'^
There are many different opinions of writers, as to St.
There are many different opinions of writers, as to St.
O'Hanlon - Lives of the Irish Saints - v2
but in a
Having regulated the religious state of her city and nunnery, as also of
various establishments, subject to her rule, throughout Ireland ;4 we are told, in her Fourth Life, that she expressed to her sisters a desire to visit
before death the sepulchre and reHcs of her holy patron. Archbishop Patrick. Brigid knew, also, it relates, that she should not return alive to the
Hiemalis. Officia Propria Hibemise Sane- torum, quae a Clero Hibemico recitantur. Die I. Februarii. Officium S. Brigidai. Noct. sec. lect. vi;
^^
Also, Vita Quarta S. Brigidse, lib. ii. , cap. xcviii. , xcix. , p. 562, ibid.
From the words of her Fourth Life,
Colgan infers, that St. Brigid wrote a special rule and founded a particular institute for holy women ; otherwise, he does not think
worldlings,
religious
See Colgah's "Trias Thaumaturga. "
Quinta Appendix ad Acta S. Patricii, cap.
xxiii. , p. 269. Yet, only in a mediate or it likely, that various houses could be re-
remote sense must we regard her, as having been one of those virgins, veiled by St.
presented, as being subject to her care, This position he endeavours to establish, by citing various authorities. See ibid. , Ap-
ad Acta
Vita iv. S. Brigidse, lib. ii. , cap. xii. , sect. 81, p. 171.
Patrick. — Chapter XIV.
See "The Life of St. Brigid," by an Irish Priest, chap, x. , p.
^
pendix Tertia
S. Brigidse, cap. ii. , p. 610. And, Vita Quarta S. Brigidae, n. 23, p. 566. See, also, the Bollandists' "Acta ^ See Bishop Challoner's " Britannia Sanctorum," tomus i. Die i. Februarii.
133,
Sancta," part i. , February 1st, p. 94.
3 See Colgan's "Trias Thaumaturga. " Vita Quinta S. Brigidae, cap. Ivi. , p. 581.
Vol. II.
N
178 LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. [February i.
usual city of her residence. It is said, St. Patrick, at the time of his death, had commanded our saint to bless all Ireland, thirty years afterwards, and that in consequence of this desire, she now made a tour over the whole island, blessing every part of it. s Having arrived in the province of the Ultonians,^ in the northern part of Ireland, she was there seized, it is stated, with her last illness. It is generally beUeved, that she died thirty years after the departure of St. Patrick. 7
St. Conleath, Bishop of Kildare, departed this life on the 3rd of May,
519 ;^ and, St. Brigid did not long survive him. ^ She was already descending
thevaleofyears,andinfirmitybegantogrowuponher; although,wearenot given to understand, what had been the nature of that sickness, which caused
her death. At its approach, however, she had a conference with one of her nuns, named Darlugdacha, to whom she confided a charge over her com-
She was now about to cease from her toils and to enjoy everlasting rest ;
but, whether decay or decrepitude, awaited her closing years, seems to be alto- getherunknown. ^3 Whenthelastdayofourmostillustriousandholyvirgin in this life had approached, and after a long pilgrimage, Brigid was beckoned toherreward. Then,whilesailingontheBritishsea,'4byforceofthewinds, or rather by God's providence, St. Ninnid was wafted to the Irish coast. ^s
after the event of her own
declared her successor should survive only one year, and depart this life on the ist of February ; so that thus, both their names should be venerated, on this same day. " Therefore, as they were united in affection during life, in like measure, after death, their memories were conjointly held in honour. It would seem beyond the power of tongue or pen, to describe the wonders of Brigid's daily existence. Many miracles and incidents already recorded, concerning this holy abbess, and several not mentioned in this her life, will be found in the Acts of various other Irish saints. "
munity,
expected departure.
s See Abbate D. Giacomo Certani's " La
Santita Prodigiosa. " Vita di S. Brigida Ibernese. Libro Sesto, pp. 583, 584.
Life, by St. Evin (pars iii. , cap. 4, 6), Life of St. Moninna or Moduenna (cap. 3), Cap- grave's Life of the same Saint (cap. 14), Life of St. Albeus, Cod. Kilk. (cap. 23), another Life of the same Saint (cap. 18, 19), Life of St. Finnian of Clonaixi (cap. 15), Life of St. Tighernach (cap. 2, 10), O^Donnell's Life of St. Columkille (lib, i. , cap. 9), Supplement to the Life of St. Kieran of Clonmacnoise (cap. 26), Life of St. Gildas (cap. 9), Life of St. Brendan, Cod. Kilk. (cap, 50), Life of
^
In Irish it is written UbcA, tJLcAij, and
This is Latinized Ultonia and Ulidia.
7 See Colgan's "Trias Thaumaturga.
"
Quarta Vita S. Brigidee, lib. ii. , cap. xcix. ,
p. 562.
^
The Annales Ultonienses record, at A. D. 519, the death of Conlaed, Bishop of Cille
dara, p. 13. See Dr. O'Conor's " Rerum St. Aid, bishop (cap. 16, 20), Life of St.
Hibernicarum Scriptores," tomus ii.
