75 See " Ussher's
Britannicarum
Ecclesi-
83 Several of the Parish Priests of Emly have been interred close to the spot sacred to the patron saint.
83 Several of the Parish Priests of Emly have been interred close to the spot sacred to the patron saint.
O'Hanlon - Lives of the Irish Saints - v9
Ailbe might have established missions in Munster, or St.
Declan possibly preached among the Desii ; until Sen-Patricius, not so much by his authority and rule, as by his piety, humility and other virtues, moved them to submission.
To avoid possible schism, to procure the common good and Christian peace, as also because the supremacy of Armagh had been established through the great Irish Apostle's authority,
tolo et Primate Hiberniae. Appendix, sect. i. , num. 8, p. 582.
57 By Father Papebroke, in his Appendix to St. Patrick's Acts, at the 17th of March.
Armagh, which he believes to have been founded about the year 445, by the great
s8 According to Papebroke, this great Senchonanus. "
—
" Trias
saint died, a. d. 461. 'See Chronotaxis Com- mentarii Prsevii.
59 The Very Rev. John Shearman has endeavoured to investigate the history of three Patricks, who were nearly contem- poraneous in Ireland and Great Britain, in
his " Loca Patriciana," part xiii. , pp. 395 et
seq.
60 " In the Psalter of Cashel, Secundin,
by some called Sechnall, St. Patrick's sister's son, is mentioned for his next successor; and Patrick the Elder, by some called Sen- Patrick, or old Patrick, a domestick of our Patrick, is said to have succeeded Secundin. But Secundin was bishop of Dunsbaglin in Meath, where hedied on the27ih of Novem- ber, 448, in the 75th year of his age [or 447, according to the Annals of Inis-fail ; when,
Thaumaturga. " Septima Appendix ad ActaS. Patricii, pars
been the third Archbishop of Armagh ?
65 See Dr. O'Donovan's "Annals of the past question, St. Patrick was himself Four Masters," vol. i. , pp. 142, 143, and
Archbishop of Armagh], and San-Patrick,
who is confounded wit—h our great Patrick,
n. (e. )
died ten years after. " Harris' Ware, vol. "
at date in the that
i. ,
Archbishops of Armagh," pp. 34, 35.
61
According to Colgan, he bore the name
of St. Patricius Senex or Senior, having probably Rossdala, County of Westmeath, been the third bishop over the see of Art. i.
" •'
St. Patrick.
Vita S. Benigni ejus successors vocatur
Hie enim videtur esse qui in
secunda, and pars tertia, pp. 292, 293.
62 The Acts of both Patricks are so inter-
woven and contemporaneous, that it is very difficult to resolve them.
63 See the AnnalA tlla-oh, or Annals of Ulster, vol. i. , pp. 16, 17, William M. Hen-
edition.
64 See William M. Hennessy's edition,
where at A. D. 457 is chronicled the Repose of Old Saint Patrick, Bishop, i. e. , of the
Church of Glastonbury, pp. 24, 25. It may be asked, had be been previously Arch- bishop of Armagh, and did he afterwards retire to Glastonbury? Or was he a distinct
person from Sen- Patrick, thought to have
nessy's
66
24th of August. See
Eighth Volume of this work, notices of St.
His festival has been assigned to the
Patrick, Abbot and Bishop of Ruis Dela,
September 12. ] LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. 293
6
a regulation might have been effected, ? whereby the Decies were assigned to
St. Declan, while St. Ailbe was set over the Minister bishops, having certain
exalted and rule metropolitan privileges
his 68 This con- suffragans.
among
jecture is pronounced by Suyskens to be sufficiently probable, as writers
living near the time of both Saints Patricks might confound their respective transactions. As a consequence, they probably attributed to the more renowned Saint, what especially referred to his immediate successor, who bore a like synonym. 7° This would necessarily lead to great confusion, by mixing together dates, acts and names, referring to various Irish Saints similarlynamed. Hence,ifweconsidertwodistinctPatricks,bothofthem Saints, and nearly allied in point of time, while both were bishops over Armagh ; it is thought, that many difficulties to be found connected with St.
Ailbe's acts may be more satisfactorily solved. ?
1
Suyskens agrees with
69
Papebroke, that the arrival of St. Ailbe in Ireland, after St. Patrick's death in
464, may well accord with the foregoing conjectures and reasons. Thus, if
we credit an account, that when a mere boy, St. Ailbe received baptism in 431, he might probably have episcopal consecration and his Irish mission conferred on him, after he had exceeded by a few years the age of thirty. ? 2 However ingenious these conjectures may be, yet they do not avail, to clear up the chronological and circumstantial difficulties that beset our Saint's
biography.
The life of this holy prelate was spent in preparing students for the
sacred minstry, in preaching the Gospel, and in forwarding the best interests of religion. It is probable, that he lived to a ripe old age. 73 Notwith-
67 In Papebroke's opinion. See his Ap- pendix to the Acts of St. Patrick, at the 17th of March. —" Acta Sanctorum," tomus ii. , Martii xvii. De S. Patricio Episcopo Apostolo et Primate Hibernise, Appendix,
owing to the circumstance of another Patrick succeeding him. In the second place, it must be admitted, that with other com- panions he went to Rome, when St. Hilaius was Pope, and that he returned to Ireland invested with the episcopal character. See
sect, i. , num. 8, p. 582.
