Planta's
55 See
"
Kalendars of Scottish Saints," p.
55 See
"
Kalendars of Scottish Saints," p.
O'Hanlon - Lives of the Irish Saints - v3
214 to 228.
Vitis,"
" Sir Thomas Duffus Possibly," says
33 At March the the name of St. 20th,
Cuthbert, Confessor, Bishop of Lindisfarne, is found entered, in the Irish Lives of the
Saints, by the Cistercian IMonk, pp. 371,
373-
3" See "Bibliotheca Britannico-Hiber-
nica," p. 214.
3' The second volume of the "Acta
" Sanctorum Ordinis S. Benedicti contains
the Life of St. Cuthbert, Bishop of Lindis- farne, with previous observations, in five
paragraphs, and a preface in two para- graphs ; the prose Life by the Venerable
Becle, in forty-six chapters, and sixty-seven paragraphs, and a metrical Life, by the same author, in forty-six divisions. SiEC. ii. , pp. 887 to 937. In the sixth volume of the "Acta . Sanctorum Ordinis S. Bene- dicti," from the year of Christ 800 to 900 (Saculum iv. Pars Secunda) I find Acts, re- ferring to St. Cuthbert, and to other Irish saints, in the Book of the translations and
miracles of St. Cutlibert, by an anonymous author, and in the Carmen Ethelwolfi Mo-
Plardy, "it may represent the text in an earlier state than that which occurs in the other
MSS. " ^5 Of
the Comte de ]\Iontalembert " Au milieu d'un deluge de legendes I^lus ou moins fabuleuses, on trouve une foule de details aussi originaux qu' authenti- ques sur les moeurs et les institutions du temps. A cote de grands exemples de saintete et surtcut d'une etude tres-habiluelle de I'Ecriture Sainte, on y voit, dans la societe religieuse et laique, des scandales et des exces de tyrannic que nul ne suppor- terait aujourd' hui dans I'Europe occiden- tale, et qui ne s—e retrouvent que sous I'empire des czars. " "Les Moines d'Occi- dent," tome iv. , liv. xv. , chap, i. , n. i, p.
439-
3° This is classed in the Bodleian Library
as Fairfax. 6 (3886) ff. 43 b. -i35. , veil, folio, dble. cols. , xiv. cent. The beginning has
"
rubricated Incipit Epistola Reginaldi,
Dunclmensis Monachi, ad Dominum Ethel-
writes
:
it,
SiTpius
JiIS. , in the numeration of its chapters.
'' Capgrave's "Nova Legenda Angliai
"
858 LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. [March 20.
dictine Father Serenus Cressy,3S by Bishop Challenor,39 by Adrien Baillet,*" by tlie Rev. Alban Butler ;'*^ our saint is especially commemorated. A Life of St. Cuthbert, in black letter, and taken from an ancient Manuscript, in the possession of G. Allan, was published in 1816,*^ at Durham, by Sir
Cuthbert A small Sharpe. ^s
"
of St.
1 816. Among other valuable accounts must be especially noticed a work, longsincepublished,bythelearnedCatholicArchbishopofGlasgow. Itis
known as " Monseignor Eyre's
volume,
with the Antiquities of the Church of Durham," appeared at Sutherland, a. d.
book xxxiii. ,
''5 See
"
Lives of the vol. Saints,"
the second, in metrical twenty-three
4to
intituled,
Legend
Cuthbert,
History
the Wanderings with his Body during 124 years, of the State of his Body
until 1542, and of the various Monuments erected to his Memory. " This learned and valuable Memoir was published in London, 1849. It contains Maps and Plans of a very useful character ; it also gives an interesting History of Lindisfarne and of Durham Cathedral. The Comte de Monta- lembert,44 tlie Rev. S. Baring-Gould,<5 and Bishop Forbes, in his work,^^ have their several accounts of the illustrious Northumbrian Bishop and AblDOt.
Besides these writers, whom we have previously recapitulated, St. ^ngus the Culdee, or a ^vriter in the Martyrology of Tallagh, mentions the subject of this biography, al the 20th of March, as the Saxon Cuthbert of Inis-menoc, by which name Lindisfarne Island is designated. By the Britons, it was
called Inis medicante, according to Camden. i7 Now, ^ngus is known,
chiefly to have inserted amongst those holy men belonging to his country, the name of a saint, connected with it by birth, or in some manner, by educationalrelationsorbydeath. Itisevident,fromtheveryextendedLife of our saint, written by Venerable Bede, that the country or district of his nativity had been for a probable good reason apparently concealed, and as from youth to the period of his death, Cuthbert had not been in Ireland, we may therefore naturally infer, that by birth and race, he may be claimed, as belonging to our island. Nor does this matter depend only on negative in- ferences, for many of our Martyrologists and historic writers positively refer the honour of Cuthbert's birth, to Ireland. Thus, Marianus O'Gorman, Maguire, and other Martyrologists, place him amongst our domestic saints. Moreover, Eugene, who was Bishop of Ardmore, in the year 11 74, wrote a Life of Saint Cuthbertj^^ in which he is claimed as being an Irishman by birth. From this life, another anonymous English writer composed Acts of our saint. 49 These Acts, which are contained in two books, and which have
nachi, the first, in twenty-eight chapters, witii previous observations, in two para-
paragraphs, pp. 275 to 332.
