84^, a ; as also
in Mac Firbis' Genealogical Manuscripts, at p.
in Mac Firbis' Genealogical Manuscripts, at p.
O'Hanlon - Lives of the Irish Saints - v6
Series, p.
29.
189 See the Second Volume of this work, at February v. , Art. i. Life of St. Buo.
'9° The ancient Icelandish and — Norwegian
writers called the natives of Greenland— who belong to the Esquimaux family Skrellings. See " The Popular Encyclopae- dia ; or Conversations Lexicon," vol. iii. , Art. Greenland, pp. 554 to 556.
191 It lay in that division of Scotland, called Abria, by Buchannan, in his " Rerum Scoticarum Historia," lib. i. , p. 19.
192 It was that inlet of the sea, forming the
commencing with these lines
" Farewell to
Lochaber,
:
and farewell
my Jean,
Where heartsome with thee I've
mony day been ;
For Lochaber no more, Lochaber no
more,
We'll may be return to Lochaber no
more. " "Poems of Allan
—
No. xlii. , p. 171.
vol. Paisley, 1877, Svo.
Ramsay,"
ii. , Lyric,
Let us rejoice
June 9. ] LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS.
457
it to the
"
and so
as preserve it, your house shall never want plenty of venison, and I believe it shallneverhurtmenorcattle,butonlywildbeastsandfishes. " Thepoorman rejoiced not a little, and returned to his house, bringing this stake with him. He fixed it in a remote place, which the wild beasts haunted, and coming next morning to see it, he found a great stag which had fallen upon it, pierced therewith ; and every day, he found a stag, roe or some other wild beast trans- fixed upon this stake. By means of it, he got such a store of venison, that he was enabled to sell a great quantity of it to his neighbours. His wife ad- vised him, however, to remove that stake from the spot in which it had been fixed, lest men or cattle should perish through its means, and as being the cause of such accident, themselves and their children might be put to death,
poor man, saying :
Keep
this stake
carefully,
long
you
or be made slaves. Her husband then said " This shall not be, for the
:
holy abbot, when blessing the stake said, that it should not hurt men nor cattle. " However,urgedbyhiswife,thatpoormanwent,andhedrewthestake from the earth. Afterwards, he set it against the wall of his house. Soon his dog fell upon it and was killed. This being observed by the wife, she feared that oneoftheirchildrenmightfareinlikemanner. Wherefore,toavoidsucha casualty, her husband resolved to remove, and to place it among rushes, in a very thick part of the wood, where he supposed it should not harm any living thing. But returning on the day following, he found that a goat had fallen on the stake, and had been killed. Then he removed that stake once more, and placed it near the bank, beside a river, which is Latinized Nigra Dea. r 94
the spot, and to his great surprise, he found a salmon S5 of astonishing size had been transfixed and held on the top of that stake. So heavy was the fish, that he could hardly bear it to his house. At the same time, he removed the stake, and he placed it on the top of his house. Soon a crow was found to have flown against it, and to have perished. That man's wife, having a superstitious fear of further consequences, advised her husband to cut it into pieces, and to cast these into the fire. This advice he adopted, and soon he fell into his former state of want and misery. But, for the remainder of his life, this ill-advised man bewailed the loss of this stake, to which St. Columba's
It was completely submerged in the water. The following day he revisited J
blessing
had such an unusual 1 imparted property.
? '
6
CHAPTER XIII.
ST. COLUMBA'S BLESSING MULTIPLIES THE HERDS OF CERTAIN POOR MEN—FATE OF THE IMPIOUS JOAN, SON OF CONALL—MIRACULOUS POWERS OF ST. COLUMBA— THE VISIT OF ST. CANICE TO IONA—MENTAL AND ANGELIC VISIONS VOUCHSAFED TO ST. COLUMEA—INCHCOLM—INAUGURATION OF AIDAN AS KING OVER DALRIADA, BY ST. COLUMBA—RYDDERCH HALL BECOMES KING OF STRATH- CLYDE.
In a conterminous to country,
1 and while St. Columba probably
Lochaber,
was on a certain occasion engaged for one of his frequent missionary excursions,
*** This river has not been identified, and in Irish it has received the name t)ub ban- oeA. In the Liber Armachanus, we find the name Bandea applied to a river in Ireland, at fol. lid, a. Whether it was identical with that here mentioned or not
to which of the Scotias the story contained in the text referred. The River Dee in Scot- land may be the one understood, but this conjecture, too, is uncertain.
I9S Adamnan has it " esocem in eo mine magnitudinis transfixum et retentum inve- nit. "
I? 6 See Rev. Dr. Reeves' Adamnan's
" Life of St. Columba," lib. ii. , cap. 37, and
*
might
nn.
Chapter xm. The Latin name given
determine
b, c), — to
(a, pp. 153 155.
to it, in Adamnan's text, is Stagnum Apo-
"
longus," which he interprets as Loch-abor,
rum, which Colgan calls
canalis, seu locus
458 LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. [June 9.
he visited a man named Nesanus. 2 Though very poor, Nessans joyfully received the saint as his guest. After he had entertained the holy Abbot, as hospitably as his means afforded for one night, the saint asked him how
many
cows he had. He answered five.
