Yet, it appears, Colgan thought it necessary, in his time, to devote a rather lengthened
dissertation
to establish a position controverted
by certain Avriters.
by certain Avriters.
O'Hanlon - Lives of the Irish Saints - v2
592.
and sucking babes thou hast perfectedpraise ? ' 327 So Laurence of Durham appears to Matt. xxi. 16. St. Brigid might have been think ; while Colgan remarks, that Brigh, at that time ten or eleven years old, an age meaning "virtue," is likely to have been fully sufficient to render her in the hands of the original Irish source for the name Brigida God, an instrument fit for displaying the or Brigid. See "Trias Thaumaturga,** wonderful effects of His grace and His know-
ledge of all things. If in what is called the
order of nature we find so many children of
extraordinary precocity in learning, so many Vol. II.
3="^ See Rev. S. Baring-Gould's "Lives of the Saints," vol. ii. , February i, p. 17.
*' Ecclesiastical of Ire- History
Quinta Vita S. Brigidse, cap. viii. , and n. 10, pp. 569, 640.
D
34 LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS, [February i. I
her having died in Scotia. Yet by such term, those do not refer to any other country,exceptourownisland. AmongScottishauthors,whoclaimourillus-
trious patroness as their countrywoman, may be specially mentioned John Major''andHectorBoece. * BothCamerarius^andDempster*assert,thatshe wasborn,andthatshedied,inAlbaniaorBritishScotia. Ithasbeengenerally advanced by old writers, that she was of Scottish race. Thus, George Gam- feld,5 or Garnefelt, Antonio Possevino,^ Raphael Volaterranus,^ Sigebert Gem- blacensis^andMarianus^write. ThatSt. BrigidwasborninScotiaisanopinion formed by Antonius Sabellicus,^° by Petrus de Natalibus," and by a writer of the general Chronicles of the World. Sigebert tells us, she died in the same country at the year 578, and the Chronicle, entitled, "Rudimentum Novitiorum," has her death at a. d. 520. Her Natalis, indeed, has been ob- servedinScotia,ontheistofFebruary. Thismaybefoundamongnearly all Hagiologists and Martyrologists. It is noted in the Roman Martyrology, and in the Martyrologies of Bede, Usuard, Ado, Viennen. , Rodulphus Rivius, and the Carthusian Martyrology. Galesinus and many other writers, both Irishandforeign,allow,thatoursaintwasanativeofScotia. Yet,although this be admitted, it will not follow, however, that St. Brigid was born in British Scotia, or that her ancestors were natives of that country. On the contrary, evidence is afforded, that the island known as Hibernia, had been called Scotia, by ancient writers of every condition, age, and nation. " We are told, that previous to the eleventh century, no one thought of calling that part of Britain, now known as Scotland, by the name of Scotia. Writers usuallycalleditAlbania. AllwhomentionedScotiatotheperioddesignated understood Scotia as applicable to an island,'3 situated between Britain and Spain. '4 If all other arguments were wanting in support of such a position, various passages, found in the old acts. of St. Brigid, should be sufficient to establish it. For by birth and descent, this holy virgin was evidently a native ofIreland; shediedthere;andshewasparticularlyveneratedinourisland.
Chap, ii. —* See "Historia
to have, "in mendicabulis re-
Bri- tanniae, tarn Anglise, quam Scotiae," lib. ii. , cap. xiv. , p. 85. Edinburgh edition, A. D.
Dempster
pressis Hibernorum," vindicated our St. Brigid's fame for Scotland.
5 See " De Vita Eremitica," p. 223.
1740, 4to. =^
See "Scotorum Historise, a prima gentis origine," &c. , lib. ix. , fol. clxiiii. Prelum Ascensianum, fol.
3 See "De Statu Hominis, Veteris simul ac novae Ecclesiae, et Infidelium Conver- sione," lib. i. , cap. iii. , sec. ii. Camerarius cites many authorities, yet these only prove she was a "Virgo Scota. " Among such authorities are quoted, Rodulphus de Breda,' Tungrensis Diaconus " In Calendario Gene- rali. " MassKus, "In Chronico," lib. xii.
See "Apparatus Sacer," p. 252.
7 Commentariorum. Ad annum 52 I, lib.
xxi. , p. 635.
^ See " Chronicon," ad annum 518. See
" Monumenta Germanise Historica," tomus
vi. , p. 314
9 In his Chronicle" at A. D. 521, ibid. ^
tomus V.
" See "iEnead," viii. , lib. ii.
"See "Catalogus Sanctorum," lib. iii. ,
cap. Ixix.
" Almost the sole exception is Dempster. "With his follower Camerarius, that unac-
countable chronographer and chorographer maintains an opposite opinion with a fantasy peculiar to himself.
'3 This to from Colgan promised prove
ancient and modern writers, belonging to every age and nation, in a volume where he intended to illustrate solely the ecclesiastical antiquities of Ireland. This work, however, he did not live to
Franciscus Rosier " Stemmatum Lothar- "
ingiae," tomusiii. Gualterius, In Chrono-
logio. " Genebrardus "In Chronico. " Ri- "
badeneira In Vitis Sanctorum. " Delrio,
"Disquisis. Magic," tomus ii. , lib. iv.
Ja-
Com-
cobus Gretscrus in his
to
''
mentar. Exegetici in Serenissimum lacobum
Magnae Britannise Regem. " Theuetus
"
Cosmog," lib. xvi,, in his description of Scotia. See pp. 140, 141.
preface
Majoris
* See " Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis Sco-
torum," tomus i. , lib. ii. , p. 82. Edinburgh
edition, 1829, 4to. Camerarius supposes notion of the early and middle ages.
publish.
