No More Learning

[January 29.
Although he was such, and so great a man, that God wrought many miracles through him, yet Gildas did not prefer himself to anyone, but rather heseemedtobethemosthumbleofallmen. Heheld,itistrue,theplace of abbot but he observed that Divine " He that is the
; precept,
among you, shall be your servant. " He endeavoured to be a servant to all. He attended to that precept of our Divine Lord, " Learn of Me, for I am meek and humble of heart. " As it is written of Moses, that he was the meekest of all men : so was Gildas in his time. He was wise both in his doctrineandinworks sincereinhiswordsandassiduousinhisdevotions
kinds of goodness. He preached to all, to redeem their sins by alms-deeds, and to render to no one evil for evil ; to be constant in fasting, watching, and prayer. He took care to practise what he taught, and he became all to all,thathemightwinalltoChrist. HetaughtChristianstofeedthehungry, to give drink to the thirsty, to clothe the naked, to visit the sick and those in prison, and to bury the dead. He was a father to the orphans and to the poor ; he consoled those in distress ; he was a peace-maker where differerx;e prevailed. He sympathized with those in grief, and rejoiced with those wio werehappy. Thisillustriousdoctorpreachedwithgreateffecttotheclergy, to the monks and to the laity. He rebuked hardened sinners, whatever thtir condition or dignity might be in the world, and without any respect of persors. After terrifying them with many impressive sentences of the Divine Scriptures, he^lso sweetly invited them to repentance, confidently promising them the mercy of God ; yet so that they did worthy penance. ^9 This latter part cf the saint's character is fully verified in his Querulous Epistle, which is still ex- tant. 3° He is thought to have composed this tract,3^ at the request of some religious men, while he was in Little Britain. 3=^ In it he laments the miser- able state of his country, with the sins of princes, priests and people, as the true cause of all those miseries. 33 He spares not even the judges, bishops
;; passing whole nights in watching, rigorous in his fasts and austerities, patient under injuries, affable in conversation, liberal in alms, and remarkable in all
Liber querulus SantiGildse Sapientis de Ex- cidio Britanniae. MS. Bibl. Publ. Cant. Ff. 1-27, vel. , mcd. fol. , dble. col. xii. cent. It is thought to have been transcribed, pro- bably about the latter end of the twelfth century, in the monastery of Durham, to
which house this MS. formerly belonged.
"
be rather called ^/? >/<7/a!
full of complaints.
adds Dr. Lanigan,
ja/yriira oryfa^^-Z/awj, as it contains most tre-
"
It should, however,"
mendous invective—s against the princes and "
clergy of Britain. " Ecclesiastical History
greater
January 29. ] LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. 489
andclergy; andheseverelyrebukesbynan^ie,fivekingsactuallyreigningin divers parts of Britain. 34 Setting their crimes before their eyes, and threaten- ing them with the dreadful judgments of God hanging over their heads ; he still, in the conclusion, invites them to that mercy, which God has promised to penitent sinners. 35 It must be admitted the charges he makes are in very general and rhetorical terms. Speaking to Constantine,3^ King of the Dam- nonians, represented now by Devonshire and Cornwall, after remonstrating
with him on account of his Gildas " crimes, says :
sible, while you are murdering your own soul ?
kindle for yourself the flames of hell, which will never be extinguished ?
Why are you an enemy to yourself, by directing the spear and sword of a suicide ? Must your conscience be sated by drinking the poisoned cup of crime ? Look up, I beseech you, and come to Christ, for you are labouring, and bowed down with an immense load; and then, as he has promised, Christ will ease Come to Him who wills not * the death of the
you. sinner, but that he be converted and live. ' Loose, according to the prophet, the bonds from off thy neck, O captive son of Sion. 37 Return, I beg of you, to your most loving Father, from that distant country, to which you are gone by your sins : he will joyfully receive his prodigal son, despising the dirty foodofswine,anddreadingthedismaldeathoffamine; andhewillkillat his return the fatted calf, and clothe him with the first robe and royal ring. Then, when you shall begin to taste the favour of heavenly hope, you will perceive how sweet is the Lord. But, if you shall despise those things, know for certain, that in a short time you must find yourself plunged and burning in the darksome torrents of hell, out of which there will be no escaping. " He exhorts Aurelius Conanus, another British prince, in like style, after setting before his eyes manifold disorders, and putting him in mind of his father and brethren suddenly passing away by untimely death. This also he must with- out amendment certainly expect from the great Master of life and death, out of whose hand no power can rescue him. Then addressing his discourse to Vortipor,3S King of the Dimetians in South Wales, now growing old in sin,
Gildas upbraids him with cruelties and lusts. Nevertheless he concludes "
with this pathetic exhortation, Spend not, I beseech you, the small re- mainderofyourdaysinoffendingGod; fornowistheacceptabletime,and as yet the day of salvation shines in favour of penitents, during which you may work to good purpose, lest your flight come to be in the winter, or on the sabbath. Turn away from evil, and do good ; seek after peace, and pursue the same : for the eyes of the Lord will be upon thee if thou doest good, and his ears shall be attentive to thy prayers. A contrite heart, humbled with His fear, Christ never despiseth : otherwise remember, that the worm of thy torture will never die, and the fire in which thou shalt burn will never be ex-
tinguished. " The like lessons he gives to Cunoglass or Cuneglass. This prince is charged with many crimes both of a public and private nature. He is exhorted to do penance, and to recollect that the souls of the wicked will be immortal in hell as will be the souls of the just in heaven. Then he re-
3* See Bishop Challoner's "Britannia at the II th of March, the day for his feast.
