No More Learning

3 See Dr. O'Donovan's "Annals of the
Four Masters,'' vol. i. , pp. 152, 153.
to whom this date as it suits belongs;
is said to have been
He —
of Wicklow.
* By the O'Clerys.
s See "Annals of the Four Masters,"
vol. t. , pp. 186, 187.
Shearman's p. 149.
"
Loca Patriciana," No. viii. ,
bishop
the epoch of the Hy Barrche Mac Tail, it
be rather to him than to the great-grand- may assigned
3
father to Baeithin of Inis-Baeithin, county grandson of King Barr. " Rev. John Francis
7 The O'Conor-Failghe, the O'Dempseys of Clanmalier, and the O'Dunnes of Hy-
June ii. ] LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. 619
Dairre Barracb,8 founder of the Hy Bairrche tribe ; while Cathair Mor had other sons, named Bresal Enechglais,9 Fergus Loscan,10 Fiach Baicheda,
Crimthann,
11 and Oilill Cetach. 12 The sons of Dairre Barrach were x 3 Fiach,
T
Muiredach Snithe and Eochaidh Guinech + while these are said to have
;
settled in the country between the Slaney and the Barrow, whence they were
expelled by the Hy Cinnselagh, when these grew into power. The people of the Cliu and of the Fothartha sided with the Hy Barrche, and many battles
were waged between them in the fifth century. Some of the Hy Barrche were banished long before the death of Crimthan, in the year 484; while repeated acts of violence and injustice, inflicted on the family of Eochaidh Guinech, led to the murder of his own
grandfather
brated the Natalis of St. Mac Tail, who was the son of a
16 if we are tocreditsomeIrishtraditions,'7 whichhowever,cannotberegardedasalto- gether reliable. But, indeed, there is a diversity of opinion as to his family and descent. It would seem, from the Martyrology of Tallagh, that he was at first called Eogan, before he acquired this name of Mac Tail. 18 The schor
liast on St. Oengus '9 states, however, that Eogan the wright, sonofDergan, or Eogan, son of Oengus, was the father of Mac Tail. Others state his proper name to have been of race. 20 The have 21 that
Aengus, Lughaidh's O'Clerys it, hebelongedtotheraceofCore,sonofLughaidh,KingofMunster. Heis said, by these writers, also, to have been brother to Colman, ofCill Cleitighe. This latter place has been identified as Kilclief, where lived two brothers,
and to 22 were sons of a chief of Eogan Niall, Diochu, ofSaul,andall Trichem,
Regan, were branches of this stock.
8 He is said to have lived at Dun Aillinn, now Cnoc Aulinn, where he fostered
Eoghan Mor.
9 From him the Ui Enechglais, in the
southern part of Kildare County in the barony of Arklow, &c.
10 From him descend the Hy-Loscan.
11 From him the Ui Crimthann are de- scended.
" The Ui Cethach are descended from
him, and they possessed Ikeathy in Kildare and Crioch na Gceadachinthe King's County. 13FromhimaredescendedtheUiMael- umha, Mac Gorman, Ui Cearnach or Kear- ney, Ui Tresach or Tracy, Ui Mac Aedha or
Hughes.
14 A celebrated warrior, who had been en-
gaged in various battles.
15 See Rev. John Francis Shearman's
Oengur 44inm baipce Apcup UocopjAb mbo binur"
m&c CaiL he opm AniAch
CepbochAit) pobochbepech.
" Mac Tail of Cell Cuilinn Ceir
Son of Eochaid, of vehement Dair-
chen,
And this is why he is Mac Tail Because he took the wright's tal
(adze).
Oengus was his baptismal name at
first
Untilhetookthe . . . ?
—"
<( Loca —Patriciana," No. viii. , p. 149, and demy," Irish Manuscript Series, vol. i. ,
No. 10. The genealogy of the Ui Bairrche, the Ui Crimthann, and the Ui Cetach, &c, &c, p. 180.
i.
part On the Calendar of Oengus, edited
by Whitley Stokes, LL. D. , p. ci.
18 " Mac Tail Cille Cuilinn qui et Eoghan
16 The scholiast on St. ^Engus' Festilogy prius dictus est. " See Rev. Dr. Kelly's
in the Leabhar Breac states, that because
he was son of a wright or carpenter, he got
the name of Mac " the son of adze. ''
"
Calendar of Irish Saints," &c, p. xxvi. , at the iii. of the Ides, or nth day of June.
copy.