'* In accord with a prevailing geographical
February i. ] LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. 35
Hence, as a consequence, when ancient writers mention her country as Scotia, it is certain they must have meant Ireland.
Dempster most strangely asserts, that St. Brigid was born in Laudonia, a province of Albanian Scotia. 's Now, by St. Columkille, Apostle of Al- banian Scotia, and patron of Scotia Major or Hibernia, she is called our Saint of I^genia. It may be objected, with Dempster, that when writers treat about St. Brigid and her parents, the word Lagenia or Lageniensis are everywhere incorrectly used for Laudenia, Ladenensis or Laudianensis. ^*^ But this is clearly a foolish and blind subterfuge. Can he find in this
Laudenia, Kildare, Campus Leiife, Campus Gessille, Campus Bregh, with many other Irish names and places, which as the author of her Third Life*7 relates are in St. Brigid's country, and which are well known to be situated within the Irish province of Leinster ? Can he find, in his Scotia, the town Macha or Armagh, the ecclesiastical metropolis of Ireland, or the great river Sinann,^^ which turns its course from Albanian Scotia, and which from near Clanawley district, runs through the middle of Ireland, into the ocean? Both are placed by this same author in the Scotia of St. Brigid's birth. ^9 Dempster falsely assigns to his Scotia these places, and others mentioned by him, such as Campus Femhin, Campus Cliach, Arx Lethglass. More-
over, very few writers, at the present day, even if ignorant regarding the situation and obscure nomenclature of the places just mentioned, will —be
foolish enough to claim for Scotland, all the other Irish provinces, viz. =*«
:
Media, Connacia," Lagenia," Ultonia,=3 Mummonia. ^'^ So long as these are left us, we can still lay claim to Hibernia, Brigid and Scotia. =^5 Again,
all the circumstances related, regarding her parentage,'^ birth,^? receiving the
^s St. Cogitosus, in the first chapter of her life, says, that St, Brigid was born in Scotia, and descended from the good and honour-
able family of Ethech, her father being
named Dubtach, and her mother Brocessa.
By the Scotia here mentioned, it is evident,
; as well because no author who flourished before the time of Cogitosus, nor any writer who lived after understood
^9 See ibid. ^ cap. Ixii. , xcvii.
=° Now Meath.
=^ Now Connaught. ^NowLeinster.
=3 Now Ulster.
=4 Now Munster.
Scotia or must be intended Major, Ireland,
"S See "Trias Colgan's
400 years him,
that any other country save Ireland had re- ceived this name of Scotia, as also, because Ethech's family flourished in Hibernia, and not in Scotia Minor or Albania. Again, the same author mentions a celebrated church of St. Brigid at Kildare, which he greatly extols in his prologue, and most ac- curately describes in the 35th chapter of her Life. In this church, he tells us, St. Brigid was interred. He also names a most exten-
"^^ Inhis ofoursamt,andmthefirst Life
chapter, when speaking of her father, St. Ultan tells us, that he was a certain Dubtach, genere Lageniensis, &c. He states, that St. Brigid's mother had been sold to a certain Magus belonging to the family of Neill and to the territory of Meath, at a time when she bore our saint in her womb (cap. 3). Animosus, or the author of St. Brigid's Fourth Life, informs us, that there was a glorious king in Ireland named Fedhlimid Reachtmar, see lib. i. , cap. i. , how Eochad Fionn, brother to this same king, had mi-
grated to Leinster, and that there Dubtach, St. Brigid's father, descended from him. See ibid.
sive plain of BiL-, in the 27th chapter. Other bishops of Ireland are alluded to in this same life, as likewise in its prologue, when the words, Scotia and Hibernia, Scoti and Hibernienses are used as synonymous terms.
^^ See " Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis Sco- torum," tomus i. , lib, ii. , pp. 82, 84.
^^ Attributed by Colgan to St. Ultan.
=7 The author of the Fourth Life of St. Brigid tells us, how a certain poet from the northern part of Ireland bought Brosaech the mother of St. Brigid, during a time when she was 4) ; and when
" Tertia Vita S. Brigidae, cap. xlvii,, li,, lii,, liv. , Ixii,, Ixiv.
Many other references might be made. *^ Now the Shannon.
See •' Trias
Thaumaturga,
pregnant (cap.
treating about the place of our saint's birth, he assures us, that it was a town named Fochart Murthemne, of Conaille Muirlhem-
Thaumaturga. " Appendix Quarta ad Acta S. Brigidse, cap.
iv,, pp, 614, 615,
36 LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. [February i.
veil, personal connexionSj^"^ the places she visited,^9 the houses she founded, and where she died,3o can only have reference to Ireland. 3^ Besides all this, the unanimous opinions and traditions of the Irish and of every other foreign nation tend to establish most conclusively, that the illustrious and super-
"
eminent virgin,32 called even
tinuously and specially regarded as a native and great patron saint in our country.
At the present day, it would prove quite superfluous to enter upon any
enquiry as to the country of St. Brigid's birth ; a weight of historical autho-
rity and universal popular tradition fully vindicating the claims of Ireland to
this honour.