The saint then said " them : Bring
until I bless them. '; When
holy hand and blessed them. Then he said heifersshallincreasetothenumberofonehundredandfivecows. " And,as this same Nesanus was a man of humble condition, having a wife and chil-
to
me,
they
were the saint raised his brought,
" Your seed shall be blessed in your children and grand-children. " All this was completely ful- filled in every particular, according to the word of the saint. On the other hand,3 he pronounced the following prophetic sentence, on a certain rich miser named Uigenius/* who despised St. Columba, and who showed him no " But the riches of that who has contemned Christ
dren, the saint added this further blessing, saying :
miser,
in his pilgrims, shall be gradually diminished from this day, and reduced to
hospitality, saying :
nothing; while himself shall become a beggar ; his son shall go about from house to house, with a half empty bag; and he shall be slain by a rival with
an axe, in the pit of a threshing floor. s All of these predictions were exactly fulfilled in both cases, and according to the prophecy of the holy man. 6 Having lodged for a night at the house of one Columbanus? who was a very
8
poor man, in the morning our saint questioned his host concerning the
" You shall by God's grace have one hundred and five cows, while this benediction shall extend to your children and grand-children, who shall be numerous. " Which prophe- tical saying fell out to be most true. Those cows, having multiplied to the aforesaid number, could not be increased for their master, for how many soever exceeded that limit perished by several mischances, excepting those he made use of in maintaining his family or in alms-giving. As in other cases, here we find the gifts of prophecy and of miracles united, in the sayings and doings of the holy Abbot. 10 The venerable superior loved entirely the afore-
quantity and quality of his substance. The poor man answered
five small cows,° which if you vouchsafe to bless, I doubt not, but they shall increase to a greater number. " The saint commanded him to bring them
into his presence, and when blessing them, he said
:
in the Scottish language. See Colgan's "Trias Thaumaturga," Quarta Vita S. Columbse, lib. ii. , cap. xx. , p. 354, and n. 21, p. 383.
"excussorium," means an area, where grain had been separated from the straw, and pro- bably in this instance by a flail. In coun- tries of the east, grain was often trodden out
oxen, and we find allusion to that
by practice
in the Sacred Scriptures.
6
This latter part of the narrative is omitted in some MSS. , but it is contained in Rev. Dr. Reeves' Adamnan's " Life of St. Co- lumba," lib. ii. , cap. 20. pp. 130, 131. See alsonn. (a, b, c, d, e, f, g).
7 See for the account in the text, Colgan's
is likewise, Nessanus or 2He —
styled,
Nisanus the Crooked probably owing to
some personal deformity. See an account of this miracle, in Prima Vita S. Columbse,
cap. xxv. , p. 324, ibid.
3 This narrative immediately following has
neither title nor rubric to constitute it a dis- tinct chapter, as Pinkerton has made it, in
his edition of Adamnan. Though its
resembles that of Adamnan, yet it is- of lumba;, lib. ii. , cap. xxi. , p. 355 ; Quinta doubtful authority, not being in Codex A, Vita, lib. ii. , cap. lxxi. , p. 422.
style
used by Rev. Dr. Reeves, when compiling his edition.
4 In the Capitulationes to the Second
" Trias Vita S. Co- Thaumaturga," (Quarta
9 The poverty or size of these animals
seems to be indicated in this and in the pre-
ceding chapter of Adamnan by the use of
such diminutives, as "boculae," "vacculae," "
to read ingenio," owing to the capricious See Rev. Dr. Reeves' Adamnan's Life
grouping of letters, formed by strokes. of St. Columba," lib ii. , cap. 21, and n. (b), s This Latin word used by Adamnan pp. 131, 132.
Book of Adamnan, the name occurs as ""
written Uigeno," in the text Uigenio," in Dr. Reeves edition. The original seems
pauculse. "
" 10 "
8
By O'Donnell, he is called Colma.
:
" From this day, your five little
:
" I have
June 9. ] LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. said person, for many kind acts and pious offices he had done.
fortune, when proceeding with his companions on their way to a vessel, to meet with the saint, who rebuked him for his wickedness, and who endeavoured to persuade him to restore those goods unjustly taken. 16 But little regarding the saint's prayers and admonitins—yea, rather laughing and scoffing at him— Columba followed even to the sea-side and entered the clear green salt water ** up to his knees. This port was at a spot called in Irish, Ait-Chambas l8 Art- Muirchol. 1 ? In that place, Columba offered his prayers most fervently to Christ, who glorifieth his elect that glorify him. Having made an end of this prayer, our saint returned to the dry shore, where sitting down on a eminence
:
with his companions, he pronounced these fearful words " The miserable
wretch, who hath this day despised Christ in his servants, shall never return to the haven whence he departed, nor yet arrive in any other, but he shall be drowned in the midst of ocean waves, together with his wicked accomplices. A furious storm, on this day, shall proceed from a cloud you must soon see rising in the north, and not one of those raiders shall survive to tell the tale. "
11 He is also mentioned, again, in Adam- Cowel), with its islands. Twice seven-
certain wicked named 11 son of 12 son to man, Joan, Conall,
459
However, a
and
Domhnall,'3 descending from the blood royal I4- of Gabran, *s had persecuted Columbanus, oursaint'sdearfriend,andhadtwicerobbedhishouse. Thisunprincipled mantookawayallthegoodsofColumbanus. Thethirdtime,itwasJoan's
nan's "Life of St. Columba," lib. ii. , cap. xxiv. , as a bad man, and as a wicked perse- cutor of the Church.
12 Who he was does not seem to be clear. The King of Scotland, Aidan, Gabh- ren's son, was St. Columba's contemporary, and he lived until A. D. 606. See Rev. Dr.
O'ConorVRerumHibernicarumScriptores,' tomus ii. , Tigernaclii Annales, pp. 179, 180.
His grand-nephew is represented as being at man's estate many years before that period.
