No More Learning

Article ix.
'
See an account of him, in
6 The illustration is accompanying
Les Petits " Vies des Bollandistes,
copied from an approved engraving, and drawn on
Saints,' tome ix. , xxiie Jour de Septembre, pp. 323,
the wood, engraved by Gregor Grey. 324.
parents
476 LIVESOFTHEIRISHSAINTS. [September23.
Ctoftttp-tbirn IBap of September.
ARTICLE I. —ST. ADAMNAN, ABBOT OF IONA.
[SEVENTH AND EIGHTH CENTURIES. ]
INTRODUCTION. —WRITERS OF ST. ADAMNAN'S ACTS—CHANGES OF HIS NAME—HIS PARENTAGE AND DESCENT—PLACE OF HIS BIRTH—EARLY LIFE SPENT IN IRELAND—BECOMES A MONK AT IONA—OCCUPATIONS IN THAT CAPACITY—REIGN OF FINNACHTA FLIADHACH OR THE FESTIVE OVER IRELAND—FOUNDATIONS ATTRIBUTED TO ADAMNAN IN IRELAND—ADAMNAN ELECTED ABBOT OF IONA—
ALFRID'S EXILE IN IRELAND AND SUBSEQUENT RETURN TO NORTHUMBRIA— INVASION OF IRELAND BY THE SAXONS—ADAMNAN AT THE REQUKST OF HIS COUNTRYMEN UNDERTAKES AN EMBASSY TO THE COURT OF KING ALDFRID—HE PROCURES THE RELEASE OF THE CAPTIVES.
celebrity of this holy Abbot, both as a Saint and as a writer, has
THE
caused the introduction of his name in the of most
pages
Ecclesiastical Histories, Calendars, and Martyrologies. Fortunate for us, his writings have survived to the present time, and have preserved some of the most precious memorials of centuries long elapsed. Moreover, they evince sufficient proof, not alone of individual scholarship, but of classical attainments and proficiency in the schools where he studied, and under the masters, who moulded his moral character and directed his intellectual
pursuits. And long through the middle ages were literary treasures preserved in Iona, although many must have perished in the various raids, to which its monastery had been exposed in earlier times. It was the repository of most ancient Scottish records ; it is said to have possessed books obtained from Rome ; and it had the reputation of containing the
13
Book of Livy, now supposed to be lost, together with other classical
works, which have since perished. 3 As they may with justifiable pride revert to the virtues, the wisdom and the learning of past ages, so may our countrymen well point to the saints and sages and scholars, whose names are linked for ever with their best traditions at home and abroad.
The earliest authentic record of St. Adamnan's Acts is that given by
Venerable Bede. 4 An Irish Life, said to be preserved in one of the O'Clery
Manuscripts at Brussels, furnished those legends relating to St. Adamnan, which are contained in the Breviary of Aberdeen,* Trithemius has an
Article i. —' It is said that /Eneas Sylvius— afterwards Pope Pius II. — intended when he was in Scotland to have visited the
at Iona in search of the lost Books of Livy, but he was prevented by the death of King James I. See Rev. Dr. J. F. S. Gordon's " Iona," p. 19.
2 In
Paulus Jovius, as quoted by Ussher, in
library
p. 597.
3 The register and records of the island,
all written on parchment, and probably other more antique and valuable remains, were all destroyed by that worse than Gothic synod, who at the Reformation declared war against all science. See Pennant's visit to Iona in 1772.
Anglorum," lib. v. , cap. xv. , xvi. , xvii. , and xxi.
