Ninian is given in
an abridged form.
an abridged form.
O'Hanlon - Lives of the Irish Saints - v7
"Dublin Penny Journal,"
vol. i. , No. 45, p. 360.
Article x. — l Edited by Rev. Dr.
Kelly, p. xxx. —
Article xi. * See O'Sullevan Beare's
"
Historise Catholicse Ibernise Compen-
dium," tomus i. , lib. iv. , cap. xii. , p. 54. 1
Article xii. — Edited by Rev. Dr.
Kelly, p. xxx.
Article xiii. —x Thus: "In Scotia
Erthadi episcopi qui regi piisimo Malcolmo I. , cliarus fait K. B. "—Bishop Forbes' " Ka- lendars of Scottish Saints," p. 206.
364 LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. [July 25.
Article XIV. —Reputed Feast of St. Rumold, Archbishop of Mech- lin. At the 24th of July, quoting Galesinus, Thomas Dempster has a festival for St. Rumold, Archbishop of Mechlin. Already we have treated about him, at the 1st day of this month 3—the date for his chief feast.
tttoentp-fiftft JBap of 3uip*
ARTICLE I. —ST. NINNIO, OR NINIAN, THE SENIOR, OR THE OLD, APOSTLE OF THE SOUTHERN PICTS.
[FOURTH AND FIFTH CENTURIES. } CHAPTER I.
INTRODUCTION—DIFFERENT FORMS OF ST. NINIAN's NAME—LIVES OF ST. NINIAN— CHRISTIANS AMONG THE SOUTHERN PICTS—FAMILY AND BIRTH OF ST. NINIAN —HIS EARLY YEARS AND EDUCATION—HE VISITS ROME—HIS CONSECRATION AS BISHOP.
to a designation affixed to the name of the present Nennio, we
OWING
are at a loss to understand the exact of the term
application
or the Old, to any particular individual, among the many saints called Nennio
orNennius. Withoutanysafelighttoguideusinarrivingatanyothercon- clusion, it seems not unreasonable to believe, that the meaning here attached to senior has reference, not to the oldest of the number, but rather to the
proto-saint so designated, among them. There can hardly be any doubt, but that the present Nenio, Senior, had some connexion with Ireland, whether we regard him as being identical with the first Apostle of the Southern Picts, or with St. Nennio, his successor, at Whithern. In the first case, we must probably conclude, that the former saint had two festivals ; one at this date, andanotheratthe16thofSeptember. Aconjecturehasbeenoffered,how- ever, that if not the latter feast-day—at least the present—should be assigned to the early Apostle's successor there. This conclusion hardly accords well with Scottish tradition and history. Assuming it may be possible, neverthe- less, we shall proceed to deal with the materials which are still extant, for
notices of that celebrated missionary, who at a very early period brought a knowledge of the Christian religion among his pagan compatriots.
The name of Ninnio, Senior, or the Old, is set down, in the Martyrology
1 atthe of Heis 25th July.
tohavebeencalled
in order to distinguish him from a namesake, who succeeded in his place, and who obtained the designation of Nennio or Nennius, Junior. If so, it seems probable, that we must regard him as that reverend bishop and holy man of the British nation, whose Acts have been alluded to by Venerable Bede,» and who first brought the light of Christianity among the Southern Picts. Under different forms, the name of Ninio or Ninian may be found.
ofTallagh,
Article xiv. —*
thought
Senior,
"xxiv. Mach- Scotorum," it is thus entered —
:
liniae Rumoldi Archiepiscopi. Galesin. " Bishop Forbes' "Kalendars of Scottish Saints,"p. 206.
Article
1.
—Chapter
i.
—
l Edited by
In his "Menologium
3 See in the present Volume, Art. i.
Rev. Dr. Kelly, p. xxx. a"
See Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis An- gloruin," lib. iii. , cap. 4.
Senior,
July 25. ] LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. 365
He is called Nynia, by Venerable Bede 3 and by Alcuin ; again, he is named Nyniga,4 Ninia,s and Niniane. 6 It was Latinized Ninianus, after the time of
St. Ailred. It is known, that Monenn,7 Monein,8 or Maoineann,9 was another form of this name, and called Nenio, in Ireland ; the honorific prefix mo pre-
10
the Island of Bute, he is called Ningan.
ment of St. Ninian's name is to be found, under the forms of St. Trinyon and St. Triman.
