No More Learning

INTRODUCTION—TIME WHEN ST. CIAR, OR CERA, LIVED—HER PARENTAGE AND FAMILY —HER EARLY YEARS—SHE FOUNDS A CONVENT AT KILKEARY—SHE THERE RULES OVER A RELIGIOUS COMMUNITY.
and order in the division of life-duties give a saint the power of work. From childhood this have
Martyrology Tallagh," 4th January. Fiadhnat, the same virgin,^ is recorded on this day in the
entry, Martyrology of Donegal. "3 The distinction of sanctity accorded her proves the genuine
METHOD
oducing preternatural may grown into a habit, improving with the increase of holiness. But usually the
pr
religious inmate effects her first great impressions within the convent walls.
There frequently she continues them for long ages, when producing a work
inspired by sublime ideas and sound spiritual teaching.
We find the name of this holy virgin variously -vvTitten Ceara, Ciar, Cior,
Cyra, and Cera^ in the Irish Menologies. =^ Our national hagiographist, Col- gan, has endeavoured to compile acts of this saint for the 5 th of January ;3 but it is probable he fell into mistakes during the process. According to his computation, she must have been born sometime about the middle of the sixth century. It seems more likely, however, that her birth took place about or after the commencement of the century succeeding. The father of
Art. IV. —'Edited by Rev. Dr. Kelly,
nat and on Emlinat, mother of Emhin. " 3 Edited by Drs. Todd and Reeves, pp.
6, 7. — —' As in all words Art. i. Chap. i.
similarly initialed, and found in the Irish
p. xi. In the Franciscan copy of the " Tal- "
lagh Martyrology I find an entry of this saint's festival at the 4th of January as
"pTinACAin. U. "
" There is added in a more recent hand, aca aj
* In a note Dr. Todd he by
like the pronounced Eng-
iriA A mobing eA'OAiAJui'oe,
^ The
of
of Maria-
bht^gic beriAig A|\ per). -poyv A^x ChoiniriAC Ajtif a^ eAThtiAC mAUAi|\ eiiiiii : "whom Moling
Martyrologies
says,
language,
has in his prayer beginning, 'O Briget, Januarii. Vita S. Cerse, with notes ap- bless our path ;' also in his verses onColm- pended, pp. 14 to 16.
the C-is lish letter K.
Tallagh, nus O'Gomian, and of Donegal.
3 See "Acta Sanctomm Hibemise," v.
"
January 5. ] LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. 63
this holy virgin was named Duibhre/ Her origin is derived from the royal race of Conor, King of Ireland. ^ Both in this island and in Scotland many royal and saintly descendants from this monarch flourished. ^ As founders of families and religious houses many of those personages are distinguished. 7
St. Cera is said to have been a native of Muscraidhe Thire f but in what particular part of the present baronies of Upper and Lower Ormond, in Tip- perary county, she was born has not transpired. As she grew, however, the fameofhersanctityandmiraclesbecamewidelyknown. Amiraclehaving reference to her is introduced by Colgan, in which it is stated,9 that at the request of St. Brendan, patron of Clonfert, this holy virgin, St. Cera, by her prayers extinguished a pestiferous fire^° which had broken out in the region ofMuscraidheThire. " Herreputationforpietysoondrewmanyvirtuous persons to imitate her example. She was then induced to erect a nunnery, whichtookthenameofCillCeirefromher. " ItisnowknownasKilkeary,
'• He is also called Duibhrea by St. . ^Engus,
the Martyrology of Tallagh, the Annals of Clonmacnoise, and those of the Four Mas- ters.
being situated in this territory. It is stated in a letter written by Sir Charles O'CarrolI to the Lord Deputy in 1585, and preserved
in the Lambeth Library (Carew Collection,
s The Genealogical Menology, in the 1 7th No. 608, fol. 15), that the name Lower
chapter, as also the Calendar of Cashel, at Ormond was then lately imposed upon
the 1 6th of and who " " the of the October, Maguire, by Muskry-heery by usurpation
some is called Angus' Commentator, at —the 5th of January, thus draw his pedigree : This Conor the First immediately suc- ceeded in the sovereignty of Ireland the celebrated Conn of the Hundred Battles, to whose daughter, Saraid, he had been mar- ried. Conor the First reigned from A. D. 158 to 165; and by Saraid he h—ad three
contemporaneous Earl of Ormond. See Dr.