Yet, it appears, Colgan thought it necessary, in his time, to devote a rather lengthened dissertation to establish a position controverted
by certain Avriters. 34 In order to expose Dempster's misstatements, and those of other Brito-Scottish writers, he addresses many arguments, although
dubious, if it would not seem diminishing the force of manifest truth by proving a self-evident proposition. In the first place, that she was of Irish descent and born in Ireland, had been established by authorities numerously cited. Foreign as well as domestic writers bear abundant testimony to the fact that St. Brigid was a native of our island. Thus Raban,35 Notkar,36 St.
was called another Mary, at a certain synod, assembled in the plain of the Liffey, in which Kildareissituated(cap. 14); how,incom- pany with her father, she left the house of this latter to visit the King of Leirister, in the Liffey's great plain (cap. 90). He re- lates, how she had received the veil in that land, belonging to the Niall family (cap. 18), and which is identical with Meath, as after- wards indicated (cap. 2i). He also records, in the following chapters, what she achieved in different countries and provinces of Ire- land, as for instance, in Theba (cap. 39) ; how she accompanied St. Patrick to the northern part of Ireland, called Ulster, and what she did at the Castle of Lethglass and in the town of Macha (cap. 57, 60, 61) ; how she went with Bishop Ere, of Munster descent, into the southern province of Ire- land (cap. 71) ; how returning to the ex- treme bounds of Leinster, she entered the
**
Labrathi and how in country (cap. 81),
Raban " ruary, says,
In Hibernia nativitas
fine, returning to her father's house, she saved
S, Brigidae. "
3* In his Martyrology, St. Notkar enters
at the same day : "In Hibernia nativitas
him from
have already seen, that in a hymn subjoined
impending
death
(cap. 2>J).
the Mary of Ireland,"33 had been ever con-
hne district, in the province of Ulster (cap. 6). See Ussher, " De Primordiis Ecclesi- arumBritannise,"cap,xvi. ,p. 706.
^^ It can be shown, by referring to their descent, festivals, places, and days of vene- ration, that many saints, allied to St. Brigid, were Irish.
*9 The author of St. Brigid's Third Life-
thought by Colgan to be St. Ultan—states,
that St. Brigid was born in the country and
house of a Magus (cap. 4) ; that this identical
Magus went with the infant to Connaught,
so soon as she was born (cap. 5) ; and, in
the following chapter, he relates, how the
child had been brought up in Connaught,
untilshehadbecomeagrownmaiden. He
tells us, how she returned to Lagenia, buried in Ireland (lib. ii. , cap. xcix,). where her father lived (cap. 11) ; how she Blessed Marianus Scotus, in liis Chronicle,
We
to St. Ultan's Life of our saint, she is said to have been distinguished in that island,
*'
qusevocaturHibernia,"&c. IfSt. Brigid
had been bom in Britain, is it not strange,
that St. Ultan, in no place, speaks of her
birth, education, religious profession, &c. , as having occurred there, while these inci-
dents, and special localities already men- tioned, are referable alone to Ireland ? Nor
does he even indicate, in one single instance, that she had ever left our island.
3° In his Life of our saint, when describing the church of Kildare in Leinster, Cogitosus tells us, that St. Brigid was buried in it (cap, XXXV,), And, towards the end of her Acts, Animosus says, that she died, and was
at the year 521, writes,
Virgo in Hibernia diem clausit extremum.
3' These reliable writers, St. Cogitosus, St. Cormac, archbishop, Animosus, Keat- ing, and others, exhibit this fact sufliciently, when introducing her paternal and maternal genealogies.
3' St. ^ngus calls her a "bright Virgin and chief of holy Irishwomen," in his Festi-
logy, at the 1st of February, In like manner, Marianus O'Gorman, at the same date,
"
Chief- Virgin or Chief of the Virgins of Ireland,"
33 Among Irish authorities may be enu- merated, St, Ibar, an Irish Apostle, who calls St. Brigid, "Mary of the Irish," when she came from the house of her father Dub- tach to that synod, assembled at Kildare, in Leinster,
3^ Such as Dempster and Camerarius,
35 In his Martyrology, at the 1st of Feb-
styles her
S, Brigida Scota "
February i. ] LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. 37
Bernard,37 Florence of Worcester,38 John Capgrave,39 Francis Hare,4° Zacharias Lippeloo,^^ Cornelius Grassius,4» the English Martyrology,43 Baronius,44 Herebert Rosweyde,<s Legends of the Brabantine Saints,^^ and a great number of other highly respectable authorities, may be cited. Various Breviaries and offices might be added. '*^ Nor even do Scotch authors of respectability^^ deny this origin for the Scotian virgin, in ages now past ; while none of them at present claim Scotland to have been the country of her birth, although she is there greatly venerated.
It may easily be supposed, however, that John Major49 and Hector
S. Brigidce, Virginis," &c.
" "
Epitonie Annalium," A. D.
37 In "Vita S.
Fochart, as being the birth-place of St.
Brigid, while alluding to St. Malachy's acts
S. Brigida
Scota in Virgo
Malachire,"
and travels in Ireland, cap. xxiv.
3^ Florence of Worcester records,
"
S. Brigida Scota Virgo in Hibernia obiit,"
615, 616.
49 It is strange that Major—otherwise so
A. D. 521.
39 John Capgrave, in his
"
torum Anglise," says,
bernia nomine Dubthacus, genere Lage- niensis," &c.
*° " VitDe Sanctorum," at the ist of Feb-
learned—could have fallen into so many chronological and historic mistakes, as,
the 1st of February.
4* At the 1st of February.