—
13 The sons of Gabhran for allusion is
here made to one ofhis race—are thus enu- merated, in the Irish Tract on the Men of Alba : 5Abj\An, utnorirxo, CU15 mec ley . 1. •Ao'OAn (. 1. Oiffo ponn) eoJAriAn,CuiboAc (no CalLac), 'OorhnAlL, Agur'OoifiAttso^c. "Gabhran, now, had five sons, viz. : Aodhan {i. e. Aodh Finn), Eoghanan (mentioned by Adamnan, in lib. iii. , cap. 5, Obiit A. D. 595) Cuildach (or Callach), Domhnall and Dom- hangort. " Such is the account contained in the Book of Ballymote, fol.
84^, a ; as also
in Mac Firbis' Genealogical Manuscripts, at p. 401. It is remarkable how admirably —as in the present instance—they coincide with Adamnan's account.
benches to every 20 houses was their sea muster. " This is found in the Book of Bally- mote, at fol. 84/$, b ; as also in Mac Firbis'
very
Genealogical Manuscript,
pp. 403, 404.
There is no place in Ardnamurchan called Aitcampasor Ait Chambas; but there the race of Gabhran. See Dr. O'Conor's is Camusnangel, and Canusinish ; there is also Comisteras on the south coast, and
14 At the year 719, Tighernach treats about
" Rerum Hibernicarum Scriptores," tomus ii. , Tigernaci Annales, p. 230. Of the
cecne pnnrtcnieoiL "OaiL'|\ia'oa, or " the four chief familes of Dalriada," the cineub n-jAbrxAin, race of Gabran was one. Cineub n-'5Ab]\Aln Annro. Crtf xx. cej Ar\ 0015 ceux)Aib. CeAnnCij\e Agur Cr»ioc Corn^AilX
Cammaseen to the east, in Sunart.
19 Identified as Ardnamurchan, a district on the northern bounds of Argyleshire, and
the most westerly point in the mainland of Great Britain. See J. R. M'Culloch's
T)a recc ref Jac ,xx. ceg A " The Race of Gabhran here. Five hundred and three score houses, Ceann- tire (now Caniire), and Comgall's land (now
Historical of the Various Countries, Places
and Natural in the Principal Objects
World," vol. i. , p. 1 78. London, 1866, 8vo.
cotiA inrib.
r;eAcc
mA]\A.
at
15 Gabhran was the son of Domhangart by
Fedhelm, daughter of Brian, son to Eoch- aidh Muighmedhain, son of Fergus Mor, who succeeded his brother Comgall as King of Scotic Dalriada, A. D. 558. He died in the year 560, according to the Annalist Tighernach : b&yy 5Abr>Ain nuc 'OomAn-
" Domangart,KingofAlba. " See"Rerum
Hibernicarum Scriptores," tomus ii. , Tiger- nachi Annales, p. 141. He was succeeded, by his nephew Conall.
16
Joan was probably one of those early freebooters, who in after ages were denomi- nated caterans, in the Highlands of Scotland, and whose wild ways of living are so forcibly illustrated in Sir Walter Scott's romance, " The Fair Maid of Perth, or St. Valen- tine's Eve. "
*J Or as expressed in Irish, gbAif riA- mArvA ; or as it is now usually called, in Latin "vitrea aqua maris. "
18
gAirvc r\i -AbbAti,
Death of Gabran, son of
"
Dictionary Geographical, Statistical, and
20
See Colgan's "Trias Thaumaturga,"
460 LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. [June 9.
This dreadful though just prophecy of the saint was fully accomplished in thepresenceofthemall, afterthelapseofafewmoments. 20 Soonthatcloud arose from the sea, and a hurricane setting in followed the robber with his spoil. He and his seamen were swallowed in the yeasty waves, between the IslandofMull2Iand
22 Whatseemedmostremarkablewasastorm
Colonsay.
raging over them, while the surrounding ocean remained tranquil. Not one
of the for all sunk in the treacherous 23 plunderers escaped, deeps.
When at one time travelling, the parents of a young infant brought to 2
Columba their child, so that he might be christened. * But, as no water could be found in the adjoining places, the saint turned towards a rock which was near, and after praying a little upon his knees, the holy man blessed the face of that rock. Out of it gushed an abundant stream ofwater. 2 s Therein
he baptized their young son, of whom also he prophesied, that in youth this child should be addicted to unlawful desires and sensuality, but that after- wards,heshouldgivehimselftothestudyofChristianperfection. Inthisstate he was destined to persevere to the end of his life, and he was to die at a good old age. All which happened to be true, in the sequel. The name of this
26 His
Muirchal. ? In the time of Adamnan, a well, called after St. Columkille, was
man was
Lugucencalad. 2
parents
dwelt in a
known as Ardtaib
place,
exercise of holy prayer. When he began to pray in that soot selected, sud- denly he saw an ugly and a deformed host of devils fighting against him with iron darts, and these demons intended, as the saint knew by the inward illu- mination of the Holy Ghost, to assail his monastery, and to kill with their pointed spears many of his monks. But, when alone, St. Columkille took
seen in that
28 Another time while in
our saint in the sought
Iona,
woods 2° a solitary place, unfrequented by men, and commodious for the
locality.
Quarta Vita S. Columba? , lib. ii. , cap. xxii. ,
P- 355 > Quinta Vita S. Columba? , lib. ii. ,
cap. lxxii. , p. 422.
endeavours to find out a saint in the Irish
Calendars for identification with him ; but,
he can only discover one Lugh, Luga, Lugu or Lugus, at the 16th of June.