O'Donovan's " Leabhar na g-Ceart," or
"Book of Rights," n. (e), p. 29.
9 This is found in a MS. called the Codex
Kilkenniensis, towards the end of St. Bren- dan's Acts.
'°
See an account of this miracle in the first "Vita S. Brendani," cap. xxiii. , p. 21, sons, viz. , i^Ca—irbre Muse, 2 Cairbre published among the "ActaS. Brendani," Baschaein, and 3 Cairbre Riada. See Dr. original Latin documents connected with O'Donovan's "Annals of the Four Mas- the Life of St. Brendan, Patron of Kerry and Clonfert, edited by Right Rev. Patrick
ters," vol. i. , pp. 106, 107.
* From his son Cairbre Muse descended
Moran, D. D. , Bishop of Ossory.
'^ The Irish word "Muscroighe" is said to
the tribes of Muscraige Breogain, now the barony of Clanwilliam, in the south-west of
Tipperary county ; the tribes of Muscraige-
"
Muse," the name
Mitine, now the barony of Muskerry, county fies a progeny or race, or, according to
of and the tribes of from " which a Cork; Muscraighe- others, rige," signifies king-
Thire, now the baronies of Upper and Lower dom or region.
This territory and the Mus-
Ormond, in Tipperary county. See ibid. , n. craige family derive their name and origin "
(t), p. 106, and O'Flaherty's Ogygia," from Carbery Muse, son to Conor, King of pars, iii. , cap. Ixiii. , p. 322. From his son Ireland. The initial letter T is sometimes Cairbre Baschaein descended the Corca elided and sometimes retained, as in Kia- Baiscinn, a people who inhabited a district
in the south-west of Clare, now comprised
in the baronies of Moyarta and of Clondera-
law. From his son Cairbre Riada descended
the Dalriads, a tribe who dwelt in the north See n. 6, p. 15. Kilcrea Abbey, in the of the present Antrim county. This tribe latter county, was dedicated to St. Brigid, is long extinct or unknown there ; but a and founded for the Franciscan Order in the more illustrious tribe of the Dalriads settled
in Scotland, as mentioned by the Venerable
fifteenth century by Cormac Mac Carthy, chief of Muscraige Mitine. See O'Dono- van's "Annals of the Four Masters," vol. iv. , pp. 1038 to 1040, and notes (y, z). A St. Credh also had a nunnery here at an early period, but the exact time has not transpired. She appears to have been con- founded with this present saint by Colgan.
Bede.
"
Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis An-
glorum," lib. i. , cap. I.
^ Colgan names several of these as saints.
"
See Acta Sanctorum Hibernise," n. 5, p.
15-
8 The Church of Cill Cheire, now Kil-
keary (near the town of Nenagh), and Lea-
tracha, now Latteragh (about eight miles south of the same town), are mentioned as
Avery exquisite poem, called,
"
The Monks
have been derived from ''"
of a hero, and from trogh, which signi-
roghe Alt roighe, Dart roighe, Coenroighe, Muscroighe, Bentroighe.
'*
places it in the county and diocese of Cork.
Colgan certainly mistakes when he
of Kilcrea," anonymously published, admi- rably describes its scenic beauties.