43 The English Martyrology, at the 1st of February, says, "In Hibernia depositio S. Brigidae, virginis, quae in Comitatu Kill- dariensi in loco Fochart appellato nata est. "
44 At this same year, 521 Baronius says,
" Hoc insuper anno S. Brigida, Scota Virgo in Hibernia diem clausit extremum. Hoc
in Chronico gentilis ipsius Marianus Scotus, cui potius assentiendum putamus, quam, —lis qui ante biennium defunctam ponunt. "
" Annales Ecclesiastici," tomus vii.
added, the blessed Patrick brought St. Brigid into that place ; when Gamard pre- sented certain possessions to the holy Brigid and to nine virgins, who accompanied her. These possessions the Propositus and canons held in his time. See "Historia Majoris Britanniae," &c. , lib. ii. , cap. xiv. , p. 85. Bede testifies, indeed, that St. Columba came from Ireland to Albania in the year
**
45 In his "Chronicle," at the year 521 :
Ecclesiastica Gentis lib. iii. , Anglorum,"
cap. iv. , pp. 168, 169. Gamard succeeded in the government. Now, according to Marianus Scotus and Sigebert, in their Chronicles, St. Patrick died A. D. 491, or according to other admitted accounts, in 493. Thus, he flourished many years be- fore St. Columba and Brudeus were bora, or before Gamard reigned. Wherefore, St. Patrick could not have introduced St. Brigid into Abernethy, during the time when lived any of those already named. In fine, how could St. Brigid be installed at Abernethy, about the time of Garnard, king over the Picts, if she died a. d. 521, or according to other accounts, in 523 ? or how could that king offer possessions to her, and to the nine virgins, accompanying her? If it be objected. Major meant that King Garnard, bestowed those possessions, not during St.
Brigid's life-time but to express his great veneration for her, when she had departed from this world ; why, it may be asked, does he observe, that the aforesaid church had been built by Gamard, that St. Brigid had been inducted there, and that certain endowments
Eodem anno S. Virgo Brigida, cujus prae- clara vita hodie extat, in Hibernia obiit. "
4* In the "Legenda Sanctorum Brabantiae"
:
we read " S. Brigida venerabilis Virgo
Hibernia fuit instar suaveolentis rosse, quae super spinas floret. "
47 That St. Brigid was an Irishwoman and
a Lagenian, both by birth and descent, will be found in her ofhce in the " Breviarium Gienensum," when we read : "Natale Bri- gidae Virginis quas a Christianis nobilibus- que parentibus orta, patre Dubthaco et matre Broca, a pueritia bonarum artium studiis inolevit, adeo ut de omnibus pro- vinciis Hibemise innumerabiles populi con- fluentes ad ejus monasterium," &c. (cap. 2). Again, in her office, printed at Paris, A. D.
1620, Resp. I, "Felicem Hiberniam beata
Lagenia declarat, Brigida; gignans prosapiam, de qua latitiam sumat ecclesia ;" and in the
"
Haec est Laurus Hibemiae, cujus 4^ James Gordon, himself a Scotchman,
hymn,
viror non marcuit," &c.
in his " at the Chronicle,"
" John
were unless St. and her made, Brigid
year 521 : Brigida Scota moritur in Hibernia. "
S.
virgins were living ? We may remark, there is not;
**
he of speaks
Bisciol in his
521, writes,
Hibernia diem clausit extremum. " See
"
Trias Thaumaturga. " Appendix Quarta ad Acta S. Brigidse, cap. iv. , pp.
Legenda Sanc- Vir quidam in Hi-
when citing Bede for authority, he states, that St. Columba came into Britain, while Brudeus, a powerful king, reigned over the Picts; thatGamard,thesonofDompnach, succeeded to Brudeus, and built a collegiate
ruary.
4' " Vitse sive Res Gestae Sanctorum," at church at Abernethy. Afterwards, it is
Colgan's
565, while Brudeus or Bridius, son of Meilo- "
chon, ruled over the Picts. See Historia
3^ LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. [February i. \
Boetius,5° who advance these statements, did not voluntarily fall into error : they had even some apparent foundation whereon their opinions might have been based. The source of their mistake seems to have arisen from the in- determinate name of Brigid. Giraldus Cambrensis, too, has strangely con- fused her period. s^ Many other holy women bear a similar name and be- long to our country, as mentioned in native martyrologies. Nay more, in Scotland, the name of Brigid was highly extolled, and several females were named after her. Among others, there was a certain saint so called, who had been buried at Abernethys^ in Britannic Scotia. 53 Abernethy as a see was at one time superior to St. Andrew's. 54 It was even primatial,55 but it was transferred to the latter place, in 850. 5'^ That Brigid, however, was quite a different person from the Patroness of Ireland. 57 As this latter, had been much more celebrated and exalted in popular estimation, she was probably considered to have been the person alluded to, by those writers mentioned ;
they not having known about any other Brigid, nor having weighed atten- tively those arguments, which might favour a contrary conclusion. s^ It is
a shadow—much less a probability—of oriunda retinuit, et aliquamdiu educavit. "
truth, in the supposition, that St. Brigid, a Scot, and by profession a Christian, left her country and Christian friends, with a band of virgins, or betook herself to a Pagan and hostile nation, as alsobeforeits kingand chiefs
had been converted, establishing herself
there in a royal city, where she dwelt to the
time of her death. The Northern Picts,
with their king, had been pagans, for more
than forty years after St. Brigid's death,
and until St. Columba came, from Ireland in
565, when he afterwards converted them to
the faith. These facts are sufficiently clear, Garnard lived according to Buchannan's from the testimony of Venerable Bede. "Rerum Scoticarum Historia," lib. v. , p. See " Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis Anglo- 148. He died A. D. 640, the fifty-third king rum," lib. iii. , cap. iv. , pp. 168, 169, and of the Picts. See Rev. Thomas Innes'
"
Civil and Ecclesiastical History of Scot- land. " Chronological Memoirs, p. 225.
58 In his time, John Major remarks, that St. Brigid was venerated at Abernethy. See "Historise Majoris Britannise," lib. ii. ,
lib. v. , cap. X. , pp. 400 to 403.
5° See " Scotorum Historise, a prima Gen-
tis Origine," &c. , lib. ix. , fol. clxiiii.