2? The old form of Ardnamurchan, the peninsular district of the northern boundary of Argyleshire. Its church was called Kil- coan, dedicated to St. Congan, the Abbot, and it was situated near the south coast, on the right bank of a stream, falling into Kil- choan Pay. Ardnamurchan Point termi- nates the western extremity of the mainland of Scotland. From east to west, Ardna- murchan is crossed by high hills and deep valleys, and it has a coast-line many miles in extent. See Cosmo Innes' "Origiues Parochiales Scotioe," vol ii. , part i. , pp. 194 to 197.
21
tains about 300 square miles. Itliesoutsideof Loch Linnhe, in Western Argyleshire. See
James A. Sharpe's "New Gazetteer or Topo-
graphical Dictionary of the British Islands
and Narrow Seas," vol. ii. , p. 268.
22
Probably, the larger Colonsay, south of Mull. A boat sailing southwards should hardly go so much out of its way, as to hug the shore on the Ulva side of Little Colon- say. The length of both Islands of Colonsay is about 12 miles, and from one mile to three miles in breadth, including about 9,000
acres. See Alex. Keith Johnston's "Die-
tionary ofGeography, Descriptive, Physical, Statistical and Historical," p. 354.
It is Latinized Malea,and this island con-
23 See Rev. Dr. Reeves' Adamnan's " Life
of St. Columba," lib. ii. , cap. 22, and nn. p. 118.
(a, b, c, d, e), pp. 132 to 134.
24 See Colgan's "Trias Thaumaturga,"
Quarta Vita S. Columbae, lib. ii. , cap. x. ,
p. 352.
25 A similar miracle is recorded as having
29 This account gives some grounds for supposing, that Iona was not destitute of woods, in the time of St. Columba, as it is at present. There are indications of forests having been on the western islands and coasts of Ireland and of Scotland, in former
occurred at Derry, in the old Irish Life of
St. Colum Cille, contained in the " Leabhar periods, although such tracts are now
Breac," Royal Irish Academy.
26
denuded, even of small shrubs. These cir- cumstances serve to increase the natural shal- lowness and barrennessof theirsoil, which by
judicious planting could be greatly improved. i0 Allusion is here made to St. Paul's
Probably Luguceu, a diminutive of
"
version of Adamnan, the name is printed
of the ferry. " In Colgan's Lugu-Cenealad ; and, in a note, Colgan
buguand caIat>,
28
"Life of St. Columba. " lib. ii. , cap. 10,
See Rev. Dr. Reeves' Adamnan's
June 9-] LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. 461
St. Paul's armour,3° and he fought courageously against the whole host of in- fernaladversaries. 31 Thisconflictcontinuedforthemostpartofthatday,and neither could the demons overcome him, nor could he drive them out of his Island, until Angels came to his help. The terror caused by the pre- sence of these celestial spirits made the devils depart, countless though they were. All this our saint afterwards told to a few persons. Upon the depar- ture of those demons, the saint prophesied how they would invade the monas- tery of Ethica, or Tiree, and inflict pestilent diseases on the inhabitants, in consequence of which many should die. As the blessed man foresaw, this prophecy was verified. Within two days, likewise, the saint foretold how Eaithaneus through the help of prayers and fasts should preserve his monas- tery at Campus Lunge from this invasion so well, that only one person died, as a consequence of the visitation. Yet, in other monasteries on that Island, several fell victims to that same pestilence. 32
Upon a certain time, the saint was in great danger at sea, for that ship, in which he had embarked, was shaken with huge waves, and by the raging violence of blustering winds beating upon it. 33 In that distress, St. Columba helped his sailors, so far as he could, in bailing out the water. Whereupon, the mariners said : "What you now do avails but little, in this extremity ; it is more fitting for you to pray for us, being ready almost to perish. "3* With thatadmonition,oursaintbegantopourout35 beforeGodadevotionaland a fervent prayer. Wonderful to relate, no sooner did St. Columba, standing on the foredeck of the ship, extend his hands in prayer to the Omnipotent, thanthattempestandboilingofthegreenseawavesceased. 36 Totheangry elements and to the storm, a most serene and a pleasant calm succeeded. They who were in the ship, being struck with admiration, glorified God in his blessed servant.
With many of the best-known Irish Saints of the sixth century, St. Columba was on terms of friendly intimacy, and several of these are related to have visited him, while he dwelt in Scotland. On the line of navigation
Quarta
iii. , cap. viii. ,
m^Lar upon
aquam cessat amaram," the Irish gloss
to the
Ephesians, vi. , 13, 17.
"
hininglas," which, according
to modern
Epistle
31 See an account of these transactions, in
orthography, should be written 111 n-giA]-, """
Colgan's Trias Thaumaturga, Prima Vita that is the green element. "
S. Columbse, cap. ix. , p. 322 ; Secunda Vita 36 A curious word "hininglas "is here used S. Columbse, cap. xxv. , xxvi. , p. 328 ; Ter- byAdamnan. The word however may have
tia Vita S. Columbus, cap. xxviii. , p. 334 ;
Vita S.
p. 365 ; Quinta Vita S. Columbse, lib. ii. , cap. lxxxvii. , Ixxxviii. , pp. 425, 426.
32 See Rev. Dr. Reeves' Adamnan's "Life of St. Columba," lib. iii. , cap. 8, pp. 205, to 207.
been a gloss on the text. From a form like
"
may have crept in the process of transcrip- tion, into the text. What is still more likely,
it mayhave been a parenthetical explana- tion, in the tenor of the narrative, and added by the original writer. The word bin oriti is the old Irish form of the article An, and m^lAf, is that of the modern n-glAir,
Columboe,
lib.
this . 1. hni 1 the Latin words
33 See this narrative, in Colgan's "Trias
Thaumaturga," Secunda Vita S. Columbse,
cap. vii. , p.