9 See "The Life of St. Brigid," by an
Irish Priest, chap, x. , p. 134.
^° See Abbate D. Giacomo Certani's " La
Santitk Prodigiosa. " Vita di S. Brigida Ibernese. Libro Sesto, pp. 559 to 561.
Maidoc (cap. 62), Life of St, Moling (cap. 22), Life of St. Kieran, of Saigir (cap. 30), Life of St. Kieran, of Clonmacnoise (cap. i. , 47), Life of St. Columba (cap. 4, 5, 66, 241), Life of St. Moelruan (cap. 42), Life of St. Corbmac (cap. 9), Life of St. Fintan,
^* See Colgan's "Acta Sanctorum Hi- hermit (15th Nov. ) See " Trias Thauma-
bemiae," Februarii I. Vita S. Derlugdachse, p. 230. Also, the Acts of St. Derlugdacha hereafter subjoined, and on the Ist of Febru-
in his
"
turga, sees. i. to xxii. , pp. 602 to 606.
'3 See "The Life of St. Brigid," by an
Irish Priest, chap, x. , pp, 133, 134,
'* In Professor Irish Life of O'Looney's
ary.
" These are introduced
St.
nitroet) IaitH
" Nin-
byColgan Appendix Secunda, seu Supplementum Actorum S. Brigidae, ex aliorum Sanctorum vitis & aliis hystoriis. " He quotes the Fourth
Life of St. Patrick, by St. Eleran, the sup- posed author (cap. 94), the Sixth, by Jocelin (cap. 94, 95, 188, 189). The Tripartite
Brigid
i-oaii, i. e. ,
"
didh of the undefiled hand," is said to have
come from Rome of Letha, pp. 47, 48.
^s See Abbate D. Giacomo Certani's "La
Santitk Prodigiosa. " Vita di S. Brigida Ibernese. Libro Sesto, pp. 584 to 566.
^° St. also Bridget
February i. ] LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. 179
Afterwards a large fish was caught, and brought to him. When it had been
cut up into parts, according to the legend of his life, that key belonging to the lock of his manacled hand was found within its body. Finding all these events to have happened by Divine appointment, with sorrow of heart, the
"
pious Ninnidius said :
It is not meet, that a mortal should any longer
oppose designs of the living God, and of Omnipotent power. " Hearing about St. Brigid's infirmity, he went to visit her ; and, at the hour of her
departure, as she had already predicted, the Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the Eternal God, she received from the undefiled hand
of holy Ninnidius.
'^
There are many different opinions of writers, as to St. Brigid's exact age, at the time of her demise. Henry of Marlborough'7 tells us, that she was born A. D. 468, and that she died on the ist of February, a. d. 523. Conse- quently, she could only have been fifty-five years old, at her decease. But, no other writer sets her age down at less than seventy years, when she died. ''^ This latter seems to be the most generally received opinion. Our Martyro- logies'9 and Annals^° concur. The seventy-first^^ and the seventy-fourth year
"
Martyrology of Donegal"^'' has noticed, that she yielded her spirit, after having completed seventy-four years, a. d. 525. ^3 The author of St. Brigid's Fourth Life has regarded her
death, as occurring, thirty years after that of St. Patrick,^^ and in the eightieth year of her age. ^s Colgan, too, thinks this probable, on account of the latt—er
for her death-period have been stated. Thus, the
—nt and so
authority being so ancie respectable.
She is even eighty-seventh year. ^^
but without correctness
to have attained her
'^ " See Colgan's "Trias Thaumaturga.
Quarta Vita S. Brigidse, lib. li. , cap. Ixiii. , p. 559. Also, Quinta Vita S. Brigidse, cap. Iviii. , p. 582.
fecit quinariam literam transcriptoris error ;' i. e. , the transcriber mistook dxxii. for dxxu. "
^4 This story, about such a term of years '7 In his Annals. This, however, is not intervening between the deaths of the two
"
Chronicle of Ireland," saints, has been taken from that spurious published in 1809 at Dublin, by the Hiber- tract, called St. Patrick's Testament, in
to be found in his
nia Press Company.
'^
which we find the favourite division of our Apostle's years into thirties. To these was added another thirty, at the end of which
This is the opinion of Ussher in his
"Primordia Ecclesiarum Britannicarum,"
cap. xvii. , p, 884, and in his "Index St. Brigid was to bless Ireland. Hence, it
Clironologicus," A. D, 523, as also of Sir James Ware, "De Scriptoribus Hibernise,"
lib. i. , cap. ii,, p, 9.
'9 The "Martyrology of Tallagh," com-
piled by St. ^ngus and St. Maelruan, in
"
got into he Fourth Life of St. Brigid, and it became popular. Marianus Scotus, hav- ing assigned St. Patrick's death to a. d. 491, placed, agreeably to this supposition, that of St. Brigid in 521 ; while, the sticklers for A. D, 493, following the same principle, fixed
the ninth century, has this record :
Ca-
lendis Februarii. Dormitio S. Brigidse, it at A. D, 523. One of these was Bollandus,
Ixx. , anno setatis suie. " See Rev. Dr. when commenting on the Acts of St. Brigid ; Kelly's edition, p. xiv. but, his successors, Henschennius and Pape-
^°
The Annals of Ulster, or of Senat Mac brochius, rejected these thirty years, and
Mognus, cited by Ussher, agree, where at
madeoutanothercalculation. This,however,
cannot be admitted in their observations ; for,
A. D. we read 523,
:
" S. Quies
p. 3. Dr. O'Conor's " Rerum Hiberni- carum Scriptores," tomus iv.
