Brigid,
published
from the BookofHymns,byColgan; TriasThaum.
O'Hanlon - Lives of the Irish Saints - v2
It bore the
and n. the editor. title of " He also com^ 7, by Hypognosticon. "
John Boland, in "Acta Sanctorum Februarii," tomus i. Vita iii. S. Brigidse, virg. , pp.
I, p. 563.
4^ An English Benedictine. He died
Sexta
" Thaumaturga, extending
from to p. 513 p.
torum. "
53 The version of St.
by
LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS.
[February i.
said to have composed St. Brigid's biography, about the year 1150, and in a superior style of Latinity, not commonly attempted during that age in which he lived. -t^*
The most complete series of St. Brigid's ancient Acts has been already
publishedbyournationalhagiographer,FatherJohnColgan. 43 TheseActs he has admirably arranged and annotated. With certain modifications of opinion and comment, we shall briefly review them in his order. 44
The first of Colgan's Srigidin^ Lives is that Irish poem, ascribed to St.
Brogan^s of Rosstuirc, in Ossory. ^^ This, according to one inference, had been written about the beginning of the sixth century,47 soon after St. Brigid's death, if we credit the scholiast's stateme—nt. "^^ However, if St.
—9 of Ardbraccan advised to it as the same
Ultan'^
states its production is thought to be more properly referable to the seventh
so The second is her
life, by Cogitosus,5^
who is consi- incorrectly
Brogan compose
authority
century.
dered to have been a nephew and contemporary of the holy Virgin. s^ It would appear, even from a passage in the Prologue to this Life,S3 how that Prelate of Kildare, at the time its author wrote, was Archbishop over the
Leinster province,S4 while many bishops had preceded him in rule, since this See of Kildare had been first ruled by Conlaeth. ss That this work had been written, before the removal took place of St. Brigid's relics to Down,5^ and
posed "Consolatio pro morte Amici," in 45 According to Ussher, he died A. D. 657.
"
See S. Austin Allibone's Critical Dic- tates. " Index Chronologicus, p. 539.
Latin verse, with some other poetical pieces. See "
Britannicarum Ecclesiarum Antiqui-
of p. 1064.
vol.
5° Ultan is in that Sir
tionary
ii. ,
placed
English Literature," &c. ,
age, by James Ware. See "De Scriptoribus
4^
among his acts of St. Brigid. In an ap- pended note, the editor states, this author died about a. d. 1160. See "Trias Thau- maturga," p. 639.
43 No less than six different Lives of St.
Brigid has he comprised in the "Trias
Colgan has published it, as the fifth
Hiberniae. " Lib. i. cap. iii. , pp. 22, 23.
Life, 598. Then follow five elaborate Appen- Cogitosus, which Colgan has published, was
dices, and an Epilogue, specially referring to this Virgin's Acts, pp. 599 to 640. A
prepared especially from a Manuscript be- longing to the Monastery of St. Hubert, and from a Codex — to the Monas-
of her Acts is likewise
654 to 658, besides other allusions to her, in the general Indices.
44 It will be understood, that when subse- quently alluding to the numerical order of St. Brigid's Lives, we are referring solely to Colgan's arrangement.
45 Most likely, it is said, this Poem of his had been written as an Elegy, immediately
on receipt of intelligence, regarding St. Brigid's death.
4^ Near Slieve Bloom Mountains.
Summary
given, pp.
belonging
tery of St. Amand both houses probably
47 He is said to have composed it in the
time of Oilill, or Ailild, son of Dulaing, logue to this Life, we read " Quam sem-
King of Leinster, and whose death is re- corded in Dr. O' Donovan's " Annals of the
per Archiepiscopus Hiberniensium Episco- porum, et Abbatissa, quam omnes Abbatissse
Four J74, 175-
at A. D.
Scotorum
ritu perpetuo dominantur," Cogitosus' "Secunda Vita S. Brigidae," p. 516.
Masters,"
526.
Vol.
i. , pp.
felici— et venerantur, successione,
4«See Colgan's "Trias Thaumaturga. " Vita Prima S. Brigidae. Praefacio Veteris Anonymi, p. 515. Her death is usually placed between the years 518 and 525, by
or
ss His Festival occurs at the 3rd of May.
5^ This transfer happened, in Colgan's opinion, before or about the middle of the
the greater number of those, who have ninth century. See " Trias Thaumaturga,"
written her Acts. n.
S' Canisius had previously published a "
version of it in Antiquae Lectiones. " Tomus V.
5= By Messingham, who has given this
Life a in " Insulae Sanc- place Florilegium
were situated in Belgium or Northern France. The version, issued by Canisius
and Messingham, Colgan found to be very full of errors, and therefore he corrected several,
especially using the St. Amand copy, although he did not quite restore the text to his perfect satisfaction. He also subdivided the Life into a more convenient number of chapters, than he had previously found existing.
54 From the following passage in a Pro- :
14, pp. 565, 566.
