No More Learning

Anglorum," lib. iii. , cap. xxvii.
31 See Dr. O'Donovan's "Annals of the
Four Masters," vol. i. , and nn. (p,q, x), pp. 274 to 277.
32 As we have said in the Life of St. Fursey, in the First Volume of this work, Art. i. , at the 1 6th of January, another saint of the name seems to have been commemo- rated in our Calendars. But, this is inferred
from a difference in
965.
38 See Ussher's "Britannicarum Ecclesia-
rum Antiquitates," chap, xvii. , p. 474.
39 Described on the "Ordnance Survey Townland Maps for the County of Meath,"
sheets 16, 17, 23.
*° It is noticed in the Ordnance Survey
rather than
papers relating to the County of Meath, and now preserved in the Royal Irish Academy, * l See Rev. A. " Diocese of Meath,
proved, genealogical accounts.
Cogan's
Ancient and Modern," vol. ii. , chap, xvi. , p.
33 His feast was held on the 16th of July,
at which date some accounts of him may be
found in the Seventh Volume of this work,
Art. i. 43
34 "
See Archdall's Monasticon Hiberni-
cum," p. 511.
35 From him Ardbreccan was sometimes
called Tobar Ultain or Ultan's Well. See Edward O'Reilly's M Chronological Account
Four Hundred Irish Writers," &c,
3<5 His death has been assigned to about
See Colgan's
bernise," xx. Januarii. Secunda Vita S. Fechini, cap. xxix. , p. 136.
** Thus runs the English translation of
his quatrain : —
". ,, . . . . . .
Ullanloves 1Schildren; r *!
of
p' xiv#
nearly
A prison for his lean side, And a bath in cold water In the sharp wind he loved.
AD 650.
3? Ussher writes
" Unde colligimus eun- dem hunc Episcopum Ultanum ratione quidem origims Conchubarensem fuisse die- tum ; Ardbrechanensem vero, respectu ad sedem habito, quod hodiernum Miden. sis Prsesulis est domicilium. "— " De Primordiis
« xR^ey -
:
311, n.
42 See his Life at the 20th of January, in
the First Volume of this work," Art. ii.
J^ " "j
2
Martyrology of Donegal," "D•r*s«/TodJ and Reeves, prpr.
C
C"
U,L
$f'? $$'. . ,~
II begins Wllh
Dpigic be bio c maic.
:
"Acta Sanctorum Ili-
September 4. ] LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. «7 which comes after the Life of St. Brigid 46 by Cogitosus, was written by
me Fratres. " Its is similar to that in style
when the two sons of Aodh Slaine were
posed the Life, as also the Latin and Gaedhlic Poems. '*8 Others think St. Columba4? was the author of the Hymn.
The Third Life of St. Brigid, as published by Colgan,s° is assigned to theauthorshipofSt. Ultan,BishopofArdbraccan. ThisManuscriptLife
him. It with " begins
Cogitis
the Book of Kilkenny ; yet, it is not the same production. In the time
wasreceivedfromthelearnedFather
Stephen White,*
1 anIrish whowas Jesuit,
The author does not
well versed in the antiquities of his native country.
publishhisname,saysWhite; henevertheless,revealshimself,asbeingfrom
the Island of Hibernia,*2 and as being of Irish origin. 53 After the last words, in a life of the sainted Virgin, the author first places her proper Latin
46 The author of the above memorandum seems to allude to the Latin verses at the
named by him ; since no writer or authority,
had heretofore stated their having compiled
St. Brigid's biography.
52 This is indicated in the first line. Col-
gan says, the Hymn which he published was
found in the Irish MS. , commonly called
end of St. Brigid's Third Life, in
"
Trias
Thaumathurga. " Colgan endeavours to show it had been written by St. Ultan. See n. I,
p. 542.
47 These were named Diarmaid and Blath- the Leabhar Iomaun in Latin, Liber
Kings,
-*? Ultan is said to have com-
—;
mac, who reigned jointly for seven years from a. d, 657 to A. D. 664—and who died of the great plague, known as the Bruidhe Connail in the year 664. See Dr. O'Dono- van's "Annals of the Four Masters," vol. i.