64 LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. [January 5.
near Nenagh, in the barony of Upper Ormond, county Tipperary. Here she
governed a community of nuns, but not so early as the sixth century. ^3 There appears to be no sufficient reason for supposing she hved contempo- raneously with St. Brendan of Clonfert ;' and the story to which allusion has been already made may rest only on popular rumour, or have reference to some other St. Cera. Perhaps, indeed, as we shall see hereafter, she may havelivedinthetimeofaSt. Brendan,'s whowasquiteadifferentperson; and in the case of homonymous saints, it may often be doubted, if legends prevaihng and attributed to one of them may not rather be ascribed to some other, and to a totally distinct person. '^ Moreover, for want of correct infor- mation, or because sufficient inquiry had not been instituted, it is to be sus pected that various irreconcilable and chronological inaccuracies have been allowed by the writers of saint legends to find place in their compositions. '7
CHAPTER II.
ST. CERA TRAVELS TOWARDS ELY O'CARROLL—SHE FOUNDS A NUNNERY AT TEHELLY —RETURNS TO KILKEARY—HER DEATH, AND PLACE OF INTERMENT—FESTIVALS— CONCLUSION.
Having ruled over her religious establishment in Muscraighe Thire for some time with great prudence and sanctity, Cera found the number of her postu- lants daily on the increase. She then resolved on seeking another location where she might erect a second house. Accordingly, the holy woman left Kilkeary, in company with some of her religious. She directed her course,
" statementistobefound. See"
'3 Yet in
Harris' Ware," vol. ii. , such a
English translation, was obligingly furnished
Antiquities of Ireland," chap, xxxviii. , p. 270. Arch- dall, too, places St. Cyra's foundation in the countyofCork. See"MonasticonHiber-
nicum," p. 72.
'* This anachronism is insisted on by Dr.
"
Ecclesiastical History of Ireland," vol. iii,, chap, xviii. , § xii. , n.
159, and pp. 129-131.
'5 The Abbot of Birr, St. Brendan, died
on the 29th of November, A. D. 571 or 572,
according to our native annals, and therefore
it would hardly seem he could have been
by e. n.
Lanigan in his
CojAi^w Semeoin, ^ochA, CoC]\ifcc]\uch^ongloA; "bA CAin 5]MAn speic nuA, CiA]\, in gen 'Ouib]\eA.
" The call of Semeoin, the sage, To Christ of purest form ;
A new transitory gentle sun was|
"
Ciar, the daughter of Duibrea. According to this translation, the probable
the person. Brendan is sometimes written inference to be drawn from the foregoing
Brenainn and there are no less than ten of would be that Ciar lived for a short time
;
the latter denomination found in our calen- dars. One is venerated at the 9th of Janu- ary; one respectively at the 8th and i6th of
only, and yet her virtues shone brightly; while it is right to observe the commentator on this passage seemed to think she lived
one
ber; and one respectively at the 1st, 8th,
May one at the
; 27th
of
tively at the 1st, 3rd, and 29th of Novem- for in a gloss to 5]\eic he thus states:
and '*
of December.
Thus it seems hard to believe that St.
A — aca tdo niUfcyvAi'oe Ch1]^e aju^* pt
13th
Che^i
Brendan of Clonfert, who died in 576, could have requested St. Cera, who died more
than one hundred years later, to perform the miracle to which reference has been made in the text.
'' The following stanza, from the Leabhar Breac copy of the Feilire of St. ^ngus, in Irish, at the Nones of January, with its
since, she was, i. e. , in Cill Chen, in Mus-
craidhe Thire, and she is of the race of
"
Conaire.
tion would apparently serve to remove her in point of time far from the age of St. Brendan of Clonfert. The Semeoin alluded to in the text was St. Simeon Stylites, vene- rated at the 5th of January.