3^ See his " Church History of Brittany,
from the beginning of Christianity to the Norman Conquest," book xv. , chap, xvi. ,
"^ In an 8vo volume, for private circula-
•^ See the " of with History Hartlepool,"
Some of these are in colours, with Coats of Arms, Seals and Pedigrees of families, Many of the wood-cuts are by Thomas Bewick.
•** See " Les Moines tome d'Occident,"
graphs ;
chapters, with previous observations, in four
paragraphs. Also, an Appendix, in three Views, Monumental Brasses and Costumes,
i. , ii. , vii. , viii. , ix. , book
book xix. ,
xxviii. , chap, viii. , xviii. , xix. , xx. , xxi. ,
chap,
xii.
39 See " Britannia Sancta," part i. , pp.
chap.
iii. ,
185 to 197.
'*° At the 20th of March, Baillet's "Les p. 316.
Vies des Saints," tome i. , records St. Cuth-
bert. Bishop of Lindisfarne, in England, pp. 258 to 262.
*' See •' Lives of the Fathers, Martyrs,
and other principal Saints," vol. iii. , March XX.
*' See Cough's Camden's "Britannia," vol. iii. On the Lesser Islands in the
British Ocean, p. 744.
t* See, Rev. Samuel Hayman's " New
Hand-Book for Youghal," p. xi.
of St. with an account of Cuthbert,
tion only.
a folding Map and numerous plates of
iv. , liv. xv. , chap, i. , pp. 388 to 451.
March 20, pp. 337 to 360.
"* See "Kalendars of Scottish Saints,"
March 20. ] LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. 859
been extracted from Irish records, were compiled about the year 1160. 3°
They are supposed to have been written by Laurence of Dunelm, who
flourished about this time, if we follow Colgan's opinion ; and according to
authorities from which these Acts were derived, Cuthbert is called a native
of Ireland. Other English writers, such as John of Tinmouth, John Cap-
grave and John Bale,5' expressly state, that Cuthbert was born in Ireland. s^
Among the Scottish writers, who agree on this point, may be mentioned
John Major,53 Fordun,S4 and Bishop Forbes. s5 Matthew O'Heney, Arch-
bishop of Cashel, wrote a Life of this saint, about the year 1200, in which
Cuthbert is spoken of as an Irishman by birth. More recently, Hugh
M'Cogwell, or Cavell, Archbishop of Armagh, Magennis, Bishop of Down,
David Roth, Bishop of Ossory, Stephen White,5^ Henry Fitzsimon,57 with a host of minor authorities, claim for Ireland the honour of this saint's birth.
Ussher,58 \Vare,59 Colgan, Harris,^ Dr. Petrie,^' Rt. Rev. Dr. Moran,^' maintain the opinion, that St. Cuthbert was an Irishman by birth. This, too, seems to have been a constant tradition in the church, at Durham. One account has it, that he was born at Kenlis, or Kells,^3 in the county ot Meath,^-* and this is said to rest on Irish authorities f^ yet, as we shall find further on, other local traditions seem to challenge the correctness of this statement. However, most of our Irish writers, adopting an apparently ancient local tradition, assert, that the old Meathian city of Kells has most claim to such a distinction, that he was born there, about a. d. 625, and that he was brought to Ardbraccan to be regenerated, in the saving waters of
baptism. ^^
Besides the authors already mentioned, who wrote biographies of this
saint, many other allusions are made to his acts and virtues, by various writers. At the. 20th of March, Colgan publishes Venerable Bede's Life of
"
*9 See, Ussher's Primordia Ecclesiarum tori* Catholicse Ibemiae Compendium,"
Britannicarum," p. 945.
5° Such is the statement of Colgan, but
they were probably composed at a later period.
tomus i. , lib. iv. , cap. xii. , p. 53,
5' In this statement. Bale very gratuitously, "^"
andcoarselyasserts,thathewas exHiber- niensium stupro et in Hibernia natus, a matre Roma—m peregrinante, meretricante potius," &c. "Scriptorum Illustrium Ma- joris Britanniae," Cent. Prima, sect. Lxxxi. , p. 82.
s^ An inscription, placed by Prior Wessing- ton under an image of St. Cuthbert, in
St. Cuthbert, lib. i. , cap. iii. , p. 30. SeeHarris'Ware,vol. i. , Bishopsof
Meath," p. 138.
^' See the ' ' Ecclesiastical Architecture
and Round Towers of Ireland," part ii. , sect, ii. , p. 128.