Lanigan's "Ecclesiastical History of Ire-
land," vol. i. , chap, ix. , sec. vi. , n. 87, p.
457-
^s For this statement, there appears to be
little probability. Yet, an Irish Life of St. Brigid concurs in the previous calculations.
^^
At the year 523. we find entered in William M. Hennessy's "Chronicum Sco- torum," the Dormition of St. Brigid in the 87th year of her age, or 77th as some assert, pp. 40, 41.
^^
According to the computation of Friar
Clyn, that she was born a. d. 439, and of
Hanmer, that she died a. d. 510, she must
have departed in her seventy-first year.
^'^
tion, pp. 36, 37.
=^3 In a comment, Dr. Todd adds at this
Brigidge This is also Colgan's
anno Ixx. aetatis suae. "
own opinion. See Annales Ultonienses, departure to a. d, 506 or 517, See Dr.
See Rev, Drs. Todd's and Reeves' edi-
date, A. D, 525 :
"
The more recent hand has
corrected this date to 522, adding in the
margin, this note :
*
ex ii. binario numero
on St. Patrick's Acts, they assign St. Brigid's
conjectured
i8o LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS.
i.
[February
The year or epoch of St. Brigid's death has been variedly calculated or
recorded. Thus the "Annals of Boyle" have it so early as a. d. ^o\. '^^ Dr.
Meredith Hanmer says her death occurred, a. d. 510. =^ The rest of St. Brigid
is noted at 514, in the Annals of Innisfallen. ^? Other authorities place it, at
A. D. 518. 3° From a calculation which he makes, as to the year of St. Patrick's
death, being 458, and St. Brigid's decease taking place sixty years afterwards,
Nenniuswouldconsequentlyassignherdeparture,totheyear518. 3^ Again, the year 520 has been mentioned. 32 The year 521 is set down by certain
writers. 33 The year 523, however, is a very generally accepted date for her demise. 34 Thus, Colgan endeavours to show by various authorities, compu- tations and inferences, that a. d. 523, was the true date for her death. 3S These dates, a. d. 506 and 517, appear to have been given, from a supposition, that St. Brigid survived St. Patrick exactly thirty years ;36 and, as the year of the Irish Apostle's death has been disputed, in like manner, differences as to com- puted dates for St. Brigid's have consequently occurred. 37 The year 523 or 524
is entered in the " Annals of Ulster. "3^ the These, also, go by
" Annals
title, of Senat-mac-Magnus," and are cited by Ussher. 39 Moreover, the
"
Annals
**
**
*7 See
of Boyle. "
nicarum Scriptores," tomus ii. , p. 3.
=^See "Chronicle of Ireland," p. 91.
Still Colgan thinks, the year 518 should have been inserted in Hanmer's work, but for a casual error.
'9 See Dr. O'Conor's " Rerum Hibemi- carum Scriptores," tomus ii. , p. 5.
3° Thus, Sigbert in his "Chronology,"
Annals Dr. O'Conor's " Rerum Hiber-
Annales Buelliani," or
523. Secondly, According to different au- thorities, St. Columkille was born four years before St. Brigid's death. As the former is said to have died on the 9th of June, A. D. 596, in the seventy-seventh year of his age, and as he i» related to have been bom on the 7th of December, St. Columba's nativity must have been cast about the end of A. D. 519. The fourth year after such a date would be A. D. 523, and consequently that assigned for St. Brigid's death. Thirdly, According to certain Irish tracts, St. Brigid was veiled and died on Wednesday ; while, all autho-
"
John Capgrave in his "Vita S. Brigidse," cap.
Felix in his
Martyrology," at 1st February,
"
Hibemica," dist. iii,, cap. 17, "Annales rities agree, she departed this life on the ist
ult. , Giraldus Cambrensis, in
Topographia
Vawerliensis,"&c. , date her demise.
3' Yet, Dr. Lanigan does not consider 458 to have been the true date for St. Patrick's
of Februar}'. Now, if we admit her being contemporaneous with the Emperor Justin, Pope Hormisdas and Murchertach, King of
death ; and, as the antecedent is false, so Ireland, the 1st of February fell on Wednes-
must be the consequent, viz. , that St. Brigid day, in the year 523. The hymn in praise "
Cloen, must have been written in this case soon after her death ; for, Alild, son of
Dunlang, reigned in Leinster, when it was written. This prince died A. D. 526. See
"Trias Thaumaturga. " Appendix Qu. irta ad Acta S. Brigidre, cap. vii. , p. 619. The learned Dr. O'Conor also agrees in this opinion with Colgan, in his edition of the
died A. D. 518. See Ecclesiastical History of St^ Brigid, composed by St.