it has been stated, that a small parcel of books had been brought to Aher- deen from Iona, and great pains were taken to unfold them, but owing to age and rotten- ness of the parchment little could be read. From what the learned could make out, by
1525,
s "It is a sort of historical discourse on have been a fragment of Sallust than of Job xxxviii. , 3, intended for the saint's Livy. See Boethius, lib. vii. , p. 114. Also festival ; but, it is a miserable production,
the
style
of one work, it seemed rather to
"
Britannicarum Ecclesiarum Antiquitates,"
4 See " Historia Ef:clesiastica Gentis
general
September 23. ] LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. 477
account of Adamnan, as observed by John Bale, who also enters him in the
work intituled, "Scriptorum illustrium Majoris Brytannise, quam nunc Angliam et Scotiam vocant. "' Lives or notices of Adamnan are to be
8 found in the works of Gerrard John Vossius,? of Archbishop Ussher, of
Sir James Ware,' and of Father Hugh Ward. 10 Dean Cressy incidentally alludes to Adamnan, whose gests he leaves to the Scottish writers. " In
Mabillon's and D'Achery's Acts of Saints belonging to the Benedictine Order,someshortnoticesregardingAdamnanhavebeenpublished," Also is he alluded to by Mabillon, in his Annals of the Benedictine Order. '3
1* 15 16 NatalisAlexander, Dr,WilliamCave, andBishopTanner, havereference
to him in their respective works. Adamnan's Life is contained in the
voluminous MActa Sanctorum" of the Bollandists, at the 23rd of
1
September. ? It was compiled by Father Constantine Suyskens, in a
Commentarius Historicus. 18
from Ancient Sources "
In the "Three Fragments of Annals copied
Dubhaltach Mac 1 * there are entries, Firbisigh,
by
which profess to give data for the life of St. Adamnan ; yet some of those
manifestly belong to the class of legends. The Rev. Dr. Lanigan has some
critical remarks about Adamnan. 20 The most complete, elaborate and
21
interesting biography of St. Adamnan, that has yet appeared, is the
Memoir the Rev. Dr. William Reeves. 22 celebrated for compiled by Justly
his antiquarian research, and extensive learning, especially on all subjects connected with the early ecclesiastical history of Ireland, his biography has been prefixed to our saint's own " Vita S. Columbae. " This Memoir has been most ably and critically edited for the Irish Archaeological and Celtic Society. In this same work, which, as the learned editor well observes, has
immortalized both the subject and the author, a great deal of interesting matter has been introduced, which tends to render a task imposed on any subsequent biographer of St. Adamnan less laborious and more satisfactory,
full of absurdities and anachronisms. " The Rev. Dr. Reeves has declared, that any-
thing worthy of notice in this production, had been translated to his own memoir of the saint. See his Adamnan's "Life of St. Columba," Appendix to Preface, sect. I. , Memoir of St. Adamnan, p. xl. , n (a).
I3 See " Annales Ordinis S. Benedicti,"
tomusi. , lib. xviii. , sect, lxv. , p. 618.
I4 See "Historia Ecclesiastica Veteris
Novique Testamenti," tomus xii. Sseculum Septimum, cap. iv. , art. x. , sect, ii. , p. 82.
1S See "Scriptorum Ecclesiasticorum Historia Literaria," &c, vol. i,, Saeculum Monatheleticum, p. 594.
l6 See"BibliothecaBritannico-Hibernica," pp. 5, 6.
1See "Acta Sanctorum," tomus vi. ,
6
In the Second Part. Centuria Decima-
Num.
7 See " De Historicis Latinis," lib. ii. ,
quatta,
xxv. , p. 197.
cap. xxvii.
*See " Britannicarum Ecclesiarum An- Septembris xxiii. De S. Adamnano vel
tiquitates," cap. xv. , pp. 366, 367, cap. xvi. , p. 381, cap. xvii. , p. 499, et seq.
Adomnan Presb. et Abbate in Iona Scotia Insula, pp. 642 to 649.
9 See " De
cap, iii. , pp. 33 to 35. And also " De Praesulibus Hibernian, Commentarius," De Episcopis Rapotensibus, p. 73.
Martyris inclyti,
Acta, &c. " Dissertatio Historica de Patria
to 100, and sect, xiv. , pp. 136, 139, 140, See "Church-History of Britanny," and chap, xix. , sect, iii. , pp. 149 to 153.
Scriptoribus Hibernise,"
lib.
i. ,
l8 of two sections, and Consisting
forty-
10 See " Sancti Rumoldi
one paragraphs.
I9 Edited by John O'Donovan, LL. D. ,
M. R. I. A. See pp. 70 to 115.
*° See his " Ecclesiastical of Ire- History
land," vol. iii. , chap, xviii. , sect, v. , pp. 96
S. Rumoldi, art. iii. , sect. 4, pp. 217 to 220.
11
book x. , vii. , chap,
and Book
2I The work here is entitled: designated
p. 419, chap, xv. , pp. 509, 510.
xx. ,
"The Life of St. Columba, founder of Hy ; 12 See " Acta Sanctorum Ordinis S. written by Adamnan, ninth Abbot of that
Benedicti," vol. iv. , sec. iii. , pars ii. , a. d.