189 See the Second Volume of this work, at February v. , Art. i. Life of St. Buo.
'9° The ancient Icelandish and — Norwegian
writers called the natives of Greenland— who belong to the Esquimaux family Skrellings. See " The Popular Encyclopae- dia ; or Conversations Lexicon," vol. iii. , Art. Greenland, pp. 554 to 556.
191 It lay in that division of Scotland, called Abria, by Buchannan, in his " Rerum Scoticarum Historia," lib. i. , p. 19.
192 It was that inlet of the sea, forming the
commencing with these lines
" Farewell to
Lochaber,
:
and farewell
my Jean,
Where heartsome with thee I've
mony day been ;
For Lochaber no more, Lochaber no
more,
We'll may be return to Lochaber no
more. " "Poems of Allan
—
No. xlii. , p. 171.
vol. Paisley, 1877, Svo.
Ramsay,"
ii. , Lyric,
Let us rejoice
June 9. ] LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS.
457
it to the
"
and so
as preserve it, your house shall never want plenty of venison, and I believe it shallneverhurtmenorcattle,butonlywildbeastsandfishes. " Thepoorman rejoiced not a little, and returned to his house, bringing this stake with him. He fixed it in a remote place, which the wild beasts haunted, and coming next morning to see it, he found a great stag which had fallen upon it, pierced therewith ; and every day, he found a stag, roe or some other wild beast trans- fixed upon this stake. By means of it, he got such a store of venison, that he was enabled to sell a great quantity of it to his neighbours. His wife ad- vised him, however, to remove that stake from the spot in which it had been fixed, lest men or cattle should perish through its means, and as being the cause of such accident, themselves and their children might be put to death,
poor man, saying :
Keep
this stake
carefully,
long
you
or be made slaves. Her husband then said " This shall not be, for the
:
holy abbot, when blessing the stake said, that it should not hurt men nor cattle. " However,urgedbyhiswife,thatpoormanwent,andhedrewthestake from the earth. Afterwards, he set it against the wall of his house. Soon his dog fell upon it and was killed. This being observed by the wife, she feared that oneoftheirchildrenmightfareinlikemanner. Wherefore,toavoidsucha casualty, her husband resolved to remove, and to place it among rushes, in a very thick part of the wood, where he supposed it should not harm any living thing. But returning on the day following, he found that a goat had fallen on the stake, and had been killed. Then he removed that stake once more, and placed it near the bank, beside a river, which is Latinized Nigra Dea. r 94
the spot, and to his great surprise, he found a salmon S5 of astonishing size had been transfixed and held on the top of that stake. So heavy was the fish, that he could hardly bear it to his house. At the same time, he removed the stake, and he placed it on the top of his house. Soon a crow was found to have flown against it, and to have perished. That man's wife, having a superstitious fear of further consequences, advised her husband to cut it into pieces, and to cast these into the fire. This advice he adopted, and soon he fell into his former state of want and misery. But, for the remainder of his life, this ill-advised man bewailed the loss of this stake, to which St. Columba's
It was completely submerged in the water. The following day he revisited J
blessing
had such an unusual 1 imparted property.
? '
6
CHAPTER XIII.
ST. COLUMBA'S BLESSING MULTIPLIES THE HERDS OF CERTAIN POOR MEN—FATE OF THE IMPIOUS JOAN, SON OF CONALL—MIRACULOUS POWERS OF ST. COLUMBA— THE VISIT OF ST. CANICE TO IONA—MENTAL AND ANGELIC VISIONS VOUCHSAFED TO ST. COLUMEA—INCHCOLM—INAUGURATION OF AIDAN AS KING OVER DALRIADA, BY ST. COLUMBA—RYDDERCH HALL BECOMES KING OF STRATH- CLYDE.
In a conterminous to country,
1 and while St. Columba probably
Lochaber,
was on a certain occasion engaged for one of his frequent missionary excursions,
*** This river has not been identified, and in Irish it has received the name t)ub ban- oeA. In the Liber Armachanus, we find the name Bandea applied to a river in Ireland, at fol. lid, a. Whether it was identical with that here mentioned or not
to which of the Scotias the story contained in the text referred. The River Dee in Scot- land may be the one understood, but this conjecture, too, is uncertain.
I9S Adamnan has it " esocem in eo mine magnitudinis transfixum et retentum inve- nit. "
I? 6 See Rev. Dr. Reeves' Adamnan's
" Life of St. Columba," lib. ii. , cap. 37, and
*
might
nn.
Chapter xm. The Latin name given
determine
b, c), — to
(a, pp. 153 155.
to it, in Adamnan's text, is Stagnum Apo-
"
longus," which he interprets as Loch-abor,
rum, which Colgan calls
canalis, seu locus
458 LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. [June 9.
he visited a man named Nesanus. 2 Though very poor, Nessans joyfully received the saint as his guest. After he had entertained the holy Abbot, as hospitably as his means afforded for one night, the saint asked him how
many
cows he had. He answered five.