Brigid's
February i. ] LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS.
before those ravages,57 caused by the Danes—or even by Irish princess^—in
Kildare, cannot be disputed. 59 Various manuscript copies of Cogitosus' work^ have been preserved in different libraries. ^^ Not the least allusion occurs in it to Kildare's having been ever destroyed, or to the spoliation of St. Brigid's and St. Conlaeth's shrines, which he represents as being very splendid and very rich. From his statement, likewise, that the city of Kil- dare and its suburbs were places of safety and refuge, in which there could not be the least apprehension of any hostile attack,^^ the canons of historic criticism seem to place the authorship of this tract, at some time before the commencement of the ninth century.
The Third Life of St. Brigid, as published by Colgan, is attributed to St. Ultan of Ardbraccan by the editor ; although such a supposition has been contravened by other judicious critics. On the authority of some false genealogies, it is thought St. Brigid was sister to St. Ultan of Ard Breccain. It was this Ultan, who, according to another statement, collected the virtues and miracles of Brighit together, and who commanded his disciple Brogan to put them into poetry. ^3 This is said to be evident from the Book of Hymns, i. e. "The victorious^^ Brighit did not love," &c. While comparing the Third with the First, Second, Fourth and Fifth Lives of St. Brigidj^s it will be found, that many particulars there related concerning her are not con-
tained in those last-mentioned tracts. ^^
57 These are not known to have commen-
ced, before the ninth century, and the first
record of the foreigners having plundered and burned Kildare is refen-ed to A. D. 835 in Dr. O'Donovan's "Annals of the Four Masters," vol. i. , pp. 452, 453.
5^ In 831, Kildare was plundered by Ceallach, son of Bran, and again in 835 by Feidhlimidh. See Dr. O'Donovan's " An-
nals of the Four Masters," vol. i. , pp. 446, 447, 452,. 453-
59 In his notes to the foregoing passage, Colgan remarks, it is not to be understood, the bishop of Kildare was Archbishop over
all Ireland, but that he only presided over the Leinster province. Nor did Kildare
always claim the dignity of being a Metro-
politan See. For, St, Fiech, bishop of statement of the O'Clery's Calendar, St.
Sletty, St. Patrick's disciple, at a previous period, was styled Archbishop of Leinster. This Colgan intended to show, in his Acts, which were to have been published, at the 1 2th of October. After his time, the metro- political seat is said to have been translated from Sletty to Kildare. This seems to be manifest from the foregoing passage. From Kildare it passed to Ferns, as asserted in notes to the Life of St. Maidoc, at the 31st
of January, and as promised to be shown, in those, to be attached to St. Moling's Life, at the 17th of June, as also to St. Molua's Acts, at the 4th of August. Thence it afterwards returned to Kildare.
See Ussher's
"
Britannicarum Ecclesiarum
Antiquitates," cap. xvii,, p. 449.
^° From MSS. Cameracen. Wibling. Tre-
verens. , it has been printed in the Bollandists' "ActaSanctorum,"tomusi. , Februariii. , Vitaii. S. Brigidge, pp. 135 to 141. It was
Again, the number of divisions it
edited from a MS. , belonging to Preudhome, a Canon of Arras, collated also with MSS.
"
belonging to
Treveris, Wiblingensis in Suevia; Bodicensis in Westphalia, cumque editimibus Canisii e
MS. Aistadiano, et Joannis Colgani ex MSS. S. Huberti et S. Amandi. "
^^
Among these may be noticed : Vita
Monasteriorum S. Maximini,
S. Brigidce, MS. Bodl. , Fell. 3 ff. 108-116
b. veil. fol. xi. cent. Also MS. Bibl. Valli-
cellan. ap. Romam. , Tom. xxi. , ff. 203-207,
fol. veil. xi. cent.
^^
sarius, nee concursus timetur hostium. " See
Thus he writes "nullus camalis adver-
Secunda Vita S. Brigidae, cap. xxxv. , p. 524, Colgan's "Trias Thaumaturga. "
Ultan's or St. Brogan's Life of St. Brigid
must be the most authentic and valuable of
all her biographies.
^* In a note by Dr. Todd, he says, at this
passage, "This is the first line of the metri- cal life of St.
Brigid, published from the BookofHymns,byColgan; TriasThaum. ^
P- 515. "
^^ In Colgan's work, where such differ-
ences may be noticed.
^^
Dr. Lanigan writes in his "Ecclesias- tical History of Ireland," vol. i. , chap, viii. , §iii. , n. 38, p. 388. "This Life was, I suspect, patched up in the diocese of Ardagh, and very probably in an island of Lough Rie called the Island of All Saints, in which Augustin Magraiden lived, who, having compiled Lives of Irish Saints, died A. D. 1405 (Ware's Writers). Colgan got one of hiscopiesoi^itfromthe^monasteryofthat place,"
*3 Could we only trust implicitly this
LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS.