700 to 800. Appendix, pp. 499 to 522. His Life is written in seven paragraphs. His three Books on the Holy Places
follow.
Monastery," &c. By William Reeves, D. D. , M. R. I. A. , Curate of Kilconriola, in the Diocese of Connor. Dublin, 1857, 4to.
"Afterwards Protestant Bishop of the Diocese of Down and Cennor.
478 LIVESOFTHEIRISHSAINTS. [September23.
than it should have been, had not the volume in question issued from the press.
Hence the present writer feels great pleasure in bearing his humble
testimony to that general impartiality, judgment and learning observable throughout the pages of this invaluable work. 23 He has culled materials for St. Adamnan's Life from this volume, for the most part ; and, on a comparison of the Saint's present biography with that already given by the Rev. Dr. Reeves, there will be found little originality as to substance or arrangement. In availing himself however of materials furnished by his former learned friend, the writer has taken the liberty of introducing modifications, suited to the plan of his work, while retaining all the substantial parts of that narrative. Biographical notices of St. Adamnan
are to be found in the works of Rev. Alban
In the " of Christian Dictionary
2* 2* M. Le Butler, Michaud,
Dr. 26 Thomas Hoefer,
28 William F.
27 Le Comte de 212
Montalembert,
Skene, * Rev. S. Baring-Gould,3° Rev. Dr. John Alzog^ and Alfred Webb. 3
Wright,
Biography,"33
Very Rev. William Reeves, D. D. , Dean of Armagh, is but an abbreviation
of the Life he had previously written, as prefatory to Adamnan's " Life of St.
Columba," and which he had edited for the Irish Archaeological Society.
Also in the " of Universal " there is a notice. 34 Imperial Dictionary Biography
There are accounts of St. Adamnan by Bishop Forbes,35 by Rt. Rev. Patrick
F. of 6 Rev. Dr. Moran, D. D. , Bishop Ossory,3 by
J.
F. S. 37 Gordon, Henry
Morley,38 and by many other writers.
It is remarked, that in passing from their real to their phonetic forms, few
names have undergone such transformations as those given to Adamnan. Thus it would be difficult to suppose, that Adamnan and Eunan were intended for the same person. Nor could it be imagined, that Adampnanus and Thewnan are resolvable into a common original. According to Mabillon, this celebrated Saint was variously called Adamnanus, Adomnanus, Adamanus and Adamandus. 39 The Breviary of Aberdeen calls our Saint
93 A few salvos to the
particular foregoing
textual statement will be alluded to else-
where, in the pages of this work. An
exception referred to may be fou»d in the
Additional Notes to Mr. Reeves' Adamnan's
"
saint at 201 to 206, under the occurs, pp.
head of the Anglo-Saxon Period,
a8 See " Les Moines d' Occident," tome v. ,
liv. xv. , chap, hi. , pp. 10 to 15.
29 See " Celtic Scotland," vol. ii. , book ii. ,
chap, iv. , pp. 170 to 176.
30 See "Lives of the Saints," vol. ix. ,
September 23, pp. 358 to 360.
3 * See "Manual of Universal Church
History. " Translated by Rev. F. J. Fabisch and Rev. Thomas S. Byrne, vol. ii. , period 2, epoch i. , part i. , chap, i. , sect. 156, pp. 69, 70.
32 See "Compendium of Irish Biography," pp. I. 2.
3 ' Edited by William Smith, D. C. L. ,
LL. D. , and Henry Wace, M. A. , vol. i. , pp.
41 to 43.
34 See vol. i. , p. 27.
3s See " Kalendars of Scottish Saints,"
pp. 264 to 266.
36 See "Irish Saints in Great Britain,"
Life of St. Columba," &c, N. (N) p. 344. It is one which has given just occasion for regret, and has tended to wound the reli- gious feelings of many Catholic Members and Associates belonging to the society for which the work in question had been edited. Yet, the writer feels fully satisfied, the Rev. Dr. Reeves did not
such a result, as a consequence of his re- corded opinions. These are the more to be regretted, as they are not sustained by any amount of evidence or argument, sufficient to satisfy a rational inquirer into historic facts.