S' Thus he states, that St. Patrick, St. Brigid, and St. Columkille were cotem-
poraries. See "Topographia Hibernica,! ' cap. xiv.
and sucking babes thou hast perfectedpraise ? ' 327 So Laurence of Durham appears to Matt. xxi. 16. St. Brigid might have been think ; while Colgan remarks, that Brigh, at that time ten or eleven years old, an age meaning "virtue," is likely to have been fully sufficient to render her in the hands of the original Irish source for the name Brigida God, an instrument fit for displaying the or Brigid. See "Trias Thaumaturga,** wonderful effects of His grace and His know-
ledge of all things. If in what is called the
order of nature we find so many children of
extraordinary precocity in learning, so many Vol. II.
3="^ See Rev. S. Baring-Gould's "Lives of the Saints," vol. ii. , February i, p. 17.
*' Ecclesiastical of Ire- History
Quinta Vita S. Brigidse, cap. viii. , and n. 10, pp. 569, 640.
D
34 LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS, [February i. I
her having died in Scotia. Yet by such term, those do not refer to any other country,exceptourownisland. AmongScottishauthors,whoclaimourillus-
trious patroness as their countrywoman, may be specially mentioned John Major''andHectorBoece. * BothCamerarius^andDempster*assert,thatshe wasborn,andthatshedied,inAlbaniaorBritishScotia. Ithasbeengenerally advanced by old writers, that she was of Scottish race. Thus, George Gam- feld,5 or Garnefelt, Antonio Possevino,^ Raphael Volaterranus,^ Sigebert Gem- blacensis^andMarianus^write. ThatSt. BrigidwasborninScotiaisanopinion formed by Antonius Sabellicus,^° by Petrus de Natalibus," and by a writer of the general Chronicles of the World. Sigebert tells us, she died in the same country at the year 578, and the Chronicle, entitled, "Rudimentum Novitiorum," has her death at a. d. 520. Her Natalis, indeed, has been ob- servedinScotia,ontheistofFebruary. Thismaybefoundamongnearly all Hagiologists and Martyrologists. It is noted in the Roman Martyrology, and in the Martyrologies of Bede, Usuard, Ado, Viennen. , Rodulphus Rivius, and the Carthusian Martyrology. Galesinus and many other writers, both Irishandforeign,allow,thatoursaintwasanativeofScotia. Yet,although this be admitted, it will not follow, however, that St. Brigid was born in British Scotia, or that her ancestors were natives of that country. On the contrary, evidence is afforded, that the island known as Hibernia, had been called Scotia, by ancient writers of every condition, age, and nation. " We are told, that previous to the eleventh century, no one thought of calling that part of Britain, now known as Scotland, by the name of Scotia. Writers usuallycalleditAlbania. AllwhomentionedScotiatotheperioddesignated understood Scotia as applicable to an island,'3 situated between Britain and Spain. '4 If all other arguments were wanting in support of such a position, various passages, found in the old acts. of St. Brigid, should be sufficient to establish it. For by birth and descent, this holy virgin was evidently a native ofIreland; shediedthere;andshewasparticularlyveneratedinourisland.
Chap, ii. —* See "Historia
to have, "in mendicabulis re-
Bri- tanniae, tarn Anglise, quam Scotiae," lib. ii. , cap. xiv. , p. 85. Edinburgh edition, A. D.
Dempster
pressis Hibernorum," vindicated our St. Brigid's fame for Scotland.
5 See " De Vita Eremitica," p. 223.
1740, 4to. =^
See "Scotorum Historise, a prima gentis origine," &c. , lib. ix. , fol. clxiiii. Prelum Ascensianum, fol.
3 See "De Statu Hominis, Veteris simul ac novae Ecclesiae, et Infidelium Conver- sione," lib. i. , cap. iii. , sec. ii. Camerarius cites many authorities, yet these only prove she was a "Virgo Scota. " Among such authorities are quoted, Rodulphus de Breda,' Tungrensis Diaconus " In Calendario Gene- rali. " MassKus, "In Chronico," lib. xii.
See "Apparatus Sacer," p. 252.
7 Commentariorum. Ad annum 52 I, lib.
xxi. , p. 635.
^ See " Chronicon," ad annum 518. See
" Monumenta Germanise Historica," tomus
vi. , p. 314
9 In his Chronicle" at A. D. 521, ibid. ^
tomus V.
" See "iEnead," viii. , lib. ii.
"See "Catalogus Sanctorum," lib. iii. ,
cap. Ixix.
" Almost the sole exception is Dempster. "With his follower Camerarius, that unac-
countable chronographer and chorographer maintains an opposite opinion with a fantasy peculiar to himself.
'3 This to from Colgan promised prove
ancient and modern writers, belonging to every age and nation, in a volume where he intended to illustrate solely the ecclesiastical antiquities of Ireland. This work, however, he did not live to
Franciscus Rosier " Stemmatum Lothar- "
ingiae," tomusiii. Gualterius, In Chrono-
logio. " Genebrardus "In Chronico. " Ri- "
badeneira In Vitis Sanctorum. " Delrio,
"Disquisis. Magic," tomus ii. , lib. iv.
Ja-
Com-
cobus Gretscrus in his
to
''
mentar. Exegetici in Serenissimum lacobum
Magnae Britannise Regem. " Theuetus
"
Cosmog," lib. xvi,, in his description of Scotia. See pp. 140, 141.
preface
Majoris
* See " Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis Sco-
torum," tomus i. , lib. ii. , p. 82. Edinburgh
edition, 1829, 4to. Camerarius supposes notion of the early and middle ages.
publish.
'* In accord with a prevailing geographical
February i. ] LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. 35
Hence, as a consequence, when ancient writers mention her country as Scotia, it is certain they must have meant Ireland.