[February i.
comprises exceed those in the Fourth Life, by about twenty-three chapters. '^^ Its excess seems estabHshed in point of matter, if not in regard to substantial accuracy. Colgan was indebted to Father Stephen White^^ for the reception of that MS. —pubhshed afterwards as the Third Life^9—with other erudite communications. White thought, that the author of this Third hfe must have been either St. Virgil,7° or St. Erard,7^ who were Irishmen. 7= This Ratisbonne MS. , we are told, had been written in Irish characters, and as supposed, in the tenth or eleventh century. 73 A fifth MS. copy of the Third Life was extant. 74 The editor of St. Brigid's Third Life, however, could not agree with Stephen White, that its authorship was attributable to either of the Saints named by him. 75 The Bollandists7*5 have published the Life of our Saint attributed to St. Ultan, from a manuscript codex, belonging totheChurchofSt. Omer. Somemanuscriptcopiesofitareyetpreserved at Oxford. 77 That St. Ultan wrote the Acts of St. Brigid, is asserted by Colgan, on authority of Ussher,78 Ware,79 an author of her life in Irish, and a certain Scholiast. ^° The editor also maintains, that the life written was
identical with that published by him,^^ owing to the probability of some metrical lines appended being composed by the same author. ^^ In the St.
^7 This is Colgan's statement. Yet, it must refer, not to the relative numerical divisions of chapters, but to additional mat- ter in the Third Life.
very remote period, when most of the copies known had been traced more than five hun- dred years before his own time, while some were more than seven hundred years old.
7S Colgan's reason is chiefly a negative one, viz. , because no writer or author had heretofore stated his having compiled her biography.
^^
versed in the Antiquities of his native coun-
This learned Irish Jesuit was well
^ The original manuscript was an old
codex, belonging to the monastery of St.
Magnus, at Ratisbonn, in Bavaria. This Februarii i,. Vita Prima Brigidce, pp. 118
tract Colgan accompanied with various marginalannotationsandreadings. These
were partly taken from a MS,, belonging to the monastery of St. Autbert, at Cambray, and partly from a MS. , preserved at the Island of all Saints, in Ireland. The Cam- bray MS. had been furnished by D. Georgeus Colvenerius, who was distinguished for his research and love of antiquities ; and besides the All Saints' MS. , received from Longford
County in Ireland, Colgan obtained another MS. from the Carthusian collection at
Cologne.
7° His Festival occurs on the 27th of
November.
7' His Feast is assigned to the 8th of
January.
7» These flourished in Bavaria, during the
eighth century.
73 The Trinity College Manuscript classed
E. 4, 10 contains, "Vita et Legenda S. Brigidse Virginis. " Ussher supposes this to have been the Life of St. Brigid, written by St. Ultan of Ardbraccan. It includes,
also, various readings on the margins, copied
from a more old to copious MS. , belonging
the monastery of St. Magnus, tenanted by the Canons regular of St. Augustine, at Ratisbon in Bavaria.
74 This belonged to Dunensis monastery in Flanders. Colgan adds, that we may fairly infer the author must have lived at a
to 135-
77 Among these are : Vita S. Brigidae,
MS. Bodl. Rawl. , B. 505, pp. 193-207, fol. veil. xiv. cent. A similar life in MS. Bodl.
Rawl. , B. 485, f. 134, veil. 4to. xiv. cent. , is extant.
7^ See " De Primordiis Ecclesiarum Bri- tannicarum," p. 1067.
^ While it is admitted, by Dr. Lanigan, that Ultan of Ardbraccan wrote something concerning St. Brigid, this learned historian will not allow either him or any other wri- ter of the seventh century, to have recorded the many strange fables, with which it is crammed. Thisworkhedesignatesas"a hodge-podge, made up at a late period, in which it is difficult to pick out any truth,
from amidst a heap of rubbish. " It also differs from the two former tracts, in some material points. See "Ecclesiastical His- tory of Ireland," vol. i. , chap, viii. , § II, n. 18, p. 380.
7" See "Acta Sanctorum," tomus i. ,
79 See "De Scriptoribus Hibemioe," lib. i. , cap. iii. , pp. 22, 23.
^'
This conclusion is supposed to be fur-
ther the usual " Ex- warranted, by clause,
plicit Vita S. Brigidre," postfixed to the life of a Saint coming after, and not before that
Hymn, found in the St. Magnus MS. , as written many ages before Colgan's time.
^^
and Ward.
In the opinion of White, Colveneriur>
February
i. ]
LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS,
"
Aiitbert MS. , the Life comes after a
Although the author does not give us his name, he nevertheless reveals him- self as being from the Island Hibernia, and of Irish origin. ^* After the last words, in a life of our sainted Virgin, the author first places her proper Latin Hymn,^5 and t—hen having completed the Latin lines, he pours forth prayers to St. Brigid thus piously invoking her intercession, in the Irish idiom and character. These circumstances are somewhat remarkable. ^^ That St. Ultan was its author, and consequently composer of the Third Life, seems to be established,^7 from certain remarks of an old Scholiast,^^ on the same Hymn. Even although the Scholiast doubts, whether St. Nennidius, St. Fiech, or St. Ultan, be its author, his very words are thought conclusive, in showing this latter to be the writer, both of the Life and of the Hymn ; since, he is said to have composed both one and the other, in praise of St.