^^ "
See Irish Saints in Great Britain,
chap, xi. , pp. 270, 271.
*^ See Sir James Ware, " De Hibernia,
Durham Cathedral, described him as et Antiquitatibus ejus," cap. xxix. , pp. 293,
*'
Natione Hibernicus regiis pareniibus 294. Londini, 1658, 8vo;
orlus. "
53 See " Historia Majoris Britannite, tam
Angliae quam Scotise," lib. ii. , cap. xii. , p.
^* See Harris' Ware, vol. i. , "Bishops of Meath," p. 138.
^^ Chiefly based on a Tract in the Cotto* nian library, under the head Vitellius, D.
Catalogue under Titus, A. ii. 134, entitled, "De ortu et vita B. patris Cuthberti libellus de Scoti- cis, «>. Hibernicis auctoribus coUectus. " It is the same as that, which Ussher calls the Acts of our Cuthbert extracted from Irish
77.
^ See "
" vol. cap. 51, p, 158, Goodall's edition.
lib.
xiv. 8. We find it in Mr.
Planta's
55 See
"
Kalendars of Scottish Saints," p.
Scotichronicon,
i. ,
iii. ,
317.
5* Father Stephen White states "fuit
Cutbertus filius regis Ibemise, ut vel haere-
ticus Baleus, in suis Centuriis, cum indigna-
Histories, observing, that it appeared about
— "De
tione et convitiis conqueritur. " "Apologia the year 1160. See Primordiis," p.
pro Hibernia," cap. iv. , p. 37.
S7«'S. Cuthberthus filius regis Ibemiae
major. " See " Catalogus aliquorum sane- terum Ibemiae. "—O'Sullivan Beare's " His-
945. "^
See Rt. Rev. Bishop Moran's "Irish
^s gee
"
Britannicarum Ecclesiarum Anti-
quitates," cap. xvii. , p. 489.
ss yee "De at Scriptoribus Hibemiae,"
Saints in Great Britain," chap, xi. , p. 274. '''He dwells on these particulars, and
86o LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. [March 20.
Cuthbert, with that written by John Capgrave. To both of these, he has subjoined notes, and an Appendix, containing five dissertations ; the first disquisition referring to different feasts and testimonies of Martyrologies re- garding him—the second, to writers who had treated on him—the third, to the year of his death—the fourth, to his writings—and the fifth, to the country of his birth. It appears rather unaccountable, why Venerable Bede does not relate particulars, regarding Cuthbert's birth, either in his prose or metrical notices of our saint; but, Colgan endeavours to find a suflacient reason for this silence, in the very incidents recorded by John Capgrave. ^'
In the opinion of our Irish Hagiologist, some of these were regarded, by Bede, as derogatory to that honour and veneration, justly due to the subject of his biography. In fact, this venerable writer, in the preface to Cuthbert's
life, expressly says, that many things, not less worthy of record than those he had given, were purposely omitted ; and, such a course was adopted, lest he mightappeartoinsert,whatappearedtohimunsuitableorindecorous. ^^ It has even been suggested, that in his original copy, Bede may have treated, concerning the origin, parentage and native country of Cuthbert ; and, that his copyists have pretermitted such particulars of his early life, as seemed to them ineligible, for the reasons already assigned, or perchance to claim him for a Northumbrian by birth. ^9
The BoUandists do not decide on the country of his birth, at the 20th ot
March,whentreatingaboutSt. Cuthbert;"° but,theyseemtoacknowledge,at the 8th of May, in the Acts of St. Wiro, that Cuthbert was a native of our
island. 7' Owing to a diversity of opinion, on this point, many writers pass the question over in silence, or without determining it ; among these are Le Comte de Montalembert,? ^ John Gorton,73 Haydn,? * Rev. James Raine,? ^ and the writers, in Chambers' Encyclopaedia, 7^ as, also, in the " Monasticon Anglicanum. " 77 There are many Manuscripts extant, which make St. Cuth- bert an Irishman by birth. 7^ The monks of Durham seem to have believed
Commentarius prsevius, sect, ii. , pp. 94 to
96.
7' See Rev. Dr. Lanigan's
acknowledges, that he derived the first portion of his Life of Cuthbert, from the nai-rative of Venerable Bede "
"
: Usque hunc locum scripsit Beda venerabilis presby- ter vitam S. Cuthberti : qute vero inferius sunt collecta—, per succedentia tempora erant conscripta. " Capgrave's "Vita S. Cuth-
Ecclesiasti- cal History of Ireland," vol. iii. , chap,
berti," cap. lii.