Dempster most strangely asserts, that St. Brigid was born in Laudonia, a province of Albanian Scotia. 's Now, by St. Columkille, Apostle of Al- banian Scotia, and patron of Scotia Major or Hibernia, she is called our Saint of I^genia. It may be objected, with Dempster, that when writers treat about St. Brigid and her parents, the word Lagenia or Lageniensis are everywhere incorrectly used for Laudenia, Ladenensis or Laudianensis. ^*^ But this is clearly a foolish and blind subterfuge. Can he find in this
Laudenia, Kildare, Campus Leiife, Campus Gessille, Campus Bregh, with many other Irish names and places, which as the author of her Third Life*7 relates are in St. Brigid's country, and which are well known to be situated within the Irish province of Leinster ? Can he find, in his Scotia, the town Macha or Armagh, the ecclesiastical metropolis of Ireland, or the great river Sinann,^^ which turns its course from Albanian Scotia, and which from near Clanawley district, runs through the middle of Ireland, into the ocean? Both are placed by this same author in the Scotia of St. Brigid's birth. ^9 Dempster falsely assigns to his Scotia these places, and others mentioned by him, such as Campus Femhin, Campus Cliach, Arx Lethglass. More-
over, very few writers, at the present day, even if ignorant regarding the situation and obscure nomenclature of the places just mentioned, will —be
foolish enough to claim for Scotland, all the other Irish provinces, viz. =*«
:
Media, Connacia," Lagenia," Ultonia,=3 Mummonia. ^'^ So long as these are left us, we can still lay claim to Hibernia, Brigid and Scotia. =^5 Again,
all the circumstances related, regarding her parentage,'^ birth,^? receiving the
^s St. Cogitosus, in the first chapter of her life, says, that St, Brigid was born in Scotia, and descended from the good and honour-
able family of Ethech, her father being
named Dubtach, and her mother Brocessa.
By the Scotia here mentioned, it is evident,
; as well because no author who flourished before the time of Cogitosus, nor any writer who lived after understood
^9 See ibid. ^ cap. Ixii. , xcvii.
=° Now Meath.
=^ Now Connaught. ^NowLeinster.
=3 Now Ulster.
=4 Now Munster.
Scotia or must be intended Major, Ireland,
"S See "Trias Colgan's
400 years him,
that any other country save Ireland had re- ceived this name of Scotia, as also, because Ethech's family flourished in Hibernia, and not in Scotia Minor or Albania. Again, the same author mentions a celebrated church of St. Brigid at Kildare, which he greatly extols in his prologue, and most ac- curately describes in the 35th chapter of her Life. In this church, he tells us, St. Brigid was interred. He also names a most exten-
"^^ Inhis ofoursamt,andmthefirst Life
chapter, when speaking of her father, St. Ultan tells us, that he was a certain Dubtach, genere Lageniensis, &c. He states, that St. Brigid's mother had been sold to a certain Magus belonging to the family of Neill and to the territory of Meath, at a time when she bore our saint in her womb (cap. 3). Animosus, or the author of St. Brigid's Fourth Life, informs us, that there was a glorious king in Ireland named Fedhlimid Reachtmar, see lib. i. , cap. i. , how Eochad Fionn, brother to this same king, had mi-
grated to Leinster, and that there Dubtach, St. Brigid's father, descended from him. See ibid.
sive plain of BiL-, in the 27th chapter. Other bishops of Ireland are alluded to in this same life, as likewise in its prologue, when the words, Scotia and Hibernia, Scoti and Hibernienses are used as synonymous terms.
^^ See " Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis Sco- torum," tomus i. , lib, ii. , pp. 82, 84.
^^ Attributed by Colgan to St. Ultan.
=7 The author of the Fourth Life of St. Brigid tells us, how a certain poet from the northern part of Ireland bought Brosaech the mother of St. Brigid, during a time when she was 4) ; and when
" Tertia Vita S. Brigidae, cap. xlvii,, li,, lii,, liv. , Ixii,, Ixiv.
Many other references might be made. *^ Now the Shannon.
See •' Trias
Thaumaturga,
pregnant (cap.
treating about the place of our saint's birth, he assures us, that it was a town named Fochart Murthemne, of Conaille Muirlhem-
Thaumaturga. " Appendix Quarta ad Acta S. Brigidse, cap.
iv,, pp, 614, 615,
36 LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. [February i.
veil, personal connexionSj^"^ the places she visited,^9 the houses she founded, and where she died,3o can only have reference to Ireland. 3^ Besides all this, the unanimous opinions and traditions of the Irish and of every other foreign nation tend to establish most conclusively, that the illustrious and super-
"
eminent virgin,32 called even
tinuously and specially regarded as a native and great patron saint in our country.
At the present day, it would prove quite superfluous to enter upon any
enquiry as to the country of St. Brigid's birth ; a weight of historical autho-
rity and universal popular tradition fully vindicating the claims of Ireland to
this honour.