^3 This piece is headed "Carmen de eadem (Sci]. S. Brigida) exMSS. Autberti. " Its lines are in Latin, of which we present the following English version : —
published by Colgan, with the metrical lines
postfixed, and that he was composer, both of the prose life and of the Hymn. See
ibid. , n. 80, p. 545.
^^
This metrical composition is headed, HymnusdeBrigidaVirgine. " Thelines runinLatin butwehaveventuredtoren-
;
der them in the following English version : —
"Those her wond'rous Signs, whereby
pow'r was known
To men, in our Hibernian Isle, were
shown ;
Excelling through great virtues, beamed on earth
The dawning promise of her heavenly birth.
Not mighty Brigid's fame, this_ humble verse
Can fitly celebrate, nor half rehearse, Our Virgin, type of Mary, myriads found Eager to praise, and hear her triumphs
sound.
She girt around her, day and night, the
zone
Ofchastedesires; shereadandprayed
alone ;
She vigil spent ; as the bright sun on
high
Her radiance warm'd the earth, and fill'd
the sky.
Hear ye the Virgin's praise ! her gifts
proclaim !
The victor's garland twines around that
name.
No void her words and acts e'er left be-
tween
Whose vows to Christ Were pledg'd and
to Heav'n's Queen.
Be gracious then, O sainted Brigid, free From earthly toils, our pi-ay'rs ascend to
thee ;
Obtain for us, from God, of good the
giver,
Tlie Angel's crown of rest and joy for-
ever. "
^^ In Colgan's opinion.
^~^
*' " Brigid's great name, with double lustre
shines,
Brigid's great name, our love with light
entwines.
A of the Lord, without, Virgin
within, Pure was her soul, preserved from stains
of sin.
A Virgin of the Lord, dear brethren, she Dead to the world and pride, for Heaven
was free.
Despised she fleeting honours, wealth and
pleasures,
She sought eternal joys, exhaustless trea-
sures.
Then shield us from that future fate we
dread.
When the last Trumpet wakes the buried
dead,
O Virgin, loved by God, bless'd and be-
nign, Ohearthyclients'prayers,norceaseto
offer thine. "
See Colgan's "Trias Thaumaturga," Tertia Vita S. Brigidas, p. 542, and nn. 82, 83, p. 545, ibid.
^'^ This is indicated, in the first line.
Colgan says, the Hymn which he published was found in that Irish MS. , commonly called the Leabhur lomawt, and in Latin, " Liber Hymnorum," by our national anti- quaries. In this MS. were also contained many Hymns, composed by different Irish Saints. From it, Colgan obtained the la-^^t line, which was wanting in the St. Magnus MS.
*5 It has been concluded, that as no authority states St. Nennidius or St. Fiech to have written St. Brigid's Acts in a book, and as it could be shown from written and from other sources, that St. Ultan wrote her Acts in one book, and also a Hymn in her praise ; it would seem, this latter must have been the author of St. Brigid's Third Life,
These comments are given in a note.
carmen/'^s which follows the Hymn.
10 LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS [February i.
Brigid, and both were contained in one book. ^9 Now, it is not rightly known, that St. Nennidius or St. Fiech wrote a life of St. Brigid, whether in one tract, or in more
than o—ne part. St.
Ultan surnamed likewis—e Mac
Concubar
bishop
of Ardbraccan, in
Meath, is reputed
to have been St.
Brigid's relative,9°
on her mother's
side. 9^ Waretreats
about him and his
'\\Titings. 9=»
The Fourth Life
of our saint, as pub-
lished by Colgan,93 and by this latter writer attributed to Animosus or Anim- chad,94 is contained in two books. 95 The editor of this Trea- tise says, the Latin- ized form of Ani- mosus' name is not
easily recognisable as an Irish one, al-
though its vernacu-
lar interpretation be common. This
Latin form, how-
ever, can easily be resolved into the name Anmchadh or Anamchodh. This
^' The Scholiast even cites a portion of
one line, taken from this Hymn, and which
agrees with what Colgan has published.
9° Ussher writes, that he was descended
from the Conchabar or O'Conor family, to
whom belonged, also, Brodsechain, daughter
to Dallbronaig, and the mother of St. Brigid.
This is given on the authority of a certain
Scholiast in an Irish hymn composed in
praise of Brigid, Some, however, attribute
this to St. Columkille, who lived in the time
of son to Ainmirech while others King Aed, :
ascribe it to Ultan, Bishop of Ardbrechan, who flourished in the time of the two sons of Aed Slane. See " De Primordiis Brita-
"
Kildare Ruins.
nicanim Ecclesiarum.
9' Hence, we do not find this
Brigidae," p. 582.
95 These comprise, with a Prologue, in the
relationship shown in the Pedigrees of St. Brigid, on the father's side, as given by Dr. Todd in ** St.
First Book 52, in the Second Book 100— in all 152 chapters. As published in the
p. 965.