Sancta," part i. , pp. 82, 83.
35 Ussher has given a good summary of
this epistle, with many extracts from it in "Britannicarum Ecclesiarum Antiquitates," cap. xiv. , pp. 279, to 289.
3* This
come a convert, to have lived in Ireland, and to have suffered martyrdom. His life occurs
See Hector Boethius'
king
Wales,"
chap,
x. ,
p. 150.
is said afterwards to have be-
*' of History
do stand insen- you
Why
Why do you wilfully en-
"
Scotorum Histories a Prima Gentis Oiigine," lib. ix.
27 " Critics have observed that he does not uniformly quote the common Latin version of the Bible. " See Woodward's
father.
vol. i. ,
38 He is called, the wicked son of a good
490 LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. [January 29.
proves Maglocunus, or Malgo, another British king, whom he characterises as a dragon, who had deprived many other dynasts both of their states and of their Uves. 39 Afterwards Gildas enumerates the particular dark catalogue of crimes with which this impious and powerful tyrant is charged. To such grievous and repeated immoraUties does Gildas attribute the many calamities that befel the Britons/o
To the foregoing works, Colgan adds an epistle of Gildas to the Monk
Rabanus, in reference to a book, " De Computo,"4^ or concerning the Com- putations, written in form of a dialogue between a master and a disciple. -*^ The writer exposes the difficulties of his task, his desire to reconcile truth with the Catholic faith, while adding to his own investigations and reasoning the words of ancient writers and of the holy Fathers. He adopted an ar- rangement of his o^vn, to make the matter more intelligible, and he studied brevity in the treatment. Yet, as the person, to whom this letter was ad- dressed, is supposed to have been Rabanus Maurus, abbot of the celebrated monastery at Fulda in 822,^3 and created Archbishop of Mentz a. d. 842,4* it is plain, the Gildas, who must have written nearly at these dates,^s could not be confounded with Gildas Badonicus, or the Wise.
to
John Bale,**^
besides the tracts of " De Excidio Bri- Gildas,
According
tannise," lib. i. ; and " In sui Temporis Clerum," lib. i. ; this holy man is said
""
to have written Conciones Mordentes," lib. i. ; Historiam Quandam," Hb.
" De Immortalitate Animae," lib. i. ; with some other works. *^ Ware, who ;
i.
gives the period of Gildas Badonicus towards the middle of the sixth century, thinks the author of his life has confounded him with Gildas Albanius, whom he supposes to have died early in the same century. ^s At this time, it seems difficult to pronounce on the genuineness of many among those treatises,49 which various writers have attributed to the pen of St. Gildas.
39 It would appear reasonable to suppose, Gildas was in a secure station in Armorica, when he addressed these remonstrances to
822.
* Nicolaus Serrarius, in the life of St.
the and princes
of his native race. " He was no calu-
45 See " Acta Sanctorum Hiber- Colgan's
people An able writer remarks
:
nise," xxix. Januarii, pp. 202, 203.
as we shall see in the
were apostates from their God, they were seditious, turbulent, and perfidious, and hon- oured wicked tyrants more than just men, yet murdered even them to elect others as bad, they did love lies and the fabricators of lies, they did take Satan for an angel of light, they did anoint their kings but not by God, and they had done in Gildas's latter
4* See " Illustrium Scriptonmi
minator,
sequel. They
Majoris Britaimiae, quam nunc Angliam et Scotiam
'* De eodem Regnum Britannorum His- tion. All this did St. Gildas affirm with toriam," lib. i. j; "De Victoria Aurelii Am-
did all that a na- afterwards)
Sexto
Sexto," Ub. i. ;
lib.