20 The last-named monarch was King of
Munster.
which is
17 These are conveyed in an Irish poem,
19 In the Eeabhar Breac
Tail,
interpreted
and rendered into
ttlAC CAib CluLle CmbnTO Ceip 111ac OcliAch mic T)Aipcrun oem Ocur ifAipe ip tn ac CaiL
-ApcriAl mcre<xij\ oojAbaib.
21 See " The of Martyrology
thus
Dr. Whitley Stokes :—
given
English, by
Donegal, edited by Rev. Drs. Todd and Reeves, pp.
Crimthan. J 5 On this is cele- day
'
Son of Adze' he (was called) thence- forward
wright,
Though he was chaste (and) was a cleric. "
Transactions of the Royal Irish Aca-
166, 167.
22
See an account of him, in the Fourth Volume of this work, at the 29th of April, Art. i.
23 See Colgan's "Trias Thaumaturga. "
620 LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. [June u.
Uladh. Classed among the disciples of the great Irish Apostle,** this saint
2
Mactalius is thought to have been identical with the Maceleus, ^ mentioned
among the disciples of St. Patrick, as found in his Life,15 and cited by
Ussher,*
6 and 3? It is that Mac Tail met St. Patrick in
by Colgan. where his branch of the
probable,
Hy
Barrche 28 to have been located. appear
Ulster,
Mac Tail was one of the artificers of St. Patrick, according to some old list of his household. One of the Patriarchs of our Irish Church, St. Iserninus,*9 also called St. Fith or Id, and who is stated to have received orders with the Irish Apostle St. Patrick,30 afterwards devoted himself to the labours ofthe Irish mission. 3 1 He is said to have preached in Ui-Briuin Cualann, and there to have founded Kilcullen. It has been thought, that St. Patrick first placed
a as over Kil- bishop
one of his earliest
cullen^ where he continued in that charge, until about the year 460. We are told, 34 that Sliabh Cuilinn was the ancient name of old Killcullen hill,3s having taken its denomination from a man named Cuilleann. There a monas- tery formerly stood, the church of which being called Cill Cuilinn, "Church of Cuilinn" gave name to the town, known as Old Kilcullen. The present holy man Mac Tail is called Bishop of Kilcullen, which is now a parish in the county of Kildare. He is supposed to have succeeded Isserninus or Fith at Kilcullen, after a. d. 460, when the latter went back to his first flock. 3° We have an account of the ** Maiden Coinengean,''37 or as she is called Cuach,38 having been a pupil or dalthaof Mac Tail of Cillcuillinn, and certain injurious reports were circulated regarding both master and pupil. Whether these reports were correct or otherwise cannot be ascertained ; but, according to what appears to have been legendary, alone, the clergy of Leinster are said to havedenouncedMacTail. 39 Thatparishhasobtaineditsdenominationfrom the circumstance of the parochial church being situated in the town of old Kilcullen. This denomination has been communicated, likewise, to a barony, co-extensive with the parish. A bridge was built over the River Liffey in 1319,
disciples,
Issemin, or
Iserninus,3
by Maurice Jakis, a Canon belonging to the church of Kildare. This structure gavedenominationtothetown,whichisnowknownasKilcullenbridge. Itwas
Quinta Appendix ad Acta S. Patricii, cap. xxiii. , p. 167.
3* We are lokl, that this Maceleusor Mac- talius was also the patron of Dublin, by Thomas O'Conor, in a letter dated Naas, November 14th, 1837. See " Letters con- tabling Information relative to the Antiqui- ties of the County of Kildare, collected dur- ing the Progress of the Ordnance Survey in 1837," vol. i. , p. 195.
as As written by Tirechan.
fessor Rhys' "Lectures on Welch Philogy," p. 26. Second edition.
* See Colgan's "Trias Thaumaturga," Secunda Vita S. Patricii, cap. xxvi. , and nn. 39, 40, pp. 14, 18, 19.
3 ' It is stated, that he came to Ireland, so early as A. n. 438. See Rev. John Francis Shearman's "Loca Patnciana," No. viii. , pp. 139, 140.
>' His festival day is unknown.