Patrick, Apostle of Ireland," appendix A, pp. 247 to 255.
and n. the editor. title of " He also com^ 7, by Hypognosticon. "
John Boland, in "Acta Sanctorum Februarii," tomus i. Vita iii. S. Brigidse, virg. , pp.
I, p. 563.
4^ An English Benedictine. He died
Sexta
" Thaumaturga, extending
from to p. 513 p.
torum. "
53 The version of St.
by
LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS.
[February i.
said to have composed St. Brigid's biography, about the year 1150, and in a superior style of Latinity, not commonly attempted during that age in which he lived. -t^*
The most complete series of St. Brigid's ancient Acts has been already
publishedbyournationalhagiographer,FatherJohnColgan. 43 TheseActs he has admirably arranged and annotated. With certain modifications of opinion and comment, we shall briefly review them in his order. 44
The first of Colgan's Srigidin^ Lives is that Irish poem, ascribed to St.
Brogan^s of Rosstuirc, in Ossory. ^^ This, according to one inference, had been written about the beginning of the sixth century,47 soon after St. Brigid's death, if we credit the scholiast's stateme—nt. "^^ However, if St.
—9 of Ardbraccan advised to it as the same
Ultan'^
states its production is thought to be more properly referable to the seventh
so The second is her
life, by Cogitosus,5^
who is consi- incorrectly
Brogan compose
authority
century.
dered to have been a nephew and contemporary of the holy Virgin. s^ It would appear, even from a passage in the Prologue to this Life,S3 how that Prelate of Kildare, at the time its author wrote, was Archbishop over the
Leinster province,S4 while many bishops had preceded him in rule, since this See of Kildare had been first ruled by Conlaeth. ss That this work had been written, before the removal took place of St. Brigid's relics to Down,5^ and
posed "Consolatio pro morte Amici," in 45 According to Ussher, he died A. D. 657.
"
See S. Austin Allibone's Critical Dic- tates. " Index Chronologicus, p. 539.
Latin verse, with some other poetical pieces. See "
Britannicarum Ecclesiarum Antiqui-
of p. 1064.
vol.
5° Ultan is in that Sir
tionary
ii. ,
placed
English Literature," &c. ,
age, by James Ware. See "De Scriptoribus
4^
among his acts of St. Brigid. In an ap- pended note, the editor states, this author died about a. d. 1160. See "Trias Thau- maturga," p. 639.
43 No less than six different Lives of St.
Brigid has he comprised in the "Trias
Colgan has published it, as the fifth
Hiberniae. " Lib. i. cap. iii. , pp. 22, 23.
Life, 598. Then follow five elaborate Appen- Cogitosus, which Colgan has published, was
dices, and an Epilogue, specially referring to this Virgin's Acts, pp. 599 to 640. A
prepared especially from a Manuscript be- longing to the Monastery of St. Hubert, and from a Codex — to the Monas-
of her Acts is likewise
654 to 658, besides other allusions to her, in the general Indices.
44 It will be understood, that when subse- quently alluding to the numerical order of St. Brigid's Lives, we are referring solely to Colgan's arrangement.
45 Most likely, it is said, this Poem of his had been written as an Elegy, immediately
on receipt of intelligence, regarding St. Brigid's death.
4^ Near Slieve Bloom Mountains.
Summary
given, pp.
belonging
tery of St. Amand both houses probably
47 He is said to have composed it in the
time of Oilill, or Ailild, son of Dulaing, logue to this Life, we read " Quam sem-
King of Leinster, and whose death is re- corded in Dr. O' Donovan's " Annals of the
per Archiepiscopus Hiberniensium Episco- porum, et Abbatissa, quam omnes Abbatissse
Four J74, 175-
at A. D.
Scotorum
ritu perpetuo dominantur," Cogitosus' "Secunda Vita S. Brigidae," p. 516.
Masters,"
526.
Vol.
i. , pp.
felici— et venerantur, successione,
4«See Colgan's "Trias Thaumaturga. " Vita Prima S. Brigidae. Praefacio Veteris Anonymi, p. 515. Her death is usually placed between the years 518 and 525, by
or
ss His Festival occurs at the 3rd of May.
5^ This transfer happened, in Colgan's opinion, before or about the middle of the
the greater number of those, who have ninth century. See " Trias Thaumaturga,"
written her Acts. n.
S' Canisius had previously published a "
version of it in Antiquae Lectiones. " Tomus V.
5= By Messingham, who has given this
Life a in " Insulae Sanc- place Florilegium
were situated in Belgium or Northern France. The version, issued by Canisius
and Messingham, Colgan found to be very full of errors, and therefore he corrected several,
especially using the St. Amand copy, although he did not quite restore the text to his perfect satisfaction. He also subdivided the Life into a more convenient number of chapters, than he had previously found existing.
54 From the following passage in a Pro- :
14, pp. 565, 566.