63 "'
Suyskens thinks, there is sufficient reason for rejecting an account contained in certain old Lives, that the origin of their supposed dispute is to be found, in their having evangelized Ireland before St. Patrick's arrival.
69 See " Acta Sanctorum," tomus iv. , Sep- tembrisxii. DeS. AlbeoseuAilbeo. Sylloge Historica-Critica, sect, ii. , num. 24, p. 29.
70 Such, also, was the opinion of Pape- broke, in his Appendix, sect, i. , num. 7.
'
Acta Sanctorum, tomus iv. , Septembris xii. De S. Albeo seu Ailbeo Episcopo
Imelacensi. Sylloge Historico-Critica, sect. ii. , num. 25, p. 29.
72 According to Suyskens such arguments would seem to accord best with the date assigned for St. Ailbe's death. In fine, he says, when the great St. Patrick had vacated Armagh See, and when after his death, the primatial chair had been occupied by Sen- Pa tricius, many simply called him Patrick, could it not have happened, that St. Ailbe, already consecrated bishop, had come to Ireland, while the latter was Primate ? This might serve to explain, in a more probable manner, those accounts left us in some Lives of our Irish Saints, regarding controversies about the Primacy, which took place be-
71
Suyskens observes, in connexion with
these hints, that in the first place, that as the
Acts relate, St. Ailbe when a boy might
have been instructed in the Christian Faith
and be baptised by Palladius in Ireland, but
that if such a contention be allowed, his ton-
version cannot be placed very long before
the apostleship of St. Patrick in the same tween St. Ailbe and St. Patrick. However,
Ireland. Moreover, since the Irish Annals the Bollandist editor ignores the date of
refer the death of St. Ailbe to a. d. 527, and
Sen- Patrick's death in 457, which was some
before the death of the — years supposed great
St. Patrick in 464, even were we to allow what is by no means certain—that Sen- Patrick had ever ruled over the See of Armagh.
that he must have reached an
age
much
over one hundred years, his baptism by Pal-
ladius is not admissible, especially on the
authority of such fabulous Acts. Besides,
it is to be suspected, that he had not been
born when St. the Irish
"See Harris' " Ware, vol, i. ,
Emly," p. 492.
Patrick,
arrived, and that such account had been
Bishops of
Apostle,
294 LIVESOFTHEIRISHSAINTS. [September12.
standing, we are told, that his faculties of mind and strength of body were in no manner impaired. The Annals of Ulster? * and of Innisfallen refer his death to the year 526. 75 The Annals of Ulster repeat this entry, at the years 533 and 541. The O'Clerys refer his death to the same date. ? 6 In Harris' Ware we have the same account. 77 He remarks, that some have put off his death to a. d. , 541. 7 8 This, too, agrees with the statement of the Four Masters. 79 The ' k Chronicum Scotorum " has the rest of Ailbhe of Imlech
80
While taking Ussher's authority for the year of our Saint's death, the Bollandists think it will not well accord with about the year 412, which the same writer gives for Ailbe's arrival in Ireland. In such case, the Saint must have been over 140 years old, when he died. 81 He is said to have been buried in his own church at 8z and the site for his is
yet traditionally held by the people there to have been about six feet in a
line from a Celtic cross of red sand-stone, thought to have been one of the
oldest in Ireland, and even reaching back to the time of St. Ailbe. 8^ It is
within the graveyard, and said to be twenty feet in length, but buried so deep
in the that not more than six feet are now above the 84 In the clay, ground.
church-yard at Emly, this large cross of rough hewn stone, stood about eight feet from the ground, during the last century. Near it was St. Ailbe's well. Both of these objects were held in great veneration by the country people, vvho used to flock annually in vast numbers, to celebrate their
patron's festival, every 12th day of September. ^ St. Ailbe's well is deep and surrounded by a circular-cut stone rim, on which the knee-marks of
devout pilgrims may be seen. There they take their rounds, and pray to the
86
Ibhair at a. d. , 531.
glorious Metropolitan patron saint of Emly. " "8
Ireland," vol. i. , chap, ix. , sect, vii. , n. 105, pp. 462, 463.
79 See Dr. O'Donovan's edition of their
Annals, vol. i. , pp. 182, 183.
country : yet they never put their design
in execution ; and the cros—s and well con-
tinue there to this day. " Harris' Ware,
80 See William M. 86 See " of old, and Hennessy's edition, Emly
Septembris. De S. Albeo seu Ailbeo following stanza, at this date Episcopo Imalecensi. Sylloge Historico-
Critica, sect, ii. , num. 32, pp. 30, 31.
Bishops of
82 **
See Harris' Ware, vol. i.