"
days (as they
tion can do to work out its own extermina-
i. ;
truth. " See " Britaimia after the Romans. " Introduction, chap, i. , p. xvii,
4° See Alcuini "
col. 1535, 1668. Paris edition, A. D. 1617.
4' We are told, that among the Cottonian
other tracts. See ibid, centur. i. ,
Opera," Epistola xxviii. ,
many
num. 50. If there be any authenticity in Bale's catalogue of works, it would seem, that all the foregoing tracts should be as- cribed to one and the same Gildas.
MSS. , Liber De Compute, in 99 chapters,
is to be foimd, written by a Welsh Gildas,
whose father was an Irishman, and who
lived A. D. 820. See Sir James Ware, "De ii. , cap. i. , pp. 105, 107.
Scriptoribus Hibemiae," lib. ii. , cap. ii. , pp. 109, no.
^ This was dedicated to Raban the Monk, afterwards Abbot of Fulda. See ibid.
« So state "Annales Pithoeani," A. D.
49 A tract on "The Victory of Aurelius Ambrosius," attributed to Gildas, is con- demned as spurious. See " Britannia after the Romans," vol. i. Introduction, chap, i. , p. XX.
Raban, " De Rebus Moguntinis," p. 641.
vocant, Catalogus. "
47 Bale, in like manner, makes Gildas
Albanius, who is called by him the disciple of St. Patrick, author of the following dis- tinct works, "Commentarios Evangeliorum,"
" De Primis Habitatoribus
'*
brosii," lib. i. ; "Acta Germani et Lupi," lib. i. Besides these, it is said he wrote
lib. i. ; lib. i. ;
Insulse,"
"Versus Cognoscendo,"
Vaticiniorum,"
i. ;
4^ See " De Scriptoribus Hibemiffl," lib.
lib. Super
January 29. ] LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. 491
CHAPTER V.
REPORTED RETURN OF ST. GILDAS FROM FRANCE TO GREAT BRITAIN—HE EXHORTS THE MONKS BEFORE HIS DEATH—HIS BOBY COMMITTED TO THE DEEP IS SUB- SEQUENTLY RECOVERED—DATES AND PLACES MENTIONED IN CONNEXION WITH HIS DEPARTURE—HIS FESTIVAL—VENERATION OF HIS RELICS—CONCLUSION.
Were we to credit certain apocryphal accounts, St. Gildas returned to Great
crown the labours of His servant, one night he was in his beloved island of
Hoata3orHorata. * Therehelearned,inadreamandfromanangel,that
God had heard his prayers and was mindful of his tears, while his exit out of
this place of banishment should take place on the eighth succeeding day,
and as he had desired from childhood, that he should quickly see the great
King and the angels in all their glory. He was then admonished, to instmct
his disciples in the usual manner to love and fear God, to observe His
precepts and to abound in good works, so that they might obtain the promised
rewards of eternal life. Upon the following morning, Gildas summoned his
disciples, and for the seven days, while his sickness continued, he ceased not
to address them in excellent discourses, s He exhorted them in these terms:
"
My dearly-beloved, since it is expedient that I go the way of all flesh, it is necessary I should be dissolved to see God. Therefore, my well-beloved children, be you imitators of Christ, and walk in the love of God, being alwaysmindfulofHiswords. Lovenottheworldnorthethingsofearth, fortheworldanditsconcupiscenceshallpassaway. Lovewithyourwhole hearts our Lord Christ and His
Britain from remained there for seven ^ He France, having years.
brought with him, it is stated, a great number of books. He was soon resorted to by many pupils, who hoped to derive instruction from him, as they knew no other in the land so accomplished in learning and virtue. ^ When Gildas was very old, and when the time was drawing near in which God proposed to
for He
Me he will keep My word,*^ and I will love and manifest myself to him. '
Jesus
Wherefore, beloved, see what a great reward and desirable gain is promised
truth"^ for such is as He calls itself, Christ,
Therefore, do not forget to hold and possess Him. Maintain a constant charity among your-
by
Truth, and the Life. '? He shall then give us Himself.
' the and the Way,
for * God and God in him. '^
and he that abideth in
selves,
is
Gospel,
charity,
God, because I am meek and humble of heart. '9
saith in the
* Learn of patience,
Remember also to have
for in the same He Gospel
says,
* In
your
words,
' If one love any
abideth in Endeavour also to be humble and meek, since the Lord
Me,
patience you shall possess your souls. ''^" Be obedient, as Christ was obedient
*
to death.
Detestpride,for Godresisteththeproud,andgivethgracetothehumble.