There was an Irish Life of a St. Ninian, which connects him with Ire- land. 13 This however contains matter, which is irreconcilable with state- ments made in the Life of Ninian by St. Ailrid. A translation of that Life was made for the Bollandists, by Father Henry Fitz-simon ; but, these writers state, that it abounds in falsehoods, and they consider it to be very worthlessincharacter. x* AnearlybookontheLifeofNinniowaswrittenin theancientCelticorPictishlanguageofGalloway. Itisnotlikely,thatthis linguistic and biographical tract has been preserved. From such a source of information, his mediaeval biographer, Ailred,15 recast in a Latin form, and somewhat under the influence of mediaeval notions, another narrative, which has come down to our time. The Pictish Life appears to have been very closely followed in form and in matter. This early record formed the basis of a Life—probably a Latin translation only—and compiled towards the middle of the twelfth century, by that celebrated Abbot of the Monastery of Rievault, or Rievaux. 16 This biography has been lately translated into English, and learnedly edited *» from the best Manuscripts, by Right Rev. AlexanderPenroseForbes,D. C. L. ,ProtestantBishopofBrechin. Itisalso
18
to a common InvulgarScotch,thisholymanwasstyledSt. Ringanll orSt. Ringen. In
12
ceding
the
designation itself,
according
usage
of our
country.
illustrated with notes. This Life was first printed by John Pinkerton,
from
a beautiful
3 See ibid.
10 Manuscript, belonging
to the Bodleian at Oxford. Library,
Dublinii, 1639, 4to.
M See "Acta Sanctorum," tomus v. , Sep-
tembris xvi. De S. Niniano Episcopo, Pic- torum Austraniam Apostolo Candidac Casae in Scotia. Commentarius Historico-Criticus, sect, ii. , num. 18, p. 321.
'5 As may be seen, from his Prologue to
the Latin Life of St. Ninian, Ailred consi-
dered this to have been written in a barbar-
ous style. His Prologue seems to have been
addressed to Christianus, who was conse-
crated Bishop of Candida Casa, on the 19th
of December, 1 1 54, at Bermondsey, by the
the Archbishop of Rouen, acting for him of
York, according to the " Chronicon Sanctoe
Crucis," at that year.
* By Alcuin. See Sir Thomas Duffus
Hardy's "Descriptive Catalogue of Mate- rials relating to the History of Great Britain
and Ireland," vol. i. , part i. , p. 45.
5 See William of Malmesbury's "De Ges- tis Pontificum Anglorum," lib. iii. , sect. 118, p. 256. Edition of N. E. S. A. Hamilton.
London, 1870, 8vo.
6 See Bellenden's Boece, vol. i. , p. 255.
Edinburghedition, 1821.
' So found in the Martyrology of Tallagh
8
According
9 See the Martyrology of Donegal.
10 "The occurrence, during the Irish
occupation of- Whithern, of the names Nennio and Monennus, seems to suggest t—he notion of an ecclesiastical eponymus. " "Lives of S. Ninian and S. Kentigern. " Compiled in the twelfth century. Edited from the best MSS. , by Alexander Penrose Forbes, D. C. L. , Bishop of Brechin, Note B, p. 256.
11
Especially, in the Orkney Islands.
" In that Island, there is a harbour called
Port Ningan ; and, according to Scottish writers, it obtained name from him.
13 See Archbishop Ussher's Works, as edited by Dr. Elrington, vol. vi. " Britan- nicarum Ecclesiarum Antiquitates," cap. vm. p. 209, and cap. xiv. , p. 565. Editio
to the Drummond Missal.
In England, likewise, a debase-
,6
A. D. 1 in and Walter Espec, 131, Yorkshire,
he entered it in 11 33. He became its Abbot in
1143, and he died on the Ides of January,
A. D. 1166, in the fifty-seventh year of his age. » See " Lives of S. Ninian and S. Kenti-
gem. " Compiled in the twelfth century. Edinburgh, 1874, 8vo.
l8 In " Vitae Antiquae Sanctorum, qui habi- taverunt in ea parte Britannise nunc vocata Scotia vel in ejus Insulis," pp. I to 23.
I9 It was classed Laud. F. xv. cent. xii. ;
and, at present, Laud. Misc. 668, ff. 78^-89, sect. xii.
20 Classed Cott. Tib. D. iii. , fol. 186-192,
This was a Cistercian foundation of
366 LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. [July 25.
However, Bishop Forbes has amended Pinkerton's readings from that copy, and in more than one instance, he has supplied a sentence. In addition to
these emendations, he has collated it with a 2° Life of Manuscript
Ninian, found in the British Museum. In the Burgundian Library at Bruxelles, there is a volume of Lives of the Saints, in which the Life of St.
Ninian is given in
an abridged form. This is in the Sanctilogium Manuscript, attributed to John of Tinmouth. " From this latter, John Capgrave seems to have drawn his Acts of this saint. 32 Before the time of 23 a metrical 2« was
Alcuin, composition extant, and it praised the great miracles ascribed to Bishop Nynias. In his extreme old age, the Scottish poet, John Barbour, composed a metrical Life of St. Ninian. as The Bollandists have published the Acts of St. Ninian. 26
They have used that Life compiled by Capgrave, and they have given comments upon it. They have mention of two other Manuscript Lives of this saint ; one of these belonged to the monastery of Rubese Vallis, and the other to
2
the Carthusian Convent, at Cologne. ? These latter have not been found,
although sought for by Bishop Forbes. Nearly all the modern ecclesiastical and civil historians of Scotland have some account of this early Christian
in their Various other missionary country.
such as Dean 28 Cressy,
writers, 2x
Bishop Challenor, 9 the Rev. Alban Butler, 3° and the Rev. Thomas Innes,3 commemorate this proto-Scottish saint. Among the "Lives of the English
compendious accounts of St. Ninian. — According to the earliest Scottisli traditions, the Picts
— ofScythianorigin36andtohaveatfirstsoughtasettlementinIreland were
the most ancient inhabitants, who occupied the northern parts of the Island of Britain, while the Britons coming over from Armorica took possession of the more southern parts. 37 When the Romans had invaded and subdued the
sjcc. xiii. It is supposed to have been a and those Manuscripts are now in the Library
transcript from the Bodleian exemplar, and ithasfewvariationsfromthatManuscript.