"
p. ,
and vol. ii. ,
Ireland," book i. , chap, ii. , p. 6. O OAim Imp •04L415
Emly," 492
;
Writers of
La peiL tAippen I15A15
Emly, grave
In the Feilire 7 of ^Engus, the Festival of St. Ailbe is commemorated,
74 See -ArmAlA tlLAoVi, or Annals of
Ulster, pp. 42, 43, and 44, 45, and 48, 49. William M. Hennessy's edition.
75 See " Ussher's Britannicarum Ecclesi-
83 Several of the Parish Priests of Emly have been interred close to the spot sacred to the patron saint.
84 "It is said to have a miraculous power of curing those who place their backs against the shaft and of strengthening them ; and it is the customto this of to
arum Antiquitates. " p. 528-
Index Chronologicus,
76See the "
ot Martyrology Donegal,"
day persons go and place their backs against the shaft and pray to the patron saint ; and those in America and Australia, who feel ill, write to friends at home to perform the office for
edited by Drs. Todd and Reeves, pp. 246, 247. 77 See Harris' Ware, vol. i. "Bishops of
Emly," p. 492.
78 Dr. Lanigan, however, says, that he was
unable to discover such date for assigned it,
in any of our Annals. Perhaps on this point, Ware confounded St. Ailbe of Emly with an Ailbe of Senchus, who died A. D. 545, according to the Annals of the Four Masters. Dr. Lanigan thinks, that some documents might have entered 541, instead
them. "—"
Emly
of old, and
as it Emly is,"
"
of 546. See Ecclesiastical History of the causes of some disorders in the
p. 6.
8sin the time of Archbishop Palliser,"
writes Harris, "two neighbouring magis- trates obtained a licence from him to demolish the cross and stop up the well, as being encouragements to idolatry, and
vol. i.
"
Bishops of Emly," p. 490.
as it is, See Acta Sanctorum," tomus iv. , xii. 87 In the Leabhar Breac"—copy is the
pp. 44, 45. p. 6.
81" "
Emly
:
Ceilebain peiL nAiLbe
Septkmber 12. ] LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. 2 95
88
89
There appears in the published Martyrology of Tallagh, at the 12th of
September, a festival in honor of Aeilbhe, Bishop of Imlecha. In the Book of Leinster copy it is also entered. ** In the anonymous List of Irish Saints,
at the 1 2th of September. The glossographer on this notice is brief.
published by
Albius,
at the same date, as
ALutyrology
of
Ailbhe,
O'Sullivan
Beare,
we find
at the same date. ? 1 The
2
Donegal^ registers him,
Arch- bishop of Imleach Iobhair, in Minister. Also, Castellanus records his memory, at the 12th of September. ^ Father Ward declares, that at the period when he wrote the letter to Bollandus in 1634, the feast of our saint was kept on the same day, in the diocese of Emly. In the second edition of John Wilson's English Martyrology, at the 27th of February, a St. Elvius, confessor and bishop of Menevia in Pembroke, Wales, is set down j but the Bollandists have observed at that day " in Prsetermissis," and elsewhere, they have no doubt of Wilson's error, both as to St. Elvius' day of veneration,
and as to his identical episcopate. 94
Certain relics of our saint seem to have been carefully preserved in Emly,
for many centuries after his death. 95 A mitre of St. Ailbe was burned by
On that occasion, the reigning successor of our Saint, Bishop Maelmorda
robbers, when the City of Emly had been plundered, in the year 1 1 23.
saved himself 96 This Saint seems to have by flight. formerly
Mac-Inclodnai,
been honoured with an office of Nine Lessons. ? A Missal, printed at Paris,
a. d. , 1734, and edited by order of Pope Clement XII. , comprises the proper Masses for patrons and guardians, both French and Irish Saints. Among others, at the 12th of September, a Mass for the feast of St. Albeus, bishop
08
and confessor, general patron of Emly Church and diocese,
is found.
Thus translated by Dr. Whitley Stokes :—
"Acta Sanctorum," tomus iv. , Septembris xii. De S. Albeo seu Ailbeo Episcopo
Imalecensi. SyllogeHistorico-Critica,sect,
"
luminous, buoyant : with the feast of Laisren
Celebrate Ailbe's feast, with Fled the
— "Transactions of the Royal Irish Academy," Irish Manuscript Series, vol. i. , part i. On the Calendar of Oengus, by Whitley Stokes,
the beautiful of multitudinous Daim-inis. "
i. ,
num. 26. 3, p.
LL. D. , p. exxxvii.
88 He has only -Ailbe . i. imlech ibair, i. e. ,
55 The Third Volume of O'Longan MSS. , in the Royal Irish Academy, contains a short account of the Discovery of St. Ailbhe of Imliech's shrine, by St. Colman Mac Leinin, p. 14.
96 See Harris' Ware, vol. i. , "Bishops of
Emly," p. 493.
9? A MS. ' in T. C. D. , classed B. 3. 12,
contains at September 12th, Ides ii. , Elbe et Molesea, Conf: ix. Lect.