Brigid's
February i. ] LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS.
before those ravages,57 caused by the Danes—or even by Irish princess^—in
Kildare, cannot be disputed. 59 Various manuscript copies of Cogitosus' work^ have been preserved in different libraries. ^^ Not the least allusion occurs in it to Kildare's having been ever destroyed, or to the spoliation of St. Brigid's and St. Conlaeth's shrines, which he represents as being very splendid and very rich. From his statement, likewise, that the city of Kil- dare and its suburbs were places of safety and refuge, in which there could not be the least apprehension of any hostile attack,^^ the canons of historic criticism seem to place the authorship of this tract, at some time before the commencement of the ninth century.
The Third Life of St. Brigid, as published by Colgan, is attributed to St. Ultan of Ardbraccan by the editor ; although such a supposition has been contravened by other judicious critics. On the authority of some false genealogies, it is thought St. Brigid was sister to St. Ultan of Ard Breccain. It was this Ultan, who, according to another statement, collected the virtues and miracles of Brighit together, and who commanded his disciple Brogan to put them into poetry. ^3 This is said to be evident from the Book of Hymns, i. e. "The victorious^^ Brighit did not love," &c. While comparing the Third with the First, Second, Fourth and Fifth Lives of St. Brigidj^s it will be found, that many particulars there related concerning her are not con-
tained in those last-mentioned tracts. ^^
57 These are not known to have commen-
ced, before the ninth century, and the first
record of the foreigners having plundered and burned Kildare is refen-ed to A. D. 835 in Dr. O'Donovan's "Annals of the Four Masters," vol. i. , pp. 452, 453.
5^ In 831, Kildare was plundered by Ceallach, son of Bran, and again in 835 by Feidhlimidh. See Dr. O'Donovan's " An-
nals of the Four Masters," vol. i. , pp. 446, 447, 452,. 453-
59 In his notes to the foregoing passage, Colgan remarks, it is not to be understood, the bishop of Kildare was Archbishop over
all Ireland, but that he only presided over the Leinster province. Nor did Kildare
always claim the dignity of being a Metro-
politan See. For, St, Fiech, bishop of statement of the O'Clery's Calendar, St.
Sletty, St. Patrick's disciple, at a previous period, was styled Archbishop of Leinster. This Colgan intended to show, in his Acts, which were to have been published, at the 1 2th of October. After his time, the metro- political seat is said to have been translated from Sletty to Kildare. This seems to be manifest from the foregoing passage. From Kildare it passed to Ferns, as asserted in notes to the Life of St. Maidoc, at the 31st
of January, and as promised to be shown, in those, to be attached to St. Moling's Life, at the 17th of June, as also to St. Molua's Acts, at the 4th of August. Thence it afterwards returned to Kildare.
See Ussher's
"
Britannicarum Ecclesiarum
Antiquitates," cap. xvii,, p. 449.
^° From MSS. Cameracen. Wibling. Tre-
verens. , it has been printed in the Bollandists' "ActaSanctorum,"tomusi. , Februariii. , Vitaii. S. Brigidge, pp. 135 to 141. It was
Again, the number of divisions it
edited from a MS. , belonging to Preudhome, a Canon of Arras, collated also with MSS.
"
belonging to
Treveris, Wiblingensis in Suevia; Bodicensis in Westphalia, cumque editimibus Canisii e
MS. Aistadiano, et Joannis Colgani ex MSS. S. Huberti et S. Amandi. "
^^
Among these may be noticed : Vita
Monasteriorum S. Maximini,
S. Brigidce, MS. Bodl. , Fell. 3 ff. 108-116
b. veil. fol. xi. cent. Also MS. Bibl. Valli-
cellan. ap. Romam. , Tom. xxi. , ff. 203-207,
fol. veil. xi. cent.
^^
sarius, nee concursus timetur hostium. " See
Thus he writes "nullus camalis adver-
Secunda Vita S. Brigidae, cap. xxxv. , p. 524, Colgan's "Trias Thaumaturga. "
Ultan's or St. Brogan's Life of St. Brigid
must be the most authentic and valuable of
all her biographies.
^* In a note by Dr. Todd, he says, at this
passage, "This is the first line of the metri- cal life of St.
Brigid, published from the BookofHymns,byColgan; TriasThaum. ^
P- 515. "
^^ In Colgan's work, where such differ-
ences may be noticed.
^^
Dr. Lanigan writes in his "Ecclesias- tical History of Ireland," vol. i. , chap, viii. , §iii. , n. 38, p. 388. "This Life was, I suspect, patched up in the diocese of Ardagh, and very probably in an island of Lough Rie called the Island of All Saints, in which Augustin Magraiden lived, who, having compiled Lives of Irish Saints, died A. D. 1405 (Ware's Writers). Colgan got one of hiscopiesoi^itfromthe^monasteryofthat place,"
*3 Could we only trust implicitly this
LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS.