July ;
respec-
a short time before St. — only . ^^ngus wrote,
Mr. — O'Longan :
. 1 . 5e|\Aic riA 5Ai]MC o]\o bui . 1. 1 Cibl/
CoriAi^e
T)!
i. e. ,
"not or short long since,
The acceptation of either transla-
January 5. ] LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. 65
irissaid,''towardsHeli,orElyO'Carrollcountry-^ butitwouldappearshe went beyond its bounds to the northern part of the King's County. From St. Fintan Munnu^ she is said to have obtained the site for a nunnery, and at a place called Tech Telle. 3 It is now known as Tehelly. '* There St. Fintan Munnu lived ; but to St. Ceras and to the five nuns who accompanied her he resigned that site. Here she is thought to have remained for some time f afterwards she returned to Kilkeary. 7
M. LEUVHAvNTDtW
Church Ruins at Kilkeaiy.
On the right side of the road, as the traveller proceeds from Nenagh to Burrisoleigh, are situated the ancient cemetery and ruined church of Kilkeary
Chap. ii. —' The tribe name was derived from Eile, the seventh in descent from Cian, son to OUoU Olum, King of Ireland. Ac- cording to O'h-Uidhrin this territory, situ- ated in ancient Mumha, or Munster, had been divided into eight "tuatha," ruled by eight petty chiefs, over whom O'Cearbhall, or O'Carroll, was the king or head.
An- cient Eile, or Ely, comprised the whole of Eile O'Carroll, included within the baronies of Clonlisk and
the county of Westmeath.
* This is stated to have been neau-Durrow,
in a gloss to the Feilire of St. ^ngus, at the
25th of June, according to the Leabhar Breac copy. It lies within the present parish of Durrow, where St. Columbkille founded a celebrated monastery in the sixth century. See Dr. O'Donovan's "Annals of the Four Masters," vol. i. , n. (u), p. 282, and n. (h), p. 319-
'
5
as also the baronies of Ikerrin and Elyo- before it was occupied by St. Telle. The
or "Bookof n. Rights,"
Ballybritt, King's County,
',She
place
garty, county of Tipperary. That portion of the King's County belonging now to the diocese of Killaloe was comprised in Ely
O'Carroll, and it originally belonged to Munster. On its northern line the boundary between the dioceses of Killaloe and Meath determines that between the ancient territo- ries of Ely O'Carroll and Midhe or Meath. SeeDr. O'Donovan's "Leabhar na g-Ceart,"
'
will be found.
3 It was called from St. Telle, who ob-
tained possession of it, as may be seen by
referring to some notices of this saint at the
of — has its situation in 25th June. Colgan
only difficulty is that Telle flourished before the death, in 635, of Fintan Munnu. But St. Cera seems to have been young at the time she is said to have been there. Sup- posing that this was about 625, her having
lived until 680 contains — contradic- nothing
"
tory or unchronological. Dr. Lanigan's
"Ecclesiastical History of Ireland," vol.
iii. , chap, xviii. , § 12, n. 157, pp. 130, 131.
* of the houses in West- Treating religious
meath County, Archdall incorrectly states that St. Cera built an abbey at Teaghtelle some time before the year 576. See " Mo- nasticon Hibernicum," p. 728.
^ Marianus O'Gorman, in his Martyrology, and the Scholiast on St. ^ngus, are autho- rities for this account.
(i), pp. 78, 79. His feast occurs on the 2ist of October, at which day some notices regarding him
Vol. I.
No. 2.
F
is stated to have been
m that
66 LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS.
[January 5.
parish; in the county of Tipperary. ^ They lie in the middle of a very beautiful landscape and in a rich country, not far from Latteragh mountains and the hills of Templederry, being placed about three Irish miles from Nenagh. ThePoorLawGuardiansofNenaghUnionhavelatelyenclosed the graveyard with a wall. None of the old church ruins remain, except the western gable, 23 feet in extent by 20 feet in height. This gable is richly mantled with ivy. A fine old hawthorn tree, near one comer, gives a
picturesqueappearancetothesolemnscene. Thechurchseemsveryancient, and some of the old stones, which are scattered about the churchyard, are very long and broad. One of them measures 1 2 feet in length by 4 feet in width. 9 All are covered over with moss. The foundations of the old walls atKilkearypeepoverthethickgrass,andaremoss-covered. Theymeasure 72 feet in length, from the end of the gable represented in the sketch. '° This ancient burial-place contains the tombs of the D'Altons of Knuck D'Alton, and of the O'CarroUs of Ballycrenode and TuUa, a branch and sept of the O'Carrolls of Ely O'Carroll. The churchyard is kept in excellent order.