The saint then said " them : Bring
until I bless them. '; When
holy hand and blessed them. Then he said heifersshallincreasetothenumberofonehundredandfivecows. " And,as this same Nesanus was a man of humble condition, having a wife and chil-
to
me,
they
were the saint raised his brought,
" Your seed shall be blessed in your children and grand-children. " All this was completely ful- filled in every particular, according to the word of the saint. On the other hand,3 he pronounced the following prophetic sentence, on a certain rich miser named Uigenius/* who despised St. Columba, and who showed him no " But the riches of that who has contemned Christ
dren, the saint added this further blessing, saying :
miser,
in his pilgrims, shall be gradually diminished from this day, and reduced to
hospitality, saying :
nothing; while himself shall become a beggar ; his son shall go about from house to house, with a half empty bag; and he shall be slain by a rival with
an axe, in the pit of a threshing floor. s All of these predictions were exactly fulfilled in both cases, and according to the prophecy of the holy man. 6 Having lodged for a night at the house of one Columbanus? who was a very
8
poor man, in the morning our saint questioned his host concerning the
" You shall by God's grace have one hundred and five cows, while this benediction shall extend to your children and grand-children, who shall be numerous. " Which prophe- tical saying fell out to be most true. Those cows, having multiplied to the aforesaid number, could not be increased for their master, for how many soever exceeded that limit perished by several mischances, excepting those he made use of in maintaining his family or in alms-giving. As in other cases, here we find the gifts of prophecy and of miracles united, in the sayings and doings of the holy Abbot. 10 The venerable superior loved entirely the afore-
quantity and quality of his substance. The poor man answered
five small cows,° which if you vouchsafe to bless, I doubt not, but they shall increase to a greater number. " The saint commanded him to bring them
into his presence, and when blessing them, he said
:
in the Scottish language. See Colgan's "Trias Thaumaturga," Quarta Vita S. Columbse, lib. ii. , cap. xx. , p. 354, and n. 21, p. 383.
"excussorium," means an area, where grain had been separated from the straw, and pro- bably in this instance by a flail. In coun- tries of the east, grain was often trodden out
oxen, and we find allusion to that
by practice
in the Sacred Scriptures.
6
This latter part of the narrative is omitted in some MSS. , but it is contained in Rev. Dr. Reeves' Adamnan's " Life of St. Co- lumba," lib. ii. , cap. 20. pp. 130, 131. See alsonn. (a, b, c, d, e, f, g).
7 See for the account in the text, Colgan's
is likewise, Nessanus or 2He —
styled,
Nisanus the Crooked probably owing to
some personal deformity. See an account of this miracle, in Prima Vita S. Columbse,
cap. xxv. , p. 324, ibid.
3 This narrative immediately following has
neither title nor rubric to constitute it a dis- tinct chapter, as Pinkerton has made it, in
his edition of Adamnan. Though its
resembles that of Adamnan, yet it is- of lumba;, lib. ii. , cap. xxi. , p. 355 ; Quinta doubtful authority, not being in Codex A, Vita, lib. ii. , cap. lxxi. , p. 422.
style
used by Rev. Dr. Reeves, when compiling his edition.
4 In the Capitulationes to the Second
" Trias Vita S. Co- Thaumaturga," (Quarta
9 The poverty or size of these animals
seems to be indicated in this and in the pre-
ceding chapter of Adamnan by the use of
such diminutives, as "boculae," "vacculae," "
to read ingenio," owing to the capricious See Rev. Dr. Reeves' Adamnan's Life
grouping of letters, formed by strokes. of St. Columba," lib ii. , cap. 21, and n. (b), s This Latin word used by Adamnan pp. 131, 132.
Book of Adamnan, the name occurs as ""
written Uigeno," in the text Uigenio," in Dr. Reeves edition. The original seems
pauculse. "
" 10 "
8
By O'Donnell, he is called Colma.
:
" From this day, your five little
:
" I have
June 9. ] LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. said person, for many kind acts and pious offices he had done.
fortune, when proceeding with his companions on their way to a vessel, to meet with the saint, who rebuked him for his wickedness, and who endeavoured to persuade him to restore those goods unjustly taken. 16 But little regarding the saint's prayers and admonitins—yea, rather laughing and scoffing at him— Columba followed even to the sea-side and entered the clear green salt water ** up to his knees. This port was at a spot called in Irish, Ait-Chambas l8 Art- Muirchol. 1 ? In that place, Columba offered his prayers most fervently to Christ, who glorifieth his elect that glorify him. Having made an end of this prayer, our saint returned to the dry shore, where sitting down on a eminence
:
with his companions, he pronounced these fearful words " The miserable
wretch, who hath this day despised Christ in his servants, shall never return to the haven whence he departed, nor yet arrive in any other, but he shall be drowned in the midst of ocean waves, together with his wicked accomplices. A furious storm, on this day, shall proceed from a cloud you must soon see rising in the north, and not one of those raiders shall survive to tell the tale. "
11 He is also mentioned, again, in Adam- Cowel), with its islands. Twice seven-
certain wicked named 11 son of 12 son to man, Joan, Conall,
459
However, a
and
Domhnall,'3 descending from the blood royal I4- of Gabran, *s had persecuted Columbanus, oursaint'sdearfriend,andhadtwicerobbedhishouse. Thisunprincipled mantookawayallthegoodsofColumbanus. Thethirdtime,itwasJoan's
nan's "Life of St. Columba," lib. ii. , cap. xxiv. , as a bad man, and as a wicked perse- cutor of the Church.
12 Who he was does not seem to be clear. The King of Scotland, Aidan, Gabh- ren's son, was St. Columba's contemporary, and he lived until A. D. 606. See Rev. Dr.
O'ConorVRerumHibernicarumScriptores,' tomus ii. , Tigernaclii Annales, pp. 179, 180.
His grand-nephew is represented as being at man's estate many years before that period.