24 See " Lives of the Fathers, Martyrs, and
other principal Saints," vol. ix. , September xxiii.
25 See "
et Moderne," tome i. , p. 151.
26 See " Nouvelle tomei. , col. 232, 233.
Ancienne
108 to 1 12. 37 See " Iona," p. 61.
38 See " Writers," vol. i. , book i. , English
chap, ix. , pp. 340, 341.
3*See " Acta Sanctorum Ordinis S. Bene-
dicti," tomus iv. , sec. hi. , pars ii. , p. 499-
Biographie Universale,
chap, iv. , pp.
wilfully contemplate
Biographie Generate,"
37 See "
&c, where an interesting biography of our
Biographia
Britannica
Literaria,"
an the appreciative Article, by
September 23. ] LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. 479
Adampnanus. At Forvey, in the parish of Slains,40 on the east coast of Aberdeenshire,inScotland,AdamnaniscalledFidamnan. Adamnanusand Adomnanus are the usual forms of our saint's name in earlier records and Latin Lives. Amongst our Annalists, Adamnan is the name uniformly bestowed on our Saint, in the Annals of Inisfallen41 and Boyle 42 while
; Adomnan always occurs in the Annals of Ulster43 and in those of Cambria. 44
45 Adamnanus occurs ihree and times,
have Adamnan twelve times, whilst Adomnan is found in a single instance in their pages. At St. Adamnan's festival day, September 23rd, the Irish Calendars and Martyrologies differ in their orthography ; the Felire of Oengus, Marianus O'Gorman and O'Clery read Adamnan, whilst the Martyrology of Tamlacht
has Adomnan. The Vision of Adamnan admits the former spelling four
times and the latter once/7 A of Tara in the Dinnseanchus prose description
introduces Adomnan, the metrical Adamnan. 48 The Venerable Bede reads Adamnanus six times49 while Alcuin has Adomnanus. 50 Fordun51 and the Breviary of Aberdeen write the name Adamnanus. This orthography has also been adopted in the old Lives of St. Fechin of Fore, and of St. Gerald
of as contained in the work of Mayo,
the chief variation of our Saint's name consists in the difference of Adamnan and Adomnan. In various Codices of St. Columba's Life, used by the Rev. Mr. Reeves in his modern edition, the same variety of spelling occurs. For instance, his Codex a. reads Adomnanus, in the four places where this word occurs 54 Codex b. reads Adamnanus once,55 and
In the Annals of
Tighernach,
Adomnan six the Annals of the Four Masters46 :
again
Colgan.
Locis Sanctis," has Adamnanus. 53 Thus, it may be seen, that in early records
;
Adomnanus twice 5° the Codices c, f. s. vary in like manner ; while Codex ;
d. always reads Adamnanus. From these several instances, it may be inferred, that there is no fixed practice for the spelling of our Saint's name ; but as the etymology of this denomination favours the use of 0, and as the substitution of was probably intended to exhibit a phonetic value attaching to the original vowel, the Rev. Mr. Reeves deemed it advisable to adopt Adamnanus, where the word occurs, in his edition of St. Columba's Life.
40 This parish is situated at Ythan Mouth.
Forvey is called Furni in the reprint of
Anglorum," lib. iv. , cap. 25, lib. v. , cap. 15, 21.
5° See "
Breviary
coupled with St. Adampnanus's name. "— cxlv. , p. 219, See "Collections of Aberdeen and Banff," 5I See Fordun's
"
the of Aberdeen. There it is also
tomus ii. , vol. i.
Epigram, Quercetani. Scotichronicon," lib. i. , p. 388. The collections here alluded to were cap. 6, lib. iii. , cap. 27,29, 38, 42, 49.
published by the Spaulding Club.
" In lib. ii. ,
cap. 10, we find Sanda spoken
41 At the a. d. years
ubi cella sancti Adam-
of as * Insula 42 "
Awyn,
617, 685, 693. Only at the year a. d. 657.
nani. '
5a See " Acta Sanctorum Hiberniae," xx.
Januarii. Vita S. Fechini, cap. xlvii. , p. 139,
and xiii.