A learned writer supposes St. Cera's establishment was not formed at KilkearyuntilaftershehadleftTechTelle; butforthisopinionheassigns no valid reason. " At all events, in Kilkeary she spent many years, which
To reconcile his conjecture that St. Cera lived before the death of St. Brendan the Navi- gator," Colgan maintains that she must have attained the extraordinary age of
120 or 130 years. ^3 This holy virgin resigned her pure soul to the Creator on the 5th day of January, a. d. 679,'-* but another festival to her memory is held on the i6th of October. The " of the
were devoted to the exercises of penance and of a holy life.
"Calendar of Marianus Cashel,"
^
This description has been taken from notes written by Maurice Lenihan, Esq. , M. R. I. A. , to whom the %\Titer is specially indebted for a visit to the ruins, two distinct sketches, and the notices here embodied.
9 It lies near Lieutenant-General Sir William Parker's monument.
'° Taken on the spot by Maurice Lenihan, Esq. , M. R. I. A. , in September, 1873. The engraving is by George A. Hanion, 37 College-green, Dublin.
" Ecclesiastical His-
and the "
of
" See Dr.
that he entertained a firm conviction that not only were both saints distinct, but that
one considerably preceded the other in the order of time. Yet it seems difficult to re-
concile this matter with the long prevailing traditions of two separate dioceses ; the co-
incidence of their respective patrons being styled Abbot, and their festival ha^^ng been set down at the same day, not to mention the almost universally created opinion. founded on ancient records, that to St. Brendan of Clonfert are attributed the Acts of St. Brendan the NaNagator, said to have been a native of Kerry. For a further con- sideration of these questions the reader is referred to the i6th of May.
Lanigan's
tory of Ireland," vol. iii. , §. 12, p. 129.
O'Gorman,
Martyrology
'* He died, it is supposed, as Patron of
Clonfert and of Ardfert a. d. 576, while St.
Cera died a. d. 679. An opinion now pre-
vails, however, that St. Brendan the Navi-
gator was a distinct person from St. Brendan
of Clonfert, and identical with St. Brendan
of Ardfert, in the county of Kerry. The these years of St. Cera do not exceed the
present writer had long suspected that such might have been the case; but in July,
1871, chancing to meet a very intelligent old man, and an excellent Irish scholar, Mr.
Andrew O'Sullivan, at Cahirciveen, in the
county of Kerry, he was very positive in the
assertion that the native St. Brendan of
Ardfert was the Navigator, and that Bren- " Ciar ingen Duibhrea" is noted. In the dan of Clonfert was altogether a different
saint William K. Sullivan, M. R. I. A. ,
irrespective and independently of the infor-
mation already furnished, has assured me
Martyrology Tallagh,'"^^
'3 He adds, that as compared vA'Ca. the ex-
traordinary longe%'ity of other persons men- tioned in his "Acta Sanctorum Hibemias,"
bounds of credibility. '»"TheageofChrist679. Thesixthyear
of Finshneacta. St. Ciar, virgin, daughter of
"
Duibhrea, died on the Sth of January. O'Donovan's "Annals of the Four Mas-
ters," vol. i. , p. 287.
'^ in the ^ition of Dr. Kelly, p. II,
copy belonging to the Franciscan Library
Cioii\ ingeti 'Ouibi\eA itifulA is read at the Nones or 5th of January. It is difficult to
account for the adjunct, Inful-A.
