipse ab equo lapso excussus fractis cervicibusinteriit,annoChristi1285,vixit annos 45, regnavit 37. "—Scotise Descriptio, p. 131. Lugd. Bat. Elzivir edition, a. d. 1627, 24mo.
' See Bishop Forbes' "Kalendars of Scot- tish Saints," p. 199.
,
an account of him in Rev. Alban Butler's " Lives of the Fathers, Martyrs and other principal Saints," vol. v. , Maii ix. It seems to us, however, that the feast of St. Nicholas of Myra had been observed, on this day, in Scotland, where some of his relics were pro- bably received and preserved,
3 Yox an account of the Finding of St. Nicholas' relics, and of a certain " magnifica crux et venerabilis apud Pebles," and the subsequent foundation of the conventual Church of the Holy Cross, by King Alex- andcr IH,, a. d. 1261, the reader is referred to Goodall's edition of Fordun's "Scotichro- nicon," tomus ii. , lib. x. , cap. xiv. , p. 96.
t Said to have been the thirteenth year of Alexander Ill's reign over Scotland,
37 See Rev. S. Baring-Gould's "Lives of the Saints," vol, v. . May the Ninth, p, 137-
Articleix. —• See"HistoriaEccle- siastica Gentis Scotorum," tomus ii. , lib. xiii. , num. 952, p. 501.
° A St. Nicholas, Bishop and Confessor, of Lincopen, in Sweden, was venerated, on the 9th of May. He died, a. d. 1391. See
Having violently forced
At Lungern,
s He ascended the throne in 1249, and he died A. D. 1286. See an account of his ex-
of Scotland," vol. i. , chap, vi. , pp. 75 to 82.
149
p. 358.
9 They add regardmg him, "multa ex sue
Scotorum," tomus ii. , lib. xiii. , num. 952, P- SOI.
Article x. — 'Thus: " Constantmopoli Translatio Sanctorum Andrew Apostoli, et Lucse Evangelistse de Achaia, et Timothei discipuli beati Pauli Apostoli ab Epheso :
liquor ad languores curandosjugiiur manat. " —" INIartyrologium Ronianum," at Maii 9, p. 208.
urbem. "
' See an account of him, at this date, in
Rev. Alban Butler's " Lives of the Fathers, Martyrs and other principal Saints," vol. xii. , December vi.
® A city of Lysia.
5Its situation,ontheAdriaticSea,inthe province Terra di Bari, and former kingdom of Naples, is shown on the fine Map of Italy,
' His chief feast is held, however, on the 30th of November. See an account of this holy Apf)Sile and Martyr, in Rev. Alban Butler's "Lives of the Fathers, Martyrs and other principal Saints," vol. xi. , November XXX.
. ^,"
Martyrologium Romanum," Maii 9, p. 208. * We are told, by Cardinal Baronius, that Bede, Usuard, and more recent writers, have the feast of St. Nicholas, at this date. How- ever, it is not to be found in the Rev. J. A. Giles' "Complete Works of Venerable Bede, in the original Latin, collected with the Manuscripts, and various printed editions, &c. , at iSIay 9, in " Martyrologium de Natali- corpus autem sancti Andreae longo post tem- tiis Sanctorum ; cum Auctuario Flori et pore Amalphim delatum, ibi pio fidelium Aliorum," &c. , tomus iv. , p. 65. But, at the concursu honoratur : ex cujus sepulchre 7th of this month, we read, " Eodem die translatio S. Nicholai in Barrensem
cerebro confinxisse convictus. "
'" See " Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis
3 See Les Petits Bollandists, " Les Vies
des Saints," tome v. ix« jour de Mai, engraved from the original of G. A. Rizzi-
p. 406.
Nearly the whole First Volume of Rev.
F. S. Gordon's learned work " Scoti- chronicon," besides this account of St. Andrew's relics, gives the History of St.
Zannoni, and prefixed to the Rev. J. C. Eustace's " Classical Tour through Italy. An MDCCCII. "
'" This church was of an early foundation in Dublin, as appears from the charter of
J.
—
15° LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. [May 9.