—
13 The sons of Gabhran for allusion is
here made to one ofhis race—are thus enu- merated, in the Irish Tract on the Men of Alba : 5Abj\An, utnorirxo, CU15 mec ley . 1. •Ao'OAn (. 1. Oiffo ponn) eoJAriAn,CuiboAc (no CalLac), 'OorhnAlL, Agur'OoifiAttso^c. "Gabhran, now, had five sons, viz. : Aodhan {i. e. Aodh Finn), Eoghanan (mentioned by Adamnan, in lib. iii. , cap. 5, Obiit A. D. 595) Cuildach (or Callach), Domhnall and Dom- hangort. " Such is the account contained in the Book of Ballymote, fol.
84^, a ; as also
in Mac Firbis' Genealogical Manuscripts, at p. 401. It is remarkable how admirably —as in the present instance—they coincide with Adamnan's account.
benches to every 20 houses was their sea muster. " This is found in the Book of Bally- mote, at fol. 84/$, b ; as also in Mac Firbis'
very
Genealogical Manuscript,
pp. 403, 404.
There is no place in Ardnamurchan called Aitcampasor Ait Chambas; but there the race of Gabhran. See Dr. O'Conor's is Camusnangel, and Canusinish ; there is also Comisteras on the south coast, and
14 At the year 719, Tighernach treats about
" Rerum Hibernicarum Scriptores," tomus ii. , Tigernaci Annales, p. 230. Of the
cecne pnnrtcnieoiL "OaiL'|\ia'oa, or " the four chief familes of Dalriada," the cineub n-jAbrxAin, race of Gabran was one. Cineub n-'5Ab]\Aln Annro. Crtf xx. cej Ar\ 0015 ceux)Aib. CeAnnCij\e Agur Cr»ioc Corn^AilX
Cammaseen to the east, in Sunart.
19 Identified as Ardnamurchan, a district on the northern bounds of Argyleshire, and
the most westerly point in the mainland of Great Britain. See J. R. M'Culloch's
T)a recc ref Jac ,xx. ceg A " The Race of Gabhran here. Five hundred and three score houses, Ceann- tire (now Caniire), and Comgall's land (now
Historical of the Various Countries, Places
and Natural in the Principal Objects
World," vol. i. , p. 1 78. London, 1866, 8vo.
cotiA inrib.
r;eAcc
mA]\A.
at
15 Gabhran was the son of Domhangart by
Fedhelm, daughter of Brian, son to Eoch- aidh Muighmedhain, son of Fergus Mor, who succeeded his brother Comgall as King of Scotic Dalriada, A. D. 558. He died in the year 560, according to the Annalist Tighernach : b&yy 5Abr>Ain nuc 'OomAn-
" Domangart,KingofAlba. " See"Rerum
Hibernicarum Scriptores," tomus ii. , Tiger- nachi Annales, p. 141. He was succeeded, by his nephew Conall.
16
Joan was probably one of those early freebooters, who in after ages were denomi- nated caterans, in the Highlands of Scotland, and whose wild ways of living are so forcibly illustrated in Sir Walter Scott's romance, " The Fair Maid of Perth, or St. Valen- tine's Eve. "
*J Or as expressed in Irish, gbAif riA- mArvA ; or as it is now usually called, in Latin "vitrea aqua maris. "
18
gAirvc r\i -AbbAti,
Death of Gabran, son of
"
Dictionary Geographical, Statistical, and
20
See Colgan's "Trias Thaumaturga,"
460 LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. [June 9.
This dreadful though just prophecy of the saint was fully accomplished in thepresenceofthemall, afterthelapseofafewmoments. 20 Soonthatcloud arose from the sea, and a hurricane setting in followed the robber with his spoil. He and his seamen were swallowed in the yeasty waves, between the IslandofMull2Iand
22 Whatseemedmostremarkablewasastorm
Colonsay.
raging over them, while the surrounding ocean remained tranquil. Not one
of the for all sunk in the treacherous 23 plunderers escaped, deeps.
When at one time travelling, the parents of a young infant brought to 2
Columba their child, so that he might be christened. * But, as no water could be found in the adjoining places, the saint turned towards a rock which was near, and after praying a little upon his knees, the holy man blessed the face of that rock. Out of it gushed an abundant stream ofwater. 2 s Therein
he baptized their young son, of whom also he prophesied, that in youth this child should be addicted to unlawful desires and sensuality, but that after- wards,heshouldgivehimselftothestudyofChristianperfection. Inthisstate he was destined to persevere to the end of his life, and he was to die at a good old age. All which happened to be true, in the sequel. The name of this
26 His
Muirchal. ? In the time of Adamnan, a well, called after St. Columkille, was
man was
Lugucencalad. 2
parents
dwelt in a
known as Ardtaib
place,
exercise of holy prayer. When he began to pray in that soot selected, sud- denly he saw an ugly and a deformed host of devils fighting against him with iron darts, and these demons intended, as the saint knew by the inward illu- mination of the Holy Ghost, to assail his monastery, and to kill with their pointed spears many of his monks. But, when alone, St. Columkille took
seen in that
28 Another time while in
our saint in the sought
Iona,
woods 2° a solitary place, unfrequented by men, and commodious for the
locality.
Quarta Vita S. Columba? , lib. ii. , cap. xxii. ,
P- 355 > Quinta Vita S. Columba? , lib. ii. ,
cap. lxxii. , p. 422.
endeavours to find out a saint in the Irish
Calendars for identification with him ; but,
he can only discover one Lugh, Luga, Lugu or Lugus, at the 16th of June.