"See Colgan's "Trias Thaumaturga," Quinta Appendix ad Acta S. Patricii, cap. xxiii. , p. 265.
w Mr. Thomas O'Conor, in " Letters By
containing Information relative to the Anti- quities of the County of Kildare, collected
16
See Frimordia Ecclesiarum Britannica-
rum," cap. xvii. , p. 950.
" Acta Sanctorum Hiber- nioe," xx. Februarii. Vita S. Oleani, n. 22,
1 See p. 378.
Colgan's
*
of Man, who was of the Hy Barrche, also
lived in Ulster, where he was perhaps ljorn,
his family having migrated there on account
of persecutions they met in their native
territory in Leinster. See Rev. John hill of old Kilcullen. See ibU. , p. 190. Francis Shearman's "Loca Patriciana,"
Mac-Cuil, the third bishop of the Isle
during the Progress of the Ordnance Survey in 1837," vol. i. Letter dated Naas, No-
No. viii. , pp. 149, 150.
"' It is said, this name was derived from
Isarti, a Gaulish word for " iron," and cog- nate to the old Irish tarn, or tarn. See Pro-
*See Rev. John Francis Sheaiman's "Loca Patriciana," No. viii. , p. 148.
vember 14th, 1837, p. 189.
3S The site of the old parochial church is
said to be traceable in the churchyard on the
37 Her feast occurs, at the 29th of April, where some notices of her may be seen, in the Fourth Volume of this work, Art. ii.
June i i . ]
LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. 62 1
erected about a mile north-west of this latter place. That bridge, built at the
period just mentioned, is said to have spanned the Liffey in a different place
from where the present Kilcullen bridge at the town crosses it. The decay of
Old Kilcullen may be traced to such circumstance, and now hardly a trace of
the former town appears. Towards the close of the last century to the east of
the Round Tower was the shaft of cross/ comprised in a single stone ten
feet high, and in a garden bounding the north of the churchyard was the
pedestal of another cross. 41 The shaft of the cross remained in the year 1837,
but it exceeded ten feet in height, and the pedestal was then found lying in a
small field to the north of the churchyard. About eleven yards to the north-
west of the tower stood part of a stone cross, about four and a-half feet high,
exhibiting on the side facing the tower the figure of an Abbot or of a Bishop
holding in his left hand a crozier, with a single crook. It was evidently in-
tended to represent a crozier of the primitive ages of Christianity in Ireland ;
and, in his right hand there was a hatchet with a short handle. To the right
of this figure was shown a bell of the primitive angular form, and under it might
be seen a human figure lying on one side, with its head under the hatchet.
On all the other sides were various representations, and similar to those, which
are seen on Irish crosses of the same kind. A pedestal, on which probably
this cross originally stood, lay adjoining a headstone, which was a few yards
distant from it towards the north-east. Beside this pedestal was a tomb-
2
stone/ exhibiting the figure of a warrior clad in mail/3 which tradition says,
represents Rowley or Rowland Eustace. 44 In the churchyard, there is an ancient Round Tower, not exceeding fifty feet in height, with four windows. It did not appear to have been higher in the last century, but a considerable portion of the top is now broken. That part containing the windows has long disappeared, while the structure has been reduced to the height of about
30 feet. This remaining part being in a tottering state has been supported by inserting into its openings small stones bound with cement. According to tradition, and to Archdall/s Old Kilcullen was a large walled town with seven gates. This writer states, that one gate only remained in his time. This was ten feet wide, with a handsome arch; but this gate 46 does not now remain. Tradition states, that it was pulled down when coaches began to run by that town, as it stood an obstacle at that spot, where the road now bends. Nothingseemstobeknownwithcertainty,regardingtheexactterm of St.
Mac Tail's incumbency ; although its commencement has been assigned
38 See the Martyrology of Donegal, at the 29th of April.
39 Such is the account contained in the Leabhar Breac Scholia on the Festilogy of St. /Engusthe Culdee, at fol. 86.
43 An interesting engraving of this monu- ment, from a drawing by D. C. Grose,
40 The reader is referred to Rev. Dr. Led- wich's "Antiquities of Ireland," p. 75, fora representation of the cross, as it was to be seen before the close of the last century.