Yet, it appears, Colgan thought it necessary, in his time, to devote a rather lengthened dissertation to establish a position controverted
by certain Avriters. 34 In order to expose Dempster's misstatements, and those of other Brito-Scottish writers, he addresses many arguments, although
dubious, if it would not seem diminishing the force of manifest truth by proving a self-evident proposition. In the first place, that she was of Irish descent and born in Ireland, had been established by authorities numerously cited. Foreign as well as domestic writers bear abundant testimony to the fact that St. Brigid was a native of our island. Thus Raban,35 Notkar,36 St.
was called another Mary, at a certain synod, assembled in the plain of the Liffey, in which Kildareissituated(cap. 14); how,incom- pany with her father, she left the house of this latter to visit the King of Leirister, in the Liffey's great plain (cap. 90). He re- lates, how she had received the veil in that land, belonging to the Niall family (cap. 18), and which is identical with Meath, as after- wards indicated (cap. 2i). He also records, in the following chapters, what she achieved in different countries and provinces of Ire- land, as for instance, in Theba (cap. 39) ; how she accompanied St. Patrick to the northern part of Ireland, called Ulster, and what she did at the Castle of Lethglass and in the town of Macha (cap. 57, 60, 61) ; how she went with Bishop Ere, of Munster descent, into the southern province of Ire- land (cap. 71) ; how returning to the ex- treme bounds of Leinster, she entered the
**
Labrathi and how in country (cap. 81),
Raban " ruary, says,
In Hibernia nativitas
fine, returning to her father's house, she saved
S, Brigidae. "
3* In his Martyrology, St. Notkar enters
at the same day : "In Hibernia nativitas
him from
have already seen, that in a hymn subjoined
impending
death
(cap. 2>J).
the Mary of Ireland,"33 had been ever con-
hne district, in the province of Ulster (cap. 6). See Ussher, " De Primordiis Ecclesi- arumBritannise,"cap,xvi. ,p. 706.
^^ It can be shown, by referring to their descent, festivals, places, and days of vene- ration, that many saints, allied to St. Brigid, were Irish.
*9 The author of St. Brigid's Third Life-
thought by Colgan to be St. Ultan—states,
that St. Brigid was born in the country and
house of a Magus (cap. 4) ; that this identical
Magus went with the infant to Connaught,
so soon as she was born (cap. 5) ; and, in
the following chapter, he relates, how the
child had been brought up in Connaught,
untilshehadbecomeagrownmaiden. He
tells us, how she returned to Lagenia, buried in Ireland (lib. ii. , cap. xcix,). where her father lived (cap. 11) ; how she Blessed Marianus Scotus, in liis Chronicle,
We
to St. Ultan's Life of our saint, she is said to have been distinguished in that island,
*'
qusevocaturHibernia,"&c. IfSt. Brigid
had been bom in Britain, is it not strange,
that St. Ultan, in no place, speaks of her
birth, education, religious profession, &c. , as having occurred there, while these inci-
dents, and special localities already men- tioned, are referable alone to Ireland ? Nor
does he even indicate, in one single instance, that she had ever left our island.
3° In his Life of our saint, when describing the church of Kildare in Leinster, Cogitosus tells us, that St. Brigid was buried in it (cap, XXXV,), And, towards the end of her Acts, Animosus says, that she died, and was
at the year 521, writes,
Virgo in Hibernia diem clausit extremum.
3' These reliable writers, St. Cogitosus, St. Cormac, archbishop, Animosus, Keat- ing, and others, exhibit this fact sufliciently, when introducing her paternal and maternal genealogies.
3' St. ^ngus calls her a "bright Virgin and chief of holy Irishwomen," in his Festi-
logy, at the 1st of February, In like manner, Marianus O'Gorman, at the same date,
"
Chief- Virgin or Chief of the Virgins of Ireland,"
33 Among Irish authorities may be enu- merated, St, Ibar, an Irish Apostle, who calls St. Brigid, "Mary of the Irish," when she came from the house of her father Dub- tach to that synod, assembled at Kildare, in Leinster,
3^ Such as Dempster and Camerarius,
35 In his Martyrology, at the 1st of Feb-
styles her
S, Brigida Scota "
February i. ] LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. 37
Bernard,37 Florence of Worcester,38 John Capgrave,39 Francis Hare,4° Zacharias Lippeloo,^^ Cornelius Grassius,4» the English Martyrology,43 Baronius,44 Herebert Rosweyde,<s Legends of the Brabantine Saints,^^ and a great number of other highly respectable authorities, may be cited. Various Breviaries and offices might be added. '*^ Nor even do Scotch authors of respectability^^ deny this origin for the Scotian virgin, in ages now past ; while none of them at present claim Scotland to have been the country of her birth, although she is there greatly venerated.
It may easily be supposed, however, that John Major49 and Hector
S. Brigidce, Virginis," &c.
" "
Epitonie Annalium," A. D.
37 In "Vita S.
Fochart, as being the birth-place of St.
Brigid, while alluding to St. Malachy's acts
S. Brigida
Scota in Virgo
Malachire,"
and travels in Ireland, cap. xxiv.
3^ Florence of Worcester records,
"
S. Brigida Scota Virgo in Hibernia obiit,"
615, 616.
49 It is strange that Major—otherwise so
A. D. 521.
39 John Capgrave, in his
"
torum Anglise," says,
bernia nomine Dubthacus, genere Lage- niensis," &c.
*° " VitDe Sanctorum," at the ist of Feb-
learned—could have fallen into so many chronological and historic mistakes, as,
the 1st of February.
4* At the 1st of February.