'" Avoid avarice, which is called idolatry by the Apostle. Fly from luxury,
Be ye therefore merciful as your Heavenly Father is merciful. ' '
Chap. v. —' Sir Thomas Duffus Hardy's
astical History of Scotland," book ii. , p. 200.
s See " Acta Sanctorum Hiber- Colgan's
nise," xxix. Januarii. Vita S. Gildas Bade- nici, cap. xviii,, p. i86.
^
See John xiv. , 23. t Ibid. , 6.
^ I. John iv. , 16. 9 Matt. xi. , 29.
'°Lukexxi. , 19. " Jamei iv. , 6.
of Materials
to the History of Great Britain and Ireland,
vol. i. , part 1. , p. 151.
"John Capgrave's "Legenda Sanctorum
Anglise," cap. ii.
3 It is so called in the Breviary of Nantes. * It is thus noted in the ,Life of Gildas,
bytheMonkofRuys,andAnglicizedHorath, in Rev. Thomas Innes' " Civil and Ecclesi-
Descriptive Catalogue
relating
Himself,
says,
charity,
492 LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. [January 29.
drunkenness, and concupiscence, since the Apostle says, neither the effemi- nate nor drunkards shall possess the kingdom of God. " All those vices
which separate men from a heavenly inheritance, you must carefully shun. * Be sober and watch, because your adversary the devil goeth about as a
roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour, whom resist ye strong in faith. ''3 Remove from your hearts hatred, envy, sadness; and instead, remember to introduce longanimity, goodness, and benignity. Always cultivate the four virtues, without which no man can be wise, viz. : prudence, justice, fortitude, andtemperance. " Ontheeighthday,heorderedhimselftobebroughtto the oratory, and there, after he had prayed, he received the Body of our
Lord,
as Viaticum, He then addressed these words to his " I disciples :
admonish, as my children in Christ, that you regard not my dead body, but
immediately when my spirit departs, take my corpse to a boat, and affix to my shoulders that stone on which I was accustomed to rest. Let none of you enter the vessel, but push it out to sea, and let it float whither the Lord may direct. God will chose a place of sepulture for me wherever He pleases. Again do I trust in the Almighty, on the day of judgment, that with others I shall arise. May the God of peace and love be ever with you all. " To this prayer the monks answered " Amen. "'* Soon afterwards the spirit departed to rest. His disciples most punctually observed his dying instruc- tions. The most wise's Gildas directed his body thus to be placed in a boat, and left to the mercy of the waves, so as to prevent any dispute regarding its immediate possession. The people of Comugallia attempted to seize his remains ; but the vessel containing them sunk, while they were making such efforts. Then the body was wafted towards the oratory of the Holy Cross, which he founded. But three months had elapsed after his death before the saint's body was recovered, and this happened after a three days' fasthadbeencompletedbythecommunity. Thiseventwasaccomplished in a miraculous manner on the nth of May. '"^ The body was carried to Ruys,^7 and there buried in the church he had erected. There too it was preserved for many subsequent centuries, and miracles were frequently wrought at his tomb.
Were we to credit the statements of Caradoc of Lanncarvan, William of Malmesbury,^^ and Capgrave, Gildas died a. d. 512. ^9 This event is said to
have occurred at ^° but Glastonbury,
many
does not apply to Badonicus. ^' His death is supposed by Mabillon to be
"I Cor. , vi. , 10.
'3
I Pet. , v. , 8, 9.
'^Caradoc of Lanncarvan and John Cap-
calculations. By placing the birth of Gildas
Badonicus at A. D. 520, and his death at a. D.
570, he could only have lived 50 years,
There was also a necessity for creating a distinct Gildas Albanius. Now Gildas Ba-
donicus is said to have been old when very
grave refer his dying exhortations and their fulfilment to the religious at Glastonbury.
'S He is " Gildas Brittonum styled
Sapien- tissimus,"byAlcuin. See"Opera. "Epis-
he died,
='° On this
tolaxxvii. Ad^dilhardum.
^*See, at that day, some account of the
Finding of St. Gildas' Relics.
'7 Mabillon adds, that this happened on
the Fifth of the Ides of May, which fell in the Rogation days, when the litanies were recited, and in the year 565. See " Annales Ordinis S. Benedicti," tomus i. , lib. vi. , sec. xix. , p. 151.
a doubt is cast Ma- by
'• "De
"' "
Antiquitate
By adopting this date, and Glastonbury
as the place, for the death of Gildas, Ussher got bewildered in useless and unnecessary
historiographus, historicus. " Yet, to meet this objection, as we have already seen, Gildas Albanius is made the writer of a distinct British history.