98 Our Saint is also said to have belonged to the order of Regular Canons. The follow-
" Deus, qui beatum Albeum pontificem ad regna ccelestia transtulisti, ejus intercessione tuo- rum excita corda fidelium,ut ad ejus sacra vir- tutum exempla fideliter apprehensa, aeterna gaudia consequi mereantur. Per Dominum. "
at the Secret "
Again, : Ipse nostrum
offerat tibi, Deus, Sacrificium, qui beatum Albeum pontificem suae charitatis ministrum,
et suae gloriae in ccelo participem esse voluit, Dominus noster Jesus Christus, qui tecum vivit," &c.
At the Post Communion " Populum tuum, Domine, bonis tuis adimpleant divina Sacramenta, quae animam beati Albei ponti-
of Imlech Ibair. —Ibid. , p. cxlv.
89 Edited by Rev. Mr. Kelly, p. xxxiv. 90 Thus at the v. Ides, *Mlbei epr* 1tn
teAcha.
91 See " Historian Catholicse Ibernise Com-
pendium," tomus i. , lib. iv. , cap. xi. , p. 51.
"
Catalogus Aliquorum Sanctorum Ibemiae," where he is called Elbeus, bishop, and identified with Albius, although his festival is not given.
See ibid. , cap. xii. , p. 54.
92 Edited by Drs. Todd and Reeves, pp.
246, 247.
93 " In Momonia Hibernia
Also, Father Henry Fitzsimons'
S. Albous episcopus Emelicensis, in comitatu
Tiperariensi. "
94 "
Suyskens adds : quemadmodum etiam monuit Michael Alfordus in Annalibus His- toric Ecclesiasticae Britanniae ad annum
Christi 462, num. 7. Corrigendi pariter sunt Henrici Fitzsimon Catalogi Sanctorum
Hiberniae, in quibus S. Albius recte quidem
:
ad diem xii.
copus Stanihurstus perperam appellatur. " Dominum,"
regione
ing form of prayer here occurs
:
sed — ficis
Septembris refertur, epis- inebriarunt pinguedine ccelesti. Per
&c.
296 LIVESOFTHEIRISHSAINTS. [September12.
Among the sees in the South of Ireland, during remote ages, if Emly had
some honorary precedence, its jurisdiction was never of that really metro- politanical nature, which afterwards had been conferred on Cashel. Keating laboured under a mistake, in assigning archbishops to Cashel in the ninth century. It is yet very doubtful, if Cashel had been a bishop's see, at that
00
100
in the year 1 1 1 2, presided over a Synod held at
St. Celsus,
century, Cashel is said to have been made an Archiepiscopal see by the
existing primate, St. Celsus. With the exception of Armagh,101 no other truly archiepiscopate was then to be found in Ireland. St. Malachy
102 his immediate
confersuchadecision. 104 AccordingtoSirJamesWare,10*intheyear1568, Emly was annexed to the See of Cashel, by an Act of Parliament.
When the Protestant Cathedral after the Church Disestablishment became a remembrance of the past, and had become derelict, the Very Rev. Maurice Power, Parish Priest of Emly, resolved on the erection of—a new Catholic church in the village. H—e offered the large sum of ,£2,000 far more than the building was worth to the Church Commissioners, in order that he might enlarge, restore and beautify the structure, as it then stood. He
early period,
Fiadh-mac-Aengusa, now known as Usneagh, in the county of Westmeath. Among other prelates who assisted at it, we find mention of Milar O'Dunan, who is styled Archbishop of Cashel. At the commencement of the twelfth
O'Morgair,
successor,
influenced Innocent ,03 to Pope II. ,
desired to have it consecrated once more to the olden memories and totheancientfaith. However,theChurchCommissionersabsolutelyrefused
greatly
and soon afterwards, some of the revered old monuments
were removed, the land-marks of Catholicity were pulled down and dragged away, so that the old place was deprived of many time-honoured relics. Still
it was determined, that the religious renown, for which Emly had been so distinguished, in successive years of Irish history, should be revived, in the building of a new Catholic church, and on an eligible site in the neighbour- hood. 106 Accordingly,Mr. GeorgeAshlin,Architect,ofDublin,wasentrusted
to prepare plans and elevations. With appropriate religious ceremonies, the first stone was laid on May 30th, i88o,io7 by His Grace the Most Rev.
Thomas W. Croke, Archbishop of Cashel, in the presence of a large concourse of the clergy and laity, and again he was present on the opening day, the Feast of the Epiphany, 1883, when the energetic and respected Pastor celebrated the first Mass within the building, which had been dedicated to St. Ailbe. It
that liberal offer
;
w See Dr. Lanigan's "Ecclesiastical History of Ireland," vol. i. , chap, vi. , sec. vii. , n. 67. , pp. 285 286.
100 See his Life at the 6th day of April, in the Fourth Volume of this work, Art. i.
Bernard's account in "Vita S. Malachi. e," cap. x. ,xi.
,0S See " Commentarius dc Praesulibui Hibernian"
101 The Most Rev. Dr. MacMahon, Arch-
bishop over this city, states that Celsus it is. The new church of Emly. " Tralee,
transferred the archbishopric from Emly to Cashel. See "Jus Primatiale Ardmacha-
1 880, 8vo.