31 He places these Lives in the order of the Calendar, beginning with St. Edward the Confessor, at January 5th.
32 See " Nova Legenda Anglie," fol. ccxli. , ccxliii.
34 Alcuin adds : "quae nobis per fideles
nostros discipulos Ebora—censis Ecclesise
Scholasticosdirectasunt. " MS. Cott. Vesp.
A. xiv. , f. 160*. See Sir Thomas DufTus John Barrow, D. D. , late Principal of St.
Edmund Oxford, Hall,
3 3 Including Introduction, these chapters contain 140 pages. Published in 1845,
London, Toovey,. i2mo.
34 See "Kalendars of Scottish Saints,"
pp. 421 to 425.
M See "Lives of the Saints," vol. x. ,
September 16th, pp. 262 to 265.
36 Such is the account given by Venerable
"
there is one for St.
Advertisement and Preface, with ten chapters following, and under distinct
Ninian, Bishop
headings. 33 Besides, Bishop Forbes,34 and Rev. S. Baring-Gould,35 have
Saints,"
other principal Saints," vol. ix. , September xvi. 31 See "Civil and Ecclesiastical History to the brothers serving God, at Candida Casa. of Scotland," book i. , sect, xxvii. , xxviii. ,
33 This he states, in a letter addressed
" of Manu- Descriptive Catalogue
Hardy's
scripts relating to the Early History of Great Britain," vol. i. , p. 45.
3s This was discovered by Henry Brad-
shaw, Esq. , in the University Library of
Cambridge.
86 In a Historico-Critical Commentary, in
Four sections and Forty-eight paragraphs. "
See Acta Sanctorum,' tomus v. , Septem- bris xvi. , pp. 318 to 328.
Bede, in his
Anglorum," lib. i. , cap. i.
27 According to a Decree of Napoleon I. , issued in 1809 or 1810, such of the Carthu- sian Manuscripts there as had not been sent to the National Library at Paris, were as- signed, with those belonging to the other local convents, to the Ecole Centrale, at Cologne,
37 Tn rcfCrence to the early people of Bri- tain, the reader is referred, for a more de- tailed account than that here given, to the Third Volume of this work, at March 17th, Art. i. Life of St. Patrick, chap. ii.
of Candida a an Casa,3 having
of the Marzellen Gymnasium there. 38 "
See ChurchHistoryofBrittany,book viii. , chap, xii. , pp. 154, 155.
39 See "Britannia Sancta," part ii. , pp. 130 to 133.
3° See M Lives of the Fathers, Martyrs and
pp. 32 to 34, sect, xxxi. , xxxii. , xxxiii. , xxxiv. , xxxv. , 391046.
3*
ThishasbeenattributedtotheRev.
said to have been
Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis
July 25. ] LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. 367
latter, Agricola erected a rampart, from the mouth of the Clyde t© that of the
Forth, about a. d. 88, to guard his conquests from the Pictish incursions. 38
Afterwards, it was found to be necessary, in the time of the Emperor Hadrian
—about a. d. 120—to erect that celebrated barrier, known as the Roman
Wall, and extending from the River Tyne to the Solway, in order to restrain
the Picts. 39 In fine, when the Emperor Severus came to Britain a. d. 210,
he cleared the northern frontier of enemies, and then erected another stone
wall, almost parallel with that of Hadrian. Many remains of this are to be
seen, at the present day. Under Roman auspices, the Christian religion
made its way into the Island of Britain ; and, even in the second century, it
hadbeenestablished; whiletherearecurrentreports,thatithadpenetrated
to regions not yet brought under subjection to the Empire. 4° The people of those distant places were termed Barbarians, by the Roman writers, as in
contrast with the provincial Britons. Already, Christian communities and churches had existed at the end of the third century, within the Roman pro- vince of North Britain. Especially, Christianity was introduced among the Southern Picts. These were distinguished from their compatriots the Northern Picts, who remained pagans, and who lived beyond the mountains on the
north-west. The was Gospel
to these St. Columba,*1 after by
only preached
a. d. 563, when he visited their remote and almost unknown region. It is
probable enough, that many of the Roman Christians, during those early ages of persecution, sought refuge from their persecutors, in the most remote pro- vincesoftheEmpire. Itiscertain,moreover,thatChristiansoldierswerein great numbers enrolled among the armies maintained by the Roman Emperors. Although the conquerors carried their victorious arms northward of the Forth, their incursions into these places were characterized, more as a military than as a civil occupation. Religious influences were not much
appreciated or permanent, among the inhabitants of British origin, as pro- bably few Christian missionaries were to be found accompanying the Roman
legions.