^ Colgan observes, that Capgrave indi-
cates, his account of St. Cuthbert was taken from Ven. Bede's Life of the holy man, but, he adds, " cum tamen ex opere Bedos edito nihil haljeatur ex eis, quce ipse habet octo priorib—us capitibus, vel. cap. 24, 25, 35, 36, & 37. " "Acta Sanctorum Hibernice," xx. Martii. Vita S. Cuthberti, n. 21, p. 691. This statement of Colgan cannot be ad- mitted, so far as the xxxvii. chapter of Cap- grave is concerned ; it being manifestly abridged from the xxvi. chapter of Bede's Life.
xviii. , sect, iv. , n. 38, pp. 90, 91, 92.
7^ See "Les Moines d'Occident," tome
iv. , liv. XV. , chap, i. , p. 392.
73 See his " General Biographical Dic-
tionary," vol. i. , p. 587.
7-' See "Universal Dictionary of Bio-
graphy," &c. , edited by J. Bertrand Payne, p. 118.
75 See his article, in the "Dictionary of Christian Biography," &c. , edited by Dr. William Smith and Henry Wace, vol. i. , p. 724. London, 1877 ^/jty.
7^ See Revised edition, vol. iii,, p. 375. London, 1874.
77 See vol. i. Edition of 181 7, p. 220.
78 Among these are Libellus de Ortu S. Cuthberti, de Historiis Hybernensium ex-
^ See
nire," xx. Martii.
" Acta Sanctorum Hiber-
Vita S. Cuthberti, n. i,
et translatus. This was
the Surtees Society, in the "Miscellanea Biographica," p. 63. London, 1838. The following copies are known to be extant : MS. Eccl. Eborac. 16. I. 5. 8. MS. Bodl. Fairfax. 6. (3886). ff. I-I2b. , veil, folio. , dble. cols. , xiv. cent. MS. Harl. 4843. ff.
Colgan's
cerptus
7° See "Acta Sanctorum," tomus iii. ,
Martii xx. " De Sancto Cuthberto," &c. i-7b. , paper folio. , xvi. cent. MS. Cott.
p. 677. This reason, assigned by Colgan
for Bede's apparent omission of the circum- stances and country of our saint's birth, ap- pears to be well sustained.
printed, by
March 20. ] LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. 861
in this tradition ; for, some of the subjects, which ornamented the windows of their church, were derived from the legends thence taken. 79 These Manuscripts' statements*^" are said to have been confirmed in accounts given by Eugenius, Bishop, Hardionensis or Harundionensis—by some thought to be Armagh— by IMatthaeus O'Heney, Archbishop of Cashel, by St. IMalachy O'Morgair : as also were they confirmed, by the disciples of Saints Malachi, Matthias, Gilbert, and by a certain Irish priest. The Irish legends concerning his birth are also found, in a Vita S. Cuthberti, versibus hexametris rhythmicis, or in Leonine verse. ^^ The Irish birth of this holy man is asserted, in a Tract, De Sancto Cuthberto Episcopo et Confessore. ^^
Yet, in the face of these authorities, Dr. Lanigan doubts of Cuthbert being an Irishman, and he thinks it probable, that our saint was a native of theNorthumbriankingdom; and,ofthatpartofit, nowcomprised,within the borders of Scotland. ^3 His reasons' appear to be as follows : because our saint in his youth tended sheep on mountains, in the neighbourhood of Mailrose, before he entered a monastery f'' because Simeon of Durham adds, that Cuthbert was then near the Lauder, a river of Berwickshire, which flows into the Tweed because from these circumstances Mabillon and
;
others derive their inference of our saint's birth, in that part of the country;
because he did not follow St. Colman from Lindisfarne, when the latter left
for Ireland f^ and, in fine, because of a very ambiguous passage, taken from Venerable Bede's metrical Life of our saint, in the Preface, where speaking
of Cuthbert,—as the light of Britain, he uses a word genuit, in the following
connection
:
Titus. A. ii. fir. 134-147 b. , veil. 4to. , xv. cent.
MS. Lincoln's Inn, 104. ff. 169-183. paper, XV. cent. The author states in his Preface, that he collected the miracles of St. Cuth- bert, before he discovered the Irish account of his descent.
that he was born in the place.
*5 It is related, that all the Irish of Lin-
disfarne followed him ; yet, in reference to St. Cuthbert not doing so, Dr. Lanigan re-
marks : "To this, however, it may be replied: I. That Cuthbert was then not at Lindisfarne but at Mailros ; and 2, that those, who make him a native of Ireland, represent him as so very young, when carried over to Britain, that he could scarcely have retained a recollection of it. Why, it may be asked, was the memory of Cuthljert so much celebrated in Ireland, were it not the land of his birth ? I answer. that this was owing to his connexions with the Irish of Nortliumberland, his being a member of their establishments, his having observed their practices, &c. In like manner
79 See Sir Thomas Duffus
Hardy's
" De-
scriptive Catalogue of Materials relating to
the History of Great Britain and Ireland,"
vol. i. , part i. , pp. 310 to 313.
*'
There is a MS. copy, in the Cottonian Library, classed Titus. A. ii. f. 148. , veil. 4to. , XV. cent. Five leaves are wanting in this copy. There is also a MS. copy, classed Harl. 4843.