Glastoniensi. "
writers are of the date opinion
opinion
billon, in "Annales Ordinis S. Benedicti,"
tomus i. , lib. xvii. , sec. Ixxi. , p. 587.
^' This date seemed better to suit the theory of those writers who distinguish between Gildas Albanius and Gildas Badoni- cus, while to the former it has been referred; but here again, it is evident, Caradoc, Wil- liam of Malmesbury, and Capgrave apply it to Gildas "Britonum " or
January 29. ] LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. 493
referable to a. d. 565; but most writers think it occurred in 570. " Accor-
ding to Wilson he died a. d. 581, and according to Bishop Forbes, he Hved on to A. D. 602. The most reliable accounts state, that he departed this life, in the small island of Horata, or Hoata, now Houat,^3 whither he had retired from his monastery of Rewisius, now St. Gildas-de-Ruis,^* some short time before his demise. Not far distant is the commune of St. Gildas des Bois. ^s Again it has been asserted,^^^ that with permission of the abbot, Gildas became a recluse near a river,^? at Glastonbury. He built there a chapel to the Holy Trinity, where he fasted and prayed constantly, giving an example of perfect penance to all. He died at Cornubia, according to Wilson,^^ and he was buried in the middle of St. Mary's Church, at that place. ^9 But, it is said, the Glastonians appropriated more saints than Gildas, and that they placed his death there, so early as 512, in order to give the most respectable antiquity to their monastery. 3°
The festival of this holy bishop, abbot, and confessor is generally assigned by calendarists and other writers to the 29th day of January. Thus the name of Gildas, surnamed the Wise, 3^ occurs in the very ancient Kalen- dar of the old Martyrology at Epternac, inscribed with the name of St. Jerome, while he is in the unpublished3* and published Martyrology of Tallagh,33 at this date. Here we find the title of bishop given to this saint. He is also called Badonicus,34 The very ancient metrical " Feilire " of St. ^ngus, has classed Gildas with some other foreign saints at this, the Fourth of the February Kalends. 35 Hugo Menard places his veneration in Britan- nia Minor at this date,3^ as also Trithemius,37 Mabillon,33 Molanus,39 and Ferrarius. '*° A Florarian Manuscript and Canisius set down his festival in Anglia, at this day. Wilson, who has very confused accounts regarding St. Gildas, yet places his festival at the present date. Surius passes over this saint ; but the Bollandists give a very interesting insertion of his acts. He is omitted altogether from the Martyrology of Donegal. Dora Lobineau^' and
"
"See Chambers' "Encyclopedia. " Art.
Gildas," vol. iv. , p. 752.
=^3 It lies off the French coast, in the De-
3' See Rev. S. Baring-Gould's " Lives of the Saints," vol. i. , p. 440.
3» In the Franciscan copy we read, at this
partment of Morbihan, and in the province
of Britany. It is shown, situated immediately
south of St. Gildas, on the mainland, and
north-east of Belle lie, as marked on the
Map of France, No. Ii. Arrowsmith's translation—were furnished by Professor "London Atlas of Universal Geography. "
London, 1835.
=* This is now a commune, in the depart-
ment of Morbihan, and ten miles S. S. W. of Vannes. See "Gazetteer of the World," vol. vi. , p. 602.
^5 In the department of Loire-Inferieure. See ibid.
O'Looney:
•A. iit'i. kl. Aw efcoip ^o|\Ai'oiu-p lloni'riA'ouc •oia^ n-T)itiuf
^^
By Caradoc of Lanncarvan and by Cap-
grave.
^7 It was called Axus.
^^See
"
Martyrologium Anglicanum," at
the 29th of January. 3* "
Menologium Benedictinum. "
=^9 See Sir Thomas Duffus Hardy's De- scriptive Catalogue of Materials relathig to 3°
the History of Great Britain and Ireland,"
vol. i. , part i. , p. 152.
3° See Dr. Lanigan's "Ecclesiastical His-
tory of Ireland," vol. i. , chap, ix. , sec. x. , n. 170. pp. 488, 489.
35
^° " Catalogus Generalis Sanctorum. "
day, gil. 'OAe epi ocuf fApiencif.
33 Edited by Rev. Dr. Kelly, p. xiv.
"
35 The following stanza and its English
3-* See
Circle of the Seasons,"
p. 29.
kl.
Ipoiicu]", pAuUip 5iitAf, ConpcAncinuf.
The bishops whom I celebrate May they protect us to our in-
heritance [i. e. , heaven) Ipolitus, Paulus,
Gillas, Constantinus.
"
37 I^ib. iii. , cap.