According to Ailred's Life, Nenius was descended from a noble family in
the Island called Britannia, and as supposed in that western part of it, where the ocean stretching as an arm makes two angles, one on either side, dividing the realms of the Scots and the Angles/3 His father is called a king, and he professed the Christian religion, being distinguished for his faith and piety. The inference to be drawn, from the very particular geographical account of Ailred, leads us to believe that St. Ninian was the son of a Cumbrian regulus, and that his native place was in a country lying on the coast of Solway Firth. 43 It is doubtful, however, as to whether St. Ninian had been born in GallowayorinCumberland. DuringthetimeoftheRomanoccupationof Northern Britain, Christianity appears to have made considerable progress in that portion of the country now known as Galloway/4 The birth of St. Ninian has been assigned to the year 360 ; so that it should seem, he was born
38 See James Pettit Andrews' " History of
Great Britain, connected with the Chrono-
logy of Europe," with Notes, vol. i. , p. 3.
39 See John Hill Burton's "History of
Scotland," vol. i. , chap, i. , pp. 18, 19.
40 See William F. Skene's "Celtic Scot- land: a History of Ancient Alban," vol. ii. ,
book ii. , chap, i. , pp. I, 2.
41 See his Life in the Sixth Volume of this
43 The Cumbrian Britains had kings of their own, until a. d. 946, when Dunmail, the last of their kings, fell in defence of their narrow territories, and Edmund gave their country to the Scottish Kings. On the cession of Cumberland to Henry II. in 1 153, the Solway became the boundary between England and Scotland.
44 The Roman General Theodosius first erected that district into a Roman province, 42 In the middle of the twelfth century, about the year 369. It was called by the
'work, at the 9th of June, Art. i. , chap. ix.
when Ailred wrote. name of Valentia.
368 LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. [July 25.
before the erection of the territory of the Gallgaedhels into a province of Rome. 45 The Apostle Ninian is stated to have been born of Christian parents, who held an influential position in that part of the country. More than ordinary means, for forwarding the education and culture of their child, wereplacedattheircommand. HismotherperhapsbelongedtotheGaelic race, inasmuch as the legend relates, that she requested her son to associate
6 when the latter had undertaken the conversion of Ireland. A tradition of Scotland holds, that St. Ninian was a nephew to St. Martin of Tours 4 ? but, it is possible, this rumour arose on account of his
himself with St.
Palladius,*
;
having been for some time under the discipline of that great master. It is stated,48 moreover, that Nennio was born in North Wales, which then repre- sented an extensive territory extending to the Derwent in Cumberland. Afterwards,it wasnarrowedbytheSaxonencroachmentstoitsmodernlimits. The senior Ninian is said to have been a descendant from Caractacus, ances- tor of Lucius, the first Christian king in Britain, and of many other distin- guishedsaintsandecclesiasticsbelongingtotheancientBritishChurch. Of these was Pepiau, surnamed Spumosus, a petty king of Ergyng, and Eywas in Herefordshire, grandfather of St. Dubritius. His brother Ninian was ancestortotheearlykingsofGlamorganshire. Intheancientgenealogies, patronymics and ancestral names were preserved and transmitted from one generation to another. So far as can be ascertained, the nam—e Ninian occurs in this particular family, and also in an older collateral line namely, that of
Nenius, or Nyniau, son of Beli Mawr/9
Ninian was baptized while an infant. The grace of baptismal innocence
hepreservedfromhisveryboyhood. HeobservedthelawsofGoddayand night, and with holy dispositions, he preserved a matured mind. Whatever
was contrary to religion, adverse to chastity, opposed to* good morals, or dis- cordantwithtruth,hecarefullyavoided. Thepiousyouthappliedwithgreat avidity to the study of the Sacred Scriptures. He meditated on their maxims, while in his mind treasures of Christian truth were hoarded for the nourish- ment of his own soul. According to Camerarius,50 Ninian lived with the Culdees, before leaving his native country for Rome ; but, this account is not to be credited, and it seems altogether inconsistent with his early age. St.
Ninio, senior, may have been, perhaps, a student in the College of Caerwor- gorm, some years before that institution was destroyed by the Irish king, Niall of the Nine Hostages, towards the close of the fourth century. While Ninian was yet a child, he manifested a very great desire, for frequenting those churches which were around him. 51 From such account, we may well infer, that Christianity was then generally established in that district of Scot- land. Ninian was sparing in the use of diet, and very reticent of his words. He was averse from jesting, and grave in his behaviour. He also learned to
:
this rock, I will build my Church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail againstit. 53 Wherefore,heconsidered,thatinthefaithofPeternaughtcould
of the thewordsofHolyWrit,andonthepromisesofChristtoSt. Peter "On
subject
the flesh to the
government
spirit.
<s See Ussher's" Britannicarum Ecclesia-
rum Antiquitates," Index Chronologicus, A. D. CCCLX. , pp. 509, 510.
—46 See an account of him a—t the 6th ofJuly
printed work of Rev. John Francis Shear-
man, " The Celtic Races of Great Britain
and Armorica," chap, iv. , p. 94.
s°See "De Fortitudine Scotorum," p. 173.