Vet, as St. Ultan Mac-Ui-Conchobhair,
according to the same authority, died A. D.
656, the statement in the text seems to be
inaccurate as to the date. See pp. 268 to Laimhoidhain, id est, Mundimanus, com-
277. posuit hunc Hymnum in laudem S. Brigida? 48 See Introduction to the " Calendar of vel sanctus Fiegus Sleptensis, Audite
the Saints of Ireland," edited by Drs. Todd
and Reeves, p. xxv.
49 His Life is given at the 9th of June, in
the Sixth Volume of this work, Art i.
so From an old codex, belonging to the
monastery of St. Magnus, at Ratisbonn, in Bavaria. This was accompanied with
various marginal annotations, partly taken from a MS. belonging to the monastery of
St. Autbertus, at Cambray, and partly from a MS. preserved at the Island of All Saints, in Ireland. The Cambray MS. had been furnished by Dr. Georgius Colvenerius, who was distinguished for his research and love of antiquities. Besides the All Saints MS. , received from Longford County, Colgan obtained another MS. from the Carthusian Collection at Cologne. The Ratisbonn MS. , we are told, had been written in Irish characters, and, as supposed, six or seven hundred years, before Colgan's time, that is to say, in the tenth or eleventh century. A fifth MS. was in Colgan's possession, and he received it from Dunensis monastery, in Flanders.
st He thought that the author of this third life must have been, either St. Virgil or St. Erard, Irishmen, who flourished in Bavaria in the eighth century. However, Colgan could not agree with White, that its author- ship was attributable, to either of those saints
Virginis laudes, est ejus initium : vel S. Ultanus de Ardbrecain composuit in S.
Brigidse laudem : ipse enim comprehendit miracula S. Brigidse in uno libro : Ordo alphebeticus in eo servatur et ad imita- tionem rithmi Noscarii compositus est. Quatuor sunt in eo capitula et quator lineae in singulis capitulis et sedecim syllabae in qualibet linea. " Three points must here be noted, as Colgan remarks. I. In the Hymn, published by him, the number of sixteen syllables, in each line, is not preserved, as he says may be instanced in the fourth and fifth lines. But, the Latin reader may find, on investigation, that there are sixteen syllables in the lines mentioned, as in most of the other stanzas. There are, however, five lines that either fall short, or exceed that number of syllables. 2. As published, by Colgan, the Hymn consists of five in- stead of four strophes. 3. If what the scholiast states be true, that the words, Audite Virginis laudes, commenced the hymn, and that there were four divisions or parts in it, two of the last must be wanting, and three other strophes, which are placed before these lines, must have been intended as a preface. Or, if we can be sure, that absolutely speaking, there were only four cantos in it, the fifth, which is not found in the St. Magnus MS. , must be an addition to
Hymnorum, by our national antiquaries. In this MS. were contained, also, many hymns, composed by different Irish saints. From it, Colgan obtained the last line, which
was wanting in the St Magnus MS.
53 In the Leabhar Iomaun, an old scholiast
prefixed the following proemium, or argu- ment, to this Hymn : " Sanctus Nemidius
88 LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS.
[September 4.
Hymn, and then, having completed the Latin lines, he pours forth prayers to St. Brigid, piously invoking her intercession, in the Irish idiom and
character—a circumstance somewhat remarkable.
54
There are two various
readings appended to the Hymnus de Brigida Virgine. 55 That St. Ultan was the author of this Hymn, and consequently of the Third Life, would seem to be established, in Colgan's opinion, from certain remarks of an old Scholiast, on the same Hymn. Those comments are given in a note. Even, although the Scholiast doubts, whether St. Nennidius, St. Fiech, or St. Ultan be its author, his very words are thought to be conclusive, in showing this latter, to have been the writer, both of the Life and Hymn j since he is said to have composed both one and the other, in praise of St. Brigid, and both were contained in one book. The Scholiast even cites a portion of a line, from this Hymn, which agrees -with what has been published, by Colgan. Now, it is not known, that St. Nennidius or St. Fiech wrote a Life of St. Brigid, whether in one tract, or in more than one
part.
