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.
Leinster province,S4 while many bishops had preceded him in rule, since this See of Kildare had been first ruled by Conlaeth.
O'Hanlon - Lives of the Irish Saints - v2
Brendan, Bishop of Clonfert, is said to have written about the virtues and miracles of St.
lirigid.
" He flourished, like- wise, after her time, and he died on the i6th of May," a.
d.
576.
^3 St.
Brogan Cloen,^^ of Rostuirk in Ossory, and who probably flourished in the seventh century, composed an Irish hynm'5 in praise of St.
Brigid.
'^ Of this various manuscript copies remain.
^7 .
Besides these authors, Cogitosus,^^ who flourished probably after the sixth and before the ninth century, wrote a celebrated treatise on the life and virtues of St.
Brigid.
Several manuscript copies of this tract are yet to be found.
^9 Again, the illustrious St.
Colum- kille,-° Apostle of the Picts and Scots, is thought to have written a hymn on the life, and in praise, of St.
Brigid.
^^ He is reputed to have composed it," aboutA.
D.
563,onhispassagetoBritain.
St.
Columkilleisgenerallythought
to have departed this life, in the year 596. ^3
Fourth Appendix to St. Patrick's Acts, and
in that Catalogue of authors, who wrote
biographies of our national Apostle.
' See his Life at the 2nd of April.
7 Believing him to have been Abbot of
Manuscripts, Dublin, and classed E. 4, 2, has only 34 stanzas.
Inis-Muighe-Samh, an island on Lough Michael O'Longan, about the year 1760, "
Erne, Colgan published his Acts in the there is a Hymnus de Virtutibus et mira-
'*
Acta Sanctorum Hibernioe," xviii. Janu- arii, pp. iii to 115.
^ See Sir James Ware, " De Scriptoribus
culis Sanctoe Brigidae Kildariensis abbatissas et patronte," a Sancto Brigano, p. 82. It appears to have been copied from Colgan.
'7 There are seven of a poem on quatrains
St. Brigid attributed to St. Brogan, and
According to the Third, Fourth and
Fifth Lives of St. Brigid, as published by St. Brigid, published by Colgan, in vol.
lib.
9 In his notes to St. Brigid's Third Life.
'°
"
him, at that day, when his Life will be vSt. Brigid's Acts (cap. xxiv. ), and which,
Colgan promised to say more regarding
found in this collection.
'3 See Dr. O'Donovan's "Annals of the
in the original, begins with these words "Brigid be bhithmaith. "
==" The Scholiast on this and an hymn,
Irish life of St. Brigid, attribute its com- position to St. Columba.
Four Masters," vol.
'* See his Life at the 1 7th of September.
'S That published by Colgan has 53 stanzas, while one, attributed to this same
i. , pp. 208, 209.
*3 On the 9th day of June. This is shown Brogan Clocn, among the Trinity College in the fourth appendix to his Acts. See
^^
Betham Collection of Manuscripts of the Royal Irish Academy, and written by
In the vol. xviii. , belonging to the
these are followed by St. Brogan's hymn to
Colgan supposed he had not seen any of Columba's compositions on this subject, except what had already been given through a Latin version in his second appendix to
February i. ] LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS.
St. Ultan,=* Bishop of Ardbraccan, in Meath, it is believed, wrote a book on the Life of St. Brigid. 's He also, it is said, composed a hymn, in her praise. ^^ Colgan has assigned both of these tracts to the third place among his various published acts of our saint. ^7 This author flourished about a. d. 5 So, and he is reputed to have died, at a very old age, on the 4th of Sep- tember, A. D. 656. =^^ St. Aleran, or Aileran, sometimes called Eleran,^9 and surnamed the Wise, was a president or chief-director over Clonard School, in Meath. He wrote St. Brigid's Life. 3° This is testified by St. Coelan, who himself composed metrical acts of St. Brigid. 3' St. Aileran's feast has been assigned incorrectly to the nth of August,32 and his death is set down at 664. This year of mortality, however, seems rather referable to St. Aileran the Wise,33 whose feast is held on the 29th of December. Kilian or Coelanus, of Inis-Keltra,34 composed St. Brigid's Life in verse. 35 This formsthesixthandlastofheracts,aspubHshedbyColgan. 36 Inhisnotes, postfixed to this metrical life,37 the editor attempts to prove that Coelan flourished about the end of the seventh or beginning of the eighth century. 38 Animosus, who appears to have acquired the name Anmchiudh or Anmire, among the Irish, is said to have written many books of St. Brigid's acts. 39 This author, as has been thought, flourished about the year 950. 4° At a period subsequent to the time of writers already named, many others, who flourished after the commencement of the twelfth century, wrote her life. Among these authors may be enumerated, Laurence of Durham,^^ who is
Colgan's "Trias Thaumaturga," cap. iv. , v. , vi. , pp. 483 to 486.