" Mira ill! circa ecclesias devotio erat.
vol. i. , No. 45, p. 360.
Article x. — l Edited by Rev. Dr.
Kelly, p. xxx. —
Article xi. * See O'Sullevan Beare's
"
Historise Catholicse Ibernise Compen-
dium," tomus i. , lib. iv. , cap. xii. , p. 54. 1
Article xii. — Edited by Rev. Dr.
Kelly, p. xxx.
Article xiii. —x Thus: "In Scotia
Erthadi episcopi qui regi piisimo Malcolmo I. , cliarus fait K. B. "—Bishop Forbes' " Ka- lendars of Scottish Saints," p. 206.
364 LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. [July 25.
Article XIV. —Reputed Feast of St. Rumold, Archbishop of Mech- lin. At the 24th of July, quoting Galesinus, Thomas Dempster has a festival for St. Rumold, Archbishop of Mechlin. Already we have treated about him, at the 1st day of this month 3—the date for his chief feast.
tttoentp-fiftft JBap of 3uip*
ARTICLE I. —ST. NINNIO, OR NINIAN, THE SENIOR, OR THE OLD, APOSTLE OF THE SOUTHERN PICTS.
[FOURTH AND FIFTH CENTURIES. } CHAPTER I.
INTRODUCTION—DIFFERENT FORMS OF ST. NINIAN's NAME—LIVES OF ST. NINIAN— CHRISTIANS AMONG THE SOUTHERN PICTS—FAMILY AND BIRTH OF ST. NINIAN —HIS EARLY YEARS AND EDUCATION—HE VISITS ROME—HIS CONSECRATION AS BISHOP.
to a designation affixed to the name of the present Nennio, we
OWING
are at a loss to understand the exact of the term
application
or the Old, to any particular individual, among the many saints called Nennio
orNennius. Withoutanysafelighttoguideusinarrivingatanyothercon- clusion, it seems not unreasonable to believe, that the meaning here attached to senior has reference, not to the oldest of the number, but rather to the
proto-saint so designated, among them. There can hardly be any doubt, but that the present Nenio, Senior, had some connexion with Ireland, whether we regard him as being identical with the first Apostle of the Southern Picts, or with St. Nennio, his successor, at Whithern. In the first case, we must probably conclude, that the former saint had two festivals ; one at this date, andanotheratthe16thofSeptember. Aconjecturehasbeenoffered,how- ever, that if not the latter feast-day—at least the present—should be assigned to the early Apostle's successor there. This conclusion hardly accords well with Scottish tradition and history. Assuming it may be possible, neverthe- less, we shall proceed to deal with the materials which are still extant, for
notices of that celebrated missionary, who at a very early period brought a knowledge of the Christian religion among his pagan compatriots.
The name of Ninnio, Senior, or the Old, is set down, in the Martyrology
1 atthe of Heis 25th July.
tohavebeencalled
in order to distinguish him from a namesake, who succeeded in his place, and who obtained the designation of Nennio or Nennius, Junior. If so, it seems probable, that we must regard him as that reverend bishop and holy man of the British nation, whose Acts have been alluded to by Venerable Bede,» and who first brought the light of Christianity among the Southern Picts. Under different forms, the name of Ninio or Ninian may be found.
ofTallagh,
Article xiv. —*
thought
Senior,
"xxiv. Mach- Scotorum," it is thus entered —
:
liniae Rumoldi Archiepiscopi. Galesin. " Bishop Forbes' "Kalendars of Scottish Saints,"p. 206.
Article
1.
—Chapter
i.
—
l Edited by
In his "Menologium
3 See in the present Volume, Art. i.
Rev. Dr. Kelly, p. xxx. a"
See Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis An- gloruin," lib. iii. , cap. 4.
Senior,
July 25. ] LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. 365
He is called Nynia, by Venerable Bede 3 and by Alcuin ; again, he is named Nyniga,4 Ninia,s and Niniane. 6 It was Latinized Ninianus, after the time of
St. Ailred. It is known, that Monenn,7 Monein,8 or Maoineann,9 was another form of this name, and called Nenio, in Ireland ; the honorific prefix mo pre-
10
the Island of Bute, he is called Ningan.
ment of St. Ninian's name is to be found, under the forms of St. Trinyon and St. Triman.
There was an Irish Life of a St. Ninian, which connects him with Ire- land. 13 This however contains matter, which is irreconcilable with state- ments made in the Life of Ninian by St. Ailrid. A translation of that Life was made for the Bollandists, by Father Henry Fitz-simon ; but, these writers state, that it abounds in falsehoods, and they consider it to be very worthlessincharacter. x* AnearlybookontheLifeofNinniowaswrittenin theancientCelticorPictishlanguageofGalloway. Itisnotlikely,thatthis linguistic and biographical tract has been preserved. From such a source of information, his mediaeval biographer, Ailred,15 recast in a Latin form, and somewhat under the influence of mediaeval notions, another narrative, which has come down to our time. The Pictish Life appears to have been very closely followed in form and in matter. This early record formed the basis of a Life—probably a Latin translation only—and compiled towards the middle of the twelfth century, by that celebrated Abbot of the Monastery of Rievault, or Rievaux. 16 This biography has been lately translated into English, and learnedly edited *» from the best Manuscripts, by Right Rev. AlexanderPenroseForbes,D. C. L. ,ProtestantBishopofBrechin. Itisalso
18
to a common InvulgarScotch,thisholymanwasstyledSt. Ringanll orSt. Ringen. In
12
ceding
the
designation itself,
according
usage
of our
country.
illustrated with notes. This Life was first printed by John Pinkerton,
from
a beautiful
3 See ibid.
10 Manuscript, belonging
to the Bodleian at Oxford. Library,
Dublinii, 1639, 4to.