*°7 The founda—tion stone bore the follow-
num, in omnes Archiepiscopos, Episcopos, et Universum Clerum, totius Kegni Hiberniae. Assertum per H. A M. T. H. P. Sect. 62, p. 43. Anno Dom. 1 728, 4to.
:
Sub invocatione Sancti Alhei, Mense Maii. a. d. MDCCCLXXX.
Thorna Gul.
tolo et Primate Hiberniae. Appendix, sect. i. , num. 8, p. 582.
57 By Father Papebroke, in his Appendix to St. Patrick's Acts, at the 17th of March.
Armagh, which he believes to have been founded about the year 445, by the great
s8 According to Papebroke, this great Senchonanus. "
—
" Trias
saint died, a. d. 461. 'See Chronotaxis Com- mentarii Prsevii.
59 The Very Rev. John Shearman has endeavoured to investigate the history of three Patricks, who were nearly contem- poraneous in Ireland and Great Britain, in
his " Loca Patriciana," part xiii. , pp. 395 et
seq.
60 " In the Psalter of Cashel, Secundin,
by some called Sechnall, St. Patrick's sister's son, is mentioned for his next successor; and Patrick the Elder, by some called Sen- Patrick, or old Patrick, a domestick of our Patrick, is said to have succeeded Secundin. But Secundin was bishop of Dunsbaglin in Meath, where hedied on the27ih of Novem- ber, 448, in the 75th year of his age [or 447, according to the Annals of Inis-fail ; when,
Thaumaturga. " Septima Appendix ad ActaS. Patricii, pars
been the third Archbishop of Armagh ?
65 See Dr. O'Donovan's "Annals of the past question, St. Patrick was himself Four Masters," vol. i. , pp. 142, 143, and
Archbishop of Armagh], and San-Patrick,
who is confounded wit—h our great Patrick,
n. (e. )
died ten years after. " Harris' Ware, vol. "
at date in the that
i. ,
Archbishops of Armagh," pp. 34, 35.
61
According to Colgan, he bore the name
of St. Patricius Senex or Senior, having probably Rossdala, County of Westmeath, been the third bishop over the see of Art. i.
" •'
St. Patrick.
Vita S. Benigni ejus successors vocatur
Hie enim videtur esse qui in
secunda, and pars tertia, pp. 292, 293.
62 The Acts of both Patricks are so inter-
woven and contemporaneous, that it is very difficult to resolve them.
63 See the AnnalA tlla-oh, or Annals of Ulster, vol. i. , pp. 16, 17, William M. Hen-
edition.
64 See William M. Hennessy's edition,
where at A. D. 457 is chronicled the Repose of Old Saint Patrick, Bishop, i. e. , of the
Church of Glastonbury, pp. 24, 25. It may be asked, had be been previously Arch- bishop of Armagh, and did he afterwards retire to Glastonbury? Or was he a distinct
person from Sen- Patrick, thought to have
nessy's
66
24th of August. See
Eighth Volume of this work, notices of St.
His festival has been assigned to the
Patrick, Abbot and Bishop of Ruis Dela,
September 12. ] LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. 293
6
a regulation might have been effected, ? whereby the Decies were assigned to
St. Declan, while St. Ailbe was set over the Minister bishops, having certain
exalted and rule metropolitan privileges
his 68 This con- suffragans.
among
jecture is pronounced by Suyskens to be sufficiently probable, as writers
living near the time of both Saints Patricks might confound their respective transactions. As a consequence, they probably attributed to the more renowned Saint, what especially referred to his immediate successor, who bore a like synonym. 7° This would necessarily lead to great confusion, by mixing together dates, acts and names, referring to various Irish Saints similarlynamed. Hence,ifweconsidertwodistinctPatricks,bothofthem Saints, and nearly allied in point of time, while both were bishops over Armagh ; it is thought, that many difficulties to be found connected with St.
Ailbe's acts may be more satisfactorily solved. ?
1
Suyskens agrees with
69
Papebroke, that the arrival of St. Ailbe in Ireland, after St. Patrick's death in
464, may well accord with the foregoing conjectures and reasons. Thus, if
we credit an account, that when a mere boy, St. Ailbe received baptism in 431, he might probably have episcopal consecration and his Irish mission conferred on him, after he had exceeded by a few years the age of thirty. ? 2 However ingenious these conjectures may be, yet they do not avail, to clear up the chronological and circumstantial difficulties that beset our Saint's
biography.
The life of this holy prelate was spent in preparing students for the
sacred minstry, in preaching the Gospel, and in forwarding the best interests of religion. It is probable, that he lived to a ripe old age. 73 Notwith-
67 In Papebroke's opinion. See his Ap- pendix to the Acts of St. Patrick, at the 17th of March. —" Acta Sanctorum," tomus ii. , Martii xvii. De S. Patricio Episcopo Apostolo et Primate Hibernise, Appendix,
owing to the circumstance of another Patrick succeeding him. In the second place, it must be admitted, that with other com- panions he went to Rome, when St. Hilaius was Pope, and that he returned to Ireland invested with the episcopal character. See
sect, i. , num. 8, p. 582.