44 Lodge's
"
Peerage of Ireland," is incor- rectly quoted, that Elizabeth, wife to the unfortunate Gerald, Earl of Kildare, died on the 6th of October, 151 7, and was buried here. Now, neither in the original edition of that work, published in Dublin, A. D. 1754, in Four 8vo volumes, nor in the second edition, edited by Rev. Mervyn Archdall, and published in Dublin, A. D. 1789, in Seven 8vo volumes, is such a statement to be found, Mr. Grose conjectures, that the figure of the vol. i. ; Thomas O'Connor's Letter, dated knight on that tomb represents one of the
41 According to Rev. Mervyn Archdall's
"Monasticon Hibernicum," p. 322.
42 A portion of this stone, where the war- rior's legs stood forth, was broken across in 1837. That portion bearing part of the legs was then seen lying at the cross lastly above described. See "Letters containing Iiroi- mation relative to the Antiquities of the County of Kildare, collected during the Pro- gress of the Ordnance Survey in 1837,"
Naas, November 14th, 1837, pp. 189 to 197. Kildare family.
"
vol. i. , No. 47, November 23rd, 1833. At
that date, the tomb and its sculptured figure appear to have been well preserved. A de-
scription also accompanies it, from the pen of D. C. Grose. See pp. 273, 274.
appears in the
Irish Penny Magazine,"
62 i LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. [June ii.
to the latter half of the fifth century. The year 548 is said to have been that of his death, and the day was on June nth. 4? If such be the case, he seems to have ruled for a lengthened period over the See. It is said, that St. Mac Tail had been one of those victims to the Cronchonnuil or Cromchonnail or
8whichdesolatedIrelandaboutthattime. *9 Itis he great plague/ probable,
departed this life and was interred at Kilcullen. Here several bishops and abbots succeeded him, and it became a place of considerable importance, in after times. He died in the year 548,5° according to the Annals of the Four Masters, and those of Ulster. The Annals of Clonmacnoise place his death, however, at a. d. 550. The festival of Maic Thail the sainted is recorded at
the nth of
in the " Feilire of St.
1
A festival is in registered
the
of Martyrology Tallagh,s
June,
inhonourofMac
Tail,
June,
^Engus/'s
2 atthenthof
Cille Cullinn. In the Martyrology of Donegal 53 at the same date, we find
him designated as Mac Tail (i. e. , Aenghus), of Cill Cuilinn in Leinster. In the Irish Calendar 54 prepared for the Irish Ordnance Survey, at the iii. of the Ides of June—corresponding with June nth—we have an entry of his festival.
Article II. —St. Reghuil, Abbot of Bangor, County ok Down.
\_Ninih Century. '] At the nth of June, the Martyrology of Tallagh records a festival, in honour of Riagail, Bennchair. He flourished in the ninth cen-
and at a time when had been wasted 2 the Northmen. 3 It
by
Oengus, p. xciii.
5a Edited by Rev. Dr. Kelly, p. xxvi
53 Edited by Drs. Todd and Reeves, pp.
166, 167.
5' There we find: ttlAC CaiI Cille Cui-
tury,
45 See " Monasticon Hibernicum," p. 322.
46 It had been built where a small slated
house was near the turnpike gate on that
road, in the year 1837.
47 See Colgan's "Acta Sanctorum Hiber-
Bangor
nise," xxix. Januarii, Vita S. Gildse Ba- Imti eApp eipt>e Aj;up Co^aii a ahuii A*
donici, n. 13, p. 191. Also Index, col. i. ( where it is stated, that " Mactalius Episco- pus de Killchuilinn, an. 548, obiit. "
TJom 548. See Ordnance Survey Office Copy, in the Common Place Book F, p. 55. Article ii. — Edited by Rev. Dr.
*" "A baneful breath
twice effus'd her
xxvi.
Jn the earlier part of the ninth century,
this plunder and bloodshed took place, as we find recorded in the Irish Annals, thus:
fury
Kelly, p. 2
Malign, twice, gliding o'er Hiber- ma's coast,
Her cities widow'd of their mourn- ful tribes. "
*•
Itt'opex) bermcAip o $encib, aju]- pcpitl
—Rev. Dr. William Dunkin's "Select Poeti- cal Works," vol. i. Hyemes Glaciales, apud Hibernos, p. 431.
cliomgAilb x>o bpiptra, Ajup a puno. Aj;up
a cecc clAinb. " It is thus epycoip po 5111
translated into English: "Bangor wasted by the Danes, and the shrine of Cornwall broken open by them, and its learned men ami liishops were smitten with the sword. " This account is to be found in the Annals of Clonmacnoise, at a. d. 821 ; in those ol the Four Masters at A. D. 822, ; in those of Ulster at A. D. 823; while Dr. John O'Donovan states, that the true year is a. d. 824. See " Annals of the Four Masters,"
49 See Colgan's "Acta Sanctorum Hiber-
nia? ," xx. Januarii. Vita S. Maloggoe, n. 31,
p. 150.