2? The old form of Ardnamurchan, the peninsular district of the northern boundary of Argyleshire. Its church was called Kil- coan, dedicated to St. Congan, the Abbot, and it was situated near the south coast, on the right bank of a stream, falling into Kil- choan Pay. Ardnamurchan Point termi- nates the western extremity of the mainland of Scotland. From east to west, Ardna- murchan is crossed by high hills and deep valleys, and it has a coast-line many miles in extent. See Cosmo Innes' "Origiues Parochiales Scotioe," vol ii. , part i. , pp. 194 to 197.
21
tains about 300 square miles. Itliesoutsideof Loch Linnhe, in Western Argyleshire. See
James A. Sharpe's "New Gazetteer or Topo-
graphical Dictionary of the British Islands
and Narrow Seas," vol. ii. , p. 268.
22
Probably, the larger Colonsay, south of Mull. A boat sailing southwards should hardly go so much out of its way, as to hug the shore on the Ulva side of Little Colon- say. The length of both Islands of Colonsay is about 12 miles, and from one mile to three miles in breadth, including about 9,000
acres. See Alex. Keith Johnston's "Die-
tionary ofGeography, Descriptive, Physical, Statistical and Historical," p. 354.
It is Latinized Malea,and this island con-
23 See Rev. Dr. Reeves' Adamnan's " Life
of St. Columba," lib. ii. , cap. 22, and nn. p. 118.
(a, b, c, d, e), pp. 132 to 134.
24 See Colgan's "Trias Thaumaturga,"
Quarta Vita S. Columbae, lib. ii. , cap. x. ,
p. 352.
25 A similar miracle is recorded as having
29 This account gives some grounds for supposing, that Iona was not destitute of woods, in the time of St. Columba, as it is at present. There are indications of forests having been on the western islands and coasts of Ireland and of Scotland, in former
occurred at Derry, in the old Irish Life of
St. Colum Cille, contained in the " Leabhar periods, although such tracts are now
Breac," Royal Irish Academy.
26
denuded, even of small shrubs. These cir- cumstances serve to increase the natural shal- lowness and barrennessof theirsoil, which by
judicious planting could be greatly improved. i0 Allusion is here made to St. Paul's
Probably Luguceu, a diminutive of
"
version of Adamnan, the name is printed
of the ferry. " In Colgan's Lugu-Cenealad ; and, in a note, Colgan
buguand caIat>,
28
"Life of St. Columba. " lib. ii. , cap. 10,
See Rev. Dr. Reeves' Adamnan's
June 9-] LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. 461
St. Paul's armour,3° and he fought courageously against the whole host of in- fernaladversaries. 31 Thisconflictcontinuedforthemostpartofthatday,and neither could the demons overcome him, nor could he drive them out of his Island, until Angels came to his help. The terror caused by the pre- sence of these celestial spirits made the devils depart, countless though they were. All this our saint afterwards told to a few persons. Upon the depar- ture of those demons, the saint prophesied how they would invade the monas- tery of Ethica, or Tiree, and inflict pestilent diseases on the inhabitants, in consequence of which many should die. As the blessed man foresaw, this prophecy was verified. Within two days, likewise, the saint foretold how Eaithaneus through the help of prayers and fasts should preserve his monas- tery at Campus Lunge from this invasion so well, that only one person died, as a consequence of the visitation. Yet, in other monasteries on that Island, several fell victims to that same pestilence. 32
Upon a certain time, the saint was in great danger at sea, for that ship, in which he had embarked, was shaken with huge waves, and by the raging violence of blustering winds beating upon it. 33 In that distress, St. Columba helped his sailors, so far as he could, in bailing out the water. Whereupon, the mariners said : "What you now do avails but little, in this extremity ; it is more fitting for you to pray for us, being ready almost to perish. "3* With thatadmonition,oursaintbegantopourout35 beforeGodadevotionaland a fervent prayer. Wonderful to relate, no sooner did St. Columba, standing on the foredeck of the ship, extend his hands in prayer to the Omnipotent, thanthattempestandboilingofthegreenseawavesceased. 36 Totheangry elements and to the storm, a most serene and a pleasant calm succeeded. They who were in the ship, being struck with admiration, glorified God in his blessed servant.
With many of the best-known Irish Saints of the sixth century, St. Columba was on terms of friendly intimacy, and several of these are related to have visited him, while he dwelt in Scotland. On the line of navigation
Quarta
iii. , cap. viii. ,
m^Lar upon
aquam cessat amaram," the Irish gloss
to the
Ephesians, vi. , 13, 17.
"
hininglas," which, according
to modern
Epistle
31 See an account of these transactions, in
orthography, should be written 111 n-giA]-, """
Colgan's Trias Thaumaturga, Prima Vita that is the green element. "
S. Columbse, cap. ix. , p. 322 ; Secunda Vita 36 A curious word "hininglas "is here used S. Columbse, cap. xxv. , xxvi. , p. 328 ; Ter- byAdamnan. The word however may have
tia Vita S. Columbus, cap. xxviii. , p. 334 ;
Vita S.
p. 365 ; Quinta Vita S. Columbse, lib. ii. , cap. lxxxvii. , Ixxxviii. , pp. 425, 426.
32 See Rev. Dr. Reeves' Adamnan's "Life of St. Columba," lib. iii. , cap. 8, pp. 205, to 207.
been a gloss on the text. From a form like
"
may have crept in the process of transcrip- tion, into the text. What is still more likely,
it mayhave been a parenthetical explana- tion, in the tenor of the narrative, and added by the original writer. The word bin oriti is the old Irish form of the article An, and m^lAf, is that of the modern n-glAir,
Columboe,
lib.
this . 1. hni 1 the Latin words
33 See this narrative, in Colgan's "Trias
Thaumaturga," Secunda Vita S. Columbse,
cap. vii. , p.