May. Ferrarius, too, takes his notice, on the authority of Dempster, as the Bollandists observe,^ at this day, while they remark, the latter has been a faithless guide. 9 It is amusing to read Dempster's truthful avowal—at least in the present instance—that he could not find whether or not this early bishop and martyr in Scotland left any writings. '°
Article X. — Feasts of the Translation of St. Andrew, Apostle OF Scotland, and of the Translation of St. Nicholas, Bishop and Confessor. IntheBreviaryofAberdeen,onthisday,asalsointheRoman Martyrology,^ there is the festival of the Translation of St. Andrew, Apostle, and the Patron of Scotland. ' His remains were removed from Achaia to Constantinople; and, a long time afterwards, they were brought to Amalfi. 3 It is said, a certain St. Regulus carried portions of his relics to Scotland from Patra, a. d. 369, and that they were deposited in a church, where St. Andrew's ^ now stands. In Ireland, St. Andrew is venerated as patron in a parish and church, dedicated to him in Dublin. There is a com- memoration of the Translation of St. Nicholas, Bishop and Confessor, in the Roman Martyrology,5 and in other Festilogies. ^ He was a native of Patara, in Lycia. From being an Abbot, he was chosen to be Archbishop of ]\Iyra. He died there a. d. 342, and was buried in his own cathedral. His Life was written by Methodius, Patriarch of Constantinople. His chief feast is on the 6th of December. 7 The feast of this day refers to the removal of St. Nicholas' relics from Myra,^ to the city of Bari,9 in the year 1087. John, Archdeacon of Bari, wrote an account of this transfer, which was intended to removehisremainsfromthepoweroftheMahomedans. BothintheGreek and Latin Churches, his memory was held in great veneration ; while, in Ire-
* See " Acta Sanctorum," tomus ii. , Andrew's See, with the Lives of its Bishops. Maii ix. Among the pretermitted saints, s Thus : " In Apulia Translatio sancti
Nicholai episcopi ex Myra civitate Lycise. "
Article XI. —'
:
— 3
May 9. ] LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS.
land, he is the Patron of Gahvay town and diocese, as also of St. Nicholas parish and church,'° in the city of Dublin.
Article XI. The Translation of St. Brandan, Bishop and Confessor. \_Sixth Century. '] At the 9th of May, the Bollandists ' quote Greven's written additions to the Carthusian Manuscript of Bruxelles, for the festival recorded, " S.
Brandani Episcopi et Confessoris Translatio ;" and afterwards, they refer us to the i6th of this month, for his chief feast. ^ It may be questioned, however, if that former feast may not have reference, rather to St. Brandan, or Brendan, Abbot of Birr,3 who is said to have been miraculously translated to the skies in his chariot or coach,'* like Elijah, s and whose depar- ture from this world ^ was revealed to St. Columkille. ? His chief festival is kept, on the 29th of November. ^
Article XII. Feast of St. Michael, the Archangel. In the Irish Church, was celebrated, at this date, a festival of the Archangel St. Michael, as we find it noted, in the Feilire of St. ^ngus, and in the Martyr- ology of Tallagh. ' The commentator, on this line, explains, that it was Michael's great manifestation,^ in the mountain of Garganus, which had been theoccasionforestablishingthiscommemoration. IntheRomanBreviary, however, the day for this feast is set down, at the 8th of May.
Article XIII. Feast of St. Cyril, Martyr. The festival of St. Cyril, Martyr, is entered in the Feilire of St. ^ngus,' at the 9th of May. There were many martyrs in the church, bearing this name ; but, it seems to be a difficult matter to find the time, place, and manner of this saint's death, or to establish his identity with any one of them.
Article XIV. Reputed Feast of Ken-marus. Quoting from the Martyrology of Tallagh, the Bollandists ' record Ken-marus, as having a fes- tival,atthe9thofMay. However,wecannotfindsuchafeastintheFran- ciscan copy of that Martyrology.
signum manifestatus est Micahel occidenti. " —Notes from the Leabhar Breac, on the Calendar of St. Oengus. See " Transactions of the Royal Irish Academy," Irish Manu script Series, vol. i. , part i. , p. Ixxxv.