Vitis,"
" Sir Thomas Duffus Possibly," says
33 At March the the name of St. 20th,
Cuthbert, Confessor, Bishop of Lindisfarne, is found entered, in the Irish Lives of the
Saints, by the Cistercian IMonk, pp. 371,
373-
3" See "Bibliotheca Britannico-Hiber-
nica," p. 214.
3' The second volume of the "Acta
" Sanctorum Ordinis S. Benedicti contains
the Life of St. Cuthbert, Bishop of Lindis- farne, with previous observations, in five
paragraphs, and a preface in two para- graphs ; the prose Life by the Venerable
Becle, in forty-six chapters, and sixty-seven paragraphs, and a metrical Life, by the same author, in forty-six divisions. SiEC. ii. , pp. 887 to 937. In the sixth volume of the "Acta . Sanctorum Ordinis S. Bene- dicti," from the year of Christ 800 to 900 (Saculum iv. Pars Secunda) I find Acts, re- ferring to St. Cuthbert, and to other Irish saints, in the Book of the translations and
miracles of St. Cutlibert, by an anonymous author, and in the Carmen Ethelwolfi Mo-
Plardy, "it may represent the text in an earlier state than that which occurs in the other
MSS. " ^5 Of
the Comte de ]\Iontalembert " Au milieu d'un deluge de legendes I^lus ou moins fabuleuses, on trouve une foule de details aussi originaux qu' authenti- ques sur les moeurs et les institutions du temps. A cote de grands exemples de saintete et surtcut d'une etude tres-habiluelle de I'Ecriture Sainte, on y voit, dans la societe religieuse et laique, des scandales et des exces de tyrannic que nul ne suppor- terait aujourd' hui dans I'Europe occiden- tale, et qui ne s—e retrouvent que sous I'empire des czars. " "Les Moines d'Occi- dent," tome iv. , liv. xv. , chap, i. , n. i, p.
439-
3° This is classed in the Bodleian Library
as Fairfax. 6 (3886) ff. 43 b. -i35. , veil, folio, dble. cols. , xiv. cent. The beginning has
"
rubricated Incipit Epistola Reginaldi,
Dunclmensis Monachi, ad Dominum Ethel-
writes
:
it,
SiTpius
JiIS. , in the numeration of its chapters.
'' Capgrave's "Nova Legenda Angliai
"
858 LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. [March 20.
dictine Father Serenus Cressy,3S by Bishop Challenor,39 by Adrien Baillet,*" by tlie Rev. Alban Butler ;'*^ our saint is especially commemorated. A Life of St. Cuthbert, in black letter, and taken from an ancient Manuscript, in the possession of G. Allan, was published in 1816,*^ at Durham, by Sir
Cuthbert A small Sharpe. ^s
"
of St.
1 816. Among other valuable accounts must be especially noticed a work, longsincepublished,bythelearnedCatholicArchbishopofGlasgow. Itis
known as " Monseignor Eyre's
volume,
with the Antiquities of the Church of Durham," appeared at Sutherland, a. d.
book xxxiii. ,
''5 See
"
Lives of the vol. Saints,"
the second, in metrical twenty-three
4to
intituled,
Legend
Cuthbert,
History
the Wanderings with his Body during 124 years, of the State of his Body
until 1542, and of the various Monuments erected to his Memory. " This learned and valuable Memoir was published in London, 1849. It contains Maps and Plans of a very useful character ; it also gives an interesting History of Lindisfarne and of Durham Cathedral. The Comte de Monta- lembert,44 tlie Rev. S. Baring-Gould,<5 and Bishop Forbes, in his work,^^ have their several accounts of the illustrious Northumbrian Bishop and AblDOt.
Besides these writers, whom we have previously recapitulated, St. ^ngus the Culdee, or a ^vriter in the Martyrology of Tallagh, mentions the subject of this biography, al the 20th of March, as the Saxon Cuthbert of Inis-menoc, by which name Lindisfarne Island is designated. By the Britons, it was
called Inis medicante, according to Camden. i7 Now, ^ngus is known,
chiefly to have inserted amongst those holy men belonging to his country, the name of a saint, connected with it by birth, or in some manner, by educationalrelationsorbydeath. Itisevident,fromtheveryextendedLife of our saint, written by Venerable Bede, that the country or district of his nativity had been for a probable good reason apparently concealed, and as from youth to the period of his death, Cuthbert had not been in Ireland, we may therefore naturally infer, that by birth and race, he may be claimed, as belonging to our island. Nor does this matter depend only on negative in- ferences, for many of our Martyrologists and historic writers positively refer the honour of Cuthbert's birth, to Ireland. Thus, Marianus O'Gorman, Maguire, and other Martyrologists, place him amongst our domestic saints. Moreover, Eugene, who was Bishop of Ardmore, in the year 11 74, wrote a Life of Saint Cuthbertj^^ in which he is claimed as being an Irishman by birth. From this life, another anonymous English writer composed Acts of our saint. 49 These Acts, which are contained in two books, and which have
nachi, the first, in twenty-eight chapters, witii previous observations, in two para-
paragraphs, pp. 275 to 332.