M See "Acta Sanctorum," tomus v. , Sep-
tembris xvi. De S. Niniano Episcopo, Pic- torum Austraniam Apostolo Candidac Casae in Scotia. Commentarius Historico-Criticus, sect, ii. , num. 18, p. 321.
'5 As may be seen, from his Prologue to
the Latin Life of St. Ninian, Ailred consi-
dered this to have been written in a barbar-
ous style. His Prologue seems to have been
addressed to Christianus, who was conse-
crated Bishop of Candida Casa, on the 19th
of December, 1 1 54, at Bermondsey, by the
the Archbishop of Rouen, acting for him of
York, according to the " Chronicon Sanctoe
Crucis," at that year.
* By Alcuin. See Sir Thomas Duffus
Hardy's "Descriptive Catalogue of Mate- rials relating to the History of Great Britain
and Ireland," vol. i. , part i. , p. 45.
5 See William of Malmesbury's "De Ges- tis Pontificum Anglorum," lib. iii. , sect. 118, p. 256. Edition of N. E. S. A. Hamilton.
London, 1870, 8vo.
6 See Bellenden's Boece, vol. i. , p. 255.
Edinburghedition, 1821.
' So found in the Martyrology of Tallagh
8
According
9 See the Martyrology of Donegal.
10 "The occurrence, during the Irish
occupation of- Whithern, of the names Nennio and Monennus, seems to suggest t—he notion of an ecclesiastical eponymus. " "Lives of S. Ninian and S. Kentigern. " Compiled in the twelfth century. Edited from the best MSS. , by Alexander Penrose Forbes, D. C. L. , Bishop of Brechin, Note B, p. 256.
11
Especially, in the Orkney Islands.
" In that Island, there is a harbour called
Port Ningan ; and, according to Scottish writers, it obtained name from him.
13 See Archbishop Ussher's Works, as edited by Dr. Elrington, vol. vi. " Britan- nicarum Ecclesiarum Antiquitates," cap. vm. p. 209, and cap. xiv. , p. 565. Editio
to the Drummond Missal.
In England, likewise, a debase-
,6
A. D. 1 in and Walter Espec, 131, Yorkshire,
he entered it in 11 33. He became its Abbot in
1143, and he died on the Ides of January,
A. D. 1166, in the fifty-seventh year of his age. » See " Lives of S. Ninian and S. Kenti-
gem. " Compiled in the twelfth century. Edinburgh, 1874, 8vo.
l8 In " Vitae Antiquae Sanctorum, qui habi- taverunt in ea parte Britannise nunc vocata Scotia vel in ejus Insulis," pp. I to 23.
I9 It was classed Laud. F. xv. cent. xii. ;
and, at present, Laud. Misc. 668, ff. 78^-89, sect. xii.
20 Classed Cott. Tib. D. iii. , fol. 186-192,
This was a Cistercian foundation of
366 LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. [July 25.
However, Bishop Forbes has amended Pinkerton's readings from that copy, and in more than one instance, he has supplied a sentence. In addition to
these emendations, he has collated it with a 2° Life of Manuscript
Ninian, found in the British Museum. In the Burgundian Library at Bruxelles, there is a volume of Lives of the Saints, in which the Life of St.
Ninian is given in
an abridged form. This is in the Sanctilogium Manuscript, attributed to John of Tinmouth. " From this latter, John Capgrave seems to have drawn his Acts of this saint. 32 Before the time of 23 a metrical 2« was
Alcuin, composition extant, and it praised the great miracles ascribed to Bishop Nynias. In his extreme old age, the Scottish poet, John Barbour, composed a metrical Life of St. Ninian. as The Bollandists have published the Acts of St. Ninian. 26
They have used that Life compiled by Capgrave, and they have given comments upon it. They have mention of two other Manuscript Lives of this saint ; one of these belonged to the monastery of Rubese Vallis, and the other to
2
the Carthusian Convent, at Cologne. ? These latter have not been found,
although sought for by Bishop Forbes. Nearly all the modern ecclesiastical and civil historians of Scotland have some account of this early Christian
in their Various other missionary country.
such as Dean 28 Cressy,
writers, 2x
Bishop Challenor, 9 the Rev. Alban Butler, 3° and the Rev. Thomas Innes,3 commemorate this proto-Scottish saint. Among the "Lives of the English
compendious accounts of St. Ninian. — According to the earliest Scottisli traditions, the Picts
— ofScythianorigin36andtohaveatfirstsoughtasettlementinIreland were
the most ancient inhabitants, who occupied the northern parts of the Island of Britain, while the Britons coming over from Armorica took possession of the more southern parts. 37 When the Romans had invaded and subdued the
sjcc. xiii. It is supposed to have been a and those Manuscripts are now in the Library
transcript from the Bodleian exemplar, and ithasfewvariationsfromthatManuscript.