^ it is celebrated in Ireland as a Duplex Majus, with Nine Proper Lessons.
Archbishop John Comyn, in William Monck Mason's "History and Antiquities of the Collegiate and Cathedral Church of St. Patrick, near Dublin," Introduction, sect.
ii. , p. 3, and Appendix i. ,pp. i. , ii. tion
Article xii. —'
tleuelAuio micliAel ^^xchAnjLi.
^ He gives the following Latin explana-
" quando quaesiuit aliquis suum tau- rum et quando misit sagitam in taurum et tomus ii. , Mail ix. Among the pretermitted suasagita ad semet ipsum rediuit et per hoc
See " Acta Sanctorum,"
saints, p. 358.
' See also the present volume, at the same
date.
3 See his Life, at the 29th of November. ^See Thomas Lalor Cooke's " Early His-
tory of the Town of Birr," &c. , chap. Ii. , p. 13.
—
the Royal Irish Academy, " Irish Manuscript
5 See IV. Kings '
Article xiii.
"
See Transactions of
ii. , 11.
' In the ' Chronicon Scotorum, " edited by
'
William M. Hennessy, his death is twice set down, at A. D. 565, and at a. d. 573. See pp. 56to59.
' See his Life, at the 9th of June.
Series, vol. i. , part i. , p. Ixxix.
* See, also, Art. v. , at this date.
Here it is entered as
Article xiv. —'
rum,"tomusii. , Maiiix. Amongthepre- termitted saints, p. 358.
See "Acta Sancto
151
Article i. —Chapter i. —• See William Edward Hartpole Lecky's " Leaders of Pub- lic Opinion in Ireland," Daniel O'Connell, pp. 261 to 263.
' Father John Colgan quotes a Life of St. Coemgell, which he attributes to the author- ship of St. Euinus, or Evin. See "Acta Sanctorum MiberniK," xxix. Januarii. Vita S. Gilda; Badonici, &c. , n. 13, p. 192.
niensis, fol. 91 to 94.
s These are contained, in the Bodleian Li-
braiy, among the Rawlinson collection. One is classed, B. 485, in a vellum 4to of the four- teenth century, at fol. 224; another is classed, B. 505, in a vellum folio, at fol. 21-24 5 'ino- ther is to be found, among the Ilarleian Manuscripts. This latter is classed, No. 6,576, and it is intituled, Vita Sancti Con- galli et Passio animx sure—it is a 4to paged
3 In the Manuscript, clissed IC. 3, li, at
fol. 57, is a Vita S. Congalli. It is marked. Manuscript of the fifteenth century, at fol.
No. 792, of the " Catalogus Manuscriptorum Anglix et Hibernix\"
* See the vellum, intituled Codex Kilken-
337-366.
" In the Manuscript, classed vol. xxii. , at
fol. 195.
s
152 LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. [May io.
Cent! ) IBap of i¥lap»
ARTICLE I. —ST. CONGALL, OR COMGALL, ABBOT OF BANGOR, COUNTY OF DOWN.
[SIXTH AND SEVENTH CENTURIES. ^
CHAPTER I .
INTRODUCTION—AUTHORITIES FOR THE LIFE OF ST. COMGALL—PREDICTIONS REGARD- ING HIM—HIS PARENTAGE AND BIRTH—HIS BAPTISM AND MIRACLES WROUGHT AT THAT TIME—HIS VOCATION TO A RELIGIOUS LIFE—HE BECOMES A DISCIPLE OF ST. FINTAN, AT CLONENAGH—HIS ORDINATION—HE LEADS A LIFE OF RETIRE- MENT, IN AN ISLAND OF LOUGH ERNE.