^^ See his Life at the 4th of September.
=9 See his Life at the 29th of December.
3° See Sir James Ware, "De Scriptoribus Hibernian," lib. i. , cap. iii. , p. 27.
3' See " De Primordiis Britanni- Ussher,
" Ultan
Macconcubar \i. e. O'Connor] Bishop of carum Ecclesiarum," p. 1067.
''
The Virgin's virtues many writers paint, Ultan the Sage and Eleran the Saint ;
And Amchaid in immortal works dis-
play'd
The life and merits of the spotless
141 to 155.
3^
See "Trias Thaumaturga. " Vita S. Brigidse, pp. 582 to 596.
-s In Harris' we Ware,
read,
Ardbraccan, collected the Miracles of St.
Brigid into one volume in alphabetical order, from whence an anonymous author, who 'ivrit the life ofthat virgin in verse hath taken occasion to preface his Poem with these lines : —
3^ See Colgan's "Trias Thaumaturga. "
Sexta Vita S. Brigidse, n. 6, p. 598, and
Appendix Tertia ad Acta S. Brigidae, pp. 609, 610. This seems to confound Jiim with St. Aireran or Ereran of Tyfarnham in Westmeath.
33 See Dr. O'Donovan's "Annals of the
*'
Desaipsit
De vita ac studiis virginis ac meritis.
Scripserunt nmlti virtutes virginis ahnce^ Four Masters," vol. i. , pp. 276, 277. UltanusDoctor,atqueEleraniisovans. 3-i SeehisLifeatthe29thofJuly.
vndtos Animosus nomine 3S This has been edited Father libros, by
maid. "
37 A manuscript copy of this metrical life, kindly presented by William Eassie, Esq. , High Orchard House, Gloucester, England, is in the writer's possession.
38 See ibid. , nn. 1,2, 596 to 598. 3, pp.
39 In a prologue, prefixed to St. Coe- lan's metrical life, and published by Colgan, allusion is made to the three last named writers of St. Brigid's Acts. See "Trias
Thaumaturga. " Sexta Vita S. Brigidse, p.
—Vol. ii. "Writers of chap, iv. , p. 30,
Ireland,"
book
i. ,
^^
Stated to have commenced with the
words: " Audite Virginis laudes. " To it,
allusion has been already made. "
^7 See Trias Thaumaturga," pp. 527 to 545.
582.
4° See ibid. Vita Quarta S. Brigidse, n.
-*^ See Dr. O'Donovan's "Annals of the
Four Masters," vol. i. , pp. 268, 269 and n.
{s^), ibid. In the " Chronicum Scotorum,"
edited by William M. Hennessy, his death about 1 149. Besides St, Brigid's life, he
is placed at A. D. 653, which is tlie year 657, wrote a Scriptural history, in Nine Books
according to O'Flaherty. SeCjpp. 94, 95, and in Latin elegiac verses. 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.
to have departed this life, in the year 596. ^3
Fourth Appendix to St. Patrick's Acts, and
in that Catalogue of authors, who wrote
biographies of our national Apostle.
' See his Life at the 2nd of April.
7 Believing him to have been Abbot of
Manuscripts, Dublin, and classed E. 4, 2, has only 34 stanzas.
Inis-Muighe-Samh, an island on Lough Michael O'Longan, about the year 1760, "
Erne, Colgan published his Acts in the there is a Hymnus de Virtutibus et mira-
'*
Acta Sanctorum Hibernioe," xviii. Janu- arii, pp. iii to 115.
^ See Sir James Ware, " De Scriptoribus
culis Sanctoe Brigidae Kildariensis abbatissas et patronte," a Sancto Brigano, p. 82. It appears to have been copied from Colgan.
'7 There are seven of a poem on quatrains
St. Brigid attributed to St. Brogan, and
According to the Third, Fourth and
Fifth Lives of St. Brigid, as published by St. Brigid, published by Colgan, in vol.
lib.
9 In his notes to St. Brigid's Third Life.
'°
"
him, at that day, when his Life will be vSt. Brigid's Acts (cap. xxiv. ), and which,
Colgan promised to say more regarding
found in this collection.
'3 See Dr. O'Donovan's "Annals of the
in the original, begins with these words "Brigid be bhithmaith. "
==" The Scholiast on this and an hymn,
Irish life of St. Brigid, attribute its com- position to St. Columba.
Four Masters," vol.
'* See his Life at the 1 7th of September.
'S That published by Colgan has 53 stanzas, while one, attributed to this same
i. , pp. 208, 209.