[February i.
comprises exceed those in the Fourth Life, by about twenty-three chapters. '^^ Its excess seems estabHshed in point of matter, if not in regard to substantial accuracy. Colgan was indebted to Father Stephen White^^ for the reception of that MS. —pubhshed afterwards as the Third Life^9—with other erudite communications. White thought, that the author of this Third hfe must have been either St. Virgil,7° or St. Erard,7^ who were Irishmen. 7= This Ratisbonne MS. , we are told, had been written in Irish characters, and as supposed, in the tenth or eleventh century. 73 A fifth MS. copy of the Third Life was extant. 74 The editor of St. Brigid's Third Life, however, could not agree with Stephen White, that its authorship was attributable to either of the Saints named by him. 75 The Bollandists7*5 have published the Life of our Saint attributed to St. Ultan, from a manuscript codex, belonging totheChurchofSt. Omer. Somemanuscriptcopiesofitareyetpreserved at Oxford. 77 That St. Ultan wrote the Acts of St. Brigid, is asserted by Colgan, on authority of Ussher,78 Ware,79 an author of her life in Irish, and a certain Scholiast. ^° The editor also maintains, that the life written was
identical with that published by him,^^ owing to the probability of some metrical lines appended being composed by the same author. ^^ In the St.
^7 This is Colgan's statement. Yet, it must refer, not to the relative numerical divisions of chapters, but to additional mat- ter in the Third Life.
very remote period, when most of the copies known had been traced more than five hun- dred years before his own time, while some were more than seven hundred years old.
7S Colgan's reason is chiefly a negative one, viz. , because no writer or author had heretofore stated his having compiled her biography.
^^
versed in the Antiquities of his native coun-
This learned Irish Jesuit was well
^ The original manuscript was an old
codex, belonging to the monastery of St.
Magnus, at Ratisbonn, in Bavaria. This Februarii i,. Vita Prima Brigidce, pp. 118
tract Colgan accompanied with various marginalannotationsandreadings. These
were partly taken from a MS,, belonging to the monastery of St. Autbert, at Cambray, and partly from a MS. , preserved at the Island of all Saints, in Ireland. The Cam- bray MS. had been furnished by D. Georgeus Colvenerius, who was distinguished for his research and love of antiquities ; and besides the All Saints' MS. , received from Longford
County in Ireland, Colgan obtained another MS. from the Carthusian collection at
Cologne.
7° His Festival occurs on the 27th of
November.
7' His Feast is assigned to the 8th of
January.
7» These flourished in Bavaria, during the
eighth century.
73 The Trinity College Manuscript classed
E. 4, 10 contains, "Vita et Legenda S. Brigidse Virginis. " Ussher supposes this to have been the Life of St. Brigid, written by St. Ultan of Ardbraccan. It includes,
also, various readings on the margins, copied
from a more old to copious MS. , belonging
the monastery of St. Magnus, tenanted by the Canons regular of St. Augustine, at Ratisbon in Bavaria.
74 This belonged to Dunensis monastery in Flanders. Colgan adds, that we may fairly infer the author must have lived at a
to 135-
77 Among these are : Vita S. Brigidae,
MS. Bodl. Rawl. , B. 505, pp. 193-207, fol. veil. xiv. cent. A similar life in MS. Bodl.
Rawl. , B. 485, f. 134, veil. 4to. xiv. cent. , is extant.
7^ See " De Primordiis Ecclesiarum Bri- tannicarum," p. 1067.
^ While it is admitted, by Dr. Lanigan, that Ultan of Ardbraccan wrote something concerning St. Brigid, this learned historian will not allow either him or any other wri- ter of the seventh century, to have recorded the many strange fables, with which it is crammed. Thisworkhedesignatesas"a hodge-podge, made up at a late period, in which it is difficult to pick out any truth,
from amidst a heap of rubbish. " It also differs from the two former tracts, in some material points. See "Ecclesiastical His- tory of Ireland," vol. i. , chap, viii. , § II, n. 18, p. 380.
7" See "Acta Sanctorum," tomus i. ,
79 See "De Scriptoribus Hibemioe," lib. i. , cap. iii. , pp. 22, 23.
^'
This conclusion is supposed to be fur-
ther the usual " Ex- warranted, by clause,
plicit Vita S. Brigidre," postfixed to the life of a Saint coming after, and not before that
Hymn, found in the St. Magnus MS. , as written many ages before Colgan's time.
^^
and Ward.
In the opinion of White, Colveneriur>
February
i. ]
LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS,
"
Aiitbert MS. , the Life comes after a
Although the author does not give us his name, he nevertheless reveals him- self as being from the Island Hibernia, and of Irish origin. ^* After the last words, in a life of our sainted Virgin, the author first places her proper Latin Hymn,^5 and t—hen having completed the Latin lines, he pours forth prayers to St. Brigid thus piously invoking her intercession, in the Irish idiom and character. These circumstances are somewhat remarkable. ^^ That St. Ultan was its author, and consequently composer of the Third Life, seems to be established,^7 from certain remarks of an old Scholiast,^^ on the same Hymn. Even although the Scholiast doubts, whether St. Nennidius, St. Fiech, or St. Ultan, be its author, his very words are thought conclusive, in showing this latter to be the writer, both of the Life and of the Hymn ; since, he is said to have composed both one and the other, in praise of St.