IN earliest times, our Irish monasteries were the chief agencies, in civiliz- ing and evangelizing the people. The inmates were instructors of the ignorant, the houses refuges for the oppressed, and the monks were almoners to the needy. The monasteries were centres of Christian life and light, like- wise, in the midst of heathen darkness. Nor could it be said of them, as in after time? , when an alien tithes' establishment had been imposed on Ireland, that not only was a tax levied by the inmates on industry, but even on the industry that feeds mankind. On the contrary, the religious maintained themselves by voluntary endowments, contributions and labour ; while they gave employment to the poor, and even ministered disinterestedly, in a charitable manner, to the classes, who most required protection and main- tenance. Sympathy through every fibre of social relations bound the monks and the people together ; not, as in our own age, when a hostile people groaned under the legal and unjustifiable exactions of a hostile clergy, with demoralization, outrage, and bloodshed resulting, as the natural consequence
of Irish misgovernment and oppression. '
That the Acts of St. Comgall ^ were well known, in the early Irish Church,
can be proved from the copies, which even yet remain in various repositories of learning. Thus, Trinity College Library,3 Dublin, contains one of these treatises. Also, Marsh's Library, Dublin, has a Life of St. Comgall, in Manu- script. * At Oxford, some, Manuscript Lives of this saint are preserved. Among the Manuscripts in the Burgundian Library, at Bruxelles, there is a Vita S. Comgalli. ^ The Franciscan Librar)-, Dublin, possesses a Latin Life
May io. ] lives OF THE IRISH SAINTS.
153
of this saint. 7 Father Fleming ^ has pubh'shed Acts of the holy Abbot Com- gall. They have been transcribed from a Codex Ardmacanus. John Bale,9 Pits,'° and other writers, treat about an imaginary St. CongeUus, who is sup- posed to have founded or ruled the ancient monastery of Bangor, in North Wales ; but, they are most certainly under a mistake, as, if better informed, their statement should have referred them to the present St. Comgall, and to liis IrishMonastery,atBangor,"inthecountyofDown. TheBoUandistshave published Acts of this holy Abbot, from two different lives :'^ the first and the shorter Acts '3 resulting from a collation of three distinct Manuscripts. '* The Acts, as furnished by Father Hugh Ward, are edited, from an Irish Manuscript, and compared with those published by Thomas Sirinus, or O'Sheeran, in his commentaries on the Life of St. Columbanus. 'S The latter Acts, praised by Archbishop Ussher,'^as deserving of credit, are given more at length ; and, they contain some statements, which appear to have been taken from those accounts first given. The Life of thib samt appears to have been prepared for publication, by Father John Colgan, at the loth of May. '? Among other writers, Bishop Challenor,'^ Rev. Alban Butler,'9 and the Rev. S. Baring-Gould,=^° have special notices of St. Comgall, Abbot of Bangor.
It shall be our endeavour, to present a faithful record of our saint's Ufe, from those various published sources, by referring for confirmation of several state- ments given, to authorities bearing on the subject. It is stated, in St. Patrick's Life, by Jocelyn,^' that this holy Apostle had predicted St. Comgall's birth, and the foundation of his Abbey at Bangor, sixty years before accom- plishmentoftheformerevent. " Onthedaybeforeoursaint'sbirth,holy Macniseus,^3 Bishop of Connor, is said to have had a vision regarding him. For, on hearing the noise of horses and of a chariot passing, he said to his assistants, " This chariot carries a king. " They immediately went out to satisfy their curiosity, after such announcement; but, they soon returned with word to their Bishop, that the chariot contained only a man, named Sedna, and hiswifeBriga. Bothofthesehumblepersonswerewellknowntothem. The Bishop rephed, " My children, do not think I have spoken falsely to you, in this case. For that woman bears a king, who shall be born on to-morrow, at
^ In the paper Manuscript Vitse Sancto- rum ex Codice Inisensi. Vita S. Comgalli, pp. 46 to 50.
^ See " Collectanea Sacra," &c. The Vita S. Comgalli is in seventy paragraphs, pp. 303 to 316, but mispaged.
9 See "Scriptorum Illustrium Majoris Britannise," &c. , cent, i. , cap. 53, p. 452, cap. 6.
'° See " Relationum Kistoricarum de Rebus Anglicis. "
" See Bishop Challenor's "Britannia Sancta," part i. , p. 283, note.
"SeetheBollandists' " Acta Sanctorum," tomus ii. , Maiix. , pp. 579 to 58S.
'3 This is characterized, by Rev. Dr. Lani- gan, as "a trifling one. " See " Ecclesias- tical History of Ireland," vol. ii. , chap, x. , sect. xii. , n.