50 See Dr. O'Donovan's "Annals of the
Four Masters," vol. i. , p|>. 186, 187.
51 In the Leabhar Bieac copy we find him
mentioned, in the following Irish stanza translate—d into English by Dr. Whitley
n. vol. i. , 434, and (o).
Stokes
:
DajiIIa mbuA'OAch
t)peAc1iA tiAirm hipAilce Veil maic CI1A1I mnoebt)<M
iapAir pupcunACi.
pp. 435,
3 The occurrence to which alusion has
" Basilla the victorious was borne from us
intobliss thefeastofMa—cTailthesainted :
been made is thus related by Dr. Keating : '"Oo I1-01P510T) beAimcop U lAfJ, Ajjup no
niApbAfj a h-eAppoj;, Agup a t)Aoine }<>^-
U&tn&A leo, AmAilbe pe S^pm chomj;Aitl
at Fortunatus' passion. "
Transactions of
plundered by them, they
slew
its bishops
and
the '
the
Series, vol. i. , part i.
Irish
On the Calendar of
learned men, and — fclso broke
they open
"
Royal
Irish
Academy,"
Manuscript
"
,6oib. "—" of Uiidia was •oobpipioT) Bangor
shrine o of Ireland, Comgall. " History
June ii. ]
LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS.
623
appears to have recovered somewhat, during the period of his rule over it. In the Annals of the Four Masters, the death of this saint, called Ragallach, Abbot of Beannchair, is entered at the year 881. 4 The Martyrology of Done- gal, 5 at this day, moreover, enters Reghuil, of Bennchor. The feast of St. Regail, of Bangor, is found also in Rev. Dr. Reeves' Calendar,6 at the same day.
Article III. —Festival of St. Basilla, Roman Martyr. In the
more," Appendix—LL, p. 379.
yEngus, eulogy.
He suffered
martyrdom
on the Via
Salaria,
date, 2 with
x
the feast of St. Basilla is
commemorated at this
Feilire of St.
with a distinctive
other companions on the Via Nomentana,3 without the walls of Rome. They are noticed by the Bollandists, 4 who endeavour to record what is to be found in different authorities regarding them.
ArticleIV. —ReputedFestivalofSt. Silvester. Atthenthof
1
May, in Dempster's Menologium Scotorum, there is a festival of St. Silves-
ter, one of the companions of St. Palladius. From him, Ferrarius appears to have entered St. Silvester in his Catalogue of Saints. If anything more cer-
2
tain could be found regarding that saint, the Bollandists it, when treating about St. Palladius, at the 6th of July.
promised to give
Article V. —Festival of St. Fortunatus, Martyr at Aquileia. The feast of this holy martyr is set down at the nth of June, in the " Feilire "
of St. 1 With his brother, St. Felix, both obtained a ^Engus.
glorious crown, in excruciating sufferings to which they were subjected, during the persecu- tion of Diocletian and Maximianus. Finally, they were beheaded, at Aqui- At this date, their Acts may be read in the great Bollandist collec-
2
Article VI. —Reputed Festival of St. Gajus, Martyr, in the Island of May, Scotland. At this date, Camerarius has noticed in his
leia. tion.
Scottish Calendar,1 a St.
Gajus,
who was in the Island of in martyred May,
book ii.
4 See Dr. O'Donovan's edition, vol. i. ,
Crispolo et Restituto, Via Nomentana,
pp. 530, 531.
5 Edited by Drs.
Article iv. — The feast is thus entered,
Todd and
"
— Socii, B. P. "
Bishop Forbes' "Kalendars of the Scottish Saints," p, 202.
166, 167.
6 See Rev. William Reeves' " Ecclesiasti-
cal Antiquities of Down, Connor and Dro-
2
xi.
See "Acta Sanctorum," tomus ii. , Junii Among the pretermitted festivals, p.
"
Article hi. See Transactions of
Reeves, pp.
In Marria Silvestri S. Palladii
'
—
Series, vol. i.