31 He places these Lives in the order of the Calendar, beginning with St. Edward the Confessor, at January 5th.
32 See " Nova Legenda Anglie," fol. ccxli. , ccxliii.
34 Alcuin adds : "quae nobis per fideles
nostros discipulos Ebora—censis Ecclesise
Scholasticosdirectasunt. " MS. Cott. Vesp.
A. xiv. , f. 160*. See Sir Thomas DufTus John Barrow, D. D. , late Principal of St.
Edmund Oxford, Hall,
3 3 Including Introduction, these chapters contain 140 pages. Published in 1845,
London, Toovey,. i2mo.
34 See "Kalendars of Scottish Saints,"
pp. 421 to 425.
M See "Lives of the Saints," vol. x. ,
September 16th, pp. 262 to 265.
36 Such is the account given by Venerable
"
there is one for St.
Advertisement and Preface, with ten chapters following, and under distinct
Ninian, Bishop
headings. 33 Besides, Bishop Forbes,34 and Rev. S. Baring-Gould,35 have
Saints,"
other principal Saints," vol. ix. , September xvi. 31 See "Civil and Ecclesiastical History to the brothers serving God, at Candida Casa. of Scotland," book i. , sect, xxvii. , xxviii. ,
33 This he states, in a letter addressed
" of Manu- Descriptive Catalogue
Hardy's
scripts relating to the Early History of Great Britain," vol. i. , p. 45.
3s This was discovered by Henry Brad-
shaw, Esq. , in the University Library of
Cambridge.
86 In a Historico-Critical Commentary, in
Four sections and Forty-eight paragraphs. "
See Acta Sanctorum,' tomus v. , Septem- bris xvi. , pp. 318 to 328.
Bede, in his
Anglorum," lib. i. , cap. i.
27 According to a Decree of Napoleon I. , issued in 1809 or 1810, such of the Carthu- sian Manuscripts there as had not been sent to the National Library at Paris, were as- signed, with those belonging to the other local convents, to the Ecole Centrale, at Cologne,
37 Tn rcfCrence to the early people of Bri- tain, the reader is referred, for a more de- tailed account than that here given, to the Third Volume of this work, at March 17th, Art. i. Life of St. Patrick, chap. ii.
of Candida a an Casa,3 having
of the Marzellen Gymnasium there. 38 "
See ChurchHistoryofBrittany,book viii. , chap, xii. , pp. 154, 155.
39 See "Britannia Sancta," part ii. , pp. 130 to 133.
3° See M Lives of the Fathers, Martyrs and
pp. 32 to 34, sect, xxxi. , xxxii. , xxxiii. , xxxiv. , xxxv. , 391046.
3*
ThishasbeenattributedtotheRev.
said to have been
Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis
July 25. ] LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. 367
latter, Agricola erected a rampart, from the mouth of the Clyde t© that of the
Forth, about a. d. 88, to guard his conquests from the Pictish incursions. 38
Afterwards, it was found to be necessary, in the time of the Emperor Hadrian
—about a. d. 120—to erect that celebrated barrier, known as the Roman
Wall, and extending from the River Tyne to the Solway, in order to restrain
the Picts. 39 In fine, when the Emperor Severus came to Britain a. d. 210,
he cleared the northern frontier of enemies, and then erected another stone
wall, almost parallel with that of Hadrian. Many remains of this are to be
seen, at the present day. Under Roman auspices, the Christian religion
made its way into the Island of Britain ; and, even in the second century, it
hadbeenestablished; whiletherearecurrentreports,thatithadpenetrated
to regions not yet brought under subjection to the Empire. 4° The people of those distant places were termed Barbarians, by the Roman writers, as in
contrast with the provincial Britons. Already, Christian communities and churches had existed at the end of the third century, within the Roman pro- vince of North Britain. Especially, Christianity was introduced among the Southern Picts. These were distinguished from their compatriots the Northern Picts, who remained pagans, and who lived beyond the mountains on the
north-west. The was Gospel
to these St. Columba,*1 after by
only preached
a. d. 563, when he visited their remote and almost unknown region. It is
probable enough, that many of the Roman Christians, during those early ages of persecution, sought refuge from their persecutors, in the most remote pro- vincesoftheEmpire. Itiscertain,moreover,thatChristiansoldierswerein great numbers enrolled among the armies maintained by the Roman Emperors. Although the conquerors carried their victorious arms northward of the Forth, their incursions into these places were characterized, more as a military than as a civil occupation. Religious influences were not much
appreciated or permanent, among the inhabitants of British origin, as pro- bably few Christian missionaries were to be found accompanying the Roman
legions.