43 The English Martyrology, at the 1st of February, says, "In Hibernia depositio S. Brigidae, virginis, quae in Comitatu Kill- dariensi in loco Fochart appellato nata est. "
44 At this same year, 521 Baronius says,
" Hoc insuper anno S. Brigida, Scota Virgo in Hibernia diem clausit extremum. Hoc
in Chronico gentilis ipsius Marianus Scotus, cui potius assentiendum putamus, quam, —lis qui ante biennium defunctam ponunt. "
" Annales Ecclesiastici," tomus vii.
added, the blessed Patrick brought St. Brigid into that place ; when Gamard pre- sented certain possessions to the holy Brigid and to nine virgins, who accompanied her. These possessions the Propositus and canons held in his time. See "Historia Majoris Britanniae," &c. , lib. ii. , cap. xiv. , p. 85. Bede testifies, indeed, that St. Columba came from Ireland to Albania in the year
**
45 In his "Chronicle," at the year 521 :
Ecclesiastica Gentis lib. iii. , Anglorum,"
cap. iv. , pp. 168, 169. Gamard succeeded in the government. Now, according to Marianus Scotus and Sigebert, in their Chronicles, St. Patrick died A. D. 491, or according to other admitted accounts, in 493. Thus, he flourished many years be- fore St. Columba and Brudeus were bora, or before Gamard reigned. Wherefore, St. Patrick could not have introduced St. Brigid into Abernethy, during the time when lived any of those already named. In fine, how could St. Brigid be installed at Abernethy, about the time of Garnard, king over the Picts, if she died a. d. 521, or according to other accounts, in 523 ? or how could that king offer possessions to her, and to the nine virgins, accompanying her? If it be objected. Major meant that King Garnard, bestowed those possessions, not during St.
Brigid's life-time but to express his great veneration for her, when she had departed from this world ; why, it may be asked, does he observe, that the aforesaid church had been built by Gamard, that St. Brigid had been inducted there, and that certain endowments
Eodem anno S. Virgo Brigida, cujus prae- clara vita hodie extat, in Hibernia obiit. "
4* In the "Legenda Sanctorum Brabantiae"
:
we read " S. Brigida venerabilis Virgo
Hibernia fuit instar suaveolentis rosse, quae super spinas floret. "
47 That St. Brigid was an Irishwoman and
a Lagenian, both by birth and descent, will be found in her ofhce in the " Breviarium Gienensum," when we read : "Natale Bri- gidae Virginis quas a Christianis nobilibus- que parentibus orta, patre Dubthaco et matre Broca, a pueritia bonarum artium studiis inolevit, adeo ut de omnibus pro- vinciis Hibemise innumerabiles populi con- fluentes ad ejus monasterium," &c. (cap. 2). Again, in her office, printed at Paris, A. D.
1620, Resp. I, "Felicem Hiberniam beata
Lagenia declarat, Brigida; gignans prosapiam, de qua latitiam sumat ecclesia ;" and in the
"
Haec est Laurus Hibemiae, cujus 4^ James Gordon, himself a Scotchman,
hymn,
viror non marcuit," &c.
in his " at the Chronicle,"
" John
were unless St. and her made, Brigid
year 521 : Brigida Scota moritur in Hibernia. "
S.
virgins were living ? We may remark, there is not;
**
he of speaks
Bisciol in his
521, writes,
Hibernia diem clausit extremum. " See
"
Trias Thaumaturga. " Appendix Quarta ad Acta S. Brigidse, cap. iv. , pp.
Legenda Sanc- Vir quidam in Hi-
when citing Bede for authority, he states, that St. Columba came into Britain, while Brudeus, a powerful king, reigned over the Picts; thatGamard,thesonofDompnach, succeeded to Brudeus, and built a collegiate
ruary.
4' " Vitse sive Res Gestae Sanctorum," at church at Abernethy. Afterwards, it is
Colgan's
565, while Brudeus or Bridius, son of Meilo- "
chon, ruled over the Picts. See Historia
3^ LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. [February i. \
Boetius,5° who advance these statements, did not voluntarily fall into error : they had even some apparent foundation whereon their opinions might have been based. The source of their mistake seems to have arisen from the in- determinate name of Brigid. Giraldus Cambrensis, too, has strangely con- fused her period. s^ Many other holy women bear a similar name and be- long to our country, as mentioned in native martyrologies. Nay more, in Scotland, the name of Brigid was highly extolled, and several females were named after her. Among others, there was a certain saint so called, who had been buried at Abernethys^ in Britannic Scotia. 53 Abernethy as a see was at one time superior to St. Andrew's. 54 It was even primatial,55 but it was transferred to the latter place, in 850. 5'^ That Brigid, however, was quite a different person from the Patroness of Ireland. 57 As this latter, had been much more celebrated and exalted in popular estimation, she was probably considered to have been the person alluded to, by those writers mentioned ;
they not having known about any other Brigid, nor having weighed atten- tively those arguments, which might favour a contrary conclusion. s^ It is
a shadow—much less a probability—of oriunda retinuit, et aliquamdiu educavit. "
truth, in the supposition, that St. Brigid, a Scot, and by profession a Christian, left her country and Christian friends, with a band of virgins, or betook herself to a Pagan and hostile nation, as alsobeforeits kingand chiefs
had been converted, establishing herself
there in a royal city, where she dwelt to the
time of her death. The Northern Picts,
with their king, had been pagans, for more
than forty years after St. Brigid's death,
and until St. Columba came, from Ireland in
565, when he afterwards converted them to
the faith. These facts are sufficiently clear, Garnard lived according to Buchannan's from the testimony of Venerable Bede. "Rerum Scoticarum Historia," lib. v. , p. See " Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis Anglo- 148. He died A. D. 640, the fifty-third king rum," lib. iii. , cap. iv. , pp. 168, 169, and of the Picts. See Rev. Thomas Innes'
"
Civil and Ecclesiastical History of Scot- land. " Chronological Memoirs, p. 225.
58 In his time, John Major remarks, that St. Brigid was venerated at Abernethy. See "Historise Majoris Britannise," lib. ii. ,
lib. v. , cap. X. , pp. 400 to 403.
5° See " Scotorum Historise, a prima Gen-
tis Origine," &c. , lib. ix. , fol. clxiiii.
S' Thus he states, that St. Patrick, St. Brigid, and St. Columkille were cotem-
poraries. See "Topographia Hibernica,! ' cap. xiv.