Such a supposition of St. Ultan having been the author of St. Brigid's
Third Life, however, has been contravened by various judicious critics. The Rev. Dr. Lanigan will not allow St. Ultan, or any other writer of the seventh century, to have written the many strange fables, with which the Third Life of St. Brigid has been crammed. *6 It differs from the two first Lives, in many material points. Comparing this biography, with the First, Second, Fourth and Fifth Lives of St. Brigid, in Colgan's work, it will be found, that many particulars, there related concerning her, are not contained in those tracts alluded to; while, the number of divisions it contains is said
the original number. Colgan then con- cludes, that as no authority states St. Nennidius or St. Fiech to have written St. Brigid's Acts in a book, and as it could be shown from this writer, and from other sources, that St. Ultan wrote her Acts, in one book, and also a Hymn in her praise; it would seem, this latter must have been the author of St. Brigid's third life, published by Colgan, with the metrical lines post- fixed, and that he was composer, both of the prose life and of the Hymn. See Colgan's "Trias Thaumaturga," Tertia Vita S. Brigidae, n. 80, p. 545.
5+ This metrical composition is headed, Hymnus de Brigida Virgine. The lines run as follow :
Christus in nostra Insula, qua; vocatur Hibernia
Ostensus est hominibus, maximis mirabi-
libus
Quie perfecit per felicem ccelestis vitse vir-
ginem.
Praecellentem pro merito magno in mundi
circulo.
Hymnus iste, angelica summaeque Sanctae
Brigidae
Fari non valet omnia virtutum mirabilia,
Quae nostris nunquam auribus, si suit facta, audivimus,
Nisi per istam Viiginem, Maria; Sanche similem.
Zona sanctre militae sanctos lumbos pre-
cingere
Consuevit diurno, noclurno quoque studio : Consummato certamine sumpsit palman
victoria;
Refulgens magno splendore, ut sol in cceli culmine.
Andite Virginis laudes, sancta quoque merita. Perfectionem, quam promisit, viri liter adim-
plevit.
Christi Matrem se spopondit, diclo atque
factis fecit.
Brigida automata veri Dei Regina.
Brigida Sancta sedulo sit nostro in auxilio, Ut mereamur coronam habere, ac lauitiam. In conspectu Angelorum in saecula ssecn-
lorum,
Christe Jesu author bonorum miserere,
obsecro omnium.
55 In a note, attaching to these words in
the Hymn, Brigida automata, Colgan re- marks, that in the Irish MS. Automata was found, which should be changed for his emendation. The Greek word avro^arov signifies self-moving, or a mechanical in- strument, so curiously and ingeniously constructed, that it seems to act of its own accord, and without any apparent cause or motor. See ibid, p. 542, and n. 81, p.
545-
56 See " Ecclesiastical History of Ireland," vol. i. , chap, viii. , sect, ii. , n. 18, p. 380.
;
September 4. ] LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. 89
to exceed those in the Fourth Life, by about twenty-three chapters. 57 That St. Ultan wrote the Acts of St. Brigid, is asserted by an author of her Life
in Irish, by a certain Scholiast, as also by Archbishop Ussher58 and by Sir James Ware. 59 From the probability of some metrical lines appended
having been composed, by the same author, in the opinion of White, Colvenerius and Ward, Colgan maintains, that the Life written was identical with that published by him. This conclusion is supposed to be
"
further warranted, by the usual clause,
to the life of a Saint, coming after, and not before, that Hymn, as found in the St. Magnus MS. , and written many ages before Colgan's time. In the
to
St. Autbert MS. , it comes after a Carmen, which follows the Hymn.