According to Ailred's Life, Nenius was descended from a noble family in
the Island called Britannia, and as supposed in that western part of it, where the ocean stretching as an arm makes two angles, one on either side, dividing the realms of the Scots and the Angles/3 His father is called a king, and he professed the Christian religion, being distinguished for his faith and piety. The inference to be drawn, from the very particular geographical account of Ailred, leads us to believe that St. Ninian was the son of a Cumbrian regulus, and that his native place was in a country lying on the coast of Solway Firth. 43 It is doubtful, however, as to whether St. Ninian had been born in GallowayorinCumberland. DuringthetimeoftheRomanoccupationof Northern Britain, Christianity appears to have made considerable progress in that portion of the country now known as Galloway/4 The birth of St. Ninian has been assigned to the year 360 ; so that it should seem, he was born
38 See James Pettit Andrews' " History of
Great Britain, connected with the Chrono-
logy of Europe," with Notes, vol. i. , p. 3.
39 See John Hill Burton's "History of
Scotland," vol. i. , chap, i. , pp. 18, 19.
40 See William F. Skene's "Celtic Scot- land: a History of Ancient Alban," vol. ii. ,
book ii. , chap, i. , pp. I, 2.
41 See his Life in the Sixth Volume of this
43 The Cumbrian Britains had kings of their own, until a. d. 946, when Dunmail, the last of their kings, fell in defence of their narrow territories, and Edmund gave their country to the Scottish Kings. On the cession of Cumberland to Henry II. in 1 153, the Solway became the boundary between England and Scotland.
44 The Roman General Theodosius first erected that district into a Roman province, 42 In the middle of the twelfth century, about the year 369. It was called by the
'work, at the 9th of June, Art. i. , chap. ix.
when Ailred wrote. name of Valentia.
368 LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. [July 25.
before the erection of the territory of the Gallgaedhels into a province of Rome. 45 The Apostle Ninian is stated to have been born of Christian parents, who held an influential position in that part of the country. More than ordinary means, for forwarding the education and culture of their child, wereplacedattheircommand. HismotherperhapsbelongedtotheGaelic race, inasmuch as the legend relates, that she requested her son to associate
6 when the latter had undertaken the conversion of Ireland. A tradition of Scotland holds, that St. Ninian was a nephew to St. Martin of Tours 4 ? but, it is possible, this rumour arose on account of his
himself with St.
Palladius,*
;
having been for some time under the discipline of that great master. It is stated,48 moreover, that Nennio was born in North Wales, which then repre- sented an extensive territory extending to the Derwent in Cumberland. Afterwards,it wasnarrowedbytheSaxonencroachmentstoitsmodernlimits. The senior Ninian is said to have been a descendant from Caractacus, ances- tor of Lucius, the first Christian king in Britain, and of many other distin- guishedsaintsandecclesiasticsbelongingtotheancientBritishChurch. Of these was Pepiau, surnamed Spumosus, a petty king of Ergyng, and Eywas in Herefordshire, grandfather of St. Dubritius. His brother Ninian was ancestortotheearlykingsofGlamorganshire. Intheancientgenealogies, patronymics and ancestral names were preserved and transmitted from one generation to another. So far as can be ascertained, the nam—e Ninian occurs in this particular family, and also in an older collateral line namely, that of
Nenius, or Nyniau, son of Beli Mawr/9
Ninian was baptized while an infant. The grace of baptismal innocence
hepreservedfromhisveryboyhood. HeobservedthelawsofGoddayand night, and with holy dispositions, he preserved a matured mind. Whatever
was contrary to religion, adverse to chastity, opposed to* good morals, or dis- cordantwithtruth,hecarefullyavoided. Thepiousyouthappliedwithgreat avidity to the study of the Sacred Scriptures. He meditated on their maxims, while in his mind treasures of Christian truth were hoarded for the nourish- ment of his own soul. According to Camerarius,50 Ninian lived with the Culdees, before leaving his native country for Rome ; but, this account is not to be credited, and it seems altogether inconsistent with his early age. St.
Ninio, senior, may have been, perhaps, a student in the College of Caerwor- gorm, some years before that institution was destroyed by the Irish king, Niall of the Nine Hostages, towards the close of the fourth century. While Ninian was yet a child, he manifested a very great desire, for frequenting those churches which were around him. 51 From such account, we may well infer, that Christianity was then generally established in that district of Scot- land. Ninian was sparing in the use of diet, and very reticent of his words. He was averse from jesting, and grave in his behaviour. He also learned to
:
this rock, I will build my Church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail againstit. 53 Wherefore,heconsidered,thatinthefaithofPeternaughtcould
of the thewordsofHolyWrit,andonthepromisesofChristtoSt. Peter "On
subject
the flesh to the
government
spirit.
<s See Ussher's" Britannicarum Ecclesia-
rum Antiquitates," Index Chronologicus, A. D. CCCLX. , pp. 509, 510.
—46 See an account of him a—t the 6th ofJuly
printed work of Rev. John Francis Shear-
man, " The Celtic Races of Great Britain
and Armorica," chap, iv. , p. 94.
s°See "De Fortitudine Scotorum," p. 173.
" Mira ill! circa ecclesias devotio erat.