3^ See his " Church History of Brittany,
from the beginning of Christianity to the Norman Conquest," book xv. , chap, xvi. ,
"^ In an 8vo volume, for private circula-
•^ See the " of with History Hartlepool,"
Some of these are in colours, with Coats of Arms, Seals and Pedigrees of families, Many of the wood-cuts are by Thomas Bewick.
•** See " Les Moines tome d'Occident,"
graphs ;
chapters, with previous observations, in four
paragraphs. Also, an Appendix, in three Views, Monumental Brasses and Costumes,
i. , ii. , vii. , viii. , ix. , book
book xix. ,
xxviii. , chap, viii. , xviii. , xix. , xx. , xxi. ,
chap,
xii.
39 See " Britannia Sancta," part i. , pp.
chap.
iii. ,
185 to 197.
'*° At the 20th of March, Baillet's "Les p. 316.
Vies des Saints," tome i. , records St. Cuth-
bert. Bishop of Lindisfarne, in England, pp. 258 to 262.
*' See •' Lives of the Fathers, Martyrs,
and other principal Saints," vol. iii. , March XX.
*' See Cough's Camden's "Britannia," vol. iii. On the Lesser Islands in the
British Ocean, p. 744.
t* See, Rev. Samuel Hayman's " New
Hand-Book for Youghal," p. xi.
of St. with an account of Cuthbert,
tion only.
a folding Map and numerous plates of
iv. , liv. xv. , chap, i. , pp. 388 to 451.
March 20, pp. 337 to 360.
"* See "Kalendars of Scottish Saints,"
March 20. ] LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. 859
been extracted from Irish records, were compiled about the year 1160. 3°
They are supposed to have been written by Laurence of Dunelm, who
flourished about this time, if we follow Colgan's opinion ; and according to
authorities from which these Acts were derived, Cuthbert is called a native
of Ireland. Other English writers, such as John of Tinmouth, John Cap-
grave and John Bale,5' expressly state, that Cuthbert was born in Ireland. s^
Among the Scottish writers, who agree on this point, may be mentioned
John Major,53 Fordun,S4 and Bishop Forbes. s5 Matthew O'Heney, Arch-
bishop of Cashel, wrote a Life of this saint, about the year 1200, in which
Cuthbert is spoken of as an Irishman by birth. More recently, Hugh
M'Cogwell, or Cavell, Archbishop of Armagh, Magennis, Bishop of Down,
David Roth, Bishop of Ossory, Stephen White,5^ Henry Fitzsimon,57 with a host of minor authorities, claim for Ireland the honour of this saint's birth.
Ussher,58 \Vare,59 Colgan, Harris,^ Dr. Petrie,^' Rt. Rev. Dr. Moran,^' maintain the opinion, that St. Cuthbert was an Irishman by birth. This, too, seems to have been a constant tradition in the church, at Durham. One account has it, that he was born at Kenlis, or Kells,^3 in the county ot Meath,^-* and this is said to rest on Irish authorities f^ yet, as we shall find further on, other local traditions seem to challenge the correctness of this statement. However, most of our Irish writers, adopting an apparently ancient local tradition, assert, that the old Meathian city of Kells has most claim to such a distinction, that he was born there, about a. d. 625, and that he was brought to Ardbraccan to be regenerated, in the saving waters of
baptism. ^^
Besides the authors already mentioned, who wrote biographies of this
saint, many other allusions are made to his acts and virtues, by various writers. At the. 20th of March, Colgan publishes Venerable Bede's Life of
"
*9 See, Ussher's Primordia Ecclesiarum tori* Catholicse Ibemiae Compendium,"
Britannicarum," p. 945.
5° Such is the statement of Colgan, but
they were probably composed at a later period.
tomus i. , lib. iv. , cap. xii. , p. 53,
5' In this statement. Bale very gratuitously, "^"
andcoarselyasserts,thathewas exHiber- niensium stupro et in Hibernia natus, a matre Roma—m peregrinante, meretricante potius," &c. "Scriptorum Illustrium Ma- joris Britanniae," Cent. Prima, sect. Lxxxi. , p. 82.
s^ An inscription, placed by Prior Wessing- ton under an image of St. Cuthbert, in
St. Cuthbert, lib. i. , cap. iii. , p. 30. SeeHarris'Ware,vol. i. , Bishopsof
Meath," p. 138.
^' See the ' ' Ecclesiastical Architecture
and Round Towers of Ireland," part ii. , sect, ii. , p. 128.
^^ "
See Irish Saints in Great Britain,
chap, xi. , pp. 270, 271.