61
To St. Ultan has been attributed the spirit of prophecy. It is said his
remain in metre, and in the Irish language. 62 A prophetic Poem63 extant is ascribed to St. Ultan of Ardbraccan. He is said to have foretold the arrival of the English in Ireland, and that they should annex it to the Kingdom of England. He is stated also to have been the teacher of Tirechan, who wrote from the dictation of Ultan,6* two Books, on the Acts of St. Patrick. These Books are yet in manuscript, and Archbishop Usher frequently quotes passages from them, so that we may conclude, he had
prophecies
them in his
possession.
6s These Annotations are in the Book of Armagh.
Ultan is said to have written a Life of St. Patrick,66 but this is uncertain. 6?
It was as we are 68 that collected the miracles of St. Brigid, into one
E superis resonat intus cum sedibus Echo Tubarum sublimis e superis resonat.
Mitte beata preces pro nobis Virgo benigna : Ad Dominum semper mitte beata preces.
61 Colgan remarks, that he found some words, appended to this Carmen. These showed it had been composed by the author of St. Brigid's Life, and of the Hymn, which preceded it. He also thinks, that the words " cum tuba sublimis," should be substituted for "Tubarum . Sublimis. " The writer's meaning appears to be, that he had a hope of obtaining Holy Brigid's intercession, when the trumpet should sound, on the day ofGeneralJudgment. SeeColgan's"Trias Thaumaturga," Tertia Vita S. Brigidae, p. 542, and nn. 82, 83, p. 545, ibid.
62 Edward O'Reilly possessed copies of these ascribed prophecies. See "Chrono- logical Account of nearly Four Hundred Writers," &c, p. xlv.
63 It is found in Messrs. Hodges and Smith's collection, and in the R. I. A. marked
he, told,
s? This is Colgan's statement. Yet, it must refer, not to the relative numerical divisions of Chapters, but to additional matter, in the Third Life. Colgan's di- visions of the six lives are as follows : viz. First, metrical Life, 53 stanzas of four lines each, Irish with Latin translation ; Second Life, 36 chapters, with prologue ; Third Life, 131 chapters prose, with supple- mentary metrical lines ; Fourth Liie, divided into two books, the first book containing 52 chapters, while the last, having 100, is prefaced by a prologue ; the Fifth Life comprises 58 chapters ; while the Sixth metrical Life contains 68 sections, more or less imperfect, with prefatory and supple- mental lines. To these several biographies are appended learned notes by the editor.
58 See " De Primordiis Ecclesiarum Bri- tannicarum," cap. xvii. , p. 1067.
59 See "De Scriptoribus Hibernise," lib. i. ,
cap. iii. , pp. 22, 23.
60 "
This piece is headed, Carmen de
eadem S. — MSS. Autberti :" (Scil. Brigida. )
No. 221. This is a folio
paper
MS.
The Writers
its lines are as follows
64 " Harris' Ware, vol. iii.
:
Brigida nomen habet, gemino et diademate fulget
Quam colimus fratres, Brigida nomen habet.
Virgo fuit Domini, mundo et crncifixa manebat
Intus et exterius, Virgo fuit Domini. Despiciebat ovans instantis gaudia Vitae,
Et falsos fastus despiciebat ovans.
of Ireland," book i. , chap, iv. , p. 30.
mundi fallentis honores ; Divitias, pompas horruit et fragiles
Gaudia perpetuae spectaus et prcemia vita;
.
68
:
"
Horruit et
fragiles
Suscepit, certse gaudia perpetuae
Martyrology of Donegal," edition of Rev. Drs. Todd and
Reeves, pp. 236, 237.
.
.
Explicit Vita S. Brigidae," postfixed
65 Fol. xvi. , Book of Armagh. 66 "
SeeSirJamesWare, DeScriptoribus Hiberniae," lib. i. , cap. iii. , p. 23.
°? Edward O'Reilly writes
of the Life of our Apostle, that we have seen attributed to Ultan, is certainly t—he production of a more modern pen. " "Chronological Account of nearly Four Hundred Writers," &c, p. xlv.