63 "'
Suyskens thinks, there is sufficient reason for rejecting an account contained in certain old Lives, that the origin of their supposed dispute is to be found, in their having evangelized Ireland before St. Patrick's arrival.
69 See " Acta Sanctorum," tomus iv. , Sep- tembrisxii. DeS. AlbeoseuAilbeo. Sylloge Historica-Critica, sect, ii. , num. 24, p. 29.
70 Such, also, was the opinion of Pape- broke, in his Appendix, sect, i. , num. 7.
'
Acta Sanctorum, tomus iv. , Septembris xii. De S. Albeo seu Ailbeo Episcopo
Imelacensi. Sylloge Historico-Critica, sect. ii. , num. 25, p. 29.
72 According to Suyskens such arguments would seem to accord best with the date assigned for St. Ailbe's death. In fine, he says, when the great St. Patrick had vacated Armagh See, and when after his death, the primatial chair had been occupied by Sen- Pa tricius, many simply called him Patrick, could it not have happened, that St. Ailbe, already consecrated bishop, had come to Ireland, while the latter was Primate ? This might serve to explain, in a more probable manner, those accounts left us in some Lives of our Irish Saints, regarding controversies about the Primacy, which took place be-
71
Suyskens observes, in connexion with
these hints, that in the first place, that as the
Acts relate, St. Ailbe when a boy might
have been instructed in the Christian Faith
and be baptised by Palladius in Ireland, but
that if such a contention be allowed, his ton-
version cannot be placed very long before
the apostleship of St. Patrick in the same tween St. Ailbe and St. Patrick. However,
Ireland. Moreover, since the Irish Annals the Bollandist editor ignores the date of
refer the death of St. Ailbe to a. d. 527, and
Sen- Patrick's death in 457, which was some
before the death of the — years supposed great
St. Patrick in 464, even were we to allow what is by no means certain—that Sen- Patrick had ever ruled over the See of Armagh.
that he must have reached an
age
much
over one hundred years, his baptism by Pal-
ladius is not admissible, especially on the
authority of such fabulous Acts. Besides,
it is to be suspected, that he had not been
born when St. the Irish
"See Harris' " Ware, vol, i. ,
Emly," p. 492.
Patrick,
arrived, and that such account had been
Bishops of
Apostle,
294 LIVESOFTHEIRISHSAINTS. [September12.
standing, we are told, that his faculties of mind and strength of body were in no manner impaired. The Annals of Ulster? * and of Innisfallen refer his death to the year 526. 75 The Annals of Ulster repeat this entry, at the years 533 and 541. The O'Clerys refer his death to the same date. ? 6 In Harris' Ware we have the same account. 77 He remarks, that some have put off his death to a. d. , 541. 7 8 This, too, agrees with the statement of the Four Masters. 79 The ' k Chronicum Scotorum " has the rest of Ailbhe of Imlech
80
While taking Ussher's authority for the year of our Saint's death, the Bollandists think it will not well accord with about the year 412, which the same writer gives for Ailbe's arrival in Ireland. In such case, the Saint must have been over 140 years old, when he died. 81 He is said to have been buried in his own church at 8z and the site for his is
yet traditionally held by the people there to have been about six feet in a
line from a Celtic cross of red sand-stone, thought to have been one of the
oldest in Ireland, and even reaching back to the time of St. Ailbe. 8^ It is
within the graveyard, and said to be twenty feet in length, but buried so deep
in the that not more than six feet are now above the 84 In the clay, ground.
church-yard at Emly, this large cross of rough hewn stone, stood about eight feet from the ground, during the last century. Near it was St. Ailbe's well. Both of these objects were held in great veneration by the country people, vvho used to flock annually in vast numbers, to celebrate their
patron's festival, every 12th day of September. ^ St. Ailbe's well is deep and surrounded by a circular-cut stone rim, on which the knee-marks of
devout pilgrims may be seen. There they take their rounds, and pray to the
86
Ibhair at a. d. , 531.
glorious Metropolitan patron saint of Emly. " "8
Ireland," vol. i. , chap, ix. , sect, vii. , n. 105, pp. 462, 463.
79 See Dr. O'Donovan's edition of their
Annals, vol. i. , pp. 182, 183.
country : yet they never put their design
in execution ; and the cros—s and well con-
tinue there to this day. " Harris' Ware,
80 See William M. 86 See " of old, and Hennessy's edition, Emly
Septembris. De S. Albeo seu Ailbeo following stanza, at this date Episcopo Imalecensi. Sylloge Historico-
Critica, sect, ii. , num. 32, pp. 30, 31.
Bishops of
82 **
See Harris' Ware, vol. i.
"
p. ,
and vol. ii. ,
Ireland," book i. , chap, ii. , p. 6. O OAim Imp •04L415
Emly," 492
;
Writers of
La peiL tAippen I15A15
Emly, grave
In the Feilire 7 of ^Engus, the Festival of St. Ailbe is commemorated,
74 See -ArmAlA tlLAoVi, or Annals of
Ulster, pp. 42, 43, and 44, 45, and 48, 49. William M. Hennessy's edition.