*^ See Sir James Ware, " De Hibernia,
Durham Cathedral, described him as et Antiquitatibus ejus," cap. xxix. , pp. 293,
*'
Natione Hibernicus regiis pareniibus 294. Londini, 1658, 8vo;
orlus. "
53 See " Historia Majoris Britannite, tam
Angliae quam Scotise," lib. ii. , cap. xii. , p.
^* See Harris' Ware, vol. i. , "Bishops of Meath," p. 138.
^^ Chiefly based on a Tract in the Cotto* nian library, under the head Vitellius, D.
Catalogue under Titus, A. ii. 134, entitled, "De ortu et vita B. patris Cuthberti libellus de Scoti- cis, «>. Hibernicis auctoribus coUectus. " It is the same as that, which Ussher calls the Acts of our Cuthbert extracted from Irish
77.
^ See "
" vol. cap. 51, p, 158, Goodall's edition.
lib.
xiv. 8. We find it in Mr.
Planta's
55 See
"
Kalendars of Scottish Saints," p.
Scotichronicon,
i. ,
iii. ,
317.
5* Father Stephen White states "fuit
Cutbertus filius regis Ibemise, ut vel haere-
ticus Baleus, in suis Centuriis, cum indigna-
Histories, observing, that it appeared about
— "De
tione et convitiis conqueritur. " "Apologia the year 1160. See Primordiis," p.
pro Hibernia," cap. iv. , p. 37.
S7«'S. Cuthberthus filius regis Ibemiae
major. " See " Catalogus aliquorum sane- terum Ibemiae. "—O'Sullivan Beare's " His-
945. "^
See Rt. Rev. Bishop Moran's "Irish
^s gee
"
Britannicarum Ecclesiarum Anti-
quitates," cap. xvii. , p. 489.
ss yee "De at Scriptoribus Hibemiae,"
Saints in Great Britain," chap, xi. , p. 274. '''He dwells on these particulars, and
86o LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. [March 20.
Cuthbert, with that written by John Capgrave. To both of these, he has subjoined notes, and an Appendix, containing five dissertations ; the first disquisition referring to different feasts and testimonies of Martyrologies re- garding him—the second, to writers who had treated on him—the third, to the year of his death—the fourth, to his writings—and the fifth, to the country of his birth. It appears rather unaccountable, why Venerable Bede does not relate particulars, regarding Cuthbert's birth, either in his prose or metrical notices of our saint; but, Colgan endeavours to find a suflacient reason for this silence, in the very incidents recorded by John Capgrave. ^'
In the opinion of our Irish Hagiologist, some of these were regarded, by Bede, as derogatory to that honour and veneration, justly due to the subject of his biography. In fact, this venerable writer, in the preface to Cuthbert's
life, expressly says, that many things, not less worthy of record than those he had given, were purposely omitted ; and, such a course was adopted, lest he mightappeartoinsert,whatappearedtohimunsuitableorindecorous. ^^ It has even been suggested, that in his original copy, Bede may have treated, concerning the origin, parentage and native country of Cuthbert ; and, that his copyists have pretermitted such particulars of his early life, as seemed to them ineligible, for the reasons already assigned, or perchance to claim him for a Northumbrian by birth. ^9
The BoUandists do not decide on the country of his birth, at the 20th ot
March,whentreatingaboutSt. Cuthbert;"° but,theyseemtoacknowledge,at the 8th of May, in the Acts of St. Wiro, that Cuthbert was a native of our
island. 7' Owing to a diversity of opinion, on this point, many writers pass the question over in silence, or without determining it ; among these are Le Comte de Montalembert,? ^ John Gorton,73 Haydn,? * Rev. James Raine,? ^ and the writers, in Chambers' Encyclopaedia, 7^ as, also, in the " Monasticon Anglicanum. " 77 There are many Manuscripts extant, which make St. Cuth- bert an Irishman by birth. 7^ The monks of Durham seem to have believed
Commentarius prsevius, sect, ii. , pp. 94 to
96.
7' See Rev. Dr. Lanigan's
acknowledges, that he derived the first portion of his Life of Cuthbert, from the nai-rative of Venerable Bede "
"
: Usque hunc locum scripsit Beda venerabilis presby- ter vitam S. Cuthberti : qute vero inferius sunt collecta—, per succedentia tempora erant conscripta. " Capgrave's "Vita S. Cuth-
Ecclesiasti- cal History of Ireland," vol. iii. , chap,
berti," cap. lii.
^ Colgan observes, that Capgrave indi-
cates, his account of St. Cuthbert was taken from Ven. Bede's Life of the holy man, but, he adds, " cum tamen ex opere Bedos edito nihil haljeatur ex eis, quce ipse habet octo priorib—us capitibus, vel. cap. 24, 25, 35, 36, & 37. " "Acta Sanctorum Hibernice," xx. Martii. Vita S. Cuthberti, n. 21, p. 691. This statement of Colgan cannot be ad- mitted, so far as the xxxvii. chapter of Cap- grave is concerned ; it being manifestly abridged from the xxvi. chapter of Bede's Life.
xviii. , sect, iv. , n. 38, pp. 90, 91, 92.