*3 On the 9th day of June. This is shown Brogan Clocn, among the Trinity College in the fourth appendix to his Acts. See
^^
Betham Collection of Manuscripts of the Royal Irish Academy, and written by
In the vol. xviii. , belonging to the
these are followed by St. Brogan's hymn to
Colgan supposed he had not seen any of Columba's compositions on this subject, except what had already been given through a Latin version in his second appendix to
February i. ] LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS.
St. Ultan,=* Bishop of Ardbraccan, in Meath, it is believed, wrote a book on the Life of St. Brigid. 's He also, it is said, composed a hymn, in her praise. ^^ Colgan has assigned both of these tracts to the third place among his various published acts of our saint. ^7 This author flourished about a. d. 5 So, and he is reputed to have died, at a very old age, on the 4th of Sep- tember, A. D. 656. =^^ St. Aleran, or Aileran, sometimes called Eleran,^9 and surnamed the Wise, was a president or chief-director over Clonard School, in Meath. He wrote St. Brigid's Life. 3° This is testified by St. Coelan, who himself composed metrical acts of St. Brigid. 3' St. Aileran's feast has been assigned incorrectly to the nth of August,32 and his death is set down at 664. This year of mortality, however, seems rather referable to St. Aileran the Wise,33 whose feast is held on the 29th of December. Kilian or Coelanus, of Inis-Keltra,34 composed St. Brigid's Life in verse. 35 This formsthesixthandlastofheracts,aspubHshedbyColgan. 36 Inhisnotes, postfixed to this metrical life,37 the editor attempts to prove that Coelan flourished about the end of the seventh or beginning of the eighth century. 38 Animosus, who appears to have acquired the name Anmchiudh or Anmire, among the Irish, is said to have written many books of St. Brigid's acts. 39 This author, as has been thought, flourished about the year 950. 4° At a period subsequent to the time of writers already named, many others, who flourished after the commencement of the twelfth century, wrote her life. Among these authors may be enumerated, Laurence of Durham,^^ who is
Colgan's "Trias Thaumaturga," cap. iv. , v. , vi. , pp. 483 to 486.
^^ See his Life at the 4th of September.
=9 See his Life at the 29th of December.
3° See Sir James Ware, "De Scriptoribus Hibernian," lib. i. , cap. iii. , p. 27.
3' See " De Primordiis Britanni- Ussher,
" Ultan
Macconcubar \i. e. O'Connor] Bishop of carum Ecclesiarum," p. 1067.
''
The Virgin's virtues many writers paint, Ultan the Sage and Eleran the Saint ;
And Amchaid in immortal works dis-
play'd
The life and merits of the spotless
141 to 155.
3^
See "Trias Thaumaturga. " Vita S. Brigidse, pp. 582 to 596.
-s In Harris' we Ware,
read,
Ardbraccan, collected the Miracles of St.
Brigid into one volume in alphabetical order, from whence an anonymous author, who 'ivrit the life ofthat virgin in verse hath taken occasion to preface his Poem with these lines : —
3^ See Colgan's "Trias Thaumaturga. "
Sexta Vita S. Brigidse, n. 6, p. 598, and
Appendix Tertia ad Acta S. Brigidae, pp. 609, 610. This seems to confound Jiim with St. Aireran or Ereran of Tyfarnham in Westmeath.
33 See Dr. O'Donovan's "Annals of the
*'
Desaipsit
De vita ac studiis virginis ac meritis.
Scripserunt nmlti virtutes virginis ahnce^ Four Masters," vol. i. , pp. 276, 277. UltanusDoctor,atqueEleraniisovans. 3-i SeehisLifeatthe29thofJuly.
vndtos Animosus nomine 3S This has been edited Father libros, by
maid. "
37 A manuscript copy of this metrical life, kindly presented by William Eassie, Esq. , High Orchard House, Gloucester, England, is in the writer's possession.
38 See ibid. , nn. 1,2, 596 to 598. 3, pp.
39 In a prologue, prefixed to St. Coe- lan's metrical life, and published by Colgan, allusion is made to the three last named writers of St. Brigid's Acts. See "Trias
Thaumaturga. " Sexta Vita S. Brigidse, p.
—Vol. ii. "Writers of chap, iv. , p. 30,
Ireland,"
book
i. ,
^^
Stated to have commenced with the
words: " Audite Virginis laudes. " To it,
allusion has been already made. "
^7 See Trias Thaumaturga," pp. 527 to 545.
582.
4° See ibid. Vita Quarta S. Brigidse, n.
-*^ See Dr. O'Donovan's "Annals of the
Four Masters," vol. i. , pp. 268, 269 and n.
{s^), ibid. In the " Chronicum Scotorum,"
edited by William M. Hennessy, his death about 1 149. Besides St, Brigid's life, he
is placed at A. D. 653, which is tlie year 657, wrote a Scriptural history, in Nine Books
according to O'Flaherty. SeCjpp. 94, 95, and in Latin elegiac verses. 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.