January 5. ] LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. 67
Donegal,"'^ commemorate a Ceara on both these days. This latter feast, however, may have reference to a different saint of the name, for we find her
called Ceara, of Maghascadh. ^7 Yet it is expressly stated by Marianus O'Gorman and Charles Maguire that the present St. Cera's body was buried in the Church of Magh-ascadh. It seems doubtful enough if this can be
"" identical with the Church of Kill-chere, where the Calendar of Cashel
and other authorities state that her remains repose. Some confusion seems
to have arisen, for there are different saints of this name represented as having
been assigned to various days in our Menologies. '^ It is conjectured by
that the of ^° must have been her or the date 5th January natalis,^'
Colgan'9
for St. Cera's death f^ while the i6th of October must refer to some other
commemoration or solemnity, probably to a translation of her relics.
Altogether independently of that periodical delight the phenomena and vicissitudes of the year convey to the mind of a naturalist, the return of festive days and various rites and ceremonies connected with them have a special interest for every Christian people. ^3 Those antiquities relating to the days of the calendar are like landmarks on the great road of life. They remind a palmer of progress he is making, at the same time, they point out what is to be done on the way. They become salutary mementoes of mor- tality, and useful excitements to vigilance. Year by year as they pass, fewer are the opportunities afforded for making our election secure.
Article II. —St. Ciaran Mac Aeda, or Son of Aedh. It would
seem that Colgan fell into an error in identifying by a possible conjecture the present saint \vith St. Kieran, son of Tulchan, thus making him the brother of St. Fintan Munnu, and of St. Conchenna. ^ This saint is entered in the Mart5Tology of Tallagh^ as Ciaran mac Aedh ; while in the Martyrology of Donegal,3atthissameday,hisnameisenteredasCiaran,sonofAedh. His
'*
In a note Dr. Todd says, at this word, In the margin is this note in
'
Cill Cree, nomen per corruptionem ;' but this note is incorrect, for the church is still called Kilkeare. "
lUd.
'7 See the "Martyrology of Donegal," edited by Drs. Todd and Reeves, pp. 278,
279.
'^We'leam, besides the present St. Cera,
that St. ^ngus, the Martyrologies of Tal- lagh and Marianus O'Gorman state a St. Cera, at Rath Mointich, was venerated on
mentator on St. ^ngus, the Calendars of
Tallagh, of Cashel, and of Donegal have her feast at this date,
name at the 5th of January. The English translat—ion on the opposite page reads as
See Dr. Todd's and Dr. Reeves' edi-
tion, pp. 6, 7.
"
a more recent hand, i. e. ,
follows ["Ciar and Lassar, virgins, pa- trons of the parish church of Domhnach- moin, of the diocese of Clochar, in the country of Mac Mathghamhna. "] See Dr. Todd's and Dr. Reeves' edition, pp. 376, 377.
the 5th of February another St. ;
'" Thaumaturga,
vir- gin, at the 8th of February ; besides a third at the 9th of September. I do not find this latter entered in Drs. Todd's and Reeves' edition of the "Martyrology of Donegal"
Cera,
the entry of thirteen foreign saints in the
Franciscan copy of the Tallagh Martyrology,
we have five distinct entries of Irish saints, ''See "Acta Sanctorum Hibemise," § 4, at the Nones, or 5th of January. These and n. 14, pp. 15, 16. commence with CiA]\<\n mAC-<\eT)A. In the ^ The Festilogy of ^ngus, the Com- published copy we find, Colman Mac Each-
at that date ; but an additional St. Ceara, of Magh-ascadh occurs at the i6th of October.
^^ In the table to the " appended
copy.
3 See Dr. Todd's and Dr. Reeves'
pp. 6, 7.
Martyr- ology of Donegal," within brackets, some notes are written in Irish under this saint's
edition,
^The Irish Annals support this state- ment.
^3 See "Circles of the Seasons," preface,
p. 6. This work, published anonymously, appears to be the work of a devout Catho-
lie. —
Art. II. See "Trias
Quarta Appendix ad Acta S. Columbse, cap. iii. , p. 482.
^
Edited by Rev.