7^ See "Les Moines d'Occident," tome
iv. , liv. XV. , chap, i. , p. 392.
73 See his " General Biographical Dic-
tionary," vol. i. , p. 587.
7-' See "Universal Dictionary of Bio-
graphy," &c. , edited by J. Bertrand Payne, p. 118.
75 See his article, in the "Dictionary of Christian Biography," &c. , edited by Dr. William Smith and Henry Wace, vol. i. , p. 724. London, 1877 ^/jty.
7^ See Revised edition, vol. iii,, p. 375. London, 1874.
77 See vol. i. Edition of 181 7, p. 220.
78 Among these are Libellus de Ortu S. Cuthberti, de Historiis Hybernensium ex-
^ See
nire," xx. Martii.
" Acta Sanctorum Hiber-
Vita S. Cuthberti, n. i,
et translatus. This was
the Surtees Society, in the "Miscellanea Biographica," p. 63. London, 1838. The following copies are known to be extant : MS. Eccl. Eborac. 16. I. 5. 8. MS. Bodl. Fairfax. 6. (3886). ff. I-I2b. , veil, folio. , dble. cols. , xiv. cent. MS. Harl. 4843. ff.
Colgan's
cerptus
7° See "Acta Sanctorum," tomus iii. ,
Martii xx. " De Sancto Cuthberto," &c. i-7b. , paper folio. , xvi. cent. MS. Cott.
p. 677. This reason, assigned by Colgan
for Bede's apparent omission of the circum- stances and country of our saint's birth, ap- pears to be well sustained.
printed, by
March 20. ] LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. 861
in this tradition ; for, some of the subjects, which ornamented the windows of their church, were derived from the legends thence taken. 79 These Manuscripts' statements*^" are said to have been confirmed in accounts given by Eugenius, Bishop, Hardionensis or Harundionensis—by some thought to be Armagh— by IMatthaeus O'Heney, Archbishop of Cashel, by St. IMalachy O'Morgair : as also were they confirmed, by the disciples of Saints Malachi, Matthias, Gilbert, and by a certain Irish priest. The Irish legends concerning his birth are also found, in a Vita S. Cuthberti, versibus hexametris rhythmicis, or in Leonine verse. ^^ The Irish birth of this holy man is asserted, in a Tract, De Sancto Cuthberto Episcopo et Confessore. ^^
Yet, in the face of these authorities, Dr. Lanigan doubts of Cuthbert being an Irishman, and he thinks it probable, that our saint was a native of theNorthumbriankingdom; and,ofthatpartofit, nowcomprised,within the borders of Scotland. ^3 His reasons' appear to be as follows : because our saint in his youth tended sheep on mountains, in the neighbourhood of Mailrose, before he entered a monastery f'' because Simeon of Durham adds, that Cuthbert was then near the Lauder, a river of Berwickshire, which flows into the Tweed because from these circumstances Mabillon and
;
others derive their inference of our saint's birth, in that part of the country;
because he did not follow St. Colman from Lindisfarne, when the latter left
for Ireland f^ and, in fine, because of a very ambiguous passage, taken from Venerable Bede's metrical Life of our saint, in the Preface, where speaking
of Cuthbert,—as the light of Britain, he uses a word genuit, in the following
connection
:
Titus. A. ii. fir. 134-147 b. , veil. 4to. , xv. cent.
MS. Lincoln's Inn, 104. ff. 169-183. paper, XV. cent. The author states in his Preface, that he collected the miracles of St. Cuth- bert, before he discovered the Irish account of his descent.
that he was born in the place.
*5 It is related, that all the Irish of Lin-
disfarne followed him ; yet, in reference to St. Cuthbert not doing so, Dr. Lanigan re-
marks : "To this, however, it may be replied: I. That Cuthbert was then not at Lindisfarne but at Mailros ; and 2, that those, who make him a native of Ireland, represent him as so very young, when carried over to Britain, that he could scarcely have retained a recollection of it. Why, it may be asked, was the memory of Cuthljert so much celebrated in Ireland, were it not the land of his birth ? I answer. that this was owing to his connexions with the Irish of Nortliumberland, his being a member of their establishments, his having observed their practices, &c. In like manner
79 See Sir Thomas Duffus
Hardy's
" De-
scriptive Catalogue of Materials relating to
the History of Great Britain and Ireland,"
vol. i. , part i. , pp. 310 to 313.
*'
There is a MS. copy, in the Cottonian Library, classed Titus. A. ii. f. 148. , veil. 4to. , XV. cent. Five leaves are wanting in this copy. There is also a MS. copy, classed Harl. 4843.