^3 This piece is headed "Carmen de eadem (Sci]. S. Brigida) exMSS. Autberti. " Its lines are in Latin, of which we present the following English version : —
published by Colgan, with the metrical lines
postfixed, and that he was composer, both of the prose life and of the Hymn. See
ibid. , n. 80, p. 545.
^^
This metrical composition is headed, HymnusdeBrigidaVirgine. " Thelines runinLatin butwehaveventuredtoren-
;
der them in the following English version : —
"Those her wond'rous Signs, whereby
pow'r was known
To men, in our Hibernian Isle, were
shown ;
Excelling through great virtues, beamed on earth
The dawning promise of her heavenly birth.
Not mighty Brigid's fame, this_ humble verse
Can fitly celebrate, nor half rehearse, Our Virgin, type of Mary, myriads found Eager to praise, and hear her triumphs
sound.
She girt around her, day and night, the
zone
Ofchastedesires; shereadandprayed
alone ;
She vigil spent ; as the bright sun on
high
Her radiance warm'd the earth, and fill'd
the sky.
Hear ye the Virgin's praise ! her gifts
proclaim !
The victor's garland twines around that
name.
No void her words and acts e'er left be-
tween
Whose vows to Christ Were pledg'd and
to Heav'n's Queen.
Be gracious then, O sainted Brigid, free From earthly toils, our pi-ay'rs ascend to
thee ;
Obtain for us, from God, of good the
giver,
Tlie Angel's crown of rest and joy for-
ever. "
^^ In Colgan's opinion.
^~^
*' " Brigid's great name, with double lustre
shines,
Brigid's great name, our love with light
entwines.
A of the Lord, without, Virgin
within, Pure was her soul, preserved from stains
of sin.
A Virgin of the Lord, dear brethren, she Dead to the world and pride, for Heaven
was free.
Despised she fleeting honours, wealth and
pleasures,
She sought eternal joys, exhaustless trea-
sures.
Then shield us from that future fate we
dread.
When the last Trumpet wakes the buried
dead,
O Virgin, loved by God, bless'd and be-
nign, Ohearthyclients'prayers,norceaseto
offer thine. "
See Colgan's "Trias Thaumaturga," Tertia Vita S. Brigidas, p. 542, and nn. 82, 83, p. 545, ibid.
^'^ This is indicated, in the first line.
Colgan says, the Hymn which he published was found in that Irish MS. , commonly called the Leabhur lomawt, and in Latin, " Liber Hymnorum," by our national anti- quaries. In this MS. were also contained many Hymns, composed by different Irish Saints. From it, Colgan obtained the la-^^t line, which was wanting in the St. Magnus MS.
*5 It has been concluded, that as no authority states St. Nennidius or St. Fiech to have written St. Brigid's Acts in a book, and as it could be shown from written and from other sources, that St. Ultan wrote her Acts in one book, and also a Hymn in her praise ; it would seem, this latter must have been the author of St. Brigid's Third Life,
These comments are given in a note.
carmen/'^s which follows the Hymn.
10 LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS [February i.
Brigid, and both were contained in one book. ^9 Now, it is not rightly known, that St. Nennidius or St. Fiech wrote a life of St. Brigid, whether in one tract, or in more
than o—ne part. St.
Ultan surnamed likewis—e Mac
Concubar
bishop
of Ardbraccan, in
Meath, is reputed
to have been St.
Brigid's relative,9°
on her mother's
side. 9^ Waretreats
about him and his
'\\Titings. 9=»
The Fourth Life
of our saint, as pub-
lished by Colgan,93 and by this latter writer attributed to Animosus or Anim- chad,94 is contained in two books. 95 The editor of this Trea- tise says, the Latin- ized form of Ani- mosus' name is not
easily recognisable as an Irish one, al-
though its vernacu-
lar interpretation be common. This
Latin form, how-
ever, can easily be resolved into the name Anmchadh or Anamchodh. This
^' The Scholiast even cites a portion of
one line, taken from this Hymn, and which
agrees with what Colgan has published.
9° Ussher writes, that he was descended
from the Conchabar or O'Conor family, to
whom belonged, also, Brodsechain, daughter
to Dallbronaig, and the mother of St. Brigid.
This is given on the authority of a certain
Scholiast in an Irish hymn composed in
praise of Brigid, Some, however, attribute
this to St. Columkille, who lived in the time
of son to Ainmirech while others King Aed, :
ascribe it to Ultan, Bishop of Ardbrechan, who flourished in the time of the two sons of Aed Slane. See " De Primordiis Brita-
"
Kildare Ruins.
nicanim Ecclesiarum.
9' Hence, we do not find this
Brigidae," p. 582.
95 These comprise, with a Prologue, in the
relationship shown in the Pedigrees of St. Brigid, on the father's side, as given by Dr. Todd in ** St.
First Book 52, in the Second Book 100— in all 152 chapters. As published in the
p. 965.
Patrick, Apostle of Ireland," appendix A, pp. 247 to 255.