75 See " Ussher's Britannicarum Ecclesi-
83 Several of the Parish Priests of Emly have been interred close to the spot sacred to the patron saint.
84 "It is said to have a miraculous power of curing those who place their backs against the shaft and of strengthening them ; and it is the customto this of to
arum Antiquitates. " p. 528-
Index Chronologicus,
76See the "
ot Martyrology Donegal,"
day persons go and place their backs against the shaft and pray to the patron saint ; and those in America and Australia, who feel ill, write to friends at home to perform the office for
edited by Drs. Todd and Reeves, pp. 246, 247. 77 See Harris' Ware, vol. i. "Bishops of
Emly," p. 492.
78 Dr. Lanigan, however, says, that he was
unable to discover such date for assigned it,
in any of our Annals. Perhaps on this point, Ware confounded St. Ailbe of Emly with an Ailbe of Senchus, who died A. D. 545, according to the Annals of the Four Masters. Dr. Lanigan thinks, that some documents might have entered 541, instead
them. "—"
Emly
of old, and
as it Emly is,"
"
of 546. See Ecclesiastical History of the causes of some disorders in the
p. 6.
8sin the time of Archbishop Palliser,"
writes Harris, "two neighbouring magis- trates obtained a licence from him to demolish the cross and stop up the well, as being encouragements to idolatry, and
vol. i.
"
Bishops of Emly," p. 490.
as it is, See Acta Sanctorum," tomus iv. , xii. 87 In the Leabhar Breac"—copy is the
pp. 44, 45. p. 6.
81" "
Emly
:
Ceilebain peiL nAiLbe
Septkmber 12. ] LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. 2 95
88
89
There appears in the published Martyrology of Tallagh, at the 12th of
September, a festival in honor of Aeilbhe, Bishop of Imlecha. In the Book of Leinster copy it is also entered. ** In the anonymous List of Irish Saints,
at the 1 2th of September. The glossographer on this notice is brief.
published by
Albius,
at the same date, as
ALutyrology
of
Ailbhe,
O'Sullivan
Beare,
we find
at the same date. ? 1 The
2
Donegal^ registers him,
Arch- bishop of Imleach Iobhair, in Minister. Also, Castellanus records his memory, at the 12th of September. ^ Father Ward declares, that at the period when he wrote the letter to Bollandus in 1634, the feast of our saint was kept on the same day, in the diocese of Emly. In the second edition of John Wilson's English Martyrology, at the 27th of February, a St. Elvius, confessor and bishop of Menevia in Pembroke, Wales, is set down j but the Bollandists have observed at that day " in Prsetermissis," and elsewhere, they have no doubt of Wilson's error, both as to St. Elvius' day of veneration,
and as to his identical episcopate. 94
Certain relics of our saint seem to have been carefully preserved in Emly,
for many centuries after his death. 95 A mitre of St. Ailbe was burned by
On that occasion, the reigning successor of our Saint, Bishop Maelmorda
robbers, when the City of Emly had been plundered, in the year 1 1 23.
saved himself 96 This Saint seems to have by flight. formerly
Mac-Inclodnai,
been honoured with an office of Nine Lessons. ? A Missal, printed at Paris,
a. d. , 1734, and edited by order of Pope Clement XII. , comprises the proper Masses for patrons and guardians, both French and Irish Saints. Among others, at the 12th of September, a Mass for the feast of St. Albeus, bishop
08
and confessor, general patron of Emly Church and diocese,
is found.
Thus translated by Dr. Whitley Stokes :—
"Acta Sanctorum," tomus iv. , Septembris xii. De S. Albeo seu Ailbeo Episcopo
Imalecensi. SyllogeHistorico-Critica,sect,
"
luminous, buoyant : with the feast of Laisren
Celebrate Ailbe's feast, with Fled the
— "Transactions of the Royal Irish Academy," Irish Manuscript Series, vol. i. , part i. On the Calendar of Oengus, by Whitley Stokes,
the beautiful of multitudinous Daim-inis. "
i. ,
num. 26. 3, p.
LL. D. , p. exxxvii.
88 He has only -Ailbe . i. imlech ibair, i. e. ,
55 The Third Volume of O'Longan MSS. , in the Royal Irish Academy, contains a short account of the Discovery of St. Ailbhe of Imliech's shrine, by St. Colman Mac Leinin, p. 14.
96 See Harris' Ware, vol. i. , "Bishops of
Emly," p. 493.
9? A MS. ' in T. C. D. , classed B. 3. 12,
contains at September 12th, Ides ii. , Elbe et Molesea, Conf: ix. Lect.
98 Our Saint is also said to have belonged to the order of Regular Canons. The follow-
" Deus, qui beatum Albeum pontificem ad regna ccelestia transtulisti, ejus intercessione tuo- rum excita corda fidelium,ut ad ejus sacra vir- tutum exempla fideliter apprehensa, aeterna gaudia consequi mereantur. Per Dominum. "
at the Secret "
Again, : Ipse nostrum
offerat tibi, Deus, Sacrificium, qui beatum Albeum pontificem suae charitatis ministrum,
et suae gloriae in ccelo participem esse voluit, Dominus noster Jesus Christus, qui tecum vivit," &c.