By the O'Clerys in the
" The copy
9o LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. [September 4.
book, and he gave them to Brogan Claen,6^ his disciple. It is said, likewise,
that Ultan commanded him to turn them into verse, so that it was the latter
that " The victorious loved as it is found in the composed, Brighit not,"
Book of Hymns. ? St. Ultan died at Ardbraccan, about three miles from
Navan, in the present County of Meath. 7
1
He is said to have completed
the extraordinary age of one hundred and eighty years. The O'CIerys' Irish Calendar even adds, that he was one hundred and eight-nine years old, when he resigned his spirit to heaven. This does not seem, however, to rest on any sure basis of calculation. He died on the 4th day of September. According to the Annals of Clonmacnoise, his death occurred, a. d. 653 ; Ware has it at the date 2 but to the Annals of Ulster, those
655 ;? according
of the Four Masters, and most other authorities, it happened a. d. 656. 73
The Annals of Ulster again note his death, under the year 662 ; and, as they state, according to another Book,? * which had been in possession of the author.
In the Martyrology of Christ Church he is recorded as a Bishop and
Confessor,attheii. NonesofSeptember. ? 5 Heisnotnoticed,however,inthe Calendar prefixed. By Greven he is set down as Vultan, at the 4th day of September, and as an Abbot in Ireland ; while a similar entry is given in the Florarium Manuscript, in possession of the Bollandists. ? 6 The Martyr-
8 of
Scotland. 79 Thus, in the Kalendar of Drummond,80 he is mentioned with
special eulogy.
The feast of this Saint had been celebrated with an office in former
** Abbot of Rostuirc, in Osory. His could have fallen into the error of writing :
feast falls on the 17th of September. See "Non novimus hunc Vultanum aut Ulta-
Colgan's "Trias Thaumaturga," Prima num abbatem, nisi forsan, idem sit cum
Vita S. Brigidoe, nn. I, 2, p. 518. Ultano abbate Hiberno, sed in Belgio 70 The Irish title for which is leabAp defuncto, de quo actum est I Maii. " Seep,
lomann. 3. It is sufficiently plain, that the entiy 1* "Obiit apud Ardbrechain in Midia refers to St Ultan, Abbot of Ardbraccan. pridie Nonas Septembris anno salutis 77 Edited by Drs. Todd and Reeves, pp.
Scriptoribus Hibemiae," lib. i. , cap. iii. , p. 23.
657. See Trias Thaumaturga," Prsefacio word Episcopus Midensis is written in the
him as
day of September. At this same date, he has been commemorated in
ology
of
Donegal? ? registers
Ultan, Bishop?
Ard-Brecain,
at the
4th
as we learn from various
local traditions regarding him exist. In the demesne of the Protestant bishop of Meath, near Ardbraccan, St. Ultan's well is still shown. It is circular, and in diameter it measures nine feet and a half. It is reputed sacred, and to a period not far distant, stations were there made on the vigil of St. Ultan's feast. Several other holy wells and stone crosses, bearing his
times,
manuscripts
dclv. ,aliisDCLVi. "—SirJamesWare,"De 234,235.
73 Colgan has his death at a. d. 656, or "''
margin. " Ardbraccanisnowunitedinthe diocese of Meath withsome other ancientsees. 79 See Bishop Forbes' " Kalendars of
Scottish Saints. "
" See " The Books of Obits and
ology of the Cathedral Church of the Holy
Trinity," edited by John Clarke Crosthwaite
andRev. Henthorn 8l AMS. in classed con-
adLectorem,p. 515.
73 So state ths O'CIerys.
7* Dr. O'Donovan's " Annals of the Four
Masters," vol. I. , pp. 268, 269, and note (d).
James Todd, p. 153.
76 See " Acta Sanctorum Septembris,"
T. C. D. , B, 3, 1,
tains at September the 4th, Nones ii. Ultain,
Martyr-
8o Thus "In Hibernia Natale Sancti :
tomus ii. Die — Conf. ix. Lect. A MS. in QuartaSeptembris. Among Epis. et. T. C. D. ,
the pretermitted Feasts. It seems strange especially after the entry which follows at the end of next column—that the editors
classed contains at the B, 3,12, September
4th, Nones ii. , Ultain, Archiepis.