At the Post Communion " Populum tuum, Domine, bonis tuis adimpleant divina Sacramenta, quae animam beati Albei ponti-
of Imlech Ibair. —Ibid. , p. cxlv.
89 Edited by Rev. Mr. Kelly, p. xxxiv. 90 Thus at the v. Ides, *Mlbei epr* 1tn
teAcha.
91 See " Historian Catholicse Ibernise Com-
pendium," tomus i. , lib. iv. , cap. xi. , p. 51.
"
Catalogus Aliquorum Sanctorum Ibemiae," where he is called Elbeus, bishop, and identified with Albius, although his festival is not given.
See ibid. , cap. xii. , p. 54.
92 Edited by Drs. Todd and Reeves, pp.
246, 247.
93 " In Momonia Hibernia
Also, Father Henry Fitzsimons'
S. Albous episcopus Emelicensis, in comitatu
Tiperariensi. "
94 "
Suyskens adds : quemadmodum etiam monuit Michael Alfordus in Annalibus His- toric Ecclesiasticae Britanniae ad annum
Christi 462, num. 7. Corrigendi pariter sunt Henrici Fitzsimon Catalogi Sanctorum
Hiberniae, in quibus S. Albius recte quidem
:
ad diem xii.
copus Stanihurstus perperam appellatur. " Dominum,"
regione
ing form of prayer here occurs
:
sed — ficis
Septembris refertur, epis- inebriarunt pinguedine ccelesti. Per
&c.
296 LIVESOFTHEIRISHSAINTS. [September12.
Among the sees in the South of Ireland, during remote ages, if Emly had
some honorary precedence, its jurisdiction was never of that really metro- politanical nature, which afterwards had been conferred on Cashel. Keating laboured under a mistake, in assigning archbishops to Cashel in the ninth century. It is yet very doubtful, if Cashel had been a bishop's see, at that
00
100
in the year 1 1 1 2, presided over a Synod held at
St. Celsus,
century, Cashel is said to have been made an Archiepiscopal see by the
existing primate, St. Celsus. With the exception of Armagh,101 no other truly archiepiscopate was then to be found in Ireland. St. Malachy
102 his immediate
confersuchadecision. 104 AccordingtoSirJamesWare,10*intheyear1568, Emly was annexed to the See of Cashel, by an Act of Parliament.
When the Protestant Cathedral after the Church Disestablishment became a remembrance of the past, and had become derelict, the Very Rev. Maurice Power, Parish Priest of Emly, resolved on the erection of—a new Catholic church in the village. H—e offered the large sum of ,£2,000 far more than the building was worth to the Church Commissioners, in order that he might enlarge, restore and beautify the structure, as it then stood. He
early period,
Fiadh-mac-Aengusa, now known as Usneagh, in the county of Westmeath. Among other prelates who assisted at it, we find mention of Milar O'Dunan, who is styled Archbishop of Cashel. At the commencement of the twelfth
O'Morgair,
successor,
influenced Innocent ,03 to Pope II. ,
desired to have it consecrated once more to the olden memories and totheancientfaith. However,theChurchCommissionersabsolutelyrefused
greatly
and soon afterwards, some of the revered old monuments
were removed, the land-marks of Catholicity were pulled down and dragged away, so that the old place was deprived of many time-honoured relics. Still
it was determined, that the religious renown, for which Emly had been so distinguished, in successive years of Irish history, should be revived, in the building of a new Catholic church, and on an eligible site in the neighbour- hood. 106 Accordingly,Mr. GeorgeAshlin,Architect,ofDublin,wasentrusted
to prepare plans and elevations. With appropriate religious ceremonies, the first stone was laid on May 30th, i88o,io7 by His Grace the Most Rev.
Thomas W. Croke, Archbishop of Cashel, in the presence of a large concourse of the clergy and laity, and again he was present on the opening day, the Feast of the Epiphany, 1883, when the energetic and respected Pastor celebrated the first Mass within the building, which had been dedicated to St. Ailbe. It
that liberal offer
;
w See Dr. Lanigan's "Ecclesiastical History of Ireland," vol. i. , chap, vi. , sec. vii. , n. 67. , pp. 285 286.
100 See his Life at the 6th day of April, in the Fourth Volume of this work, Art. i.
Bernard's account in "Vita S. Malachi. e," cap. x. ,xi.
,0S See " Commentarius dc Praesulibui Hibernian"
101 The Most Rev. Dr. MacMahon, Arch-
bishop over this city, states that Celsus it is. The new church of Emly. " Tralee,
transferred the archbishopric from Emly to Cashel. See "Jus Primatiale Ardmacha-
1 880, 8vo.
*°7 The founda—tion stone bore the follow-
num, in omnes Archiepiscopos, Episcopos, et Universum Clerum, totius Kegni Hiberniae. Assertum per H. A M. T. H. P. Sect. 62, p. 43. Anno Dom. 1 728, 4to.
:
Sub invocatione Sancti Alhei, Mense Maii. a. d. MDCCCLXXX.
Thorna Gul.
